THE POLITICKS OF THE French KING LEWIS the XIV DISCOVERED With Respect to Rome Emperour and Princes of the Empire Spain England United Provinces Northern Princes Suisse Cantons And of Savoy With a short Account of His RELIGION Translated from the French. Licensed according to Order THE Policy of France And the MAXIMS of LEWIS the XIV Discovered to all EUROPE IT is not Birth which chiefly distinguishes Princes from other Men but their Parts and Abilities How many of them find we in History who having but an indifferent share of them make no other figure but to fill up Genealogy and whose Birth-days and the days of their Death are the only two which make any noise in the World. 'T is according as this Spirit or Genius is disposed in a Soveraign that he acts for the good and welfare or for the misfortune and undoing of his People Wo to thee O Land saith the Wise Man when thy King is a Child and thy Princes eat in the Morning Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness The Jewish Nation were happy under David and Solomon but Rehoboam spoke to them in this manner My little Finger shall be thicker than my Fathers Loyns for whereas my Father put an heavy Yoak upon you I will put more to your Yoak My Father chastised you with Whips but I will chastise you with Scorpions Augustus Caesar was called Pater Patriae Father of the People of Rome but Nero their Hangman Philip II. was born of a wise Father who Reigned with general applause but yet he was a Blood-thirsty Man who spared not his own Blood and squandred away what Charles V. had preserved with so much Glory and Prudence Francis the First was the Idol of the French and Darling of the Nobility he acquired the Title of a mild gentle Prince in peace Victorious in War the Father and Restorer of Learning and liberal Arts but Charles IX that of Murtherer Henry IV. was surnamed the Great by reason of his great Actions he was the Darling and Father of his People and his beneficent sweet disposition seem'd to promise a happy Reign if a cursed Hand had not put a stop to the course of his Life Lewis XIII was surnamed the Just grounded without doubt upon the Gospel which assures us That blessed are the poor in Spirit and that theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven It was rather Richlieu's Spirit that reigned than his Lewis XIV did not discover his Inclinations whilst he was under the Tuition of his Mother and Mazarines lash but so soon as ever this latter was dead he shewed what he was His Flatterers in imitation of his Grand father gave him the Name of Great although he had not as yet deserved it 'T is true indeed He is Great as to his Ambition a great Usurper of the Territories of his Neighbour a great Enemy to the Holy See to the Pope and a great Persecutor of the Hugonots His Reign is full of nothing but great Monopolyes and his Louis d'ors are the only passe par touts or Keys that open the Gates to his Conquests He was born Armed and his first nourishment was the Blood of his Nurses which he drew himself that ambitious Spirit he is possest withall would willingly sacrifice a good part of his Subjects to his Passion and Greatness Wo be to thee O Land that groans under the burthen of such a Prince Wo to that People enslaved under his Dominion Under the Reign of Antiochus the Illustrious the Jews often cryed to God that he would deliver them out of the hand of their Oppressor Why may not the French put up the like Petition nay and all Europe besides to be delivered out of the hands of that Usurper Lewis the Great thought he already held in his hand the Scepter of the Monarchy of all Europe when Vienna was besieged yea he thought it within two hairs breadth of its destruction which he supposed inevitable grounded upon the Prophesies of Drabitius but perceiving this way stopt up he betakes himself to his first Errors and former Road he waits with great impatience to see what the Snares which he lay'd at the time of the Queen of Spains Marriage will produce Man purposes but God disposeth Time impairs the Mind as well as the Body and Princes are oftentimes fain to let their Successors do what they were not able to do themselves and so much the more because that same Divine Providence on which Princes depend as well as the rest of Mankind doth not mete here below by the measure of their Ambition Ambitious Men build Castles in the Air and by their good will would possess the whole Earth beside This itch reigns at this day in France and this is it which quite takes up the mind of Lewis XIV as we shall see by the sequel and the course he takes to accomplish his Designs The Policy of France and its Maxims in respect of all Europe in general HEretofore Men accused Spain for aspiring to an Universal Monarchy If it was so I suppose Philip II. begun to lose this hope when he perceiv'd the Sea and Winds oppose his designs and that the Armada which he called Invincible on Board of which he thought to have brought into Spain the British Isles c. came to nothing and that his choicest Troops who were embarqued therein served only to fight against the Waves and feed the Fishes of the Sea moreover when he saw that during the whole War of the Netherlands a small handful of People whom he called Gueux or Beggers in derision were alwayes able to hold up their Head against him nay and to beat him in several Encounters until such time as in the Year 1609 he was fain to cry Quarter make a Truce with the Vnited Provinces and acknowledge them for Free States This was a very bitter Pill and would scarce go down with a Prince who was so highly ambitious But it behoved him to swallow it and it wrought so strongly upon him that he lost Seven Provinces at a clap by it and part of the Indies Insomuch That this longing desire after the Universe began to abate by reason of his Age which had already lost the first heat of Youth and by reason of the bad success of all his Enterprizes Philip III. was as little fortunate as he and Philip IV. had great disappointments towards France and the Low Countreyes and was very glad by clapping up a Peace to acknowledge those who had been his Subjects for a Free and Soveraign Commonwealth holding of none but God Almighty Charles XI Reigning at present is a good Prince who loves his ease and would willingly quit all the Claims and Titles of his Ancestors to an Universal Monarchy for a Son and Heir to the Crown of Spain to succeed him Malherbe told us long since that if it were true that Spain aspir'd
Charles the Fifth and after that to Philip the Second and that these were in rightful possession of them till they afterwards Rebelled and by force extorted their Liberty He will offer them in case they will freely submit themselves to his Dominion to maintain their Ancient Priviledges and reserve to them the free Exercise of their Religion and also exempt them from all impositions as he does his French Subjects which if they shall refuse to do then will he attack them with his Army as he did in the year 1672. fearing no opposition from any of the Catholick Princes before whose eyes he hath all along cast a mist with the specious pretences of Religion but if the House of Austria continue still to be lull'd asleep she with all her Catholicism will be irrecoverably undone But I perceive the Estates of the Vnited Provinces next to God must depend wholly upon their own strength and need onely be afraid of France and to level their whole Forces against her whose design for these many years has been to suppress them and if not wholly to destroy them yet at least to reduce them so low as they should wholly depend upon her The King would willingly agree with them after the same manner as we read in the Fable the Wolf would have done with the Sheep dismiss your Shepherd and your Dog cries the Wolf to these poor simple Creatures and then will we enter into a strict Friendship and Alliance together and live peaceably one with another thus says Mr. King Cashier your General disband your Veterane Soldiers 't will be good Husbandry now in this time of peace and you may assure your selves of my Friendship and take your ease during this Cessation and so we will live Friendly and quietly together but the Italian tells us Trust not and you will never be deceived Thus as I laid down before 't is best for them to rely wholly upon their own proper strength and be ever provided with a substantial Navy both for Cruising up and down and for Convoy's and also to have another ready to put to Sea their strength at Sea is the right-hand of the States and which will easily disperse the storms which France do often threaten her neighbours with and if the States would ever be perswaded to train up a sufficient number of Seamen to be in constant readiness to Man their Frigats whenever necessity required it would produce this double advantage 1. The State would be ever furnished with men ready for her Defence without the Trouble of seeking where to levy them and these will be skilful enough by the continual service 2. She would draw from neighbouring Havens many Mariners that would proffer their services but especially such of the States subjects as were in Foreign service would choose rather to return home when they should be sure to be in service upon the Land or the Water the whole year round those who are abroad need not be frighted to return home by sharp Proclamations 'T is certain France can't brag much upon this account for I am sure most of the ships she sends out but especially the Pilots are all Dutch she confiding more in the skil and experience of them than of her own men who never dare venture upon long Voyages and if ever the States should resolve upon so beneficial a method the Policies of France would immediately be perceived to rouse and Count d'Avaux hound-like would hunt from Town to Town to oppose it but he begins now to grow very angry because of the small effect which his large promises have hitherto produced and meerly for want of their being duly tempered with Truth and Honesty the main supporters of the Credit and Reputation of a Minister of State in a Foreign Country but the King is obliged to this great Man for putting several stories of their High and Mightinesses into his Head that they have no cause to thank him for France notwithstanding is mightily assisted in the Vnited Provinces by the Jesuits and other Foreign Priests who are hired to sift out and divert the good intentions of the People they are crept into the Prince of Orange's Court where they find private Friends to serve them on all occasions they have the impudence to brag of their Intelligence of things done in his private Chamber and they omit nothing that tends to the well acting of their parts they swarm in his Troops and Garrisons whence they transmit their intelligence to the Hague the common Office of adress and as it were the Receptacle of the other Cities and Provinces the greater caution therefore ought to be used for all these Vermine are warmed by France who is ever in action and will deny nothing to any one whom she thinks can be serviceable to her I my self remember that not long ago a Foot-man of one of the States Deputies was offered Four Ducatoons a week to betray whatever his Master should speak of either at his own Table or in Discourse with the other Deputies but the Valet with reason and height of indignation refused the baseness Thus we may observe the French Policy make use of all wayes how much therefore ought they to be upon their Guard to keep off her blows I my self observe the chief Cities about the Hague infested with Spies who hunt every Table and dayly change their Dining-places except they find some good bit or other to divert them how cautious then ought they to be who are obliged to frequent Ordinaries Others of these little Fellows screw themselves into all Companies others of them into the Court at such times when the Prince and Princess Dine and Sup publickly and all this only to observe what is said and to make report of every small accident even of the very Fire and Fewel Whenever these little News-Carriers happen upon any thing of moment away they scoure like the Basques to the French Embassadors where they are sure of a Dinner his Table being generally filled up with these kind of Cattle I could name a dozen of these Animals who to my knowledge are thus maintained besides others who manage these concerns with more privacy acting only in the dark The Count de Caravas was one of the chief of them a Man very much esteemed of though in my mind only like a chip in pottage not being so cautious as he should have been for he went about at Noon-day and through the great Gates to carry his news Two others whom I know to be Jesuits are dayly disguised in Officers Habits at the Princes Levie his times of Dining and Supping haunting the Court all the day long where they are ingaged in so many Intrigues and have such numbers of Acquaintance that they well understand what advice to give to their Friends the Catholicks for after all they are French Emissaries and wholly devoted to that Service others of this sort get to be employed in the Kitchin where these Cattle are too too
sacrificed so many brave men for the service grandeur and maintaining of that State yet that nevertheless they will stand to their Treaty of Peace and Allyance in the hopes they have always entertained and do still entertain that his Majesty to whom with the Royal Family they wish all happiness will on his part be responsable As for our part in particular though we have not had the happiness to see his Majesty yet we cannot chose but wish him all Personal Health and do assure your Excellency of the esteem and high value we put and all ways shall upon your deserts and incomparable vertue protesting to you that we are more particularly your most humble Servant After such a base affront who would not undervallue such Embassadours the Representatives and their Superiours also who durst present them with a Golden Chain of 500 Crowns value One would think they had an hand in it and that they were covetous of Money and Presents If an Embassadour after taking such an affront should have accepted it he would have deserved to be hanged with that Golden Coller By the refusal of Audience you may well understand what France is made of and its designs Whoever heard or saw a free and absolute Republique referr'd to a Parliament under his Authority as the King refers Geneva to the Parliament at Dijon it would have been more legal and just to have refer'd them to the Parliament at Turin Now behold the equity of this great King who would always be both Judge and Party in his own Cause who would make all Europe depend on his Judges some upon those of Metz others on those of Dijon and Aix in Provence as he forces the people of Orange to do but we hope those of Geneva will not submit to those unjust Judges and supposing they do they will not miss losing their Cause and after that they will make a new pretension upon them till they have fettered them and losing their City and Liberty they become the slaves of France a Victim offered up to the Jesuit and the Conquest of Lewis the great and it is odds but that will be so indeed if they don't look about them betime and prepare themselves for its coming upon them for he 'l come and give them a visit as he did the Genoueses Let them not flatter themselves with the contrary when he shall make them resolve to sacrifice themselves for their Liberty rather then to a Prince who would be their Antiochus their bloody Master and would snatch the Children from their Mothers embraces to deliver them into the hands of the Jesuits make them forsake Relations Religion and all duty of Christians and refusing to obey this ambition would hale them to the Scaffold and throw their Carcasses to dogs nay if so be they should deal more gently with them it would be only to make them bear company with his own Subjects in Dungeons in the Gallies and in the West-Indies Now take notice of this Spirit of France and beware of it That Lewis XIV is no good Christian I Shall finish this Treatise in demonstrating that this King is no good Christian that it is but a cloak for his Knavery the better to play fast and loose the better to bring about his ambitious designs that albeit he makes a great clutter with the title of most Christian King at Rome yet we find him to be nothing less All who are baptized are not Christians for then we might reckon Julian the Apostate and Arrius to be such whom men look upon as Apostates and Antichrists I am perswaded the Marquiss de Montespan will justifie what I say I cannot think that Prince worthy the name of a Christian who covets his Neighbours Wife nay before all the World takes her from her Husband makes use of her and begets Children of her whom he would fain get declared natural never before Lewis his time practiced in France He cannot assume the name of Christian who makes little Conscience to break the most solemn Oaths and Engagements made at the Communion as he did at the Peace concluded at the Perinees upon his Marriage with the Infanta of Spain And then the Oath taken at his Coronation to observe the Edicts of pacification are they not dayly violated and retracted upon every frivolous pretence Good Christians are such who live up to those Vows they have made even to very Infidels The Marquiss de Laverdin making his publick entrance into Rome did choose rather to do it like a Fox than a Lyon as since it appears without ever determining any thing positively concerning it when they demanded him to explain himself before he made his entrance so that engaging himself neither pro nor con it will always be time enough and seasonable to make his Masters will to stand him in stead as we shall see hereafter when the Provencal Fleet shall be before Civita Vechia and other Ports of the Popes Dominion besides that it was convenient to carry it fair to obtain the Bull for the Cardinal of Furstenburg whom France was assured would be nominated to the Coadjutorship of Cologn the Dean and Chapter as 't is credibly given out fingered the Kings Money to that in effect it was registred and their Votes sold so that it was not possible to go back with their word When the Marquiss de Lavardin entred Rome the business was as good as done and the King made sure of it but he found himself mistaken as to the Bull for he believed the Pope who is wise and good natured enough of himself not loving noise would yield at the Embassadors arrival that the Spiritual would give place to the Temporal but he was deceived in his account meeting with such stiffness and vigour in an old man which it may be one durst not have hoped for in a young man. In the mean time behold the Marquiss de Lavardin keeping watch and ward night and day and that round about the Palace of Fernese just as if it were a Fort surrounded with enemies before the Pope and the Conclave of Cardinals Noses By all these riots and indignities done to the most eminent person of the Church Vicar of Christ and St. Peters Successor is nothing in comparison to that which Talon the Kings Advocate hath belched forth against his Holiness and the Cardinals his Counsellors accusing the former to be a favourer of Heresie Jansenisme and of Quietists and a thousand other impertinences which is to be seen more at large in the demand of the abovesaid Talon to the Parliament of Paris and by the Embassadors protestation publickly affixed at Rome the expressions therein are scandalous that they might deservedly procure the fire for a private person but when one hath the power in his own hand he thinks he may Lawfully say and do whatsoever likes him But the Pope who is grave and wise will let him go on yea peradventure his great modesty and prudent behaviour may make the King come to himself again and acknowledge the wrong and that the Pope is Master at home in his own House and may be able to disannul and take away the Franchises of the Embassadors quarters when he shall see it convenient for the repose of his People and his own Conscience It is not his frequenting Mass which is a Characteristical mark of being a Christian or for being kind to the Jesuits for fear awes Princes sometimes to make much of Jesuits and shew much respect to them Hen. IV. was not free from this fear when he would have restored them in France for when the Duke of Sully advised him to the contrary he started up and replyed secure me my Life then for 't was more then probable that those who sued for their return had assured the King that if he did not do it he would be in imminent danger of being Murthered When Life is at stake what will not a man do to save it Who can tell but these good Fathers have told the King now Reigning if in case he did not root out all the Huguenots out of his Dominions this must come in alwayes ad majorem Dei Gloriam that he would endanger his Life What sign of a Christian was there in the King when he made a League with Cromwel to fall upon the Low Countries and to banish Charles II. from his Kingdom who was rightful Successor to the Crown of England and a good Catholick in his heart although afterwards out of Policy he was fain to appear otherwise Again what sign of Christianity doth there appear in a Prince who assists Count Tekely in league with the Turks against the Emperour A King who forbids all Bishops and Curats throughout his Dominion to cause Te Deum to be sung for the Victories of the Christians obtained over the Turks who impedes by force of Lewisses the progress of the King of Polands Forces against the same Turks that they may have the opportunity to employ all the Ottoman Forces against the Emperour thereby to make him abandon what he hath got at the dear rate of so much Christian blood What Christianity do you observe in the Kings proceeding at the Cities of Genoua and Orange where he hath no right at all So that by all that I have alledged all these Titles of most Christian and Catholick Zeal the King is so much taken with and affects is only a deceitful mask of hypocrisie to lull the Catholick Princes asleep the better to play his game and make himself Master of them one after another Although the King of England would hinder him as being the only man that could best do it he would endeavour to cause an insurrection of the Church of England men against him he would send them Money and Officers as he did to Cromwel so that one may say of the French King that he becomes all things to all men when his interest is at stake He enters into Covenant with Turk or Huguenot Pagans or Infidels against Catholicks themselves if it be necessary for promoting his greatness and to attain to the Monarchy of all Europe And for a conclusion this is the Kings Religion and your Wit and Policy of France FINIS
but if France looses England from her true Interest and diverts her from thinking so as without doubt we shall find if this comes to pass in any reasonable time the Vnited Provinces whatever good intentions and whatever interest they may have in the preservations of the Low-Countries 'twont be in their power to stop the fury of the French which like an impetuous Torrent will in a moment sweep away the best part of Flanders So that Spain ought to think of this in good earnest and not lye asleep whilst the French policy is so active and is preparing long before-hand for so important an Affair which will never be offered them again if they let slip the opportunity of being Masters of it France takes all ways imaginable to get one and makes it her whole business it behooves Spain to do so too if she would avoid Ruine and not fall under the Yoke of France which is the greatest plague that can be sent upon her no less than the Destruction and Desolation of her people the exposing and humbling all the Grandees of Spain who will be forced to give place to the meanest French Gentleman Therefore if the Spaniards are well advis'd after the Death of their King they ought not to suffer the Monarchy to go to Lewis XIV but with the last drop of their Blood and Banish for ever this Violent Insolent Spirit of France The Policy of France and her Maximes in Reference to England HEnry VIII King of England in his time made a Golden Medal on which was Engraven a Hand coming out of the Clouds holding a pair of Scales equally poised the one Scale denoting Spain and the other France with a motto in Latin to this purpose in English I throw the Scales on that side I give my Friendship Without doubt that Prince knew his power but now I can compare England to nothing but an Ox which knows not his own strength and suffers himself tamely to be yok'd That Kingdom has this great advantage that it Guards it self and an Enemy can't invade it but with vast difficulty 'T is not to be invaded without going often to and fro upon the Sea they 'l have Wind and Water to fight against and a powerful Fleet to engage with before they set foot ashore Insomuch that if the King of England be at peace with Holland 't is undeniable in his power to make the Victory lean to that side he is of France has found this so true although there is a perfect Hatred and Antipathy between those two Nations that she has spared no Cost and compasses Sea and Land to withdraw England from its true lasting interest and bring her over to their side or at least make her stand Neuter and look on with arms-across while the King of France Acts his Tragedy upon the Theatre of Europe In the mean time t is most certain that England can rescue this same Europe from being enslaved to France better than any other Nation if she pleases If the King of Great Brittain did but know his own Strength and Real Interest he might be not only the Mediator and Umpire of the World But might make Peace when he pleases between all the Christian Princes There are but two things requisite to effect this both which are very easie nay are in the Kings power whenever he has a mind to 't The First is That the King of Great Britain take Care to be alwayes beloved by his People and that there be a good understanding between him and his Parliament The Second is To have a strict Alliance with the Vnited-Provinces and live in perfect Amity with them and maintain inviolably this Union and Correspondence in all that Concerns each other The former of these is mighty easily done and the King will obtain it effectually when he once resolves to Require nothing of his Parliament but what is agreeable to the Laws of the Realm as he already promis'd in his Coronation Oath The latter will be done so soon as His Majesty of Great Britain leaves listening to the French Emissaries and puts out of his head all Jealousies and Surmises which those Creatures continually try to possess him with having nothing that he need be afraid of from the States who don't wish to Aggrandize themselves and Usurp their Neighbours Territories as France do's but only keep what God has given them and be able to protect their Countrey in the enjoyment of that Liberty they have at present France who is satisfied of the Truth of what I have said takes all occasions to obstruct it She is never without some of those Hellish Restless Spirits in the Kingdom to sow the Tares of mis-understandings between the King and his Parliament Ever since the Kings of England have appeared to be Protestants this Catholicon has wrought well and the Spirit of France has been at work to set the Episcopal Party against the Presbyterian and to insinuate into the Minds of the latter that the Bishops were inclined to Popery and that most of them were Jesuites in Bishops Cloaths Who would certainly seduce the people little by little and be Turn Coates so soon as they have a good Opportunity and dare discover their Opinion That the King himself was Popishly-affected and a thousand things of this nature which exasperated the people and made his Parliament jealous of him for which reason they Granted nothing at all or but very little of what the King ask't and by this means his own private Occasions grew so very urgent that he neglected the Publick In the Reign of Charles the First t was France which kindled the first Sparks of the Civil War which caused so much Bloodshed both to King and People insomuch that when the French Ambassador return'd home from England he boasted how he had kindled a fire which would not be put out a good while and that for one twenty years England should not be in a Condition to do France any harm One Father Joseph a Capuchin was instrumental in fomenting the Division among the Catholicks under-hand and I can assure you there were some of those Catholicks in the Parliament Army King Charles himself affirms it and tells you that the Rebellion among them proceeded from his having denied them places and as soon as War was declared between the King and Parliament the King of France sent Cromwel Six Hundred Thousand Livres to pay his Army at the beginning This is publickly known and all who liv'd in that Age know it to be true But at present the King of Great Brittain having chang'd his Religion France has chang'd her Battery too and the Church of England is now her main Piece of Ordinance The people are so exasperated against each other that his Majesty of Great Brittain must think of little else this good while and will find work enough in his Kingdom to compass his Ends even though he had got a Parliament at his Devotion and if he should live Twenty
dangerous The conclusion therefore is Natural to keep a watch on all sides in all times in Peace in War upon the Motions of France whose Maxims are destructive and Antichristian whose King is both perjured and a Lyar who under the colour of establishing universally the Catholick Religion which he himself in his Life and Faith renounces has no other end than the Extent of his own Dominion over all Europe first over the Protestant Princes if he can and then over the Catholick and thus not only to be declared Roman Emperour but also Universal Emperour of Europe and 't is lamentable to behold with what a Covetous Eye from Versailes he looks upon the Vnited Provinces 'T is therefore advisable for the States and People of these Provinces to put in practice what our Saviour once advised the Jews Watch for ye know not the hour in which the Thief will come So say I be ever in a readiness to oppose him whenever he shall endeavour to possess himself of their Houses and usurp upon the Territories of his Neighbours and by degrees upon that which God Almighty has disposed of to the wise Government of the States for France must be look't upon in these dayes as the common Enemy to all Republicks as the Scourge of all that deny his Power True it is that his fear of the Vnited Provinces by much exceeds his love for them 't is very convenient to keep him in this fear by repelling him whenever he advances beyond his own Territories and not so much to trust to Count D' Avaux's deceitful Remonstrances and his being against their putting themselves into a posture of defence ought assuredly to perswade them that it is also contrary to his Masters desire otherwise why should he trouble himself to oppose it The States are more particularly engaged to be upon their Guard and to neglect nothing which may tend to their defence because of their too near Neighbour the Cardinal of Furstemburg who is lately Elected Co-adjutor of Cologne a dangerous and active Man and already possessed with the Demon of France whom the King can raise with his Money when he pleases to the more easie reducing the Frontiers of the Provinces and upon all occasions will buoy up France in quarrelling with Holland upon the first notice given The Spirit of France appears in all his Actions so that he is equally as dangerous a Neighbour as the King himself for his high Obligations to his Master will oblige him also to concur in his designs of becoming the Universal Monarch by swallowing up his Neighbours round about him as will be seen in time if some Course be'nt taken The Policies and Maxims of France in respect of the Northern Princes I Place the Kings of Swedeland and Denmark among the chief of the Northern Princes These are two Powerful Kingdoms and although they are Neighbours and nearly allyed by Marriages yet notwithstanding are so far from loving that like France and Spain they mortally hate one another and although their Interest Trade and narrowness of Revenue ought to perswade them to live amicably together yet notwithstanding all their antipathy will prevail 't is of high importance to France to have ever one of these Kings at his beck that so she may give a diversion to the other whenever the one should have a mind to assist the Low Countries or the Vnited Provinces against her Encroachments The Swede being the stronger suits best with this design of France between whom therefore there hath been a strict Alliance but the Swede being disappointed of his Pension and treacherously dealt with in respect of the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts which descended to him after the Death of that Duke but was miserably impoverisht by France in the Life of the Duke These things the Swede cannot put up but for the present 't is not so convenient to discover his resentments but reserve them for a fairer opportunity neither will France do any good now if she should present her Louis ' d'or's put up like a barrel of Olives as she did formerly to his Ambassador to soften him at the Treaty of Nimeghen which she her self hath since bragged of All this will be to small purpose for the Swede has already tasted sufficiently of the bitter Spirit of France and has resolved to have nothing more to do with her Therefore France goes now to the K. of Denmark who had a mind next to see what kind of things these Louis ' d'or's be and therefore never stuck to side with her when immediately Count de Roy was dispatch't in quality of Generalissimo with several other French Officers at whose arrival the French Tricks forthwith discover'd themselves for Count de Roy immediately demanded on behalf of the King his Master part of the supplies sent from France pretending that they were squander'd away to no purpose The like Complement was formerly done to the Elector of Brandenburgh but Kings and Princes must consult the Honour of their Posterity and the Ages to come as well as the present What a Cypher in History will a Mercenary Prince and an Hireling of France appear in future Ages who is led like a Bear by the Nose and thus gives a Tarnish to all his other Actions which otherwise might be worthy commemoration he must not imagine such baseness will dye with his Person there are ever found some that will be Friends to truth all Pens are not so Mercenary as Varilla's and Pellisson's As soon as France has made as much use of the Dane as she can and finds any other to be of more advantage to her she will forsake him as one too much for his own ends pretending some sham-quarrel or other as the Turks do to fall out with him about his Pension as she formerly served the Swede and if the House of Lunenburgh would have swallowed the Bait the Dane should not have warmed himself by France so long as he has already done But besides the Ignominy which will follow a Sovereign who instead of depending solely upon the King of Kings Blushes not in becoming a Vassal to his Equal and giving occasion to France to boast like the Centurion in the Gospel I bid my servant do this and he doth it and to another go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh I say besides this Baseness its most pernicious Policy though I doubt the Dane's too heavy to discern it for a small dirty sum of Money and which serves onely to maintain his extraordinary Troops to render himself an Enemy to all Europe and in particular to his potent Neighbours without the assistance of whom both Denmark and Norway must fall to the ground For I do maintain that it lyes in the power of the Vnited Provinces by a Remonstrance to do more Mischief to those two Kingdoms in one year than they can ever recover in ten by all their Subsidies and Pensions from France I confess by the shelter from France he
the Pens of those Droll-Wits Pasquin and Murforio 'T is certain if the King of Poland should give way to this aukward Contract of Alliance it would be as much as to declare plainly that he no longer pretended to have the Crown of Poland for his Son and that this Marriage was an act wholly disclaiming it I would have him rather follow the King of Portugals example he was cunning enough to get himself disentangled from the importunities of France to strengthen himself by his alliance with the House of Austria and the Emperour by his Marriage with the Princess Palatine of Newbourgh he knew too well that if ever Lewis XIV got footing in Spain that his Kingdom would depend on his disposal One of the two Teeth this same Lewis was born with is called Usurping the other Cruel from the one proceeds dependance decorum or convenience of Scituation from the other Treachery and Persecution you need not question if the King of France should become King of Spain but Portugal would be first of all invested because the Spaniard possest that Kingdom from Philip II. until Philip IV. time which was about the year 1640 when the Portugueze shook off the Spanish yoak Threescore years of possession may plead prescription whereon to ground his right of dependance there needs only thirty for a private man besides the right of decorum or commodious Scituation for Portugal joyns upon the Kingdom of Castile Aragon and Granada he had not so good a Title to the Kingdom of Austrasie nay he hath quite turned out the Princes who possessed one part of the Lands of that Kingdom for near 600 years Fear keeps the Vineyard as the French say and distrust is the mother of safety If I had to do with Salvages or with the King of Bantam or China not knowing occurrences in our parts it would be requisite to enter upon an Historical Relation of all the slippery tricks France hath played this last Age of all the Deceits Cheats Usurpations Injustices and Cruelties this present King hath put in practice to be Master of the Estates and the Possessions of his Neighbours But I speak to Europeans and they Christians too who have seen with their Eyes heard with their Ears and have dayly before them Princes dispoyled and stript of their Possessions so many People ruined so many Cities taken so many Houses now nothing but ruins and rubbish Thousands of Christians reduced to Beggery nay and the Blood of his own Subjects still a gushing out in mighty streams all over the Country These I say are speaking Books where all up and down you may find in huge Characters Lewis the Great Sacrifices all to his Ambition and Interest Now although all the World knows it and though scarce a Prince but hath been couzen'd by him yet he is so skilful to hush them asleep by the mild gentle raine of Lewisses that some part of them cry Lord what wouldst thou have us do and run headlong insensibly and with a kind of delight to the ruin and destruction of their Issue O how much need hath Europe of a good Oculist to remove the Scales from the Eyes of a great many Princes and once in their lives to open them for them to the end that every one knowing what 's good for himself may lay aside and forsake the interest of France they ought all unanimously to endeavour with might and main to procure him a Competitour to balance him and retain and bind him up within his just bounds and so disable him that he may no more trouble the earth by his ambition One blow is sufficient to do it what need I tell you all Europe sees it This will come to pass when it shall please the Divine Wisdom of the true Universal Monarch King of Kings to make it evident We cannot but wish Lewis XIV long life that he may be witness of all these things and may have another Joshua to stop the course of his Sun for which the people of the earth so much long and put up their continual Prayers for The Spirit or Policy of France and its Maximes in regard of the Suisse Cantons his Allies and of Savoy THE Cantons of Switzerland being free and absolute are governed by themselves hold of none but of God and their own valour they are partly reformed and partly Roman Catholick 't is by reason of this difference of Religion that they have often variance amongst themselves and give the King of France occasion to lay hold on the opportunity who makes good use of the easiness of the latter to sow the seed of dissention among them In time past they did no way border upon France which was a great happyness for the Cantons but since the peace Hen. IV. made with the Duke of Savoy the Country of Gex belonged to that Prince then after that France which alwayes gets ground did make encroachments in Alsatia Franche Conte and towards Burgundy is at this time Neighbour to the Swisse on three several sides But Lewis XIV not content with that had a mind to be a nearer Neighbour to his fellows by the Fort of Huninghen within Canon shot as we all know from Basil the Governour hath lately attempted it the Suisse were too much overseen in being a little to well acquainted witsi the King of France who thereby hath found out where their strength and weakness lyes and which way soever their affairs turn whensoever they are forced to quarrel with these Princes it will alwayes fare with them as the Fable tells us it did with the Earthen pot and Iron pot Secondly To lend so many Regiments to France are as so many men lost out of the Cantons who it may be one day may like young Vipers destroy their common Mother their Countrey there are few Swisse Officers in the French Kings Service but let themselves be corrupted by Marriages then suffer their Eyes to be dazled by good places and your Louis do'r and so at once renounce both their Religion and Party sacrifice as Stoupa the Lieutenant General would have done twice sixteen Cantons to the Interest of France He is not alone in his own gang he hath God knows too many Disciples you 'l find but very few who imitate the Sieur Dasselouer of Berne heretofore Captain in the King's Service who chosed rather to give over his employ and break his Pike then do any thing contrary to the Treaty which his Superiours had entered to about the passage of the Rhine against the Hollanders they have also committed a notable fault in tying up their own hands that they cannot send to Spain the like number of Soldiers as they do to France This restriction hath more of the Frenchman in it than the Cantons are aware of They cannot but grant that they have suffered themselves to be curb'd by the Fort at Huninghen which but too much discovers the Kings design every chink in it are like so many open Mouths crying out
upon them Awake awake ye sluggish People and behold me as the Emblem of the Usurper as a Monument rear'd in remembrance of your Liberty lost Now if this be not sufficient to make the Cantons seriously reflect upon Lewis XIV his proceedings in respect of them at least that Cannon which the Fort of Huningen discharged upon the City of Basil might open their Eyes for the Usurper gets ground every day and I 'le warrant you no sooner shall he find a favourable opportunity but he will improve his quarrel with Germany against them Princes never want pretences He will begin in good earnest to Will and Command that the Bishop and others of Basil be restored and that their Arrears be payd them from the time that they have been forced to forsake the Town and if he be to enter by Force of Arms and if he have obtained the least Advantage as the Cantons are tame enough to obtain Peace he would demand every year a Medal as a mark of Homage for Tribute as he did of the Hollanders together with a great many Forces which the Swisse would be glad to supply him with upon his first Demand and would place Bishops as so many Emissaries in every City I told you the French King takes advantage by the difference of Religion in the Cantons to foment discord amongst them as we have lately observed in the business of Glaris which setting aside the Popes Nuncio's stirring in it would have proved the first spark of Fire and Dissention amongst them then which he desires nothing more the better to further his Affairs and his pretended Reign over Europe The Roman Catholicks in those parts are commonly ignorant in their Religion and being very stupid at the bark and with the outside without ever searching into Fundamentals the only name of Catholick actuates moves and incites them without inquiring any farther but I would have them once for all be undeceived not suffer themselves to be imposed upon under the false Notion of Catholick 'T is a false mask under which he lurks the better to deceive them and bring them to his Leure thereby to set them at odds amongst themselves and having once done that he will come pouring down upon Basil or Geneva yea perhaps upon both together These are bars and boundaries which ought to be in a manner Sacred the Cantons should take care that they be never suffered to be medled with nor touched they are to defend them with their Sword in their Hand to the last drop of Blood for this passage being cleared and the discord breaking out amongst them farewel they they are undone to all intents and purposes of free Swisse they 'l become French Slaves But now if the generality of the Swisse be but true to one another and united and but shew the Usurper their Teeth intimating their resolution of defending what 's their own they may be sure the French King will only bark at a distance on the other hand if they shew no more eagerness for these two Cities than they did for Franche Compte If they make no stouter a resistance than they did there they will unavoidably post on to their total ruine and destruction I know France will not bring them under their yoak but make them tributary They are now free and absolute but let them take heed they suffer not their Necks to be brought under their yoak let them call to mind their Ancient Valour that their Countrey has proved a Sepulchre to the French and that they have forced them to a dishonourable retreat Geneva is a delicate bit the French have a Moneths mind to since she hath appropriated to her self the County of Gex methinks that Republick too lyes very commodiously for her purpose They have a long time muttered at the French Court that they meant to resettle the Bishop a Savoyard who is nominated by the Duke of Savoy whom he makes to reside at his Court to make his Right appear If it were as easie for the French King to settle a Bishop there as it has been for him to settle a Resident he would have accomplisht it long ago Now since this Resident comes in our way let us speak a word or two by the by concerning his Residence You must know he is as necessary a Man there as the Fifth wheel in a Chariot for he is good for nothing but to receive the Swisse Packet of Letters for the Court which a Merchant formerly received so that the Sallary and the Abode of such a Minister would be useless if there were not something else in it I dare say he would have but a poor pittance had he no other comings in but what France allows him and if he had not the best part of it from the Clergy I do remember that the first Man that filled this worthy place was one Charigni a poor pittiful Fellow whom Mounsieur De Pompone had often released out of Fort L'evesque whither he was committed for Debt and sent him thither to get him disintangled There he made a Trade of the Catholick Religion for every Sunday and Holy-day was his days of Receipts every Savoyard that came to Mass giving to the Offering Five or Six Souse under pretence of maintaining the Church and Priest but rather Mounsieur the Resident who besides kept a kind of an Ordinary where they might dine the poor Wretch was fain to catch at any thing for he was no better than a Beads-man living upon Alms at Paris being forced to quit Province upon the account of some false pieces of Five sous he would have put off where he was reduc't to Extremity and all the stir he kept at Geneva was only to make the Magistrate to greese his fist and present him with something by the by as no body knew But since the time his Secretary has changed his Religion and since he gave his Almoner a box on the Ear because he spoke in behalf of the Protestants upon a Sermon that he and the Resident came from hearing I say from that time he hath laid open his folly he is countermanded and another of better sense and more discretion supplies his place Considering the design the King has in hand of dividing this City it seems to be in a manner necessary at present to have a Resident to acquaint him with all concerns to find out wherein their strength and weakness consists yea to corrupt some Magistrate or other as at Strasbourg the enterprize of the Duke of Savoy in the year _____ ought continually to be before their Eyes as a warning for it is certain that the French King with what amusement soever he may seem to divert them doth but wait a fair opportunity to spring his Mine give fire to his Train and play his old game as he did at Strasbourg so that it mightily behoves the Citizens of Geneva to stand upon their guard and endeavour to dispose their Allies to afford them succour so soon as