Prudence That Punishment also shew'd that your Servants preferr'd Publick Good before Private Interest since on that occasion they resisted the Sollicitations of several Persons whom it behov'd them to have a great deal of Consideration for as well as the Threatnings of Monsieur which Puy-Laurens carry'd to that degree as to declare That in case Montmorency were put to Death Monsieur would find a time to make them suffer the same Fate The Patience wherewith you have born the new Conspiracies which Puy-Laurens form'd in Flanders in Monsieur's Name who retir'd thither for the third time is altogether like that which induces a Father to excuse the Behaviour which one of his Children is inspir'd with after having laid aside his Obedience That which has induc'd you to bear as long as the Good of the State and your own Conscience would permit you the Malice and Levity which have often induc'd the Duke of Lorrain to Arm against you is a Virtue which has but few Examples in History The Goodness which has prevail'd with you to be contented for the Reparation of his second Faults with the Deposition of some Places capable to keep him within the Bounds of his Duty had not his Folly equall'd his Breach of Faith will be found perhaps the more singular in that there are few Princes who lose the opportunity of making themselves Masters of a Neighbouring State when they have a lawful Subject and Power at once so to do After so many Relapses committed by the Duke your Vassal after he had snatch'd away from you contrary to his Faith against Divine and Humane Right a Pledge almost as precious as your State the Prudence wherewith you divested him when his Malice and Inconstancy could receive no other Remedies but the utmost Extremities is the more to be commended because that had you done it sooner your Justice might have been call'd in question Neither could you tarry longer without shewing your self insensible and without committing by Omission a Fault equal unto that which a Prince should commit in divesting another without a Cause What ought we not to say of the good Nature which has enclin'd you to procure Monsieur's Return into France for the third time when there seemed no longer to be any reason to trust his Faith after the divers Relapses and extraordinary Infidelities of his Followers Many thought with Reason that he could never come back again without exposing your most Faithful Servants and yet they were the only Persons who did sollicit your Majesty to draw him out of the Peril into which he had expos'd himself That Action will meet but few Examples in Antiquity if we consider the Circumstances of it and perhaps but little Imitation of it for the future As no body could without a great deal of Boldness advise your Majesty to grant Monsieur contrary to your own Sentiments a notable Augmentation of Power the Government of a Province and a strong Place in order to recall him out of Lorrain the first time he went out of the Kingdom so it requir'd a great deal of Firmness to resist the Instances he made for a whole Year together to have one given him upon the Frontier where he design'd to retire in quitting Flanders It was no small Happiness that those two Counsels succeeded so well that the Concession of the first place occasion'd his first Return and yet prov'd so innocent a Cause that being useful on that occasion they could not make an ill use of it since when his Adherents endeavour'd it And that the Refusal of the Second was so far from hindring him to return to his Duty and into his Native Country the only place of his Safety that on the contrary it induc'd him to return back again with as good an Intention as he and his have confess'd since it was bad when under Pretence of the Safety of his Person he defir'd a Retreat to disturb the growing Peace of France anew The extraordinary Favours your Majesty granted to Puy-Laurens to induce him to inspire a good Conduct to his Master are so worthy of remembrance that they must not be forgotten in this place The Punishment he receiv'd when you discover'd that he continu'd to abuse your Favours was too just and too necessary not to insert it afterwards I am persuaded that Posterity will observe three things which are very considerable on that Subject An entire Resignation of all Interests but such as related to the Publick Good in your Creatures who having receiv'd him by your express Command into their Alliance nevertheless advis'd you to secure him because the Good of the State requir'd it A great Prudence in performing that Action in the Presence of Monsieur who could not near hand disapprove a Council which he would have dreaded for himself at a distance had not Experience made him sensible that he was not aim'd at A great Boldness in allowing him as much Liberty as he enjoy'd before grounded barely upon this That as ill Counsels only had seduc'd him the Effect would cease with the Cause and that he would be no sooner destitute of them but he would follow by his own Sentiments a Method quite different from that he had been put upon This Action and many others transacted during your Majesty's Reign will I am sure make this pass for a certain Maxim That it is necessary on certain occasions in which the Welfare of the State is concern'd to assume a Male Virtue sometimes to exceed the Bounds of Common Prudence and that it is sometimes impossible to avoid certain Evils unless something be given to Fortune or rather to Divine Providence which seldom refuses its Assistance when our exhausted Wisdom can no longer furnish us with any Moreover your Conduct will be acknowledged the more just in that those who will read the History of your Life will find that your Majesty never punishes any body without having first endeavour'd by some extraordinary Favours to retain him within the Bounds of his Duty The Marshal d' Ornano was made Marshal to that end The Grand Prior was certain of the Command of the Sea when he perverted his Brother's Mind and both gave you Cause to deprive them of their Liberty The Marshal de Bassompierre only subsisted by your Favours when his way of speaking and of behaving himself at Court oblig'd you to confine him to the Bastille The Lord Keeper Marillac was the more oblig'd to perform his Duty because the height to which his good Fortune had elevated him left him no room to desire any thing tho' never so ambitious The Marshal his Brother settled in Verdun and elevated to an Office of the Crown had all the reason imaginable to avoid the Fate he deserved by his Ingratitude and by his evil Behaviour The several Commands the Duke de Montmorency had had in your Armies tho' he was as yet very young to deserve them the Office of Marshal of France the free Access your Majesty gave him to your
THE POLITICAL Will and Testament Of that Great MINISTER of STATE CARDINAL Duke de RICHELIEV FROM WHENCE LEWIS XIV the Present French KING has taken his Measures and Maxims of GOVERNMENT In Two PARTS Done out of French LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and VVestminster MDCXCV ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THE World would have reason to Wonder that this Political Testament of Cardinal de Richelieu could have been conceal'd so long did not the Consequence of it and the use to which it was designed convince us that he never intended the publishing thereof But whereas it is the Fate of Mysterys to have a certain Date and that it is impossible not to confide things of this Nature to some Indiscreet Persons there is no reason to wonder at their falling at last into Liberal hands who are glad to Impart them to the World It would be a Reflection on the Judgment of the Public to Imagine that they could mistake this Work for tho Men can never be too Cautious to avoid being imposed upon It is impossible to read this without discovering all the Characters of that great Man's mind The Elevation and Beauty of his Genius joyn'd to the Nobleness of his Expressions appears clearly in this but moreover what variety of matter is not found in it They are all handled with so much Solidity that it is obvious that he knew them by a profound Meditation seconded by a consummated Experience and that none but himself was capable to Write them If it be very delightful to read the Reflections and Political Precepts which the best Authors make on the principal Events they Relate that satisfaction is considerably lessen'd when we consider that most of them only reason after the Fact and in their Study's and that they would be at a great loss themselves to overcome the difficultys of the least Negotiation or of the least dangerous Intrigue But this Political Testament is of a different Nature It is a favourite and a first Minister of State who has Govern'd upwards of 25 years one of the most considerable Kingdoms of Europe who has Guided it and as it were held it by the hand in the first years of its Rise Who prescribes no Councel but what he has often practis'd himself and Finally who by his Steadiness and Courage has overcome an infinite number of Obstacles and Intrigues which would have overwhelm'd any other Man Therefore there never was a Work of more use for those who are called to the administration of great Affairs Kings Princes Favorites Ministers Councellors of State Ecclesasticks Nobles Magistrates Courtiers and in fine all sorts and degrees of Men find instructions here of an Inestimable Value Not that this Work is in the Condition in which it would undoubtedly have been had he had leisure to revise it but tho some carelesness is discovered in it and some Expressions less happy than others nevertheless all the parts of it compose so fine Body that those little faults can only be look'd upon like those Strokes in fine Pictures which tho' careless discover the skill of the Artist It would be an Extraordinary Presumption to endeavour by Words to Inhance the excellence of a Work which sustains it self so well and is infinitely above the Elogys that could be given to it The reading of one Chapter of it will speak more in its behalf than whatever we could say The first Edition of this Book and the two others which follow'd it close have been taken from a Manuscript which seems to be of thirty years standing and to have been written with great precipitation by two different hands without any blots but with many faults The most Essential have been mended in this fourth Impression and we thought fit not to alter the rest for fear of mistaking the sence of the Author As there is no reason to believe that the Copy we have made use of is the only remaining one we intreat those who have a better and who shall observe any Capital faults to Impart the same to us in order to correct them in a fifth Edition The very Contents seem to be written by the Cardinal de Richelieu himself as he was a very methodical Man it is very likely that he begun his Work by the said Contents lest the Matters should anticipate upon each other The World will certainly be surpris'd at the Title of the first Chapter which speaks of the General Peace of which he design'd to mention the Year which he has left in blank since there was no General Peace at that time But we have been oblig'd to follow the Manuscript and it is apparent that he design'd it and thereby to conclude the relation of the King his Master 's great Actions As for the time when this Work was written it is very likely that he did it at several times In the first Chapter he prosecutes the relation of the King's Actions until the Year 1638. Yet in some other Places he seems to write in 1635. since he gives the King but 25 years Reign It may also be question'd whether what he writes of the Jesuites is before or after the Intrigues which Father Causin the King's Confessor and Father Monod Confessor to the Dutchess of Savoy set on foot to remove him from the Court which had like to have succeeded If he writ the said Chapter after he had defeated the said Intrigue no body can sufficiently admire his Moderation in speaking so soberly of them and if he writ it before it is impossible to praise him enough to have left his Work in its first State without expressing more marks of his resentment in the same That which seems most surprising is that he does no wise mention the Birth of the present King in his Political Testament from whence we may infer that it was written before that Event being too considerable to pass it under silence Moreover we must consider that he had given over Writing long before his Death by reason of the mischance of his Arm being oblig'd to dictate all his Dispatches and whereas it is very likely that he would not trust his Political Testament to any other hand he was no longer in a condition to do it himself and that may be the reason of the said Omission All the Notes of the present Edition are in the Manuscript but the Historical Observations on the first Chapter were lately communicated to me and are peculiar to the fourth Edition if ever any Work deserv'd to be adorn'd with Remarks it certainly is this The Life and Memoirs of this Great Man will furnish abundance but that is not sufficient it requires something more particular yet to heighten the Intrigues of that Court which have not been divulg'd which would be of great Use for the better Understanding of the History Several useful Remarks might also be made upon the then State of France and that to which it is grown since Wherein the Councels
lasted Five Years no ill Accident ever befell you but what seem'd only to be permitted for your Glory In 1635. the Army your Majesty sent into the Low Countries as soon as they came there won a famous Battel before their being join'd with that of the States General And if the Prince of Orange commanding both had no Success suitable to those great Forces and to what was expected from a Captain of his Reputation the fault of it cannot be imputed to you Having submitted your Arms to the Command of that Prince it was his part to pursue the Point of an Army he receiv'd Victorious But the Slowness of a heavy Nation could not improve the Eagerness of yours which requires Execution rather than Counsel and which by dallying loses the Advantage which their Fiery Nature gives them over others That very Year the Forces of the Empire having pass'd the Rhine at Brisac came so near your Frontiers that tho' you could not free them from Fear yet you freed them from the Losses your Enemies sustain'd One of the finest Armies the Emperour had put on foot for a long while perish'd in Lorrain and their Loss prov'd the more considerable in that the bare Patience of those who commanded your Forces in those parts occasion'd it At the same time the Duke of Rohan favour'd by the principal Heads of the Grisons who desir'd their Liberty enter'd happily into their Country with open force seiz'd the most considerable Passes and Posts and fortify'd them notwithstanding the Opposition which the Neighbourhood of the Milaneze enabled the Spaniards to make conveniently The Dukes of Savoy and of Crequi who did command your Armies in Italy took a Fort in the Milaneze and built another upon the Po which prov'd a dangerous Thorn to your Enemies In 1636. the Cowardise of three Governours of your Frontier Towns having given the Spaniards a Footing into this Kingdom and cheaply enabled them to acquire considerable Advantages Without being discourag'd when all seem'd to be lost in Six Weeks time you rais'd so powerful an Army that it might have been able totally to destroy your Enemies had those to whom you entrusted the Command of it employ'd it as they should have done Their Failures oblig'd you to put your self at the Head of it and God assisted you to that degree that that very Year in the sight of those who had only taken those Places because you were distant from them you retook the only one which was of Importance to your State You overcame many Difficulties in that Expedition which were created by your own Men who being prejudic'd by Ignorance or Malice highly disapprov'd so great a Design If you did not succeed in the Siege of Dole the reason which obliges every one to run to that which is most pressing was the only Cause of it Your Majesty remov'd your Forces from thence with great Prudence since it concern'd you more to retake Corbie than to take Dole At that time Galas entring this Kingdom with the main Forces of the Empire to which the Duke of Lorrain join'd himself with his They were both driven out of Burgundy with the shame of Raising the Siege of St. John de Laune a weak Place and the loss of part of their Cannon and of so great a number of Men that out of 30000 wherewith they entred this Kingdom they did not march out Ten. The River Tosino was Witness that very Year of an Action no less fortunate in Italy where your Forces gain'd a famous and bloody Combat And you had Advantages in Valtelina which were the more considerable by reason that your Enemies having often taken the Resolution to engage your Forces in order to drive them out of it by Force they never attempted to put their Design in Execution but fighting and being beaten prov'd one and the same thing to them In 1637. you took two Places from your Enemies in Flanders and retook one of those which had been deliver'd up to them the Year before by the Cowardise of the Governours A Third being besieg'd in the Country of Luxemburg was taken soon after and your Enemy suffer'd as much Damage by the entrance of your Armies in their Country as they design'd to make you suffer the same way If the Panick Fear of him who commanded your Forces in Valtelina and the Infidelity of some of those for whose Liberty you had sent them thither made you lose through Cowardise and Treachery together the Advantages you had acquir'd there by Force and Reason That Year was happily Crown'd by the retaking of the Isles of St. Margaret and of St. Honorat and by the Relief of Lucare besieg'd by the Spaniards By the first of those two Actions Two Thousand Five Hundred French landed at Noon-day in an Island kept by as many Spaniards and Italians an Island fortify'd by Five Regular Forts joyn'd to one another by Lines of Communication which enclos'd it almost entirely by a good Parapet Your Men fought at their Landing and beat your Enemies which oppos'd them and after having forc'd the major part of them to retire into their Ramparts they forc'd them out of them in Six Weeks time Foot after Foot by as many Sieges as there were Forts tho' one of them was compos'd of Five Bastions Royal so well provided with Cannon and with Men and all other Necessaries that it seem'd a Rashness to attack it By the Second a potent Army so well retrench'd that there was but one Head of a Thousand Fathom by which it could be attack'd a Head so well fortify'd that at every Distance of Two Hundred Paces there were Forts and Redoubts garnish'd with Cannon and lin'd with Infantry was attack'd in the Night and forc'd by an Army which tho' inferiour in number did nevertheless defeat it wholly after several Combats Those two Actions are so extraordinary that one cannot say they are signal Effects of the Courage of Men without adding that they were seconded by the Providence and Hand of God who visibly fights for us In 1638. tho' the beginning of the Year prov'd unfortunate to you in Italy at St. Omer and at Fontarabia by the ill Fate of Arms and by the Imprudence Cowardise or Malice of some of those who commanded yours the End Crown'd the Work by the taking of Brisac after a long Siege two Battels and divers Combats attempted to relieve it Moreover as soon as you had notice of the ill Event of the Siege of St. Omers your Majesty repair'd in Person to the Place where there was reason to expect some dangerous Events You put a stop to the course of the Misfortunes of your Arms by taking and demolishing Renty which greatly incommoded the Frontier After which le Castelet the only Place of yours then remaining in your Enemies Hands was taken by Force in sight of them without their daring to oppose the Effects of your Arms. The Naval Engagement in which 14 Gallies and 4 Ships of Dunkirk all retir'd into
Punishment If in the next place you are pleas'd to order the said Right which is only Personal from being transmitted to Heirs the Observation of such a Regulation will produce this effect That your Officers not being depriv'd of the Favour your Predecessors have obtain'd for them Learned Men will receive a great Advantage under your Reign and will be deliver'd of the great Vexation they receive from them You might also refuse to allow your Officers after having Nominated a Man to an Indult to substitute another in his room in case he should die before it be fill'd CHAP. III. Of the NOBIITY SECT I. Divers Means to Advantage the Nobility and to make them Subsist Honourably AFter having represented what I esteem absolutely necessary for the Reâ—establishment of the First Order of your Kingdom I proceed to the Second and say That the Nobility must be Respected as one of the principal Sinews of the State capable to contribute much towards its Preservation and Settlement They have been so much depress'd of late Years by the vast Number of Officers which the Misfortune of the Age has elevated to their prejudice that it is very necessary to protect them against the Attempts of such Men. The Wealth and Pride of the one triumphs over the Necessity of the others who are only rich in Courage which induces them to employ their Lives freely for the State of which your Officers reap the Advantage As it is necessary to protect them against those who oppress them so a particular Care must be taken to hinder them from using those that are under them as they are us'd by the others It is a common Fault in those that are born in that Order to exert Violence against the People to whom God seems rather to have given Arms to get their Livelihood than to defend themselves It is absolutely necessary to stop the course of such Disorders by a continu'd Severity to the end that the weakest of your Subjects though unarm'd may be as safe under the protection of your Laws as those who are arm'd The Nobility having shewn in this War happily ended by a Peace that they have Inherited the Vertue of their Ancestors which induc'd Caesar to prefer them before all others it will be fit to Discipline them to the end that they may acquire a new and preserve their former Reputation and that the State may be usefully serv'd It is most certain That the Nobility which does not serve you in the War is not only useless but a Burthen to the State which in that Case may be compar'd to the Body which supports an Arm which is troubled with the Palsie as a Load which burthens it instead of affording it any ease As the Gentry deserves to be well us'd when they do well it is necessary to be severe against them when they are wanting in what their Birth exacts from them And I make no scruple of saying That those who degenerating from the Vertue of their Forefathers do not serve the Crown with their Swords and Lives with all the Constancy and Courage which the Laws of the State require deserve to be depriv'd of the Advantages of their Birth and to be reduc'd to bear part of the Burthen of the People As Honour ought to be dearer to them than Life it were better to chastise them by depriving them of the first than of the last To take away the Life of Men who expose it daily upon a meer Notion of Honour is much less than to take away their Honour and to save their Life which in that Condition is a perpetual Torment to them As all means must be us'd to maintain the Nobility in the true Vertue of their Fathers so none must be omitted to preserve them in the possession of the Estates they have left them and to help them to acquire new ones As it is impossible to find out a Remedy against all Evils so it is very difficult to find out a general Expedient to the Ends I propose The many Marriages which are contracted in every Family in this Kingdom whereas in other States seldom any but the Eldest Marries are one of the true Causes which ruine the best Families in a short time But if that Custom impoverishes private Families it enriches the State the main force of which consists in the Multitude of Men insomuch that instead of complaining of it it must be encourag'd and instead of opposing it means must be found out for the subsistance of those it brings into the World according to the Purity of Heart they derive from their Birth In order thereunto it is necessary to distinguish the Nobility which is at Court from those who live in the Country That which is at Court will be considerably eas'd by retrenching the State and insupportable Expences which have been introduc'd there by degrees since it is most certain that such a Regulation will do them more good than all the Pensions they receive As to those who live in the Country though such an Order will not ease them so much by reason of their Misery which will not allow them to make superfluous Expences they will nevertheless find the Benefit of the said Remedy so necessary for the whole State that without it it can never avoid its ruine If your Majesty be pleas'd to add to the Regulation of that Disorder the Establishment of Fifty Troops of Gens d'Armes and the like number of Chevaux Legers to be paid in the Provinces on the Conditions hereafter specified it will be a great help for the Subsistence of the most indigent Nobility If in the next place you suppress the Sale of the Governments of the Kingdom and of all Military Imployments which the said Order pays sufficiently for at the Rate of their Blood If you observe the same Method in what relates to the Places of your Houshold If whereas at present all manner of Men are admitted into the same by the dishonourable Traffick of their Purse you prohibit the receiving of any Person into them but such as have the Happiness of being of a Noble Blood If moreover the Entrance thereof be no longer allow'd even to those who have that Advantage unless by your Majesty's choice of them in consideration of their Merit the said good Regulation will prove both Advantagious and Honourable to all the Nobility Whereas at present Gentlemen can only purchase Places and Dignities at the Rate of their Ruine their Fidelity will be the more certain for the future by reason that the more they will be gratified the less they will think themselves indebted for the Honours they will receive to their Purses and to their Creditors who never put them in mind of what they owe them but at the same time they are troubled for being rais'd that way If moreover you will be pleas'd to extend your Favour so far as to be careful to gratifie their Children who shall be found to have as much Learning and Piety
Obedience They must be compar'd to Mules which being us'd to Burthens are spoil'd more by Rest than by Labour but as the Labour must be moderate and that the Burthens of those Animals must be proportion'd to their Strength so unless the Subsidies which are impos'd on the People are moderate even when they are useful to the Publick they are unjust I am sensible that when Kings undertake Publick Works 't is said with truth That what the People gets by it returns to them again by the Payment of the Taille But then one may also maintain That what Kings get out of the People returns to them again and that they only advance itto get it again by the Enjoyment of Rest and of their Estates which cannot be secur'd unless they contribute towards the Maintenance of the State I know moreover that many Princes have ruin'd their States and their Subjects by not keeping sufficient Force on foot for their Preservation for fear of over-burthening them and that some Subjects have been expos'd to the Servitude of their Enemies by desiring too much Liberty under their Natural Soveraign But there is a certain Point which cannot be exceeded without Injustice common Sense teaching every Man that there must be a proportion between the Burthen and the Strength of those who bear it That Proportion must be so Religiously observ'd that as a Prince cannot be esteem'd Good if he exacts more from his Subjects than is necessary those are not always the best who never raise but what is absolutely necessary Moreover as when a Man is wounded the Heart which grows faint by the loss of the Blood which flows from it does not draw that of the lower Parts to its assistance until the greatest part of that which lies in the uppermost is exhausted so in the urgent Necessities of States Soveraigns must as much as in them lies make use of the abundance of the Rich before they bleed the Poor extraordinarily 'T is the best Counsel your Majesty can take which you may easily put into practice since for the future you may draw the principal Subsistence of your State out of your General Farms in which the Rich are more concern'd than the Poor by reason that as they spend less they do not contribute so much to the Product thereof CHAP. V. Which considers the State in it self SECT I. Which represents how necessary it is that the several Parts of the State should remain every one within the extent of their Bounds AFter having spoken separately of the divers Orders the State is compos'd of I have but little to say in the main but that as the Whole only subsists by the Union of its Parts in their Order and natural Situation so this great Kingdom can never flourish unless your Majesty takes care to keep the Bodies which compose it in their Order the Church having the First Rank the Nobility the Second and the Officers which are at the head of the People the Third I speak this boldly because it is as necessary as just to put a stop to the Incroachments of some Officers who being puff'd up with Pride either upon the account of the great Estates they are possess'd of or by the Authority they derive from their Places are so presumptuous as to challenge the First Rank whereas they can only pretend to the Third Which is so contrary to Reason and to the Good of your Service that it is absolutely necessary to put a stop to the Progress of such Enterprises since otherwise France would no longer be what it has been and what it ought to be but a monstrous Body which as such could never subsist or be lasting As it is most certain that the Elements which are capable of weight have none when they are in their Place so it is certain that none of the Orders of your State will prove burthensome to the other while each do remain in the Place which their Birth has assign'd them And as neither Fire Air nor Water can sustain a Terrestrial Body because it is heavy out of its place so it is certain that neither the Church nor the Nobility can support the Burthen of the Officers when they endeavour to move out of their Sphere As I am very sensible that your Majesty knows how to keep all Orders within their Bounds without enlarging any farther upon this Subject I will proceed to two Questions which I incent in this Chapter because they have an equal Relation to the Threedifferent Orders of the State SECT II. Which examines Whether it is better to make the Governments Triennial in this Kingdom than to leave them Perpetual according to the Use which has been practis'd hitherto EVery body will fancy at first that it will be better to make them Triennial but after having compar'd the Advantages which may thereby accrue to the Inconveniences that are to be fear'd perhaps it will be thought as I have already observ'd it that though the Nomination to Benefices is not so Canonical as the Elections the Use of it is nevertheless more advantagious at this time for several Reasons as also that notwithstanding the suppression of the Sale of Offices is to be defired for several Reasons yet the not tolerating the Use of it would occasion many Inconveniences express'd in their proper places So it is impossible to render the Governments of Provinces and of Towns Triennial without being expos'd to far greater Inconveniences than those which may be fear'd by the perpetual Settlement of Governours I am sensible that some may urge That a Man having a Government only for Three Years will in all probability endeavour to quit it with Reputation and to behave himself with so much Prudence that his Administration may be preferr'd before his Predecessor's whereas having it for Life the certainty of it gives him more Licence But it is much more likely that he who knows he is not long to continue in his Office will endeavour to draw as much Profit out of it as he might expect during his Life if he were to enjoy it to his Death Moreover considering the Inconstancy of our Nation there might be some reason to fear the employing of some who foreseeing the End of an agreeable Administration might resolve to perpetuate it by receiving those as Masters whom they ought to look upon as Enemies If the Practice of Spain be urg'd which often changes Governours after having answer'd that Example shews us that nothing can be more dangerous than that Government I will add That as there are Fruits the Use of which is excellent in one Country and a Poison in another so there are Settlements the Practice whereof is good in one State but yet would prove pernicious in another Some may say to prevent the Objections which may be made against the Practice of the Order of Spain in this Kingdom That those who will lay down an Office after the expiration of the term of their Administration will have no reason
of its Nature has inclin'd them to do that which was most advantageous to the State The others suiting all things to their Private Interest or Capricio have often diverted it from its own end to apply it to that which was most agreable or most advantagious to them Neither Death nor the Alteration of Ministers have ever occasioned any Mutation in the Council of Spain But it has been otherwise in this Kingdom in which Affairs have not only been alter'd by the removal of Councellors but they have taken such variety of Forms under the same Persons by the variety of their Councils that such a Proceeding had undoubtedly ruin'd this Monarchy did not God out of his infinite Goodness extract out of the Imperfections of this Nation the Remedy of the Evils it creates Tho the diversity of our Interests and our Natural Inconstancy incline us often to dangerous Prejudices the same Levity does not permit us to remain firm and constant even in those things which are for our good and turns our mind with so much swiftness that our Enemies not being capable to take just measures upon such frequent Varieties have not time enough to improve our faults to their advantage The Proceeding of your Council being alter'd of late your Affairs have also taken a new face to the great advantage of your Kingdom and if your Successors take care to follow the Example of your Majesty's Reign our Neighbours will not have the advantages they have had for the time past But this Kingdom sharing Wisdom with them will undoubtedly share their good Fortune since that notwithstanding Men may be wise without being happy the best means we can use not to be unhappy is to tread the Path which Prudence and Reason direct us to and not to follow the Irregularities to which the Minds of Men are subject and particularly the French If those to whom your Majesty will confide the Care of your Affairs have the capacity and probity above mention'd you will have no further care in what relates to this Principle which of it self will not prove difficult since the particular Interest of a Princes reputation and those of the Publick have the same End Princes easily consent to the general Regulations of their States by reason that in making them they follow the dictates of Reason and of Justice which Men easily embrace when they meet no Obstacles to lead them out of the right way But when occasion offers it self to practise the good Settlements they have made they do not always show the same steadiness because that is the time when divers Interests Piety Compassion Favour and Importunities solicite them and oppose their good Intentions and that they have not always force enough to vanquish themselves and to despise particular Considerations which ought to be of no weight in respect to those of the Publick It is on those occasions it behoves them to muster up all their Force against their Weakness considering that those whom God appoints to preserve others must have none but such as may serve to discover what is advantagious for the Public and proper for their Preservation CHAP. IV. How much Foresight is necessary for the Goverument of a State NOthing can be more necessary for the Government of a State than Foresight since thereby we may easily prevent many things which cannot be redress'd without great difficulties when they are come to pass Thus a Physitian who has the skill to prevent Distempers is more esteem'd than he who only labours to cure them Therefore it is the Duty of Ministers of State to represent to their Master that it is more necessary to consider the future than the present and that Distempers are like the Enemies of a State against whom Prudence obliges us to march rather than tarry till they are come to drive them out again Those who do not follow this Method will fall into great Confusions which it will be very difficult to remedy afterwards Yet it is a common thing among weak Men to drive off time and to chuse the preserving of their Ease for a Month rather than to deprive themselves of it for a while to avoid the trouble of many Years which they do not consider because they only see what is present and do not anticipate time by a wise Providence Those who never consider to morrow live happily for themselves but others live unhappily under them Those who foresee at a distance never do any thing rashly since they consider betimes and Men seldom miscarry when they consider before hand There are some occasions on which we are not allow'd to deliberate long because the nature of Affairs does not permit it But when they are not of that kind the safest way is to slumber over them and to recompence by the prudence of the Execution the delay we use the better to digest it There was a time in which no Orders were given in this Kingdom by way of prevention and even after the evil was come to pass none but Palliating Remedies were apply'd to it because it was impossible to proceed absolutely against it without wounding the Interest of many particular persons which was then prefer'd to publick good For which reason they only endeavour'd to ease the wound instead of curing it which has caus'd a great deal of harm in this Kingdom Of late years thanks be to God this way of proceeding has been alter'd with so much success that besides Reasons inviting us to continue the same the great benefit we have receiv'd by it obliges us strickly so to do We must sleep like the Lion without closing our Eyes which must be continually kept open to foresee the least inconveniencies which may happen and to remember that as Phtysick does not move the Pulse tho' it is mortal So it often happens in States that those evils which are imperceptible in their Original and which we are least sensible of are the most dangerous and those which finally prove of most consequence The extraordinary care which is requir'd not to be surpris'd on such occasions is the reason that as all those States have always been esteem'd very happy which were Govern'd by Wise Men so it has been thought that among those who did Govern them the most unwise were the most happy The more capable a Man is the more he is sensible of the weight of the Government that lies upon him Publick Administration takes up all the thoughts of the most Judicious insomuch that the perpetual Meditations they are obliged to make to foresee and prevent the Evils that may happen deprives them of all manner of Rest and Contentment excepting that which they receive in seeing many sleep quietly relying on their Watchings and live happy by their misery As it is very necessary to consider before hand as much as is possible what success may attend the designs we undertake in order not to be mistaken in our reckoning The Wisdom and Sight of Men having bounds beyond
and Maxims of that great Minister have been follow'd and in what they have deviated from them and several other Remarks not only curious but important If any body will be so kind as to impart all those things to Us We will willingly communicate them to the Public TO King LEWIS XIII SIR AS soon as Your Majesty was pleas'd to admit me into the Management of Your Affairs I resolv'd to use my utmost Endeavours to facilitate Your great Designs as useful to this State as glorious to your Person God having bless'd my Intentions insomuch that the Virtue and Happiness of Your Majesty have astonish'd the present and will be admir'd in future Ages I thought my self obliged to write the History of your glorious Successes both to hinder many Circumstances worthy to live for ever in the Memory of Man from being bury'd in Oblivion thro' the Ignorance of those who cannot know them like me and to the end that the time past might serve as a Rule for the future Therefore I forthwith apply'd my self to it being perswaded that I could never begin that too soon which was only to end with my Life I did not only carefully collect the matter of such a Work but moreover I reduc'd part of it into Order and put the Transactions of some Years in the Form I design'd to publish them I own that tho' there is more Pleasure in furnishing the Matter of History than in putting it into Form yet I found a great deal of Satisfaction in relating what had been perform'd with great Labour While I began to relish the Delights of that Performance the Illnesses and continual Inconveniences which attend the weakness of my Constitution join'd to the Weight of Affairs forc'd me to lay it aside because it requir'd too much time Yet tho' I cannot possibly perform upon this Subject what I so passionately desir'd for the Glory of your Person and for the Welfare of your State I think my self oblig'd in Conscience at least to leave your Majesty some Memoirs of those things I think most necessary for the Government of this Kingdom Two Reasons oblige me to undertake this Work The first is The Fear and Desire I have of ending my Days before the Expiration of yours The Second is The Faithful Passion I have for your Majesty's Interest which makes me not only desirous to see you attended with all sorts of Prosperities during my Life but also makes me earnestly wish to see a Prospect of the Continuation of the same when the Inevitable Tribute we are all oblig'd to pay Nature shall hinder me from being a Witness of them This Piece will appear under the Title of my Political Testament because it is made to serve after my Death for the Polity and Conduct of your Kingdom if your Majesty thinks it worthy of it Because it will contain my last Desires in relation thereunto and that in leaving it to you I bequeath to your Majesty the best Legacy I have to dispose of whenever God will be pleas'd to call me out of this Life It shall be conceiv'd in the most concise and clearest Method I am capable of as well to follow my own Genius and my usual way of writing as to comply with your Majesty's Humour who ever lov'd that Men should come to the Point in few Words being as much pleas'd to hear the Substance of things as apprehensive of the long Discourses most Men use to explain them If my Spirit which will appear in these Memoirs can after my Death contribute any thing towards the Regulation of this great State in the Management of which your Majesty has been pleas'd to give me a greater Share than I deserve I will think my self infinitely happy To that end judging with Reason that the Success God has hitherto been pleas'd to grant the Resolutions your Majesty has taken with your most Faithful Creatures is a powerful Motive to invite you to follow the Advices I will give you for the future I will begin this Work with an Abstract of the great Actions you have perform'd with so much Glory which may justly be stil'd The Solid Foundation of the future Felicity of your Kingdom This Relation will be made with so much Sincerity according to the Judgment of those who are faithful Witnesses of the History of your Time that it will induce every body to believe that the Counsels I give your Majesty have no other Motives but the Interest of your State and the Advantage of your Person I am and will remain Eternally SIR Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful most Obedient most Passionate and most oblig'd Subject and Servant Armand Du Plessis THE Political Testament Of the Famous CARDINAL Duke de RICHELIEU PART I. CHAP. I. A Short Relation of the King 's great Actions until the Peace concluded in the Year WHEN Your Majesty was first pleas'd to admit me into your Councils and to repose a great Confidence in me for the Direction of your Affairs I may affirm with Truth that the Huguenots shar'd the State with you that the Grandees behav'd themselves as if they had not been your Subjects and the most powerful Governours of Provinces as if they had been Soveraigns in their Imployments I may say that the ill Example of both was so prejudicial to this Kingdom that the best regulated Communities were tainted with their Behaviour and in some cases lessen'd your Majesty's lawful Authority as much as in them lay in order to extend their own beyond reason I may say that every Man measur'd his Merit by his Presumption that instead of valuing the Favours they receiv'd from your Majesty by their Intrinsick Worth they only valued them according as they were suitable to the Unruliness of their Fancy and that the most daring were esteem'd the wisest and often prov'd the most happy I may also say that Foreign Alliances were despis'd Private Interest preferr'd to Publick Good in a word the Dignity of Royal Majesty was so much debas'd and so different from what it ought to be by the Defect of those who had then the principal Management of your Affairs that it was almost impossible to distinguish it The Proceeding of those to whom your Majesty had intrusted the Helm of your State could no longer be tolerated without ruining all and on the other hand it could not be alter'd all at once without violating the Laws of Prudence which do not allow the passing from one Extream to another without a Medium The ill Posture of your Affairs seem'd to constrain your Majesty to take precipitated Resolutions without Election of Time or of Means and yet Choice was necessary in both to improve the Alteration which Necessity exacted from your Prudence The Wisest were of Opinion that it was impossible without a Shipwrack to steer through the Rocks that appear'd on all sides in times of such Uncertainty The Court was full of Men who accus'd those of Rashness who should dare to attempt it and
Person and the Familiarity he had with your Creatures were Favours and Privileges sufficient to hinder him from flying to his Ruine Chateauneuf had been so lately honour'd with the Seals when his ill Proceedings were first discover'd that there is Reason to suspect that at the beginning of his Magistracy he had the same Intentions as when he ended it Nevertheless that first place of Justice to which your Majesty rais'd him contrary to his Expectation an Hundred Thousand Crowns he receiv'd from your Liberality in one Year the Government of one of your Provinces which are extraordinary Favours for a Man of his Profession were not sufficient Considerations to hinder him from being the Promoter of his own Ruine The several and great Favours Puy-Laurens receiv'd in a short time from your Majesty's Goodness are so extraordinary that those who will know them will perhaps be more surpriz'd at them than at his ill Proceeding which is usual enough in Persons whom Fortune raises in an instant without Desert The Indemnity of his Crimes which your Majesty granted him at his return from Flanders will not be thought inconsiderable by Posterity The Immense Sums he receiv'd from your Liberality the Government of Bourbonnois the Quality of Duke and Peer and my Alliance were sufficient Engagements to keep any other Man within the Bounds of his Duty but he was not capable of prescribing any to himself When Count de Cramail was put into the Bastille he had lately receiv'd by his being recall'd to Court an Instance of the Remission of his first Faults But that favourable Treatment did not hinder him from resuming his former Course in acting against the present state of Affairs and in endeavouring to make your Majesty alter your ancient Conduct of which the Events justify'd the Happiness and the Blessing of God the Justice The Choice that was made of the Marshal de Vitry for Provence oblig'd him to live very warily in so great an Employment which his Courage and Fidelity had procur'd him But his Greediness and haughty insolent Behaviour did not contribute little to deprive him of it to place him in a Government of less Extent If I must speak of those that were barely remov'd from Court what Obligations had not the Duke de Bellegarde receiv'd from your Majesty and from your Servants The Goodness of the one and the Address of the other had freed him out of some Troubles into which his exceeding Vanity and the Unruliness of his Passions had engag'd him He was a Duke by your Favour and the more oblig'd to behave himself well with Monsieur when he assisted him to get out of the Kingdom because you had setled him in the first Places of his Houshold which he stood in great need of From being a poor ordinary Gentleman Thoiras was seen to rise in an instant to the degree of a Marshal of France so loaden with Favours that he receiv'd not only the best Employments and the greatest Governments of the Kingdom but over and above upwards of Six Hundred Thousand Crowns in Gratifications La Fargis had all the reason imaginable to behave her self well since your Majesty by placing her with the Queen your Consort had put her above the Discourses that were made of her The Dukes de Guise and d' Elboeuf have receiv'd to the knowledge of all the World incredible Favours from your Majesty While the Princess of Conty was most zealous in forming of Cabals she drew a great deal of Money out of your Exchequer for the Sale of Chateaurenault but that was not sufficient to keep her within the Bounds of her Duty The Duke de la Valette's Removal tho' voluntary and not forc'd giving me an occasion to put him in this Classis I cannot forbear observing that a little before his solliciting Monsieur your Brother and the Count of Soissons to employ your Army which they commanded at that time against your Person your Majesty had honour'd him with the Quality of Duke and Peer Neither can I forbear adding that in order to engage him the more in your Service you were pleas'd to allow his Alliance with those who were altogether inseparable from it and that in consideration of my said Alliance you had granted him the Survivorship of the Government of Guyenne and added 30000 Livres to the Revenue of his Place of Colonel of the Infantry To which I may add that the Pardon your Majesty was pleas'd to grant him out of an extraordinary Goodness for so foul and so shameful a Crime averr'd by the Mouth of two Princes whose Testimony was undeniable could not hinder his Weakness and Jealousie against the Prince of Conde and the Archbishop of Bourdeaux or his Design of crossing your Affairs from doing a very shameful thing in losing the occasion of taking Fontarabia when the Enemies could no longer defend it If it be an effect of singular Prudence to have withstood all the Forces of the Enemies of your State with those of your Allies by putting your Hand into your Purse and not to your Arms. To have made an open War when your Allies were no longer able to subsist alone is another of Wisdom and Courage together which justifies sufficiently that managing the Repose of your Kingdom you have done like those Oeconomists who having been careful to lay up Money know how to spend it prudently to prevent a greater Loss To have at one and the same time made divers Attacks in divers places which was never done by the Romans or Ottomans will undoubtedly be look'd upon by many as a great piece of Imprudence and Rashness And yet as it is a Proof of your Power it is a greater yet of your Judgment since it was necessary to cut out so much Work on all parts to your Enemies that they might be invincible in none The War of Germany was somewhat forc'd since that part of Europe was the Stage on which it was begun long ago Altho' that of Flanders had not the Success which might have been expected yet it was impossible not to look upon it as advantagious in the Project That of the Grisons was necessary to engage the Princes of Italy to take Arms by removing their Dread of the Germans and to encourage those that had taken them in Germany by shewing them that Italy was not in a Condition to succour the Enemies they had in their Country That of Italy was no less material both because it was the ready way to engage the Duke of Savoy and by reason that the Milaneze being as it were the Heart of the Territories that are possess'd by the Spaniards it was necessary to attack that Part. Moreover considering that your Majesty had Allies on all parts who were to join their Forces to yours it must be concluded that it was evident by that Union that the Spaniards being attack'd in divers places should be forc'd to submit to the Effort of your Power And yet during the course of that War which
the Bay of Gattary under Five Land-Batteries not daring to keep the Sea before 19 of yours were all burnt or sunk with the loss of Five or Six Thousand Men of 500 Guns and a considerable Store of Ammunitions of War for the Relief of Fontarabia are great amends not for the Losses you sustain'd at St. Omer and Fontarabia which were not considerable but for the Gains you missed in not taking the said Places If to this Advantage we join that which you had before when your Arms made your Enemies lose in the Port of Passage 14 great Ships a great number of Guns Colours and all sorts of Ammunitions it will be found that if the Spaniards mark this Year as being favourable to them they esteem themselves happy when their Misfortunes are less than their Fears Finally the Combat of the Gallies perhaps the most famous that ever was fought at Sea where 15 of yours attack'd as many of Spain and fought them with so much advantage that your Enemies lost between Four and Five Thousand Men and Six Gallies among which the Admiral and two Patrones did not a little signalize that Action This Combat I say shews that the Prudence of your Conduct has not only been accompany'd with good Fortune but also that the Boldness of your Commanders has been seconded Several things are observable in this War The first thing is that your Majesty only engag'd into it because you could not avoid it and that you only laid down your Arms when it was proper so to do This Remark is the more glorious for your Majesty in that you were often sollicited by your Allies to take Arms and still refus'd to do it and that during the War your Enemies often propos'd a particular Peace to you which you would never hearken to because you could not forsake the Interest of your Allies Those who shall know that your Majesty has been forsaken by several Princes who were engag'd with you without abandoning any of them and that notwithstanding some of those who did remain steady in your Party fail'd you in many important things they have still receiv'd Effects from your Majesty suitable to your Promises those I say will acknowledge that if your Majesty's good Fortune has appear'd in the Success of your Affairs your Virtue equals your good Fortune I am sensible that had you broken your Word it would have lessen'd your Reputation considerably and that the least loss of that kind in a great Prince is irreparable But it is no small matter to have perform'd ones Duty in sundry occasions in which Vengeance and the Quiet which is naturally desir'd after a War induce one to do the contrary It requir'd no less Prudence than Force nor less Effort of Mind than of Arms to persist almost alone in the same Design which was to have been prosecuted by the Union of many Nevertheless it is most true that the Defection of several Princes * Saxony first abandon'd the King of Sweden Brandenburg the Landgrave of Hesse several Hans Towns Wirtemberg Parma and Mantua of Germany that the Duke of Parma's being oblig'd to abandon your Party through the necessity of his Affairs that the Duke of Mantua's Death and the Levity of his Dowager-Mother to the Young Duke who was no sooner Mistress but forgetting all her Obligations to France she turn'd publickly against it that the Decease of the Duke of Savoy and the Imprudence of his Widow who lost her self because she would not receive the Assistance that was offer'd her I say it is most true that all these Accidents never shook your Majesty's Resolution and tho' they alter'd the state of your Affairs they did not hinder you from persisting in your Designs The Second Remark worthy of great Consideration on this Subject is That your Majesty never would condescend to free your self from the Perils of War by exposing Christendom to that of the Ottoman Arms which were often offer'd to you Your Majesty was not ignorant that you might have accepted such a Succours with Justice and yet that Knowledge could not prevail with you to take a Resolution dangerous for Religion but advantagious to obtain a Peace The Example of some of your Predecessors and of divers Princes of the House of Austria who do particularly affect to appear as Religious before God as they are in reality to their own Interests prov'd too weak to induce you to do that which History informs us has often been practis'd by others The Third Circumstance which has caus'd a great deal of Wonder in this War is the vast number of Armies and of Sums which were requir'd to sustain the same The greatest Princes on Earth having ever made a Difficulty of undertaking two Wars at once Posterity will have much a-do to believe that this Kingdom was capable to keep up separately and at their own Charge Three Land and Two Naval Armies besides those of their Allies towards the Subsistence of which they contributed considerably Yet it is most certain that besides a potent Army of 20000 Foot and between 6 and 7000 Horse which you kept all along in Picardy to attack your Enemies you had another in the same Province compos'd of 10000 Foot and 4000 Horse to defend the Entrance of that Frontier It is moreover true that you kept one all along in Champagne of the same Number with this last One in Burgundy of the same Strength One no less powerful in Germany Another as considerable in Italy and another in Valtelina at certain times And what is most to be admir'd the major part of them were design'd more to attack than to stand upon the Defensive Although your Predecessors despis'd the Sea to that degree that the late King your Father had not one Ship your Majesty nevertheless during the whole Course of this War kept 20 Gallies and 20 Ships in the Mediterranean and about 60 well Mann'd in the Ocean Which has not only prevented your Enemies Designs upon your Coasts but has done them as much Harm as they design'd to do us Moreover you have yearly assisted the Hollanders with 1200000 Livres and sometimes more and the Duke of Savoy with upwards of a Million The Crown of Sweden with the like Sum. The Landgrave of Hesse with 200000 Rixdollars and divers other Princes with divers other Sums according as occasions did require it By reason of which excessive Charges the Expences of every one of the Five Years during which France has supported that War has amounted to upwards of 60 Millions which is the more to be admir'd in that it has been done without taking the Sallary of Officers without touching the Revenue of private Persons and even without demanding any Alienation of the Fund of the Clergy all extraordinary means which your Predecessors have often been oblig'd to have recourse to in less considerable Wars Thus 60 Millions of Expence every one of those Five Years an Hundred and Fifty Thousand Foot both in your Armies and
on those Occasions your Authority must pass over Forms to maintain Rule and Discipline without which a State cannot subsist and it will enable your Officers to punish Crimes according to Forms since it is more probable that the Cause and Proof of a Fault will be sooner found when the Guilty are seiz'd than when at liberty to use their utmost Endeavours to stifle the Discovery of the same If in the next place your Majesty will be pleas'd to order Rancounters to pass for Duels and to be punish'd as such until those who have been guilty of them surrender themselves Prisoners and are absolv'd of the same by Law you will do whatever is probable to stop the course of that Frensie and your Care to preserve the Lives of your Nobility will make you Master of their Hearts and will engage them to so strict an Allegiance that they will pay with Usury whatever your Majesty can expect from them in all the Imployments they are gratified with CHAP. IV. Of the Third ORDER of the Kingdom TO Treat of the Third Order of the Kingdom with Method and to see clearly what is proper to be done to make it susist in the State in which it ought to be I will divide it into Three Parts The First shall contain the Body of the Officers of Justice The Second of those who have the Management of the Finances And The Third the People which commonly bears the Burthen of the State SECT I. Which relates in general to the Disorders of the Courts of Justice and examines in particular whether the Suppression of the Sale of Offices and of Hereditary Offices would be a proper Remedy for such Evils IT is much easier to discover the Defects of the Courts of Justice than to prescribe Remedies for the same Every body is sensible that those who are appointed to hold the Scale even in all things have inclin'd it so much themselves on one side to their own Advantage that there is no longer any Counterpoise The Disorders of the Courts of Justice are come to that pass that they can go no farther I would enter into the Particulars of the said Disorders and of the Remedies which may be applied to the same if the Knowledge I have both of the Person of him who has the First Office of Justice at present and of his Design to render it as pure as the Corruption of the World will allow it did not oblige me barely to propose certain general Remedies to your Majesty to stop the progress of the principal Disorders In the Opinion of the Generality of the World the Chief consists in suppressing the Sale of Offices in extinguishing the Inheritance of the same and in giving them gratis to Persons of such known Capacity and Integrity that even Envy it self may not be able to contest their Merit But whereas it is a thing which cannot be done at this time and that it will be difficult to practice this Expedient at any other it would be useless at present to propose Means to that End Whenever the said Design is undertaken some will certainly be found which cannot be foreseen at present and those one might prescribe would be no longer in season when the thing might be attempted In the mean time though it is commonly dangerous to be singular in Advising I cannot forbear saying boldly That considering the present State of Affairs and that which may be foreseen for the future it is better in my Opinion to continue the said Sale and Inheritance of Offices than absolutely to alter the Settlement thereof So many Inconveniences are to be fear'd in such an Alteration that as though the Elections for Benefices are more ancient and more Canonical than the Nomination of Kings nevertheless the great Abuses which have been committed in the same and which it would be impossible to prevent render the Nominations more supportable as less subject to ill Consequences So notwithstanding the suppression of the Sale and Inheritance of Offices is consonant to Reason and to all the Constitutions of Right yet the inevitable Abuses which would be committed in the distribution of Offices depending so much on the bare Will of Kings and consequently on the Favour and Craft of those who should have most Power with them would render the present proceeding in the same more tolerable than that which has been us'd heretofore by reason of the great Inconveniences which alway attended it All reasonable Men must needs see the difference between these two Parties and heartily desire the suppression of the Sale and Inheritance of Offices supposing that in this case Places would be distributed by the pure Consideration of Vertue Neither can they be ignorant that in such a Case the Artifices of the Court would prevail before Reason and Favour before Merit Nothing contributed more to make the Duke of Guise so Powerful in the League against his King and Country as the great Number of Officers his Credit had introduc'd in the greatest Employments of the Kingdom And I have been told by the Duke of Sully That the said Consideration was the most powerful Motive which induc'd the late King to the Establishment of * Duty yearly paid by the Judges and other Officers c. the Annual Duty That that great Prince had not so much regard to the Revenue which accru'd to him by it as to the Means to secure himself for the future against such Inconveniences And that notwithstanding Treasure had a great Influence over him Reasons of State were more prevailing on that occasion In the new Establishment of a Commonwealth it were a Crime not to banish the Sale of Offices because in such Cases Reason obliges to establish the most perfect Laws Human Society can permit But Prudence does not allow it in ancient Monarchies the Imperfections of which are turn'd to use and the Disorder of which not without Advantage composes part of the Orders of the State In such Cases Men must submit to Weakness and prefer a moderate Regulation to a more austere Settlement which perhaps would be less proper the Rigour of it being capable to shake the Fabrick which one would strengthen I am sensible that it is a common Saying That he who buys Justice by the Lump may sell it by Retail but yet it is certain that an Officer who lays out the best part of his Estate upon a Place will be kept from doing ill in a great measure for fear of losing all that he is worth and that in such a case the Price of Offices is not an ill Pledge of the Fidelity of the Officers The Complaints which are made against the Sale of Offices have been the same in all the Ages of the Monarchy but though they have ever been look'd upon as reasonable in themselves yet the Disorders upon which they are grounded have been tolerated supposing that we are not capable of the austere Perfection which is the scope of them Those who are not ignorant of
next place I must also tell you That as Prince's Ears must be shut against Calumnies so they must be open to hearken to the Truths which are useful to the State and that as the Tongue must have no motion to say any thing to the prejudice of any body's Reputation so it must be free and bold to speak when Publick Inteaest is concern'd I mention these two Points because I have often observ'd that it was no small trouble to your Majesty to have the Patience to hearken even to that which was most important to you and that when the Welfare of your Affairs oblig'd you to express your Will not only to Persons of great Quality but also to those of mean Condition you had much ado to resolve to do it when you suspected that it would be disagreeable to them I confess that the said Dread is a sign of Goodness but to be no Flatterer I must also tell you that it is a sign of Weakness which though tolerable in a private Man cannot be so in a great King considering what Inconveniences it may be attended with I lay no stress upon that such a Proceeding would lay all the Odium and Hatred of Resolutions upon your Majesty's Council because that is inconsiderable if it could prove beneficial to the Affairs of the State but that which is worth considering is that there are often occasions in which whatsoever Authority a Minister can have it cannot be susficient to produce certain Effects which require the Voice of a Soveraign and an absolute Power Moreover if the Grandees were once persuaded that an unseasonable Shame would hinder a King from performing the Office of a King in Commanding absolutely they would always pretend to obtain by Importunity the contrary of what has been order'd by Reason and finally their Audaciousness might proceed so far that finding their Prince apprehensive of acting like a Master they would grow weary of acting as Subjects Princes must have a Masculine Vertue and do every thing by Reason without being guided by Inclination which often leads them into dangerous Precipices if those which blind them and induce them to do whatever they please are capable to produce Mischief when they follow them with too much Inadvertency the natural Aversion they receive sometimes without a Cause may cause greater yet unless they are temper'd by Reason as they ought to be In some occasions your Majesty has stood in need of your Prudence to check the Tendency of those two Passions but more in the last than in the first since it is easier to do Mischief following the Dictates of Aversion which requires nothing but a Command in a King than to do good according to one's Inclination which cannot be done without depriving one's self of one's own which many Persons can hardly resolve to do Those two Motions are contrary to the Genius of Kings principally if reflecting little upon them they oftener follow their Instinct than their Reason They often induce them to engage in the Divisions which are frequent in Courts among private Persons which has occasion'd great Inconveniences in my time Their Dignity obliges them to reserve themselves for Reason which is the only Party they ought to espouse on all occasions they cannot do otherwise without divesting themselves of the Quality of Judges and of Soveraigns to take that of Parties and submitting in some measure to the Condition of private Men. They thereby expose their State to many Cabals and Factions which are form'd afterwards Those who are to defend themselves against the Power of a King are too sensible that they can never do it by Force to attempt it otherwise than by Intrigues Artifices and Cabals which often occasion great trouble in States The Sincerity which is necessary in a Man who makes a Testament does not permit my Pen to end this Section without making a Confession as true as it is advantagious for your Majesty's Glory since it will testifie to all the World That the Law of GOD has always been a bound capable to stop the Violence of any Inclination or Aversion which could have surpris'd your Mind which being liable to the least Defect of Human Nature has always Thanks be to GOD been free of the most notable Imperfections of Princes CHAP. VII Which represents the present State of the King's Houshold and sets forth what seems to be necessary in order to put it into that in which it ought to be THe Order of Arts and of all good Discipline requires that a Man should begin his Work by that Part which is most easie Upon this Foundation the first thing an Architect does who undertakes a great Building is to make a Model of it in which the Proportions must be so well observ'd that it may serve him as a Measure and Foot for his great Design And when he cannot compass the said Project he lays aside his Enterprize common Sense making the dullest sensible that he who cannot perform the least is altogether incapable of the most In that Consideration as the meanest Capacities are sensible That as the Structure of Man is an Abstract of that of the Great Word so private Families are the true Models of States and of Republicks and every body being persuaded that he who either cannot or will not regulate his Family is not capable to Order a State Reason did require that in order to compass the Reformation of this Kingdom I should begin by that of your Majesty's Houshold Nevertheless I confess that I never durst under take it by reason that your Majesty having ever had an Aversion for the Orders you reckon'd to be of small consequence when any private persons were concern'd in them no body could propose such a Design without openly shocking your Inclination and the Interest of many Men who being continually about you in great Familiarity might have prejudic'd you against those Orders which were most necessary for your State to put a stop to those of your Houshold the Irregularity of which were useful to them But as a Testament sets forth many Intentions which the Testator durst not divulge during his Life this will petition your Majesty towards the Reformation of your Houshold which has beem omitted both by reason that though it did seem more easie than that of the State yet it was in effect much more difficult and also because Prudence obliges to suffer in some measure small Losses to gain considerably in others As it is obvious to all the World that no King ever carried the Dignity of his State to a higher degree than your Majesty so no body can deny that none ever suffer'd the Lustre of his Houshold to be more trampled upon The Strangers who have travell'd in Frâ—â—â—e in my time have often wonder'd to see a State so exalted and a Houshold so debas'd And indeed it is insensibly decay'd to that degree that some are in possession of the first Places of it who under the Reigns of your
Employment who would by no means accept of it at present because it is usurp'd by Persons who do not deserve it And all Gentlemen will willingly accept of it upon the account of the access it will give them at Court where a Chance and some Acquaintance may advance their Fortune in an instant Your Majesty will also receive another Benefit by the said Establishment in that as it will lessen the Number of the * Yeomen or all those who are not of the Order of the Nebility or Gentry Roturiers who are freed of the Tailles by the Places they enjoy in your Houshold it will encrease the Number of those who are to help the People to bear the Burthen they are over-whelmed with at present The fourth is That your Majesty should give all the Places of your Houshold gratis without allowing them to be sold upon any Consideration whatever It may be urg'd perhaps That it is not reasonable that those who have bought Places very dear should not be allow'd to sell them again but as it is impossible to make any Settlements of great use for the Publick without their being attended with some Inconveniencies for private Persons the said Inconvenience is not considerable seeing that as they did not buy their Places with an assurance of leave to sell them again like those Officers who pay an Annual Duty to the King they may be depriv'd of the Hopes they had fram'd to themselves without any Injustice And though some private Persons may find themselves griev'd by such an Alteration all the Nobility and the Greatest will find a notable Advantage by it in that whereas they were formerly oblig'd to sell a considerable part of their Estates to get Places which has often ruin'd the best Famiies of the Kingdom there will be no means left to expect them but Merit which will hinder them from ruining their Estate and will oblige them to acquire Vertue which is despis'd in this Age because the Price of all things only consists in Money Moreover there will be so many means to satisfie those who upon the account of any particular Consideration will deserve to be exempted from the general Rule That the Publick will receive the Benefit of the Advantage your Majesty will be pleas'd to procure them and yet such private Persons as might have cause to complain with Justice will receive no prejudice by it As it is impossible to question the Usefulness of these Propositions the Facility to put them in Execution is evident since as abovesaid it only requires a firm and constant Resolution in your Majesty to reap the Benefit of the same and to restore your Houshold to its former Greatness CHAP. VIII Of the PRINCE's Council SECT I. Which shews that the best Prince stands in need of a good Council IT is no small question among Politicians to know Whether a Prince who Governs a State by his own Head is more desirable than he who not confiding so much in his own Abilities relies much on his Council and does nothing without their Advice Whole Volumes might be compil'd of the Reasons which might be alledg'd for and against it But referring this Question to the particular Fact which obliges me to introduce it in this place after having preferr'd the Prince who acts more by his Council than by his own Opinion to him who prefers his own Head to all those of his Counsellors I cannot forbear saying That as the worse Government is that which has no other Spring than the Head of a Prince who being incapable is so presumptuous as to slight all Counsel the best of all is that of which the main Spring is in the Sense of the Soveraign who though capable to Act by Himself has so much Modesty and Judgment that he does nothing without Advice upon this principle That one Eye does not see for well as many Besides that Reason discovers the Solidity of this Decision Truth obliges me to say That Experience has convinc'd me so much of it that I cannot forbear affirming it without doing my self a Violence A Capable Prince is a great Treasure in a State a Skilful Council and such as it ought to be is no less considerable But the Concert of Both together is of an inestimable Value since thereon depends the Felicity of States It is certain that the most happy States are those in which Princes and Counsellors are the Wisest It is also certain That there are few Princes capable to Govern States alone and moreover though there were many they ought not to do it The Almighty Power of GOD his infinite Wisdom and his Providence do not hinder Him from making use in things which he might do by his bare Will of the Ministry of Second Causes and consequently Kings whose Perfections are limitted instead of being infinite would commit a notable Fault in not following his Example But whereas it is not in their power as in GODs to supply the Defects of those they employ they must be very careful to chuse them as perfect and as accomplish'd as possible can be Many Qualifications are requir'd to make a perfect Counsellor nevertheless they may be reduc'd to Four viz. Capacity Fidelity Courage and Application which includes many others SECT II. Which represents what Capacity is requir'd in a good Counsellor THe Capacity of Counsellors does not require a pedantick Knowledge None can be more dangerous in a State than those who will Govern Kingdoms by the Maxims they find in Books They often ruin them thereby because the Time past has no relation to the present and that the Constitution of Times Places and Persons is different It only requires Goodness Steadiness of Mind Solidity of Judgment true Source of Prudence a reasonable Tincture of Letters a general Knowledge of History and of the present Constitution of all the States of the World and particularly of that in which they are Whereupon two things ought particularly to be consider'd The First That the greatest Wits are more dangerous than useful in the Management of Affairs unless they have a great deal more Lead than Quicksilver they are no ways fit for the State Some are fertile in Inventions and abounding in Thoughts but so variable in their Designs that those of the Morning and of the Evening are never alike and have so little connexity and choice in their Resolutions that they alter the good as well as the ill ones and never remain constant in any I may say with truth as knowing it by Experience that the Levity of such Men is no less dangerous in the Administration of Publick Affairs than the Malice of many others Much is to be dreaded from Minds whose Vivacity is accompanied with little Judgment and tho' those who excell in the Judicious part should not have a great reach yet they might be useful to States The Second Remark to be made on this Subject is That nothing can be more dangerous in a State than to give a great
greatest of his Pleasures should be the good success of his Affairs It requires that he should often surround the World to foresee what may happen and to find means to prevent the Evils which are to be fear'd and to execute those Enterprises which Reason and Publick Interest advise As it obliges not to lose one moment in certain Affairs which may be ruin'd by the least delay it also requires that we should not precipitate our selves in others in which time is necessary to take such Resolutions as one may have no reason to repent of One of the greatest Grievances of this Kingdom is that most Men apply themselves more to those things to which they cannot apply themselves without a Fault than to those they cannot omit without a Crime A Soldier speaks of what his Captain ought to do the Captain of the Defects he imagines in his Colonel the Colonel finds fault with his General the General disapproves and blames the Conduct of the Court and none of them move in their own Sphere or think of performing those things which their Station particularly obliges them to There are Persons of so little Action and of such weak Constitutions that they never apply themselves to any thing of their own accord but barely receive occasions which influence these more than they do them Such Men are fitter to live in a Cloister than to be employ'd in the Administration of States which require Application and Activity together so that when they are in them they do as much harm by their languishing Conduct as another may do good by an active Application We must not expect great Effects from such Minds no body is oblig'd to them for the Good they do neither can they be blam'd much for the harm they do since properly speaking Chance acts more in them than themselves Nothing can be more contrary to the Application which is necessary in Publick Affairs than the Inclination which those who have the Administration of them have for Women I am sensible that there are Minds so absolutely Superiour and Masters of themselves that though they are diverted from what they owe to GOD by some unruly Affection yet it does not divert them from what they owe to the State There are some who not giving those an Influence over their Will who sway their Pleasures only apply themselves wholly to their Business But there are but few of this nature and it must be granted That as a Woman lost the World nothing is so capable to ruine States as that Sex when influencing those who Govern them they often make them move as they please and consequently ill The best of Women's Thoughts being commonly ill in those who are govern'd by their Passions which generally usurp the Empire of Reason in their Mind whereas Reason is the only and true Motive which must animate and influence those who are employ'd in publick Affairs Whatever Force a Counsellor of State may have it is impossible for him to apply himself as he should do to his Trust unless he be free from all such Engagements He may chance to perform his Duty with them but heing free of them he will do much better Whatever Station he is in in order to do well he must divide his Time so as to have Hours to work alone about the Expeditions which are requir'd by his Place and others to give Audience to every body Reason obliges him to treat every one courteously and with as much Civillty as his Staition and the distinct Quality of Men who have Business with him requires This Article will give Posterity a Testimony of my Integrity since it prescribes what I have not been able to perform in every point I have always liv'd civilly with those who had Business to treat with me the Nature of Affairs which obliges to refuse many Persons does neither allow ill Looks nor ill Words when we cannot satisfie them by Effects But the illness of my Health has not allow'd me to give access to every body as I could have wish'd which has often troubled me to that degree that that Consideration has sometimes made me desirous to retire Nevertheless I may affirm with truth That I have husbanded the Weakness of my Forces so well that if I have not been able to answer the Desires of every body they have never been able to hinder me from performing my Duty in relation to the State Finally Application Courage Integrity and Capacity form the Perfection of a Counsellor of State and the Concurrence of all those Qualities must meet in his Person A Man may be very honest who having no Talent for Affairs of State would be altogether useless in them and would keep Places he were not able to discharge Another might be capable and have the Integrity which is requir'd who not having Courage enough to sustain the divers Casualties which it is impossible to avoid in the Government of States would be prejudicial instead of being useful Another might mean well be capable and have Courage together whose Laziness would prove destructive to the Publick he not applying himself to the Functions of his Office Another may have a good Conscience be capable have Courage and Application to his Employment who being more sensible to the Object which touches him than to what Concerns the Interest of the Publick though he serves often usefully is nevertheless much to be fear'd Capacity and Probity produce such a perfect Agreement between the Understanding and the Will that as the Understanding knows how to chuse the best Objects and the properest means to acquire the Possession of them the Will also knows how to embrace them with so much eagerness that it omits nothing within its power to compass the Ends propos'd by the Understanding Integrity and Courage produce an honest Boldness to tell Kings what is useful for them though it be not altogether pleasing to them I say an honest Boldness because unless it be well regulated and always respectful instead of being reckon'd among the Perfections of a Counsellor of State it would be one of his Vices Kings must be spoken to with silken Words As a faithful Counsellor is oblig'd to mind them in private of their Faults with Caution he can never represent them to them in publick without committing a great Fault To speak that aloud which ought to be whisper'd is a Reproach which may become criminal in the Mouth of him who utters it if he Publishes the Imperfections of his Prince to advantage himself by it being more desirous out of a vain Ostentation to shew that he disapproves them than that he has a sincere Desire to correct them Courage and Speculation produce so much Steadiness in the Designs chosen by the Understanding and embrac'd by the Will that they are prosecuted with Constancy without being liable to the Changes which the Levity of the French often produces I have not spoken of the Force and Health of Body necessary in a Minister of
which they can see nothing God only being able to see the ultimate end of things it often suffices to know that the Projects we form are Just and Possible to undertake them with Reason God concurs to all the Actions of Men by a general Co-operation which seconds their designs and it is their part to use their freedom in all things according to the Prudence Divine Wisdom has indu'd them with But when Men are ingag'd in great undertakings which concern the Conduct of Mankind after having discharg'd the obligation they are under to open their Eyes doubly the better to take their measures after having made use of all the considerations Human Minds are capable of it is their Duty to rely upon the goodness of the Spirit of God which sometimes inspiring those thoughts into Men which are set down in his Eternal Decrees leads them as it were by the Hand to their proper ends CHAP. V. Punishment and Reward are two Points absolutely necessary for the Conduct of States IT is a common but a very true saying which has ever been in the Mouths and Minds of Men that Punishments and Rewards are the two most considerable points for the Conduct of a Kingdom It is most certain that tho' no other Principle be us'd in the Government of States but that of being inflexible in Chastising those who act against them and Religious in rewarding those who procure them any notable advantage They cannot be Govern'd amiss since all Men may be kept within the bounds of their Duty either by Fear or Hope I place Punishment before Reward because that if there were a necessity to be depriv'd of one of them one might better dispense with the last than the first As good is to be imbrac'd for its own sake there is no Reward due to those who perform it taking it in the strictest Sence But as there is no crime which does not violate that to which Men are oblig'd there are none but what require the Punishment which is due to disobedience and that obligation is so strict that in many occasions a fault cannot be left unpunished without committing a new one I speak of faults which affect the State and are committed with premeditation and not of many others which happen by chance and by misfortune for which Princes may and ought to use Indulgence Tho' to Pardon in such cases is a laudable thing not to Punish a considerable Fault the impunity of which opens a door to Licenciousness is a criminal omision Theologians allow it as well as Politicians and all agree that on certain occasions in which the Prince would be to blame not to Pardon those who are intrusted with the Government of the Publick they would also be inexcusable if instead of a severe Punishment they should use Lenity Experience teaching those who have had a long practice of the World that Men easily lose the remembrance of Favours and that when they are loaden with them the desire of increasing them often makes them Ambitious and Ingrateful together shows us also that Punishment is a more certain way to keep Men within the bounds of their Duty since they are not so soon forgotten by reason that they make a stronger impression on the sences of most Men than Reason which has but little power over many To be severe towards Private Men who make it their Pride to despise the Laws and Ordinances of a State is to be kind to the Publick And the greatest crime one can be guilty of against the Interest of the Publick is to be indulgent towards those who violate them Among many Combinations Factions and Seditions that have been made in my time in this Kingdom I have never observ'd that Impunity ever inclin'd any one naturally to correct his evil Inclination But on the contrary that they return'd to their old Vomit and often with more success the second than the first time The Indulgency hitherto practis'd in this Kingdom has often reduc'd it to very great and very deplorable Exremities Faults not being Punish'd every Man has made a Trade of his Place and without regarding what he was oblig'd to do to discharge his Trust worthily he only consider'd what he could do to get the more by it If the Ancients have been of opinion that it was dangerous to live under a Prince who will remit nothing of the Rigor of Right they have also observ'd that it was more dangerous to live in a State in which Impunity opens a door to all sorts of Licenciousness Some Princes or Magistrates will be afraid of being faulty by too much Rigor who would be accountable to God and must needs be blam'd by all Wise Men unless they exerted that which is prescrib'd by the Laws I have often represented it to your Majesty and it is my humble Petition still that you would be pleas'd to remember it carefully by reason that as there are Princes who want to be persuaded from Severity to avoid Cruelty to which they are naturally inclin'd your Majesty wants to be diverted from a false Clemency more dangerous than Cruelty it self since Impunity obliges to use a great deal in the end which can only be prevented by Punishment The Rod which is the Emblem of Justice must never be useless I own at the same time that it ought not be so much accompany'd with Rigor as to be destitute of Goodness but that last qualification does not consist in the Indulgency which authorizes disorders which tho never so inconsiderable are often so prejudicial to the State that they may prove it's ruin If any are so ill advis'd in this Kingdom as to condemn the severity which is necessary in States because it has not been practis'd hitherto let them only open their Eyes and they will find that Impunity has been too common in it hitherto and the only cause that Order and Rule have not been observ'd and that the Continuation of Disorders obliges to have recourse to the utmost Extremities to put a stop to them The only Source of all the Parties that have been form'd heretofore against Kings has been their over much Indulgence Finally those who are acquainted with our History cannot be ignorant of this Truth of which I produce a Testimony which is the less to be suspected in this case because it is taken from the Mouth of our Enemies which almost in all other occasions would make it suspicious Cardinal Sapata a Man of good Sence meeting Baraut and Bautru in the King his Master's Antichamber a quarter of an hour after their having receiv'd the News of the Duke de Montmorency's Execution put this question to them Which was the chief cause of that Duke's death Hautru answer'd immediately according to his flery temper in Spanish Sus falsaâ— No reply'd the Cardinal Pero la Clemensia de lors Royes antepassados which was as much as to say that the Punishment of the said Duke was more to be imputed to the faults the King's
they observe the same Rule towards themselves That is in being true to their word and faithful to their Promises conditions which are so absolutely necessary for the reputation of a Prince that as he who is destitute of them can never be esteem'd by any body so it is impossible for him who does possess them not to be reverenc'd and credited by all the World I could instance many Examples of this Truth but as I do not design this Work for a Common Place easy to be perform'd by all sorts of Men who will extract good Books I will only instance such as are so certain and so clear that all sensible Persons will find the Proof of them in their own Reason SECTION III. The Prince must be Powerful by the force of his Frontiers NONE but such as are depriv'd of common sence can be unsensible how necessary it is for great States to have their Frontiers well Fortify'd It is a thing the more necessary in this Kingdom in that that tho the Levity of our Nation should make it incapable of making great Conquests their Valour would render them Invincible in their defence having considerable Places so well fortify'd and so well provided with all things that they may be able to show their Courage without being exposed to suffer great hard-ships which are the only Enemies they have to overcome A Frontier well fortify'd is capable either to discourage Enemies from the designs they might have against a State or at least to stop the Course of the same and their Impetuosity if they dare venture to do it by open force The subtil motions of our Nation stand in need of being secured against the Terrour they might receive in an unexpected attack if they did not know that the entrance into the Kingdom has such strong Ramparts that no foreign Impetuosity can be capable to take them by Storm and that it is impossible to overcome them without a considerable Time The new method of some of the Enemies of this State being more to starve the Places they besiege than to take them by force of Arms and to ruin the Country they invade by a great number of horse than to advance by degrees into it with a considerable body of Foot as was done antiently it is clear that Frontier Places are not only useful to resist such Efforts but also to secure States in the Bowels of which it is impossible for Enemies to make any great Progress if they leave Places behind them to cut off the communication of their Countrys and their Convoys together These considerations oblige me to represent that it is not sufficient to fortify Places and to put such Provisions and Ammunitions into 〈◊〉 as may serve to resist brisk attacks but also to â—â—â—â—ish them with all things necessary for a year at least which is a sufficient time to relieve them conveniently I am â—â—nsible that it is almost impossible for great Kings to provide many Citadels thus but it is not to with great Towns in whichi the Society of Men produces a great store of many things which a particular Governor cannot make a sufficient provision of and it is easie to oblige the Inhabitants to provide Provisions for a Year which will always suffice for six Months and more if they turn out useless Mouths as reason requires I am so far from pretending that this Order should exempt Princes from having publick Magazins that on the contrary I am of opinion that they can never have too many and that after having provided them they must establish such good Orders to preserve them that the Governors to whom the disposition of the same belongs may not have the Liberty to dissipate them in vain either out of negligence or a desire to convert them to their own Uses I do not particularly specify the Number of Cannons To omit nothing I will observe in this Place that it is better to have Magazins of Salt Petre of Brimstone and of Coals than of Powder ready made by reason that it spoils in time by keeping and that an Accident of Fire is the more to be fear'd of Powder and of Bullets and of all other Warlike Ammunitions which are to be put in every place because it is to be different according to their different Largeness But I will say that Provisions for the Mouth are not more necessary than those of War and that it would be to no purpose for a Town to be well stor'd with Victuals if they wanted what is absolutely necessary both to defend themselves and to annoy their Enemies seeing particularly that Experience showeth us that those whoshoot most commonly kill most when a Place iâ—â—â—sieg'd one might better spare Bread than Powder The Antients having observ'd very well that the real Strength of Towns consists in the number of Men I cannot forbear adding that all Fortifications are useless unless the Governor and the Officers who command in a place have a Courage equal to the Strength of the Walls and Ramparts and unless the Number of Men is proportion'd to the Largeness of the place and the quantity of the Posts that are to be defended Experience has show'd us in divers occasions that the least Holds are impregnable by the steadiness of the courage of those who defend them and that the best Citadels make no great resistance when those that are in them have not a Courage suitable to their Force Therefore Princes can never be too careful in choosing those to whom they intrust Frontiers since the Welfare and repose of the State depends chiefly on their Fidelity and Vigilancy their Courage and Experience and that often the lack of one of these Qualifications costs millions to States if it does not prove the absolute cause of their Ruin SECTION IV. Of the Power a State ought to have by its Land-Forces This Section has several Subdivisions upon the account of the abundance of matter it contains which will be specify'd in the Margin THE most potent State in the World cannot boast of injoying a certain Peace unless it be in a condition to secure it self at all times against an unexpected Invasion or Surprise In order thereunto it is necessary that so great a Kingdom as this is should always keep a sufficient Army on Foot to prevent the designs which hatred and envy might form against its Prosperity and Grandeur when 't is look'd upon to be in a secure Repose or at least to stifle them in their Birth Who has Force has commonly Reason on his side and he that is Weak is commonly thought in the wrong in the Judgment of most Men. As a Souldier who do's not always wear his Sword is lyable to many inconveniences that Kingdom which do's not always stand on its Guard and keep it self in a condtion to prevent a sudden surprise is in great danger Public Interest obliges those who have the management of States to Govern them so as not only to secure them against all
the Evil which may be avoided but also from all apprehensions of it * The Power of Princes is the only means that can produce that Effect and therefore it only remains to know what Forces ought to be kept on Foot in this Kingdom As Reason requires a Geometrical Proportion between that which sustains and that which is sustained it is certain that there must be considerable Forces to sustain so great a Body as this Kingdom Those that are necessary to so great an End may and ought to be of a different Nature that is that among the Men design'd for the preservation of this State some must be listed to be ready on all occasins and others actually in Arms in order always to be in readiness to make a good defence * The Number of Men which ought to be kept on foot in this Kingdom In order to provide for the Frontier Towns and to keep a Body on foot to oppose all unexpected Designs it is necessary to keep at least four thousand Horse and forty thousand Foot actually in Arms at all times and it is easie without burthening the State to keep ten thousand Gentlemen and fifty thousand Foot listed ready to be rais'd on all Emergencies It may perhaps be urg'd that the Defence of the State does not require such great Preparations but whereas the said Establishment is so far from being a Burthen to France that on the contrary the Nobility and the People will receive a Benefit by it I say that it is necessary to make War when ever the Good of the State will require it * War is sometimes receslary In the opinion of the most judicious War is sometimes an unavoidable Evil and on other occasions it is absolutely necessary and advantagious States stand in need of it at certain times to purge their ill humours to recover what belongs to them to revenge an Injury the Impunity of which draws on another to free Allies from Oppression to put a stop to the Progress of a Conqueror's Pride to prevent the Evil one is threaten'd with when there is no other way to avoid them or in fine to prevent many other Accidents I maintain and it is an undoubted Truth that no War can be happy unless it be just and that not being so tho the Event should prove favourable according to the World yet an account must be given for it at the Tribunal of God Therefore the first thing to be done when a Prince is forc'd to take Arms is to examin the Equity of the Cause for which they are taken which must be done by Doctors of Capacity and Probity This Foundation suppos'd the means to carry it on vigorously must be consider'd and to time it well is not one of the least Material There is this difference betwixt him who pursues revenge with Anger and he who does it with Reason that the first does mischief at the venture of receiving the same chusing rather to suffer himself than to lose an opportunity to prejudice his Enemy and the last dissembles his resentment until he finds an occasion to punish him who has wrong'd him without sharing his Sufferings The first acts like a Beast according to the Impulse of Nature and the last behaves himself like a Man suffering himself to be guided by reason In order to succeed in War it is not sufficient to chuse a fit opportunity to have a strong Army abundance of Money of Provisions and warlike Ammunitions the main point is to have Men fit for the Service they are design'd for to know how to make them observe a good Discipline to make them live regularly and to manage ones Money Provisions and Ammunitions prudently It is easy to set down these general Principles but the practice of them is difficult and yet in case it be neglected the Success of a War cannot be happy unless by chance or miracle which wise Men must never trust to There is no Nation in the World so unfit for War as ours their Levity and Impatience in the least hardships are two Principles which are but too well known Tho Caesar says that the French understand two things the Military Art and that of Speaking I own that hitherto I have not been able to apprehend upon what ground he attributes the first of these Qualifications to them since Patience in Labour and Sufferings a Qualification absolutely necessary in War is but seldom found among them Were this Qualification joyn'd to their Valour the Universe would be too little to bound their Conquests but as the great heart God has given them makes them fit to overcome whatever opposes them by force their Levity and Laziness make them incapable of overcoming the least Obstacles which the delays of a subtle Enemy opposes to their Eagerness This is the reason why they are not fit for Conquests which require time nor to preserve those they might make in an instant of Time They are not only inconstant impatient and little inur'd to Faituges but moreover they are accus'd of never being pleas'd with their present condition and to have no great Affection for their Country and the said Accusation is so well grounded that no body can deny that there are more among them who are wanting in those Duties which their Birth exacts from them than among all the other Nations of the World There are few who wage-War against France without having French Men in their Army and when they are Arm'd for their Country they are so indifferent in what relates to its Interest that they do not use the least Endeavours to overcome their Natural Defects to it's advantage They run an hundred Leagues to seek a Battle and yet would not expect the occasion of one a week the Enemy tires them out even before they have begun to work They are not afraid of Peril but they will expose themselves to it without any Pains the least delays are insupportable to them they have no Flegm to tarry one moment for their happiness and they are tir'd even with the continuation of their Prosperities At the beginning of their Enterprise their eagerness is not common and indeed they are more than Men that moment but they cool by degrees so that they become equal to those who have but a common Vertue and in process of Time they are disgusted and grow effeminate insomuch that they are less than Men. They still retain Courage enough to fight provided they are put to 't immediately but they do not keep so much of it as to tarry for an occasion tho their Hon the Reputation of their Country and the Service of their Master requires it They can neither improve a Victory nor resist the Fortune of a Victorious Enemy Prosperity blinds them beyond other Men and yet they have neither Courage nor Judgment in Adversity and in Labour In fine They are subject to so many faults that it is not without reason some judicious Persons wonder how this Monarchy has
Bread for a fortnight for a tthousand Men and Bisket for three Weeks and consequently 225. Waggons will carry bread for 25. days and Bisket for 30 for an Army of 15000 Men. In order not to be mistaken in our reckoning in putting an Army on Foot the Provisions must be settled so that every Regiment of a thousand Men may have 15. Waggons to carry Bread for a Fortnight which is partly as much as is required for a considerable Enterprize Moreover it is necessary to have a hundred or two over and above the common Calculation otherwise one might fall short Special care must also be taken to carry Mills and Ovens for tho Commonly the use of them is not good yet it is necessary to have some to make use of them in certain Places in which it would otherwise be impossible to subsist and in which it may happen that a stay of four days may give the Enemys a great advantage over an Army which wants Provision As the least things ought to be consider'd in great designs the General of an Army must take a particular care of every thing belonging to his Train He must know that a Cart is not so cumbersom as a Waggon which turns with more ease in narrow Passes but on the other hand that they are sooner overthrown and that the overturning of one is capable to stop a Train a long while Therefore it behoves him to consider the Places he is to march through to make use of the one or of the other according as he will think it most proper He must also know that there are two ways of carrying the Bread either in Carriages which are very heavy and cumbersom or in Carts plaited on the sides and cover'd with cere Cloths which are more Convenient After these six Remarks I have only two Councels to give to those who Command our Armys The first is always to be the first in the Field because it is difficult for an Army tho never so considerable to make any progress when they find another ready to oppose them and often very easy for those that come first into the Field to secure a good success The Second is to attack when it may be done without rashness rather than to stand upon the defensive by reason that besides that he who has the boldness to attack gives some Impression of fear to him he attacks the Imparient and Inconstant Temper of the French is as unfit for the defensive part as their fire and first eagerness qualifys them to perform their duty in the first Experience makes me speak thus and I am persuaded that those who are perfect Commanders will say the same SECTION V. Of Naval Power THE Power of Arms do's not only require that the King should be strong a shore but also potent at Sea When Anthony Perez was receiv'd in France by the late King your Father and that in order to soften his misery he had secured him a good Pension That stranger being desirous to express his Gratitude to that great King and to show him that tho he was unfortunate he was not ungrateful gave him three Councels in three Words which are of no small Consideration Roma Consejo Pielago The advice of this old Spaniard consummated in Affairs is not so much to be looked upon for the Authority of him that gave it as for its own weight We have already mention'd the Care Princes ought to take to have a good Council and to be authorised at Rome it now remains to show how it behoves the King to be Potent at Sea The Sea is of all Heritages that in which Soveraigns pretend to have the greatest share and yet it is that on which the Rights of every body are least agreed upon The Empire of that Element was never well secur'd to any It has been subject to divers Revolutions according to the inconstancy of its nature so subject to the Wind that it submits to him who Courts it most and whose Power is so unbounded that he is in a condition to possess it with violence against all those who might dispute it with him In a word the old Titles of that Dominion are Force and not Reason a Prince must be Powerful to pretend to that Heritage To proceed with Order and Method in this point we must consider the Ocean and the Mediterranian seperately and make a distinction between the Ships which are of use in both those Seas and of the Gallies the use of which is only good in that which Nature seems to have reserv'd expresly betwixt the Lands to expose it to less Storms and to give it more shelter A great State must never be in a condition to receive an injury without being able to revenge it And therefore England being situated as it is unless France is powerful in Ships the English may attempt whatever they please to our prejudice without the least fear of a return They might hinder our Fishing disturb our Trade and in blocking up the mouth of our great Rivers exact what Toll they please from our Merchants They might Land without danger in our Islands and even on our Coasts Finally The Situation of the Native Countrey of that haughty Nation not permitting them to fear the greatest Land-Forces the ancient Envy they have against this Kingdom would apparently encourage them to dare every thing should our weakness not allow us to attempt some thing to their prejudice Their Insolence in the late King your Father's time towards the Duke of Scily obliges us to put our selves in a posture never to suffer the like again That Duke being chosen by Henry the Great for an extraordinary Embassy into England Embarking at Callis in a French Ship with the French Flag on the Main Top Mast was no sooner in the Channel but meeting a Yacht which came to receive him the Commander of it Commanded the French Ship to strike The Duke thinking his Quality would secure him from such an affront refus'd it boldly but his refusal being answer'd with three Cannon shot with Bullets which piercing his Ship pierc'd the Heart of the French Force constrain'd him to do what Reason ought to have secur'd him from and whatever Complaints he could make he could get no other reason from the English Captain than that as his Duty oblig'd him to honour his Quality of Ambassador it oblig'd him also to compel others to pay that respect to his Master's Flag which was due to the Soveraign of the Sea If King James's words prov'd more civil yet they produc'd no other effect than to oblige the Duke to seek for satisfaction in his own Prudence feigning himself cur'd when his pain was most smarting and his wound incurable The King your Father was oblig'd to dissemble on that occasion but with this Resolution another time to maintain the Right of his Crown by the Force which time would give him means to acquire at Sea I represent this Great Prince to my mind projecting in
Power whereas they have despis'd it hitherto with an incredible infidelity In that case the Barbarians will either live willingly in Peace with your Majest's Subjects or if they are not so wise as to do it they will be compell'd to do that by Force which they have refused to do by Reason Whereas at present tho' we think we have no War with them we receive all the Evils of it and we neither enjoy Peace nor the advantage we ought to reap by it We will find Calm and Safety in War which is very advantageous with Men whose natural Infidility is so great that there is no way to avoid it but by Force It now remains to examine the Expence which will be necessary for the maintenance of the number of Ships above projected which tho never so great will be inconsiderable in comparison of the advantages we will receive by it And yet it may be done with two Millions and five hundered thousand Livers according as it will appear by the Settlement which will be inserted at the end of this Work SECTION VI. Which Treats of Trade as a dependency of the Power of the Sea and specifies those which aremost Convenient IT is a Common but a very true saying that as States often are Inlarg'd by War so they are commonly inriched in time of Peace by Trade The Wealth of the Hollanders which properly speaking are only a handful of Men reduc'd into a Corner of the Earth in which there is nothing but Waters and Meadows is an Example and Proof of the usefulness of Trade which admits of no contestation Tho that Country produces nothing but Butter and Cheese yet they furnish all the Nations of Europe with the greatest part of what is necessary to them Navigation has made them so famous and so powerful throughout the whole World That after having made themselves Masters of the Trade of the East Indies to the prejudice of the Portugueze who had been long settled there they have cut out a great deal of Work for the Spaniards in the West Indies where they injoy the Major part of Brasil As in England the greatest part of those whose Circumstances are the least easy maintain themselves by common Fisherys the most Considerable drive a greater Trade in all the Parts of the World by the Manufactures of their Cloth and by the Sale of Lead Tynn and Sea Cole which are productions of their Country The Kingdom of China the Entrance into which is allow'd to no body is the only Country in which that Nation has no Place settled for their Trade The City of Genoa which only abounds in Rocks makes so good a Use of its Trade that I may safely affirm that it is the Richest City in Italy if the succors of Spain * The Manuscript is defective in this place France only abounding too much within it self has hitherto neglected Trade tho they are as conveniently seated for it as their Neighbours and might free themselves of the assistance they receive from them on that account at their own Cost The Fisheries of the Ocean are the easiest and most useful Commerce which can be made in this Kingdom It is the more necessary in that there is no State in the World so well Peopled as France That the Number of those who are out of the Road to Heaven is very inconsiderable compar'd to the Catholics who living under the Laws of the Roman Church abstain the third part of the year from the use of Meat And that none of the dispensations practised in Spain are used there to eat Meat at all times under a specious pretence Trade will be the easyer for us in that we have a great number of Sea Men who heitherto have been oblig'd to seek out imployment among our Enemyes having none at home and we have made no other use of them hitherto but to get salt Fish and Herrings But having wherewith to imploy our Mariners instead of being Constrained to strengthen our Enemies by weakning our selves we will be able to carry into Spain and other Countrys that which they have hitherto brought to us by the assistance of our Men who serve them France is so fertile in Corn so abounding in Wine Flax and Hemp to make Cloth and Riggings so necessary for Navigation that Spain England and all other Neighbouring States must have recourse thither And provided we know how to improve the advantages which Nature has given us we will get money of those who have occasion for our Goods without troubling our selves much with their Commoditys which are of little use to us Spanish English and Dutch Cloths are only superfluous we may make them as good as theirs getting Wool from Spain as they doe Moreover we may have them more conveniently upon the account of our Corn and Linen Cloths if we will exchange them to make a double gain * The Draps de Sceau are made at Roan and the Draps de Meunier at Remorantin and Elbaeuf Our Kings having made a shift with Draps de Berry we may very well make a shift now with Draps de Sceau and de Meunier or Millers Cloth which are now made in France without having recourse to those that are made abroad the use of which will be abolish'd by this means as well as the Serges of Chalons and of Chartres have abolish'd those of Milan And indeed the Draps de Sceau are insomuch request in the Levant that next to those of Venice made with Spanish Wool the Turks preferr them to all others and the Citys of Marselles and of Lyons have heitherto driven a very great Trade in them France is Industrious enough Not to stand in need of the best Manufactures of our Neighbours such fine Plushes are made at Tours that they are sent into Spain Italy and other foreign Countrys the Plain Tafetas which are made there also are so much in Vogue throughout France that there is no need to look for any elsewhere Red Purple and Spotted Velvers are made finer there now than at Genoa It is also the only place in which Silk Serges are made Mohair is made as good there as in England the sinest Cloths of Gold are made finer there and Cheaper than in Italy So that we may easily forbear that Trade which only serves to foment our Laziness and to feed our Pride to stick solidly to that which may increase our Wealth and imploy our Mariners insomuch that our Neighbours may not improve our labours at their cost Over and above those above specify'd which are the best in the Ocean many others may be made The Skinners Trade of Canada is the more necessary because there is no need of carrying Money there and that they take such Commodities in Exchange as scizzer Cases Knives small Pen-knives Needles Pins Bills Hatchets Watches Hat-bands Points and other sorts of Mercery Wares That of the Coast of Guiny in Africa in which the Portgueze have long possess'd a place call'd
Castel de Mine which the Hollanders of the West-India-Company have taken from them within these 2 or 3 years is of the same nature in that the only Goods exported there are Pedlars Wares Canvass and course Linen Cloths in exchange of which the Negroes give Golden Powder The Merchants of Roans have formerly driven a Trade of Linen and Woolen Cloths in the Kingdom of Fez and of Morrocco by means of which they got a great deal of Gold Were the King's Subjects strong in Shipping they might ingross all the Trade of the North which the Dutch have got by reason that the North standing absolutely in need of Wine Vinegar and Brandy-Wine of Chesnuts of Pruens and of Nuts all Commodities in which the Kingdom abounds and which cannot be consum'd in it it is easie to make a considerable Trade of them and the better in that returns may be made of Wood of Copper of Pitch and Tar things not only useful for our selves but necessary for our Neighbours who can not get them from them without our Goods unless they will lose the fraight of their Ships in going thither I do not enter into the particulars of the Trade which may be driven in the East-Indies and in Persia by reason that the humour of the French being so hasty that they will see the effects of their desires as soon as they have conceiv'd them Long Voyages are not suitable with their temper However as abundance of Silks and Carpets are brought from Persia many Curiosities from China and all manner of Spices from divers places in those parts of the World which are of great use to us that Trade is not to be neglected To make a good Settlement it would be necessary to send two or three Ships into the East Commanded by Persons of Quality Prudence and Wisdom with Patents and necessay Powers to Treat with those Princes and to Make Allyances with the People on all sides as the Portugueze English and Dutch have done This design would succeed the better by reason that those who have taken a footing in those Nations are very much hated by them at present either because they have deceiv'd them or because they have subdued them by Force As to the West there is no great Trade to be expected there Drake Thomas Cavendish Sperberg L'Hermite le Maire and the late Count Maurice who sent twelve Ships thither of 500 Tuns on purpose to Trade there either by way of Friendship or by Force not having been able to make any settlements there there is but little to be hop'd for on that side unless a Military Force be sent thither to take possession of the places Spain possesses there at present The little Isles of St. Christopher and others seated at the Head of the Indies may yield some Tobacco some Skins and other things of small consequence THERE NOW REMAINS TO KNOW WHAT MAY BE DONE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Trade of the Mediteranean Memorial of the different Trades driven in the Levant Napoli de Romania The French carry some Goods there and Money and bring back Silks Goats Leather Wool Wax and Cheefe part of which is destributed and sold in Italy Satalia The French only carry Money there and bring back Cotton Wax and all manner of Goat Skins Smyrna The French carry more Goods there than Money abundance of Merchandise going off there for Chio the Archipelago and Constantinople The Goods carry'd there are Paper Caps Draps de Paris and of Languedoc Brasil Wood Cutchaneal Spices Satins made at Lyons and sometimes they bring back Persian Silks and Rubarbs which the Persians bring thither Cottons spun into Thred Wax Mastick and course Carpets Scala Nova Sometimes our Ships take in Wheat and Legumes there Constantinople The French carry abundance of Goods there which are the same that are carry'd to Smyrna excepting Gold Silver and Silk Stuff and very seldom Money they bring back Leather and Wool there being nothing else and often not finding Commodities for the Goods that have been sold there they are oblig'd to send the said Money to Smyrna to be imploy'd there or else it is remitted by Bills of Exchange to Aleppo there are always abundance of Goods to be bought there to carry into Christendom Isle of Cyprus In which there are divers Ports Money is carry'd thither some Cloths and Caps and in return we take Cotton spun into Thred Silks made in the said Isles and some Drugs Alexandria and the Port of Aleppo Abundance of Merchandice and Money are carry'd thither from France Those Goods are the same which are carry'd to Smyrna And vast quantities of Silks and Drugs are taken in there all sorts of Cottons Oak Apples Goat Skins which they stile of the Levant Red Yellow and Blue Callicos and sometimes Indian Goods which are brought there from Persia Before the English and Dutch went into the Indies all Persian Silks Drugs and other Goods were brought to Aleppo from whence they were brought to Marseilles and from thence they were afterwards sold throughout France England Holland and Germany And now the said English and Hollanders have taken away the said Trade from us and do not only furnish all France with Persian Goods but also with those they buy on the Grand Seignior's Territories which they carry through Persia to Goa where they lade The Goods that are brought from the Levant are dispos'd of in Sicily Naples Genoa Leghorn Majorca and throughout Spain Flanders and Germany Seyda the Port of Tripoly Barut and St. John d'Acre The French carry some Commodities thither and for the most part Money they bring back from thence Silks spun Cottons Ashes to make Soap Drugs which come from Damascus sometimes they take in Rice and when they have a good Crop of Wheat they suffer our Ships to take lading of it Alexandria the Port of Aegypt and Grand Cairo The French carry several French Commodities thither as Cloth Paper Brasil Cochaneal but more Money than Goods they take in their Natron Drugs of divers sorts and most of the Goods which sell in Italy or in Spain Formerly all sorts of Spices were brought to Alexandria through the Red Sea which were carry'd to Marseilles but now the English and Hollanders go into the Indies we must buy them of them Tunis Wine is transported thither from Marseilles Hony Tartar Cloth Paper and other Goods and seldom any Money and Leather and Wax is taken in there Algiers and the adjacent Ports The same Commodities are often carry'd thither from Marseiles which are carry'd to Tunis and Leather and Wax are also brought from thence I own I have been long deceiv'd in the Trade the Proveneals drive in the Levant I was of opinion with many others that the said Trade was prejudicial to the State thinking according to the common notion of the World that it exhausted the Money of the Kingdom in exchange of Goods no wise useful and only fit to indulge the Luxuriousness of our Nation But having made
Majesties Duties instead of increasing them If we consider such as are imploy'd in the Kingdom it is certain that when Goods are at a reasonable price People buy and really spend more than when the price of them is excessive for then they retrench even those which are most necessary If on the other hand we consider those Commodities which are carry'd out of the Kingdom it is plain that Foreigners who have hitherto been incourag'd to buy them because they were cheap will provide their stores elsewhere if they can better themselves which will leave France abounding in the Fruits of the Earth but unprovided of Money whereas the Impositions being moderate the great quantity of Fruits which will be Exported by Foreigners will recompense the loss some may fancy by the moderation of Subsidies Moreover the increase of Impositions is capable to reduce a considerable number of the King's Subjects to idleness since it is certain that the major part of the poor People and Workmen imploy'd in Manufactures will rather be idle and do nothing than consume their whole life in an ungrateful useless labour if the unreasonableness of the Subsidies hindering the sale of the Fruits of the Earth and of their Labour hinders them at the same time from receiving what they have earn'd by the sweat of their Body To resume the thred of my Discourse after having condemn'd the abuse of the * Persons imPloy'd to pay Private Services Comtans and demonstrated that the augmentation of Subsidies is sometimes not only uselss but often prejudicial I say that there ought to be a Geometrical proportion between the Subsidies and the necessities of the State that is that no Impositions ought to be made but such as are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the Kingdom in its Grandeur and Glory Those last words signifie much since they show not only that it is lawful to raise that upon the People which is requisite to preserve the Kingdom whatever condition it may be in but also to raise that which may be necessary to maintain it with Lustre and Reputation Nevertheless care must be taken not to extend those last conditions so far as to think that the Prince's bare Will should be under that pretence the Rule of those Impositions Reason must be the only Rule in those cases and if the Prince exceeds those bounds exacting more from his Subjects than he ought to do tho' even in that case they owe him Obedience he will be answerable for it before God who will call him to a strict account for the same Moreover Reason and Policy can never allow the increasing of the Peoples burthen to receive no benefit by it those that do it draw publick Maledictions upon their Heads which are attended with very ill consequences since it is certain that the Prince who exacts more than he should do from his Subjects only exhausts their Love and Fidelity which are far more necessary towards the Subsistance of the State and the Perservation of his Person than the Gold and Silver he may hoard in his Coffers I am very sensible that in a great State it is always necessary to have a Fund to supply unexpected occasions but that Fund must be proportion'd to the Riches of the State and to the quantity of the Coyn'd Gold and Silver which is in the Kingdom and unless it be regulated by that the Riches of the Prince would prove his Poverty since his Subjects would no longer have any Fund themselves either to keep up Trading or to pay the lawful Duties they owe their Sovereign As a Prince ought to be careful to lay up Money to supply the necessities of the State and Religious in preserving it when there is no necessity to lay it out he must be liberal in imploying it when Publick good requires it and in doing it in due time for delays in such cases are often dangerous to the State and time thus lost is never to be retriev'd We have examples of Princes who to preserve their Money have lost both it and their States together and it is most certain that those who lay out their Money with regret commonly spend more than others because they do it too late It requires a great deal of Judgment to know the most important hours and moments and some may be capable to lay up who not knowing how to lay out may occasion unutterable misfortunes But whereas general Maxims are always useless unless a proper application be made of them there now remains to see What the revenue of this Kingdom may amount to What the Expence of it may be What Fund is necessary to be kept in the Coffers and to what degree the People may be eas'd The Revenue of this Kingdom may be consider'd in two respects Either as it may be in time of Peace without altering the advance of Money which is drawn at present out of the general Receipts and Farms making no other augmentation save that which may be made in reducing the old Rents which will be preserv'd to six per Cent as well as the Salary of certain Officers who will rather suffer the Diminution of the same than the Suppression of their Places with reimbursements Or as it may be in making certain alterations thought so reasonable and so useful by those in whose Hands I have seen the Management of the Finances that in their opinion no other opposition is to be fear'd but that of Novelty * Rents created upon the City at 8 per Cont. Salt one Million 231411 Livers Aids 851000 Livers General Receipts 474184 Livers All these Rents have been constituted from the year 1551 until 1558. No Rents have been created in the Reign of Henry the 4th nor even in that of Henry the 3d. There are 23 Generalities in every Office 24 Officers which are in all 552. every one of which having 1000 Crowns Salary the third part thereof amounts to 552000 Livers By the first Settlement the Exchequer mâ—y expect to receive 35 Millions of Livers yearly according to the following acount By the Taille 17 Millions 350000 Livers By all the Gabelles 5 Millions 250000 Livers By the Aids one Million 400000 Livers By the Reduction of Rents to 6 per Cent one Million By the Reduction of the Treasurers of France to two thirds of their Salary which they will willingly consent to provided they are freed from the new Taxes they are daily plagu'd with 552000 Livers Des Parties Casuelles which is the Income the King receives by the Sale of Offices and the Annual Duty paid him out of the same two Millions By the Farm of Bourdeaux 800000 Livers By 3 Livers per Muid of Wine for the entrance into Paris 700000 Livers By the ancient 30 Pence and the new addition of ten more for entrance upon every Muid of Wine brought into Paris 503000 Livers By the Farm of 45 Pence instead of the Tolls 503000 Livers By the 9 Livers 18 Pence per Tun of
reduce it to one Million The Expence of the Western and Eastern Sea cannot be less than of two Millions 500000 Livers as it appears by the particular Settlements of the same That of the Artillery will amount to 600000 Livers That of the King 's the Queen's and Monsieur's Housholds to three Millions 500000 Livers The Pensions paid to the switzers which cannot be retrench'd in honour amounts to 400000 Livers The Buildings will cost 300000 Livers AMbassadors 250000 Livers The Fortifications 600000 Livers All the Pensions might absolutely be retrench'd which cost the King four Millions but as it is impossible to pass from one extream to another without a medium and that the Court of France is not us'd to resist importunities tho' never so unjust I am of opinion that it will be sufficient to retrench one half of them Which is the more necessary in that it is advantagious for the Publick that the Idleness of Courtiers may meet with no roward and that they may be all annexed to the Perils of the War and thus Pensions and Salaries will only amount to two Millions for the future The King's Gentlemen in Ordinary 50000 Livers Warrants for the payment of certain summs 400000 Livers Casual Accounts and the King's Progresses two Millions Arrears of Duties 150000 Livers The King 's Privy Purse 300000 Livers All these Expences amount only to 25 Millions which being deducted out of 35 to which the Receipt amounts there will remain ten which for the first year shall be imploy'd towards the diminution of the Tailles The true way to inrich the State is to ease the People and to discharge both of their Burthens In lessening the Charges of the State the Tailles may be diminish'd and no otherwise and therefore it is the chief end which ought to be propos'd in the Regulation of this Kingdom * Of 44 Millions to which all the different sorts of Leveys which are rais'd upon the People by virtue of the brief of the Taille amount thereare 26 Millions imployed towards the payment of the Charges settled upon the Taille which consist in Rents or in Salaries and Taxation of Offices or in Rights which have been engag'd to them Tho' the Farm of the Aids produces yearly 4 Millions there is but 400000 Livers return'd out of it into the Exchequet The Rents Salaries Taxationis and Rights ingag'd upon the said Aids consume all the rest which is upwards of three Millions and a half Notwithstanding all the Gabelles produce near 19 Millions there is only five Millions 500000 and odd Livers of the same return'd into the Exchequer because the remaindor which amounts to near 13 Millions is imploy'd towards the payment of the Rents created upon the said Gabelles or towards the Salaries Taxations and Duties of the Officers of the Magazins of Salt or towards the Salaries of the Parliament of Paris Chamber of Accounts Court of Aids Grand Council or the King's Secretaries Although all the other Farms of the State produce twelve Millions the King receives but ten of them because upwards of two Millions must be deducted out of the same which are settled for the payment of some Rents Salary of Officers Taxations and alienated Duties In order to take true measures in an Affair of that consequence it is necessary to know that tho' all the Levies which are made in this Kingdom amount to near 80 Millions upwards of 45 of the same are imploy'd in Charges which may be so well husbanded that whereas we may say at present that the said Charges prove the King's Ruine I dare affirm that the King will be eas'd and inrich'd by the means thereof Many without doubt will be of opinion that it would be fit to ease the State of all that burthen but as it is impossible to make agreat Body subsist without divers Expences absolutely necessary for its maintenance As the weight of all these Charges together cannot be born by the State so the intire suppression of the same cannot be desir'd with reason Three means may be propos'd for the diminution of the said Charges The first is grounded on the over long injoyment which private persons have had of the King's Money upon the Fund they have disburs'd to acquire the Rents Offices and Rights they enjoy I am sensible that it would be easie to dispossess some of the said persons of the Rents and Duties they receive by making a true supputation of the Summs they have receiv'd in which besides the Interest allow'd by the Laws it would be easie to find the reimbursement of the price at first laid down by them for the same But tho' the Justice of the said expedient were allow'd of Reason would not permit the making use of it since that in so doing it would be impossible for the future to find out Money to supply the necessities of the State Whatever securities were offer'd Therefore it is necessary to observe that a thing may not be unjust and yet contrary to Reason and sound Policy and to take care never to have recourse to any expedient which without violating Reason would nevertheless violate publick Faith If any urges that the publick must be preferr'd to private Interest allowing his proposition I desire him to consider that in the discussion of this point those different kinds of Interests are not in the least concern'd but that those of the publick are counter-pois'd by others of the same nature and that as the future has a far greater Latitude than the present which passes in an instant those Interests which relate to the time to come must be respected before those of the present contrary to the custom of sensual Men who prefer what is at the least distance from them because the sight of their Reason has no greater extent than that of their Senses If we consider publick Faith in this point as I think it absolutely necessary the State will be far more eas'd by it than it would be tho' part of its Charges should be suppress'd without making any new Lives in that it will remain Master of the Purses of its Members on all occasions and yet will considerably increase its revenue The second means to diminish the Charges of the Kingdom consists in the reinbursement of the Money which was actually paid by private persons but the verification of it would prove difficult since that in order to facilitate the Sale of what the necessity of the State has oblig'd to alienate that has often been given at four years purchase which appears to be ingag'd at six This medium tho justin it self is not practicable without giving a pretence to many complaints tho' ill grounded The third means for the Diminution of the Charges of the State consists in reimbursing those that are not necessary at the same price at which they are sold among private persons Reimbursing the Owners of the Offices of the Rents and of the Duties which will be thought necessary to be suppress'd in this
things in this place The first is that the Office of the Treasurers of France remaining a third part of their Salarys may be retrench'd since they will think themselves very favourably used in the general Reformation of the Kingdom if in securing them against all new Taxes their Salary is redu'd to two thirds of what they have injoy'd hitherto and had by their first Creation The second is that in not suppressing the Rents establish'd upon the Town House in the late King's time which are all Created at the rate of eight per Cont which will be the more reasonable in that as no private Persons do allow above six the owners of the said Rents settled upon the Town-House will by your Majesty's favour get two per Cent more in the injoyment of those of this Nature And as they will find an advantage by this the King will do the same by reason that the Rents charg'd upon the State will be more coveted than those of private Persons supposing they be paid exactly without any deduction as in reason they ought to be In order to pay the said Rents as well as the Salary of divers Officers either absolutely necessary or at least which cannot be suppressed in these Times I am of opinion that it will be fit to suppress thirty Millions out of the fourty five this Kingdom is at present charged with leaving the rest to acquit the remaining charges * The Rents of which the Courant price is seven years purchace will amount justly to six Millions 812 thousand Livers Viz. six Millions which have been settled out of the eight allienated Millions upon the Tailles in the month of February 1634. 415 thousand Livers settled by Le Sr. Gaillard and his Partners in the month of January 1634. And 112 thousand Livers settled by an Edict of the month of March of the said year by the Creditors of Moyssel and Payen Out of the thirty Millions which are to be suppress'd there are near seven the Reimburstment of which being only to be made at the rate of five years Purchace the suppression of the same will be perform'd in seven years and a half 's timeâ— by the bare Injoyment of the same As many will be found out of the remaining twenty four which being to be reimburs'd at the rate of six years Purchace which is the Currant price of them will be suppress'd in eight years and a half 's time by the bare injoyment But whereas as abovesaid long Winded designs are not the safest in this Kingdom and that upon that account it is necessary to reduce all the suppressions which are fit to be made to a number of years not exceeding the compass of our Patience in order to accomplish the Reimbursments which will be undertaken at the same time in which the Rents which are sold at five years purchace will be suppress'd by the very income of the same an extraordinary Fund must be rais'd to the Value of a sixth part of the currant price of the Rents which amounts exactly to seven Millions once paid for the suppression of as much revenue To accomplish the suppression of the thirty Millions propos'd there still remains 16 to be reimburs'd which must be done at the rate of eight years purchace because it is the common price of them And whereas the reimbursement of those sixteen Millions cannot be perform'd under twelve years time by the bare enjoyment of the same and that it is necessary to shorten that time to reduce the said suppression to the term of seven years as well as that of the fourteen preceeding Millions out of eight parts three must be supply'd by extraordinary Funds amounting to 48 Millions Tho' the greatness of the said summ may surprize at first those who are acquainted with the facility of Affairs of that nature in this Kingdom will not question the feasibleness of the same considering that it is only to be paid in seven years time And Peace will be no sooner settled but the practice of * Farming part of the Revenue Parties which is usual at this time to find out Money being abolish'd those who are bred in those sort of Affairs not being able to alter their former way of living all of a sudden will willingly convert all their Industry to destroy what they have rais'd by the same means they did use to establish it at first That is to extinguish and suppress by virtue of the Bargains they will make to that effect the Rents Rights and Offices the creation of which they have promoted by virtue of other Bargains Thus the Kingdom may be eas'd in seven years time of thirty Millions of common Charges which it bears at present The People being actually discharg'd of the 22 Millions of Taille which is one half of what they bear at present The Revenue of the Kingdom will be found to amount to 57 Millions as the following Settlement will justifie RECEIPT Of the Tailles 22 Millions Of the Aids 4 Millions Of all the Gabelles 19 Millions Of all the other Farms 12 Millions Total 57 Millions Out of which deducting 17 Millions which will be yearly put into the Exchequer the said summ must be look'd upon to be so considerable that there is no State in Christendom which lays up half so much all the Charges of it being deducted before If next to these suppressions which will make many persons liable to the Tailles without their having any reason to complain of it all Offices are suppressed which are officiated by Inrollment or by bare Commissions if the number of Notaries be regulated not only such as are Royal but those of common Jurisdictions it will ease the People considerably both in that they will thereby be deliver'd of so many leeches and that as there are upwards of 100000 Officers of this kind to be turn'd out those who will sind themselves deprived of their usual imployments will be constrain'd to follow the Wars to ingage into Trade or to turn Labourers If in the next place all Exemptions are reduc'd to the Nobility and to the Officers in ordinary of the King's Houshold it is most certain that the Cities and Communities which are exempted the Soveraign Courts the Offices of the Treasurers of France the Elections the Salt Magazines the Offices of Waters and of Forests of the Demain and of the Tithes the Intendants and Receivers of Parishes which compose a Body of upwards of 100000 exempted persons will discharge the People of more than one half of their Tailles it being also certain that the Richest which are liable to the greatest Taxes are those who get exemptions by dint of Money I am sensible that it will be urg'd that it is easie to make such Projects like unto those of Plato's Commonwealth which tho' fine in his Ideas is a real Chimera But I dare affirm that this design is not only so reasonable but so easie to execute that if God pleases to grant your Majesty a
speedy Peace and to preserve you for this Kingdom with your Servants of which I esteem my self one of the meanest instead of leaving this Advice by Testament I hope to accomplish it my self SECTION VIII Which shews in few words that the utmost point of the Power of Princes must consist in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts THe Finances being manag'd as above written the People will be absolutely eas'd and the King will be Powerful by the Possession of his Subjects Hearts who considering his care of their Estates will be inclin'd to love him out of Interest * Philip de Valois Formerly the Kings thought themselves so happy in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts that some were of opinion that it was better by this means to be King of the French than of France And indeed this Nation had formerly such a Passion for their Princes that some Authors praise * Ammian Marcellin Lib. 16 and 17. them for being always ready to spill their Blood and to spend their Estates for the Service and Glory of the State * That Policy was grounded upon the saying of a great Prince who tho' depriv'd of the Light which consists in Faith nevertheless was so clear sighted by Reason that he thought he could never want Money in his necessities since he was belov'd by his People who had enough for him Cyrus and Xenophon Book the 5th of his Institution Under the Kings of the first second and third Race until Philip le Bell the Treasure of Hearts was the only publick Wealth that was preserv'd in this Kingdom I am sensible that former times have no relation nor proportion to the present that what was good in one Age is often not permitted in another But tho' it is certain that the Treasure of Hearts cannot suffice at present it is also very certain that the Treasure of Gold and Silver is almost useless without the first both are necessary and whoever shall want either of them will be necessitous in Wealth CHAP. X. Which concludes this Work in showing that whatever is contain'd in it will prove ineffectual unless the Princes and their Ministers are so mindful of the Government of the State as to omitt nothing which their Trust obliges them to and not to abuse their Power IN order to conclude this Work happily I am now to represent to your Majesty that Kings being oblig'd to do many things more as Soveraigns than as private Men they can never swerve so little from their Duty without committing more faults of omission than a private person can do of commission It is the same with those upon whom Soveraigns discharge themselves of part of the burthen of their Empire since that Honour makes them liable to the same obligations which lie on Soveraigns Both of them being consider'd as private persons are liable to the same faults as other Men but if we regard the Conduct of the publick which they are intrusted with they will be found liable to many more since in that sence they cannot omit without sin any thing they are oblig'd to by their Ministry In that consideration a Man may be good and virtuous as a private person and yet an ill Magistrate and an ill Soveraign by his want of care to discharge the obligation of his Trust In a word unless Princes use their utmost endeavours to regulate the divers orders of their State If they are negligent in their choice of a good Council if they despise their wholsom Advice Unless they take a particular care to become such that their Example may prove a speaking voice If they are negligent in establishing the reign of God that of Reason and that of Justice together If they fail to protect Innocence to recompence signal Services to the Publick and to punish disobedience and the Crimes which trouble the order of the Discipline and Safety of States Unless they apply themselves to foresee and to prevent the evils that may happen and to divert by careful Negotiations the Storms which Clouds easily drive before them from a greater distance than is thought If Favour hinders them from making a good choice of those they honour with great Imployments and with the principal Offices of the Kingdom Unless they are very careful to settle the State in the Power it ought to have If on all occasions they do not preferr Publick Interest to Private Advantages tho' otherwise never so good livers they will be found more guilty than those who actually transgress the Commands and Laws of God it being certain that to omit what we are oblig'd to do and to commit what we ought not to do is the same thing I must moreover represent to your Majesty that if Princes and those who are imploy'd under them in the first Dignities of the Kingdom have great advantages over private Men they injoy that benefit upon hard conditions since they are not only liable by omission to the faults I have already observ'd but also that there are many others of commission which are peculiar to them If they make use of their Power to commit any injustice or violence which they cannot do as private persons they are guilty of a sin of Prince or Magistrate by commission which their sole Authority is the source of and for which the King of Kings will call them to a very strict account on the day of Judgment Those two different kind of faults peculiar to Princes and to Magistrates must needs make them sensible that they are of a far greater weight than those of private persons by reason that as universal Causes they influence their disorders to all those who being submitted to them receive the impression of their movements Many would be sav'd as private persons who damn themselves as publick persons One of the greatest of our Neighbouring Kings being sensible of this Truth at his Death cry'd out that he did not stand in so much dread of the sins of Philip as he was apprehensive of the King 's His thought was truly Pious but it would have been much better for himself and for his Subjects to have had it before his Eyes in the heighth of his Grandeur and of his Administration than when in discovering the importance of it he could no longer make that use of it which was necessary for his Conduct tho' he might for his Salvation I humbly crave your Majesty would be pleas'd to reflect this very moment on that which that great Prince perhaps only thought on a few hours before his death and to invite you to it by Example as much as by Reason I promise you that I will spend no day of my life without endeavouring to introduce that into my Mind which ought to be there at the hour of my Death in what relates to those Publick Affairs which you are pleas'd to intrust me with THE END Historical Observations ON THE Political Testament OF Cardinal de Richelieu Book 1. Chap 1. Page 4â— of the
First and Page 50 of the Second and Third Editions publish'd at Amsterdam by Henry Desbordes in the Year 1688. Upon These Words THE Removal of the Duke de la Valette tho' Voluntary and not forc'd giving me an occasion to put him in this Classis I cannot omit saying That not long before he did solicit Monsieur your Brother and the Count de Soissons to turn your Forces of which they had the Command at that time against your Person Your Majesty had honour'd him with the Title of Duke and Peer to which I must also add that in order to Ingage him the more in your service you had thought fit to Vnite him to those who were altogether inseparable from it and that in Consideration of my Allyance you had granted him the Survivorship of the Government of Guyenne and were pleased to add 20000 Livers Income to his place of Colonel of the Infantry I may say moreover that the Pardon your Majesty did grant him for a Crime so base and so shameful averr'd by the mouth of two Princes whose Testimony was undeniable on that occasion did not hinder his Weakness and jealousy against the Prince of Conde and the Arch Bishop of Bourdeaux or his design to cross the prosperity of your Affairs from making him lose a great deal of honour in losing the occasion of taking Fontarabie when the Enemys could no longer defend it Observation THE Wisest Ministers have much ado to defend themselves against Pride In this place the Cardinal speaks to the King his Benefactor and Master The Duke de la Valette he speaks of had the honor in his first Marriage to Wedd * Daughter to Henry the 4 by the Dutches de Verneuil Gabrielle de Bourbon the King's Sister who upon that account always call'd him Brother either in Speaking or writing to him The Cardinal nevertheless thinks he do's much for him and that he will Ingage him to be eternaly Faithful tho he had never been so before by giving him Madamoiselle de Pont Chateau his Cousin But the Actions of great Men must not be examin'd with Rigor Neither would we reflect upon this thing were it not to redress some essential Circumstances of the History which we know ab Origine In order thereunto we must go back a Little since it is Impossible to give a true account of the Duke de la Valette's Voluntary Removal of his Innocence or of his Guilt without explaining the then state of his Family either in relation to the King or to the Minister This relation which perhaps will prove some what long and will seem sometimes to deviate from the subject will nevertheless always return to it and if I am not mistaken will have some curious and remarkable passages John Lewis de la Valette whom we commonly call the old Duke d' Espernon who was the first of that Name Father to the Duke de la Valette I am to speak of was naturaly very haughty and Imperious a great and dazling Fortune made in a short space of time had not lessen'd his Courage The unbounded â—avour of Henry the 3. had heap'd Honors Dignitys Governments and great places upon him The said Prince sometimes boasted that he would make him so great that it would not be in his Power to destroy him It is very well known that in giving him the Government of the three Bishopricks Mets Toul and Verdun he offered him the absolute Soveraignty of the same which he had the Wisdom or Cunning to refuse His Marriage with the Heiress of Foix and of Candale had acquir'd him all the Lands of that ancient Family and the most illustrious Alliances Under the two following Reigns among many contradictions he had still kept his Rank and defended his Fortune being considered and fear'd rather than lov'd by all those who did govern by the power he had to plague them within the Kingdom It was perhaps for that Reason Henry the 4th seemed dissatisfied with his behaviour at first but being reconcil'd to him afterwards in the year 1610. in the great War he was meditating when Death prevented him he design'd him the honor of the Command of his Vanguard untill he had joyn'd the Prince of Orange and then sent him back to Mary de Medicis to be her Minister However reflecting on his former Favour and Elevavation he could neither forget what he was nor what he had been nor agree with any Favourite or Minister less with Richelieu than with another because he had a greater esteem for him than for any other and did look upon him as the fittest Man to humble all those who had rais'd themselves The Cardinal on his side tho a far better Politician finding himself at the helm of Affairs could brook no resistance tho' never so Inconsiderable without being wounded to the very heart by it nor suffer any grandeur unless subservient to his own And indeed tho we should allow him to be above all Weakness or private Interest which Humanity is never free from his general Plan and the honor of his Ministry could hardly suit with the Power and Authority of a Man who under Henry the 4th had sustain'd an open War to maintain himself in the Government of Provence who lately in the Duke de Luines time setting out of his Fortress of Metz in cold blood with his usual Equipage of 20 Mules and near two hundred Horse for his Guard Gentlemen and other Persons of his Retinue cross'd the whole Kingdom quietly to res cue the Queen Mother who was confined at Blois to give her a refuge in his Governments and to make himself Mediator between that Princess and the King her Son The old Duke had three Children Henry Duke of Candale Bernard Duke de la Valette the Person in question here and Lewis Arch-bishop of Toulouse as Men often were in those Times in Commendam without being ingag'd in sacred Orders and since Cardinal de la Valette Henry bore the names of Foix and of Candale according to the Fathers obligation who had promis'd in Marrying the Heiress of that Family to leave all her Estate Name and Arms to the Eldest Son of that Marriage This Gentleman having a lively Wit a free and agreeable Humour was likewise out of favour with the Minister by reason that not being used better than another he sometimes let fall some free Ingenious and sharp Expressions which some retain'd with pleasure and never fail'd of being reveal'd but in that he did not sooth the Inclination of his Father with whom he was no better pleas'd than with the Minister himself he could not forgive him notwithstanding his having added to his share abundance of Lands over and above those of Candale to the Value of 50000 Crowns a year besides the place of First Gentleman of the Chamber the Governments of Saintonge Aunis Angoumois and Limosin for having given his younger Brother the Goverment of Mets and of the three Bishopricks in great Esteem at
on that occasion the Cardinal bethought himself to attack Spain by Fontarabie The Arch Bishop of Bourdeaux or some other had inspired him with that thought several years before But the Duke D' Espernon and La Valette his Son who were sent to View the Place at that time always found very great difficultys in it The Son was sent for and repaired to Court without knowing it was upon that Subject After a much better reception than he expected from the Minister he desired him to give him an account of what had past at Corbie about the proposition of the two Princes but he had either so much Credit or so much Address as to prevent his being pressed to the utmost and they were or seem'd to be satisfied with him without his ever saying any thing farther to the King or Cardinal but that a Man spoke to him near a Mile that he had broken all his Measures by a speedy refusal That he had not thought it necessary in an Affair in which he saw no appearence of any success to turn Informer without proofs against two Princes of the Blood whom he thought he had sufficiently persuaded to remain faithful by his Reasons and by his Example After this Eclaireissement the Siege of Frontarabie was proposed to him Nevertheless I will never believe what others have written Bona fide that it was with a real design to engage him and the old Duke his Father in an Enterprise in which they must needs perish That is driving suspition too far and the Cardinal was not capable of such a false Policy against the Interest of France and his own but it is very probable that the said Minister who ever since the Siege of Rochel and the expedition of Italy thought every thing easy for him made use of that occasion to send a Prince of the Blood in Guienne with considerable Forces both by Sea and Land which he might Imploy after that Victory as he thought fit against the Duke D' Espernon himself and against all his Family it is most certain that the Command of the Army was only offer'd to the Duke de la Valette upon two Conditions the one that the Prince of Conde should be Generalissimo over him the other that the Naval Army should be Commanded by the Archbishop of Bourdeaux who was or seem'd to be reconcil'd to the old Duke for some years pass'd The old Duke had refused more than once to Command Royal Armys under a Prince of the Blood not said he but he had a very great and most profound respect for that Rank but he was too old added he to learn towards the end of his Days to receive orders from any but the King his Master It was easy for the Duke de la Valette to foresee the ill consequences of a subaltern and divided Command but the Cardinal his Brother and another Person less Faithful who ow'd his Elevation to their Familly but yet was secretly a Creature of the Minister persuaded him with great difficulty that it was not fit always to oppose the Inclinations of a Man who had an absolute power as if they had design'd to break with him at a time when he seem'd to have a mind to be reconcil'd to all the Family That what the Court had much ado to bear from the old Duke would neither be excused nor pardoned in his Son in the same manner Moreover that whereas he would Act more in the Army than any other the Presence of a Prince would nowise lessen his Glory if the Siege had a good success but would totally discharge him if the event should not prove favourable These reasons induced him to ingage himself to the Minister before he had time to consult the old Duke his Father who nowise approv'd them but thought he ought not to find fault with what he had agreed to If any body has written the Contrary either they were not acquainted with the whole secret or thought they might dissemble part of it The resolution the Duke took himself show'd sufficiently that he was not pleased It was to ask leave to go to his house of Plassae in Zaintonge to take Milk as he sometimes used to do but at that time it was with a resolution never to return to his Government untill the Siege of Fontarabie were ended However he tarryed till the Prince was come to Bourdeaux to pay his Respects to him and taking his leave of him after having represented the difficultys of the Enterprise to him which ought only to have excited him the more by the glory of overcoming the same he offered if it were necessary to come back upon his first Orders at the head of a thousand Gentlemen to serve as a Volunteer under him The sequel has sufficiently testifyed the prudence of that Resolution for that has been known since which he was ignorant of at that time Which is that the Prince had brought secret Orders from the King to Command him to do that which he did of his own accord The Siege was begun with great hopes The Duke de la Vallette was praised for that he was the first who with Sword in hand at the head of his Forces cross'd the River of Bidassoa which divides the two Kingdoms through the Water up to the Waste he forced the Retrenchments the Enemy had made there to defend the Entrance into the Country It is also known that his attack was very much advanc'd and in a fair way to take the Place when an Order in writing from the Prince of Conde oblig'd him to yield that Post to the Arch-bishop of Bourdeaux which indeed he had much ado to digest and from that time forward finding an open and always ready contradiction to what ever was propos'd by him and being weary with giving good advices which were not follow'd he reduc'd himself only to command in his new Quarter which he thought himself oblig'd to answer for it is also most certainly true that even before that Incident there was no perfect intelligence between our Generals and that the strongest Armys commonly prove Ineffectual when discord reigns among them The Archbishop of Bourdeaux was far more mindful of the old differences he had had with the Duke and all his Family than of a forc'd reconciliation The Prince of Conde dreaded nothing more than that all the honour of the success should be imputed to La Vallette From the very beginning he had not answer'd either in relation to the Father or to the Son the Affection they both expected to find in him and which they had had proofs of on other occasions he perhaps being instructed in this by the Court and being desirous to oblige the Minister But after all as far as ever I could hear the true or principal Reason of the raising of that Siege with so little honour reflected upon the Cardinal himself more than upon any other in his Quality of Admiral without laying any stress upon his having joyn'd Commanders