A BRIEF DISPLAY OF THE French Counsels Representing the Wiles and Artifices OF FRANCE In Order to Ruine the CONFEDERATES AND The most Probable Ways to Prevent Them LONDON Printed and Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall MDCXCIV THE Secret Intrigues OF THE COURT of FRANCE THat which we call the Policy of a State very nearly resembles the Oeconomy of a Private Family the Ministers and Treasury-Officers of the One are like the Steward and Caterer in the Other And therefore it was that an Ancient Author made no difficulty to say That a Politick Court supported the State in like manner as Oeconomy kept up the Grandeur and good Discipline of a single House And as there are two sorts of Oeconomy the one Honest and Praise-worthy the other Mechanick and Sordid which a Lunatick person makes use of to pile up Riches any manner of way thereby rendring himself odious to all Men of worth 't is very near the same thing with Policy which may be also distinguish'd into two Classes the one Lawful the other Illegitimate Which latter having only usurp'd the name of Policy as Usurpation has done conceals it self under the Appellation of Conquest On the other side True Policy is not only beneficial but commendable and permitted by the laws of God and Man She is the Daughter of Prudence and the Prince that makes use of her Profitably and Sincerely wins to himself by that means the Admiration of Foreigners as well as the Love and Respect of his own Subjects and frequently merits the Epithetes and Sirnames of Great and Wise On the other side False Policy is meerly slye cunning wilely Craft or in a word downright Knavery and Cheat always covetous of other Mens Goods leaving no Stone unturn'd to aggrandize it self at any rate whatever come what will come of it and tacking according to the Proverb The Foxes to the Lyons Skin And these two different sorts of Politicks are as two Opposite mirrours that openly display the Inside of Princes and shew their vertuous or wicked Inclinations Nor can I forbear divulging to the World that the Court of France ever since the Death of Hen. IV. has very much studied the Practice of this same false Policy on purpose to endeavour the Aggrandizing of her self by Cheat and Usurpation And it may be said to have had extraordinary Success in this last Reign of Lewis XIV under a false Idea of Conquest having thereby augmented his Revenues to above two Thirds and his Dominions above a Third Part as might be easily prov'd were it not visible to all his Neighbours or if his Neighbours were not sensible of it by woful Experience And I do farther averr that it was almost impossible for France to aggrandize her self and very way to enlarge her Dominions as now we see her Limits extended or for her Monarch to raise himself to the present Pinacle of Grandeur had she not made a smart use of Violence Usurpation Breach of Faith To which I may moreover add the Hypocrisie and Deceit which the King of France has us'd in these latter times of Religion on purpose to trample under foot and appropriate to himself the Estates of his Subjects and the Treacherous Leagues he has made with Foreign Princes the more easily to deceive 'em and lay hold upon favourable Opportunities to invade their Territories when least they dream'd of any such thing but lay reposing under the Security of a Peace and all this to make himself Master of their Dominions when it was not in the Power of their Allies to assist ' em Formerly indeed the Romans who were Pagans made use of the same Maxims and the same Stratagems to grow great upon their Neighbours and to make themselves universal Masters of the World And no Lewis XIV believes he cannot fail of obtaining the same Success in his vast Expectations by treading the same landable and worthy Steps We have seen that since the Church-Men for most part greedy Heapers of Wealth have intruded into the Ministry of the Court of France they have instill'd into the Government Sentiments like their own that is to say Sentiments of Usurpation and Covetousness and a Liberty to do whatever they please and as it is usually seen that a Master endeavours to bring up his Disciples in his own Sentiments and to be of his humour so the Cardinals of Richlieu and Mazarine inspir'd into Lewis XIII and Lewis XIV eager Desires to make themselves Great by Usurpation infusing into 'em by all the ways imaginable that a Prince was always cry'd up in his Undertakings let 'em be good or bad provided that they prosper'd in their Enterprizes because the People adore and like the Sun-flower turn toward the Glitter of Prosperity That it was neither necessary nor beneficial for a King to be good sincere or merciful only that 't was sufficient to appear so in regard it was frequently dangerous to be so indeed and for that it became a King above all things to be always his own Master by acting quite the contrary when his Affairs requir'd it whether it were to make himself Great or for his own Honour seeing that Men judge rather by the Eyes then by the Hands every body having the Liberty to behold and consider the Actions of Kings but not to handle 'em that is to examine and dive into 'em those are Mysteries conceal'd like the Oracles of the Pagans in times of Old Lewis the XIV is so strongly perswaded that the People are only taken with Appearances and gaudy Shew that he affects no more then only to appear outwardly honest sincere and Religious when in reality and at the bottom of his Soul there is nothing of all this in him as has been seen by all the World ever since his first coming to the Crown Seeing there is no better way to judge of the Inward Heart then by the Constancy of a Mans outward Actions then which there can be nothing more plain if we consider the Opressions the Exactions the Cruelties committed during the whole Course of his Reign as also his Usurpations upon his Neighbours Nor can the more Moderate of his Subjects alledge any thing fairer in his Excuse then only this that his Design is to aggrandize himself and that this is the surest Means to render himself formidable as well to his Friends as to his Enemies both at home and abroad Therefore to become Great according to Lewis the Fourteenth's method there was a Necessity for him to fail of his Word and faith so soon as he found the Keeping of either prejudicial to Him to break his Alliances concluded and solemnly sworn with his Neighbours and nearest Relations so soon as an Opportunity presented it self to invade their Territories It may be said that this Monarch has made an excellent Use of Cardinal Mazarine's Lessons For that same Prelate being both Crafty and Cunning and somewhat of a Cheat besides fail'd not frequently to lay before his Prince the
Pretended Zeal But the same Catholicks being more discreet and wary and well acquainted with the Tricks and Finesses of France compar'd the French Zeal to Crocodiles Tears that weep to drill Passengers within their reach and then darting themselves upon their Prey seize and devour it Nay the Pope himself smelt out the Cheat and did all that lay in his Power to oppose it as was apparently seen by the Business of Furstenberg But tho' the Event has shew'd us that France was mistaken in her Calculation yet she still goes on with her Prosecutions of the Protestants tho' less at one time then another in regard that 't is the best way for Princes to go through with Follies begun and for that the King's meaning was to make all Europe believe that he had no other End then to make Proselytes and to propagate the Catholick Religion which is a thing that most prudent and moderate Persons of the same Religion could never perceive by what is past nor discover in any Prospect of Futurity Nor has the King of France procur'd the least Advantage to the Roman Church by his Oppressions within his Kingdom or by his persuading and inveigling the Duke of Savoy to persecute the Vaudois with the same Severity quite contrary to the Sentiments of Innocent XI who openly disapprov'd Violence in Matters of Religion and who could not forbear saying That at the same time that the French Embassadour made Bonfires at Rome and rejoyc'd for the Destruction of the French Huguenots That his Heart bled Tears of Blood foreseeing that all those Forc'd Conversions would one day prove extreamly Prejudicial to the Church and that the King of France did but dispoil himself of the Lovely Robe of Primitive Charity to put on the Old Rags of Paganism dy'd with the Blood of so many Martyrs Moreover these abominable Proceedings of France have only serv'd to render the Catholicks suspected to the Protestants and to beget a Scorn and Hatred of 'em in Places where before they liv'd together in Brotherly Love and good Correspondence But what is more Considerable and for which Rome and all the Catholicks will have just Reason eternally to reproach France and complain of her Monarch Lewis XIV is this That he preferr'd the Advancement of Mahometism before the Support and Preservation of the Catholick Religion in England quite ruin'd by the Dethroning of King James whom he forsook in his Greatest Necessity more-especially seeing that unfortunate Prince had never fallen into such an Abyss of Misery had he not follow'd the Pernicious Counsels of his Confederate who incens'd him to persecute his Subjects in England as he had done his own in France and to alter the Religion and Laws of his Realm to serve the Interests and Designs of France But the English more Prudent and Circumspect then the French foreseeing the Tempest that began to gather already over their Heads and of which the Consequences could not but produce a Shipwrack like to that which had swallow'd up the Protestants of France seeing that the Dragoons began already to cross over out of France into England where there was a Father Peters animated with the same preposterous Zeal as Father La Chaise and a Chancellor Jefferies no less wicked and bloody then Tellier or Louvois the English I say beholding the Scaffolds erected and the Fires just ready to be kindl'd withdrew themselves in time from the Yoke that France was preparing for their Necks and by that Resolution for ever dash'd the vain-glorious Hopes of all the English Catholicks In short the King of France has great Reason to repent of Two Things his Persecution of the Protestants of his Kingdom and his last Siege of Philipsburgh For that those two Things were the Original Cause of the War and the Basis of all the Calamities with which France is at present overwhelm'd and which daily augment beyond any Help or Remedy which all the Policy of that Court all the Wiles the Artifices and Knavery of her Ministers and all the Bigotry of her Male and Female Hypocrites can apply to stop their spreading or prevent the sme Destiny from befalling the Reign of Lewis the Great as befell Anticohus sirnam'd Epiphanes or The Illustrious there being so great a Uniformity in their Manner of Acting the Beginning and Progress of their Atchievements that we have great Reason to hope that their Exits will be the same FINIS
should deliver into his hands the Original of the Treaty But the king's Brother protested that he had burn'd the Original and had only kept a Copy sign'd with his own Hand and Counter-sign'd by the Secretary of his Commands by vertue of which Copy both Cinqmarc and de thou were both arraign'd and the Fatal End they came to is well known But to return to the Duke of Bouillon you are to understand that Fontraille who was sent into Spain to conclude the Treaty that he might bring it the sooner to pass and imprint a higher Opinion of the Business in the Court of Madrid would needs insert the Duke of Bouillon's Name in the Treaty without his Knowledge and promis'd that he should not only ratifie it but allow Sedan for a Place of Refuge tho' the Duke never ratify'd the Treaty nor ever caus'd his Name to be inserted but quite the contrary had always oppos'd it when the Duke of Orleance had formerly made some Overtures to him of the same nature However there needed no more to ruine him so that the Cardinal dispatch'd away a Courrier forthwith into Italy with Orders for seizing his Person which was done at Casal by the General Officers who commanded under him from whence he was conducted by a numerous Convoy to the Castle of Pierre-en-Cize And there it was that the Duke first understood That he had been comprehended in the Treaty of Madrid of which the Duke of Orleance had given him a Copy sign'd with his own Hand and that he at the same time had discover'd the Queen's and the Duke's Design to retire to Sedan upon the King's Decease The crafty Cardinal observ'd by this Confession how much he was fear'd and dreaded which serv'd to render him more absolute then ever and impower'd him to revenge himself of his Enemies more loftily and more inexorably For whatever Excuse the Duke of Bouillon could make and tho' it could never be prov'd that he ever sign'd or ratify'd the Treaty or gave any order for the inserting of his Name therein there was no other Choice for him to make but either to lose his Head or his Principality of Sedan Which was no more then what France had sought a long time and for the bringing of which to pass there was no foul Play which the Minister had not put in Practise no Snare that he had not laid to entrap the Innocent The Dutchess of Bouillon having notice of her Husband's Imprisonment and of the danger he was in of his Life sent her Sister in Law to Court to let the Cardinal know that if the Duke were put to death she would deliver Sedan to the Spaniards to which purpose she had already sent to Brussells to sollicit their Approach to the Town But Mademoiselle de Bouillon arriving at the Court of France and understanding that du Thou had been condemn'd for only being privy to and concealing Cinqmarc's Design chang'd her note and was so far from delivering the Dutchesses Menaces to the Cardinal according to her Instructions that she told the Cardinal she had Orders to enter into a Negotiation and to engage for the Life and Liberty of her Brother This was that which the Cardinal expected and therefore without giving her any time to recollect her self the Treaty was concluded That the Dutchess should deliver Sedan to the King of France and that the Duke her Husband should be put into possession of other Lands of equal value in the Kingdom and that at the same time that the French Garrison should enter the Town the Prisoner should be releas'd Thereupon Cardinal Richlieu not being able to go himself sent his Coadjutour in the Ministry who took possession of it and secur'd it to all Intents and Purposes Thus that Important City which had withstood the King fell into his Hands partly through the ill Conduct of the Duke of Bouillon but chiefly through the Snares which the Policy of France laid for him ever since he quitted his Religion and the Service of the States For in good Policy they ought to have preserv'd that City which gave Protection to the Protestant Party The Death of the Cardinal happening in one and the same year the Queen being declar'd Regent and Duke of Orleance Chief of the Council the Duke of Bouillon returrn'd to Court flattering himself with being restor'd to his Dominions considering that his Misfortune did not befall him but for the good Services which he was ready to have done those Two Illustrious Persons that now sate at the Helm of State and who had engag'd him without his Knowledge But when he came to Court he only found a change of the Regency but not of the Ministry which was still cunning and wilely For Mazarine who succeeded Richlieu in the Government out-did his Predecessor He found that the Disciple knew more then the Master that he had a double portion of Avarice and Self-Interest that Italian Knavery had succeeded French Refinedness and that he had no mind to let go the Prey which he already held fast in his Gripes and for which he had labour'd conjoyntly with is Predecessour 'T is true that when the Duke of Bouillon first arriv'd he receiv'd a world of Complements from the Queen the Duke of Orleance and all the Court but when he came to talk of Business all that Courship vanish'd nor could he obtain so much as Audience either of the Queen or the Duke of Orleance till at length by dint of Pressing Importunity he got so much favour that the Abbot de la Riviere a Favourite of Orleance's was appointed to conferr with him about his Pretensions and that meerly to be ridd of him Bouillon therefore seeing he could do no better fell upon the Matter with the Abbot and told him That he was willing to fulfill the Treaty made with Lewis XIII but that the Evacuation the Verification in Parliament and so many other Formalities absolutely requisite would infallibly take up a tedious Space of several Years therefore till all those Ceremonies were at an end that'twas but just that Sedan should be restor'd him to be surrender'd back into the King's Hands so soon as he should be put into Possession of the Equivalents that considering the Present Posture of Affairs he foresaw long Delays and infinite Cavils whereas if Sedan were in his Hands it would be look'd upon as the King's Business no less then the Enlarging of France by the Acquisition of a Soveraignty and a City of great Strength and Importance That if these Reasons would not work upon the Queen nor Monsieur he desir'd the Abbot to lay before 'em that the One or the Other might happen to dye before Things could be brought to that perfection as to be fit to be put in Execution which would inevitably prove the Ruine of his Family and that they were engag'd as well in Honour as in Conscience not to expose him to that Extremity To this he added That tho' the Queen and the Duke
Declaration which the Assembly of the Clergy made in the Year 1682. of their Opinions concerning Ecclesiastical Power at such a Conjuncture too when some of his Predecessours would rather have been banish'd to the Extremities of the Earth then have suffer'd so man New Converts He refus'd his Bulls to several Ecclesiasticks nominated by the King to supply the vacant Churches in his Kingdom The partial Behaviour of our Holy Father in reference to the Archbishoprick of Cologne his Resolute Refusal to acknowledge or give Audience to the King's Ambassadour at that Conjuncture but thundering out Anathema's against him and Interdicting him from St. Lewis's Church in Rome will perpetuate an Example almost Incredible to Posterity of the King's Zeal for Religion and his desire to preserve the Peace of Christendom and of the Pope's proceedings so contrary to the Obligations of the Place which he supplies Wherefore seeing His Holiness stops his Ears to all the King 's most just Complaints we are constrain'd at length to defend our selves and to maintain the Dignity of the Crown and the Repose of the King's Subjects by the Rules of Justice at a time that his majesty does the same with so much glory by the Puissance of his Armes Thereupon the King 's said Advocate-General having first obtain'd the King's permission declares That he is Appellant in the King's behalf and in behalf of all his Subjects to a Universal Council which His Holiness shall be pleas'd to call in due and Canonical Form c. Protesting in the mean time in the Name and by the Express Command of the King that 't is his Intention to remain inviolably devoted to the Holy See as the true Center of the Church's Unity c. And so soon as our Holy Father being better inform'd shall shew the Equity the Sentiments and Partiality of a Judge and common Father his Majesty will pay to his Person the same Filial Respect as he did before and from which nothing but the ill Conduct of his Holiness causes him to abstain After the Court of France had put these unheard-of Affronts upon the Holy See and thus debas'd the Authority of the Sovereign Pontiff instead of making use of those means which the Catholick Church and Councils have put into his Hands to bring back Princes and People to their Christian Duty the Pope out of a peculiar Fund of Charity and Piety contented himself with making appear to all the World the Justice of his Proceedings and the Injustice of the French Court declaring all along that he was perswaded that the Truth of Affairs had never been truly represented to the King of France only that the Artifices and Passions of those who are no Lovers of Peace had infus'd into him an Idea altogether different Otherwise that it was never to be believ'd that the King would have harbour'd in his Mind those Injurious Sentiments contain'd in Cardinal d'Estree's Letter his Holiness having never fail'd to shew himself a true Father to all Catholicks but more particularly to France who upon several Occasions had receiv'd various Testimonies of his Indulgence and Esteem but instead of being repay'd with Grateful Acknowledgement his Holiness had been expos'd to most heinous Injuries and Affronts not only offer'd to his Person but the Holy See by extending the Regale to above half the the Churches in France that are no way subject to it but by the Second General Council of Lion by prescription of almost 400 Years by the Testimonies and Evidences of Edicts of several Kings Decrees of Parliament and Registers of the Chamber of Accounts as also by the Opinion of the most celebrated French Lawyers ought to be exempted from it The Pope loudly complain'd of the Violence done to the Convents of the Carognes and Urbanistes and that only for applying themselves to the Holy See in Opposition to an Invasion of their Privileges and the Canonical Rules of their Orders which imports That Abbots and Superiours ought to be Elective and continue for three Years together In contempt of which the King had introduc'd Abbots of his own Nomination Besides the Rending away of Five Abbies without the consent of the Apostolick See to erect a Commandery and applying to Other uses the Revenues possess'd by several Monks and Nuns according to the Will of the Donours But that which was more enormous was the King's Prohibiting the Bishops to have any Recourse to the Pope according to their Duty and the Custom of all Times to ask his Counsel in matter of Religion as also in reference to what concern'd Prince Clement of Bavaria tho' in granting him the Eligibility for three Churches that were Legally possess'd by the deceas'd Electour of Cologne all Christendom saw that the Pope had no other Aim then the Publick Good For besides the high Value which it behov'd him to have for that Illustrious House the Merits of the Electour his Brother who had so gloriously defended Christendom against the Invasion of the Turks his Holiness had done nothing in that particular but only imitated the Liberality of his Predecessours who conferr'd the like and greater Favours also upon Persons much Inferiour in Birth Age and Merit then Prince Clement and that too at the Request of the Kings of France And for the Bull granted to Prince Clement the Pope could not be accus'd of any Injustice for so doing since that Affair was exactly and seriously examin'd in a Consistorial Congregation at Rome Besides that the King of France had neither any Reason nor Right to intermeddle in that Affair since it was a Business that only related to a German Archbishoprick and an Electour of the Empire which no way concern'd France either directly or indirectly but the Pope only in respect of Apostolick Confirmation and the Emperour as to the Investiture of the Pincipality in admitting him into the Electoral College to which belongs the Right of Electing a new Emperour and which has a very great Sway in managing the Affairs of the whole Empire So that the Pretence for War which France lays hold on from the Proceedings at Cologne is to be imputed to the King's Passion and his own Interest After what past in the Assembly of some Part of the Clergy at Paris where among other things the King caus'd the Regale to be adjudg'd his Right notwithstanding the Appeal of the Bishops of Alets and Pamise to the Pope and the Propositions so injurious to the Apostolick See supported by Royal Edicts enjoyning every Body to receive and publickly profess and teach 'em in such a manner as was never yet practis'd His Holiness had great Reason to refuse his Bulls to the Ecclesiasticks nominated by the King to supply the vacant Bishopricks because they were present at the said Assembly of 1682. and there openly declar'd themselves Enemies of the Apostolick See and for that the Canon Law and the Agreement made with France that the Pope should be judge of the Capacity of the Persons nominated prove moreover
That the said Ecclesiasticks nomianted by the King were not Persons proper to be entrusted with the Instruction of the People but absolutely addicted to their pleasures and their worldly Interests seeing that they never scrupl'd to revolt against their Spiritual Chief and to betray the Liberty and Privileges of the Church to the end they might gain the King's Favour and augment their Temporal Means Upon this the Court of France being desirous to vex the Pope made choice of the Marquis of Lovardin for his Embassadour to Rome because he was a Known Enemy of the Apostolick See and was both able and willing to affront and molest his Holiness No wonder then if he never had Audience of the Pope seeing that according to the General Rule no Minister should be sent to a Soveraign Prince but such a one as is acceptable to the Prince with whom he is to negotiate besides that it is not sufficient for a person to be sent by a Prince to entitle him to the Prerogatives of an Embassadour but according to the Laws of Nations he must be acknowledg'd for such a one by the Soveraign to whom that Minister is sent Therefore the Court of France had no reason to complain that the Pope refus'd to give Audience to the Marquis Nor indeed would any Soveraign have suffer'd the Marquis as he did to enter Rome with Armed Force as it were to deprive him of one Part of his Sovereignty and on purpose to affront him after such a manner unheard of even among Barbarians themselves 'T is observable that when France has any occasion to court the Favour of the Holy See she sends Prelates Cardinals and Bishops for her Embassadours in regard it is a Thing both decent and becoming Ecclesiasticks to be submissive to the Pope besides that they are allow'd Admittance when Seculars are excluded But when France has a mind to affront the See she sends a Lawyer or a Sword-man who neither depends upon the Pope nor expects any Kindness from him and who dares ruffle him stoutly when it is to promote the Interests of France But France seeing the Pontiff inflexible and that he was not to be gain'd either by his Nephew nor by the Cardinals that were most Intimate with him resolv'd either to rid him out of the world or to wait for his Death But Old Age sparing France the Labour of her first design he was no sooner dead but France began her old Custom of making Parties and scattering her Louidores up and down Rome to purchase a Pope of her own Faction and the Lot fell upon a Venetian Ottoboni who took upon him the Name of Alexander VIII France thought him her Friend and attributed the whole Glory of his Election to her self But she found him to be a Venetian that is to say one that conceal'd his real Sentiments as long as he liv'd and never declar'd himself till he came to lie upon his Death-Bed but then he did it in such a Manner as was no way for the Advantage of France Now in regard he was very Old and desirous to make the best of those few Years he had to live to raise the Fortune of his Family the French Ministers fail'd not to be liberal of their inchanting Golden Philters to allure his Kindred into the Interests of the French Court But how willing soever or how Importunate to Oblige their Uncle to do something in favour of the King they could never procure from him any thing more but only that while he held the Pontificate he did France neither good nor harm However the Italians say this of him That he did like the Swan that is he Sung a little before his Death Nevertheless France suffer'd patiently that petty Mortification and the loss of all her Presents to the Family of the Ottoboni in hopes to have at length a Pontiff more favourable to her Purposes At last after much canvassing most Voices were for a Neopolitan of the Family of Pignatelli whom the Cardinals of the French Faction would not exclude upon his promise to the French Cardinals that the French Court should have no reason to be dissatisfy'd with his Pontificate But being elected he forgot the Promises he had made the rather because the Imperial and Spanish Embassadours disswaded him as much as lay in their Power from the observance of ' em The Court of France therefore finding that they had to do with one that was not less weak in Mind then infirm in Body press'd it upon him that he would occasion the damnation of a great number of People that were without Pastours if he persisted in the Refusal of his Bulls to the Bishops of France who were present at the Assembly of the Clergy in the Year 1682. And at the same time the French Cardinals according to their Instructions gave the Pontiff to understand that a War was very near breaking out in Italy and that he would be answerable for the Blood that should be spilt seeing the Most Christian King's Patience was at an end and that most certainly he would withdraw himself from his Obedience to the See of Rome and set up a Patriarch in his own Kingdom and thereby retain several Millions that went every year to Rome Thereupon those Fears that usually seize People superannuated and the Delicacy of Conscience without any necessity of a Pontiff made him determine to satisfie the Court of France upon frivolous Promises that the Bishops should submit tho' to the prejudice of the Holy See since the King retracted nothing of what he had done publickly against the Authority of the Pontiffs and the Religion of the See and for that the Registers of the Parliament of Paris containing the Injurious Appeal of the King's Advocate-General still remain upon Record and for that France will one day revive it again when she finds a favourable Opportunity to humble the Court of Rome Neither the Pope nor the Holy See are to judge of the Catholicity of Lewis XIV or his Court by the Passion which he has shown in persecuting the Huguenots within his Kingdom So far from that seeing that while the French Monarch persecuted the Huguenots in his own Realm and destroy'd their Churches and their Exercises he succour'd Count Teckeli the Head of the same Sect that were revolted from their Soveraign in Hungary and the Court of France was not only more closely Ally'd for his sake with the Ottoman Port to which he also gave considerable Assistance but made Vows for the Prosperity of the Mahometans and repair'd their Mosques even as far as Vienna it self Moreover I have frequently heard the Director of my Conscience say and have heard several of the queint Doctors of the Sorbonne preach that the Fruits of the Christian Religion were Charity and that he who was void of it could not be a True Catholick that Charity was a Vertue which produc'd a Patient Spirit that it was benign that it was not covetous of other mens Goods
nor sought its own advantages that it neither commits Injustice nor possesses any thing unjustly got that it endures every thing believes every thing bears with every thing never carries it self insolently or dishonestly This is the Character of a True Christian according to the Learned Now if the Pope finds but one of these Vertues in the King of France I mean that Sincerity which Pope Gregory requir'd from a true Catholick which consists in fulfilling by our Actions what we have promis'd in Word in that case I agree that the Pope may not only embrace him as his Eldest Son but canonize him after his Death and I will be the first that will pay my Homage to the Great St. Lewis If it be enquir'd From whence this way of proceeding arises so different and irregular in reference to the Holy See more especially in a King who adorns himself with the Title of Most Christian I answer that 't is from hence because that whatever he took in hand was for the Service of that Great and Ambitious Design which aim'd at nothing less then to be the Master of all Europe To which purpose he had it in view by the Persecution of the Religionaries of his Kingdom to acquire to himself the Suffrages the Esteem the Assistance of all the Roman Catholicks in the midst of those great Designs which he had to invade the Empire by means of that Succour which he gave the Turk There is nothing makes the King of France so sick at heart as the Prosperity of the Emperour He would willingly make War against Heaven because God did not give him all the Earth to himself or at least because he thinks his Neighbour has the better share and possesses the more lovely part For this Reason you see that France is always upon the Enquiry Her Emissaries continually inform themselves what Territories what Splendour others enjoy that their Monarch may have an Opportunity to fall upon This or t' Other or Both together Envious Persons are as it were the Animated Skeletons of Demons that are nourish'd only by their own Torments Agrippina the Mother of Nero was wont to say That there was nothing in the World which a Prince ought not to Sacrifice for a Crown And therefore it was that Katherine de Medicis Queen of France finding her self ready to sink under the Burden of the Civil Wars after the death of her Son Francis II. and not knowing any longer after she had tyr'd 'em all out to what Saint to recommend her self went to the Devil with her three Younger Children Charles IX the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Alanson And the Medal is still to be seen with this Device beneath her Figure engrav'd in Copper and the Figures of her three Children which she offer'd to the Demon Soit pourvu que je regne Let it be so I may reign If these Miserable Women have carry'd their Ambition so high for a single Crown what may it not be Lawful for Lewis XIV to do so he may gain the Universal Monarchy For still whatever he does the French have a Name for it they call it Grandeur of Soul They offer Incense at this very day to the Divinity of Lewis the Great and below his Statue the Head of which is environ'd with a Glory there are written these Blasphemous words Numini Ludovici Magni This is the Religion and this is the Idol of the Court of France and of their Emissaries that compass the Earth to make Proselytes to embrace and adore the Interests of France If among such proceedings as these if in such a Dreary Chaos the Holy See can find out Catholicity I will acknowledge him to be like God himself who alone can bring Light out of Darkness But Lewis the XIV was not content with the Crown of France nor to make himself Emperour but to be the Universal Monarch of the World and then not having any more to conquer here below like the Gyants of Old he would have built a Tower to scale Heaven and Dragoon the Inhabitants of the Eternal Mansions However the Soveraign KING of Kings who derides the Folly of Men has in a good Measure confounded the Counsels of France and dissipated all her Great Designs particularly since the raising the Siege of Vienna upon the 12th of September 1683. a fatal day for France but glorious for the Emperour and Empire and Happy for all Christendom This unexpected Blow contrary to the Hopes and Expectations of Lewis the XIV and his Ministers constrain'd him to seek a Truce which was granted him for Twenty years and by which the Policy of France had a fair Prospect of Keeping those Towns of which she was Mistress and on the other side had gain'd time to see the Issue of the War between the two Empires with a Design however as already has been said no longer to observe the Truce till the King beheld the Fate of the Two contending Parties If the Emperour fell then the King was to march in Person into Germany and cause himself to be proclaim'd Emperour and Protectour of the Christians at the Head of his Army If the Grand Signior had the worst of it then the King was to send his Forces to his Aid by ravaging all Germany and dividing the Forces of the Empire as he did under imaginary Pretences which was more then openly to Succour the Turks who in Truth had broken with the Christians barely upon the Sollicitations of Count Teckeli and the King of France promising great Assistances if they happen'd to prove the weakest and in that alone the French Monarch may be said to have kept his Word 'T is also no less true that his own Interest was at the Bottom he not enduring to behold the Prosperity of the Imperial Arms and fearing least the Emperour proving Victorious should one day re-demand the Towns and Territories which he had usurp'd from him France then seeing the Emperour's Success the Christians winning Battel after Battel the Turks driven beyond Belgrade his Design upon Cologne frustrated the Baron of Plettenberg chosen Bishop of Munster the Baron of Elderen elected Prince and Bishop of Liege and by this means all the vast Designs of Lewis XIV quite ranvers'd she was no longer to be restrain'd within the Bounds of a Truce so that her Fury fell first upon Phillipsburgh which the Emperour not being in a Condition to defend the King carry'd the Town the 29th of October 1688. and thus neither Decorum nor the Interest of the Christians neither promis'd Faith nor all the Catholick Religion it self could hinder the perfidious Victor from declaring openly for the Infidels and Enemies of Christ and the Christian Name However if on the one side France in some measure wreck'd her Revenge by the War which she unjustly declar'd against the Emperour it may be certainly said that the Acquisition of Philipsburgh cost King James his Crown as being at the same time abandon'd by Lewis the XIV to his
be presum'd to be the same in regard of the Electours who are the Members of it Formerly 't was the Policy of France to caress 'em one after another to dazle 'em with the Grandeur of Lewis the Great and perswade 'em to side with the Interests of that Monarch sparing neither for Promises nor Presents to render 'em inclinable to elect French Coadjutours But afterwards they were clearly convinc'd that this was the Apple of Discord which the King of France threw into the Empire to the End he might swallow 'em up one after another Now therefore let us see what new course he takes to manage the Princes of the Empire They can now no longer be serviceable to him in making the Dauphin King of the Romans in regard they have Check-mated him on that side already So that they have spar'd him a world of Trouble and a great deal of Money which he was wont to throw away by Shovel-fulls upon that Occasion ' Much less is it to be thought that Lewis has now any Hopes of being Emperour since I am told that the Book entitul'd The just Pretensions of the King to the Empire written by the Sieur Aubri Advocate in the Parliament of Paris serves now to no other use then to wrap up Butter and Cheese in the Chandlers Shops The Ministry of France now labours to separate the Electours and Princes of the Empire from the common cause not by the means of Gold or Silver because he finds 'em incorruptible but by invading their Territories by Fire and Sword as he has done the Palatinate the Dioceses of Cologne Mayence and Treves with a design to enforce 'em to perswade the Emperour to accept of a Separate Peace by which means France will remain the Mistress still of the Greatest part of all her Usurpations To which purpose she makes a dextrous Use of the easie Access which the Monks and Jesuits have to the Persons of the Roman Catholick Princes and to intrude among the Ministers of State every where extolling the King's Catholicity and his great design to have exterminated Heresie had not King James been dethron'd But some have said very well in Answer to those Emissaries that all those forward Acts of seeming Zeal were no other then a sort of Clumsie Trapans that they must go and tell their Stories to Children and Fools for that they were no Strangers to the King of France's Religion There is one thing very Remarkable that Lewis XIV designing the Destruction of the Empire was the occasion of the strengthning it and of underpropping it in some measure with new Supports by adding a Ninth Electour to the Electoral College and more particularly by the Choice which the Emperour and the Electours have made of the Duke of Hanover to supply that Place to the great Grief of the Court of France who with all her wilely Stratagems and false Politicks could not prevent it The Election of a King of the Romans of Prince Clement of Bavaria to the Electorate of Cologne of the Baron of Elderen to the Bishoprick of Liege of the Baron of Plettenberg to that of Munster but more especially the Revolution in England were bitter Morsels for the Most Christian King to swallow and still lie heavy upon his Stomach And whenever France comes once to see the Bottom of her Exchequer there is no question but her Fall will be very great since it was her Money that only upheld her in all the Courts of Christendom that she has plaister'd over all her Usurpations and that she has lull'd several Princes asleep whose real Interest it was to oppose her Silver is a sort of Mettal every where acceptable and the Avarice of the Switzers has spread it self into several Courts according to the saying of Alexander That there was nothing inaccessible to Silver tho' Matchiavell upholds That 't is a hard matter for Steel to keep possession of that which is purchased with Gold Nevertheless we have seen the Contrary both in Germany and Flanders where the King of France bought several Places with good ready Money and has held 'em for several Years But give me leave to add this Reason for it I mean the little good Correspondence at that time between the Princes of the Empire and the Powder of Gold which their Jupiter rain'd among ' em That Monarch not only got great Footing within the Territories of his Neighbours but made his Possession good Witness Strasburg Hunninghen and several other Places upon the Rhine as Mayence and several Fortresses in the Diocess of Cologne if Heaven by a Blow that France little expected had not linked together that Sacred Union in the Empire for the Common defence which all the gilded Politicks of France could never prevent nor her Poyson put a stop to And this is a Truth never to be contradicted that the Sincere Union of the Princes of the Empire preserves 'em from being corrupted and early or late will render 'em Victorious over the Common Enemy and put 'em in a Condition of being able to recover what they have and fix 'em in the Possession of what they hold untouch'd No wonder then that the French destroy and ruine Germany where they come because they find they cannot hold it but must surrender back all their Usurpations tho' by the Havock which they make they are in hopes to weaken the Strength of their Enemies 'T would be but Justice then and what the King of France has no such reason to wonder at that he should be one day constrain'd to repay the Damages for the Spoil which his Armies have committed in pursuance of his Infernal Politicks During the Reign of Philip the II. King of Spain it may be said that France and Spain divided Europe between 'em and that they were truly the Two Scales of a Ballance which the Other Soveraigns endeavour'd to keep in an Equilibrium and sided sometimes with the One sometimes with the Other as their Interest directed 'em in order to keep an Equality of Force for fear of being swallow'd up by the Strongest But since King Philip's time it may be said That Spain has been continually sinking lower and lower that she has been in good part the Prey of France and that had it not been for the Allies the French at this Hour would have been not only Masters of the Low-Countries but of Madrid it self And indeed it may be said that the Duke of Alva lent the first helping Hand to the fall of the Spanish Puissance by his Proclamation concerning the Tenth Penny in the Year 1569. by his Depriving the People of the Liberty of Conscience and the Massacers that succeeded and which was the real Cause of the Revolt of part of the Low-Countries and the Fountain and Original of all the Misfortunes that afterwards befell that Monarchy which instead of striking Dread and Terrour into all Europe and the Other World is dwindl'd away to that degree of Impuissance wherein we now behold it
attain'd her Ends and for the Truth of this we have sufficient Proofs the Testimony of Grandvall at his Death and the authentick Depositions of Dement who is still living to the Shamne and Confusion of France the Remembrance of which will be a lasting Stain to her Honour a Fact which her succeeding Princes will deny as a Reproach to their Posterity and for which Histories only furnish us with the Example of Darius King of Persia who not being able to vanquish his Enemy Alexander in Battel treacherously labour'd to have won the Grecian Soldiers either to kill or betray their Prince And for that it was that the Macedonian Victor upbraided Darius's Embassadors when they came to sue for Peace and to return him Thanks for the Civilities he had shew'd to his Mother his Wife and his two Daughters to which Embassadour the Macedonian Monarch thus began his Answer Tell your Master that Thanks are superfluous among Soldiers that make War one upon another and therefore if I were Civil and Courteous towards his Relations 't was only to satisfie my self and not out of any Affection that I bear to him for 't is not my Humour to insult over the Miserable I never attack Prisoners nor Women I only assail those that I meet with Weapons in their Hands and who are in a Condition to defend themselves So that if he sincerely desir'd Peace I should consider what I had to do but seeing that he still continues by Letters and Money to sollicit my Soldiers to betray me and my Friends to Kill me I am resov'd to pursue him to the uttermost of my Power no longer as an Enemy but as a Poysoner and a Ruffian c. 'T is not to be deny'd but that when any man designs to murther his Enemy 't is because he dreads him with a more then Ordinary Fear and to deprive his more valiant Adversary by such a Cowardly and detestable Action of the Honour of vanquishing him in Battel But such Assassins never come to good End for Darius perish'd miserably being murder'd by his own Subjects and at the same time lost both his Life his Diadem and all the Wealth of Persia But to return to our Subject During the Reign of King James France sent into England whole Legions of Monks and Jesuits under pretence of Propagating the Faith and to screw themselves into the most considerable Families of the Realm under pretence of Religion as also to assist this Unfortunate Prince to observe his Footsteps and dive into his secret Thoughts to the end he might not be able to avoid the Chains which the Court of France had prepar'd for him But now the Emissaries of France have alter'd their Language and whereas at that time they preach'd nothing to the English but Peace and Obedience there now they breath nothing but Fire and Flame Sedition and Murder where e're they come fomenting Rebellion in all parts of the Kingdom and ready once more to fire the City of London if they believ'd the Conflagration would contribute any thing to their wicked Designs The whole Policy and Craft of France is at a great Loss at this Conjuncture to find that all her Machinations against the Life of the King of England at present prosperously Reigning are still disappointed Nor is it less a bitter Choak-Pear to Lewis XIV the Proudest Monarch upon Earth to see himself at last constrain'd to acknowledge his Brittanick Majesty the Lawful Monarch of the Three Kingdoms and sue to him for Peace and all this after he had Vaunted before all the World that he would never lay down his Arms till he had restor'd King James to his Throne not without a prophane and Daring Application of the words of God the Father to the Son Sit thou at my Right hand till I make thy Enemies thy Foot-stool Now after such a Bounce a man would think it should be a trouble to the Court of France to find her self constrain'd to dismiss this poor unfortunate Prince But there will be no such Thing For when Persons that have been profitable to the Court of France become once unserviceable she never scruples to send 'em packing in cold Blood 'T is true that she observes some Measures and lets yee know her Mind at first by Hints and indirect Whispers but if you do not understand her Mute Language and Dumb Signs she fails not to inform your Stupidity with plain and down-right Expressions it being a Maxim of the French Court never to love the Unfortunate But you 'l say what Benefit can accrue to Lewis XIV by keeping King James in France 't is not for the Benefit of his Counsel for he could never give or take any himself nor is it out of any heat of Concupiscence for the Queen of England for he has much handsome and Prettier in his Seraglio of St. Cyr where Madam de Maintenon out of her Pious Care for several Years together has kept in good decorum a numerous Bevie of young handsome Ladies who are as it were so many Victims which she offers to the Divinity of Lewis the Great and though that Monarch had not that Reserve for his little Pleasures the Court is full of Coquetts and the Mothers are such Ninnyhammers as to carry their Daughters thither to try whether or no their good Fortune will advance 'em to the Embraces of that Great Monarch and all this in hopes to raise the drooping condition of their Family Insomuch that I have known some Parents condescend to that point of Panderism as to Lesson their Daughters and instruct 'em what they were to say and do in case the King should happen to take notice of ' em So that most assuredly it would not be no Queen Jemmykin that the Sultan of France would throw his Handkerchief unless it were with that Limitation that Alexander observ'd who refus'd to exercise at the Olymptick Games unless he might have Kings for his Competitors And thus Lewis XIV grown more Great perhaps then formerly would have the World believe that he 'll no longer be a Gamester in the Sports of Love unless he may have Queens for the Objects of his Passion However the King grows old and therefore let us be so favourable to him as to believe that if the Court of France did entertain King James and all his Train at St. Germains 't was not for any Affection the French Monarch bare him but because the English Fugitive who generally feeds upon Chimera's fancy'd Himself and endeavour'd to perswade the Court of France that he had a Great Party in England not only all the Roman Catholicks but all the Fanaticks in the Kingdom That the Quaker Penn who indeed is no other then a Jesuit in Masquerade assur'd him of the Absolute Devotion of that whole Sect to his Party and Service But the Court of France has been well inform'd that all these Assurances were meer Illusions seeing that neither Catholicks nor Quakers are admitted into the Parliament
all along during this War which began in 1672. at what time Sweden declar'd openly for France Tho' he repented of it afterwards whether it were by reason of his Ill Success and the Advantage of the Electour of Brandenburgh during that War or the Infidelity of the Court of France so far from observing her Word that she never pay'd the Money which she promis'd to that Crown but on the other side depriv'd the Northern Prince of his Dutchy of Deux Ponts Which ill Usage lost the French all their Credit in the Court of Sweden where they were afterwards look'd upon as Cheats insomuch that the Good Correspondence formerly between those two Nations turn'd into Hatred and Scorn After this Change in regard the Policy of France found it Convenient to have one of these two Northern Princes tack'd to her Interests she cast her Affection upon Danemark and so well ply'd the Ministers of that Court with her Louidores that now she governs 'em as she Pleases and makes 'em daunce to the French Ayres I must acknowledge that the King of France pays the Violins but still Levis XIV has the Pleasure to see the Danes dance and foot it to his advantage The Siege of Ratzâ—nburgh cost France Three hunder'd Thousand Crowns which were pay'd at Hamborough upon throwing the First Bomb into that Fortress For the Policy of the Court of France would needs venture that Summ at a time when she had little reason to have spar'd it in hopes that this Siege would have made a notable Diversion and that all the Princes of the House of Luneburg would have recall'd all their Forces from the Low-Countries and the Rhine to defend that Place But here the French were cully'd by the Danes For the Difference was made up between both Parties France not being able to prevent the Reconciliation which seem'd to her to have been Impossible But this is not the First Attempt of the Court of France that has come to nothing So that it cannot be said that she takes her measures so truly as never to be mistaken as her Emissaries give out with high applause For to hear them Chatter a man would swear that the Resolves of the Cabinet of their Great Monarch were the Decrees of Heaven that never err which France does often and more frequently then she would her self In the Present Conjuncture France ready to sink under the Burthen of a Long Chargeable War makes use of Danish Flags and Vessels to get Corn and Naval Stores for her Men of War In short at present she embraces the Danes whom she contemn'd before as her only Patrons and Deliverers to whom she can have Recourse and she would fain have the King of Danemark declare War against the United Provinces The Minister of France residing at Coppenhaghen is continually beating his Brains day and night to furnish the Danish Ministers with Pretences to begin a Rupture he promises Ships and Money to assist 'em and that tho' it should be their Misfortune to come by the worst yet upon the making of the Peace he would never forsake 'em no more then he did he Swede when the Peace of Nimeghen was concluded The Louidores of France are most alluring Baits at the Court of Coppenhaghen but their Interest so undeniably requires 'em to hold a good Correspondence with the Hollanders rather then with any other Nation that only that Consideration out-bâ—llances all the Golden Persuasions of the French Embassadour Bonrepos who having quitted his Religion to please his Master labours by all the Artifices of Fallacy and Deceit to become serviceable to him in acknowledgment of the Honour done him in sending him upon an Embassy for which he thought him a more fit Person then any Body else by reason of his Employment in the Sea Affairs under the Marquis of Segnalai But that which most embarrases France and Danemark both together is this that Swedeland which is the far more potent Kingdom of the two being engag'd in a strict Alliance with the Emperor and the United Provinces and having also Pretensions to Danemark will not be wanting to cross the Enterprizes of the Danish King who all things being consider'd can ne'er hope for any great Assistance from the French in the Present Conjuncture Moreover such is the Jealousie between those two Nations upon the score of Trade that the Danes are always afraid least the Swedes should be too hard for 'em and agree with the Hollanders to furnish 'em with all the Wood and other Naval Stores which otherwise they fetch from Danemark and which would be a loss to 'em that France would never be able to repair If the King of France cannot oblige Danemark to break with the United Provinces he is bound at least to procure as much Succour as he can from the North and to make use of Danish Colours to pass freely without molestation with promise to reimburse all the Losses which the Danes shall sustain by their Protection in regard the Danish Ministers readily foresee that so great a Number of Passports which they give for Money to al Vessels and all sorts of Nations that desire 'em must at length open the Eyes of the Confederates and force 'em to put a stop to a Trade that only serves to carry Counter band Goods into France contrary to Justice and Reason and to the prejudice of the Treaties Bonrepos does all he can to continue this Game and he keeps by him whole Reams of Blank Passports to fill 'em up in favour of those who desire 'em and to encourge 'em to sail France he gives 'em to some and promises 'em to others and bequeaths himself a hunder'd Times a day to the Devil to assure 'em of the Honesty and Sincerity of his Master In short that Embassadour takes a world of Pains so that if he succeed in his Negotiation the King his Master may well bestow upon him the Collar of the Order of St. Lewis in recompence of his Toil and Labour and in exchange for his Religion The Count d' Avaux a Cunning and Crafty Minister at present the French Embassadour at Sweden is so well known in the World that we should do him wrong to write his Panegyrick He acted his part so well during his Embassy at the Hague that his Master sent him to King James to assist him with his Counsel during the Heroick Expedition of that Prince in Ireland His Instructions are not altogether the same with those of Bonrepos's at Coppenhaghen because those two Courts are not both of one Opinion and for that the Promises of France have not that Reputation at Stockholm as at Coppenhaghen And therefore while Bonrepos presses the Danes to a Rupture d' Avaux only sollicits the Court of Sweden to stand Neuter and to continue their Trade with France or instead of that to grant Passports to such as shall desire 'em to the end that Sweden and Danemark may be equally concern'd in case the Confederates should