Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A29595
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The interest of England in the present war with Holland by the author of The Dutch usurpation.
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De Britaine, William.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing B4808; ESTC R6810
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10,083
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31
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received The Hollanders who have a vast trade thither they being strangers and not trading to the Gulf till some time after for several years paid their Customs but since the Troubles in England refused to pay though all other Strangers pay to the English resident there which may be reasonably estimated at 20000 l. per annum and have been detained by them from the King of Great Britain about 30 years Anno 1671. when the King of Great Britain at his own charges for a peaceable Traffick and Commerce not only for his own Subjects but for those of other Kings and Princes in Europe made a War against the Pyrates of Argiers and by his Naval Forces were much disabled and brought to a Treaty The Hollanders writ to their good Friends of Argiers that they should conclude no Peace with England for they wanted Provision and could not continue long at Sea If I should present you with all the Sufferings of his Majesties Subjects from these men they would make a Book of Martyrs but the image of great things are best seen contracted into small glasses His Majesty out of his Princely Wisdom hath left no means unattempted for reparation of his own Dignity and for compensation of the injuries done to his good Subjects but could effect none Therefore Vltima resolutio est gladius War is the darrein resort of every wise and good Prince unto which his Majesty was necessitated they being the first Aggressors and that upon such clear and pregnant evidence as no King ever undertook a more just War For as in Capital causes wherein but one mans life is in question in favorem vitae the evidence ought to be clear so much more in the judgment of a War which is capital to thousands They have expos'd his Majesty to contempt by their false Libels and Medails The Reputation of a Prince ought to be as sacred as his Person vita fama pari passu ambulant Life and Reputation are the same in judgment of Law for that person which has lost his Reputation he doth but survive his own Funerals Contumely to a private person is but a private injury but to a King it s an affront to a whole Nation for in the Honour of the King is wound up the safety and reputation of the people and not only his own Subjects but all Kings and Princes are obliged to vindicate his Majesties Dignity It s not enough for a Prince to be great among his own Subjects but he must carry a Grandezza amongst Kings there 's his Glory which by the art and malice of these unmannerly Libels may be much impeach'd They have seised upon his Dominions and Plantations in the East-Indies and do unjustly detain them from him They have disturbed the Factories of his good Subjects there They have disputed his Majesties Sovereignty of the British Seas here alledging that by the Magna Charta of God Almighty its free and that there can be no dominion or propriety in the Sea which they urg'd with much zeal against the Portuguez in the East-Indies But when they had subdued them and the Kings there they make it Death and Confiscation of Ships and Goods for any person to pass the South and North Seas there the Dominion of which Seas is of a greater Latitude then that of all the Kings and Princes in Europe And all the Arguments which they use to assert their Right and Dominion thereunto are Sword and Cannon I do assure you they are smart Arguments But we may see that the unwarrantableness of an action is often hid in the Glory of the success And those men which should have been the Pillars of a State are become the Caterpillers of Kingdoms yea and worse too for the Caterpiller as a modest and sober creature only makes bold with the Fruits of the Earth but these devour the Land and People too Now they begin to be look'd upon as the Pesti ducts of Europe the scorn and indignation of every good man They have supplanted the Trade and Commerce of his Majesties Subjects which are the vena porta of the Kingdom and without which the Limbs and Members thereof must be feeble and weak All which proceedings of these men are such pregnant evidence of the Justice of the War that there are no learned Doctors the Gamaliels of the Law but must give Judgment against them And if Wars in these cases for the vindication of rights and repair of injur'd Subjects be not lawful for Wars are but suits of Appeal to the Tribunal of Gods Justice when there are no Superiours upon earth to determine the case we must expect nothing but Rapines Injuries and Injustice here upon earth If we set down by reason the judgment of the learned and the practice of all Ages the increase of their Dominions and potency at Sea if we consider their Ambition Avarice and Insolencies have given just fear to his Majesty and other the Kings and Princes of Europe and so justified his proceedings against them before God and man For preventive Wars upon just fears are as just Wars and as truly defensive as those that are made upon actual Invasion And therefore the Greek Orator compareth those who make Wars which are not preventive to Country fellows in a Fencing-School which never Ward till the Blow is past And no Prince can be justly condemn'd for not staying for the first blow or not for accepting of Polyphemus courtesie to be the last that shall be eaten up The Hollanders are always brooding of War and there 's no firm League to be had with them but impuissance to do hurt And certainly its a main piece of wisdom in strong and prudent Councils to be in perpetual watch that the Princes or States about them do not too much aggrandize themselves by new Acquests or by ruining Confederates or by the like means And this was so exactly observ'd by that Trium-virate of Kings Henry the Eighth of England Francis the First of France and Charles the Fifth Emperor and King of Spain that scarce a palm of Ground could be gotten by either of the three but that th' other two would be sure to do their best to set the Balance of Europe upright again A Republick is nothing but an Engine erected by Sedition and Treachery to subvert Monarchy and we see that Holland hath been a Retreat for all Rebels and a Sanctuary to the worst of men All Heresies Schisms and Anti-monarchical Principles have been there hatch'd and they fly into the Dominions of Kings and Princes and on their wings carry nothing but Poison and Contagion to infect their Subjects They are great pretenders to Zeal and Religion you shall learn much Divinity from them but find no Humanity Certainly such as rob God of his Honour by tolerating Atheists and Princes of their rights by countenancing Rebellion shall never be set out for Saints in my Kalendar Let
them plume themselves in their Successes and triumph in their Grandeur if it be once admitted that Grandeur and Successes be true signatures of Heavens favour I shall forbear as an ingenious Gentleman said any longer to think Mahomet an Impostor and must receive the Alcoran for Gospel They are the greatest Patrons of Schism in the world For my part I 've ever had a serious abhorrency of that sin being against a main Article of my Faith the Communion of Saints which makes the Church Militant and Triumphant one Parish Here they give the people Liberty of Conscience as they call it But as to their Estates they make them the greatest slaves in the world witness the Fetters they lay upon them by their Taxes Their Government is ill in its Original but worse in its Progress if God and the Wisdom of Princes do not prevent And therefore I 'm confident nothing can so much establish peace in Christendom and make the Belgick people happy as to reduce them under the obedience of a good Prince But many of those men think that a Prince is as unfit a person to govern them as Caligula's Horse was to be a Consul and you may as soon Convert a Jew to be a Christian as perswade some of them to be Loyal And therefore it was Oracularly said by a Wit of theirs That a Prince will bring an eternal ruin upon them and their Posterity and they are to be accounted Inter homines damnatae memoriae for the scum of the earth and to be remembred with curses and abominations who shall but once entertain a thought of setting up a Prince over them I know says one this will displease the King of Great Britain yet his displeasure is no more to be valued by us then his Alliance for all Alliance with England is unserviceable to Holland and even those Alliances which we shall be press'd into for fear of a War with England Bravely said These people are like unto the middle Region of the Air which maketh her Thunderbolts against the Earth out of the Exhalations she draws from the Earth it self England may complain as the Eagle in the Emblem Heu patior telis vulnera facta meis But the wrongs and insolencies of our Enemies more then our own discretions may sometimes make us both wise and fortunate Is his Majesties Alliance unserviceable unto them well we may from these men observe That the more a Prince weakneth himself by giving the poorer he is of Friends Their Fishing upon the British Ocean which is by his Majesties Favour is the only basis of their Greatness If his Majesty would be pleased to assume that to himself as he hath Right and Power and suffer none to Fish there but such as should come with their Wives and Families and live in our Sea-Towns here in England that great Colossus of their Hogan-Mogan-ship must suddenly decline for 10000 Vessels at least by them imployed in the Fishery would presently decay their Mariners want imployment and not fewer then 300000 people thereby imployed by Land would want support And for default of the Fish they take upon the British Seas to fraught their Ships they would not be able to maintain the tenth part of the Ships and men they now set forth to Sea thereby their Revenues and Customs would become small their Intrado would never support their ordinary charges their Excise must fail their Trade to the East-Indies and elsewhere must faint the people who now subsist by their Manufactures and contribute to the charges must be supported by them which they are never able to do or else they must quit their Country for want of maintenance and come into England where they will be sure to be kindly receiv'd and grow rich Its an humble Address to his Sacred Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to set up the imployment of the Fishery for then we should establish our Security and Trade upon our own foundation the art and power of our greatest Enemies cannot take it from us It s a Treasure equal to that of both Indies in the Riches Consequence and Circumstances of it Insomuch as if we do but improve that all other Trades will follow For our Fish will not only furnish us with such Foreign Commodities as we our selves want but besides large returns in mony may store us with quantities of all sorts to supply other Nations It would exceedingly increase his Majesties Revenues and be of more advantage to his people then all other Commodities or Manufactures which they export and vend It would be an excellent School and Nursery of Mariners and Navigators not only for Sea-service but for discovery of Foreign parts to vend our Native Commodities And thereby the Nation would be much strengthned by Sea and enriched by Land both for our own safety and terror of our Enemies And indeed wisdom of State obliges us not to let a Neighbour grow too powerful at Sea for when his Majesty ceases to be absolute Master of the British Seas and with his Trident Scepter to give Laws we must receive them from others And how great a diminution this will be to the grandeur and prosperity of this Nation let wise men gravely consider When England hath been the Counter-balance which time out of mind hath held the Scales between the great Monarchies of Europe for the safety of the rest And I doubt not yet to behold his Majesty culminant in the highest Orb of Glory and his Dominions fix'd upon the Center of a flourishing Happiness His Majesty hath an Imperial Name it was Charles that brought the Empire first into France a Charles that brought it first into Spain Why should not Great Britain have his turn It is a great advantage which England hath by reason of her many safe and secure Harbours and Narrowness of the Seas for all Ships which go from East to West or from West to East are compelled because of the dangerousness of the French Coasts except it be exceeding fair weather to make use of the English Harbours His Majesty being Sovereign of these Seas can at pleasure command and seize all Ships passing there especially the Westerly Winds of those Seas lying on this side the Tropick and blowing almost continually do give his Majesty a great deal of conveniency to go to Sea when he pleaseth So that all the Voyages of the Hollanders to the East and West-Indies Spain the Streights and other places upon his Majesties Seas his Majesty being in hostility with them may be interrupted their Ships taken and their Voyages obstructed And by consequence the ruine of that Trade of the Hollanders between the East and West must necessarily follow And in case of a War England may get more Booty from the Hollanders then they from England His Majesty making War against them by Sea and Land ruine and confusion must speedily attend them in respect of the vast