Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A35796
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The Detestable designs of France expos'd, or, The true sentiments of the Spanish Netherlanders representing the injustice of the King of France by his declaration of war against His Catholick Majesty, and the justice of the counter-declaration of the Marquess of Gastannaga his Governour General of the Low-Countries.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing D1212; ESTC R5366
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20,170
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32
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homeward consult his own Actions and that then he will suddenly make satisfaction to the Princes his Neighbours for so many Provinces of theirs which he himself has usurp'd He will restore Franche Conté the Dutchy of Luxenburgh and all Flanders to the Catholick King. He will surrender Strasburgh Friburgh the Palatinate and all the Rhine to the Empire and Lorain to it's own natural and lawful Prince and Duke For how is it possible that the declared Enemy of Usurpers and Usurpations should himself continue to be the greatest Usurper of all King James he says was lawful King of England it may be so Neither do we concern our selves whether he were or no. But was not the Catholick King as much the Lawful Sovereign of both the Burgundies Is it because that Flanders which was wrested from him during the Campaignes of 1667. and the rest that follow'd was not his by all manner of Right and Title Is it because he was not the true and lawful Duke of Luxenburgh which was came the Duke of Lorain to forfeit his Dutchy What right had the French to ravish Strasburgh for the Empire Who shall endure the Gracchi complaining of Sedition In good truth it is a thing altogether insupportable that a prince usurping with so much Violence and Injustice the Estates of all the World should complain so loudly of Usurpers and of our being so strictly united with them Nevertheless the Prince of Orange is a Prince of the Bloud of England he marry'd the next Heiress and he was called in by the Nation in General He was declared King by the Three Estates of the Kingdom Now had the French King any Veil like this to cover his Usurpation of several Provinces which being join'd together are as good as a Kingdom Our Eyes are not yet sufficiently open to see the difference between the King of France and a Usurper He wrested those Countries from Spain from the Empire from the Duke of Lorrain in open War and by the dint of Sword VVhat other way did Crowwel the most Infamous of all Usurpers ascend the Throne of England Was it not by the force of open VVar and with his Arms in his hand By what means did the Turks usurp the Estates of the Christian Princes Was it not by main force Therefore they are no Usupers And Excellent Definition of an Usurper If fraud be requir'd to make a Usurper was there ever known a more wicked piece of Treachery than that by which he got Strasburgh and all the re-united Countries But some will say the King of France is too Conscientious he would not have despoil'd a King he would not have dethron'd the King of England A most apparent piece of Truth It was the niceness of his Conscience I warrant ye that hinder'd hi from taking Brussels and Antwerp as he did Gaunt or as if he would not have taken Madrid if it had been in his power as well as Messina While we see him devour we see that he is Insatiable let him but alone till his hunger is asswaged and you shall see how far he will eat on If Castile had call'd him and made him King he would have gone thither f possible he could and would have conquer'd it was he conquer'd Sicily After all this you may if you please give ear to the most Christian King when he talks so like a Christian against Usurpers Nevertheless we ought not to refuse him the Honour of being an Enemy to Protestant Usurpers For that is a double Crime in a Catholick King to favour a Usurper and a Protestant Usurper that 's very bad indeed Yet we see that the most Christian King has chang'd his Principles and that we need not to be afraid for the future of his doing what he has done formerly We might very well set before his Eyes tekely the Usurper of Hungary who obtain'd that Title to be given him by the Ottoman Port and who has done his utmost endeavour to get possession of it That Usurper is a Protestant for he is a Lutheran Nevertheless the most Christian King must not disown but that he has acknowledg'd him for one of his best Friends Had France no other Veil to hide her Miscarriages than a Cobweb yet she is so brazen-fat'd that she would deny what she did behind that Curtain with the same confidence as if she had had a wall of a hundred foot thick to conceal her And therefore it is that you will find her perhaps denying all her strict ties of Friendship and Treaty with Tekely and the Turk But what will she say to her Union with Cromwel Here is an Example that nearly concerns England where now the Dispute lies Henry William of Nassau Prince of Orange Prince of the Bloud of England marry'd to Mary of England Eldest Daughter of James call'd in by the English Crown'd King by the three Estates is a Usurper He is a Protestant Let every Catholick be anathematiz'd that adheres to him But Cromwel a Person of mean Extraction yet a Protestant but the Abomination of all of his own Religion the Murtherer of his King whose Head he had cut off upon a publick Scaffold The Tyrant of England and sworn Enemy of all Catholicks is no Usurper It is lawful for a most Christian King to make a League Offensive and Defensive with him to give him Entrance into Flanders to invite him to invade the Countries of a Catholick Prince to deliver Dunkirk into his Hands and give it to that same English Usurper At that time the Motives and Inducements of Religion Bloud and safety of all Sovereign Princes were but Chimera's never any such tings really known in the World till the most Christian King begins to be afraid of England under the Government of the Prince of Orange 'T is a Crime for a Catholick King to have any Alliance with such a Person In good truth it is apparent that the most Christian King derides Religion and Christianity and laughs at all Europe beside Let us suppose the Catholick King to be at a loss behold him between two Usurpers between the King of France a Usurper without the least shadow of Pretence of two Dutchies two great Provinces and several Cities and Territories and between Henry William of Nassau Usurper of England as France pretends The most Christian King invites him by all the Motives of Religion Bloud and safety of Kings to unite with him in a War against the Vsurper of England at least if the Condition of his Affairs will not permit him to engage in such a Vnion to observe and exact Neutrality On the other side King William of England promises him great Advantages if he will join with Him. What shall the Catholick King do In my Opinion between one Usurper and t' other his Interest requires him to declare for the Vsurper that never took any thing from him against the Vsurper that has wrested from him by force so considerable a part of his Dominions VVhat
for their own security but that the King of France must take from thence and occasion to declare War against them The Method of this Ambitious Prince is to strike without giving notice and to take and burn Cities and Towns without any Declaration as was apparent by the burning of Genoa and the seizing of Strasburgh and Philipsburgh which he has wrested from the Empire However it behoves us to trust to his Honesty we must neither stir nor make any Levies in the Spanish Netherlands because that at the Court of Madrid he is endeavouring to lull the People asleep with Proposals of Peace and Neutrality It was also a very great Crime in the Governour of the Low-Countries to let in the Dutch and Brandenburgh Forces into the principal Spanish Cities of Flanders Is it not a wonderful thing that we should be so Cautious against a faithless Enemy 'T is true that since there was no War declar'd between France and Spain it behov'd our Governour to live and sleep at his ease upon the Faith and security of the Treaties since there was no necessity for him to put Forein Forces into his fortify'd Cities But who is there that does not know that there is no Faith or Trust in France That Treaties of Truce and Peace Capitulations and Promises are but Ropes of Chaff which she breaks in the first fits of her Fury and Ambition without giving warning to any body France also has found out another great Motive to declare War against Spain for that she has discover'd That the Agent of the Prince of Orange have receiv'd considerable sums at Cas diz and Madrid In good truth we are become very happy-and now the Credit of the Crown of Spain is again restor'd The pretended weakness of the Catholick King the Poverty of is exhausted Treasuries and the slowness of his Returns for the Low-Countries were the subjects of the Scoffs and Raillery of France Now thanks be to Heaven Spain is in a condition to furnish Foreiners with considerable Sums And what is this to the King of France Who ever heard it said that when Men pay their Debts or borrow money of their Friends that they incur the Crime of Infidelity toward those with whom they are otherwise at Peace This very Act of Spain in paying money to the Prince of Orange is a sufficient proof that she never intended to break the Truce first For upon Emergent occasions every body has need of his own In short France has found out that the Catholick King deserv'd the utmost of her Indignation and that he should be proceeded against with Fire and Sword because at least He would not oblige himself to observe and exact Neutrality and not promise to succour-her Enemies either directly or indirectly 'T is a very strange thing that France will take upon her to bind up other States by Treaties upon Treaties and observe none her self What need was there of a Treaty of Neutrality since the Truce of 1684. was still in force in respect of the Catholick King And if France intended to make any satisfaction to the Empire for the dismal Invasion of Germany would not things be in their former condition without any need of a Neutrality But France refusing to give the Emperour and the Pope satisfaction was not this an uncivil dishonest and ridiculous Demand that the King of Spain should look on quietly and without stirring while France push'd forward her furious Attempts against the Emperour and the Pope against whom the most Christian King had declar'd War Can this be any occasion to break a Treaty of Peace because France would not stay to see which way the Catholick King intended For seeing France had Enemies enough to deal with tho the Catholick King had forborn to meddle in the Affair and that he had waited to see the end of the Quarrel and the success of the War without having any hand in it the most Christian King had what he could desire The Truce had been in force and the Neutrality by consequence If his Catholic Majesty had at length declar'd War against France he had had time enough then to think of defending him himself So that this Declaration of VVar against Spain had not engag'd the most Christian King in new Expences seeing that having a War with Holland he was oblig'd to have an Army in the Netherlands But the King of France thought to perform an Act of great courage and boldness by being beforehand with the Male contents and foremost in declaring a War against all the States which he foresaw could give him any trouble as in the gaiety of his Heart he declar'd War at one time both against the Pope and the Emperour fearing they would make a Peace with the Turk to fall upon him Presently after he declar'd War against the Hollanders who were busie about their own affairs because he foresaw that in the conclusion it would not a little perplex him should they engage in the Interests of the Empire And at length he declar'd War against his Catholick Majesty at a time when he observ'd the Truce because he thought he could not prevent his assisting the Emperour his Kinsman and Ally 'T is a wonder that this Magnificent Braggard suffer'd England to get the start of him and that he let King William be the first that declar'd the War. We shall see how this Hectoring and Bouncing will thrive with the most Christian King. He has had the pleasure of declaring VVar against all Europe and to give the first Blows we shall know shortly who will strike hardest and continue longest in breath And thus much for the reasons upon which the King of France grounds his Declaration of VVar. There are others but I omit them because they are so very weak that they are not worth repeating Our Governour in his Counter-Declaration does not bring so many but they are much better and more satisfactory He grounds his Counter-Declaration only upon two Arguments The first That the Arms of France inhumanly and with all manner of cruelties and unheard of Barbarisms lay desolate all the States of the Empire without any regard to the Laws of Religion or War or the sacred Right of Capitulations The Second That the Ministers of France make use of all the tricks and slights of Negotiation and of all other means to disturb the Harmony of Christendom and to bring in the whole Ottoman Power to the Destruction of Hungary and at the same time to ranverse the Peace concluded between his Imperial Majesty his Illustrious Allies and the Ottoman Port. Upon this second Reason we could enlarge very much if all had not been said already that is to be spoken that is to say how justly and how truly we have Reason to complain of the Infamous Alliances between the Court of France and the Turk to the Ruin of Christendom We are convinc'd of it by Letters intercepted and undeniable proofs of the private Correspondence which they have always