LETTERS WRITTEN BY A French GENTLEMAN GIVING A Faithful and Particular Account of the Transactions at the Court of FRANCE RELATING To the Publick Interest of EUROPE WITH Historical and Political Reflexions on the Ancient and Present State of that KINGDOM Communicated by Monsieur VASSOR LONDON Printed And Sold by R. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane 1695 THE CONTENTS OF THE First Letter INtroduction Page 1 An Account of some Considerations that might have deter'd the French King from imposing Arbitralily a General Poll-Tax on his Subjects Page 2 The Injustice of such an Imposition further demonstrated Page 3 That notwithstanding all these Reasons the Edict for that Taxation will pass at all adventures ibid. That the French are tamer Slaves than either the Romans of Old or the Danes at present Page 4 The Motive that makes the French King endeavour to enslave England and Holland Page 5 That the Poll-Tax is the last Refuge of the French Court Page 6 A Remark upon the Inscriptions on the Gates of Paris ibid. That the Poll-Tax will not raise such vast Sums as the Emissaries of that Court give out Page 7 That the Countrey is extreamly impoverished and the King's Revenues very much diminished Page 7 8 That the present Misery of the French Nation is too great to admit of any Alleviation from the Prospect of better times to come Page 9 That none dare presume to Petition the King to Assemble the Estates of the Kingdom ibid. That according to the Primitive Constitution of the French Government the Soveraign Authority was lodg'd in the States General of the Nation Page 10 That the Power of the Prince was limited among the ancient Gauls and other Northern Nations Page 11 That the French have still a just Title to their ancient Priviledges ibid. A Comparison between the ancient and present condition of the Princes of the Blood illustrated by some particular instances Page 12 13 An Account of the ancient Priviledges of the Dukes and Peers of France Page 13 That they had a right to oppose the unjust Designs of the Prince by entering into Leagues against him Page 14 The History of the League of the Publick Good against Lewis the XI Philip de Cominees Opinion of that Confederacy Page 16 That the same Custom was and is observed by several other Nations Page 17 That the present Dukes and Peers of France do only enjoy a shadow of the Priviledges of their Ancestors Page 18 Of the ancient Authority of the Parliament of Paris and of the gradual encroachments of the Crown upon it Page 18 19 An Exhortation to that Body to imitate the illustrious Example of their Predecessors and the chief President la Vacquierie under Lewis the XI Page 20 That the Courage of the Nation may be easily reviv'd by their Example Page 21 A brief view of the State of France with relation to Impositions under the Reign of several Princes Page 23 24 An Account of the immense Sums that are exacted by the Ministers of the present King Page 24 Of the stupidity of the French who strive to encrease the Power of their Oppressor ibid. That the Forces which the King maintain'd in time of Peace made him more terrible at Home than Abroad Page 25 That his present numerous Armies are more fatal to his Subjects than to his Neighbours ibid. The Conclusion Page 26 THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Letter OF the blind Submission of the Parliament of Paris to the Orders of the Court. 27 The present Misery of the French Nation compar'd with that of the Romans under Domitian 28 An Account of some extravagant Rhodomontadoes in the Preface to the French King 's late Declaration 28 29 Of the ridiculous Vanity of that Expression in it that the Glorious State of France has excited the Envy of its Neighbours 29 Of the true meaning of that Phrase 30 That it was the Injustice of that Monarch's Attempts that excited the indignation not the Envy of his Neighbours 31 Of the Glorious and Happy Condition of the United Provinces when they were invaded by the French King 31 32 Reflections on the unjustice of that War and on a Solaecism in a Letter from the French King to the States General 32 A Justification of the Medal that was the pretended Cause of the War 33 That the Prosperity of Tyrants ought not to be call'd a Blessing from Heaven upon them 34 Of the shameful Flatteries of the French Clergy and the juster sentiments of the Court of Rome 35 Of the prosperous Success of the Emperor's Arms in Hungary and the impious Designs of the Court of France during the Siege of Vienna 35 36 That in all the Wars since the Pyrenaean Treaty the French King has been always the Agressor and is guilty of all the Desolations and Blood-shed that has been occasion'd by them 38 Of the Difference between a Conqueror and a Robber 39. Of the Queen 's pretended Right to Brabant and Hainault of the Validity of her Renunciation and of the Injustice of the King's Irruption into the Spanish Netherlands in pursuance of that Claim 39 40. That 't is lawful to oppose a Neighbouring Prince who strives to aggrandize himself by unjust Methods 41 That 't was barbarous in the King to kindle a bloody War against the Hollanders meerly upon the account of a Medal which they also had taken care to suppress 42 Of the Intolerable arrogancy of some Parisian Inscriptions 43 Of the Satyrs of the Dutch Gazettier that provok'd the Court of France 43 The French King's Expedition against Holland compar'd with that of Theodosius against Antioch 44 That it was not a Zeal for Religion that prompted the King to invade Holland 45 That Subjects are obliged not to assist their Soveraign in the prosecution of an unjust War prov'd out of Grotius 47 That they ought even to refuse their Assistance when the Case appears doubtful demonstrated out of the same Author 48 That the Justice of the French King's Attempts must not be measur'd by their Success 50 That after all he had no Reason to boast of the Success of that famous Campagne 51 That he ow'd his Victories to the Skill and Experience of his Generals and not to his own Valour 51 Of the difference between Summer-Heroes and the pretended Heroe of all Seasons 52 That the French King acquir'd not any real and solid Glory at the Sieges of Mons and Namur 53 What Opinion after Ages will have of all his Victories and Conquests 54 THE FIRST LETTER SIR YOU are pleased to desire an Account of my Thoughts concerning that General Poll-Tax with which we are threatned And to invite me to make you the Confident of my Sentiments on this occasion you have said enough to convince me that I was not mistaken in believing that you agree with me in esteeming it our Honour to be of the number of those True Frenchmen who continue still to be Lovers of their Country For so long as there shall be Men of Sense and
Courage in France she will still retain some Foot-steps of her Dying liberty and we shall still preserve the Memory of our former Priviledges But you must give me leave to ask whether you have seriously consider'd how dangerously you expose both me and your self by engaging in a Correspondence concerning so nice a Subject as that of the Government We are scarce allow'd the liberty to think And what Persecutions may we not fear if it should be discover'd that we have taken the freedom to speak our thoughts nevertheless if you have the Courage to neglect this Consideration I am resolv'd not to give you occasion to accuse me of Cowardice only let us endeavour to manage our Correspondence with so much caution as to hinder our Letters from being intercepted You cannot be perswaded to believe that the King's Ministers will ever advise him to impose that General Poll Tax which is so much talk'd of For this you say would be no less than to deprive us of the only shadow of Liberty that we are suffer'd still to enjoy What Shall the Princes of the Blood the Nobility the Officers of the Crown and all the Gentry be Tax'd like Peasants Shall the Clergy be Rob'd of its noblest Priviledge Shall the Inhabitants of Paris and of all the chief Cities in the Kingdom lose that alone of all their Rights which they have been able to preserve hitherto No the Consequences of such an Attempt are too visible and would be too fatal in the present posture of our Affairs At least you add it is not credible that the King will adventure to Publish a Declaration that may open the dullest Eyes and even cause a general Insurrection without calling an extraordinary meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and the Officers of the Crown and without going himself to the Parliament to acquaint them with the Reasons that oblige him to impose a Tax upon his Subjects that will compleat the subversion of this State and to hear the Remonstrances which that Wise and Illustrious Assembly would not fail to offer to him on such an important occasion This is a step you conclude so contrary to the Maxims that the King has always follow'd since he began to Govern by himself that they would rather endeavour to find out a Thousand other ways to defray the Charge of the War than reduce him to an extremity that would vex him more than all the disappointments that he has met with from the obstinacy of the Confederates to refuse the Dayly Proposals of Peace both in General and Particular which he causes to be offer'd to them I acknowledge Sir that your Reflexions are just and reasonable and you might have added that the Estates of the Kingdom ought to have been assembled and their consent obtain'd For if it be true what * l. 5. c. 18. Philip de Cominees asserts that no King or Potentate in the World has a right to exact a Penny from his Subjects without the Advice and Consent of those that are to be Taxed unless in his own Demeasns and that all Impositions that are levied without these Conditions are the effects of Tyrannical Violence If it be true that M. Colbert and the rest of that Tribe who to testify their Zeal and Affection to their Master have perswaded him that he has a right to all our Estates have made him odious and terrible to his Neighbours who would chuse any Misery rather than that of being his Subjects If it be true that there was a time when the King 's of France dar'd not to say I take what I will and am Master of all If all this I say be true may we not hope that the King who would appear to have so great a Sense of Religion will assemble the Estates of the Kingdom to consult with them whether it be necessary to continue the War and whether it be more conducive to the publick Good to harass all his own Subjects than to do Justice to the Confederates In the mean time Sir I can assure you that neither your Reflexions nor mine will hinder the King's Council from imposing the Poll-Tax and I 'm even perswaded that there will not be the least motion made to call a Meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and Officers of the Crown much less will they desire the King to give himself the trouble to go in Person to the Parliament and least of all will they have the Confidence to lay before him the necessity of summoning a Convention of the Estates Not long ago a certain Lady who shews a wonderful concern for the Preservation of the King's Health grumbled at all those who represented to the King the miserable effects of the Famine in Paris and other Places She ask'd them whether they came with a design against the King's Life And who then could be so hardhearted as to desire the King to expose himself to the danger of hearing the Remonstrances of his Subjects concerning the deplorable condition to which the Kingdom is reduc'd This would certainly afflict the good Prince more sensibly and sooner break his tender Heart than all those stories of his Poor languishing People that wander about the Streets of Paris and are forc'd to rake the Dung-hills for Dead-Horses wherewith to fill their raging Stomachs We study to imitate the Example of those Romans mentioned by * Annal. 1. 3. Tacitus Princes Dukes and Peers Officers of the Crown Bishops Gentlemen Magistrates of the Sovereign Courts and all of us together are posting to Slavery and that with so much eagerness and haste as if we strove to out-run one another We think to please the King but I durst swear that he and his Minister do in their Hearts hate and despise us and that they insult over us as Tiberius over his base and flattering Senate O homines ad servitutem paratos There is not one amongst us that ever saw the Days of Liberty The form and mildness of our Ancient Government is lost yet all our Care is to flatter our Prince and to obey him blindly We laugh at the folly of the Danes who have divested themselves of all their Liberties and lodg'd an Arbitrary Power in their King 's We I say who are more ridiculously mad than they who tho' we have not given the King any one Authentick Title to our Priviledges do yet tamely stretch forth our Necks to receive a heavier Yoke than that of the Danes or rather a Yoke that is more cruel and insupportable than that which the Grand Signior and Great Mogul impose upon their Slaves At last the fatal time is come in vain we expect to see better Days We have put on a Chain that will grow Dayly more insupportable We are not so much as suffer'd to speak of Liberty and they would hinder us too from seeing it enjoy'd by others A great Man who Commanded the Roman Armies in Britain thought it
takes them you may assure your self that it will take them oftner then we desire This is the most certain mark of our Servitude the French Nation has lost both its Honour and its Liberty neither can I think of any Remedy for so cruel a Disaster Let us try the Virtue of those Maxims that we find in our dear Tacitus * Ulterior a mirari praesentiae s qui. Tacit. Histor l. 4. A Wise Man says he may admire the Happiness of former Ages but he bears present Misfortunes with Patience †Bonos Imperatores volo expetere qualescunque tolerare Idem We ought to wish for good Princes but must bear with such as we have ¶ Ut Steriltatem â—imios Imbres caetera Naturae mala ita Luxum vel Avaritiam Dominantium tolerate 8. d neque haec con inua meliorum interventu pensantur Idem The Reign of a bad Prince is like a Year of Dearth and Famine and our Miseries in this World are not Eternal For as the next good Year makes amends for our former losses so a Tyrant is sometimes succeeded by a good Prince Thus we may comfort our selves with hopes of better times under the Dauphin these Maxims I confess are not very proper to satisfie Men in our circumstances but they are the best that I am able to suggest to you Shall we entreat the King to call a general Meeting of the Estates of the Realm But who will undertake to present our Petition to him Shall the Princes of the Blood There is not one among them that durst offer the least Remonstrance to His Majesty shall the Dukes and Peers of France or the Officers of the Crown They might expect to be immediatly rewarded with a lodging in the Bastile and there are too many base compliers with the Times who would offer their Service to drag them thither Shall those of the First Order in the Church The Court has found out a way to make sure of them the Clergy has contributed already vast Sums and 't is said that several Millions more will be demanded of them shortly Should the Parliament of Paris deliver our Address they would instantly be interdicted and the Heads of that Assembly would be punished as seditious Traytors should it be presented by the Inhabitants of Paris and the rest of the great Cities we should see Gibbets erected in every corner of the Streets and the Troops of the Houshold sent to devour 'em Our Poor and Ill-paid Officers would barbarously pillage the Houses of those Persons who could be accus'd of no other Crime than of endeavouring to preserve that little remainder of Liberty which they seem still to enjoy I had the fortune some Days ago to be in a Company where they talk'd variously concerning the late Revolution in England A Man of Sense who is perfectly well acquainted with the Ancient and Modern History of France demonstrated plainly that our Government was formerly like to that of England and that the Sovereign Authority was properly lodg'd in the Meeting of the Estates There Laws were made there the most important Cases were decided and such Subsidies as were judg'd necessary for the Defence of the Kingdom were granted the King had no more Power than what was sufficient to enable him to cause the Decrees of those Assemblies te be put in Execution and to attend diligently to the Security and Preservation of the State These are obvious Remarks which every one that reads our Ancient Histories thô but with a very moderate degree of Application cannot fail to observe Such were in effect the inviolable Maxims of the Gauls and of the Northern Nations from whom both we and the English are descended * Servirent Syria Asiaque suetus Regibus Oriens multos adhuc in Gallia vivere ante tributa genitos Tacit. Hist l. 4. Let the People of the East who are accustom'd to the Despotic Government of their Kings submit to the Roman Yoke said a great Man among our Gauls we will not follow their Example We can still remember a time when we paid no Tribute †Libertatem Naturâ mutis Animalibus datam virtutem proprium hominum bonum Idem ibid. Nature made the Beasts free as well as Men with this only difference That Men are endued with Virtue and Courage to preserve their Liberty The Hollanders have not yet forgot the Heroical sentiments of their Country-man but we alas lose the Memory of 'em Dayly * Nec Regibus infinita aut libera potestas Tacit. de moribus Germanorum The Northern Nations never suffer'd their King 's to assume an Arbitrary and unlimited Power †Auctoritate suadendi magis quam jubenâ—i potestate Idem ibid. their Princes govern rather by Perswasion than Force ¶ Regnantur paulo addictius quam ceterae Germanorum gentes nondum tamen supra libertatem Idem ibid. And even such of those Nations as were under the severest Government did still enjoy a great deal of Liberty To all these Observations my Friend added one more that since we have not like the Danes renounc'd our Liberty we may lawfully endeavour to shake off the Yoke that is imposed upon us For there is no just Prescription against the fundamental Laws of a State But how reasonable soever these Remarks be they appear so new and so surprising to certain Persons that they imagine it to be no less ridiculous to talk of assembling the Estates at this time of the Day than it would be to perswade them to resume the Ruff and Bonets that were used in the time of Francis the First These are obsolete Stories say they and we do not so much as remember that ever there were Estates in France 'T is true replied one of our Friends angrily we forgot that we are French-men and we shall forget too e'er long that we are reasonable Men. The Romans said one of their own Emperors * Nec totam servitutem pati possunt nec totam libertatem Tacit. Hist lib. 1. are no longer capable of enjoying a full and entire Liberty thô they were again put in possession of it nor will they bear too heavy a Yoke is it possible that we should be already more accustom'd to Slavery than a People that had serv'd such Masters as Tiberius Caligula and Nero I 'm perswaded the King will never give such advice to the Dauphin as Galba did to him whom he thought to make his Successor No care will be taken to sweeten our Bondage we are such tame Slaves that Policy would be lost upon us The Princes of the Blood are by their Birth chief Counsellors of State their Advice ought to be taken on all occasions that relate to the Interest of the Kingdom such as the making of War and Peace entering into Leagues raising of Subsidies and the like It were easy to prove this by our Histories and by the Edicts of our King 's But now the Face of
common and so full of Glory that it will be the greatest Embellishment of the History of this Age and the admiration of all that shall succeed it Lewis the Great took Forty Cities and made himself Master of Maestricht after a Siege of Thirteen Days but what was the fruit of all his Victories and what did he retain of so many Conquests but an exhausted Kingdom Peopled with Beggars Is not this the only instance of a Prince that was Honoured with Triumphal Arches for ruining his own Subjects The taking of Valenciennes Ypres and Cambray were Actions that had a juster Title to the proud name of Conquests The Empire Spain and the States General of the United Provinces had form'd a Confederacy against the King and had often alarm'd him with Potent Armies Let us do justice to the Merit and Experience of the late Prince and of the Mareschal de Turenne who were only able to preserve us in such an Extremity They alone merited the Honour of Statues and Triumphal Arches and to have their Names inscrib'd on our Medals The pretended Glory of Lewis the Great is only a reflected Splendor which he ows to the Valour and Experience of his ill rewarded Generals and to the Skill and Dexterity of his Two Ministers one of which made it his business to find out ways to squeeze Money out of miserable Wretches while the other provided well-stor'd Magazines that the King's Army might be in a condition to enter upon Action before that of the Enemies could be drawn out of their Winter-quarters It was certainly a very prudent Advice that of M. de Turenne to keep all things in a readiness for the early opening of the Campagn And 't was by a careful observance of this Maxim that France broke the measures of the Confederates and obtain'd an advantageous Peace But I maintain that a Prince who aggrandizes himself meerly by such Politicks does not deserve the name of a Conqueror The Alexanders Scipios Pompeys and Caesars of those celebrated Glories of Antiquity took other Methods to acquire Honour than those that are now in fashion among our Heroes of all Seasons This is one of those splendid Titles that the Sappho of our Age bestows on the King And you know this thought was esteem'd very ingenious and fine Did ever any of those Summer Heroes which are plac'd so far beneath the Heroes of all Seasons content themselves with seizing on a Town that could not be reliev'd did ever any of them forsake their Arms immediatly after such an inglorious Expedition or Post back to their Mistresses as soon as the Enemies began to appear and leave the care of engaging with them to others Let the Gentlemen of the French-Academy rack their mercenary Fancies to embellish their fulsom Panegyricks with new Hyberboles it will be for ever acknowledg'd by those who are willing to do Justice to true Merit that the Duke of Orleans acquir'd more solid Glory of the Siege of St. Omer and the Battel of Cassel than the King by the taking of Cambray Ypres and Valenciennes and if you please to add Mons and Namur By coming out of his Lines meeting the Enemy gaining a Battle and afterwards taking the Besieg'd Town he merited far greater Honour than the King by all that he perform'd before Mons and Namur Instead of advancing to meet the Confederate Forces that appear'd towards the end of the Siege of Mons which they could not possibly relieve the King with all his jolly Troop made haste back to his dear Verfailles and arriv'd there with Men and Horses that were as fresh and unfatigu'd as those that had not begun to march The taking of this important Place was a Blessing from Heaven on the Providence of M. Louvois and skill of M. de Vauban rather than on the Valour of the King or the Justice of his Arms. The next Year he took Namur in sight of the Confederate Army but he was cover'd by an Army greater than theirs during the Siege of the Castle which was an advantage that the Duke of Orleans had not at the Siege of St. Omer He was forced to come out of his Lines and Fight the Enemy An instance that cannot be pararel'd in all the glorious Life of Lewis the Great Where shall we find a Homer to celebrate our new Achilles But we may trust that care to himself he will not suffer future Ages to lose so great an Example he has hir'd his Chroniclers already and carries them always about with him that they may be Eye-witnesses of all his Glorious Exploits But all in vain our Posterity will easily discover the Truth and pull of the disguising Vizard of Flattery And perhaps some Historian may luck in a Garret that will inform them after what manner Lewis the Great took so many Towns and gain'd all his Victories And even I am very much afraid that they will Read the Histories of the King as we Read the Books of those infamous flatterers who prais'd Tiberius and Nero and that they will have the same regard to all our Medals and Triumphal Arches that we have to those which remain of certain Ptinces whose Vanity we mock and despise I have not time to send you my Reflexions on the present Was but you may expect them by the next occasion Adieu Paris Jan. 23 1695. FINIS