will be very considerable in six years time by the number of their Ships and in a condition to assist the Kingdom in case of need as it is practis'd in England where the King makes use of his Subjects Ships in time of War without which he would not be so powerful at Sea as he is Moreover the number of Ships your Majesty designs to keep will not be lessen'd by it since the Publick Docks you have been pleas'd to re-establish will furnish you yearly as many as you please There is no State in Europe fitter to build Ships than this Kingdom abounding in Hemp Linen Cloth Iron Rigging and in Workmen whom our Neigbours commonly debauch from us because they are not imploy'd at home The Rivers Loire and Garrone have such convenient places for Docks that Nature seems to have design'd them for that use The cheapness of Victuals for the Workmen and the conveniencies of divers Rivers which disburthen themselves into them and bring all manner of necessaries justifie the said Proposition If next to this Expedient your Majesty will think fit to grant Merchandising some Prerogatives to give a Rank to Merchants whereas your Subjects are oblig'd to obtain it by divers Offices which are only good to maintain their idleness and to please their Wives you will restore Trade to that degree that every one and all in general will be advantag'd by it In fine if besides those two Favours you will be pleas'd to take a particular care to clear these two Seas from Pirates which may easily be done France will soon add to its Natural Plenty what Trade affords to the most barren Countries Six Guard Ships of two hundred Tuns and six Pinnaces well Arm'd will be sufficient to secure the Ocean provided the said Ships keep constantly at Sea And in order to secure the Sea of the Levant it will also be sufficient to put out to Sea yearly towards the month of April a Squadron of ten Gallies steering their Course towards the Isles of Corsica and Sardinia cruising all along the Coast of Barbary unto the Streights steering the same Course back again not to come home again until the Weather compels them to it at which time six Ships well Equip'd shall put out to Sea in their room to perform their Caravan in the Winter time SECTION VII Which shows that Gold and Silver are one of the principal and most necessary supporters of the State declares the means to make this Kingdom Powerful in that kind shows the revenue of the same at present and how it may be improv'd for the Future in discharging the People of three parts in four of the Burthen which overwhelms them at this Time IT is an old saying that the Finances are the sinews of a State and it certainly is the point of Archimedes which being firmly settled Inables to move all the World A necessitous Prince can never undertake a Glorious Action and necessity ingendring Contempt He can never be reduced to that condition without being exposed to the Efforts of his Enemys and of those who are Envious of his Grandeur Gold and Silver are the Tyrants of the World and tho' their Empire is unjust in it self it is sometimes so reasonable that we must suffer the Dominion of it and sometimes it is so extravagant that it is impossible not to detest the yoke of it as alltogether Insupportable There must be as I have already observ'd it a proportion between what the Prince draws from his Subjects and what they can give him not only without ruining themselves but without a notable Inconvenience As it is reasonable not to exceed the Power of those that give neither can less be exacted than what the necessity of the State Requires None but Pedants and the real enemys of the State can say that a Prince ought not to exact any thing from his Subjects and that his sole Treasure ought to lay in the Hearts of those who are submitted under his Dominion But at the same time none but Flatterers and the true Plagues of the State and of the Court can Insinuate to Princes that they may exact what they please and that in that Case their Will is the Rule of their Power Nothing can be more easy than to find plausible Reasons to raise Money even when there is no necessity for it neither is any thing less difficult than to produce apearent arguments to Condemn the same tho never so necessary Men must lay aside all Passions to be able to Judge and to decide what is reasonable on such occasions and there is no small difficulty to find the certain point of a just Proportion The Expences which are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the State being fix'd the less a Prince can raise among the People is the best In order not to be forc'd to raise great summs it is necessary to spend little and the best way to make moderate expences is to banish all Profusion and to Condemn whatever may tend to that end France would be too Rich and the People too abounding if it did not suffer the dissipation of the public Revenue which other States spend with rule They lose more in my opinion than some Kingdoms who pretend some Equality with us Commonly spend A Venetian Ambassador told me one day wittily upon this Subject speaking of the Wealth of France that in order to make us perfectly happy he only wish'd we knew as well how to spend that well which we dissipate without reason as the Republic knew how to lay out every Quatrain without waste and without overmuch husbandry If it were possible to regulate the appetite of the French I would think that the best way to manage the King's purse were to have recourse to that expedient but as it is impossible to prescribe bounds to the greediness of our Nation the only way to contain them is to use them as Physicians do famish'd Patients whom they constrain to use abstinence by keeping all manner of Victuals from them To that end it is necessary to reform the Finances by the suppression of the chief means by which Men get money unlawfully out of the King's Coffers Among them all none are so dangerous as that of the Comptans the abuse of which is grown to that heigth that not to remedy it and to ruin the State is one and the same thing Tho it is useful to use them on some occasions and that it seems necessary in others nevertheless the great inconveniences and the abuses which arrise by it do so far surpass their usefulness that it is absolutely necessary to abolish them Whole Millions will be sav'd by this means and a thousand conceal'd profusions will be redress'd which it is impossible to discover as long as the secret ways of spending the public Treasure will be in use I am sensible that some will urge that there are some foreign expences which by their Nature must be kept secret and which the
made upon the then State of France and that to which it is grown since Wherein the Councels and Maxims of that great Minister have been follow'd and in what they have deviated from them and several other Remarks not only curious but important If any body will be so kind as to impart all those things to Us We will willingly communicate them to the Public TO King LEWIS XIII SIR AS soon as Your Majesty was pleas'd to admit me into the Management of Your Affairs I resolv'd to use my utmost Endeavours to facilitate Your great Designs as useful to this State as glorious to your Person God having bless'd my Intentions insomuch that the Virtue and Happiness of Your Majesty have astonish'd the present and will be admir'd in future Ages I thought my self obliged to write the History of your glorious Successes both to hinder many Circumstances worthy to live for ever in the Memory of Man from being bury'd in Oblivion thro' the Ignorance of those who cannot know them like me and to the end that the time past might serve as a Rule for the future Therefore I forthwith apply'd my self to it being perswaded that I could never begin that too soon which was only to end with my Life I did not only carefully collect the matter of such a Work but moreover I reduc'd part of it into Order and put the Transactions of some Years in the Form I design'd to publish them I own that tho' there is more Pleasure in furnishing the Matter of History than in putting it into Form yet I found a great deal of Satisfaction in relating what had been perform'd with great Labour While I began to relish the Delights of that Performance the Illnesses and continual Inconveniences which attend the weakness of my Constitution join'd to the Weight of Affairs forc'd me to lay it aside because it requir'd too much time Yet tho' I cannot possibly perform upon this Subject what I so passionately desir'd for the Glory of your Person and for the Welfare of your State I think my self oblig'd in Conscience at least to leave your Majesty some Memoirs of those things I think most necessary for the Government of this Kingdom Two Reasons oblige me to undertake this Work The first is The Fear and Desire I have of ending my Days before the Expiration of yours The Second is The Faithful Passion I have for your Majesty's Interest which makes me not only desirous to see you attended with all sorts of Prosperities during my Life but also makes me earnestly wish to see a Prospect of the Continuation of the same when the Inevitable Tribute we are all oblig'd to pay Nature shall hinder me from being a Witness of them This Piece will appear under the Title of my Political Testament because it is made to serve after my Death for the Polity and Conduct of your Kingdom if your Majesty thinks it worthy of it Because it will contain my last Desires in relation thereunto and that in leaving it to you I bequeath to your Majesty the best Legacy I have to dispose of whenever God will be pleas'd to call me out of this Life It shall be conceiv'd in the most concise and clearest Method I am capable of as well to follow my own Genius and my usual way of writing as to comply with your Majesty's Humour who ever lov'd that Men should come to the Point in few Words being as much pleas'd to hear the Substance of things as apprehensive of the long Discourses most Men use to explain them If my Spirit which will appear in these Memoirs can after my Death contribute any thing towards the Regulation of this great State in the Management of which your Majesty has been pleas'd to give me a greater Share than I deserve I will think my self infinitely happy To that end judging with Reason that the Success God has hitherto been pleas'd to grant the Resolutions your Majesty has taken with your most Faithful Creatures is a powerful Motive to invite you to follow the Advices I will give you for the future I will begin this Work with an Abstract of the great Actions you have perform'd with so much Glory which may justly be stil'd The Solid Foundation of the future Felicity of your Kingdom This Relation will be made with so much Sincerity according to the Judgment of those who are faithful Witnesses of the History of your Time that it will induce every body to believe that the Counsels I give your Majesty have no other Motives but the Interest of your State and the Advantage of your Person I am and will remain Eternally SIR Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful most Obedient most Passionate and most oblig'd Subject and Servant Armand Du Plessis THE Political Testament Of the Famous CARDINAL Duke de RICHELIEU PART I. CHAP. I. A Short Relation of the King 's great Actions until the Peace concluded in the Year WHEN Your Majesty was first pleas'd to admit me into your Councils and to repose a great Confidence in me for the Direction of your Affairs I may affirm with Truth that the Huguenots shar'd the State with you that the Grandees behav'd themselves as if they had not been your Subjects and the most powerful Governours of Provinces as if they had been Soveraigns in their Imployments I may say that the ill Example of both was so prejudicial to this Kingdom that the best regulated Communities were tainted with their Behaviour and in some cases lessen'd your Majesty's lawful Authority as much as in them lay in order to extend their own beyond reason I may say that every Man measur'd his Merit by his Presumption that instead of valuing the Favours they receiv'd from your Majesty by their Intrinsick Worth they only valued them according as they were suitable to the Unruliness of their Fancy and that the most daring were esteem'd the wisest and often prov'd the most happy I may also say that Foreign Alliances were despis'd Private Interest preferr'd to Publick Good in a word the Dignity of Royal Majesty was so much debas'd and so different from what it ought to be by the Defect of those who had then the principal Management of your Affairs that it was almost impossible to distinguish it The Proceeding of those to whom your Majesty had intrusted the Helm of your State could no longer be tolerated without ruining all and on the other hand it could not be alter'd all at once without violating the Laws of Prudence which do not allow the passing from one Extream to another without a Medium The ill Posture of your Affairs seem'd to constrain your Majesty to take precipitated Resolutions without Election of Time or of Means and â—â—t Choice was necessary in both to improve the Alteration which Necessity exacted from your Prudence The Wâ—… were of Opinion that it was impossible without â— Shipwrack to steer through the Rocks that appear'd on all sides in times of such Uncertainty
The Court was full of Men who accus'd those of Rashness who should dare to attempt it and all of them knowing that Princes are apt to impute the ill Success of things that have been well advis'd to those that are about them so few expected a good Event of the Alterations it was said I design'd that many concluded my Fall even before your Majesty had rais'd me Notwithstanding all these Difficulties which I represented to your Majesty knowing what Kings can do when they make a good use of their Power I presum'd to promise you without Temerity in my Opinion what is come to pass in your State and that in a short time your Prudence your Power and the Blessing of God would alter the Affairs of this Kingdom I promis'd your Majesty that I would use my utmost Endeavours and all the Authority you were pleas'd to give me to ruine the Huguenot Party to abate the Pride of the Grandees to reduce all your Subjects to their Duty and to raise your Name again in Foreign Nations to the Degree it ought to be Moreover I represented to your Majesty that in order to compass a happy end it was absolutely necessary you should confide in me and that notwithstanding for the time past all those who had serv'd you had thought no way so proper to obtain and to preserve your Confidence as to remove the Queen your Mother from it I would take the contrary way and that nothing should be wanting on my side to keep your Majesties in a strict Union so necessary for your Reputation and for the Welfare of the Kingdom As the Success which has attended the good Intentions which God has been pleas'd to inspire me with for the Settlement of this State will justifie to future Ages the steadiness wherewith I have constantly pursued that Design so your Majesty will be a faithful Witness that I have us'd my best Endeavours lest the Artifice of some Evil-minded Persons should be powerful enough to divide that which being united by Nature ought also to be united by Grace If after having for many years happily resisted their divers Efforts their Malice has finally prevail'd it is a very great Comfort to me that your Majesty has often been pleas'd to express That while I was most intent on the Grandeur of the Queen your Mother she labour'd for my Ruine But I refer this matter to another place to keep to my present Subject and not to break the Order I am to keep in this Work The Huguenots who have never slipt any occasion to increase their Party having in 1624. surpriz'd certain Ships which the Duke of Nevers was preparing against the Turk afterwards rais'd a potent Navy against your Majesty Notwithstanding the Care of the Sea had been so far neglected till then that you had not one Ship your Majesty behav'd your self with so much Address and Courage that with those you could get among your Subjects 20 from Holland and 7 from England you defeated the Army the Rochelois had put out to Sea Which prov'd the more wonderful and happy in that this advantageous Effect proceeded from a Succour which was only granted to serve you in appearance You took the Isle of Ré by the same means which the Rochelois had unjustly made themselves Masters of long before You routed 4 or 5000 Men they had put into it to defend it and forc'd Soubise who commanded them to fly to Oleron which your Friends not only drove him out of but also forc'd him to fly the Kingdom This happy Success reduc'd those Rebellious Souls to make a Peace so glorious for your Majesty that the most difficult were pleas'd with it and all agreed that it was the most advantagious that had been made till then The Kings your Predecessors having for the time past rather received from than given a Peace to their Subjects though they were diverted by no Foreign Wars they were Losers in all the Treaties they made with them and tho' your Majesty had many other Occupations at that time you then granted it to them reserving Fort St. Lewis as a Citadel at Rochel and the Isles of Re and of Oleron as two other Places which serv'd as a good Circumvallation about it At the same time your Majesty secur'd the Duke of Savoy from the Oppression of the Spaniards who had attack'd him openly and notwithstanding they had one of the greatest Armies that had been seen of a long while in Italy which was Commanded by the Duke of Feria a great Man you hinder'd them from taking Verua of which your Arms jointly with the Duke of Savoy's sustain'd the Siege with so much Glory that they were finally forc'd to raise the Siege shamefully The Spaniards soon afterwards making themselves Masters of all the Passes of the Grisons and having fortify'd the best Posts of all their Vallies your Majesty not being able by a bare Negotiation to free your ancient Allies from that Invasion in which those unjust Usurpers had the more success by reason that the Pope favour'd them upon the vain Hopes they gave him of procuring some Advantages for Religion did that by force of Arms which you had not been able to obtain by strength of Reason Your Majesty had by that means for ever freed that Nation from the Tyranny of the House of Austria had not Fargis your Ambassador in Spain at the Sollicitation of Cardinal de Berulle made as he has confess'd it since without your Knowledge and contrary to your Majesty's strict Orders a very disadvantagious Treaty to which you adher'd at last to oblige the Pope who pretended to be concern'd in that Affair The late King your Father of Immortal Memory designing to marry one of your Majesty's Sisters in England the Spaniards thought themselves oblig'd to break that Project by marrying one of their Infanta's there The Treaty thereof being concluded the Prince of Wales was so ill advisd as to expose himself to the Discretion of a Prince who being Master of his Person might impose whatever Law he thought fit upon him and pass'd through France incognito in order to go into Spain to marry her As soon as the thing was known here such Negotiations were set on foot that notwithstanding the great Honours he receiv'd in that Court where the King gave him the Right Hand all the while he tarry'd there altho' he was no Crown'd Head at that time the Marriage was broken off and soon after it that of France was treated of concluded and accomplish'd with Conditions three times more advantagious for Religion than those which were design'd to be propos'd in the late King's time Soon after that Powerful Cabals were form'd at Court into which the Duke of Orleans your Brother was engag'd by those who had the Care of his Conduct before his Age made him capable of it Being constrain'd to say with great Regret that a Person of the greatest Consideration was insensibly drawn into it with several others who formented
Your Majesty's Innocence is the more apparent in that your Ambassador never enter'd into any Treaty with that Conquerour until Six Months after his entring into Germany which evidently justifies that the Conditions that were made with the said Prince were the Remedy of the Evil of which they could not be esteem'd the Cause The Treaties that were made not only with that Great King but also with many other Princes of Germany are the more just in that they were absolutely necessary for the safety of the Duke of Mantua unjustly attack'd and for that of all Italy over which Spain had no less Right than over the Dominion of that poor Prince since they thought their Convenience a sufficient Right The Danger this Kingdom had been reduc'd to by the Division the Spaniards had openly fomented in your Royal House oblig'd your Majesty to seek out proper Expedients to resettle it Monsieur having left the Court of France for the third time by divers Artifices which the Spaniards certainly were the principal Authors of and the Cardinal Infant having receiv'd the Queen your Mother in Flanders as he did at that time it is natural to conclude that unless those good Neighbours had been employ'd at home they would have proceeded farther and would have employ'd themselves at your Majesty's Cost in this Kingdom It was absolutely necessary to remove the Storm and moreover to prepare to sustain the Effort of it in case it could not be avoided For that reason after your Majesty was assur'd of a potent Diversion you did like those who in order to prevent the Plague which the Corruption of the Air threatens them with carefully purge themselves being perswaded that the best and safest way to secure themselves from external Injuries is to cleanse the Inside God's Providence prov'd so favourable to you on that occasion that those who animating the Queen and Monsieur against France thought thereby to put them in a way to do it a great deal of Harm only rendred them incapable of doing any and your Conduct appear'd so much the more wonderful on that occasion that in recalling the one and desiring the return of the other your Goodness towards them was evident to all the World while the Effects of your Justice fell upon those who had advis'd them to take such ill Measures The Duke de Bellegarde was depriv'd of the Government of Burgundy and consequently of the Keyes of the Gates he had open'd to Monsieur to let him out of the Kingdom The Duke d' Elboeuf was likewise turn'd out of that of Picardy which your Majesty had lately given him The Duke of Guise being conscious of his Faults retiring into Italy when you call'd him to Court there to give an Account of his Actions that Criminal Retreat made him lose the Government the late King your Father had honour'd him with Thus your Majesty was deliver'd of ungrateful faithless Governours and Burgundy Picardy and Provence Provinces of great Consideration remain'd in your Hands free from those dangerous Spirits You gave the first to the first Prince of your Blood who was passionately desirous of it and thereby you prudently interess'd him in the Affairs of the Time and fill'd Monsieur with anxious Thoughts who with reason dreaded nothing so much in the World as the Establishment of a Person who came up so close to him You bestow'd the Second on the Duke of Chevreuse a Prince of Lorrain to shew that Faults are personal and that your Indignation extended only on those of that Family who had made themselves guilty by their ill Conduct You gratify'd the Marshal de Vitri with the Third as well upon the account of his Loyalty as because that being upheld by your Authority he was naturally capable to oppose him who had lost it In the mean time the Declarations you caus'd to be Register'd in the Parliament were highly approv'd of by every body seeing that in condemning the Authors and Adherents of the Queen and of Monsieur's Flight you excus'd those two Persons who are as dear as nearly related to your Majesty altho' the contrary had been done formerly on the same occasions Your Majesty eluded with a great deal of Vigilancy divers Designs and many Enterprizes meditated and attempted in the Queen and Monsieur's Names and you shew'd so much Patience on those unhappy Occurrences that I may almost affirm that you made nothing known of their Ill Conduct but what you could not dissemble Nevertheless in order to stop the Course and remove the License wherewith all things seem'd lawful to be undertaken under their Shadow you caus'd the Marshal de Marillac's Head to be cut off with so much the more reason that being condemned with Justice the present Constitution of the State requir'd a great Example Those great and vexatious Affairs did not hinder you from repressing with as much Authority as Reason certain Enterprizes of the Parliament of Paris which had been tolerated in many other occasions which is more remarkable in that it was done during the Heat of the Discontents of the Queen and of Monsieur and of all their Adherents than for the thing it self Afterwards Monsieur enter'd France with Sword in Hand at the Instigation of the Spaniards and of the Duke of Lorrain with Forces of which those good Neighbours had furnish'd the greatest part One should have thought that the News your Majesty receiv'd at that time of his being expected in Languedoc by the D. de Montmorency who had a great Authority in that Province which he was Governour of should have put a stop to the Design which had led you in Lorrain to disingage that Duke out of the ill Party he had espous'd but finishing what you had begun to so good an end you caus'd Monsieur your Brother to be pursu'd so close by the Marshal de Schomberg and you follow'd him so soon your self after having receiv'd three Places from the Duke of Lorrain as Pledges of his Faith that all the Efforts of those who were Leagu'd against you prov'd ineffectual The Victory which your Majesty's Forces commanded by that Marshal obtain'd at Castelnaudari was as certain an Argument of the Blessing of God on your Majesty as the Favours you afterwards granted to Monsieur and to his Followers when the ill state of his Affairs might have induc'd you to use them otherwise was an evident Testimony of your Goodness The Sincerity wherewith you observ'd all the Promises which were made to them in your Name at Beziers tho' you were sensible that Puy-Laurens's only Design was to avoid the Danger he was in under the pretence of Repentance which he could avoid no other way was also as Authentick a Proof of your Majesty's great Courage as of your inviolable Faith The Chastisement of the Duke de Montmorency who never could contain himself from making an Inlet to all manner of dangerous Rebellions at all times and particularly when an Heir apparent of the Crown made himself by ill Counsel Head
in those things which are for our good and turns our mind with so much swiftness that our Enemies not being capable to take just measures upon such frequent Varieties have not time enough to improve our faults to their advantage The Proceeding of your Council being alter'd of late your Affairs have also taken a new face to the great advantage of your Kingdom and if your Successors take care to follow the Example of your Majesty's Reign our Neighbours will not have the advantages they have had for the time past But this Kingdom sharing Wisdom with them will undoubtedly share their good Fortune since that notwithstanding Men may be wise without being happy the best means we can use not to be unhappy is to tread the Path which Prudence and Reason direct us to and not to follow the Irregularities to which the Minds of Men are subject and particularly the French If those to whom your Majesty will confide the Care of your Affairs have the capacity and probity above mention'd you will have no further care in what relates to this Principle which of it self will not prove difficult since the particular Interest of a Princes reputation and those of the Publick have the same End Princes easily consent to the general Regulations of their States by reason that in making them they follow the dictates of Reason and of Justice which Men easily embrace when they meet no Obstacles to lead them out of the right way But when occasion offers it self to practise the good Settlements they have made they do not always show the same steadiness because that is the time when divers Interests Piety Compassion Favour and Importunities solicite them and oppose their good Intentions and that they have not always force enough to vanquish themselves and to despise particular Considerations whith ought to be of no weight in respect to those of the Publick It is on those occasions it behoves them to muster up all their Force against their Weakness considering that those whom God appoints to preserve others must have none but such as may serve to discover what is advantagious for the Public and proper for their Preservation CHAP. IV. How much Foresight is necessary for the Government of a State NOthing can be more necessary for the Government of a State than Foresight since thereby we may easily prevent many things which cannot be redress'd without great difficulties when they are come to pass Thus a Physitian who has the skill to prevent Distempers is more esteem'd than he who only labours to cure them Therefore it is the Duty of Ministers of State to represent to their Master that it is more necessary to consider the future than the present and that Distempers are like the Enemies of a State against whom Prudence obliges us to march rather than tarry till they are come to drive them out again Those who do not follow this Method will fall into great Confusions which it will be very difficult to remedy afterwards Yet it is a common thing among weak Men to drive off time and to chuse the preserving of their Ease for a Month rather than to deprive themselves of it for a while to avoid the trouble of many Years which they do not consider because they only see what is present and do not anticipate time by a wise Providence Those who never consider to morrow live happily for themselves but others live unhappily under them Those who foresee at a distance never do any thing rashly since they consider betimes and Men seldom miscarry when they consider before hand There are some occasions on which we are not allow'd to deliberate long because the nature of Affairs does not permit it But when they are not of that kind the safest way is to slumber over them and to recompence by the prudence of the Execution the delay we use the better to digest it There was a time in which no Orders were given in this Kingdom by way of prevention and even after the evil was come to pass none but Palliating Remedies were apply'd to it because it was impossible to proceed absolutely against it without wounding the Interest of many particular persons which was then prefer'd to publick good For which reason they only endeavour'd to ease the wound instead of curing it which has caus'd a great deal of harm in this Kingdom Of late years thanks be to God this way of proceeding has been alter'd with so much success that besides Reasons inviting us to continue the same the great benefit we have receiv'd by it obliges us strickly so to do We must sleep like the Lion without closing our Eyes which must be continually kept open to foresee the least inconveniencies which may happen and to remember that as Phtysick does not move the Pulse tho' it is mortal So it often happens in States that those evils which are imperceptible in their Original and which we are least sensible of are the most dangerous and those which finally prove of most consequence The extraordinary care which is requir'd not to be surpris'd on such occasions is the reason that as all those States have always been esteem'd very happy which were Govern'd by Wise Men so it has been thought that among those who did Govern them the most unwise were the most happy The more capable a Man is the more he is sensible of the weight of the Government that lies upon him Publick Administration takes up all the thoughts of the most Judicious insomuch that the perpetual Meditations they are obliged to make to foresee and prevent the Evils that may happen deprives them of all manner of Rest and Contentment excepting that which they receive in seeing many sleep quietly relying on their Watchings and live happy by their misery As it is very necessary to consider before hand as much as is possible what success may attend the designs we undertake in order not to be mistaken in our reckoning The Wisdom and Sight of Men having bounds beyond which they can see nothing God only being able to see the ultimate end of things it often suffices to know that the Projects we form are Just and Possible to undertake them with Reason God concurs to all the Actions of Men by a general Co-operation which seconds their designs and it is their part to use their freedom in all things according to the Prudence Divine Wisdom has indu'd them with But when Men are ingag'd in great undertakings which concern the Conduct of Mankind after having discharg'd the obligation they are under to open their Eyes doubly the better to take their measures after having made use of all the considerations Human Minds are capable of it is their Duty to rely upon the goodness of the Spirit of God which sometimes inspiring those thoughts into Men which are set down in his Eternal Decrees leads them as it were by the Hand to their proper ends CHAP. V. Punishment and Reward are two Points
Impression of fear to him he attacks the Impatient and Inconstant Temper of the French is as unfit for the defensive part as their fire and first eagerness qualifys them to perform their duty in the first Experience makes me speak thus and I am persuaded that those who are perfect Commanders will say the same SECTION V Of Naval Power THE Power of Arms do's not only require that the King should be strong a shore but also potent at Sea When Anthony Perez was receiv'd in France by the late King your Father and that in order to soften his misery he had secured him a good Pension That stranger being desirous to express his Gratitude to that great King and to show him that tho he was unfortunate he was not ungrateful gave him three Councels in three Words which are of no small Consideration Roma Consejo Pielago The advice of this old Spaniard consummated in Affairs is not so much to be looked upon for the Authority of him that gave it as for its own weight We have already mention'd the Care Princes ought to take to have a good Council and to be authorised at Rome it now remains to show how it behoves the King to be Potent at Sea The Sea is of all Heritages that in which Soveraigns pretend to have the greatest share and yet it is that on which the Rights of every body are least agreed upon The Empire of that Element was never well secur'd to any It has been subject to divers Revolutions according to the inconstancy of its nature so subject to the Wind that it submits to him who Courts it most and whose Power is so unbounded that he is in a condition to possess it with violence against all those who might dispute it with him In a word the old Titles of that Dominion are Force and not Reason a Prince must be Powerful to pretend to that Heritage To proceed with Order and Method in this point we must consider the Ocean and the Mediterranian seperately and make a distinction between the Ships which are of use in both those Seas and of the Gallies the use of which is only good in that which Nature seems to have reserv'd expresly betwixt the Lands to expose it to less Storms and to give it more shelter A great State must never be in a condition to receive an injury without being able to revenge it And therefore England being situated as it is unless France is powerful in Ships the English may attempt whatever they please to our prejudice without the least fear of a return They might hinder our Fishing disturb our Trade and in blocking up the mouth of our great Rivers exact what Toll they please from our Merchants They might Land without danger in our Islands and even on our Coasts Finally The Situation of the Native Countrey of that haughty Nation not permitting them to fear the greatest Land-Forces the ancient Envy they have against this Kingdom would apparently encourage them to dare every thing should our weakness not allow us to attempt some thing to their prejudice Their Insolence in the late King your Father's time towards the Duke of Scily obliges us to put our selves in a posture never to suffer the like again That Duke being chosen by Henry the Great for an extraordinary Embassy into England Embarking at Callis in a French Ship with the French Flag on the Main Top Mast was no sooner in the Channel but meeting a Yacht which came to receive him the Commander of it Commanded the French Ship to strike The Duke thinking his Quality would secure him from such an affront refus'd it boldly but his refusal being answer'd with three Cannon shot with Bullets which piercing his Ship pierc'd the Heart of the French Force constrain'd him to do what Reason ought to have secur'd him from and whatever Complaints he could make he could get no other reason from the English Captain than that as his Duty oblig'd him to honour his Quality of Ambassador it oblig'd him also to compel others to pay that respect to his Master's Flag which was due to the Soveraign of the Sea If King James's words prov'd more civil yet they produc'd no other effect than to oblige the Duke to seek for satisfaction in his own Prudence feigning himself cur'd when his pain was most smarting and his wound incurable The King your Father was oblig'd to dissemble on that occasion but with this Resolution another time to maintain the Right of his Crown by the Force which time would give him means to acquire at Sea I represent this Great Prince to my mind projecting in that occurence what your Majesty must now put in Execution Reason obliges to take an Expedient which without ingaging any of the Crowns may contribute towards the preservation of the good understanding which is desirable among the Princes of Christendom Among many that might be propos'd the following are in my opinion the most practicable It might be agreed upon that French Ships meeting English Ships upon the Coast of England should Salute first and strike the Flag and that when English Ships should meet French Ships upon the French Coast they should pay them the same Honors on condition that when the English and French Fleets should meet beyond the Coasts of both Kingdoms they should both steer their Course without any Ceremony only sending out their respective Long-Boats to hail each other coming no neerer than within Cannon shot It might also be agreed upon that without having any respect to the Coasts of France or England the greater number of Men of War should be Saluted by the smaller either in striking the Flag or otherwise Whatever Expedient is found out on that subject provided it be equal on all parts it will be just if your Majesty is strong at Sea that which is reasonable will be thought so by the English who are so much blinded on that subject that they know no Equity but Force The advantages the Spaniards who are proud of being our Enemies at present derive from the Indies oblige them to be strong on the Ocean The reason of a sound Policy does not allow us to be weak there but it obliges us to be in a condition to oppose the designs they might have against us and to cross their enterprizes If your Majesty be potent at Sea the just apprehension Spain will lay under of your attacking their Forces the only Source of their Subsistance of your making a Descent on their Coasts which have upwards of six hundred Leagues Circumference your surprising some of their places which are all weak and in great number that just apprehension I say will oblige them to be so powerful at Sea and to keep such strong Garisons that the major part of the Revenue of the Indies will be consumed in Charges to preserve the whole and if the remainder suffices to preserve their States at last it will produce this advantage that they will no
beat the Duke of Savoy assisted by the Spaniards rais'd the Siege of Cazal and constrain'd all your Enemies to agree with you This glorious Action which restor'd Peace in Italy was no sooner atchiev'd but your Majesty whose Mind and Heart never found any rest but in Labour pass'd directly into Languedoc where after having taken Privas and Alez by force you reduc'd the rest of the Huguenot Party throughout your Kingdom to Obedience and by your Clemency granted a Peace to those who had presum'd to wage a War against you not by granting them Advantages prejudicial to the State as had been done till then but by banishing him out of the Kingdom who was the only Head of that miserable Party and who had all along fomented it That which is most considerable in so glorious an Action is that you ruin'd that Party absolutely at a time when the King of Spain endeavour'd to raise it again and to settle it more than ever He had newly made a Treaty with the Duke of Rohan to form in this State a Body of Rebellious States to God and to your Majesty at once in consideration of a Million of Livres which he was to pay him yearly for which he made the Indies Tributaries to Hell But their Projects prov'd ineffectual And whilst he had the Mortification to hear that the Person he had employ'd to be the Bearer of so glorious an Establishment was executed upon a Scaffold by a Decree of the Parliament of Thoulouse before whom he was Try'd your Majesty had the Satisfaction and Advantage to pardon those who could no longer defend themselves to annihilate their Faction and to use their Persons well when they expected nothing but the Chastisement of the Crimes they had commited I am sensible that Spain thinks to excuse so ill an Action by the Succours you granted the Hollanders but that Excuse is as ill as their Cause Common Sense will convince every body that there is much difference between the continuation of a Succours established upon a Lawful Subject if Natural Defence is so and a new Establishment manifestly contrary to Religion and to the Lawful Authority Kings have received from Heaven over their Subjects The late King your Father never enter'd into a Treaty with the Hollanders until the King of Spain had form'd a League in this Kingdom to usurp the Crown This Truth is too evident to be question'd and there is no Theology in the World but will grant without going against the Principles of Natural Reason that as Necessity obliges those whose Life is attempted to make use of all Helps to preserve it so a Prince has the same Right to avoid the loss of his State That which is free in the beginning sometimes becomes necessary in the sequel Therefore no body can find fault with the Union your Majesty maintains with those People not only in consequence of the Treaties of the late King but moreover because Spain cannot be reputed otherwise than as an Enemy to this State whilst they retain part of its ancient Demeans It is evident that the Cause which has given a Rise to those Treaties not being remov'd the continuation of the Effect is as lawful as necessary The Spaniards are so far from any Pretence of being in the same case that on the contrary their Designs are so much the more unjust that instead of repairing the Injuries they have done this Kingdom they increase them daily Moreover the late King never join'd with the Hollanders until they were entred into a Body of State and was constrain'd to it by an Oppression which he could not wholly avoid He neither occasion'd their Revolt nor the Union of their Provinces And Spain has not only often favour'd the Revolted Huguenots against your Predecessors they also endeavour'd to unite them in a Body of State in yours A holy Zeal has induc'd them to be the Authors of so good an Establishment and that without any Necessity and consequently without Reason unless the Continuation of their ancient Usurpations and the new ones they design rectifie their Actions so much that what is forbidden to all the World besides is lawful in them upon the account of their good Intentions Having treated this matter more at large in another Treatise I will leave it to continue the Sequel of your Actions The ill Faith of the Spaniards having induc'd them to attack the Duke of Mantua again to the Prejudice of the Treaties they had made with your Majesty you march'd the second time into Italy where by the Blessing of God after having gloriously cross'd a River the Passage whereof was defended by the Duke of Savoy with an Army of 14000 Foot and 4000 Horse contrary to the Faith of the Treaty he had made with your Majesty the Year before You took Pignerol in sight of the Emperour 's and King of Spain's Forces and of the Person and all the Power of the Duke of Savoy and that which renders that Action the more Glorious in sight of the Marquess de Spinola one of the greatest Captains of his Time By that means you took Susa and overcame at once the three most considerable Powers of Europe the Plague Famine and the Impatiency of the French of which there are not many Examples in History After which you Conquer'd Savoy driving an Army of 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse before you which had a better Advantage to defend it self in that Mountainous Country than 30000 to attack them Soon after which the Combats of Veillane and of Coriane signaliz'd your Arms in Piemont and the taking of Valence Fortify'd by the Duke of Savoy in order to oppose your Designs made the World sensible that nothing could resist the Just Arms of a King as Fortunate as Powerful Cazal was reliev'd not only against the Opinion of most Men but even against the very Thoughts of the Duke de Montmorency who had been employ'd to that end and against the Opinion of Marillac who was substituted in his Place who both publickly declar'd that it was an impossible Enterprize The Relief of the said Place was the more glorious in that a stronger Army than your Majesty's retrench'd at the Head of the Milaneze which furnished them with all sorts of Conveniencies and shelter'd under the Walls of Cazal which had been consign'd in their Hands was constrain'd to quit it and five other Places at the same time which the Spaniards held thereabouts in the extent of Mont-Ferrat Those who know that in the very height of that Design your Majesty was reduc'd to the utmost Extremity by a Fit of Sickness and that tho' your Person was dangerously Ill your Heart was yet in a worse Condition If they consider that the Queen your Mother at the Instigation of some malicious Persons form'd a potent Party which weakning you considerably strengthen'd your Enemies If they also consider that they daily receiv'd Advice that your Majesty's most faithful Servants whom they both did hate and dread would
deserve them the Office of Marshal of France the free Access your Majesty gave him to your Person and the Familiarity he had with your Creatures were Favours and Privileges sufficient to hinder him from flying to his Ruine Chateauneuf had been so lately honour'd with the Seals when his ill Proceedings were first discover'd that there is Reason to suspect that at the beginning of his Magistracy he had the same Intentions as when he ended it Nevertheless that first place of Justice to which your Majesty rais'd him contrary to his Expectation an Hundred Thousand Crowns he receiv'd from your Liberality in one Year the Government of one of your Provinces which are extraordinary Favours for a Man of his Profession were not sufficient Considerations to hinder him from being the Promoter of his own Ruine The several and great Favours Puy-Laurens receiv'd in a short time from your Majesty's Goodness are so extraordinary that those who will know them will perhaps be more surpriz'd at them than at his ill Proceeding which is usual enough in Persons whom Fortune raises in an instant without Desert The Indemnity of his Crimes which your Majesty granted him at his return from Flanders will not be thought inconsiderable by Posterity The Immense Sums he receiv'd from your Liberality the Government of Bourbonnois the Quality of Duke and Peer and my Alliance were sufficient Engagements to keep any other Man within the Bounds of his Duty but he was not capable of prescribing any to himself When Count de Cramail was put into the Bastille he had lately receiv'd by his being recall'd to Court an Instance of the Remission of his first Faults But that favourable Treatment did not hinder him from resuming his former Course in acting against the present state of Affairs and in endeavouring to make your Majesty alter your ancient Conduct of which the Events justify'd the Happiness and the Blessing of God the Justice The Choice that was made of the Marshal de Vitry for Provence oblig'd him to live very warily in so great an Employment which his Courage and Fidelity had procur'd him But his Greediness and haughty insolent Behaviour did not contribute little to deprive him of it to place him in a Government of less Extent If I must speak of those that were barely remov'd from Court what Obligations had not the Duke de Bellegarde receiv'd from your Majesty and from your Servants The Goodness of the one and the Address of the other had freed him out of some Troubles into which his exceeding Vanity and the Unruliness of his Passions had engag'd him He was a Duke by your Favour and the more oblig'd to behave himself well with Monsieur when he assisted him to get out of the Kingdom because you had setled him in the first Places of his Houshold which he stood in great need of From being a poor ordinary Gentleman Thoiras was seen to rise in an instant to the degree of a Marshal of France so loaden with Favours that he receiv'd not only the best Employments and the greatest Governments of the Kingdom but over and above upwards of Six Hundred Thousand Crowns in Gratifications La Fargis had all the reason imaginable to beliave her self well since your Majesty by placing her with the Queen your Consort had put her above the Discourses that were made of her The Dukes de Guise and d' Elboeuf have receiv'd to the knowledge of all the World incredible Favours from your Majesty While the Princess of Conty was most zealous in forming of Cabals she drew a great deal of Money out of your Exchequer for the Sale of Chateaurenault but that was not sufficient to keep her within the Bounds of her Duty The Duke de la Valette's Removal tho' voluntary and not forc'd giving me an occasion to put him in this Classis I cannot forbear observing that a little before his solliciting Monsieur your Brother and the Count of Soissons to employ your Army which they commanded at that time against your Person your Majesty had honour'd him with the Quality of Duke and Peer Neither can I forbear adding that in order to engage him the more in your Service you were pleas'd to allow his Alliance with those who were altogether inseparable from it and that in consideration of my said Alliance you had granted him the Survivorship of the Government of Guyenne and added 30000 Livres to the Revenue of his Place of Colonel of the Infantry To which I may add that the Pardon your Majesty was pleas'd to grant him out of an extraordinary Goodness for so foul and so shameful a Crime averr'd by the Mouth of two Princes whose Testimony was undeniable could not hinder his Weakness and Jealousie against the Prince of Conde and the Archbishop of Bourdeaux or his Design of crossing your Affairs from doing a very shameful thing in losing the occasion of taking Fontarabia when the Enemies could no longer defend it If it be an effect of singular Prudence to have withstood all the Forces of the Enemies of your State with those of your Allies by putting your Hand into your Purse and not to your Arms. To have made an open War when your Allies were no longer able to subsist alone is another of Wisdom and Courage together which justifies sufficiently that managing the Repose of your Kingdom you have done like those Oeconomists who having been careful to lay up Money know how to spend it prudently to prevent a greater Loss To have at one and the same time made divers Attacks in divers places which was never done by the Romans or Ottomans will undoubtedly be look'd upon by many as a great piece of Imprudence and Rashness And yet as it is a Proof of your Power it is a greater yet of your Judgment since it was necessary to cut out so much Work on all parts to your Enemies that they might be invincible in none The War of Germany was somewhat forc'd since that part of Europe was the Stage on which it was begun long ago Altho' that of Flanders had not the Success which might have been expected yet it was impossible not to look upon it as advantagious in the Project That of the Grisons was necessary to engage the Princes of Italy to take Arms by removing their Dread of the Germans and to encourage those that had taken them in Germany by shewing them that Italy was not in a Condition to succour the Enemies they had in their Country That of Italy was no less material both because it was the ready way to engage the Duke of Savoy and by reason that the Milaneze being as it were the Heart of the Territories that are possess'd by the Spaniards it was necessary to attack that Part. Moreover considering that your Majesty had Allies on all parts who were to join their Forces to yours it must be concluded that it was evident by that Union that the Spaniards being attack'd in divers places should be forc'd to
submit to the Effort of your Power And yet during the course of that War which lasted Five Years no ill Accident ever befell you but what seem'd only to be permitted for your Glory In 1635. the Army your Majesty sent into the Low Countries as soon as they came there won a famous Battel before their being join'd with that of the States General And if the Prince of Orange commanding both had no Success suitable to those great Forces and to what was expected from a Captain of his Reputation the fault of it cannot be imputed to you Having submitted your Arms to the Command of that Prince it was his part to pursue the Point of an Army he receiv'd Victorious But the Slowness of a heavy Nation could not improve the Eagerness of yours which requires Execution rather than Counsel and which by dallying loses the Advantage which their Fiery Nature gives them over others That very Year the Forces of the Empire having pass'd the Rhine at Brisac came so near your Frontiers that tho' you could not free them from Fear yet you freed them from the Losses your Enemies sustain'd One of the finest Armies the Emperour had put on foot for a long while perish'd in Lorrain and their Loss prov'd the more considerable in that the bare Patience of those who commanded your Forces in those parts occasion'd it At the same time the Duke of Rohan favour'd by the principal Heads of the Grisons who desir'd their Liberty enter'd happily into their Country with open force seiz'd the most considerable Passes and Posts and fortify'd them notwithstanding the Opposition which the Neighbourhood of the Milaneze enabled the Spaniards to make conveniently The Dukes of Savoy and of Crequi who did command your Armies in Italy took a Fort in the Milaneze and built another upon the Po which prov'd a dangerous Thorn to your Enemies In 1636. the Cowardise of three Governours of your Frontier Towns having given the Spaniards a Footing into this Kingdom and cheaply enabled them to acquire considerable Advantages Without being discourag'd when all seem'd to be lost in Six Weeks time you rais'd so powerful an Army that it might have been able totally to destroy your Enemies had those to whom you entrusted the Command of it employ'd it as they should have done Their Failures oblig'd you to put your self at the Head of it and God assisted you to that degree that that very Year in the sight of those who had only taken those Places because you were distant from them you retook the only one which was of Importance to your State You overcame many Difficulties in that Expedition which were created by your own Men who being prejudic'd by Ignorance or Malice highly disapprov'd so great a Design If you did not succeed in the Siege of Dole the reason which obliges every one to run to that which is most pressing was the only Cause of it Your Majesty remov'd your Forces from thence with great Prudence since it concern'd you more to retake Corbie than to take Dole At that time Galas entring this Kingdom with the main Forces of the Empire to which the Duke of Lorrain join'd himself with his They were both driven out of Burgundy with the shame of Raising the Siege of St. John de Laune a weak Place and the loss of part of their Cannon and of so great a number of Men that out of 30000 wherewith they entred this Kingdom they did not march out Ten. The River Tosino was Witness that very Year of an Action no less fortunate in Italy where your Forces gain'd a famous and bloody Combat And you had Advantages in Valtelina which were the more considerable by reason that your Enemies having often taken the Resolution to engage your Forces in order to drive them out of it by Force they never attempted to put their Design in Execution but fighting and being beaten prov'd one and the same thing to them In 1637 you took two Places from your Enemies in Flanders and retook one of those which had been deliver'd up to them the Year before by the Cowardise of the Governours A Third being besieg'd in the Country of Luxemburg was taken soon after and your Enemy suffer'd as much Damage by the entrance of your Armies in their Country as they design'd to make you suffer the same way If the Panick Fear of him who commanded your Forces in Valtelina and the Infidelity of some of those for whose Liberty you had sent them thither made you lose through Cowardise and Treachery together the Advantages you had acquir'd there by Force and Reason That Year was happily Crown'd by the retaking of the Isles of St. Margaret and oâ—… St. Honorat and by the Relief of Lucare besieg'd by the Spaniards By the first of those two Actions Two Thousand Five Hundred French landed at Noon-day in an Island kept by as many Spaniards and Italians an Island fortify'd by Five Regular Forts joyn'd to one another by Lines of Communication which enclos'd it almost entirely by a good Parapet Your Men fought at their Landing and beat your Enemies which oppos'd them and after having forc'd the major part of them to retire into their Ramparts they forc'd them out of them in Six Weeks time Foot after Foot by as many Sieges as there were Forts tho' one of them was compos'd of Five Bastions Royal so well provided with Cannon and with Men and all other Necessaries that it seem'd a Rashness to attack it By the Second a potent Army so well retrench'd that there was but one Head of a Thousand Fathom by which it could be attack'd a Head so well fortify'd that at every Distance of Two Hundred Paces there were Forts and Redoubts garnish'd with Cannon and lin'd with Infantry was attack'd in the Night and forc'd by an Army which tho' inferiour in number did nevertheless defeat it wholly after several Combats Those two Actions are so extraordinary that one cannot say they are signal Effects of the Courage of Men without adding that they were seconded by the Providence and Hand of God who visibly fights for us In 1638. tho' the beginning of the Year prov'd unfortunate to you in Italy at St. Omer and at Fontarabia by the ill Fate of Arms and by the Imprudence Cowardise or Malice of some of those who commanded yours the End Crown'd the Work by the taking of Brisac after a long Siege two Battels and divers Combats attempted to relieve it Moreover as soon as you had notice of the ill Event of the Siege of St. Omers your Majesty repair'd in Person to the Place where there was reason to expect some dangerous Events You put a stop to the course of the Misfortunes of your Arms by taking and demolishing Renty which greatly incommoded the Frontier After which le Castelet the only Place of yours then remaining in your Enemies Hands was taken by Force in sight of them without their daring to oppose the Effects of your
extraordinary that the Chamber of Accounts would only verifie the Letters Patents thereof for Nine Years After the Reign of Lewis the 11th his Successors Charles the 8th Francis the 1st and Henry the 2d continu'd the same Favour during their Lives Charles the 9th went farther and granted to Perpetuity to the Holy Chappel what his Predecessors had only granted them for a time The Intention those Princes had is praise-worthy since they gave a Right which did belong to them to a good end But the Use those of the Holy Chappel have made of it can never be sufficiently blam'd since that instead of being satisfy'd with what was given them they have endeavour'd under that pretence to make all the Bishopricks of France subject to the Regalia The Parliament of Paris which pretend to be the only Judges of the Regalia have been blinded to that degree by Self-interest as to make no Scruple to declare even all those Bishopricks which in our days have been united to the Crown liable to that Servitude and to order the Advocates in proper terms no longer to question but that the extent of the Regalia was as large as that of the Kingdom This Incroachment being too visible to produce any Effect induc'd the Churches which were not liable to that Right no longer to acknowledge that Tribunal for Judges and the Kings to refer all such Causes to their Council The extent of that Right over all the Bishopricks of the Kingdom is a Pretension so ill grounded that in order to discover the Injustice thereof it will be sufficient to read a Deed the Original of which is in the Chamber of Accounts which the President Le Maitre caus'd to be printed which gave an Account of the Bishopricks that are subject to the Regalia and of those that are free from it Formerly the common Opinion was that there was no Regalia beyond the River Loire the Kings Lewis le Gross and Lewis the Young exempted the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux and the Suffraganâ— thereof of the same Raymond Count of Tholouse granted the same Favour to the Bishops of Provence and of Languedoc which was afterwards confirmed to them by Philip le Bell and St. Lewis yielded the Regalia of all Brittany to the Dukes of the Country by the Treaty he made with Peter Maâ—-clerc which shews that he did not give it to the Holy Chappel when he founded it Several other Bishopricks as Lyons Autun Auxerre and divers others are so undoubtedly free from that Subjection that no body calls it into question The Ordinances made at divers times shew clearly that the Kings of France never did pretend to have a Regalia over all the Bishopricks and that Truth is so evident that Pasquier the King's Advocate in the Chamber of Accounts is forc'd to confess that he who maintains that Doctrine is rather a Court Flatterer than a French Lawyer These are his very Words The Ignorance or rather the want of Spirit and Interest of some Bishops has contributed very much towards the Vexation the Prelates of this Kingdom suffer at this time who to free themselves of the Presecution they did receive in their own particular have made no scruple to receive Acquittances from the Holy Chappel for Sums they never paid The Opinion they had that in disputing their Right before Judges who were their Parties they would be condemn'd has perswaded them that they might innocently commit such a Fault the Consequence of which would be very dangerous if your Majesty's Goodness did not repair the harm done by their Weakness Common Right requiring the Disposition of the Fruits of a vacant Benefice to be reserv'd for the future Successor the contrary cannot be done without an Authentick Title to impower one so to do Yet we find none of that kind to justifie the Pretensions of Kings to dispose of them according to their Pleasure for want of which they are forc'd to have recoutse to Custom This Truth is so certain that all the Ordinances made upon that Subject only maintain their ancient Possession As it is very easie for Soveraign Princes by divers Pretences to attribute that to themselves which does not belong to them and that thereby an unjust Usurpation in the beginning may in process of time be deem'd Lawful by virtue of Possession There may be a great deal of Reason to question Whether Custom can have the force of an authentick Title in the case of Soveraigns But not designing to dispute your Majesty's Rights but only to persuade you to regulate them insomuch that they may not endanger the Salvation of Souls without endeavouring any farther to examine the Source and the Foundation of the Regalia's which I suppose valid I only design to examine what the Holy Chappel can pretend by virtue of those Concessions of your Predecessors and to propose the Remedy of the Abuse which is committed in the enjoyment of such a Grant It often happens that a Bishop who is Rich in all the Qualifications requir'd by the Canons and which the Piety of Good Men can desire in him but Poor by his Birth remains two or three Years incapable of performing the Duty of his Office both by the Payment of the Bulls to which he is oblig'd by the Concordates which often sweep away a whole Year's Revenue and upon the account of this new Right which takes away another So that adding to these two Expences the Charge he must be at to buy the Ornaments he stands in need of and to furnish his House according to his Dignity it will often be found that three Years are pass'd before he can receive any thing for his Maintenance For which reason many of them do not go to their Bishopricks excusing themselves upon necessity or laying aside House-keeping deprive themselves of the Reputation they ought to have to feed their Flock as well by Acts of Charity as by Words It also often comes to pass that to avoid these Inconveniencies they engage themselves so far that some are prevail'd with to practsie illegal means to acquit their Debts And those who do not fall into that Extremity live in perpetual Misery and finally frustrate their Creditors of what they owe them for want of Power to pay them The Remedy to that Evil is as easie as necessary since it only requires the annexing to the Holy Chappel an Abbey of equal Revenue with that which they can receive by that Settlement Some perhaps will say That it will not be easie to clear this Point as it should be by reason of the difficulty the said Society will make of disclosing that which they design to conceal But if your Majesty orders them to justifie in two Months time by the Acts of their Registers what they did enjoy before the perpetual Concession made to them by Charles IX and that on pain of forfeiting the said Right this lawful Proceeding will soon discover what is necessary to be done to recompence the Grant
to an Indult to substitute another in his room in case he should die before it be fill'd CHAP. III. Of the NOBIITY SECT I. Divers Means to Advantage the Nobility and to make them Subsist Honourably AFter having represented what I esteem absolutely necessary for the Re establishment of the First Order of your Kingdom I proceed to the Second and say That the Nobility must be Respected as one of the principal Sinews of the State capable to contribute much towards its Preservation and Settlement They have been so much depress'd of late Years by the vast Number of Officers which the Misfortune of the Age has elevated to their prejudice that it is very necessary to protect them against the Attempts of such Men. The Wealth and Pride of the one triumphs over the Necessity of the others who are only rich in Courage which induces them to employ their Lives freely for the State of which your Officers reap the Advantage As it is necessary to protect them against those who oppress them so a particular Care must be taken to hinder them from using those that are under them as they are us'd by the others It is a common Fault in those that are born in that Order to exert Violence against the People to whom God seems rather to have given Arms to get their Livelihood than to defend themselves It is absolutely necessary to stop the course of such Disorders by a continu'd Severity to the end that the weakest of your Subjects though unarm'd may be as safe under the protection of your Laws as those who are arm'd The Nobility having shewn in this War happily ended by a Peace that they have Inherited the Vertue of their Ancestors which induc'd Caesar to prefer them before all others it will be fit to Discipline them to the end that they may acquire a new and preserve their former Reputation and that the State may be usefully serv'd It is most certain That the Nobility which does not serve you in the War is not only useless but a Burthen to the State which in that Case may be compar'd to the Body which supports an Arm which is troubled with the Palsie as a Load which burthens it instead of affording it any ease As the Gentry deserves to be well us'd when they do well it is necessary to be serve against them when they are wanting in what their Birth exacts from them And I make no scruple of saying That those who degenerating from the Vertue of their Forefathers do not serve the Crown with their Swords and Lives with all the Constancy and Courage which the Laws of the State require deserve to be depriv'd of the Advantages of their Birth and to be reduc'd to bear part of the Burthen of the People As Honour ought to be dearer to them than Life it were better to chastise them by depriving them of the first than of the last To take away the Life of Men who expose it daily upon a meer Notion of Honour is much less than to take away their Honour and to save their Life which in that Condition is a perpetual Torment to them As all means must be us'd to maintain the Nobility in the true Vertue of their Fathers so none must be omitted to preserve them in the possession of the Estates they have left them and to help them to acquire new ones As it is impossible to find out a Remedy against all Evils so it is very difficult to find out a general Expedient to the Ends I propose The many Marriages which are contracted in every Family in this Kingdom whereas in other States seldom any but the Eldest Marries are one of the true Causes which ruine the best Families in a short time But if that Custom improverishes private Families it enriches the State the main force of which consists in the Multitude of Men insomuch that instead of complaining of it it must be encourag'd and instead of opposing it means must be found out for the subsistance of those it brings into the World according to the Purity of Heart they derive from their Birth In order thereunto it is necessary to distinguish the Nobility which is at Court from those who live in the Country That which is at Court will be considerably eas'd by retrenching the State and insupportable Expences which have been introduc'd there by degrees since it is most certain that such a Regulation will do them more good than all the Pensions they receive As to those who live in the Country though such an Order will not ease them so much by reason of their Misery which will not allow them to make superfluous Expences they will nevertheless find the Benefit of the said Remedy so necessary for the whole State that without it it can never avoid its ruine If your Majesty be pleas'd to add to the Regulation of that Disorder the Establishment of Fifty Troops of Gens d'Armes and the like number of Chevaux Legers to be paid in the Provinces on the Conditions hereafter specified it will be a great help for the Subsistence of the most indigent Nobility If in the next place you suppress the Sale of the Governments of the Kingdom and of all Military Imployments which the said Order pays sufficiently for at the Rate of their Blood If you observe the same Method in what relates to the Places of your Houshold If whereas at present all manner of Men are admitted into the same by the dishonourable Traffick of their Purse you prohibit the receiving of any Person into them but such as have the Happiness of being of a Noble Blood If moreover the Entrance thereof be no longer allow'd even to those who have that Advantage unless by your Majesty's choice of them in consideration of their Merit the said good Regulation will prove both Advantagious and Honourable to all the Nobility Whereas at present Gentlemen can only purchase Places and Dignities at the Rate of their Ruine their Fidelity will be the more certain for the future by reason that the more they will be gratified the less they will think themselves indebted for the Honours they will receive to their Purses and to their Creditors who never put them in mind of what they owe them but at the same time they are troubled for being rais'd that way If moreover you will be pleas'd to extend your Favour so far as to be careful to gratifie their Children who shall be found to have as much Learning and Piety as is requir'd with part of the Benefices that are in your Gift that Order will be the more oblig'd to you in that discharging them of part of the Burthen which overwhelms them you will put them in a way to keep up their Families since the Support and Preservation of the best depends often on those who espousing an Ecclesiastical Life commonly look on their Nephews as their own Children and place their chief Delight in bringing up some of them to
Sentiments would be found in the Majority Judgments being so various even in those who only designing Good do neither differ in their Intentions nor in their Ends. It is a thing so common in such Bodies to pry into and to find fault with the Government of States that no body can wonder at it All Subordinate Authority looks upon that which is Superiour to it with an envious Eye and not daring to dispute the Power of it they take the liberty to exclaim against the Conduct thereof The mildest Government is in some measure odious even to the most reasonable And upon that Consideration one of the Ancients said with a great deal of Reason That among Men who are Equals by Nature there are few who do not repine at the difference which Fortune puts between them and who being oblig'd to submit do not blame those who have a Command over them to shew that though they are inferiour to them in Power they exceed them in Merit SECT IV. Of the Officers of the Finances THe Officers of the Finances and the Partisans are a separate Classis prejudicial to the State but nevertheless necessary Thesesort of Officers are an unavoidable Evil but they must be reduc'd to supportable Terms Their Excesses and the Disorders which have been introduc'd among them are come to that heighth that it is impossible to suffer them any longer They cannot raise their Fortunes higher without ruining the State and without undoing themselves by giving the Prince a just Pretence of seizing their Estates upon the bare knowledge of the excessive Riches they have heap'd up in a short time upon the difference which will be verified between what they had when they were first employ'd and what they are found to be in possession of I am sensible that such a Proceeding may be liable to great Mistakes and that it may serve as a Pretence for very unjust Violences Neither do I mention this by the bye to advise the putting it in practice which would occasion great Abuses but I maintain that no body could justly complain of it if it were manag'd with so much caution that in punishing those who do inrich themselves of a sudden by the sole Industry of their Fingers no prejudice were done under that Pretence to the Estates of those who are grown Rich and Powerful either by their Patrimony one of the most lawful means to rise or by the Gratifications receiv'd from the Favour of their Master which exempts them from Crime or by the Rewards which have been given to their Services which is also one of the most lawful since that in being useful to private Persons it is also advantageous to the State which will be the better serv'd when those who serve it usefully are well rewarded It is absolutely necessary to remedy the Incroachments of the Financiers otherwise they will finally occasion the ruine of the Kingdom which is so much impair'd by their Robberies that unless a stop be put to the same it will be quite undone in a short time The Gold and Silver they abound in affords them the Alliance of the best Families in the Kingdom which are so much Bastardiz'd by that means that their Issue proves as different from the Generosity of their Ancestors as they often differ in the Resemblance of their Faces I may affirm as having been an Eye-witness of it in many occasions that their Negligence or Malice has been very prejudicial to Publick Affairs After a serious Consideration on all the Remedies of the Evils they occasion I dare say that the best is to reduce them to as small a Number as is possible and to employ by way of Commission on important Occasions Men of Probity and Capacity instead of Persons whose Places being for Life or Hereditary think it a sufficient Title to Rob without the least fear of Punishment It will be very easie in time of Peace to suppress many Officers of this kind and thereby to free the State of those who without doing it any Service suck up all its Substance in a very short time I am sensible that it may be urg'd That they are commonly us'd like Leeches who with a Grain of Salt are often made to disgorge all the Blood they have suck'd up and like Spunges which are easily squeez'd dry again though never so full before But in my Opinion it is an ill Expedient and I look upon the Agreements and Compositions which are sometimes made with the Officers as a Remedy which is worse than the Disease since proproperly speaking it gives them a Title to Rob anew in hopes of a fresh Pardon and that if any thing be got out of their Purse that way they do not only recover the Principal they have given but also the Interest at a much higher rate than is allow'd of by the Law Wherefore I conclude That besides certain necessary Officers as a Treasurer of the Exchequer a Receiver General Two or Three Treasurers of France in every Generality and such others as are absolutely necessary it will be no small piece of Service to the State if in satisfying those who have bonaâ—fide given their Money in hopes to advance themselves by such Employments according to the course of the times all the rest are suppress'd Without this Remedy whatever Regulation may be made it will be impossible to preserve the King's Money since all Punishments tho' never so great are not capable to hinder many Officers of that kind from converting part of the Money which will pass through their hands to their own use SECT V. Of the PEOPLE ALl Politicians agree That when the People are too easie it is impossible to keep them within the Bounds of their Duty Their Reason is That being more Ignorant than the other Orders of the State which are much more cultivated or better instructed unless they are kept under by some Necessity they will hardly keep within the Bounds prescrib'd to them by Reason and by the Laws Neither does Reason allow their being exempted from all Charges since that in losing thereby the Badge of their Subjection they would also lose the Remembrance of their Condition and that if they were discharg'd of Tribute they would also think themselves discharg'd of Obedience They must be compar'd to Mules which being us'd to Burthens are spoil'd more by Rest than by Labour but as the Labour must be moderate and that the Burthens of those Animals must be proportion'd to their Strength so unless the Subsidies which are impos'd on the People are moderate even when they are useful to the Publick they are unjust I am sensible that when Kings undertake Publick Works 't is said with truth That what the People gets by it returns to them again by the Payment of the Taille But then one may also maintain That what Kings get out of the People returns to them again and that they only advance itto get it again by the Enjoyment of Rest and of their Estates
of Goodness but to be no Flatterer I must also tell you that it is a sign of Weakness which though tolerable in a private Man cannot be so in a great King considering what Inconveniences it may be attended with I lay no stress upon that such a Proceeding would lay all the Odium and Hatred of Resolutions upon your Majesty's Council because that is inconsiderable if it could prove beneficial to the Affairs of the State but that which is worth considering is that there are often occasions in which whatsoever Authority a Minister can have it cannot be sufficient to produce certain Effects which require the Voice of a Soveraign and an absolute Power Moreover if the Grandees were once persuaded that an unseasonable Shame would hinder a King from performing the Office of a King in Commanding absolutely they would always pretend to obtain by Importunity the contrary of what has been order'd by Reason and finally their Audaciousness might proceed so far that finding their Prince apprehensive of acting like a Master they would grow weary of acting as Subjects Princes must have a Masculine Vertue and do every thing by Reason without being guided by Inclination which often leads them into dangerous Precipices if those which blind them and induce them to do whatever they please are capable to produce Mischief when they follow them with too much Inadvertency the natural Aversion they receive sometimes without a Cause may cause greater yet unless they are temper'd by Reason as they ought to be In some occasions your Majesty has stood in need of your Prudence to check the Tendency of those two Passions but more in the last than in the first since it is easier to do Mischief following the Dictates of Aversion which requires nothing but a Command in a King than to do good according to one's Inclination which cannot be done without depriving one's self of one's own which many Persons can hardly resolve to do Those two Motions are contrary to the Genius of Kings principally if reflecting little upon them they oftener follow their Instinct than their Reason They often induce them to engage in the Divisions which are frequent in Courts among private Persons which has occasion'd great Inconveniences in my time Their Dignity obliges them to reserve themselves for Reason which is the only Party they ought to espouse on all occasions they cannot do otherwise without divesting themselves of the Quality of Judges and of Soveraigns to take that of Parties and submitting in some measure to the Condition of private Men. They thereby expose their State to many Cabals and Factions which are form'd afterwards Those who are to defend themselves against the Power of a King are too sensible that they can never do it by Force to attempt it otherwise than by Intrigues Artifices and Cabals which often occasion great trouble in States The Sincerity which is necessary in a Man who makes a Testament does not permit my Pen to end this Section without making a Confession as true as it is advantagious for your Majesty's Glory since it will testifie to all the World That the Law of GOD has always been a Bound capable to stop the Violence of any Inclination or Aversion which could have surpris'd your Mind which being liable to the least Derect of Human Nature has always Thanks be to GOD been free of the most notable Imperfections of Princes CHAP. VII Which represents the present State of the King's Houshold and sets forth what seems to be necessary in order to put it into that in which it ought to be THe Order of Arts and of all good Discipline requires that a Man should begin his Work by that Part which is most easie Upon this Foundation the first thing an Architect does who undertakes a great Building is to make a Model of it in which the Proportions must be so well observ'd that it may serve him as a Measure and Foot for his great Design And when he cannot compass the said Project he lays aside his Enterprize common Sense making the dullest sensible that he who cannot perform the least is altogether incapable of the most In that Consideration as the meanest Capacities are sensible That as the Structure of Man is an Abstract of that of the Great Word so private Families are the true Models of States and of Republicks and every body being persuaded that he who either cannot or will not regulate his Family is not capable to Order a State Reason did require that in order to compass the Reformation of this Kingdom I should begin by that of your Majesty's Houshold Nevertheless I confess that I never durst under take it by reason that your Majesty having ever had an Aversion for the Orders you reckon'd to be of small consequence when any private Persons were concern'd in them no body could propose such a Design without openly shocking your Inclination and the Interest of many Men who being continually about you in great Familiarity might have prejudic'd you against those Orders which were most necessary for your State to put a stop to those of your Houshold the Irregularity of which were useful to them But as a Testament sets forth many Intentions which the Testator durst not divulge during his Life this will petition your Majesty towards the Reformation of your Houshold which has been omitted both by reason that though it did seem more easie than that of the State yet it was in effect much more difficult and also because Prudence obliges to suffer in some measure small Losses to gain considerably in others As it is obvious to all the World that no King ever carried the Dignity of his State to a higher degree than your Majesty so no body can deny that none ever suffer'd the Lustre of his Houshold to be more trampled upon The Strangers who have travell'd in France in my time have often wonder'd to see a State so exalted and a Houshold so debas'd And indeed it is insensibly decay'd to that degree that some are in possession of the first Places of it who under the Reigns of your Predecessors durst not have presum'd to aspire to the least All things have been in confusion there from the Kitchen to the Cabinet Whereas in the King your Father's time the Princes the Officers of the Crown and all the Grandees of the Kingdom did commonly eat at your Tables in your time they seem only establish'd for Servants common Chevaux Legers and Gens d'â—â—rms Moreover they have been so ill serv'd that some of them have been so nice as to despise them instead of being fond of them Strangers have often found fault even with your own being serv'd by common nasty Scullions whereas those of other Kings are only serv'd by Gentlemen I am sensible that this Custom has not been introduc'd in your time but it is never the more tolerable for being ancient since it is absolutely derogating from the Dignity and Grandeur of so great a
have bought Places very dear should not be allow'd to sell them again but as it is impossible to make any Settlements of great use for the Publick without their being attended with some Inconveniencies for private Persons the said Inconvenience is not considerable seeing that as they did not buy their Places with an assurance of leave to sell them again like those Officers who pay an Annual Duty to the King they may be depriv'd of the Hopes they had fram'd to themselves without any Injustice And though some private Persons may find themselves griev'd by such an Alteration all the Nobility and the Greatest will find a notable Advantage by it in that whereas they were formerly oblig'd to sell a considerable part of their Estates to get Places which has often ruin'd the best Famiies of the Kingdom there will be no means left to expect them but Merit which will hinder them from ruining their Estate and will oblige them to acquire Vertue which is despis'd in this Age because the Price of all things only consists in Money Moreover there will be so many means to satisfie those who upon the account of any particular Consideration will deserve to be exempted from the general Rule That the Publick will receive the Benefit of the Advantage your Majesty will be pleas'd to procure them and yet such private Persons as might have cause to complain with Justice will receive no prejudice by it As it is impossible to question the Usefulness of these Propositions the Facility to put them in Execution is evident since as abovesaid it only requires a firm and constant Resolution in your Majesty to reap the Benefit of the same and to restore your Houshold to its former Greatness CHAP. VIII Of the PRINCE's Council SECT I. Which shews that the best Prince stands in need of a good Council IT is no small question among Politicians to know Whether a Prince who Governs a State by his own Head is more desirable than he who not confiding so much in his own Abilities relies much on his Council and does nothing without their Advice Whole Volumes might be compil'd of the Reasons which might be alledg'd for and against it But referring this Question to the particular Fact which obliges me to introduce it in this place after having preferr'd the Prince who acts more by his Council than by his own Opinion to him who prefers his own Head to all those of his Counsellors I cannot forbear saying That as the worse Government is that which has no other Spring than the Head of a Prince who being incapable is so presumptuous as to slight all Counsel the best of all is that of which the main Spring is in the Sense of the Soveraign who though capable to Act by Himself has so much Modesty and Judgment that he does nothing without Advice upon this principle That one Eye does not see so well as many Besides that Reason discovers the Solidity of this Decision Truth obliges me to say That Experience has convinc'd me so much of it that I cannot forbear affirming it without doing my self a Violence A Capable Prince is a great Treasure in a State a Skilful Council and such as it ought to be is no less considerable But the Concert of Both together is of an inestimable Value since thereon depends the Felicity of States It is certain that the most happy States are those in which Princes and Counsellors are the Wisest It is also certain That there are few Princes capable to Govern States alone and moreover though there were many they ought not to do it The Almighty Power of GOD his infinite Wisdom and his Providence do not hinder Him from making use in things which he might do by his bare Will of the Ministry of Second Causes and consequently Kings whose Perfections are limitted instead of being infinite would commit a notable Fault in not following his Example But whereas it is not in their power as in GOD's to supply the Defects of those they employ they must be very careful to chuse them as perfect and as accomplish'd as possible can be Many Qualifications are requir'd to make a perfect Counsellor nevertheless they may be reduc'd to Four viz. Capacity Fidelity Courage and Application which includes many others SECT II. Which represents what Capacity is requir'd in a good Counsellor THe Capacity of Counsellors does not require a pedantick Knowledge None can be more dangerous in a State than those who will Govern Kingdoms by the Maxims they find in Books They often ruin them thereby because the Time past has no relation to the present and that the Constitution of Times Places and Persons is different It only requires Goodness Steadiness of Mind Solidity of Judgment true Source of Prudence a reasonable Tincture of Letters a general Knowledge of History and of the present Constitution of all the States of the World and particularly of that in which they are Whereupon two things ought particularly to be consider'd The First That the greatest Wits are more dangerous than useful in the Management of Affairs unless they have a great deal more Lead than Quicksilver they are no ways fit for the State Some are fertile in Inventions and abounding in Thoughts but so variable in their Designs that those of the Morning and of the Evening are never alike and have so little connexity and choice in their Resolutions that they alter the good as well as the ill ones and never remain constant in any I may say with truth as knowing it by Experience that the Levity of such Men is no less dangerous in the Administration of Publick Affairs than the Malice of many others Much is to be dreaded from Minds whose Vivacity is accompanied with little Judgment and tho' those who excell in the Judicious part should not have a great reach yet they might be useful to States The Second Remark to be made on this Subject is That nothing can be more dangerous in a State than to give a great Authority to certain Men who have not Sense enough to Govern themselves and yet think they have too much to stand in need of any body's They are neither capable to take a good Counsel from their own Head nor to follow the Advice of those who are capable to direct them and thus they commit gross Faults Presumption is one of the greatest Vices a Man can be guilty of in publick Employments and if Humility is not requir'd in those who are design'd for the Conduct of States yet Modesty is absolutely necessary since it is most certain that those who have the greatest Parts are sometimes the least capable to admit Society and Counsel Qualifications without which even those to whom Nature has given most Knowledge are not fit for Government Without Modesty Men of great Parts are so wedded to their own Opinions that they condemn all others though better and the Pride of their natural Constitution being join'd to their Authority
absolutely necessary for the Conduct of States IT is a common but a very true saying which has ever been in the Mouths and Minds of Men that Punishments and Rewards are the two most considerable points for the Conduct of a Kingdom It is most certain that tho' no other Principle be us'd in the Government of States but that of being inflexible in Chastising those who act against them and Religious in rewarding those who procure them any notable advantage They cannot be Govern'd amiss since all Men may be kept within the bounds of their Duty either by Fear or Hope I place Punishment before Reward because that if there were a necessity to be depriv'd of one of them one might better dispense with the last than the first As good is to be imbrac'd for its own sake there is no Reward due to those who perform it taking it in the strictest Sence But as there is no crime which does not violate that to which Men are oblig'd there are none but what require the Punishment which is due to disobedience and that obligation is so strict that in many occasions a fault cannot be left unpunished without committing a new one I speak of faults which affect the State and are committed with premeditation and not of many others which happen by chance and by misfortune for which Princes may and ought to use Indulgence Tho' to Pardon in such cases is a laudable thing not to Punish a considerable Fault the impunity of which opens a door to Licenciousness is a criminal omision Theologians allow it as well as Politicians and all agree that on certain occasions in which the Prince would be to blame not to Pardon those who are intrusted with the Government of the Publick they would also be inexcusable if instead of a severe Punishment they should use Lenity Experience teaching those who have had a long practice of the World that Men easily lose the remembrance of Favours and that when they are loaden with them the desire of increasing them often makes them Ambitious and Ingrateful together shows us also that Punishment is a more certain way to keep Men within the bounds of their Duty since they are not so soon forgotten by reason that they make a stronger impression on the sences of most Men than Reason which has but little power over many To be severe towards Private Men who make it their Pride to despise the Laws and Ordinances of a State is to be kind to the Publick And the greatest crime one can be guilty of against the Interest of the Publick is to be indulgent towards those who violate them Among many Combinations Factions and Seditions that have been made in my time in this Kingdom I have never observ'd that Impunity ever inclin'd any one naturally to correct his evil Inclination But on the contrary that they return'd to their old Vomit and often with more success the second than the first time The Indulgency hitherto practis'd in this Kingdom has often reduc'd it to very great and very deplorable Exremities Faults not being Punish'd every Man has made a Trade of his Place and without regarding what he was oblig'd to do to discharge his Trust worthily he only consider'd what he could do to get the more by it If the Ancients have been of opinion that it was dangerous to live under a Prince who will remit nothing of the Rigor of Right they have also observ'd that it was more dangerous to live in a State in which Impunity opens a door to all sorts of Licenciousness Some Princes or Magistrates will be afraid of being faulty by too much Rigor who would be accountable to God and must needs be blam'd by all Wise Men unless they exerted that which is prescrib'd by the Laws I have often represented it to your Majesty and it is my humble Petition still that you would be pleas'd to remember it carefully by reason that as there are Princes who want to be persuaded from Severity to avoid Cruelty to which they are naturally inclin'd your Majesty wants to be diverted from a false Clemency more dangerous than Cruelty it self since Impunity obliges to use a great deal in the end which can only be prevented by Punishment The Rod which is the Emblem of Justice must never be useless I own at the same time that it ought not be so much accompany'd with Rigor as to be destitute of Goodness but that last qualification does not consist in the Indulgency which authorizes disorders which tho never so inconsiderable are often so prejudicial to the State that they may prove it's ruin If any are so ill advis'd in this Kingdom as to condemn the severity which is necessary in States because it has not been practis'd hitherto let them only open their Eyes and they will find that Impunity has been too common in it hitherto and the only cause that Order and Rule have not been observ'd and that the Continuation of Disorders obliges to have recourse to the utmost Extremities to put a stop to them The only Source of all the Parties that have been form'd heretofore against Kings has been their over much Indulgence Finally those who are acquainted with our History cannot be ignorant of this Truth of which I produce a Testimony which is the less to be suspected in this case because it is taken from the Mouth of our Enemies which almost in all other occasions would make it suspicious Cardinal Sapata a Man of good Sence meeting Baraut and Bautru in the King his Master's Antichamber a quarter of an hour after their having receiv'd the News of the Duke de Montmorency's Execution put this question to them Which was the chief cause of that Duke's death Bautru answer'd immediately according to his fiery temper in Spanish Sus falsas No reply'd the Cardinal Pero la Clemensia de lors Royes antepassados which was as much as to say that the Punishment of the said Duke was more to be imputed to the faults the King's Predecessors had committed than to his own In Crimes of State it is absolutely necessary to banish Pity and to despise the Complaints of persons concern'd and the discourse of an ignorant Multitude who sometimes blame what is most useful to them and often absolutely necessary Christians ought to bury the remembrance of private Injuries but Magistrates are oblig'd not to forget those which concern the Publick and indeed to leave themunpunish'd is rather to begin them anew than to pardon and remit them There are many whose ignorance is so stupid as to imagin that a new Prohibition is a sufficient remedy to any Evil but they are so much in the wrong that I may affirm with Truth that new Laws are not so much a remedy for the disorders of States as Testimonies of their Illness and certain proofs of the weakness of the Government by reason that had th' antient Laws been put in execution there would be no necessity to revive them nor
represent freely to Princes to what degree they are answerable before God when they give Places of great Trust out of pure favour which can never be possessed by mean Capacitys without prejudice to the State It is on the said Occasion we are oblidg'd to show that tho we do not absolutely Condemn particular Affections which have no other foundation but that natural Inclination which Men have rather for one Person than for another we cannot excuse Princes who suffer themselves to be prevail'd upon so far as to give those they Love thus Places in the administration of which they show themselves as prejudicial to the State as useful to themselves Those who have the happiness to Injoy the favour of Princes by the force of their Inclination must not be depriv'd of receiving Advantages from them tho they have not all the Qualifications requir'd to make them worthy of the same and the Public can not complain of it with Reason unless they are Immoderate But it is a sinister Omen for a Prince when he who is the most Considerable for his Interest is not the most consider'd by his Favour and States are never in a worse Condition than when the Inclinations the Prince has for some particular Persons prevail before the services of those that are more useful to the Public In such a Case neither the Esteem of the Soveraign nor the Affection one has for him nor the hope of reward do any longer excite Virtue Men remain on the contrary in an Indifference of Good and Evil and Envy and jealousie or Spite Induce all Men to neglect their Duty because that in performing it they have no prospect of reward A Prince who desires to be belov'd by his Subjects must fill up all the Places of Trust and the first Dignitys of his State with Persons so much esteem'd by every one that the Cause of his Choice may be found in their merit Such Men must be carefully sought after throughout the State and not receiv'd by importunities or chosen in the Croud of those who press most about Kings and about their Favourites If Favour has no hand in Elections and Merit be the Sole foundation of them besides that the State will be well serv'd Princes will avoid a great deal of Ingratitude which is often met with in certain Men who are the less grateful for the favours they receive in that they least deserve them It being most certain that the same Qualifications which render Men worthy of favours are the same which make them Capable and desirous to acknowledg them Many have good sentiments in the moment you Oblige them but the Constitution of their Nature sways them soon after and they easily forget what they owe others because they only love themselves and as Fire converts all things into its own substance they only consider Public Interests to convert them to their one advantage and equaly despise those who do them Good and the States in which they receive it Favour may innocently be allow'd in some things but a Kingdom is in a sad Case when the Throne of that false Goddess is raised above Reason Merit should always turn the Scale and when Justice is on our side favour cannot prevail without Injustice Favourites are the more dangerous in that those who are raised by Fortune seldom consult Reason and whereas it seldom favours their designs it proves commonly Ineffectual to stop the Course of those they form to the prejudice of the State In my opinion nothing is more likely to Ruin the most flourishing Kingdom in the World than the Apetite of such Men or the inordinate Passions of a Woman when a Prince is possessed by them I am the bolder in advancing this Proposition because there are no Remedies against those Evils but such as depend altogether on Chance and Time which often suffering the Sick to dye without any assistance must be look'd upon as the worst Physician in the World As the greatest Light in Nature cannot make the blind perceive one glimpse of their way so there is no Ray capable to unseal the Eyes of a Prince when they are seal'd by Favour and Passion Those whose Eyes are blinded can never make good Choices unless by Chance and therefore since the welfare of the State requires them ever to be made with Reason it also requires that Princes should not be possessed by Persons who deprive them of the Light they stand in need of to see the Objects which are put before their Eyes When the Hearts of Princes are ingag'd by such means it is almost Useless to do well because the Craft of those who are in possession of their Affections tarnish the lustre of the purest Actions and make the most signal Services pass for Offences Many Princes have undone themselves by preferring their particular Affection to Public Interest Such misfortunes have befallen some by the unruly Passions they have had for Women Some are fallen into the like Inconveniences by such a simple blind Passion they have had for their Favorites that in order to raise their Fortune they have ruin'd their own There have been others who having no natural Inclination for any thing have nevertheless been sway'd with so much Violence in favour of some particular Persons that they have occasion'd their Ruin Men perhaps will wonder at this Proposition which is nevertheless as True as it is easy to be conceiv'd and if Men consider that such Motions are distempers to the Minds that are influenc'd by them and that as the Cause of Feavours is the Corruption of Humors one may also say That those sorts of Violent Affections are rather Grounded on the defect of the Person in which we find them than on the Merit of those who receive the Effect and Advantage of them Such Evils commonly carry their Remedy along with them in that being Violent they are not lasting but when they continue they often occasion Death as well as the Feavers of that Kind or a want of health which is seldom repair'd afterwards The wisest Princes have avoided those divers kinds of Evils in making Reason the guide of all their Affections Many have cur'd themselves of them after having found to their Cost that unless they did it their Ruin was Inevitable To return precisely to the Point of the Question proposed in this Chapter the scope of which is to show how Important it is to discern those who are the fittest for Employments I will conclude it saying That since Interest is that which makes Men guilty of Male-adminnistration in the Places that are committed to them Ecclesiasticks are often to be preferr'd to many others in what relates to Places of great Trust Not that they are less subject to their own Interest but because they have a great deal less self Interest than other Men since that having neither Wives nor Children they are free from the Bonds which ingage Men most CHAP. VIII Of the Evil which Flatterers Detractors and Intriguers
Kingdom in that that tho the Levity of our Nation should make it incapable of making great Conquests their Valour would render them Invincible in their defence having considerable Places so well fortify'd and so well provided with all things that they may be able to show their Courage without being exposed to suffer great hard-ships which are the only Enemies they have to overcome A Frontier well fortify'd is capable either to discourage Enemies from the designs they might have against a State or at least to stop the Course of the same and their Impetuosity if they dare venture to do it by open force The subtil motions of our Nation stand in need of being secured against the Terrour they might receive in an unexpected attack if they did not know that the entrance into the Kingdom has such strong Ramparts that no foreign Impetuosity can be capable to take them by Storm and that it is impossible to overcome them without a considerable Time The new method of some of the Enemies of this State being more to starve the Places they besiege than to take them by force of Arms and to ruin the Country they invade by a great number of horse than to advance by degrees into it with a considerable body of Foot as was done antiently it is clear that Frontier Places are not only useful to resist such Efforts but also to secure States in the Bowels of which it is impossible for Enemies to make any great Progress if they leave Places behind them to cut off the communication of their Countrys and their Convoys together These considerations oblige me to represent that it is not sufficient to fortify Places and to put such Provisions and Ammunitions into them as may serve to resist brisk attacks but also to furnish them with all things necessary for a year at least which is a sufficient time to relieve them conveniently I am sensible that it is almost impossible for great Kings to provide many Citadels thus but it is not so with great Towns in which the Society of Men produces a great store of many things which a particular Governor cannot make a sufficient provision of and it is easie to oblige the Inhabitants to provide Provisions for a Year which will always suffice for six Months and more if they turn out useless Mouths as reason requires I am so far from pretending that this Order should exempt Princes from having publick Magazins that on the contrary I am of opinion that they can never have too many and that after having provided them they must establish such good Orders to preserve them that the Governors to whom the disposition of the same belongs may not have the Liberty to dissipate them in vain either out of negligence or a desire to convert them to their own Uses I do not particularly specify the Number of Cannons* of Powder and of Bullets and of all other Warlike Ammunitions which are to be put in every place because it is to be different according to their different Largeness But I will say that Provisions for the Mouth are not more necessary than those of War and that it would be to no purpose for a Town to be well stor'd with Victuals if they wanted what is absolutely necessary both to defend themselves and to annoy their Enemies seeing particularly that Experience showeth us that those whoshoot most commonly kill most when a Place is besieg'd one might better spare Bread than Powder The Antients having observ'd very well that the real Strength of Towns consists in the number of Men I cannot forbear adding that all Fortifications are useless unless the Governor and the Officers who command in a place have a Courage equal to the Strength of the Walls and Ramparts and unless the Number of Men is proportion'd to the Largeness of the place and the quantity of the Posts that are to be defended Experience has show'd us in divers occasions that the least Holds are impregnable by the steadiness of the courage of those who defend them and that the best Citadels make no great resistance when those that are in them have not a Courage suitable to their Force Therefore Princes can never be too careful in choosing those to whom they intrust Frontiers since the Welfare and repose of the State depends chiefly on their Fedelity and Vigilancy their Courage and Experience and that often the lack of one of these Qualifications costs millions to States if it does not prove the absolute cause of their Ruin SECTION IV. Of the Power a State ought to have by its Land-Forces This Section has several Subdivisions upon the account of the abundance of matter it contains which will be specify'd in the Margin THE most potent State in the World cannot boast of injoying a certain Peace unless it be in a condition to secure it self at all times against an unexpected Invasion or Surprise In order thereunto it is necessary that so great a Kingdom as this is should always keep a sufficient Army on Foot to prevent the designs which hatred and envy might form against its Prosperity and Grandeur when 't is look'd upon to be in a secure Repose or at least to stifle them in their Birth Who has Force has commonly Reason on his side and he that is Weak is commonly thought in the wrong in the Judgment of most Men. As a Souldier who do's not always wear his Sword is lyable to many inconveniences that Kingdom which do's not always stand on its Guard and keep it self in a condtion to prevent a sudden surprise is in great danger Public Interest obliges those who have the management of States to Govern them so as not only to secure them against all the Evil which may be avoided but also from all apprehensions of it As Reason requires a Geometrical Proportion between that which sustains and that which is sustained it is certain that there must be considerable Forces to sustain so great a Body as this Kingdom Those that are necessary to so great an End may and ought to be of a different Nature that is that among the Men design'd for the preservation of this State some must be listed to be ready on all occasins and others actually in Arms in order always to be in readiness to make a good defence In order to provide for the Frontier Towns and to keep a Body on foot to oppose all unexpected Designs it is necessary to keep at least four thousand Horse and forty thousand Foot actually in Arms at all times and it is easie without burthening the State to keep ten thousand Gentlemen and fifty thousand Foot listed ready to be rais'd on all Emergencies It may perhaps be urg'd that the Defence of the State does not require such great Preparations but whereas the said Establishment is so far from being a Burthen to France that on the contrary the Nobility and the People will receive a Benefit by it I say that
Country inclines them some times to take Arms against their King the Inconstancy and sudden Motions to which they are subject not permitting any body to rely upon them they do themselves more harm than they are capable of doing to their Country 'T is most certain that the Spaniards surpass us in Constancy and Steadiness in Zeal and in Fidelity for their King and Country but in exchange that Kingdom is so barren and so desart in some Places and so little abounding in Men that were it not for their Constancy it would often be abandon'd by it self Moreover if among the French some particular Persons ingage against their Master the Spaniards some times mutiny and revolt in Bodys in their Armys If the Emperor has the advantage to govern a Nation which is the Nursery of Souldiers he has the disadvantage that they easily change their Party and Religion together besides that they are very much addicted to Drunkenness and far more unrulythan ours in the Field In a Word all Nations have there defects and the most prudent are those who endeavour to acquire by Art what Nature has deny'd them It is more easy to add Flegm Patience and Discipline to the Courage Valour and Courtesy of the French than to inspire that Fire in Flegmatic Nations which they have not naturaly The French are Capable of every thing provided their Commanders are Capable to teach them what they are to do Their Courage which inclines them to seek out War all the World over Justifys this Proposition Since they live like Spaniards in their Armys like Sweedes in their Country like Crawats when they are listed among them and like Hollanders in their States They observe their several Disciplines which shows that if they keep their Natural Imperfections in their Country it is because they are tolerated and that their Officers do not know how to Correct them If they live in this Kingdom without Discipline it is not so much their fault as the fault of their Leaders who commonly content themselves with making fine Ordinances and do not take so much care as they should do to cause them to be observ'd Nothing can be more easy than to prescribe Rules to live well and nothing more difficult then to put them in practice however it is not impossible Endeavours must be us'd to show the Justice of them by reason and then no mercy must be shown to those who Violate them If one two or three Examples of Punishment do not put a stop to Disobedience the continuance of it will do 't and I dare assure your Majesty that if you find Chiefs worthy to command you will never want Subjects fit to obey It is most certain that the general Opinion of the World That the French are incapable of Rule and Discipline has no other Foundation than the Incapacity of their Commanders who do not know how to chuse necessary means for the Ends they propose The Siege of Rochel in which during thirteen Months an Army of 25000 Men receiv'd Orders and obey'd like Monks bearing Arms and the Expedition of Pignerol where they did the same plainly demonstrate what I have said But the General must be a Man of Resolution and no respecter of Persons and known to be so for it is certain that unless he has so much steadiness as to remain inflexible in the Rigor of the Rule he has prescrib'd no Man will think himself oblig'd to observe it or at least many will venture to break it in hopes of a Pardon But when a General persists as much in punishing as the Delinquents in their Faults his steadiness will stop the course of our excessive Levity and without such a Remedy it is in vain to expect to keep so hot and so impetuous a Nation as ours is within the Bounds of Reason The Punishments of Marillac and of Montmorency have reduc'd all the Grandees of the Kingdom to their Duty in an instant of time and I dare affirm that the same being practis'd against Ten Officers and Fifty Souldiers will maintain the Armys in Discipline and in a condition to perform whatever will be desir'd of them Punishing those thus who shall be wanting in the Performance of their Duty few Men will be punish'd since few will venture to expose themselves to ruin finding it inevitable and by the Death of a small Number the Lives of many will be preserv'd and Order observ'd in all things The Defects of this Nation never appear'd more than under your Majesty's Reign which being signaliz'd by great Prosperity and Power by your Conduct will also be signaliz'd in the opinion of the most judicious for many Insidelities you have suffer'd and by a World of Attempts against your Service After having made divers Inquiries into the Reasons of both I am not afraid of saying That they proceed from the Weakness of your Majesty's Minority during which Men have so insensibly accustom'd themselves to all sorts of Licentiousness that they thought they might continue the same under your Reign with the same Impunity as heretofore The first is that as there are more Colleges of Religious Orders more Officers of Justice and of the Finances than for the time past there are not near so many Souldiers for which reason the desertion of those who retire from the Armies is more apparent because there are not so many found as formerly to supply the room of those who forsake their Duty The second that Souldiers advanc'd their Fortune more formerly than in these Times in which the Officers of the Finances and the Partisans reap all the Fat to the great disgust of those who are constrain'd to expose their Lives almost to no purpose The third that Generals are less careful in our days of military Discipline and less severe in chastising those who swerve from it than our Fore-fathers were The fourth that the long discontinuation the French have had of Foreign Wars in which they had powerful Enemies to encounter had almost made them forget the Trade and disus'd them from the Fatigues they are little capable of tho they must go through many when they have brisk and potent Enemies to deal with I add to these considerations that your Majesty's health has not always permitted you to be in the Army and that the Injustice of the French is so great that they are never satisfy'd in a Place where they venture their Life unless they see their King whose presence they fancy does in some measure secure it None but the Enemies of this State can make War successfully by their Lieutenants the Flegm of their Nation gives them that advantage but the French are the most unfit for it of any other Nation because the eagerness of their Courage and the desire of fighting gives them an Impatience which can never be vanquish'd but by the presence of their King If at any time any great Enterprise has met with Success under Lieutenants it will either be found that those who
have had that good Fortune were Men of very great Authority by the Trust repos'd in them by their Master and by their particular Merit or that those Wars were not so lasting as to oblige them in overcoming the Enemies also to vanquish the humour of the French It is no small Trouble to me to be oblig'd in this Place to discover the defects your Majesty has often observ'd in your Nobility yet they are so public that it is impossible to conceal them The Affection I have for that Order obliges me to examin them to find out Examples and to endeavour to remedy the same The esteem they were in heretofore will hardly permit one to believe that they have committed faults on some occasions in your Reign but I will discover the reason of them to those who have beheld their Effects All Men easily apprehend that there is a great deal of difference between the Spirits which naturally ascend on high and the grosser Parts of their Bodies which remain below The excellency of the Nobility which love War are those Spirits which ascend on high esteem'd by all the World and those who only follow it because the Laws of this Kingdom constrain them so to do are if not the Lees at least the Wine which drops out of the Cask which is hardly fit for Servants There are no Communities in which there are not more ill Subjects than good ones and whereas a little Tare is capable to spoil several heaps of Wheat it is no wonder if when the Nobility is assembled the greater number corrupts the less tho better and as the best Wine mix'd with the Lees is nought so the Service of the best Nobility is not only useless but prejudicial when joyn'd with the Lees which alters it This Discourse ingaging me to speak of the Ban and Arriere Ban I cannot forbear saying that it is an Assembly of Gentry which having no Head with any Authority governs it self without Rule and lives without Discipline An Assembly the subsistance of which has so little certainty that the sickleness cowardice malice or disgust of three or four Persons is capable to dissipate it in a moment An Assembly which ruins the Places through which it passes far more than the regular Forces which ruining your Majesty's Country pay part of what they spend whereas those pay nothing at all They never perform any Guard in an Army which produces a double Ill Laziness and the Disgust it creates in others Unless they fight at their first Arrival as they are quick in coming they are speedy in going back and threaten it every moment in retiring they do not only debauch many by their ill Example but the most ingenious among them invent whatever Craft can suggest to cover their Infamy and to persuade that they do not retire without reason so that they both weaken and astonish Armies at one and the same time Your Majesty being much better acquainted with these Truths of which you have seen the practice than I am without insisting on the defects of an Order the Perfections of which I have represented my Conscience obliges me to declare freely that Princes must never have any recourse to such a Succour which is much more prejudicial than useful to the State But that this Kingdom may not be depriv'd of the Service of the Nobility which has always been the Principal Sinew of it and is oblig'd to serve it in time of VVar upon the accounts of the Fiefs which have been granted them on that condition and of the advantages they injoy over the People in time of Peace It will be necessary to tax all the Fiefs in every Bailwick according to their Revenue to form regular Troops with the said Money into which such as had rather serve in Person than to pay the Contribution of the Fiefs shall be admitted provided they ingage to perform the Conditions of their Obligation Prudence requires that Men should be imploy'd according to their capacity and that the defects of Nature should be supply'd by Art and for that reason it is necessary to make this use of the Body of the Nobility in order to derive some advantage by them Next to this Observation proceeding on I am oblig'd to observe that it is almost impossible to undertake great Wars with Success with the French alone Foreigners are absolutely necessary to maintain the Body of Armies and if the French Horse are good to fight there is no being without Foreigners to perform the Guards and to support the Fatigues of an Army Our Nation tho hot and eager in Combats is neither vigilant to guard it self nor proper to form Designs or Enterprizes which require toyl and labour One half of the French Armys were formerly Compos'd of Foreigners and we have experienc'd how advantageous it is to use them to supply the defect of our Nation besides that the good qualifications of those by whom we may be assisted may in some measure correct our Imperfections But whereas if we want well disciplin'd Souldiers steady and constant in their Duty we are yet in greater want of Commanders qualifi'd as they ought to be it will be needless to remedy one of these Evils unless we also correct the other There are but few of them in the World and less in France than in any other part who do not suffer themselves to be blinded by Prosperity and do not lose their Courage and Judgment in Adversity Nevertheless it is necessary there should be Men imploy'd in the administration of the State and in the Command of Armys free from these defects otherwise we should be in danger of never improving the favourable occasions which God may offer us and of being considerable losers by the first frowns of Fortune Tho the Head guides the rest of the Body and Judgment is the most Essential Part of him who Commands Nevertheless I prefer a great deal of Courage and Indifferent Parts in a General before a great deal of Wit and an indifferent Heart Many perhaps will wonder at this proposition because it is contrary to the opinion of many but the reason of it is Evident Those who have a great deal of Courage are never astonish'd in danger and make use of all the Wit and Judgment God has indued them with on such occasions whereas those who have but little Courage being easily astonish'd are so much dismay'd in the least danger that let them have never so much Wit it is absolutely useless to them fear not allowing them to Use it I make but little difference between giving the management of the Finances to a Thief and the Command of an Army to a Man of mean Courage As Avarice and the desire the first has of getting an Estate hinders him from improving the occasions to increase his Master's Fund so the second having a desire to preserve his Life and to avoid many Perils which are only such in his Imagination commonly loses and avoids many
upon their Heads which are attended with very ill consequences since it is certain that the Prince who exacts more than he should do from his Subjects only exhausts their Love and Fidelity which are far more necessary towards the Subsistance of the State and the Perservation of his Person than the Gold and Silver he may hoard in his Coffers I am very sensible that in a great State it is always necessary to have a Fund to supply unexpected occasions but that Fund must be proportion'd to the Riches of the State and to the quantity of the Coyn'd Gold and Silver which is in the Kingdom and unless it be regulated by that the Riches of the Prince would prove his Poverty since his Subjects would no longer have any Fund themselves either to keep up Trading or to pay the lawful Duties they owe their Sovereign As a Prince ought to be careful to lay up Money to supply the necessities of the State and Religious in preserving it when there is no necessity to lay it out he must be liberal in imploying it when Publick good requires it and in doing it in due time for delays in such cases are often dangerous to the State and time thus lost is never to be retriev'd We have examples of Princes who to preserve their Money have lost both it and their States together and it is most certain that those who lay out their Money with regret commonly spend more than others because they do it too late It requires a great deal of Judgment to know the most important hours and moments and some may be capable to lay up who not knowing how to lay out may occasion unutterable misfortunes But whereas general Maxims are always useless unless a proper application be made of them there now remains to see What the revenue of this Kingdom may amount to What the Expence of it may be What Fund is necessary to be kept in the Coffers and to what degree the People may be eas'd The Revenue of this Kingdom may be consider'd in two respects Either as it may be in time of Peace without altering the advance of Money which is drawn at present out of the general Receipts and Farms making no other augmentation save that which may be made in reducing the old Rents which will be preserv'd to six per Cent as well as the Salary of certain Officers who will rather suffer the Diminution of the same than the Suppression of their Places with reimbursements Oâ— as it may be in making certain alterations thought so reasonable and so useful by those in whose Hands I have seen the Management of the Finances that in their opinion no other opposition is to be fear'd but that of Novelty By the first Settlement the Exchequer mâ—y expect to receive 35 Millions of Livers yearly according to the following acâ—â—nt By the Taille 17 Millions 350000 Livers By all the Gabelles 5 Millions 250000 Livers By the Aids one Million 400000 Livers By the Reduction of Rents to 6 per Cent one Million By the Reduction of the Treasurers of France to two thirds of their Salary which they will willingly consent to provided they are freed from the new Taxes they are daily plagu'd with 552000 Livers Des Parties Casuelles which is the Income the King receives by the Sale of Offices and the Annual Duty paid him out of the same two Millions By the Farm of Bourdeaux 800000 Livers By 3 Livers per Muid of Wine for the entrance into Paris 700000 Livers By the ancient 30 Pence and the new addition of ten more for entrance upon every Muid of Wine brought into Paris 503000 Livers By the Farm of 45 Pence instead of the Tolls 503000 Livers By the 9 Livers 18 Pence per Tun of Picrady 154000 Livers By the Farm of Brouage 250000 Livers By the Exportation of Goods from Languedos Spices and Drugs from Marseilles and two per Cent from Arles 380000 Livers By the third additional Tax of Lyons 60000 Livers By the five great Farms two Millions 400000 Livers By the new Impositions of Normandy 240000 Livers By those of the River Lâ—irâ— 225000 Livers By the Farm of Iron 80000 Livers By the Sales of common Woods 550000 Livers By the Demeans 550000 Livers By the second Settlement discharging the People absolutely of the 17 Millions of Livers which the King receives at present by the Tailes the Receipt may amount to 50 Millions as the following account will clearly justifie By an Imposition to be put upon Salt or upon the Fens in all the Provinces of the Kingdom the King may receive all Charges being paid 20 Millions By a Penny per Liver upon all the Merchandise and Commodities of the Kingdom 12 Millions By the Aids one Million 400000 Livers By the Reduction of the price of the Rents constituted on the Hostel de Ville six Millions By the Reduction of the Treasurers of France 550 thousand Livers By the Income the King receives by the Sale of Offices and the Annual Duty paid him for the same two Millions By the Farm of Bourdeaux 1800000 Livers By the three Livers per Muid of Wine entrance into Paris by a new Imposition 700000 Livers By the ancient 30 Pence and the new addition of ten more for the entrance of every Muid of Wine into Paris 580000 Livers By the Farm of 45 Pence instead of the Tolls and Grants 530000 Livers By the 9 Livers 18 Pence per Tun of Piccardy 174000 Livers By the Farm of Brouage 254000 Livers By the Exportation of Goods from Languedoc Spices and Drugs from Marseilles two per Cent from â—â—ies 380000 Livers By the additional Tax of Lyons 60000 Livers By the five great Farms two Millions 400000 Livers By the new Impositions of Normandy 250000 Livers By those of the River Loire 225000 Livers By the Farm of Iron 80000 Livers By the Sale of common Woods 550000 Livers By the Demeans 550000 Livers Summ Total 50 Millions 483000 Livers I am very certain that this Settlement being well understood will be found just and reasonable by all those who have any Experience and Capacity in the direction of States Among the several super-intendants of the Finances in my time I have known some of the most learn'd in what relates to the Treasury who equal'd the bare Imposition upon Salt or upon the Fens to the King of Spain's Indies and who preserv'd that secret as the true foundation of the ease of the People of the Reformation and of the Wealth of the State And indeed let Men be never so dull they must needs be sensible that it is impossible to express the discharge and satisfaction the People would receive if they were allow'd to use Salt as they do Wheat every one buying no more than he thought fit and could imploy It is certain that the suppression which would be made of the great number of Officers which are established for the Imposition of the Salt and the deliverance of
their Price being as extraordinary as their salarys are Inconsiderable it would be an ill piece of husbandry to meddle with them upon the account of the present necessity When it will be thought fit to lessen the Number of them the best way in order thereunto will be to make so good a Regulation of the Paullette that the said Offices being reduc'd to a moderate Price the King may be able when they become vacant to Reimburse them to the owners and suppress them at once Neither do I as yet include in the number of the suppressions the Colleges of the King's Secretarys the Offices of the Treasurers of France and the Receivers General not upon the account of the smalness of their Profit which is pretty considerable but upon the account of the summs they have paid for the same which are not small Neither do I put in the old Rents which have been created in the time of your Majesty's Predecessors which are paid in the Office of the City of Paris both by reason that the actual summs disburs'd by the Purchacers are greater than that of all the rest and because it is fit that the interest of Subjects should in some manner be mix'd with those of their Soveraigns as also because they are devolv'd to several Religious Houses Hospitals and Communitys towards the maintenance of which they are necessary and that having been often divided in Familys they seem to be settled there in such a manner that it would be difficult to remove them without disturbing their settlements Nevertheless in order not to omitt any husbandry that may be made with reason to the advantage of the State I must observe two things in this place The first is that the Office of the Treasurers of France remaining a third part of their Salarys may be retrench'd since they will think themselves very favourably used in the general Reformation of the Kingdom if in securing them against all new Taxes their Salary is redu'd to two thirds of what they have injoy'd hitherto and had by their first Creation The second is that in not suppressing the Rents establish'd upon the Town House in the late King's time which are all Created at the rate of eight per Cent which will be the more reasonable in that as no private Persons do allow above six the owners of the said Rents settled upon the Town-House will by your Majesty's favour get two per Cent more in the injoyment of those of this Nature And as they will find an advantage by this the King will do the same by reason that the Rents charg'd upon the State will be more coveted than those of private Persons supposing they be paid exactly without any deduction as in reason they ought to be In order to pay the said Rents as well as the Salary of divers Officers either absolutely necessary or at least which cannot be suppressed in these Times I am of opinion that it will be fit to suppress thirty Millions out of the fourty five this Kingdom is at present charged with leaving the rest to acquit the remaining charges Out of the thirty Millions which are to be suppress'd there are near seven the Reimburstment of which being only to be made at the rate of five years Purchace the suppression of the same will be perform'd in seven years and a half 's time by the bare Injoyment of the same As many will be found out of the remaining twenty four which being to be reimburs'd at the rate of six years Purchace which is the Currant price of them will be suppress'd in eight years and a half 's time by the bare injoyment But whereas as abovesaid long Winded designs are not the safest in this Kingdom and that upon that account it is necessary to reduce all the suppressions which are fit to be made to a number of years not exceeding the compass of our Patience in order to accomplish the Reimbursments which will be undertaken at the same time in which the Rents which are sold at five years purchace will be suppress'd by the very income of the same an extraordinary Fund must be rais'd to the Value of a sixth part of the currant price of the Rents which amounts exactly to seven Millions once paid for the suppression of as much revenue To accomplish the suppression of the thirty Millions propos'd there still remains 16 to be reimburs'd which must be done at the rate of eight years purchace because it is the common price of them And whereas the reimbursement of those sixteen Millions cannot be perform'd under twelve years time by the bare enjoyment of the same and that it is necessary to shorten that time to reduce the said suppression to the term of seven years as well as that of the fourteen preceeding Millions out of eight parts three must be supply'd by extraordinary Funds amounting to 48 Millions Tho' the greatness of the said summ may surprize at first those who are acquainted with the facility of Affairs of that nature in this Kingdom will not question the feasibleness of the same considering that it is only to be paid in seven years time And Peace will be no sooner settled but the practice of Parties which is usual at this time to find out Money being abolish'd those who are bred in those sort of Affairs not being able to alter their former way of living all of a sudden will willingly convert all their Industry to destroy what they have rais'd by the same means they did use to establish it at first That is to extinguish and suppress by virtue of the Bargains they will make to that effect the Rents Rights and Offices the creation of which they have promoted by virtue of other Bargains Thus the Kingdom may be eas'd in seven years time of thirty Millions of common Charges which it bears at present The People being actually discharg'd of the 22 Millions of Taille which is one half of what they bear at present The Revenue of the Kingdom will be found to amount to 57 Millions as the following Settlement will justifie RECEIPT Of the Tailles 22 Millions Of the Aids 4 Millions Of all the Gabelles 19 Millions Of all the other Farms 12 Millions Total 57 Millions Out of which deducting 17 Millions which will be yearly put into the Exchequer the said summ must be look'd upon to be so considerable that there is no State in Christendom which lays up half so much all the Charges of it being deducted before If next to these suppressions which will make many persons liable to the Tailles without their having any reason to complain of it all Offices are suppressed which are officiated by Inrollment or by bare Commissions if the number of Notaries be regulated not only such as are Royal but those of common Jurisdictions it will ease the People considerably both in that they will thereby be deliver'd of so many leeches and that as there are upwards of 100000
Officers of this kind to be turn'd out those who will find themselves deprived of their usual imployments will be constrain'd to follow the Wars to ingage into Trade or to turn Labourers If in the next place all Exemptions are reduc'd to the Nobility and to the Officers in ordinary of the King's Houshold it is most certain that the Cities and Communities which are exempted the Soveraign Courts the Offices of the Treasurers of France the Elections the Salt Magazines the Offices of Waters and of Forests of the Demain and of the Tithes the Intendants and Receivers of Parishes which compose a Body of upwards of 100000 exempted persons will discharge the People of more than one half of their Tailles it being also certain that the Richest which are liable to the greatest Taxes are those who get exemptions by dint of Money I am sensible that it will be urg'd that it is easie to make such Projects like unto those of Plato's Commonwealth which tho' fine in his Ideas is a real Chimera But I dare affirm that this design is not only so reasonable but so easie to execute that if God pleases to grant your Majesty a speedy Peace and to preserve you for this Kingdom with your Servants of which I esteem my self one of the meanest instead of leaving this Advice by Testament I hope to accomplish it my self SECTION VIII Which shews in few words that the utmost point of the Power of Princes must consist in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts THe Finances being manag'd as above written the People will be absolutely eas'd and the King will be Powerful by the Possession of his Subjects Hearts who considering his care of their Estates will be inclin'd to love him out of Interest Formerly the Kings thought themselves so happy in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts that some were of opinion that it was better by this means to be King of the French than of France And indeed this Nation had formerly such a Passion for their Princes that some Authors praise them for being always ready to spill their Blood and to spend their Estates for the Service and Glory of the State Under the Kings of the first second and third Race until Philip le Bell the Treasure of Hearts was the only publick Wealth that was preserv'd in this Kingdom I am sensible that former times have no relation nor proportion to the present that what was good in one Age is often not permitted in another But tho' it is certain that the Treasure of Hearts cannot suffice at present it is also very certain that the Treasure of Gold and Silver is almost useless without the first both are necessary and whoever shall want either of them will be necessitous in Wealth CHAP. X. Which concludes this Work in showing that whatever is contain'd in it will prove ineffectual unless the Princes and their Ministers are so mindful of the Government of the State as to omitt nothing which their Trust obliges them to and not to abuse their Power IN order to conclude this Work happily I am now to represent to your Majesty that Kings being oblig'd to do many things more as Soveraigns than as private Men they can never swerve so little from their Duty without committing more faults of omission than a private person can do of commission It is the same with those upon whom Soveraigns discharge themselves of part of the burthen of their Empire since that Honour makes them liable to the same obligations which lie on Soveraigns Both of them being consider'd as private persons are liable to the same faults as other Men but if we regard the Conduct of the publick which they are intrusted with they will be found liable to many more since in that sence they cannot omit without sin any thing they are oblig'd to their Ministry In that consideration a Man may be good and virtuous as a private person and yet an ill Magistrate anâ—ilh Soveraign by his want of care to discharge the obligation of his Trust In a word unless Princes use their utmost endeavours to regulate the divers orders of their State If they are negligent in their choice of a good Council if they despise their wholsom Advice Unless they take a particular care to become such that their Example may prove a speaking voice If they are negligent in establishing the reign of God that of Reason and that of Justice together If they fail to protect Innocence to recompence signal Services to the Publick and to punish disobedience and the Crimes which trouble the order of the Discipline and Safety of States Unless they apply themselves to foresee and to prevent the evils that may happen and to divert by careful Negotiations the Storms which Clouds easily drive before them from a greater distance than is thought If Favour hinders them from making a good choice of those they honour with great imployments and with the principal Offices of the Kingdom Unless they are very careful to settle the State in the Power it ought to have If on all occasions they do not preferr Publick Interest to Private Advantages tho' otherwise never so good livers they will be found more guilty than those who actually transgress the Commands and Laws of God it being certain that to omit what we are oblig'd to do and to commit what we ought not to do is the same thing I must moreover represent to your Majesty that if Princes and those who are imploy'd under them in the first Dignities of the Kingdom have great advantages over private Men they injoy that benefit upon hard conditions since they are not only liable by omission to the faults I have already observ'd but also that there are many others of commission which are peculiar to them If they make use of their Power to commit any injustice or violence which they cannot do as private persons they are guilty of a sin of Prince or Magistrate by commission which their sole Authority is the source of and for which the King of Kings will call them to a very strict account on the day of Judgment Those two different kind of faults peculiar to Princes and to Magistrates must needs make them sensible that they are of a far greater weight than those of private persons by reason that as universal Causes they influence their disorders to all those who being submitted to them receive the impression of their movements Many would be sav'd as private persons who damn themselves as publick persons One of the greatest of our Neigbouring Kings being sensible of this Truth at his Death cry'd out that he did not stand in so much dread of the sins of Philip as he was apprehensive of the King 's His thought was truly Pious but it would have been much better for himself and for his Subjects to have had it before his Eyes in the heighth of his Grandeur and of his Administration than when in discovering the
pag. 171 Sect. I. Which sheâ—â—s that the best Prince stands in need of a good Council ib. Sect. II. Which represents what Capacity is requir'd in a good Counsellor pag. 173. Sect. III. Which represents the Integrity that is requir'd in a good Counsellor pag. 175. Sect. IV. Which represents what Courage and Foree is requir'd in a Counsellor of State pag. 181. Sect. V. Which represents what Application is requir'd in Counsellors of State pag. 184. Sect. VI. Which represents the Number of Counsellors of State that is requisite and that one among them ought to have the Superiour Authority pag. 191. Sect. VII Which represents what the King's Behaviour is to be towards his Counsellors and shews that in order to be well serv'd the best Expedient he can take is to use them well pag. 195. The second PART Chap. I. THe first Foundation of the Happiness of a State is the Establishment of the Reign of God pag. 2. Chap. II. Reason must be the Rule and Conduct of a State pag. 5. Chap. III. Which shows that Public Interest should be the only End of those who govern States or at least that it ought to be preferr'd to particular Advantages pag. 9. Chap. IV. How much Foresight is necessary for the Government of a State pag. 12. Chap. V. Punishment and Reward are two Points absolutely necessary for the Conduct of States pag. 16. Chap. VI. A Continual Negotiation contributes much towards the good success of Affairs pag. 24. Chap. VII One of the greatest Advantages that can be procur'd to a State is to give every one an Employment suitable to his Genius and Capacity pag. 32. Chap. VIII Of the Evil which Flatterers Detractors and Intriguers commonly occasion in States and how necessary it is to remove them from Kings and to banish them from their Courts pag. 38. Chap. IX Which Treats of the Power of the Prince and is divided in to Eight Sections pag. 45. Sect. I. The Prince must be Powerful to be Respected by his Subjects and by strangers pag. 45. Sect. II. The Prince must be powerful by his Reputation and what is necessary to that End pag. 46. Sect. III. The Prince must be Powerful by the force of his Frontiers pag. 48. Sect. IV. Of the Power a State ought to have by its Land-Forces This Section has several Subdivisions upon the account of the abundance of matter it contains which will be specify'd in the Margin pag. 51. Sect. V. Of Natural Power pag. 80. Sect. VI. Which Treats of Trade as a dependency of the Power of the Sea and specifies those which are most Convenient pag. 92. Sect. VII Which shews that Gold and Silver are one of the Principal and most necessary supporters of the State declares the means to make this Kingdom Powerful in that kind shows the revenue of the same at present and how it may be improv'd for the Future in discharging the People of three parts in four of the Burthen which overwhelms them at this Time pag. 140. Sect. VIII VVhich shews in few words that the uâ—most point of the Power of Princes must consist in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts pag. 132. Chap. X. Which concludes this Work in showing that whatever is contain'd in it will prove ineffectual unless the Princes and their Ministers are so mindful of the Government of the State as to omit nothing which their Trust obliges them to and not to abuse their Power pag. 133. THE END * Saxony first abandon'd the King of Sweden Brandenburg the Landgrave of Hesse several Hans Towns Wittemberg Parma and Mantua * The Judges Royal had already begun a little to affect the Cognisance of what only belongs to the Church under pretence of the possission of Benefices of which the Bull of Pope Martin given in the Year 1439. attributed the Cognisance to them * That first Regulation never had the Name End or Effect of Appeals * Ordinances of â—539 †The Word has its Original from the Practice of Attornics and Advocates who according to the Order of applying themselves before the Parliament by way of Appeal gave the same Name to the recourse Ecclesiasticks had there * Regulation of Church-Affairs * The like Remedy was practis'd 15 Years after the Pragmatical Sanction to stop the course of the Secular Judges Vsurpations over the Ecclesiastical furisdiction it was ordain'd That those who had a mind to get Letters out of the Chancery to oppose the Resâ—ripts and Letters of the Popes should â—â— oblig'd to quote evidently the means by which they did pretend to justifie that the Pragmatical Sanction was infring'd †Fifty Years ago this distinction of Priviledg'd Cases and of Common Trespasses was unknown to the Church Common Trespasses are all the Faults the Cognizance whereof belongs to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal * Agreement made between King Francis tâ—â— 1. and Pope Leo the 10. about Benefices * By Letters Patent of 1453. Charles the 7th granted that favour to the Holy Chappel injâ—â—ad of the Gift Charles the â—â—â— had made to them of the remainder of all the â—ccounts deliver'd in the Chamber which he desir'd to be employ'd for the Reparation both of the Palace and of the Holy Chappel * By the Edict of â—ebr 1569. †The Bishop du Bellay * The Deed begins with these words Dominus Rex †The Ordinance Dom Episcopus a â—cujus Episcopaâ—â—â— ubi Rex habet Regaâ—â—â—â— Philip the 4th in his Philippines of the Year 130â— uses these words Io â—â—quibus Ecclesâ—â— Regâ—â— Philip the 6th in his Ordinance of the Year 1334. speaks thus In the Bishopricks in which we have a Regalia Lewis the 12th in his Ordinance of 1499. cited by the first President Le Maitre We have and do forbid all our Officers in the Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbies and other Benefices in which we have no Right of Regalia or of Guard to establish any there on pain of being punish'd as guilty of Sacrilege Pasquier in the 3d Book of Enquiries chap. 13. The late King Henry the 4th by his Edict of the Year 1606. Art 17. We only design to enjoy the Rights of the Regalia as our Predecessors and our selves have done heretofore without extending the same to the Prejudice of the Churches that are exempted from it And that good Prince believing that the Parliament of Paris would judge to the contrary suspended all the Causes about the Regalia for a year by his Letters Patent of the 6th of Octob. 1609. The King now Reigning having inherited his Piety as well as his Kingdom declares by the Ordinance of 1629. Art 16. That he only designs to enjoy the Regalia as it has been done for the time past And the Clergy having complain'd that those Terms were not express enough H. M. order'd his Commissioners to make this Answer That the Ordinance being refer'd to that of 1606. those Terms were sufficient to satisfie the World that he did not desire to enjoy the Regalia in those