Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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B05780
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The secret history of the confederacy, &c. discovered in a conference between the French King and his chief officers. To which is added, articles between Luxemburgh, &c. As also expedients proposed for a peace. / Translated out of French.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S2339A; ESTC R232789
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68,982
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160
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the prejudice of my Son according to all Laws the Fathers have no right to alienate the Estates of their Children whilst they are Minors and when these Estates are Maternal But says Luxemburgh the Marriage was only concluded upon this condition so that the renunciation your Majesty made upon all the present and future Right that you might have upon Spain or upon the depending States was consider'd as the Ground of Marriage without which the Ministers of Spain would have been guilty of a great deal of Folly on their side to have consented to an Allyance which would have produc'd nâ—w causes of Wars and Divisions instead of a Firm and Stable Peace whiâ—h was their chief design I add to all these proofs that the Circumstance of the Oath that your Majesty was obliged to take in swearing solemnly upon the Holy Evangelists that you would keep your Royal World that you then gave was as the Seal of all the promises of the engagements and of the good Faith of your Majesty In your opinion says the King I am then very ill grounded in my pretensions and I have no right according to the Civil Law No without doubt says Luxemburgh but a hundred thousand Men a hundred pieces of Cannon and a hundred Millions will make the Ballance incline much more to your side It was a custom to represent Justice blindfolded holding a Balance in one Hand but if the other had not been arm'd with a Sword and had a Lion plac'd by her side which is the badge of Force and Might she would have been but a ridiculous Maygame expos'd to the violence and rashness of Men. So we may say he that has the power in his Hand is the Master of Justice and whether she will or no must of necessity betake her self to his side and fight under his Standards against the weakest and this is your Majesty's Right But says his Majesty since things are in this condition and that I see my self Master of Force and of Justice shall I not do well to push my good fortune to the end and to render my self by my Armies always victorious and triumphant over all the States which shall be at my discretion and serve for my convenience having placed my self safe from the opposition of mine Enemies Very well says Luxemburgh there is no other obstacle which is capable to stop your Majesty but the Faith of Treaties But that is another Gospel for your Majesty for which you care but very little We say of King John the First one of your Ancestors descended from the first Branch of Valois that that Prince was so great an observer of his Word that they gave him the Title of Good He was accustomed to say that when Fidelity and good Faith should be banished the World they ought to be found in the person of a Prince This Prince answer'd his Majesty did not know Machiavel and you should have added at the same time that he was very unhappy during his Reign and I do not doubt but his too great Goodness was in part the cause of his Misfortunes For having lost the Battle of Poictiers against the English who were commanded by the Prince of Wales a great Captain the King was taken and carried Prisoner to London from whence he came not out but by the treaty of Bretigny by which he quitted the Sovereignty of some Provinces in France in f vour of the King of England But all these faults of John the First were gloriously repaired by Charles the Fifth his Successor who acquir'd to him self the name of Wife Sir answer'd Luxemburgh since your Majesty Laughs so at the good Faith of Treaties which other Princes look upon as Inviolable and adore as an Idol I am not surpriz'd that you have heap'd up Conquest upon Conquest There is never a little Prince in the World but may be in a condition to make himself great by this means and at last become the terror of his Enemies but it is not to be wished that such a like disorder should happen for if every Soveraign should do the like we should see a great number of Scepters overthrown to the ground become the Prey of the strongest But says his Majesty since it is not permitted to make ones self great what 's the reason that the Prince of Orange is Mounted even in our Days upon the Throne of his Father-in-Law Is not that an Usurpation Sir says Luxemburgh that is not singular Histories are full of such like instances and we see that Childerick the Third last King of the first Race was Dethron'd by Pepin the Short who before was but Mayor of the Palace which was a place almost like that of Grand Visirs and his deposing was also done by the Assembly of the States after the Pope had declar'd that the French were dispens'd with from owning that Prince So that the poor Dethroned Childerick had no other part to take but to shave himself and put himself into a Monastery And as this disgrace happen'd to him by reasons of State which would be too long to report so the Prince of Orange is not mounted upon the Throne but by the consent of the People which call'd him to it And the Parliament it self which being in England very near to what the States were formerly in France Crown'd him and confirm'd him nemine contradicente so the coming of the Prince of Orange to the Crown ought to be call'd an Acceptance and not an Vsurpation According to this sense says his Mâ—jesty you are then of opinion that the Prince of Orange is well grounded and that the poor King James has no shorter Course to take in the midst of his disgraces than to imitate Childeric that is to say to make a rennuciation of the Crown shave himself and so put himself into a Convent Sir answer'd Luxemburgh I abuse perhaps the liberty your Majesty allows me speaking open hearted my Mind and what I think of the misfortune of this Prince But as in the beginning of this Conference your Majesty was pleased to say you put a great deal of Confidence in me I desire you also to give me leave to abstain from the language of certain Parasites who applaud your Majesty in every thing No Luxemburgh says his Majesty you do me a kindness to tell me the things as you think tâ—em that does not surprise me because I have always given you more liberty to speak your thoughts than any of my Courtiers and Counsellors Sir says Luxemburgh since your Majesty gives me leave to speak what I think of King James and of the War which has been kindled in Europe upon his occasion I do not now speak of a secret itching desire that your Majesty had from your Cradle to surpass your Ancestors in enlarging your Dominions and pushing on youâ— Conquests beyond the Rhine the Sambre and Meuse I speak not neither of the Rights of the deceased Queen I pass also in silence the Right of
had not he perswaded me unto them In short for the quieting of my People I am glad that his death has taken this Obstacle out of their way that was a horrour to them and as we love Novelties we always flatter our selves that the last comer will be better than the former all the World conceiv'd great hopes upon the Arrival of Pontchartrain But says Luxemburgh I think that Colbert had gather'd together great Riches which he possess'd as his own and all his Children became very great It is true says his Majesty but after his Death the Water came to it's Spring and I caus'd full and good Restitution to be made I made use of a specious pretence to drain them which brought some Millions into my Coffers Sir answer'd Luxemburgh let us let all those matters alone which do not concern the War your Majesty has no time to lose the matter in hand is now to prevent your Enemies and be early in the Field so that it's time to take a firm and solid resolution Luxemburgh you have reason says his Majesty and it is also for that purpose I caus'd you to come hither together with my other Generals to hear you one after another and to have a private conference about what I ought to undertake But as you are one of those in whom I have most confidence and that on the other side my design is to make Flanders the principal Theatre of the War where I pretend that my great designs shall appear I will impart every thing to you with an open heart You are a Man of experience and the Wars of Seventy Two has given you a particular knowledg of that Country I lament extreamly the poor Prince of Conde he also knew perfectly the Genius and Interests of the Spaniards and the Hollanders Schombergh would have also been of great use to me if his infatuation to Religion had not made him perish miserably in Ireland Poor Turenne the Flower of all my Generals hac Coelum itur via merited the same Honours that the Gods formerly gave to great Hercules in memory of his Toils I mean Immortality Be it as it will I shall never forget the good service he did me in Germany and of so many brave Captains you are the only one that is left me so I desire you not to expose your self too much and to take as much care of your dear Person as my Armies For if I should come to lose you I should not know who to give the Command to having for the most part none but Lieutenant Generals more fit to Command a party of Incendiaries than an Army so considerable as that in Flanders The Prince of Orange coming every Campaign to Command himself would desire no better than to have to do with a Novice nor the fiery Elector of Bavaria who also commands with him These two Princes fly round about my Army as a Bird of Prey about a Swallow and seek nothing else but to make me lose a Battle to make way for them into France Besides Luxemburgh here is now a trick of the Prince of Orange which puts me in despair He is not contented to mount the Throne of England after poor King James his Father-in-Law and my Ally was retired to my Court but he does yet worse in respect to me for he has found out a means to drive me out of the Low-Countries endeavouring to deprive the Dauphin my Son of the Provinces fallen to his Mother my Wife the most Christian Queen by the decease of Queen Elizabeth her Mother of Prince Don Balthazar her Brother and of the Catholick King Philip the Fourth her Father The Stratagem that he has made use of is he has brought the King of Spain Charles the Second to make a gift ad vitam of the Spanish Netherlands to the Elector of Bavaria They made a shew some years ago to have play'd this trick but I made such strong Protestations and threatnings to come into Flanders with a great Army without having any regard to the Truce that they thought fit for the Peace of those Provinces and the repose of Europe to refer the matter to another time Sir answer'd Luxemburgh all this good success we owe to the taking of Mons and the good Correspondence that the good Marquis de Gastanaga had kept with us which was thereby discover'd The Prince of Orange seeing the Spanish Netherlands were sold at a great price by the covetousness of the Governours resolv'd to play a Masterpiece in causing it to be put into better hands who would make it their glory to preserve it But says his Majesty can that be done without injustice and can they dispute with my Son the Dauphin as they would have disputed with me in the time of the Wars of Paris that the most Christian Queen Maria Tieresia formerly Infanta of Spaiâ— and immediaely after the Pirenaean Peace became my Wife was brought to Bed of a Prince at Fountain Bleau on All Saints day the first of November a little before Noon in the year 1661. Sir answer'd Luxemburgh the Dauphins Birth is not the thing in Question no Body doubts but he is truly your Majesties and the Queen Maria Tieresia's Son We are well satisfied with the fruitfulness of that Princess And as to what properly concerns your Majesties Person you have thanks to God furnish'd us with Patterns taken from the Originals of the Ladâ—s de Fontanges la Valliere and la Mourtespan who have lâ—ft enough of Illustrious young Sprigs Witness the Duke de Main Madam the Princess of Conti and Madamoiselle de Blois now Dutchess of Charters As for Madam de Maintenon who succeeded them I dare not speak of because I am perswaded it is a Soil where the best Seeds-men seem to me to loose their time and trouble unless God would make her a Sarah As to Madamoiselle de Blois I must tell your Majesty by the way that they talk very much of her Marriage with Monsieur the Duke de Charters in Foreign Countries and Principally in Holland where they Criticize even upon the least Actions of Kings and Princes All the World take upon them here to talk of Politicks nay even the Women They say that your Majesty has by this Marriage and by that of the Princess de Conti unworthily and without distinction mixt the pure with the impure and that if this should continue there would not remain in France one drop of the Noble Blood of your Great Grandfathers and that we should see no other in the Royal Family but the Children of la Valliere and la Montespan But to come to my matter in Hand that which is the Question is that the Allies pretend the renunciation your Majesty made at the Pyrenaean Peace has forfeited you your Right and Pretensions which you might have had to the Succession we were speaking of But says his Majâ—sty it was not in my power to dispose of those Rights and to renounce them to