of the Flemings and that the Power of Rebelling was to be taken from the Rebels to secure from future Rebellions And cut down the Tree at the root to hinder the boughs from growing and putting forth Philip enclosed between these two Contrary Opinions and seeing clearly though th' Intentions of those two Counsellors loving Gomez with Passion and esteeming Alva to his Merit forgets his Maxims and departs from his own Inclination which was the Good of his Affairs to content the Passion of them by a Moderation that was fatal to him He resolved then for the satisfaction of Gomez to stay in Spain under pretence that his Presence was necessary to keep the Moors to their Duty and hinder his Son Charls to disturb in his Absence and to comply with th' Indocile and Imperious humour of the Duke of Alva He constitutes him Governour of the Low-Countries and gives him the Command of an Army capable to subdue them in case of a general Revolt and to force to submission all persons that opposed him Gomez found his Reckoning plentifully in being the chief of the two Patties and remaining the most powerful of the Kings Council was in some sort superior to the Duke of Alva who ought to receive Orders from the Council and as to the Duke's Actions could give what countenance he pleased to them being not cleared before the King's eyes The Duke of Alva also had cause to be ontent with the King's Design to send him Commander of so powerful an Army and t' exercise a great Charge in a Country where no person was above him and where he should be Arbiter of the destiny of a great number of people and of seventeen fair Provinces But th' Interest of Philip and the Laws of good Policy required that no Regard was to be had to th' Inclination of Gomez nor to that of the Duke of Alva and that he should have gone in Person and with a good Army into the Low-Countries to confirm the Tranquillity as yet unsetled and to dispense Rigour and Clemency according to the disposition of Spirits and exigency of Conjunctures Or if it was not expedient for the King for important considerations to go from the Escurial and to break the chains wich ty'd him to Spain He ought not to have recall'd the Governess from Flanders who might easily have finish'd what she had happily begun and had no need for that End but of a small encrease of Forces to render her Administration a little more fearful than it was to the Flemings who had in other Things Love and Reverence for her Person By these Example you may see how hard it is for the Counsellors of Princes t' enter their Counsels free from particular Passions since th' ablest Princes and most interessed are sometimes struck with contagion and spoil their Affairs by Compliance It follows not but that the persons whereof we have now spoken were Great persons though sometimes they committed faults and that their Lives were excellent Looking-glasses for them that Govern though the Glasses were not without spots There are Illustrious Reigns as Glorious Temples and Magnificent Palaces And though great effusion of Riches have been made and choice of the best Architects of the world to build them some errors have been found in them And the Things of Art have that in common with the Natural not to be in all parts perfect As in th' Oeconomy of the Manners of Men Reason doth not always hold th' Ascendent over the Passions but that Passions sometimes take it above Reason and what is of the Dominion of th' Understanding gives place to what is belonging to a Beast So though Princes oblige themselves as strongly as they can to represent the persons of Princes they cannot forbear many times to act the persons of particular Men and to cherish th' Inclinations of Nature above the Duties of their Charge Immutability from Good is not of the Lot and portion of this miserable Life And Constancy unshaken but by some great change is in my sense one of the greatest Wonders of the world There is no Soul so mean that is not capable of some fire and of some strein of Heroick Virtue but there 's none so Heroick that can maintain without slacking the strength of the flight which it hath taken and hold all things under it without ever coming under them such Souls as approach nearest to this state and rise and fall whatsoever happens less than other Souls are certainly the Noblest and Fairest of all Souls And that Equality of Conduct such as may be gained in this Life is more admirable and of greater price in it self thâ—â—â—h not of so great pomp nor of so great profit as the Science to maâ—â— War to conduct Negotiation and to govern Empires The second Rule which Princes ought t' observe in th' Use of this severe Justice whereof we draw the Picture is That as God doth not punish sinners at th' Instant they have offended nor permit his Thunder to break upon the first crimes of Men Soveraigns also ought not to hasten t' extreme Remedies and take Arms so soon as they have receiv'd an Injury They ought to consider that of all Imployments and humane Enterprises there 's none wherein Precipitation is so dangerous as in beginning a War nor wherein more passages are to be sounded or more ways know before the War be undertaken They ought to remember that besides the sad Necessity which is inseparable from the most Innocent War in the world to devour a great number of Goods and Livers There 's none wherein the Revolutions are so suddain and the Conclusions so uncertain A Wheel moved with violence turns not down with more swiftness what was above The Sea is not more unfaithful nor changeth her calm with more promptitude And th' hope of Labourers is not so often deceived by the sterility of Harvests That the prosperities of Arms are subject to change and th' Entries of War are belyed by th' Issues That after many Fires kindled and Tempests raised After a great quantity of spilt blood and wealth devoured After a long Circumvallation the High way to desolation and ruine 'T is of Necessity that the Lists are to be re-entred or a Retorn made to the firit posture of Peace Fourth Discourse That Justice is to be observed in the Form as Matter of the War That Faith is to be kept with Heretiques and Insidels That Christians hate just Cause of Warring with the Turk without making use of the pretext of Religion TO Avoid so dangerous a Precipitation and not t' Engage herein t' ill purpose and hoise sail to the Wind out of season 'T is not sufficient to know that the War is Just which is to b' undertaken but that 't is Necessary to b' undertaken And 't is the good of the State which a Prince undertakes is this occasion more than any other Interest 'T is of Importance that what is honest and profitable march together and
particular Treaty which th' Austrians then conceived to make with the Swedes and pursued to make with much vehemency which hath been very often out in sunder and as often tied up again which was the design of the last Resolutions of the penultime Dyet of Ratisbone and the foundation of th'hopes of the good Success of th' Enemies Affairs The time hath made it appear that it was nothing but a countermine of the Swedes t'amuze th'Imperialists As it was the design of th'Imperialists in case the Treaty became abortive to lull asleep the Swedes and to render them flower and less inflamed to make War or it was a studied stroak of Addresse and a subtil Artifice to cheat their Confederates with some shew of Apprenhension and Jealousie and to provoke them t' intend with more vigour and with stronger subventions th' Affairs of the League For that wise and advised Nation was not so great an Enemy to their Good nor so ill-sighted in the Truth of their Interests as to be deprived willingly in favour of the King of Poland of a great and rich Province easie for them to be conserved and to be at greater Liberty to defend his Conquests in Germany and to make progress upon the Usurpators and Desertors of the Liberty of that Country And afterwards to renounce what he enjoyed as most stable and Immovable for a sum of Money offered him and for so casual a Benefit as Mony that may easily be spent or wasted That if the House of Austria consented that the Crown of Swede should keep the Provinces and Places which it could not take from them The Designs of that Ambitious House and the Policy of its Ministers of State were too well known to be perswaded That it was for no longer Time than was necessary t' Accomplish in other places their Designs or to procure unto themselves either the greater Victory or the more advantagious Peace That no Christian Power could or would oppose the War to be made them whom it calls Agressors of th' Empire and the disturbers of the peace of Germany In another place Discourse shall be made of the Certainty may be raised on the promises of that House when it may break t'advantage Th' other Proof to be made use of is fresh and Memory need not be strained to remember it 'T is present to th'understanding and to the sense of them who know any thing of our Affairs 'T is that which passed this year at Hambrough touching th'Adjustment of necessary Conditions for proceeding in the â—reaty of the General Peace and finishing that Lamentable War which in the conclusion will make of Christendom but a shambles and a Glass-house That Adjustment was pursued by the Mediation of the King of Denmark who to render himself the more considerable to both Parties and to give Jealousie to him that should seem opposite to the Peace raised a great and powerful Army to make the Ballance fall on the Side he should take in that hot Quarel whilst th' Ambassadors of the King and of the Crown of Swede submitted as the ever did to Reason and made all th'Advances that could be expected from persons acting in Earnest and without Personating It first hapned that Sir Sutzan Deputy to the King of Hungary retired when th' other Deputies were upon the point of Resolving some thing for that pretended Adjustment without giving notice of it in Imitation of the Count of Curts who practised the same a little before And returned six weeks after with imperfect Authorities and with defective Letters of Credence that it might not fail on the King of Spain's part The Negotiation was stopped What th' Imperialists did was to thrust Time by the shoulder and to see whether that great Clowd gathered near France would not produce something to their advantage and bring upon that Kingdom the Tempest which they had promised to themselves and whereof they had furnished a great part of the Matter Moreover not t' appear Averse to Peace nor to be Charged with th'Hatred that would be charged on them by the Voluntary Continuation of the War They permitted that the broken Treaty should be set on foot and sent to Hambrough the Count of Aversbery with a more Ample power by virtue whereof after long Disputes and long Contests of spirit and words Th' Adjustment desired was resolved and Conditions signed to which nothing was wanting for Execution but the Ratification of Interessed Princes in that Affair But that failed on the part of the King of Hungary who instead of sending a pure and simple Ratification as was necessary and as his Deputy was obliged to procure and as the Kings was made sent it lame and Limited with so many Modifications and Reserves that it was easie to see That it was but Comedy and the continuation of the Game which the Sir Sutzan had plaid t'Amuze the world and to give â—ime to ripen the Great Designs formed against France And that they may not accuse me to have supposed what is not and t' have rais'd a fancy at pleasure to quarrel them I will onely make use for Justification of what I have said of the force of a Libel against us which not long since they did publish in Spanish and under the sign of a pair of Spectacles After a number of foolish proffers and of th' Impostures vomited against the good Intentions of the King and of his Ministers of State Th' Author concludes it with a Prognostick or rather with a Threatning he makes of the great Disorder that was ready to Thunder in this Kingdom in the Concurrence of two Parties that would divide the Court and which as he said ought to shake the Pillars of this Monarchy I add to what I have before said To discover the true passion the King had to remove all the Rubs that might stop the way to Peace and t'omit nothing that might hasten that Holy Work that he had given power to Sir of Avaux his Ambassador t' Accord in the Pasports he should deliver to the King of Hungary's Commissioners a Title which to that time h' had vainly desired of us and had always constantly been refused him for the Considerations which shall be laid down in the Treaty of the Monarchy And to shew also th'Indubitable Aversion the King of Hungary with all his House had to the Peace which all Christendom demands and is so necessary for it At the same time that he refused it by his Evasions and Proffers He bought dearly the Continuation of that Peace he had made with the Turk and consented That almost two hundred Villages should be cut off from his Frontiers to lengthen the Territories of the Turk The End of the First Book OF The Councel of VVar Of a PRINCE Second BOOK First Discourse That it is a great Misfortune to a Prince to want Power to make Defence against th' Assaults of a Forein Prince and thereby to depend upon the Will of others Which is confirmed by two Examples
but by the consideration as strangers of their Pay And respect him at the Rate they fear Him and fear Him at the Rate of his power to Punish them The sixth Rule is That a Petty Prince Assaulted by a Greater wh ' hath need of a more prompt and Efficacious Remedy than Diversion against the Violence that oppresseth him before He resolves to receive in t ' His Countrey a Forein Army stronger than his own and to give him place if they be demanded for Security and Retreat ought to make a just and exact Comparison of th'Evills to which he doth expose Himself in the doing of it and of them he must of necessity fall into if He do it not ought t'Examin Coldly and without Passion the Nature and Circumstances of th' Affair which vexeth him The conditions of his Enemies and of his Friends The Faith and Ambition of all of them The conveniency of his Countries or of any of his places for them And the Comparision and Examination being made of th'Inconveniencies he must run of all sides H' ought to make Choice of the least offensive H' ought t' Agree with his Enemies if they are tractable or make use of the Relief of his Friends if they are Faithfull And when H' hath made a good Choice and shall put into th' Haven without Shipwrack He must praise God for it as his peculiar Grace and Extraordinary Favour The last Rule is That in General a Prince ought if He can t' have one or two Fortresses for the security of his Countrey and to serve for a stop to the Forces which may over-run him and to th'Invasions of an Enemy who without Impediment may suddenly become Master of it For example The Duke of Sax at Dresde and Vittemberge The Marquis of Brandburge at Custrin and Spando The Lantgrave of Hess at Castel and Sigenham In these places Consists without all doubt the safety of their Countries and without them they would become the Prey of the first Possessor As are the Countries of some other Princes of Germany wh ' have no Fortresses upon their Frontiers And what had become I pray of Montferrat but for the Citadelle of Casall that Excellent Piece which had defeated so many and so great Armies of th' Enemies whose Situation and the Jealousie given by its strength have invited to besiege it But Care must Here be taken of a specious Fault and t' avoid the Defects of some Princes who through Weakness fall to th' Extremity of other Princes by a certain Irregularity of Fancy not to think themselves Powerfull or Considerable Enough If their Estates be little and their Revenue small they ought not to Charge their Countries with many strong Places nor t' imitate Intemperate persons wh ' Eating t' excess Cannot Digest what they Eat and fill themselves with so great a Quantity of ill Humours that the Natural Heat cannot dissolve them or discharge the body of that plentifull spring of Incommodities and of that fruitfull Mine of Maladies The desire of many Fortresses ariseth from an irregular Appetite and from an Intemperate spirit which the Prince being unable to finish and to furnish with necessary Provissions or to keep the Garrisons well manned and paid some of them are lost by some of the named Defects And it happens also that th' Enemy upon the Taking of a Fort finisheth the Fortifications and Garrisons and by that means makes himself so strong an Establishment in that Countrey and takes so deep Rooting that 't is a difficult Business to get him thence but by a Treaty of Peace and by that Lassitude and â—nability which the War produceth and Compels him t' hearken t' an Accommodation From this Principle also is derived another Inconveniency that puts the whole State in danger and Cuts the Sinews and Nerves which Bind and Joyn the parts together That th' Excessive Number of Garrisons the Prince is obliged to keep is the cause that He becomes Weak when he is to draw into the Field And that th' Enemy being Master without resistance of the flat Countrey all places at once are blocked up and lost and at Contest which shall begin to Render for want of an Army to relieve them and t' avoid th' ill usage of an unnecessary Defence and having no reasonable Means of security can have no Thoughts but of perishing a little later than others and of Consuming th' Assailants by delay The Dukes of Savoy are fallen into this Inconveniences In having a great Number of Fortresses and the greatest part of them Accompanied with some of the Defects which have been represented The Situation truly of their Countrey and particularly of Piedmont shut up in the midst of the Countreys of very great and formidable Princes as a King of France and a King of Spain hath contributed much to this Disorder And that some of the places have been often taken And 't is impossible but that amongst so many weak Forts in their Countrâ—ys some Fort or other will be taken and that a very dangerous prejudice must arise from that Improvidence The Duke of Rohan hath also observed in his Remembrances That one of the Ruinous Causes of th' Hugonot party and Principal Means of the dissolution of that great Body was the great Number of their strong Cities And that by Endeavouring to save them they lost them all And unable to dispute the Field with the Kings Armies as it formerly had Done That they fell under the Virtue and Power of the King It belongs only to the Flemings and to th' Hollanders t' have their Countries full of strong Holds and all those strong Holds Manned with powerfull Garrisons and at the same Time to raise great Armies But as to the Flemings Thought their Countries be of the best of the World and are called th' Indies of Christendom by reason of their Wealth It had been quickly drawn out and Left Drye but for th' Influence of Spain and th' Abundance of both Indies laid out to nourish the War and to support the Motions which have vexed that people for many years Nor hath it been alwaies in their power to furnish the Necessities of that War and th'Hunger of that insatiable Monster And we 've often seen th' Armies of that Countrey perish for want of Moneys and from that want Considerable Bodies of Mutineers t' arise as so many Republiques which subsisted by Order and Discipline without Rejoyning to the body from whence they drew away till payment was made of what was due to them and so thereupon desisting from being their Princes Creditors they returned to the Duty of Subjects As to th' Hollanders who knows not also that they 've not been alwaies in their present Condition nor ever had so many strong Holds or so well Manned as now they Have That they 've been long upon the Defensive and with so Mean an Army As that they believed to Gain what they did not Lose and t'overcome effectively when they were not overcome It was at
Law from their Inferiours and follow their Motions when they have use of them And that a Disagreement would endanger th'Enterprize If any of the Wheels to which it ought to give Motion came to fail and to be loose from the others It may be that in the Subjects of great and profound Designs which the King had upon that Country â—e foresaw that if they were all as happy as they were wisely projected some Resolution might happen that would for ever deliver his Kingdom from Alarms and from Incursions which are made sometimes from that Neighbourhood And truly if th' Assault of Calo and the Siege of St. Omer had prospered as in apparance they ought t' have done or if an unexpected stroke which made a Noise upon the Frontiers of Campagnia had not diverted the favourable progress which promised the taking of Ayres Th' Effects of that Princes prevoyance it may be had been seen It may b'also That h' had a will to shut the Gates for a time by which the Forces of Germany entring into Flanders might over-run and make spoil in France But when things changed their Countenance and that the Risings of the Catalans formed another Conjuncture he changed also Conduct and judged as it hath been already observed That after th' Affairs of Germany there was none whereunto h' ought t' apply himself with more heat and to make a greater shew of his Forces than to them of that Country He foresaw that the fruits which might be gathered from that Expedition were not ordinary and that th' advantages which might arise to the common cause might prove strong Motives to the Peace for which the War was made For besides that the Spaniards could not long act powerfully in Spain in Flanders and in Italy and the nourishment they ought to give to their Original Country would consume the food of th' others Countrie If the King of Hungary was seen full of troubles in Germany and the King of Spain assaulted in th' Heart of his Estates and troubled to defend his Life It was not impossible but that two Benefits also might arise very considerable Th' one that the Princes of Germany separated from the good Party might take courage to rejoyn with it Th' other that the League wherein to that time they had laboured unprofitably t'introduce th' Italian Princes might be formed and that they would not lose so fair an occasion to drive them away who had stollen the Liberty of their Country and to take away the mixture and confusion of Nations and forein Manners which sully and disfigure it For t' imagine that for less than that the Republique of Venice the most considerable of all those Princes for what concerns Temporal things That can give a shaking t'other Princes and after that make no difficulty t' enter the Lifts it had opened would be perswaded to that League 'T is to b'ignorant of their spirit It were to b' a stranger to their Maxims And to believe what is desired upon the single Motions of passion This point shall b'examin'd in the following Discourse this having been but too long I add onely for advise of them who might find cause to desire something here on our part upon the subject of great Extremities wherein th' Affairs have sometimes fallen in Germany and Italy That the King could not do all things in all places and that it may be he had done too much as hath else-where been observed but for an absolute Necessity and Inevitable even for the good of his own Kingdom to do it That he could not alone divert all th'Evils that might happen in that Country by the failings and insensibility of them who were more interressed than himself and for whose Liberty he took so great pains and made so great an Expence That in the course and great variety of Affairs which exercised him he could not always ordain That they who received his Orders should b' as happy t' execute them and to compleat them as he was prudent in laying of the Design and preparing the Model But 't is a wonder which will appear almost incredible to future Ages and will be one of the fairest Beams of the glory of this Prince and one of the Noblest Monuments of his Incomparable Reign That by his Wisdom his Courage and his Power he raised at home and with his Allies what was ready to Fall That he did set straight there all that began to Lean and ever disappointed Fortune of her Malitious Progress and of the Consequences of her Surprizes Eighth Discourse In what Conjuncture it may be probably thought That the Venetians will enter in t ' a League against the Spaniards THough I do not think it necessary that this League whereof hath been spoken be made or that the time of a General Peace be so backward as t' attend the finishing of so difficult a Negotiation I have believed nevertheless that it would not b'impertinent for me to speak my thoughts to make the Genius of the Venetian Republique to be the better known and what may b' expected from it on like Occasions and at the same time to make it appear to th' Author of a small Pamphlet which appeared a little after the last Stege of Casal under the name of a Montferrat Soldier That the Season was not then come to form that League as he did pretend it and that the King was not ripe according to the Sense of that Republique and the Maxims of their Policy The foundation whereupon I do build my Opinion is this That it being th' ordinary Nature of Republiques to be very distrustful and to fear more than hope when th'Apparances of Evil and Good are equal It may be said That Venice of all other Republiques Labours most of that humour And that th'Inclination it hath in all it undertakes to give the least it can t'Hazard and the most to Prudence is the cause that 't is seldom enclined for the War which is an Element of Fortune unless an extreme Danger do force it or a visible Benefit invite it I could bring a number of antient Examples to confirm this Truth if I did not believe that Modern would be of most use and credit as most efficacious and of greater Instruction than th 'others In that high and wonderful Design which the late King had formed against th' House of Austria and to put the Quiet of Christendom so often troubled by that House in some state of consistency he caused the Republique to be solicited to be of the Party And notwithstanding the power h' had with them which could not be greater and th' Advantages h' had proposed unto them which were not small for the Price of their Arming and for th'â—nterest of th' Expence it should make Though it was onely intended for the breaking off th'â—rons of Italy and to force from the Spaniards what they held unjustly there Though all the fruâ—ts of the Conquest whereof the greatest part was to be at his Charges and
of a Remedy and t' Insist upon it till it be concluded in the project of a General Peace That it be not declined till it be Accomplished and in such a Defensive League as I 've here above described But lest that in Threatning them with the License which is said Th' House of Austria gives it self to violate all Treaties whose Observation is Damageable and the not Observation Advantagious unto it I may give them a false Alarm and raise fear from a false Imagination It may be that 't is as Carefull to perform what she Promiseth and particularly when the Name of God is Interposed as it hath been th' other specious Apparences of Piety and th' out-side of Exemplary Religion And that it Aims at nothing more than a good Peace and that its Intention is when it hath gained this Haven to put it self no more in danger for the Future unless it be forced upon so Dangerous a Sea as the Warr. I will demonstrate here the Contrary and make it Evident That in truth it gives it self that License and that it doth abuse the Name of God and plaies with the Publick Faith when their Interests require it more than any Prince of the World For this purpose I do not intend to play the Orator nor to make use of an Art which boasts of her Colours and lights to Change when it pleaseth the state of Things and to make them seem Great or Little Fair or Ugly when it shall seem good unto Her This is as much Estranged from my Humours as 't is above my Forces And I do Heartily renounce an Exercise which I should discharge Unhandsomely if I did undertake it I will not here neither produce all the Breaches of the Treaties which this House of Austria hath made nor all th' Infidelities wherewith it hath stained its Conduct Great Volumes are only capable to Contain them I will touch only upon somewhat more Modern as more Sensible and upon what hath passed in these latter times in Germany and Italy As t' Italy who knows not that the last Warrs the Spaniards have made to the Duke of Savoy Grand-father to this Duke have alwaies budded from the Breach on their part of th' Treaties which preceded And so soon as the fear of th' Evil which had Obliged them for Accomodation was over and that the hope of th' End which they had Proposed to their Arms began to Revive They lost the Memory of the Peace they had Sworn and made no Difficulty to renew the Quarrel and to re-kindle the Disorder at the Charges of their Faith and against all Justice So that what Intervened betwixt two Warrs was not so much Peace as a Suspension of Arms nor the Cure of the Feaver as the Remission of th' Access The fire was Covered under th' Ashes but Dyed not in th' Intention of the Spaniards and it hapned t' all that Affair as to Wounds ill Dressed which often break out It was renewed frequently And that Game lasted till new Accidents made the Spaniards take new Designs and that the Troubles of Germany allayed them of Italy I speak not here of the Peace of Suza which they Violated without other Colour than that they were Necessitated to do 't for th' Interest of their Reputation nor of th' Ingratitude wherewith they requited the Courtesie which the King did in their behalf and that rare Moderation which made him bound his Prosperity by the delivery of his Allies and permitted him not t' Overcome but where it found Resistance It hath been spoken of in another place and shall be Spoken of more fully in the Third Part. I remit also to speak there of the Treaty of Cuirasque which the Necessity of the German Affairs forced from them rather than the Love of the Peace of Italy And to which the Resolutions of the Dyet of Ratisâ—one and th' Entry of the King of Swede into Germany where th' Evidences of the Tempest did them Appear which hath since fallen upon th' House of Austria forced them to consent and to set their Hands with design not t' observe it so soon as they had sent us over the Mountains as shall be declared at large in th' Apology of th' Acquisition of Pigneroâ— I will not also Revive here the Deceits they practised towards the Venetians and th' Alterations they gave them upon the business of th' Uscoques It were to repeat but what hath been said I pass also in silence the various â—ricks which at several times they put upon the Grisons and th' Artifices and open Force wherewith they have s ' often assaulted their Liberty against the Faith of the Treaties made with them and with their Allyes That will be seen in the Third Part in th' Apology of the Treaty of Moncon where I give a very Exact Table of th' Affairs of that Common-wealth I come to them of Germany and to what passed upon that Scean not less Famous by the Treaties than by the Warrs which were managed there Who knows not that the Peace of Ulmes Concluded by the Mediation of France gave Means to th' Emperour t' Ease himself of the Weight of the Warr under which he Groaned and t' unravel the Perplexities from which he could not be dis-intangled but by that Expedient And who knows not also That he observed it no longer than was Necessary for to prepare for a Warr which he resolved in Swearing the Peace And that the Ruine of the Count Palatine and of his Friends proceeded only from the Confidence they raised in that Treaty and from that Ruinous Foundation whereupon they trusted as upon an Holy Anchor by the Right of Nations by the Reverence of the Name of God which therein was Interposed and by th' Authority of so Great a Mediator as the King of France After the Gain of the Battel of Prague and that fatal Series of Prosperities which follows great Victories After that th' Imperial Arms had Triumphed over all that favoured the Palatines party and that the Count of Tilly and Marquiss of Spinola had stripped Naked that unhappy Prince Th' Emperour transferred his Electorate to the Duke of Baviere and divided his Country between him and the King of Spain But it being pretended that the Formalities Ordained by the Golden Charter and by th' other Pragmatique Sanctions had not been observed in that Translation and Partition and for fear that proceeding which they supposed to be Violent should Offend th' other Electors by a common Interest and Provoke the King of England to a Revenge and to Prosecute the Reparation of th' Out-rage done to his Son-in-Law Th' Emperour protested in the Dyet of Ratisbone in the year 1662. That h' had transferred th' Electorate to th' House of Baviâ—re for the Dukes Life only that was Invested with it And for what Concerned the Palatinate he would make Reparation to the Count Palatine and give Satisfaction thereupon to his Friends He gave the same Assurances to the King of England by his
t' advance their Greatness under colour of suppressing the Rebells of th' Empire and the Disturbers of the Peace of Germany It had not staid there and th' Ill which it did believing to do well had not so soon ceased if it had not been dissipated by th' Endeavours of Francis the First and by th'Industry and Eloquence of Sir of Langey who made the Dutch to comprehend th' Austrian Artifices and laid open the Stratagems that were on foot by that Family to destroy them In the precedent Discourse I 've given you the platform of that League which Philip the Second endeavoured to make with the Pope and with the Venetians after the Selim the Second had assaulted Cyprus and that the noise of th' Ottoman's Arms with the consternation and fear of them had flown about Italy We 've also there seen the Resistance made by the Pope and the Venetians to the proposals of that Prince which breathed onely his particular Interest And we shall see in the Third Part the small satisfaction that the Venetians drew from that League which was concluded with him and that at last they were constrained to make a separate Accord with the Turk and without the privity of Philip as many years before they 'd been obliged to buy their peace of Soliman after that the proceedings of Charls the Fifth with whom they were in League gave them occasion to know That they could not continue the War in so ill Company and in so unfaithful a Society without running th'hazard to Ruine It hath not been dangerous onely to make Leagues with Charls the Fifth and with Philip his Son Th' Evil came from a higher Line and the Corruption hath a higher Spring Ferdinand of Arragon their Grandfather transmitted unto them with his Blood that too much interessed Inclination As he was one of them who broke the League of Cambray to the prejudice of Lewis the Twelfth who had so Legally observed it And the League he made at Blois was to strip the King of Naples his Kinsman of his Inheritance and for the full Conquest of his Kingdom And after he had gained by the Valour of the Great Captain what did belong t' his Partition he caused us to be vexed and made studied Quarrels to take away the Partition that did belong to us By th' Invincible Habit th' House of Austria hath acquired not t' observe what it hath promised And from their subtil Art to dispose the Leagues where it Enters to its particular Ends without respect of the Good of th' other Confederates In that of Germany which subsisted under the name of Catholique In apparence it avoided the direction of that Army tâ—abate the Jealousie of the Confederates and that the Forces of that League were put into th' hands of the Duke of Bavaria a Prince of another House and under the Count of Tilly a Lieutenant General which depended upon him But in this there was but a Transpostion of Colours whilst the Things were the same And th'Emperour gained that by a by-way which he could not obtain by a streight whilst the Forces of that League held the Protestant Arms at a Bay and hindred all that they could undertake against the Catholiques Heresolved to raise others in his own Name and under General Wallestine that had dependency and relation onely upon himself Th' Emperor with these Forces which made themselves formidable and prodigious by th' inventions of Quarters which this great General gave to th'Officers to make their Levies began to give the Law t' all Germany and threatned all that was independent and free And when th' Affair of Mantoua hapned it appeared then certainly to the Catholiques that it was not so much to the Religion of the Protestants that th' Emperor made War as to their Estates And the Peace he made with the King of Denmark t' intend th' oppression of the Duke of Mantoua made them understand That if the progress of the Arms was not stopped Catholiques and Protestants should be concerned in the same Mischief And that they had not begun t' act by the ruine of th' one but for to finish by the ruine of th 'others The descent then into Italy of th' Emperours best Forces under the Conduct of Cosalto and the condition Germany found it self in from thence to be discharged of that burthen of Soldiers which oppressed it gave courage to the Duke of Bavaria and his Party to speak high at the Diet of Ratisbon in favour of the German Liberty and then to demand the Degradation of Walsthein who was the Flayl and the most proper Instrument th'Emperour could have found t' impose servitude on Germany The Spaniards also to whom the fierce and indocile humour of Wallesthein was odious and who looked upon him as the greatest Obstacle they could have encountred upon the way they had made plain for the re-uniting of th' Empire to their Branch thrust stoutly at the Wheel the Duke of Bavaria had set a going The Protestants on th' other side who had been plundred or believed that they should be plundred and to whom th'exorbitant Contributions which Wallesthein had raised on their Estates were as fore-runners and presages of their approaching ruine Treated with the King of Swede to come to the relief of their dying Liberty and to make use of the Conjuncture of the disarming of Wallesthein and of the Licensing of his Troops who demanded but safe retrait and protection against the Commissions which were t'issue t' enquire of the Spoils his Soldiers had committed upon the Lands of th' Empire And so the Catholique Princes breathed away the fear th' House of Austria gave them and were assaulted with a greater and more dangerous fear raised from the Swedish Victories But if that Evil had not preceded the Remedy had not followed And if the Designs of that House had been moderate th' Arms of that Prince had never entred into Germany and that House had not tried the same Lot it made other suffer As to the League made between the King of Swede and the Prorestants who called him to their Relief It cannot truly be said that the King of Swede was one of the great Powers whereof we speak if they are considered by the fertility and riches of their Country By the Multitude of their Subjects and by other Advantages which are rather fastned to the Domination than to the Person of Princes But this Prince had such admirable Conditions in his Person and such a collection of natural and acquired Virtues that the quickly put himself into the posture of being that great Power whereunto the Powers of the League were subaltern and dependent At first they cast their eyes upon him through Jealousie had of their Country-men and gave not th' Honour t' one of their Nation but made the King of Swede chief of the League Or they thought it may be none of courage and understanding enough to bear the weight of that War And judged also That the King of
Subjection and Pay a common Obedience to the Power that Protected them It Question be made of this Let the same Faction now Live and the same Insurrections and Violences Assault us But as this was very Just so it was very Difficult And if it were th' Effect of an ordinary Address and of a Mean force to destroy so bold and opinionate a Rebellion and to Remit to their Natural places the parts torn from their Head and from the rest of the Body as were some of this Nation Philip the second and his Successors have made Experiment of it in the Defection of the Low Countreys And truly a Party as that of th' Hugonots Rooted in so many places of this Kingdome Animated to its Defence by Religion the most Violent and undaunted Motive that can provoke the Spirit of Man Proud and fierce not only by the Consideration of Effective Advantages and present Forces but also by the Memory of the Losses from which it was relieved and of the Weaknesse from which it was Restored A Party I say such as that strengthned with three hundred places whereof some were strong Aided by many Chiefs of Repute and Merit and supported by a great Forein Power was visibly Invincible In effect It could not have been overcome but by such a Warlike Prince as ours wh'had the Courage t' undertake all that was not Impossible if it was necessary The Prudence to Conduct that great Design and to disunite them whom it head not been safe t' have Assaulted Joyned and united T' apply gentl Remedies where violent had been dangerous and to Move by perswasion and Addresse where it was difficult to prevail by force and Constraint wh ' had resolution to force the businesse to the Wall and not to stop on th' Half way as it had been often done nor to retire by reason of the length of Time or Difficulty of the Work nor for the secret Contradictions of his Counsellors nor for th' open Oppositions his Enemies would make him nor for the Resistance He might Encounter in th' Elements nor for the contrary Alterations the starrs might raise against Him Wh ' had a strong Piety t' attract the favour of Heaven upon his Enterprizes and t' Invite them to descend upon his Armies without which all the powers of Men are Impotent and all their Designs Barren To declare now what Fruits we 've gathered from the Ruine of this Party and what the benefit of them shall be which are yet unripe and cannot long be ripening No person can truly doubt but that the first fruits are very great unless it be thougt a small thing That the King hath recovered this Party to the Soveraignty which his Father could not leave him and his Predecessors had lost That He is become Master of all his Subjects and Possessor of all his Kingdome That his Countrey which division rendred weak and open to many Injuries hath reassumed its forces and repaired its breaches by th' Union and Concord of its Inhabitants That the most culpable have no places of Refuge for their faults nor the most discontented any Retrait where they may Meditate and form Rebellions in safety That by this the King in Imitation of God hath drawn Good from Evill and so strongly reunited them t' his service who had given him Troubles that they 've since laboured profitably in his Designs and Aided Joyntly with the rest of his Subjects to gain him Victories and to prepare Triumphs for him That by this General and profound peace which h' hath established in his Kingdome H' hath been more safe and free to march abroad to quenon the fire that burnt his Allies and to break th' Irons were forged for Italy and for Germany As to the good which the future Time doth provide for us as one of th' Happy Consequences of the suppression of th' Hugonot party We cannot indeed Rellish it sufficiently whilst the Miseries of the Want do afflict us and Peace onely can make us truly sensible of it 'T is then we shall know by Experience that the King hath no otherwise done in the Levy of Moneys and in the subventions which the necessity of his Affairs forced him to draw from his people but as a good Father of a Family who doth not demolish any part of his House but to make it better than it was and of a fairer Structure The bounties wherewith he desires though to this day he cannot perform it to gratifie his Subjects Resemble to certain Rivers which being hid for some time in th' Earth break not out but never to return and to Run alwaies upon its surface The time of this favourable Change and of this profitable Revolution is very near The Clemency of God is ready to disarm his Justice and to take out of her hands the Flayl wherewith h' hath beaten us for so many years All the causes of our Expence cease with the War Peace which never comes into the World but Crowned with Abundance and hands full of Riches will issue shortly from the midst of this Confusion and from the Chaos wherein Christendome is plunged It shall not be a Peace of Glass as many others which have been seen but a Peace of Diamond which shall have beauty and solidiy And the foundations which the King makes and layes in all places shall be so deep and large so entire and sound that of a long time a fault is not to be feared It hath not failed truly on this part but that It had been Accomplished And the Moneys He hath advanced and the things h' hath quitted upon that Accompt are a sufficient Evidence to Christendome that nothing is so dear to him as the Repose of it The passion h' hath for Peace will Triumph at last over th' Inclination of th' House of Austria for War Though it cannot be stronger or more obstinate than it hath of late appeared 'T is not nevertheless Invincible and the great Engine that susteined it whose wheel was even in Motion in this Countrey being stopped and th'Hopes which do yet Nourish and give it a little Life which is Germany being of short Continuance It must of Necessty shortly fall and be destroyed And though the King had Power and Means t' overcome and to make more Conquests than that House hath t' Engage and Lose He never had a greater desire to lay down Arms than at this time and th' Higher he is in Prosperity the Readier to descend for the General Good and the stronger and more Impetuous the Current is of his Victories the more he 's disposed to stop it for publique benefit By virtue of his Magnanimity he will do more than all the forces of his Enemies can constrain him to do all will render Generously what will b' Impossible to take from him Nevertheless t'induce the German Circles to furnish them with Money to Compel us t' hearken to Peace whereunto by their Report w' are adverse they fail not to publish in all places
THE SECOND PART OF THE MINISTER OF STATE Written by Monsieur de SILHON Secretary to the late Cardinal RICHELIEU Englished by H.H. LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring and are to be sold at his Shop at the George in Fleetstreet neer St. Dunstan's Church 1663. To the Kings most Excellent MAJESTY SIR THE Women of Rome offer'd Jewels The Greeks Silver and Gold Sylla his Bloud and Jeptha his onely Child for Victory But your Majesty made no such Offerings And yet obtained a Greater Victory than any of them A Victory without Bloud And as it is th' Highest Victory that hath been gained So in forgiving Your Enemies Your Majesty hath taken th' Highest Revenge And as very Acceptable to God Because Forgiveness proceeds from th' Heart And that God for Christs Sake hath forgiven Us. The Prince that is Feared hath cause to Fear And t is safer for Princes to be Beloved for their Clemency than Feared for their Punishments The Law of the Jewes was the Law of Fear But of Christians the Law of Love And th' Enemies of Caesar did more envie the Pard'ning of the Pompeians than the Killing of Pompey Caesar is very Eminent in History for Pard'ning of Injuries Alexander for giving of Rewards Yet to th' Unthankfull person Alexander would not give a Reward nor Caesar Pardon an Injury And ther 's nothing that moves God to be less Carefull of us than Ingratitude which like the Sea turns Fresh springs into Salt water and may mind them of their Duty and Gratitude who are Guilty of the contrary To present Your Majesty with a Serious Frenchman in an English Habit is t' invert the Mode and Humour of Court And t' expose my Confidence to Your Majesties Accurate Judgement in th' Elegancies and Criticismes of th' English and French Languages which are much Improved by the Learning and Industry of them who delight in adding t' other mens Inventions And were not this Age Curious in th' Advance of Sciences Arts They would have their Cadences and be subject to Mortality with other things Yet they that busie themselves too much upon Speculative subtilties forsake the solid Foundations of Religion and pry so farr into the Nature and unrevealed purposes of God as to forget the Nature and Duty of Man The Subject matter of my Author is fitted to the Meridian of Statesmen and of State Affaires and communicates not onely Politique Essayes but abstruse Philosophical Notions which are of Familiar converse with Your Majesty whose Experience in the Intricacies of Government gives the Rule of Conduct to Your Privie Councellors And what was said of the French King Lewis th' Eleventh is verifi'd in Your Majesty That Your Majestie carries Your Councell with You wheresoe're Your Majesty Goes That Your Majesty may be th' Happy Instrument of Good to Church and State is the daily prayer of Your Majesties most Obedient and most Faithfull Subject and Servant HENRY HERBERT TO THE READER READER I give thee here the second part of the Minister of State which long since I promised thee and Confess it unjust to make thee Languish so long in expectation of so little a thing and that thy good reception of the first parts deserved better Expedition and to supply that by Promptitude of Labour which Could not be paid by th' Excellency of the Work but that which Caused the delay and suspension of the performance of my promise Was the Condition of the Time and the present State of Europe Having proposed unto myself not only to speak of it but to make it the Foundation and Basis of my Reasonings In th' Execution of this Design many Impediments delayed me as a person that had nothing but Moveable dust to build upon And the frequent and unexpected Revolutions which the War hath perpetually produced have often taken the prospects from me which I had taken and made the Foot to slide which was Advanced towards my work But to perform my promise at last I have Leapt over these ill paces and have stollen betwixt these Rocks to gain the place where I would Land and where I was expected by the too favourable and too obliging desires of many persons And I have made th' Ill fortune of the Times and the Condition of Affairs to be subservient to my designs and am entred upon a Cariere the War hath laid open unto me with Conveniency and which Peace will shut up at its Coming in by disarming spirits of sharpness and in blunting the points of Pens as of Armes I could have heartily desired that th' Ambition of our Enemies had been less Immoderate and that th' Attempts and Invasions they have made upon th' Estates and Liberties of our Allyes had not tyred the Kings Patience nor Constrained that Generous Prince to take into his Protection and secure by his Arms them whom he could not defend by his Intercessions and good Endeavours However since the Lot is Cast and that Justice hath drawn the Sword to revenge th' Injury which Reason nor Intercession could cause to be repaired I thought my course of life not permitting me to serve the King in his Armies that I ought to serve him some other way and that there are Means t' Incommodate his Enemies without using of Violence That th' House of Austria being the great Adversary the King hath in hand resolving to raise the Greatness of their Ambition upon two Engines Force and Artifice and this last though the most immaterial removing sometimes Burdens and sometimes overthrowing great Weights which by force were Immoâ—eable I did conceive that I should not perform a Small Act if I could render it less profitable or less powerfull And cure the spirits of other Princes and the spirits of their Subjects of the multitude of Errors wherewith that House hath prepossessed them to its Advantage And break the Chain that holds them Prisoners to the great prejudice of the Christian Common-Wealth I believed that the Kings good Genius for that purpose might inspire my Writings with the same Vertue and Success which heretofore th' Eloquent Discourse of Sir of Langey had in changing the Belief and th' Inclinations of a part of Germany when Charls the fifth had made such Malignant Impressions against his Master that with great Difficulty he obtained Audience of any person We are not altogether in that Distress and the Corruption of Resentments is not so general as it was in that Countrey There are nevertheless many Enchantments both there and in other places and darknesses to dissipate which are favourable to th' House of Austria and this is my present Work according to the Little Understanding God hath given me and the little Knowledge gained in the Matters of the World The manner of Assaulting this House which I do otherwise â—â—â—â—â—ence with Exceptions to the Kings and my Countries Interest cannot be geâ—â—ler unless it were too light And I blend so much Courtesie with the War I make it that I doâ—â—â— not but many will Accuse me of
of Mahomet and t' abolish th' Alcoran that Arms were taken up or that it was to constrain the wicked persons to change their Religion or to force Christianity into their spirits by the sword That is much estranged from the condition of our Religon and very contrary to th' exercise of the Primitive Church which opposed patience onely to force and permitted no other blood but the blood of her Children to be spilt when it was oppressed as shall be declared in another place where the proofs of the second branch of the Proposition proposed shall be produced 'T is then to the Limits of the Temporal Interests that the War against the Turk is chiefly restrained 'T is directly against the Power of th' Ottomans and no against th' Errors of Mahomet that Christians draw their Swords and for their Commission they have Right Valuable Titles Th' Usurpations made of the fairest Members of their Empire and the spoiles of so many Estates wherewith the Tyrant adorns himself are subjects which put it out of question that they may Lawfully Arm to Recover their Losses and to Recollect the Pieces which are taken from their Interests And 't is his constant design and his Religion by a perpetual Vow binds him to labour the Destruction of Christianity and the spirit of that barbarous Religion adorned onely with Rapines and Murders with the Proscription and Confiscation of the Lives and Estates of all them who are not of their Judgment do give a just power to Christians not onely to defend themselves when they are assaulted and to resist the storm when it Beats on that side but also t' assault and to prevent if some other Consideration do not oppose it That if the Course of the War and the Lot of Arms make it sometimes necessary for a Christian Prince to conclude a Peace or Truce with the Turk He ought Legally t' observe Conditions so long as the Turk observes them on his part and to make no breach if th' other do not begin or prepare to break But if the Turk who keeps his Soldiers in Exercise and his Men of War in Action and coasts the Countries of his Neighbours to gain some prey doth rush upon the State of a Christian Prince in Confederacy with the Turk any Christian Prince may relieve him with a good Conscience and Act Lawfully against the Turk without being a Violator of his Faith or Desertor of his World For besides the Duty of Charity and that general Obligation which the Right of Nations Imposeth to protect the Weak against the Strong 'T is Matter then onely of Defence which is ever permitted though it be Indirect and ceaseth not to be Just though it be Anticipated And to speak the truth what else doth a Christian Prince in repelling the Violence made t' another Prince than prevent what is prepared against himself Than make haste to Quench the Fire which burns his Neighbours House before it lays hold on his and assists to make Rampars and Barricadoes against the Sea which might over-flow his after it had drowned the Country of his Allies But whilst the Design of Ruine reposeth in the Turks breast and that th' Execution of the Vow is suspended the Conditions of the Treaty made with him ought inviolably to b' observed without the least infringement of the Zeal of publick Commerce and of Faith the principal Bond of the Civil life 'T is easie t' infer from what hath been said That Christians in general have but too many formed Subjects and too many prepared ways t' Enter when they please upon a just War against the Turk and there 's great cause of Astonishment as I have observed in the first Discourse That instead of turning their Arms against an Enemy that is not less Powerful than Irreconcilable they convert them against themselves they thrust them into their own bowels and make themselves drunk if it may be permitted t' use that Poetique boldness in the blood of their Brothers Fifth Discourse That the Defence of Injured Reputation is the subject of a just War Wherein that Reputation consists That the King could not with honour avoid breaking with the Spaniards who had caused the Town and th' Elector of Treves to be surprised being under his Majestie 's Protection 'T Is not to the conceived that the defence of a Country whether Direct or Indirect in the Manner as it hath been circumscribed should be the sole Title of making just the Arms of a Prince There are also other Titles and other Considerations which put Arms Lawfully in t ' his hand There are other wounds t' heal and other breaches to make up than the Ruine of his Subjects th' outrages acted against his Honour are to be revenged and the spots wiped off which are imprinted upon the Reputation of his Crown as one of the Pillars which bear up his Greatness and therefore to be carefully preserved from Blows that it fall not in contempt But in regard some may equivocate upon this word Reputation and take upon that occasion a subject of dangerous consequence it may not b'unnecessary to clear and distinguish it which may be done by a very easie distinction and in a manner is already declared 'T is certain then that there are two sorts of Reputation peculiar to States and which may be ranked in the number of Goods that belong to them th' one consists in th' Esteem which the strength of a Country hath gained from abroad and in the glory of it this is formed of the Merit and good fortune of the Prince of the Number and Virtue of his Subjects of the Duties of Subjection and of the Rights of Soveraignty in th' Extent and Situation of the Country in the Fecundity of Mines in Fortresses and Arms and Ammunitions of War Th' opinion then which streams and flows from these things and other the like in the spirits of Men Is the Reputation I speak of and where of no question is to be made but that the Prince ought to be very Jealous of it as of a thing which sometimes is of great Consequence when his forces are weak and which some have compared very aptly to the credit of Merchants which maintains them in honour and lustre though they b' effectively poore and gives them often Means to fill up the Concealed emptiness of their affairs and to repair the weak Invisible condition of their fortune But when a Prince is wounded in this kind of Reputation and his Forces are cryed down when His prosperities are lessened and disgraces Encreased when Endeavours are used t' obscure this Lustre of greatness and force wherewith th' Eyes of Strangers ought to be dazled and to draw a Curtain before th' Exteriour face of his Affairs 'T is not the subject of a just war The reason of it is that Strong Remedies are never to be used but against Extreme Evils nor Violence acted against accidents that may be Over-come by Industry There ought to be some proportion betwixt
th' Arms of Resistance and those of Assault When the combate is made by the forces of Wit there 's no Reason to bring the forces of our Body for defence False Reports are scattered abroad to our disadvantage Make the Truth shine in all places which is contrary to them Vigilancy and Ingenuity need not fear such Artifices and the designs of our Enemies will have a chance answerable to that of Mines which do no hurt if Vent be given them But there 's another kind of Reputation and another sort of Honour wherein the Prince ought not to suffer the least decay but pursue a Reparation with Armes if it may not otherwise be had when offended To speak it in a Word 't is the Dignity of the Crown and th' honour of Soveraignty There are certain Privileges and Prerogatives which the Right of Nations have fastned unto them that ought not to be touch'd without Resentment or Violated or slighted without opposing it by force Injury for example done to an Ambassadour whose person is Holy and Consecrated by common Right and by consent of all people and of all Ages is the subject of a Lawfull War And Francis the first cannot be blamed for breaking with Charls th' Emperour by reason of th' Assasinat of Rignon and of Frigose his Ambassadors whom the Marquis of Gast had caused to be Murdered and could never have justice in what posture soever he put himself to Demand it The Breach of a Treaty which is the mark of Disdain thrown at a Prince or of the small consideration had of his Country is another Title of just War That if the Persons of Ambassadours are Inviolable and ought universally to be respected because they are the Living Bonds of Commerce and th' Animated Instruments of the correspondency of Princes By the same Reasons Treaties which are th' Inanimate Seals and dead Impressions of that Commerce and Correspondency ought to be holy and the breakers thereof corrected with the punishment the Right of Nations permits to be inflicted And as one of the Princes will take advantage of the violation of the Treaty th' other promises to perform so by a necessary Consquence th' other must receive Dammage and that Right and faculty is obtained thereby to take reason of that Injury with the sword in th' hand if it be not given Civily and in a friendly Manner It may be seen by this That the War which the King made to Duke Charls is no Unjust violence nor the Conquest of Lorraine an unjust Invasion since it hath been drawn on himself by the violation of many Treaties made with France and who can take it ill if he have not lost all sense of good and the Taste of all that 's just That what was left in pawn and for security of a thing promised should be forfeited when the promise is not performed and the deposite Detained when the condition for restitution is broken But I purpose to Treat fully of this Matter in the second part and t' undraw the Curtain which I d' here leave at least if the condition of the time permits it and prudence adviseth it Observe another Essential point wherein Reputation is offended and for which Armes may lawfully be taken in hand and War made 'T is to redeem a Prince from vexation for the hatred is born us and because his Interests have some Conjunction with ours The King had just cause to defend the Duke of Mantoua by his Protection and Arms against the design of the Spaniards to strip him even for that Reason that he was born the Kings Subject and that they could not suffer a Frenchman to be a Soveraign Prince in Italy How deeply the honour of France was Wounded with that stroak and what shamefull Reflection was made by that Attempt upon the Dignity of the Crown There 's not a person but may judge of it without Explanation There 's not a person if he be not altogether blind with passion for Spain that can approve of their project t' establish in all places their Dominion and t' extend their Monarchy They shut the Door into Italy and forbid Entrance to the French what Justice soever opens it and what Right soever calls them thither And they who Take at all hands and Usurp on all sides will not permit the true and Lawful Masters t' Enjoy their Lands or gather what belongs to them if they are friends to France The Reasons the King had are remitted to another place and th' other Motives which excited him t' Espouse the protection and undertake the defence of the Duke of Mantoua Honour obligeth also a Soveraign besides other duties which may invite him to make the protection given to a weak Prince to be esteemed and to cause the Sanctuary offered to an unfortunate Prince to be respected I will explain this proposition by an Example After that the late King of Swede was Entred Germany with that Extraordinary success which accompanied his Virtue and that He had taught the House of Austria to know that it was not Invincible and had astonisht it with the blows received from th' hands of a Conqueror It s greatest Care was t' avoid a Ruine and as in a wrack to get some planks whereon to save what remained of goods and hopes The King wh ' alone could put a bridle upon th' Ambition of this brave Prince and Resist the Tempest which threatned the Catholique friends of that disconsolate Family offered them his Royal protection and the shade of his Authority without which there was no Safety nor Recovery for them Th' Elector of Treves beleeving He was not bound to perish with them who probably could not save themselves nor hinder him from falling but to fall onely for Company accepted of his Majesties protection After that who makes question but the King in honour and Reputation was obliged to defend th' estates and the person of that Elector from all th' Enemies Excursions and to turn also his Armes upon the Swedes in case they did not consider as they ought his protection but should violate his safeguard And in truth the King was so Religious in this behalf that He considered not what was Profitable in comparison of what was Honest nor the good of his Affairs in comparison of th' honour of his Word That his Majesty entred upon some Coldness with the Swede when he delayed the satisfaction was desired and to restore a place the King was obliged after the Swedes had taken it to cause to be rendred to th' Elector That if the King had reason t' use such a proceeding in favour of his Allyes and t' hold forth to them some Little Rigour upon that occasion 'T is visible that he had cause upon Stronger terms of Justice and Duty to break with them who gave such Advices and Lent their Armes not only t' undertake upon th' Estates of th' Elector of Treves but also t' attempt upon his Liberty and to make a Prelate and a Soveraign
Monarchies have their seat in the Persons of the Princes that possess them But in th' Assembly and Conjunction of th'Electors and of th' other Princes of Germany who together make the Body whereof th' Emperor is the most considerable Member and Superiour in Excellency to th' other Members considered apart and sever'd from the Body they form There 's no person also but knows That the Majesty of th' Emperor and that August Character which doth distinguish him from Monarques are not derived from the power he hath over a great extent of Country submitted unto him and over a great number of Subjects which he governs but arise from the Greatness to which he is raised and from the Rank that he enjoys above many Soveraigns that encompass him who do him honour and are bound in certain occasions as receiving th'Investiture of their Estates from th' Emperor to serve him with their Lands and Persons and owe him with exception t'other Soveraigns not of the Body of th' Empire a particular Honour and an extraordinary Veneration But lest th' Emperor following th' humour of Great Persons should give too great an Extent t' his Authority and make Invasions upon the Rights and Liberties of the Princes of th' Empire And lest the Princes puffed with the spirit of Soveraignty which they bring with them into the world and drunk with the sweetness of the Command they exercise over their Subjects should become Indocile towards th' Emperor and undertake to draw to them all th' Authority of th' Empire Constitutions have been made and Laws established which bound their Jurisdiction and qualifie their distinct Powers and hold the Ballance at its just point amongst them and make the necessary Counterpoise Lest that th' one becoming too strong should force and destroy th' other And 't is that temper which th'Emperour and the Princes of th' Empire have assaulted by several stratagems on divers occassions and the Limits which they would have often defaced 'T is that Counterpoise which they have endeavoured to unsettle and to ruine that Harmony in whose conservation th' Happiness of Germany principally consists the safety of Christendom and the most assured means of resisting th' Ottoman Forces when they over-run on the Land side And 't is that th' House of Austria doth enforce more of late than ever to perform what they labour with Sails and Oars 'T is the great work of their Aim and Ambition and could they master it as many times since the Battel of Prague they have been very near it it would not b' Impossible for them to convert Kingdoms into Provinces and to make up in time the Monarchy whereof they have so many years past laid the Design And therefore th' Affairs of th' Empire being in this condition I leave it to the Judgment of every Impartial Person whether the King had not a great Interest in th' Affairs of Germany and great reason t' engage And whether h'ought t' have promised to th' House of Austria the liberty of finishing at his pleasure and without resistance that pernicious design of Universal Monarchie Whether h'ought with Newtral Eyes and folded Arms have permitted th' Inheritance of his Neighbours to be burnt whose flames might easily reach his Countries To Judgment I submit it whether th' Aiding of Princes oppressed and stript be to protect Rebellious Subjects And whether distinction ought not to be made betwixt them in whose hands God hath put the sword to defend their Rights against Strangers as well as to punish th' Enemies of their Country and them who have no other Right to bear Arms than what they receive from th' hands of their Prince The King then could not abandon the cause of miserable Germany nor permit the Liberty of its Princes to be ravish'd without being an Enemy to his People and Desertor of the Christian Republique And he was no less obliged to maintain by his Endeavours and Arms the Constitution of th' Empire against th' House of Austria which laboured to destroy it than He was at that time when He used his Authority and permitted his Forces to march out of his Kingdom t' oppose the Count Palatin's design of Alteration And that the resolutions taken in th' Assembly at Worms should not be executed But this matter shall be further cleared in the Treary of the Monarchy of th' House of Austria As to the Princes of Germany who did not co-operate with th' holy Intentions of the King and departed from his Alliance and that of Swede who thought to secure their Estates and Fortune by a particular Treaty and to find in the Peace of Prague an Inviolable Sanctuary against the Evil they did apprehend These Princes I say are very blind or of small courage if they do not see the servitude is prepared for them if they dare not refuse to put their hands to the making of that Chain which is t' hold them if they have been taken with the Charms th' House of Austria had presented unto them and have followed th' ill inspirations have been given them by pretended friend if the Peace they thought to make hath not been so much a Peace as a change of War and passage to new Troubles and to more dangerous Emotions than those they had quitted if in their present condition they march betwixt Precipices and ought to be the Prey of the Victor on what Side soever the Victory falls and bear the punishment of their defection from the good Party or become their last Conquest and make the Conclusion of the Design they had in Judgment In this Dereliction wherein their imprudence and the Corruption of some other causes had cast them 'T is yet better for them to return to the good Party and find safety and honour by aiding in order to the Victory than to persevere in a Society where they must perish whatsoever happens I know well that 't is not easie to get out of a Precipice nor out of a Labyrinth when a man is far advanced into it But notwithstanding th' Artifices of th' House of Austria and the Toils they set in all places to stop the Princes escape from them Th' offences they have committed against them who came so generously to relieve them and th' high ingratitude wherewith they have paid the precious Blood was spilt and the life of one of the most Illustrated Persons of the world lost for their safety If there remains I say in their Souls any dram of Love for the Liberty of their Nation which hath been in great veneration vvith them and that they be ready to receive good fortune vvhen she offers herself unto them The favourable Revolution that begins to shine upon Germany vvill give them means to break the Bonds that hold them â—o reconcile themselves to their antient friends and to recover their first Correspondency vvith them vvhose Amity is their present Security and future Protection But they shall be entertained more fully on this Subject in another place As to the
The first of the League made betwixt the Pope the King of Spain and the Venetians for the Relief of Cyprus HAving given some Advises and prepared some Directions for such Princes as will reliever their Allies It may not be improper t' instruct them who have need of Relief of the Manner whereby they may be most safely Relieved and to shew them the dangerous places and discover th'Ambushes if Fortune casts them into it they will meet with in that way T'handle then this Matter and to distribute it in Order I say That although a Prince ought to b' Industrious to fortifie himself with Alliances and t'interess the greatest number of Powers he can in his Conservation 'T is ever an ill fortune for him if the good weal of his Countries and the Matter of his Fortune depends upon another Mans will And if he have not in himself and in his Power the principle of his safety and the Revenge of Disgraces If that fail him and a powerful Enemy assault him He is often oppressed before his Friends put themselves into a posture to defend Him And th' Evil hath struck its stroak before his Allies are resolved to go to fight bis Enemies The Reason of this is That a wise Prince ought not but with the Latest t'Embarque in a War or expose himself with precipitation in a thing that hath nothing certain but th' Expence that therein is to be made and whose success more than all other things in the world depends upon th' incertainty of Fortune and upon the motions of other Incident Causes Wherefore he must ever labour to divert the storm with Address before he undertakes to break it by Force And endeavour timely the ways of Accommodation and that the Means of his Intercession and Proposals precede the Motion of his Arms And when all this shall prove unprofitable and that the gentle Remedies to but sharpen th'Evils and that he must resolve to make use of Extremes There is much way to be gone over and difficulties to be overcome before arrival there many things are to be furnished and fitted before Entry â—nto the Lists and beginning of the Course for Contest And if he send but weak Supplies and light Refreshings to his Friends what will it prove but an impertinent advance and a lost Expence To cast a few drops of water upon a great fire which kindle it rather than put it out Provoke the disease rather than cure the sick person And if he resolve t'Arm powerfully and to raise great Forces in favour of his Allies but will not do it without taking of Sureties and Pawns for th 'others faith without agreeing upon Re-embursment and without many other Conditions which occasion a long Contest and Debate The Prince who hath th' Enemy upon him and the fire in his Country shall perish at leisure or make some considerable loss But th' Assailant makes his preparations before-hand and in silence the quickest and suddenest Invasion possibly to surprize him and t' oppress him before he can know it or can be Relieved and will cause all sorts of Inventions and Engines to play to stop or subvert the Subventions which might come from his Allies I will produce for the clearing and confirmation of what I have said two Illustrious Examples and from two of the wisest and most famous Nations of Europe in th' Art of the Conduct of Negotiations and governing of Enterprizes It must b' endeavoured by th' aid of the Narratives to make the face of the Discourse cheerful which too long a Reasoning would render austere and to divert the plunge him if it were not interrupted The first Example shall be taken from the League made betwixt Pius the 5th Philip the 2d and the Venetians against Selim the 2d who had assaulted th'Island of Cyprus This Evidence is to be given to the Piety of Philip that he did not expect Solicitation for the Relief of the Venetians in this occasion and that he offered them and sent them his Maritine Forces a year before the conclusion of the League But what was done in the pursute of it brought not the fruit that was expected The Remedies came not time enough and the Relief was prepared with so great Tediousnesse and Marched so slowly That Nicosia was lost before the Spanish and Venetian Forces met That was the Capital City of Cyprus and one of the best Fortifications of th' East As the Spaniards put not to Sea but with the Belief to secure it so they abated of their Edge when they knew it was lost And though in the beginning they 'd made shew t' and the Venetians in Earnest It was not possible after that losse to make John Adre Doria their General t' advance for the Relief of Famagoust which then held out and wherewith if it had been Conserved there had been hopes to Recover what was lost and to retake Nicosia Though this was so yet it was not the sole Rigour which Doria Exercised towards the Venetians nor the sole Bitternesse they had to drink from his Cup during the time of th'Expedition whilst th' Armies were at Sea and that they were apparantly to march for mutual Conservation Hee Commanded his Ships apart from the Venetians and marched separately To be free from Engagement in any Enterprize or to second th' heat of the Republique which could not resolve to retire without some undertaking The small Designs they proposed unto him he rejected as unworthy of the Forces â—e Commanded and the Reputation of th' Army In the great and difficult Matters He would not Engage by Reason of the small Time that rested to finish them And that they were upon the Declination of Autumn when the Tempests are frequent in the Levant Sea and Navigation dangerous So that two fair-Armies retired without doing more than making of a Noise and one of the greatest Preparations that hath been seen upon the Sea of a long â—ime Acted no memorable thing but in producing nothing that was memorable It was said That it was not of Kindness but of Jealousie That Philip so freely offered his Forces to the Venetians and was Enclined to that Design for fear lest if they went alone to dissipate that storm and to resist the great Powers of Selim Their Reputation might be raised to some Excess and make them Considerable in Christendome and particularly in Italy beyond what was expedient for the Good of his Affair But he sought a Temper of Aid which was impossible for him to find and as his Retentive Spirit and distrustfull humour disposed him naturally in all things t' allow the least He Could to hazard In this Action He Endeavoured to gain without danger of loss and to Defend the Venetians in declaring only a desire to Conserve them and t' hinder the progress of the Turk by the sole Reputation of his Armes and by the single Demonstration of his Forces But this Design miscarrying The League above spoken of vvas Concluded the following year though
it vvas not without much Contest and Labour The violent and passionate Endeavours of Pius the fifth for that business vvere stronger than all the Difficulties the Spaniards framed and all th' Inconveniences vvhich they Caused t' Arise A little stay must be made here to relate the proceedings which the Spaniards and the Venetians had there and to represent the subtilties and stratagems which they practised mutually in the war of Wit It being the subject which engaged me to product this Example and what hath been said above was only to serve it for passage and Avenue They were then eight entire Months in Contesting upon the Conditions of the Treaty without finding an End of them Much was agitated and little resolved and the flow and Difficult humour of the Spaniards furnished alwaies Matter for the Lengthning of it and sometimes Pretexts for the Breaking of it In the mean Time Famagousto was lost Insolence Encreased in the Turk with the Victory And th'Irresolutions the Christians Laboured of were a necessary Argument to him of their Fear and Weaknesse And yet it was impossible to Joyn spirits which had such different Interests and such Contrary ends as the Venetians and the Spaniards They that were first Exposed to the Turks Armes and upon whom the greatest weight of the War was to fall prest the speedy Quenching of the Fire But the Spaniards more remote from the danger had not so great a desire t' expell it and being out of distance to be suddenly toucht with th'Evill that prest the Venetians Endeavoured only to be delivered of another Evill The Barbarian Piracies which constantly vexed them They would have had the War Carried into that Country for to represse them or at least be assured that it should be done hereafter And that the Venetians and they should Joyntly endeavour and with all their powers to force from the Pirates their strong holds and from the Turks their Harbours for their Fleets But for Accord in this proposall an expedient could not be found nor security offered that would be received The disposition of the Venetians was suspected by them and they were diffident of such an interessed Policy as theirs and believed it full of Artifices and Snares And as they who have Inclinations for deceit have alwayes fear of being deceived They feared that the Venetians being in th'Haven would forget who Aided them thither and being safe from the Tempest that threatned them from Constantinople They would no longer think of the Warr at Argieres and Thunis nor Continue for anothers Interest the same Expences they had laid out upon their own Interest Th' End then they pursued and the Mark they aimed at was this To form a League offensive and defensive the Pope and Venetians That this League should be perpetual That it should have Forces alwayes at Sea and that the Confederates should make use of them according to th' Exigency of th' Occasions and Necessity of their Affairs Thereupon they made proposalls as Ridiculous as Magnificent and formed upon that foundation Designs as much swollen as their Courage And as high as their Hopes They desired after the taking of Constantinople and Ruining of the Turk That they should be bound to make War to the King of Persia To destroy Byserte Thunis and Argieres T' Exterminate the Seriphes from Africa and to pursue in all places Mahomets Sect with Sword and Fire and to pay him with use what He had so largely borrowed of Christendome They did after these Proposalls made raise the powers of their Master above all that was great or formidable upon Earth and Amplifie his Zeal to Religion Exalt his prosperities and give Wings to his hopes It was easie to be seen That all their Proceedings were nothing but Illusion and Artifice And that they laboured only to preserve th'Apparances of good Christians and gain Reputation amongst Credulous Souls and Weak spirits who are ever in greater Number than the Wise But when it was necessary to Come to the Particular Affair and to the Subject for which they were met The Relief of Cyprus There was nothing so Cold as they nothing less Treatable and after a long Debate and much Circumlocution about th' Affair They returned alwaies to their diversion That they much desired a League and that all Christendome would Unite in a Common Quarrel That Forces should be Constantly on foot to Counterpoise and Check the Turkish Forces But after all this Discourse they desired that their first Proposalls might prevail and for the present nothing Undertaken or Assaulted but on the Coasts of Barbary This League as they had formed it secured all their Estates and no Design was ever better Contrived for them nor more to their advantage for without Hazard of any thing they put themselves into a Condition to gain much They reaped without sowing and contrary to th' ordinary disposition of the things of this World their advantages Came purely to them and without any Precedent or Subsequent Evill The Levies permitted them to be made upon the Lands of th'Ecclesiastiques and the Croysades the Pope granted them in th' Old and New world gave them means to prepare a Fleet and t' Entertain the Ships they were obliged to furnish by the Conventions of the League They made no new Enemy nor new War They Continued only what they ever had with the Turk And carrying it into his Countrey they held it by Consequence at distance with theirs as they had done their Coasts And without being Constrained to Fortifie with Garrisons and Ships They became free from th' Invasions of the Pyrates whose Aid the Turk made use of at Sea and of such petty Invasions as ruined particular persons and much Incommodated Trade and they gained a great Reputation by that means in all places And with the great Forces they had in Readiness to pass from Italy into the Low Countreys They kept all their Enemies in Check and rendred themselves formidable from Levant to the Ponant with the same Forces The Condition of the Venetians was very different from theirs and the present State of their Affairs had another Colour and Face They had an Enemy in hand whose Friendship they were careful to cherish and with whom they could not b' at difference without great losses and without running of great danger They were exposed as it hath been already said to the first Impressions of his Arms and to the first strokes of the Tempest some parts of their States by Sea were at distance with th 'others and they could not relieve them but at great charges and powerful Fleets Candy alone was not less worthy of th' Ambition and Fortune of Selim than the Kingdom of Cyprus and that Island which bridles the Archipelagus and is the Passage by which the Pirats of the Ponant ought of necessity t' enter gives him as great cause of Jealousie as th' other and no less desire of being their Master And the nearness of the Turk to Dalmatia Esclavonia and Frioul
the Conquest of them or they are under shelter from th' Enterprises of th' one by the Jealousie of th' other and preserve their Liberty for that th' Ambitious hinder one another to ceize upon them and to become the Masters The Petty Republick of Ragousa maintains it self by the Tribute it pays to the Grand signior and by the Presents it makes to the Great Persons of th' House of Porta and th'Insolence of the Petty Sangiacs their Neighbours is restrained by Mony And it doth Homage to the King of Spain to be free from disturbance And permits what may please the Venetians who could be content to find some just occasion to possess themselves of it if they durst being a State very convenient for them and seared in the midst of the Gulf whereof they call themselves Lords And it would make their Possession and Enjoyment the more complete and firm There 's no question but the Duke of Florence would take from the Republique of Luca the Liberty and Peace it enjoys if Spain did not Support and Relieve it with its protection which is not given but sold as t' all th 'others that depend upon it It would be a great trouble to th' House of Austria if that State should fall to the Mercy of a Power that might prove too great by this Addition after it had been made considerable And would recall if it might the Bounties as it boasts laid out upon it or retain the Recompences as th' other says that have Rewarded their Service What had become of Geneva without th' Alliance of the Suisses and without the Protection of France Who knows not how often the Dukes of Savoy have resolved t' assault it with open Forces upon th'hopes of promised Spanish Relief when they were Amity with it and with th' Holy Chair which had not failed if they 'd been engaged in an Enterprise whose Appearence had been holy and Pretence pious And how often also Fortune and th' Incounter of things having discomposed their Designes and sent into smoak th'hopes of those Princes have they formed Conspiracies and prepared secret Parties to surprize and carry that place That if they now believe themselves free from that fear during the Minority of the Duke of Savoy under its particular dependency upon France and if the Suisses also seem to them a stronger Rampart than they were by reason of the present Conjunction which renders them more Considerable to them from whom they had cause to fear so 't is that this perpetual Vicissitude which alters human Things and that Incessant Motion wherewith the Wheel of Fortune doth turn them may produce such a Conjuncture when the French shall not have the Power or the Will to protect them And it would not be impossible If the Revolution which hath threatned Germany for many years were Ended But that it might extend to the Suisses Country which is the Frontier and that the Catholick Cantons might invade the Protestants as they have often projected And make by consequence the Rampart which defends Geneva to fall on the Catholiques side How much safer and with greater advantage might some of these petty Princes be made the Government rather than under the protection of a great Prince And might they not be happier to belong to a powerful Master who would watch for their safety and deliver them from the Fears and Expences they are at to conserve themselves Their Privileges also would be as Entire as they are and their Liberty greater since at least they should be Healed of the Passion whereof hath been lately spoken and of th'Importunate Pursutes made to them by those that Receive Pensions to Relieve them The Princes to whom they shall give themselves will be more concerned in their own Interest than in that shall depend onely upon their Crown And the Breach made in their Country if it should be lost would be much greater by th' Interest Reputation than if they lost it themselves being upon their Faith and charged solely with their defence And the more they are at the devotion of their Friends the more they will be indulged and in favour of their Inhabitants lest they should be perswaded to some change and that th'easiness of shaking off the Yoak they have voluntarily put on and to return to themselves oblige them t' undertake it But Mans condition is subject to so much Weakness and our Reason is assaulted with so many Errors that not onely Particular persons but whole Companies are often deceived in th' Election of the Good that is most proper for them and are taken with the Pomp and Apparences rather than with the Solidity and Truth of things Or else truly the Custome they 've practised and the Course exercised in some kind of Life and in some form of Policy is so strong a Band and so powerful a Charm for them who are taken with it That 't is very hard for them t' have so much as a thought to break and destroy Or else th' Absolute Power and Soveraign Authority are things so dear to them who ' njoy them That there 's no Recompence for which they would quit them and they had rather onely possess the shadow with Notorious Incommodities than to live in th'easiest Dependency and in the most commodious Subjection in the world or at last as there 's nothing in this world that hath not two faces or Good without Inconveniencies so though these Petty Princes are very sensible of the perjudice they suffer to conserve the fancy of Soveraignty they Adore the Matters of Subjection be they never so pleasant appear unto them more insupportable And they would b' afraid to worst their Condition in the Changing of it and to quit a known and Certain Good for a Doubtful and unknown Good And exchange Evils which the Newness would make Sharper and Heavier for Evils whose Custom had dulled the point and allai'd the bitterness What I have said is not to prepossess the thoughts of any person nor to perswade what a man hath not a will to believe but onely to shew one of the faces of the Medal That by such a Representation they may the better judge of th' other or else truly they may take it for a game of Wit and for an exercise of Reasonings which is void of Design and Consequence As to Princes who have but a Moderate Power as the Duke of Savoy for Example There 's no question but the Nearness of two great Crowns betwixt which he is shut is his Security And the Jealousie th' one hath lest th' other seize upon the Dukes Countries and take away that Medium and Barrier which makes betwixt their Territories the separation sollicites them effectively t'hinder the Conquest of it with all their Forces There 's no doubt I say but the French had rather have that Duke for their Neighbour than the King of Spain and that the Spaniards would not bear any thing with more impatience than to see the Domination of the
Eighth to divert Henry the Seventh the King of England from relieving the Duke of Britany to whom h' had a purpose to make War T' allay then the storm that might arise from that side and stop the Relief which Henry might bring or send in favour of his Neighbour Charls made a shew of desiring the Peace and offered to submit t' Henry the differences h' had with the Duke and t' acknowledge him Arbiter and Mediator of the Quarrel Charls with this delicate Bait and subtil Charm of Honour disarm'd Henry's warlick spirit who was fully engaged with affections and inclinations t' Aid the Duke of Britany But Charls made so powerful and quick a Levy and raised such great Forces that the Duke was over-run before notice was taken of it in England That Charls was entred into his Country with an Army and the Tragedy ended before it was known that the first Act was plaid Fourth Discourse Some Rules that Princes and especially they that are Weak ought t' observe when they have need to make use of the Relief of their Friends IN the precedent Discourse hath been seen th' unhappy Destiny of Weak Princes when they are assaulted by Powerful Princes and the various Artifices exercised t'hinder or slacken the Reliefs which might come to them from their Friends But since 't is necessary that there be such Princes in the world and that in the distribution of the parts of that little Engine for which men give themselves so much Labour and make so great a noise Equality hath not been observed 'T is of necessity that the Weaker follow the General Law and remain the Prey of the Stronger wh ' assault them or that they seek protection from them wh ' are able to give it and secure themselves under the shadow of their Authority or by the force of their Arms some Rules are to b'observed as of Importance to be known The first is That they make the strongest preparation in their power t' oppose th' Enemy that comes t' assault them and to resist his first Impetuosity which ordinarily is the most violent and put by their first strokes which are ever the most Dangerous For this purpose and in this publick Necessity theyâ—re to sell or engage their best and most precious things To sink deep into the purses of their Friends and upon their Subjects to make great Levies And 't is better for their Subjects t' endure a little blood-letting and for a short time by their Prince than totally and for ever ruin'd by strangers And a wasted Country as 't is said is better for him than a lost Country and Subjects a little plundred than Subjects constrained to change Master And though they cannot long bear that extraordinary Levy nor resist that excessive Charge It may fall out that th' Heat of th'Assailant may grow cold by a greater Resistance made on the sudden than was expected And may not b' offended at Proposals of Accommodation and that a door b' opened unto them to get our with Honour from an Enterprize whose Beginnings being unhappy the Progress might b' abated without doing more than making of a Noise and may return to th'Haven without other danger than the fear of a Tempest Or if th' Enemy do not withdraw upon th' ill usage Fortune affords them at the first Attempt and refuse to quit the place or to retire In gaining of time they 've done much which is the great Remedy of Unfortunate and Weak persons and gives Means to their Friends to come to their Relief and to bring them fresh Troops wherewith they may not onely maintain themselves but cause the face of War to change and turn the Defence in t ' an Assault and become th' Assailants of their Enemies The Duke of Savoy Grand-father of the present Duke did the like since the death of the late King in the Wars the Spaniards made him or H' had been suddenly over-run at the first sight and swallowed by the Spanish powerful Armies wherewith the Governour of Milan entred Piedmont and gave fear t' all Italy but to that Prince And yet with that wise and bold proceeding he not onely received and resisted their first assaults but gave them affronts And precedent it hath been observed that after the loss of Verceil which had it been well defended might have been kept strengthned by that fair and flourishing Relief Sir of Esdiguieres brought unto it who put the Spaniards upon the Defensive and compelled them to desire Peace which was concluded at Paris to their Advantage The second Rule is That as great sums of Money are to be expended and a great Army to be raised 't is of great importance to make them timely and not t' expose them to th'hazard of surprises which being dangerous in all sorts of affairs are much more in the business of War and d'ordinarily make breaches by which ill fortune enters so far into the Country That it proves a difficult matter to drive it out And it often falls out that they die of those strokes or are long sick of them And 't is what sometimes hath been to be desired by way of Addition to the Wisdom of the Venetians and to their excellent Conduct Their Historians also confess That one of the causes of the loss of the Kingdom of Cyprus was the delays they used in preparing against the Storm which they saw coming And in the Motions which troubled Italy about the Succession of the last Duke of Mantoua we 've seen them Arm slowlier than was necessary for their very design and have suspended many times th' Orders and Commissions they ' d given for the War upon uncertain and wild reports of a Treaty of Peace and were onely a studied Deceit and an affected Artifice of the Spaniards for to possess them with a coldness and relaxation of spirit 'T is certain at least That if after the King had forced his passage at Suza and taken away the Barrier that shut up their Entry into Italy They had not recalled th'Orders given to their General t' enter into Cremona They had taken of the Spaniards some eminent Advantage whilst they wanted Forces failed of Courage and th'Inclinations of the people were adverse unto them Who can I say doubt but if they had taken possession of Cremona which opened her Arms unto them and breathed after so easie a Yoke as theirs but that they had greatly fortifi'd the Party which they favoured and had obliged it may be by that Declaration the Spaniards t' have observed the Peace of Sutza and t' have caused to be sent to the Duke of Mantoua th'Investiures Accorded by that Treaty rather than t' have shut themselves up betwixt two so considerable Powers as France and Venice and some other Forces which Venice might have drawn t' its assistance or if the War had re-kindled as it did the following year and the Spaniards touched with th'Affronts they received from all parts have been forward at any price to take
revenge of the shame by Arms The War without all doubt had taken another form If the Venetians had been Engaged in it Mantoua in Apparance had not been lost All the designes of th' Enemies had been Abortive And insted of th' unhappy success of th'Expedition of Valese for being undertaken too late and with precipitaion The Republique had seen the fruits ripen at leasure if it had been timely acted of so generous a Design and without much hazard Nor had it been for that Action the more Hated of th' House of Austria It had been the more respected And all Italy had taken the greater courage for defence of the common Liberty if it had had before their Eyes so great an Example of Courage from them who give every day so great Examples of their Wisdom But however 't is the Lot of Human Wisdom to be sometimes defective or rather 't is the property of Evil Events to b'always attributed t'Unreasonable Causes or else 't is the Nature of all th' affairs that are put in Deliberation t' have many faces and reasons of all sides which encline t' Act or not t' Act one manner or other Right of Providence which governs the World to frustrate or cause to b'observed as it shall seem good the reasons of th' effects intended and of the promised success The third Rule shall be That if the Prince who is assaulted endeavours t' execute what hath been advised him to do and yet shall have need of Relief from his Allies to make th' Evil to cease or to stop th' Enemies further progress He must make use of their Forces for Diversion and cause them to march into th' Enemies Country if he be not over-pressed in his own Country and if th' Evil he feels or fears may attend that Remedy By that means he may ease his Country of them who would have laid it waste and had sworn the ruine of it and will secure it also from the spoil of Auxiliaries which cannot b' avoided And which may properly be compared to Physicians who cannot cure the body without th' use of it nor drive away th' ill humours which cause Alteration without the disordering of it and without leaving also sometimes some Ill Impression As to the success of this Diversion 't is Impossible but it must prosper and have th' effect it Aims at because it hath the character and mark of efficacious diversions and to b'executed upon a Country which is ordinarily of greater Importance and of stronger Concernment being his own to th' Enemy than that from which they would force him And there 's no apparance That a wise Physician will neglect th' Heart or some other Noble part t' intend the cure of a light Contusion or of some smal Scratch Let 's also say before return be made t' our principal Subject and for the better clearing the Matter of Diversion which will not much divert us and is a Neighbour to 't That one of the most memorable and the most judicious Diversions which the past Age hath seen was that which Francis the First made upon the Spaniards when the Constable of Bourbon the Marquis of Pescary and th' other Chiefs of th' Imperial Army came t' assault Provance Instead of marching streight t' oppose them and to fight them in his Kingdom He marched quickly with his Army in t ' Italy and fell upon the State of Milan and upon the Country in most favour with th' Emperor and upon the parts of all the rest of his Estates which were dearest t' him next to Spain nor was he disappointed of his Thoughts for th' Imperial Army failed not at the first Noise of that Expedition to quit Provance and to march towards Italy with so strange a Nimbleness and such an Incredible Diligence That it prevented our Arrival in the State of Milan and gave means to recruit and fortifie some places which were the security of the rest That if the Subsequent Success was as fatal to us as the first favourable And if the Cause of that War was Ended in th' Imprisonment of King Francis and by the Ruine of his Army This Disgrace ought not to b' Attributed to the Nature of the Diversion which was very pertinent nor a Prudential Cause charged with the production of a Malignant Effect which proceeded from another Cause This Disgrace I say is to b'attributed to the design of Fortune which undertook to mortifie French-men by th' ill Conduct of their Prince and by the faults of His Ministers of State and by that unhappy and undiscreet Diversion which he made upon the Kingdom of Naples whither he sent the Duke of Albany with a part of his Army For besides the great Weakness it brought to the Remainder of his Forces and the fair Game it made for his Enemies t' advance for th' Assault as they failed not to do in that Weakness He considered not that the Kingdom of Naples being less Important to th'Emperour and of less Esteem with him than the State of Milan His Army could not abandon the Milanois to Relieve Naples The Fourth Rule That if an inevitable Necessity b' upon a Prince to procure Forein Forces to march in t ' His Country and strengthen his Army It may b' of great advantage t' him t' have need onely of moderate Forces and such as b' inferior t' his That he may always give the Law and receive no Jealousie from them lest they should put him in t ' a kind of Subjection in the sight of his Subjects and abate the glory of Authority which governs his People and th' opinion of his Greatness by that mark of Dependency wherein he must inavoidably fall upon the Reception of strâ—nge Armies I speak not of other Inconveniencies which may arise upon th'introduction of Strangers into a Country and particularly if Ambition enters with the Power or if the Beauty of the Country or Riches of th' Inhabitants may serve them for Temptation to desire it who being born under a Rigorous Climate and in Salvage Countries are but too much tempted to change Dwellings and to gain Richer Habitations Philip father of Alexander by such an Invitation attempted the Liberty of Grece whereof the Romans as hath been observed made a Conquest That the Goths the Vandals and other Septentrionals have possessed themselves of their Countries who called them to their Relief And that six thousand Turks marching from Asia into Europe to serve th' Emperours of Constantinople charmed with the sweetness and felicity of that pleasant Country invited their Country-men t' establish themselves in Europe And it was the first cause of the Revolution of that Empire Wherefore wise Princes and Republiques well instructed in th' Art of Governing have at all times avoided th' Use of so dangerous a Remedy and th'Exercise of a Means so full of Jealousie as th'Introduction of a great Forein Army into their Country In the War which th' antient Romans made against Pyrrhus and when by the gain of some
an establish'd Councel in Italy which is formed of the Correspondencies and Relations observed amongst the Ministers of State whom they there entertain And especially betwixt the Governor of Milan and the Vice-King of Naples and their Ambassador at Venice In th' occasions then which happen in that Country the first Declarations are made by these four Heads which constitute as it were the first Tribunal where the Difficulties are agitated and Resolutions taken of what is most expedient to do in the present occasion The Result of th' Advises of that first Councel with a faithful Relation of the Facts whereon they were formed and the Reasons whereon they were grounded is sent into Spain t'another Councel framed of Intelligent Persons in th' affairs of Italy and who having past the great Employments of that Country have also the greater Lights and exacter Motions There the second Examination of the Business is made and th'advices and Reasons of the first Councels are put again to the Trial and Re-examination And as in th'Oeconomy of th'Human Body the Spirits which are formed in the Liver pass to th' Heart to be purifi'd and there to discharge themselves of the grosser part and from thence arise to the Brain where they receive th' ultimate degree of subtilty and light whereof they are capable and such a temper as renders them the nearest Organs of the Motion of the Body and of th' Operation of the Senses In like manner the Resolutions of this second Councel are carried to a Third which is the Councel of State of the Prince to receive there a Third Examination and to see if they may find a place in th' order of his affairs And if that which is conformable to the good of th' affairs of Italy whereunto the two first Councels have onely their Aspect be not contrary to the general good of their Monarchy They Act not onely in this Order and with so great a Refinement of Prudence in their own Affairs and which immediately concern them but they bring also the same Cares and the same contest of Spirit t' Examine th' Affairs of th' House of Austria in Germany and to direct the Form and Motion that ought to guide them Nevertheless with this difference That although they address as to their Centre the Particulars which they have collected as to the general Good of their House They so order it That the general Good remains always inferiour and subaltern to the particular Interests of their House and to the great Design they 've had to greaten it without Measure and to raise it to th' Universal Christian Monarchy I 've already brought some Examples for the proof of this Truth and I could bring others above number to confirm it if there were need and if it were not so evident and known that it would seem to give light to the Sun and to make his Light visible So that you must not b' Amazed if the Councel of Vienna is but th' Instrument of the Resolutions whereof the Councel of Madril is th' Author And if you see nothing come from that which bears not the mark of th' other and receiv'd th'Impressions of their Maxims and Conduct And since the knowledge of facts and of the true state of things is the Basis of Reasonings and that these have no subsistence if th 'others b'ill grounded And resemble the Colours of the Bowe in Heaven that are false though they are full of brightness and comeliness for want of a Body wherein they might b' infused and fastned They provide against this Inconveniency two way Th' one is by an unlimited Power they give to their Agents to distribute Moneys and not to consider any sort of Expence to be well informed of what passeth As to penetrate what is deliberated and resolved at the Results of their Enemies and Friends And that Expence is fully allowed them without Examination or Restriction and upon the single Account which they present Their Reason is that although this be Matter for Deceit and for Avarice to make unjust Harvests They 'd rather run th'hazard as Inconsiderable for the good which may arise to them as very great And they believe That an Expence well imploy'd in that behalf and a good advice given to purpose make them Recompence with Interest for a hundred lost Expences and for a hundred unprofitable Advices Th' other way is That no People of the world were ever more careful t' entertain their Correspondencies or a greater Number of them They do not affect onely specious ones and with illustrious Persons but they also form Correspondencies with all them that will b'obliged with them And Experience hath taught them that a Person of a Low Condition and of little sense may discover to them sometimes an important Truth which might have past by the Cares and Subtilty of great Personages So that 't is a wonderful thing and I 've been sometimes aâ—â—onish'd at it to see the great Number of Persons who make Copies in the Chanceries of their Ministers of State and the great quantity of Letters which their Ambassadors by every ordinary Messenger write by way of Original And 't is incredible to believe their diligence t' inform the Prince and his other Ministers of State of War or Peace of what is necessary for them to know As well the Bad as the good News is speedily sent away unto them and above all th' ill news as that which is of Importance to be timely known and without disguise to remedy in time and with necessary Provisions th' Evil which they declare or presage And that the Posts that bring them are as largely paid and as civilly used as they who bring the good tidings After then that they 've understood the present state of their Affairs and observed the place where it imports them most t' Act They turn on that side as hath been said the chief of their Forces t' Act the more safely and to break and overcome by an excess of Power all that may oppose it and give Resistance They resolve to permit small Losses and light Disadvantages in one place t' obtain great Successes in another and they well know that the Branches cannot remain safe when the Body of the Trâ—e is cut down and that after the wounding of the Nobler parts th 'others Die of themselves 'T is by this Principle that we 've sometimes seen our Frontiers covered with fearfull Clowds of their Men of War which have been nevertheless dispersed and that the Lower Germany hath seen formed against it great and formidable Bodies of Imperial Armies which have also been defeated Since w' are in the way to speak of the Conduct which the Princes of th' House of Austria have accustomed particularly t' observe in the War it may not be amiss to remark also here That when they resolve upon any great Design and that they prepare for some High Enterprize Th' act it with the most Privacy and with the least possible Noise Th'
them but that they would find a thousand Pretences of Honour to break without Disgrace and a thousand Evasions of Cons cience to Violate it without Scruple and that they will bring to their Relief as hath been in another place Discoursed that Maxim which they hold ever in Reserve to make use of in time of need That they are not obliged t' hold Faith with Heretiques Chiefly when it hath been given in things which help to confirm Heresie in any Country from whence they have a design to Banish it which furnish it with Food and Strength which swells and makes it proud with Temporal and other Human advantages for Subsistence That giving them the Reputation of Robbers of the People and for Ravishers of Estates as infallibly they will do They make use against them of that Opinion of the Casuists which is derived from the Root of Nature and whereof th' Heathen have not been ignorant That promises made to Robbers by force when Men are at their Discretion and the Power is in their Hands oblige not by Consequence th' Observation of them and impose not a Yoak which may not be broken without doing Evil. Briefly they ought t' hold for certain That the Spaniards enjoying Spain the fruitfullest Mine and the fullest Spring of the Cases of Conscience that is in Christendome And being Masters of the Stock from whence more abundantly than from any other place the sharp and subtil Doctors who make when they will such curious and exquisite Anatomies of th' Actions and Manners of Men and wh ' have full Magazines of Colours to disguise things who decide with a wonderfull Boldness such Difficulties as the Bible the Councils the Popes and the Fathers would not touch And failing for the most part of a fixed Point t' establish their Opinions upon and making use of so soft and flexible a Rule to measure them by as their Reasoning Know by consequent t'accommodate them when they please to th'Inclinations of them who consult with them The Swedes I say ought t' hold for certain That the Princes of that House will ever find some of their Doctors for the same Judgment is not to be past upon all of them who will maintain That not t' hold t' Heretiques what hath been promised them is no Evil when a Good may arise from it to Religion And to strip them of Temporal Goods which serve for Nourishment and Aâ—d t'Heresie though the possession of them had been promised is not an Action more blamable than to take a Sword from th' hand of a furious Person who might run it through his Heart what promise soever had been made to the contrary At the worst The Princes of the Time and particularly they of th' House of Austria are too Intelligent and too Ingenious to want th' occasions of Troubles when they 've use of them And th' Affairs of Christendome are at this day so vexed and confused that what care soever is taken to clear and compose them 't is certain that for a long Time there will be but too much matter of Quarrel and of offence for them wh ' have a mind to 't Tenth Discourse That the Confederation between the King and his Associates hath all the necessary Conditions required in a durable Peace Some Considerations upon the Nature of Leagues that they may the better be maintained IT appears clearly by what hath been above-said that the Troubles of Christendom cannot b' appeased by such deceitful and unfaithful Means as particular Peaces And that it were to build its Acquiescence upon Ice which would dissolve at the first Beams of the Sun to raise it upon so uncertain and shallow a Foundation And that it may be such as is desired it must be raised upon the Basis of a General Peace And that a permanent Confederation of them wh'are associated to make War be the Buckler of that Peace and the Rampier to secure it from th' assaults that may be made against it It must b'also the perpetual obstacle to restrain th' House of Austria and t'hinder it from making Invasions upon his Neighbours and to vex it for the future as it Hath done others for the time past And as there is so strong a Bond and so streight a Correspondency between the Branches and the Dependences of that House that it may be said they 've all but one Interest and that th' are seen to run to the Relief of one another with the same Heat and Impetuosity as if it were their own business In like manner all other things laid aside the Confederate Powers ought always to b'of a good understanding and ever ready t' act unanimously against th' House of Austria as often as it shall stir injuriously against any of them And resuming the spirit of Ambition which is so natural to 't and gives it so much trouble shall presume again to conspire against the Peace of Christendom and against the Liberty of those Princes And it seems to me that the Confederation now on foot between the King and other Princes who joyn with him to procure a just and sure Peace to the rest of Christendome hath all the necessary Conditions to form and maintain that fair Union and perfect Correspondency which we would oppose to that which unites and conjoyns th' House of Austria and its Dependences 'T is what I pretend to make appear in the following Discourse and in examining the Nature and the Conditions of the most famous Leagues which Christendom hath seen for the two last Ages and in discovering the Defects and Weaknesses where they have failed and which have been the Means of their Dissolution and Ruine To discourse then of then Matter I say That although there are two sorts of Leagues or that they may be considered under two different Considerations and under two distinct Functions Both of them have need of the same Supports for their Establishment and of the same Cares for their Duration There are some Leagues which according to the first Intention of them that made them have no visible Action in them nor Motion nor Life that is sensible which properly signifie no more than to secure from apprehended Motions of War and t'impede turbulent Princes from making of Troubles As Banks stop the Sea from over-flowing and restrain th'Invasions and Spoils which otherwise it would make Other Leagues are all in Motion and the first Idea under which they 're projected is to serve for Remedies against th'Evils which press and not against them which are feared To repel the Tempests which break forth and not to cherish the Calms that reign I will give you of both some Examples which shall be the Foundations of our Reasonings and may render th' Instructions to be drawn from it more easie and sensible In the time of Lawrence of Medicis the greatest Politician of his Age a League was formed and flourished and many other Princes and States of that Country associated to conserve the publick Peace and t'Arm unanimously
th' Inhabitants for Treasonable Crimes and t' hold all them Rebells wh ' have Qualities capable of Rebellion To Destroy or to Transport them into other Countries where they shall raise no Fears and where they shall not provoke so tender a Jealousie and so delicate a Distrust as theirs And insomuch that they well know that many Generations must pass and many Ages slide away before the Conquered people forgetting their first Domination under which they Lived b' Accustomed to the New and that forced Obedience and such as is not in their power to Refuse agrees better with their Proud and Imperious Humour than Voluntary Obedience which may be lost as often as Subjects change their Affections and gain New Masters They secure them by Garrisons and Colonies and by the Power of Governments and Magistrates which they put into th' Hands of their Country-men with Exclusion to strangers and by that means are Punished for the Vices of their Birth and make Repentance for Sins whereof they are not Guilty 'T is a Picture whose Touches are not from my Pencil or Fancy but which hath been borrowed from their Relations and from their Histories and whereof Italy th' Indies and other Countries are yet the True and Indubitable Originals And 't is the Desolation the King would prevent before it grow Dangerous and bear even upon the Heart of his Affairs 'T is the Tempest that he would allay before it break forth 'T is the true cause of the Relief he requires from his People and the Reason that compells him to set on foot that hard and sad Law of Conservation which permits the Diversion and Aversion of the greater by the lesser Evils Second Discourse Of the Spring of the Design of the pretented Monarchy of th' House of Austria some Advantages which th' Imperial Dignity brings with it above th' other Secular Dignities of Christendome FErdinand of Arragon one of the Greatest Politicians of his Time and who had alwayes Vaster Thoughts than Power was the Person that began to Conceive the design of the Monarchy hath been spoken of and did lay the first Foundation in giving in Marriage his Daughter and Heir Jane to th' Arch-Duke Philip Son of Maximilian th' Emperour His Marriage with Isabella of Castile had United and as it were Grafted in t ' his House all the Countries of Spain with Exception to the Kingdome of Granada whereof after a Ten years War and by the Courage of Ferrant of Gonsalve h' became Master and carried away the Sirname of Catholique which he hath Left t' his Posterity The same Success in Arms and the Vertue of the same Captain gained him from us the Kingdome of Naples recovered from the Kings of Naples his Kinsmen And rejoyned in his Person to the part w' had allowed him what w' had by Conquest kept for our selves Th' Interdict which Julius the Second thundered against Henry King of Navarre our Ally gave him Colour and Furnished him with a pretence t' usurp that Kingdome Hazard rather than Reason or t' Express it better a secret disposition of Divine Providence which inclines sometimes t' its Ends above the Reasons of Men and contrary to th' Appearance of Things made him hearken to the Proposals of Christopher Columna for the discovery of the West-Indies and Exposed unt ' him the benefits of the Richest Mines of th' Earth and th' Abundance of the longest Labour of the Sun since it hath Shined So that his Daughter brought Great Countries and Fair Hopes to th' Arch-Duke her Husband wh ' Enjoyed from his Mother the Low-Countries and the Country of Bourgognia above what he was t' Enjoy from his Father which was not small or Inconsiderable in Germany The Conjunction then of th' Heat and Courage of Germany to the Driness and Prudence of Spain being made and so many different Countries Collected in one House As so many Arms Expatiated into diverse places to surround and straighten the rest of Christendome He laid it for a Ground and Principle of the Doctrine he left t' his Posterity to retain alwayes th' Empire in their Jurisdiction As the Basis that ought to bear the greatness of their Ambition and as the Center where all the Countries whereof the Conquest was intended ought to Unite to make the Circle of th' Absolute Monarchy This was the first Idaea of this great Design and the Bud from whence he discovered himself This was the fore-cast of Ferdinand and his sweetest Hopes And though th' Ambition of his Son-in-Law gave him much personal Trouble and was the Disturbance of his Rest and Torment of his Age it might b' Endured with the same sense That Agrippina Mother of Nero did th' Advice of an Astronomer who threatned with the Sad and Tragical Entertainment her Son would give her if he came to th' Empire Answered Let me Dye provided that he may Reign Le ts make a Halt here that shall not be unprofitable and Consider before we go on what the Possession of th' Empire may Contribute to the design of the Monarchy 'T is certain that as amongst the secular Dignities of Christendome There 's none so High or whose Light shines so Lively as th' Imporial It hath also Extraordinary Means to become great or to draw where it please Unjustly or Justly all the Countries that depend upon it And th' House of Austria ' th made it appear since Charls the fifth was Elected to that Dignity and had Fortified the Powers of th' Empire by the Conjunction of so many gathered or usurped Countries The most remarkable Means and which have made most Noise whereof he and his Successors have made Advantage or Endeavoured it t' Extend their Greatness under the shadow of that Dignity are these The first is the Leagues which they 've made or found in Germany and which they 've ever had th' Address to fit to their Interests under other Pretences and to Convert them to their particular Ends under colour of Searching and of Pursuing the good of their Confederates This Invention hath been one of the Rarest and Subtilest Stratagems of their Policy And they 've scarce ever moved any Wheel that hath produced such great Success That had so present a Benefit That hath so long Acted and so Insensibly as this By this means they 've disposed of Forces that did not belong to them as of their own And having not the Fountain in their Power The Countries of their Friends They 've had nevertheless the Commodity and use of the Stream That 's to say of their Powers All the World well knows how much time they Imployed t' Invade and Obstruct the League of Snaube which was not Setled as hath been observed but to prevent th' Invasions that were in preparation and to repair the Violences that were Acted in th' Empire And th' History instructs us sufficiently of the Troubles Sir of Langey had to break the Charm that bound the Members of that League To give them a Clear sight of it and to
frighted them with th' Armies of th' Holy Chair which he would strengthen with his Armes And 't was then when they appeared averse t' his desire and that they would not Conspire and Labour Joyntly with him in the Ruine of France which was th' End of his Artifices At another Time he ' ndeavoured to terrifie the Pope and threatned so to Bridle him by the Councel and to reduce his power to such streight Limits That He would repent him of the want of Compliance to his desires and of consent to the passions He had against France And to render us Odious to the Protestants and to sharpen th'Hatred H' had Imprinted against us and to make fruitful the Seeds which H' had long before Sowed He made them believe That we were the Cause that the Councel did not hold in places Convenient and afford Convenient Conditions for them And at other times He would aggravate before the Pope the Precautions which were offered and the Preservatives wherewith we were furnisned to provide against the practices they formed and th'Evils they prepared against us at Rome and the Councel Insomuch that we had an hard Task t'undeceive the Germans to whom h' had given such Sinister Impressions of our Conduct and had use of an Extraordinary Industry Boldness and good Fortune to make abortive the proposals which his Ambassadors made at Trent That all Christendome would make a League to force us to renounce th' Alliance made with the Turk though no use was made of it but for the Good of Christians and for a necessary defence And to re-establish the Duke of Savoy his Uncle in the places of his Countrey which w' had taken though Lawfully and by a Just Title of War And for other Ends that concerned them and not Christendome and that tended to the Promotion of their Interests and not to th' Advancement of the Churches Interest From thence Issued those prudent Necessary protestations which Henry the second Commanded to be publisht at Rome and at Trent by his Ambassadors against those Conspiracies and Monopolies From thence came that General Resistance which the Suisses made to the practices of the Popes Nuncio Invented by th' Emperor and to the violence of his Endeavors to remove them from our Allyance and t' impede the permission of the Levies of Souldiers to be made in their Countrey in our favour I will not here forget a Remarkable passage of Charls's ill-will to France though the Turk was the publique Adversary as we 've already said which th' Imperial Dignity did assign him and that the Contributions of th' Empire which they call Romas Zuk are principally ordained to make War against the Turke That though the Princes and Protestant States t' ease them of th'importunities th' Emperor made them t' aid him against us As unwilling to shake the foundations of their subsistence which are in the Protections of this Crown and to give th' occasion of a nobler Trial more worthy of his Dignity made an offer to serve him with an hundred thousand Men against the Turk Yet he refused them and was obstinate in having that relief and subvention against the Crown of France Another passage also no less remarkable must not be forgot of the respect this Prince paid and th' esteem he rendred to th' Holy Chair and to the Councel for to gain th' heart of the Protestants and t' employ their Forces against us He permitted them during the sitting of the Councel and before in the view of the Legat and the Nuntios of the Pope and without their interposition He permitted them I say divers Assemblies and Conferences t' handle there and resolve of several Points that concern Religion and which ought t' have been decided by the Councel This was in effect to settle Herisie by his Authority which had been planted by his Connivence and give a new Title to those Errors which were believed to be but too deeply rooted If any thing of like nature had been acted by our Kings and if they had so insolently forgot that they were children of the Church there had not been Lightning enough in the Vatican t' have darted on our heads in the judgment of our Adversaries There had not been Colours black enough t' obscure their Honour nor Satyrs violent enough to blast it No question will be made of this Truth if memory b' had of the Noise which the Discourse of Poissy made at our Neighbours Courts and ours though it was assembled by the Pope's consent in the presence of th' Apostolique Legat and t' appease the Schism which toar us in piece and to degrade Heresie with the greater Solemnity as the Cardinal of Lorrain had made the King to believe it And nevertheless for such wicked Enterprizes and such sacrilegious Attempts as those of th'Emperour they murmured at Rome but betwixt the Teeth and secret Complaints onely were made and Discourses in th' Ear And whether the softness of some of the Court would not permit the Power and Fortune of Charls to be justled or that Prudence did advise Dissimulation and the Concealment of an Evil which to chastise had been a dangerous thing This proceeding passed unpunished at Rome Th' Arms of th' Holy Chair were not employed to punish it And th' House of Austria hath not since failed to conserve amongst its Subjects but also amongst the Subjects of other Princes the Reputation of being the Sword and Buckler of the Church For that House is so powerful in Artifices that it hath close and subtil Wheels to remove beliefs and fine and small Plaisters to disguise its foulness and cover its faults And 't is true also that France is unhappy in that behalf and that the zeal it hath ever had for Religion and respect it hath ever born to th' Holy Chair have scarce gained belief amongst men and t' insinuate into the spirits of its own Children and also of them wh ' have truely piety and good Intentions but give too much way to their heat which is not sufficiently enlightned nor discreet and too little credit to the light of others whose heat is prudent and considerate A fourth Expedient capable to gain Countries at easie Charges and Victories without Combat which th' Emperors of th' House of Austria would introduce into th' Empire and would have carried them far if they had not been hindred and if France had not been found in their way to stop them Is The device of Sequestrations This Stratagem hath so bad a Consequence to the Liberty of the Princes and States which depend upon th' Empire that even the most affect onate to th' House of Austria have been afraid and were scandalized And the Duke of Bavaria who from all times hath been one of the Pillars that hath supported the Greatness of that House sufficiently understood it in that sense by a Letter of the 13th of Decemb. 1629. which Sir Jocherius writ in his name to Sir the Nuntius Bagny in Answer to what the
said Nuntius had written of the 5th of October in the same year by which he represented unt ' him on the Kings behalf The consequence of th' Emperor's Refusal at the request of the Spaniards to give th' Investiture of such Estates to them who were the Lawful Heirs and comprehended in the first Investitures and to strip them to the said Estates by the means of Sequestration This concerned the last Duke of Mantoua They began to take this way and to put this Design in practice after the death of William Duke of Cleves The Spaniards that would upon any account invade his Succession which besides th'Extent and Goodness of the Country was of marvellous conveniency for them Obtained of th'Emperour That he would ceize upon Julliers by th' Arch-duke Leopald their King's Brother in Law and hold that place in Sequestration till h' had judged to whom of right the Succession did belong and had in Justice determined that famous difference wherein there were so many knots t' untie and so many Parties to content That the decision could not but be very long and very difficult This Invention of Sequestration if it had been in their power t' have setled it would have given them Means under the pretext of Justice t' have assured themselves in time of the possession of what did not belong unto them and whereof they were ceized by a meer congruity And there 's nothing truer but that of Pretenders whereof there 's ever some of them at their dispositions or the nature of the business which cannot be so neat and clear but that there will ever be some Shadow or Clowd that would be hard to disperse or the Forms also of Justice s ' often contrary to th' Expedition of Justice would make so many Difficulties t'arise and discover so many Incidents that the true Masters of a contentious Good tired with delays without an end and dispairing of ever drawing it from so powerful and covetous hands as theirs that retained it from them should be compelled t' hearken to Proposals made them to receive a Compensation and to take some real and effective thing for a few hopes ill grounded and for some vain and frivolous Titles Insomuch that they would become in Apparence Lawful Masters of that whereof they were before but unlawful Detainers And what in the beginning and in its original was nothing but force and violence would in its progress and sequel take the visage and the colours of Justice In that manner the Spaniards had resolved t'handle the Duke of Mantoua if he would have consented to the Sequestration of the Cittadel of Casal And they would it may be have done the like t' him if they had taken that place by force as they made great Assaults to take it Th' Offer which they caused to be made unt'him of Cremonis with reservation of the Cittadel of Cremona or of some other Country of like value in the French County instead of Montferrat is a tacit Approbation of the Violence they exercised because they did endeavour in some measure to repair it and a manifest Argument of the proceeding they would hold in th' use of Sequestrations and by th'Introduction of that new Expedient t' insinuate into the Countries which are commodious for them under some form of Equity and in preserving th'Apparences of Justice Charls the Fifth in truth in the difference which hath so long exercised the Dukes of Savoy of Mantoua and of other Princes upon the subject of Montferrat did not proceed by way of Sequestration before h' had given judgment upon that Affair Th' Enterprise seemed unt ' him too bold and jealous respect being had to the present Conjuncture And h'understood well that it cooled the good-will or them whom h 'had a desire to keep in Newtrality That fear stopped his desire t' usurp Montferrat under the pretext lately mentioned And he chose rather to draw that business into length and to make use of it as a Lure or a Bait to draw the Duke of Savoy t' his Party and to debosh from our Interests the Marquis of Salusse in hopes that the Montferrat on which h' had also pretensions should b' adjudged t' him As Antonio de Leve had given him t' understand At last having long plaid with the Duke's credulity and deceived the Marquis h' adjudged the possession of Montferrat to the Duke of Mantoua and left the claim to the Duke of Savoy to pursue it civilly and according to the forms of Justice in th' Imperial Chamber He did not intend to make him Greater on whose Countries h' had great designes and whom he would not permit to be Master of the Barriere which severs France from Italy and Keeper of the Gate by which the French might enter His Successors have been more hardy and inconsiderate than he was and have stirred an Engine which is never shaken but to their shame and ruine For that cause they raised a cruel and long War in Italy but what they gained thereby was to fall by the just judgment of God into the Precipice they would have avoided and to draw the French into that Country whom they would for ever have excluded Let 's return to the Matter of Sequestrators who 've plunged us so deep into this Subject and observe it as a strange thing that the Spaniards wh ' approved of them as plausible and just in other mens affairs will not hear talk of them in matters of Contest that concern them And all the world knows that in the Succession of Portugal Which five or six Pretenders rendred famous in the time of our Fathers Philip the Second would never consent that that Kingdom should be put in Deposite or permit as he said his Right to depend upon another mans Judgment which nevertheless was never so clear and indubitable as that of the Marquis of Brandeburg and of the Duke of Newberge for the Succession of the Countries of Cleves And that of the Duke of Nevers to the Succession of Mantoua A Fifth Expedient to grow Greater and a Right which th' Empire sometimes appropriates for its Advancement and Enlargement Is the Confiscation of the Feifes which do arise But in regard that we will treat of them in the Third Part of th' Affairs of th Palatinate and make a stay therein of purpose at least if some prudent consideration do not hinder us we will content our selves in sending the Reader thither and pass on having onely observed That th' Imperial Dignity brings with it these great Rights and fair Prerogatives and that it shines by these Illustrious Privileges above all the Secular Dignities of Christendom But insomuch that th' Abuses and Excesses of great Powers are not less dangerous than the overflowings of great Rivers And that they resemble to the Chariot of the Sun the Poets feign which cannot go out of its natural walk nor quit the Ecliptick Line without burning a part of the World The Powers of Emperors are limited as in other
the Peace of Christendom and hath this satisfaction t' have omitted nothing that might b' instrumental to cut off that fatal Succession of th' Empire from th' House that enjoys it And that Transaction of ill Augury which is made from th' one to th' other in the Persons of their Princes That he spares not any thing to reduce th' Empire to its first Condition and antient Form That what they would make Absolute and Monarchick is temper'd by th' Aristocracy convenient and proper for it And that all is Governed in Germany by the Laws and Constitutions there Established and not by th' Ambition and Capricious humours of them who would put themselves above the Constitutions and Laws That by the Re-establishment of that fair Order and by th' Observation of Things that ought to maintain it The Peace which ought to be given to the World b'Established in great Safety and that the Remembrance of Evils past whereof the return will not be feared serve only t' Augment the sweetness of present Benefits which are not in danger to be lost We shall shortly be sensible of the Time of this most happy Condition and though the War seems to be stronger and hotter than it hath formerly been 'T is the last Breath it yields up and the Liveliest flames of a Torch which is ready to go out Fourth Discourse Charls the fifth was of Opinion That t' attain the Monarchy H' ought to make himself Master of one of these three Countries France Italy or Germany That he failed of all of them and could not subdue but a part of Italy HAving cleared and unfolded that Principle of the Doctrine which Ferdinand left t' his Successors to gain the Monarchy Le ts see what profits they 've made of it and what hath been th' Harvest of s ' admirable a Seed Death which took away Philip of Austria in the Life of Maximilian th'Emperour his Father permitted him not to carry his Thoughts out of Spain nor to Labour at the Work whereof his Father-in-Law had drawn the Platform and which so long Exercised and so Vainly his Son Charls This Charls then failed not to turn his first paces of Youth towards th' Empire And though the Steps which carried to this highest Dignity were Rude and Slippery and that many Enemies were to b' Overcome and Barriers broken before Arrival there yet he undertook it The Maternal Family from whence he issued was had in Jealousie with the Germans wh ' had no mind to submit but t' a Blood purely German and that should receive no Alteration by a proud and subtil Mixture as was that of Spain He found also upon his way a brave and powerfull Competitor And Francis the first as well as himself aimed at the purchase of a Mistress for so th' Emperour called th' Empire which was worthy of all his Love of all his Fortune and Powers H' overcame nevertheless these two Obstacles and was happy enough in allaying th' Aversion of the Germans and in Triumphing over the persutes of the French The manner of the proceedings of these two Princes in this glorious Address was very different Francis it may be who was too Magnanimous for a Prince at least for th' Age wherein he Lived and whose Soul did breathe nothing but Generosity and Liberty said that Charls and himself offered at the purchase of th' Empire as two Honest Men pretended to the Love of a Fair Lady That they desired it without wishing ill t' one another and for that cause were provoked by Emulation and not by Envy And having Acted in that Concurrence only by good Endeavours with Promises and with Money He â—ood inferiour t' his Rival who besides th' Advantages of his paternal Birth added Threatnings and Force and made his solicitations in th' Equipage of a Man of War and accompanied with a good Army This high pretension having been Crowned with the Success he desired invited him to form another to which that served as a Plank as hath been said for the Christian Monarchy And the youth wherein he then found himself made him also hope That h' had time enough for the Cariere and was long t' Enjoy the good h' ought to gather at th' End of that course But th' Execution of this great Project answered not his Hopes and Fortune made them to Vanish when they made the fairest and most pleasing shew The Monarchy wherewith he was so bewitched slipt almost out of his hands and resembled th' Apples of the Fables which falling upon the Lips of the famished Tantalus and having Kissed them fell back and flew away That hapned twice unto him The first after th' Journey of Pavia where Francis the first was taken Prisoner And the second after the defeat of the Protestant League of Germany where the Duke of Saxe was also defeated In this success he was stopped when he was most Elevated as hath been often said and the fore-sight of Paul the third hindered his Progress and cut the Wings of his Victory in the strength of its Flight and rapidity of its Motion In th' other he was Blinded with that unexpected prosperity as with an Excess of Light and finding his Success higher than he had proposed it his Head turned in that manner that he knew not how to take th' Advantages over us which h' had before his Eyes nor give his hands to Fortune that would have Led him effectively to what h' had before but in Desires and Thoughts However Charls had no sooner turned his Eyes to the pretended Monarchy and faced that charming Object but he found himself Opposed by two great difficulties in th' Acquisition of it which neither he nor his could ever Overcome nor heal one of the two Wounds but th' other was open The first and the most Important was the want of Men of War which nevertheless was less felt in Charl's time than in his Successors And the second is the want of Money wherewith Charls was much Troubled and his Successors less felt And for that Reason it hath hapned unto them for their great design as t' him that would raise a great Building in a place where there are no Materials and having not Command of Quaries or Forests for Stone and Timber know not almost where t' have any nor from whence to bring any Above all Impediments God permitted that a constant supply of Men the most necessary thing for th' Accomplishment of their Work failed them for without Men as all the World knows great Warrs cannot b' Entertained or Continued permanent Progress cannot be made nor lasting Conquests A warlike Prince may run and pillage a great Extent of Country but he cannot take Root nor settle without supplies of Men. And that Collection of Bergers and of Vagabonds from whence issued the Republique that Commanded all the World began the Monarchy which their Successors raised in making a Provision of Men in changing th' Inhabitants of Conquered Cities into Citizens and Burgesses of Rome And by
' stablishing in the Circumvallation of Rome the principal Body from whence their Armies should be formed from whence their Garrisons should be drawn and from whence their Colonies should be sent These things nevertheless did not cool th' heat of Charls and these Difficulties did but the more inflame his Courage t' overcome them and above all t' Endeavour th' Opening of some Spring of Men of War that might be Plentifull and t' assure himself of some well peopled Country that might serve for the Recrute of his Armies and the Relief of all his Losses for that End Italy was very Rich and well Peopled Germany that was well Peopled and indifferently Rich and to which the Low-Countries whereof he was Lord served for a Binding and Fringe And France which had both these Conditions almost in an Equal degree and was equally Peopled and Rich. As to France h' had no Lawfull pretence t' assault it and there 's no Country in the World whose Possession was more Entire or less Troublesome to its Master Besides that it was then so strong and so well semented a Body and th' Union of th' Head with all the Members was so strict and firm that in the Condition wherein Charls then found himself there was no place for hope to Conquer it by Land not so much as to Shake it For that purpose then t' was necessary for him t' attend till he became more Powerfull and that Fortune offered him some just Object or some specious Colour t' undertake it which happens but too often in th' Intricacy of Affairs and in the Confusion of the Things of this World As to Germany and that Vast and Warlike Country where the Men of War do not decay and where Men are seen to be Born as to Dye in their Armies Th' Enterprize would bring with it Extreme difficulties and almost Invincible for though Charls was invested with th' Imperial Dignity which is particularly Known and Reverenced in that Country and that he had there a considerable Patrimony yet the Dignity being in it self but a single personal Title or at least not bringing to him wh ' Enjoys it a handfull of Hereditary Land And the power Joyned to it being but Subaltern and Dependent upon the Resolutions of the Dyets and Voluntary contributions of the Princes and free Towns of th' Empire But that and all the rest of the Revenue of Charls was not sufficient t' oppose the Powers of those Princes and Towns who would not fail t' unite themselves to defend the Common Liberty so soon as it should be Threatned And to draw to their party other Powers who would be Jealous of s ' Ambitious a Design and Interess themselves in Impeding the setting up of a New Monarchy in the midst of Christendome So that he well Understood that he could never subdue Germany so long as it Continued Entire and that nothing but the Wind of Division could bring him to th' Haven of his Ambition and to gain it many Ships must be Rigg'd and many Tempests Endured And to Conquer it many Parties were to be stirred up and disorders kindled in Germany or to b' ever in Arms and ready t' Embrace all Occasions that should appear and to make use of the Disorders which should arise But till Fortune provide so propitious an Occasion and so favourable a Conjuncture the most present Object which then appeared to tempt Charls's humour was Italy And that fair Country had lo many Temptations to make him in Love That the passion of Conquest began to fix on him and to Dart his first flames at it which truly was no strange thing for th' Emperour nor for Italy Th' Advantagious situation of it by which it borders France Spain and Germany and upon the Countries of the Grand Signior The Greatness and Mâ—â—nificency of its Towns The fertility of the greatest part of the Lands Th' Havens wherewith they abound and the great summs of Money which Trade brings thither the Wit of its Inhabitants and the Temper of their Souls make up in one person an Excellent Negotiator and a great Souldier And above all these Temptations the Seat of the Chief of the Church contained in it and th' Advantages might be raised there in Temporal Matters by the Master of it are capable to quicken a Soul less sensible of greatness than Charls's and to provoke an Appetite less greedy of Domination than his Though all this be true and that th' Excellencies and Inchantments of Italy might oblige him t' undertake the Conquest yet th' Execution was not easie and many Inches were to be gone over and ill wayes to be past before be could Arrive there for though Charls had then one foot in the Country and was possessed of Naples one of the fairest Portions and powerfullest Members of Italy 'T is to be considered That the Country being but at one End of it and by consequent Frontiere to the rest He could not advance without Encountring the Church Dominions and without an Hostile Entry which would have been an odious Business and Matter of scandal t' other Princes and have raised an ill Sent amongst the greatest part of his Subjects and even in Spain That th' Italians were not a people to be surprized by Artifices or amazed at Apparences That they looked far into the future and very clear in t ' others Intentions That they would discover his Design at the least noise he should make and smell the sent that should evaporate though never so little That the Jealousie they had for their Liberty was so tender that a very small Emotion would serve t' awaken it And distrust is so natural to them and they sharpen it so keenly by the vivacity of their understanding and by the subtilty of their speculations that they would not onely take Apprehensions of visible things but also suspect often what was not and give themselves many false Alarms not to be found asleep when true ones hapned And as that Prince in many occasions was Happy beyond his Hopes and Prudent above his Contemporaries in making good use of occasions Fortune presented him with a favourable Opportunity for his Design and managed it with so much Circumspection and Wisdom that he gained Milan and was seized at last of the noblest part of Italy This Country is the Centre whose Extremities confine almost upon all th' other States of Italy and the Line which makes the Communication of Spain with Italy by the vicinity of Genes an Appertenant And of Italy with the Suisses the Grisons and the rest of Germany by the vicinity of the Voltoline 'T is the place of Arms and the Rendevous to receive from the Low-Countries or to send thither from Italy Germany and from Spain the Men of War whereof those Countries may have need Insomuch that since th' Emperour was assured of that Country and had put his foot in Piedmont and in Toscany H' had his Reckoning and took his Measures to that End holding all the
Ecclesiastique Countries as Environed and the Gulf of Venice in Jealousie by the Means of the Coasts of Naples He commanded Sienna Porther cule and some other places which h' held on that side to be Fortifi'd to bridle all Toscany He would have had Montferrat of the Duke of Mantoua in exchange of Cremona and transmitted it to the Duke of Savoy with the Reservation of Casall Trin Mont calne and Pontdesture To draw from him Vercel Gallinare Inree St. Germacia Mazin and Crescentine H' intended to fortifie those Ten places so strong and to raise such powerful Barriers against th' Irruptions of the French that they should for ever lose th' hopes of forcing them and of marching in t ' Italy and th' Italians by consequent the Will of calling them in and solliciting of them t' an unprofitable Protection and impossible Defence Besides all this He conceived to pinch so near the Genoues and so to straighten them that they would permit of a Cittadel and deliver up t' him Savonna to make him Master of the Ferry of Barcellona and of Genes and that the Duke of Savoy would also accord unto him Nice and hold in subjection the Coasts of Provance and of Languedoc and t' have in his hands the Key of the Commerce of those two Provinces in Italy There remained also to Consummate the Work and to finish the Circumvallation which had taken away from th' Italians all Hopes of Relief and all Apparence of Resurrection but t' Invade the Voltoline and to ceize upon that famous Gate by which the Suisses the Grisons the Germans and the French and enabled to descend in t ' Italy but H' had Eyes only to Covet that Valley And it had been then too Dangerous for Him t' have used force to Ravish it The Venetians also whose Spirits were never more Warlike nor Arms sharper than at this Time would never willingly have suffered such an Usurpation upon the Liberty of Italy and such a particular Block-House against their Country of Ferme Land Besides the strong Troops and Excellent Chiefs of War which they 'd on Foot to fight th' Evil in its Spring They 'd as they 've now a back-door open by Sea and the facility of setting forth a Powerfull Navy to make a Diversion upon the Kingdome of Naples But what most affrighted Charls and Tempered most th' Heat wherewith He burned for the Conquest of the Voltoline was th' Interest which the Suisses would make use of t'hinder him and with all their Forces t' oppose him 'T is certain that there was not a Nation in Christendome more Warlike and more to be feared than that of the Suisses The variety of Religions which hath since Traversed them did not weaken them in the Division and the Time which changeth and alters all the World had abated nothing of their strength nor diminished their accustomed valour These Considerations suspended for that time th' Emperors design and made him resolve t' attend till Time and Fortune made some occasion t' appear more favourable for th' Execution In the mean Time by th'Evenness and Beauty of the Platform which h' had drawn to subdue Italy may be seen what a Great Master this Prince was in the Science of Conquering and Ingeniere in the Work of Destroying and Founding of Republiques It may also be seen by the Success which befell him in that behalf How God Confounded his Wisdome and laughed at his Projects How He made them miscarry when they seemed to be the most Happily advanced and nearest to their Period and how his Posterity which hath stuck to 't have found the Labour of a Squibb which scatters as it is fired and th'Exercise of Homers Penelope whose Web untyed as fast as it was Woven together Let 's return to th' occasion which Fortune made t' arise for Charls and to the way it opened for him to pass through in t ' Italy That proceeded from the Quarrel which kindled betwixt Francis the first and Sforces by reason of the State of Milan whereof they were in possession and which Francis would Recover as a Piece that did belong to him and as a Member Dependent upon the Succession which was fallen to him It was not difficult for a Prince great in Virtue and Powers as Fancis was to strip Petty Princes as the Sforces were whilst they were alone to resist him and sole supporters of the Quarrel But they staid not long in that Posture and th' other Princes of Italy suffered with too great Impatiency of Heart and as in the Centre of their Countrey a King of France who besides the pretensions h 'had t'other States there had also as they Conjectured too great a power for small Designs and t' Ambitious a Soul to be their Neighbour only to whom he might become a Master But all that was nothing to the Jealousie Charls Conceived and h' had there a stronger Interest than others by reason of the Kingdome of Naples The possession whereof being but staggering as of a Countrey newly Conquered to which Francis had Right and whose Inhabitants were naturally Lovers of Change and greedy of Novelty That made him resolve t' Aid th' Italians Design vigorously and to Labour with all his Power the Re-establishment of the Sforces But He staid not there and He was so happy That the French were not only driven from Milan and that the Sforces re-entred it but that the Sforces dying without Children He retained it for Himself or at least Conferred it as Emperor and as a Feif of th' Empire upon his Son Philip And so th' Italian Princes had the good luck to gain their desires in sending us beyond the Mountains but they had not all they aimed at which was that the State of Milan should not depart from a Prince of their Countrey and of Italian Birth In that Fortune supplanted their Providence and in being delivered of a stranger whose Neighbourhood was in Jealousie with them They had the displeasure to see his place taken by another who was not in less suspition with them or who knew better than the French to keep his Conquests and gather the Fruits of his Victory as Charls and his Successors have done 'T is not here to be forgot that after the Gain of the Battel of Pavia and the taking of Francis which were Acted in that War Th' Emperor took off his Vizard and declared himself publiquely for the design of the Christian Monarchy That hapned at the Consultation made whether he should set Francis at Liberty and whereupon the Duke of Alva gave his opinion boldly That h' ought not to do it and that the fatal Time was Come wherein it was necessary to Collect the many different Countries which compose Christendome into one Body and under one Head t' oppose it entire and united against the Turks Empire and th' Ottomons Greatness as the sole Means t' abate and destroy it But insomuch that the strongest Opposition and the most Invincible Obstacle which th' Emperor had
League before it could find a forein Relief or that France would stir in their Aid This prospered with him as he did Project it and h' had then Finished what h' had happily begun and which h' had above half done if h' had not been hindred by the Causes which have been in other places reported To this League another succeeded under the Direction of th' Elector Maurice of Saxe It was truly wiser than the former and th' Entery of Henry the second into Germany and th' Apparition of that new Star which in some sort might be said t' have hastned the setting of th' Emperour and darkned his Light gave them such a Fright that he sought an Accommodation with the Protestants and offered such advantagious Conditions provided they would quit the French protection that they Accepted of them and made their Peace at Passau without Comprizing of the King of France who did personally assist them They made it also without remembring the two Princes whom they ' d given him for Hostages And he restored them to their Liberty with as high a generosity as the confidence h' had expressed unto them In asking no other gages of their Faith nor n'other earnest of their Constancy It had not been sufficient for Maurice t' have Violated his Faith and failed so Magnanimous a Protector He who betrayed his own Blood and made War t' his Cozen Frederick to gain his Countries and Elector at Dignity from him In the year 1552. If to Compleat his Baseness and Crown his Ingratitude H' had not â—als ' Accorded to th' Emperour that the Troops of the League should march for his Service and b' imployed against France which had so much Contributed to make them Victorious and to free Germany from Servitude The Pretext the Germans made use of t' excuse that foul proceeding and the Plaister they used to Cover that black Spot was the Recovery of the City of Metts which Henry the second had taken in his March with the Consent of the Bishop and People who chose rather to Live under the Government of a Just and Powerfull Monarch as was Henry than under the Tyranny and Weakness of many Masters as were the Majestrates who Governed it The King having taken the Wind of th' Infidelity of Maurice whose Interessed and Changeable humour was not unknown to him and fore-seeing of future Tempests that might break upon France believed that the least he could do was to Seize upon some Important place to put a Bridle into th' Easiness of the Confederates Mouths and t' hinder them from breaking for fear of losing that place And in all Accidents to Secure and Strengthen his Frontier at their Charges for whose Security h' had hazarded his Country and exposed his Life and the Lives of his Subjects so Liberally for their defence That was but very Just and therein nothing done but what the Right of Nature permitted and the Law did Command And truly he that Remembers by what Title and Pretext th' Emperour did seize upon Cambray and Constance which were Imperial Towns and that it was done only to make Cambray a Rampar against France and Constance a Bridle to curb the Suisses would have Judged the King too delicate and too weak if upon better Foundations and stronger Considerations h' had made scruple to take Possession of a City whose greater part of Citizens did Invite him thither with earnest Desires and to March within their Walls after they had Lodged him in their Hearts and Affections All the Forces then of th' Emperour were drawn towards Metts the Rock against which th' Emperours Fortune was broken and where he began t' understand that it was necessary for him to Leave the World where he could not be what he had been and descend from the Theatre where he could no longer appear but in the posture of an Unfortunate Prince and as th' Example of Fortune The March to Ranty finished the Piece and the fear h' had there to be taken as infallibly h' had been by Sir of Guise if one of the Commanders of the Kings Army had not caused the Retraict to be sounded in th' heat of Fight and confidence of the Victory The fear I say which Charls had of that Accident confirmed him in that noble and bold Resolution which h' had taken to Leave the World and to Renounce Ambition th' Empire and so great a Number of Kingdomes He well saw that by th' Experiences h' had made and by the Disgraces h' had received since th' Access of Henry to the Crown that the Genius of that Prince was Superiour t' his and that h' ought not t' oppose his declining Age and th' infirmities of old Age to the growing Vigour of a flourishing Youth He considered that Henry was in Power t' affront him in War That h' had alwaies th' Advantage of him in Negotiations and Treaties That h' avoided the Nets were set for him at Rome and in their Councils And having dissipated the Practices that were hatched there to stirr up all the Catholique Christendome against him h' had the Dexterity to cast the Protestant part of Germany on th' Emperours back Behold then Charls out of the World wherein h' had made so much Noise and disordered so many things behold his Monarchical design fallen and the three Countries in safety any of which might have served for a Plank if h' had Conquered it to pass him to the Conquest of the rest But what is most considerable and the greatest Treachery that Fortune ever plaid him Is That while he Lived he saw th' Empire transferred out of his House and to pass into th' House of his younger Brother That he saw that Breach and had not the Power to prevent it and his Power and Credit unprofitably imployed to repair it The Germans Inclination t' have no Emperour but of their Nation and the Necessity h' had of them in the Wars h' had in hand obliged him to Consent that his Brother should be named King of the Romans He did indeed consent Conceiving in time either that Ferdinand should give the Demission in favour of his Son or to cause his Son to be named King of the Romans in quitting th' Empire to his Brother But Ferdinand wh ' had remembred all things that might raise him to that Dignity and for that End had been every Pliant to the Germans even to the prejudice of his Conscience And who saw himself reproached at Rome in the Person of his Ambassadors That h' had made way to th' Empire by the disdain of Religion and by th' Injuries h' had permitted to be done him would not willingly devest himself of a thing which h' had so dearly bought and h' had too much passion for his Son to prefern his Nephew before him in th' highest Dignity of Christendome Insomuch that th' Emperour having sent before his Retreat the Queen of Hungary his Sister to Ferdinand and Maximilian his Son t' obtain either a Demission of the Kingdome
of the Romans or a Substitution to the same Kingdome in favour of his Son Philip submitted to what he could not Avoid attended the Destiny which had Enthralled him and delivered th' Empire to his Brother which he could not settle upon the Person of his Successor Sixth Discourse That Philip the Second applied himself principally to the gaining of France t' open the way t' himself of the Monarchy That his Successors have Endeavoured t' Establish themselves in th' heart of Germany to make th' Empire return to their House and pass from thence to the Monarchy PHilip the Second was sick as his Successors have been of Charls's passion and was in Love with the Monarchy as a part of his Heritage but insomuch that England which had much Aided th' Advance of his designs had taken the Wing and that th' Empire which would have furnished him with Pretexts and Forces for th' Execution of many great Enterprizes had failed him He gave rest for a time t' his Passion and made no other Passion t' appear than for the Conservation of what his Father had left him and to fix what he found Changeable in his Countries He gained indeed at that time some Eminent advantages from Henry the Second which had the same Effect upon the Son it had upon the Father and which paid for the breach of the Truce wherein Sirs of Guise the Dutchess of Valentinois and the Caraffs did seduce him by the Loss of the Battels of St. Quentin and of Graveline and by the the Peace made at the Castle of Cambresis where he Delivered up in one day what could not have been taken from him in many years and opened the Gate of Civil Wars in France and shut it for the benefit of their Enemies since the success of the discovery of th' Indies which made him Depopulate Spain and Exchange Men whereof h' had great need for Money whereof h' had not so great Need. The Flemish Defection which he could not prevent by his Power though h' Enjoyed so many Kingdoms nor by his Wisdome though he was called the Solomon of his Age And the Mutinous and Unquiet humour of the Mores gave some allay to his great Design and abated in him that Monarchique Spirit which had so vexed Charls the Fifth But so soon as h' heard the Noise that the differences of Religion made and saw the Troubles which the Civil Wars had raised amongst us H' awakened a Desire which was but laid Asleep H' Embrac'd the occasion which did Smile upon him He resolved to Cut out the way to the premeditated greatness through the Ruins of France He conceived that he could not Work upon a Richer stuff for th' use he had proposed That he might find amongst us what h'unprofitably sought amongst others And the Spaniards having ordinarily that Advantage of us which grows from the Temperament of the Body and from the Constitution of the Climate t' Act with more fore-sight than the French Th' Abundance of Wealth and Men whereof this Kingdome cannot b' Emptied would Cure them of a Defect to which w' are not subject in making the preparations of their Enterprizes with great Slowness and destructive Length But this hath not as yet hapned and the same Providence which to this Time hath not permitted Men to cut the Istmes and the Streights that sever the Seas which God would have divided hath not permitted th' Advantages which one Nation hath upon another to Conjoyn with duration under the Power of a single Person Though Philip set all sorts of Engines in Motion and imployed all manner of Work-men he could never make such a Conjunction And France could not become his Prey though it was his Envy and he could not Enjoy it though he was passionately in Love with it And having lost great Forces and thrown away many Millions amongst us having Trassiqued much and made much War in France and stirred up the good and bad Religion t' attain his Ends nothing remained of Consolation t' him in the failer of the true matter of his Arms and Practices imployed for th' usurpation of the Crown but the Beauty of the Pretext by ' ndeavouring to give us a Catholique King For the Diversion of the Reader I will here observe and for an illustrious Example of the Vanity of Greatness and Instability of human affairs That 't is hardly possible to find a Life more Interwoven with good and bad and more Embrodered with happy and unhappy Accidents than the Life of Philip. 'T is certain that if he got much one way he lost much another way And that if one part of his Designs hath prospered another part hath mis-carried and become abortive Th' Accomplishment of his Marriage with the Queen of England which Encountred with so many Contradictions and Difficulties The Victories of St. Quentin and of Graveline whereof it hath been already spoken The Re-establishment of the Duke of Savoy stripped for th' Interests of his House and the French forced from Italy so many Countries Conquered and Mines discovered in the West-Indies the Succession of Portugal with its Dependences which he secured by his Arms against five famous Confederates The suppression of the Privileges and Liberty of th' Arragons The defeat of the Mores The gain of the Battail of Lepantha wherein h' had so great a share and the Re-taking of Thumis and Gouletta are indeed great Successes and will make a Noise to the Worlds End But on th' other side the Death of the Queen of England without Children and by Consequent the Possession of that fair Kingdome Eclipsed The loss of the true Religion in the Low-Countreys without preserving as our Kings have done the faith and obedience due t' him France delivered out of his hands when he held it as taken Th' Assault of Gelves and the Landing of his Troops in Ireland which were unhappy t' him And th'Invincible Armado that would have put England to the Chain and for which the Rodomonts it carried said That they desired no more of God than that he would not meedle in that Affair and Leave them to themselves That Invincible I say Armado that was but the sport of a grain of wind and th' Example of the greatest Shipwrack that th' Ocean hath disgraced since the time of Tiberius In a word of the three places which his Father had recommended unt ' him to keep with greatest Care and Jealousie as the Key of Spain of the Low-Countreys and of Africa Cadis was taken by th' English Flushing by th' Hollanders and the Goulete by Bosha Pialy These disgraces nevertheless and this variety of Accidents took not from him that Reputation which hath flown through all the places of th' Earth and which will be repeated in all th' Ages of the World And as no wonder or new thing since it hath been the destiny of the greatest part of great persons to b' exposed to the flux and reflux of Fortune and to dye rich in honour after many Losses Though
it was the Progress and Catastrophe of Philips Life He could not forbear to turn his Eyes towards the Monarchy and to cast some Glances upon Germany the Seat of th' Empire which is the Foundation and Centre It was it may be to shew his Successors the way they ought to follow t' attain it and the string by which they might recall and bring th' Empire to their House from thence proceeded th'Expedition of th' Admiral of Arragon beyond the Rhyne whereof shall be fully spoken in the third part in the Treaty of the Succession of Cleves from thence issued the Renewing of the same Enterprize by Spinola under th' Archdukes of Flanders and under Philip the third And though both of these Expeditions had a nearer End which was the Communication of Germany and the Low-Countreys and the Conveniency of making War with most Advantage to their Enemies and to draw them into their Chanels and Rivers yet the Spaniards whose spirits are alwaies much vexed with future Considerations and in all their Actions have more than one mark to shoot at besides the Particular and present Design had also in memory th' other General and more forein design t' open the way for themselves to th' Empire and to the Monarchy The Successors of Philip did not suddenly cast themselves upon so vast Enterprizes nor discover Designs that would much enlarge their Domination and Limits And to the Time of the Kings Death the Low-Countreys were the Field wherein they did most exercise their Armes and where they 've most appeared Sometimes in the Quality of Assaulters and sometimes in the Quality of Defendants A little before and presently after the Death of that Prince wh ' of right was called the Great and to whom amongst all our Kings the Title of Incomparable was Justly due if h' had not left a Successor that did Equal him The Spanish Armes raised Troubles and occasioned some Innovation in Germany upon the Succession of Cleves But their Armes were Chiefly exercised in Piedmont against the Duke of Savoy and they made their strongest Assaults to strip that Prince and to Ceize upon th' Intermedium which severs France from Italy This bloudy Game wherein France Acted sometimes with Faintings and Weakness and sometimes with Force and with some strains of Courage continued to the Troubles of Bohemia and to the last Emotions of Germany Th' Empire also from Charls the fifths time to that time had so much Changed from what it was that nothing almost remained but the Name and Armes and instead of that proud and high flight which their Eagles heretofore made and have since done they did now beat only with one Wing But after that the Count Palatine had begun that famous Quarrel which could not b' ended by the fighting of above fifteen Battels and Angred them whom since he could neither overcome nor appease when he had taken Bohemia from th' Emperor and carried the War into the Heart of Austria and to the Suburbs of Vienna The two Austrian Powers being United had speedily their Revenge of that Affront and having changed the Course of th' Action and turned their Defence into an Assault thrust out the Victory withâ—â— great Advantage that they were within little of the Compleating of it in seeing it Crowned with th' Entire Conquest of Germany That without doubt had hapned if th' Impatient greediness of the Spaniards as hath often been expressed had not made them forget that old Maxim which was so familiar with them Never t' undertake New Conquests till the first had been well setled And if the Countries of the Duke of Mantoua which in apparance ought t' have changed their Master Had not made them quit the Certainty for th' Uncertainty and t' Hazard what they Possessed in Germany t' Usurp what they could not take in Italy But let 's leave th' Affairs of the Duke of Mantoua to the third part and take up the Designs of the Kings of Spain to cause th' Empire to return to their House and to put under the Wings of those Eagles what they had in their Possession and to Joyn what they did not Possesse and was necessary to make up the Wheel of their Monarchy They well saw That after they were Possest of th' Avenues and had Ceized upon the Borders of Germany That if they advanced but slowly in that great and vast Countrey The business would be too long and that upon the way they should meet with so many Rubs and Impediments that they might peradventure be Constrained to stay or retire That did not divert them from the project of Invading the Voltoline for the Communication of Italy with Germany and t' establish themselves beyond the Rhyne for the Comerce of Germany with the Low-Countries As to the first th' Inhabitants of the Voltoline whom they 'd long prepared to Revolt against the Grisons their Soveraigns and the grain of Discord which they had there Sown and Husbanded with great Care made them believe that they should alwayes find the Door open there when they 'd a Mind t' enter and that the pledges would remain in their hands during the Contestation of the Parties As to the second the Death of the Duke of Cleves without Children and the Concurrency of many Pretenders to that Rich Succession put it out of Question that if they did not possesse themselves of all the Countrey yet they should gain some Important Member and some Considerable peece But their Providence carried them further and by an Intrigue Contrived with much Subtilty and Cherished with Constancy in the Family of the Princes of th' other Branch of their House They endeavoured to fix themselves in th' Heart of Germany to gain there great Countreys To take away the great stone of scandal and the fatal Obstacle which hindred them from Attaining th' Empire Thay they were Strangers to th' Empire and no Members of the German Body Two Principal Considerations gave them Courage to frame this Design and to Contrive th' Intrigue The first the Weakness th' Empire was fallen into since the Death of Charls the fifth and th' use the present Emperors had of their Aid and Protection against the fervent Invasions of the Turk wherewith Hungary was much annoyed and against th'Enterprises of Protestants who were held at Bay and hindred to stir for fear of their Powers The second Consideration was th'Imbecillity of th' Understanding and base Inclinations of th'Emperour Rodolphus under whose Reign the Peace begins which shall shortly beset forth His Brother Mathias's humour being alwayes unquiet and to whom Novelty troubles and disorders were vvonderfull Baits to carry him any vvhither And th' humors of the tvvo younger Brothers Maximilian and Albert vvh ' had neither Action nor Vigour and vvere vvholly for Dependency in a Submission and a blind obedience On th' other side The Genius of Ferdinand th' Archduke of Grets their Cozen and Brother in Law of Philip the third bred to Devotion and by the Custome of
t' Hungary Bohemia and th' Hereditary States This Declaration was not barren and vain it was attended with its effect as the Lightning is sometimes with the Thunder Mathias caused Ferdinand to come to Prague by deceit and with Mony but more effectively by the power of th' Army h' had in Bohemia He compelled Ferdinand to Crown him King of Bohemia leaving out the word of Election and without any Apparence of th'Intervention of the States Authority which was the work the Spaniards aimed at and for which they had long given themselves much trouble The Complement of the business and the Conclusion of it was That they made a Transaction with Ferdinand by which it was resolved In the year 1617. That th' Election of the Kingdoms of Hungary and of Bohemia should b' abolished and that the King of Spain should succeed to those Kingdoms in case of default of the strait Masculine Line of Ferdinand Provided That the King of Spain should relinquish all the Rights h' had in that Country in title of Granchild of th' Eldest of that House Whereupon 't is to b' observed that all this was done and concluded betwixt the Spaniards and Ferdinand with full Power and pure Violence and without the knowledge or participation of the States of those Kingdoms which are Elective And it was th' occasion of a great displeasure conceived by the Bohemians when it was made known to them and the greatstone of scandal against which they struck and which carried them to the Resolution they afterward took to reject Ferdinand from being their King and to call in t ' his place Frederick Gount Palatine under whom was framed in Germany an Intricacy of Affairs which five and twenty years of War could not dissolve And that a thousand new Accidents which every day arise forbid the wisest Men to discover th' Events and the way to get out of that Labyrinth That the Transaction was the principal and most violent Motive of th' Insurrection of the Bohemians appears by the Declaration of the States of Bohemia upon the rejection of Ferdinand of the 23d of May 1618. by which they complained amongst other things That there was an endeavour to transport the Kingdom t' another House It appears by the Letter which th' Elector Palatine wrote to th' Emperor the 25th of June in the same year wherein he says expresly That th' Authors of those Troubles were Persons who sought th' Improvement of some Forein Greatness and represents the Troubles which the Provinces of th' Empire would feel if Strangers were Introduc'd as had been done in the Dutchy of Juliers It appears also by the Declaration made by the Bohemians in the year 1619. upon th' Election of Frederick the First wherein they clearly said That Ferdinand endevour'd to translate the Kingdom of Bohemia under a Forein Power But since there 's nothing so easie as t' Accuse and Disguise an Accusation That every Person flatters himself in his own Cause which h' adjusts and beautifies as he pleaseth And that the Paper receives what is imprinted upon it as a Glass doth represent all that is set before it Let 's produce the testimony of Ferdinand and the proofs h' hath furnished to the Bohemians Complaints 'T is certain that his Predecessors speaking of their States ever put this Expression of our Kingdomes and Hereditary Provinces The word Hereditary Accompanying onely the Provinces and not the Kingdomes He Transposed the word to the beginning of the Clause that he might Fixe and Incorporate himself upon the Kingdomes as Provinces and made it thus of our Hereditary Kingdomes and Provinces And in his Monitory Letters of the 30. April 1620. agaist th'Elector Palatin by which he summons him to Leave in a Month The Kingdome of Bohemia and pretends that that Crown was fallen to him by Natural and Successive Right There was another Cause which was doubtless known to the Bohemians and obliged them to change their Master and to seek another yoak than Ferdinands whose person otherwise was not unacceptable to them 'T is the strong and Implacable Aversion that Prince had against Heresies and th'hot and burning zeal t'Exterminate them out of his Dominions and in all places where his Authority was acknowledged At twenty years of Age He made a vow t' our Lady of Loretta He renewed it at th' Age of forty three to our Lady of Celles which is betwixt Austria and Styria and Confirmed it a little before his Death by the Report of Father Lamorman in that Book of the Virtues of that Emperour The Zeal truly of seeing the Ruine of Heresies and of placing living stones in the Temple of God t' use the words of th'Apostle is very Commendable in it self and t' have no sense thereof is to be wholly deprived of Charity towards ones Neighbour which is one of th' Ends of Christianity There must be a want of Piety to the Church to which Heretiques make Wat No Love for the Glory of God which is Prophaned by Fable Worship But though this Zeal may be as hot in th' Heart as it should be and burn within Though it may be much inflamed in it's Principle yet it ought not t' appear but Tempered with Discretion nor break out but by measure and Rule thought not to procure its End but by convenient means by the waies which God hath ordained or hath left to Prudence to make Choice of Above all he may b' assured that its Operations are ordinarily better effected by gentle and peaceable than by violent and bloody hands And suppose it to be an ill Invention to Kill instead of Healing and to pull down an Edifice t'hinder the burning of it That in Truth there are Constitutions and Encounters where strong Remedies are to be used to stop the Contagion of Diseases which gathet and where Houses are broke down to prevent the fire which they cannot put out from burning of others mens houses and consume that which might have been preserved In this I have given some Rules in the first part and in several places I say some what of it here and there as conceive it necessary and as th' Abuses which I see there Acted oblige me But t is Chiefly necessary in kindling that Zeal in the Spirit of Princes t' infuse also convenient Lights for their Conduct And what I have said in other places ought to b' observed and cannot too often be remembred That great Persons cannot commit small faults nor General Causes removed by small Ruines Sebastian the last King but one of Portugal before that Kingdome was subdued to the Power of Spain is a very Remarkable Example of what I have now said The Queen Catherine his Mother having trusted his Education with Religious persons honest Men indeed and of Eminent Learning according to their profession but unexperienced in th' Affairs of the World and in the Science of Princes Their greatest care was t' imprint deeply into the Soul of this Prince naturally valiant the desire of