Monarchies have their seat in the Persons of the Princes that possess them But in th' Assembly and Conjunction of th'Electors and of th' other Princes of Germany who together make the Body whereof th' Emperor is the most considerable Member and Superiour in Excellency to th' other Members considered apart and sever'd from the Body they form There 's no person also but knows That the Majesty of th' Emperor and that August Character which doth distinguish him from Monarques are not derived from the power he hath over a great extent of Country submitted unto him and over a great number of Subjects which he governs but arise from the Greatness to which he is raised and from the Rank that he enjoys above many Soveraigns that encompass him who do him honour and are bound in certain occasions as receiving th'Investiture of their Estates from th' Emperor to serve him with their Lands and Persons and owe him with exception t'other Soveraigns not of the Body of th' Empire a particular Honour and an extraordinary Veneration But lest th' Emperor following th' humour of Great Persons should give too great an Extent t' his Authority and make Invasions upon the Rights and Liberties of the Princes of th' Empire And lest the Princes puffed with the spirit of Soveraignty which they bring with them into the world and drunk with the sweetness of the Command they exercise over their Subjects should become Indocile towards th' Emperor and undertake to draw to them all th' Authority of th' Empire Constitutions have been made and Laws established which bound their Jurisdiction and qualifie their distinct Powers and hold the Ballance at its just point amongst them and make the necessary Counterpoise Lest that th' one becoming too strong should force and destroy th' other And 't is that temper which th'Emperour and the Princes of th' Empire have assaulted by several stratagems on divers occassions and the Limits which they would have often defaced 'T is that Counterpoise which they have endeavoured to unsettle and to ruine that Harmony in whose conservation th' Happiness of Germany principally consists the safety of Christendom and the most assured means of resisting th' Ottoman Forces when they over-run on the Land side And 't is that th' House of Austria doth enforce more of late than ever to perform what they labour with Sails and Oars 'T is the great work of their Aim and Ambition and could they master it as many times since the Battel of Prague they have been very near it it would not b' Impossible for them to convert Kingdoms into Provinces and to make up in time the Monarchy whereof they have so many years past laid the Design And therefore th' Affairs of th' Empire being in this condition I leave it to the Judgment of every Impartial Person whether the King had not a great Interest in th' Affairs of Germany and great reason t' engage And whether h'ought t' have promised to th' House of Austria the liberty of finishing at his pleasure and without resistance that pernicious design of Universal Monarchie Whether h'ought with Newtral Eyes and folded Arms have permitted th' Inheritance of his Neighbours to be burnt whose flames might easily reach his Countries To Judgment I submit it whether th' Aiding of Princes oppressed and stript be to protect Rebellious Subjects And whether distinction ought not to be made betwixt them in whose hands God hath put the sword to defend their Rights against Strangers as well as to punish th' Enemies of their Country and them who have no other Right to bear Arms than what they receive from th' hands of their Prince The King then could not abandon the cause of miserable Germany nor permit the Liberty of its Princes to be ravish'd without being an Enemy to his People and Desertor of the Christian Republique And he was no less obliged to maintain by his Endeavours and Arms the Constitution of th' Empire against th' House of Austria which laboured to destroy it than He was at that time when He used his Authority and permitted his Forces to march out of his Kingdom t' oppose the Count Palatin's design of Alteration And that the resolutions taken in th' Assembly at Worms should not be executed But this matter shall be further cleared in the Treary of the Monarchy of th' House of Austria As to the Princes of Germany who did not co-operate with th' holy Intentions of the King and departed from his Alliance and that of Swede who thought to secure their Estates and Fortune by a particular Treaty and to find in the Peace of Prague an Inviolable Sanctuary against the Evil they did apprehend These Princes I say are very blind or of small courage if they do not see the servitude is prepared for them if they dare not refuse to put their hands to the making of that Chain which is t' hold them if they have been taken with the Charms th' House of Austria had presented unto them and have followed th' ill inspirations have been given them by pretended friend if the Peace they thought to make hath not been so much a Peace as a change of War and passage to new Troubles and to more dangerous Emotions than those they had quitted if in their present condition they march betwixt Precipices and ought to be the Prey of the Victor on what Side soever the Victory falls and bear the punishment of their defection from the good Party or become their last Conquest and make the Conclusion of the Design they had in Judgment In this Dereliction wherein their imprudence and the Corruption of some other causes had cast them 'T is yet better for them to return to the good Party and find safety and honour by aiding in order to the Victory than to persevere in a Society where they must perish whatsoever happens I know well that 't is not easie to get out of a Precipice nor out of a Labyrinth when a man is far advanced into it But notwithstanding th' Artifices of th' House of Austria and the Toils they set in all places to stop the Princes escape from them Th' offences they have committed against them who came so generously to relieve them and th' high ingratitude wherewith they have paid the precious Blood was spilt and the life of one of the most Illustrated Persons of the world lost for their safety If there remains I say in their Souls any dram of Love for the Liberty of their Nation which hath been in great veneration vvith them and that they be ready to receive good fortune vvhen she offers herself unto them The favourable Revolution that begins to shine upon Germany vvill give them means to break the Bonds that hold them â—o reconcile themselves to their antient friends and to recover their first Correspondency vvith them vvhose Amity is their present Security and future Protection But they shall be entertained more fully on this Subject in another place As to the
t' Hungary Bohemia and th' Hereditary States This Declaration was not barren and vain it was attended with its effect as the Lightning is sometimes with the Thunder Mathias caused Ferdinand to come to Prague by deceit and with Mony but more effectively by the power of th' Army h' had in Bohemia He compelled Ferdinand to Crown him King of Bohemia leaving out the word of Election and without any Apparence of th'Intervention of the States Authority which was the work the Spaniards aimed at and for which they had long given themselves much trouble The Complement of the business and the Conclusion of it was That they made a Transaction with Ferdinand by which it was resolved In the year 1617. That th' Election of the Kingdoms of Hungary and of Bohemia should b' abolished and that the King of Spain should succeed to those Kingdoms in case of default of the strait Masculine Line of Ferdinand Provided That the King of Spain should relinquish all the Rights h' had in that Country in title of Granchild of th' Eldest of that House Whereupon 't is to b' observed that all this was done and concluded betwixt the Spaniards and Ferdinand with full Power and pure Violence and without the knowledge or participation of the States of those Kingdoms which are Elective And it was th' occasion of a great displeasure conceived by the Bohemians when it was made known to them and the greatstone of scandal against which they struck and which carried them to the Resolution they afterward took to reject Ferdinand from being their King and to call in t ' his place Frederick Gount Palatine under whom was framed in Germany an Intricacy of Affairs which five and twenty years of War could not dissolve And that a thousand new Accidents which every day arise forbid the wisest Men to discover th' Events and the way to get out of that Labyrinth That the Transaction was the principal and most violent Motive of th' Insurrection of the Bohemians appears by the Declaration of the States of Bohemia upon the rejection of Ferdinand of the 23d of May 1618. by which they complained amongst other things That there was an endeavour to transport the Kingdom t' another House It appears by the Letter which th' Elector Palatine wrote to th' Emperor the 25th of June in the same year wherein he says expresly That th' Authors of those Troubles were Persons who sought th' Improvement of some Forein Greatness and represents the Troubles which the Provinces of th' Empire would feel if Strangers were Introduc'd as had been done in the Dutchy of Juliers It appears also by the Declaration made by the Bohemians in the year 1619. upon th' Election of Frederick the First wherein they clearly said That Ferdinand endevour'd to translate the Kingdom of Bohemia under a Forein Power But since there 's nothing so easie as t' Accuse and Disguise an Accusation That every Person flatters himself in his own Cause which h' adjusts and beautifies as he pleaseth And that the Paper receives what is imprinted upon it as a Glass doth represent all that is set before it Let 's produce the testimony of Ferdinand and the proofs h' hath furnished to the Bohemians Complaints 'T is certain that his Predecessors speaking of their States ever put this Expression of our Kingdomes and Hereditary Provinces The word Hereditary Accompanying onely the Provinces and not the Kingdomes He Transposed the word to the beginning of the Clause that he might Fixe and Incorporate himself upon the Kingdomes as Provinces and made it thus of our Hereditary Kingdomes and Provinces And in his Monitory Letters of the 30. April 1620. agaist th'Elector Palatin by which he summons him to Leave in a Month The Kingdome of Bohemia and pretends that that Crown was fallen to him by Natural and Successive Right There was another Cause which was doubtless known to the Bohemians and obliged them to change their Master and to seek another yoak than Ferdinands whose person otherwise was not unacceptable to them 'T is the strong and Implacable Aversion that Prince had against Heresies and th'hot and burning zeal t'Exterminate them out of his Dominions and in all places where his Authority was acknowledged At twenty years of Age He made a vow t' our Lady of Loretta He renewed it at th' Age of forty three to our Lady of Celles which is betwixt Austria and Styria and Confirmed it a little before his Death by the Report of Father Lamorman in that Book of the Virtues of that Emperour The Zeal truly of seeing the Ruine of Heresies and of placing living stones in the Temple of God t' use the words of th'Apostle is very Commendable in it self and t' have no sense thereof is to be wholly deprived of Charity towards ones Neighbour which is one of th' Ends of Christianity There must be a want of Piety to the Church to which Heretiques make Wat No Love for the Glory of God which is Prophaned by Fable Worship But though this Zeal may be as hot in th' Heart as it should be and burn within Though it may be much inflamed in it's Principle yet it ought not t' appear but Tempered with Discretion nor break out but by measure and Rule thought not to procure its End but by convenient means by the waies which God hath ordained or hath left to Prudence to make Choice of Above all he may b' assured that its Operations are ordinarily better effected by gentle and peaceable than by violent and bloody hands And suppose it to be an ill Invention to Kill instead of Healing and to pull down an Edifice t'hinder the burning of it That in Truth there are Constitutions and Encounters where strong Remedies are to be used to stop the Contagion of Diseases which gathet and where Houses are broke down to prevent the fire which they cannot put out from burning of others mens houses and consume that which might have been preserved In this I have given some Rules in the first part and in several places I say some what of it here and there as conceive it necessary and as th' Abuses which I see there Acted oblige me But t is Chiefly necessary in kindling that Zeal in the Spirit of Princes t' infuse also convenient Lights for their Conduct And what I have said in other places ought to b' observed and cannot too often be remembred That great Persons cannot commit small faults nor General Causes removed by small Ruines Sebastian the last King but one of Portugal before that Kingdome was subdued to the Power of Spain is a very Remarkable Example of what I have now said The Queen Catherine his Mother having trusted his Education with Religious persons honest Men indeed and of Eminent Learning according to their profession but unexperienced in th' Affairs of the World and in the Science of Princes Their greatest care was t' imprint deeply into the Soul of this Prince naturally valiant the desire of
Crowns which had spilt so much blood and consumed so great Treasure for the Liberty of Germany but conspired against them and Consented to fight them who Laboured Earnestly to Deliver the Captives from the Chains they seemed to be in Love with or to compel them to Happiness who had not the Courage to be happy However 'T is certain that the fair peace of Prague wherein th' Accepters of it believed to be secure without running the danger of losing themselves as in the Continuation of the War they made to th' House of Austria had not been concluded if the two Crowns had not engaged in th' affairs of that Countrey And th' Emperor Had not Accorded unto them that respite from their ruine if H' had esteemed himselfe powerfull or happy enough to resist at one Time their forces and Ours That if th' Interessed Persons are the better for it and are at shelter from the Tempest they feared they d'ow us th' obligation which they have very ill acknowledged That if their Peace be Captious and unsetled as 't is and if they have need as there 's no Question of a General peace which is the seal of the Security and Duration of particular Persons 'T is also from the two Crowns they ought principally to receive that good and 't is from them that the Perfectest Cure ought to be made of the German body Instead of those Lucid Intervalls which particular Treaties do produce and of those deceitfull Recoveries which give Ease for some time to the sick Person but take not away the Cause nor the Root of the Disease 'T is for this Reason that they Act with so much Contest and Heat that they raise such great Armies and support so great an expence and they may be assured that Armes will never be laid down till the Work b' Accomplished That they have not made so great expences to lose them And How painfull soever the Cariere be wherein they are ingaged They will never stay till they have past through it And either all Apparences are false or the time is not far off and Christendome will very shortly see a Discovery of the good it desires though it have yet some Convulsion fits to suffer and the Light it expects will quickly appear though it hath also some shadows to disperse and Clouds to dissolve Th' Easiness spoken of hath not been pernicious to the French alone but also to the Dutch They have been also mistaken in their March into this Kingdome upon the single faith of its confederates And if that Prodigious Army of Reiters which marched to Over-run our Nation under the Conduct of the Duke of Bovillon and the Baron of Dona had surprized some strong place It had not been so ill handled as it was in its Retrait nor Feasted the plains with so many Dead bodies as it left there It had been at least admitted to Capitulation for the safety of its Return and for a part of the Money which had been promised in rendring what it held to its Lawfull Master The Queen of England of whom W' have already spoken was much better Advised and her Conduct more prudent when she would not open her Purse not Command her Army t' enter France in favour of the Prince of Conde Till h' had put Havre of Grace into her power and delivered up that famous Haven to give her Entrey at pleasure into this Kingdome 'T is true That I cannot excuse the pretence whereby she seemed to receive it nor approve of the Declaration she published That it was not to break Amity with the Kings with whom she desired t' entertain a good Correspondency that she had Commanded it to be taken but to take it out of th' hands of his Rebell Subjects who might keep it t' his prejudice and to Conserve it for him during his Minority and till he might Act personally in his Affairs and hold th' Helm of his state in his own hands which was handled by persons who were not as she said Prudent enough or Well enough disposed This Playster was too gross and this Masque too visible to Cover and disguise so visible an Usurpation and the Councel of the King had reason to declare her fallen from the Conditions of the Treaty of Cambray in Relation to the business of Calais since sh ' had violated it in aiding the Rebels t' his Majesty and that sh ' had been the Receiver of places which they had taken from him The Duke of Savoy Grand-father to the present Duke endeavoured t' exercise the like Charity towards Henry the Third and render the same good Office to the Crown when h' had seized upon the Marquisate of Saluces for fear as He said lest Esdiguieres should prevent him and untill the Troubles which troubled us were appeased and that our Civil Tempests were allaid The late King paid him that Charity as a Debt of the Crown so soon as h' attained it and made him see that Great Princes know how to force Little Princes to b' honest in spight of their subtleties and t' ease them better than any Persons of the world of th' Obligation they are under to make Restitution of unjust Acquisitions The Method then spoken of and for the Reasons alleged to require places hath been at all times familiar with Princes who know how to Reign and particularly with the Spaniards But if the Duke of Parma demanded no place the first Incursion he made into France and marched to secure Paris from th' Armies of the late King without seeking any place of Security for his Retreat but in the Forces He commanded it was for a more important Reason 't was to blind the world by that shew of Liberty 't was to leave an Impression that his Master sent him not to fish as 't is said in our Troubles and to make benefit of our Disorders as many murmured within and without the Kingdom but onely to drive away Heresie or at least t' hinder th' Ascent of it to the Throne where none but the True Religion ought to sit as He made a solemn Oath in the great Church of Meaux in the Name of King Philip. But he drew not long that breath of Generosity and could never be perswaded to come to the Relief of Roven till the Fere was delivered unto him and put into his Custody which assured his Entry into the Kingdom and his going out As to the rest the sequel of time and course of affairs made it appear that Philip made him take a false Oath and had deceived his General to make him deceive others The Duke of Sessa declared it sufficiently at Rome when He could not hinder th' Absolution of the late King nor his Re-union to th' Holy Chair the Center of the Church He protested against it as prejudicial to the Pretensions his Master had upon France and the Charges expended to conserve Religion and expel Heresie It was therefore to the Spaniard an extraordinary Case and an Exception to
Dying party Somewhat like to this last Circumstance hath been seen in the Peace which the late Emperor made a little before at Lubec with the King of Denmark The Princes whose Protection h 'had undertaken were admitted only under the General Clause which was a Mark of Dereliction That th' Emperor should not disturb any Person against Justice and Equity That during such time the King of Denmark should not Engage in th' Affairs of th' Empire And that he should no more Interpose in th' Affairs of Germany thâ—n th' Emperor in th' Affairs of his Kingdom It must nevertheless be confessed to speak Truth of that Occurrence That th' Advantages th' Emperor â—â—ew from that Treaty were not the Just price of the Successes H' had obtain'd in that War And that the Collection of the Fruits Answered not the Promises which did precede it In the King of Denmarks Condition His Declining the Protection of his Allies was no more than to Part with that which was not in his power to Maintain and to Quit that he could no longer hold and to Renounce that which produced no real Thing to th' Emperor In the Month of June 1629. and was but an unprofitable mark of Superiority which Victory had made very visible He did receive solid Benefits redeemed all his Losses and allayed the Tempest that was ready to break upon the Rest of his States But th' Ambition of the Spaniards and the pressure th'used to th' Emperor to send his Armies into Italy against a Catholick Prince wh ' had done him no hurt compelled him to make e Peace as hath else-where been observed with a Protestant Prince that had offended him To cool his good Fortune in its greatest heat and to restrain the Current of the Victory which might have passed the Bounds of the Baltique Sea And t' have stopped that fatal Power which hath since Over-run th' Empire and shaken the very Foundations of th' House of Austria However 't is a proof of great Superiority in Power or of a great height in Success t' Exclude out of Treaties of Peace or to Comprehend in them whom they will And Interests of State must be very Violent which oblige Princes to forget their Friends in their Accommodations whose Faithfulness they 've made Trial of in the Quarrel In such a Dereliction they cannot save their Honour but by th' Extreme Necessity of their Affairs nor be dispensed from th' observation of their Faith but by that Supreme Law which ought to regulate their Conduct in the safety of their Subjects Whereupon they that would Excuse them may say That 't is a Condition which Enters privately in t ' all their Alliances and a Reserve which needs not be Comprised because it cannot b' Excluded and which Equally concerns th' Interest of all the Confederates And there 's none but makes use of it in case of Necessity or that believes himself obliged to perish if he cannot be secure in Company There 's none that believes himself forsworn when h' holds not that which he believes never t' have promised And though in the Treaties of Confederations all do promise not to make Agreement without the Knowledge and Consent of one another All understand it nevertheless with that Exception But it the case of an Extreme ill Fortune which allows n' other Security or from an utter Ruine that admits of no Safety but by such a Breach That if this were not so it were t' act against th' End of Confederates wherein many d'Engage and Unite themselves to resist together an Evil which would be Superiour to the Forces of each particular person but none of them would shut up himself if it were not Lawful for him to go out when he shall not find safety there and should be Lost in a Longer stay That they 're like Ships where they that guide them oblige themselves to work all they Can to defend them against a Storm but where every person reserves t' himself the Liberty to provide for his safety in forsaking of them when they 're ready to strike ground and that the Wrack is Inevitable That Countries are in th' hands of Princes as the goods of Minors They 're the Guardians but not in all Senses the Masters of them And in the whole humane Society there 's no Deposite so Sacred and so Inviolable as that is to them The people from whom they hold it have committed it unto them indeed but have not absolutely given it unto â—hem and without a Condition They 've indeed given them the Tuition but have not given them the Power of Alienation or to put them in Danger of Perishing and of changing Master To what hath been already said may also b'added That ' t is better that one of the Confederates giving way to Time and striking Sail before Fortune make his Peace alone the better t' Endeavour th'Improvement of th' others Conditions and to serve them for Relief than that they should Lose themselves by the pretence of a false Courage and by a Delicacy of humour which may indeed be permitted in the Conduct of Particular persons but ought never to b' admitted into that of Princes nor find place in their Affairs That besides this there 's no doubt but that 't is a most base dishonour for them to fail in th' observation of promises And that no Greatness can be gained or Establishment made that can repair the breaches of violated Faith and purge the shame of Perjury These are Considerations which have entred into my Understanding to discharge as much as may be the proceedings which Princes sometimes are Constrained t' use in the matter of Treaties I do not pretend nevertheless to warrant my thoughts from Infallibility or to make them pass for Decisions and Dogmatiques I leave t' every person the Liberty of Judgment according t' his Sense to Condemn or Approve them as it shall seem good t' him and to take them for sound Reasons and for Addresses of good Direction or onely for Colours which paint or for Ways that occasion Wandrings However great care must be taken not t' Exercise and Practise so ticklish a Conduct every day And no other use is to be made of them than as of Poisons in Medicines That 's to say sparingly and against Extreme Evils and with Excellent Correctives and Exquisite Preparations I add also that in th' Example which I have alleged of Demark I do not understand Fundamentally to condemn the Conduct of that Prince nor to Constitute my self Judge Soveraign of a thing whereof I do not know all th' occult Reasons by which that Nation might have cause to get out which ought to be presumed to be Just nor all th' hidden Wheels that gave it Motion which might have rendred it necessary I 've onely drawn th' Exterior and what hath appeared without and hath not a plausible shew which I 've endeavoured to Temper Sweeten by my Lenitive Considerations Not touching then upon what may b' of
against him that should first disturb it and break that sweet Harmony of the People which made Italy happy The League had aspect chiefly upon the Venetians who being then the most powerful of all the Princes of Italy were esteemed also the most ambitious and it may be for that reason onely that they were the strongest And that they did not believe That the Moderation of Desires accompani'd willingly with Great Forces nor that Sobriety could b'observed in the Temptation of Abundance But the Cement of that League being the wisdom of Laurence of Medicis and that it wanted somewhat of more strength and duration for its subsistence It hapned that it fell by the death of Laurence and that Lodowick Sforza was the first that broke off from it to gain the State of Milan from his Nephew and which opened the Gate by which the French entred Italy and after them the Spaniards and the Germans It hapned also as by a just Judgment from God That th'Usurpator of the State of his Nephew and the Perturbator of the Peace of his Country saw himself stripped of that State and banished his Country to pass the rest of his days and die a Prisoner in a Forein Country That which was to be desired to complete that League and which made it break was the want of a real and effective great Power to support the weak Pieces of it which should not have been subject to yielding by death nor of falling by disgrace and might serve t' all of them for a Haven in time of Tempest and for Resurrection in case of Misfortune But in th'Establishment of durable Leagues and in the collection of Pieces that compose it for duration 'T is not sufficient that a great Power be conjoyned unless the Motions of that Power be Moderate and have the General Good of the League for its End to which it serves for Chief and Centre Otherwise if that Superiour Power do determine the Ruine of others and aim at doing Its business and not theirs they will quickly sever and so soon as the great Evil they feared is over and that the Torrent which gave them trouble is stopped they will withdraw their Contributions and no longer furnish Materials nor lend their Arms to constitute a Society which might in time prove fatal unto them Let Examples explain our Meaning When th' Heresie of Luther had taken root in Germany and stretched its Branches almost over all the North a League was formed at Smalchalde against Charls the Fifth of the greatest part of the Princes and States that had embraced their new Sect Th'Emperour was constrained to form another League to this and t' implore th' aid of Catholique Princes in an occasion where th' Antient Religion had cause to fear all that could issue of sad and tragical from the fury and zeal of the new Sects Some Catholique Princes refused to Joyn as the Venetians Others did Engage whereof the most considerable and who sent the fairest and greatest Army was th' Holy Father Th' Emperour with this Supply which was useful and with his Virtue and ordinary Fortune got the better of th' Associated Protestants and had forced his Victory further into Germany if the Pope who knew that Charls aimed not at the Heretiques but at the Rebels of th' Empire had not staid his course and withdrawn his Forces whereby th'Emperour was disappointed and stood as Immoveable in the pursute of his designs as a Ship when the Wind suddenly abates and is surprized with a Calm Two things are here to b'observed which establish and confirm the Propositions proposed Th' one That the Protestant League fell by the first Blow it received without rising again and one lost Battel made it vanish into smoke for the first Reason given and because it wanted some great Power that might have rallied the scattered Forces That might have raised new Men and have drawn them together to fight their Enemies and for other Trials of Fortune And indeed to speak truly of the thing 'T is the same with petty Princes who make a League against a more powerful Prince as with a Society of Gamesters wh ' are not rich and having made a Stock to which every one contributed all the Mony h' had so soon as that Money is lost are out of countenance and are constrained to break up company and to retire with their loss In like manner th 'others setting a foot at first all their Forces and straining to their uttermost being defeated are without recovery and disband immediately if some great Power do not interpose to rally them W' have also seen the same thing happen to the Protestant League which took its beginning from th'incident Troubles between the Pretenders to the Succession of Cleves and which dissolved upon th' occasion of th' Election of the Count Palatine to the Kingdom of Bohemia The first great Blow that was given became mortal to 't And it was so astonished at the loss of the Battel of Prague that it could never recover its strength again And all that the King of Denmark Halberstat and Mansfielt have since done to re-inforce that Party have served onely to make it languish the longer and resembled the precious Waters are given to desperate sick persons which make th' Heart a little to recover and prolong the life some few howers but restore not health and prevent not death Th' other thing to be considered in the Catholique League which subdued the Protestants is That it held indeed of great Powers and that it had for Foundation and Ligament a great Emperour who made th' Eagles of th' Empire fly higher than they 'd done since Charlemain's time But being more Ambitious than Powerful He carried not falsly that Embleme which discovered th'Immensity of his Desires Never to stop but to pass always further For without respect to the good of his Confederates He studied onely his Particular profit That was the cause as hath been observed that they retired from the League The same Emperor endeavoured after the re-establishment of Sforces in the State of Milan to form in Italy another League of the first sort under pretence of employing it against the French irruptions that should undertake to trouble their Peace and to draw thither to raise Quarrels or to make use of them against the Turk if his Fleets assaulted the States of any of the Confederates and Infested their Shoars But th' Italians were as Cautious as he was subtil and discovering th' Hook he did cast into so specious a Bit They would not be taken with it For it was very visible to them That th' Emperor aimed from thence to confirm his Power in Italy which the French alone were able to shake And in holding the Turk at Bay to labour with more ease and less opposition the ruine of Christians The Germans were not so well advised and wise when they formed that League of Suaube which served so long to do th' Affairs of th' House of Austria and
League before it could find a forein Relief or that France would stir in their Aid This prospered with him as he did Project it and h' had then Finished what h' had happily begun and which h' had above half done if h' had not been hindred by the Causes which have been in other places reported To this League another succeeded under the Direction of th' Elector Maurice of Saxe It was truly wiser than the former and th' Entery of Henry the second into Germany and th' Apparition of that new Star which in some sort might be said t' have hastned the setting of th' Emperour and darkned his Light gave them such a Fright that he sought an Accommodation with the Protestants and offered such advantagious Conditions provided they would quit the French protection that they Accepted of them and made their Peace at Passau without Comprizing of the King of France who did personally assist them They made it also without remembring the two Princes whom they ' d given him for Hostages And he restored them to their Liberty with as high a generosity as the confidence h' had expressed unto them In asking no other gages of their Faith nor n'other earnest of their Constancy It had not been sufficient for Maurice t' have Violated his Faith and failed so Magnanimous a Protector He who betrayed his own Blood and made War t' his Cozen Frederick to gain his Countries and Elector at Dignity from him In the year 1552. If to Compleat his Baseness and Crown his Ingratitude H' had not â—als ' Accorded to th' Emperour that the Troops of the League should march for his Service and b' imployed against France which had so much Contributed to make them Victorious and to free Germany from Servitude The Pretext the Germans made use of t' excuse that foul proceeding and the Plaister they used to Cover that black Spot was the Recovery of the City of Metts which Henry the second had taken in his March with the Consent of the Bishop and People who chose rather to Live under the Government of a Just and Powerfull Monarch as was Henry than under the Tyranny and Weakness of many Masters as were the Majestrates who Governed it The King having taken the Wind of th' Infidelity of Maurice whose Interessed and Changeable humour was not unknown to him and fore-seeing of future Tempests that might break upon France believed that the least he could do was to Seize upon some Important place to put a Bridle into th' Easiness of the Confederates Mouths and t' hinder them from breaking for fear of losing that place And in all Accidents to Secure and Strengthen his Frontier at their Charges for whose Security h' had hazarded his Country and exposed his Life and the Lives of his Subjects so Liberally for their defence That was but very Just and therein nothing done but what the Right of Nature permitted and the Law did Command And truly he that Remembers by what Title and Pretext th' Emperour did seize upon Cambray and Constance which were Imperial Towns and that it was done only to make Cambray a Rampar against France and Constance a Bridle to curb the Suisses would have Judged the King too delicate and too weak if upon better Foundations and stronger Considerations h' had made scruple to take Possession of a City whose greater part of Citizens did Invite him thither with earnest Desires and to March within their Walls after they had Lodged him in their Hearts and Affections All the Forces then of th' Emperour were drawn towards Metts the Rock against which th' Emperours Fortune was broken and where he began t' understand that it was necessary for him to Leave the World where he could not be what he had been and descend from the Theatre where he could no longer appear but in the posture of an Unfortunate Prince and as th' Example of Fortune The March to Ranty finished the Piece and the fear h' had there to be taken as infallibly h' had been by Sir of Guise if one of the Commanders of the Kings Army had not caused the Retraict to be sounded in th' heat of Fight and confidence of the Victory The fear I say which Charls had of that Accident confirmed him in that noble and bold Resolution which h' had taken to Leave the World and to Renounce Ambition th' Empire and so great a Number of Kingdomes He well saw that by th' Experiences h' had made and by the Disgraces h' had received since th' Access of Henry to the Crown that the Genius of that Prince was Superiour t' his and that h' ought not t' oppose his declining Age and th' infirmities of old Age to the growing Vigour of a flourishing Youth He considered that Henry was in Power t' affront him in War That h' had alwaies th' Advantage of him in Negotiations and Treaties That h' avoided the Nets were set for him at Rome and in their Councils And having dissipated the Practices that were hatched there to stirr up all the Catholique Christendome against him h' had the Dexterity to cast the Protestant part of Germany on th' Emperours back Behold then Charls out of the World wherein h' had made so much Noise and disordered so many things behold his Monarchical design fallen and the three Countries in safety any of which might have served for a Plank if h' had Conquered it to pass him to the Conquest of the rest But what is most considerable and the greatest Treachery that Fortune ever plaid him Is That while he Lived he saw th' Empire transferred out of his House and to pass into th' House of his younger Brother That he saw that Breach and had not the Power to prevent it and his Power and Credit unprofitably imployed to repair it The Germans Inclination t' have no Emperour but of their Nation and the Necessity h' had of them in the Wars h' had in hand obliged him to Consent that his Brother should be named King of the Romans He did indeed consent Conceiving in time either that Ferdinand should give the Demission in favour of his Son or to cause his Son to be named King of the Romans in quitting th' Empire to his Brother But Ferdinand wh ' had remembred all things that might raise him to that Dignity and for that End had been every Pliant to the Germans even to the prejudice of his Conscience And who saw himself reproached at Rome in the Person of his Ambassadors That h' had made way to th' Empire by the disdain of Religion and by th' Injuries h' had permitted to be done him would not willingly devest himself of a thing which h' had so dearly bought and h' had too much passion for his Son to prefern his Nephew before him in th' highest Dignity of Christendome Insomuch that th' Emperour having sent before his Retreat the Queen of Hungary his Sister to Ferdinand and Maximilian his Son t' obtain either a Demission of the Kingdome
that the whole Motion of the War ought to turn upon those two Poles But the Mischief is That this second condition is not always as the first in the power of Princes and that there 's no certain Rule or Proof establish'd to b' assured of it as of th' other Some light therefore shall be given to sobscure a Matter and some Addresses communicated to prevent wandrings in a Coâ—â—â—y so little known when some thing hath been said of Justice 〈◊〉 what concerns it In the first place I say that 't is necessary it Reigns if it may be over the whole Extent of the War and expatiate it self over the Accidents as Matter of the War and over the Form as the Manner and Form wherewith they ought to be conducted For there are Matters whereof I will treat to the bottom and others which I will but lightly touch For certain 't is unworthy of a Man of courage to foul his hands in the cold blood of his enemies and a most shameful thing for the feet to tread upon what the hands have beaten down or to take away the life from him who demands it Heat and Choler ought to be contained within the bounds of Victory and ought not to be carried beyond it unless of necessity to be done which happens rarely t' assure the Victory or in Right of Revenge to give no quatter to them who Book would give no quarter And permits that Plunderings be destroyed by Desolations and Fireings by Combustions There are nevertheless some actions wherein Revenge ought not to be taken and 't is unlaw full t' Imitate Robberies and Sacrileges or to give th' Enemies inhumane Deaths by their Example there are Laws which are called the Laws of good War which the Marshal of Brisac hath heretofore made so famous in Piedmont that they ought to b' observed and made an Act of Justice according to th' Intention of the God of Armies and not a pure Violence and a manifest Breach of the Right of Nations following the suggestions of the God of this World and of the Prince of Darkness T' use expressions of the Bible 'T is true then That a Priuce ought not to Draw his sword but when Justice puts it into his hand nor Handle it but under some form of Honesty and shew of Conveniency 'T is also true that h' ought not to confound what is Honest and what is Profitable because they are not the same Things nor blend two Distinct qualities as some of th' Ancients and Moderns have Done Th' occasion of growing Greater and the facility of Conquering ought not to tempt a Prince unless he may Inlarge with a Good conscience and Conquer Lawfully Such a Moderation will be esteemed more Coragious and Magnanimous than any Act of valour and no Victory can be so Fair and of so High a price as that which is gained upon himself But to depart from general Termes which are too Wild and Indefinite and to descend to particular Considerations which are more instructive and pressing than the general In the second place I say That care is to be taken not to judge of the justice or injustice of an enterprize by th' Event or to call it Bad or Good as it shall posper and have the Winds Propitous or Contrary Let him Observe with Aversion th' Expression of that sottish paniard who sollowing the party of the Commons raised against Charls their King writ to a friend of th' Adverse party That the gain or loss of the Battel to be fought the next day would declare who had the Right of his side and that the Mark and Reward of the Justice of the good party would be the Victory Let him abhorr th' Advice th' Admiral Chastillon gave to the Prince of Conde To make no Difficulty of breaking the Treaty whereby he had obliged to go out of the Kingdome If the Sirs of Guise Retired from Court of purpose to charge the Kings Army which they had laid asleep with th' hopes of Peace and Confidence in their promises would the Victory make his Cause honest and his Armies just and all other Justice ridiculous if it fell to the King and all other Reason vain If that be true as it may be true and if Davila who reports it be no tdeceived It were rightly to understand Machiavelles Maxim Not to be wicked at Halfes And to know how to satiate Malice It were some what more than to sew the Foxes to the Lions skinn It were not to make Warr in th' Ordinary Way but with poysoned Armes 'T is then a prefixed point and a Constant Maxim of the Moral and Politique That as a true Measure cannot alwaies be taken of the Prudence of an Enterprize by the Good success so true Judgment can never be made of th' Honesty of an Action by the Good success nor the Justice of a War by the Victory that may Crown it In the third place I say As there 's no War of so strong a Necessity and that hath th' Outside so specious as when Piety is joyned in it to Justice and th' Altars Defended in maintaining our Interests To Interess God in these Designs must be avoided unless he be truly interessed As to imitate Ferdinand of Castille who did much Worse than take Gods Name in vain for He ever Employed it to give Colour to th' Evil which was beneficial to him And his fears had been very much troubled to palliate their Ambition and Avarice If there had been no Religion Infidelity or Heresie in the World It ought not also to be believed as some have perswaded themselves or Endeavoured to perswade Princes That the goodness of th' End to the Glory of God or the Salvation of Souls can rectifie the Means which are Ill in themselves or that the Venome or Malignity of a cause is Corrected or tempered by th' Antidote of a Good and profitable Effect as shall be shewed hereafter In the fourth place I go on and say That though a Hearty Submission is to be given to th' Authority of them whom God hath placed in th' Highest Administration of Religion and in th' absolute Direction of Consciences They must not neverthelesse b' obeyed in all things as they do not pretend unto it nor believe that they can give License to do Ill and disingage us from th' Obligation of the first and second Right of Nature If Ladislaus King of Hungary had resisted the Legate who perswaded him to break without Cause or without other Cause than Conveniency the Peace made with Amurat Emperor of the Turks He had not permitted himself to b' abused by that pretended Power which the Legate assumed t' untye the knot the Right of Nations had tyed He had not lost his life at Uarnes with the loss of the Battel And Amurat had Reason when in the midst of the Fight and Heat of the Charge the Victory seemed t' Incline of Ladislaus side to call Jesus Christ to the punishment of a Crime committed
that whilst they amuze themselves in the Cleering and Debating of them much time is lost to the prejudice of th' Affairs of their Masters And that the secret Acrimonies which have taken Root in th' Hearts of those Agents hold them alwaies divided and occasion that a good and sincere Correspondence is never formed amongst them That fierce and proud Spirits are subject to fall into these Inconveniencies and particularly when they begin t' Act and at th' Entrey to their Imployments they will publish it by some thing of Noise and to gain Reputation by some Novelty that obligeth the World to turn their Eyes towards them and to speak of their Administration But the Dextrous and Wise Men will divert as much as may be those stones of Offence and avoid them against which their Fortune may break and make Shipwrack And to speak generally they ought not t' Engage if it may b' avoided with Honour their Masters in any Trouble but Conceive that they have business enough on Foot without making of New matters and Quarrels enough that arise from th' Incounters and mixture of things they do Manage without th' Interposition of any Evil Humours or of th' Imprudent or Undiscreet Conduct of their Ambassadours The second Maxim is That the Love of a great Reputation or the desires of great Profits ought not so strongly to Possess or Transport us as in Difficult and Long Enterprises t' act All for to gain All And t' admit of no Companion To be free from sharing the Glory of the Success or to Divide with any Person the Conquest which they would reserve to themselves On the Contrary It ought ever to be Conceived That in th' Affairs of Great Importance too much Safety cannot b' used to make their Business prosper or too many work-Men hyred to fix a Design a thousand unexpected Accidents may Cross and which Fortune hath a thousand Inventions to Destroy and to Convert into smoak I should never finish if I did report all th' Experiences the World hath made and all th'Examples History relates of this Important Truth There 's no need of going from the present Time nor from th' Affairs of Europe to find out Lively and Sensible Instances There 's before our Eyes what passed this year in Germany which cannot be Newer And to go a little higher if after the death of the King of Swede and the Loss of that Incomparable Prince from whose Discipline did issue no less Famous Captains nor in less Number than from the Discipline of Alexander the Great The Swedes had Acted with France in better Correspondency Their good Successes which began to Decline in Alsatia by the raising of the Siege of Constance and Blocking up of Brisac had not expired at Nortlinghen And it had not been restored to the point of Elevation where 't is seen without the perfect Intelligence now Entred into with this Kingdom I pass by that Inordinate sense which strikes the persons of Courage to a contrary Apprehension whereof the Wise are sometimes sick by too much Prudence and the best way to draw the Figure of a Virtue perfectly and to represent it to the Life is to Consider that she is lodged betwixt two Extremes and to be drawn by th' Opposition of two Contraries where she Confines There are Princes then to be found who for staying too long from Declaring for a Party in Communication of Interests and Fortune and in Contenting themselves by giving a secret Heat and a faint and oblique aid see them at last fall Whence it falls out That they are bound t' oppose themselves alone to the progress of the Contrary party and to the course of a Prosperity difficult to restrain as t' hinder th' Over-running of all that should oppose it and to stop its Impetuosity and Violence This truly happens but too often but if from the beginning and when the forces of both parties were ballanced They had Joyned theirs to them they favoured in secret and under-hand There 's no Question but they had Carried it and had made the Ballance to fall on the side they desired to have it fall I will explain my thoughts by a Memorable example A conspiracy was formed some years past by the Barons of the Kingdome of Nâ—ples against Ferdinand th' Old and the Duke of Calabria his Son who acted Jonytly with his Father in the Government of that Country The Duke of Lorrain by Reason of the pretensions he had upon that Kingdome and the Pope to whom th' Ambition of those two Princes was in Jealousie and their greatnesse odious Joyned in the Consederacy The Republique of Venice wounded with the Popes passion and whom th' Arragons apprehended as the greatest obstacle and strongest Barrier to the Designes they had in Italy would not nevertheless Embarque with the Barons of the Kingdome nor Enter into the League with the Confederate Princes but made Choice of a Temper which prospered not and of a middle Way that at last was fatal unto Venice The Republique discharged from their service Robert of Saint Severin a Captain of great Name and of great Merit and a part of those Troops which she suffered him to take and some Money she gave him under-hand to pay them and t'hinder that great body of Men of War to dissolve till the Republique had taken party I will say on this occasion That 't is to be seen from hence That this manner so much in use in making War without declaring of it and t' exercise Acts of Hostility under the Vizard of Newtral Persons Is not an Invention of these modern dayes nor an Artifice peculiar to th' House of Austria though they make use of it more than any other Princes But it Comes from an Ancienter Date and descends from an higher and older spring In this Equipage then and with this Masque Saint Severin offered his service to the Pope by order from the Republique and was ordained chief Commander of th' Armies of the Church and Principal Director and first Instrument of that War But that which usually happens to the greatest part of Leagues specially when they are Composed of weak Numbers hapned to this Lorraines Army marched late in th' year and out of season during which Time the Forces of the Barons and of the Pope were ill handled Innocent 8. and th' Activity used by the Duke of Calabria in his March to find his Enemies who were not half Ready nor Well drawn together and the good success he had against Saint Severin who left in that War a part of the Reputation gained in many others suddenly untied that Chain and broke that League The Pope was very glad t' hear of an Accomodation which was desired with heat by th' Arragons and the Barons except the Prince of Saleme who stood inflexible even in ill Fortune and chose rather to quit the Kingdome than to Live under a Domination he hated though others Laboured to return to the good Graces of the King and of the
to th' Appointed places for that Holy-work And omitted nothing of what might be expected from a Prince really desirous of Peace And the demonstrations he hath given were not false Ensigns or deceitfull Evidences but certain marks and Conclusive Arguments of the desire He had for it I affirm nothing but what the Pope and his Nuncioes do certifie that Newtral Princes and their Ministers of State have acknowledged that the greatest part of Christendome knows and whereof the Conscience of our Enemies is Convinced But they made onely false shews and studied Countenances of desires for Peace and for the quiet of Christendome whilst they Imployed their Wits to find out Inventions to continue the War and laboured with all their powers to lengthen the Troubles and to Perpetuate th' Actions of the VVar. They sent indeed Deputies to Collen wither they might go with Safety and Honour but 't was for two Ends both advantagious to them but were not such as the Christian Common-vvealth aspired unto with so much heat and whereof there was not so great need as the Cessation of the VVar. The first to deceive the VVorld by that fair Apparance and to make simple persons believe that they had not onely a desire for Peace but that they made haste to make it and burned with Impatience to give a beginning to so necessary and to so much desired a VVork And all this to secure themselves by these Illusions and Dexterities of the Blame would be given them for keeping of Christendome so long in Trouble and for powring out so much Oyl and Brimstone on the fires that they have there kindled and which have almost reduced it t' Ashes The second End was to lay us asleep by that shew and to render us more Defective and Cold by that their exteriour Desire for peace to put our selves into a Condition of susteining the VVar which they would make us To dead also by the same Means them who had a mind to joyn with us and t'hinder them to be of that Party where their Interest and Honour obliged them And t' untye from our Amity and allyance them who were already entred by proposing to them Conditions in shew of more advantage if they treated apart than such as they should have in a Treaty of Generall Peace And in persecuting them with that politique Maxim That in the matter of Society and Leagues the storm falls upon the Last that treat who pay the Charges of the VVar and that the first are the Persons who gather the Profit and vvho Carry in the Crops of the field vvhich others have Husbanded and thereof sovved the Seed But our Deputies and those of our Confederates for vvhom they sent no Pasports or such as vvere Lame or Defective in the form or the matter vvould not render themselves in the place appointed for the Treaty because they had denied them th' Entry and shut up the passages by that Artifice A proceeding certainly very Injurious to th' Holy Chair vvhose Mediation they have long abused to dissemble their Deceit and Comical Demeanor to the rest of the VVorld vvhich the Spaniards have Acted by Apparances very distant from their Intentions and very contrary to the Truth as we shall prove by two Infallible proofs Th' one is Th'Answer made at Vienna in the month of July in the year 1637 to th' Ambassador of the Duke of Florence upon th'instance he then made t' have Authentique Pasports as well for our Deputies as for them of our Allies They would not as they said grant Pasports to the Crown of Swede with whom they had a particular Treaty nor for the Princes in Rebellion to them whereof they that were in Arms as the Landgrave of Hesse laboured to make their Accommodation apart and th 'others upon whom the storm fell and had been put into the Proscription of th' Empire were incapable to Treat and had no difference to determine but what was determined by th' Emperors Sword and by the Laws of th' Empire And in general it was their sense That it did not belong to Dependent and Subaltern Princes in which number they comprehended all the Princes of th' Empire to send Deputies to an Assembly such as was to be kept at Collen where none ought t'Intervene but the Deputies of Absolute and Independent Princes And that the King of Spain was justly to be condemned if he had not promised the contrary which they were well assured he had done Not to meddle with th' Affairs of Germany And that he would take it ill if th'Emperour should intermeddle in th' Affairs of his Kingdom and favour the Revolted of his Subjects and give heat to their Rebellions That if he desired Pasports to send to treat of the Quarrel had with the King of Spain and of the difference had with the Duke of Lorrain they were ready to grant them 'T is easie by the whole course of this Answer and by the secret sense it contains that th' Hatred they bear us is immortal and that th' Envy they conceive against us is th' ordinary Devil which torments them That the particular Peaces they have sought with so much Vehemency and Artifices were not planks for them to pass with more case t' an Universal Peace but the means of making us th' hotter and more violent War and to charge us in more places and by a greater number of Engines And to make some reflection upon the matter of this plausible Answer I will say That being as the world believes them such great men of Policy and so dextrous in th' Art of dissimulation whereof they have gained the Reputation They too openly vented their design to change th' Empire into Monarchy and to leave no mark of Soveraignty or any impression of a Free Power in Germany Or to declare the Truth and make it out as it was 'T is not though they then had their spirits full and heated with the design That they wanted power to retain it if they had been willing t' have concealed it and t' have denied it the Light but since th' unhappy and fatal Peace of Prague they believed t' have so well and effectively adjusted their Arrows and weather'd them that nothing could hinder them of success and that th' Answer was made in the strength of their Hopes and in th' Highest Elevation of their Thoughts For what other Thing could it signifie in Comparing the Princes of th' Empire with the Subjects of the King of Spain and to put them in a parallel and equal degree of condition Than to begin to degrade them of their Soveraignty which no person to this day hath contested with them Than to make the Transmutation spoken of and reduce many States who have particular Lords under a single Monarque And yet no person is ignorant of the Dignity of th' Empire of the West as of the Powers that constitute it And that they reside not in the sole Person of th' Emperor As the Power and dignity of
particular Treaty which th' Austrians then conceived to make with the Swedes and pursued to make with much vehemency which hath been very often out in sunder and as often tied up again which was the design of the last Resolutions of the penultime Dyet of Ratisbone and the foundation of th'hopes of the good Success of th' Enemies Affairs The time hath made it appear that it was nothing but a countermine of the Swedes t'amuze th'Imperialists As it was the design of th'Imperialists in case the Treaty became abortive to lull asleep the Swedes and to render them flower and less inflamed to make War or it was a studied stroak of Addresse and a subtil Artifice to cheat their Confederates with some shew of Apprenhension and Jealousie and to provoke them t' intend with more vigour and with stronger subventions th' Affairs of the League For that wise and advised Nation was not so great an Enemy to their Good nor so ill-sighted in the Truth of their Interests as to be deprived willingly in favour of the King of Poland of a great and rich Province easie for them to be conserved and to be at greater Liberty to defend his Conquests in Germany and to make progress upon the Usurpators and Desertors of the Liberty of that Country And afterwards to renounce what he enjoyed as most stable and Immovable for a sum of Money offered him and for so casual a Benefit as Mony that may easily be spent or wasted That if the House of Austria consented that the Crown of Swede should keep the Provinces and Places which it could not take from them The Designs of that Ambitious House and the Policy of its Ministers of State were too well known to be perswaded That it was for no longer Time than was necessary t' Accomplish in other places their Designs or to procure unto themselves either the greater Victory or the more advantagious Peace That no Christian Power could or would oppose the War to be made them whom it calls Agressors of th' Empire and the disturbers of the peace of Germany In another place Discourse shall be made of the Certainty may be raised on the promises of that House when it may break t'advantage Th' other Proof to be made use of is fresh and Memory need not be strained to remember it 'T is present to th'understanding and to the sense of them who know any thing of our Affairs 'T is that which passed this year at Hambrough touching th'Adjustment of necessary Conditions for proceeding in the â—reaty of the General Peace and finishing that Lamentable War which in the conclusion will make of Christendom but a shambles and a Glass-house That Adjustment was pursued by the Mediation of the King of Denmark who to render himself the more considerable to both Parties and to give Jealousie to him that should seem opposite to the Peace raised a great and powerful Army to make the Ballance fall on the Side he should take in that hot Quarel whilst th' Ambassadors of the King and of the Crown of Swede submitted as the ever did to Reason and made all th'Advances that could be expected from persons acting in Earnest and without Personating It first hapned that Sir Sutzan Deputy to the King of Hungary retired when th' other Deputies were upon the point of Resolving some thing for that pretended Adjustment without giving notice of it in Imitation of the Count of Curts who practised the same a little before And returned six weeks after with imperfect Authorities and with defective Letters of Credence that it might not fail on the King of Spain's part The Negotiation was stopped What th' Imperialists did was to thrust Time by the shoulder and to see whether that great Clowd gathered near France would not produce something to their advantage and bring upon that Kingdom the Tempest which they had promised to themselves and whereof they had furnished a great part of the Matter Moreover not t' appear Averse to Peace nor to be Charged with th'Hatred that would be charged on them by the Voluntary Continuation of the War They permitted that the broken Treaty should be set on foot and sent to Hambrough the Count of Aversbery with a more Ample power by virtue whereof after long Disputes and long Contests of spirit and words Th' Adjustment desired was resolved and Conditions signed to which nothing was wanting for Execution but the Ratification of Interessed Princes in that Affair But that failed on the part of the King of Hungary who instead of sending a pure and simple Ratification as was necessary and as his Deputy was obliged to procure and as the Kings was made sent it lame and Limited with so many Modifications and Reserves that it was easie to see That it was but Comedy and the continuation of the Game which the Sir Sutzan had plaid t'Amuze the world and to give â—ime to ripen the Great Designs formed against France And that they may not accuse me to have supposed what is not and t' have rais'd a fancy at pleasure to quarrel them I will onely make use for Justification of what I have said of the force of a Libel against us which not long since they did publish in Spanish and under the sign of a pair of Spectacles After a number of foolish proffers and of th' Impostures vomited against the good Intentions of the King and of his Ministers of State Th' Author concludes it with a Prognostick or rather with a Threatning he makes of the great Disorder that was ready to Thunder in this Kingdom in the Concurrence of two Parties that would divide the Court and which as he said ought to shake the Pillars of this Monarchy I add to what I have before said To discover the true passion the King had to remove all the Rubs that might stop the way to Peace and t'omit nothing that might hasten that Holy Work that he had given power to Sir of Avaux his Ambassador t' Accord in the Pasports he should deliver to the King of Hungary's Commissioners a Title which to that time h' had vainly desired of us and had always constantly been refused him for the Considerations which shall be laid down in the Treaty of the Monarchy And to shew also th'Indubitable Aversion the King of Hungary with all his House had to the Peace which all Christendom demands and is so necessary for it At the same time that he refused it by his Evasions and Proffers He bought dearly the Continuation of that Peace he had made with the Turk and consented That almost two hundred Villages should be cut off from his Frontiers to lengthen the Territories of the Turk The End of the First Book OF The Councel of VVar Of a PRINCE Second BOOK First Discourse That it is a great Misfortune to a Prince to want Power to make Defence against th' Assaults of a Forein Prince and thereby to depend upon the Will of others Which is confirmed by two Examples
French extend to the Dutchy of Milan which is the Basis that bears the rest of their Countries in Italy In the second place it seems a happy Fate for th' House of Savoy to produce such excellent Princes for Peace and War And that Heaven had granted them High Qualities to supply what it hath denied them of Power That with Wit and Courage they might make the Counterpoise to the Greatness and Powers of other Princes Add that th' Alliances of Blood which theyâ—ve from all times contracted with th' one of the two Crowns and hath been desired for their particular Ends have much relieved them in time of Need and have not onely served t'hinder them from falling but to raise them from their falls And speaking freely Though the Duke of Savoy have no greater wishes to make than for the good Intelligence of those two Crowns nor any thing more t'appreâ—end than their Contests when they do fall out Th' Ordinary Law of the Dukes Interest requires That being unable to stand Newtral he takes part with the French and they ought not to do otherwise unless some extraordinary Conjuncture of Affairs doth exempt them from it without running Hazard to be lost and overcome with the Forces of a great Kingdom before Spain hath means to stop th'Inundation and to divert the Spoils whereof there are so many Instances that no person can make a question of it And not to speak of Savoy which may be taken without much Resistance and where there is but one Fort which may be made useless by a Block-house that may almost defend it self Who knows not in how little time Charls led by the perswasion of his wife being a Portuguese and chained to the fortune of Charls the Fifth was stripped of the best part of Piedmont by Francis the First who had left his Posterity in their shirts if the Virtue of Philibert his son who defeated us at St. Quintins and th' ill Fortune of France had not opened by a Treaty of Peace the Gate to many places formerly shut unto him for many years of War It would be a superfluous thing no person being ignorant of it To speak of the Conquest the late King made of all Savoy and of the Progress he might have made in Piedmont if a powerful Conspiracy that formed it self in th' Heart of his Kingdom and the Reverence He bore the Pope had not obliged him t' hearken to the Peace presented unto him from th' Holy Chair I pass also in silence th'Expeditons of the King in Savoy and Piedmont which all Europe hath seen To what extremities he forced the late Dukes of Savoy in view of the Spanish and Imperial Forces and in despight of their conjoyned Armies The Dukes of Lorrain are not much different in Constitution nor less obliged in Dependency upon th'Interests of this Kingdom than those of Savoy That if the present Duke Charls had well understood this Truth which was of so great Importance to him And if some evil Spirit or rather some evil Counsellor had not blinded him from seeing what was so visible and so full of Light H' had not suffered as H' hath done H 'had not s ' often conspired against France nor quitted the Way his Predecessors held to their Happiness to cast himself upon By-ways which have made him wander from his Interest and have led him to the Precipice wherein he is now fallen At least if he had maintained Newtrality betwixt the Princes in War and had been a Spectator of the Quarrel without being a Party H' had been in esteem of both sides and might have made use of the Fortune of both Parties and his Country having been for some time one of the Theatres of the War had not been one of the fairest Members of the Kings Conquests and one of the principal Pieces of his Triumph Third Discourse Wherein the Second Example is brought spoken of in the First Discourse to shew th' Artifices Princes use in assaulting of Forein Princes t'hinder their Friends to Relieve them THe second Example promised in the First Discourse shall be taken also from the Republick of Venice and from a difference had with th' House of Austria upon the Subject of the Uscoques I will now give the whole Picture for the Curiosity of the Reader and that he may observe the more distinctly and in their proper places the Draughts which are of most importance for my design and deserve a serious Pause and a prudential Reflection 'T is a pleasure to see in the Lists two famous Combatants upon mutual Trials of their Skill And they who 've Inclinations for th' Affairs of State cannot be present at a more useful sight than th' Encounter and Justle of the two Powers of Spain and the Republique of Venice dextrous in th' Art of Reigning and almost equally strong in Artifices and politique Stratagems Such and the like Observations are the fruits that Ministers of State in Reading of History ought to make their principal Harvest And are the true Lights they ought to be furnished with to guide their Conduct and to clear the rich Matter whereof their Knowledge ought to be composed to make up their Profession The Subject then of this Discourse shall be the disturbance of th' Uscoques which gave much trouble to the Republique of Venice and travers'd it by the most sharp and intricate Negotiation it ever managed And determined at last in a War which consumed a part of their Treasure and caused an infinite number of their Men to perish Take the beginning and progress of this Affair Th' Adriatique Sea very famous in Antiquity for the great Pyracies exercised in it was rendred by the care of the Venetians the safest Sea of the World It was a protection for the Ships chased by the Corsaires and for the safety of Navigation upon the coasts of some other Princes as upon the Coasts of the Republique and were not much troubles till Soliman's time then th' Uscoques did violate their security yet they were quickly suppressed by th' Arms of the Republique which by the Peace made with Soliman in the year 1639 was obliged to clear the Gulf from Pyrats and to repair at their Charges the Dammages the Subjects of the Grand Signior should suffer in their Navigation upon that Sea This Calm lasted during the Time of th' Emperour Rodolphus and Mathias and of th' Archdukes Ferdinand and Leopold and untill some of th' Uscoques did interrupt it and the Gulf was so much vexed with their Violence and Robberies That they extended them to the Republiques Havens and in one of them Robbed a Galley and having killed all the persons in it by a Barbarian Inhumanity of the New World did Eat th' Heart of the Captain that Commanded it These Uscoques are a sort of People gathered of many Nations Croates Hungarians Esclavonians and banisht persons from the Republique who have neither Lands nor Industry but Live and Maintain themselves by Rapines and Murders
it did not begin to settle and draw a free Air but under the protection of Charls the Seventh and received not its entire Consistency and its perfect Establishment but from the Alliance it made with Lewis the Eleventh When the Flemings had resolved to shake off the yoke of Spain and t' adore no longer an ill manag'd Power though it was Lawful They had not held out long if Neighbour Powers had not interessed themselves in their Contests and if several Reliefs had not been drawn unto them from Germany France and England I add to what hath been above-said That when in the time of our Fathers Heresie and Ambition united against Soveraign Power and that from these Two Springs of Rebellion a Party did arise which left to our Kings but a part of their Authority and to this Kingdom but a part of their Forces Though this Party was animated by them of the Blood of our Kings and guided by one of th' ablest Commanders of his time Prince of Condé and Chastillon Admiral of France Though it had all th' Allurements that Novelty gives t'Error and all the Zeal which accompanies the Confederates of growing Sects Though th' Union amongst the Memberâ— could not be greater nor th' Accord of their Wills more Universal 'T is nevertheless certain That with such Advantages and such favourable Encounters they had not maintained themselves as they did nor had made so deep foundations in the State nor stretched so far its Branches â—f Forein Forces had not supported them and if it had not been often relieved by English Gold and German Forces For the Decay and Ruine of that Party was dated effectively from the driness of the Springs which had furnished it with powerful Contributions and that the Veins which had brought it Blood and Life were obstructed and no longer open When Germany fell into an Inability and England became Fearful or Weak and Spain Slow or Irresolute to relieve it Thence it ariseth That the People who study Changes and dispose themselves for bold and violent Resolutions never undertake them but upon some Forein Inspiration accompanied with promises of great Reliefs or in such a Conjuncture of Time and Affairs as makes out unto them some Haven which may put them in safety and secure them in time of Tempest But to speak of present things and of the Rising of the Catalans There 's no question but that th' had never undertaken it what pretence soever they had which is not here to be examined but by favour of their present Conjuncture And though it was contrived long before and the whole matter prepared whereof it was then formed yet it had not issued from the Womb of its Causes not taken Light if th' Arms of France had not been Triumphant in all places If those of Spain had not been unfortunate in Flanders and in Italy and if the Reputation of th' Imperialists had not been abated in Germany In the third place I say That in the Matter of the People's Emotions nothing of certainty can be promised nor of Knowledge of the Duration till they have treated with the Prince from whom they Implored Aid and have given him Pledges of their Faith to content And that there 's no greater or surer Pledge than in giving up themselves Till then he may have cause to doubt that the shew he shall make to protect them will serve onely to raise Jealousie in the Prince whose Subjects they are and provoke him the more to Turn all manner of Wheels and Employ all possible Inventions to reduce them to their Duty and to disolve th' Union that is not well assured Till then I say he will have just cause to distrust an Accommodation with their Prince And lest shaken betwixt th' Apprehensions of the Troubles and Miseries that attend the Victory if it should remain to their Prince and th'offers not onely of Impunity but also of Recompence wherewith h'endeavours to blind them They take th' occasion to return to his favour It being the nature of the People to change readily their passion As to return willingly to a more peaceable condition and to a gentler state than theirs may appear to them in their Revolt That being so there would not be less fear of Evil in their Accommodation than hopes of Good in their Disorder Their Repentance might prove as fatal to him as their Sin favourable and they would b' obliged to purge at his Charges the fault they had committed for the not finishing of it and to turn against him the Forces they had prepared against their Prince That if they resolve not t' undertake by Halfs what otherwise they ought not t' have Begun If they resist th'Offers and the Threatnings of their first Prince and take them as it may be they are for the Snares he lays and for th'Ambushes he sets for them If they perswade themselves That he will not believe himself bound to keep that to them which he had promised with all Ill-will and they had Forced from him nor t' observe the Faith h 'had given them since that he may say he would not break it but for their good and t'hinder them another time to become Rebells But if they pesevere in the desire of shaking off the Yoke wherewith they may believe themselves in time oppressed and t'implore th' Aid and Protection of another Prince There are some Considerations to be had before He consents to their Relief At first sight It seems to be a thing of an ill savour and of a dangerous Example amongst Princes That a Prince should oblige himself by Treaty to defend and protect another Princes Subjects in Rebellion That 't is to wound a Right wherein all Sovereigns are interessed in the Consequence and give Heart to Rebellion to b' in all places more busie and bold than it would be if it did believe it self destitute of Forein Aid and of Auxiliary Forces 'T is not truly to be denied but that generally taken 't is so And it happens not often that Princes declare themselves publickly in favour of the Subjects of other Princes nor that they relieve them openly and with flying Colours When they do it 't is ordinarily done without noise and as it were in private 'T is like hiding th' Arm after the Stone is thrown 'T is either in furnishing of Money secretly as Philip the Second did to the Chiefs of the League during the life of Henry the Third or in Licensing of Troops and permitting them to pass to the Rebel Party as the Venetians did in the War of the Barons of Naples against th' old Ferdinand and the Duke of Calabria his son as it hath been observed in another place In this a Distinction is to b' used which will clear this Doubt and reconcile what may seem to b'opposite and contrary 'T is that neither the Law of Conscience nor that of Civil Prudence doth permit That in time of Peace and Calmness and at least when there 's no
Letters in the year 1623. which the Duke of Baviere also Confirmed by his Letters and signified the King He understood that it was only for his Life that his House should Enjoy th' Electoral Dignity and that h' had Accepted it upon Condition of Return to th' House from whence it was taken and should be the Privilege of his Person and not th' Inheritance of his Heirs It was th' Allay that was alwaies Presented to the King of England and wherewith he Suffered himself alwaies to be Surprized And his Inclination naturally disposed to the Sweetness of Rest and to the Delicacies of Peace was Easily diverted by that shew which was made of giving him Content from the Thoughts of Warr which were not Natural to him In th' Expectation of th' Effects of those hopes he finished his Life which from time to time were renewed unto him And th' Earl of Gondemar who had seized upon the Kings Understanding and taken Soveraign Possession of it to Govern him absolutely knew how to represent th' Execution of that Affair so infallible as not only t' Hinder the King from Arming against the Usurpators of his Son-in-Laws Lands but Enclined him also to Lend Ships to his Master to secure against th' Hollanders the Spanish Fleets which Sailed from th' Indies That business hath ever since been in the same Condition on th' Emperours part and stood alwaies floting in Irresolution and Incertitude till the Accident of Northlinghen which was fatal to the Swedes The grearest part of the Princes and free Towns of th' Empire fell from their Confederation and Conspired at Prague with th' House of Austria against the German Liberty Th' Emperour High and Proud with his prodigious Success and believing himself Master of Affairs and Fortune forgetting the Promises he had so Solemnly made to the Late King of England and the Faith h' had so often given him in Favour of his Son-in-Law though nothing had passed against him on that Princes occasion nor by the Means of his Children but a Sad and Lamentable Progress of Calamity and of Disgraces declared by his own Authority though he could not Lawfully do it but by th' Authority of a Lawfull Dyet and all Parties heard declared I say Th' Electorate duely Translated to the Duke of Bavaria and to his Heirs and that it could not Devolve t' any other Family till his was Extinguished Moreover He declared th' Opposition made by the Duke of Newbourge as Prince of the Palatine Family to be Void and that he was not to b' admitted upon his Claim And that this was done upon great and important Considerations known t' his Imperial Majesty That he Maintained and Confirmed in the Partition and Possession of the Palatinate them Wh ' had taken it in his Name and by his Authority with Respect to b' had to the Count Palatines and to the Requests of Princes who should Intercede for them and under such base and shamefull Conditions That he knew well they would never b' Accepted But remembring the Bloody affront done to the present King of England and the Counterpoise that he might bring to the Ballance where the Victory hung betwixt two Parties if he should declare for his Enemy Remembring also the Damages the Low-Country-men would receive in the Cessation of the Recruits th' English might bring them And other Consequences that might arise from th' Hatred of a Prince provoked to Revenge by frequent disdains offered unto him and by th' Extreme injuries done t' his Nephews He re-assumed the Foxes skinn which h' had put off at the Treaty of Prague and Exercised the first Art wherewith h' had so often play'd his Game with the Father t' abuse the Son and to suspend the Resolution he might take to seek by Force what had been denied t' his Intercession and Endeavours He made shew then of Entertaining the profers of Accommodation which were made to Him He received the King of Englands Message for that purpose and seemed to desire a Solemn Embassage t' yield with the greater Honour and to give the more Glory to the Treaty he would Conclude But th' Journey of th' Earl of Arundel The several Distastâ—rs which he there received and the Dissatisfaction which at last he brought back made Clearly manifest to the World the Truth of th' Emperours Intentions and that it was a studied Artifice to gain Time and to try the Fortune of Warr with the more Advantage having to do with the fewer Enemies I speak not of what hapned to the last Ambassadour that was sent from England nor of the success of his Embassy which hath not given the Lye to the former 'T is a matter too new and present to b' unknown by any Person And this may be said in favour of th' House of Austria That it being necessary the Treaty to be Concluded should be debated by the King and Parliament of the Kingdome The time was not proper for it whilst the King and his Parliament were divided That truly is not without Reason and plausible Pretence but the secret of th' Affairs is That so long as the Schism shall last and the Fire which th' English have kindled in the midst of their Country be maintained in Heat and Force The King of Hungary and they of his Party have no Cause to fear their Arms nor t' hasten a Treaty And if it b' Expedient that they treat in Earnest it may be time enough when th' English have reassumed their former Union and the design of restoring the Palatines House and re-establishing of the Princes th' Emperour and his Adherents had stripped to their Shirts That whilst they run th' Hazard of the Warr either they may gain so Considerable Successes and their Power may Encrease so Plentifully That when England shall enter into the League which all sorts of Reasons d'invite it to do and to Joyn his Forces with the Forces of the Confederates They would have nevertheless Cause t' hope for Victory and should not b' obliged to part with that Willingly which they could not take from them by Force These Prejudications which are Offered accompanied with many others shall be set down in the Third Part may suffice to make it appear to our Confederates what Foundation they can raise upon the Duration of particular Treaties to which th' House of Austria doth press and sollicit them And the Swedes above all Persons whom they would debosh from the Confederation of France and against whose Faith they raise their strongest Batteries and Arm their subtilest Artifices are too Dextrous to b' ignorant of the constant Resolution and immoveable Will of those Princes of that House not to Suffer them having advanced their Power so far into Germany to take deep Root there or that so Powerfull a Member and of so Warlike a Nation should b' adjoyned to th' Empire I believe also that they doubt not as to what respects the Duration and Subsistence of the particular Treaty they should have made with
Swede being in some sort under their pay they might dispose of him as they pleased and might retain him justly to the necessary Considerations for the suppressing of th' Ambitious Designs of th'Emperour and to restore to th' Empire its lost Peace and its antient Privileges But they were not well advised for that Prince was so brave and so full of courage that he could not act such a person And as a Torrent is not to be stopped at pleasure which the force of dissolved Snows forceth from a Mountain nor a great Fire easily put out which the Wind blows and is fastned t' a great quantity of combustible Matters So this Prince rendred himself so powerful and so formidable by the Victories which crowded upon him For his Conquests were th' Adamants which drew others unto them that many of the Confederates before his death had him in great jealousie But let 's leave there those Apprehensions the suspition of an Evil which did not happen to speak of that which concerns us 'T is easie to judge by what hath been said That the League which is now of foot between us and our Confederates hath all necessary Conditions for Continuation of the War so long as it may be useful and to make the Peace that must determine it Sacred and Inviolable This great Power whereof it hath been spoken is there to be found which hath not onely the right of Birth before all other Powers of Christendom by th' Antiquity of its Original but hath it also by the greatness of its Forces and by'n abundance of Mony and Men which resembles not to the Waters of Cisterns which are easily drawn off but to them that issue from living Springs which refresh and renew themselves as they run off This Truth is so certain and of an Experience so general and so confirmed that to b'ignorant of it is not to be of the world or to know any thing of what passeth in it 'T is not to know that w'have done in Italy in favour of the Duke of Mantoua And not t' have understood that notwithstanding the fearful difficulties which accompani'd that War The Desolation which the Plague and Famine had made in our Armies and the Disgraces hapned t' our Allies by their ill fortune or by their fault We forced Germany Spain and Savoy associated to restore what they had usurped and to re-establish the Duke of Mantoua and the Grisons in their Estates and Garisons 'T is to b' ignorant what the King did for the Swedish Party and for his Confederates since the Battel of Nortlinghen What he daily doth in Germany in the Low-Countries in Italy and in Spain The Money and Men which he sent thither and the number of his Armies by Sea and by Land which filled our Enemies with fear and all Europe with astonishment As to the second Condition The Moderation of Desires and that fair Temperance which puts a Bridle into the mouth of Ambition and ties up Courage which th' Heroes are more troubled t' observe than to defeat Armies and to tame Monsters It cannot also be denied that 't is the more admirable in the Kings Soul that having all the Lights which enlighten the Cabinet and all Qualities that are active in the Field He hath besides these the Forces of a great Kingdom to put them in Motion He hath all that 's necessary for Invading and for Usurping if he did not believe That 't is more Magnanimous and more Glorious to conserve and to defend Somewhat more divine t' exercise Justice than to make Conquests I have sowed so many proofs of this Truth in so many places of this Book that I conceive it a superfluous thing to repeat them and repoint to the eye of the Reader the same Figures However I do beseech him to remember that in the long and tragical actions which vex Christendom the King never began t' any person and that he stirred not nor engaged but to relieve his Friends which were oppressed and t' abate the Designs which would have consumed their Estates That he never took Arms till he had tried the ways of sweetness and of good Endeavours That before he passed th' Alps for the delivery of Casal which Gonsailes had besieged he sent into Spain He caused Endeavours to b' used at Vienna He prevailed with the Pope t' interpose his Authority t' oblige the Spaniards to retire and with honour their Arms from Montferrat As before the beginning of the War he commanded a Treaty with the Duke of Savoy by several Agents and with most advantagious Offers that could be desired if he could admit of equitable ones to compose civilly the differences h' had with the Duke of Mantoua And after h' had raised the Siege of Câ—sal in forcing th' Alps and had given peace to the Spaniards which was so necessary for them He sent to Vienna t' hinder them from being perjured and to divert the Seeds of a second War in causing to be delivered to the Duke of Mantoua th'Investitures promised by the Peace of Suza As to Germany all the world knows that the King did not for present interpose in the Troubles that have vexed them but t' appease them And that in the Quarel of th' Emperour and the Count Palatine for the Kingdom of Bohemia he sent a famous Embassage to th'Interâ—ssed Princes to determine it friendly and caused a Peace to be concluded at Ulms as hath been already said which re-established th' Affairs of th' Empire in the Conditions they ought to be and in the Temper if it had been observed which is assigned them by their Constitutions Since that time th' Affairs of th' Empire being raised to a prodigious Success and the King observing that the Treaties of Ratisbon and of Cairasque had not shut up all the Winds which might trouble the third time the Tranquillity of Italy and carry the Storm further if th' House of Austria had nothing to do ' n Germany He caused a Treaty to be made with the King of Swede whom the Protestants had called into Germany and furnished him with some Money to give him the better means to give Employment and Exercise to that House that it might no longer think of giving trouble t' his Allies nor t' himself in his Kingdom To conclude h 'had never declared a War to Sâ—ain in the Spaniard had not commanded th'Elector of Treves to be taken away wh ' had put himself into the King's protection and had provided for his safety by his Intervention In the second place t' assure the world that the King's Arms are not mercenary nor moved by the spirit of Particular Interest let the last Treaty be remembred which he made with the Duke of Cleves and the generosity wherewith he renounced in favour of the Duke one of the Justest Conquests which could arise from the right of War Be 't remembred how freely h' abandoned by the Treaty of Cairasque almost all Savoy and a part of Piedmont which h'
had lawfully gained to cause Mantoua to be rendred which was but a coloured Usurpation and the Country of the Grisons which was an Usurpation without colour That if it appears the King and some Garisons of th' Empire in his hands the number whereof is very small or some others of his Allies in Italy It must be considered that 't is onely to keep them for the Owners wh ' are not able to defend them which to the King is matter onely of great Expence or to free his Frontiers from the Jealousie they would receive from them if they fell into th' hands of his Enemies or to serve for a Retrait or safety t' his Armies when they 're obliged to march far for the good of the common Cause Or lastly to sacrifize them to the good of the same Cause and to the re-establishment of his stript Friends in the Treaty of a General Peace That if Pignerol remain in the King's power after the Wars of Italy which have preceded the Peace of Cairasque And if that place seems to be the recompense of so many thousands of the Kings dead Subjects and of so many millions of Money spent for the Liberty of that Country 'T is a thing in my opinion which cannot reasonably be reproached unto him nor envied since he doth not keep it as a Conquest but as an Acquisition and that he hath bought it with the good-will of him wh ' had power to sell it since it was not done so much of serve for Rampart t' his Kingdom and to secure the Frontiers as t' have a free Entry in t ' Italy and to make the more haste to its Relief when it should b'assaulted Let the Disinterest and Magnanimity be considered which have appeared in all the Treaties on the Kings part made in Germany since that which Sir of Charnasé made at Beerwalde And that which Sir of Avaux renewed the last year at Hambrough Let the sweetness and equity of the Conditions be considered wherewith he received into protection th'Elector of Ireves as may be seen in the Treaties made with him by the Sirs of St. Chaumont and of Saludie Let the cares had of the Swedish Interest be considered and th'effective and real Acknowledgments which the Swedish King always exhorted His Confederates to pay the King as may be justifi'd by the Orations which Sir of Feuquieres made to th' Assembly of Hailbrun and Franckford Let Consequences at last be drawn out of the like Actions from the Kings Promises to the Princes of Italy concerning the places h' holds in Piedmont and which he confirms in this manner in the third Article of the Treaty he made with Sirs the Princes of Savoy That the King newly ratifies the Declarations which have been made by his Ambassadors in divers Otcafions and by the Letters his Mejesty hath written to the Pope and to the Republique of Venice upon the restitution of the Places which his Majesty holds in Piedmont since the death of the late Sir Victor of Amedeé Provided that such Places as are held by the Spaniards his Enemies be reciprocally restored and that Sir the Duke of Savoy remain certainly the Master of them under the Tuition and Regency of Madame Let the consequence of this I say be taken into consideration and it will appear that our Confederates may take a full and entire confidence in this Conduct And that the Counsellour of th' Elector of Mayence above all question a very able Man in the Dyet held some months past at Mayence believing to decipher the Kings Designs t' establish himself in Germany deviated from the Truth though it was by way of probability and that he discovered effectively the Means wherewith he might do it if he had had the Will Before this Discourse b'ended the Reader is to b' advised That I had finished two Treaties which are of the Subject I handle in these two Books Th' one of the Nature of Equivocations Th' other of the force of Opinions which are of great importance for Ministers of State to know But insomuch that this Book is already too long and that these two Treaties may enter commodiously into the Third Part I have believed it was most convenient to place them there End of the Second Book OF The pretended Monarchy OF Th' House of AUSTRIA Third BOOK First Discourse That the true Exercise of the Magnanimity of a Prince Consists in Securing his Countrey from Civil Wars and in Diverting of Forein Wars That the King hath Admirably Prospered in these two Things ' T Is certain That the true exercise of the Magnanimity of a Prince and the Just handling of his Arms Consists onely in these two things Th' one in quieting of his Countrey when it is agitated and in Cutting up the Roots and stopping of the Springs of the Troubles which may there arise Th' other in defeating th' Enterprzes which strangers may set on foot against him or his Allies and in Confining Ambition within the Bounds of Justice When He hath gained these two Ends and that these great Conclusions have prospered with him He may say that nothing is wanting to his glory That his Life hath nothing more in desire to become th' Example of Princes and th'Admiration of the people And such a prosperity is th'ultimate proof of the Love of Heaven and the most wonderful effect that Virtue can produce 'T is not truly to be denied but that the Kings Reign is very observable by these two wonders That h' hath effaced the glory of the fairest precedent Reigns and hath not lest to subsequent Generations Matter for Equality nor any thing to Mow the whole Crop being carried away As to the first point which respects th' inside of the Countrey and th' obedience which Subjects owe their Pricne who knows not that is was so loose amongst us That very often it was entirely divolved into th' Hugonots and that it was not rendred so Pure or so Neat as it ought t' have been from the greatest part of Catholiques France was a horrid Spectacle and a Monstrous Confusion for in the midst of the State another State was to be seen where a confirmed Faction did Reign which was maintained at the Charges of the Prince and became Rich by his Wealth To whom leaving places of Security It was a Tacit Declaration to the world that their faith which ought to b' as firm and Immoveable as the Poles of Heaven and Foundations of th' Earth was doubted and fuspected Where there was n' other discourse than of Assemblies of Circles of Abreges of Circles of Chiefs of Parties and of the like Denominations of ill Augury which were th' Evidences of a present and future revolt How just a thing then and how necessary was it that such a Faction should be suppressed and that they wh ' had a common Birth and drew the same Air and rested under the cares of the same Prince and under the Protection of the same Laws should be reduced t'equal
th' Inhabitants for Treasonable Crimes and t' hold all them Rebells wh ' have Qualities capable of Rebellion To Destroy or to Transport them into other Countries where they shall raise no Fears and where they shall not provoke so tender a Jealousie and so delicate a Distrust as theirs And insomuch that they well know that many Generations must pass and many Ages slide away before the Conquered people forgetting their first Domination under which they Lived b' Accustomed to the New and that forced Obedience and such as is not in their power to Refuse agrees better with their Proud and Imperious Humour than Voluntary Obedience which may be lost as often as Subjects change their Affections and gain New Masters They secure them by Garrisons and Colonies and by the Power of Governments and Magistrates which they put into th' Hands of their Country-men with Exclusion to strangers and by that means are Punished for the Vices of their Birth and make Repentance for Sins whereof they are not Guilty 'T is a Picture whose Touches are not from my Pencil or Fancy but which hath been borrowed from their Relations and from their Histories and whereof Italy th' Indies and other Countries are yet the True and Indubitable Originals And 't is the Desolation the King would prevent before it grow Dangerous and bear even upon the Heart of his Affairs 'T is the Tempest that he would allay before it break forth 'T is the true cause of the Relief he requires from his People and the Reason that compells him to set on foot that hard and sad Law of Conservation which permits the Diversion and Aversion of the greater by the lesser Evils Second Discourse Of the Spring of the Design of the pretented Monarchy of th' House of Austria some Advantages which th' Imperial Dignity brings with it above th' other Secular Dignities of Christendome FErdinand of Arragon one of the Greatest Politicians of his Time and who had alwayes Vaster Thoughts than Power was the Person that began to Conceive the design of the Monarchy hath been spoken of and did lay the first Foundation in giving in Marriage his Daughter and Heir Jane to th' Arch-Duke Philip Son of Maximilian th' Emperour His Marriage with Isabella of Castile had United and as it were Grafted in t ' his House all the Countries of Spain with Exception to the Kingdome of Granada whereof after a Ten years War and by the Courage of Ferrant of Gonsalve h' became Master and carried away the Sirname of Catholique which he hath Left t' his Posterity The same Success in Arms and the Vertue of the same Captain gained him from us the Kingdome of Naples recovered from the Kings of Naples his Kinsmen And rejoyned in his Person to the part w' had allowed him what w' had by Conquest kept for our selves Th' Interdict which Julius the Second thundered against Henry King of Navarre our Ally gave him Colour and Furnished him with a pretence t' usurp that Kingdome Hazard rather than Reason or t' Express it better a secret disposition of Divine Providence which inclines sometimes t' its Ends above the Reasons of Men and contrary to th' Appearance of Things made him hearken to the Proposals of Christopher Columna for the discovery of the West-Indies and Exposed unt ' him the benefits of the Richest Mines of th' Earth and th' Abundance of the longest Labour of the Sun since it hath Shined So that his Daughter brought Great Countries and Fair Hopes to th' Arch-Duke her Husband wh ' Enjoyed from his Mother the Low-Countries and the Country of Bourgognia above what he was t' Enjoy from his Father which was not small or Inconsiderable in Germany The Conjunction then of th' Heat and Courage of Germany to the Driness and Prudence of Spain being made and so many different Countries Collected in one House As so many Arms Expatiated into diverse places to surround and straighten the rest of Christendome He laid it for a Ground and Principle of the Doctrine he left t' his Posterity to retain alwayes th' Empire in their Jurisdiction As the Basis that ought to bear the greatness of their Ambition and as the Center where all the Countries whereof the Conquest was intended ought to Unite to make the Circle of th' Absolute Monarchy This was the first Idaea of this great Design and the Bud from whence he discovered himself This was the fore-cast of Ferdinand and his sweetest Hopes And though th' Ambition of his Son-in-Law gave him much personal Trouble and was the Disturbance of his Rest and Torment of his Age it might b' Endured with the same sense That Agrippina Mother of Nero did th' Advice of an Astronomer who threatned with the Sad and Tragical Entertainment her Son would give her if he came to th' Empire Answered Let me Dye provided that he may Reign Le ts make a Halt here that shall not be unprofitable and Consider before we go on what the Possession of th' Empire may Contribute to the design of the Monarchy 'T is certain that as amongst the secular Dignities of Christendome There 's none so High or whose Light shines so Lively as th' Imporial It hath also Extraordinary Means to become great or to draw where it please Unjustly or Justly all the Countries that depend upon it And th' House of Austria ' th made it appear since Charls the fifth was Elected to that Dignity and had Fortified the Powers of th' Empire by the Conjunction of so many gathered or usurped Countries The most remarkable Means and which have made most Noise whereof he and his Successors have made Advantage or Endeavoured it t' Extend their Greatness under the shadow of that Dignity are these The first is the Leagues which they 've made or found in Germany and which they 've ever had th' Address to fit to their Interests under other Pretences and to Convert them to their particular Ends under colour of Searching and of Pursuing the good of their Confederates This Invention hath been one of the Rarest and Subtilest Stratagems of their Policy And they 've scarce ever moved any Wheel that hath produced such great Success That had so present a Benefit That hath so long Acted and so Insensibly as this By this means they 've disposed of Forces that did not belong to them as of their own And having not the Fountain in their Power The Countries of their Friends They 've had nevertheless the Commodity and use of the Stream That 's to say of their Powers All the World well knows how much time they Imployed t' Invade and Obstruct the League of Snaube which was not Setled as hath been observed but to prevent th' Invasions that were in preparation and to repair the Violences that were Acted in th' Empire And th' History instructs us sufficiently of the Troubles Sir of Langey had to break the Charm that bound the Members of that League To give them a Clear sight of it and to
of the Romans or a Substitution to the same Kingdome in favour of his Son Philip submitted to what he could not Avoid attended the Destiny which had Enthralled him and delivered th' Empire to his Brother which he could not settle upon the Person of his Successor Sixth Discourse That Philip the Second applied himself principally to the gaining of France t' open the way t' himself of the Monarchy That his Successors have Endeavoured t' Establish themselves in th' heart of Germany to make th' Empire return to their House and pass from thence to the Monarchy PHilip the Second was sick as his Successors have been of Charls's passion and was in Love with the Monarchy as a part of his Heritage but insomuch that England which had much Aided th' Advance of his designs had taken the Wing and that th' Empire which would have furnished him with Pretexts and Forces for th' Execution of many great Enterprizes had failed him He gave rest for a time t' his Passion and made no other Passion t' appear than for the Conservation of what his Father had left him and to fix what he found Changeable in his Countries He gained indeed at that time some Eminent advantages from Henry the Second which had the same Effect upon the Son it had upon the Father and which paid for the breach of the Truce wherein Sirs of Guise the Dutchess of Valentinois and the Caraffs did seduce him by the Loss of the Battels of St. Quentin and of Graveline and by the the Peace made at the Castle of Cambresis where he Delivered up in one day what could not have been taken from him in many years and opened the Gate of Civil Wars in France and shut it for the benefit of their Enemies since the success of the discovery of th' Indies which made him Depopulate Spain and Exchange Men whereof h' had great need for Money whereof h' had not so great Need. The Flemish Defection which he could not prevent by his Power though h' Enjoyed so many Kingdoms nor by his Wisdome though he was called the Solomon of his Age And the Mutinous and Unquiet humour of the Mores gave some allay to his great Design and abated in him that Monarchique Spirit which had so vexed Charls the Fifth But so soon as h' heard the Noise that the differences of Religion made and saw the Troubles which the Civil Wars had raised amongst us H' awakened a Desire which was but laid Asleep H' Embrac'd the occasion which did Smile upon him He resolved to Cut out the way to the premeditated greatness through the Ruins of France He conceived that he could not Work upon a Richer stuff for th' use he had proposed That he might find amongst us what h'unprofitably sought amongst others And the Spaniards having ordinarily that Advantage of us which grows from the Temperament of the Body and from the Constitution of the Climate t' Act with more fore-sight than the French Th' Abundance of Wealth and Men whereof this Kingdome cannot b' Emptied would Cure them of a Defect to which w' are not subject in making the preparations of their Enterprizes with great Slowness and destructive Length But this hath not as yet hapned and the same Providence which to this Time hath not permitted Men to cut the Istmes and the Streights that sever the Seas which God would have divided hath not permitted th' Advantages which one Nation hath upon another to Conjoyn with duration under the Power of a single Person Though Philip set all sorts of Engines in Motion and imployed all manner of Work-men he could never make such a Conjunction And France could not become his Prey though it was his Envy and he could not Enjoy it though he was passionately in Love with it And having lost great Forces and thrown away many Millions amongst us having Trassiqued much and made much War in France and stirred up the good and bad Religion t' attain his Ends nothing remained of Consolation t' him in the failer of the true matter of his Arms and Practices imployed for th' usurpation of the Crown but the Beauty of the Pretext by ' ndeavouring to give us a Catholique King For the Diversion of the Reader I will here observe and for an illustrious Example of the Vanity of Greatness and Instability of human affairs That 't is hardly possible to find a Life more Interwoven with good and bad and more Embrodered with happy and unhappy Accidents than the Life of Philip. 'T is certain that if he got much one way he lost much another way And that if one part of his Designs hath prospered another part hath mis-carried and become abortive Th' Accomplishment of his Marriage with the Queen of England which Encountred with so many Contradictions and Difficulties The Victories of St. Quentin and of Graveline whereof it hath been already spoken The Re-establishment of the Duke of Savoy stripped for th' Interests of his House and the French forced from Italy so many Countries Conquered and Mines discovered in the West-Indies the Succession of Portugal with its Dependences which he secured by his Arms against five famous Confederates The suppression of the Privileges and Liberty of th' Arragons The defeat of the Mores The gain of the Battail of Lepantha wherein h' had so great a share and the Re-taking of Thumis and Gouletta are indeed great Successes and will make a Noise to the Worlds End But on th' other side the Death of the Queen of England without Children and by Consequent the Possession of that fair Kingdome Eclipsed The loss of the true Religion in the Low-Countreys without preserving as our Kings have done the faith and obedience due t' him France delivered out of his hands when he held it as taken Th' Assault of Gelves and the Landing of his Troops in Ireland which were unhappy t' him And th'Invincible Armado that would have put England to the Chain and for which the Rodomonts it carried said That they desired no more of God than that he would not meedle in that Affair and Leave them to themselves That Invincible I say Armado that was but the sport of a grain of wind and th' Example of the greatest Shipwrack that th' Ocean hath disgraced since the time of Tiberius In a word of the three places which his Father had recommended unt ' him to keep with greatest Care and Jealousie as the Key of Spain of the Low-Countreys and of Africa Cadis was taken by th' English Flushing by th' Hollanders and the Goulete by Bosha Pialy These disgraces nevertheless and this variety of Accidents took not from him that Reputation which hath flown through all the places of th' Earth and which will be repeated in all th' Ages of the World And as no wonder or new thing since it hath been the destiny of the greatest part of great persons to b' exposed to the flux and reflux of Fortune and to dye rich in honour after many Losses Though
they had another End than that of Religion or at least that they did but Obliquely look upon it I know not how their Proceedings can b' Excused or the Violence Sweeâ—ned that gave Trouble to the Peace of th' Emperour and Empire They were busie where they had no right of Intervention and entred by a Breach when they could not enter at the Gate I know not by what Law of Conscience they could raise a Subject against his Soveraign How they could make Mathias a Felon against his Brother Rodolphus and Compel him with a strong hand and with a raised Arm t' Act Mathias's Will though it were Just though it were Holy not by what Right of Nations they could deprive a Kingdome from all times Elective of the Liberties and Customs which were not unknown to them and Violate the Privileges which to that time had been Inviolable But if in this as in mamy other things they would Cover themselves with their old Cloak and say that it was still to pare the Wings of Heresie and to Cut off its way lest it should pass further into Germany To that Answer may be given That th' End was goods but the Means were not and that they took a way to gain it wherein were so many ill passages to get over and so many precipices t' avoid That there was as much cause of Fear as of Joy In behalf of Religion and th' hazard betwixt Gain and Loss was equally uncertain That in matters of Religion th' Heavens ought t' Act and Providence to Govern And an Entire submission ought to be given to that Power which Conducts things to their Ends according to the good pleasure of its Will and not according to mens Fancies That it did not belong to them to Command the Times which were not Ordained in the decrees of th' Eternal Councils nor t' hasten the Maturity of Accidents which appear only in their Season and discover themselves in th' Appointed hours of then Time That they were to be Confined to the Limits of the received Order of things and in Obedience not to Wander from the Common Right nor t' Honour God by Vice or to seek his Glory in the way of Injustice Violence and Breach of Faith Nevertheless by this proceeding of the Spaniards may be seen how Licentious their Appetite is of Governing and their Ambition boundless How Active and Destructive that fire is and Nourished with all sorts of Materials That it Consumes not only them that are not of Relation to them but Burns their own Parents and dissolves the Cement of Blood and of Alliances Le ts return to our Subject When the Plot spoken of was formed and the Conspiracy resolved upon against Rodolpe Th' Evidences thereof were suddenly Visible and Mathias made haste to give them credit by memorable Attempts And for that purpose he Commanded th' Army to march towards Prague where th' Emperour was which had been raised in Goritia And having as it were Enclosed him in that Capital City of Bohemia He sent him in that Posture and with that Equipage the Protestation which had been agreed with the Spaniards and the Pope What should a Disarmed poor-Spirited and Ignorant Man do as Rodolphus was in the streight wherein h' had shut himsels but receive the Law from him wh ' had Power to give it and to yield to th' yoak that was forced over his Head An Agreement then was made in the Moneth of June in the year 1608. by which it is ordained That he deliver up to his Brother Mathias the Crown of Hongary the Scepter the Royal Hat and th' other Ornaments which were carried unto him by the Cardinal Dietresthien That he reserved for himself the Title of that Kingdome to bear it Joyntly with Mathias As also he did relinquish unt ' him the Lower and Higher Austria whereof he retained only the Title discharging th' Inhabitants of the Country from their Oath of Fidelity which they had Sworn unto him and Consents that the said Archduke should be nominated Heir to the Crown of Bohemia in Case he Died without Heir Male and all this to be done without prejudice to the States of the Kingdome in their Right of Election and other Privileges The States of the said Kingdome consented to the said future Succession upon two Conditions which were That no prejudice should be done to their Privileges and that the said Archduke during the Life of his Imperial Majesty should not in any sort meddle with the Government of the said Kingdome nor with the Provinces Incorporated to it And in Case he did that he should be deprived and forfeit the Right of Nomination which was Accorded unto him and that he should Entitle himself only the designed King of Bohemia Rodolphus was not Entirely degraded by this Treaty nor the Liberty of the Bohemians wholly suppressed There 's alwaies a middle betwixt two Extremes and some kind of distance to pass from th' one to th' other All the Wounds which are received do not Kill a man suddenly and the Vigour which that people Expressed and the Resistance they made in th' Occasion secured to th' Emperour and them the Remainder of Liberty which appeared in that Treaty The boldness of Mathias and the practices of the Spaniards staid not there and stopped nor in so fair a way They had not begun so well without Resolution to pursue it nor so happily Entred upon their business without finishing of it The Dye was cast And it was an Inviolable destiny in their Judgment t' Abolish the Right of Election in the States of Bohemia and to make that Kingdome Successive and Hereditary For that purpose it was thought necessary to vex the Bohemians Their yoak was to be made heavier and their Servitude larger All obstacles were to be broken and all Gates opened that opposed that design The Cardinal Clessel Rodolphus's Confident and Governour of th' Affairs of Bohemia made a great Opposition against them in the Councels and feared not to resist them publiquely and break all their Stratagems It was the Cause that Mathias at the suggestion of the Count of Ognate the Catholique Kings Ambassadour caused him to b' Imprisoned unknown to th' Emperours and without any Consent of the Nonce resident in that Court And thus having disarmed Rodolphus of his faithfull and bold Minister of State and taking down that head which infused vigour and understanding into the Bohemians he thought to reduce them easily to what they desired After these Actions of Mathias above spoken of and th'Innovations h' Introduced in th' Emperours Court after h' had there done for a time all that he would do and Governed at his pleasure th' Empire under the Name and Authority of his brother He came at last to his desire but he was no sooner setled in his Throne whereunto the Spaniards had aided him t' ascend but they made him t' Adopt his Cozen Ferdinand to th' Exclusion of Maximilian and Albert his Brothers and declare him his Successor