the litigious Pettifogging their Cheating and Extortion That the King has dissipated above two Thirds of the Coined Money of the Kingdom as well by exhausting the Price as by transporting it out of the Kingdom and besides that has devour'd two Thirds of the Plate within these 40 Years That he has devour'd the Estates and Lands of Cities Corporations and particular Persons by re-uniting them to the Crown Demeasnes That he has devour'd several Hundreds of Millions which he extorted from those that were call'd Partisans who were Farmers of his Imposts whom he despoil'd and robb'd after they had robb'd others That the Kingdom of France is dispeopl'd within these Forty years above half in half but chiefly within these ten Years That there are in the Armies of the King of France between six and seven Hundred Thousand Men including in the Number a hundred or a hundred and twenty Toll-gatherers and Subsidy Collectors and are thus numbred 50000 Horse 18 Dragoons 33â—000 Foot 30000 belonging to his Artillery and Provision and Ammunition Waggons and 50000 in his Fleets and Gallies and above 100 or 120 Camp-Varlets which make up the number of 700000 Men the greatest part of which are Un-marri'd That there are destroy'd and die every Year few less than a Third part of these Men according to the Lists of Recruits which are so many Females excluded from Marriage And that at the end of 10 Years Marriage being so much hinderd above the half of any numerous Nation will come to be destroy'd That the Lives of all the People lost within 10 Years according to the Estimate which is made of Men and Women Slaves in Algier amounts to several thousand Millions That from the Example of Paris where this Depopulation is least discern'd the rest of the Kingdom must be extreamly dispeopl'd That he is very well inform'd that there are fewer People in Paris by a Third part than there were about Twenty years agoe and that they live in extream Misery there notwithstanding the multitude of Coaches and the great Court That the Houses for the generality still retain above half the value of their ancient Hire but that the Rent is ill Paid and several of the Houses stand empty that the Tradesmen die there for hunger That there are hardly any Lacquies Clerks Proctors or young Barbers to be seen as being all consum'd by the War and that all the rest of the Cities and Towns of the Kingdom are in a worse Condition That there may be still near Ten Millions of Souls in the Kingdom and that within the last ten Years the number has lessen'd between 4 or 5 Millions That by the number of Parishes which are Twenty Seven Thousand compar'd with the number of Men not Marry'd which are in the War or in the number of Collectors that there ought to be 22 Men and one fourth in each Parish one with another That France can never recover it self though the Government should be chang'd without a long Peace and unless she abandon her Conquests and Usurpations by reason the Manufactures are carry'd into Foreign Countries the half of the People destroy'd the Money wasted the Funds charg'd with more Debts than they are worth because the vast Army of Toll-gatherers and Collectors is not dismiss'd the Sale of Offices and Employments is not suppress'd and because all those Officers drain'd exhausted and samish'd will lie sucking the People to the very Marrow as well as the Court otherwise who can believe though Trade were once again restor'd that France can always raise the same Summs which she has done for a long time unless these Maxims of Injustice and Violence be restor'd with which she is over-whelm'd That the Money is extreamly diminish'd in France For that for a long time the King purchas'd the Alliances and Amities of all Princes corrupted their Ministers and other Counsellors paid large Pensions to make them declare for France or only remain Neuters expended upon Spies both great Ones and those of lesser Note considerable Summs sent Armies out of the Kingdom into the Service of other Princes purchased Cities and strong Holds as Dunkirk and Casal the Garrison of which Place stands him in a great deal of Money every Year as also Pigneroll The Huguenots have carry'd out Thirty Millions The Horses sent for every Year out of Germany Switzerland and other Places since the War cost at least Six Millions every Year each Horse brought from thence being Valued at 20 Pistols a piece for that there are no Breeds of Horses in the Kingdom by reason of the incredible Poverty of the People that cannot compass it to have Stocks before hand That in Gold-lace Embroidery Cloth of Gold Fringes and Gilding there are wasted in France above Ten Millions of Livers in that Metall and in England more adding withall this Sentence Ambitiosa Paupertate perit Gallia Through ambitious Poverty France is ruin'd And in this is shewn the Blindness of the English Nation who complain of the Transportation of their Money and that it is scarce while they themselves in ten Years destroy as much Silver by this means as there is Money in the Kingdom That all the Money which France raises by Contribution does not exceed for or five Millions of France which is not above the Fortieth or Fiftieth part of her Expence That the Trade which remains behind is very little That the Profit by Privateers is not considerable Lastly That the War beyond Comparison does less mischief to the Confederates than to France That the Confederates for the most part gain by this War That Germany in general draws great Advantages from it though several Princes and States suffer by it and that those Advantages advance to a considerable Value That the Advantages will far surmount the Disadvantages which Holland receives thereby and that at length she will gain much more than she does at present and will get a large Interest by the principal Summs she now disburses That Spain will also be a gainer though she loses at present That the D. of Savoy will find his Satisfaction for that he loses and will lose much less being United with the Confederates than if he had clos'd with Lewis XIV upon the Conditions which he propos'd for that then he had been despoi'ld past recovery in regard that France never keeps her Word But that England gains more than any of the Confederates though many People will not believe it That in time of Peace ten Thousand English as well Masters as Servants travel into France who spend three times as much as the Revenues of Scotland and Ireland their Expence reckoned at a 100 Livers Sterling a piece one with another They get for the most part above a Million Sterling by the Baubles of Paris and that now they get but little by the Manufactures of Goldlace Silk large Hats French Glass Woodden-Combs Paper Linen which are settl'd here by the favour of the War by the Salt Brandy Sider and Bere
doe it was by the same Article concluded and promised as follows His Majesty will no farther meddle with that Affair and obliges and engages Himself and promises upon his Honour and upon the Word of a King for Himself and his Successors not to give unto the said Kingdom of Portugal either in General or to any Persons in particular of what Dignity State Condition or Quality soever they be now or hereafter any Help or Assistence Publick or Secret Directly or Indirectly of Men Arms Ammunition Victuals Ships or Money upon any pretence or any other thing whatever either by Land or Sea or in any other manner As also not to suffer that any Levies of Men be made in any parts of his Kingdom or Dominions nor to grant Passage to any that may come from other States to the Assistence of the said Kingdom of Portugal One would think that nothing could have been more authentickly expressed or in terms more clear or more particular beyond the power of Nicety to find a flaw or to make any other interpretation of the words contrary to the sense and meaning of the Parties at that time And yet the Most Christian King found out a way to fail in all the Points and all the circumstances of his Promise For notwithstanding his Honour and the Word of a King before the Treaty was sign'd Cardinal Mazarine sent privately the Marquess of Cheases into Portugal to assure them that tho' in order to the conclusion of the Treaty then on foot with Spain the French were forc'd to leave them out and to engage not to assist them yet whatever they promis'd they would never forsake them but would still protect them against Spain as they had done before And they kept their word with Portugal because it was to the prejudice of Spain To which purpose the Peace was no sooner concluded but they suffer'd several Bands of Soldiers secretly to convey themselves into Portugal which being complain'd of by the Marquess De la Fuente such was the Punic Faith of France that openly they sent Publick Orders to the Governours of their Ports not to suffer any Soldiers to embark for Portugal but underhand gave them other Orders to let them pass by way of connivance Soon after M. Turenne made publick levies of Men for the relief of Portugal which the Spanish Ambassador representing to the Council of France receiv'd a cold and scornfull answer that it was a particular Act of Marshall Turenne wherein the Court was no way concern'd Nor did the French cease to furnish the Portuguieses with Corn and all sorts of War-like Ammunition and Provision Moreover Letters were intercepted by the Spaniard by which they were ascertain'd that all along after the Peace was concluded the French fomented and encourag'd the obstinacy of the Portuguieses and diverted them from accepting the advantageous conditions that were offer'd them by animating them with the hopes of potent Succours not only for their own defence but also to carry an offensive War into the heart of Spain Other Letters were likewise intercepted Written from the Arch Bishop of Ambrun and Monsieur Lienne confirming the continual correspondence which was between them in favour of the Portugals Nor was this all for the D. of B. was presently after the Treaty sent to lie with the French Fleet upon the Coast of Portugal and stay'd there a whole Summer to secure the coming and landing of Provisions and Ammunition of which the Portuguieses were then in extream want and this at the same time that the French offer'd to mediate an Accommodation between Spain and Portugal Nor was it long after the conclusion of the Pyrenaean Treaty that Monsieur Colbert made several Voyages into Portugal to encourage them against the Spaniards and to enter into secret Alliance with them And sometime after the Spaniards took a French Vessel wherein was found an account of the succours which France had sent from time to time into that Kingdom by which it appear'd that France had paid at her own expence a standing Army in Portugal to support a War against Spain And to compleat her Perfidy at length she concluded a League offensive with that Kingdom of which these were the principal Conditions That they would be the Friends of each others Friends and Enemies of each others Enemies England only excepted That France should furnish them with as many Men as should be necessary to carry an offensive War into Spain both by Sea and Land and should advance by way of Loan the one half of the Pay for the maintenance of the Auxiliary Troops That France moreover should pay them every Year by way of Loan the summ of 300000 Crowns and that all the Ports which should be taken from the Spaniards upon either Sea should be put into the hands of the French and that they should not treat either of Truce or League without joynt consent This League to continue Ten Years By so many several Instances let all the World be judges how little credit there is to be given to the Punic Faith of France or what any other Prince can expect from his Honour or his Promises in any matter whatsoever who thus foully forfeited such a most Solemn Engagement to the Crown of Spain For that a Treaty carry'd on between two Princes in order to a Marriage which is one of the most Solemn Negotiations that can be handled among Men and confirm'd by an Oath sanctifi'd with all the most sacred Mysteries of Christian Religion for a punctual obligation of performance should be thus inhumanly violated is not to be parallell'd by any Example or Instance in History That noble example of the Roman Consuls who bid Hanno not to fear the Publick Faith secur'd him is a thing of late unknown in France where there is no security or trust in the Honour or Royal Promise of the Prince For his truth to Portugal was only self-interest to support the Portuguieses against Spain as formerly the French were wont to league with Scotland against England so that whether the Character of Amurath the first Emperor of the Turks who is said to have been Homo fallax qui datam fidem ex opportunitate proferendi imprimis metiebatur bella pace simulato Egregius may not fitly be apply'd to the Most Christian King is left for them to determine who have felt the smart of his broken Leagues which brings us to the second Breach of the Pyrenaean Treaty It is said and acknowledg'd by the Plenipotentiaries in 33d Article of that Treaty that the particular Capitulation of Marriage between the French King and the Eldest Daughter of Spain bearing date with the General Treaty was of the same force and vigor with the Treaty of Peace as being the chiefest part thereof and the most worthy as well as the greatest and most precious Earnest of the security of its Duration The Queen Mother of France and Aunt to the Infanta desiring nothing more than the happy and
that notwithstanding the considerable Advantages offer'd them to treat separately they would not so much as lend an Ear to any Proposition of that Nature France on the other side had always kept on Foot a private Negotiation which nevertheless the Dutch had all the Reason in the World to suspect because of the continual Posting of Curriers between Paris and London However France confirm'd them so authentickly in a contrary belief and gave them such positive Promises that she would never hearken to any Proposition unless in a joint Assembly for a General Peace that she order'd the Count D' Estrades that in Case the States would not give Credit to what he assured them as an Ambassadour he should quit that Character for so long time and pawn his Faith to them as a Private Person A great honour indeed to the Count d' Estrade to have the Reputation of a Person that would not tell an untruth but under the Character of a Publick Minister of France and that the Probity of his Person was above the Dignity of his Employment Though had he been so improvident to have been bound for his Master he must certainly have answered both the Principal and Interest for certain it is that England and France concluded the Peace without the consent or so much as the knowledge of the States neither did France make any mention of them or their Interests or of any reserve or relation to the General Peace But that which was more surprizing was this that after the French King had thus concluded a private Peace with England notwithstanding he had promis'd the King not to exercise any Act of Hostility against him he us'd all his endeavours to oblige the Dutch to put forth their Fleet to Sea engaging to join with them and agreeing upon all the Conditions necessary for that purpose A double headed piece of Treachery fit to be recorded to the Eternal Infamy of the Faith Breaker If we look into Sweden we shall find that she was consider'd as more potent than Denmark and therefore a League was clapt up with them to prevent the Danes assisting Holland and by that League the King of Sweden was to receive by way of Pension or Gratuity Sixteen Hundred Thousand Crowns But the French upon second Thoughts finding the Treaty with the Sweeds to be of little use to them refus'd to ratifie it and sent away Monsieur Trelon to tell the King of Sweden in short that his Master declard it void a quick and Majestick way to rescind a Treaty at any time If we remove into Poland there you shall find no body more busie than the French King's Ambassadors at the Elections of the King to procure the choice of such a one as may be tack'd to his Interest or at least such a one as may have no kindness to the House of Austria and all this to enable him the more to disturb the Peace of the Empire In pursuance of which ungodly designs under a pretence of Advancing the Affairs of Poland and settling a perfect Amity with that Kingdom the French King contriv'd a Marriage for the Polish Prince with a Lady of France By which means he had a fair opportunity to send thither as her Attendents and for the more Splendor of her Fame so many expert Instruments of Mischief that immediately they form'd and settl'd a Cabal with such Intrigues as in a short time enflam'd the Nobility of that Kingdom into Animosities and Factions not likely to be so soon again extinguish'd And at that time they wrought so far that the King soon after became willing to resign the Kingdom upon which the Turk seeing the great Divisions that were rais'd among them was the more easily allur'd in by the French Cabal who procur'd by Versallian's directions that Mischief partly out of revenge because they could not compass another King either of French Bloud or French Interest at the next Election and partly because the New King had contracted a Marriage with the Emperour's Sister And now Poland by reason of its Situation being sheltered under the Wings of the French Ambassador is fix'd upon by the French to convey themselves from thence into Hungary and the Ottoman Port for the better and more easie carrying on their Intrigues between France the Male Contents and the Turk And first it appear'd by several Letters dispersed both in Constantinople Transilvania and Hungary that upon the 30th of December 1681. the War was resolv'd upon and Sworn to against the Emperor in the Serraglio of Constantinople in the Holy Council call'd the Divan where the Mufti High Priest of the Mahomitan Religion sits President Which sufficiently laid open the Authors and Procurers of that War and clearly shew'd that the French were not asham'd as if it had been a famous Action in them to take advice of the Divan and applaud the success of the Negotiation as they did in their Letters written backwards and forwards to the Rebels in which they congratulated with the Rebels for having drawn the Rebels to their Succour they promis'd each other in their Letters all the Advantages they could expect which aim'd at no less than to have driven the Emperor out of the best of his Dominions It was known that such of the Hungarians as were forc'd to run their Country for conspiring against the Emperor liv'd only upon such supplies of Money as they receiv'd from the French to the end they should not be constrain'd to make their Peace with the Emperour whose Clemency they were made believe extended no farther than to offer it so that they resolv'd to prosecute their Enterprize upon the Promises that were made them from France Which was the reason that Akakia renewed and confirm'd more powerfully than ever the League and Alliance with the Male-Contents in Hungary The French Emissaries also without any shame of violating the Law of Nations and in Countries where the Solemn Treaty of Peace was in full force though they had been manifestly discovered in a secret Conspiracy run on afterwards more than ever with an unparallell'd Impudence as if all things had been lawfull for them to act without controul An Hunderd Thousand Florins were ordered at Paris to foment the Discontents of the Hungarian Rebels and quicken the Motion of the Turks which summ was deliver'd at Dantzick and paid into the Hands of a Banker who afterwards deliver'd it into the Hands of the French Emissaries at several Payments the better to hide the Business And the Sieur du Vernay Boucauldi Count Teckely's real Spie caus'd to be deliver'd to the Sieur Valentine Nemessan 11300 Duckats to oblige the Male-Contents to take Arms again and attack the Cittadel of Zatmar after the French Mode that is to endeavour to gain the Garrison or Citizens with Money These Tricks of the French Emissaries were so well known that the Princess Radzivilliana forbad the suffering any French to pass through her Countrey of Saculia fearing lest they should as in other
THE Germane Spie Truly Discovering the DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE KINGDOM and SUBJECTS OF THE French King BEING An ABSTRACT of the several Years Observations of a Gentleman who made that the Peculiar Business of his Travels WITH A Continuation of Christianismus Christianandus LONDON Printed for Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1691. THE Germane Spie TRULY DISCOVERING The Deplorable Condition of the Kingdom and Subjects of the FRENCH King A Certain German Gentleman a Subject to one of the Northern Princes a Person of great Uunderstanding and no less devoted to the good Cause being returned some Weeks ago by the Way of Italy from the Kingdom of France where he Travell'd a long time and took an extraordinary Care to inform himself of all things with an admirable Exactness has imparted to us in his own Language a Writing containing several Remarks of considerable Importance which he made upon the present State of France of which we find it to be our Duty and for the Interest of the Publick Good that the Nation should be inform'd To which effect we immediately with great diligence set our selves to Translate the same And this we do so much the more willingly because we find that several Persons have form'd in themselves such an advantageous Idaea of the Power of France by reason of the taking of Mons and Nyssa that we deem'd it proper to disabuse those People and all others that are led into the same Errour Our Author begins with a Discourse of the Beauty of the Country and Temperature of the Climate the goodness of the Fruits the agreeable Dispositions and Politeness of the Inhabitants and their Assability towards Strangers which in truth is very great and after he has entertain'd the Reader for some time with these things he tells us That the Miseries of those People are not to be express'd That there is not any Nation under Heaven so oppress'd even in a time of Peace neither excepting the Muscovites nor the Turks and that those distressed People are reduced to such a Condition of Poverty that though the merciless Exactors exercise in those Places ten times more Cruelty than an Hostile and Victorious Army is wont to do upon a People newly subdu'd nevertheless the King is not able to raise the half of his ordinary Imposts which he rais'd about three Years agoe because the People have no Money and for that the Kingdom lies so like a Desart in many Places That this Year there will be a Failure of above Thirty Millions upon the Score of Non-ability to pay That all Manufactures are at a very low Ebb as those of Silk Linen Paper c. And that all the Artificers are either dead or in the Wars and that their Trade is absolutely ruin'd as well by Land as Sea as well without as within the Kingdom and that Lewis XIV receives but very little Money by it Which is the reason he has been constrain'd to have recourse to violent Means which are never made use of but when the State is ready to perish such as are the Creation of a great number of new Officers the Borrowing of Thirty Millions the Augmentation of Officers Fees for large Summs the extraordinary Taxes upon the Clergy his Command to sell a great part of his Plate and the enhauncing the Value of Money by which means the King has rais'd above a Hundered Millions without which he could not have paid his Men this Year That all Provisions for the Belly as Corn and Wine are sunk above the sixth part of the Value which they were formerly worth and much less than what they cost the Husbandman That they who have Lands to Let cannot find Farmers and that the Houses tumble down and the Lands lie untill'd That they who have Offices have no Profit by them That they who have Money due cannot get the Interest of their Money iâ— a long time unless they be such who have lent Money to the King some years agoe because he thinks thereby to oblige all those that have Money to lend it him That all the Subjects of that Kingdom in general are all equally ruin'd as The Church-men who formerly were very Wealthy and Powerfull but now their Lands and other Estates no longer yeild 'em any Mony And for the inferiour Clergy they have nothing to doe for they neither Marry nor Baptize nor Bury all the Men being kill'd in the Wars The Grand Nobility live onely upon their Pensions and Court Employments The Gentry are a Body the most miserable in the World and which ought to curse the Reign of this King The Officers of Justice of the Politick Government and the Finances receive no Benefit either by their Estates or Emploiments and yet the King loads them every day with new demands The Universities Colleges and Academies for Riding Dancing and Exercise of Arms are all so low that the Masters die for Hunger That whereas prudent Princes never make War but with one Part of the Revenue of their Subjects and never Conquer but to Enrich and People their Dominions Lewis XIV has devour'd in War three Fourths of all the Funds of the Kingdom and is hastning to eat up the Remainder and that his own Subjects are a thousand times more miserable than the People which he has Conquer'd as appears First In that the Lands and the Houses one with another are not worth above the fourth Part of the Revenue of what they were worth besides that there is no Rent to be seen and to fell them they would not yield a sixth part That there is a fourth Part of the Houses that fall to ruin and a fourth Part of the Lands that are thrown up That the Husbandman who formerly gained 8 Sous a day living in the Country now gets not above two and that pay'd him in Corn of which a Bushel that was formerly commonly worth 30 Sous is not worth above five or six and withall that there is very little Corn in the Kingdom take it in general That by consequence the King has devour'd all the Money that was due to the Rich Men of the Kingdom by the Loans of Money to particular Persons and this exceeds above a third Part of all the Stock of the Kingdom For Lands Houses and Rents being eaten up the Mortgages must fail That he has several times devour'd the Offices and Employments of the whole Kingdom which he sold at dear Rates and which were to him instead of a Grand Principal Substance which produc'd nothing to the Officers That all these Offices of Judicature Civil Policy and the Finances could not have cost less than eight hundred Millions and that the small Wages which they receive from the King are swallow'd up in the Taxes which they pay from time to time That the innumerable multitude of these Offices and of their exorbitant Prices is such that these People having but small Wages and ill Paid cannot drain less than a hundred Millions a year from the People by
Victories as if by Conquering the Land the French did not at the same time become Masters of the Havens Rivers and Fleets of the Dutch And yet such was the vast Predominancy which French Treason and the hidden Conspiracies of French Counsels had over these great Politicians and the Asscendent which they had over the King of England that he was so kind to the French King for setting him together by the ears with the Dutch that he sent him his Vice Admirals and other Sea Officers to encourage and promote the setting out of his Fleets and in pity of their want of experience in Sea Affairs took his raw Seamen by the hand train'd them up in his own Fleets among the best of his Seamen and taught them that skill which the English had been many Ages a learning and all this in hopes to enable the French King to assist him in beating his best and most secure friends wherein the French according to their wonted Treachery fail'd him too when they were put to the Tryall All the World would have thought the King should not have so soon forgot the Punic Faith of France in their kindness to his Person while he was abroad in Exile among them or if then they might pretend the Interest of their Kingdom and palliate their faithless and inhumane Dealing with him by necessity of Self preservation yet no such necessity constrain'd him to forget the French King 's opposing his Restauration with so much violence as he did and his Caballing with his greatest enemies to keep him out of his Kingdom more especially since he was then so sensible of it when it was recent in his Memory that upon his coming into England he commanded away Monsieur Bourdeaux the French Ambassadour and would not suffer him to come into his presence But the Most Christian King knew full well how to work himself again into the King of England's favour and at length by throwing a French Dalilah into his embraces quite cut off the Locks of the British Sampson All on a sudden France seem'd to be remov'd into England nothing but French Baubles and Gugaws pleased our English Gentry A French Faction prevailing at Court French Mountebanks for Physicians French Fashions French Hats French Lackeys French Fidlers French Dancing-Masters French Tooth-Drawers French Barbers French Air in our very looks French Legs French Compliments French Grimaces and French Debauchery to fit us for French Slavery And had the French Disease been then unknown in England 't is to be questioned whither it would not have been entertained with as general a Consent as the Sichemites submitted to the Pain of Circumcision though to the hazard of being all destroy'd by the French Simeon and Levi while sore and driveling under the Distemper Nor is it to be doubted but the French Christianity would have as easily made tryall of such a Design as they did of the rest of their Tricks had they thought it would have taken effect It is well known that before the first Dutch War was entred into the King of England sought to make Alliances with France and Spain but the Spaniards were so Cock-sure of the French Promises that they would not make any Approaches to Friendship with England without the giving up of Dunkirk Tangier and Jamaica As for the French a Project of a Treaty was offer'd them and promoted with all earnestness by the Lord H s at Paris but it was plainly discern'd that the principal designs of the Most Christian King was only to draw the King of England into such an Alliance as might advance his design upon Spain and therefore so soon as he had set the Dutch and us together by the Ears and saw that thereby the Balance of Europe was broken he no longer minded Alliance with England But after many Proposals of Leagues and many Arts used to highten the jealousies between Us and the Hollanders he at last sided with the Dutch though to so little purpose that his Intentions plainly appeared to be no other than to see the two most Potent Obstacles of his Ambition destroy one another to the end he might with less Opposition invade his Nighbours and increase his own Naval Strength Nay the Juggle went much farther for that in the heat of all the War he still kept Negotiations on Foot and made overtures and proposals of Peace by means of the Queen-Mother whom in the end he so far and so treacherously deluded as to ascertain her and by her means to assure the King of England her Son that the Dutch would not set out any Fleet the ensuing Summer and yet underhand press'd the Dutch with all the Vigor and Importunity imaginable to fit out their Men of War again with a promise rather than fail that he would joyn his Fleet with theirs against the English Now it was upon a Supposal that the Most Christian King was at that time a good Christian and true to his Word in pursuing his pretended Proposals of Peace and upon that faithless French Paroll it was that the King of England put forth no Fleet to Sea that Year upon which followed that Fatal surprize of our Ships at Chatham then which a greater Dis-honour never happened to the Nation since the memory of History But at last as we had been oblig'd to the Craft and Treachery for the War and the Shame we received by it so we were glad to receive the Peace that ensued from his favour which was concluded at Breda between England France and Holland By this Treaty of Breda the French were oblig'd to restore St. Christophers to the English in the same manner and form as is exprest in the Articles but instead of performing their Engagement according to the true intent and literal meaning of the Articles they from time to time upon several unjust and frivolous Pretences deluded and delay'd the English Commissioners that were sent to take Possession of it till finding there was a necessity to comply with us in so small a matter while we were preparing to venture a second quarrel in their behalf it was at last surrendred after four year's baffling to Sir Charles Wheeler However to shew the perfidiousness of French dealing before they deliver'd it they destroyed all the Plantations laid the whole Island waste and left it in a much worse condition than if it had never been planted And as if the seizure and detaining of the King of England's Territories had not been sufficient they interrupted also the Trade of his Subjects in those Parts and assuming to themselves the Sovereignty of those Seas would not suffer any Ships but their own to sail either by or about those Islands but as if it had been Criminal so to doe took and confiscated several Vessels upon that account From all which a Question will arise easie to be resolv'd whither any thing be recorded of the old Carthaginians more perfidious than this and whether the King of England might not have expected more
given to my Words After that having made his demands he again calls Jupiter to Witness and thus proceeds Si ego injuste impieque illos homines illasque res dedier Nuncio Populi Romani Exposco tum Patriae Compotem me nunquam sinas esse if satisfaction were not given by the Prince or People to whom he was thus sent within three and thirty days the Fecial return'd again and denounc'd War after this manner Audi Jupiter tu Juno Quirine Diique omnes coelestes vosque terrestres vosque inferni audite Ego vos testor Populum istum injustum esse neque jus persolvere c. Thus the more noble Heathen Romans before they invaded the Borders of their Enemies invok'd the Gods to Witness the Justice of their Cause and the Wrongs and Injuries of those that had incens'd them to take Arms. On the other side the Most Christian King not regarding either God or Man unexpected unprovok'd nay after he had given assurances that he had no such design in his thoughts thunder'd into his Neighbours Territories under the Protection of League and Amity and like a sudden Tempest with Sword and Fire levels all before him Burgundos Fraude Petivit Such an Ignoble and Unprincelike way of entring into Hostility as looks more like Robbing upon the High-way than a generous Method of War For that it was a base and ignominious surprizal against the Faith and Honour of a King besides the Breach of Treaty is apparent from two Circumstances the one that pass'd at Paris between the French King himself and the Marquess De la Fuente Extraordinary Ambassadour from Spain who being upon his return into Spain upon the Death of the Old King and not a little apprehensive and jealous that the vast Preparations made in France were intended against the Queen and the Young Prince was very importunate with his Most Christian Majesty to give some new and greater Assurances to the Queen of Spain of the reality and sincerity of his Intentions though it were but only to quiet and settle her mind against all the contrary Advices she receiv'd from all Parts Upon which the Most Christian King with all possible Asseverations engag'd his Faith and Royal Word to the Queen in the Person of her Ambassadour that he would religiously keep the Peace and continue a most faithfull Friendship both to Her and her Son Another circumstance was that of the Arohbishop of Ambrun who after the French Army was already in the Field and had possess'd Charleroy some four or five days before the News of it came to Madrid protested and vow'd in Verbo Sacerdotis and by all that was Sacred among the Roman Catholicks that his Master intended nothing less than what was reported of him and that he would never break with the King of Spain nor invade his Dominions as long as he was under Age. And when the March of the French Army and the Hostilities which they committed so little agreed with the Promises of the Most Christian King answer was made that it was no Breach but only a taking Possession of what belong'd to him But the only way to surprize Men is to take them unprovided and the only way to take them unprovided is to swear with all the Asseverations imaginable that you never intend to doe them any harm And this is one of the Most Christian Kings ways of making War upon his Neighbours so far from giving them thirty three Days Notice of his coming that he will hardly allow them thirty three Minutes But it is a meanness in a Prince instructed by so great a Tutor as Mazarine to be a slave to his Word for which reason Fides Gallica is of late become Fides Punica no sooner given but as soon broken True it is that the French Academy has been long endeavouring to refine their Language by leaving off the use of some obsolete Words by introducing others of a new Coyn and enriching it with several quaint Expressions of a fresher Date but how they could alter the signification of Words and call War by the name of Peace is a thing not easie to be understood And therefore it were to be wish'd they would explain to the World what they mean by the word Rupture and how they can make a violent Invasion with Men and great Guns to agree with the Observation of a Treaty which forbid all manner of Attempts by armed Force and was stipulated and contracted to no other end but to prevent them That they would explain which way it is possible for Peace to consist with the Fatal effects of War and how it is to be imagin'd that wanting the Formality of a Herauld to Proclaim the Hostility it should lose all its Terrors and Injustice since most Men of ordinary Reason believe that to be a Rupture which opposes the very Essence and Being of the Peace ranverses the very Foundations and discomposes all the Harmony of it Now the Causes that mov'd the two Crowns to make the Pyrenaean League were the desires of the Welfare repose and ease of their Subjects The effect was to put an end to the many mischiefs of the War to forget and extinguish all the Causes and Motives which occasion'd the War and to establish a Sincere Entire and Durable Peace between the two Kings and their Successors All which was ranvers'd by the first Invasion of the Spanish Netherlands which disturb'd the Welfare and repose of the People renew'd the Publick Calamities and rekindl'd all the Causes of the past Wars But to come to Particulars the abandoning of Portugal was one of the essential Fundamentals of the Peace without which it never could have been treated nor concluded In reference to this the Sixtieth Article runs thus For that His Majesty meaning the Most Christian King hath foreseen and fear'd lest such an Engagement should be an unsurmountable Obstruction to the conclusion of Peace and consequently reduce the two Kings to the necessity of a parpetual War And a little lower in the same Article he goes on in these Words Although in consideration of the Peace and considering the absolute necessity his said Most Christian Majesty has been in to perpetuate the War by the Rupture of the present Treaty which His Majesty found to be unavoidable in case he would have any longer insisted upon prevailing in that affair with His Catholick Majesty to have obtain'd other conditions than such as he offer'd In the second place it is plain that the King of Spain to shew how resolv'd he was that France should abandon Portugal rejected the French King's offering besides the places he was bound to restore by the present Treaty to his Catholick Majesty all the rest of the Places and Conquests generally made by his Arms during the preceding War provided that the Affairs of the Kingdom of Portugal might be left in the same condition as they were then as by another part of the same Article it appears So that when nothing else would
suitable Union of two Persons that were so dear in her Affection to remove all impediments and dispell the doubts and scruples of the Spanish Counsel found out an expedient that by the contract of Marriage the Infanta should absolutely renounce all manner of Right or Claim which she might for ever have to the whole or any parts of the Spanish Succession under any Pretence or Title whatever to the end the Spanish Monarchy might in no case be liable either to Foreign Subjection or to be Dismember'd And they were more inclinable on both sides to this expedient because the way had been open'd for them before by the Example of the Queen-Mother whose Renunciation was of the same Nature with the Pyrenaean both in form and substance and grounded upon the same incompatibility of the two Successions The King of Spain believing the same sincerity in others as in himself hearken'd to the offer and thought that with such a precaution he might reconcile the Spanish Law with the Salique and fully secure the Liberty of his Subjects France on the other side acknowledg'd the thing to be just and usual and freely consented to it for the sake of the general good that should result from such a Peace and confirm him in the possession of so many conquests Thereupon the Instrument was drawn up by consent and the French King oblig'd himself to ratifie it Whence it is plain that the Renunciation was an essential Member of the Peace the very Soul and an inseparable condition of the Treaty of Marriage without which it never had been projected nor concluded and consequently neither the Treaty of Peace Then again that it was no private Act but a Law and Pragmatick Sanction establish'd by joynt consent of the two Crowns is as clear from the words of the Act it self And in the fifth and sixth Articles of the said Treaty it has been decreed and resolv'd by joynt consent that is to say of the two Kings and with one will after serious consideration c. that both my self and the Children which God shall give me by this Marriage are and shall remain uncapable disabl'd and absolutely excluded from any right or hope to succeed in any of the Kingdoms States Signiories c. And a little lower condescending to this with the joint desire and earnest wishes of their Subjects Vassals and Natives who desire that it may have the force and vigour of a Law and Pragmatick Sanction and that it may be receiv'd and observ'd as such and some lines lower in the following Section are added these words And it shall be decreed by joynt consent that it is their Majesties Pleasure that this Act shall have the force and vigour of a Law Establish'd in favour of their Kingdoms and the publick interests of them A little above the three moving causes are specifi'd And in regard it concerns the Publick State of both Crowns that being so large they may never come to be united together and to prevent all occasions that may happen of joyning them c which is more fully explain'd two Pages lower And having joyntly regard to the Publick and Common Good of the Kingdoms which God has entrusted him with which together with these belonging to the Crown of France are equally interested in this that the Grandeur and Majesty which they have upheld and maintain'd for so many Years together with so much Happiness and Glory to the renown of their Kings may not be diminish'd nor fall to decay as of necessity they will diminish and fall if by the means and cause of this Marriage they shall happen to unite and be joyn'd together in any one of the Children and Successors the ill consequences whereof would cause such discontents and afflictions to the Subjects as ought to be consider'd Then the causes of the Renunciation are express'd to be the publick good of the Kingdoms the preservation of the Grandeur and Glory of their Majesties to prevent the discontents of the People and the Inconveniences which might otherwise arise and to facilitate for the future the Marriages between the Children and Successors of the two Princes All which causes being in their own nature unalterable and of necessity absolute could not be fasten'd upon any particular Act nor limited to any testrictive conditions This League therefore thus grounded upon these Foundations were such Limitations and bounds to a Person aspring to the Universal Monarchy of Europe as were not to be fenced in with the common Ties and restraints of Oaths and Treaties And therefore so soon as the Old King of Spain was dead the French Lawyers well understanding the humour of their Sovereign and preferring the little Quirks of Law before the Publick Faith started up a claim for their King in the right and behalf of his Wife the Infanta notwithstanding her Solelmn Renunciation which was made a Member of the body of the Treaty and as sacredly sworn to by the French King himself pretending that a great part of the Spanish Low Countries was devolv'd to him in her Right by the Municipal Laws and Local Customs of those Countries Whereas it is a thing well known that when Sovereign Princes enter into Treaties which are indeed the true and only Laws between Monarchs they are regulated and confirm'd according to the Law of Nations common to all and being so to be understood it is an idle thing for Civilians to imagin that a consideration of Laws Municipal or customs belonging to any particlar Country under the Dominion of either of the Treating Princes can be admitted to the overthrowing of a Treaty or the depriving either of the Parties of the Benefit and Security which he has thereby But notwithstanding the Renunciation was so carefully Penn'd as if a whole Grand Council of Civil Lawyers had been call'd to out-doe all former Terms and expressions us'd in such Contracts and to find out new binding Clauses to prevent all possibility of Evasion the French King was more easily induced to believe that his own great Cannon-Law was above all other Law and more consentaneous to his Reason and hâ—s Designs and therefore against the very sense and end of the Renunciation under the slight pretence of a Non-Entity he betook himself to force and violence and with a powerfull Army fell on a sudden upon Flanders and other parts of the Spanish Territories with such an Inundation of War that it was impossible for the unprovided Spaniard to resist him more especially after such deep Asseverations that all his vast Preparations were no way intended against the Spanish Dominions These prosperous successes occasioned the Triple League which put a stop to the French Career and brought on another Treaty which was manag'd at Aken or Aix la Chappellâ— in order to a new Agreement between France and Spain The Observation of which affords us another instance of that ye call French Fidelity By this Treaty the French King was to remain possess'd of Charleroy Binch A the
the Marquess of Bethune's Sister was married to the King of Poland jealousies between the King her Husband and the Emperor were fomented and Factions set up in that Country by the means of those Golden Rays which the Sun of France displays in that Court by the Hands of the Bankers of Hamburgh and Dantzick And the more to encourage her to play her Gaime according to the French Instructions his Most Christian Majesty made her Father a Duke and Peer of France and promis'd to receive her as a Queen and not as a Subject if she return'd a Widow in her own Country Thus he thought to have caught the Young Duke of Bavaria with one of his natural Daughters but that Heroick Prince despis'd the Motion And if the French King were assur'd that the Young Prince of Poland should succeed his Father there is another natural Daughter of France ready prepar'd for him for otherwise it would be a Daughter merely thrown away if she could not be in a Station to serve her own Country For that the main end of the French King in giving French Wives to the King of Poland and the several Princes of Germany is to divide the strength of the Empire and lessen the Authority of the Emperor by separating from his interest the particular Princes of the Empire by private Intrigues and distinct Treaties which though it be contrary to the Treaty of Munster yet that signifies nothing to a Prince who has no such Veneration for Leagues as to think them worth observing As for the French King 's dealing with the Duke of Nieuburgh it was somewhat Barbarous for that after the French King had caus'd him to Mortgage the greatest part of his Estate almost beyond the hopes of Redemption in expectation of the Polish Crown to which France had promis'd to advance him by the assistence of a strong Party which she had in that Kingdom contrary to the Treaties as well with the Duke as with the Elector of Brandenburgh and to his reiterated Promises and Vows both by word of Mouth and in Writing he underhand by his Creatures and Agents oppos'd the Duke's pretensions and endeavoured with all the industry and importunity imaginable to have the Prince of Conde preferr'd before him and all the rest of his Competitors a sufficient warning to all Princes how they relie upon the broken Reed of French Integrity The Elector of Brandenburgh was environed with French Emissaries and Spies and some of his Principal Ministers so intoxicated with the Elixirs of France that nothing was said or done in his Palace of which the French Envoy had not swift Intelligence And the World was well inform'd of all the Intrigues and large Presents which Monsieur De Rebenack scatter'd about in that Court of which the Agent himself was so unwary or so foolish as to make his boasts The Elector of Saxony better understood his own Interest and therefore would not bite at the Golden Hook as one that disdain'd the treacherous Offers of France but the French King endeavour'd by other ways to raise him disturbances in his own Family and to set him at Variance with his Neighbours which would have strangely imbroild him had not the Emperor in time provided against those Mischiefs However lest it should be said there was any Court in Christendom wherein the French King had not some Plough or other going he forbears not to send into Saxony such as know how to accommodate themselves to the Humour of the Country more especially the stoutest Drinkers he can find out who by that means making themselves familiar at the Tables of the Great Persons watch their opportunities in the highth of Jollity and Compotation to draw the Worms out of their Noses and dive into the bottoms of their open'd hearts The Palatine Electors neither Father nor Son would close with the Interest of the French and therefore his most Christian Majesty sacrificed the depopulated Cities of that Country to his Fury even to the compassion of some that were the Executioners of his Rage a Depopulation which none but such Monsters of Men as the Most Christian King employs would have undertaken Men so impious and fearless of God that one of them being mildly reprehended for the burning of a fair Town reply'd That he would burn God in Heaven if his Master the King of France commanded him to doe it But perhaps the Most Christian King is of the Opinion of the Antient Galls believing there is no way to give peace to a Country but by rooting out the Inhabitants according to that of Tacitus Galli ubi solitudinem fecerunt pacem appellant Nor could the Bishop of Munster as cunning as he was preserve himself from being out-witted by the French infidelity For that being comprehended in the League of the Rhine when he found himself attack'd by the States of Holland within the Empire he implored the Aid of France according to the Guarranty but in vain for which when he was about to make his complaint he was of a sudden overwhelm'd with the Forces of France and had not his Enemies us'd Moderation toward him more than his own Allie his Territories though the Patrimony of the Church had been laid in Ashes before now When the French King broke Faith with Holland to the surprize of a great part of their Country he was so far from assigning any Cause true or false for his Actions that he only publish'd a Declaration of War without any other Reasons than only the Ill satisfaction which His Majesty had of the behaviour of the States General toward him being risen to that Degree that he can no longer without Diminution of his Glory dissemble his Indignation against them c. Therefore he had resolv'd to make War against them by Sea and Land c. And commands all his Subjects courir sus upon the Hollanders for such is Our Pleasure Certainly it was never known that in any Age or Nation in the World the Sword was drawn upon no better Allegations a style so far from being Most Christian that nothing but some French Romance could parallel the Expression All that can be said 't was A-la-mode de France But Holland had no reason to wonder at these proceedings considering what a Prank the French King had plaid them before when he pretended to joyn with them in the War against England At what time France by virtue of a Treaty of Guarranty with the States of the United Provinces after several requests ineffectally made by the States found her self oblig'd to make a shew of undertaking to defend them against England among the rest of the Articles there was one by which it was concluded and agreed in express terms that the Allies should not Negotiate much less conclude any Peace or Truce with the common Enemy without the consent of the other and without procuring the same satisfaction for his Allie as he would for himself The States tied themselves with that Integrity to this Obligation
his retiring was this notwithstanding his specious pretences at the instance of the Confederates all good Offices were done by the King of England and Memorials given but all to no effect till the word Parliament was put into them That powerfull word had such a charm in it that even at a distance it raised the Siege which may convince us of what Efficacy a King of England's words are when he will give them their full weight and threaten with his Parliament Then it is that he appears that greater Figure which we ought to represent him in our Minds the Nation his Body he the Head and join'd with that Harmony that every word he pronounces is the Word of a Kingdom Such Words are as effectual as Fleets and Armies because they can create them and without this his Word sounds abroad like a Faint Whisper that is either not heard or which is worse not minded But to return to the French King and bring him home to his own Dominions where you shall find his extraordinary Kindness to his then Highness the Prince of Orange in demolishing the Castle and pulling down the Walls of the chief City of his Principality of Orange to save him the expence of a Garrison and Plundering and Exacting vast Summs of Money from the Subjects of another Prince living in Peace and giving him no Disturbance merely under pretence of entertaining the Children of Hugonots Nay you shall find him persecuting his own Subjects under the Name of Hereticks and sending his Missionary Dragoons to converâ— them by ransacking their Houses robbing them of their Goods defiling their Wives deflowring their Daughters and inflicting upon the Men torments more cruel and inhumane than those of the Ten Persecutions and all this while they were under the Protection of several Edicts solemnly granted and ratified to them for the Exercise of their Religion without disturbance These are the Renowned Acts of Lewis XIV displaying the lovely prospect of his Falshood to England his breach of Faith with Spain his Infidelity to Holland his Juggling with the Northern Princes his Treacherous Aspiring to the Imperial Throne his vast Expences to divide the Princes of Germany from the Empire his endangering the subversion of all Christendom by confederating with the Turk and his Violations of the Peace of his own Subjects In a word it has been his common Practice to give the World all manner of Disturbance and to render France the common Enemy of the Peace of Manking and a publick Pest among all States and Princes in every Countrey and Kingdom he either finds Combustible Stuff or else makes it and then sets Fire to it being at an excessive charge to find Fodder for the various Animals of Faction in all Places Which sort of Politicks appear to be so much the more Criminal because there is no just revenging them but that which obliges all generous Nations to fight their Enemies with their Arms in their hands and openly There being nothing so base as that which makes Men make use of wicked devices and execrable Treasons as the instruments to ruine others nor does he that thinks to assume the Name of Great by unworthy Artifices render himself a whit the more truly Glorious Souls truly Royal and Magnanimous have always despis'd the Conquests they could more easily obtain by Cunning and Trapan than by Force and Arms And it was out of their Opinion worthy a Noble Spirit that Alexander the great sharply rebuk'd his Favourite Parmenio who would have put him upon a crafty contrivance telling him it was only fit for Robbers to have recourse to Treachery as their only meanes to compass their Theiveries But the French King is of another Temper and thinks it more safe to conquer by Divide Impera than by dint of Sword He knows himself good at Burning witness Alsatia and the Palatinate laid in Ashes and therefore thinks it better to set other Countries which he cannot otherwise come at in a Flame by Treachery and Faction that having enough to doe to quench their own Fires at home they may have neither Leisure nor Power to hinder his Projects abroad Doubtless then since England has so lately seen her Nighbours Houses in so sad a conflagration it is a sufficient Justification for her to look to her own and to secure her self and all Europe from such Boutefeus and the said effects of their impious designs Seeing then there is so little â—redit to be given to the Carthaginian Faith of France and that all the Motions of that aspiring Monarch tend directly to the subversion of the whole frame of the Government of Europe and to erect a French Tyranny over all the enthrall'd Princes of this same fourth and best inhabited part of the World there are two Motives which ought to excite the Princes of Christendom to take the common cause in hand the one is interest of State the other the strickt obligation of Justice The first is the general concern of all the Potentates of Europe the second the particular interest of the Princes of the Empire We shall only take notice of the former as being the most Vniversal and most considerable in the World and which will lead us insensibly into the second The grand concern is now to support the Right of Nations which is common to all and to prevent the introducing of Maxims into the World which destroy all commerce among Men and will certainly render humane Society no less dangerous and insupportable than that of Lions and Tygers to defend the publick Faith of Treaties and remove from the sight of Christendom a scandalous example which by the fatal consequences of it will surrender the most feeble to the Will and Pleasure of the strongest and most Potent to stop the Inundation of a Rapid Torrent against the impetuosity of which neither Leagues nor Marriages neither Oaths nor Ties of Bloud and Parentage neither Amity nor Condescentions are Mounds or Damms sufficient to defend the common Bulwark of Christendom against a vast design which has no other ground than the Insatiable thirst of Conquest no other end than despotick Domination by dint of Arms and slight of Intrigue nor any Limits but such as Fortune shall prescribe In short England is now to decide the Fate of Europe and to pronounce the Sentence of her Liberty or Bondage Nor does there want justification sufficient to pursue so great and glorious an Undertaking to the utmost when we consider the Maxims of France which are easie to be gather'd from the past and present conduct her insulting Monarch whose design was to have thrown his Wash-pot over the Empire and his Shoe over all the rest of Europe The first Mixim of France is to make War alwaies abroad and to exercise her Young Nobility at the expence of her Nighbours A Maxim very Politick and well adjusted for her own Advantage but very incommodious for all the rest of the World For it is certain the Genius of
did not like this small beginning of ill Humours wisely considering it as a natural Introduction first to make the World his Apes and then his Slaves and therefore he set his Instruments at work to Laugh us out of our Vests which she performed so effectually that in a Moment like so many Footmen who had quitted their Masters Livery we all took it up again and return'd to serve the French And happy would it be for England if she would cast off her French Modes her French Fashions and French Humours which only serve to corrupt and soften the minds of those for whom it would be much more glorious to remember the Fields of Poictiers and Agencourt and rather to study the generous Examples of their victorious Ancestors than be the Slaves of French Imitation The conquering Romans retir'd indeed to Athens to improve their Learning but it betrays a poorness of Spirit inexcusable in the English who have two such Magnificent Vniversities of their own to gallop to Paris for Breeding as if Coupees Complements Grimaces and Shrugs of the Shoulder were the only Accomplishments of a Gentleman Surely it was much better both for England and the General Peace of Europe when the English taught them their running Sarrabands and the good Breeding of Obedience nor will it e'er be well till the English become their Tutors again For certainly there is no Government in Europe under which the People live so Miserably as under that of France the Grand Signior or the Ksar of Moscâ—vy are not more absolute of the People than the Tyranny of France The French King may well be call'd Tyrannus for he makes and abrogates the Laws at his Pleasure he cannot be said to Rule but Tyrannize over Cities depriv'd of all the Franchizes and Privileges that render Societies happy and to dominier over a poor naked People stript of all things that make life comfortable So that the People may be said to Toil and Moil but the Prince to wipe off the Sweat of their Brows into his own Coffers You would swear that the whole Country were the habitation of Poverty where Penury walks about in wooden Sandals single Pettiâ—oates and wrinckl'd Faces as if the Products of that fertile Soil were forbid to be touch'd by the Innocent Manurers of that Terrestrial Paradise where the Corn and Wine and Fat of the Land is carry'd off to fit the Royal Magazines or sold abroad to cram the King's Exchequer And after all this when the sholes of Locust Publicans have devour'd all even almost to the very Stalk for the small remainder to bear the Burthen of insolent free Quarter is not only Tyranny but licentiated Inhumanity All these Calamities and Miseries has England yet escap'd though fairly threaten'd with them had not Providence been very mercifull to Her The Husbandman plump and jolly enjoying his Liberty and a fair proportion of his Labours does not fear what the Confusion of Babel never knew the horrid Jargonry of Ayde Octroy Preciput Equivalent Crue Taille Estate Subsistence de quartier d'hyvere Garinzons Mort payes Appointments de Governours Debtes Affaires du Roy Gratifications Extraordinaries Deu Gratuit Frais The necessary supports of Life Wine Beer Sider are not enhanc'd by Aydes sur le Vin Bierres Cidres plus le Huictieme Denier le Souquest le Batire Imposts Billets The Markets are not pester'd with Gabelles upon Corn and Meal nor the Mills with Measure Coupee No Tolls of pied Fourchue nor Duties taken by weight upon every pound of Flesh sold in the Shambles nor Gabelles upon Salt but what are laid on by consent of the People themselves The Shop Keepers are not molested with the Gibbrish of the mark upon Paper the mark of Silver the mark of Tinn the mark of Hats the mark of all Stockins Silk and Woollen the mark of Shoes the mark upon all Stuffs Woollen and Silk the mark upon Linen the Gabelle upon Jie the controle of of Exploites The Gentry are not vex'd with the Tax of free Gifts Fifts and Resists and Amortisements The prâ—ce of Valuation the mark of Gold the two Soulx in the Pound the seal'd Duty the duty of Controll the registers Duty the Priest for being admitted to the Annual and the Annual or Paulette A sort of Language of the Gallies not understood by English Liberty yet all these and many other abominable Taxes Tolls and Impositions are punctually leavy'd one way or other at the King 's sole Will and Pleasure with many more too prolix to be number'd and what ever else his Absolute Power shall think fit to impose anew where ever any subjects of the French Monarchy have their habitations when his emergent occasions intimate a pretence and must be paid without any remorce or compassion to the half Famish'd Children and Families of the poor People crying out for Bread Certainly to conclude therefore as I begun the Lician Chimaera and Lernaean Hydra that wasted all the Country round about them and ruined the Inhabitants with the scalding Flames and Pestilential Breath that issued from their Pestiferous Jaws were Types of Tyranny in General so more particularly of the present French Monarchy but on the other side we find that both Bellerophon and Hercules continue to this day eterniz'd for subduing those Monsters Such Fables as these being the Off-spring of great Reason and wise Head peices were not invented merely to please their Readers but to instruct the World that Wars which unavoidably must be attended with great Mischiefs and Calamities are not to be unjustly undertaken to doe wrong for wrong's sake under pretence of Illegal Claims and Pretensions but may be legally enterpriz'd to repell injustice and violence and to curb the lawless Invasions of Right and Property which are the original Blessings and Benefits of God and Nature the unjust Assailour of which becomes an Enemy to both and a Monster no less pernicious than either of those two For those Monsters no question were no other than two aspiring Potentates that made unjust and cruel Wars upon their Neighbours without provocation given and therefore were most justly subdued by Bellerophon and Hercules and they no less justly rewarded for the benefit received by their glorious Actions which even exceed all Fame Vertue is Vertue still unalterable from whence we may conclude that the same Glory still attends and that the same success will prove the subduing these Chimaera's and Hydra's of Men that for so long time have harras'd Europe with wicked Wars and impious Depopulations merely to gain the Honour of being like those Monsters Terrors and Destroyers of Mankind A Catalogue of French Commodities Yearly transsported into England by which it appears that our Trade with France has been at least Sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year clear loss to this Kingdom 1. THere is transported out of France into England great quantities of Velvets plain and wrought Sattins plain and wrought Cloth of Gold and Silver Armoysins and other Merchandises of Silk which are made at Lions and are valued to be Yearly worth one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds 2. In Silk Stuffs Taffeties Poudesoys Armoysins Cloths of Gold and Silver Tabbies plain and wrought Silk-ribbands and other such like Silk stuffs as are made at Tours valued to be worth above Three Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 3. In Silk-ribbands Gallowns Laces and Buttons of Silk which are made at Paris Roan Chimont St. Estienes in Forrests for about one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 4. A great quantity of Serges which are made at Chalons Chartres Estamines and Rhemes and great quantities of Serges made at Amiens Crevecoeur Blicourt and other Towns in Picardy for above one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 5. In Bever Demicastor and Felt Hats made in the City and Suburbs of Paris besides many others made at Roan Lions and other places for about One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds a Year 6. In Feathers Belts Girdles Hatbands Fans Hoods Masks gilt and wrought Looking-glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Tablets Bracelets and other such like Mercery ware for above One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 7. Iâ— Pins Needles Box-combs Tortoise-shell Combs and such like for about Twenty Thousand Pound a Year 8. In perfumed and trimmed Gloves that are made at Paris Roan Vendosme Clermont and other places for about Ten Thousand Pounds a Year 9. In Papers of all sorts which are made at Auvergne Poictou Limosin Champaigne and Normandy for above One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 10. In all sorts of Iron-mongers wares that are made in Forrests Auvergne and other places for about Fourty Thousand Pounds a Year 11. In Linen Cloth that is made in Bretaigne and Normandy as well course as fine there is transported into England for above Four Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 12. In Houshold-stuff consisting of Beds Matresses Coverlids Hangings Fringes of Silk and other furniture for above One Hundred thousand Pounds a Year 13. In Wines from Gascoigne Nantois and other places on the River of Loyerc and also from Bourdeaux Rochel Nante Roan and other places are transported into England for above Six Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 14. In Aqua Vitae Sider Vineger Verjuice and such like for about One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 15. In Saffron Castle-sope Honey Almonds Olives Capers Prunes and such like for about One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 16. Besides five or six hundred Vessels of Salt laden at Ma ron Rochel Rouage the Isle of Oleron and Isle of Rhee transported into England and Holland of a very great value So as by this calculation it doth appear that the yearly value of such commodities as are transported from France to England amount to above Six and Twenty Hundred Thousand Pounds And the commodities exported out of England into France consisting chiefly of Woollen Cloths Serges Knit Stockings Lead Pewter Alume Coals and all else do not amount to above Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year By which it appears that our Trade with France is at least sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year clear lost to this Kingdom FINIS