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

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

himself part of it and had accordingly done it in case the Dutch would have advanced the rest All this doth abundantly shew what opinion his Majesty and his Council were used to have of France as well as both Houses and the rest of the Nation And therefore without considering how things came to be altered which we may take hereafter some notice of we may lay down as an Undeniable English Pri ciple and a Maxim never to be swerved from That France is no waies to be suffered to grow great much less to have their designes promoted as it is plain to all man kind they are now But we must go somewhat further and there being nothing more dangerous then to joyn in any ambitious design with a Prince against whom we can no waies secure our selves in case he break his word to us it will not be amiss to consider how far one may rely upon the Candor and in egrity of the French Court and what may rationally be expected from their generosity In Order to this since the heart of man is not known otherwise then by a careful observation of their Act on s and that we cannot iudge of things to come but by Inferances and Arguments drawn from those that are past the best way to satisfy our selves is to take a short survey of the carriage and conduct of the French Court for these last 13. Years during which they have had still the same Ministers who are not like to Act henceforth upon any other Principles or by other Methods then they have done hitherto and they having been brought up in so good a School as that of Cardinal Mazarine whose motto was that an honest man ought not to be a slave to his word it must not be wondered at if they do still as much as they are able influence their present Master and endeavour to perswade him that Si Violandum est jus Reguendi causa Violandum est The first proof of the honesty both of the Cardinal himself and of his Disciples is their Carriage in the Pireneam Treaty their performance of what was most Essential in it wherein is to be observed that By the endeavours of the Queen Mother of France a peace being promoted between the two Crowns with a Marriage between the French King and the Infanta of Spain the whole Treaty was grounded upon two considerable points which till granted by France had still hindred the conclusion of that great work the one was the forsaking of Portugal and the other a renunciation of the Infanta consented to and ratified by the French King of all her present and future Pretences Titles or Claimes whatsoever to the Spanish Monarchy and Dominions thereof or to any part of the same Lest saith the Treaty The Glory of their respective Kingdoms should come to decay and be diminished if by reason and through the said Marriage they came to be united and joyned in any of their Children and Posterity which would occasion to the Subjects and Vassals such troubles and afflictions as might easily be imagined As to the first viz. the exclusion and forsaking of Portugal The words of the Treaty are these His said Majesty the French King will indermedle no further in the said Business and doth promise and obliege himself upon his honor and upon the faith and word of a King both for himself and his successors not to give neither in common nor to any Person or Persons thereof in Particular of what Dignity Estate or Condition soever either at present or for the future any help or assistance neither publick nor secret directly nor indirectly of men Arms Munitions Victualling Vessells nor money under any pretence nor any other thing whatsoever by Land or by Sea nor in any other manner as likewise not to suffer any Levies to be made in any part of his Kingdoms and Dominions nor to grant a passage to any that might come from other Countries to the Relief of the said Kingdom of Portugal I suppose all the World will grant it were hard for the wit of man to find out or so much as imagine stronger words or fuller expressions in a Treaty to prevent what the Spaniards were so much afraid of viz. the Assistance of Portugal Let us now see how it was performed As soon as this was agreed on and before the Treaty was signed Cardinal Mazarin still resolved as well in this as upon all other occasions not to be Esclave De sa parelle sent privately the Marquess the Choupes into Portugal to assure them that in Order to the conclusion of the Treaty then on foot with Spain they were forced to leave them out and to engage not to assist them but that whatever they promised they would never forsake them and would still protect them against Spain as much as they had done before The truth is they kept their word to Portugal much better then they did to Spain And the Peace was no sonner made but they sent them the usual supplies of Men Arms and Money And a while after notwithstanding their former Treaty with Spain and in the view of the whole world they entred into an Offensive League with that Kingdom against all their Enemies whereby amongst other things the French were to have all the Sea-Towns that should be taken from Spain delivered to them All which with many other particulars too long to be inserted in this short discourse may be seen more at large in the incomparable Books of the Baren de Iss●la intituled the Buckler of State and Justice which to this day could not be answered by the French though often challenged and so much concerned in honor to do it The other security of the Pirenean Treaty as to Spain and that without which they could never have given their consent to their Marriage of the Infanta was the Renunciation before mentioned And whoever read it will be apt to think a General Councel of the Civilians was called to outdo all former Expressions used in such contracts and to find out new binding Clauses to take of all possibility of Evasion And to make it more sacred yet and more inviolable There being no greater tie upon Soveraign Princes then that of Publique and solemn Treaties the Act of the Renunciation was incorporated into the very Treaty of Pe ce to make up of both of them but one body though digested unto different Instruments as is expresly declared in the 33. Article of the Treaty of Peace wherein speaking of the Contract of Marriage to which they refer themselves these words are added which though it be seperated hath the same force and vigour with the present Treaty of Peace as being the principal part thereof and the most precious pawn of its greater security and lasting But the French Lawyers preferring the little quirks of Law before publique faith And pretending they might bring the Authority of solemn Treaties which are the true and indeed the only Law between Soveraign Princes

rationally be expected it will come to Were it either possible in nature or so much as to be imagined that Holland might be turned into a new Lake their Towns burnt and depopulated and their Inhabitants either destroyed or Transported into remote Colonies or part of them brought into this Kingdom to encrease the Number of our People I fear no Arguments drawn from either natural Justice or Christian Charity could be forceable enough to put a stop to such a design And in the case it would be hard for the ingenious and worthy Author of the Interest of England stated as unanswerable as his Arguments are to perswade men either Biassed or not very well acquainted with the state of Forreign Affairs That it must be the chief Interest of England to support the present Government of Holland But such a destruction being not to be thought on or expected by any man that is in his Wits and since the Scituation of the Country and its Commodiousness for trading in many respects together with the Natural and Laborious Industry of the Inhabitants will still continue under any change To satisfy our selves how far we may be gainers by this War we must consider in order to the general events that may be looked upon as in any degree of possibility In order to that I conceive all men will grant one of these four things must be supposed First The absolute conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French Or Secondly Our Conquering of them Thirdly A Division and Sharing of the Country between us and the French Fourthly and Lastly The Dutch recovering their losses and with the help of their Allies their withstanding both England and France Of each of them in Order The absolute Conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French and their being brought under their subjection is a thing of that dreadful consequence that the very thoughts of it must needs raise the blood of al true English men And there is hardly any remedy too violent for so desperate a cure or means that could be called unjust if necessary to prevent so great an evil And therefore instead of losing time to prove what is so manifest and so obvious to the meanest capacities I only beg of all my dear Countrymen to lay the present state of things to heart and humbly move both Houses to consider whether we be not already too near that evil day and how far it is consistant with that Interest with which they are intrusted to hasten it by unseasonable and pernicious compliance Secondly As to our Mastering the Low Countries it can be but one of these two ways First Our subduing of them by a Landing and withal beating the French out of what they possess already Or Secondly Their voluntary yielding to us and submiting themselves to his Majesty The first can hardly be so much as supposed or imagined by any Rational Man For 1. If in the middest of their late distractions and the unspeakable confusion which was in every part of the Country no opportunity of Landing could be found though often attempted How can it be expected it should be practicable by the next Summer now they are all United and strengthned by the assistance of their Allies 2. How can it be thought possible to Land an Army considerable enough to take all their Towns and Conquer the whole Country Nay to Conquer the Conquerers themselves and beat the French out 3. Granting that the approach of our Fleet would occasion a great disorder and consternatian in the Countrey and that the Dutch should not prove able to oppose our Landing and at the same time to keep the French out and defend themselves to the Landwards what would the consequence of this be but only to enable the French to Master the whole Country whilst the Dutch should divide and draw off their Forces to oppose us It being much easier for the French who are already in the Country to Ma ch with all their Forces to Amster am and to the rest of their Towns before we can Land then for us to prevent them by our Landing 4. Lastly if the French Ships are to have a share in the Expedition what Security have we their men will promote our own ends and not their Masters and that they shall not rather turn tayl against us if occasion be And as to the voluntary yeilding of the Dutch and their giving themselves up to us I may say it is as irrational and as fond a conceit as the other And which therefore doth hardly need being confuted But because some of our great men have even in Print made use of this as of an Argument both to justifie the War in point of prudence and to perswade the Nation to joyn and concur with the Cabal in their dark Counsels It will be necessary and we owe that respect to their quality as to lay the matter open and unfold it with a little more care Were the Vnited Provinces still entire and untouched and they in an election to joyn with and submit themselves upon terms either to France or England it would be no hard matter to demonstrate and make it to appear that the ballance of true policy and reason should weigh down by much on the French side And that the best part of their Trade would soon if incorporated with us run out of their Chanels into ours which all understanding men amongst them are so sensible of that in Case this were in agitation the interest of Religion which besides they could secure some other way should hardly carry it against profit and self preservation But not to multiply debates and granting now that in such a Case the Ducth would prefer our Domination before that of the French Let us not examine what might have been if our suppositions were true But what is like to be De facto may rationally be expected as the Cause stands .. First it must be observed that though their Maratime Provinces be far the most considerable and those which have made that Common-wealth so powerful and so famous all over the World yet their In-Land Provinces are of no less importance to the preservation of the whole and are the Bull-works and Out-works of the other without which the main Body would be soon streigtned and brought in a little time to the greatest extremities For this Reason the Spaniards never offered Peace to the Dutch nor could they have accepted of it if offered till being Masters of Seven Provinces and having withall conquered several Towns in Brabant and Flanders to be a fence to their out Provinces their Territories proved of a Competent extent to Lodge and Maintain upon their Frontiers the greatest Armies And by removing the Seat of the War from their Trading Provinces be so much the more able to continue it rather with advantage to them then with the least inconvenience or trouble 2. The Second thing we must take notice of is that the greatest advantage of the

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

And the French King must needs be Master of the best part of Europe before we can have to our share either the Briel or Flushing I might Add several other considerations And perhaps of no less weight then the former to evidence the fatal consequences of this War But by reason they do relate to the safety and preservation of our Lawes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil I forbear least it should be thought I go about or intend in the least to raise a Jealousie between his Majesty and his people leaving it wholly to the care and wisedom of the both Houses to provide against it by those means and wayes as to them shall seem meet and necessary and as the Importance of the thing it self requireth III. So far I hope we have made good what we have said in the beginning of this Discourse That this was an age of wonders and that of those wonders the greatest was the present Alliance with France And our prosecuting the War in so dangerous an Association But since there are no effects so rare or so wonderful as well in the Civil Government as in the Course of Nature but have proper Agents to produce them it is very fit to enquire into the causes of our Misterious Councills the better to judge of their true nature In order to that It will not be amiss to look a little abroad and consider whether the Policy of some other Princes who are engaged in the same Alliance with the French may not be a Leading case for us And help our discovery at home Those Princes are the Bishop of Munster and the Elector of Collen And as to the first All the world knows and we have had a sufficient experience our selves how far Money will go with him Nay he is so far honest in this that he doth think it no shame to own and profess it openly He is but a Tennant for life And whatever fills his Coffers that he takes to be his true interest The Universal Monarchy doth not intrench upon the Soverainity of either his Brothers or Nephews And a considerable and rich Legacy is the only Principality he can leave them Whilst his present Subjects are destroyed he hoards up Treasuries for his Family And let the worst come Some rich Abbeyes in France will bring him more Revenues then his Bishop-rick As lately a Northen King did for the like exchange his Crown so that the case is clear with him And if the States wovld out bid the French his Highness would soon forget his Old Querrells and prove the best of their friends The next is the Elector of Collen who to do him right is a Religious and a worthy Prince And one who in his own nature is a great lover of peace But how could he be perswaded then to make his Country the Seat of War To give his strong holds to a Forreigner And to expose his Subjects to all the Calamities which the inquartering of an Insolent Army doth bring along with it To this the answer is plain The Softness of his nature and the Easiness of his disposition hath made him devolve upon his Chief Ministers the whole Government of his Dominions and the absolute direction of his Counsells His great favorite another Bishop is of the same Religion and Principles which that of Munster and the Debonarity of the Master is no fence against the corruption of the Servant Quid vultis mihi dare tradam eum vobis Nay if the Bishop of Stratsburg the said Favorite doth stick at any hard thing and is at any time somwhat troubled in his mind for the undoing of so many thousands of Fam lies and for betraying his Trust so shamefully he hath his Brother at his Elbow the late Bishop of Ments a sworn Champion for the French and of whom they used to say in jeast that he was a dear friend to them ready to comfort them upon all occasions and to spur him on with more fury Thus if you ask where the Interest of the Arch-Bishop of Collen lyeth in this Alliance with France And how comes it he will suffer his Country to be laid as wast as if the Turks had over run it Let it not be wondred at The French Pensioners will have it so And the two Brothers Furstenburgs are paid for it The Case being thus abroad I wish our Island might boast of the same happiness as to corrupt Councellors Which Ireland injoyeth in their being free from all Venimous Creatures And that no politick Vipers might be able to breath in our English Ayr without soon breathing out their lives But alas our Chronicles do furnish us with two many Instances of the contrary And without looking any further back for Presidents his Majesty himself and this Very Parliament have not many years since sufficiently expressed how far they are of opinion that Great Ministers may betray their trust On the other side because some have been guilty they must not be all indifferently condemned And we ought to have a great care not to pass a rash Verdict upon Persons whom his Majesty hath irradiated with so many Illustrious beams of his Princely favour The safest way then not to wrong neither the Cabel nor the Truth is to take a short survey of the Carriage of the chief Promoters of this War Leaving the Judgment of either their Innocency or their Guilt to the unprejudiced Reader 1. I will not insist much upon some whispers come too loud talking of late of the wonderful effects the French Kings Liberality had almost four years since in converting the strongest opposers of his Interest and though there be many od passages in it which are come to the Knowledg of several considerable members of both houses yet being not able my self to lay the whole matter open and having it only at the second hand I leave the full discovery of it to the party Concerned who I am enformed upon the least encouragement and provided he may do it with safety to his Person will at any time be ready to trace out in the view and to the satisfaction of the whole world the first steps towards our undoing and to shew plainly when the foundation of this Mistery of iniquity was laid 2. But howsoever whether all that is reported of this be true or not I suppose it is not usual to see so great a familiarity as hath been observed long since between Forreign Embassadors and First Ministers of State Continual treatings and frequent goings to Country Houses there to stay several daies and weeks is a new thing in the World And an Embassadors using so Noble a House with so much freedom gave a just cause to all observing men to conclude he had paid dear for it I am sure his Majesty himself was not very well pleased with it at first Though they have proved pretty successful in the Art they have used since to reconcile him to their intrigues 3. We have seen in the first

this Discourse of the new Agreement entred into with the French King by our Plenipotentiaries and demonstrated the fatal consequences of the same what followeth will clear it farther The wonderful Progress of the French having surprized and frighted all Europe Our Court who knew what slender provision was made for England in that Conquest was little less Alarm'd than the rest And our Grand Ministers were dispatched in Post haste both to the Dutch and to the French their greatest fear when they went being left they should come too late and find the whole Country under the French Subjection After their Arrival in the Hague they begun their first Complements to the States Commissioners that were sent to wait upon them with all the Expressions imaginable both of kindness to Holland and of concernmant and trouble to see the French so far advanced There they received an account of Monsieur de Groots Negociation and of the great care the French took of his Majesty which raised such an Indignation in them that nothing would serve their turn but destroying out of hand or at least Mastering the French Fleet. And from thence removing to the Prince of Orange his Camp they renewed their kind Protestations Assured his Highness That his Majesties intention had never been to give way to the Conquest of the Vnited Provinces The most Christian King himself having often times declared he onely intended to humble their Commonwealth neither was it fit to suffer the French should go on at that rate In the end they took upon them and engaged to do their utmost to bring the French Court to be Satisfied with Maestricht and the right of keeping Garrisons in the Towns upon the Rhyne that belong to the Electors of Brandenburg and Collen And that in Case the French refused to accept of those terms they would then take new measures with the States and consider joyntly of the best ways to prevent the destruction of their Common wealth as well as the dangerous encrease of the French With these fair promises and friendly assurances they proceeded on their Journey to his most Christian Majesty who was some few hours riding from thence having behind them an infinite satisfaction in the minds of all Persons with great expectation of a happy Change through their zealous interposition But what may not the Royal Eloquence of a most Christian King do What will not his Golden Word perswade after our Grand Ministers had been some few dayes in the French Army they found they were not mistaken before and began to have a clearer apprehension of things The Negotiation of De Groote with the particulars imparted to them at the Hague was a meer slander for so the French Court told them The encrease of the French Power was not to be suspected or feared they were too generous to abuse it And therefore after they had left the Prince of Orange three or four days without News from them they at last sent him word The States were to give satisfaction to both Kings joyntly And that neither Crown could or would treat seperately This unexpected Message did infinitely surprise as well the Prince of Orange as the States And his Highness who had full power given him by the States to Treat and conclude with England not to be held longer in suspence answered the Pl nipotentiaries he desired to know what would satisfie both Crowns and what their respective demands were Whereupon they sent him the joynt Proposals before mentioned together with a Copy of the new agreement they were entred into concerning which we 'l add onely to what hath already been said these following Queries 1. Whether they were sent onely to promote the French Conquest and if not how they could think it advisable by making the Peace impossible to force the Dutch as far as in them lay to cast themselves into the Armes of the French King and submit themselves to his Domination 2. Whether they can deny they knew the joynt Proposalls tendred to the Dutch should not be granted since the French demands alone had been unanimously rejected and in that case how agreeable it was to the Interest of England to make it impossible for the Dutch to give his Majesty any satisfaction 3. Whether they had not received as well from the Prince of Orange as from the States Commissi ners all possible Assurances of the infinite desire they had to see his Majesty return to his former Amity with them and of their readiness to purchase it at any rate that the Condition they were in would bear If so how faithfully the Plenipotentiaries discharged their trust in neglecting those proffers and entring into a New Engagement which was so Prejudicial to England as we have made it appear 4. How far those that were joyned in Commission with them did concur with them in their Judgment and whether all those considerations with man other were not represented to them And urged by some who had no other end but to serve their Master faithfully 5. Whether or no it was for that Reason they opposed so fiercely My Lord Vicount Hallifax who came a day or two after them his appearing and acting joyntly with them though Commissionated in as full and as ample manner as themselves 6. Who were those after my Lord Hallifax could be kept out no longer who went privately to the French Camp under several pretences and had still Negotiations of their own on foot 7. Whether they had Order to call the French King the King of France and to name him still before his Master as well as to set in the first place the French demands before those of their Majesty As all this was done in the Copies of the Agreement they had made and of both Kings pretensions which they sent together to the Prince of Orange by Sir Gabriel Sylvius And to which we may appeal if the truth of this be doubted 8. And Lastly how far their Instructions will justifie their standing in the behalf of the French upon a Publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Vnited Provinces the Churches to be divided and the Romish Priests maintained out of the Publick Revenue As is set down more at large in the second Head of the French Demands Having thus in all uprightness of heart stated as clearly as I am able the present Grand case of the Nation wherein I may truly say before God and his Angells I have Averred no one thing without Good Vouchers and such respectively as the nature of the thing doth bear I 'le end with a few Summary Hints of what we have discoursed at Large and laying in all Humility both my self and these reflections as well at his Majesties as at his Great Councills Feet I beg of them to take into their Serious considerations 1. The Natural solid Greatness of the French Monarchy 2. Their Ambitious and aspiring thoughts in all ages with the consequences of the same 3. The great Encrease of their power under their Present King both by Sea and Land 4. How far it was not long since thought fit to stop their Progress And what steps were made in Order to it as well as the zeal with which it was carried on 5. The carriage of the present French Court and how they have dealt with most Princes of Europe 6. How kindly they have used both his Majesty in particular and the whole Nation 7. How true they have been to their word and to their reiterated promises and other Engagements 8. How faithfully they have performed Articles hitherto And what security we have they shall be still ready to do worse 9. The necessity of keeping a true Ballance between the European Princes 10. How dangerous it is to alter that Ballance when once settled on a solid Basis 11. The dreadful consequences of the Conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French 12. The unpossiblity of our Conquering them 13. The Impracticableness or Disproportion of the supposed sharing and Division of their Country with the little advantage and benefit which at the best would accrew to us 14. How prejudicial and hurtful would to the contrary any possibility and practicable sharing prove the same being in truth no other than an absolute French Conquest in a disguise 15. How destructive the present War must needs be in the end in Case the Dutch shall be enabled by the assistance of their Allies to recover what they have lost and to come out with as considerable a Fleet as ours 16. How considerable these Allies are and how much Christian Blood will be shed by our wilful adhering to the French 17. How unavoydable a breach with Spain will be in case we persist in our Alliance with France 18. And how fatal the consequence of a Spanish War 19. How much greater the danger will prove if the French be able to conqu●r as well Germany and Spain as the United Provinces and that no Confederacy of Princes how great and how powerful soever be a sufficient Balance to their Forces 20. And lastly How faithful our Ministers have dischrged their Trust in these great Emergences How free they have been from dependences upon Forein Courts How far they have been Jealous of their reputation in that particular What great care they have had of keeping up the Credit and the Reputation of the Triple League and of their own Masters with it Their Backwardness not to say worse in redressing or at lest declaring against all the wrongs done by the French as well to his Majesty himself as to his Subjects Their industrious indeavours and various Stratagems to engage his Majesty and the Nation in this War their Engrossing all business of concernment and concealing the most Important debates and resolutions from his Majesties Privy Council Nay their keeping it unseasonably from his great Council and putting off their Sessions lest they might cross their designs Lastly the carriage of some of them in Holland and of the care they took of the Interest both of England and of the Protestant Religion Now I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Curssing Therefore choose Life that both you and your Seed may Live FINIS

likewise that in case we do persist in our Alliance with the French they must break with us as well as with them And since they are so far concerned in the preservation of the Dutch they cannot think themselves safe if the others are destroyed It is their Interest by making this War as destructive to us as they can to perswade us more effectually than they could do hitherto into a friendship with their Allies for to say they dare not proceed to a breach they are afraid of us and we know how to Order them in the West Indies This were good if their All did not ly at stake and if by their breach with us they could endanger more then the same All Whereas to the Contrary by venturing all they may and will in all likelyhood save both themselves and all Europe This being Granted as it must needs be if truth do in the least prevail with us I need not use many words to make all England sensible of the sad consequences of a Spanish War I 'le hint only those that are undeniable As first the seizure of all our Merchants Estates amounting in the whole to a vast Sum. 2. The loss of our Trade with them which of all other is the most beneficial to the Kingdom And without which our Wollen goods must lie upon our hands and half of our Weavers Spinners c. go a begging 3. The Interruption of our Levant and Plantations Trade which cannot in case of Breach be secured by ordinary Convoys And not to mention the Spanish Men of War which both as to number and strength are sufficient to cruise in the Streights With what either encouragement or safety can our Traders venture abroad if besides the Dutch Capers the Seas come to be infested with Ostenders Biscaines Majorcans and Minorcans Who are none of them inferiors to the Flushingers and are as well Skilled as they are in the Art of Piracy Nay did not these very men without any help take above fifteen hundred Ships from us in the late Spanish War when Spain was at the lowest and sought alone against us and France 4. By the loss or at least the interruption of our Trade his Majesties Customes which is the considerablest Branch of his Revenue will come to little or nothing so that to support the War new Taxes must be raised in lieu of it And proportionably so much greater Subsidies granted to his Majesty If from Spain we come to the Empire we find the Emperor himself and the Elector of Brandenburg already engaged in the quarrel and many other Princes upon declaring so that it is now high time both for the Parliament and all true Englishmen to look farther then we have done yet and to examine with more care the consequence of this War For the Fire which both we and France have kindled is like to consume all Europe if we do not make hast to quench it and by a timely Retreat give way to safe Counsels And for a close to this second Part of our Discourse I desire the following Considerations may be seriously Debated and weighed First What horrid spilling of Christian Bloud we 'l be the occasion of if by our wilful promoting of the Ambitious designs of the French even so palpable against our Interest we force all the rest of Europe to take up Arms in their own defence and to unite all for their Common safety and for the preservation of that Liberty which as though we were led by Witchcraft we merrily go about to destroy 2. How prejudicial this War will be to us in case the confederate Princes do over-ballance the Power of France And by raising the Reputation and the Credit of the Dutch which last is the only thing they want enable them not only to pay their Land Armies but likewise to set out as great and considerable Fleets as ever And I do not see that either of them ought to be looked upon as very improbable since first it is very certain and all those that knew the Country will grant That if the Hollanders had but some prosperous success either by their own Armies Or by the help of their Allies they 'l be able to take up without trouble and in a very short time as much Money as they may have occasion for And in the second place it seemeth pretty rational to judg that the house of Austria with the conjunction of many Potent Princes will struggle a while for their lives and may be hard enough for the French 3. But how much greater will the danger be if neither Germany nor Spain are able to stop the Progress of the French And in case they must all yield and submit themselves to the Victorious Arms of the most Christian King what will become of Poor England must his Majesty I speak it with due respect to his Royal and sacred person be Tenant at will or else Do we presume so far on our own strength as to imagin we may do what the rest of Europe cannot And that though the French had conquered all we should not fear them the more and could still defend our selves against them Let those that have Advised his Majesty to this War speak they must now pull their Vizard off they must appear in their true shape tell us plainly whether they are paid for making the French King the Universal Monarchy And whether to bring down new Golden showers into their Laps England must at Least be made Tributary to the French some few Hackney writers will not serve the Turn now And twenty silly stories against Holland cannot make it advisable for us to joyn with the French King against the Greatest part of Europe When this War was entred upon no Enemies were thought on at least spoken of besides the Dutch This was the only game we followed at first And we expected no other prey to divide between us and the French But now supposing that we had taken never so much care for an equal sharing of the Vnited Provinces concerning which we refer our selves to what hath been said before will our great men assure us further That the Lines are also fallen to us in the pleasant places of Europe And that his Majesty is to share the Vniversal Empire with the most Christian King I grant the Dutch have offended us And that our War against them is not unjust But is it Just therefore to destroy so many Princes who cannot Subsist without them who for their own preservation are forced to Venture all to preserve the Vnited Provinces In few words the Scene is altered And though our infinite charity leads us not to suspect the sincerity of the French or fear the encrease of their power most Princes of Europe are of another mind And whatever comes of it they are resolved to stand by and protect the Dutch as long as they are able to protect themselves so that to conquer Holland All their Allies must be destroyed first