it tho they are somewhat desirous to give it another Term here and say His Britannick Majesty is well known to be the only Prince in the World that understands Shipping the best and that only out of a little Vanity to shew his great Abilities in that way he sent diverse Models not only into France but else where also tho the real Cause as I have heard it whisper'd was his want of Jealousy and withal to Coaks as much Mony out of them as he could and in order to enhance the same he sent also Artists over as well as Models for which by the Account I have seen tho it seems to be somewhat imperfect as to the particulars he hath already receiv'd at times above 600000 Pounds Sterling which is all the particulars I could ever attain to in relation to this matter that I know is the most ungrateful to your Lordship to understand perhaps of any thing that has at any time dropp'd from my Pen and therefore I am glad 't is thus contracted as I am always of an opportunity to acknowledg how much I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servant Paris June 4. 1684. N. S. LETTER LXXI The Conduct of the Court of France towards the Duke of York during his aboad in Flanders and Scotland c. My Lord YOUR Lordship will hardly believe the Treachery of the Ministers of this Court who since I have known them would stick at no manner of Villany to gain their ends and our unhappy Princes have from time to time given them but too much opportunity to work their designs through their own sides and this I have already made to appear by several instances to your Lordship and shall further now by observing that notwithstanding his Royal Highnesses Compliance with them in the business of Marrying his Daughter so far as he could and upon diverse other occasions as I have formerly hinted Yet at that time when he was forc'd to retire to Bruxels they were very angry with him and almost all the rest of the English Papists hecause so many of them had seem'd Zealous to serve the Spanish interest under the Duke in Flanders nay and the French King himself was heard to say That had he followed his Counsel and had been constant to him he should not have needed to retire to Bruxels or to any other place but France as I think I mention'd before to your Lordship Tho they seem'd afterward to mollify somewhat towards him yet they set their Emissaries on work in England and Scotland to deal with some persons about whom they had formerly got some Light in Monsieur Ruvigni's time to get the Duke sent into Scotland to make a Party there while they privately engag'd the Dutchess of Portsmouth and the Exclusioners in England to do their utmost both in Court and Parliament to get him Excluded from the Succession in hopes and with this accursed view that England having proceeded so far as to put him by the Succession Scotland would declare for him and so the two Kingdoms be rent in sunder and afflicted with a tedious War wherein they had resolv'd to assist the latter and yet my Lord 't is strange to think it yet so it is that they were not true to him even there for they got it privately propos'd to a certain Noble Family in the Kingdom of Scotland deriv'd from Blood Royal that if they would put in a claim to the Scotch Crown and throw off the Title of the two Brothers upon pretensions to be suggested to them and that Scotland would set up again for a Kingdom under a King of its own and renew their Antient League with France they should be Assisted effectually and should besides have the Lands of the Dutchy of Chateâ—leraut and the Honours and Lands of Aubâ—ny c. with many other additions restor'd to them and over and above all this a large Annual Pension and all the old Priviledges granted formerly to the Sootch Nation renewed and considerably augmented but tho my Lord that Noble Family refus'd to hearken to these their Treacherous Invitations yet there cannot a greater instance scarce be given of their Villanous Designs than this which I could not but communicate to your Lordship upon this occasion who am My Lord Your Humble Servant Paris Sept. 6. 1684. N. S. LETTER LXXII Of King Charles II's Resolution a little before his Death to alter his method ef Government My Lord I Am very well satisfied your Lordship must know in a very great measure the present Resolutions of the King in respect to his Future Government when you know so well by whose Agency he was at first Undeceiv'd and by whose Council and Assistance he intends to proceed but the Ministers here have too many Agents still about him to remain long Ignorant of the Design and are not a little Allarm'd to understand his Majesty hath resolv'd to restore all Charters to call a Parliament and thereby to get a moderate Liberty settled on Dissenters and to have the Boundaries of Prerogative Parliamentary Priviledges and Popular Liberty so clearly settled and explain'd that there may arise no more Disputes about them between King and People for the Future and that it shall be made Treason after that even in Parliament once to move any thing prejudicial to the King 's declar'd and explain'd Prerogatives or to the Parliament and Peoples declar'd Priviledges and Liberties and that all Officers Military and Civil shall be equally Sworn to maintain the one as well as the other that the Duke for the present shall be Sollicited to go for Scotland attended with such Persons as would take care to observe his Steps narrowly and that in his Absence the Princess Mary be Declar'd Heir Presumptive to the Crown and the Prince invited to Reside with her in England till the King's Death and the Duke totally Excluded and confin'd to live at Modena or Rome and not in this Kingdom or elsewhere but to have all his Revenues allow'd him and that if he prove Refractory and refuse to Retire any where else but into France that then he shall not only be depriv'd of his Revenue but be altogether confin'd in some Castle in England under a good Guard c. I do not question my Lord but this matter is sufficiently aggravated by the French Emissaries and perhaps there may be something more in it than I am able to fathom however it was my Duty to Transmit the same as I find in represented tho your Lordship may know much more truly the Fact than My Lord Your humble Servant Paris Jan. 4. 1685. N. S. LETTER LXXIII Of King Charles II's Death My Lord YOur Lordship may expect I should acquaint you how much surpriz'd I was at the News of the King's Death but the manner it was receiv'd here quite drown'd my Astonishment in that Kind and so it would any true English Man to see this Court have the News of his Majesties Death or at
Charles IId's Restoration with their Answers to the Queen-Mother's Resentments thereupon My Lord ACcording to the Expectation I may have raised in your Lordship by my last of some Notable Intelligence from me I am to acquaint you with what perhaps you will hardly believe that this Court considering the near Alliance between the Burbonian and English Royal Family should as much as once think to obstruct the King's Restauration to the Throne of his Ancestors but for my part I clearly find there is neither Father Brother nor Cousin between Kings and Kingdoms and that France used the utmost of her Policy at that time to keep us Embroiled at Home while she might have her Hands loose to play her Game Abroad but because I conceive it may not be ungrateful to your Lordship to understand what those Stratagems were which they own themselves to have practised upon that Occasion I shall briefly hint them unto you as I find them entred here in their Cabinet-Minutes Monsieur Bourdeaâ—x was then their Ordinary Embassador at London whose Instructions were both by himself and several other Emissaries which they had there to raise all the Jealousies imaginable in the several Factions of Monk and his Adherents and at the same time to make Overtures to Monk to assume Oliver's Post and Power urging with great vehemency that he might with much more Justice and Security do it as having what the other had not a President before him but tho' that General refused the Proposal and was proof against all their Attacks of that kind saying he would not split his Family upon that Rock against which the Cromwell's had dasht but would wave all Ambitious Projects of his own Grandure that were indirect and pursue only those that consisted with his Countreys good and that they saw at last it was in vain to attempt the Union of the stronger Factions at Home either against Monk or the King's Restoration they resolved to try what might be done Abroad to work them into a Temper and therefore to raise Jealousies in them from their Neighbours they did in March 1660. Defile several Battalions of Foot towards Calais giving out at the same time that their Design was to Besiege Dunkirk in Conjunction with the Spanish Forces and that after the Place was taken by them it was to be delivered up to the Spaniards pursuant to an Agreement made between them that the latter had consented to give up Cambray and some other Places to the French in lieu of it at which proceedings of theirs the Queen-Mother then in France taking the Alarm she briskly remonstrated unto them the unnatural part they acted considering the near Ties of Blood in her Person between the Royal Families of France and England and how dishonourable it was to oppose the Restitution of a Prince which they were bound to promote even by Arms tho' he had been no ways Allied to them but she was answered that there were many Reasons of state which superceded all those Scruples that for her part she might be assured she should be as well provided for as otherwise that it was not safe for her Son to be brought in purely by his own Subjects but that if they both would have a little patience they did not question but they had taken such Methods so to embroil and weaken England that there would be quickly room enough for the French King to bring him in in a much more Glorious manner so as that he might be Absolute Master of his Subjects and have his Royal Authority no more to depend upon the fickle and changeable Temper of a Perfidious Nation nor be in danger to receive any check from Parliaments that would sooner or latter prove Factious and Dangerous to his State that it was visible the Spaniards had a great hand in promoting such a Revolution in England and therefore they desired her to consider how dishonourable it would be to the House of Bourbon to suffer it and how dangerous such a Conjunction of England and Spain which would naturally follow against them would be she her self might judge and that therefore since a little patience would Infallibly retrieve the whole Game to their Interest and much more to her Satisfaction they could do no less than pursue the Methods they had taken and make both her and her Son happy tho' it were against their Wills that she was much in the wrong to judge of Things by present Appearances that they were assured however Matters might be concealed from her the Conditions proposed to the King her Son by his Subjects were little to her Satisfaction when they imported no less than that her two younger Sons of the Elder of whom she had conceived greatest Hopes and her self must never set footing on English Ground and that the King himself must Marry a Protestant Heretick and suffer no Roman Catholick to live in his Dominions But when they found all their Politicks had failed them and that the King was restored in spight of them according to his Hearts Content they afterwards fell upon other Stratagems put in due time in Execution to work upon his Easie Nature and to render his Power more serviceable than hurtful to their Designs tho' the King who was yet sensible of the Injuries done him upon his Arrival in England ordered Bourdeux to withdraw out of his Dominions this is the substance of what I find entred here in reference to this particular and all I have now to Communicate which if I find it relish with your Lordship I shall not fail to lay hold of all Occasions to demonstrate how much I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble c. Paris Feb. 19. 1676. N. St. LETTER III. Of several Matches proposed to King Charles the Second by the French Court with his Answers and Rejection of the same My Lord IT 's not unknown to your Lordship that one Topick in the French Politicks has been now for many Years to bring their Neighbour Princes into their Interests by procuring them Wives and the French Women have had an Excellent Faculty to bring over their Husbands into the Gallican Noose tho' apparently to the hazard of themselves and their own State so that quite failing in their end to obstruct the King's Restoration they now attempted to Entrap him with a Wife I understand there were several French Matches proposed to him during his Exile and among others a great Lady whose Name I cannot now remember who had like to have been afterward Married to the Prince of Conde and whom the King hotly Courted when in France but because he was refused by her then he in his turn refused her when Restored tho' in reality such a proffer on their part was no more than to sound his Disposition towards Marrying a French Woman in general for if he had consented to have taken this Lady to Wife the French Court would not have suffered it because she was a Martial Lady and of the contrary
all their Hopes dashed to pieces and therefore they stood still for a Time to see what so mighty a Revolution in England might produce and what mighty things a King in the Vigour of his Years whom they had sufficiently provoked during his Exile so high in the Love of his Subjects the ancient Emulators of the French and the People now in the most Martial Posture that ever they were in since England was a Nation would undertake but finding all were Haleyon Daâ—s and that then there was no apparent Disposition in our Court to make any Incroachment on their Neighbours the French Ministers began to re-assume fresh Hopes and to consider what Expedients might be proper for to promote their Designs which now for some time had lain Dormant one Project was that of the Match mentioned by me to your Lordship in my Last which succeeding so well and finding still that the King was far enough from designing any War for the enlargment of his Territories they resolved to make an Essay and see whether he was willing to part with any thing that was already his own I do suppose your Lordship may have heard of Cardinal de Retz being in disgrace at the French Court of his being forced to flee the Kingdom of his being at London incognito some time after the Restoration what he was publickly accused for in France was that he had favoured the Adverse Party about the Point of the Legitimacy that he had invited Madamoisell d' Orleans to aspire to a Match with our King and Abetted the Pretensions of Rome against those of the Court about the then growing Difficulties concerning the Regale but what ever the Reasons were they were never Published nor suffered to be so much as entred in the Minutes of other Secrets but this is certain that our King interceded with the French King on his behalf and that he was admitted to return and I have been assured it was by the way of Dunkirk and was sent afterward Embassador to Rome but whether all this was a Juggle to carry on a Negotiation about Dunkirk I will not positively affirm but it looks as much like a French Trick as one Egg does another That the Spaniards pressed our King very early for the Restitution of Dunkirk is uncontroulably true and made pretty large offers and it is as true that the King rejected their Proposals which yet did not discourage the French Emissaries of whom they had by this Time many in England as the Minutes shew who having ingratiated themselves with the Chancellor and other hungry Courtiers made also their Overtures and told the King withal that Cromwel was to have that Town only for a Temporary Caution for so much Money due to him for his Assistance against the Spaniards and that therefore it was a Matter of Right they insisted upon seeing they were now ready to lay down the Summ with more then Interest nay and they were so bold as to tell him farther that if he refused to give it for Money they would endeavour to recover the same by a War and questioned not the Junction of the Hollanders with them both by Sea and Land in that Case they being as unwilling as the French that the English should have footing so near them on the Continent and in effect they made use of the Dutch Faction and some Jews their Emissaries in England more then any Body else to bring that Affair about and because they would be sure to meet with no Obstructions from the Spaniards by renewing their Instances to the King and alleadging a greater right to the Town then the French they amused them with a Design they had to restore it to them again upon a reasonable equivalent in Flanders and gave it out that they had entred into a Treaty already with them upon that Head but whether it was so in Reality I cannot tell and this is all that I am able to inform your Lordship concerning our parting with that Important Place Only that the summ paid for it was two Millions and five hundred thousand Lirves and so I remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant Paris March 4. 1676. N. St. LETTER V. Overtures made to King Charles II. for the Sale of Tangier to the French and how prevented My Lord THe French having as I have given your Lordship an Account in my Last gained their Point in the buying of Dunkirk whereof the French Forces took Possession about October in the Year 1662. they paused a little to see how the English would resent it before they would make any further Paces for the Promotion of their Cause to our Disadvantage but finding the Memory of the Anarchical Times together with the Nation 's according the Example of the Court daily degenerating from the Severity of Manners in Former Times had in a manner laid them fast asleep and quite obliterated all Thoughts of Military Glory so far as if there had been a sudden Transmutation of the Genius of the People they resolved to make another Essay upon the easie temper of the King and try whether he would also part with Tangier unto them but whether it were that the King was sensible already of his Mistake in parting with Dunkirk or that this very Motion of theirs put him upon considering what he had done and the great Error he had committed in Policy thereby it is certain he gave them an absolute Denial and that their Minutes speak but say withal that to be revenged of his Denial and make him odious after their usual Manner this Court ordered it however to be reported as if he had been willing for it and further add that the Kings real Answer was that Tangier being his Queens Dowry to whom he had not long been Married it would not at all suit with his Honour to sell it neither could he well part with it unless he parted with Her that it was by Parliament annext to the Imperial Crown of England and so could not be Sold without them that if both He and his Parliament too might be willing to sell it at another Time yet to be sure it was not proper to think of it just then when after so much Treasure and Blood spent upon it already it might if ever prove of some use to the Nation in the War then like to begin with the Dutch that he could not part with it to the French King so well as to any other Christian Prince nay not so well as even to the Moors themselves without giving a very just and therefore a dangerous Cause of Jealousie to his People especially in that Juncture when by the Carriage of the French he had great Cause to suspect they were Jealous of his grandeur at Sea and would joyn with the Dutch against him which refusal of his I must tell your Lordship was indeed one of the secret Causes among others why they soon after actually joyned with that Nation to diminish our Power to sham
and well Disciplined and Commanded and this unpreparedness of ours was a great Incitement to most of the French Council to put their King upon the Immediate Invasion of England with his whole Force having already fore-felt the Hollanders and found them if not Inclinable to join with them in such a War yet content to sit still and be quiet they moved it so hotly that they had like to have carried it which had they England had run a very great risque at that time of being Ruined for said they If we make sure of England first we shut a Back door fast against all Danger and may then securely Attack the Austrian Potentates having first Trampled down the Hollanders in our way of whom having made sure of the De Wits their then Chief Ministers we shall find an easie prey But just as the Ambition of that Monarch was ready to take Fire at those so specious Motives Monsieur Le Tellier since Chancellor and Father to Monsieur Louvois the Eldest and Ablest Statesman and Minister of France interposed the substance of whose Speech I shall take Care to transmit to your Lordship in my next who am My Lord Your very Humble Servant Paris August 23. 1676. N. St. LETTER XIV Containing an Account of Mons. Le Tellier's Arguments to disswade the French King from the Invasion of England My Lord ACcording to my Engagement in my last I shall now entertain your Lordship with Mons. Le Tellier's Remonstrance upon the Advice given the French King to Invade England He did acknowledge that the Counsel proposed was in it self very good supposing there were a certainty of effecting it but it was to be considered that it would prove of most pernicious Consequence in case the same were Attempted without Success That England was the Rock against which the late formidable Power of Spain had dasht in pieces its Aspiring Fortunes and that the like Expedition now by the House of Bourbon would prove alike Fatal to its Rising Power unless they were Infallibly sure of their Blow For to meddle with England at all unless they could absolutely Conquer it would be but to rouze a sleepy Lion slur the Reputation of their Arms and singe the Wings of their growing Greatness before they were fully fledg'd That it was impossible to make such a Conquest but by Intestine Divisions or Surprize unless they were first Masters of its Outworks the Low Countries That for a Surprize he thought it almost impracticable and that tho' it was possible they might â—ure the Hollanders to join with them and England was then indeed unprovided of Forces both by Sea and Land yet there was no trusting to that because there were no Factions then whose Designs were ripe enough to Favour such an Enterprize And that tho' they should prove so Successful in that Advantagious Juncture as to enter England they could expect no greater Advantage by it than just to frighten the King and the Nation and plunder them of a little Wealth and so be gone making but a Tartarian Expedition of it Because the universal and strong Antipathy of the English People both High and Low against the French Name and Domination would be an Invincible Obstacle to their setling there and would quickly make that Island too hot for them That therefore meerly to Attack and Pillage them without being able to reduce them totally would but whet the Animosity of those Warlike Nations whose Courage had always been wont to be heightned by Disgraces and was always Victorious when once fired with Indignation That such an Enterprize would for ever alienate the Heart of the then King and the whole Royal Family from the French Interest and make them by Inclination as well as Interest not only give way to but passionately to abet and make most Advantagious use of the Natural Animosity of their most Warlike Subjects against France That it would Unite the Peoples Hearts so firmly to their King and create so much mutual Confidence between them that it would be impossible afterward to divide them and so raise the Power of that Monarchy to a pitch from which it could not chuse but prove both formidable and fatal to them That it would rouze up the King then almost Drowned in Voluptuousness and Sensual Delights and make him a Man both of War and Business against his Will and cause him to enter into such Alliances with the House of Austria and other Powers as must needs be of Pernicious Consequences to the Designs of their great Bourbonian Hero That therefore it was better not to think of any such Attempt England being like a Flint sooner broken by soft than hard Methods That the King himself and also his Brother were much French by Inclination at present that the former was very Indulgent to his Pleasure that he was that way so Profuse and Prodigal that he would always be Necessitous of Money which his Parliament beginning to grow weary of giving him it would e'er long cause such strugglings between the Courtiers and Patriots of the Country as would give them ample Scope to compass their Ends in England by a more sure and less dangerous way than by a War which in all appearance would defeat all the Advantages they might otherwise reap there by other Methods That therefore the best way was to endeavour to take Advantage of the King's Infirmities to try whether there were a Witty French Beauty that could be Fortunate enough to gain on his Affections for that such an one would be a most Admirable Instrument for them That they should offer him Money and feed his Extravagance that way send dexterous Persons well furnished with Golden Charms to work on all the Leading Men among all their Factions and secretly to keep some Pensioners both among their Courtiers Patriots and Church-men and blow up and foment new Divisions That they should send thither some very able Embassador and keep him there a long time That they should incite the Hollanders to a new War with the English and the English with them and treat with and Promise Assistance to the former to the last Moment but in Conclusion join with the latter if it were possible to perswade the English King to a War And that on that pretence they might procure such numbers of English Forces especially Foot as might not only amend the Defects of their own Soldiery which still came very short in good Infantry but bring their own Native People by degrees inferring daily Examples of Strangers Bravery to imitate their Courage and Firmness in Set-Battels and to get a Stock of good Infantry by Land by drawing the English to them against the Dutch as they had already done of good Ships by Sea and Warlike Munitions by joining before with the Dutch against the English in the former Wars Yet that they might so order things that whatever Stipulations were made with the King of England to his Advantage to allure him to such a War should
be eluded and he only made a Tool of That tho' it was likely the Parliament of England would upon any great Success of the French be for breaking of the War and deny the King Money to continue it longer yet after they had made a sufficient Impression on the Netherlands they might prevail by their Golden Arguments upon the King at least to continue Neuter and leave his Land Forces still in the French King's Service for some considerable time That this Juggling would in a little time raise Animosities and Jealousies between the King and Court-party and that of the Patriots make the latter to deny him Money press hard upon his Prerogative raise new Pretensions about Liberty and Property which if carefully fomented by dexterous Agents would give the King and People there work enough in mutual Contests at Home which would hinder them from acting any thing considerable Abroad keep the King always under a necessity of continuing their Pensioner for fear of becoming his Parliaments Underling yet prop him up so as to preserve him in a Capacity still to be able to keep them in some sort under and hinder the daring English Senate from attaining any more so much the Soveraignty as to Erect themselves into a Republick He telling them from the Famous Cardinal Richlieu's Authentick Observation that an Absolute Monarch or a Republick in the Brittish Dominions would prove almost alike Fatal to France that therefore it was the best way to endeavour a Mean between this Scylla and Charibdis by keeping a Ballance between King and Parliament and fomenting perpetual Contests between them which was to be done by having unknown Instruments to sow Jealousies among the Patriots and People against the Court and make them cross the latter and at the same time make use of that crosness as an Argument to perswade the King that his Authority could be no way safe without sticking to their Alliance and feed him with Money both to enable him to carry on his Business and Pleasure without a Parliament and to Animate him from time to time to Prorogue and Dissolve them upon occasion And when upon some Success of the King and Court party they should begin to make such steps towards Absolute Power as might if attained to prove dangerous to the French Interest and Embolden our Monarch to slip his Neck out of their Collar then anew to stir up the Patriots and Popular Party against him and abandon him wholly to them till he were forced to break them by returning to their Alliance again That above all things they were not to forget to make their best use of that mighty Engine called Religion which tho' powerful all the World over yet was of more prodigious force among the English People than among any other in the habitable Earth Now this Advice my Lord as coming from so Old and Experienced a Statesman and the Ablest Disciple who had Viva Voce heard the Documents and Precepts of the great Richlieu that Famous Architect of the French Grandure was assented to both as the Wisest and Securest and was afterward in every Punctilio put in Execution as Time and Conjunctures afforded occasion whereof your Lordship may expect an account in due time from him who is My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant Paris Sept. 17. 1676. N. St. LETTER XV. Of the Methods the French use in keeping Intelligence among their Neighbour-Nations c. My Lord I Cannot think but that your Lordship will be pleased to understand how the French keep their Correspondence among and make Tools of Men and Parties most averse to them in their Neighbour-Nations and whom no manner of Motives would ever be prevalent enough to make Instrumental to promote an Interest so hateful to them did they but know who they wrought for and it is my Lord in this manner Would they set the Conformists and Nonconformists peckeering at one another Thus they did it presently after the first Dutch War in order to prepare Factions to make way for the Designs which followed They had diligent Spies to inform them where Men of quaint Wits brisk Tempers Self-conceited but Atheistical in Principles or at least of very loose Morals were to be found as likewise to take notice of those that were in reality most Able and more Zealous both of Conformists and others in their several ways than the rest of their Brethren Then the first by some Persons that pretended to admire their Wits and that were French Pensioners tho' some of them did not know it were either by some present modicum of Money Promise of Preferment or sometimes by the meer tickling Praises of the said qualified Persons put upon writing something that might check Religion particularly that Established Then they knew the Crime would be laid at the Door of some Nonconformists and cause the Reforming Clergy to write bitterly and reflectingly against them and them again to justifie themselves and recriminate till at length they engaged not only the Body of the Nation but even their August Representatives likewise in their Quarrels and so from Religious Contests produced State Factions and in this all of them tho' they were of different Parties were told they would please both their King Parliament and Country For the Dissenters were told that tho' for Policy 's sake the King did not publickly abet them yet he was secretly disposed to favour them and such Writings if well penned would not displease and might procure them at last Ease in a Parliament c. And for the Conformists they were easily perswaded that by Ridiculing the Dissenters immoderately extolling the Excellency of their own Ceremonies and the Superlative extent of the Prerogative they could not fail to please neither And thence My Lord came that Legion of Books of that Nature that came out in the Interval between the Two Dutch Wars and which made way for After-Divisions of which I saw a Catalogue with the Books printed and of what Service they were for the Interest of the French Court Some I have forgot and some I remember but shall not name any for fear of reflecting on any worthy Persons who I am perswaded did not know by what Instruments they were abetted on either side Then for keeping several Lords and Commons too in Pension to their Ends without their Knowledge thus they did it They had their Jews and some other Bankers at their Devotion who would under an Obligation of great Secrecy tell them that they were ordered to allow them so much Money saying sometimes it was from their own King to do him some private Service in or out of Parliament or from the Spanish Imperial or Dutch Ambassadors under pretence of serving their Interests and their own Countries too against Prerogative Oppression in Religion c. and oftentimes directly to oppose Popery and the French Interest that by firing them on with too great vehemency to pursue those Points the French Court might more easily compass other Ends aimed
they desired or negotiate a private Treaty with that Prince in their favour and to their advantage with that power and good effect desirable required as they might well imagine more than ordinary Summes of Money and all ready and in Specie too But that if besides his ordinary Allowance according to the Agreement which he expected should be punctually pay'd him every six months he could but have a Summ of a Million of Crowns again seasonably advanced him for Extraordinaries before the time of the next prorogation of the Parliament were expired then he did believe he might bring matters so to bear by such a Reinforcement so as to be able to gain Votes enough even in the Parliament it self to carry it against all others both in respect to the Neutrality and to the gaining their Consent for deferring any Foreign Allyance by way of Marriage of either of his Daughters till a General Peace was concluded and work very much with the Prince of Orange too to comply with their desires when he should see the Parliament gave him no hopes otherwise of compassing his Aims or if not yet at least he should be able hereby to keep himself still strongest in the Privy Council and in the Court where nothing should be transacted to their disadvantage That both his own Friends and theirs had been so very successful and made such wonderful progresses in Conversions of all sorts and Ranks of People as that of such and such Peers of the Realm I will not say your Lordship was one named among the rest such and such Courtiers and Members of Parliament c. that such and such Bishops Eminent Doctors in Divinity and other dignified Clergy and such and such Gentlemen who were remarkable for Interest and Estates or Eminent for exquisite Parts though they have learnt here since there was nothing more false were either already converted and quite brought over or extraordinarily well inclined and that there was no doubt to be made of it but by an augmentation of about four or five hundred thousand Crowns more for the Cause and Interest of Religion they might be able so to dispose of the greater and more noted part of the Conforming Church of England which was the main of their Work as to bring them over to their Religion yea and even to declare for it publickly too as soon as they should be freed from the Fears of the English Mobile and of the Fanatical Sectaries and see a General Peace concluded and the King himself declare for it being back'd with so powerful a Prince as his Most Christian Majesty was that however many of them were already brought over to the French Interest against the Dutch and many more might be so if timely Liberality were offered with many other Allegations set off with Coleman's usual flourishes on the behalf of his Master though he had countermined all before as I have already hinted And lastly that he had once more attacked the King his Brother as to Religion and that with great hopes and that if he could have but Money enough to carry on the Point with the Church of England he questioned not but by that time a General Peace were negotiated his Majesty would be induced to declare too when besides his support abroad from the Most Christian King he should see himself backt by almost all his Royalists then numerous enough in the Nation and so great yea more than a probability of an Accommodation between the two Churches of Rome and England and his potent Brother of France then by the Peace at full Liberty to lend him all needful Help My Lord you see here what little Sincerity there was in all their mutual Proceedings May the Reward be suitable is my unfeigned Wish as it has been already to some But I am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Mar. 9. 1680. N. S. LETTER LIII Of King Charles II's urging the French Court for his Remittances according to the private League between them My LORD YOU have heard what pressing Instances His Highness has made for his Remittances according to Agreement and what mighty Encouragements he has given this Court of gaining their Ends both in Court and Parliament And now 't is fit the King should put in his Plea at last which he did in this manner as their Minutes represent it That for his part he had advanced rather more than less Money than he had already received from them for carrying on their Work and that not to enumerate many Particulars he would observe to them that when he saw there was no other Probability of obliging his dear Brother of France in preserving the Neutrality so much desired by him but by Proroguing of his Parliament which they knew well enough was a tender Point That yet not to be wanting to his Brother's Interests and his own Engagements he had adventured so far as even twice to Prorogue them and had withal expended most of his own Moneys in endeavouring if possible against the next Meeting or Session of Parliament to make a Party so as to be able in a Parliamentary Way to over-match his Adversaries and those of the Most Christian King his Brother and not only that but to be in a Condition to support himself during their Recess in the Figure he ought as King of England to make both at home and abroad for his own Advantage as well as that of the Most Christian King 's and so carry on the Work of Mediation between him and the Confederates as his Brother of France would have as likewise the desired Negotiations in Holland to induce the Prince of Orange to a Compliance c. That they could not but know he was much involved in Debts by the last War in Conjunction with them against Holland and other extraordinary Occasions by Troubles arising and fomented chiefly by his adhering to his Brother of France's Interest and that he having Prorogued his Parliament upon his Account and thereby put himself under an absolute Necessity of being deprived of the Legal Assistance of his People it was but very reasonable and just they should advance such a Sum as might enable him not only further to gratifie His Most Christian Majesty's Desires but also to satisfie in part his own extraordinary Necessities and recompence him for the Subsidies he miss'd of thereby again and again from his own Subjects And Lastly He demanded at least such a Re-inforcement as he had before received at the Conclusion of the Treaty with France and that by way of Extraordinary besides his Annuity punctually paid And of this he expected an exact Performance before the besides another Advance at the Beginning of that Session that so he might be able to make his Party good against all Opposers at their next Meeting or else Prorogue them without fear of wanting Money during their Recess And did further insist beside some other Proposals not worth mentioning upon his having Five
the King's Privity or Knowledge 4. That if it were done by the King's Consent the Sum of Five and twenty Millions of Livres should be without fail remitted to him at two Payments the first as soon as the Princess should arrive in the Kingdom of France and the other three Months after And that the King and Duke in that Case should seem highly concerned and disposed to declare War against France on that Account and with the Money sent raise Forces as if it were for the War and call to the Parliament for Mony to maintain it which if they granted to take it there was no doubt of their Consent to that After which the French King was to send a very submissive Embassage to England offering to make ample Satisfaction for the Injury and to strike up a Peace with Holland at any rate Upon which our King was to take upon him to be appeased and to pretend the Dutch were in the fault that he did not make War 5. That then if there should happen any Motions for Exclusion that His Majesty might make use of the Money and of the Forces raised as aforesaid for his own Security And that if any Rebellion happen'd he might be assured the French King would send him both Men and Money enough in case of Need. 6. That if it were done without the King's Consent he the Duke should pretend himself wholly ignorant of the Rape and seem as much concerned as the King for Satisfaction 7. But that if the King should be so displeased with His Highness as to side with the adverse Party against him after he had stood his Ground as long as he could and made as many Friends as was possible that then he should privately retire to Scotland or Ireland and raise Arms there where he should be powerfully assisted both with Men and Money from the French King who would likewise use Means to raise Divisions among his Enemies by several Methods they had concerted and suddenly discourage them all by an unexpected Peace with Holland tho' there was but little Prospect that Things should come to this Extremity 8. That the Princess still the better to appease the Heats in England should upon her Marriage have in ample manner a Protestant Chapel allowed her and that at the same time the Protestants in the Kingdom of France should be used with extraordinary Kindness and Favour for her sake till a general Peace or other fiâ— time to take off the Mask were come 9. That the better to take off the Edge of the English Fury to a War with France besides the Peace to be made between the French and the Dutch a third War was to be raised by the Hollanders against England and they put with might and main upon new Encroachments and Insolencies against the English 10. That the better to cover all this the Duke was not only to make a Semblance but really to go to the Protestant Church again and to give out with a full Cry that he had been most maliciously traduced and that he never was reconciled to the Church of Rome and that his Non-compliance in some things lately put upon him did only arise in that he conceived such things were not to be imposed upon a Prince as on a Subject I have had the Opportunity my Lord to see several other things of lesser Consequence projected here for the Management of this Affair to the Interest of the French Court with which I shall not trouble your Lordship and remain My LORD Your very humble Servant Paris Aug. 13. 1679. N. S. LETTER LIX Arguments used by the French Emissaries in England to the Royal and Church of England Party against the matching of the Lady Mary with the Prince of Orange My LORD THe French Emissaries finding notwithstanding the strong opposition made by them to the matching of the Lady Mary with his Highness the Prince of Orange as I have some time since informed your Lordship that there was a very strong Current in the Nation for that Allyance and having informed their Principals in the French Court therewith they had fresh Instructions sent them to gain if possible the time desired by them which was till a General Peace were concluded and to ply the Royalists and high Members of the Church of England not only close upon that Head but their Instructions were reduced to these Branches 1. They were to represent the Match as dishonourable and too much reflecting on the Honour of Crowned Heads to match a Daughter in so fair a way to be Heiress to three Crowns to a Prince who was not only no Sovereign but descended of a Family which had distinguished it self chiefly by heading a Rebellion against his lawful Prince and who was himself but the chief Officer of a Government so hateful to all Kings as a Common-Wealth and that of one founded by Rebellion too that such an Allyance must needs be more particularly dishonourable to the Royal Family of England which had so lately and deeply suffered by a Rebellion moved against it by their own People chiefly out of an Emulation to be like those Rebels That indeed King Charles I. did match his Daughter to the present Prince of Orange's Father but it was because he was involved in Troubles and had not time or opportunity to dispose of her better and thought by that Match to please the people appease the Faction animated against him and by such a protestant Match allay the Jealousies conceived of his being popishly inclined or having Leagued with popish Powers to their prejudice and lastly obtain some Assistance from the States of Holland in his Distress and yet that after all his projection hereby that Match was condemned by most of his Friends as highly Dishonourable and of very ill Example and Consequence and is charged upon him as one of the great Errours of his Reign and therefore by no means to be reiterated by a new one of the same kind 2. They were to remonstrate That the Prince of Orange was bred in Presbyterian Principles and to exaggerate with all the terrible Circumstances that could be supposed the danger the Church of England and Episcopacy would be in by the accession of such a Prince to the Crown Presbyterians being no less passionate Enemies to the Church of England than Papists and being much the more dangerous of the two as being incomparably the more numerous the strange success they lately had in effecting so total a Subversion as they did of the Episcopal Church in the last Reign under rebellious Leaders being too sensible a proof of both what they could and what they would do again more effectually and more irrecoverably when headed by a lawful Superior and strengthned by the assistance of their Brethren in Holland This my Lord is the substance of the Instructions sent from hence to their Emissaries in England for the managing of the forementioned part and with which I shall conclude this Epistle who am My
inspired into the heads of the most Stirring and Active Members of the House that the Pretence of War against France was only a Court-trick to get Money and a Standing Army to Enslave the Nation and therefore it were not their best way to trust the King with Money for that purpose unless it were at certain moderate Sums and with such Limitations as might Secure them from any Arbitrary Deligns and from Intrigues with the French and at the same time it was Infused with much Artifice into the King's Head That if he once ventured on a War against France without an Unconditional Vote for sufficient supplies and that in very considerable Sums at once as for example of so much yearly as long as the War lasted that he was an undone and lost Man and would by that false step be infallibly unhinged by which Artifices a Declaration of War against France was so long protracted till the Hollanders despairing of any good from England were necessitated to clap up a Separate Peace which the French with all diligence proposed to them whilst the King and Parliament in England were disputing the Case about Funds for the War My Lord I have been necessitated to recapitulate some things here which I remember I have Written a Larger Account of to your Lordship and that because I could not well otherwise have brought in the succeeding part of Mr. Coleman's History who to say nothing of the Duke having effected the foremention'd Divisions Jealousies and Disputes claim'd his Promised Reward of Monsieur Barillon the French Ambassador at London having yet received but one Payment of it but the slie Monsieur finding his Business was so far done that he was able to go on with the rest himself without their assistance put him off at first with Fair Words but Coleman still Renewing his Instances Barillon began to slight his Applications and at last told him in Down-right Terms he had no Orders to Pay him any more Money That he had Receiv'd enough for the Business he had done since there were other Instruments which he had there who had done more and been much more Serviceable in it than himself and in a word That his Master the French King had no further occasion for the Service of such a Sawcy Impertinent and Inconsiderable Fellow as he was Coleman was Netled to the Quick at this Unexpected Treatment which he conceived he had not deserved at their hands and therefore he reply'd again as warmly saying That for his part he had neglected much greater Rewards then what he demanded of him and which was his Iust Due which he might have had from the Confederate Party and that now since he found he was so slighted he should take care to let them see they should find the miss of his Services by what he would and was resolv'd to do for the other side and that he question'd not but to bring the Duke his Master to be quickly of his Mind Barillon thereupon answer'd That his Master would be sure to find them such Imployment in a short time that they should have no leasure to think of serving the Confederates or hunting the French in Flanders having already such a pack of Hounds in a readiness as would quickly snap him and hunt his Master too off his Legs if he did but offer to depart so much from his own Interest as to quit theirs After this mutual Huff Coleman going to take his Leave of Monsieur Barillon the Frenchman retaining still a spice of French Civility came to attend him to the Gate where seeing Coleman's Coach standing right before it Sir said he briskly to him What is the meaning of this that your Coach stands right before my Door that is no place for a person of your mean station and quality That 's strange Monsieur Answer'd Coleman I should be of meaner quality now then I used to be there you know well enough it used to stand But pray where would you have it to stand then continu'd he Two or three doors off cry'd Barillon So indeed said Coleman I used to place it when I went to a Bawdy-house but I did not take yours to be such till now and so adiew It was but a few days after this rencounter my Lord that Coleman was seized for the Popish Plot at the news of which the Discourse was at the French Secretaries that Coleman would certainly pay dear for having adventured to displease the King their Master for that they had perswaded the Conceited Fool to keep his Papers all by him which they flatter'd him were Rare Compositions and Specimens of incomparable Wit and Parts in which they said were things not only enough to hang him out of the way but so to hamper the King and Duke too and involve them in such Troubles that they would be glad to quit all their thoughts of leaning towards the Confederates and so return again to their interests at last as most expedient for them and that they had imployed such Tools as would not fail to Discover all their Inttigues and be in spight of their Teeth forc'd to acts of Repentance and sorrow for what they had done And in fine when Coleman was Condemn'd and the Duke would have interpos'd for a Pardon for him Monsieur Barillon oppos'd it Tooth and Nail and said He ought to be Sacrificed upon that occasion and that if he were not the King his Master would find means to have a worse Discovery made than all that had yet been made to appear out of his Papers or otherwise After Coleman was Hang'd his Wife reduc'd to a forlorn state retir'd into France and presented a Petition to the French King to this effect That whereas her late Husband besides his many other good and timous services done to his most Christian Majesty had upon his instances by his Minister at London hired an House in Deans-yard in Westminster of a considerable Rent some time before that Session of Parliament wherein the matter of a War against the Kingdom of France was to be debated and agitated for the better convenience of Treating some Members of Parliament and some other Gentlemen that had influence over them That he had expended considerable Sums of Mony that way as he had done in like manner among other useful instruments he had in the Country as well as the City for promoting his Majesties Service in England for which he had declined much greater Rewards from the Spanish Imperial and Dutch Ministers and other Agents than he expected or desired from him whom he served more by inclination than Interest and that he had had the good Fortune happily to effect the great task imposed on him by his most Christian Majesties Commands in dividing the King of England and his Parliament and breaking the neck of the intended War against France that yet for all that when his work was accomplish'd Monsieur Barillon had refused to pay him his expences and never had given him one
him to see the Prince and thus Matters stood when the late King died but the Brother succeeding he set all his Engines on work how he might get the Duke of Monmouth into his Clutches Dead or Alive But the French Agents my Lord did not think that now their Interest which in the late Reign they would have given any Money to have effected and therefore by their Correspondents in Holland they got the Duke secretly Advertised of the Danger who thereupon withdrew to Bruxels I know my Lord they gave it out that the Prince of Orange by his Favourite Monsieur Bentink got the Duke made acquainted therewith and that he gave him Money to go to Bruxels it was both Honourably and Charitably done of him if it was so to a distressed Gentlemen with an intent to make the King his Father-in-law more irreconcileable to him now he was King then when Duke of York tho' he was to dissemble it for a time and upon his Accession to the Throne to testifie to the Prince the sincere desire he had to live with him rather as a Father then an Ally and Neighbouring King I have had sufficient Experience my Lord of your great Honour Integrity and good Affection which makes me thus bold in a matter so nice at this time and so concludes My Lord Your humble Servant Paris March 17. 1685. N. St. LETTER III. Of King James's being Crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury My Lord IT has been a matter of much discourse and reflection here that our King should be Crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and not by one of the Roman Communion it was expected that since he had begun so briskly and openly to declare Himself for Rome that he would not have stuck at being Inaugurated by a Roman Bishop I find by the return made hither upon this Subject that his inclinations were violent enough for the latter but that the Reason of his Non-compliance was that having at his assumption of the Crown declar'd to the Council and by them to his People That he would maintain the Church and State of England as by Law Establish'd and that the Ceremony of his Coronation was such as the Laws of the Land did prescribe The thought it was a little two Early to begin and that by so publick an Act which to be sure would be interpreted not only as the most manifest Violation of the National Constitution but the Preludium to a despotick Power which no man knew the end of I shall not trouble your Lordship with a Repetition of the Arguments used here by the Gentlemen of the Roman Church pro and con upon the Lawfulness and Unlawfulness of such a Compliance by a Catholick King to the Church of England which tho the Establish'd one they look upon to be false to the Truth as being matters which I suppose your Lordship cares not for and therefore having nothing further wherewith to entertain you that is worth Transmitting I conclude subscribing my self My Lord Your Honours most humble Servant Paris May 6. 1685. N. S. LETTER IV. Of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle's Invasions and Overthrows and of the Prince of Orange's offering to serve against the former but his offer was Malitiously Interpreted and so Rejected My Lord THE Reason of my long silence to your Lordship I hope will not be interpreted by you as any forgetfulness much less neglect of your Honours Commands and Expectation I am too sensible of the many Obligations that have been heap'd upon me from time to time to be guilty of so Notorious a Crime but the want of somewhat that was Solid and Grateful to your Lordship has been one genuine Cause that obstructed my Correspondence to which I may add what your self knows very well the private Orders given in England to open all Letters whether Domestick or Foreign and since I had for so long a time continu'd to write to your Lordship and that undiscover'd I was not willing for want of a little prudent caution and suspension in such a juncture either to expose your Lordship to any hazard or thereby for ever to exclude my self from any farther Correspondence with you whom I so much Love and Honour But now my Lord understanding that the Storm is over in England by the defeat and death of the Duke as we have had some days ago an Account from Scotland of the like misfortune to have attended the Earl of Argyle I have adventured to Salute you with these Lines and to tell my thoughts freely upon the matter I must confess I never had any great opinion of either of the Expeditions because concerted by Men who had very different ends in what they did the Duke and some others for Monarchy but the greatest part Republicans and therefore I do not wonder the whole hath miscarried especially when I can assure your Lordship both the one and the other were tho' very privately Abetted by French Agents to undertake such an Expedition such a procedure may well be wondred at I confess since there was apparently so little advantage like to arise to the French Court therefrom but besides their loving to fish always in Troubled Waters they have somewhat in them that is very like the Devil who loves to do Mischief tho' with no benefit to himself But whatever the World may think hereof those who are fled that escaped from either Kingdom after the Defeat are as kindly received here as those who formerly fled from the Popish Conspiracy but yet they are daily sifted and examin'd by the Spies that continually haunt them I would gladly know might I have the honour your Lordship's Sentiments of both Descents and the Miscarriage of them to be plain with you I own I have very different apprehensions of them now they are over than I had at first and the rather because the Prince of Orange so much resented it tho' most Maliciously interpreted by the King and his Popish Council whetted on by Gallican Agents When the Prince had the first News of the Duke's Landing in England he acquainted Mr. Skelton the King's Ambassador that the Duke of Monmouth though he were a Person but of indifferent Parts yet he had a Warlike Genius and had more Experience and Skill in the Art of War then most of them employ'd against him That for his part if the King his Father-in-Law pleased he would assist him not onely upon that occasion with his Troops but with his Person also and to that end was sending Mr. Bentinck over to England to know the King's pleasure But Skelton malevolent enough of himself and farther influenc'd with Malice against the Prince by French Incendiaries took care to inform the King before Bentinck came that such Assistance as was proposed by the Prince was very dangerous and much to the same purpose so that upon Mr. Bentinck's Motion the King answered That their Common Interest required that the Prince should stay in Holland and gave such
further expressions of his Mind upon that occasion that plainly discover'd that such a Zeal in the Prince was esteem'd unseasonable and not free from Suspition With which and a grateful acknowledgment of all your Lordship's Favours to me and my Family upon all occasions I shall now conclude and for ever remain My Lord Your Lordship 's Most humble Servant Paris August 24. 1685. N. S. LETTER V. Of the Methods proposed and Arguments used to King James for carrying on the Dispensing power My Lord THAT the King intends to Assume a Power into His Hands of Dispensing with Penal Laws against Recusants I believe your Lordship may be sensible of by this time since it 's manifest that notwithstanding the Parliaments Remonstrance to the contrary he retains the Popish Officers still in his Service and that it is so far from being a Secret here that I can oblige your Lordship with some of those Methods and Arguments suggested to him by the Agency of this Court to carry it onward wherein it 's more then whisper'd here he has fully acquiesced It was thought advisable considering the violent Humour of the Nation against the admission of such Persons either into Military or Civil Offices and that all the Cry was That the King had not kept his Word but did thereby Infringe their Laws and Liberties to bring the matter into Westminster-Hall to have the Dispensing Power there Argued upon a particular Case but to make sure of the Judges before-hand to Favour such a Procedure the King was told could he gain such a Point his business were done for ever tho' at the same time it was his undoubted Prerogative to dispense with Laws being an Essential right and an usage in England as ancient as the Kingdom that it was in being at all times and in all Reigns that there were several Acts wherein there had been Provision made for such a Reservation to the King that the Term of Nonobstante which was so common was always a Dispensing with some Law that the Commutation of Punishments are no less a proof thereof And how much more were Remissions Pardons the Restoration of Criminals to their Goods again c That there were Presidents to be met with wherein the King 's of England had suspended the Effects of Laws not only by Dispensations regarding particular and single persons but by a general Suspension in regard to the whole Kingdom That his Brother had done so in cases of the Statute relating to Carriages whereof there was not the least complaint in Parliament neither was it so much as once said that he had thereby exceeded the Just bounds of His Authority That the same had been done by Henry the Seventh his Great Ancestor and Solomon of England in respect to the Act that prohibited the Continuation of Sheriffs in their Office above One Year which in Council was declared null and impracticable because that thereby the King was divested of of his Regal Power in disposing his Subjects I do not question my Lord but you will soon hear of the effects of such Council but whether to your satisfaction therein I have as great reason to doubt as I have a desire to promote it and ever shall to the best of my power who am My Lord your very humble servant Paris Nov. 13. 1685. N. S. LETTER VI. Of the Unjust Complaints of the French Clergy against the Reformed in France My Lord THE Ruin of the Reformed in this Kingdom is as much precipitated as that of a Protestant Church is designed somewhere else and which I believe your Lordship by this time is pretty well perswaded of and to this end the Popish Clergy have accosted the King with a severe Remonstrance against them the sum whereof for want of more entertaining News I shall write to your Lordship at this time They began with the hardiest Lie they could have invented saying That there was nothing included in their Complaint but what was most necessary and could be most clearly jnstified and made good Whereas it is most evident that every title of it tends to Destroy and Persecute and is grounded upon the most manifest Falsities in the World then they begin to charge the Reformed with Calumniating and falsly Accuting the Catholicks that they did not believe the Truths of the Faith as they express it whereas the Protestant Divines here have so far been complyant as to testifie from time to time that the Roman Church retained still those Truths that were Essential to Christianity In that she makes Profession to Believe in one God in three the Incarnation of the Son of God the Redemption of Sinners by the Price of his Blood and divers other Articles contained in the Antient Creeds then they proceeded saying That the design of the Pastoral Advertisement in 1681 was to oblige the Reformed to acknowledge that their Separation was not grounded but upon Suppositions and Jealousies and they hugged themselves that the many Conversions which had been wrought since that time have been almost all procured by this consideration which they call an Invincible Argument that as there could never have been any Just Cause of Separation all those alleadged by the pretended Reformed could never have any sollidity That the Protestant Ministers did their utmost to hinder the People to profit by that same Advertisement either by deterring of them from Reading of the same or else by giving false Explications thereof as they were wont to do of the Holy Scriptures and Works of the Fathers Adding farther That the Exercise of the Reformed Religion had been permitted by the King's Predecessors provisionally only and by reasons which have no longer subsistance that tho' the Clergy had very good Reasons to urge it so as to require a Revocation of the Edicts which contained this permission yet that it was not their present design to insist upon that Point that it was now the only favour they pray'd for for to repress the Calumnies of the Reformed against the Roman Church which were not and which could not be allowed by any Edict being an unhappy Liberty which the Ministers themselves might be ashamed of that such a supposition and Calumny were Crimes Condemn'd by all Laws both Humane and Divine and that the Reformed durst not maintain that those excesses ought to be permitted nor to make their Complaints if the King should forbid them to commit them Then they went to speak of the Method they had thought on to make the King acquainted with the truth of their Complaints they drew up in Two Collumnes the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and that which they said the Reformed imputed to them to the end it might be easier for the King to compare them and said most Malignantly That they had avoided the Relating of many thing which exceeded all the bounds of Modesty and which St. Paul himself would not have as much as named amonâ— the Faithful to the end they might create a Suspicion by these
the Kingdom particularly those of Predestination and Free-Will nor yet to mixt Invective Reproaches Railleries and scandalous Expressions with their Controversies should be republished under a very strict Injunction of all Parties concerned to the observance of them and the least Transgression in that kind to be punish'd with the utmost Severity they did not question in the mean while but that in so ticklish a time there might be some one or other especially in the Diocess of London whom this Bird-lime might catch your Lordship knows how it fell out accordingly in the Case of Doctor Sharp Tho' they were mighty jealous of the old Gentleman of Canterbury that if he were nominated in the Commission and should chance to act which was the least of their Thoughts he should he might rather thwart than promote their Designs yet being pretty confident he would not concern himself with it they adventured to put him in not for his Authority but his Name-sake only for considered they should we get the Bishop of London once into the Toyl he will have no room to plead to the Jurisdiction of the Court seeing the same was founded upon the concurrent tho' in truth but nominal Authority of his Metropolitan to whom he owed Canonical Obedience these things your Lordship may know much better than I but I cannot forbear giving you any Hints of the Court-Designs which whether projected here or on your side we have constant Intelligence of in our I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris Aug. â—0 1687. N. S. LETTER XXX Of the Liberty of Conscience first granted in Scotland and then in England by King James II. My Lord YOur Lordship may call to mind what I have before written to you concerning Tolleration in Religion as necessary to facilitate the King's Designs and now you see it hath sprouted up in Scotland and the Buddings of it are visible enough in England that the Parliament of the former as well as the latter opposed the Dispensing Power is notoriously known so that there was much less Hopes they would have concurred to the Indulgence a Point as necessary to be gained every whit as the other that the Scotch Nation were more modelled to the King's Hand than the English the King himself well knew as having a personal Share in it when high Commissioner in that Kingdom in his Brother's Reign and the French and English Jesuitical Faction knew this as well as he and therefore I am assured both of them concurred to have the Indulgence given there first and that also in so partial a manner in favour of those of the King's Religion that the rest have hardly any Share therein which manifests plainly the Design of the English Catholicks whatever specious Pretence they may otherwise use is to bring the People of England also under the same nay a worse Yoke of Servitude and to have their own Religion predominant quickly and in Time the only one in both Nations And as for the third they are cock sure of that already but that of the French Emissaries is not so visible and above Board for they hope such partial Proceedings must at last incense the People of both Kingdoms and that to so violent a degree that the King must of necessity have recourse to call in French Force to quell them and then my Lord when they have once got sure Footing who can guess at their farther Aim however they have not with all their Intrigues been able to prevail with the King to use the same Partiality in England who according to the Transmission of their Intelligence hither seemed very much inclined to it upon their urging the Tractableness of the Scotch Council in the Matter and what a great Pattern they had set to them of England whom they did not doubt but would abrogate the Laws made against Roman Catholicks c. in imitation of them but a Roman Catholick Lord whom I have formerly named to your Lordship to have interposed upon the like Occasion thwarted them therein he deserves well of his Country in some respects and I do not question but your Honour is of that mind and so shall I be till I see more than I do now to incline me to the contrary who am My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and obedient Servant Paris Sept. 5. 168â— N. S. LETTER XXXI Of the French Projects to put King James upon desperate Measures in Ireland and their Ends therein My Lord YOur Lordship may remember how I have formerly given you the state of the Irâ—sh Soldiers in the Service of France during the late King's Reign and what Encouragement they have had here from time to time above any of the rest of the Brittish Nations and the large Promises that were now and then made That they should be reinstated in their ancient Possessions in their native Country But this King hath no sooner ascended the English Throne but that they have as readily return'd into England and Ireland as they were willing before even contrary to their Allegiance to remain in the French Service the Reason whereof your Lordship must needs know they having already devoured with their Eyes the most valuable Preferments in England and Ireland in the later whereof they have got a Lieutenant of their own stamp and more than all the Lands which they have been debarr'd from by the Act of Settlement having as I can assure your Lordship a previous Promise from this Court That the King will use all imaginable endeavours to get his Brother of England to consent to abolish it and which has put the Irish so hotly upon renewing their Importunities to the King against the said Act that he hath in a manner agreed to those measures that are pursuant thereunto in which motions the Irish were order'd to be effectually seconded by the Emissaries of this Court who at the same time have encourag'd the Irish privately with a Promise That if after all the King would not give his full Consent or durst not do them Right their Master was resolv'd to do it provided they would chuse him for their Protector which they might lawfully do being at best but a conquer'd Nation against their Conquerors for the recovery not only of their Native Rights in that Land but likewise of those afresh confirm'd to them by the Treaty whether pretended or real I will not determine upon that Head with the late K. Charles II of which the French King was Guarrantee and therefore justly might and ought to be call'd in as a Vindicator And this my Lord is confess'd here That they had form'd so strong a Party among the Irish that if the King had not in some measure comply'd or does not for the future but fail'd their Hopes by keeping it as the Interest of his Kingdom one should think naturally leads him to that side of the Ballance against France and maintaining the Act of Settlement they had bid fair as I have
heard it more than whisper'd here for a general Revolt of the Irish Natives in their favour whom they had provided to succour on a sudden without declaring War or the least Intimation beforehand of their Designs to the King But now having prevail'd with him to make such Advances as he has begun against the said famous Act which they have looked upon as it were the Band of Peace not only to Ireland but even to the Three Nations and perhaps they are right enough in their Judgment they believe they have hereby put him on a Point that will quickly bring him into Distress enough to need them and consequently to the necessity of taking his future measures from them expecting henceforward a more implicite Complyance than ever Thus my Lord have they laid their Foundation the Success and Event Time must determine but from such undermining Politicians Good Lord deliver England c. for the Dangers which threaten both its Religion and Civil Liberty are very great tho' I hope not inevitable Pardon the freedom in these Particulars of him who is and ever shall remain ready to please your Lordship to the utmost of my power and cannot but subscribe himself My Lord Your Honour 's most humble and most obedient Servant Paris Mar. 26. 1687. LETTER XXXII Of K. James's Closetting several Persons and the Arguments he was advis'd to use to them to consent to the Abrogating of the Penal Laws and Test. My Lord YOur Lordship for ought I know may know much better than I can inform you what Arguments the King has us'd to such as have been lately Closetted by him and if Fame be not a you are one of that number for a List of them is not yet come into our but I can transmit into your Hands what has been concerted here in the nature of Instructions to the French Emissaries at White-Hall hereupon they were to represent to the King and he to the closetted Gentlemen That there were four Kings who had endeavour'd to bring the Kingdom of England into an Uniformity in Religion that so the People might live in Amity one with another and notwithstanding all the Expedients tho' seemingly very likely to take effect and succeed according to wish which wise Politicians had suggested from time to time yet they had hitherto proved abortive and their Endeavours had been in vain That therefore the only way left for to settle Tranquillity in a State so as to be no more to be disturb'd about Religion was to grant every one the freedom fully to enjoy his own That such an Iudulgence of all Religions in Holland was as much a cause of the flourishing of that State in Wealth and Greatness and more than any other that could be assign'd and to say that such a Liberty tho' it might be compatible enough with a Republick was not yet with Monarchical Governments was a gross Mistake and Experience shewd it to be quite otherwise both in the Turkish Empire Kingdom of Persia and elsewhere where the Greek and Armenian Christians have been tolerated in their Religion for many Ages and yet have been so far from being mutinous or Disturbers of the respective States they have liv'd under that they are great Supporters of them especially the Armenians who are almost the only Merchants they have in that mighty and extensive Kingdom of Persia That the Persecutions which our Nonconformists in England have from time to time been under had been the cause of the flight of many good Subjects beyond the Seas of whom our neighbouring Nations drew great and solid Advantages and that those who have staid at home have by reason of the Pressures they have labour'd under provd uneasie and turn'd Malecontents and if they have not had Virtue and Constancy enough patiently to suffer under their Misfortunes they were alwaies ready to favour Revolts and enter into Factions whereof they had seen fatal effects in the late Reigns from which no King could be able to secure his Person and his Subjects but that uneasie and turbulent Spirits would be alwaies ready under Pretence of Religion which they abused to disturb and molest them Which Reasons the King was to back closely with large Promises of Favour and if he found any obstinate to mix his Reasons and Promises with some Intimations of his Displeasure and upon an absolute Refusal to proceed to divest some of their Places under him and to alledge for a Reason of his so doing That it was not reasonable that they who refused their Services should enjoy his Favours and that if hereupon any should be so audacious as to tell him That this Practice of his was irregular and contrary to the Freedom which the Laws of the Land allow'd to them especially as Members of Parliament whose Suffrages ought to be spontaneous and free they were to be put in mind that they had forgot the Violences used by King Henry VIII upon the like occasions and the methods so many other Kings had put in practise to engage their Parliaments to subscribe to their Wills that they might consider that two of the most famous Parliaments that ever were in the Kingdom of England had authoriz'd this Conduct in the Reign of Edward III and King Richard II when some of the Pope of Rome's Bulls were contested as being looked upon too much to entrench on the King's Prerogative that the Parliament prayed King Edward and obliged Richard almost against his Will to give their Consent by particular Conferences with the Members to promise to use the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Prerogative and the Rights of the Crown against that See c. But if that after all the King should find that neither Arguments Promises Threats nor Examples would do he was advis'd to proceed in his Brother's Steps by â—uo Warranto and so to concert measures with those that presided over Elections for the regulating of Corporations whereon they depended tho' this was by far the more tedious way but yet there was one way to hasten it for whereas new Charters in his Brother's time granted in lieu of the old ones were many of them retarded because the Court-Officers insisted upon too much Mony the King now might give positive Directions to such persons to dispatch them without such Considerations with a Promise to gratifie them another way and if he found that would not do then he was to cashier such Officers and put others in their room who would engage to do the business to effect I am afraid my Lord I have wearied you with an impertinent Letter and therefore if an abrupt conclusion will any way mend the matter I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant Paris Nov. 19. 1687. N. S. LETTER XXXIII Of my Lord Castlemain's being sent Ambassador to Rome by K. James and of his receiving the Pope's Nuncio in England My Lord THAT my Lord of Castlemain was sent Ambassador to Rome has been transacted wholly on your
side of the Water for besides that this Court were then and are still at variance with the Papal See There is not the least Instruction transmitted from hence as far as I can find either to England or Rome concerning that matter but perhaps he might receive them in transitâ— and by word of mouth only from M. L. who failed not to see him But as for Count Dada the Apostolâ—ck Nuncio as they call him they have shewed some Concern here that he should have an honourable Reception in England and have order'd it so as to get our King to dispense with that Ceremony which Henry VIII and even his Daughter Queen Mary insisted upon that he should wait like a Mumper at a French Port till he had Leave granted him to enter into England And that the English Nation who had not seen such a Vision for near an Age and a half might not be overterrified with it the French Agents were instructed to suggest unto those Lords and others whom they should think most susceptible of their Sophistry That since the King as a Roman-Catholick Prince could do no less than send an Ambassador to Rome to salute the Pope tho' it were but for form-sake and that his said Ambassador had had such an extraordinary Reception and great Civilities shewed him there it were but very equitable the King in his turn should shew the like to his Nuncio who was a Layman and in that quality came to congratulate his accession to the Throne from his Master not so much as he sate in St. Peter's Chair as he was a Temporal Prince to whose Ministers as such the Law of Nations required a just Deference should be paid That to send a solemn Embassy to the Great Turk who was a Mahumetan and a sworn Enemy to all Christians however denominated was never so much as boggled at by any English-man or other Christian Nation whatsoever either in this or any preceding Age That the Ambassadors of the Emperor of Morocco had been lately received in England most honourably and yet their Master both a Mahametan and a Barbarian Prince in whose Countries Christians were treated more like Brute-Beasts than Men and should they disdain to concur with their Prince to receive with some Ceremony and if not by way of a publick and pompous Entry yet privately in his Palace a Minister from him to whose Civilities many of our English Nobility and Gentry were highly obliged in their Travels to Rome and Italy But what Success they have had in this petty Agency your Lordship can tell much better than I at this distance but the Duke of Somerset is as highly exclaimed against here for refusing to perform the Ceremony of introducing the Nuncio as the Duke of Grafton is applauded for doing of it who I hope for all that will never have the Thanks of a House of Commons for it I am My Lord Your very obedient and humble Servant Paris Nov. 2â— 1â—87 N. S. LETTER XXXIV The French Politicks to embroyl England My Lord THE French Emissaries having gain'd severat Points and particularly that mentioned in my last they have lately turn'd their Batteries another way They have been most of this while endeavouring to compass their Ends by putting the King and those who have most influence over him upon desperate courses whereof the most material I have as Occasion has served noted to your Lordship It will hardly be believed that they would offer to propose any Maxims to the Legal Party in England that are really for their advantage Did not their Instructions make it appear to be so tho they have proposed far different Ends therein I do not question but your Lordship has observed the Uneasiness of the Nation under the present Proceedings of the King and Court-party but tho they have just cause of suspicion I must assure your Lordship the same has been and may still be aggravated by the Agents of this Court who teach them to infuse into the People That the Protestant Religion is in great danger That the reduction of the Roman-Catholicks to the Bounds establish'd by the Law of the Land is highly necessary and without the latter be effected it will be impossible for the former long to subsist That it was visible the Privileges of Parliament were infâ—inged more than in any time of their Ancestors That Arbitrary Power was already acted and without timely prevention would get such rooting that all the power of England could not dethrone it That there was not scarce one made a Nobleman since the Kings accession to the Throne in the Three Kingdoms but such as were Pâ—pâ—sts and That all Honours and Offices of Profit either in Court or Camp were shared amongst such whilst the Protestants lay neglected as useless persons and such as were deem'd to have no Share nor Lot in the Government That the person of the King it 's true was sacred but at the same time it was not only justifiable but an incumbent Duty upon them as Englishmen as they would answer it to God and their Country timously to think of the Danger and to apply the Remedy for without the removal of such Ministers as then managed the State it would be in vain to expect their Grievances could be redressed and their Religion and Liberties secured and if they find themselves harken'd to and their Propositions approved they have further Instructions to hint an Association for one Expedient c. God Almighty knows what will become of poor England amidst so many Designs upon her Religion and Liberty both by foreign and domestick Enemies who continually prey upon her Vitals I can but pray for her as I do and always shall for your Lordship who am My Lord Your most devoted Servant Paris Dec. 13. 1687. LETTER XXXV King James tho' already much disposed put more out of Conceit with the Prince of Orange who is represented by the French Agents very illy to him My Lord I Have in my last suggested to you some of those Arguments the Emissaries of this Court have and are to use to the Church of England-men as they find occasion and a disposition to receive them for to put them upon violent courses to their own and Nation 's destruction But at the same time they have entertained an incurable Jealousie of the Prince of Orange and construe the most just and generous Actions of a Prince who was always so in the worst sense imaginable and as such represent them to the King whom they cunningly whistle in the Ear saying That he could not but know there were some persons in the Nation who were not pleased with his way of proceeding and therefore would be sure to take all Opportunities to oppose him That indeed now Monmouth was cut off they had no plausible Head to retire unto That for the Prince of Orange tho' he had apparently omitted nothing since His Majesty's advancement to the Throne for the maintaining of a fair correspondence with him and
this King at Rome receiving Information that some of the Pope's Marshals were got within his Quarters he ordered his Men to seize them and commit them to safe Custody the Cardinal de Estree has endeavoured to alleviate the matter and mollifie his Holiness Resentments saying That certain Persons who were no great Friends to France had set them at Work with a design to irritate Matters yet further between the two Courts that he might be pleased to consider that in the Posture Affairs then stood that is after his Holiness had accepted the Mediation of the King of England it would look ill to admit any Innovation but the Cardinal was asked Whether the King of France was Sovereign in the City of Rome And supposing he had been really so was there any Justice to arrest People as they passed along the Streets that had a Design to make no manner of Attempts upon any That it was never yet known in any Country or heard of in the World of any Law that condemned a Man upon a bare Suspicion but supposing that were true as it was not yet it was most certain that the Punishment was reserved to the Sovereign and not to an Embassador who whatever Latitude he would have allowed to his Authority could not pretend to any more than to be independent in his own Person that as for his Domesticks if they pretended to the same Exemption with himself it was no farther allowable than they demeaned themselves Regularly as they ought to do for if they did otherwise they were subject to the ordinary Iurisdiction of the Place they were in That there were a Thousand Examples for it though there had been some Embassadors who had endeavoured to extend the Privilege of their Domesticks so far as to maintain that they ought to be affranchised That this pretended right of Sovereignty by Embassadors was so far from beng true that they had not as much as Power to punish their own Servants for there could not be any one Example produced that any Embassador has intruded so far as to condemn any Person whatsoever to Death tho' there have been many who have justly merited such Punishment That it was true they had sometimes reclaimed them when fallen into the Hands of ordinary Iustice but that at the same time it had always depended upon that of the Sovereign to concede that Favour to them or refuse them according as they were more or less just These things being granted which could not be otherwise for they carried their own Light with them how could it be justified that a bare Embassador should dare to arrest not only his own Servants but the Officers of a Sovereign Prince and that even in his Capital City and to heighten the Extravagance of such an Action even in the very Sight of him Thus my Lord has the Old Gentleman resented the Injury and I am afraid our King will have but little Joy of his Embassy and in this Particular come short of his Grandfather's Motto of Beati Pacifici however his Zeal here for the Good of the Roman Catholick Church is highly applauded but whether it be a Zeal without Knowledge I le leave to your Lordship to determine and think my self happy in any Opportunity to serve you who am My Lord Your very humble Servant Paris July 2. 1688. S. N. LETTER XXXIX Of the Seven Bishops being committed to the Tower of London and the French Intrigues to embroyl that matter My Lord THE Commitment of the Bishops to the Tower and the Birth of the Priuce of Wales are things so agreeable to the Gusto of this Court that they are overjoy'd at it about the former of which this Court has been very busie I will not positively say the Presbyterians had the first hand in it tho' they have taken care to enter it into our Minutes so and that they being willing to make some advantage of the Contests of the Court got it suggested to the King by the means of the Romanists That in order to engage the Parliament to establish Liberty of Conscience it was necessary the Bishops should be order'd to injoyn the reading the King's Declaration in their respective Diocesses That the matter could not be scrupled by them since the publication of the King's Orders had been at all times an Usage in England as well as in other Countries But however this matter was first started my Lord I will not take upon me to determine but it was carried on by strange Instruments for as soon as ever the Bishops had refused to read the Declaration and addrest themselves to the King upon that account with their Reasons for noncomplyance the Jesuits about him egged briskly on by such as are entirely at this Court's Devotion represented to him the great Affront offered to his Authority and the Regal Dignity itself by such a Refusal and how if he suffered the same to go impunedly it might open a Gap for it to be trampled upon without reserve and who could tell where it would terminate That since he had already in all other points carried the Rights of Soveraignty to a great height surely it was not now time to dissemble and wink at an Adventure that put such narrow Bounds to his Regal Authority That there was therefore an absolute necessity to call them to a severe account for such an audacious Act That they might be tryed by vertue of the Ecclesiastical Commission and with as much Justice everywhit suspended as the Bp of London was and what would be a mighty Advantageous Consequent thereon was that the Privation of the Episcopal Authority would advance the Regal Authority to such a pitch as to be held in veneration by all the People You know my Lord the Success these Remonstrances have had but the variation of the Bishops Tryal is disavowed by this Court and the cause of their being brought into Westminster-Hall attributed to the Chancellor's swaying the King and for which some have gnashed their Teeth at him Upon the Acquitment of the Bishops the English Jesuits were horribly spighted and the French Emissaries laughed in their Sleeves and that they might embroyl the Nation more had Orders to insâ—uate into any whom they thought fit for their purpose That the Regal Authority had that Property in it that it oftentimes subsisted more in Imagination than Effect That if the People did but once know their own Strength they would find it an easie matter to shake off the Yoke which certain Puissances imposed upon them and with a great deal more but in general Terms to the same purpose with which I shall not at present trouble your Lordship But they have at the same time spirited up the Jesuitical Court-Faction to importune the King without any Intermission to review the Bishop's Cause and bring them on to another Tryal alledging to him That such a Failure would undoubtedly add a Triumph to the People whereof they had already given but too clear Signs and