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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57253	The political will and testament of that great minister of state, Cardinal Duke de Richelieu from whence Lewis the XIV, the present French king, has taken his measures and maxims of government : in two parts / done out of French.	Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de, 1585-1642.; Du Chastelet, Paul Hay, marquis, b. ca. 1630.	1695 (1695)	Wing R1423; ESTC R38036	208,968	393

Power whereas they have despis'd it hitherto with an incredible infidelity In that case the Barbarians will either live willingly in Peace with your Majest's Subjects or if they are not so wise as to do it they will be compell'd to do that by Force which they have refused to do by Reason Whereas at present tho' we think we have no War with them we receive all the Evils of it and we neither enjoy Peace nor the advantage we ought to reap by it We will find Calm and Safety in War which is very advantageous with Men whose natural Infidility is so great that there is no way to avoid it but by Force It now remains to examine the Expence which will be necessary for the maintenance of the number of Ships above projected which tho never so great will be inconsiderable in comparison of the advantages we will receive by it And yet it may be done with two Millions and five hundered thousand Livers according as it will appear by the Settlement which will be inserted at the end of this Work SECTION VI. Which Treats of Trade as a dependency of the Power of the Sea and specifies those which aremost Convenient IT is a Common but a very true saying that as States often are Inlarg'd by War so they are commonly inriched in time of Peace by Trade The Wealth of the Hollanders which properly speaking are only a handful of Men reduc'd into a Corner of the Earth in which there is nothing but Waters and Meadows is an Example and Proof of the usefulness of Trade which admits of no contestation Tho that Country produces nothing but Butter and Cheese yet they furnish all the Nations of Europe with the greatest part of what is necessary to them Navigation has made them so famous and so powerful throughout the whole World That after having made themselves Masters of the Trade of the East Indies to the prejudice of the Portugueze who had been long settled there they have cut out a great deal of Work for the Spaniards in the West Indies where they injoy the Major part of Brasil As in England the greatest part of those whose Circumstances are the least easy maintain themselves by common Fisherys the most Considerable drive a greater Trade in all the Parts of the World by the Manufactures of their Cloth and by the Sale of Lead Tynn and Sea Cole which are productions of their Country The Kingdom of China the Entrance into which is allow'd to no body is the only Country in which that Nation has no Place settled for their Trade The City of Genoa which only abounds in Rocks makes so good a Use of its Trade that I may safely affirm that it is the Richest City in Italy if the succors of Spain * The Manuscript is defective in this place France only abounding too much within it self has hitherto neglected Trade tho they are as conveniently seated for it as their Neighbours and might free themselves of the assistance they receive from them on that account at their own Cost The Fisheries of the Ocean are the easiest and most useful Commerce which can be made in this Kingdom It is the more necessary in that there is no State in the World so well Peopled as France That the Number of those who are out of the Road to Heaven is very inconsiderable compar'd to the Catholics who living under the Laws of the Roman Church abstain the third part of the year from the use of Meat And that none of the dispensations practised in Spain are used there to eat Meat at all times under a specious pretence Trade will be the easyer for us in that we have a great number of Sea Men who heitherto have been oblig'd to seek out imployment among our Enemyes having none at home and we have made no other use of them hitherto but to get salt Fish and Herrings But having wherewith to imploy our Mariners instead of being Constrained to strengthen our Enemies by weakning our selves we will be able to carry into Spain and other Countrys that which they have hitherto brought to us by the assistance of our Men who serve them France is so fertile in Corn so abounding in Wine Flax and Hemp to make Cloth and Riggings so necessary for Navigation that Spain England and all other Neighbouring States must have recourse thither And provided we know how to improve the advantages which Nature has given us we will get money of those who have occasion for our Goods without troubling our selves much with their Commoditys which are of little use to us Spanish English and Dutch Cloths are only superfluous we may make them as good as theirs getting Wool from Spain as they doe Moreover we may have them more conveniently upon the account of our Corn and Linen Cloths if we will exchange them to make a double gain * The Draps de Sceau are made at Roan and the Draps de Meunier at Remorantin and Elbaeuf Our Kings having made a shift with Draps de Berry we may very well make a shift now with Draps de Sceau and de Meunier or Millers Cloth which are now made in France without having recourse to those that are made abroad the use of which will be abolish'd by this means as well as the Serges of Chalons and of Chartres have abolish'd those of Milan And indeed the Draps de Sceau are insomuch request in the Levant that next to those of Venice made with Spanish Wool the Turks preferr them to all others and the Citys of Marselles and of Lyons have heitherto driven a very great Trade in them France is Industrious enough Not to stand in need of the best Manufactures of our Neighbours such fine Plushes are made at Tours that they are sent into Spain Italy and other foreign Countrys the Plain Tafetas which are made there also are so much in Vogue throughout France that there is no need to look for any elsewhere Red Purple and Spotted Velvers are made finer there now than at Genoa It is also the only place in which Silk Serges are made Mohair is made as good there as in England the sinest Cloths of Gold are made finer there and Cheaper than in Italy So that we may easily forbear that Trade which only serves to foment our Laziness and to feed our Pride to stick solidly to that which may increase our Wealth and imploy our Mariners insomuch that our Neighbours may not improve our labours at their cost Over and above those above specify'd which are the best in the Ocean many others may be made The Skinners Trade of Canada is the more necessary because there is no need of carrying Money there and that they take such Commodities in Exchange as scizzer Cases Knives small Pen-knives Needles Pins Bills Hatchets Watches Hat-bands Points and other sorts of Mercery Wares That of the Coast of Guiny in Africa in which the Portgueze have long possess'd a place call'd

the Bay of Gattary under Five Land-Batteries not daring to keep the Sea before 19 of yours were all burnt or sunk with the loss of Five or Six Thousand Men of 500 Guns and a considerable Store of Ammunitions of War for the Relief of Fontarabia are great amends not for the Losses you sustain'd at St. Omer and Fontarabia which were not considerable but for the Gains you missed in not taking the said Places If to this Advantage we join that which you had before when your Arms made your Enemies lose in the Port of Passage 14 great Ships a great number of Guns Colours and all sorts of Ammunitions it will be found that if the Spaniards mark this Year as being favourable to them they esteem themselves happy when their Misfortunes are less than their Fears Finally the Combat of the Gallies perhaps the most famous that ever was fought at Sea where 15 of yours attack'd as many of Spain and fought them with so much advantage that your Enemies lost between Four and Five Thousand Men and Six Gallies among which the Admiral and two Patrones did not a little signalize that Action This Combat I say shews that the Prudence of your Conduct has not only been accompany'd with good Fortune but also that the Boldness of your Commanders has been seconded Several things are observable in this War The first thing is that your Majesty only engag'd into it because you could not avoid it and that you only laid down your Arms when it was proper so to do This Remark is the more glorious for your Majesty in that you were often sollicited by your Allies to take Arms and still refus'd to do it and that during the War your Enemies often propos'd a particular Peace to you which you would never hearken to because you could not forsake the Interest of your Allies Those who shall know that your Majesty has been forsaken by several Princes who were engag'd with you without abandoning any of them and that notwithstanding some of those who did remain steady in your Party fail'd you in many important things they have still receiv'd Effects from your Majesty suitable to your Promises those I say will acknowledge that if your Majesty's good Fortune has appear'd in the Success of your Affairs your Virtue equals your good Fortune I am sensible that had you broken your Word it would have lessen'd your Reputation considerably and that the least loss of that kind in a great Prince is irreparable But it is no small matter to have perform'd ones Duty in sundry occasions in which Vengeance and the Quiet which is naturally desir'd after a War induce one to do the contrary It requir'd no less Prudence than Force nor less Effort of Mind than of Arms to persist almost alone in the same Design which was to have been prosecuted by the Union of many Nevertheless it is most true that the Defection of several Princes * Saxony first abandon'd the King of Sweden Brandenburg the Landgrave of Hesse several Hans Towns Wirtemberg Parma and Mantua of Germany that the Duke of Parma's being oblig'd to abandon your Party through the necessity of his Affairs that the Duke of Mantua's Death and the Levity of his Dowager-Mother to the Young Duke who was no sooner Mistress but forgetting all her Obligations to France she turn'd publickly against it that the Decease of the Duke of Savoy and the Imprudence of his Widow who lost her self because she would not receive the Assistance that was offer'd her I say it is most true that all these Accidents never shook your Majesty's Resolution and tho' they alter'd the state of your Affairs they did not hinder you from persisting in your Designs The Second Remark worthy of great Consideration on this Subject is That your Majesty never would condescend to free your self from the Perils of War by exposing Christendom to that of the Ottoman Arms which were often offer'd to you Your Majesty was not ignorant that you might have accepted such a Succours with Justice and yet that Knowledge could not prevail with you to take a Resolution dangerous for Religion but advantagious to obtain a Peace The Example of some of your Predecessors and of divers Princes of the House of Austria who do particularly affect to appear as Religious before God as they are in reality to their own Interests prov'd too weak to induce you to do that which History informs us has often been practis'd by others The Third Circumstance which has caus'd a great deal of Wonder in this War is the vast number of Armies and of Sums which were requir'd to sustain the same The greatest Princes on Earth having ever made a Difficulty of undertaking two Wars at once Posterity will have much a-do to believe that this Kingdom was capable to keep up separately and at their own Charge Three Land and Two Naval Armies besides those of their Allies towards the Subsistence of which they contributed considerably Yet it is most certain that besides a potent Army of 20000 Foot and between 6 and 7000 Horse which you kept all along in Picardy to attack your Enemies you had another in the same Province compos'd of 10000 Foot and 4000 Horse to defend the Entrance of that Frontier It is moreover true that you kept one all along in Champagne of the same Number with this last One in Burgundy of the same Strength One no less powerful in Germany Another as considerable in Italy and another in Valtelina at certain times And what is most to be admir'd the major part of them were design'd more to attack than to stand upon the Defensive Although your Predecessors despis'd the Sea to that degree that the late King your Father had not one Ship your Majesty nevertheless during the whole Course of this War kept 20 Gallies and 20 Ships in the Mediterranean and about 60 well Mann'd in the Ocean Which has not only prevented your Enemies Designs upon your Coasts but has done them as much Harm as they design'd to do us Moreover you have yearly assisted the Hollanders with 1200000 Livres and sometimes more and the Duke of Savoy with upwards of a Million The Crown of Sweden with the like Sum. The Landgrave of Hesse with 200000 Rixdollars and divers other Princes with divers other Sums according as occasions did require it By reason of which excessive Charges the Expences of every one of the Five Years during which France has supported that War has amounted to upwards of 60 Millions which is the more to be admir'd in that it has been done without taking the Sallary of Officers without touching the Revenue of private Persons and even without demanding any Alienation of the Fund of the Clergy all extraordinary means which your Predecessors have often been oblig'd to have recourse to in less considerable Wars Thus 60 Millions of Expence every one of those Five Years an Hundred and Fifty Thousand Foot both in your Armies and

produce apearent arguments to Condemn the same tho never so necessary Men must lay aside all Passions to be able to Judge and to decide what is reasonable on such occasions and there is no small difficulty to find the dertain point of a just Proportion The Expences which are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the State being fix'd the less a Prince can raise among the People is the best In order not to be forc'd to raise great summs it is necessary to spend little and the best way to make moderate expences is to banish all Profusion and to Condemn whatever may tend to that end France would be too Rich and the People too abounding if it did not suffer the dissipation of the public Revenue which other States spend with rule They lose more in my opinion than some Kingdoms who pretend some Equality with us Commonly spend A Venetian Ambassador told me one day wittily upon this Subject speaking of the Wealth of France that in order to make us perfectly happy he only wish'd we knew as well how to spend that well which we dissipate without reason as the Republic knew how to lay out every Quatrain without waste and without overmuch husbandry If it were possible to regulate the appetite of the French I would think that the best way to manage the King's purse were to have recourse to that expedient but as it is impossible to prescribe bounds to the greediness of our Nation the only way to contain them is to use them as Physicians do famish'd Pationts whom they constrain to use abstinence by keeping all manner of Victuals from them To that end it is necessary to reform the Finances by the suppression of the chief means by which Men get money unlawfully out of the King's Coffers Among them all none are so dangerous as that of the * Persons imploy'd to pay private services Comptans the abuse of which is grown to that heigth that not to remedy it and to ruin the State is one and the same thing Tho it is useful to use them on some occasions and that it seems necessary in others nevertheless the great inconveniences and the abuses which arrise by it do so far surpass their usefulness that it is absolutely necessary to abolish them Whole Millions will be sav'd by this means and a thousand conceal'd profusions will be redress'd which it is impossible to discover as long as the secret ways of spending the public Treasure will be in use I am sensible that some will urge that there are some foreign expences which by their Nature must be kept secret and which the State may receive considerable advantages by which it will be depriv'd of whenever those in favour of whom they may be made will think they can get no more Money out of them But so many robberys are committed under that Pretence that I am of opinion upon mature deliberation that it is better to lose some advantages which may accrue by it than to be thereby exposed to all the abuses which may be daily committed to the ruin of the State However not to Obstruct the means of making some secret Expences to the advantage of the State a million of Gold may be allowed for the said private expences on condition that the laying of it out shall be sign'd by the King himself and that those who shall have a share in it shall give acquittances for the same If any one urges that these Comptans are necessary for the remitments which are in use I say that it is one of the reasons for which it is fit to remove them Since Men have liv'd in former ages without the aforesaid Comptans the same may be done again and if in laying aside the use of them the use of Farming were also abrogated instead of doing any harm it will do a great deal of good Some perhaps may wonder why since I know the use of the * Persons imploy'd to pay private services Comptans to be of ill consequence I did not retrench it in my time The great Henry was sensible of the evil establish'd in his Predecessor's time and could not remove it The Troubles and Intestine broils the foreign Wars and consequently the great Expences and the extraordinary Farms the King has been oblig'd to make and to let out to raise Money have not permitted the thinking on the Execution of so good an advice The ruining the Huguenot Party abating the Pride of the Grandees maintaining a great War against Powerful Enemys in order to secure the future Tranquillity of the State by a good Peace are all means which have been used to reach the ends proposed since that is the way to remove the Causes of the Toleration of those abuses The Subject of the Comptains having given me an occasion to speak of the letting out of extraordinary Farms I cannot forbear saying that the great augmentations of the revenue which may be made that way are so far from being advantageous to the State that on the Contrary they are very prejudicial and Inpoverish it instead of Inriching it Perhaps this proposition may be looked upon at first as a Paradox but it is impossible to examin it carefully without discovering the Justice and Truth thereof The King's Revenue can only be increas'd by the augmentation of the Impositions which are laid on all sorts of Commoditys and therefore it is evident that increasing the revenue that way Expences are increased at the same time since those things must be bought dearer which were bought cheaper before If Mear grows dearer if the Price of Stufs and of other things rises the Souldiers will not be able to maintain themselves and consequently it will be necessary to augment their Pay and the salary of all Workmen will be greater than it was before which will make the increase of the Expence answerable to the augmentation of the Revenue and tho it will be a great grievance to the People the Prince will be but very little the better for it Poor Gentlemen whose Estates consist in Land will not improve their Revenue by such Impositions the Fruits of the Earth will hardly rise in Price at least for their advantage and if the Times make them dear the less of them will be sold so that at the Year's end the poor Gentry will find no augmentation in their Revenue tho a very considerable one in their Expences by reason that the new subsidys will raise the Price of all those things which are necessary for the maintenance of their Families which they will make shift to maintain at home tho' poorly but they will be no longer able to send their Children into the Armies to serve their King and Country according to the obligation of their Birth If it be true as it is most certain that the sale of those Commodities which your Subjects deal in diminishes according to the increase of Impositions it may happen that such augmentations will lessen your