Victories as if by Conquering the Land the French did not at the same time become Masters of the Havens Rivers and Fleets of the Dutch And yet such was the vast Predominancy which French Treason and the hidden Conspiracies of French Counsels had over these great Politicians and the Asscendent which they had over the King of England that he was so kind to the French King for setting him together by the ears with the Dutch that he sent him his Vice Admirals and other Sea Officers to encourage and promote the setting out of his Fleets and in pity of their want of experience in Sea Affairs took his raw Seamen by the hand train'd them up in his own Fleets among the best of his Seamen and taught them that skill which the English had been many Ages a learning and all this in hopes to enable the French King to assist him in beating his best and most secure friends wherein the French according to their wonted Treachery fail'd him too when they were put to the Tryall All the World would have thought the King should not have so soon forgot the Punic Faith of France in their kindness to his Person while he was abroad in Exile among them or if then they might pretend the Interest of their Kingdom and palliate their faithless and inhumane Dealing with him by necessity of Self preservation yet no such necessity constrain'd him to forget the French King 's opposing his Restauration with so much violence as he did and his Caballing with his greatest enemies to keep him out of his Kingdom more especially since he was then so sensible of it when it was recent in his Memory that upon his coming into England he commanded away Monsieur Bourdeaux the French Ambassadour and would not suffer him to come into his presence But the Most Christian King knew full well how to work himself again into the King of England's favour and at length by throwing a French Dalilah into his embraces quite cut off the Locks of the British Sampson All on a sudden France seem'd to be remov'd into England nothing but French Baubles and Gugaws pleased our English Gentry A French Faction prevailing at Court French Mountebanks for Physicians French Fashions French Hats French Lackeys French Fidlers French Dancing-Masters French Tooth-Drawers French Barbers French Air in our very looks French Legs French Compliments French Grimaces and French Debauchery to fit us for French Slavery And had the French Disease been then unknown in England 't is to be questioned whither it would not have been entertained with as general a Consent as the Sichemites submitted to the Pain of Circumcision though to the hazard of being all destroy'd by the French Simeon and Levi while sore and driveling under the Distemper Nor is it to be doubted but the French Christianity would have as easily made tryall of such a Design as they did of the rest of their Tricks had they thought it would have taken effect It is well known that before the first Dutch War was entred into the King of England sought to make Alliances with France and Spain but the Spaniards were so Cock-sure of the French Promises that they would not make any Approaches to Friendship with England without the giving up of Dunkirk Tangier and Jamaica As for the French a Project of a Treaty was offer'd them and promoted with all earnestness by the Lord H s at Paris but it was plainly discern'd that the principal designs of the Most Christian King was only to draw the King of England into such an Alliance as might advance his design upon Spain and therefore so soon as he had set the Dutch and us together by the Ears and saw that thereby the Balance of Europe was broken he no longer minded Alliance with England But after many Proposals of Leagues and many Arts used to highten the jealousies between Us and the Hollanders he at last sided with the Dutch though to so little purpose that his Intentions plainly appeared to be no other than to see the two most Potent Obstacles of his Ambition destroy one another to the end he might with less Opposition invade his Nighbours and increase his own Naval Strength Nay the Juggle went much farther for that in the heat of all the War he still kept Negotiations on Foot and made overtures and proposals of Peace by means of the Queen-Mother whom in the end he so far and so treacherously deluded as to ascertain her and by her means to assure the King of England her Son that the Dutch would not set out any Fleet the ensuing Summer and yet underhand press'd the Dutch with all the Vigor and Importunity imaginable to fit out their Men of War again with a promise rather than fail that he would joyn his Fleet with theirs against the English Now it was upon a Supposal that the Most Christian King was at that time a good Christian and true to his Word in pursuing his pretended Proposals of Peace and upon that faithless French Paroll it was that the King of England put forth no Fleet to Sea that Year upon which followed that Fatal surprize of our Ships at Chatham then which a greater Dis-honour never happened to the Nation since the memory of History But at last as we had been oblig'd to the Craft and Treachery for the War and the Shame we received by it so we were glad to receive the Peace that ensued from his favour which was concluded at Breda between England France and Holland By this Treaty of Breda the French were oblig'd to restore St. Christophers to the English in the same manner and form as is exprest in the Articles but instead of performing their Engagement according to the true intent and literal meaning of the Articles they from time to time upon several unjust and frivolous Pretences deluded and delay'd the English Commissioners that were sent to take Possession of it till finding there was a necessity to comply with us in so small a matter while we were preparing to venture a second quarrel in their behalf it was at last surrendred after four year's baffling to Sir Charles Wheeler However to shew the perfidiousness of French dealing before they deliver'd it they destroyed all the Plantations laid the whole Island waste and left it in a much worse condition than if it had never been planted And as if the seizure and detaining of the King of England's Territories had not been sufficient they interrupted also the Trade of his Subjects in those Parts and assuming to themselves the Sovereignty of those Seas would not suffer any Ships but their own to sail either by or about those Islands but as if it had been Criminal so to doe took and confiscated several Vessels upon that account From all which a Question will arise easie to be resolv'd whither any thing be recorded of the old Carthaginians more perfidious than this and whether the King of England might not have expected more
Honest and Christian dealing from the unbelieving Turk than from the Most Christian King 'T is true that after the Peace of Breda the King of England was at liesure to consider how the French King had abus'd him by engaging him in a War with his Protestant Nighbours and how he had seemingly taken their parts to prolong the War that while they were battering and bruising and weakning one another he might have the fairer Opportunity in violation of all the most solemn and sacred Oaths and Treaties to invade the Spanish Netherlands and observing with what a rapid Torrent of Victory he bore down all before him thought fit to interpose before the flame that consumed his next Nighbour should throw it's sparks over the Water and therefore sent into Holland to invite them to a nearer Alliance and to enter into such farther Counsels as were most proper to stop the Fury of the French King which offer being by the Dutch embraced with open Arms a defensive League was concluded in five days time between Holland and England together with another for the repressing the farther Progress of the French Armes in the Spanish Netherlands In which the Sweeds afterwards making a third Party concern'd gave it the name of the Triple League This was no way pleasing to the French King however for a while he dissembled his resentment of the Affront though from the first moment he resolved to make use of all his Charms and Golden Magick to dissolve this Triple Knot whatever it cost him To this purpose the Duchess of Orleance is said by the French to be sent over hither believing no Instrument so proper as the King of England's own Sister to prevail with her Brother King Charles met her at Dover where their endearments one to another were so much the more reciprocally prevailing by how much it happens that Princes more rarely than private Persons enjoy their Relations And when they doe yet their kind Interviews are many times attended with some fatal disaster of which though there was no appearance here in England yet the first News we heard of her upon her Return to France was that she was dead However the Affair was so dextrously managed that a French Ambassadour was forthwith dispatch'd out of France and an English Ambassadour sent to Paris and as the French gave out a private League was clapt up to the ruine of the Triple Alliance to all the highth of Intimacy and Dearness as if upon dissecting the Princess there had some State Philter been found in her Bowels or that a Reconciliation with France could not have been celebrated with a less Sacrifice than that of the Bloud-Royal of England This supposed Treaty was a work of Darkness not to be div'd into in a great while but afterwards the French King caus'd it to be made publick as we shall see by and by 'T is true the Knowledg of this was of great Importance to England but the discovery was the most apparent Demonstration in the World of French Perfidiousness so enormous as it could not be imagined to have entred into the Breast of a Most Christian King so treacherously to expose the Secrets of his dearest Confederate after he had drawn him in by all the Assurances of his assistance imaginable And the reasons that induc'd him to make the detection were no less Impious though agreeable to the Practice of the French King who after he has made it his business to decoy in Princes that lend an easie ear to his Enchantments or with too much facility suffer themselves to be overcome by his Alluring Engagements into any unseemly and dishonourable undertaking believes he has them then safely tack'd to his Interests and that they will not dare to flinch from his Desings for fear of being exposed to their People which he takes care in due time to have artificially instill'd into their Ears a Maxim of Christianity which lies conceal'd from all other Men but the most Christian of Princes And thus it was that the French King having amus'd the Emperor with the Noise of a Treaty and at the same time brought the Turk into Hungary to joyn the Malecontents to excite his Private Confederate the King of England to follow his steps in Government Bare-faced causes a little Book to be Printed and Published with the Privilege Du Roy Entitl'd The History of the Transactions of this Age and therein ordered the Dover Treaty as they call'd it to be inserted and to that purpose furnish'd his Historiographer with Notes and Directions by the Hands of his Secretary Colbert to the end that the King of England being truly as he design'd set out in his Colours and despairing of being ever after trusted by his People might be enforced to take such Resolutions as Despair and Fury should inspire him withall to the Destruction of those he had so highly disoblig'd there being nothing more than the Subversion of England which the French King aim'd at 'T is true he was so kind as to recall the Book upon the loud complaint of the King of England's Ambassador however it was an apparent Demonstration to all the World how little trust or reliance there was in French Amity and plainly shews that there is no way to bind this mighty Sampson by Oath Promises Treaties or by any other the most Religious Ties and Considerations which are no more to him than Spiders Webs but by an absolute clipping off the Locks of his Power and disabling him so as never to rise more But to return to the Triple League In the end the French King by his wicked Policy so contrived the matter as to cause a new Rupture twixt the Dutch and the English and as if he had intended to be the Master of Iniquity and to make the King of England as bad as himself nothing would suffice till he had prevail'd with the King to attack the Dutch Smyrna Fleet returning home and dreaming of no such matter which as it was contrary to the Genius of the English Nation and to the Nature and Gentle Disposition of the King of England himself is wholly to be attributed to the Wiles and wicked Temptations of the Most Christian Prince who never ceas'd pealing it into the King of England's Ears that if he could but master the Wealth of the Smyrna Fleet he should never want Mony again And being thus betrayed by wheedling French Hallucination what can the French expect but the Severity of England's just Revenge wherein we may venture with the greater hopes of Success as being engaged with all in the common Cause of Christendoms Tranquillity Add to this that when the French King thought the King of England was engaged so far by the Smyrna Attack as that he must needs go forward the Most Christian King then openly declared 't was none of his Quarrel and that he only engaged in it to assist the King of England merely in respect to His Person By which means the King of
the litigious Pettifogging their Cheating and Extortion That the King has dissipated above two Thirds of the Coined Money of the Kingdom as well by exhausting the Price as by transporting it out of the Kingdom and besides that has devour'd two Thirds of the Plate within these 40 Years That he has devour'd the Estates and Lands of Cities Corporations and particular Persons by re-uniting them to the Crown Demeasnes That he has devour'd several Hundreds of Millions which he extorted from those that were call'd Partisans who were Farmers of his Imposts whom he despoil'd and robb'd after they had robb'd others That the Kingdom of France is dispeopl'd within these Forty years above half in half but chiefly within these ten Years That there are in the Armies of the King of France between six and seven Hundred Thousand Men including in the Number a hundred or a hundred and twenty Toll-gatherers and Subsidy Collectors and are thus numbred 50000 Horse 18 Dragoons 33â—000 Foot 30000 belonging to his Artillery and Provision and Ammunition Waggons and 50000 in his Fleets and Gallies and above 100 or 120 Camp-Varlets which make up the number of 700000 Men the greatest part of which are Un-marri'd That there are destroy'd and die every Year few less than a Third part of these Men according to the Lists of Recruits which are so many Females excluded from Marriage And that at the end of 10 Years Marriage being so much hinderd above the half of any numerous Nation will come to be destroy'd That the Lives of all the People lost within 10 Years according to the Estimate which is made of Men and Women Slaves in Algier amounts to several thousand Millions That from the Example of Paris where this Depopulation is least discern'd the rest of the Kingdom must be extreamly dispeopl'd That he is very well inform'd that there are fewer People in Paris by a Third part than there were about Twenty years agoe and that they live in extream Misery there notwithstanding the multitude of Coaches and the great Court That the Houses for the generality still retain above half the value of their ancient Hire but that the Rent is ill Paid and several of the Houses stand empty that the Tradesmen die there for hunger That there are hardly any Lacquies Clerks Proctors or young Barbers to be seen as being all consum'd by the War and that all the rest of the Cities and Towns of the Kingdom are in a worse Condition That there may be still near Ten Millions of Souls in the Kingdom and that within the last ten Years the number has lessen'd between 4 or 5 Millions That by the number of Parishes which are Twenty Seven Thousand compar'd with the number of Men not Marry'd which are in the War or in the number of Collectors that there ought to be 22 Men and one fourth in each Parish one with another That France can never recover it self though the Government should be chang'd without a long Peace and unless she abandon her Conquests and Usurpations by reason the Manufactures are carry'd into Foreign Countries the half of the People destroy'd the Money wasted the Funds charg'd with more Debts than they are worth because the vast Army of Toll-gatherers and Collectors is not dismiss'd the Sale of Offices and Employments is not suppress'd and because all those Officers drain'd exhausted and samish'd will lie sucking the People to the very Marrow as well as the Court otherwise who can believe though Trade were once again restor'd that France can always raise the same Summs which she has done for a long time unless these Maxims of Injustice and Violence be restor'd with which she is over-whelm'd That the Money is extreamly diminish'd in France For that for a long time the King purchas'd the Alliances and Amities of all Princes corrupted their Ministers and other Counsellors paid large Pensions to make them declare for France or only remain Neuters expended upon Spies both great Ones and those of lesser Note considerable Summs sent Armies out of the Kingdom into the Service of other Princes purchased Cities and strong Holds as Dunkirk and Casal the Garrison of which Place stands him in a great deal of Money every Year as also Pigneroll The Huguenots have carry'd out Thirty Millions The Horses sent for every Year out of Germany Switzerland and other Places since the War cost at least Six Millions every Year each Horse brought from thence being Valued at 20 Pistols a piece for that there are no Breeds of Horses in the Kingdom by reason of the incredible Poverty of the People that cannot compass it to have Stocks before hand That in Gold-lace Embroidery Cloth of Gold Fringes and Gilding there are wasted in France above Ten Millions of Livers in that Metall and in England more adding withall this Sentence Ambitiosa Paupertate perit Gallia Through ambitious Poverty France is ruin'd And in this is shewn the Blindness of the English Nation who complain of the Transportation of their Money and that it is scarce while they themselves in ten Years destroy as much Silver by this means as there is Money in the Kingdom That all the Money which France raises by Contribution does not exceed for or five Millions of France which is not above the Fortieth or Fiftieth part of her Expence That the Trade which remains behind is very little That the Profit by Privateers is not considerable Lastly That the War beyond Comparison does less mischief to the Confederates than to France That the Confederates for the most part gain by this War That Germany in general draws great Advantages from it though several Princes and States suffer by it and that those Advantages advance to a considerable Value That the Advantages will far surmount the Disadvantages which Holland receives thereby and that at length she will gain much more than she does at present and will get a large Interest by the principal Summs she now disburses That Spain will also be a gainer though she loses at present That the D. of Savoy will find his Satisfaction for that he loses and will lose much less being United with the Confederates than if he had clos'd with Lewis XIV upon the Conditions which he propos'd for that then he had been despoi'ld past recovery in regard that France never keeps her Word But that England gains more than any of the Confederates though many People will not believe it That in time of Peace ten Thousand English as well Masters as Servants travel into France who spend three times as much as the Revenues of Scotland and Ireland their Expence reckoned at a 100 Livers Sterling a piece one with another They get for the most part above a Million Sterling by the Baubles of Paris and that now they get but little by the Manufactures of Goldlace Silk large Hats French Glass Woodden-Combs Paper Linen which are settl'd here by the favour of the War by the Salt Brandy Sider and Bere
other Town of Ireland that the whole Ships Company deposes they were sent to Holland that we have found on Board three or four Vessels Bills of Accompt by which it is seen that the English took two three and four per Cent for owning Ships and though it is impossible to avoid confiscating them yet these are the Ships which make such a noise in England To which the Lords of the Committee upon serious Examination by way of Answer represented to the King That their Sentiments of the matter were quite different from what was pretended by the French for that they understood that when the English Ships were carried into the Ports of France many of the Mariners complain'd of ill Usage and some of Torment their Papers being seiz'd and their Persons under restraint till all the Examinations were ready prepar'd and that then all their Writings were sent up to the Privy Council at St. Germaines where judgment was definitively given and seldom any reasons for the Condemnation mention'd in the decree and never any Appeal or Revision admitted and whether that were the Tenderness or the Justice pretended by the French they could not tell But they appeal'd to the Ambassadour Monsieur Courtin himself whether the Method of proceeding in England had not been quite otherwise and therefore that the different Methods of Justice and Clemency in England might have entitled His Majesty to a different acknowledgment and more advantageous effects from the French That as to the latter part of the Paper it seem'd to contain very harsh Imputations upon the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects and that only from some ill practices perhaps found out general Rules were made which having enter'd the Thoughts of some Eminent Ministers that wonder'd that notwithstanding the frequent and multiply'd Recommendations of his Majesty for Justice the event of the French Tryals should prove so unfortunate that if his Majesty would but cast his Eye upon the Causes annex'd he would soon see Whether as it was imputed all the Ships taken were Dutch Built Whether they were all such as never were in England Whether all the Masters and Mariners were Dutch Whether the Cockets were for Persons unknown and oftentimes not nam'd Whether in the whole List there was any more then one Ship from Waterford any more than six from the rest of all Ireland or so much as one from Scotland Whether it were credible that all the Ships Company should swear they were bound for Holland when so many were taken coming from Holland On the other side His Majesty would find in the List how many were English Built taken with English Colours English Mariners English Owners some of them known to His Majesty and to whom the best Papers His Majesty could sign or the Treaties requir'd were given all in vain So that if the Case were in the General quite different from what in the General is represented they hop'd it was no crime for His Majesty's Subjects to make some noise in England when they are Damnified and see their Goods taken from them by Violence and that Violence rather justifi'd than redress'd by Law Wherefore considering that the Root of all these Disorders arose from the Violence and Rapine of the French Capers who were to be lookt upon as Disturbers of the Publick Quiet and Enemies of the Good Friendship between the two Crowns they were humbly of Opinion that His Majesty had just Occasion from the injuries past and those which were then depending and which every day increas'd to make a serious Representation of all to the Most Christian King and not only to press for some better Method of repairing the Greivances mentioned but to insist upon the calling in of all the French Privateers or else that His Majesty ought to doe right and give defence to his Subjects from all the insolencies which they so frequently met with This was sign'd Anglisey Bath Craven J. Ernle Finch C. Bridgewater H. Coventry G. Carteret I might here add the List it self by which it plainly appears that contrary to Monsieur Colbert's Allegations the Ships so taken were all either English Built or Foreigners made Free fraighted by English Merchants own'd by English Men and mann'd with English with Cockets and Bills of Lading to English But 't is sufficient for me to shew that the Ministers and the Masters are Christians alike Plunderers and Robbers not only of Imperial Territories and Royal Dominions but Beasts of Prey that turn the Seas into a Desart to gorge their voracious Appetites upon the Estates of private Persons and that upon the Account their Injustice and Rapines so wickedly and unjustly practised upon the People of England no Nation under Heaven can have reasons more allowable on their side to justifie a War with France than England has for the many Dishonours Injuries and Affronts so ungratefully done us in recompence of all the Kindness and great Services done them from time to time For what greater kindness could there be than to furnish the Aspiring Monarch with a continually recruited body of Ten Thousand of our English Youth whose daring Bravery and Courage made oftentimes a Rape upon Victory it self to force her on his side and rescu'd once his whole Army from destruction when in consternation and pursu'd by the Imperalists upon the fall of Turenne Yet when by the importunity of the Parliament they were recall'd out of his service instead of fairly dismissing them well pay'd for Dunkirk or Calais from thence to cross over for Dover which was their direct Way they were sent through Burgundy through Liomois and so through the Provinces that lead to the Ports of Guyenne that so the French might have time to debauch the Officers and Soldiers In short the Soldiers who since their being in France had been accustom'd to drink Wine finding themselves in a Country where it was almost as plentifull as Water would not cross the Sea to go home and drink Beer but took pay under the Captains of the French Army in Catalonia who were for that purpose posted in their way As for such of the Officers as had nothing to lose in their own Country they were likewise debauch'd after the same manner and dispers'd at the same time in the Regiment of Fustenburgh which was in the Garrison of Perpignan So that when the English arriv'd at the Place where they were to Embark they were not the Tenth of what they should have been had France dealt faithfully in the Business Thus we have run through the Treacheries and Infidelities of the French in reference to England There is no Question but much more might have been said however here is enough to shew that there can be no safety in the friendship of a Prince who makes it his study to be injurious in all his Actions and faithless in all his Promises Mendaciis fallaciis tanquam praeclaris Artibus gaudens But such is the mischief of that pernicious Vice desire of too much Glory