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kingdom_n	france_n	time_n	year_n	1,932	5	4.5978	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48632	Englands appeal from the private cabal at White-hall to the great council of the nation, the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled. By a true lover of his country	True lover of his country.; Lisola, François Paul, baron de, 1613-1674, attributed name.; Trevor, John, Sir, 1626-1672, attributed name.; Coventry, William, Sir, 1628?-1686, attributed name.	1673 (1673)	Wing L2372A; ESTC R216770	44,900	55

hundreds of years Since that time what new acquisitions hath been made hath likewise been returned either for considerable Sums of Money or upon some other considerations relating to the State of Europe in those days And least it might be objected That those former Conquests were either less prudently undertaken or harder to be kept than these we seem to go upon now It is observable first that our Fore-fathers either undertook alone the said Conquests or else if he joyn'd with any other Prince as when they were assisted by the House of Burgundy they still had kept to themselves the greatest and most considerable share Secondly That it was ever the interest of some of the Neighbouring Princes England should preserve some part at least of the said Acquisitions and have still a footing on the main for the Common safety and for the speedier and easier relief of our Allies And yet though these two Conditions met together either the essential difficulty of the thing it self or our natural unaptness to preserve what we have once gotten hath made all European Conquests unsuccesful and in truth prejudicial to us But the Case being thus what Judgement can we make and what can we rationally expect or promise our selves of our intended joynt conquest with the French where those Conditions before mentioned are are altogether wanting And where first far from Conquering our selves we onely countenance and promote by our strieghtning the Dutch by Sea the Invasion of a Country which even whilst it was nothing near so considerable as it is now all Europe hath looked upon not onely as a fair step but as the best part of the way to the Universal Monarchy And which did once occasion so great a confederacy against the House of Austria to wrest those Provinces out of their hands 2. It is as plain it is not the French Kings Interest to give his Majesty a considerable part of the Conquests nor to let us enjoy long what he might peradventure give us at first for some other ends of his own And to secure this unknown share to us I do not see we have now any Talbots or Earls of Bedford at the head of our Victorious Armies to set up his Majesties Standard in the Conquered Towns and leave English Garrisons in them But instead of that whilst the French march on and do enlarge their Empire we please our selves with calling the French Forces our Forces And endeavour if not to perswade our selves at least to perswade others All this is done for the honour and glory of the English Nation for the Advancement of Trade for the safety of his Majesties Person the support of his Royal Authority and the happiness of his Kingdoms It is true we do not well know as yet what we are to have but somewhat wel 'e have however say our Great men And we will not believe the French King shall let us go without a reward for the pains we take in raising him as much as in us lyeth to the Throne of the universal Monarchy Nay supposing the worst saith a great and noble Champion for the French in a Printed Letter to Sir Thomas Osborn that we should be so ill advised as to let the French take all and leave us nothing yet even in that Case the French King would rather make their strength at Sea inconsiderable by their being subject to him than his own more formidable by his being their Master I confess this is a now Demonstration in Poiticks which few men would have dreamed of and if that be all our safety I hope no true English man will be swayed by the authority or quality of those who go about thus to argue the Kingdom out of its liberty and turn England into a French Province Fourthly The extream danger and fatal Consequences of some of the former suppositions and the impracticableness of the other being thus I hope clearly demonstrated we need not loose much time to press that increase which is the onely possible event that remaineth the Dutch shall recover their losses and with the help of their Allies be able to deal both with England and France It cannot be his Majesties interest to continue a War which will miserably impoverish his Kingdoms and by the continual Losses the Merchants do and are like to sustain bring the Trade of the Nation into such a decaying condition as will not be repaired in many years of Peace Especially if Spain be further provoked to proceed to an open Breach with us as it is more than probable they will ere long be forced to do But because I see many are apt to look upon this War through a kind of Cloud and seem to be unwilling to have a distinct Notion of the ill consequences with which it is attended but reflect only in General and confusedly upon a supposed destruction of the Dutch seme imaginary Advantages accrewing to us by it which yet they cannot instance in much less demonstrate upon any Rational Grounds I think it necessary to add what we have said already some few Considerations relating both to Spain and the Empire As to Spain it is first well known what that Crown is to expect from France as soon as these may have any opportunity of destroying them And I suppose no body doubts but that the Spanish Court will by all possible mears oppose the Encrease and stop the Progress of the greatest and formidablest Enemies they have 2. It is as plain that in Case the French come to be Master the Vnited Provinces the Spanish Netherlands will of Course and unavoidably fall into their hands notwithstanding the famous Triple League which by the way will be Triple no longer when the Dutch Common wealth is gone 3. Although the Crown of Spain had no Domions in the Low-Countries It would be as much their interest to preserve the Vnited Provinces entire And in true policy they ought to venture all their Kingdoms and to the very last of their men to prevent if it be possible so formidable an accession of Naval Power to the French after which no Plate Fleet or Gallions could ever come safe nor consequently their Monarchy stand much Longer 4. The Emperour being already engaged and hostilities begun between him and the French Spain can no longer stand out and they are bound to run the same fortune as well by late and private Treaties as by the Joynt-interest of their Family 5. And lastly Spain having already by their Assistance given to the Dutch whereby all the considerable Towns in Brabant where preserved and by the late Attempt upon Charleroy so highly incensed the French against them they cannot venture nothing more by an open Breach it is much safer for them to declare whilst the hands of the French are full then to be exposed to their fury after their Conquest ended From all this it plainly followeth that a breach between Spain and France is not to be avoided But the same Arguments prove

ENGLANDS APPEAL FROM THE Private Cabal AT WHITE-HALL TO The Great Council of the Nation THE LORDS and COMMONS IN Parliament ASSEMBLED By a true Lover of his Country Anno 1673. Phaedrus Lib. 1. Fab. V. Nunquam est fidelis cum potente societas Testatur hac fabeulla Propositum meum VAcca Capella patiens Ovis injurice Sosij 〈◊〉 cum Leone in saltibus Hi cum copiss●●● Cervum vasti corporis Sic est Locutus partibus factis Leo Ego primam tollo nominor quia Leo Secundam quia sum fortis tribuetis mihi Tum quia plus valeo me sequetur tertia Malo adficietur si quis quartam tatigerit Sic toram preedam Sola Improbitas abstulit Anglice ENgland this fable plainly Shew's A strong Alliano Partner know's THe BVLL the GOAT and Patient SHEEP one day Leagu'd with the LYON sought a Common prey A Prey they took an high and mighty Hart Of which each thought to have his equal part Soft quoth thy LYON I the first share claim ' Cause LYON King o' th Forest is my name The second you shall give me as my due ' Cause I am valiant able to subdue The third I take by force and for the rest Touch is who dares yield it all you had best THis is an Age of wonders And if with a considering eye we take a careful view of Europe we shall find that some years last past have presented us with as many things worthy of admiration as any former age hath afforded to our forefathers The Revolution of Portugal and the wonderful secrecy with which it was carried on is not to be matched in any Age. The Tragy-Comedy of Massauello looks more like a Poetical fiction then a real truth The Deposing of Kings and which is much more strange their Voluntary resignation of which the Annals of Ancient times furnish us but with very few Examples are become the common Theame of our Journals and if from the rest of Europe we turn our eyes toward this Island our surprisal will increase and we shall find that this little British World is a small Enchiridon or Epitome of all the stupendious events that ever hapned in the great one We have all seen or had a share in those passages which Posterity will hardly give more credit to then we do to what is said of King Arthurs Round Table And 't is not improbable that some hundred years hence the History of our late revolutions will be ranked among the fabulous Romances of Gildas and such other Writers But it may be among all our unexpected changes revolutions and Counsels there is scarce any more justly to be wondred at then the present alliance with France and the war we have undertaken and do still persist to prosecute against Holland in so dangerous an association with the French It was undoubtedly above the reach of an ordinary understanding to imagine or suspect in the least that a Protestant Kingdom without being compelled to it by some urgent and unavoidable necessity should ever fight with so much fierceness for the destruction of the Protestant interest or that English Counsellors should advise his Majesty to run the fortune of a French King without a rational prospest of advantage to himself Would any man that judgeth of things according to the ordinary rules of prudence have thought that in order to the making good our Title to the Kingdom of France we should able their present King to invade all Christendom and to extend his Empire without bounds or that to secure to our selves the soveraignty of the Seas we should with so much industry endeavour to force all the Dutch Ships with all their Naval Power into the French Arms and rejoyce at their Victories as if by conquering the Land they did not Master at the same time their Havens their Rivers and their Fleets We have been often told of brisk messenges sent formerly to the French Kings as soon as they did but lay the Carkase of some pitiful Ship upon the stocks But we did never so much as dream that Vice Admirals and other considerable Sea Officers should be sent to the French Court to encourage and promote the setting out of their Fleets That pittying their want of experience in Sea Affairs we would out of Compassionate and Brotherly love lead their raw Sea-men by the hand Train them up in our Fleets and amongst the best of our Sea-men teach them what Skill we have learnt in a long and dear bought experience And to Crown all even fight for them and interpose between them and danger with so good success as it proved that the French Squadron as if the engagement had been only designed for an entertainment and diversion to them came off as fresh and as whole as when they first sailed out of their Ports The surprising novelty and strangeness of these unexpected Councils hath occasioned the following reflexions And all men being equally concerned in the preservation of the Ship they sail in though all do not sit at the Helm it is every ones duty as well as their undoubted right to prevent as much as they are able a fatal running upon Rocks which may chance not to be discerned by others upon this just and well grounded confidence I presume to direct these papers to the real Counsel of the Nation humbly begging that they be read with an unbyassed mind and truth weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary Before all I must premise I do not intend to write an Apology for the Dutch nor to justifie all their proceedings much less to encrease the number of the scurrilous Pamphlets against them which I am confident will affect no sober man in the Nation and need only to be read to be confuted I 'le only say that since all Christians should above all things enquire into the justice of their Arms before they either take them up or refuse to lay them down It will become the wisdom and prudence of both houses to hear what the Dutch may say for themselves and to take into their serious consideration the protestations they make both in publick and in private of their unfeigned desires as well as readiness to give England all possible satisfaction and buy his Majesties Friendship at a more then ordinary Rate But my present design being not to enter further into these particulars not to examine the Justice or Injustice of this War but rather to consider and quere supposing it had heen never so just at first how far it may be advisable to continue it I will with as much clearness as I am able and in as few words as the matter will bear confine my self to these following heads 1. A Short account of the Crown with which his Majesty is entred into League 2. The necessity and unavoidable Consequences of this War 3. Some general reflections upon the whole with some Account of the manner and steps by which this War was both promoted and begun 1.

All those who are not altogether Strangers to the World will easily grant that of all the Kingdoms of Europe there are none but may be said inferiour to France in some respect or other and to want some advantages which France enjoyeth in a very eminent degree The greatness of its Territories the Populousness of it the number of their Gentry and Nobility Their natural courage together with the advantage of being trained up either to Military Actions or to Warlike Exercises ever since the Foundation of their Monarchy the situation of their Country and the opportunities they have by it to annoy their Neighbours upon all occasions The fruitfulness and riches of the Soyle together with the prodigious quantity of all sorts of Commodities manufactured unmanifactured with which they supply their neighbours And lastly the great Revenues of their Kings who governing of late without controul or check are so much the more able to oppress their Neighbours All these Advantages meeting together they have in all Ages had aspiring thoughts and under Charlemain had erected a new Western Empire which in all likelyhood would have proved of longer continuation had not those great Dominions been shared and divided between the said Charlemains Children which in the succeeding Ages proved an occasion of many great and bloody Wars 2. A Second and memorable stop to the increase of the French war when by the ambition of Hugh Capett who aymed at the Crown to usurpe it with less opposition and to draw the Grandees into his party he made all their governments hereditary erected them into a kind of Principalitys held in Capite from thence sprang so many great Famylies able afterwards to wage War against the French King And whilst they were thus in a kind of Minority the House of Burgandy having joyned with England brought that Kingdome to the Low condition every one knows Lewis the 11th was the first who after the English had lost not only their new Conquest but also what they had possessed of old in France raised the French Crown to a greater height and his Son Charles the 8th besides the acquisition of Brittany frighted all Europe by his surprising conquest of the Kingdom of Naples This occasioned a general confederacy of all neighbouring Princes against him whereby he soon lost what he had gotten But still the ambitious thoughts of his Successors would have much endangred the liberty of Europe if the Austrian family raised on a sudden to a vast Grandeur by the occasion of an innumerable number of Provinces united in Charles the 5th had not carried the Imperial Crown from Francis the 1st who stood with much Eagerness for it and had already engaged several of the Electors This haveing over ballanced the French power the said Francis the 1. though helped several times by the great Solyman Emperor of the Turke was at last forced to yeild to the victorious Armes of Charles the 5th who took him prisoner and forced him to buy his liberty with a very disadvantageous peace But his Son Henry the second had better success and amongst other advantages he added to his Dominions three very fair Imperial and Episcopal Towns and was likely to have gon further had he not been prevented by a sudden death England all this while true at that time to their own interest with a skilful hand holding the ballance and keeping the contesting parties in as great an equality as their owne occasions would permit Under the minority of his Children the bloody Massacres and civil Wars begin which lasted forty years and would have put an end to that Monarchy if the Ambition of Philip the second would have given way to the dividing of it into the several Principalities which the respective Grandees aymed at But Henry the 4th strengthned by the divisions which grew between the Spaniards ond the holy League having won many Battels made his Title to the Crown good by the success of his Arms and not long after concluded peace with Spain to gain time to breath and to recover new strength No sooner was he at rest but he bent all his thoughts upon a project as vast in the design of it as Extraordinary in its nature intending no less then to cast Europe into a new Mould to reduce all the Kingdoms and Common Wealths that were in his time to a certain number and to bring them within such bounds as he should prescribe to them being sure however in this Marshalling to take such shute to himself as would have enabled him or or least his Successors to grow into an universal Monarch To effect this he had already made choice of his Generals and other great Officers and was preparing both Arms and money when a sudden and unexpected death puts an end as well to his undertaking as to his life The beginning and in truth the greatest part of the Reign of Lewis the 13th his Son was much disquieted by intestine broils and Civil Wars during which the house of Austria was very near bringing all Germany under their subjection and after the Battel of Prague stood very fair for the universal Empire But France having at last quieted all at home did under pretence of opposing the Austrian Family and whilst they were courted by several Princes to assist and protect them against the Emperour vastly increased their own power and conquered new Provinces and considerable Towns in Spain Italy Germany and the Low Countries which raising new jealousie in their own Allies occasioned the peace of Munster to frevent their further progress About the same time the new Civil wars which broke out in France under the minority of the present King gave opportunity to Spain to recover part of their Losses till the sate Protector of England joyning with the French for the advancement of some private ends of his own and by a policy from which the destruction of Europe may chance to take its date before we are much older brought them into a decaying condition and made the Pyrenean Peace after the death of Cromwel most welcome to them Before we go further and come to give a more particular account of the present French Court I will beg leave to stop here a while and desire the Reader to take along the following inferences from what hath already been hinted a more full knowledge thereof being left to the perusal of their Histories 1. That no greater proofs can be given of the internal strength of the French Nation then their overcoming the many dangerous convulsions of state they have from time to time strugled with which in all appearance would have destroyed any other Nation 2. That in all Ages assoon as their intestine troubles have been over they have still out of a restlesh Warlike humour endeavoured to encroach upon their neighbours and to encrease their own Dominions laying hold of all opportunities to disturb mankind and having never able as yet to set bounds to their Ambition 3. That this

Ambitious humor of theirs supported by the greatness of their power would long before this time have brought all Europe under their Subjection if their own division and private quarrels had not from time to time put back their designs for many years or their greatest Princes been cut off before they cauld finish their intended work 4. And Lastly as a consequence of the three former that it was e-ever and will be still the true interest of Europe to oppose the French designs or if there be any occasion of making use of them against somer other oppossers not to accept of their assistance longer or further then publick utility requires it nor to suffer them to proceed after the danger is over as it was practiced in the peace of Passaw in the the time of Henry the 2. and that of Munster in both which the French were stopped in their full carreere by their own Allies though they still came off with profit The French having thus in the last Wars added many fair Provinces and Tows to their Territories this present Court had no sooner made Peace with Spain but they thought of laying the foundations of a vaster Empire than ever And perceiving that since the discovery of the Indies and increase of Trade Naval strength was the most important of all others and Navigation and commerce the greatest if not the only supporters of it They first erected and encouraged several Trading Companies and in the second place they spared no cost stuck at no charge or expence to purchase a considerable Fleet of men of War wherein they have been so successful That I fear their Fleet excepting the true courage of our Seamean is not much inferour to that of his Majesties as incredible as it may seem at first considering how few years they have applied themselves to it But whilst they were thus intent upon the increase of their interest at Sea they let no opportunity slip of enlarging their Empire at Land for during the late War with Holland they invaded in 1667. and mastered a considerable part of the Spanish Low Countries in 1669. they hunted the poor Duke of Lorrain out of his Dutchy and to this day possess it all and now this last year they have conquered the half the United Provinces much less then all this was more then sufficient to awaken all Europe and his Majesty above all others being out of his Princely wisdom very sensible that the keeping a true ballance between the Princes and other States of Europe was the onely security of all and that by a timely stop to the French Conquests he would reap an infinite Honour and Profit Assoon as the French King fell upon Flanders he begun to think of applying fit Remedies to so dangerous a Disease and having concluded a Peace at Breda with the Hollanders he sent them in private in January 1668. Sir William Temple who was then his Resident at Brussels to propose a nearer Alliance with them and to take joynt measures against the French No small Argumet by the way of his Majesties aversion to the French designs and of the fear he had of their increase since to prevent it he went so far as to seek the Hollanders first and to propose stricter Alliances with them after so fierce and Recent a War ended with the unpleasant circumstances of Chatham Sir William Temples Proposals having been entertained with all ready complyance by the Dutch he waited on his Majesty to give him an account of his Negociation and within five days after he was sent back to the Hague with all necessary powers and instructions by vertue of and in conformity to which he concluded and agreed upon two several Treaties with the Dutch the one a defensive and stricter League than before between the two Nations and the other a joynt and reciprocal Engagement to oppose the conquest of Flanders and to procure either by way of Mediation or by force of Arms a speedy peace between France and Spain upon the Terms therein mentioned and because Sweden came unto the same Treaty very little after from the three Parties concerned and engaged it was called the Triple League In pursuance of this the Treaty of Aix la Chapel was forced upon the French and in some manner upon the Spaniards who were very unwilling to give away by a solemn Treaty so great a part of their Country But both his Majesty and the Hollanders thought it a very great and good work and judged it a great happiness not onely for Spain but for all Europe to come off with a broken Pate and to have at least for that while kept France from going further This represented to the Parliament with all the advantages of Language and nothing omitted in the respective Speeches of his Majesty himself the Lord Keeper and many private Members that could make both Houses and with them the whole Kingdom sensible of the great Service done to England and in a manner to all mankind by chaining up a devouring Lion who was never satiated with prey This Triple League grew so famous that it proved the politick Institute of our Justinian In the name of the Triple League and of the Treaty of Aix la Chapel several subsidies were both demanded and granted for 2. or 3. Sessions together the Triple League stoped or annulled all Impeachments for its sake Inquiries into Miscarriages were laid aside And the Parliament did conceive they could neither give nor forgive too much if by their compliance they could but contribute some what towards binding the French to their good behaviour Besides this to tie the Knot faster and take even the very thoughts from the French King of ever stirring or being troublesome to his neighbours his Majesty sent an Extraordinary Envoy to several Princes of Germany to invite them into a Triple League His Minister to perswade them to it laying open with no less heat than plainess the danger all Europe was in The insensibility of most Princes and their carelesness the watchful ambition of the French the greatness of their Forces and the little reason one had to trust them In fine omitting nothing that could Alarm all the world and procure a general consederacy against the common Oppressor Nay to evince and demonstrate besides all we said now that this Triple League was not entred into out of a particular respect or personal kindness to the Spaniard not to speak now of the Misunderstanding and Jarring between England and Spain in the West Indies the Spaniards being very much wanting to themselves by their backwardness in the payment of the Subsidies promised to Sweden His Majestie not to be wanting to Europe and consequently to his own Kingdoms out of the deep sense he had of the necessity or preserving the Triple Leagues entire and being not without feares the Swedes might fall off unless the Money agreed upon was paid them without further delay he offered in September or October 1668. to advance

Situation of the Vnited Provinces lyeth in that several of the greatest Rivers in Europe not onely run through their Country but disimbogue into the Ocean within their Precincts This openeth them an easie and an advantagious Trade into most parts of Germany the Spanish Low Countries and some Provinces of France and makes a Reciprocation of commerce and as it were an Ebb and Flow between their Rivers and the Ocean being enabled by the first to carry at a cheap rate to the furthest parts of the world what goods commodities the above mentioned Countries afford and to return them by means of the same the Richest spoyles of the East and West These natural Advantages accrewing to the Inhabitants of these respective Provinces by their being all Vnited under the same Government do link and tie them so fast together that nothing but an external and irresistable force can divide them and who ever comes to be Master of the Rivers must needs in a short time either be beaten out of his Conquests or else bring all the Havens and all the Inhabitants Bordering upon the Sea under the same subjection The Sea Ports without the Rivers and the Rivers without the Ports being altogether useless and a Foundation for an Endless and Destructive War This being premised the Conclusion will easily be drawn and since the French do already possess half of their Country and are Masters of their cheif Rivers if the Dutch come either to lose the Ambition of Ruling and being a Soveraign State or else are brought to the necessity of choosing a Master It is plain they 'l rather submit themseves to the French King who hath half conquered them already and hath in his own hands that part of the Country without which they cannot subsist than by giving up the remaining part to England to entail a War upen them which besides their subjection to a Foreiner as well as if they were under the French will exhaust what Treasury they may have lest and from a Flourishing Estate bring them to perfect Beggery To summe up all It cannot be supposed the Dutch will ever chuse a Master and submit themselves to the Government of a Forein Prince unless they are driven to it by an unavoidable necessity This necessity cannot proceed but from the sense they may have of their own weakness and of a desire to live in peace and free themselves of a War which is so destructive to them Now if they do submit themselves to England in opposition to the French the Peace they seek will be further off them then ever their remaining Country will be the seat of an endless War whereas if they give themselves up to the French they will be United again in an entire body enjoy rest and peace and live under the Protection of a Prince who of all Princes in Europe is best able to defend them against all their Enemies and whose interest will be to give all possible encouragement to their Trade and to make their Country the Nursery of his Seamen and in all other respects the support of his Naval Strength Not to mention that if they must be slaves first they might rationally hope to have the satisfaction afterwards of lending a helping hand to bring their Neighbours and in truth all Europe into the same condition with them Thirdly We come now to the dividing and sharing of the Country with the French which by what hath already been said will appear either impracticable or rathor hurtful than advantageous for this sharing must be either by a Conquest on both sides as the Duchies of Cleve and Juliers were formerly when Prince Maurice and the Marquess of Spinola entred at the same time into those Countries with two great Armies and took each what they could the one on the behalf of the Elector of Brandenburg and the other of the Duke of Newburg or else that the French having Conquered and possessed all should give us part of their acquisition The first cannot be supposed as long as we have no Army in tho Country And in truth can bring none able to match that of the French and to Conquer as fast as they though they had not a foot of Ground in the Vnited Provinces But as the case doth now stand it is plain they would be Masters of all before our long Boats could come on Shore And as to their giving us a share after an absolute Conquest there are three things to be considered 1. It is worth the inquiry how far they are engaged by their Treaty and what share we are to have for all appearances are very deceitful if the French have promised to give any thing more then a fair leave to take what we can 2. It is apparent by what hath been said before at what rate their promises and other such engagements are to be valued 3. The nature and constitution of the Country being such that it cannot stand divided without not only very great inconvenience to both parties but the destruction of one of them The French King what ever he had promised cannot be willing to give us such a share as would bring his own under the Enulish subjection And if his Majesty should have but an inconsiderable part of the Conquest he could neither reap any benefit by it nor protect it against the French power without exhausting both his Treasure and his Men. Nay it may be said further and all that know the Country will grant that unless Amsterdam with the Zuyder Sea were split and all the shipping divided to have each one half of the whole no true division can be made And whoever is Master of that Town will soon or late subdue all the rest It is true if we had some Sea Towns and the French had nothing to do with the rest it might be for a while a Curb to Holland and procure us some advantages in Trade But if the French possess all the Country what proportion can there be between the acquisition and ours And after the accession of so great a power to their Empire can any rational man imagin some few places they should give us would be a balance to their Forces or a secure Fence against their Ambitious and aspiring thoughts To clear this further and to demonstrate how dangerous it is for England to destroy the balance of Europe in hopes of having a share in the spoil and of encreasing our Dominions It is to be considered that in the perusal of our English Histories we find all our Forein Conquests either unfortunate in the end or an unprofitable charge to the Kingdom whilst to maintain them the Seas must be perpetually crossed for supplying them with Men Money and Necessaries Nay after the Conquest of the best part of the Kingdom of France we could not defend it long against the remaining part and even lost what belonged to his Majesties Royal Ancestors by right of Inheritance after a quiet and uninterrupted possession for some

good to follow his Instructions and keep close to them 8. Lastly it is very observable that the Dutch having sent an Express the Answer Sir George Downing would not receive we first replyed it was dark obscure and insufficient Upon which they sent an Extraordinary Embassador who joyntly with the Leiger Embassador told our Ministers that his Masters intentions and desire to give his Majesty all possible satisfaction in the business of the Flagg they both Ordered and Impowred him to clear what might be obscure or dark in their Answer and supply what was insufficient and therefore desired them to instance in what they did not approve of or did think amiss or else that they would be pleased to draw up themselves after their own Method and way what Article they thought necessary for the preventing of the like inconvenience They Answered the States with their Ministers knew best how to Frame and Word their own Answers neither could it be expected they should draw up papers for them Whereupon the Dutch Embassadors brought them a Project of an Article to be agreed upon concernig the Flagg and asked them whether it was Worded to their mind and if that would satisfie them To which they gravely answered that when they had signed and delivered it they would tell them their mind concerning it And the Embassadors refusing still to design it unless they knew before hand it was Satisfactory their conference thus broke off yet upon second thoughts the Embassadors having resolved to sign the said Paper and to deliver it at a venture they demanded a New Conference which was promised them and Seven of the Clock at night appointed on the Sunday after the Engagement with the Smyrna Fleet. But on the very same day least the Dutch might comply further with us then we desired our Grandees did prevail with his Majesty to call extraordinarily a Counsel and to have without further delay the Declaration of War read and approved So that when the Embassadors came at their appointed time with their Paper ready signed they were told in short they came too late 7. I might Add as many and as considerable instances of what Arts and Policy our great Men have used to deceive his Majesty And to bring him by degrees into a liking of their War But this matter being so ticklish and nice That I fear I should not be able to go through with it although I took never so much care without exposing my self to the censure of the World and having either my intention or some of my expressions misconstrued I think it much safer and more prudent to draw a Curtain over that part of the Ministry of the Cabal and leave their Reputation so far untouched since they have had the fill to weave it as it were in more then one place into that of their Master 8. For a farther clearing of this and to satisfie our selves as far as we are able whether the Construction we do seem to make of the Carriage and Designs of the Cabal be not to partial It will not be amiss if we endeavour to discover what their own Opinion was of it at first and how far they were perswaded themselves their New Counsels were agreeable to the true Interest of England which will best appear by the two following particulars The first is Their great care of not trusting with their Mysterious Intrigues persons whose either quality natural Courage Honesty or Experience made them suspect they would be either too inquisitive before they would joyn and concur with them or else too resty and froward if they chanced to be of another mind And upon these fair and honest Grounds they reformed their Cabinet Counsel and turned at once out of the Commitee for Forein Affairs Prince Rupert the Duke of Ormond the Lord Keeper and the late Secretary Trevor This being the first Secretary of State that was ever kept out of a Commission of that Importance Not to mention several other eminent and considerable Privy Counsellors who till then had been Commissioners in all Negotiations and Treaties with France Now in case the Cabal had no Designs but what were for the Honour and the Safety of the Nation why they should so industriously to conceal it from persons that have deserved so well both from his Majesty and from the whole Kingdom is what passeth my poor understanding and whoever is able to unriddle this Erit mihi magnous Apollo But if this be convincing Argument The next I hope will be somewhat plainer And both Houses are best able to judge whether their sitting was so dangerous or how faithful those Counsellors must be who could advise his Majesty to Prorogue so often upon the French Kings desire A Parliament whose Loyalty and Zeal for their Soveraign is not to be matched in no former Age. We do not hear that either the Cecils or Walsingham ever advised the Queen their Mistress not to call her great Counsel or suffer them to meet when she was preparing to assist the Protestants in France or to Protect the Vnited Provinces against Philip the Second King James had no reason to fear his Parliament who if they came together would not oppose the assistance of the Palsgrave And his Majesty now Reigning hath in the former War against the very same Enemies had a sufficient experience of the readiness of both Houses to promote as far as they are able any design which they conceived may tend to the honour and safety of his Government and the prosperity of the Kingdom Why then should our Great men obstruct the chearful Compliance of his Majesties faithful Subjects 3. Why not to call upon those whose Assistance was so necessary and who never denied it when demanded Let us not condemn them before we have all Parliaments I speak it with due Reverence are now and then Peevish things that will not be satisfied with fair Words and pry too far into Secrets that are not to come to publick view Our Grandees were afraid if so many clear-sighted men came together some one or other would spy out the Snake that lay in the Grass and if their mine had once taken vent the whole Design had miscarried No no we 'l do better saith the Cabal we 'l be wiser than to run that hazard we are resolved to make War and will not be crossed in it by any Parliamentary Clamours If for want of a Parliament we can have no English Subsidies we 'l make a shift with French Supplies And if that doth not serve the turn observe the Gradation we 'l shut up the Exchequer In the mean while the Smyrna and East India Fleets will fall into our hands And when we have all that Treasure who shall dare to find fault with us Having brought the Cabal thus far we must before we part wait once more on some of them as far as Holland and so take our leave of them We have already given some account in the first Part of