brought our Nation under such Convulsions that without the help of kind Heaven must end in a total Dissolution Sed futura nesâ—imus I am My Lord Your Constant and Faithful Servant Paris Decemb. 16. 1677. N. S. LETTER XXVI The Opinion of the French Court concerning the five Persons that made up the Cabal in England in the Year 1671 2. My Lord THE Ministers of this Court are not only the most inquisitive Persons in the World into the Affairs of other Courts but even into the Persons that manage them whose Natures Dispositions Religion Natural and Acquired Abilities as well as Respective Infirmities they endeavour to sift out to the quick that so they may use them or shun them as they find occasion and for this reason it is that they make some Remarks upon them in their Minutes as well as upon the Affairs transacted by them And therefore since the Five Persons who made up the Cabal in England a few years ago and who your Lordship may remember were the Dukes of Buckingham and Lauderdale the Earls of Shaftsbury and Arlington and the Lord Treasurer Clifford were very distinguishable for the Stations they were in the Offices they held and the Parts each of them acted in the Government I find this Character given of them For the Duke of Buckingham as he was the Kings Favourite so he really deserved to be so as being very capable to be a Minister of State if his application to business had been answerable to his Talents if his mind which was furnished with excellent Endowments had not been distracted with Libertinism which was in him to an extream degree and by a love to his Pleasures which made one of those Persons in the World that was fittest for great and solid things vain and frivolous Of the Duke of Lauderdale there is little or nothing said but that he is a great and quaint Politian and no question but he has merited that Character at their hand Of my Lord Clifford they are as profuse in their Praises as I doubt they have been too of their Money saying he was a Person who wanted nothing but a Theatre where Vertue and Reason had been much more in use than it was in his Country in the Age wherein he lived for to be superiour to and overtop the rest My Lord of Arlinton they make to be a Person of a meaner Capacity and more limitted Genius than any of the Five but say his Experiences supply the Defect and has acquired him especially a very great knowledge of Forreign Affairs last of all they bring in Anthony Ashley Cooper the Renowned Earl of Shaftsbury of whom they say he was by far the fitter Person of any of them to manage a great Enterprize and so was as the Soul to all the rest being endued with a vast Capacity clear Judgment bold Nature and subtil Wit equally firm and constant in all he undertook a constant Friend but an implacable Enemy with many other Expressions such as his not being terrified neither with the greatness nor the multitude of the Crimes he judges necessary for his own preservation or the destruction of others much to his Lordships dishonour which is a clear Argument he was not for their Interest and for which he is much beholding to them Your Lordship will pardon the freedom I take with You and accept of the sincere endeavours to serve you of My Lord Your Honours most Humble and most Obedient Servant Paris Jan. 12. 1678. N. S. LETTER XXVII Of the Methods practised by the French Ministers to corrupt our Embassadors My Lord HAving given your Lordship some account of the opinion the French Court have had of some of our Statesmen it may be it will not be unacceptable to recount to your honour in this place some of those ways they have taken here to corrupt and pervert our Embassadors And I can boldly affirm that there has been hardly any one Embassador sent from our Court hither since the Restoration whom they have not endeavoured to corrupt and to get into a private Intreague to traverse not only what he was to Negotiate but even something of what themselves prest on our Princes by their own private Agents and on some of whom I have named one to your Lordship formerly they have made very great impressions to our Nations detriment for matters of main Consequence were treated of by private Ministers or Messengers between both Kings which were not as much as mentioned to the Embassadors sent in Publick who have been on our side sent only for Parade to Negotiate many times things whereof the contrary had been most commonly agreed upon especially in private only to blind by that piece of Formality the Eyes of our Subjects at home and of our Neighbours abroad or else to treat about matters of meer Complement or of but ordinary concern and tho' what has been privately treated on between the Two Kings or but only proposed was of great Concern to be kept secret and that for that very reason they knew our Embassadors were not made acquainted with it yet such has been their Malice and Treachery to our King and Country as to discover to our Embassadors or Envoys and their Secretaries such parts thereof as they have thought being once known to them would be most proper and effectual to induce our Ministers to enter into a particular Cabal with them for by-ends and many times to affirm things more invidious than ordinary to have been agreed upon between both Courts which were only proposed which kind of Communication of theirs had a very powerful influence by the curiosity that is natural to all Mankind to work upon our Ministers to entertain such a Correspondence with them to the dishonour and detriment of their King and Country for they have told them sometimes that not only the Points proposed by the Dutchess of Orleans but other things of as bad and dangerous consequence for the Subjects and Religion in England were absolutely concluded on between both Crowns unknown unto them and that our King and Duke of York had taken such and such Measures to put themselves into a Condition to do what they pleased and that the King their Master was willing to flatter them in such hopes and feed them with a little Money to keep them from taking part with his Enemies yet that truly at the bottom he had no such Zeal for Religion nor for the Pope of Rome as he had not for the King of England's over great Power and Absoluteness in Rule being things which could not but be prejudicial and very incompatible with his own greatness and therefore he should not fail underhand to favour the People of England in supporting their Liberties and Rights and defending their Religion and confining the Kingly or Regal Power to its own due limits And therefore if they Viz. our Envoys or Ministers would serve him in that design they might assure themselves they should be well gratified for
their Church whatever they might suggest with themselves to the contrary than they were aware of or was easily indeed to be imagined were of the same Sentiments but that they were under a restraint and durst not declare themselves to be such for fear of the Mobile and of the Presbyterians other Sectaries and Republican Parties which like so many evil Spirits presided over those Savage kind of Animals and stirred them as they pleased themselves against their Superiors But to those My Lord whom they found to be of the more inflexible sort they were instructed to make use of great Flatteries and Complements and to acquaint them that they had a great deal of reason to love the Roman Catholicks as the Roman Catholicks had to do so by them for that they had had for a long time the same Common Enemies had suffered much with them conjointly for the same Royal Cause in the late Rebellions that their Adversaries were numerous enough to require their united Power and Strength against them and that their subtilty was no less to be dreaded by them whose effects could not be warded off without such a double Force that there was much more danger to the Church and State of England and to the Monarchical Government now from the Sectaries than from their Church for it was plain to any one that was but willing to see That it was now no more the Roman Catholicks Interest since they were out of all hopes of being the predominant Religion in the Kingdom to act against the Church or State of England under whom they had such mild Treatment but much rather to join and fall in with them against the Sectaries and Common-wealth's-men under whom they could never expect any thing but utmost Rigour and Cruelty That it being impossible for them alone to support and maintain themselves in England against so great a number of Sectaries as were with the greatest inveteracy imaginable animated against them without the Protection of the Church of England and the Monarchy tho' but by way of Connivence It was therefore so much their Concern and real Interest to Pray for and endeavour after the Prosperity of both Parties tho' different in Perswasion that they had no reason to fear any thing from them nor be alarm'd at the Conversions they had happened to make which were so few and inconsiderable as never to be able to do them hurt had it been so designed as it was not That there was no danger neither from the French King's Friendship or close Alliance with their King it being the only Foreign Security as matters then stood that he could have against the intriegues and power of the United Provinces who not only ruined their Commerce by Sea but were the only People that buoyed up and supported the Sectaries and Republican Party and harboured and abetted all Designs both against the Church and State of England under the then Monarchy it being their inseparable Interest in all things to thwart the English almost in every particular they valued themselves upon in the present Establishment Whereas there was no exception to be made but that it was his Most Christian Majesty's undoubted Advantage and fixed Interest to cultivate by all good Offices the said Friendship and Alliance and to avoid by all manner of means any Rupture or Mis-intelligence with England and to oppose above all things the change of our Monarchy into a Republick In the last place continued they Whereas there had been for some time Reports spread not only of the Duke's but the King himself 's being of their Perswasion they were to give out to this sort of Men that that was only a suspicion and as they really believed ill-grounded enough for tho' they had reason to wish them and all Mankind else of their Opinion in that case yet they had no such reason to think them so but that the King 's having shewed some favour to them upon the score of their Sufferings for and Fidelity to his Father and himself and out of respect to the Most Christian King with whom he was so closely Alli'd for his better support and establishment against the enemies of Monarchical Government was the only grounds People had had for such Rumours which were industriously fomented only by the Authors of the former Fears and Jealousies against his Father in order to get an opportunity thereby once more to destroy the Regal Government And that they made this noise indeed against Popery but levelled it only at Episcopal and Kingly Government not at such contemptible Adversaries as the Roman Catholicks were at that time of day Then as for the Duke they were to affirm They thought and had reason to believe he was no more a Catholick than the King but that being a Prince of an high and inflexible Spirit and Heir presumptive to the Royal Diadem disdained to be compelled by any Subjects either to take an Oath or give any account of his Religion only to gratifie their Humours and Fancies and chose rather to forbear acting in any publick Employment But that for their part as he had not yet declared against the Church of England so he had as yet made no profession of the Roman Catholick Religion as they knew of but took care to keep himself as much reserved towards them as towards those of the Protestant Perswasion By such sort of Sophisiry and cunning Artifices thrse French Incendiaries were instrumental to endeavour to Keep up the Stiff Church Party in a perpetual Animosity against the Protestant Dissâ—nters and Dutch Party as both of a Party and to stir up the Government to side still with the French Interest against the power and growth of the one and provide with severity against the Practices of the other in order to exasperate as much as possibly they could the Spirits of both Parties against the other and widen the Breaches beyond all possibility of restoring them again Which how well they have already effected is but too well known and no less sorely felt in the Bowels of the Kingdom for me to take upon me to Descant upon and therefore I shall forbear and only subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordship 's Most humble Servant to Command Paris Mar. 28. 1682. LETTER XLIV Of the French Intrigues to raise a good Opinion in the Protestant Dissenters of England of the French King 's Proceedings and to Calumniate their own King My Lord I Am come to the last Body of Men within the Kingdom whom this Court by such like Engines as I formerly mentioned has endeavoured to manage for to serve their own turn to the Kingdom 's disadvantage and they are the Protestant Dissenters but they were necessitated to give the less umbrage to change their shapes and form of expression to those of that Party whom they had the design upon and to whom they closely and warmly remonstrated That they had no occasion to be jealous of the Proceedings of France and be animated so
they desired or negotiate a private Treaty with that Prince in their favour and to their advantage with that power and good effect desirable required as they might well imagine more than ordinary Summes of Money and all ready and in Specie too But that if besides his ordinary Allowance according to the Agreement which he expected should be punctually pay'd him every six months he could but have a Summ of a Million of Crowns again seasonably advanced him for Extraordinaries before the time of the next prorogation of the Parliament were expired then he did believe he might bring matters so to bear by such a Reinforcement so as to be able to gain Votes enough even in the Parliament it self to carry it against all others both in respect to the Neutrality and to the gaining their Consent for deferring any Foreign Allyance by way of Marriage of either of his Daughters till a General Peace was concluded and work very much with the Prince of Orange too to comply with their desires when he should see the Parliament gave him no hopes otherwise of compassing his Aims or if not yet at least he should be able hereby to keep himself still strongest in the Privy Council and in the Court where nothing should be transacted to their disadvantage That both his own Friends and theirs had been so very successful and made such wonderful progresses in Conversions of all sorts and Ranks of People as that of such and such Peers of the Realm I will not say your Lordship was one named among the rest such and such Courtiers and Members of Parliament c. that such and such Bishops Eminent Doctors in Divinity and other dignified Clergy and such and such Gentlemen who were remarkable for Interest and Estates or Eminent for exquisite Parts though they have learnt here since there was nothing more false were either already converted and quite brought over or extraordinarily well inclined and that there was no doubt to be made of it but by an augmentation of about four or five hundred thousand Crowns more for the Cause and Interest of Religion they might be able so to dispose of the greater and more noted part of the Conforming Church of England which was the main of their Work as to bring them over to their Religion yea and even to declare for it publickly too as soon as they should be freed from the Fears of the English Mobile and of the Fanatical Sectaries and see a General Peace concluded and the King himself declare for it being back'd with so powerful a Prince as his Most Christian Majesty was that however many of them were already brought over to the French Interest against the Dutch and many more might be so if timely Liberality were offered with many other Allegations set off with Coleman's usual flourishes on the behalf of his Master though he had countermined all before as I have already hinted And lastly that he had once more attacked the King his Brother as to Religion and that with great hopes and that if he could have but Money enough to carry on the Point with the Church of England he questioned not but by that time a General Peace were negotiated his Majesty would be induced to declare too when besides his support abroad from the Most Christian King he should see himself backt by almost all his Royalists then numerous enough in the Nation and so great yea more than a probability of an Accommodation between the two Churches of Rome and England and his potent Brother of France then by the Peace at full Liberty to lend him all needful Help My Lord you see here what little Sincerity there was in all their mutual Proceedings May the Reward be suitable is my unfeigned Wish as it has been already to some But I am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Mar. 9. 1680. N. S. LETTER LIII Of King Charles II's urging the French Court for his Remittances according to the private League between them My LORD YOU have heard what pressing Instances His Highness has made for his Remittances according to Agreement and what mighty Encouragements he has given this Court of gaining their Ends both in Court and Parliament And now 't is fit the King should put in his Plea at last which he did in this manner as their Minutes represent it That for his part he had advanced rather more than less Money than he had already received from them for carrying on their Work and that not to enumerate many Particulars he would observe to them that when he saw there was no other Probability of obliging his dear Brother of France in preserving the Neutrality so much desired by him but by Proroguing of his Parliament which they knew well enough was a tender Point That yet not to be wanting to his Brother's Interests and his own Engagements he had adventured so far as even twice to Prorogue them and had withal expended most of his own Moneys in endeavouring if possible against the next Meeting or Session of Parliament to make a Party so as to be able in a Parliamentary Way to over-match his Adversaries and those of the Most Christian King his Brother and not only that but to be in a Condition to support himself during their Recess in the Figure he ought as King of England to make both at home and abroad for his own Advantage as well as that of the Most Christian King 's and so carry on the Work of Mediation between him and the Confederates as his Brother of France would have as likewise the desired Negotiations in Holland to induce the Prince of Orange to a Compliance c. That they could not but know he was much involved in Debts by the last War in Conjunction with them against Holland and other extraordinary Occasions by Troubles arising and fomented chiefly by his adhering to his Brother of France's Interest and that he having Prorogued his Parliament upon his Account and thereby put himself under an absolute Necessity of being deprived of the Legal Assistance of his People it was but very reasonable and just they should advance such a Sum as might enable him not only further to gratifie His Most Christian Majesty's Desires but also to satisfie in part his own extraordinary Necessities and recompence him for the Subsidies he miss'd of thereby again and again from his own Subjects And Lastly He demanded at least such a Re-inforcement as he had before received at the Conclusion of the Treaty with France and that by way of Extraordinary besides his Annuity punctually paid And of this he expected an exact Performance before the besides another Advance at the Beginning of that Session that so he might be able to make his Party good against all Opposers at their next Meeting or else Prorogue them without fear of wanting Money during their Recess And did further insist beside some other Proposals not worth mentioning upon his having Five
LORD Your Honours to serve You. Paris Aug. 23. 1679. N. S. LETTER LX. Instructions given to the French Emissaries whereby to manage the Dissenters and Republican Party in England in reference to the Prince of Orange's matching with the Lady Mary My LORD I Have in my last given your Lordship an Account of the French Intrigues in managing the Royal and Church of England Party in respect to the March with the Prince of Orange here follows their Instructions to their Agents with the Dissenters and Republican Party upon the same Head To them they were to use many of the Arguments used to those of Holland of which hereafter and make them believe if they could that if the P. of Orange should come to the Crown of England notwithstanding his Humility now he would fly higher at Absolute Power than any before him or that the present King or his Brother could that under an humble appearance he subtilly hid an aspiring Mind and that having in many things encroached already upon the Power of the States General he would totally oppress them and by that accession of Strength raise his Authority in England to what pitch he pleased and Adieu to all hopes of a Common-wealth there when that of Holland should be subject to his Scepter and Adieu to all expectation of making Presbytery the predominant Religion there for that it was almost incompatible with a moderate Monarchy much less with Absolute Power and that whatever Principles the Prince had been bred in as to Religion though he might like them well enough as a Member of a State with whose Constitutions they perfectly agreed it was not to be doubted that when he came to be a Monarch and so powerful an one too as the United Provinces thrown into the weight of three Crowns would make him but he would like most Princes make his Religion conform to the Model of his Politicks and when he became a Monarch and so great an one too take up Monarchs principles which could be no other than Popish or such as exceed them if possible in malignity viz. Those of the Tantivy Sons of the Church of England none else agreeing with despotick Rule so that whatever hopes they might flatter themselves with from such a Match and the Prince's accession to the Throne they should find themselves so far disappointed as not to have any reason left them to expect as much as a Tolleration in Religion and the Freedom of their Consciences Which with my humble Respects to your Lordship is all I have to Communicate at this time who am in all lowly Observance My LORD Your Honour 's to Command Paris Sept. 5. 1679. N. S. POST-SCRIPT My LORD SInce I had finished my Letter I happening occasionally to run over some of our Minutes I thought fit to sub-join what I meet with there briefly inserted in order to the management of meer Politicians and Adiaphorites in Religion upon the account of the Prince's Match and to them the forementioned Emissaries were to suggest on the contrary that the Prince though he should in time by virtue of the said Match come to be King of England yet that it could not be thought but that still he would continue a Dutch-Man in all his Inclinations sacrifice our Commerce and Interest to those of that Nation yea and perhaps part with the chief Prerogatives of the Crown to make the King of England like a Doge of Venice or Dutch Stadt-holder c. which though sufficiently ridiculous I could not forbear noting to your Lordship who am My LORD Yours c. LETTER LXI The Arguments used in Holland by the French Emissaries to the Lovestein Faction against the Prince of Orange's matching with the Lady Mary c. My LORD IF it was any pleasure to your Lordship to peruse the Accounts I have already given you of the Stratagems of this Court to incite the Church of England and Dissenting Parties against the Match with the Prince of Orange as I am desirous and I hope not unwilling to interpret your silence in that regard to imply it I cannot think it will be less to your Honour's satisfaction to understand how they managed the same Affair in Holland where no less Subtilty and Address was wanting than in England to divert a Match that predicted no good Omen to France as they imagined the Party in that Republick which their Emissaries had Instructions to work upon were the Lovestein Faction to whom nevertheless they were to address themselves very cautiously and covertly and first to insinuate to them and by them to the State-Party That indeed it was true the Illustrious Princes of the House of Nassau had not only been the first Founders but also the great preservers of their Common-wealth and that it could not be denied but that the present Prince of Orange had very much contributed to its late Recovery after it had been brought to the very brink of Destruction and that they were fully convinced that same Family must remain a necessary Bulwark to their Common-wealth so long as their Interests should continue inseperably intwisted with those of the State but if they should be so blinded as to consent or but tacitely give way to any Steps that might alter those of the Prince into any other Channel that same House might in process of time prove the fatal Cadency and Dissolution as it had been the happy Rise and Glory of that flourishing State That the implacability of the Spanish Royal Family against those that have once offended them and their bloody and unjust Proscription of the noble House of Orange had so firmly cemented the Interests of the Princes of that Family with those of the States during the Wars with Spain that there could not possibly any Danger arise to them from that House how much soever they were intrusted with the Authority of the States they being then best secured by the Greatness and Power of that Nay and that after the Peace made between that Republick and the Crown of Spain there could be no Danger from those Princes neither so long as they matched into inferior Princes Families as those of Germany c. which might add Strength but never could Power enough to the Princes of Orange to crush the State or in the least divide from its true Interests But that it might be of the dangerousest Consequence if any of them were suffered to match into the Family of any Crowned Head and especially of any near Neighbour to the Republick for that would be an effectual Means to fill their Heads with aspiring Thoughts and great Designs to Aggrandize themselves and might afford them Power enough to put them in Execution a Temptation too strong for almost any active spirited Prince to resist And therefore such an one as this present Prince ought by no means to be exposed to by any wise States-men whose Interest it was to keep him from it and who had Cunning enough to put him by it That
serve in the Militia was but a trouble to them as well as a Charge and Burthen to the Country yet without any Use or Security to the Crown or Kingdom when all our Neighbour Nations were armed with Veteran Troops the King was advised and now thought fit to discharge them of the Trouble and the Country of the Charge of maintaining of them for the future and so order them to deliver up their Arms to be distributed among regular Troops that would be more useful and serviceable But before this was to be put in Execution it was my Lord resolved a Toleration of Religion should be first granted and severe Orders given to the Soldiers for to pay their Quarters duly demean themselves quietly and orderly and to abstain from any manner of Violence and all manner of Persons as well Protestants Dissenters from the Church of England as others of the Roman Communion should be admitted into the Army either as Officers or Soldiers and if any of the Church-men should grumble thereat and begin to stomach it it should be alledged There was no Reason in the World the King should be deprived of the Services of any of his Subjects however denominated as to their respective Religions for the Carping of a few Churchmen who were more concerned for their own worldly Interests and so would have all Places of Profit confined to those of their own Stamp than they were for the real Interest of the Church Then there were to be sufficient Bodies of Soldiers to be placed all over England to assist the Lords Lieutenants to see all the forementioned Orders put quietly in Execution and ready to suppress any Tumult that might be occasioned thereby This my Lord was the Projection I shall endeavour to give your Lordship in my next an account of the Opposition made hereunto as this and the rest have been lately entred here in our Minutes from Papers transmitted by the Resident of Modena and Count Dada the Pope's Nuntio in England to the Resident of that Name and Papal Nuncio in this Kingdom and by them communicated to Monsieur Louvois till then I am and ever shall be My Lord Your humble Servant Paris Feb. 9. 1687. N. S. LETTER XXIV Of the Opposition made by several Noblemen and particularly by the Lord Marquess of Powis against discarding the Militia of the Kingdom My Lord 'T Is but a few Days since I sent to your Lordship the particular Resolutions formed in the Cabinet Council of discarding the Militia and other Methods that were to be pursued as either previous to or subsequent of such a Design and now I can assure your Lordship That same Project was chiefly broken by the Marquess of H. D of N. and some other Noble Persons and worthy Patriots but the Marquess of Powis had a greater Hand in it than any of them as being of greater Credit with the King who represented how dangerous and in a Word how impracticable such a Project was For said he it will be impossible to find such Lord Lieutenants in the Kingdom as will undertake to put the same in Execution nor no Officers that will obey If they could find such that such a Practice would necessitate the King to call in a French Army which would as much inslave his Majesty to the French as his own People would be thereby inthralled to him and that he might assure himself the French Faction had no other Intent in advising him to it So that I find my Lord it was resolved to let the Militia alone as it is and go on to secure their Proceedings by stuffing the Army with a Mixture of Nations as well as Perswasions and to chop and change them so often till at last they shall get Roman Catholicks enough in their Troops so as considerably to out-number the Protestants there without calling in any Bodies of French Which Resolution as I find it did not fully content this Court so it hath madded them to use Stratagems to counterpoise it by putting the King upon unseasonable and impolitick Artifices and among others to model and pack Parliaments whereof I shall be able in my next I think to procure your Lordship the Projects laid before him humbly hoping you 'll take all in good part from one that has an English Heart and will love both his Country and your Lordship whilst I am Paris Feb. 17. 1687. N. S. LETTER XXV Propositions made to King James II. by the French Agents for modelling and bridling of Parliaments My Lord I Find abundance of Projects offered to the King by the Agency of this Court concerning modelling and bridling of English Parliaments some were for putting in Execution the Advises given formerly for that purpose to King I. I. specified I think in Rushworth's Collections to which I refer your Lordship but that Proposition was rejected and others of more modern date urged upon him and particularly there were some who would have him procure a Parliament by Oliver Cromwel's Methods chiefly to be composed of the Officers of the Army with an Intermixture of some few others and that being effected he might by them increase very much the Revenue of his Crown by setting up again the Court of Wards and the Right of Purveyance and by obliging all such Noblemen who were by their Tenures anciently obliged to furnish so many Horse and Men and other Necessaries in the Wars either against France or Scotland to supply a full Equivalent towards Ships Men Artillery Provisions c. for a War with the Republick of Holland or any other Enemy whatsoever which they would have called for the greater Amusement of the People a restoring to the Crown the Jewels which had been usurped from it which that it might be further secured it was likewise advised That a Star Chamber with the same Jurisdiction as in the King's Father's Time should be set up again as also an High Commission which last tho' a sort of Tribunal introduced into England since it had proved schismatical and that the Kings thereof had been declared Head of the Church yet it might very well serve a present Turn and give the less Jealousie of his designing to introduce the Roman Catholick Religion among them thereby but that if he did not look upon that Expedient seasonable and that the rather because it had been abolished in Parliament as a Grievance to the Subject he had no reason to oppose the setting up of an Ecclesiastical Commission since the Parliament themselves had erected the same tho' with a more limited Power than the other in lieu of it and since they had judged it necessary for the repressing of the Insolencies of the Churchmen regulating their Manners and obliging them to discharge their respective Duties in their several Stations He being a Catholick King had more reason than any other to make use of it the last your Lordship has seen they have gained and tho' the King hath a great Stomach to that other yet my Lord Powis's
Party hath yet prevailed and affrightned him from venturing upon such things without he had been able as he found he was not to have succeeded in pulling down the Militia of Kingdom or at least in getting such an Army which he could fully rely upon and that he hath not yet got neither but till then he could not pretend to declare the Grand Charter void as obtained by Force of Arms and since infringed and nullified by several Rebellions but especially by that in his Fathers time on the Subjects side and now rule by a Council only without troubling himself with any thing more like unto a Parliament as his French Friends Advised him to your Lordship will excuse the Freedom I have now and always used in my Correspondence and accept of my humble duty who am and ever intend to continue My Lord Your Honours to Command Paris April 7. 1687. N. S. LETTER XXVI The substance of Pope Innocent XI First Letter to the French King about the business of the Regale I Cannot think but it will be acceptable to your Lordship to understand what the Contents of the Pope's Letters to the French King are especially in such a conjuncture as this is and when I believe you cannot be furnish'd with a genuine account by any other hand after the prefatory part which is short and concise and somewhat different from others of his Predecessors he comes close to the matter and says that he could not but reflect with no small Astonishment as well as great Grief and sadness of heart upon the late unaccountable Conduct of so great a Prince who would be thought to be and called himself the first Son to the Catholick Church and withal the most Christian King against the holy See of Rome that he should as much as pretend to so much Zeal for Religion and yet at the same time to invade the known rights of the Catholick Church not only in the Kingdom of France but even in the City of Rome herself by pretending to a pernicious Freedom of Quarters which all other Catholick Princes had freely and generously renounced as a gross abuse That his Persecuting the Protestants in the Kingdom of France ought no ways to priviledge him to put affronts upon the holy See it was very plain that was not the way to reunite those people to the Church when he himself was so ill a Pattern and shewed them so bad an Example by contemning and outraging that same Authority which he used Force and Violence to make them own That he was much in the wrong and acted preposterously to Prosecute them for not believing what he himself so Scandalously opposed And that for himself at the bottom he was not of a Persecuting Spirit and Principle but that he was fully convinced it was never Christ our Saviour nor any of his Apostles way who themselves never were nor ever used any Preachers with long Tails Boots and Spurs c. That such a practice had done most disgrace to and created as well it might more implacable prejudice against the Roman Catholick Religion than any thing else whatsoever and so by Consequence had much more obstructed than advanced the propagation of it That it ought never to be used in any Kingdom already infected with heresie tho' it 's true it were a very good fence against its creeping in where it had yet got no footing That it would be a means to blast all the blooming hopes of the Catholick Cause in the Kingdom of England and ingender pernicious Jealousies and a most cruel Opposition in the English a stiff necked people and the most Jealous of their Religion and Liberties of any Nation upon the Earth against their King who was a true Son of the Church and break the Neck of all his designs for the Introducing of it into his Dominions And in a word that he was so far from approving of it that he every way disliked it and that it should not throw dust in his Eyes from inspecting into and opposing of his incroachments upon the holy See which he was resolved to defend to the utmost extreamity and so concluded with a short admonition and with which concludes this Letter to your Lordship from him who is My Lord Your most Devoted Servant Paris June 3. 1687. LETTER XXVII An account of Pope Innocent XI Second Letter to the French King about persecuting the French Protestants c. My Lord SInce my last I have had the opportunity to take the Heads of another Letter written soon after that I have already sent you by the Pope to the French King and is to this purpose In the first place he takes upon him to refute the Answers and frivolous Complaints of the French King and then descends to ridicule his vain pretence of Piety in persecuting the Protestants of his Kingdom for denying him Obedience while he was no less severe to the Bishops of Alet and Pamiers and some other Ecclesiasticks and even to some poor Abesses and their Nuns for paying that Obedience which was due to the papal Authority that this â—id not only look like it but really was nothing less but building up the Church with the Left Hand and at the same time pulling it down with the Right That he was well informed what writings came out in France against his Authority which he well knew was that of the holy Apostolick See what Theses were there maintained and what was done by his over awing the Assembly of the Clergy of his Kingdom how and what method he had taken to vel the French Jesuits against him and imployed Maimburg to represent his supremacy as precarious Itineran and Ambulatory and not fixt to the City of Rome herself but only to the Capital City of the most powerfull Christian Prince in the World for the time that is gallice to Paris in the present Age that he well understood not only this but also the designs that were formed by him to erect a new Religion which should Totally swallow up and deâ—our both Roman Catholicks and â—rotestants and how far he purposed to imitate King Henry VIII of England who writ a Book for the Pope's supremacy and not long after Burnt aed Beheaded people for owning it when also at the very same Time he persecuted the Protestants for opposing other points That it very ill became and it was not the part of a Dutifull and Religious Son â—s he pretended to be and would have the Woâ—ld believe to abuse his supream Pastor to dispoil him not only of his Ancient rights granted him by his Pious Predecessors but even of those very ones which he then injoyed and were derived by Universal consent and constant tradition of all good Catholicks and of the rights of his just Sovereignity in the City of Rome herself That however let him the French King do what he pleased yet all that ever he should or could do should not make him abate the least jot or tittle of his
all his Children saving one Daughter afterward Married to the Prince of Oldenburg following his Example This they looked upon as a good step but what gave them a mighty accession of strength as much as it was a diminution of the Power of the Reformed was their gaining of Mareschal Turenne to their Church who because so considerable a Person and so famed for a great Captain I shall recount unto your Lordship all that ever I could learn in relation to him upon this account It 's true the Mareschal never did appear to be a Person very Zealous for his Religion but as he had from time to time given some Proofs of his Constancy it was attributed to the Coldness of his Temper which made him Calm enough in all things but that Constancy that appear'd in him for a time was attributed afterwards to other Causes and primarily to the ascendency his Wife and Sisters had over him his Lady being Daughter to the Duke De la Force and a Person of Exemplary Piety keeping of him steady in his Profession whilst she lived and his Eldest Sister the Marchioness De Duras always encouraging of him to be constant and so Zealous she was that she began to breed up one of her younger Sons with a Design to make him a Minister but that Design not succeeding that Person going over very Young into Engl. has been since as your Lordship well knows advanced to Honour in the Kingdom The youngest Sister the Dutchess of Trimonill never failed also of her Duty towards the Mareschal in that kind That the Marshal had been often tempted to change his Religion is manifest Cardinal Mazarine who had a great Opinion of him made him many suggred Promises if he would come over when the Dauphine was Born he had Intimations given him that he might one day be made his Governour but that did not move him neither the last Effort that was made upon him was by the King himself at the beginning of the Campaign in Flanders in the Year 1667. when he promised him a share in all his Secrets and higher degrees of Command if so be he would Embrace the Communion of the Church of Rome but this had the same success upon him with the rest and the Mareschal acted his part with so much sted fastness and in so Noble a manner that the King took no Displeasure thereat and for this the Church at Charenton returned Publick Thanks to God who had inspired him with such laudable Constancy but without naming of him but some time after that Peace was concluded when there was no more talk of him upon that Score he entred into the Roman Communion and it was given out he did it voluntarily and of his own accord and I could ne'er learn by whose Instigation it was done or what were the true Reasons that brought him to it but however it was this Change of his was attended with important Consequence which did appear in due time and this is all I could remark or learn concerning this Illustrious Person only that he Abjured his Heresie as they call it in Notre-Dame in presence of the Archbishop of Paris and so concludes My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servant Paris May 31. 1676. N. St. LETTER XII Of a Book Published in France proposing Methods for to Ruin the Reformed which had like to have spoiled the Court-Politicks in pretending Favour unto them at that time My Lord I Have in a former Letter shewed your Lordship the great Care the French Court took to have it believed both at Home and Abroad that their Declaration in Favour of the Reformed was real and like to be permanent and what Politick Ends they had therein but a Book Entituled the Policy of France came out not long after to wit in the Year 1669 that had like to have spoiled all the fine Web they had spun It was supposed to be written by the Marquess De Chatelett a Gentleman of Bretaign and contained one entire Chapter of Methods to Ruin the Reformed and he was so Adventurous as to Dedicate it to the King himself and made him a Present of one of them but his Zeal was but coarsly Rewarded for he was sent to the Bastile for his Pains and the Book supprest but because the Methods he proposed therein were such as were very odd and may be put in Execution in time and that I cannot send your Lordship one of the Books I have taken out the Heads and are as followeth he proposed the Total Destruction of them as a necessary Work and reserved it for the present King and whether he did really know or was ignorant of the Court Designs he did certainly I believe fit his Politicks to the Intentions of the Court He represented them full of Resentment for the loss of their Places of Security and of being always animated with Minds to Revolting Confusion and Anarchy and constantly ready to make use of any Opportunity to Re-establish themselves He made them to be Enemies to the King's Prosperity perpetual Obstacles to his Designs and always to be feared because of their Animosity and of the number of good Soldiers over which they could make Chiefs by giving them Authority to Command them He took upon him to shew that the Protestants of Germany suffered themselves to be ruined without any Opposition and that they had too much need of the King's Protection to Embroil themselves with him He said the same thing of England Swedeland Denmark the United Provinces and of all the Protestants whom he imagined to have been so linked to the King by strong Chains of Interest that they would not concern themselves to hinder his Exterminating of the Reformed Religion in his own Kingdom He put a Malicious Interpretation upon the Reformed's taking up Arms in the last Civil Wars and he pretended to Divine that had it not been that the War had been so soon happily terminated they would have formed Grand Designs made High Demands and endeavoured to set up their Party again He said the Edict of Nants was revocable as having been a thing extorted from the then King and admitting it might have been formerly granted for the Benefit of the State yet it might now be revoked for the very same reason He was far from being of their Opinion who thought that the Reformed were useful to the Church of Rome her self because they obliged the Ecclesiasticks to Study and lead Regular Lives he said that was a Trifling Argument and concluded that the King had sufficient Grounds to seek out ways to put them out of Condition to Hurt or do any injury to his State Having promised this he was not of the Judgment to be rid of them by way of Banishment as the Moors had been driven out of Spain he looked upon that way of Treatment Inhumane and withal prejudicial to the State but he proposed Fifteen Expedients to be rid of them by little and little The first of which was
of them according to the Letter of the Treaty and your own repeated promises for which pretended expences persued they still your Majesty may instruct your Ministers to demand such excessive Sums as you know they neither can nor will disburse And as for their asserting their claim by a War after your seizing of Amsterdam that great Magazine of the dead riches of Europe and both Indies and of Warlike Provisions both by Sea and Land and the total reduction not only of that Potent Republick of which it was the Head but likewise of the living sources of Treasure both in the East and West by making their great Fleet Merchants Colonies and Commerce all your own which cannot but clear your way to Guinea and Peru What stomack said they can the English after this have by taking of their Out-works the Low-Countries debarr'd from all assistance from Italy Spain and Germany if in their right senses to have recourse to Arms. Alas what power to attempt any thing but what will move your pitty more then your indignation nay rather what greater Ambition will be left them than to Court your Majesty by an easie and voluntary submission to receive them as Honourable Tributaries thereby to retain a shadow of their Ancient Government and Liberty without incurring the certain destiny by an impotent and fruitless resistance of being forcibly reduced into a Province of your growing Empire to which the Roman Eagle it self abandoning the defenceless Towers of Austria shatterred both by Eastern and Western Hurricanes for the better preserving and re-establishing its Ancient State and Majesty will then be glad to retire This may be your Majesties method continued they to preserve Peace a while with England or stave off at least the War till your present grand design be accomplished and these your Measures how to deal with them afterward in case they suffer you quietly to atchieve this important Conquest But should we be able by no Art to buoy up the King of Englands Spirits against the head-strong opposition of the popular party about him nor so much as to delay a Rupture nor to hinder that violent People from immediately declaring against us yet all considerations on all sides duly weighed and perpended it will be much greater and more certain advantage to your Majesty and of much less dangerous consequence to your Affairs in general to venture a War with them now about a Town which with all they can do they cannot assist time enough to rescue from you and by whose acquisition against their wills you will not only be quit of all their Pretentions but gain power to crush them too at pleasure than after you have for fear of them quitted so great a Conquest to have a War in a little time after both with them and all the rest of Europe not only without those advantages but with the greatest disadvantage imaginable as without setting on work an hundred expensive and troublesome Intriegues you now will have no need off your Majesty will certainly have then notwithstanding all pour complyance to them if you quit your present Design For said they suppose upon your proceeding to the Expedition in question the English declaring a sudden War against you should cause the Amsterdamers to assume courage enough to repulse your Arms how easie were it for your Majesty upon advantageous Terms to clap up a sudden peace with those distressed People and by returning out of their Country to pacifie all those powers now preparing against you and then with your whole Force to fall upon the English with which perhaps too the Hollanders would easily be perswaded to joyn theirs as glad to see themselves delivered so unexpectedly their old Enemies drawn so genteely into the Snare and so fair an occasion put into their hands to revenge themselves on that Rival Nation for joyning with us against them with which it will not be amiss however by your Envoy to threaten the English King Nay and how probable it is that the popular party in England would on that occasion favour the Hollanders to keep down Absolute Power and to preserve their Religion against the aspiring Duke and Popery all which they strongly feared would have come in at once upon them after the ruine of that Protestant State At least said they how effectual may it be to let you Majesties Envoy add that threatning amongst the rest to the King of England But Alas continued they it is but a matter of meer Speculation never likely to come to pass that any thing the English can do at present should as the posture of their Affairs are now in hinder your Majesties taking that City whose Richest and Eminentest Citizens being already gained to your Party the very terror of your Majesties Navy and the appearance of your Forces will quickly open it unto you notwithstanding the weak opposition of a Party formed in a tumultary way among a Mobile by a few particular biggoted Citizens who at the noise of your Cannon would immediately turn to the other extream and cry out as loudly for a surrender And as for the English said they our Emissaries have been so busie and so successful at Amsterdam that it can never be thought what ever good Opinion they may have of the People of England that they can be induced to confide so much in their King whom they have so personally and so grosly affronted in all that can be sensible to a Prince and whom they know so much Frenchified as to think he can heartily intend them any good or that they can expect any milder terms of subjection under him either in respect of Religion or Property then under your Majesty Since they are daily and by very good tokens assured that he is privately advanced already towards Rome as far as the other and waits only the subvertion of their Republick to assume every whit as Despotical and Tyrannical a Dominion over his Subjects in both respects as the French Monarch had over his or in fine that they had so great an opinion of his Power in that Posture of Affairs as to think him able to rescue them time enough or remove the French from them if he went really about it And consequently that in the great Consternation they then were in and the little hopes they had of the slow Forces of Germany and the distrust they lay under both of their own strength and of the Faith and Power of the English together with the Apprehension they were possest with of losing the great Riches they had there by an obstinate resistance which they might secure by a timely composition they would undoubtedly submit upon the first Summons of his Majesty or any famed General of his at the head of a considerable Body of Men especially when his Majesty should offer them such advantageous Conditions as they advised him to do the more effectually to avert them from all thoughts or temptations to close with England and to propose
chosen by this Court purely for his Capacity is not to be admitted of You know my Lord the Triple League stuck then close in the French King's stomach and that the danger Religion was in as well as Property from the progress of the French Arms before in the Netherlands contributed very much to the cementing of such an Alliance which this Court were labouring tooth and nail to break to pieces and more especially to get the King of England out of it and to that end Monsieur Ruvigny's Religion he being a Protestant highly recommended him How well he discharged his Commission then I need not recount to your Lordship the Event has sufficiently discovered it to England as well as to Holland's sorrow and to the no small regret of some of those of his own Religion and Fraternity in France It was much about Six years after that the same Marquess was entrusted with another Negotiation at the English Court to no less pernicious an end than the former and I fear at long run with worse effects They had my Lord besides the Instruments I have formerly mentioned for some time before this imploy'd several of their own Hugonots in England for the carrying their Intrigues more effectually on among our Protestants which Hugonots have been the more forward to please and obey the Instructions of their Prince and his Ministers in that they have believed them very compatible with their own particular Interests wherefore they have done all they could to contribute to the Elevation of the Presbyterian Government in our Nation which because the same with their own they have naturally had some desire to see established in a Kingdom so able to protect them and which had hitherto been the great impediment to their extirpation in France But to return from this Digression for which I beg your Lordship's pardon to the Marquess de Ruvigny his Instructions were to endeavour to possess the Protestants in general in our Nation which were now my Lord full of fears of some Secret Designs a brewing between the two Kings in prejudice to their Religion and Civil Rights too that they needed not to be so much concerned at Appearances that it was far enough from the thoughts of his Master to make their King great to his Subjects prejudice and that he was not so zealous for the Roman Religion as they might imagine whereof he was to urge several instances and to endeavour to throw off all the odium from him upon the Pope and the Court of Rome and thereby make them level all their Fears Jealousies and odious Reflections that way to the end that by the Royal Church-Party who had the King's ear they might still secure him further in their Interests and have their helping-hand to carry on those Points they aimed at that way viz. the hindring the Princesses matching with the Prince of Orange and the Offensive Alliance so much feared then and now with the Confederates c. But this was but one Party of the Protestants his Instructions also were to make a particular Interest among the Dissenters and such as inclined to them at the same time that in case they were defeated in the one and saw no likelihood of staving off the other they might have them ready prepared to enter the lists against the former and when War was ready to be declared against France to push them on if possible to raise a Civil Combustion at home and to insinuate into them That the King his Master was willing privately to assist them as his Predecessor had done theirs in the late Civil Wars upon occasion c. in which sort of Negotiation the Marquis was effectually enough seconded by his Countrymen Hugonots then in England and particularly by a man of singular Parts and Learning and exceedingly well versed in Intriegue named Monsieur but on the contrary in case they should have been able by the Royal Party to have been strong and successful enough to gain the two said Points and hinder both the Match and the War which was their business and is still in part to oppose they had Orders to have the same Dissenting Party still ready when King Lewis and his Cousins of England should have had that part of their ends of the Conforming Party to make use of them against them if they would not humour them so far as to suffer themselves to be carried quite back to Rome And because all our Protestants however differently denominated should take no umbrage at any of this Court's Proceedings they thought fit once more to let their Sun as they so often term him to cast some warm beams on the Hugonot Party at home and to entertain them awhile with some Courâ—ly Smiles whereby they have designed to amuse our people and at the same time make their own Protestants to be their Instruments to carry on the Divisions of those who while united are their only Protectors for hitherto while they have had War with the Confederates and chiefly with Holland and are in fear of one with England it being yet out of their power to destroy these people they have thought it their interest not to exasperate them whereby they may be tempted to run over to the Enemy but rather for the present to court them and make them serviceable unto them by working in the very Mines which in all human probability are designed to blow them up withal I will not intrude When Captain E returns I should take it as a singular favour to receive a line from your Lordship and particularly your Sentiments of our Home-affairs by him whom I shall expect with utmost impatience who am My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servant Paris Iuly 20. 1678. LETTER XXXVI Of Prince Lobkowitz's being disgraced by the Emperor for Corresponding with the French about the Year 1674. My Lord YOUR Lordship cannot be ignorant that during this Intrieguing in England and Canvassing of Designs against our King and Kingdom the War went on on this side with various success but I find England is not the only Country that has been bubbled by the French Emissaries and had its Secrets betrayed I cannot tell any one part of the Confederates that have been exempted but Germany more particularly has suffered in this kind variously but in nothing so remarkably as in the business of Prince Lobkowitz's being disgraced some time since by the Emperor and which has made so much noise in the World that your Lordship could not but hear of it That he corresponded with this Court there is nothing more certain though when the business was once winded their Emissaries thought it adviseable to be the first Rumorers of it but related the same with Particulars so extraordinary that were scarce credible that thereby they might turn the whole at length into a ridicule But the way of their Correspondence with the said Prince and others in the Empire was so intricate to be fathomed that 't is no wonder the matter
of any thing that looked black or villanous or seemed too directly to aim at the detriment or destruction of their Country or Religion till such time as they had a long trial of their Tempers and found them fit for such Attempts or that they had got them first into such a Correspondence which tho' in the ultimate intention was not malicious but only an effect of zeal to their several Parties yet would if discovered be construed reasonable and so keep them under an hank to them and then they were to put them on such Barbarities and Villanies as they thought necessary for their purpose which if they then refused their Business was to abandon them and to imploy such Instruments as were as Bankrupt of Religion and Conscience as of Fortune and would be desperately determined to venture at any thing for Money and by these they were to be pretended to be detected as Traytors and prosecuted as guilty of the Designs which they have been only tempted to and so were to serve all People whom they once got within their Toil as occasions and their Interests did require But I see I have already past over the just bounds of a Letter and shall therefore only subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordship 's most devoted Servant Paris May 5. 1681. N. S. LETTER XLI Containing the Practices of the French Agents for the amusement of Foreign Catholicks while they carry'd on their Designs against England My Lord IT would be very strange to think that the Ministers of this Court who have had a hand almost in every thing relating to our Nation should not be concerned in the affair of the Popish Plot but it is so far otherwise that they have been the chief managers and starters of many things which have since come to light Nay I am bold to say That the very actions and intentions of almost all the Instruments of the English Nation and even of some of the French themselves were very wide tho' villanous enough from those of the Machiavillian Off-spring which set them on work My Lord you have heard of Father St. Germain and perhaps of Father Columbiere too who succeeded him in England these were the Persons who together with their other assisting Emissaries disposed of Things and Parties in our Nation to favour their Designs in reference to the said Conspiracy and whose Instructions from Father La Chaise were to take upon them to inform and press upon the Creatures of the Pope and Ministers and Creatures of other Princes of the Roman Communion but of a different Interest from their Master 's the French King That for their parts they were only actuated by a Zeal for the propagation of the Catholick Religion and the re-union in time of so famous a Monarchy to the Church by gentle and peaceable ways and means and chiefly for the Conversion of our two Princes so nearly Related to their King in Blood and for whom he had so much Esteem and Affection and that their Master being their nearest Neighbour and seated most conveniently to assist them on occasion would with his Purse promote all he could the quiet Conversion of all sorts of People that could be drawn in by the Godly Eloquence of their Missionaries or by the more powerful language of Pensions with some and was heartily willing to supply our Princes with what was needful or might be so to maintain themselves against any Attempts that might be made against them upon the jealousie or discovery of any such design and succour them by a sufficient Military Force too in case they were likely to be reduced to Extremity by an open Rebellion of their stubborn and discontented Subjects on that account without once pretending to so idle and impracticable a design as some of them whom they spoke to were tutored to call it as by that means to go about to make the Crown of England seudatory to that of France or to strengthen himself with the additional power of England with intent to encroach afterwards upon the Rites and Prerogatives of the Holy See or give Umbrage to other Temporal Enemies of that Communion or to draw any other advantage to the French from the Alliance of the English Princes than to be able in the quality of Most Christian King and first Son of the Church to promote the growth of the Holy Catholick Religion in their Realms and Dominions and make use of their Mediation and Friendship to ballance in some measure the present force of so formidable a Confederacy as was lately formed against him That it was a thing ridiculous to think or once as much as imagin that whilst he was in actual War with so many considerable Powers at that time he could be so simple as to attempt England by force or if he were out of War with them that he could as much as offer at so considerable an Enterprize upon any pretence whatsoever without allarming them or expecting to be opposed Vigorously by them as well as by the other Protestent Powers of Europe or that he could be thought to be so rash as to venture on such a difficult Expedition whilst he foresaw so powerful an Opposition But that indeed upon the happy conclusion of a general and lasting Peace among the Catholick Princes he would most willingly and readily join and concur in any holy League with them and contribute his full proportion of Forces with theirs to so glorious and laudable a Work as would be the restoration of the Kings of England to their pristine Power and Majesty and the Holy See to its former just Authority and Jurisdiction in these famous Islands which for so many former Ages had made so considerable and profitable a Province of the Roman Church and therefore they were to desire and press them not to let any particular Interests which they had against their Master in worldly and secular Concerns prevail with them to go about to mis-interpret or any ways obstruct their Conversion of Souls which could be of no manner of prejudice to them in those other respects but rather readily to concur with their Endeavours in so pious and charitable a Work wherein they ought wholly to lay aside all distinction of Nations or Interests and Cooperate as Members of one Body and Subjects of one universal Prince Christ Jesus and his Vice-gerent-General the Pope With which Arguments and sly Suggestions they were to wheedle all Foreigners to at least a careless security and unconcernedness about the Affairs of England whilst they play'd their pranks to destroy both our Religion and Government and make us an Appennage of the Gallican Church and Crown which I pray God I may never live to see nor my Country feel and shall ever do so whilst I am as I am resolved always to be My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Most Devoted Servant Paris Mar. 11. 1682. LETTER XLII The Arguments of the French Emisaries for the Amusement of some of the
or Six Millions of Livres allowed him with all convenient Speed towards the Payment of his Debts and the Retrieving of his lost Credit The Success of which Remonstrances and Proposals both from the King and Duke your Lordship may perhaps be informed of another time by My LORD Your Honour 's Most humbly devoted Servant Paris Mar. 16. 1680. N. S. LETTER LIV. Giving an Account how far the French complied with the King and Duke's Remonstrances for Money and how the same was resented by them My LORD YOur Lordship may refresh your Memory by calling to mind what I have some time since writ to you concerning the King and his Brother the Duke's pressing of this Court for the Remittances agreed on and what further Additions they wanted for Negotiating of Businesses then in Agitation with Coleman's Countermine to part of their Designs I am now further to acquaint your Honour that the fore-mentioned Importunities together with those Cautions of Coleman produced this Effect that they sent about half as much Money as they had advanced at first to each of them telling them at the same time that the Most Christian King's Conveniency would not admit of a larger Remise at present neither could he do it with that Privacy he would but by his Jews at Genoâ—a and therefore desired them to make what shift they could with that Proportion till the Event of the Parliament was seen whether it were Prorogued or no. But to the Duke they more particularly told that if what was then remitted would not serve turn and that he wanted more rather than baulk his Designs he might venture hardily on the Most Christian King's Word to lay out of his own Store that he should certainly be re-paid again at the time mentioned with an Overplus And that as for the Conversions he spake of they waved them and said Father la Chaise and that Society had provided now a Fund for that Work without troubling them But to Coleman not mentioning the Motion about Conversions they only sent a good Gratuity for the Prorogation before and about the Sum of Twenty Thousand Crowns Advance Extraordinary in order to hire an House and to do other things in order to the Corrupting of Parliament-men c. If he saw likelihood of it he was to have 000 Crowns more for to try Events if he succeeded he was promised 0000 besides and for a Prorogation when judged necessary for so long as desired another very considerable Sum not particularly mentioned How far any of the fore-mentioned Persons did proceed by way of Compliance with this Court I know no otherwise for the present than thus in general that they have noted the two Royal Brothers were a little disheartned to see their Friends on this side so backward to supply them but that however considering the Plausibility of the French Excuses and their own pressing Necessities but more especially the King 's they not only took what was sent them but resolved also to proceed to oblige the Messiurs as much as they could to the end they might induce them by Performances to send them more The Effects of which dangerous Complaisance to say no worse of it the Nation has but too much felt already and God knows where it will terminate I am sure your Lordship cannot but think it bodes ill as does My LORD Your very Humble and most Obedient Servant Paris Iune 4. 1680. N. S. LETTER LV. Of the Methods the Iesuites used to promote Conversions in England and how St. Germain attempted King Charles II. With his Answer c. My LORD I Need not tell your Lordship that Father St. Germain a Jesuite and one called out on purpose by the French King's Confessor was the head Manager of Conversions as they called them and of their other wicked Designs upon our Country under the covert of that and who having gained Coleman now a fellow Domestick into a close Confidence and Compliance with him soon found means to procure several other fit Complices among the most considerable Orders and Parties of Men in the Kingdom whether seated in or resorting to the famous Metropolis thereof and the better to draw in the Men they were very industrious in plying the Women of Quality most fit for intreague to declare themselves for their Church and under that pretence to make so many Partizans for France as they could whose Grandeur chiefly they had in view as to the best of my remembrance I have noted once and again to your Lordship And not that of the Pope of Rome or his Religion which was only to serve for a Covert to the other to the end their Practices might not be discovered or countermined by the other foreign Ministers of that Communion And so good success they had in those Jugling-proceedings that it bred in them indeed too much confidence of their going through with the rest of their Work with the same ease and so made them guilty of the weaknesses of an over-hasty bragging and betraying of the Secrets of their Measures which in so jealous a Nation as England is for a Jesuite and a French one too to do it was a very great Error in Policy for St. Germain and his Gang having met with such success in their work as they dreamed not of they hence after having made sure of the Duke took the confidence to attempt the King himself and were as they imagined heard very favourably by him having been often told by him in Complement that he looked upon their Religion as the most politick and that they had really made him so much a Convert as to think that the Protestant Religion produced but ill Subjects c. But finding for all this that the effect was not answerable to the hopeful and favourable incouragement that he could not be brought actually to declare for them they oftentimes railed at him in private in England and when any of them came over hither occasionally the mildest Character they could give of him was That he was a Prince that looked upon all Religion as a politick Cheat to keep the World in awe c. but this was afterwards for before upon such Complements from the King as aforesaid they were so over joy'd that it did indeed make them indiscreet upon it so far as to make it almost their common and ordinary Discourse not only to those already fixed in their Opinion and that were of a stay'd and reserved Temper but even to new Converts and baulling talkative Women nay and inserted it in their Letters too both In-land and Foreign that they had gained both Duke and King to their Religion that they had fished in the British Ocean with such wonderful success that they fished now only for the greater Fish of all leaving the small Fry to come of themselves having already catcht two Royal Fishes the Dolphin and Tung with many such like Expressions and it was very ordinary with them in Conferences of Controversies when they saw other Arguments
least pretend to have it and give Orders for Mourning before our English Envoy had any such Notice given so that when he came according to Custom to give them intimation of it all the Court was seen in Mourning before Night and all persons of Note in this City the next day I 'll leave your Lordship to Reflect upon the Transactions and Circumstances of it which tho comprehended in a few words may afford a larger Field for Thought than any thing my mind can at present suggest unto me or my Intelligence reach unto but it puts me in mind of somewhat I think I have writ in my last to your Lordship and so I suppose it may do your Honour if it has not already but I am My Lord Your humble Servant Paris Feb. 22. 1635. N. S. LETTER I. Of King James when Duke of York his pervertion to the Popish Religion how and when it was done c. My Lord YOUR Lordship cannot imagine how over-joy'd both Court and Country are here upon the News of the King 's going Publickly to the Roman Catholick Chappel upon His Assumption of the Crown and many and various Discourses it has occasion'd concerning His first Imbracing the Roman Faith an Account whereof may not perhaps be unpleasing to your Lordship And therefore I shall endeavour to gratifie your Honour therein to the utmost of my power some have been of opinion that the Zeal Example and Exhortations of the Queen His Mother to whom He seemed always to pay the greatest Deference had wrought this Change early in him and that the long Conversation he had had with those of the Roman Communion in France Flanders and other places had fortify'd him in the same Sentiments he had before imbib'd and which at last appear'd in an open Profession but however this has a very great appearance of truth it s utterly deny'd here and averred with great Elogium's upon him that it happened to him as it did to one of the Ancients as Recorded in Holy Writ that he should find in the Gall of a Monster that was about to devour him that wherewith to cure him of his Blindness For that it was in Reading of the History of the Reformation written by a Protestant Author that he came to see the Error wherein his Birth had engag'd him that when he was oblig'd when in Exile to leave the Kingdom of France and to retire to Bruxels and having leasure enough to Read he lighted there upon the History of the Reformation written by Dr. Heylin which he Read with much Attention and notwithstanding the many strained pretences say they which the Protestants made use of to colour the Schism of their Country he clearly saw that their Separation so plainly contrary to the Maxim of Unity which is the Foundation of the Church was nothing else but a meer effect of Humane Passions that it was the Dissolute Life and Incontinency of King Henry the Eighth the Ambition of the Duke of Sommerset the Pollicy of Queen Elizabeth the Avarice of those that were greedy to seize upon the Revenues of the Church had been the Principal Causes of that Change wherein the Spirit of God had no concern that upon reflecting with himself That God of old made use of Prophets of a most Holy Life to be the Guides of his People and to Intimate his will unto them in respect to Religion that upon the change of the Divine Dispensation the Apostles Inspired with Heavenly Vertue and more like to Disimbodyed Angels than Carnal Men Preached the Gospel and that upon Disorders and Irregularities both under the one and the other Testament They were not carnal persons Vindictive Souls Ambitious Spirits that had Preached Reformation but Men full of Moses's Spirit or of Christ's the only Channels worthy to receive the Waters which run from his Living Sources so as that there might be no room left to render them suspected of Corruption or Falsity he from thenceforward became a Roman Catholick in his heart That he had acquainted the King his Brother with it soon after the Restoration who highly Applauded him but engaged him to put that restraint upon himself as to keep it secret But that some years after having by his Conduct given occasion to others to observe his Steps more warily and finding he was not Cordial to the Protestant Religion and Interest they say here the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and two of his Brethren Remonstrated the same to him that he heard them with much Patience and did not decline to Confer with them but that their Conferences and Arguments were so far from Staggering and Seducing of him that they Confirmed him the more in the Faith And they say farther That tho' it was given out in England That the late Dutchess of York's Complaisance to the Duke her Husband had wrought her Conversion to the Romish Church in the Communion of which she dy'd yet it was notoriously false for that she was brought over by a very remarkable event next to a Miracle by Reading the same Book that had Converted the Duke But I shall trouble your Lordship no more with a Matter which I am sure you cannot think of without trouble of Mind and so I remain My Lord Your Honours to serve and Command Paris March 2. 1685. N. S. LETTER II. Of the Duke of Monmouth's being in Holland and King James's Design to seize him there Miscarryed My Lord THE Misfortunes of the Duke of Monmouth in the King his Father's time are beter known to your Lordship then I can pretend to inform you and that when he was forced to quit England for his own safety and that it came to be known he was retir'd into Holland the Duke and French Emissaries never left Importuning the King to send to the States and Prince of Orange to drive him from thence alleadging continually that there were very great Honours done him by the States and especially by the Prince of Orange who had given his Troops Orders to Salute him at their Reviews when-ever he came to see them designing thereby to make that Republick and especially the Prince of Orange more and more obnoxious to the King so that he gave at last Orders to His Embassador Mr. Chudley at the Hague to forbid the English Troops in that Service to shew the Duke any Respects Having gain'd this Point and that they might embroyl the King and Prince of Orange the more Chudley was Instructed to make the Officers of the said Regiments acquainted with the afore-mention'd Orders without first giving the Prince notice thereof under whose Command they were which they knew well enough the Prince could not but Resent as he did accordingly Threatning Chudley for Interfereing with his Authority without his leave and this upon the Embassador's Complaint to the King his Master and which was sufficiently Improved and Aggravated by the Duke and French Agents about him incensed him so against the Prince that he dispatch'd Letters to Chudley forbidding
pretended Calumnies of somewhat that was yet blacker then what had appear'd in the passages which they had recited They protested that they would never have made any complaint of the Reformed had the matters in question referred only to the Persons of the Bishops and that on the contrary they would have been content to be deprived of their Power in order to testifie by their Patience and voluntary Forgetfulness of those Outrages that were done them that singular Charity which they retained for them but that they could not neglect the Honour of the Church attack'd by the Calumny of the Ministers nor the Conversion and Salvation of a great number of her Children which they retained in the Error of their false suppositions wherefore they concluded after all that the King would be pleased to repress a Malignity that was so contrary to the Principles of Christianity as also to the Rules of Natural Justice and that consequently 1. That he would renew the Prohibitions already made to the Reformed of using Injurious and Opprobrious Terms in speaking of the Articles and Mysteries of the Roman Faith 2. That he should forbid them to attribute to the Catholick Faith any other Doctrine then that of its profession of Faith nor any of those Errors which they had had till then the rashness to impute unto her You need not doubt my Lord of the Success of this Remonstrance and of a Declaration in time Answering all the Points hereof to the full There is room enough for Reflecting upon the Courts Conduct herein but I shall forbear that part leaving it entirely to your Lordship 's known Wisdom and Judgment and crave leave both now and always to profess how much I am and desire to approve my self to be My Lord Your Honours to Serve and Obey Paris Nov. 27. 1685. N. S. LETTER VII Of the Declaration put out by the French King upon the Remonstrance of the Popish Clergy against the Reformed the Month of August 1685. My Lord I Have in my last to your Lordship of â—uly the 27th N. S. taken notice of the Popish Clergy's Unjust complaint to the French King against the Reformed here and now I shall with presuming on your good Leave give you some hints upon the Declaration that was Publish'd here some days ago in Conformity to the said Remonstrance to which the King condescended so far that the Motives thereof are almost drawn word for word from the Request it self All sorts of Persons are thereby strictly forbid to Preach and Write against the Faith or the Doctrine of the Romish Church and to lay to the Catholicks Charge those Opinions which they allow not of and not so much as to speak directly nor indirectly any manner of way whatsoever concerning the Catholick Religion enjoyning the Reformed Ministers to Teach only in their Sermons the Tenets of their own Religion and Rules of Morality without the intermixture of any other matter whatever But alas the Mischief did not stop here for all persons are Prohibited to Print Sell or Lend any other Books concerning Religion besides such as contain the Profession of their Faith their Prayers and ordinary Rules of their Discipline It doth moreover Order the Suppression of all such Books as have been Written against the Catholick Religion by those of the pretended Reformed Religion and strictly forbids either to Print or Lend any such Books for the future those Ministers and others of the Reformed that make default herein are liable to great Fines perpetual Banishment and the Confiscation of all their Goods the Places where the Ministers should Preach against the Articles of the Edict to lose the Right they had to exercise the same function for ever and the Printers and Booksellers in case of their Offending in any kind to forfeit Five Hundred Livres and for ever to lose the Freedom of keeping open Shops And thus My Lord you see this Court has shut up the Ministers Mouths in all matters of Controversy and leave that Liberty only to the Roman Catholick Divines thereby preparing of them for an assur'd Victory and hereby besides That the Ministers are reduced to be silent and not to concern themselves as to the greatest part of the Articles of the Confession of their Faith which consists in the Rejection of the Tenets of the Church of Rome as false and contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel that they might effectually preclude them from the Right they had to complain of this unjust dealing the King by way of addition in the Preface to his Edict to the Reasons which the Clergy's Petition had suggested to Him has incerted That it was enough for the Ministers of a Religion tolerated in the Kingdom to teach their own Tenets without being carried into Disputes against the Publick and Prevailing Religion which also is therein call'd the True One But one should think this Edict were as needless as many others seeing there are not now past twenty Reformed Churches in the Kingdom where they have Liberty to Preach but there seems to be an hidden Design couch'd under it and it is justly to be fear'd That after they have suppress'd the Reformation in all the Countries under the French Dominions they have hereby made Provision That the Doctrine of Truth shall not be maintained in private Families and never have that means to rise up again out of its Ruins by the Reading of such Books as Teach it wherefore they have taken care to prepare Reasons for the Depriving the Reformed of Books of this Nature and to Establish a kind of an Inquisition over their works which shall not concede to any one the Liberty either to read them or keep them by him But of this I shall be able to give a fuller Account in my Next and shall therefore defer it and so I remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant Paris Sep. 2. 1685. N. S. LETTER VIII Of the Suppression of Protestant Books in France My Lord I Have in the close of my last Letter to your Lordship hinted somewhat concerning the Suppression of Protestant Books in this Kingdom I have since seen a Catalogue which contained almost Five Hundred Authors whose Works are all Condemn'd Some men in the World love to put the Cheat upon themselves so they here to heighten the Number of such Books have repeated some of them more than once but they have been also as careful to forget several others as the Works of the Learned Grotius Vossius and many more whose Writings are opposite to the Roman Church but your Lordship I believe is no stranger to the â—ly Practise of that Church on this head and how the Members of it have of a long time endeavour'd to perswade the World That these Illustrious Persons had re-entred into their Party That they were willing to retain an Honourable Remembrance of their Names tho it be certain in the main that the greatest part of what they had Writ was as remote from Truth as
conceiv'd in very easie Terms for the promoting of the Re-union as 't is call'd by them but among others this that follows I thought very remarkable and whereby your Lordship may see the Latitude they assume to themselves for the promoting their Interest tho' no doubt it is but a Bait to catch some of those harmless Gudgeons the words were these I own and confess the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church as it was in the time of the Apostles and I Renounce and Abjure all those Errors which have crept in ever since The Bishop of Meux hath to make the way still smoother in his Preface to the Second Edition of his Expostulation of the Catholick Doctrine gone so far as to say We do not serve Images God forbid we should do so And indeed there is some likelihood that the Clergy would have stretch'd their Complaisance yet farther this way had not an unexpected accident hindred it for the Pope's Nuncio being inform'd that the General Assembly or rather the Arch-bishop of this City under the Covert of that Name and by the Advice of the Jesuits were about to draw up and form a Profession of Faith more adapted for the satisfaction of such of the Reformed as became New Converts than that of the Roman Church he bestirr'd himself and interposed in his Master the Pope's Name and made several Remonstrances to the King upon the Authority which the French Clergy were about to assume to themselves of setting up other Forms of Doctrine then that which the whole Catholick Apostolick Church had received since the Council of Trent You cannot imagine my Lord how much this little unexpected Traverse from the old Dad disheartn'd the Court whether it were that it came from a Pope whom the King did not care for or that they were afraid it might retard the Work of Conversion is not certain but the result was as I have been first informed and since seen somewhat verify'd by the consequence that the Pope should be comply'd with and the rather because they were well satisfy'd with his inflexible temper and that as they believ'd it would be dangerous to sow Division between the Clergy of France and the Pope at a time when they were labouring to reduce all Frenchmen to the Unity of the Church it would be more advisable for them to keep to the usual Profession of Faith And now my Lord the Clergy give out every where that they will not qualify any Points but vaunt that in reducing the Reformed they will not put out any one Taper that Adorns the Altars I shall not detain your Lordship at present with any farther account of a matter that suits not with your Gusto tho' I know you have goodness enough to accept my endeavours though never so contemptible in themselves and to pardon my weakness who am My Lord Your Lordships very obedient servant Paris Sept. 17. 1685. LETTER X. Of Popish Guardians imposed upon Protestant Children and of Protestant Physitians Chyrurgeons and Apothecaries being forbidden to follow their Practise with the pretended Reasons alleadged for such a Prohibition My Lord WHatever underhand-brewing may be in England in matters of Religion they be bare-fac'd enough â—â—re in carrying on their Designs for the Ruine of the Reformed Churches tho' still they retain some specious pretences for what they do 't is but lately that we have had a Declaration publish'd forbidding any to take upon them the Office of Guardians to Children whose Parents have died in the Protestant Religion excepting such as are Roman Catholicks and tho' that part of the Edict that concedes this Privilege to the Reformed is couch'd in the most clear and express terms that could be conceiv'd yet the Declaration takes no manner of notice of the said Article nay and the Expressions wherein it has been conceiv'd are such as would bespeak that such an usage has been without foundation but indeed this is a method that the French Council has for some time used when they have been mindful to put out any Order in prejudice to any of the Privileges granted in the Edict that are exprest so clearly as that no Cavils raised by them can render them dark and and absurd And as they found it too difficult a Task to find Reasons forcible enough to elude such formal Concessions they made a shew of being ignorant of them and they were willing to put forth such Orders that might only seem to Regulate such New and Extraordinary Cases But yet that they might have some colourable pretences for what they did herein they charged the Guardians of the Reformed Religion with Two Crimes First That they abus'd that Power which they had in that quality over those in Pupillage to them and hindred them to become Catholicks Then that they Imbezell'd the Estates of such Minors when they became Converts against their Will which was a great Obstacle to their Preferment when they came of Age These two things were spoken of as if there had been nothing in the World more certain and truer and of which they had had abundant experience but they are of the number of such instances that are alike easie to be raised as impossible by any proofs to maintain and any ones Reason my Lord will give him especially as to the last Article that it must be notoriously false For can any one believe that such Guardians who would adventure in a malicious way to imbezill the Estate of their Pupils could go unpunish'd in a Countrey where their Religion and Power was so much in the Wain and surely he must be next to a Madman that would thus adventure to play with the Zeal of the Parliaments of this Kingdom animated by the Recommendation of the Clergy who are forward enough to make their Court into them And if my Lord the Protestant Guardians are thus Injuriously used the Physicians of the same Perswasion have fared much worse as being deprived by another Declaration of their Means of Living upon the most ridiculous pretences in the World they alleadging that since those of the Reformed Religion were already deprived of all Judicial Affairs and the freedom to exercise the Functions of Counsellors at Law it were to be feared the greatest part of their young Men might fall to the Study of Physick That that would considerably augment the number of Protestant Physicians and that those of the Roman Catholicks must by that means as much decrease and that hereafter that would become very prejudicial to the Salvation of sick Catholicks in that the Reformed would take no care to put their Patients in mind of Receiving the Sacraments of the Church when they found them reduc'd to such a condition as did require them I know not my Lord but that there may be a Snake in the Grass here and that the Crafty Jesuits amuse the World with such Illusions and would buoy People up in a belief that since they have taken â—â—ch great Precautions for futurity it 's the
least of their thoughts to come to an entire abolition of the Reformed's Privileges and put Constraints upon their Consciences in Religious matters I wish it may prove so the event will discover it When this hardship was put upon the Physitians the Chyrurgeons and Apothecaries every where began to look about them and were terribly afraid their turns would be next they had just reason for it my Lord for not many days were elaps'd since the Publication of the former but comes out an Order of Council Prohibiting all Chyrurgeons and Apothecaries who made Profession of the Reformed Religion to exercise their Art neither by themselves nor by the Interposure of other Persons directly or indirectly nor consign their Privileges to another nor by any other way or means whatsoever insinuating that the exercise of such Trades gave them easie admission into Mens Houses and by that means hindred the Conversion of other Religionaries And thus my Lord the Art of Physick and those others dependant thereon are looked upon as the last Resourses of the Reformed Religion here and this has Administred occasion to some Persons to shew their Wit and to divert themselves with such Frigid Pleasantries saying That the Reformed Religion was at the Point of Death that the Chyrurgeons and Apothecaries could do no more for her and that there was no doubt to be made but that she should in time be abandoned by the Physitians also Your Lordship having exprest no Dissatisfaction with my keeping up my Correspondence with you in things of this kind for want of more agreeable Matter for your Information has enbolden'd me to accost you again in this manner and gives me farther Incouragement to be assiduous to get the most certain Intelligence I can as well as fresh opportunities to profess how much I am desirous My Lord to serve you whilst Paris Sept. 20. 1685. LETTER XI Of Iealousies raised in the Reformed in France that there was a design form'd to Massacre them My Lord THings are now carried on in this Kingdom with so high an hand against the Reformed Churches as to threaten an entire Destruction of them in a very short time It has been a matter debated and hesitated upon for a long time whether they should send their Dragoons amongst them and make use of that Expedient since their Lives and Popish Arguments fail'd them to reduce them to Re-unite with the Romish Church They were not without their fears least when they should send Armed Men in that manner and to that end to those parts of the Country wherein the Protestants were in greatest Numbers and to many Rich and Populous Cities where almost all the Inhabitants are of that Perswasion they might meet with some unexpected Resistance which might constrain them to Abandon their Enterprise or come to a down right Massacre There is indeed a Rumor whisper'd up and down That there has been secret Applications made to the King That considering the Resistance which the Reformed might make to his Orders and the little success which his Designs had already and was like to meet with in preventing their Retreat out of the Kingdom That it were a much surer more expeditious and better way for him to be rid of them by a Massacre Nay my Lord it 's confidently said and I have some Moral Assurance of it that the Orders were given and the Letters drawn already when a Prince of the Blood coming to hear of such Barbarous Resolutions had the Courage to Remonstrate to the King the Evil as well as the Dishonour of it and goodness enough not to leave importuning of him till the Orders were Revok'd and the Letters supprest I cannot be so positive as I would in giving his Name to your Lordship some saying it was the Renowned Prince of Conde but others attribute it to his Nephew the Prince of Conti both of them Persons of great Honour always and as likely either of them to concern themselves in that behalf as any in the Kingdom but whatever stop may have been put to the Jesuitical Fury hereby I think they have begun to discharge it by their Dragoons almost in as Barbarous a manner who have been already guilty of a Thousand Violences and the Almighty alone knows where it will Terminate I beg your Lordship's Pardon if I am any ways troublesome by such Relations and beg leave to subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most Obedient Servant Paris Sep. 24 1685 N. S. LETTER XII Of the Violences offered to and the Stratagems used against the Reformed of Bearn My Lord THE Protestant Churches in the Province of Bearn had been several Years ago under some sham pretences or other reduced to the Number of Five and the Parliament from time to time have endeavour'd to render them of no use by the Imprisonment and Silencing of their Ministers but now there has been such a prank plaid for Converting some of the Inhabitants to the Popish Church as I think hardly has ever been Practised by any other People in the known World For the Intendant of the Province having made use of a Notorious Fellow to carry on the Work he deludes some of the People to go with him to a Tavern and there by his Artifice found the way to make them Drunk Next Day when they were come to themselves he goes and tells them That they had promised him they would go to Mass and that if they pretended to deny it they would be sure to be Treated as Apostates That they had besides spoken ill of the Government and the Ministers of Religion and that the only way for them to escape a severe Punishment which they had made themselves lyable to was to Conform to the Church of Rome There was about Fifty of them that were catched with this simple Wile whereof the Intendant Vaunted so much that he has Writ to Court that there is so General an inclination in the whole Province to become Catholicks That the King has no more than to Testify his desire they should do so for him to see the whole Country Embrace the Roman Communion And so having obtained such farther Orders as he desired he has caused an Assembly of New Converts to meet together at Muslac and hath Ordered the Civil Magistrates of the Neighbouring Places to cause the Reformed of their respective Parishes to come thither under pretence of hearing a Sermon which the Bishop of Lescar was to Preach there Now the Bishop my Lord as is well known is fitter for a Play-house than a Pulpit and a Sermon of his Preaching was look'd upon by all a thing so rare as to excite the curiosity of the most stupid in the World to go and hear him wherefore abundance of Persons from all parts presented themselves at the place appointed But when they came there they could hear no other Sermon than the Declaration of the Intendant to acquaint them That it was the King's Pleasure they should all turn Roman Catholicks Those who refused
to comply to this unexpected Command were Cudgelled into the Church had the Doors made fast upon them and with the same Violence were forc'd to keep silence fall down upon their Knees and to receive from the good Bishop an Absolution of their Heresy and thereupon were told That if they offered for the future to go and hear their own Minister they should be infallibly Punished for Apostates such and a thousand the like Violences they Practised of late in that Province as I have a faithful Account thereof too tedious to trouble your Lordship withal but because your Lordship may perhaps have heard a mighty Noise of a Design to Besiege Fontarabie by the French I shall in a very few words unfold that Mistery to you The Intendant my Lord having found that those and the like sham-Tricks above mentioned did not answer his his End but that the generality of the People still stuck Tight to their Principles found there was a necessity to bring in Armed Men to constrain them to a Complyance It was given out here That this Court was highly dissatisfied at that of Spain that they durst appear sensible of the Outrages done them on Flanders side and so for satisfaction talked loud of nothing else than Besieging Fontaraby saying at the same time That France would do nothing but what was Just and therefore they were not willing to begin a War on that side where the Barrier might be broken which was made by the late Peace between their Conquests and the United Provinces and in carrying their Arms towards the other side could give them no manner of Umbrage In Conformity to this seeming Design the-Troops Defiled towards Bearn but in stead of Advancing to Invest Fontarabie they have halted there ever since and committed all the Insolences that the most barbarous of Nations could e're be guilty of But since I have entred upon the Relation of the Misery of this Famous Province I shall endeavour a little further to trespass upon your Lordships Patience and shew what pretences the Clergy have raised to Justify the Rigorous Prosecution of the Bernois before others in the Kingdom They have had the Artifice to Abolish the Remembrance of the Conspiracy which their Predecessors had formed in this Principality against their Lawful Sovereigns and have had the Audaciousness to perswade the King that the Reformed Religion was never Established in that Province but by the Authority of Queen Jane who would have her own Religion to be Uppermost And that as she had then Banished the Catholick Religion out of her Dominions by Arms in favour of that Doctrine whereon she her self Doted the King who was the Eldest Son of the Church might very justly do the same thing for the Exterminating of that Change in Religion there which had been introduc'd by Violence and thus you see my Lord the Popish Clergy here leave nothing unessay'd for the Advancement of their Designs I am afraid they are of the same Kidney every where else and they have got the knack when there is occasion of making that a Crime in their Enemies which is but the just Punishment of their own for by disguising the Truth of History as they have done herein they have made that to pass in Queen Jane for an Usurpation over the Liberties of her Subjects and the freedom of their Consciences which was but a Lawful Revenge she had taken on the Perfidious Clergy of her Dominion who had formed against her and the Princes her Children such a Conspiracy as can hardly be paralell'd before the introduction of the Ignatian Order inâ—o the World however right or wrong they have gain'd their Point and under this false relation of so memorable an Event they have made it to pass for a constant Truth That under a Queen of the Reformed Religion that Religion which she Authoriz'd was introduced by force in Bearn and that consequently there would be no room left to complain that a Popish King in his Turn made use of Force to repress it This was the ground pretended for beginning to put Bearn under Military Execution as if from what was formerly done for the just Punishment of a Rebellious People there were a just consequence to be drawn for an unjust Oppression of the most Submissive and Obedient Subjects But having already Trespassed by an over tedious Letter I shall not farther aggravate it but remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Sep. 27. 1685. N. S. LETTER XIII Of the Rejoycings in Pearn upon the Imaginary Success they had in Conversions My Lord IN my last to your Lordship I remember I was somewhat tedious in my Narration of the Sufferings of the Poor Protestants in the Principality of Bearn It were endless for me to recite the farther Particulars that have come to my knowledg since and therefore I shall wave it and acquaint your Lordship for want of a better Subject how much the Clergy have Triumphed in the Success they have imagined those Violences they have been guilty of towards those People had to bring them over to their Communion They have not fail'd to Testify as much Joy at it as if there had been some Battle got or some City taken from the Enemy But what was very Cruel and Terrible was That the poor Reformed were forc'd to take part in these Rejoycings of which their own Ruin was the Subject It would be too tedious to recount to your Lordship the many Cruelties exercised in this Country and particularly at Pau as a Preludium to this Force But after the Reduction of the foresaid place they made a general Procession whereunto they dragged the New Converts and withal Celebrated High Mass whereat the Parliament assisted in a Body And then when that was over Te Deum was sung the Guns Fired and the Citizens who were commanded to stand to their Arms made several Discharges and Vollies of Shot Then followed Illuminations and Bonfires and Fireworks were prepared at the Charge of the Publick for the same occasion But how much soever this was a mock-shew yet great care has been taken to transmit such Relations to the Court of all the particulars relating to their Proceedings and Success as are drest with all the Art Imaginable with a design to perswade them who are but two ready to believe it that all the People every where have Re-united themselves to the Church with all the freedom and good will Imaginable and because they were resolv'd to make sure work of it they have accompanied the same Relations with Certificates which they caused to be signed by the same means as they have procured their Conversions as they are pleased to call them and wherein those who had suffered a thousand outrages and Violences that cannot be named without detestation and horror were constrain'd to declare that the King's Soldiers who of themselves are well known to be as profligate wretches as any in the World had lived and demeaned themselves