vast difference between the Charge of a War maintain'd Abroad and the Desolations of a War brought Home to our own doors While the Dutch maintain'd their Army and sent them into Flanders to Fight the War though it was long and very bloody yet was easy to them but to have the French Army in the Bowels of their Country leaves nothing but Ruin and Desolation behind witness the Rage of the French Armies at Swamerdam in the Years 1672 and 1673. The Dutch by their hired Troops are a very powerful State but are on the other hand the worst of any Nation in the World to entertain a War in their own Dominion because they are so exceedingly dependant upon the openness and freedom of Trade which if it be once Obstructed as to be sure it must be by such a kind of a War they are presently impoverisht The Uniting the Spanish Netherlands to France by this Succession would leave Holland in a manner quite naked of all its defence and exposed to the Will of the French for if Flanders be lost all the Blood and Treasure spent by the whole Confederacy in Three long and chargeable Wars for the rescuing Flanders out of the French hands would be lost and all the labour of the King of England and his Armies would be utterly lost The Dutch are certainly exposed to the last degree and in so much danger of being absolutely subdued in such a case that I think they are concern'd in the highest degree to prevent if possible such an Union as that which would to them be the most fatal thing in the World We come in the next place to examine how England stands with respect to such an Union England is not one jot less concern'd in the matter than Holland the King of England whose Hazards in Flanders may seem needless to those who understood no better has given sufficient Testimony of his Opinion how much the safety of England depends upon maintaining the Frontier of Flanders as a Barrier for the Kingdom against the Insults of the French Nation and indeed if nothing but the prodigious increase of the Naval Strength which France would attain by such an Union were considered it would be sufficient to make all the Northern parts of Europe join their Interest against it I noted in the Article about the Dutch the naked Condition they would be in with respect to a War by Land but should the French once make themselves Masters of Flanders and of some of the Dutch Ports and Harbours in the Scheld or the Maez the addition of their Naval Strength would make them too great a Match for all Europe at Sea The present Conjunction of the English and Dutch Fleets have not without great difficulty preserved the Command of the Sea during this War the Advantages gain'd by it are visible to the meanest understanding and I question whether it would be possible to maintain that Command in case of such a Union The present growing greatness of the French Genius infus'd by vigorous Councils into the Spaniards may once again make them as they formerly were the most Powerful Nation in the World both at Land and Sea if then the French and Spaniard United should make themselves in proportion too strong at Sea for the English and Dutch they may bid very fair for a Universal Empire over this part of the World Our Interests in the West-Indian Colonies of America come next into Consideration 'T is absolutely necessary for the security of our Plantations whose extent is exceeding great that no Union be made between the French and Spanish Dominions otherwise the whole Trade from these parts of the World to both East and West Indies may lie at the mercy of the French For England and Holland being Nations subsisting and depending wholly upon Trade and Foreign Negoce any Union in the World which shall be too strong for them at Sea may in the end reduce both those Nations to what Terms and what Subjection they please And this leads us to the other great Consideration of this Union as it respects The Interest of Trade in the World The Interest of Trade is the Interest of Nations Peace is the end of War or at least ought to be so Trade is the end of Peace and Gain is the end of Trade The Trade of Europe is principally in the hands of the English Dutch and Spaniards from the two former to the latter in Manufactures of their own Growth and Operation The Spaniards who are a Nation that make the best Return in Trade of any Nation in the World namely Bullion may be said to suffer us to Trade with them rather than they to Trade with us They are a subtle but a very slothful Nation they buy almost all their necessary things of Foreigners they have in a manner no Manufacture among them they hardly make their own Cloaths and in return the Growth of their Countrey as Wines Oyls and Fruits are brought back and the Overplus made up by Exchange supplied by the Bullion of their West-Indies As a further demonstration of the ill husbandry of the Spaniards in Trade it appears that all the Trade carried on with them by the English and Dutch is carried on upon our own Stocks and some have ventured to say that the English Effects in Spain do not amount to less than 50 Millions sterl which way of Trade has always been the greatest Ligament of the Peace between the English and Dutch and the Spaniard For on the first occasion of a Rupture with these Countries the immediate course the Spaniard takes is to seize upon all the English or Dutch Merchants and confiscate their Effects which are always so considerable as that those Nations have no Equivalent to lay hold on by way of Reprisal 'T is true they have taken their Plate-Ships and sometimes plunder'd the Coast-Towns in the Spanish West-Indies which at best would be but a small Amends to the Seizure of the Effects of so many Merchants Nay they are not only so ill Merchants as to suffer Strangers to engross their Trade but even those Strangers as if the Spaniards were neither able to manage nor fit to be trusted with Business employ all Agents Factors and Servants of their own sent over and resident among them with the same Methods as they Plant amongst the most barbarous Nations of Africa and by this Method the Trade of Spain is so managed that whatever it be to the Spaniards themselves 't is certainly a Trade exceeding gainful to the Merchants of these Countries in particular 1. As it occasions the Consumption of their Manufactures and from thence the Improvement of their Stocks at home by which the whole Countries are enrich'd and the Poor employ'd and supported 2. As it makes a Return of Bullion which is the greatest Advantage that can accrue to Trade for Manufactures exported and Bullion return'd make always an Account of Profit to the Publick Stock of a Nation 3. An
THE INTERESTS Of the several Princes and States of Europe With respect to the Succession of the Crown of Spain THE INTERESTS Of the Several Princes and States of Europe Consider'd with respect to the SUCCESSION OF THE Crown of Spain AND THE TITLES of the several Pretenders thereto Examin'd LONDON Printed in the Year M DC XC VIII The Interests of the Several Princes of Europe with respect to the Succession of the Crown of SPAIN c. THE present Indisposition of the King of Spain seems to put a great part of Europe into a Consternation The Apprehension the most Judicious Persons have of a Breach in the short Tranquility this part of the World has enjoy'd makes the Concern be very just For they who know how ill we are able to enter upon a Second War and what deep Incisions the Last has made into the soundest Members of the Confederacy have good reason to be very chary of the present Peace 'T is true our Adversaries have felt the Effects of the War as well as We and 't is reasonable to suppose have as little need of another as they had real need of the Peace But what we know of that is but suppos'd what we feel we are sensible and sure of Besides the Case here would exceedingly differ for the Kingdom of Spain which perhaps were it rightly managed is the Richest as well as the Largest Government in the World is a thing so valuable that 't is presum'd there is no Monarch in Christendom were he in the King of France's stead but would push for it at the extremest hazard And the present King of France has never given the World any reason to expect he will omit the Addition of such a Trophy to his Glory especially when he has so high Pretensions to the Claim In this Case it seems very proper to enquire a little into the present Prospect of Affairs as they respect the several Interests of the Princes of Europe and what probable Effects the Decease of his Catholick Majesty may have as to Peace War and Trade that from thence we may judge what we ought to expect from such an Event To come at a full understanding of the Case in hand 't is necessary to take a short View of the Succession of the Royal Family of Spain and enquire who has the fairest Claim in case of the Demise of the present King The House of Austria have had an undoubted Possession of the Crown of Spain and Charles the Fifth being chosen Emperor of Germany enjoy'd a Sovereignty of the largest Extent perhaps that ever any One Prince in the World had under his Government For he had at once the Empire of Germany the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia of Spain Naples and Sicily all the present United Provinces under the States of Holland all Flanders with the Countries of Luxemburgh Franche Comte and Burgundy the Dukedom of Milan the Islands of Sardinia Corsica Majorca and Minorca with a boundless Empire in Mexico and Peru besides a multitude of Petty Sovereignties Dukedoms and Principalities All this Vast Dominion the Empire of Germany and its Dependancies excepted descended to his Son Philip who added to it the Kingdoms of England and Ireland by his Marriage with Queen Mary but that unhappy Match neither raising him any Children nor keeping him in any long Possession of this Crown he lost it by her Death and in the next Reign lost the Low-Countries also and by that long War so impoverish'd his own Kingdom that it never recovered it to this hour After his Decease he left his Kingdoms to his Son Philip and he to Philip the Fourth Father of the present Charles the Second who has yet no Children Philip the Fourth left One Son and Two Daughters the Eldest Daughter Maria Teresia was married to the present French King and was Mother to the present Dauphin of France and in case of the Death of the present King of Spain the Dauphin of France is Heir Apparent to the Crown of Spain and to all its Dominions and one Clause excepted has an Unquestion'd Title to the Succession of the said Kingdoms But in answer to the Succession of the Dauphin 't is objected That at the Marriage of Lewis the Fourteenth of France with Maria Teresia of Spain aforesaid his Most Christian Majesty with all the Princes of the Blood did by a Writing under their Hands and Seals ratified and exchang'd on the Borders and firm'd by their Solemn Oath at Fonterabia in the Year 1659 renounce and relinquish all Right or Title Claim and Pretensions for himself or his Successors which they or any of them had or should have by reason of any Alliance from the said Marriage The Spanish Ministers of State who foresaw the possibility of a Claim upon the Crown of Spain from the Children of that Match took all the care imaginable to bind His most Christian Majesty from so much as a Pretension to it and to that end made the Words of that Oath as full and the Ceremony of Making and Exchanging it as Solemn and as Publick as possible How far His Most Christian Majesty will think himself bound by such an Oath time must determine I know 't is Argued that the Dauphin and his Sons can be no way obliged by an Oath made by their Father or Grandfather before they were born and that the Father could only relinquish for himself but not for them on whom the Right of Succession devolv'd long after the Oath of their Father That the Inheritance was a Natural Right to them which their Predecessors had no power to dispense with and therefore they are no way concern'd in the Oath of Renunciation but ought to Succeed as if no such Oath had been taken Though much might be said on this Point it being not the Design of this Paper I shall only Note this That whether the Oath by which His Most Christian Majesty Renounced the said Succession be binding to the Dauphin and his Sons or no this is certain That it is effectually binding to the King himself if there be any such thing as a binding Force in the Obligation of the most solemn and sacred Oaths in the World Now if the Obligation be so sacred as to the Most Christian King himself 't is most certain the Dauphin or his Sons will never be Kings of Spain if the said Most Christian King be so just to his Obligation as not to aid and assist them in pushing at the Succession The Emperor of Germany who is the next Branch of the House of Austria is Heir to the Crown of Spain in case the Title of the said Maria Teresia be laid aside being the immediate Line of Ferdinand Son to Charles the V th King of Spain and not only so but his Issue has a Claim by Virtue of his Marriage with Margaret Teresia the Second Daughter of Philip the IV th by whom he had One Daughter who was Married to the present Duke of
Increase of Navigation and Encouragement to Seamen the Spaniards not only Trading with us all in our own Vessels but employing our Ships in their own Affairs from Port to Port in Italy especially In case of a Union with France 't is very probable the Channel of Trade to Spain may be entirely alter'd The French are a busy Trading Nation themselves and are very apt to vye with the English and Dutch in their Manufactures And to go no further when 't is in their power to admit their own Merchants to import their Manufactures Custom-free while we shall pay 23 per Cent. 't is easy to see that our Trade thither must dye I know it will be objected here That the chief Export of English Manufactures is to Cadiz for the Trade by the Galeons to New Spain c. and that if the French should by their Conjunction any way discourage that Trade it is but our opening a Correspondence from Jamaica to their West-Indies and we should be as great Gainers and the Trade from Spain by the Galeons be very much impair'd By the Treaty of Commerce between the two Nations it is stipulated in particular That the King of England shall not permit any of his Subjects to Trade Correspond or Sail to or with any of the Subjects of his Catholick Majesty in the West-Indies The reason was that the Trade from hence to Spain being so considerable by the way of Cadiz and the return so good keeping it in that Channel would be the only way to maintain that beneficial Negoce to advantage Whereas supplying the Indies directly from England would be very prejudicial to the particular Trade of Spain it self the Navigation from Cadiz to the Havana and in general to the whole Trade Now the most effectual Method of prohibiting this Trade has appear'd to be observing the Prohibition strictly at our Colonies and Islands in America Jamaica in particular For did our Government give the Liberty to Trade from Jamaica to New Spain directly the Spaniards are so eager to Trade that all the Precaution their own Government could use to prevent it would be to no purpose And there is this reason to be given for it That the Sale from the English by the way of Jamaica is so much cheaper than that by way of Cadiz and yet our Merchants great Gainers too that the Spaniards of America will run all hazards to get our Goods on shore and coming off to us in Sloops and Canoes they Trade super altum mare bartering immediate Money for our Commodities at an extraordinary Rate The reason is plain because Goods sent from England or Holland to Cadiz there paying Freight and Charges with a Custom of 23 l. per Cent. to the King of Spain and afterwards reshipt on board the Galeons paying a second Freight with some Indulto at their lading on board and again at their landing in America must of necessity be sold dearer than Goods brought directly from England Now if the Prohibition on our side be but removed the Trade of Cadiz as far as respects English Goods would be ruined 'T is acknowledg'd this would be very detrimental to the Spanish Trade but a Trade carried on by Stealth could be neither very durable nor very considerable and therefore could never amount to an Equivalent to the Loss of that great Branch of our Trade from England to Cadiz Another Answer may be given as to the Damage of Trade That a Powerful Union between Holland and England for the Augmentation of their Naval Strength in order to preserve always the Command of the Seas will be effectual either to prescribe the French though they are united with the Spaniard within the Ancient Regulations of Trade or to prohibit their own Trade to their American Colonies nay even to take all America from them To this I say Spain indeed as now consider'd in the hands of the Spaniards has but an inconsiderable Naval Power but Spain in the hands of the French must be otherwise consider'd The French are a Nation who improve every thing to the utmost they are a diligent indefatigable people if it be possible to recover the Naval Power of Spain as no doubt it is they will recover it And what a prodigious Extent of the Sea will they possess by a contiguous Coast from Dunkirk to the Streights-mouth for I must suppose Portugal to be swallow'd up by them it cannot be avoided the Pretensions to that Crown are so great and the Power to oppose them so small and from the Streights-mouth a few small Ports excepted quite to Loretto on the East side of Italy almost to Venice They must be a more slothful People than the Spaniards if they do not make themselves the strongest Nation at Sea in the World And if they are so no Trade can be secur'd to us but such as some particular advantage to themselves makes it their Interest to permit In a word It seems to me that Trade in general will lie too much at the Mercy of the French ever to be of any Advantage to their Neighbours and I 'll instance in one particular Trade in which at present we rival that Nation viz. the Newfoundland Fishing We take our Fish on the Banks of Newfoundland and on the Coast of New England and the French do the like the Market is general and equal to both Nations if there be any advantage 't is on the side of the English but if Spain which is the place where all this Fish is disposed of falls into the hands of the French 't is but Prohibiting Fish excepting in their own Bottoms and all our Newfoundland Colonies must sink and be deserted and Three hundred Sail of Ships be at once unemployed That such a Prohibition would be the consequence of such a Union is as natural as can be and no one could blame the French neither for we would do the same our selves The Trade to Venice to Italy and to Turkey would have like Circumstances and Consequences for the French would keep the Key of the Mediterranean and they would be very much to blame if they let any pass the Streights Mouth without paying them such a Toll as that all those Trades should be managed by us under considerable disadvantage if they were not entirely lost To speak of the Dutch whose Fishery in a great measure is the staple of their Navigation this Fishery depends as much upon their St. Ubies Fleet for Salt as the Brewers in London do upon the New-Castle Fleet for Coals Should this Union of France and Spain succeed and Portugal be subdued 't is in the power of the French to destroy all the Dutch Fishery by laying a great Duty on the Salt at St. Ubies while their own Subjects shall have it as before by which means the French shall bring their Herrings Cheaper to Market and consequently have all the Trade The Instances which might be given of this nature are too many to be included in this short