particular Treaty which th' Austrians then conceived to make with the Swedes and pursued to make with much vehemency which hath been very often out in sunder and as often tied up again which was the design of the last Resolutions of the penultime Dyet of Ratisbone and the foundation of th'hopes of the good Success of th' Enemies Affairs The time hath made it appear that it was nothing but a countermine of the Swedes t'amuze th'Imperialists As it was the design of th'Imperialists in case the Treaty became abortive to lull asleep the Swedes and to render them flower and less inflamed to make War or it was a studied stroak of Addresse and a subtil Artifice to cheat their Confederates with some shew of Apprenhension and Jealousie and to provoke them t' intend with more vigour and with stronger subventions th' Affairs of the League For that wise and advised Nation was not so great an Enemy to their Good nor so ill-sighted in the Truth of their Interests as to be deprived willingly in favour of the King of Poland of a great and rich Province easie for them to be conserved and to be at greater Liberty to defend his Conquests in Germany and to make progress upon the Usurpators and Desertors of the Liberty of that Country And afterwards to renounce what he enjoyed as most stable and Immovable for a sum of Money offered him and for so casual a Benefit as Mony that may easily be spent or wasted That if the House of Austria consented that the Crown of Swede should keep the Provinces and Places which it could not take from them The Designs of that Ambitious House and the Policy of its Ministers of State were too well known to be perswaded That it was for no longer Time than was necessary t' Accomplish in other places their Designs or to procure unto themselves either the greater Victory or the more advantagious Peace That no Christian Power could or would oppose the War to be made them whom it calls Agressors of th' Empire and the disturbers of the peace of Germany In another place Discourse shall be made of the Certainty may be raised on the promises of that House when it may break t'advantage Th' other Proof to be made use of is fresh and Memory need not be strained to remember it 'T is present to th'understanding and to the sense of them who know any thing of our Affairs 'T is that which passed this year at Hambrough touching th'Adjustment of necessary Conditions for proceeding in the â—reaty of the General Peace and finishing that Lamentable War which in the conclusion will make of Christendom but a shambles and a Glass-house That Adjustment was pursued by the Mediation of the King of Denmark who to render himself the more considerable to both Parties and to give Jealousie to him that should seem opposite to the Peace raised a great and powerful Army to make the Ballance fall on the Side he should take in that hot Quarel whilst th' Ambassadors of the King and of the Crown of Swede submitted as the ever did to Reason and made all th'Advances that could be expected from persons acting in Earnest and without Personating It first hapned that Sir Sutzan Deputy to the King of Hungary retired when th' other Deputies were upon the point of Resolving some thing for that pretended Adjustment without giving notice of it in Imitation of the Count of Curts who practised the same a little before And returned six weeks after with imperfect Authorities and with defective Letters of Credence that it might not fail on the King of Spain's part The Negotiation was stopped What th' Imperialists did was to thrust Time by the shoulder and to see whether that great Clowd gathered near France would not produce something to their advantage and bring upon that Kingdom the Tempest which they had promised to themselves and whereof they had furnished a great part of the Matter Moreover not t' appear Averse to Peace nor to be Charged with th'Hatred that would be charged on them by the Voluntary Continuation of the War They permitted that the broken Treaty should be set on foot and sent to Hambrough the Count of Aversbery with a more Ample power by virtue whereof after long Disputes and long Contests of spirit and words Th' Adjustment desired was resolved and Conditions signed to which nothing was wanting for Execution but the Ratification of Interessed Princes in that Affair But that failed on the part of the King of Hungary who instead of sending a pure and simple Ratification as was necessary and as his Deputy was obliged to procure and as the Kings was made sent it lame and Limited with so many Modifications and Reserves that it was easie to see That it was but Comedy and the continuation of the Game which the Sir Sutzan had plaid t'Amuze the world and to give â—ime to ripen the Great Designs formed against France And that they may not accuse me to have supposed what is not and t' have rais'd a fancy at pleasure to quarrel them I will onely make use for Justification of what I have said of the force of a Libel against us which not long since they did publish in Spanish and under the sign of a pair of Spectacles After a number of foolish proffers and of th' Impostures vomited against the good Intentions of the King and of his Ministers of State Th' Author concludes it with a Prognostick or rather with a Threatning he makes of the great Disorder that was ready to Thunder in this Kingdom in the Concurrence of two Parties that would divide the Court and which as he said ought to shake the Pillars of this Monarchy I add to what I have before said To discover the true passion the King had to remove all the Rubs that might stop the way to Peace and t'omit nothing that might hasten that Holy Work that he had given power to Sir of Avaux his Ambassador t' Accord in the Pasports he should deliver to the King of Hungary's Commissioners a Title which to that time h' had vainly desired of us and had always constantly been refused him for the Considerations which shall be laid down in the Treaty of the Monarchy And to shew also th'Indubitable Aversion the King of Hungary with all his House had to the Peace which all Christendom demands and is so necessary for it At the same time that he refused it by his Evasions and Proffers He bought dearly the Continuation of that Peace he had made with the Turk and consented That almost two hundred Villages should be cut off from his Frontiers to lengthen the Territories of the Turk The End of the First Book OF The Councel of VVar Of a PRINCE Second BOOK First Discourse That it is a great Misfortune to a Prince to want Power to make Defence against th' Assaults of a Forein Prince and thereby to depend upon the Will of others Which is confirmed by two Examples
it did not begin to settle and draw a free Air but under the protection of Charls the Seventh and received not its entire Consistency and its perfect Establishment but from the Alliance it made with Lewis the Eleventh When the Flemings had resolved to shake off the yoke of Spain and t' adore no longer an ill manag'd Power though it was Lawful They had not held out long if Neighbour Powers had not interessed themselves in their Contests and if several Reliefs had not been drawn unto them from Germany France and England I add to what hath been above-said That when in the time of our Fathers Heresie and Ambition united against Soveraign Power and that from these Two Springs of Rebellion a Party did arise which left to our Kings but a part of their Authority and to this Kingdom but a part of their Forces Though this Party was animated by them of the Blood of our Kings and guided by one of th' ablest Commanders of his time Prince of Condé and Chastillon Admiral of France Though it had all th' Allurements that Novelty gives t'Error and all the Zeal which accompanies the Confederates of growing Sects Though th' Union amongst the Memberâ— could not be greater nor th' Accord of their Wills more Universal 'T is nevertheless certain That with such Advantages and such favourable Encounters they had not maintained themselves as they did nor had made so deep foundations in the State nor stretched so far its Branches â—f Forein Forces had not supported them and if it had not been often relieved by English Gold and German Forces For the Decay and Ruine of that Party was dated effectively from the driness of the Springs which had furnished it with powerful Contributions and that the Veins which had brought it Blood and Life were obstructed and no longer open When Germany fell into an Inability and England became Fearful or Weak and Spain Slow or Irresolute to relieve it Thence it ariseth That the People who study Changes and dispose themselves for bold and violent Resolutions never undertake them but upon some Forein Inspiration accompanied with promises of great Reliefs or in such a Conjuncture of Time and Affairs as makes out unto them some Haven which may put them in safety and secure them in time of Tempest But to speak of present things and of the Rising of the Catalans There 's no question but that th' had never undertaken it what pretence soever they had which is not here to be examined but by favour of their present Conjuncture And though it was contrived long before and the whole matter prepared whereof it was then formed yet it had not issued from the Womb of its Causes not taken Light if th' Arms of France had not been Triumphant in all places If those of Spain had not been unfortunate in Flanders and in Italy and if the Reputation of th' Imperialists had not been abated in Germany In the third place I say That in the Matter of the People's Emotions nothing of certainty can be promised nor of Knowledge of the Duration till they have treated with the Prince from whom they Implored Aid and have given him Pledges of their Faith to content And that there 's no greater or surer Pledge than in giving up themselves Till then he may have cause to doubt that the shew he shall make to protect them will serve onely to raise Jealousie in the Prince whose Subjects they are and provoke him the more to Turn all manner of Wheels and Employ all possible Inventions to reduce them to their Duty and to disolve th' Union that is not well assured Till then I say he will have just cause to distrust an Accommodation with their Prince And lest shaken betwixt th' Apprehensions of the Troubles and Miseries that attend the Victory if it should remain to their Prince and th'offers not onely of Impunity but also of Recompence wherewith h'endeavours to blind them They take th' occasion to return to his favour It being the nature of the People to change readily their passion As to return willingly to a more peaceable condition and to a gentler state than theirs may appear to them in their Revolt That being so there would not be less fear of Evil in their Accommodation than hopes of Good in their Disorder Their Repentance might prove as fatal to him as their Sin favourable and they would b' obliged to purge at his Charges the fault they had committed for the not finishing of it and to turn against him the Forces they had prepared against their Prince That if they resolve not t' undertake by Halfs what otherwise they ought not t' have Begun If they resist th'Offers and the Threatnings of their first Prince and take them as it may be they are for the Snares he lays and for th'Ambushes he sets for them If they perswade themselves That he will not believe himself bound to keep that to them which he had promised with all Ill-will and they had Forced from him nor t' observe the Faith h 'had given them since that he may say he would not break it but for their good and t'hinder them another time to become Rebells But if they pesevere in the desire of shaking off the Yoke wherewith they may believe themselves in time oppressed and t'implore th' Aid and Protection of another Prince There are some Considerations to be had before He consents to their Relief At first sight It seems to be a thing of an ill savour and of a dangerous Example amongst Princes That a Prince should oblige himself by Treaty to defend and protect another Princes Subjects in Rebellion That 't is to wound a Right wherein all Sovereigns are interessed in the Consequence and give Heart to Rebellion to b' in all places more busie and bold than it would be if it did believe it self destitute of Forein Aid and of Auxiliary Forces 'T is not truly to be denied but that generally taken 't is so And it happens not often that Princes declare themselves publickly in favour of the Subjects of other Princes nor that they relieve them openly and with flying Colours When they do it 't is ordinarily done without noise and as it were in private 'T is like hiding th' Arm after the Stone is thrown 'T is either in furnishing of Money secretly as Philip the Second did to the Chiefs of the League during the life of Henry the Third or in Licensing of Troops and permitting them to pass to the Rebel Party as the Venetians did in the War of the Barons of Naples against th' old Ferdinand and the Duke of Calabria his son as it hath been observed in another place In this a Distinction is to b' used which will clear this Doubt and reconcile what may seem to b'opposite and contrary 'T is that neither the Law of Conscience nor that of Civil Prudence doth permit That in time of Peace and Calmness and at least when there 's no
Crowns which had spilt so much blood and consumed so great Treasure for the Liberty of Germany but conspired against them and Consented to fight them who Laboured Earnestly to Deliver the Captives from the Chains they seemed to be in Love with or to compel them to Happiness who had not the Courage to be happy However 'T is certain that the fair peace of Prague wherein th' Accepters of it believed to be secure without running the danger of losing themselves as in the Continuation of the War they made to th' House of Austria had not been concluded if the two Crowns had not engaged in th' affairs of that Countrey And th' Emperor Had not Accorded unto them that respite from their ruine if H' had esteemed himselfe powerfull or happy enough to resist at one Time their forces and Ours That if th' Interessed Persons are the better for it and are at shelter from the Tempest they feared they d'ow us th' obligation which they have very ill acknowledged That if their Peace be Captious and unsetled as 't is and if they have need as there 's no Question of a General peace which is the seal of the Security and Duration of particular Persons 'T is also from the two Crowns they ought principally to receive that good and 't is from them that the Perfectest Cure ought to be made of the German body Instead of those Lucid Intervalls which particular Treaties do produce and of those deceitfull Recoveries which give Ease for some time to the sick Person but take not away the Cause nor the Root of the Disease 'T is for this Reason that they Act with so much Contest and Heat that they raise such great Armies and support so great an expence and they may be assured that Armes will never be laid down till the Work b' Accomplished That they have not made so great expences to lose them And How painfull soever the Cariere be wherein they are ingaged They will never stay till they have past through it And either all Apparences are false or the time is not far off and Christendome will very shortly see a Discovery of the good it desires though it have yet some Convulsion fits to suffer and the Light it expects will quickly appear though it hath also some shadows to disperse and Clouds to dissolve Th' Easiness spoken of hath not been pernicious to the French alone but also to the Dutch They have been also mistaken in their March into this Kingdome upon the single faith of its confederates And if that Prodigious Army of Reiters which marched to Over-run our Nation under the Conduct of the Duke of Bovillon and the Baron of Dona had surprized some strong place It had not been so ill handled as it was in its Retrait nor Feasted the plains with so many Dead bodies as it left there It had been at least admitted to Capitulation for the safety of its Return and for a part of the Money which had been promised in rendring what it held to its Lawfull Master The Queen of England of whom W' have already spoken was much better Advised and her Conduct more prudent when she would not open her Purse not Command her Army t' enter France in favour of the Prince of Conde Till h' had put Havre of Grace into her power and delivered up that famous Haven to give her Entrey at pleasure into this Kingdome 'T is true That I cannot excuse the pretence whereby she seemed to receive it nor approve of the Declaration she published That it was not to break Amity with the Kings with whom she desired t' entertain a good Correspondency that she had Commanded it to be taken but to take it out of th' hands of his Rebell Subjects who might keep it t' his prejudice and to Conserve it for him during his Minority and till he might Act personally in his Affairs and hold th' Helm of his state in his own hands which was handled by persons who were not as she said Prudent enough or Well enough disposed This Playster was too gross and this Masque too visible to Cover and disguise so visible an Usurpation and the Councel of the King had reason to declare her fallen from the Conditions of the Treaty of Cambray in Relation to the business of Calais since sh ' had violated it in aiding the Rebels t' his Majesty and that sh ' had been the Receiver of places which they had taken from him The Duke of Savoy Grand-father to the present Duke endeavoured t' exercise the like Charity towards Henry the Third and render the same good Office to the Crown when h' had seized upon the Marquisate of Saluces for fear as He said lest Esdiguieres should prevent him and untill the Troubles which troubled us were appeased and that our Civil Tempests were allaid The late King paid him that Charity as a Debt of the Crown so soon as h' attained it and made him see that Great Princes know how to force Little Princes to b' honest in spight of their subtleties and t' ease them better than any Persons of the world of th' Obligation they are under to make Restitution of unjust Acquisitions The Method then spoken of and for the Reasons alleged to require places hath been at all times familiar with Princes who know how to Reign and particularly with the Spaniards But if the Duke of Parma demanded no place the first Incursion he made into France and marched to secure Paris from th' Armies of the late King without seeking any place of Security for his Retreat but in the Forces He commanded it was for a more important Reason 't was to blind the world by that shew of Liberty 't was to leave an Impression that his Master sent him not to fish as 't is said in our Troubles and to make benefit of our Disorders as many murmured within and without the Kingdom but onely to drive away Heresie or at least t' hinder th' Ascent of it to the Throne where none but the True Religion ought to sit as He made a solemn Oath in the great Church of Meaux in the Name of King Philip. But he drew not long that breath of Generosity and could never be perswaded to come to the Relief of Roven till the Fere was delivered unto him and put into his Custody which assured his Entry into the Kingdom and his going out As to the rest the sequel of time and course of affairs made it appear that Philip made him take a false Oath and had deceived his General to make him deceive others The Duke of Sessa declared it sufficiently at Rome when He could not hinder th' Absolution of the late King nor his Re-union to th' Holy Chair the Center of the Church He protested against it as prejudicial to the Pretensions his Master had upon France and the Charges expended to conserve Religion and expel Heresie It was therefore to the Spaniard an extraordinary Case and an Exception to
Battels that brave Prince had shaken the foundations of that Republique They refused the Cathaginian Army sent to their Relief under the command of Mago and resolved in that great Extremity t' owe onely to Virtue and to their own Powers the Re-establishment of their Affairs and the Return of their Fortune After the Rout of Giragdade and the sad success of that Battel which at one Blow took from the Venetians all their Lands The Republique would not accept th' offer of Forces made them by Bajazet the Second nor use that Means to deliver themselves of th' ill fortune that pursued them which was violent and to get out of a Precipice which was dangerous 'T is certain that their ill fortune could not be greater nor the Precipice deeper All Christendome was combined against it and a powerful victorious Army And it had lost an Army when it was impossible for them to raise another Terror and Despair entred in t ' all their Towns upon the Noise of this Disgrace And by a strange Motion of Prudence and an Extraordinary Act of Policy it was constrained t' advise their Subjects t'open their Gates to the Victorious and to do that without breach of Duty or guilt of Treason which the Consternation they were fallen into and the Current of th' Enemies Victory would have forced upon them And yet chose rather to seek safery and resurrection in its Wisdom and in the sole Means left to restore it self by th'Imploying of all their strength for the Disunion of the Confederates and Breach of the League than to draw into their Country those barbarous Soldiers from whence they could not withdraw them when they would or t' expose Italy to the same conditon the Neighbour Provinces to Constantinople were in under the Turk as hath been formerly spoken In the growth of Heresie in this Kingdom and of the first fires which burnt it for the matter of Religion Francis the second refused Philip his Brother in Law who fearing that the Contagion of th'Errour and Treason which reigned amongst us should pass into Flanders and complete the Corruption of his Subjects that had then taken some taste of it sent to make offer of all his Forces to fight them The duke of Alva also after h' had obtained in the Low-Countries many happy Successes against the Rebels of his Master besought Charls the Ninth to give him leave to bring 15000 Foot and 5000 Horse all Men of War and accustomed to Victory to reduce his Subjects t'Obedience But the King by th' advice of his Council refused also that offer and would not in accepting of it either discover the Weakness of his Reign or give to the factious Religionaries more pretence to call Strangers to their Relief and to them the more colour of coming into his Country or t'introduce into th' Heart of his Kingdom an Army of valiant Persons whom He could not easily drive away who would have demanded places of security for their Entry and Immense Dammages for their Return and might in time be the cause of a more dificult and longer War than what troubled him That whereas a part onely of his Subjects were in question and that the Rebels to be reduc'd to reason made a profession of fidelity and by consequence might easily be disarmed by Indulgence when it should appear too dangerous to repress them by Force H' had been under the Necessity of a defence against his Subjects and Neighbours and to fight Enemies wh ' having some Title of Justice and making War without Remorse or Scruple of Conscience would have made it the more violent and the less susceptible of Accommodation From what hath been now said a fresh Rule to clear it may be raised That an Army of Forein Forces to be drawn in t ' a Princes Country and in so great a number as to give the Law or raise Jealousie in him that Imploys them is to b' avoided And that H' observe also if it be possible two things T' Endeavour that the stranger Forces depend more upon the Prince that calls them in and pays them than upon him who leads them in and commands them And that their Relation t' him be stronger and more absolute than their Dependency upon their Commander Th' other thing is t' hinder their Conjunction in a Body and to keep them always sever'd if there be not special cause to draw them together and to rejoyn them The Venetians not long since Endeavoured to divide the Troops which the Sir of Roquelaure brought them and to take the Command from him And the Hollanders laboured to do the like to the Count of Mansfield after he had Relieved Bergenopson But they met with bold spirits that resisted their Artifices and defeated the subtil Attempts of their Policy 'T is true That this Trial is not to be made upon any Persons but Casual Chiefs who depend onely upon their Sword and upon the Prince that Imploys them and having drawn together such Troops by their Industry and Credit maintain them also in Dependency by their Authority and Address As to th'Impeding the Conjunction of Forces that might make great and considerable Bodies 'T is an undubitable Means to divert the Disorder and to prevent the License which of custom grows in Mercenary souls from th'Hopes of Impunity As th'hopes of Impunity are usually ingendred from the multitude of Culpable persons From this Root Sedition and Mutinies have often budded in th' Antient and Modern Armies And the boldness of the Pretorian Troops did heretofore stream from this spring in killing and choosing their Emperours and abused too often the Royal Purple in taking it away and giving it to whom they pleased by that blind incitement which animates Courages and being not Regulated by Reason are not restrained by Respect or Fear Seianus the greatest Favorite of all Ages and the first Example the world hath seen of excessive Favour Having the Command of the Pretorian Troops resolved to draw them together To render himself the more formidable by the quick and present Relief had in hand of the best Soldiers of th' Empire The Soldiers provided their Quarters and drew them into the form of a Cittadel to Command Rome and t' hold in subjection the Capital City of the World The great number of Janissaries which the Gram Signiâ—r keeps at Constantinople is the cause of the Tumults which often arise there and of th'Insolencies they commit in that City which are extended sometimes to the violating of the Seraglio the Grand Signior's Palace To compel their Prince to deliver unto them his Favourites To do Justice as they say upon them and not to spare his Person but even to kill him That if the Prince ought t' avoid with great care and for the Consequences which have been represented the drawing together of a great Number of his subject Soldiers H' ought much more to be careful to keep them sover'd so long as it may conveniently be done who depend not upon Him
Letters in the year 1623. which the Duke of Baviere also Confirmed by his Letters and signified the King He understood that it was only for his Life that his House should Enjoy th' Electoral Dignity and that h' had Accepted it upon Condition of Return to th' House from whence it was taken and should be the Privilege of his Person and not th' Inheritance of his Heirs It was th' Allay that was alwaies Presented to the King of England and wherewith he Suffered himself alwaies to be Surprized And his Inclination naturally disposed to the Sweetness of Rest and to the Delicacies of Peace was Easily diverted by that shew which was made of giving him Content from the Thoughts of Warr which were not Natural to him In th' Expectation of th' Effects of those hopes he finished his Life which from time to time were renewed unto him And th' Earl of Gondemar who had seized upon the Kings Understanding and taken Soveraign Possession of it to Govern him absolutely knew how to represent th' Execution of that Affair so infallible as not only t' Hinder the King from Arming against the Usurpators of his Son-in-Laws Lands but Enclined him also to Lend Ships to his Master to secure against th' Hollanders the Spanish Fleets which Sailed from th' Indies That business hath ever since been in the same Condition on th' Emperours part and stood alwaies floting in Irresolution and Incertitude till the Accident of Northlinghen which was fatal to the Swedes The grearest part of the Princes and free Towns of th' Empire fell from their Confederation and Conspired at Prague with th' House of Austria against the German Liberty Th' Emperour High and Proud with his prodigious Success and believing himself Master of Affairs and Fortune forgetting the Promises he had so Solemnly made to the Late King of England and the Faith h' had so often given him in Favour of his Son-in-Law though nothing had passed against him on that Princes occasion nor by the Means of his Children but a Sad and Lamentable Progress of Calamity and of Disgraces declared by his own Authority though he could not Lawfully do it but by th' Authority of a Lawfull Dyet and all Parties heard declared I say Th' Electorate duely Translated to the Duke of Bavaria and to his Heirs and that it could not Devolve t' any other Family till his was Extinguished Moreover He declared th' Opposition made by the Duke of Newbourge as Prince of the Palatine Family to be Void and that he was not to b' admitted upon his Claim And that this was done upon great and important Considerations known t' his Imperial Majesty That he Maintained and Confirmed in the Partition and Possession of the Palatinate them Wh ' had taken it in his Name and by his Authority with Respect to b' had to the Count Palatines and to the Requests of Princes who should Intercede for them and under such base and shamefull Conditions That he knew well they would never b' Accepted But remembring the Bloody affront done to the present King of England and the Counterpoise that he might bring to the Ballance where the Victory hung betwixt two Parties if he should declare for his Enemy Remembring also the Damages the Low-Country-men would receive in the Cessation of the Recruits th' English might bring them And other Consequences that might arise from th' Hatred of a Prince provoked to Revenge by frequent disdains offered unto him and by th' Extreme injuries done t' his Nephews He re-assumed the Foxes skinn which h' had put off at the Treaty of Prague and Exercised the first Art wherewith h' had so often play'd his Game with the Father t' abuse the Son and to suspend the Resolution he might take to seek by Force what had been denied t' his Intercession and Endeavours He made shew then of Entertaining the profers of Accommodation which were made to Him He received the King of Englands Message for that purpose and seemed to desire a Solemn Embassage t' yield with the greater Honour and to give the more Glory to the Treaty he would Conclude But th' Journey of th' Earl of Arundel The several Distastâ—rs which he there received and the Dissatisfaction which at last he brought back made Clearly manifest to the World the Truth of th' Emperours Intentions and that it was a studied Artifice to gain Time and to try the Fortune of Warr with the more Advantage having to do with the fewer Enemies I speak not of what hapned to the last Ambassadour that was sent from England nor of the success of his Embassy which hath not given the Lye to the former 'T is a matter too new and present to b' unknown by any Person And this may be said in favour of th' House of Austria That it being necessary the Treaty to be Concluded should be debated by the King and Parliament of the Kingdome The time was not proper for it whilst the King and his Parliament were divided That truly is not without Reason and plausible Pretence but the secret of th' Affairs is That so long as the Schism shall last and the Fire which th' English have kindled in the midst of their Country be maintained in Heat and Force The King of Hungary and they of his Party have no Cause to fear their Arms nor t' hasten a Treaty And if it b' Expedient that they treat in Earnest it may be time enough when th' English have reassumed their former Union and the design of restoring the Palatines House and re-establishing of the Princes th' Emperour and his Adherents had stripped to their Shirts That whilst they run th' Hazard of the Warr either they may gain so Considerable Successes and their Power may Encrease so Plentifully That when England shall enter into the League which all sorts of Reasons d'invite it to do and to Joyn his Forces with the Forces of the Confederates They would have nevertheless Cause t' hope for Victory and should not b' obliged to part with that Willingly which they could not take from them by Force These Prejudications which are Offered accompanied with many others shall be set down in the Third Part may suffice to make it appear to our Confederates what Foundation they can raise upon the Duration of particular Treaties to which th' House of Austria doth press and sollicit them And the Swedes above all Persons whom they would debosh from the Confederation of France and against whose Faith they raise their strongest Batteries and Arm their subtilest Artifices are too Dextrous to b' ignorant of the constant Resolution and immoveable Will of those Princes of that House not to Suffer them having advanced their Power so far into Germany to take deep Root there or that so Powerfull a Member and of so Warlike a Nation should b' adjoyned to th' Empire I believe also that they doubt not as to what respects the Duration and Subsistence of the particular Treaty they should have made with
Subjection and Pay a common Obedience to the Power that Protected them It Question be made of this Let the same Faction now Live and the same Insurrections and Violences Assault us But as this was very Just so it was very Difficult And if it were th' Effect of an ordinary Address and of a Mean force to destroy so bold and opinionate a Rebellion and to Remit to their Natural places the parts torn from their Head and from the rest of the Body as were some of this Nation Philip the second and his Successors have made Experiment of it in the Defection of the Low Countreys And truly a Party as that of th' Hugonots Rooted in so many places of this Kingdome Animated to its Defence by Religion the most Violent and undaunted Motive that can provoke the Spirit of Man Proud and fierce not only by the Consideration of Effective Advantages and present Forces but also by the Memory of the Losses from which it was relieved and of the Weaknesse from which it was Restored A Party I say such as that strengthned with three hundred places whereof some were strong Aided by many Chiefs of Repute and Merit and supported by a great Forein Power was visibly Invincible In effect It could not have been overcome but by such a Warlike Prince as ours wh'had the Courage t' undertake all that was not Impossible if it was necessary The Prudence to Conduct that great Design and to disunite them whom it head not been safe t' have Assaulted Joyned and united T' apply gentl Remedies where violent had been dangerous and to Move by perswasion and Addresse where it was difficult to prevail by force and Constraint wh ' had resolution to force the businesse to the Wall and not to stop on th' Half way as it had been often done nor to retire by reason of the length of Time or Difficulty of the Work nor for the secret Contradictions of his Counsellors nor for th' open Oppositions his Enemies would make him nor for the Resistance He might Encounter in th' Elements nor for the contrary Alterations the starrs might raise against Him Wh ' had a strong Piety t' attract the favour of Heaven upon his Enterprizes and t' Invite them to descend upon his Armies without which all the powers of Men are Impotent and all their Designs Barren To declare now what Fruits we 've gathered from the Ruine of this Party and what the benefit of them shall be which are yet unripe and cannot long be ripening No person can truly doubt but that the first fruits are very great unless it be thougt a small thing That the King hath recovered this Party to the Soveraignty which his Father could not leave him and his Predecessors had lost That He is become Master of all his Subjects and Possessor of all his Kingdome That his Countrey which division rendred weak and open to many Injuries hath reassumed its forces and repaired its breaches by th' Union and Concord of its Inhabitants That the most culpable have no places of Refuge for their faults nor the most discontented any Retrait where they may Meditate and form Rebellions in safety That by this the King in Imitation of God hath drawn Good from Evill and so strongly reunited them t' his service who had given him Troubles that they 've since laboured profitably in his Designs and Aided Joyntly with the rest of his Subjects to gain him Victories and to prepare Triumphs for him That by this General and profound peace which h' hath established in his Kingdome H' hath been more safe and free to march abroad to quenon the fire that burnt his Allies and to break th' Irons were forged for Italy and for Germany As to the good which the future Time doth provide for us as one of th' Happy Consequences of the suppression of th' Hugonot party We cannot indeed Rellish it sufficiently whilst the Miseries of the Want do afflict us and Peace onely can make us truly sensible of it 'T is then we shall know by Experience that the King hath no otherwise done in the Levy of Moneys and in the subventions which the necessity of his Affairs forced him to draw from his people but as a good Father of a Family who doth not demolish any part of his House but to make it better than it was and of a fairer Structure The bounties wherewith he desires though to this day he cannot perform it to gratifie his Subjects Resemble to certain Rivers which being hid for some time in th' Earth break not out but never to return and to Run alwaies upon its surface The time of this favourable Change and of this profitable Revolution is very near The Clemency of God is ready to disarm his Justice and to take out of her hands the Flayl wherewith h' hath beaten us for so many years All the causes of our Expence cease with the War Peace which never comes into the World but Crowned with Abundance and hands full of Riches will issue shortly from the midst of this Confusion and from the Chaos wherein Christendome is plunged It shall not be a Peace of Glass as many others which have been seen but a Peace of Diamond which shall have beauty and solidiy And the foundations which the King makes and layes in all places shall be so deep and large so entire and sound that of a long time a fault is not to be feared It hath not failed truly on this part but that It had been Accomplished And the Moneys He hath advanced and the things h' hath quitted upon that Accompt are a sufficient Evidence to Christendome that nothing is so dear to him as the Repose of it The passion h' hath for Peace will Triumph at last over th' Inclination of th' House of Austria for War Though it cannot be stronger or more obstinate than it hath of late appeared 'T is not nevertheless Invincible and the great Engine that susteined it whose wheel was even in Motion in this Countrey being stopped and th'Hopes which do yet Nourish and give it a little Life which is Germany being of short Continuance It must of Necessty shortly fall and be destroyed And though the King had Power and Means t' overcome and to make more Conquests than that House hath t' Engage and Lose He never had a greater desire to lay down Arms than at this time and th' Higher he is in Prosperity the Readier to descend for the General Good and the stronger and more Impetuous the Current is of his Victories the more he 's disposed to stop it for publique benefit By virtue of his Magnanimity he will do more than all the forces of his Enemies can constrain him to do all will render Generously what will b' Impossible to take from him Nevertheless t'induce the German Circles to furnish them with Money to Compel us t' hearken to Peace whereunto by their Report w' are adverse they fail not to publish in all places
th' Inhabitants for Treasonable Crimes and t' hold all them Rebells wh ' have Qualities capable of Rebellion To Destroy or to Transport them into other Countries where they shall raise no Fears and where they shall not provoke so tender a Jealousie and so delicate a Distrust as theirs And insomuch that they well know that many Generations must pass and many Ages slide away before the Conquered people forgetting their first Domination under which they Lived b' Accustomed to the New and that forced Obedience and such as is not in their power to Refuse agrees better with their Proud and Imperious Humour than Voluntary Obedience which may be lost as often as Subjects change their Affections and gain New Masters They secure them by Garrisons and Colonies and by the Power of Governments and Magistrates which they put into th' Hands of their Country-men with Exclusion to strangers and by that means are Punished for the Vices of their Birth and make Repentance for Sins whereof they are not Guilty 'T is a Picture whose Touches are not from my Pencil or Fancy but which hath been borrowed from their Relations and from their Histories and whereof Italy th' Indies and other Countries are yet the True and Indubitable Originals And 't is the Desolation the King would prevent before it grow Dangerous and bear even upon the Heart of his Affairs 'T is the Tempest that he would allay before it break forth 'T is the true cause of the Relief he requires from his People and the Reason that compells him to set on foot that hard and sad Law of Conservation which permits the Diversion and Aversion of the greater by the lesser Evils Second Discourse Of the Spring of the Design of the pretented Monarchy of th' House of Austria some Advantages which th' Imperial Dignity brings with it above th' other Secular Dignities of Christendome FErdinand of Arragon one of the Greatest Politicians of his Time and who had alwayes Vaster Thoughts than Power was the Person that began to Conceive the design of the Monarchy hath been spoken of and did lay the first Foundation in giving in Marriage his Daughter and Heir Jane to th' Arch-Duke Philip Son of Maximilian th' Emperour His Marriage with Isabella of Castile had United and as it were Grafted in t ' his House all the Countries of Spain with Exception to the Kingdome of Granada whereof after a Ten years War and by the Courage of Ferrant of Gonsalve h' became Master and carried away the Sirname of Catholique which he hath Left t' his Posterity The same Success in Arms and the Vertue of the same Captain gained him from us the Kingdome of Naples recovered from the Kings of Naples his Kinsmen And rejoyned in his Person to the part w' had allowed him what w' had by Conquest kept for our selves Th' Interdict which Julius the Second thundered against Henry King of Navarre our Ally gave him Colour and Furnished him with a pretence t' usurp that Kingdome Hazard rather than Reason or t' Express it better a secret disposition of Divine Providence which inclines sometimes t' its Ends above the Reasons of Men and contrary to th' Appearance of Things made him hearken to the Proposals of Christopher Columna for the discovery of the West-Indies and Exposed unt ' him the benefits of the Richest Mines of th' Earth and th' Abundance of the longest Labour of the Sun since it hath Shined So that his Daughter brought Great Countries and Fair Hopes to th' Arch-Duke her Husband wh ' Enjoyed from his Mother the Low-Countries and the Country of Bourgognia above what he was t' Enjoy from his Father which was not small or Inconsiderable in Germany The Conjunction then of th' Heat and Courage of Germany to the Driness and Prudence of Spain being made and so many different Countries Collected in one House As so many Arms Expatiated into diverse places to surround and straighten the rest of Christendome He laid it for a Ground and Principle of the Doctrine he left t' his Posterity to retain alwayes th' Empire in their Jurisdiction As the Basis that ought to bear the greatness of their Ambition and as the Center where all the Countries whereof the Conquest was intended ought to Unite to make the Circle of th' Absolute Monarchy This was the first Idaea of this great Design and the Bud from whence he discovered himself This was the fore-cast of Ferdinand and his sweetest Hopes And though th' Ambition of his Son-in-Law gave him much personal Trouble and was the Disturbance of his Rest and Torment of his Age it might b' Endured with the same sense That Agrippina Mother of Nero did th' Advice of an Astronomer who threatned with the Sad and Tragical Entertainment her Son would give her if he came to th' Empire Answered Let me Dye provided that he may Reign Le ts make a Halt here that shall not be unprofitable and Consider before we go on what the Possession of th' Empire may Contribute to the design of the Monarchy 'T is certain that as amongst the secular Dignities of Christendome There 's none so High or whose Light shines so Lively as th' Imporial It hath also Extraordinary Means to become great or to draw where it please Unjustly or Justly all the Countries that depend upon it And th' House of Austria ' th made it appear since Charls the fifth was Elected to that Dignity and had Fortified the Powers of th' Empire by the Conjunction of so many gathered or usurped Countries The most remarkable Means and which have made most Noise whereof he and his Successors have made Advantage or Endeavoured it t' Extend their Greatness under the shadow of that Dignity are these The first is the Leagues which they 've made or found in Germany and which they 've ever had th' Address to fit to their Interests under other Pretences and to Convert them to their particular Ends under colour of Searching and of Pursuing the good of their Confederates This Invention hath been one of the Rarest and Subtilest Stratagems of their Policy And they 've scarce ever moved any Wheel that hath produced such great Success That had so present a Benefit That hath so long Acted and so Insensibly as this By this means they 've disposed of Forces that did not belong to them as of their own And having not the Fountain in their Power The Countries of their Friends They 've had nevertheless the Commodity and use of the Stream That 's to say of their Powers All the World well knows how much time they Imployed t' Invade and Obstruct the League of Snaube which was not Setled as hath been observed but to prevent th' Invasions that were in preparation and to repair the Violences that were Acted in th' Empire And th' History instructs us sufficiently of the Troubles Sir of Langey had to break the Charm that bound the Members of that League To give them a Clear sight of it and to
ought t' exercise against other Princes To that Tribunal I say where no person can advise a War without giving Sentence of Death against a great Number of Innocent persons who are obliged to perish in the Just or Unjust Quarrels of their Masters I pass from thence to the Third part and there continue my Method supposing that th' Armes of a Prince cannot have a juster Imployment than to purge the State of Civil Wars And to divert â—hem which forein Enemies Endeavour to bring into the Countrey And having declared that the King hath stopt the great spring of the Troubles of the Kingdome in suppressing th' Hugonot faction I shew That he hath disappointed the great design of Monarchy of th' House of Austria in which was subtilly and necessarily laid up the Ruine of France These wonderfull Events being considered I conceive that no man can say any thing of so great advantage of this Prince that is not beneath his Glory and that Rhetorique wants Figures or th' Art of Sophisters boldness t' equal the greatness of these two Successes but since the Design of this pretended Monarchy which many persons of old date have attributed to th' House of Austria passeth into the Spirits of some men for an Invention or Fable I am resolved to draw this Truth from the Darkness where it was hid and to cleer the belief of Princes and of Nations with the Lights that History hath furnisht and with the results from the Conclusions of the Designs and Enterprizes of the Princes of that House wherein I have endeavoured to give them as much honour as is possible for me in acting rationally and in order to the proportion and appropriation of the Means to th' Ends they had designed For the World well knows that I have not been of Ferdinands Council nor of Charls the fifth nor of the other Princes of that Line I have yet Reader two or three things to say before I finish and it concerns me that thou shouldst know them The first is that in speaking of the raising of the Catalans and particularly of th' Insurrections of the Portugeses which immediately followed It seems that I do presage and play the Prophet of things past To which I answer It was foreseen that it might be objected unto me and that I had not exposed my self to that Assault if many persons of great Quality and Merit had not seen the same things in a discourse which I made from the beginning and at th' Apparition of that Occurrence before the Portugeses had thrown off the Spanish Domination The second thing is That Foreiners may possibly take offence in that I do touch some Errors in the persons of their Nation and discover some staines But I assure my self that they will be easily satisfied when they Consider that 't is not by a spirit of Disdain or motion of Hatred and that the manner of my Entertainment is not different from that which I give my Countreymen whose defects and stains I do not hide or suppress when the Truth and Necessity of the discourse oblige me t' expose and produce them The third thing is that a false date is stollen into my Narratives which is that of the Treaty of Smalchalde and it may be of some other Anachronismes which are of no Importance to my design And that it satisfies me that the facts whereon my Reasonings are grounded and built are true without respect to the time wherein they were done These Advices Reader being received Thou maist give what Entertainment thou pleasest this Book Whatever it be it shall give me no Trouble being certain that no person can disappoint me of the first Recompense and Principal End that I proposed to my self in writing which is the satisfaction of Endeavouring the service of my Prince and Countrey SECOND PART OF The Minister of State Of the Counsel of War of a Prince First BOOK First Discourse Whence it proceeds That Beasts of the same Kind do not make War amongst themselves as Men do That Irregular Passions are the Cause of that Disorder That Duels are against the Right of Men and particularly against th' Authority of the Prince AT th' Entry of this Discourse there 's Matter of Astonishment That Wars are seen amongst Men Rules invented and an Art formed to direct them That among all th' Arts exercised in the Society of Men there 's none that casts so great a light or that gains so great a portion of glory And that in th' Old Law War is found to be so solemnly Authorised and in a manner Consecrated by the Command of God as that amongst his high and most glorious Titles He hath chosen That of the God of Armies Th' inclination which naturally the greatest part of Things hath not onely to Conserve It's Beeing but also to Multiply it is evidently contrary to this Visible folly which incites Men to the Destruction of one another And we do not see That other Creatures of the same kind make amongst themselves particular assigned Combats or that they assemble in Troops to decide any difference by Murder and by the slaughter of the greatest part of them That Dereliction and Prostitution men make of their Lives and the Subjects for which they so willingly Sacrifize them being many times but a little smoak and opinion Are they not th' effects of a secret Instinct That it is not their Chiefest good nor their Ultimate felicity which without doubt it should be if there were not a greater Good And the Wars which God permits or commands where Life is given up as a prey to so many Accidents that destroy it are they not Clear evidences and a Manifest conviction of the small Account God makes of it and that it is not the fairest present he makes to men nor the subject wherein accomplished th' End for which he gives them their Beeing But not to wander out of our way and to take off th' Amazement whereof we have proposed the Causes I say It must not be thought strange that men enter so often into Quarrels with their fellows since they are so seldome at Accord with themselves and are scarce free from Troubles and Disorders within and that their very Souls are the Fields of the Combats that are fought and th' Enemies that make the War quarter always within them This disorder which happens in the condition of Men and not of Beasts in whom no discords seem t' arise nor contrariety of parts to be formed hath many springs from whence it issues the first is as all the world knows the Constitution of their Nature and the divers orders of the parts that compose it th' Inclinations of th' one are ordinarily opposed to th' inclinations of th' other and their Appetites agitated with such Contrary motions that they which cause the Fire t' arise are not more opposed than they that make the Earth to descend So that there is neither peace nor quietness in th' Interior of Man longer than the
of Piety towards the Church in securing by our means th' Holy Places and Sacred Persons but hath not a little merited from th' House of Austria if it were capable of some sense of Acknowledgment and would be sensible of a good Turn by hindring his great and formidable Adversary by his fore-sight and address from growing greater by the Conquests of those Estates and to make a dangerous conjunction of the Rhyne with the Mosselle and at the same time t' extend his Arms into Flanders and Germany And therefore let the World judge upon these true and pertinent Facts if that Elector hath deserved th' usage he hath received for his love to us or whether the King could pass by such injuries without resentment and declaring a War to them who have so highly offended in the person of one of his Allies and in the sight and knowledge of all Europe This Example and many others which I shall speak of in their place will make it clearly appear that the King did not engage in all the Wars wherewith miserable Christendome hath been vexed for many years but for the protection of the weak against the stronger and that th' House of Austria by its untameable Ambition hath broken the Bands of publick Concord and kindled the fires whose destruction it may feel as well as any other House before its burning be quench'd God alone knows what Event shall be of so many Armies raised and where th' agitation of so many provoked Nations shall determine But the King ought to have this satisfaction and rest of conscience that he hath not been th' Author of these lamentable troubles but hath done his Endeavour to divert them spared nothing to stop them and having laboured much and taken much pains t' establish and settle the tranquillity of his Kingdom Had not a livelier and hotter passion than to procure th' entire felicity of his people and to see that peace flourish he vvould have given them by th' abundance vvherevvith he had crovvned it had he been Master of the Hearts of Strangers and Arbiter of the Destiny of Things Sixth Discourse That a War ought not onely to be a Just but also Profitable for him who undertakes it Some Rules which Princes should observe when they relieve their Allies AFter Discourse of the Causes that make a War Just and handling of that Thorny Matter that hath yet some need of culture which may be given it in its proper place The Profit of a War must be handled which is th' other Condition that ought t' accompany a War and without which a Prince ought not t' engage though it should be not onely full but filled up with Justice If follows not nevertheless that this Profit ought to be present and sensible nor is it in th' order of things to Reap in Sowing nor that the first Prescriptions heal a sick person or that a Picture be finish'd at the first Draught God alone in giving the first stroak can give the last hand to his Works and finish in beginning yet he hath not always done it and he made use of six days to create the World and to produce and publish the pieces of that Marvellous Frame As for the Works of Men Time and Patience are necessary before th' End can be obtain'd there are many degrees to clime before they can get to the Feast and ordinarily 't is with them as with those of Nature where the Generation of the most Excellent things is but the sequel of a precedent Corruption It sufficeth then that it be a future Utility to th' end it oblige t' act and that it be known for such not with Infallibility and Certitude which appertains onely to God But so far as one may judge of it by the disposition of Second causes and by the Rules of Civil prudence which is all that can be required from the conduct of Men and from the chance of this Life Th' Advantages which ought to return from the War made in favour of Friends and Allies and from the Relief is afforded them shall be here treated of as for others either there 's no difficulty in them or what shall be said of this may clear the Troubles that be in it I will give thee some Rules then which will discover to Princes the ways they ought to take and the Rocks they ought t' avoid when they engage in such Aids The first Rule is this That th' Utility they ought to pursue and propose to themselves before they take up Arms in favour of their friends ought not to be Mercenary not of the nature of what Merchants seek for their Traffick th' ultimate End of their Ambition and the principal Object that stirs up their Industry is the Encrease of their Riches they hazard Little to gain Much they do like the Husbandmen who sow not onely to recover their seed but to multiply it and 't is not to shut the door of their house upon Poverty that they labour but t' introduce Abundance The Reputation also of able and intelligent Persons in their profession concerns them not or very little they think onely of being Rich and Profit makes up all the Glory of their Exercise and all the Price of their Industry There have been Princes in all times who have acted in that Manner and have been possest with that base passion that the greatness of th' Object and Enormity of th' Evil have caused to be called Illustrious but they that are enflamed with the Love of true Wisdom and with the Desire of a fair Reputation ought to sail with another Wind and take a very different way Let this then be a constant and indubitable Principle That a Prince ought not to be perswaded to take Arms in favour of another Prince by the spirit of Avarice and by a greediness to grow Greater at his charges t' enrich himself by his Spoils and to keep the Securities which th' other Prince hath put into his hands for assurance of his faith or to serve him for retreat If that were modeable no person would be found that had not rather try th' Hazard of Arms and runne of the Fortune of Wars whose Events are doubtful and uncertain than expose himself to th' infallible Loss of all his Estates or of a great part of them That as there 's no question but the Wounds received in the heat of the War and from an Enemy to whom one doth the worst he can are less offensive and grievous than those that are received in Cold blood and from a Friend so the Losses received from them who ought to secure us are of worse taste and of harder disgestion than those occasioned by such persons as have declared the War against us and have undertaken to ruine us And the late King had reason after th' Arch-Duke had besieged Calais and the Queen of England had sent to offer him her Sea-Army upon exorbitant conditions to refuse that relief and to command it to be told
to th' Appointed places for that Holy-work And omitted nothing of what might be expected from a Prince really desirous of Peace And the demonstrations he hath given were not false Ensigns or deceitfull Evidences but certain marks and Conclusive Arguments of the desire He had for it I affirm nothing but what the Pope and his Nuncioes do certifie that Newtral Princes and their Ministers of State have acknowledged that the greatest part of Christendome knows and whereof the Conscience of our Enemies is Convinced But they made onely false shews and studied Countenances of desires for Peace and for the quiet of Christendome whilst they Imployed their Wits to find out Inventions to continue the War and laboured with all their powers to lengthen the Troubles and to Perpetuate th' Actions of the VVar. They sent indeed Deputies to Collen wither they might go with Safety and Honour but 't was for two Ends both advantagious to them but were not such as the Christian Common-vvealth aspired unto with so much heat and whereof there was not so great need as the Cessation of the VVar. The first to deceive the VVorld by that fair Apparance and to make simple persons believe that they had not onely a desire for Peace but that they made haste to make it and burned with Impatience to give a beginning to so necessary and to so much desired a VVork And all this to secure themselves by these Illusions and Dexterities of the Blame would be given them for keeping of Christendome so long in Trouble and for powring out so much Oyl and Brimstone on the fires that they have there kindled and which have almost reduced it t' Ashes The second End was to lay us asleep by that shew and to render us more Defective and Cold by that their exteriour Desire for peace to put our selves into a Condition of susteining the VVar which they would make us To dead also by the same Means them who had a mind to joyn with us and t'hinder them to be of that Party where their Interest and Honour obliged them And t' untye from our Amity and allyance them who were already entred by proposing to them Conditions in shew of more advantage if they treated apart than such as they should have in a Treaty of Generall Peace And in persecuting them with that politique Maxim That in the matter of Society and Leagues the storm falls upon the Last that treat who pay the Charges of the VVar and that the first are the Persons who gather the Profit and vvho Carry in the Crops of the field vvhich others have Husbanded and thereof sovved the Seed But our Deputies and those of our Confederates for vvhom they sent no Pasports or such as vvere Lame or Defective in the form or the matter vvould not render themselves in the place appointed for the Treaty because they had denied them th' Entry and shut up the passages by that Artifice A proceeding certainly very Injurious to th' Holy Chair vvhose Mediation they have long abused to dissemble their Deceit and Comical Demeanor to the rest of the VVorld vvhich the Spaniards have Acted by Apparances very distant from their Intentions and very contrary to the Truth as we shall prove by two Infallible proofs Th' one is Th'Answer made at Vienna in the month of July in the year 1637 to th' Ambassador of the Duke of Florence upon th'instance he then made t' have Authentique Pasports as well for our Deputies as for them of our Allies They would not as they said grant Pasports to the Crown of Swede with whom they had a particular Treaty nor for the Princes in Rebellion to them whereof they that were in Arms as the Landgrave of Hesse laboured to make their Accommodation apart and th 'others upon whom the storm fell and had been put into the Proscription of th' Empire were incapable to Treat and had no difference to determine but what was determined by th' Emperors Sword and by the Laws of th' Empire And in general it was their sense That it did not belong to Dependent and Subaltern Princes in which number they comprehended all the Princes of th' Empire to send Deputies to an Assembly such as was to be kept at Collen where none ought t'Intervene but the Deputies of Absolute and Independent Princes And that the King of Spain was justly to be condemned if he had not promised the contrary which they were well assured he had done Not to meddle with th' Affairs of Germany And that he would take it ill if th'Emperour should intermeddle in th' Affairs of his Kingdom and favour the Revolted of his Subjects and give heat to their Rebellions That if he desired Pasports to send to treat of the Quarrel had with the King of Spain and of the difference had with the Duke of Lorrain they were ready to grant them 'T is easie by the whole course of this Answer and by the secret sense it contains that th' Hatred they bear us is immortal and that th' Envy they conceive against us is th' ordinary Devil which torments them That the particular Peaces they have sought with so much Vehemency and Artifices were not planks for them to pass with more case t' an Universal Peace but the means of making us th' hotter and more violent War and to charge us in more places and by a greater number of Engines And to make some reflection upon the matter of this plausible Answer I will say That being as the world believes them such great men of Policy and so dextrous in th' Art of dissimulation whereof they have gained the Reputation They too openly vented their design to change th' Empire into Monarchy and to leave no mark of Soveraignty or any impression of a Free Power in Germany Or to declare the Truth and make it out as it was 'T is not though they then had their spirits full and heated with the design That they wanted power to retain it if they had been willing t' have concealed it and t' have denied it the Light but since th' unhappy and fatal Peace of Prague they believed t' have so well and effectively adjusted their Arrows and weather'd them that nothing could hinder them of success and that th' Answer was made in the strength of their Hopes and in th' Highest Elevation of their Thoughts For what other Thing could it signifie in Comparing the Princes of th' Empire with the Subjects of the King of Spain and to put them in a parallel and equal degree of condition Than to begin to degrade them of their Soveraignty which no person to this day hath contested with them Than to make the Transmutation spoken of and reduce many States who have particular Lords under a single Monarque And yet no person is ignorant of the Dignity of th' Empire of the West as of the Powers that constitute it And that they reside not in the sole Person of th' Emperor As the Power and dignity of
Monarchies have their seat in the Persons of the Princes that possess them But in th' Assembly and Conjunction of th'Electors and of th' other Princes of Germany who together make the Body whereof th' Emperor is the most considerable Member and Superiour in Excellency to th' other Members considered apart and sever'd from the Body they form There 's no person also but knows That the Majesty of th' Emperor and that August Character which doth distinguish him from Monarques are not derived from the power he hath over a great extent of Country submitted unto him and over a great number of Subjects which he governs but arise from the Greatness to which he is raised and from the Rank that he enjoys above many Soveraigns that encompass him who do him honour and are bound in certain occasions as receiving th'Investiture of their Estates from th' Emperor to serve him with their Lands and Persons and owe him with exception t'other Soveraigns not of the Body of th' Empire a particular Honour and an extraordinary Veneration But lest th' Emperor following th' humour of Great Persons should give too great an Extent t' his Authority and make Invasions upon the Rights and Liberties of the Princes of th' Empire And lest the Princes puffed with the spirit of Soveraignty which they bring with them into the world and drunk with the sweetness of the Command they exercise over their Subjects should become Indocile towards th' Emperor and undertake to draw to them all th' Authority of th' Empire Constitutions have been made and Laws established which bound their Jurisdiction and qualifie their distinct Powers and hold the Ballance at its just point amongst them and make the necessary Counterpoise Lest that th' one becoming too strong should force and destroy th' other And 't is that temper which th'Emperour and the Princes of th' Empire have assaulted by several stratagems on divers occassions and the Limits which they would have often defaced 'T is that Counterpoise which they have endeavoured to unsettle and to ruine that Harmony in whose conservation th' Happiness of Germany principally consists the safety of Christendom and the most assured means of resisting th' Ottoman Forces when they over-run on the Land side And 't is that th' House of Austria doth enforce more of late than ever to perform what they labour with Sails and Oars 'T is the great work of their Aim and Ambition and could they master it as many times since the Battel of Prague they have been very near it it would not b' Impossible for them to convert Kingdoms into Provinces and to make up in time the Monarchy whereof they have so many years past laid the Design And therefore th' Affairs of th' Empire being in this condition I leave it to the Judgment of every Impartial Person whether the King had not a great Interest in th' Affairs of Germany and great reason t' engage And whether h'ought t' have promised to th' House of Austria the liberty of finishing at his pleasure and without resistance that pernicious design of Universal Monarchie Whether h'ought with Newtral Eyes and folded Arms have permitted th' Inheritance of his Neighbours to be burnt whose flames might easily reach his Countries To Judgment I submit it whether th' Aiding of Princes oppressed and stript be to protect Rebellious Subjects And whether distinction ought not to be made betwixt them in whose hands God hath put the sword to defend their Rights against Strangers as well as to punish th' Enemies of their Country and them who have no other Right to bear Arms than what they receive from th' hands of their Prince The King then could not abandon the cause of miserable Germany nor permit the Liberty of its Princes to be ravish'd without being an Enemy to his People and Desertor of the Christian Republique And he was no less obliged to maintain by his Endeavours and Arms the Constitution of th' Empire against th' House of Austria which laboured to destroy it than He was at that time when He used his Authority and permitted his Forces to march out of his Kingdom t' oppose the Count Palatin's design of Alteration And that the resolutions taken in th' Assembly at Worms should not be executed But this matter shall be further cleared in the Treary of the Monarchy of th' House of Austria As to the Princes of Germany who did not co-operate with th' holy Intentions of the King and departed from his Alliance and that of Swede who thought to secure their Estates and Fortune by a particular Treaty and to find in the Peace of Prague an Inviolable Sanctuary against the Evil they did apprehend These Princes I say are very blind or of small courage if they do not see the servitude is prepared for them if they dare not refuse to put their hands to the making of that Chain which is t' hold them if they have been taken with the Charms th' House of Austria had presented unto them and have followed th' ill inspirations have been given them by pretended friend if the Peace they thought to make hath not been so much a Peace as a change of War and passage to new Troubles and to more dangerous Emotions than those they had quitted if in their present condition they march betwixt Precipices and ought to be the Prey of the Victor on what Side soever the Victory falls and bear the punishment of their defection from the good Party or become their last Conquest and make the Conclusion of the Design they had in Judgment In this Dereliction wherein their imprudence and the Corruption of some other causes had cast them 'T is yet better for them to return to the good Party and find safety and honour by aiding in order to the Victory than to persevere in a Society where they must perish whatsoever happens I know well that 't is not easie to get out of a Precipice nor out of a Labyrinth when a man is far advanced into it But notwithstanding th' Artifices of th' House of Austria and the Toils they set in all places to stop the Princes escape from them Th' offences they have committed against them who came so generously to relieve them and th' high ingratitude wherewith they have paid the precious Blood was spilt and the life of one of the most Illustrated Persons of the world lost for their safety If there remains I say in their Souls any dram of Love for the Liberty of their Nation which hath been in great veneration vvith them and that they be ready to receive good fortune vvhen she offers herself unto them The favourable Revolution that begins to shine upon Germany vvill give them means to break the Bonds that hold them â—o reconcile themselves to their antient friends and to recover their first Correspondency vvith them vvhose Amity is their present Security and future Protection But they shall be entertained more fully on this Subject in another place As to the
French extend to the Dutchy of Milan which is the Basis that bears the rest of their Countries in Italy In the second place it seems a happy Fate for th' House of Savoy to produce such excellent Princes for Peace and War And that Heaven had granted them High Qualities to supply what it hath denied them of Power That with Wit and Courage they might make the Counterpoise to the Greatness and Powers of other Princes Add that th' Alliances of Blood which theyâ—ve from all times contracted with th' one of the two Crowns and hath been desired for their particular Ends have much relieved them in time of Need and have not onely served t'hinder them from falling but to raise them from their falls And speaking freely Though the Duke of Savoy have no greater wishes to make than for the good Intelligence of those two Crowns nor any thing more t'appreâ—end than their Contests when they do fall out Th' Ordinary Law of the Dukes Interest requires That being unable to stand Newtral he takes part with the French and they ought not to do otherwise unless some extraordinary Conjuncture of Affairs doth exempt them from it without running Hazard to be lost and overcome with the Forces of a great Kingdom before Spain hath means to stop th'Inundation and to divert the Spoils whereof there are so many Instances that no person can make a question of it And not to speak of Savoy which may be taken without much Resistance and where there is but one Fort which may be made useless by a Block-house that may almost defend it self Who knows not in how little time Charls led by the perswasion of his wife being a Portuguese and chained to the fortune of Charls the Fifth was stripped of the best part of Piedmont by Francis the First who had left his Posterity in their shirts if the Virtue of Philibert his son who defeated us at St. Quintins and th' ill Fortune of France had not opened by a Treaty of Peace the Gate to many places formerly shut unto him for many years of War It would be a superfluous thing no person being ignorant of it To speak of the Conquest the late King made of all Savoy and of the Progress he might have made in Piedmont if a powerful Conspiracy that formed it self in th' Heart of his Kingdom and the Reverence He bore the Pope had not obliged him t' hearken to the Peace presented unto him from th' Holy Chair I pass also in silence th'Expeditons of the King in Savoy and Piedmont which all Europe hath seen To what extremities he forced the late Dukes of Savoy in view of the Spanish and Imperial Forces and in despight of their conjoyned Armies The Dukes of Lorrain are not much different in Constitution nor less obliged in Dependency upon th'Interests of this Kingdom than those of Savoy That if the present Duke Charls had well understood this Truth which was of so great Importance to him And if some evil Spirit or rather some evil Counsellor had not blinded him from seeing what was so visible and so full of Light H' had not suffered as H' hath done H 'had not s ' often conspired against France nor quitted the Way his Predecessors held to their Happiness to cast himself upon By-ways which have made him wander from his Interest and have led him to the Precipice wherein he is now fallen At least if he had maintained Newtrality betwixt the Princes in War and had been a Spectator of the Quarrel without being a Party H' had been in esteem of both sides and might have made use of the Fortune of both Parties and his Country having been for some time one of the Theatres of the War had not been one of the fairest Members of the Kings Conquests and one of the principal Pieces of his Triumph Third Discourse Wherein the Second Example is brought spoken of in the First Discourse to shew th' Artifices Princes use in assaulting of Forein Princes t'hinder their Friends to Relieve them THe second Example promised in the First Discourse shall be taken also from the Republick of Venice and from a difference had with th' House of Austria upon the Subject of the Uscoques I will now give the whole Picture for the Curiosity of the Reader and that he may observe the more distinctly and in their proper places the Draughts which are of most importance for my design and deserve a serious Pause and a prudential Reflection 'T is a pleasure to see in the Lists two famous Combatants upon mutual Trials of their Skill And they who 've Inclinations for th' Affairs of State cannot be present at a more useful sight than th' Encounter and Justle of the two Powers of Spain and the Republique of Venice dextrous in th' Art of Reigning and almost equally strong in Artifices and politique Stratagems Such and the like Observations are the fruits that Ministers of State in Reading of History ought to make their principal Harvest And are the true Lights they ought to be furnished with to guide their Conduct and to clear the rich Matter whereof their Knowledge ought to be composed to make up their Profession The Subject then of this Discourse shall be the disturbance of th' Uscoques which gave much trouble to the Republique of Venice and travers'd it by the most sharp and intricate Negotiation it ever managed And determined at last in a War which consumed a part of their Treasure and caused an infinite number of their Men to perish Take the beginning and progress of this Affair Th' Adriatique Sea very famous in Antiquity for the great Pyracies exercised in it was rendred by the care of the Venetians the safest Sea of the World It was a protection for the Ships chased by the Corsaires and for the safety of Navigation upon the coasts of some other Princes as upon the Coasts of the Republique and were not much troubles till Soliman's time then th' Uscoques did violate their security yet they were quickly suppressed by th' Arms of the Republique which by the Peace made with Soliman in the year 1639 was obliged to clear the Gulf from Pyrats and to repair at their Charges the Dammages the Subjects of the Grand Signior should suffer in their Navigation upon that Sea This Calm lasted during the Time of th' Emperour Rodolphus and Mathias and of th' Archdukes Ferdinand and Leopold and untill some of th' Uscoques did interrupt it and the Gulf was so much vexed with their Violence and Robberies That they extended them to the Republiques Havens and in one of them Robbed a Galley and having killed all the persons in it by a Barbarian Inhumanity of the New World did Eat th' Heart of the Captain that Commanded it These Uscoques are a sort of People gathered of many Nations Croates Hungarians Esclavonians and banisht persons from the Republique who have neither Lands nor Industry but Live and Maintain themselves by Rapines and Murders
Eighth to divert Henry the Seventh the King of England from relieving the Duke of Britany to whom h' had a purpose to make War T' allay then the storm that might arise from that side and stop the Relief which Henry might bring or send in favour of his Neighbour Charls made a shew of desiring the Peace and offered to submit t' Henry the differences h' had with the Duke and t' acknowledge him Arbiter and Mediator of the Quarrel Charls with this delicate Bait and subtil Charm of Honour disarm'd Henry's warlick spirit who was fully engaged with affections and inclinations t' Aid the Duke of Britany But Charls made so powerful and quick a Levy and raised such great Forces that the Duke was over-run before notice was taken of it in England That Charls was entred into his Country with an Army and the Tragedy ended before it was known that the first Act was plaid Fourth Discourse Some Rules that Princes and especially they that are Weak ought t' observe when they have need to make use of the Relief of their Friends IN the precedent Discourse hath been seen th' unhappy Destiny of Weak Princes when they are assaulted by Powerful Princes and the various Artifices exercised t'hinder or slacken the Reliefs which might come to them from their Friends But since 't is necessary that there be such Princes in the world and that in the distribution of the parts of that little Engine for which men give themselves so much Labour and make so great a noise Equality hath not been observed 'T is of necessity that the Weaker follow the General Law and remain the Prey of the Stronger wh ' assault them or that they seek protection from them wh ' are able to give it and secure themselves under the shadow of their Authority or by the force of their Arms some Rules are to b'observed as of Importance to be known The first is That they make the strongest preparation in their power t' oppose th' Enemy that comes t' assault them and to resist his first Impetuosity which ordinarily is the most violent and put by their first strokes which are ever the most Dangerous For this purpose and in this publick Necessity theyâ—re to sell or engage their best and most precious things To sink deep into the purses of their Friends and upon their Subjects to make great Levies And 't is better for their Subjects t' endure a little blood-letting and for a short time by their Prince than totally and for ever ruin'd by strangers And a wasted Country as 't is said is better for him than a lost Country and Subjects a little plundred than Subjects constrained to change Master And though they cannot long bear that extraordinary Levy nor resist that excessive Charge It may fall out that th' Heat of th'Assailant may grow cold by a greater Resistance made on the sudden than was expected And may not b' offended at Proposals of Accommodation and that a door b' opened unto them to get our with Honour from an Enterprize whose Beginnings being unhappy the Progress might b' abated without doing more than making of a Noise and may return to th'Haven without other danger than the fear of a Tempest Or if th' Enemy do not withdraw upon th' ill usage Fortune affords them at the first Attempt and refuse to quit the place or to retire In gaining of time they 've done much which is the great Remedy of Unfortunate and Weak persons and gives Means to their Friends to come to their Relief and to bring them fresh Troops wherewith they may not onely maintain themselves but cause the face of War to change and turn the Defence in t ' an Assault and become th' Assailants of their Enemies The Duke of Savoy Grand-father of the present Duke did the like since the death of the late King in the Wars the Spaniards made him or H' had been suddenly over-run at the first sight and swallowed by the Spanish powerful Armies wherewith the Governour of Milan entred Piedmont and gave fear t' all Italy but to that Prince And yet with that wise and bold proceeding he not onely received and resisted their first assaults but gave them affronts And precedent it hath been observed that after the loss of Verceil which had it been well defended might have been kept strengthned by that fair and flourishing Relief Sir of Esdiguieres brought unto it who put the Spaniards upon the Defensive and compelled them to desire Peace which was concluded at Paris to their Advantage The second Rule is That as great sums of Money are to be expended and a great Army to be raised 't is of great importance to make them timely and not t' expose them to th'hazard of surprises which being dangerous in all sorts of affairs are much more in the business of War and d'ordinarily make breaches by which ill fortune enters so far into the Country That it proves a difficult matter to drive it out And it often falls out that they die of those strokes or are long sick of them And 't is what sometimes hath been to be desired by way of Addition to the Wisdom of the Venetians and to their excellent Conduct Their Historians also confess That one of the causes of the loss of the Kingdom of Cyprus was the delays they used in preparing against the Storm which they saw coming And in the Motions which troubled Italy about the Succession of the last Duke of Mantoua we 've seen them Arm slowlier than was necessary for their very design and have suspended many times th' Orders and Commissions they ' d given for the War upon uncertain and wild reports of a Treaty of Peace and were onely a studied Deceit and an affected Artifice of the Spaniards for to possess them with a coldness and relaxation of spirit 'T is certain at least That if after the King had forced his passage at Suza and taken away the Barrier that shut up their Entry into Italy They had not recalled th'Orders given to their General t' enter into Cremona They had taken of the Spaniards some eminent Advantage whilst they wanted Forces failed of Courage and th'Inclinations of the people were adverse unto them Who can I say doubt but if they had taken possession of Cremona which opened her Arms unto them and breathed after so easie a Yoke as theirs but that they had greatly fortifi'd the Party which they favoured and had obliged it may be by that Declaration the Spaniards t' have observed the Peace of Sutza and t' have caused to be sent to the Duke of Mantoua th'Investiures Accorded by that Treaty rather than t' have shut themselves up betwixt two so considerable Powers as France and Venice and some other Forces which Venice might have drawn t' its assistance or if the War had re-kindled as it did the following year and the Spaniards touched with th'Affronts they received from all parts have been forward at any price to take
that time when they subsisted only by the good pleasure of others and by the subventions and Reliefs which came to them from France England and Germany when th' had not made Acquaintance with th' Indies or Robbed the Spanish Fleets or sailed into the Levant Seas but under the Banner of France when they were not Masters of Trade and Navigation as they are at this day but since the Sea hath Enriched them of all sides and hath caused great Wealth to come to them from all parts of the World 'T is no wonder if their Forts and Armies are supplied with all Necessaries And being so great Husbands and taking so true Measure of all things which is the property of Republiques They never fall short in their Military Expeditions And yet 't is not to be denied but that they cannot draw their Armies several years together into the Field without being weary of it and consuming of their Treasury and that they will have need of rest and breath or to receive Contribution from abroad as they have often received from France These are General Propositions which for the most part are true but not alwaies no more than the greatest part of other Rules of Policy 't will concern the prudence of Governours t' Adjust them to the Nature of th' Affairs they 've in hand and to the condition of their present Conjunctures But not t' adjust th' Affairs and Conjunctures to the Propositions and Rules Fifth Discourse What Kind of Confederacy and Correspondency may be formed betwixt a Prince and the Subjects of another Prince in Rebellion with their Prince That the King ought in Consequence t' Aid the Catalans HAving discoursed the Manner of the Relief that ought to be given or taken amongst Soveraigns It shall not b' Impertinent t' Examine here another Matter which is fastned to it in searching what Kind of Confederation and Correspondency may be formed betwixt a Prince and the Subjects of another Prince in Rebellion with him Whereupon I first say That the Risings of the people against their Prince and th'Intestine Agitations of States being ordinarily the stroaks of th'Anger of Heaven or rather th' Effects of his Justice have also very different successes according to the different provocations sometimes they make a Total change introduce New forms if it be resolved in the Councel of Providence And then no Force nor humane Industry can divert th' Event A small spark doth then kindle so great a Fire that no Relief can put it out And Daniels little stone overthrew Huge and Prodigious Statues The defection of the Suâ—sses from th' House of Austria of Germany and the defection of the Flemings from th' House of Spain are such cleer proofs of this Truth that others are not to be Looked after Sometimes these Disorders are nothing but bare Threatnings from God to Direct Princes and the People wh ' have offended him to Repentance And then whatsoever Disposition there may be in th'Inclination of Second Causes and how steep soever the descent or Precipitation yet the Fall is prevented as by Miracle the disorder of Affairs is reconciled against all hopes as th'Intrigue of a Comedy and Things return to their first Beeing without discovery almost of the Way of their Return France hath made many Experiences of this Truth without speaking of other Countries The most Modern of all shall here content me The descent of th' English in th'Island of Rhé There was no Apparence to the contrary but that their Design ought t' have been Executed and they t' have been Masters of that Island And therefore if it had hapned It had been a difficult Matter to resist the Tempest that then Threatned us and to secure from Loss Provinces of this Kingdom The Mouths of the Rivers of Loyre and Garronne which th' English Naval Army ought t' have seized upon and by consequence all Manner of Communication shut up from thence to Britany Poitou and Guienna A considerable Army ready to Joyn with th English and marching from Languedock had been Encreased by a great Number of Hugonot Forces that would have joyned with them as a River swells in Rowling by many Rivers that do discharge themselves into it A great Captain at th' head of them to make use of all Advantages they should gain and all that Fortune should offer them and many other Circumstances formed a very dangerous Conjuncture against France 'T is not to be doubted but that the Virtue and Fortune of the King The Prudence The Courage and th' Activity of his Ministers of State and the Forces of a powerfull Kingdome might have Corrected all that this Conjuncture had of Malignant and deplorable in it But 't is also to be Confessed that they could not have been put to a stronger proof and that Less than that was not Convenient to break the Designs of the Rebellion and t'hinder th'Establishment of it in the State which might have lasted as long as the Monarchy But the Love of God to France was so great as not to permit it to come to such a proof And the Glory of the King was to be raised upon a fairer Occasion than the Necessity of the Defence For th' Invaders of the Island of Rhé were struck with the Spirit of Confusion from the beginning of th'Enterprize A fatal Blindness which did not abandon them from the time it had ceized them till they were lost and had made Abortive one of the boldest and best laid Projects which of a long time hath been contrived And it hapned unto it as to those formidable Engines sometimes seen in War which a little thing renders useless and unprofitable at th' Instant that they begin to break In the second place I say That it must be laid for Foundation and Maxim That Subjects may of themselves rise against their Soveraign and break the Bonds of Obedience which they owe him by the sole strength of their Passions But that this Rising can maintain it self in heat if it be not heated from abroad Or this new Liberty long Lived if some Forein Power did not nourish it Is that which hath been seldom seen and there be but a few Examples of it But there are a great number which testifie that th' One cannot be without th' other And that a Revolt is Ill seated that hath for Foundation but the Forces of a Rebellious People I will also make use to confirm this Truth of th' Example of the Suisses and of that of the Flemings because I have already made mention of them There 's no Question but that after th'Inhabitanes of that salvage and rule Country to which the Village of Suits hath given the name had taken Arms against the Princes of Austria and to deliver themselves from that Long Violence and Insupportable Tyranny which they exercised over them by their Governours and that they were delivered from the Domination of their bad Masters But that the Republique remained a long time Trembling and ill Assured That
Dying party Somewhat like to this last Circumstance hath been seen in the Peace which the late Emperor made a little before at Lubec with the King of Denmark The Princes whose Protection h 'had undertaken were admitted only under the General Clause which was a Mark of Dereliction That th' Emperor should not disturb any Person against Justice and Equity That during such time the King of Denmark should not Engage in th' Affairs of th' Empire And that he should no more Interpose in th' Affairs of Germany thâ—n th' Emperor in th' Affairs of his Kingdom It must nevertheless be confessed to speak Truth of that Occurrence That th' Advantages th' Emperor â—â—ew from that Treaty were not the Just price of the Successes H' had obtain'd in that War And that the Collection of the Fruits Answered not the Promises which did precede it In the King of Denmarks Condition His Declining the Protection of his Allies was no more than to Part with that which was not in his power to Maintain and to Quit that he could no longer hold and to Renounce that which produced no real Thing to th' Emperor In the Month of June 1629. and was but an unprofitable mark of Superiority which Victory had made very visible He did receive solid Benefits redeemed all his Losses and allayed the Tempest that was ready to break upon the Rest of his States But th' Ambition of the Spaniards and the pressure th'used to th' Emperor to send his Armies into Italy against a Catholick Prince wh ' had done him no hurt compelled him to make e Peace as hath else-where been observed with a Protestant Prince that had offended him To cool his good Fortune in its greatest heat and to restrain the Current of the Victory which might have passed the Bounds of the Baltique Sea And t' have stopped that fatal Power which hath since Over-run th' Empire and shaken the very Foundations of th' House of Austria However 't is a proof of great Superiority in Power or of a great height in Success t' Exclude out of Treaties of Peace or to Comprehend in them whom they will And Interests of State must be very Violent which oblige Princes to forget their Friends in their Accommodations whose Faithfulness they 've made Trial of in the Quarrel In such a Dereliction they cannot save their Honour but by th' Extreme Necessity of their Affairs nor be dispensed from th' observation of their Faith but by that Supreme Law which ought to regulate their Conduct in the safety of their Subjects Whereupon they that would Excuse them may say That 't is a Condition which Enters privately in t ' all their Alliances and a Reserve which needs not be Comprised because it cannot b' Excluded and which Equally concerns th' Interest of all the Confederates And there 's none but makes use of it in case of Necessity or that believes himself obliged to perish if he cannot be secure in Company There 's none that believes himself forsworn when h' holds not that which he believes never t' have promised And though in the Treaties of Confederations all do promise not to make Agreement without the Knowledge and Consent of one another All understand it nevertheless with that Exception But it the case of an Extreme ill Fortune which allows n' other Security or from an utter Ruine that admits of no Safety but by such a Breach That if this were not so it were t' act against th' End of Confederates wherein many d'Engage and Unite themselves to resist together an Evil which would be Superiour to the Forces of each particular person but none of them would shut up himself if it were not Lawful for him to go out when he shall not find safety there and should be Lost in a Longer stay That they 're like Ships where they that guide them oblige themselves to work all they Can to defend them against a Storm but where every person reserves t' himself the Liberty to provide for his safety in forsaking of them when they 're ready to strike ground and that the Wrack is Inevitable That Countries are in th' hands of Princes as the goods of Minors They 're the Guardians but not in all Senses the Masters of them And in the whole humane Society there 's no Deposite so Sacred and so Inviolable as that is to them The people from whom they hold it have committed it unto them indeed but have not absolutely given it unto â—hem and without a Condition They 've indeed given them the Tuition but have not given them the Power of Alienation or to put them in Danger of Perishing and of changing Master To what hath been already said may also b'added That ' t is better that one of the Confederates giving way to Time and striking Sail before Fortune make his Peace alone the better t' Endeavour th'Improvement of th' others Conditions and to serve them for Relief than that they should Lose themselves by the pretence of a false Courage and by a Delicacy of humour which may indeed be permitted in the Conduct of Particular persons but ought never to b' admitted into that of Princes nor find place in their Affairs That besides this there 's no doubt but that 't is a most base dishonour for them to fail in th' observation of promises And that no Greatness can be gained or Establishment made that can repair the breaches of violated Faith and purge the shame of Perjury These are Considerations which have entred into my Understanding to discharge as much as may be the proceedings which Princes sometimes are Constrained t' use in the matter of Treaties I do not pretend nevertheless to warrant my thoughts from Infallibility or to make them pass for Decisions and Dogmatiques I leave t' every person the Liberty of Judgment according t' his Sense to Condemn or Approve them as it shall seem good t' him and to take them for sound Reasons and for Addresses of good Direction or onely for Colours which paint or for Ways that occasion Wandrings However great care must be taken not t' Exercise and Practise so ticklish a Conduct every day And no other use is to be made of them than as of Poisons in Medicines That 's to say sparingly and against Extreme Evils and with Excellent Correctives and Exquisite Preparations I add also that in th' Example which I have alleged of Demark I do not understand Fundamentally to condemn the Conduct of that Prince nor to Constitute my self Judge Soveraign of a thing whereof I do not know all th' occult Reasons by which that Nation might have cause to get out which ought to be presumed to be Just nor all th' hidden Wheels that gave it Motion which might have rendred it necessary I 've onely drawn th' Exterior and what hath appeared without and hath not a plausible shew which I 've endeavoured to Temper Sweeten by my Lenitive Considerations Not touching then upon what may b' of
Law from their Inferiours and follow their Motions when they have use of them And that a Disagreement would endanger th'Enterprize If any of the Wheels to which it ought to give Motion came to fail and to be loose from the others It may be that in the Subjects of great and profound Designs which the King had upon that Country â—e foresaw that if they were all as happy as they were wisely projected some Resolution might happen that would for ever deliver his Kingdom from Alarms and from Incursions which are made sometimes from that Neighbourhood And truly if th' Assault of Calo and the Siege of St. Omer had prospered as in apparance they ought t' have done or if an unexpected stroke which made a Noise upon the Frontiers of Campagnia had not diverted the favourable progress which promised the taking of Ayres Th' Effects of that Princes prevoyance it may be had been seen It may b'also That h' had a will to shut the Gates for a time by which the Forces of Germany entring into Flanders might over-run and make spoil in France But when things changed their Countenance and that the Risings of the Catalans formed another Conjuncture he changed also Conduct and judged as it hath been already observed That after th' Affairs of Germany there was none whereunto h' ought t' apply himself with more heat and to make a greater shew of his Forces than to them of that Country He foresaw that the fruits which might be gathered from that Expedition were not ordinary and that th' advantages which might arise to the common cause might prove strong Motives to the Peace for which the War was made For besides that the Spaniards could not long act powerfully in Spain in Flanders and in Italy and the nourishment they ought to give to their Original Country would consume the food of th' others Countrie If the King of Hungary was seen full of troubles in Germany and the King of Spain assaulted in th' Heart of his Estates and troubled to defend his Life It was not impossible but that two Benefits also might arise very considerable Th' one that the Princes of Germany separated from the good Party might take courage to rejoyn with it Th' other that the League wherein to that time they had laboured unprofitably t'introduce th' Italian Princes might be formed and that they would not lose so fair an occasion to drive them away who had stollen the Liberty of their Country and to take away the mixture and confusion of Nations and forein Manners which sully and disfigure it For t' imagine that for less than that the Republique of Venice the most considerable of all those Princes for what concerns Temporal things That can give a shaking t'other Princes and after that make no difficulty t' enter the Lifts it had opened would be perswaded to that League 'T is to b'ignorant of their spirit It were to b' a stranger to their Maxims And to believe what is desired upon the single Motions of passion This point shall b'examin'd in the following Discourse this having been but too long I add onely for advise of them who might find cause to desire something here on our part upon the subject of great Extremities wherein th' Affairs have sometimes fallen in Germany and Italy That the King could not do all things in all places and that it may be he had done too much as hath else-where been observed but for an absolute Necessity and Inevitable even for the good of his own Kingdom to do it That he could not alone divert all th'Evils that might happen in that Country by the failings and insensibility of them who were more interressed than himself and for whose Liberty he took so great pains and made so great an Expence That in the course and great variety of Affairs which exercised him he could not always ordain That they who received his Orders should b' as happy t' execute them and to compleat them as he was prudent in laying of the Design and preparing the Model But 't is a wonder which will appear almost incredible to future Ages and will be one of the fairest Beams of the glory of this Prince and one of the Noblest Monuments of his Incomparable Reign That by his Wisdom his Courage and his Power he raised at home and with his Allies what was ready to Fall That he did set straight there all that began to Lean and ever disappointed Fortune of her Malitious Progress and of the Consequences of her Surprizes Eighth Discourse In what Conjuncture it may be probably thought That the Venetians will enter in t ' a League against the Spaniards THough I do not think it necessary that this League whereof hath been spoken be made or that the time of a General Peace be so backward as t' attend the finishing of so difficult a Negotiation I have believed nevertheless that it would not b'impertinent for me to speak my thoughts to make the Genius of the Venetian Republique to be the better known and what may b' expected from it on like Occasions and at the same time to make it appear to th' Author of a small Pamphlet which appeared a little after the last Stege of Casal under the name of a Montferrat Soldier That the Season was not then come to form that League as he did pretend it and that the King was not ripe according to the Sense of that Republique and the Maxims of their Policy The foundation whereupon I do build my Opinion is this That it being th' ordinary Nature of Republiques to be very distrustful and to fear more than hope when th'Apparances of Evil and Good are equal It may be said That Venice of all other Republiques Labours most of that humour And that th'Inclination it hath in all it undertakes to give the least it can t'Hazard and the most to Prudence is the cause that 't is seldom enclined for the War which is an Element of Fortune unless an extreme Danger do force it or a visible Benefit invite it I could bring a number of antient Examples to confirm this Truth if I did not believe that Modern would be of most use and credit as most efficacious and of greater Instruction than th 'others In that high and wonderful Design which the late King had formed against th' House of Austria and to put the Quiet of Christendom so often troubled by that House in some state of consistency he caused the Republique to be solicited to be of the Party And notwithstanding the power h' had with them which could not be greater and th' Advantages h' had proposed unto them which were not small for the Price of their Arming and for th'â—nterest of th' Expence it should make Though it was onely intended for the breaking off th'â—rons of Italy and to force from the Spaniards what they held unjustly there Though all the fruâ—ts of the Conquest whereof the greatest part was to be at his Charges and
t' advance their Greatness under colour of suppressing the Rebells of th' Empire and the Disturbers of the Peace of Germany It had not staid there and th' Ill which it did believing to do well had not so soon ceased if it had not been dissipated by th' Endeavours of Francis the First and by th'Industry and Eloquence of Sir of Langey who made the Dutch to comprehend th' Austrian Artifices and laid open the Stratagems that were on foot by that Family to destroy them In the precedent Discourse I 've given you the platform of that League which Philip the Second endeavoured to make with the Pope and with the Venetians after the Selim the Second had assaulted Cyprus and that the noise of th' Ottoman's Arms with the consternation and fear of them had flown about Italy We 've also there seen the Resistance made by the Pope and the Venetians to the proposals of that Prince which breathed onely his particular Interest And we shall see in the Third Part the small satisfaction that the Venetians drew from that League which was concluded with him and that at last they were constrained to make a separate Accord with the Turk and without the privity of Philip as many years before they 'd been obliged to buy their peace of Soliman after that the proceedings of Charls the Fifth with whom they were in League gave them occasion to know That they could not continue the War in so ill Company and in so unfaithful a Society without running th'hazard to Ruine It hath not been dangerous onely to make Leagues with Charls the Fifth and with Philip his Son Th' Evil came from a higher Line and the Corruption hath a higher Spring Ferdinand of Arragon their Grandfather transmitted unto them with his Blood that too much interessed Inclination As he was one of them who broke the League of Cambray to the prejudice of Lewis the Twelfth who had so Legally observed it And the League he made at Blois was to strip the King of Naples his Kinsman of his Inheritance and for the full Conquest of his Kingdom And after he had gained by the Valour of the Great Captain what did belong t' his Partition he caused us to be vexed and made studied Quarrels to take away the Partition that did belong to us By th' Invincible Habit th' House of Austria hath acquired not t' observe what it hath promised And from their subtil Art to dispose the Leagues where it Enters to its particular Ends without respect of the Good of th' other Confederates In that of Germany which subsisted under the name of Catholique In apparence it avoided the direction of that Army tâ—abate the Jealousie of the Confederates and that the Forces of that League were put into th' hands of the Duke of Bavaria a Prince of another House and under the Count of Tilly a Lieutenant General which depended upon him But in this there was but a Transpostion of Colours whilst the Things were the same And th'Emperour gained that by a by-way which he could not obtain by a streight whilst the Forces of that League held the Protestant Arms at a Bay and hindred all that they could undertake against the Catholiques Heresolved to raise others in his own Name and under General Wallestine that had dependency and relation onely upon himself Th' Emperor with these Forces which made themselves formidable and prodigious by th' inventions of Quarters which this great General gave to th'Officers to make their Levies began to give the Law t' all Germany and threatned all that was independent and free And when th' Affair of Mantoua hapned it appeared then certainly to the Catholiques that it was not so much to the Religion of the Protestants that th' Emperor made War as to their Estates And the Peace he made with the King of Denmark t' intend th' oppression of the Duke of Mantoua made them understand That if the progress of the Arms was not stopped Catholiques and Protestants should be concerned in the same Mischief And that they had not begun t' act by the ruine of th' one but for to finish by the ruine of th 'others The descent then into Italy of th' Emperours best Forces under the Conduct of Cosalto and the condition Germany found it self in from thence to be discharged of that burthen of Soldiers which oppressed it gave courage to the Duke of Bavaria and his Party to speak high at the Diet of Ratisbon in favour of the German Liberty and then to demand the Degradation of Walsthein who was the Flayl and the most proper Instrument th'Emperour could have found t' impose servitude on Germany The Spaniards also to whom the fierce and indocile humour of Wallesthein was odious and who looked upon him as the greatest Obstacle they could have encountred upon the way they had made plain for the re-uniting of th' Empire to their Branch thrust stoutly at the Wheel the Duke of Bavaria had set a going The Protestants on th' other side who had been plundred or believed that they should be plundred and to whom th'exorbitant Contributions which Wallesthein had raised on their Estates were as fore-runners and presages of their approaching ruine Treated with the King of Swede to come to the relief of their dying Liberty and to make use of the Conjuncture of the disarming of Wallesthein and of the Licensing of his Troops who demanded but safe retrait and protection against the Commissions which were t'issue t' enquire of the Spoils his Soldiers had committed upon the Lands of th' Empire And so the Catholique Princes breathed away the fear th' House of Austria gave them and were assaulted with a greater and more dangerous fear raised from the Swedish Victories But if that Evil had not preceded the Remedy had not followed And if the Designs of that House had been moderate th' Arms of that Prince had never entred into Germany and that House had not tried the same Lot it made other suffer As to the League made between the King of Swede and the Prorestants who called him to their Relief It cannot truly be said that the King of Swede was one of the great Powers whereof we speak if they are considered by the fertility and riches of their Country By the Multitude of their Subjects and by other Advantages which are rather fastned to the Domination than to the Person of Princes But this Prince had such admirable Conditions in his Person and such a collection of natural and acquired Virtues that the quickly put himself into the posture of being that great Power whereunto the Powers of the League were subaltern and dependent At first they cast their eyes upon him through Jealousie had of their Country-men and gave not th' Honour t' one of their Nation but made the King of Swede chief of the League Or they thought it may be none of courage and understanding enough to bear the weight of that War And judged also That the King of
Swede being in some sort under their pay they might dispose of him as they pleased and might retain him justly to the necessary Considerations for the suppressing of th' Ambitious Designs of th'Emperour and to restore to th' Empire its lost Peace and its antient Privileges But they were not well advised for that Prince was so brave and so full of courage that he could not act such a person And as a Torrent is not to be stopped at pleasure which the force of dissolved Snows forceth from a Mountain nor a great Fire easily put out which the Wind blows and is fastned t' a great quantity of combustible Matters So this Prince rendred himself so powerful and so formidable by the Victories which crowded upon him For his Conquests were th' Adamants which drew others unto them that many of the Confederates before his death had him in great jealousie But let 's leave there those Apprehensions the suspition of an Evil which did not happen to speak of that which concerns us 'T is easie to judge by what hath been said That the League which is now of foot between us and our Confederates hath all necessary Conditions for Continuation of the War so long as it may be useful and to make the Peace that must determine it Sacred and Inviolable This great Power whereof it hath been spoken is there to be found which hath not onely the right of Birth before all other Powers of Christendom by th' Antiquity of its Original but hath it also by the greatness of its Forces and by'n abundance of Mony and Men which resembles not to the Waters of Cisterns which are easily drawn off but to them that issue from living Springs which refresh and renew themselves as they run off This Truth is so certain and of an Experience so general and so confirmed that to b'ignorant of it is not to be of the world or to know any thing of what passeth in it 'T is not to know that w'have done in Italy in favour of the Duke of Mantoua And not t' have understood that notwithstanding the fearful difficulties which accompani'd that War The Desolation which the Plague and Famine had made in our Armies and the Disgraces hapned t' our Allies by their ill fortune or by their fault We forced Germany Spain and Savoy associated to restore what they had usurped and to re-establish the Duke of Mantoua and the Grisons in their Estates and Garisons 'T is to b' ignorant what the King did for the Swedish Party and for his Confederates since the Battel of Nortlinghen What he daily doth in Germany in the Low-Countries in Italy and in Spain The Money and Men which he sent thither and the number of his Armies by Sea and by Land which filled our Enemies with fear and all Europe with astonishment As to the second Condition The Moderation of Desires and that fair Temperance which puts a Bridle into the mouth of Ambition and ties up Courage which th' Heroes are more troubled t' observe than to defeat Armies and to tame Monsters It cannot also be denied that 't is the more admirable in the Kings Soul that having all the Lights which enlighten the Cabinet and all Qualities that are active in the Field He hath besides these the Forces of a great Kingdom to put them in Motion He hath all that 's necessary for Invading and for Usurping if he did not believe That 't is more Magnanimous and more Glorious to conserve and to defend Somewhat more divine t' exercise Justice than to make Conquests I have sowed so many proofs of this Truth in so many places of this Book that I conceive it a superfluous thing to repeat them and repoint to the eye of the Reader the same Figures However I do beseech him to remember that in the long and tragical actions which vex Christendom the King never began t' any person and that he stirred not nor engaged but to relieve his Friends which were oppressed and t' abate the Designs which would have consumed their Estates That he never took Arms till he had tried the ways of sweetness and of good Endeavours That before he passed th' Alps for the delivery of Casal which Gonsailes had besieged he sent into Spain He caused Endeavours to b' used at Vienna He prevailed with the Pope t' interpose his Authority t' oblige the Spaniards to retire and with honour their Arms from Montferrat As before the beginning of the War he commanded a Treaty with the Duke of Savoy by several Agents and with most advantagious Offers that could be desired if he could admit of equitable ones to compose civilly the differences h' had with the Duke of Mantoua And after h' had raised the Siege of Câ—sal in forcing th' Alps and had given peace to the Spaniards which was so necessary for them He sent to Vienna t' hinder them from being perjured and to divert the Seeds of a second War in causing to be delivered to the Duke of Mantoua th'Investitures promised by the Peace of Suza As to Germany all the world knows that the King did not for present interpose in the Troubles that have vexed them but t' appease them And that in the Quarel of th' Emperour and the Count Palatine for the Kingdom of Bohemia he sent a famous Embassage to th'Interâ—ssed Princes to determine it friendly and caused a Peace to be concluded at Ulms as hath been already said which re-established th' Affairs of th' Empire in the Conditions they ought to be and in the Temper if it had been observed which is assigned them by their Constitutions Since that time th' Affairs of th' Empire being raised to a prodigious Success and the King observing that the Treaties of Ratisbon and of Cairasque had not shut up all the Winds which might trouble the third time the Tranquillity of Italy and carry the Storm further if th' House of Austria had nothing to do ' n Germany He caused a Treaty to be made with the King of Swede whom the Protestants had called into Germany and furnished him with some Money to give him the better means to give Employment and Exercise to that House that it might no longer think of giving trouble t' his Allies nor t' himself in his Kingdom To conclude h 'had never declared a War to Sâ—ain in the Spaniard had not commanded th'Elector of Treves to be taken away wh ' had put himself into the King's protection and had provided for his safety by his Intervention In the second place t' assure the world that the King's Arms are not mercenary nor moved by the spirit of Particular Interest let the last Treaty be remembred which he made with the Duke of Cleves and the generosity wherewith he renounced in favour of the Duke one of the Justest Conquests which could arise from the right of War Be 't remembred how freely h' abandoned by the Treaty of Cairasque almost all Savoy and a part of Piedmont which h'
That the Treaty of Hamborough was not staid by them nor the Peace of Christendome But the contrary is so fully declared in Germany The King of Denmark hath so cleerly understood it and th' Ambassadours of Newtral Princes Resident in the Court of the King of Hungary have expressed it in such certain and positive Tearms that there 's not a Person wh ' hath not discovered the Deceit and the Design As to the second point 't is certainly much advanced if not effected and all their Apparences will prove false for the King by th' Aids of his Confederates will destroy in the Souls of the Princes of th' House of Austria and especially in that of the Spaniards where its principal Seat is the Design of th' Universal Monarchy whereof they 're Accused and that Eminent Crime imputed to them which hath been the Spring of so many Troubles and Disorders And 't is that which will make the Reign of the King Remarkable and Glorious above the Reigns of all his Predecessors and will be the Cause that Christendome have an Immortal Obligation to him for hindering that Proud House that had Devoured it in Thought t' Advance one pace towards that End or to take any Measure thereof that hath not been Broken But that no Person may suppose that I d' Offer at this by Chance and that speaking of the design of this pretended Monarchy I make a Monster of my Self in the Contest I am resolved here to Lay out some Pieces and to give you a Part of the Platform framed in Spain as well as it hath been Understood others may make up what shall be wanting to Compleat the Discovery and Finsish the Painting whereof you shall receive now only the first Draught I will take this Design from its first Original and from the most Concealed Spring and Continue it to the Troubles of Bohemia where it appeared most Evidently and broke out with greater Light Noise and Violence than it had done before for t is true That the first Motion of Defection or Revolt call it what you please raised in the Minds of the Bohemians against th' House of Austria and the first Thoughts they had to withdraw themselves from that Power and to submit t' another Yoak proceeded from the fear they had to fall in Time under the Spanish Domination The Love of Liberty wherewith the Northern people are more taken than any people of the World made them Apprehend the Death of their Liberty wounded in many places by a Power which alwayes holds Strangers by such Charms as they cannot break And is never Confident of their Faith but by th' Impotency wherein they are Cast not to Rebell On th' other side the Zeal of Religion which is equally Violent whether Good or Bad in all them that have it suffered them not to make a Representation of that severe Tribunal without horrour and despair which in permitting them but one Religion hath Sword and Fire to Root up and to Destroy all others From these two undaunted Passions did Grow and Bud as the Fruits of that Seed and the Bows of that Tree that memorable Rising which they made against th' Emperour Ferdinand and their fatal Election to the Kingdome of Bohemia which they fixed in the Person of Frederick Count Palatine It shall be made t' appear at th' End of this Book by Authentique proofs That his Judgement of the Bohemians was not Vain not their fear Panique And that the Spaniards had of a long time forged that Project That they did daily lay the Foundations and brought Materials to Continue it and to Cherish it to the Rearing As to what is of the sequel of Defection which is not yet Finished and the Troubles it hath caused in Europe which are not yet Ceased It hath been spoken of in many places of this Work and it shall more fully be spoken of in the Third Part where I hope to make 't appear That whether th' History b' Ancient or Modern There 's not a Mapp to be found where more Rapid and more changeable Passions are to be seen from Men more suddain and unexpected Stroaks from Fortune and more famous Occurrences and of greater Instruction for Princes than those that hapned in th' Affairs of Germany Before th' handling of this important Matter and Entring into so fair a Field I cannot hold from Speaking a few Words of the Deportments of a part of them whom th' House of Austria imploy to make War and of the wayes they take t' assure their Conquests These men then whom we 've often in hand and from whom w' have been sometimes Troubled to defend our Frontiers Are a certain race of Men in whom the Vicinity and Commerce of the Turks whereof their Troops are made up have made lose all Sense of Humanity and of Religion And that th' Impurity of their Crimes which they received instead of Pay had begot an Invincible habit in th' Exercise of all manner of Cruelties and in Committing all sorts of Sacrileges The Laws of Civilized War which the Marshall of Brisae â—ondred heretofore so famous in Italy and which were more Indulgent and Favourable to th' Enemies Country than the Laws that are now Executed in a Friends Country are to them a Subject whereof they 've not so much as heard They never enter in a Country but the Sword in one hand and Torch in th' other They make the Fire to Consume what the Sword cannot Destroy They spare Sacred things no more than Profane The Religious Women and such as are not are th' Equal Object of their Brutality And their Pleasure would not be Compleat if Murder did not succeed Rape And if after Satisfaction given to what is most Indocile and most Disordered in the Concupiscible part they did not surfeit also with horrible Punishments and by barbarous Deaths of what is most Inhuman and most Savage in th' Irascible part I say nothing but what Experience confirms and whereof Lorrain and other Countries have seen th' Examples wh ' are at this day th' Astonishment of all Nations and for the future shall be the Reproach of our Age. As to them in whose favour these Tragical and sad Conquests are made 'T is certain That if they beat down or destroy and thing of a Country 'T is so far from being their Design as ' â—â—s of a Lawfull Prince to Repair the Ruins to his Power and to Re-build in a more Magnificent and Stately manner than it was before That they would lay it flat to the Foot and Earth That if they could they would pull up Foundations That they would plow up th' Earth and sow Salt in it That no Impressions of their first Government might be seen nor one single Draught of its Ancient form And their Method t' Establish themselves and to give Root to their Domination is to take off all high Heads till none are left but what are Humble and Low And t' Esteem the Courage and th' Understanding of
make them Understand that what was prepared for a Remedy was become their Poyson in th' hands of th' Emperour Charls and of Ferdinand his Brother so great a Truth it is That France hath alwayes been the Providential Buckler of Germany and th' Appointed Rampar to stop the Motions of them wh ' undertake upon its Liberty 'T is also a Thing sufficiently known in History and whereof w' have made Mention in the last Discourse of the second Book That if th' Emperour had not found Means to form in Italy and in Germany a Counâ—â—â—-League t' oppose that of Smalchalde where all the Protestants almost of the North had united to strip him of his Powers It had Reduced him to his Shirt Degraded him from th' Empire and made the Rodomontada of the Duke of Alva ridiculous who answered him That to describe the Greatness of Forces and the Number of Powers united against his Master said That the Duke of Saxe The Lantgrave of Hess The King of Denmark and Swede c. were of the party That the King of Spain and of Naples th' Arch-Duke of Austria and the Count of Tirrol the Duke of Milan and the Lord of the Low-Countries were entred in t ' a League which his Master would oppose to the Multitude and Forces of th' united Powers But by the Power of that League he suppressed th' other forced the Gates of the Mutinous Cities to be opened and might it may be have finished his Design which hath been since so often and unprofitably Attempted The Reduction of all Germany if he had not been hindered from other places as hath been related in the precedent Discourse I will not now Speak of it because I have amply spoken in the second Book of that League which in Germany is called Catholique 'T is true That never any League was made of greater Importance or of a more regular or stronger constitution for th' interests of th' House of Austria And though it had only for Foundation and pretence of it's Establishment the defence of Religion against the Threatning of the Protestants 'T is certain that it hath not Laboured or Lent its Forces to this Time but to relieve the Ruinous Affairs of th' Emperour And to make his Success the more Glorious and his Power the more Fearfull Another Expedient which the Possession of th' Empire hath furnished to th' House of Austria t' enable it t' undertake without Punishment upon other Christian Princes and to make the preparations of their Enterprizes without Trouble and Allowance of Jealousie to their Enemies hath been the special Obligation th' Empire imposeth upon Germany to make War to the Turk and the particular Personage which th' Emperour sustains of Adversary to that great Enemy of the Faithfull And nevertheless how often hath Charls the fifth raised Great Forces and Commanded Germany to do the Like under that pretence And how often hath he deceived the World and given the Germans the Dog t' hold in Turning his Arms against France or to th' Oppression of some of our Allies As it hapned to the Duke of Guelders And when we made shew of raising Men at the Noise of those preparations when we put our selves into some Posture to secure our selves against the Storm that Threatned us when we would have used some Precaution to give a Necessary security Then the Declarations and Invectives were busie Then their Cartells and Manifests were published That the Conclaves and Dyets were Troubled with the Complaints they made against our Kings and th' Accusations wherewith they did Charge them in diverting them from an Holy War and by th' Intelligence they held as they would have it with the Turk to the prejudice of Christendome and the Princes of it so that by th' Artifices and Practices of th' Emperour we were reduced to that sad Condition and to that hard Necessity either to Suffer our selves to be surprized in th' Ill of the Time that was framed as it once hapned to Francis the first or t' hazard the blame of Insensibility and Coldness for Religion if we prepared not some Shelter and some Recrute to secure us as it hapned t' Henry the Second I will say upon this Occasion and for the Direction of the Reader That the Successors of Charls have not lost by his Example and that they 've been most Worthy Imitators of so good a Master Barbary hath been often the Visible Subject of th' Armies they have Raised and of the Naval Forces they 've sent against France 'T is an Artifice which seems Natural and Infused into the Blood of Spain And Examples have been seen in the past Ages And in Times when Deceits did not pass for Prudence and when there was Ordinarily in the World Faith that was pure and sincerity that was not Sophisticated Behold a Remarkable passage After the Peter the third King of Arragon had lost Sicily and that w' had taken that fair Island from him which was not less dear t' him than the Kingdome of Spain As he was a Great Master in th' Art of Dissimulation He presently made shew of Consolation in his Loss and though his Heart bled inwardly He made no shew of Grief and discovered no Thoughts of repair but on the Barbarian Coast Upon so specious a Report which he scattered in all places and plausible Impression for t' Entertain other Christian Princes H' obliged some of them and amongst them was St. Lewis t' aid him with Money to provide Ships and to make ready a Naval Army which h' intended for so Holy an Expedition That good Prince who knew not how to Reign but for the Glory of God and on whom the Crown he woar had weighed too much if Charity had not supported it failed not t' assist so pious an Enterprize and was easily surprized by so subtil a Device and by so delicate a Bait. But this Army which ought t' have Conquered Afrique and put to the Sword th' Infidells of that Country had n' other Object than the Ruine of the French that were in Sicily and by a Supercery without Example and by a Sea of spilt Blood not to be parallel'd Commanded those infamous Vespers which since have been called Sicilian Vespers 'T is not to speak Clearly of this Affair That it was a Crime in Peter if there had been no other Thing in it than to conceal a Design that could not have prospered but by silence or that th' Answer he made to Martin the fourth deserved not Commendation who sent to Demand of him For what place that great preparation and powerfull Fleet was intended That if his Shirt knew what he had in his heart He would burn it at that instant Princes truly are not obliged to make known their Secrets t' other Princes and to give Account of all their Actions to them that would Demand it But their 's no Colour no Art that can disguise or Sweeten the breach of Faith in Peter and that black proceeding which made him
places hath been said and Boundaries are raised that they may not go out of their Places nor pass their Limits The Pathes H' ought to walk in are set out unt ' him and the Course h' ought to take by the pragmatique Sanctions and by the Resolutions of the Dyets of the Princes and States of th' Empire Those Laws and Resolutions Moderate that Power and make that Symetrie of Temper and Harmony of Humours of all the Body whereof th' Emperors are but th' Head 'T is what th'Elector Maurice of Saxe intended when he said That Germany advanced so many paces to its ruine as th' Emperor added new Degrees t' his Power and that it might b' ever free and flourishing it was necessary always to conserve the Princes Authority and their Power in the Constitution of th' Empire which were the Counterpoise that ballanc'd it But since it was very hard to maintain the Evenness of the Counterpoise and that Ambition like the Fire says 'T is never enough And that to rule it breaks all the Chains that Justice thinks to with-hold it by and respects neither Laws nor Customs to satisfie its Ends Support for th' Empire hath been sought out of th' Empire and the Subsistence of the Body and Liberty of the Members have in a special manner been under the Protection of France In what way this Protection is formed whether by Reciprocal Treaties or by Custom changed into the Force of a Law What this Crown hath ever practised t' hasten the Relief of th' Empire and hinder the Dissolution of the Body and th' Annihilation of its Natural Form 'T is not any business here t' enquire after 'T is sufficient that the Germans are agreed and have always declared it in their Treaties which they 've made with our Kings when they were to be redeemed from vexation and came t'implore their Endeavours or Arms. This Formal Acknowledgment and Express Declaration is seen in the League of th'Elector Maurice and th' other Princes his Associates made with Henry the Second to secure Germany from th'Irons which Charls the Fifth would have imposed on it That there 's no question to be made of it Insomuch that France cannot b'accused of Temerity or of Undertaking when it appears in th' Affairs of Germany and that it interposeth its Cares and Arms That the Ballance spoken of stand streight and Lean not on th' Emperor's nor on the Princes side and Free Towns of th' Empire I speak not here because I 've else-where done it of that General and Indefinite Obligation which Great Persons have to relieve Inferiour persons when they 're oppressed The common Law of Humanity whereof they 're not exempt and the particular Law of Charity which sometimes enters into their Conduct exact this Duty of all that can render it And the Law of their Interest which is the supreme and powerful Law of Princes doth sufficiently press them t' hinder the Great from devouring the Lesser persons lest they should grow too Great and lest Power enflaming their Ambition thrust them on and extend it to the Dominions of other Princes I speak not also of another Obligation more Bounded and Circumscribed which France hath to protect some Princes and particular States of th' Empire and to b' a Shelter and Haven unto them in time of Persecution and Tempest Such as the protection and safeguard it owes particularly to th'Elector of Treves which was respected by the King of Swede and Sacred with victorious Heretiques with whom neither he nor we had any War 'T is true That th' aid which France owes to th' Empire when 't is threatned with Ruine hath not much appeared since it entred into th' house of Austria but in favour of the Members against th' Enterprizes of the Chief As also th' oppression and violence which hath been opposed proceeded from that side and had their Beginning in th'Invasions the Princes of that House would have made upon the Liberty of others Yet France failed not the last Emperor when there was need of it And if in the Troubles of Bohemia and after those happy beginnings and the visible Evidences of a more happy Sequel of the Palatine's Arms the King had not permitted the French to go out of France to fortifie th' Emperor's Troops and sent the most Solemn and Illustrious Ambassy which of a long time hath gone out of this Kingdom t' untie the Protestant League and break the Course of their Prosperity Th' Emperor had run th' hazard of being stript of his Countries and t' have tried the same fortune he hath made the Palatine to suffer and to become Pensioner to the Spaniards as th' other hath been to th' Hollanders 'T is easie to conclude from what hath been above-said That 't is not without Reason that th' House of Austria makes th' Empire the Basis and Centre of their pretended Monarchy That 't is not without Reason that the late Emperor writing to the King of Spain t' incline him t' approve of the translation of th' Electorat of the Count Palatine to the Person of the Duke of Bavaria represented unt ' him the consideration That it had ever been the Judgment of their Predecessors that the Seat whereupon the Greatness of their House ought to rest was Germany and that th' Empire was th' highest and the most eminent piece of all Germany That that Dignity was to be conserved in their House above all other things And that the promotion of Baviere and of his Successors to th' Electorate rendring the Suffrages of the Catholick Electors superior in number which should ever descend to the Princes of that Race the possession of th' Empire would be the better established and what in Form and Apparences might appear Elective would in Effect and Substance become Hereditary And the late King wh ' had so many Natural and Acquired Lights of the things of this world and in whom the good sense wherewith he was born was so much improv'd by th' Experience h' had gain'd said in a contrary sense to that of the Duke of Anhalt when he was sent unt ' him from the Princes of Germany wh ' had made a League with him to be delivered in good earnest from th' Attempts and Allarms which they s ' often received from th' House of Austria That it was necessary to force th' Empire from that House where it seem'd t' have taken root and to pass it in t ' another Catholique House but less Ambitious And having shorter and weaker Wings might not extend them so far nor flie so high But Death caused that magnificent Project to miscarry when it was but in the Flower and th' Execution it may b' is reserved for some of his Heirs who may inherit such magnanimous Thoughts and march upon such generous Impressions as the King doth at this time Wh ' is as worthy an Imitator of the Virtues of his Father as Lawful Successor of his Kingdom He 's inflamed with the same zeal for th' establishment of
of the Romans or a Substitution to the same Kingdome in favour of his Son Philip submitted to what he could not Avoid attended the Destiny which had Enthralled him and delivered th' Empire to his Brother which he could not settle upon the Person of his Successor Sixth Discourse That Philip the Second applied himself principally to the gaining of France t' open the way t' himself of the Monarchy That his Successors have Endeavoured t' Establish themselves in th' heart of Germany to make th' Empire return to their House and pass from thence to the Monarchy PHilip the Second was sick as his Successors have been of Charls's passion and was in Love with the Monarchy as a part of his Heritage but insomuch that England which had much Aided th' Advance of his designs had taken the Wing and that th' Empire which would have furnished him with Pretexts and Forces for th' Execution of many great Enterprizes had failed him He gave rest for a time t' his Passion and made no other Passion t' appear than for the Conservation of what his Father had left him and to fix what he found Changeable in his Countries He gained indeed at that time some Eminent advantages from Henry the Second which had the same Effect upon the Son it had upon the Father and which paid for the breach of the Truce wherein Sirs of Guise the Dutchess of Valentinois and the Caraffs did seduce him by the Loss of the Battels of St. Quentin and of Graveline and by the the Peace made at the Castle of Cambresis where he Delivered up in one day what could not have been taken from him in many years and opened the Gate of Civil Wars in France and shut it for the benefit of their Enemies since the success of the discovery of th' Indies which made him Depopulate Spain and Exchange Men whereof h' had great need for Money whereof h' had not so great Need. The Flemish Defection which he could not prevent by his Power though h' Enjoyed so many Kingdoms nor by his Wisdome though he was called the Solomon of his Age And the Mutinous and Unquiet humour of the Mores gave some allay to his great Design and abated in him that Monarchique Spirit which had so vexed Charls the Fifth But so soon as h' heard the Noise that the differences of Religion made and saw the Troubles which the Civil Wars had raised amongst us H' awakened a Desire which was but laid Asleep H' Embrac'd the occasion which did Smile upon him He resolved to Cut out the way to the premeditated greatness through the Ruins of France He conceived that he could not Work upon a Richer stuff for th' use he had proposed That he might find amongst us what h'unprofitably sought amongst others And the Spaniards having ordinarily that Advantage of us which grows from the Temperament of the Body and from the Constitution of the Climate t' Act with more fore-sight than the French Th' Abundance of Wealth and Men whereof this Kingdome cannot b' Emptied would Cure them of a Defect to which w' are not subject in making the preparations of their Enterprizes with great Slowness and destructive Length But this hath not as yet hapned and the same Providence which to this Time hath not permitted Men to cut the Istmes and the Streights that sever the Seas which God would have divided hath not permitted th' Advantages which one Nation hath upon another to Conjoyn with duration under the Power of a single Person Though Philip set all sorts of Engines in Motion and imployed all manner of Work-men he could never make such a Conjunction And France could not become his Prey though it was his Envy and he could not Enjoy it though he was passionately in Love with it And having lost great Forces and thrown away many Millions amongst us having Trassiqued much and made much War in France and stirred up the good and bad Religion t' attain his Ends nothing remained of Consolation t' him in the failer of the true matter of his Arms and Practices imployed for th' usurpation of the Crown but the Beauty of the Pretext by ' ndeavouring to give us a Catholique King For the Diversion of the Reader I will here observe and for an illustrious Example of the Vanity of Greatness and Instability of human affairs That 't is hardly possible to find a Life more Interwoven with good and bad and more Embrodered with happy and unhappy Accidents than the Life of Philip. 'T is certain that if he got much one way he lost much another way And that if one part of his Designs hath prospered another part hath mis-carried and become abortive Th' Accomplishment of his Marriage with the Queen of England which Encountred with so many Contradictions and Difficulties The Victories of St. Quentin and of Graveline whereof it hath been already spoken The Re-establishment of the Duke of Savoy stripped for th' Interests of his House and the French forced from Italy so many Countries Conquered and Mines discovered in the West-Indies the Succession of Portugal with its Dependences which he secured by his Arms against five famous Confederates The suppression of the Privileges and Liberty of th' Arragons The defeat of the Mores The gain of the Battail of Lepantha wherein h' had so great a share and the Re-taking of Thumis and Gouletta are indeed great Successes and will make a Noise to the Worlds End But on th' other side the Death of the Queen of England without Children and by Consequent the Possession of that fair Kingdome Eclipsed The loss of the true Religion in the Low-Countreys without preserving as our Kings have done the faith and obedience due t' him France delivered out of his hands when he held it as taken Th' Assault of Gelves and the Landing of his Troops in Ireland which were unhappy t' him And th'Invincible Armado that would have put England to the Chain and for which the Rodomonts it carried said That they desired no more of God than that he would not meedle in that Affair and Leave them to themselves That Invincible I say Armado that was but the sport of a grain of wind and th' Example of the greatest Shipwrack that th' Ocean hath disgraced since the time of Tiberius In a word of the three places which his Father had recommended unt ' him to keep with greatest Care and Jealousie as the Key of Spain of the Low-Countreys and of Africa Cadis was taken by th' English Flushing by th' Hollanders and the Goulete by Bosha Pialy These disgraces nevertheless and this variety of Accidents took not from him that Reputation which hath flown through all the places of th' Earth and which will be repeated in all th' Ages of the World And as no wonder or new thing since it hath been the destiny of the greatest part of great persons to b' exposed to the flux and reflux of Fortune and to dye rich in honour after many Losses Though
they had another End than that of Religion or at least that they did but Obliquely look upon it I know not how their Proceedings can b' Excused or the Violence Sweeâ—ned that gave Trouble to the Peace of th' Emperour and Empire They were busie where they had no right of Intervention and entred by a Breach when they could not enter at the Gate I know not by what Law of Conscience they could raise a Subject against his Soveraign How they could make Mathias a Felon against his Brother Rodolphus and Compel him with a strong hand and with a raised Arm t' Act Mathias's Will though it were Just though it were Holy not by what Right of Nations they could deprive a Kingdome from all times Elective of the Liberties and Customs which were not unknown to them and Violate the Privileges which to that time had been Inviolable But if in this as in mamy other things they would Cover themselves with their old Cloak and say that it was still to pare the Wings of Heresie and to Cut off its way lest it should pass further into Germany To that Answer may be given That th' End was goods but the Means were not and that they took a way to gain it wherein were so many ill passages to get over and so many precipices t' avoid That there was as much cause of Fear as of Joy In behalf of Religion and th' hazard betwixt Gain and Loss was equally uncertain That in matters of Religion th' Heavens ought t' Act and Providence to Govern And an Entire submission ought to be given to that Power which Conducts things to their Ends according to the good pleasure of its Will and not according to mens Fancies That it did not belong to them to Command the Times which were not Ordained in the decrees of th' Eternal Councils nor t' hasten the Maturity of Accidents which appear only in their Season and discover themselves in th' Appointed hours of then Time That they were to be Confined to the Limits of the received Order of things and in Obedience not to Wander from the Common Right nor t' Honour God by Vice or to seek his Glory in the way of Injustice Violence and Breach of Faith Nevertheless by this proceeding of the Spaniards may be seen how Licentious their Appetite is of Governing and their Ambition boundless How Active and Destructive that fire is and Nourished with all sorts of Materials That it Consumes not only them that are not of Relation to them but Burns their own Parents and dissolves the Cement of Blood and of Alliances Le ts return to our Subject When the Plot spoken of was formed and the Conspiracy resolved upon against Rodolpe Th' Evidences thereof were suddenly Visible and Mathias made haste to give them credit by memorable Attempts And for that purpose he Commanded th' Army to march towards Prague where th' Emperour was which had been raised in Goritia And having as it were Enclosed him in that Capital City of Bohemia He sent him in that Posture and with that Equipage the Protestation which had been agreed with the Spaniards and the Pope What should a Disarmed poor-Spirited and Ignorant Man do as Rodolphus was in the streight wherein h' had shut himsels but receive the Law from him wh ' had Power to give it and to yield to th' yoak that was forced over his Head An Agreement then was made in the Moneth of June in the year 1608. by which it is ordained That he deliver up to his Brother Mathias the Crown of Hongary the Scepter the Royal Hat and th' other Ornaments which were carried unto him by the Cardinal Dietresthien That he reserved for himself the Title of that Kingdome to bear it Joyntly with Mathias As also he did relinquish unt ' him the Lower and Higher Austria whereof he retained only the Title discharging th' Inhabitants of the Country from their Oath of Fidelity which they had Sworn unto him and Consents that the said Archduke should be nominated Heir to the Crown of Bohemia in Case he Died without Heir Male and all this to be done without prejudice to the States of the Kingdome in their Right of Election and other Privileges The States of the said Kingdome consented to the said future Succession upon two Conditions which were That no prejudice should be done to their Privileges and that the said Archduke during the Life of his Imperial Majesty should not in any sort meddle with the Government of the said Kingdome nor with the Provinces Incorporated to it And in Case he did that he should be deprived and forfeit the Right of Nomination which was Accorded unto him and that he should Entitle himself only the designed King of Bohemia Rodolphus was not Entirely degraded by this Treaty nor the Liberty of the Bohemians wholly suppressed There 's alwaies a middle betwixt two Extremes and some kind of distance to pass from th' one to th' other All the Wounds which are received do not Kill a man suddenly and the Vigour which that people Expressed and the Resistance they made in th' Occasion secured to th' Emperour and them the Remainder of Liberty which appeared in that Treaty The boldness of Mathias and the practices of the Spaniards staid not there and stopped nor in so fair a way They had not begun so well without Resolution to pursue it nor so happily Entred upon their business without finishing of it The Dye was cast And it was an Inviolable destiny in their Judgment t' Abolish the Right of Election in the States of Bohemia and to make that Kingdome Successive and Hereditary For that purpose it was thought necessary to vex the Bohemians Their yoak was to be made heavier and their Servitude larger All obstacles were to be broken and all Gates opened that opposed that design The Cardinal Clessel Rodolphus's Confident and Governour of th' Affairs of Bohemia made a great Opposition against them in the Councels and feared not to resist them publiquely and break all their Stratagems It was the Cause that Mathias at the suggestion of the Count of Ognate the Catholique Kings Ambassadour caused him to b' Imprisoned unknown to th' Emperours and without any Consent of the Nonce resident in that Court And thus having disarmed Rodolphus of his faithfull and bold Minister of State and taking down that head which infused vigour and understanding into the Bohemians he thought to reduce them easily to what they desired After these Actions of Mathias above spoken of and th'Innovations h' Introduced in th' Emperours Court after h' had there done for a time all that he would do and Governed at his pleasure th' Empire under the Name and Authority of his brother He came at last to his desire but he was no sooner setled in his Throne whereunto the Spaniards had aided him t' ascend but they made him t' Adopt his Cozen Ferdinand to th' Exclusion of Maximilian and Albert his Brothers and declare him his Successor
t' Hungary Bohemia and th' Hereditary States This Declaration was not barren and vain it was attended with its effect as the Lightning is sometimes with the Thunder Mathias caused Ferdinand to come to Prague by deceit and with Mony but more effectively by the power of th' Army h' had in Bohemia He compelled Ferdinand to Crown him King of Bohemia leaving out the word of Election and without any Apparence of th'Intervention of the States Authority which was the work the Spaniards aimed at and for which they had long given themselves much trouble The Complement of the business and the Conclusion of it was That they made a Transaction with Ferdinand by which it was resolved In the year 1617. That th' Election of the Kingdoms of Hungary and of Bohemia should b' abolished and that the King of Spain should succeed to those Kingdoms in case of default of the strait Masculine Line of Ferdinand Provided That the King of Spain should relinquish all the Rights h' had in that Country in title of Granchild of th' Eldest of that House Whereupon 't is to b' observed that all this was done and concluded betwixt the Spaniards and Ferdinand with full Power and pure Violence and without the knowledge or participation of the States of those Kingdoms which are Elective And it was th' occasion of a great displeasure conceived by the Bohemians when it was made known to them and the greatstone of scandal against which they struck and which carried them to the Resolution they afterward took to reject Ferdinand from being their King and to call in t ' his place Frederick Gount Palatine under whom was framed in Germany an Intricacy of Affairs which five and twenty years of War could not dissolve And that a thousand new Accidents which every day arise forbid the wisest Men to discover th' Events and the way to get out of that Labyrinth That the Transaction was the principal and most violent Motive of th' Insurrection of the Bohemians appears by the Declaration of the States of Bohemia upon the rejection of Ferdinand of the 23d of May 1618. by which they complained amongst other things That there was an endeavour to transport the Kingdom t' another House It appears by the Letter which th' Elector Palatine wrote to th' Emperor the 25th of June in the same year wherein he says expresly That th' Authors of those Troubles were Persons who sought th' Improvement of some Forein Greatness and represents the Troubles which the Provinces of th' Empire would feel if Strangers were Introduc'd as had been done in the Dutchy of Juliers It appears also by the Declaration made by the Bohemians in the year 1619. upon th' Election of Frederick the First wherein they clearly said That Ferdinand endevour'd to translate the Kingdom of Bohemia under a Forein Power But since there 's nothing so easie as t' Accuse and Disguise an Accusation That every Person flatters himself in his own Cause which h' adjusts and beautifies as he pleaseth And that the Paper receives what is imprinted upon it as a Glass doth represent all that is set before it Let 's produce the testimony of Ferdinand and the proofs h' hath furnished to the Bohemians Complaints 'T is certain that his Predecessors speaking of their States ever put this Expression of our Kingdomes and Hereditary Provinces The word Hereditary Accompanying onely the Provinces and not the Kingdomes He Transposed the word to the beginning of the Clause that he might Fixe and Incorporate himself upon the Kingdomes as Provinces and made it thus of our Hereditary Kingdomes and Provinces And in his Monitory Letters of the 30. April 1620. agaist th'Elector Palatin by which he summons him to Leave in a Month The Kingdome of Bohemia and pretends that that Crown was fallen to him by Natural and Successive Right There was another Cause which was doubtless known to the Bohemians and obliged them to change their Master and to seek another yoak than Ferdinands whose person otherwise was not unacceptable to them 'T is the strong and Implacable Aversion that Prince had against Heresies and th'hot and burning zeal t'Exterminate them out of his Dominions and in all places where his Authority was acknowledged At twenty years of Age He made a vow t' our Lady of Loretta He renewed it at th' Age of forty three to our Lady of Celles which is betwixt Austria and Styria and Confirmed it a little before his Death by the Report of Father Lamorman in that Book of the Virtues of that Emperour The Zeal truly of seeing the Ruine of Heresies and of placing living stones in the Temple of God t' use the words of th'Apostle is very Commendable in it self and t' have no sense thereof is to be wholly deprived of Charity towards ones Neighbour which is one of th' Ends of Christianity There must be a want of Piety to the Church to which Heretiques make Wat No Love for the Glory of God which is Prophaned by Fable Worship But though this Zeal may be as hot in th' Heart as it should be and burn within Though it may be much inflamed in it's Principle yet it ought not t' appear but Tempered with Discretion nor break out but by measure and Rule thought not to procure its End but by convenient means by the waies which God hath ordained or hath left to Prudence to make Choice of Above all he may b' assured that its Operations are ordinarily better effected by gentle and peaceable than by violent and bloody hands And suppose it to be an ill Invention to Kill instead of Healing and to pull down an Edifice t'hinder the burning of it That in Truth there are Constitutions and Encounters where strong Remedies are to be used to stop the Contagion of Diseases which gathet and where Houses are broke down to prevent the fire which they cannot put out from burning of others mens houses and consume that which might have been preserved In this I have given some Rules in the first part and in several places I say some what of it here and there as conceive it necessary and as th' Abuses which I see there Acted oblige me But t is Chiefly necessary in kindling that Zeal in the Spirit of Princes t' infuse also convenient Lights for their Conduct And what I have said in other places ought to b' observed and cannot too often be remembred That great Persons cannot commit small faults nor General Causes removed by small Ruines Sebastian the last King but one of Portugal before that Kingdome was subdued to the Power of Spain is a very Remarkable Example of what I have now said The Queen Catherine his Mother having trusted his Education with Religious persons honest Men indeed and of Eminent Learning according to their profession but unexperienced in th' Affairs of the World and in the Science of Princes Their greatest care was t' imprint deeply into the Soul of this Prince naturally valiant the desire of