A Short DISCOURSE UPON THE DESIGNS PRACTICES COUNSELS OF FRANCE In a LETTER to a Friend LONDON First Printed in 1677. And now Reprinted for the Information of the present Times Dec. 29. 1688. And are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall A Short Discourse upon the Designs Practices and Councels of France SIR YOu gave me a Brief and a pertinent Deduction the other day of the French Practices and Designs the Progress of their Arms and the Methods of their Proceedings Together with a Scheme of the Inevitable Ruine and Slavery that threatens Europe without a speedy and a powerful Conjunction against them After this general Contemplation of the present State of Christendom you were pleased to take a particular Prospect of the Interest of this Nation and how far we are to reckon our selves concerned in the common Calamity Coming at last to this Conclusion that England cannot reasonably expect to stand long after the Loss of Holland and Flanders For the support of this Opinion besides the Force of your own Reasoning you referr'd me to several Historical and Political Treatises upon the subject which I have diligently examin'd and made use of in this following Discourse wherein I take the Freedom to give you my Thoughts upon the whole matter Your first Charge upon the French was Breach of Faith and you pitch'd upon the Cases of Spain and Portugal the barbarous usage of the Duke of Lorain and the Nulling of the most Christian Queens Renuntiation upon Marriage which was the very foundation of the Pyrenean Treaty by a pretended devolution of the Spanish Netherlands in the Right of that Match Their underhand tampering of Denmark and Swede to draw the One from us and hinder the Other from joyning with us the Influence they had upon our Disgrace at Chatham Their playing Booty on both sides betwixt England and Holland in the Dutch-war And to these Instances which are all so notorious that they need no expounding you might have added a thousand more of the like Quality But these may suffice for a seasonable and a necessary Caution and without the Helps of Aggravation and Clamour especially that extraordinary Action of destroying the Queens Renunciation and then invading the Spanish Netherlands upon it An Action hardly to be paralell'd in the Story of the whole World for a concurrence of so many enormous Circumstances There was in it the Publique Faith of the two Crowns which is the only security of Government and the Bond of Humane Society There was in it the Solemnity of an Oath at the very Altar which is the most Sacred Tye of a Christian There was also the highest Profession and assurance of Friendship imaginable which is accompted one of the most binding Obligations betwixt Man and Man And then there was a Brother a Cousin and an Infant in the Case which makes it matter of Humanity and Honour And yet all these Cords were as easily broken as Bulrushes This single President may serve however for a warning to all Princes and States not to leave themselves at the mercy of men of such Principles But His most Christian Majesty is not the only Prince that has been abused by Corrupt and Ambitious Ministers Your next Observation was that they are the greatest intermediers in the World in other Peoples Affairs that they embroyl all whereever they come and that there 's hardly any Rebellion but they are in the bottom of it For their Mony walks in all the Courts and Councils of Christendom nay and beyond it too For 't is said that the last Grand Visir was their Pentioner Was it not France that debauch'd Scotland first and afterwards England into the late Rebellion Nay did they not stand still and look on to see the Crowning of the work which they themselves began in the Execrable Murther of the late King And did they not refuse to our Gracious and persecuted Sovereign even a Retreat in their Dominions How did they prolong the War in Portugal What Havock have they made in Poland and what work in Hungary And are they not at this day in Counsel with the Port against the Empire and undermining the Bullwark of Christendom How have they dash'd England against Holland blinded the Eyes of several Princes of the Empire and baffled all Mediations towards a General Peace Did they not formerly under the Colour of protecting Germany cut off Alsatia from the Empire And in a word this has been their practice wheresoever they have come They Covet Harbours in Spain says the admirable Baron del ' Isola Leagues in the Empire Factions in Poland Wars in England and Holland Passes into Italy and the Sovereign Arbitrage every where Their Quiet consists in the Trouble of all others and their Advantage is in the Publique Calamities Nor have they any other way then by dividing and weakening of the parts to master the whole which is the Capital design And if so There 's no Fence against a Common Enemy but a Common Vnion It is already made appear by what is above said how dangerous they are to mankind The next hint you gave me was to consider on 't whether the English may reasonably expect any better Quarter from them then other People in which point I shall only lay the matter before you and leave you the Judge on 't The Four main Interests of a Nation are Religion Reputation Peace and Trade For the first of these we shall neither fare the better nor the worse but lose just as much for being of another Communion as his Catholique Majesty gets by being of the same The Question now on Foot is a Communion of State not of Faith The Alcoran and the Gospel go hand in hand and at the same time the Protestants are protected in Hungary and persecuted in France To say nothing of the Encouragements they give there to the Jansenists which may for ought we know prove the greatest Blow to the Church of Rome that ever it received since the Reformation But what do I talk of Religion in a Cause that is dipp'd in Christian Blood and in the Tears of Widows and Orphans A Cause that is propagated by Sacrilege Rapes Depopulation Slavery Oppression and at least a Million of Lives sacrificed to it already The very thought of it is enough to strike the Soul of any man with horrour and Indignation If you would see now how tenderly they have handled us in the Business of Reputation Pray do but cast an Eye upon the Character of an English man in their Politique de France Quant à ce qui est des Anglois ils n'ont aucuns amis ce sont des gens sans Foy sans Religion sans Probité sans Justice aucune defians legers au dernier point Cruels Impatiens gourmands superbes audacieux avares propres pour les coups de main et pour une promte execution mais incapables de conduire une Guerre avec jugement Leur Pais est assez
Reason of State If I am not mistaken England might longer subsist in a War with France then France could in a Peace within it self the heaviest of all Judgments when a Nation must be wicked upon necessity And again when he says that England cannot hurt France by a Descent unless call'd in by a Rebellion he never considers that if England had an Army a foot and stood inclin'd to make use of it that way we should not be long without an Invitation For we see what the Bourdelois c. did upon their own Bottom and without any Foreign Encouragement and the whole business miscarried only for want of a rigorous Second Lastly give me leave to say that he has extremely overshot himself in one thing more for though this has been really the practice of the French and is at this day the very Model and Rule by which their Emissaries govern themselves it should yet have been kept as the greatest Secret in the World for the owning of these Inglorious Artifices in publique makes it one of the Grossest Libels that ever was written against the French Government to say nothing of his oversight in disobliging the Roman Catholiques and laying Snares to Trepan them The question of Trade has been so beaten already that there remains Little to be added to it Nor in truth needs it since it is agreed at all hands that the French set up for an Vniversal Commerce as well as for an Vniversal Monarchy And in effect the one is but a necessary consequent upon the other Nor is it enough it seems for us to be design'd upon by them without lending them our hands towards the cutting of our own Throats For upon a sober and judicious estimate we are Losers by our Trade with France at least a Million and an half per Annum I shall conclude this Head with one passage more out of our Politiques of France And you 'l say 't is a pleasant one too but it must be under the Rose Upon a Presupposal of mischief that 's a Brewing in England Now says he it will be our business to renew our Allyance with Holland we can wheedle them into an Opinion that they are the only men that understand the knack of Trade so that they shall have that to themselves the Talent of the French alas lies another way and there 's no forcing of any thing against Nature and that now 's their nick of time to crush their Competitors for the Northern Seas So that we are all of us to be served with the same Sauce but 't is some degree of Honesty yet when they tell the World what they are to trust to Now to sum up all that 's said If the French can dispence with Oaths and Solemn Contracts If it be their Custom and a Branch of their Policy to fish in troubled Waters If they hate us as English-men and are not for us as Reformed Catholiques If they do all they can to wound us in our Reputation our Peace and our Trade we may take for granted that they will destroy us to all purposes if they can which naturally leads me to an Enquiry how far we are in their Power or likely so to be that we may take our measures accordingly It will not stand with the Brevity I propose in this Paper to give you a Geographical or an Historical Accompt of Places or Actions But in as few words as I can I am to present you with a general view of the present State of Christendom with a regard to the Power of France and then to consider how far England may come to be concern'd in the Common Fate Here it was that you and I brake off in our last Discourse So that in the Prosecution of it I must try to walk without Leâ—ding Saving only the helps that I have gathered from certain Tracts which I have read upon his Recommendation wherein I shall steer a middle Course betwixt some that overvalue the Strength of France and others that will have it to be less then indeed it is That the Arms of France are at this day formidable to all Christendome is not to be denied and Tacitus gives you the reason of it in the Case of the Romans and the Brittains Rarus says he ad propulsandum commune Periculum conventus ita dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur There must be a common force to oppose a common danger they struggled one by one till they were all destroyed The French no doubt of it are a wealthy a populous and a Military Nation But it must be allowed that they are more indebted for their Greatness to the slips and oversights of others And this without disparagement too then they are to their proper Conduct and Valour The advance they made into Flanders in 1667. was introduced by the Spaniards trusting to their Assurances of Friendship and rather imputable to an excess of Charity than any want of Precaution though it seemed not very likely that they should march with Horse Foot and Cannon only to go a birding Through these and the like Arts they have rais'd themselves to that dangerous height where now we behold them taking all advantages of the unsetled condition of Spain the divisions of the Empire the Factions in Holland and of all other mistakes in point of fore-sight and Resolution elsewhere You know very well the Conquests they have made upon the United Provinces the Spanish Netherlands a considerable part of Germany with the Terror and Devastation that accompanies them every where The Progress of their Arms in Catalonia Sicily the West-Indies c. Now what may be the consequences of this over-growing Power and how to prevent them is the matter in Question AS it is without dispute that the French aim at Universal Dominion which is only a more plausible Cover for that Universal Slavery which must create it so is it accompted as indubitable a Principle that the Conquest of Flanders must be the Foundation of it And according to this Maxim it is that they take their Measures for they have made themselves Masters of the Outworks already in Valenciennes Cambray and St. Omer three places of very great strength and importance And it is generally believ'd by the recalling of their Troops from the Rhine and bending the flower of their Force that that way that they will push for the rest this Campania If they carry it as probably they will without the speedy addition of some powerful Alliance take notice I beseech you of that which Naturally follows In the first place the Charge and the Hazard of that War is over which in Garrisons and in the Field has put his most Christian Majesty to expence of keeping near 100000 Men in Pay which will then be at liberty to fall in upon the Empire Beside what has been expended in Management as the French call it which in honest English is down right Corruption Secondly This Acquisition will furnish the French
King with men and monies for an Army of fifty thousand Men and no better Souldiers in Europe Thirdly what will become of the Duke of Brandenburg if the French shall fall into Cleves and Mark with a matter of forty or fifty thousand Men more and from thence into Pomeren and Prussia Fourthly the whole Patrimony of the Empire from the Rhine to the Frontiers of France fall by an inevitable Consequence into the hands of the French as they have already swallowed the three Bishopricks of Metz Toul and Verdun So that the Imperial Army will be forc'd over the Rhine and there probably kept in play and upon the bare defensive by the Princes of the French Interest while in the mean time the Princes of Westphalia will be reduc'd to an absolute necessity of ranging themselves under the French Protection and Changing their party And what can then be expected from Holland after what they have suffer'd already and under their present despairs but to content themselves with such Conditions as France will give them For after the loss of Cleves and Flanders their Case is wholly desperate unless England should vigorously interpose to their Relief And the State of the Empire is neither better nor worse than that of their Neighbours for they must all submit their Necks to the same Yoak When matters are brought to this Pass they have before them England Spain and Italy the Cloud is gathered already and it is wholly at their Choice where it shall break There are a great many people I know that promise themselves mighty things from the Event of another Campania for want I fear of Consulting the Chart and the almost insuperable difficulties that lie in the way The means they propose are either by carrying the War into France by way of Revulsion or by forcing the French upon a Capital Battel The former Proposition seems first very impracticable and secondly of little or no advantage if it could be effected It must be considered that beyond Mentz Coblents and Treves the Imperalists have no Magazine at all beside that betwixt Treves and France a part of Luxenburg excepted is absolutely in the Enemies Power Now how should an Army subsist there that must over and above pass through a Country of about twenty Leagues that is wholly laid wast and in Ashes and without any Cattle in it or any other sort of Necessary provision Put the Case now that the Imperialists should break through all these difficulties and carry an Army even into the Lorain it self the Country of Metzin or Burgundy which would take them up the best part of a Summer too all the strong holds are in the hands of the French and the Country laid so desolate that there 's no living for an Army there When 't is come to this they must resolve either upon a Battle or Siege If the former The French are at liberty whether they will fight or no and there 's no compelling of them for they are among their strong holds and all 's their own both behind them and on each side and the Country either burnt or deserted But carry it father yet and suppose the French forc'd upon the Risque of a Battle First The Imperialists are not sure to get the better of it And Secondly What if they should Nay to the degree of an entire Victory All that would be expected more for that year would be only to take in some considerable Post and make good the ground they had gotten for the next Campaign For it would be a madness to pursue their Victory into the heart of an Enemies Country and leave so many strong Garrisons upon their Backs which would undoubtedly cut off all their Convoys and starve them But this is still the supposing of a Thing not to be supposed for the French in this Case would stand upon the Defensive and not to come to a Battle Or in case they should and be worsted they have men enough in Garrison for Recruits that would immediatly reinforce them Now on the other side what if the Imperialists should chance to be routed The Garrisons which the French hold in Lorain Burgundy and Alsatia would in such Case totally destroy that broken Army and cut out such work in Germany as has not been known in the Empire for many Ages In this extremity let us suppose that the Empire should yet bring another Army into the Field and try the issue of a Second Battle and miscarry And that the disaffected Princes of the Empire should declare themselves for the Enemy all that part of Germany that lies within two or three days journy of the Rhine would be irrecoverably lost a great part of it being so harrased already that 't is not able so much as to furnish an Army upon a March much less for a Winter quarter Now to the Business of a Siege the French have taught us by Philipsburg and Mastricht that they want neither Skill to fortifie a place nor Courage to defend it So that without a great loss of Time and Men it cannot be expected that the Imperialists should make themselves Masters of any considerable place And when they shall have carried it what will a Town in Lorain or Burgundy signifie to the saving of the Spanish Netherlands which if once lost are hardly ever to be retriv'd Now taking this for granted if England does not step in with all the speed and vigor imaginable see what will be the end on 't First That the French being Masters of all the Posts Passes and strong-holds in Lorain and Burgundy may dodge and trifle the Imperialists at pleasure and make them spend out the year without any Advantage to the Netherlands The way would have been for the Imperialists to have prest with an Army of 50000 men directly into the body of France and the Confederate Troops in the Low Countries to have made another Inrode by the way of Picardy or Bologne but since the taking of Valenciennes Cambray and St. Omer there 's no possibility of piercing France that way So that a very small Army now upon the Spanish Netherlands with the help of the French Garrisons is sufficient to amuse and tire out the whole force of Spain and Holland upon that Quarter Secondly France being thus secur'd on that side will unquestionably fall in with all their Power upon the Empire unless diverted by the Alarm they have now receiv'd from England Now admitting this to be the Condition of France let any man of sense judge what good the Imperial Army can do to the Netherlands upon which single point depends the Fortune of Christendom What if they should march up to the Borders of France with 50000 men Will not the French encounter them there with as many or more And with this odds too that the Imperialists suffer a thousand Incommodities in their March through a ruin'd Country whereas the French have good Quarters and plenty of all things at hand watching the Others