acquainted his Brethern with the King's Menaces and these good Magistrates having put on their Habits of Ceremony went all in a body to the Louvre The King surpris'd to see his Parliament come to pay him a visit with so much solemnity ask'd suddenly what brought them thither I know all the story said my Friend interrupting me hastily and can tell you the chief President 's Answer we come Sir said he to the King to offer our Heads to Your Majesty since our Conscience will not permit us to Register the Edict which you sent to us Very well reply'd I but how did that cruel and haughty Prince receive so unexpected a Compliment He dissembled his Anger and endeavoured to pacify their Minds by assuring them that he would never desire them to enroll any Edict contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom or the Interest of his Subjects Why then will not you adventure to make a like Attempt I 'm perswaded that the King would be strangely daunted if the chief President at the Head of the Parliament should entertain him with a lively and passionate Representation of the deplorable condition of the Kingdom But I had forgotten that you have long ago exhausted all your eloquence in writing Panegyricks on our invincible Monarch 'T is pity that you have not reserv'd some part of it for Discourses of another nature which would certainly be more seasonable at this time of the Day Be not cruel to your Friends answer'd the President We do all that we are able to do but we are not under the Reign of a Lewis XI In those Days the Nobility and People of France had not lost all their Courage and the Court dreaded the effects of it I acknowledge that replyed I but are you sure that the King would not treat you with as much complaisance if you spoke to him with the same vigour and show'd your selves capable of enlivening the benumm'd Spirits of our Countreymen Believe me Mr. President the King despises you for your Cowardise and you might make the Court tremble in its turn if you had the Courage to imitate your Predecessors After these words we laid aside Politicks and began to talk of other Matters Yes Sir I am still of the same opinion I know that the Inhabitants of Paris and our other Cities are extreamly dispirited but I dare be bold to answer for them that they would quickly resume their former Vigour if the Princes of the Blood the Nobility or Parliament of Paris would give them the least encouragement They begin to murmur strangely and I know not whether all their Patience be not already exhausted 'T is true the flatterers of the Court have bellow'd in their Ears so long that The King is Master of all the Estates of his Subjects that the poor People seem in good earnest to give credit to the most detestable Lie that ever was invented But how easily will they be undeceiv'd when it shall be made appear to them what our subtle Ministers have so industriously hid from them that Taxes and Subsidies were formerly Levied in France as they are in England and that we never resign'd our ancient Priviledges You remember Sir when I had the pleasure to enjoy your Conversation in that solitary but delightful place whither you have chosen to retire that we spent part of our time in reading the History of France and that we could not find that any Impositions were laid upon the People before the Reign of Philip the Fair. Our King 's in those Days had no standing Forces but the Nobility serv'd them at their own charge in those Wars that were made with the consent of the States-General If ever any of our Princes rais'd a Subsidy by way of Taxation it was only when the pressing necessity of his Affairs constrain'd him to take that Method and the Tax was Levied but once And even on such urgent occasions those Monarchs that had any sense of Humanity or Religion were very loath to proceed to so rough an expedient The good St. Lewis by his Testament enjoin'd his Children not to Tax their Subjects but Alas they who boast of their descent from so Just so Chaste and so Religious a Prince have no more regard to the good Advice that he left them than they have to the Virtuous example of his Life His Nephew attempted to raise the Hundred and fiftieth Denier of the Revenues of his Subjects But what was the event Paris Rouen and Orleans revolted the Commissioners appointed to gather the Taxation were kill'd and the King was forc'd to dissemble his Indignation Nor was Philip the Fair more successful in his second attempt to lay an Imposition of Six Deniers in the Livre on the sale of Commodities his Orders were universally contemn'd and he was forc'd to call a Meeting of the States General at Paris to harangue them himself and represent to them the necessity of his Affairs after which he obtain'd his desire The succeeding Princes observ'd the same Method Sometimes on urgent occasions Aids and extraordinary Subsidies were Granted but were never made perpetual but by the Authority of the States The King could not augment those perpetual Subsidies that were granted to him and far less could he impose new ones The Court Parasites made it their business to perswade Lewis XI that it was a branch of his Prerogative to lay what Impositions he pleas'd on his Subjects I have already told you what Philip de Comines thinks of this Maxim We have at least as much Reason to complain of Tyranny and Violence now as the Subjects of that Prince had in those Days but our Tongues are ty'd Charles VII was engag'd in a long and chargeable War against England yet he never Levied above Eighteen hundred thousand Livres per Annum 'T is true Lewis XI augmented the Impositions to Three Millions and Seven hundred thousand Livres Tearly but he had the Character of a very bad Prince and to say all in one word a Tyrant His Son Charles VIII fearing to meet with the same Fate and desirous to live according to the Commandments of God says Philip de Comines resolv'd to content himself with the Crown-lands together with the Sum of Twelve hundred thousand Livres which the Estates assembled at Tours had granted him France was happy under the Reign of Lewis XII who was call'd the Father of the People whence we may reasonably infer that the Face of Affairs is wonderfully chang'd since that time Under the late King Lewis XIII the Impositions amounted to near Fourscore Millions of which not above Five and Thirty were brought into the Treasury the rest being exhausted by the great charges of the Scate M. Colbert has found means to raise the King's Revenues to One hundred and Twenty Millions and upwards This could not be done without ruining an infinite number of Families by imposing a prodigious number of new Taxations besides the enormous augmentation of those that were already established Now if One
Courage in France she will still retain some Foot-steps of her Dying liberty and we shall still preserve the Memory of our former Priviledges But you must give me leave to ask whether you have seriously consider'd how dangerously you expose both me and your self by engaging in a Correspondence concerning so nice a Subject as that of the Government We are scarce allow'd the liberty to think And what Persecutions may we not fear if it should be discover'd that we have taken the freedom to speak our thoughts nevertheless if you have the Courage to neglect this Consideration I am resolv'd not to give you occasion to accuse me of Cowardice only let us endeavour to manage our Correspondence with so much caution as to hinder our Letters from being intercepted You cannot be perswaded to believe that the King's Ministers will ever advise him to impose that General Poll Tax which is so much talk'd of For this you say would be no less than to deprive us of the only shadow of Liberty that we are suffer'd still to enjoy What Shall the Princes of the Blood the Nobility the Officers of the Crown and all the Gentry be Tax'd like Peasants Shall the Clergy be Rob'd of its noblest Priviledge Shall the Inhabitants of Paris and of all the chief Cities in the Kingdom lose that alone of all their Rights which they have been able to preserve hitherto No the Consequences of such an Attempt are too visible and would be too fatal in the present posture of our Affairs At least you add it is not credible that the King will adventure to Publish a Declaration that may open the dullest Eyes and even cause a general Insurrection without calling an extraordinary meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and the Officers of the Crown and without going himself to the Parliament to acquaint them with the Reasons that oblige him to impose a Tax upon his Subjects that will compleat the subversion of this State and to hear the Remonstrances which that Wise and Illustrious Assembly would not fail to offer to him on such an important occasion This is a step you conclude so contrary to the Maxims that the King has always follow'd since he began to Govern by himself that they would rather endeavour to find out a Thousand other ways to defray the Charge of the War than reduce him to an extremity that would vex him more than all the disappointments that he has met with from the obstinacy of the Confederates to refuse the Dayly Proposals of Peace both in General and Particular which he causes to be offer'd to them I acknowledge Sir that your Reflexions are just and reasonable and you might have added that the Estates of the Kingdom ought to have been assembled and their consent obtain'd For if it be true what * l. 5. c. 18. Philip de Cominees asserts that no King or Potentate in the World has a right to exact a Penny from his Subjects without the Advice and Consent of those that are to be Taxed unless in his own Demeasns and that all Impositions that are levied without these Conditions are the effects of Tyrannical Violence If it be true that M. Colbert and the rest of that Tribe who to testify their Zeal and Affection to their Master have perswaded him that he has a right to all our Estates have made him odious and terrible to his Neighbours who would chuse any Misery rather than that of being his Subjects If it be true that there was a time when the King 's of France dar'd not to say I take what I will and am Master of all If all this I say be true may we not hope that the King who would appear to have so great a Sense of Religion will assemble the Estates of the Kingdom to consult with them whether it be necessary to continue the War and whether it be more conducive to the publick Good to harass all his own Subjects than to do Justice to the Confederates In the mean time Sir I can assure you that neither your Reflexions nor mine will hinder the King's Council from imposing the Poll-Tax and I 'm even perswaded that there will not be the least motion made to call a Meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and Officers of the Crown much less will they desire the King to give himself the trouble to go in Person to the Parliament and least of all will they have the Confidence to lay before him the necessity of summoning a Convention of the Estates Not long ago a certain Lady who shews a wonderful concern for the Preservation of the King's Health grumbled at all those who represented to the King the miserable effects of the Famine in Paris and other Places She ask'd them whether they came with a design against the King's Life And who then could be so hardhearted as to desire the King to expose himself to the danger of hearing the Remonstrances of his Subjects concerning the deplorable condition to which the Kingdom is reduc'd This would certainly afflict the good Prince more sensibly and sooner break his tender Heart than all those stories of his Poor languishing People that wander about the Streets of Paris and are forc'd to rake the Dung-hills for Dead-Horses wherewith to fill their raging Stomachs We study to imitate the Example of those Romans mentioned by * Annal. 1. 3. Tacitus Princes Dukes and Peers Officers of the Crown Bishops Gentlemen Magistrates of the Sovereign Courts and all of us together are posting to Slavery and that with so much eagerness and haste as if we strove to out-run one another We think to please the King but I durst swear that he and his Minister do in their Hearts hate and despise us and that they insult over us as Tiberius over his base and flattering Senate O homines ad servitutem paratos There is not one amongst us that ever saw the Days of Liberty The form and mildness of our Ancient Government is lost yet all our Care is to flatter our Prince and to obey him blindly We laugh at the folly of the Danes who have divested themselves of all their Liberties and lodg'd an Arbitrary Power in their King 's We I say who are more ridiculously mad than they who tho' we have not given the King any one Authentick Title to our Priviledges do yet tamely stretch forth our Necks to receive a heavier Yoke than that of the Danes or rather a Yoke that is more cruel and insupportable than that which the Grand Signior and Great Mogul impose upon their Slaves At last the fatal time is come in vain we expect to see better Days We have put on a Chain that will grow Dayly more insupportable We are not so much as suffer'd to speak of Liberty and they would hinder us too from seeing it enjoy'd by others A great Man who Commanded the Roman Armies in Britain thought it
Customs and Liberties of France before it was enslav'd by the pernicious Maxims of Mazarin le Tellier Colbert Lowvois and the rest of that base and mercenary Gang who have sacrific'd the Honour and Priviledges of their Country to their private Interest and Ambition But we have at least the Comfort to see that their Children and Heirs begin to detest such damnable Politicks since the Families of these subtle Ministers are ruin'd in pursuance of those very Counsels which were first given by themselves I have alaeady said that Philip de Cominees was too well acquainted with the Priviledges both of the People and Princes of Europe to condemn the Members of the Confederacy that was set on foot against Lewis the XIth as Rebels against their lawful Sovereign For it must not be imagin'd that the Custom of entering into Association against Tyrannical Princes was peculiar to France It was universally claim'd as their undoubted Right by all those States that were founded by the Northern Nations on the Ruins of the Roman Empire The Princes Bishops and free Cities of Germany have always retain'd and do to this very Day continue to retain their undoubted Priviledge to make Leagues against the Emperor in defence of their Rights and Liberties The same Custom was also observ'd by the ancient English and even own'd by their King 's For when they agreed on certain Articles with the Peers of the Kingdom it was concluded on both sides that the Nobility had a right to maintain their Prerogatives by force of Arms in case the King should attempt to violate them And it is no less certain that the Grandees Bishops and principal Cities of Spain have assum'd the same Priviledge when they judg'd it necessary for the good of their Countrey It were easy to prove this by many and clear instances but I shall content my self with putting you in mind of the League which they made under the Reign of Charles the V call'd la Junta Samta to deliver themselves from the Tyranny of the Flemings to whom that Prince had entrusted the Government of his Spanish Dominions The Grandees of that Kingdom do still maintain their Prerogatives without suffering them to be violated and shall we be the only Slaves in Europe Shall our Nobility so fam'd of old for their Bravery and that Warlike and undaunted Spirit which distinguished them with so much advantage in the World or rather shall their degenerated Posterity instead of attempting to regain their ancient Liberty tamely suffer themselves to be kill'd and Dayly offer'd up as ignoble Victims to support that Arbitrary Power that oppresses them 'T is true a Duke and Peer of France may enter into the Louvre in his Coach and sit for fashion's sake on the Flower-de-luces in the Grand-chamber and has also the pleasure to see a stool presented to his Lady when she comes to attend the Queen And are not these mighty Priviledges or rather the Poor remainders of all that Honour and Authority that adorn'd the prime Dignities of so great a Kingdom But perhaps the Parliament of Paris are better Judges of the true Interest of the Nation I do not at all doubt but that there are some intelligent and well affected Magistrates in that numerous body who understand perfectly the Rights both of the People and of the Prince who bewail our Miseries and desire nothing more ardently than to be able to contribute somewhat more than bare wishes to regain our ancient Liberties but they dare not discover their true sentiments I am confident you will not think your time ill-employ'd in Reading an Account of that Assembly for which I am oblig'd to one of my Friends who is a President Our Parliament said he is now no more than a Company of wrangling Practitioners in Law who study nothing but Customs Edicts and Proceedings of Courts It was at first instituted to represent the States General of the Kingdom It was a Body composed of the six chief Peers of France the six Ecclesiastical Peers the Chancellor Principal Officers of the Crown and some other Persons of Note who had a Right to sit in the States-General when the Necessity of Affairs required their Meeting They maintain'd the Interests of the People against the Usurpations of the Prince shared the Sovereign Authority with him when the States were not assembled For 't is beyond Controversie certain that the Parliament used to judge even the Peers and greatest Persons in the Kingdom that they tender'd the Oath of Fidelity to the Officers of the Crown and that the King's Edicts were never reputed to have the Force of Laws nor could be put in execution till they had been first receiv'd and register'd in that Assembly And are not these the most certain and uncontested Marks of Sovereignty You know continued the President by what dexterous Methods and under what specious pretexts our King 's have made such great Alterations in a Company that ey'd them too near and often troubled them 'T is true indeed that 't is long since the Parliament began to be wholly taken up in hearing and determining Civil and Criminal Causes but they still enjoy'd that Priviledge undisputed which authorised them to examine the Edicts that the King intended to Publish they Registred such of them as they thought useful and necessary and if at any time they met with some difficulties they offer'd their Reasons to the King who never us'd to neglect them but when he had a mind to proceed to violent Methods I confess the Court has sometimes compell'd 'em to Register its Edicts but then they never fail'd to enter a Protestation that such instances should not be made use of to justify future Violences but where are all our Priviledges now The King indeed sends his Edicts to us but we are obliged to register them as soon as they are sent and even such of them that appear to our Consciences to be highly unjust and pernicious without daring to offer the least Remonstrance to his Majesty We have no more Power than simple Countrey Judges and the Edict for the Poll-Tax will pass at all Adventures All that you have said is certainly true reply'd I to the Magistrate but will you not show the least sign of Life in a Case of such vast Importance And must we never expect that you will be moved to make at least one glorious Effort to deliver your Countrey from Tyranny and Oppression Most willingly cry'd my generous Friend with Tears in his Eyes But are you acquainted with the King's Humour The Times are chang'd answered I and we are undone Remember the Illustrious example of the first President la Vacquerie Lewis XI sent an unjust Edict to the Parliament which they generously refus'd to enroll he renew'd his Orders but without shaking their Constancy At last the incenst Prince fell into a Fury and threatned to put to Death not only the President but all the Councellors if they persisted in their Obstinacy La Vacquerie
common and so full of Glory that it will be the greatest Embellishment of the History of this Age and the admiration of all that shall succeed it Lewis the Great took Forty Cities and made himself Master of Maestricht after a Siege of Thirteen Days but what was the fruit of all his Victories and what did he retain of so many Conquests but an exhausted Kingdom Peopled with Beggars Is not this the only instance of a Prince that was Honoured with Triumphal Arches for ruining his own Subjects The taking of Valenciennes Ypres and Cambray were Actions that had a juster Title to the proud name of Conquests The Empire Spain and the States General of the United Provinces had form'd a Confederacy against the King and had often alarm'd him with Potent Armies Let us do justice to the Merit and Experience of the late Prince and of the Mareschal de Turenne who were only able to preserve us in such an Extremity They alone merited the Honour of Statues and Triumphal Arches and to have their Names inscrib'd on our Medals The pretended Glory of Lewis the Great is only a reflected Splendor which he ows to the Valour and Experience of his ill rewarded Generals and to the Skill and Dexterity of his Two Ministers one of which made it his business to find out ways to squeeze Money out of miserable Wretches while the other provided well-stor'd Magazines that the King's Army might be in a condition to enter upon Action before that of the Enemies could be drawn out of their Winter-quarters It was certainly a very prudent Advice that of M. de Turenne to keep all things in a readiness for the early opening of the Campagn And 't was by a careful observance of this Maxim that France broke the measures of the Confederates and obtain'd an advantageous Peace But I maintain that a Prince who aggrandizes himself meerly by such Politicks does not deserve the name of a Conqueror The Alexanders Scipios Pompeys and Caesars of those celebrated Glories of Antiquity took other Methods to acquire Honour than those that are now in fashion among our Heroes of all Seasons This is one of those splendid Titles that the Sappho of our Age bestows on the King And you know this thought was esteem'd very ingenious and fine Did ever any of those Summer Heroes which are plac'd so far beneath the Heroes of all Seasons content themselves with seizing on a Town that could not be reliev'd did ever any of them forsake their Arms immediatly after such an inglorious Expedition or Post back to their Mistresses as soon as the Enemies began to appear and leave the care of engaging with them to others Let the Gentlemen of the French-Academy rack their mercenary Fancies to embellish their fulsom Panegyricks with new Hyberboles it will be for ever acknowledg'd by those who are willing to do Justice to true Merit that the Duke of Orleans acquir'd more solid Glory of the Siege of St. Omer and the Battel of Cassel than the King by the taking of Cambray Ypres and Valenciennes and if you please to add Mons and Namur By coming out of his Lines meeting the Enemy gaining a Battle and afterwards taking the Besieg'd Town he merited far greater Honour than the King by all that he perform'd before Mons and Namur Instead of advancing to meet the Confederate Forces that appear'd towards the end of the Siege of Mons which they could not possibly relieve the King with all his jolly Troop made haste back to his dear Verfailles and arriv'd there with Men and Horses that were as fresh and unfatigu'd as those that had not begun to march The taking of this important Place was a Blessing from Heaven on the Providence of M. Louvois and skill of M. de Vauban rather than on the Valour of the King or the Justice of his Arms. The next Year he took Namur in sight of the Confederate Army but he was cover'd by an Army greater than theirs during the Siege of the Castle which was an advantage that the Duke of Orleans had not at the Siege of St. Omer He was forced to come out of his Lines and Fight the Enemy An instance that cannot be pararel'd in all the glorious Life of Lewis the Great Where shall we find a Homer to celebrate our new Achilles But we may trust that care to himself he will not suffer future Ages to lose so great an Example he has hir'd his Chroniclers already and carries them always about with him that they may be Eye-witnesses of all his Glorious Exploits But all in vain our Posterity will easily discover the Truth and pull of the disguising Vizard of Flattery And perhaps some Historian may luck in a Garret that will inform them after what manner Lewis the Great took so many Towns and gain'd all his Victories And even I am very much afraid that they will Read the Histories of the King as we Read the Books of those infamous flatterers who prais'd Tiberius and Nero and that they will have the same regard to all our Medals and Triumphal Arches that we have to those which remain of certain Ptinces whose Vanity we mock and despise I have not time to send you my Reflexions on the present Was but you may expect them by the next occasion Adieu Paris Jan. 23 1695. FINIS