THE Civil Wars in a State, have always been con­sidered as the greatest and most dangerous evils; they are like those internal Disea­ses of Man, which for the most part after a languishing Life, are terminated by Death.

If we pass from Particulars, to [Page 4] the generality of Europe, is ve­ry likely, that that part of the World had not found it self ready to perish under the cruel Power of the Capital Enemy of Chri­stendom, as it was very near du­ring the last Siege of Vienna; if all the Princes of Christendom had been in good Intelligence, and in a sincere Ʋnion, and had uananimously endeavour'd to Re­pulse their Common Enemy, who then durst not to have advanc'd so far in Europe, if he had been drawn in only through the mis­understanding of the Christian Princes, and not Invited into it and push'd on by a most Christian Prince, the Eldest Son of the Church; who to facilitate hi [...] Passage, has made him a way through Rebellion, in Hungary which he has fomented to tha [...] very end, and maintain'd by mony and Officers that he has sent thither, in the Design after the takin [...] [Page 5] of that City, the Imperial Seat, to share, for a Beginning, with the Grand Seignior his Ally, all Germa­ny; which the Sultan had agreed to, as freely as Lewis the XIV. did seek after it, with a design however to deceive one another, and in the end prevail over his Companion; and the French King to do afterwards, that which the Emperor does at this time, to drive the Turks back to Adrianople.

But before we pass to the De­liverance of our Europe, let us mention the Dangers it has been in these late years, and let us lay down for a sure Foundation, and an indisputable Truth, that the Christians Disunion has given opportunity to the Infidels to ren­der Tributary Valachia, Transilva­nia, Moldavia, and divers other Territories, and in the last place to Invade Hungaria; which has oblig'd a great number of poor miserable Christians not only to fall [Page 6] into slavery, but to make Ship­wrack in the Christian Religion; and I dare assert, that had it not been for the pressing Offers of France by the means of Teckeley, the Sultan had never broke the Truce, nor durst to have come to set up the Standard of the Im­poster Mahomet, before the Capi­tal City of Germany, as he did in the Year 1683. while his Ally was in Alsatia with an Army of 40000 Men, ready to Invade the Empire, (which the Grand Seig­nior for his part had favour'd) ei­ther to make himself Master of the whole, or to render Tributary that which he could not have kept, and by that means mount step by step to the Monarchy of Eu­rope, little troubling himself about the Evils which Christendom had suffer'd, neither by the barbarous­ness of his Army, or of those of the Turks; so that Lewis the Great had but gratified his Am­bition, [Page 7] and his Passion of Ruling solely.

Thus on all sides, Europe did see it self on the Edge of the Pre­cipices, and in an Abiss of Evils, whence it could not be got out of again but by a stroke from Hea­ven; not knowing which Con­dition to chuse, the Ambition of the one, or the Interest of the other, the French Tiranny, or the Mahometan slavery, finding them hoth equally Unjust, Barbarous, and Inhumane, and very opposite to Christianity.

There are but few Persons in Europe, never so little Rational, but have been inform'd of all the Advances of France, of Lewis the XIV's Proceeding, of his Ambi­tion, and of his Passion to Rule over his Equals, and to render the Kings and Princes of the Earth his Tributaries; and to speak it in plainer Terms, to become the sole Monarch of the World: As there [Page 8] is but one Son; boasting already of giving Peace to whom he pleas'd, and to Exterminate or Bomb all that should oppose themselves to his good Will and Pleasure, and like to another Jupiter, cast his Thun­der-Bolts on all that durst raise themselves against him, designing, like God, to Rule over Consciences as well as over the Inheritances.

But the Ambitious Man, who raises himself on high and dange­rous places, not considering much how to get down again, never turns his Eyes on the side of the Precipice; he runs to his desire, as if he were in good Intelligence with Fortune, and as if the World was conducted by Fate in lieu of Divine Providence. Mean time, we see that God confounds his Designs, and stops him frequently in the midst of his Career, forcing him with shame, to quit a way in which he thought to have con­tinu'd with Glory. Lewis the XIV. [Page 9] had resolv'd within himself to mount on the Imperial Throne, in the strange imagination he had, that having attain'd thither, not only the Empire, but all the rest of Europe would bow under his Orders, and at the approach of his Armies; in effect, he spar'd nothing to compass it, with a Re­solution to Sacrifice all to his Passion, and to destroy all that should oppose it self to his Gran­deur. To this purpose, he began to oppress the one, to deceive the other, and to entertain a third by fair and deceitful Promises, sparing neither specious Titles nor Pensions, to those which he thought might be useful to him, by those means, giving to some an Apple to play with, while he made him­self Master over the others, and in a manner separated Europe from it self, and every Prince from his Ally, as well as from his true and real Interests, which has ever been [Page 10] by all means to maintain an Equa­lity amongst the Princes of Europe, that their Forces being equally di­stributed, Christendom might be preserv'd in good Peace, and every State in its own Rights and Li­berties: Seeing that from the aba­sing of the one, follows the ele­vation of the other, as we have seen; since when Charles the First weaken'd his Power by the divi­sion of his Kingdoms, and after that, his Son Philip permitting part of those Provinces which had been left to his share to be taken from him; so was his Fall the Rise of the French Kings, who have insensibly got the start of their Equals, and have got step by step up to the Supreme Degree, which we have seen in this last Reign of Lewis the XIV. who du­ring a long time has not ceas'd from gaining Victory on Victory; taking of Town upon Town; and as a boundless Torrent, carry all [Page 11] before him which oppos'd his Course, his Violence not being to be stopp'd but by a Stroke from Heaven, and by a Voice issuing from the Brittish Throne, crying out, Nec plus ultra.

Lewis the XIV. who had al­ready, in his hopes, devour'd a good part of Europe, which lay groaning, and as it were over­come by the evils of a continual War, has been, as it is not to be doubted, extremly surpriz'd, to see himself stopp'd on the sudden, by that surprizing Change which has so lately happen'd in England; and who can doubt, but that this change of Soveraigns has been a Mortal Blow to him, seeing, that by that means he not only sees his Great and Ambitious Designs over­turn'd, and in lieu of a near Ally and intimate Friend, he finds on the Throne none but an unrecon­cilable Enemy, burning with Zeal for the Preservation of Europe, [Page 12] and with a desire of Punishing the Usurper? and that which is yet more sensible to France, is, that this New Monarch will not fail of being Seconded by all the Chri­stian Princes. We have seen Eng­land, in changing of Master, to make the face of the Affairs of Europe change also, especially in the Low-Countries, the decree of their Ruine having been determi­ned between the Two Kings, Lewis the XIV. and James the II. after that France had long con­sider'd, the United Provinces as the only Obstacle that could pre­vent it from Conquering the rest of Europe; well knowing, that those States would at all times Oppose themselves to the Ruine of their Neighbours, push'd on by a Motive of Generosity, of Equity, and of Interest also: Therefore the King of France, could not perceive which way he should go about to overcome his Opponents, but [Page 13] in mining and in destroying to­tally those Provinces, thereby shut­ting them out of the power of hin­dring him, or of opposing his De­sign, and that he could not do with­out England's consent: Wherefore after the death of Charles the Se­cond, he so dextrously did embark King James in his Design, and set him at variance with his Parlia­ment, through Religious Motives, by ridiculous demands of the abo­lishing of the Test and Penal Laws, (which had been established for the support of the Kingdom, and the preservation of the Establish'd Re­ligion,) France was assur'd, that by that means it should set the King and Parliament out of power of re­uniting again, and that by those means Lewis the XIV. should ob­lige that Prince whom he led by the Nose, to apply himself to him for Mony, which he certainly knew the Parliament would refuse him; that in case they should grant it to [Page 14] him, it should be on such conditi­ons which the King would not ac­cept: And thus that ill advis'd Prince would not fail to turn him­self towards France as he has done, and to let himself be obseded and won by fair but false Promises, to render him absolute Master over his People and his Parliament; with which Lewis the XIV. has so long fed and entertain'd with dexterity the weak Imagination of his Ally, that he has lull'd him a­sleep into a Lethargy, very opposite to his right Interest, to that of his People, and even to that of all Eu­rope, of which it may be said, That England holds the Scales.

In the year 1672. France was already working on her project a­gainst the United States, through the means of England, if we consi­der with what weakness Charles the Second permitted himself to be ty'd up by those Treaties he made, con­trary to so many Obligations which [Page 15] he had to the said States, and of his particular Interest, feeding himself with hopes of a share in those said Provinces before they were taken. With what weakness did the same Prince sell to France the Town of Dunkirk, and behold with his Arms folded Lewis the XIV. take the prin­cipal places of the Spanish Nether­lands, not only Cambray, Valencienne, S. Omers, Erre, but so many others al­also, which were as so many bulwarks to stay the fury of Lewis the XIV.

And ever after the Peace of Ni­meguen, have not whole Provinces submitted to the French Yoke? And while that under the shelter of that Peace, other Soveraigns had dis­banded their Forces, France alone kept his Arms, because it knew what it was hatching, and what it design'd to do. The Town of Lux­embourg was a Thorn in its side, and it would be Master of it; and Charles the Second was as little mov'd at it, as if he had been pay'd, to let him do and say nothing, and [Page 16] behold unconcern'd that place taken from the Spaniard. Free Europe, which little by little saw one Pro­vince after another, and one Town after another submitted to France, did frequently cast its Eye towards the Parliament of England, in hopes to receive some relief from that part; but France had so well taken its measures there, that before that Illustrious Body was assembled, di­vers Lords at the sound of Louis d'Ors, were become deaf to the Complaints of the generality, and some amongst them had even lost the use of Speech, and were become motionless for the publick good, and that of the Nation; and so soon as the House of Commons began to harp on that string, the King made use of his Authority to prorogue them to another time; and so bu­siness run in the same course again, and gave leave to France to conti­nue its way, to gain Conquest on Conquest: In the mean time the [Page 17] true English-men, who are the most jealous of their Liberties of any Na­tion, were forc'd to be silent, and quietly behold themselves hedg'd in on all sides without opposing it, nor daring to complain. Those that were lukewarm would frequently ask, Why the Spaniards and the Imperialists, who had most interest in it, did not oppose themselves to that Torrent, and to those French Conquests? I confess, that if they could have done it alone, they ought to have gone about it, and they can never be excus'd for having neglected it; but those who know a little the Affairs of the World, are not ignorant of the misery Spain is fallen into, during the minority of a King; and that the Netherlands are far remote from the Empire, which has many Heads, and which of truth cannot assist them without its Allyes that are nearest to those Provinces, who are the King of England, and the States of the Uni­ted Provinces.

[Page 18]The Emperor has continually the Turks at his doors, over which he is to keep a strict watch at all times. Besides, as I have already mention­ed, the Empire's compos'd of divers Members, who have each their So­veraign and their different Inte­rests, and therefore a long time is required, and divers Springs must play, to set so great a Machine go­ing; and frequently before the re­solution of it be taken, France has done its do, and then it speaks of Peace and of Accommodation, by which means Lewis XIV. has for the most part kept his Conquests, if they deserve that Name; after which every one retires home & disbands. France makes shew to do the same; and if it acquiesces so far to dis­band some Troops in one part of the Kingdom, it raises others in another; and thus remains still in the same posture to do mischief, ready to at­tempt some new thing so soon as it finds any favourable opportunity. [Page 19] In that interval France did not re­main quiet, it had its Emissaries in all the Courts of Germany, who using the slight of hand, acquir'd thereby many Creatures; it is a Maxime which has long since suc­ceeded well with them, and parti­cularly at the Court of England du­ring the last Reigns; & those Emis­saries have labour'd with so much zeal and heat, and return'd so fre­quently to the charge, doubling the Dose when there was occasion, that they often succeeded, and by those means have opposed themselves to the best Designs which the Empe­ror and the soundest part of the Em­pire could have had.

But suppose that the Empire had been in as good an harmony as it is at present, through the good Uni­on there is betwixt the Emperor and his Princes, and that France had nothing to do but with the Em­pire alone; I maintain, that by only setting it self in a posture of De­fence [Page 20] on the side of Germany, it might make it self Master of a good part of the Spanish Netherlands, if its Neighbours oppos'd not them­selves to it, before the Emperor could remedy it. Besides, that since the taking of Luxembourg, the pas­sage is partly block'd up to the Ger­mans, and all that they could do, were to draw near to Burgundy, and to Alsatia, or form some considera­ble Siege to draw the Arms of France that way; but as that would have hel'd the Germans long in hand, the French King would not­withstanding do his business in Flan­ders.

But if England had had on its Throne, as it has at present, a King well intention'd for the welfare of Europe, and the particular good of his own People, he might alone stop the French King in the appre­hension he has of landing Men on his Coasts in his own Kingdom; and this truth is so certain, that Lewis [Page 21] the XIV. as powerful as he has been, as high as he would seem to be, has never undertaken any thing that way, but after he had consult­ed the Kings of England then Reign­ing, and even Cromwell himself, while he usurped the Government of the three Kingdoms.

Thus we have seen that this Mo­narch before getting into Flanders, had sweetned the Court of England by the means of his Honey; he taught them to speak French, and to like whatever he did undertake, and quietly to let him so fast advance, that at last it had no longer been in the power of the English to drive him back. I know that France alone knows how much this has cost it; but what matters at what rate, so one obtains ones Desires. Thus the most Christian King having dispos'd England on that side, and having strength e­nough, as doubtless he has, to set a considerable Army on foot on the [Page 22] side of Germany, (besides that of Flanders,) that he is in a conditi-to hazard a Battle with the Impe­rialists and their Allies, if these last had the ill fortune to be beaten, as that may happen, the Success being various, it is certain, That then the Germans would have much to do to rally again into any Body that were capable to do any advanta­geous Exploit that Campaign for the good of Flanders; there being nothing that wastes more the Troops that are compos'd of divers Members, and under divers Chiefs, than the ill success of a first Cam­paign: And there needs sometime but one Ally to decline the com­mon Interest (like the Pin of a Car­riage,) to put all the rest out of power to do any thing, and to break the best Designs which might have been form'd; and it would be in such like occasion, that the Pride of France would swell, and that the usurping Torrent would over-run [Page 23] its bounds more than ever on the Netherlands, which would be with­out hope of Remedies, if they were to wait for succour from Germany, as it may easily be judged, by what I have said, and which might easi­ly have happen'd, there being no­thing impossible in it.

Moreover, France which has most strong Reasons to be on its guard, and to always fear, has long since so well provided for its Frontier places on all sides, that it will re­quire of its Enemies almost a whole Campaign to carry one only of a­ny importance.

Since France has left the way to Italy, the King is so fully persuaded, that the Conquest of the seventeen United Provinces of the Nether­lands would facilitate him the ways to that of Europe, but particular­ly of the Empire; that he has ap­ply'd himself wholly to it, and has always endeavoured to amuse by illusive Promises, part of those very [Page 24] Provinces, while that he render'd himself Master of the other parts under the Dominion of Spain, ha­ving first lull'd England asleep, France requiring only the favour to decide alone that Dispute with Spain.

But that Lewis the XIV. might accomplish that first Design on the Spanish Netherlands, there was a necessity that the States of the United Provinces, which had a no­table interest in the preservation of the Neighbouring Provinces under their lawful Prince, should give their helping hand to their ruine, or at least should look on that Mo­narch without moving, till he had come on their Frontiers: But there was but little likelihood of that; wherefore the French King foreseeing well, that those States would never fall in that Lethargy, nor would permit to have their hands ty'd up while a conceal'd Enemy approach'd them, and penn'd [Page 25] them up close, taking from them little by little, all those Places which were to serve them as Bars. It was for that very Reason, that that Monarch did on the sudden alter his mind, and beholding ac­cording to his Desires, what he had long expected, a Catholick Prince on the Throne of England, who had for divers years been in his Pay, allowing him consi­derable Pensions when yet he was but Duke of York, and consequently did entirely possess and obsende him: He made use of the ill Di­sposition of the new King, in his Concerns with the States General, so that it was no longer difficult for the French King, who waited but for that moment, to accom­plish his Project; thus those two Kings, the one push'd on by his Ambition, the other by his ill In­clination, join'd together to Ex­terminate the Seven United Pro­vinces, under the fair and spe­cious [Page 26] pretence of Religion, and of Extirpating of Heresie, that the other Catholick Princes, who were concern'd in the Preservation of the United Provinces, might not oppose themselves to such an holy Work, and so lull them asleep. If that business had succeeded to Lewis the XIV. he had, without striking one blow, render'd him­self Master, all under one, of the Spanish Netherlands; and after that, made use of all the Forces of his Kingdom, together with those of his Conquests, to enter into Ger­many, and directly March to the Empire, follow'd with an Army of more than an Hundred Thou­sand Men; what Prince of the Empire, or the Emperor himself, could have disputed the Business with him, or have put a stop to his March?

But for so great a Work, it was necessary to fasten England firmly to his Interests, and to pull down [Page 27] the States of the United Provinces, which was the chiefest Business, it not being likely, that Sove­raigns, who so well know their own Interest as do those States, should permit Lewis the XIV. to advance one Foot of Ground more than he is already, (being but too forwards;) all that Monarchs fair Promises, and his kind assurances of Friendship remaining without effect, not being able to win them to be deceiv'd: And perceiving that his Credit was at an end [...]n those Provinces, that all the Propositions of the Count d'Avaux, his Ambassador, were suspected, [...]nd that he was still entertain'd with much Circumspection, (as Lions are fed, still pulling the hand back;) finding himself discover'd [...]nd cried down, not to lose any more time to flatter and amuse [...]he said States, being not able to [...]ccomplish his ends that way, he [...]esolv'd to ruine them at the same [Page 28] time that King James the II. got on the Throne; he knowing well his Genius, was satisfied that there wanted nothing but a Golden Ap­ple to amuse him; and to follow that itching desire which that Prince had to render himself Ab­solute Master over all his King­dom, to alter the Laws and the Religion of it; and to feed him before hand with the hopes of the Spanish Indies, that he might no longer find himself oblig'd to As­semble his Parliament, who ap­prov'd not of his Proceeding, no [...] of that great Alliance he had with France; which, under what shape soever it was represented to them did always appear hiddeous. During all that long Interval, an [...] till there were a fair occasion t [...] perform that great Design, th [...] French Emissaries did continually pour their cold Poison in the English Court, which was quaff'd o [...] in large Draughts by some of th [...] [Page 29] Grandees, which they endeavour'd to Digest without noise, seeing that at the same time they thus un­der-hand set forward their Masters Interest; others who were not at such a distance, provided them­selves with an Apple against draught, as did many others in all the Courts of Christendom.

It was in this contagious time, so infected with the French Lewis D'Ors, that Europe was to tremble, and that all honest people, that concern'd themselves in the com­mon Cause of the good of Chri­stendom, were to shake at the very sight of that weight which was going to crush Europe to pieces, seeing that its general loss had immediately follow'd that of the Seventeen United Provinces; the Emperor nor the King of Spain not being then able to pre­vent, nor put a stop to that Tor­rent which had chang'd it self into a Deluge; from which, not [Page 30] England it self had been Ex­empted in its time, if afterward it would not have danc'd to the French Flutes, and obey'd the Orders of its Ambitious Monarch: I am willing to make use of these Terms, seeing that all those that are Pensioners of France, are so, but to Execute his Orders, and to Work to increase the Grandeur of Lewis the XIV. not to oppose his Interests, but on the contrary, Sacrifice their Honour and their Lives to them, so oft as the Good and the Interest of France should require it. If ever Lewis the XIV. had obtain'd his end, and had made himself Master of the Forces of the Seventeen Provinces, as he plotted it in his greedy Imagina­tion, through the King of England's Means, there had then been no ways left for this last to retire though he should perceive his Er­ror, as Charles the II. had done and he must either by fair or fou [...] [Page 31] means have gone on with that he had begun, through a weak Complacency; and then the Most Christian King had rais'd his Voice and Arm at the same time, and had spoken in Magisterial Terms to all the Princes of Europe; neither had that of England been left for the last, but had been oblig'd to submit to the same Fate with all the others, as a Re­ward for all the good Services that he should have render'd him: I once again repeat, that the Designs of France were not new; that long since, Lewis the XIV. had had them before him, even before that James the II. had got on the Throne, and during his Brother's Reign, he luckily made use of the Dutchess of Orlean's Ma­nagement, who was Sister to both the Kings, Charles and James. But the First of them, who had continually before his Eyes the Tragical end of his Father, and [Page 32] who was still very sensible of the sufferings and troubles of his Exile, had much to do to resolve upon it; and the Apprehensions which he had of his People did retain him, and hindred him from Assisting France in all things as he was solicited to do; and he at last did abandon it, as we did see by the Peace which he had made with the States of the Uni­ted Provinces, and then he seem­ingly did relinquish the Interests of his Ally, not to Prorogue his Parliament, who very plainly did forsee the danger in which the Nation was going to fall, had France continued its Progress as it had began in 1672. and the years following.

After the Peace of Nimeguen, the Kings great Design against the United Provinces, remain'd as buried during the remnant of King Charles his Reign; but he soon rais'd it again, for at King [Page 33] James's Ascending the Throne, France gather'd new Vigour, and beholding there so good a Friend, with whom he was tied in Religion and Inclination; Lewis the XIV. fail'd not to strike the Iron while it was hot, and du­ring the Three or Four Years of his Reign, the French Emissaries gave divers Assaults, and set all Hands to work; the French Am­bassador Barillon, made great Largesses, to all those whom he thought propper to do his Master Service; the Curtisans tasted of the Cake as well as divers Mi­nisters at Court; thus all unani­mously did labour to perswade James the II. so soon as he was King, to second Lewis the XIV. in his Designs (divers not know­ing them) there needed no great Perswasion to attain it, because that Prince was already suffici­ently inclin'd to it of himself, and at that time, of all Employs, [Page 34] that of Messenger was the most necessary; there was nothing seen but such kind of Persons on the Road from London to Paris, and from Paris to London, till the Treaty was finish'd; of which, the chief matter and knot of the Business, was the ruine and de­struction of the United Provinces▪ All the Religious Orders, and above all, the Jesuits, did take a great Interest in that Business, and already cried out, The Town was their own; there was a perpetual motion among them; the Ships that cross'd the Seas on both Par­ties, were throng'd with those Zealots and Apostolick Postilions; thus were all things in motion for the Good of France, and for the Advancement of its Monarchs Designs, some through Interest, some through Zeal, and others through meer Ignorance: This Business thus built up with Lime and Stone, concluded and resolv'd [Page 35] on betwixt the Two Kings, Lewis the XIV. the better to compass all things, was desirous to streng­then himself towards the North, but having lost the friendship of the Sweeds, for having fail'd in keeping those Treaties which had formerly pass'd between the Two Crowns; France having no Pro­spect of patching them up again, it took the Party of Denmark, though it was nothing near so advantageous to it as was the other: To render it capable of employing it on all occasions, he sent thither the Count of Roy, there to Command, with many Officers and Men, but after the Siege of Hambourg, that General being retir'd, the French Party did much diminish; besides, France could not Unite it self with that Crown, in so streight an Alliance as it wish'd for; and that it were necessary, because of those Mea­sures which Denmark was to keep [Page 36] with the United Provinces on the account of Trade, without which it cannot do well, neither can it turn it to so good an account with France, it having at home all that it could draw from thence; so that all that France can at pre­sent draw from that Alliance, can but at the most come but to a Neutrality, provided the Emperor and his Allies will give their con­sent.

Lewis the XIV. was reckoning upon that, when he assur'd James the Second that the King of Den­mark would not disturb, but on the contrary favour them, in case that the Swede should join with their Enemies: It was on that Pillow Lewis le Grand did gently lull asleep the King of England, together with an ima­ginary shower of Gold, which was to drop from the Spanish Indies.

But how great soever a Cor­ruption is at Court, there are [Page 37] still some good; and the soundest part of the Kingdom of England, could not relish that streight U­nion which was betwixt their Prince and France, it clearly did see, that on its side the design was to Change the Religion, to Subvert the Laws, Establish an Arbitrary Power, and a Despotick Government, which tended to the loss of their Liberties and Privi­ledges, and to depend one Day on France, which gave them sus­picion of every step which the Ambassador Barillon, and the Queen did make in that respect; but their Zeal did so far trans­port them, that at last the Peo­ple, the Lords, the Protestant Clergy open'd their Eyes, and thought of delivering themselves, and with them all Europe, from those shackles which were forging for them; and the Heavens granting the Petition of all Chri­stendom, and in particular of the [Page 38] English Nation, it sent them a Deliverer, of whom Providence hath so miraculously seconded the Enterprise, so as to prevent them from falling under an hard Bon­dage, and under the Government of a suppos'd Prince, a Foundling, whose Father and Mother remain still unknown, which was to be pre­ferr'd to the Lawful Heirs of the Crown; such a black and un­heard of Supplanting, did oblige the Princess of Orange, as the next Heir to the Kingdom, to intreat the Prince her Husband, to se­cond the just Request of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and of the most sound part of the Kingdom. Thus the Prince, by an Admirable Conduct and a Di­vine Dispensation, did bring things about according to the Hearts desire of the Nation, with­out effusion of Blood, and set Suc­cession in its due and right Chan­nel, which was to have been [Page 39] interrupted by the means of that suppos'd Child; for the Princess having been Crown'd Queen by Succession, and the Prince King by Acknowledgment, after the Throne had been declar'd Vacant through King James the II's Deser­tion; it happen'd very luckily for the Deliverance of Europe, which I shall prove in what follows, as be­ing the Subject of this small Book.

In the first place, I lay down for an indisputable Truth, That if Lewis the XIV. and James the II. had compass'd their Designs and Ends, the United Provinces had been entirely lost, through the breaking down of their Banks; for that way did he design to begin, to take away all means from the Inhabitants of ever re­covering from that Dissolution in which he design'd to Reduce them, after they had made them­selves Masters of the Spanish Ne­therlands; after which, I cannot [Page 40] perceive how Europe could have prevented falling under the Yoak of the French Dominion, ha­ving had the King of England for Second, and Invading the 17 United Provinces, and rendring Tributary in imitation of the Grand Seignior, the most remote of those Provinces, which he could not conveniently Govern.

I have already given to observe, that the Empire alone could not hinder him, by reason of the great number of heads, all of different and distinct Interests, of those Princes that Compose it: On the other hand, Spain being not in a Condition to raise Forces sufficient to oppose it, nor all of them to­gether capable to resist the rapid motion with which France would invade them after its First Con­quests.

For to represent to us what France can do, and what it has been able to do in all times, we [Page 41] need but to frame to our selves a right Idea of things, from Francis the First, to Charles the Fifth, we shall easily judge that it has alwaies been dreaded; this last was both Emperor and King of Spain to­gether; he was Master of the 17 United Provinces, while they were entire, he had Burgundy and the French County, as well as Al­satia; he had an absolute power over the Princes of Germany, and of Italy. This Monarch was with­out dispute, one of the Greatest Princes, not only of his Time, but of his Age; a Great Com­mander, undaunted in all his En­terprises, daring Perils and Dan­gers, in which he had frequently been, and add to all that his Per­sonal Valour, a good Head-Piece, and fit for Counsel, encouraging his Armies by his Presence, ha­ving under him the most Expe­rienc'd Captains, and the best Ge­nerals of his Time, and such Ar­mies [Page 42] that had been tried in all parts of Germany, Italy, and in the Low-Countries, besides Fleets on the Mediterranian, and on the Ocean.

With all those Forces, his Cou­rage and his Treasures, though he had to do but with Francis the First, who alone was his Capital Enemy, and who was nothing near so powerful as his Successors have been (and as Lewis the XIVth. is at this time, or at least as he has been of late years,) having no o­ther Revenue, but about thirty, or thirty five French Millions, whereas this present has four times as much.

Mean time, with all this dispro­portion of Forces and of Wealth, this Emperor durst not attack him, 'till first he had joyn'd himself with Henry the VIIIth of England, and with the most considerable Princes of Italy.

By this we find that even from [Page 43] that time the Emperoor did highly consider the Kings of England, and that if Francis the First, King of France, had first secur'd Henry the VIIIth's Alliance, Charles the Fifth had not dar'd to attack him; and with all the advantages that the Emperor had of his side, Francis the first stood out against him, and without the Misfortune that befell him at the Seige of Pavia, where he was made Prisoner, he had given work enough to his Enemy.

I pass from Francis the First to Lewis the XIVth, much more powerful in Forces, in Treasures, and in Demains, than his Pre­decessors, seconded, as he believ'd by a strict alliance with England, having no more to manage nor to fear from the United Provinces, I leave to guess what he had, and might have done, and how far he had push'd on his Ambition; I maintain that then, the Pope with [Page 44] all Italy, the Emperor with the whole Empire, and Spain with all the Riches of the Indies, had not been of power to hinder him from making himself Master of all Europe.

There is but England alone then that is Capable to make the most Christian King alter his Designs; and that could not happen, but by such a lucky Catastrophe, and so unexpected as that which has lately happen'd there, under the Reign of William the IIId. For there was requir'd to be Sitting on the Throne, in order to such a Change, a Disinterested Prince, Zealous of the Glory of God, and the good of Christendom: Jealous of the Usurpation which Lewis the XIVth had made in Europe, Incorruptible, Magnanimous, a Man of Counsel and Execution, understanding well his own Interest, and who had been highly provok'd by France; that he might not hearken to any [Page 45] accommodation, nor yield any thing, to the prejudice of his Allies. This is what we find en­tirely in that Prince who has newly Ascended the Brittish Throne; wherefore so soon as this Heroe had pass'd over into Eng­land, and that a happy Success had seconded his Great Designs; we have seen Lewis the XIVth be­come motionless on the sudden, as formerly did Atlas, at the sight of the Medusa's head, which was shew'd him by that Generous Perseus.

The Foundation on which the French King had built his Grand Design, (the strict Alliance which he had with James the Second) having once given way, all the rest of the Fabrick is fallen to the ground, and his Castles in the Air have gone into Smoak, having no hopes to take any Measures in his Designs with this his present Bri­tanick Majesty, who, to cut off [Page 46] all his Hopes, and stop all his Pro­ceedings, has driven out of En­gland all the French Emissaries, resolv'd never to hearken any more to them, in the Design he has to restore the quiet and tranquility of Christendom, and to maintain Europe in that Deliverance which He has lately procur'd to it, by his only Elevation to the Throne. I prove my Axiome by that which follows; When a Town is Besieg'd, and that at the approach of its De­liverer, its Enemies abandon it, and their Designs miscarry, they retire, and though the Heroe which has caus'd its deliverance, be not yet enter'd that Place, it is publish'd abroad that the Place is Reliev'd, as really it is. So Lewis the XIVth having a Design of Conquering Europe, to Depose the Lawful Soveraigns thereof, and to Sacrifice all Christendom to his Am­bition, as it is no longer doubted; it being a Truth but too well [Page 47] averr'd and known. That Usurper has no sooner seen William the IIId Proclaim'd King, but that he has abandon'd his Enterprise, and chang'd his Design; and in lieu of destroying the Powers of Europe, has had no other thoughts but of preserving himself, and his King­dom. I joyn to the coming of William the IIId to the Crown of England, the strict Alliance there is between his Majesty of Great Brittain, and the States of the United Provinces, as also the Union of the Emperor with all the Princes of the Empire.

I confess, that it has been a great Business to have freed Europe from the danger which threatned it, to have dispers'd in a Moment all the great and pernicious Designs of an Ambitious Prince, that on all occasions made no scruple to break his Faith when that Crime agreed with his Ambition and In­terest, who, notwithstanding his [Page 48] Word given to the Contrary, back'd with his Oath, has neither spar'd the blood nor the ruine of so many Thousands of Christians, in the bare Opinion, that he ought to do it for his Interest's sake, and to weaken his Enemies; having not spar'd even his own Subjects. And if we return to the Primary Cause, we cannot but believe, that the Heavens wearied with so much In­justice, with so much Cruelty, and enormous Crimes, and with so much blood-shed, which Cries for Ven­geance, has at last rais'd William and Mary on the Throne, and suggested a good Union amongst the Princes of Christendom, to stop the Barbarous Course of Lewis the XIVth.

But it is not enough to have reduc'd the Lyon that Sack'd Eu­rope, to get into his Den, his Claws must be pair'd also, and his Teeth pull'd out, that hereafter he may do [Page 49] no more harm, and that his Power may be limited, that he may no longer Desolate our Countries, that he devour no more the In­nocent, and that the most Chri­stian, Oppress no more the Chri­stians. Lewis the XIVth's Policy and Interest in the Condition he is at present reduc'd, is to gain time, to see whether any Change would not happen in England, nor no Contestation in Germany; where­fore he offers in all places he can a Neutrality, that he might find in those Princes that should not declare themselves some Media­tors, or to speak more properly, Intercessors near the Emperor and the King of England, as well as near the United Provinces, in the fear he is of a total downfall, if England, and the Empire continue as they have began, and as it is to be believ'd they will do, according to all appearance, if they love their quiet, their preservation, and [Page 50] their own Interests, as well as the good of their People.

I confess that much has been done, especially by the King of England, to have deliver'd Europe▪ at present without drawing his Sword, but the future must be thought on, and the means must be taken from France, of any more threatning Europe, to set it in a right Ballance with the House of Austria, or at least in a Condition of having need of its Allies, and not put an end to this present War which is kindling in all places, 'till that be perform'd.

To succeed the better in it, and to animate the more all the Prin­ces of Europe, they ought to cast up what France has Usurped from them, the dammage they have receiv'd by it, and that which they may receive hereafter; and never lay down their Arms, 'till they all have had full satisfaction, for the more it shall be forc'd to [Page 51] restore, the more will its Sove­raign be weakned.

I set in the first Rank the Pope, who by all the Catholicks is con­sider'd as the head of the Church, Christ's Vicar on Earth, St. Pe­ter's Successor, the Common Fa­ther of all Christians, the Dispen­cer of Celestial Graces, and who being consider'd as such, ought to be fear'd, respected, rever'd, ho­nour'd and obey'd; as to the Spi­ritual, (laying aside the Contest which is among the Catholicks themselves concerning the Tem­poral) and not withstanding that Lewis the XIVth names himself the Eldest Son of the Church, and the most devout Son of the Sove­raign Pontif, what Mortification has not the good Father receiv'd from him, since his coming to the Pontificate, either in his own Person, or in that of his Legates, even upon the dead Corps of one of them. The extinction of the Re­galia [Page 52] in France, is also a great grief to the Holy See, as well as the violence us'd against divers Con­vents, for having address'd them­selves to the Pope, and taking advice of his Holiness. The change of divers Abbies into Commande­ries by the King's own and pro­per motion, is also a Contempt, which he has aggravated by the forbiddance he has made to the Bishops not to Consult the Holy See, even in Cases of Conscience, and in such businesses as wholy concern Religion: but the most sensible of all, was that blow gi­ven to the Pope's Authority, in the Year 1682. by the Clergy As­sembled at the King's Command, that being with the Infallibility the finest Flowers of the Triple Crown. The Insolent Discourses held in a Plea by Monsieur Talon, by which he accus'd Pope Innocent the XIth (the most worthy that has for divers years been seated [Page 53] in St. Peter's Chair) of being a Schismatick, and a Supporter of Hereticks. And this, for not ha­ving receiv'd Monsieur Lavardin as Ambassador at Rome, who made his Entry into that City in such an offensive and proud manner, that no Ambassadours of Obe­dience durst ever have done the like; having caus'd himself to be accompany'd by a small Army rather than a Retinue, as if he would have Besieg'd the Vatican. And though this Marquess is at full Liberty at Rome, the Nuncio Ranucci is detain'd in a place call'd St. Lazarus, for fear he should re­tire from Paris incognito. Finally, the unjust seizure of the City and County of Avignon, threatning besides all this, to send some Troops into the Ecclesiastick State, to oblige the Pope to revoke the Bull for the abolition of Quarters, and that for his Confirmation of Prince Joseph Clement of Bavaria [Page 54] to the Archbishoprick of Cologne.

After so much insulting which the Pope had receiv'd, of which one might make a whole Volum, either in his own Person, his Au­thority, or in the Person of his Legates, the Pope has judici­ously done, to shew his Resent­ment against Lewis the XIV. not to relinquish any of his Rights, but maintain the Rank which he has in the Church, and in the World, by that Spiritual and Temporal Power, which God has put into his Hands, and in having till now so generously and justly oppos'd him­self to all the French Violences, by which he has acquir'd a Glory which shall last as long as the World, amongst all Parties, and his Memory will be Rever'd even after his Death: He ought to go on in those right Paths which he has begun, and as Com­mon Father, Exhort all Catholick Princes, to put themselves in a [Page 55] Condition to abate the Pride of the French King, as a means to bring him into a way of Salva­tion. To this purpose, the Pope ought with all his Power to As­sist the Catholick Princes, that he may co-operate in so good a Work, as his Holiness has done to the Empire against the Turks; and to solicite the Switz-Cantons, of the same Religion, by his Le­gates, to Join themselves to the Emperor and Empire, to confirm that Deliverance which Europe begins to enjoy: Thus the Pope being restor'd to his former Dig­nities, Veneration, and Authority, let the King, his most devout Son, make him some Reparations and Attonements, for those Faults he has committed, and be so humbled, that for the future he may be Wiser, and out of Power of do­ing the like again, nor of Insult­ing over the Popes and Soveraign Pontifs of the Catholick Church; [Page 56] and in case the Pope found no amendment in that King, nor no likelihood of bringing him back to his Duty, he ought, while he is busie in a War, to lance forth his Excommunications against him, and to give his Kingdoms over to the Spoil of his Enemies; the male-contented Ecclesiasticks, with which his Kingdom is fill'd, will reduce him by Reason, and will make him repent having ever meddled with the Rights of the Church.

The Emperor and the Princes of the Empire, have more Reason than all the other Powers of Eu­rope, to keep the French King in such a condition, that he may no more annoy them, nor aspire to the Imperial Crown. Lewis the XIV. has a long time endeavour'd to turn the Empire into the French Family, as in the time of Charle­main, it being a great step for him to rise to that of all Eu­rope; [Page 57] that is the Reason why, since Francis the First, the French Kings have always cross'd the Emperors Elections. But Lewis the Great could find no way to that Conquest, but by the total Ruine of the United Provinces, to which he could not attain, but by the assistance of England; thus his Imperial Majesty, and all the Princes of the Empire, being fully satisfied of this Truth, and that nothing but that Revolution which has lately happen'd on the Brittish Throne, could cause the rash Designs of the French King to Miscarry. The Emperor ought no longer to remain in suspence, nor put off to another time, those Advantages which the Heavens present to him at this time, to recover all that France has Usurp'd from him.

To this purpose, his Imperial Majesty should begin by a Truce, which he ought, without [Page 58] delay, to conclude with the Port, seeing that they offer it on very honourable and advantageous Con­ditions; and let the Emperor hold as suspicious Persons, all such as shall Advise him to the contrary, they are Persons that sin either through Ignorance, or Malice, who understand not the true Interests of the Empire, or too much those of France; he is not to doubt, but that all the Princes of the Empire will concur to the same Design, of abasing the Great­ness of the French Monarch, of which there are but very few Pow­ers in the Empire that have not great cause of complaint, and just pretensions to frame, and perhaps, more to pretend to than ever to recover again, if France be not kept in a condition of never of­fending them more; of domineer­ing any longer, nor of boasting any more that it can give Peace to Europe when ever it pleases. [Page 59] This last War, by the rupture of a Truce, which the French King had sought after, with so much earnestness, because it confirm'd Luxemburg to him, and a part of Flanders during Twenty Years, and which he has infring'd with­out any Cause, than his desire to come to the Assistance of the Grand Seignior, who was going to ruine, by the vast Conquests which the Emperor made on that Infidel: His Most Christian Majesty, was going hand over head to his As­sistance, finding himself supported with a close Alliance with James the II. formerly King of Great Britain; this Rupture has given new pretensions of War to all the Princes of Germany, by the most barbarous and inhumane proceedings which the French Troops have done there; and I doubt much, whether a just Pa­rallel could be drawn from the Cruelties and Desolations that this [Page 60] King has caus'd to be committed in the Palatinate, with those that the Grand Seignior has made in Hungary; and though this last place has been for a long time the Seat of War, yet at the Re­treat of the Infidels, they have not committed any thing near the like Extortions, nor us'd the same violence, that the French have done in those places that they have abandon'd in the Palatinate, and in the Country of Juliers, and of Cologne; and if there were no other cause but this, though there are but too many more, there would need, in my Opi­nion, nothing but the sad spectacle of the French barbarousness, to ani­mate all the Princes and Mem­bers of Europe, to a good and firm Union with the Emperor, which will be the only means to preserve themselves, and to pre­vent France from doing the like hereafter.

[Page 61]Though France is brought low, through the opposition of Eng­land, in all its Designs, yet has it not forgot its ancient Maxims; which have formerly succeeded so well; it will not fail to put into practice all the ways ima­ginable to corrupt some Member of the Empire, and to break that Chain of Unity there is amongst them, to endeavour thereby, to put a stop to the Success of their Arms, as it frequently happens, that a broken or rotten Pin, dis­orders a whole Carriage, and hin­ders its March.

France's Crafts and Deceits be­ing already so well fore-known, it is requisite that the Princes of Europe should provide against that plague of Corruption, which has so freequently infected divers Courts of Christendom; divers are to expect, that not only Pre­sents will be offer'd to them, as well as Pensions, but equivalents also [Page 62] to their Pretensions, only to re­main Neuter: But the Example of the Archbishop of Mentz is yet so fresh before our Eyes, that it ought to be a fair Mirror for the Princes of the Empire, to Represent to them to the Life, the Character of France; and of its Soveraign, which all that proceeding repre­sents in Lively Colours, with the breaches of Faith of that Prince, even to those that Side with him. If ever any Soveraign did Act against his true Interest, and that of the whole Empire, it was that Prelate; but then again, never was Prince worse rewarded, nor had greater cause to repent of his Fault, by the ill usage he has had in his Estate; which had reach'd to his Person also, if he had not shelter'd himself from the Threats of the French Envoy.

But he is not the only Living and Speaking Example; the whole Series of time that has pass'd since [Page 63] the Peace of the Pireneans, is but a continued Thread of the false­hood of France. So, that who­ever shall catch at the Golden Bait which the King lays for them, will have time to Repent themselves, as the Elector of Mentz has done, and divers others, who have fair'd no better.

But if, by a Fatal Chance, it should so happen, that some Mem­ber of the Empire were so un­advis'd, as to be Corrupted by France, and separated from that Union which is its true Inte­rest, though it is not to be ex­pected now that those Princes are so well enlightned; that Per­son ought to be consider'd as a rotten Member, Discarded, and Treated as an Enemy, though he would remain Neuter, on this ground drawn from the Holy Gospel, Qui non est pro nobis est contra nos.

Of Truth the Union of the [Page 64] Empire is of great Importance, and I must confess, that all its United Forces may be very pow­erful, but they would be much more, if the Emperor could re­solve to grant a Peace to the Grand Seignior; that so having no longer any thing to fear from that Part, his Imperial Majesty may have his Hands at liberty against the Second, which has been much more formidable and more dangerous than the First, and consequently cause all his Forces to Advance towards the Rhine, which would produce Two Effects; the one, that such con­siderable Armies would increase that Terror in which France is al­ready. Secondly, it would by that means much better maintain that Union which is already in Europe, with their Allies.

Besides, it is a general Rule, which the Emperor ought always to observe; never to have Two [Page 65] Wars to maintain at the same time, especially when he can a­void one of them, as it is in his power to do at this present, with great Advantage and Glory.

It is not to be doubted, but that the French King does highly dread such a Truce; that he will openly and most powerfully Act with the Turk, and the King of Poland, and that he will have his Emissaries, conceal'd, at the Court of Vienna, that will labour un­der-hand, and on deceitful Preten­ces, to prevent the Imperial Coun­cil from concluding any thing with the Turks Envoy, at this present at Vienna. To be sure, he will neither spare Money nor Religion to attain his end therein.

To the Grand Seignior, he Promises to enter into Ger­many with a Powerful Army, to Ransack there, as he has done al­ready, thereby to draw the Em­perors Forces on that side, and [Page 66] give the Great Turk the means and leasure to breathe again, and to Assemble new Forces to en­deavour to regain what he has lost.

To Teckeley, and the Princes of Transilvania, Walachia, and Mol­davia, without enquiring of what Religion they are, he assures con­siderable Sums to continue the War begun; he has frequenly sent some to the First, and if the others would break off with the Emperor, and join with the Grand Seignior, he would furnish them wherewith to Pay their Forces.

As for Poland, that will per­form enough for France, if its King will but remain quiet, and not at­tempt any thing, as he has done since the two last Campaigns, and prevent by great pretensions the Conclusion of a Truce with the Port. Lewis the XIVth has Springs that are sufficiently strong to de­tain him, and to obtain what he [Page 67] pleases of that Crown, perswading it that it is not suitable to her In­terest, to have the Emperor pros­per so much, &c.

At the Court of Vienna, the French Emissaries Labour through indirect means, to perswade the Emperor's Councellors, that his Imperial Majesty may with ease maintain the War against the Turk and France, and that it concerns his Glory not to slacken in so fair a Course, that he ought to go and plant the Cross of Christ on the very Battlements of the Se­raglio at Constantinople; but such pretences are at great distance from their Masters thoughts, for it is very certain, that the French King had rather see once more the Cre­scent on St. Stephen's Church at Vienna, than the Cross on St. So­phia at Constantinople.

Lewis the XIVth at this time, is like to a Man in great extremi­ty of danger, that is ready to sink, [Page 68] he makes Vows, and promises all things, to get out again, and takes hold of all that comes in his way, to keep himself some moments lon­ger above water. Thus this Mo­narch has turn'd himself all man­ner of ways to find out a Media­tor that would assist him to get out of the danger he is in. He has address'd himself to the Elector of Brandenburg, the King of Spain, and to the Pope; but at this pre­sent, knowing of no better shift, and finding, that all the Christian Prin­ces do abandon him, he has ap­ply'd himself to the Turk. And finding that no Christians will any longer confide in him, he covers himself with a false Mask of Hy­pocrisie; he Remonstrates to the House of Austria, that the Roman Catholick Religion is in danger, and that it perishes with him, that it has been through his Care and Zeal so many Conversions have been made in his Kingdom, and [Page 69] that he was ready to have done as much in England, if there had not been a League made against him. But with all these sugar'd words, he at the same time Leagues himself with the Enemy of Chri­stendom, at that very time he en­ters the Palatinate, and puts all to the Fire and Sword, he offers to the Grand Seignior to joyn him­self with him on the defensive part, and not to lay down his Arms, 'till the Sultan has recover'd Hun­gary. At the same time he offers to the Pope, that if the Emperor will agree with him, he will lend him forty Gallies to aid him to Conquer Constantinople; and offers to Re-establish King James in his Kingdoms, provided that the Em­peror and the Empire will Con­clude a Peace with him. All these are fair Flowers that con­ceal a Serpent under them, who will certainly sting the hand of him that will but touch them.

[Page 70]These are the French King's De­ceits, which he has Inherited from Mazarine, to trye whether by such fair Offers he might not break the Union of the Empire.

But Flanders, the Palatinate, the Countries of Juliers, and of Ments, Treves and Colen, remain unrepro­chable Testimonies of his Breaches of Faith, and of his Hypocrisie; he having nothing less in his thoughts than the Christian Reli­gion. For those Offers which his Ambassador Guichardin has made to the Port, ought once for all, to undeceive all Christendom of that Catholick Faith of which he makes so great a shew.

But not to rest any longer on the Illusions and Deceitful Offers of France, which ought to be suspicious to all the Princes of Europe. I say that the Emperor and the Empire ought not to stop in the very beginning of so fair an Opportunity which England [Page 71] offers them, nor lay down their Arms, 'till they have recover'd Burgundy, the French County, Al­sace, but particulary Strasbourg, Philipsburg, Fribourg, Brisack, and all that France has Usurp'd on that side of Europe. Moreover, Re­seated the Electors Palatine, of Mentz, Treves and Colen, in their Territories and Rights, with an entire reparation of all those Wrongs and Damages which he has done them by his Forces and Incendiaries. Resign Cardinal Fu­stenberg into the hands of the Em­peror, or of the Pope, to answer to those things that shall be alledg'd against him, and that he is al­ready accus'd of.

But that which is most just and necessary, is to restore the Duke of Lorain to his Dukedom, which ought to be restituted in the same Condition that it was in the time of his Predecessors. Policy requires that this Dukedom should be se­parated [Page 72] from France, because that would be a means to weaken France. It would be to fix a Thorn in its foot, thus to Re-esta­blish the Successor of the Ancient Soveraigns, to support and up­hold it, that it might no longer be liable to fall under the Forces of France, nor to acquiesce to any Treaty prejudiciable to it, nor so much as to have any great Com­munication with them, because that the Duke of Lorain being once restor'd to his Estates, nei­ther he, nor his Sucessors ought never more to trust to the French Kings; but ought daily to set be­fore their Eyes, with what perfi­deousness his Predecessor has been Treated.

Those Great Victories which that Prince has gain'd with such great Success and Glory over the Turks, the re-union of Hungary to the Empire, which is due to his sole Valour, does well deserve [Page 73] that all Christian Princes should Conserve themselves for this Great Heroe; Joyn to that the Obliga­tion which his Imperial Majesty has with that Duke, by his Mar­iage with the Queen of Poland.

It is not to be doubted, but that William the IIId. King of Great Brittain, will Contribute with all his Power to so Just and Laudable an Enterprise, even ne­cessary for the quiet of Europe; and that his Britanick Majesty will impose it as a Law on Him­self to bring it about, if he once undertakes it. But to Compass this with more ease, The Duke of Lorain ought before all things else to propose a Liberty of Con­science in all his Dominion, and free Exercise to all Protestants, in all the Cities and Borroughs where there are any. That will be a means to draw on his side, the Assistance of all those of that Religion, as well as that of the [Page 74] Allies, and of their Subjects, in laying aside the Counsels of a Company of Monks, which conti­nually beat over and over in divers Catholick Princes Ears, to make them act the contrary, and to push them forward to a Persecution, which will ever prove hurtful to their Persons and Sates.

The Duke of Lorrain ought not to let slip so fair and so favoura­ble an occasion, which perhaps will never offer it self again in all his Life time, nor that of his Successors; his Interest and that of his Family obliges him to embrace it, and to soliciate the King of England as well as the Emperor; and those Princes who Compose the Diet of Ratisbone, who are already inclin'd to it, by the bar­barous Proceedings of the French, they, doubtless, will not fail to espouse the Interest of that Prince, in consideration of those Services which he has render'd to [Page 75] Christendom; and to labour in his Re-establishment, as well as in that of others, the rather, be­cause that Lorrain being in that Duke's Hands, will serve as a Bar to the Empire; but as I have already said, that Prince ought to Labour particularly to bring the Emperor and his Council to grant a Truce to the Grand Seignior; without which, I cannot see his own Concerns can have any good Success. This he ought to consider, before sending back the Turks Envoy, lest he should slip the Occasion; for after that every one will take new Mea­sures.

The Emperor never had, nor never will have a fairer Occasion to entirely Master France, than that which at this present he is furnished with, by the coming of William the III. to the Crown of England; which seems as if God had produc'd that Effect, during [Page 76] the time of that great Union o [...] the Princes of the Empire, to give an Opportunity to his Im­perial Majesty to Subdue France; being thereunto excited by the ill Usage they have all receiv'd from the French King, and the barbarous Proceeding which he has us'd of late in Germany, which has been but a continuation of those Cruelties which his Dra­goons have exercis'd in his own Kingdom; which has not only alienated from him the Heart [...] of his Subjects, but has struck an Horror in all Christendom; he has depriv'd the Most Christia [...] King of all his Alliances, and ha [...] reduc'd him, to see himself oblig'd to have recourse to the Sworn Enemy of Christianity, the Turk▪

All these Advantages are foun [...] in this present juncture; more over, Lewis the XIV. the bor [...] Enemy to the House of Austria is now at Wars with all Christendom. [Page 77] If his Imperial Majesty takes not advantage of those Conveniences which the Heavens seem to present him with, he ought not to expect any Acknow­ledgments from France for it, nor that the King will think he hath done him a kindness in sparing him; for as he has the gift of Usurpation by Inheritance, if he can but raise himself up again from that Mortal Wound he has receiv'd, he will come, as did the Grand Visier, (after he has, if he can, disunited and ruin'd the Em­pire) and Encamp his Army be­fore Vienna. That Itch has held him a long time, and Lewis the XIV. has Inherited it from his Predecessors; for since the Death of Ferdinando the III. those Kings that have Reign'd in France, have always endeavour'd to possess the place of Charlemain, and in 1683, His Most Christian Majesty, who was very well Instructed of Ma­homet [Page 78] the IV's Designs, and who had instigated Teckeley to Rebel­lion, did think then, that he had obtain'd his Hearts Desires, and that he had got the Wind of the Emperor, for he thought it im­possible but that Vienna should fall under the Power of the Grand Visier's Forces. The King had Forty Thousand Men ready on the Borders of Germany, in the De­sign to put himself at the Head of them, and to enter into the Empire, to have himself Proclaim'd Emperor, as the ancient Romans did, at the Head of his Army. His pretence had been, That his Im­perial Majesty, not being in con­dition to preserve Christendom, he was come to supply his Place; and as the Deliverer of Europe, free it from the Oppression of the Infidels, though he himself had Invited them in, and had design'd to put it in Irons. To make good the Truth of what I alledge, I [Page 79] must say, that this Monarch, who thought himself assur'd of the taking of the City Vienna by the Turks, and himself, consequently, of the Imperial Crown, had al­ready caus'd the Imperial Eagle to be plac'd over his Effigy, in his own Coin, publickly declaring before his whole Court, That the Empire had remain'd already long enough in the House of Austria, and that it was high time it should re­turn into his Family. The French Mercenary Pens, and the French Flatterers, had already set forth di­vers Pieces in that Kingdom, which tended to that purpose; some were Intituled, The just Pretensions of the King on the Empire; others, The Decay of the Empire. These were the fore-runners of what the King design'd to do, that when it should come to pass, Europe should not be surpiz'd at it, and the Blow not so much felt by the House of Austria. It is a Maxim that has [Page 80] been practis'd in France during this Reign, when the Council had a design of Oppressing the Sub­jects by any Imposition, or to tread them down by any Decla­ration, the noise of it was spread abroad Six Months before, that when the Blow should fall, the People might be prepar'd for it, and so found not the Evil so great as it really was, because it was expected.

All the French Kings Pretensi­ons derive from Charlemain, who, though King of France, was E­lected Emperor, but Charles being Dead, the Electors were in right of Electing another capable to Govern the Empire, and to De­fend Christendom, without being oblig'd or wedded to the Person of the French King.

But I find, without Dispute, that the Emperors have much more Right to the Kingdom of France, and that it is better [Page 81] grounded than that of the French Kings on the Empire, of which the Three Bishopricks of Thoul, Metz, and Verdun, are dependences which France has Usurp'd, and to obtain peace and quiet the Emperor has been forc'd to bid them an eternal Farewel.

All Histories shew us, that for­merly the Gauls did depend of the Empire, and was look'd upon by the Emperors of the West, as an Imperial Dependency, and feuda­tory to it; in effect, the Arch­bishops of Treves did take upon them the Quality of Imperial Chancellors in that part; and Charles the VIII. King of all France, as he was, was not asham'd to take upon him the Quality of Vicar General and Perpetual of the holy Empire.

Moreover, Conrad being come to Paris, caus'd himself to be receiv'd there as Superior, by King Charles, Sir-named the Simple, and the [Page 82] Emperor Sigismond, in the Reign of Lewis the XI. made his Entry in that Capital City, with all the Marks of Soveraignty, preceded at Noon Day (in imitation of the ancient Roman Emporors) by a great number of Torches of White Wax Lighted, took his Seat in the Presence of the King, in the Par­liament, Created Knights, and there it was that he Erected the County of Savoy into a Dutchy, and acknowledg'd that Duke as Prince of the Empire▪ The Em­perors, no more than the Crown of France, ever lose their Right; and I think they should have the same Prerogatives as such Kings, who always own themselves Pu­pils, and can never lose any thing, alienate, engage, nor sell.

But we are not here to rake up the Ashes of the Empire's ancient Rights, but only to prevent the French King from making new ones, and afterwards to possess [Page 83] them, seeing that his Generals do publickly declare, That they know no other Right but Power, and the only pleasure and good-liking of their Monarch, of whom they make a God on Earth, Viro im­mortali.

At this present, the French King beholds all Europe in Arms against him, and he finds he cannot well parry that Blow; that England's lifted up Arm threatens him with a total Ruine, and because he cannot easily withstand all those Powers that are United against him, he endeavours, at least, if he cannot win them to his Party, to divide them from the other, by that Neu­trality which he proposes to them, in design of accomplishing two things, if he obtains it.

The First is, to diminish the number of his Enemies, and the second, that by that means he may gain a free access near to those separated Powers, flattering [Page 84] himself with the hopes to draw them afterwards to his Party, through advantageous Offers, but much sooner, if he can but never so little rouse himself up again, from that Apoplexy in which he is fallen.

But the Emperor and his Allies, to break his Measures and de­stroy his Designs, ought not to allow of any Neutrality to any Prince, State, nor City of the Empire, but to hinder him, if possible, from soliciting the Switz-Cantons; on the contrary to get them to join to the Empire, and if they cannot be prevail'd with so to do, oblige them to call home those Forces which they have in the French Service, or at least permit the raising in their Ter­ritories a like number of Men by the Emperor and his Allies; it being pre-suppos'd, that a State can never be counted Neuter, so long as it furnishes Forces to one of [Page 85] the Parties that are in Wars to­gether; besides, such a Neutra­lity is of evil consequence to the others that pretend to the same: There are but very few States that are not glad to see their Neigh­bours weaken'd, that they may draw advantage from their Dis­orders, and get to themselves the Trade, and to see them from a secure place ruine one another, while their Neuter Subjects en­rich themselves, and improve by the spoil, as the Archbishop of Mentz did think to do, if he had not been cheated by France; to his great sorrow he has made tryal of Lewis the XIVth's Maxims, who has no sooner laid his finger on a place, but that he endeavours to thrust in his whole body, and to drive from thenee the Lawful Lord. Though all has known this, yet divers hitherto have been surpris'd with it, they call out for help, when they thiink them­selves [Page 86] lost, as we have seen in di­vers little States which he has ap­propriated to himself; and he had done the like to Geneva, had not the Laudable Cantons oppos'd them­selves to it. The Switz percei­ving that his most Christian Majesty did by that design to smooth a Path for himself into their Country, and into the States of the Duke of Savoy, if they durst but have stirr'd never so little af­ter that Conquest.

I now pass to the Cantons of the Switzers, by reason of their Proximity to the Empire, and Al­liance with the Emperor; they have no cause of being better sa­tisfied than many others are of Lewis the Great, if they would but return from that blindness where­in they are, and make some Re­flections on what has pass'd, only since his Reign; how that he a­muses them on the one side, while he is undermining of their Union [Page 87] on the other, together with their Liberty, and their Power; incom­passing them so close on all sides, as if he would so girt them in, that they should not be able to stir themselves. His Design is to make them Tributary, not of Mo­ney, but of divers thousands of Men, when he has occasion for them, and when they should be of most use to him: to that parti­cularly tends the Usurpation of the French County, which was formerly their Barr, the Fortresses of Hun­ning, and of Crensack, and so many other Forts and Bridges which the King has caus'd of late to be built round their Countrey.

It is that way do the Lewis d'Ors tend, which the French Ambassa­dor does so freely scatter about in the Cantons, and so many fair pro­mises, and French Compliments, with which the Lords are fed, to rock them asleep; but in the mean time, I humbly desire that those [Page 88] Gentlemen would make a serious Reflection on the ill Treatment and Contempt lately put on their Ambassadors, and by that they shall judge, whether they have any great cause to reckon on, and to trust to the Friendship and Pro­mises of that King; and let them not flatter themselves, if the King could have made them submit to the French Yoak, long since had he done that business, because he well knows the need he has of them, that the Cantons can supply him with a great number of good Souldiers, and that he can build and reckon on their Alliance. I know that in Switzerland, as well as elsewhere, there are Mercenary Spirits, that would willingly Sa­crifice their Country to their pro­per Interests; who promise much to France, without considering well what they do; and if the King had enter'd into Germany as he had purpos'd to do, as I have before [Page 89] mention'd, the Cantons had had great cause to fear, that divers Towns whose Magistrates had been brib'd, had follow'd the fa­tal Example of Strasbourg. To this purpose the King has always endeavour'd to divide them in their hearts, as well as in their Religion.

But some will say, that Things have not happen'd so, and that they are still in a good Condition. I grant that, and I answer that the pass'd danger ought to render us wise for the future; the Swallows know their times, why should Men neglect theirs? Wherefore a­bove all, the Switzers ought not to let slip so fair an Occasion, by which they may set themselves at rest for ever. I Conjure them to it, by that which they hold most dear in the World, their Liberty, Religion, their Children, and their own Preservation; let them re­member they are born free, [Page 90] that they depend but on God a­lone, and on their Valour, and that they ought to maintain them­selves in those fair Priviledges, which their Ancestors have ac­quir'd to them by their Swords, and their blood; being arriv'd at the moment in which they may preserve them; they ought not to fall asleep at the sound of the French Gold, it is not with this as with the Tide, which returns every day; and it may be that England shall never again be Govern'd by a King replenish'd with such good Sentiments, and that shall be so well fix'd to the General Interests of all Christendom, as is that Prince who Reigns there at this present. It is a good fortune, which must be taken hold of by the foretop, for fear she flyes away. It is not to be doubted, but that at this very present, the French Ambassa­dor does indefatigably Labour with the Cantons, and that he of­fers [Page 91] much more than his Master designs to perform: and he fails not to tender also the Arrears due to them, provided the Cantons will permit the raising of new Forces, or only accept of a Neutrality. As if the King did offer them any thing more than their own, which he ought to have pay'd them long since. I very well know that di­vers Persons, whose eyes this Re­imbursement causes to be open, would willingly grant what the King requires of them, in the be­lief that they might observe a Neutrality with that; just as if the Emperor had granted it, and at the same time permit Forces should be given to his Enemy; which would be two things very incompatible, and which no Mo­narch would ever endure, if he were in any Condition to prevent it. Wherefore I once more re­peat, that the Cantons ought to make serious Reflections on the [Page 92] present State of France in particu­lar, and on that of Europe in ge­neral; and rouse up from that dullness and Mercenary humour in which they are kept, in the fear the French King has, that the Switzers should awaken on the sudden, and open their eyes to their true Interest. It lyes at pre­sent but on a strong and generous Resolution, to get out of all dan­gers, prevent ever relapsing into them again, and set themselves in a Condition to depend on none but themselves. To this purpose, they ought to joyn themselves to the Empire; and then require from the King that he should demolish those Fortresses which he has caus'd to be built, contrary to former Treaties, and in case of a refusal, by an authentick and general De­cree, recall their Forces, and with those very Troops that are so well Disciplin'd, and those they have already, go themselves and execute [Page 93] that which France refuses them, and pull down those stone Tables which he has set up. Besides, let the Lords of that Republick con­sider that the more Souldiers they lend to France, the more Men they lose; whose hearts are insen­sibly alienated from their own Country, by Death, by Offices, by Pensions, by Mariages, and some by the Change of Religion; and these last are young Vipers, which will one day gnaw their own Mothers bowels.

I know that the Switzers with divers others, have some years since fear'd the Forces which France has (to make it self dreaded) all­ways kept in readiness, after Peace and after the Truce also; which Forces made it to speak with Con­fidence, and required nothing but with threatnings; being the only Prince in Europe that did see him­self in a Condition to Undertake, and to Act, before others were in [Page 94] a Condition to Defend themselves, which made him to be fear'd by his Neighbours, and procur'd him Alliances, but particularly that of King James, with which he thought himself sufficiently strong to over­come all Europe, beginning as I have already said, by the United Provinces.

I doubt not but all these Con­siderations might have a great in­fluence over the Cantons, and ob­lige the Switzers to grant to France that which perhaps they had not done at any other time, but now the storm is blown over, the Cause of that Pride with which the King did threaten, being vanish'd into smoak, the fear ought to cease also, and there ought not to remain any consideration ca­pable to retain the Switzers under the Rod of Lewis the XIVth. Let them return to their pristine Li­berty, and to their right Interest. Let those Gentlemen know, that [Page 95] Kings are Great no longer than they are happy, and that they are fear'd no longer than their good fortune lasts. I therefore maintain, that that Imperiousness (with which France was us'd to draw advantages from the Cantons) is at an end, now that it finds it self over-whelm'd from all sides, that all its Alliances on which it found­ed all its new Usurpations, are vanish'd, and that at this present he has almost as many Enemies, as there are Princes in Europe. If they have not yet all declar'd, they will not stay long, they only wait to see the Dance begin, to joyn themselves with the Allies, as we have lately seen the Republick of Liege, which has scorn'd its threat­nings, and embrac'd that Party which it apprehended to be the most advantageous, and the most necessary for its State. Which sufficiently shews the small regard that it had at present for the French [Page 96] King, who is no longer in a Con­dition of doing any great Damage in an open War, since England has turn'd the Muzzle of her Cannons against him, and that the Prince on whose Alliance he so strongly built his hopes, is no longer in a Condition to do any good or hurt to Europe; for in lieu of succou­ring his Allie, he himself stands in need of him: he drains France; the Calf in time will kill the Cow, with drawing her too hard; it is a new Charge to Lewis the XIV, and that Unfortunate Prince sees himself on the brink of a Precipice, which by a special Grace from Heaven he may yet avoid, by re­tiring into some Convent.

The Laudable Cantons ought to make other Reflections, and have other Considerations at present, than they formerly had; they should too lift up their Eyes to­wards England, and behold His [Page 97] Britanick Majesty William the IIId as their Friend and Allie, profes­sing the same Religion, and who, during His Reign, will make it a point of Generosity, and of Ho­nour, to Succour them against all the Assaults of the French King. If they declare themselves, both through the Tye of Communion, and that of Esteem, which that Great Prince has for them, even His great and generous Designs ought to serve to make them re­turn to their ancient Rights and Liberties, cause their aincent Limits to be made good again for greater security; but then they ought not to remain quiet all the while, with their arms folded, but labour with all their power, and assist to bring about so great a good, and advan­tange, which the Heavens offers them. To that purpose, they should Exemplarily punish all those Mercinary Persons, whose hands, and their Honours have been de­filed [Page 98] with the French Money. In­cessantly cause their Forces to re­turn, which are in the French Ser­vice; in case of disobedience, de­clare them Rebels, and Confiscate their Means; oblige those Fathers who have Children there, to call them home on great Mulcts, ne­ver to admit to any Employ nor Dignity either in Church or State, all such as shall contradict these Orders, and never cease 'till the Fortresses are demolish'd, and Burgundy, the French County, Al­sace, and Lorain restor'd to their ancient Masters and Sove­raigns, that they may be as so ma­ny Bulwarks to the Cantons: all which they can easily do in this Conjuncture, which at this present so favourably offers it self, and which they ought not to let slip, seeing there is at this present, be­tween the Protestant and the Ca­tholick Cantons so good a Harmo­ny, and firm Union, that the Pope [Page 99] is wholly inclin'd to cause those of his Party to keep it strictly as a ne­ecessary good for the quiet of Chri­stendom, and the safety of Europe, as well as to abate the Pride of France: All this will happen, in Declaring for the Emperor and Empire.

I come now to Spain, formerly their Soveraigns Govern'd from within their Closets, a good part of the World, but since Philip the IId its great Power has began to decay; and that of the Kings of France to increase, at the same time that that of the Catholick Kings decreased. I shall not seek after the Causes of it, because that is be­side my Subject; I shall only say by the by, that the Liberty of Conscience in France has much contributed to its Elevation; and that contrary-wise, the privation of it in Spain, has caus'd there great Evils, and the loss of Trade, which is the Soul of States and Kingdoms.

[Page 100]The Marriages which the Kings of Spain have Contracted with France, have been so many Levens of Discord, and of War, which have always prov'd very hurtful to Spain; and not to go back any further than to the late Queen, who was a French Woman as much by inclination, as she was by Birth, who by the subtle and dextrous Counsel of the King her Uncle's Ambassadors, had always some new business to propose to the King her Husband, who most ten­derly lov'd her. By those means, that Princess had acquir'd a great ascendent over the King's mind, sometimes prejudicial to the good of his Kingdom; for whose prospe­rity she had not all the Considera­tion she ought to have had; for having no Children to Succeed to it, and still in fears, that remaining Barren, after some considerable time she might be Divorc'd, ac­cording to the Laws and Statutes of that Kingdom.

[Page 101]All the study of the said Queen was (but most particularly a little before her death) to labour hard for the advantage of France; and at the last, her greatest business was, to intercede with the King for that Money which was come to Cadiz, on the French Account, in the last Fleet that was come from the Indies. And we have seen that contrary to the right Policy, and the true Interest of Spain, the Queen succeeded in it, for that Money ought to have been se­questred under the King's Seal, 'till the Council had seen what Course the Affairs of Europe had taken in these present Conjunctures. Spain had no want of pretences, it had just cause to have kept back, with­out blame, those 14 Millions, which of truth were Counter­bands, seeing that no strangers have the liberty to negotiate in the Spanish Indies, under pain of Confiscation, 'till his Catholick [Page 102] Majesty had seen what satisfaction he should receive from France, on all his other Demands and Preten­sions; and in case he receiv'd none, he then might have been his own Pay-Master, as it is frequently practis'd, even amongst private Persons; but what I say here, is, after Death the Physician, seeing the Birds are flown, there is no remedy for this time, but for the future, the Persons concern'd, will consider better.

Another of the late Queens ap­plication, was to bring the Catho­lick King to accept of a Neutrality which France offer'd him; that joyn'd to the recovering of the Mo­ney we lastly mention'd, was the only business of the Ambassador Rebenac: But while they were thus acting against the Interests of Spain, God has taken that Queen away in the prime of her Age, before she could render that last piece of service to her Uncle the [Page 103] French King, which was so neces­sary to him at this present. How can it be help'd? I confess that it is a very great loss for France, but it must comfort it self, as Spain has done, for parting with the 14 Millions. France, ever slye and cunning, made use of a specious pretence to oblige the King of Spain to accept of the Neutrality, endeavouring to perswade him, that by that means he should be­come a Mediator betwixt France and the Empire, as if the Most Christian King did not know the strict Union there is betwixt those two Monarchs, which make but one House, and Family. Thus their interest being but one, and that of the Emperor being the same with that of the King of Spain, which is well known to his Christian Majesty; let any judge, whether France being cer­tain of that Truth (which is not to be doubted) had a desire to [Page 104] referr her Concerns into the hands of the Catholick King, except she were at the very last gasp, not knowing what Saint to Pray to. But the most probable, and the most receiv'd Opinion is, that the French King makes his last Efforts to diminish the number of its Enemies: and though Spain should be so weak, as the French Partisans would make us believe it is, and that at most it could but stand on the Defensive part: The French must have two Ar­mies on foot, to prevent the Spa­niards from advancing. The one in Catalonia, and the other in Flanders, and peradventure a third in Navarre, which might take him up at least Fifty Thousand Men, which he might have employ'd elsewhere. If Spain had accepted of that Neutrality, and if Lewis the Great, mean time had overcame the Empire, what would have become of Spain [Page 105] afterwards? after all what assurance has it that France would more re­ligiously observe the Neutrality than it has the Peace, and the Truce, and who had been its Cau­tion, that when the French King had had an opportunity, he had not fallen on some place of the Netherlands, and it may be, on Navarre, and Mentz all at one time, when the Governours were fallen asleep in the arms of a Neutrality, as in a deep Lethargy, as they did presently after the Peace of Nimeguen; in which the Marquess of Grana was reposing at ease, fil­ling his Purse, by sparing the en­tertaining of a number of Forces, which were so necessary to him, while he had to do with so dan­gerous a Neighbour, who no lon­ger remember'd Treaties, than while he Sign'd them, because they were at that time of use to him, he ne­ver wanting afterwards Preten­ces, when he would break them.

[Page 106]A Neutrality in this juncture of time, is very hurtful to Spain, and to its Allies; but above all to the Emperor and to the Em­pire, Spain would do, as if when Two Brothers were Attack'd, one should look on his Com­panion with foulded Armes, while he was divested of all, expecting his turn to be next; whereas, if they both defended themselves at once, they might either overcome their Enemy, or drive him away. What assurances has Spain, that if the French King could overcome the Empire, he would not Attack it next, as he would doubtless do? Wherefore, his Catholick Majesty ought to make a last Effort; in this present Conjuncture, he ought to consider that France has taken from him Lisle, Valiencienne, Cam­bray, St. Omer, Erre, and many other places in the Provinces of Flanders, Namur, Hainau, Luxem­bourg, and in fine, the City of [Page 107] Luxembourg, which was as a Bull­work to the rest of Flanders and of Brabant, as well as to the other Provinces, while England remain'd with folded Arms against its own proper Interest, having been brib'd to let France do what it pleas'd. King James, as zealous a Catho­lick as he was, did consent that Lewis the XIV. should seize on the remainder of the Netherlands, while he should fit himself with the Spanish Indies, as his Ally had promised him he should; thus did they, without any scruple, di­vest their Catholick Neighbours of their Rights, and shar'd them amongst them, without casting of Lots. If that Prince had not abandon'd the Throne, that Neu­trality might have been very con­siderable; but now the Case is alter'd, in quitting of the Crown, he has Disarm'd himself, he is now but like a Wasp without a Sting, which buzzes about, but cannot [Page 108] sting. Spain has lost in him a conceal'd Enemy, and a false Ally, who sold to France that which belong'd not to him, and that consented to the seizing on Goods wherein he had no share; but God, who laughs at the design of Men, would not permit that those of James the II. should come to perfection. Providence, for the safety of Europe, has bestow'd his place to another Prince, and has conducted, as 'twere by the hand; William the III. to the Throne; he, according to all appearance, is to be the Instrument through which God will give rest to Christendom. Thus Spain, in lieu of an Enemy which it had in James the II. late King of England, recovers in his Successor a good Friend and Ally, faithful to his Word, and who being join'd to his Allies, may all together labour effectu­ally to establish the King of Spain in his ancient Rights and Domi­nions, [Page 109] and cause France to Re­store what it had Usurped from it.

This Foundation being as firm as it is certain, Spain ought to join with those who labour for its rest and quiet, by that of all Europe, to put in a readiness all its Forces, in Catalonia, Navarre, and above all in the Netherlands, where the People must copiously bleed their Purses, towards the Entertainment of an Army, capa­ble to defend it self against the French Assaults; let them consider the barbarousness and inhumanity with which they have Treated those Towns that have submitted to them, under good Capitula­tions, and such Conditions as had been made by the Dauphin himself; let them make Reflecti­ons on the cruelty with which the French King has treated his own Subjects, against the promis'd Faith, and if after that, the humour takes them to submit to the [Page 110] French Yoke, it may then be said of them, as it is said of cer­tain People, that they are born to slavery.

Let Spain further consider, the great pretensions the Dauphin thinks to have on the Netherlands, on a material Right, notwithstand­ing all the Oaths and Renunciati­ons which the King his Father made of them at the Pirenean Peace, and at the time of his Marriage with the Infanta, on the Isle of the Phesants, at the foot of the Altar, communicating at the greatest and sublimest Mistery that is in the Catholick Church, which he has afterwards slighted; and if he de­fers taking Possession of what he pretends to, it is not that he re­nounces it, time deprives him of none of his Rights, it is only for want of an opportunity which has not yet been favourable e­nough to him, and that his Neigh­bours, the States of the United [Page 111] Provinces, are a stumbling block to him, and a perpetual Obstacle, which he could never so well mannage as he did James the II. because those Lords know better their Interest, than that poor Prince ever did. We know that Flanders has always been a bone to pick for the French Kings, and so long as they will find some­thing to gnaw on, they will not think of going to Spain; but if they had once made an end of that bit, and well digested it, if that which employs them on that side was over, what would hinder them from pouring all their Forces into Catalonia and Navarr, and from entring with a powerful Army in­to Spain, and even March to Ma­drid? wherefore, the Spanish In­terest is, to strongly unite it self at this present with the Empire, with England, and with the United Provinces, to solicite them, not to lay down their Arms, till they [Page 112] have recover'd Burgundy, the French County, all the Usurped Cities in Flanders, Hainau, Namur, and Luxembourg; without which, it will in success of time, relapse again into the same Straits as it hath been in the Reigns of Charles the II. and James the II. of Great Britain; if once for all, it delivers not it self at this present from that danger, whence it seems already to revive and recover, by the sudden change of Affairs in England. Mean time, let the Spanish Council be wary not to be deceiv'd by the French Illusi­ons, who promises all when trou­bled, and stands in need of help, who ruines it self with Promises, but restores it self again with performing none of them, more abounding in Crafts than in In­tegrity; the danger pass'd, a Fig for the Saint; let the same Coun­cil hold for certain, that when ever the French King has any re­gard [Page 113] for Spain, it is a sign he is at the last gasp, and that he knows not whither else to go: If that Council can be fully per­swaded of this Truth, it will not fail to advise his Catholick Ma­jesty, to make all his Efforts, and to send all the Money he can possible to the Governour of the Netherlands, to put themselves in a condition to sustain the first fury of the French, after which there is nothing more to fear, for the Allies will give it so much Diver­sion, even in France it self, that its King will no longer think of going to attack others, for so soon as the Germans and the Hollanders shall have clear'd the Countries of Colen, Juliers, and Treves, the Governour of the Netherlands shall not want Men, as he has al­ready experienc'd by that Succour which has been sent him: But the Marquiss of Guastanaga ought not to grow supine upon this, [Page 114] he ought to put himself in a condition to help himself, he may by that acquire a great deal of Glory, in the condition those Provinces which depend of his Government are in; above all, he ought very well to supply the Town of Namur, its Neighbour has Courted it long, because it opens to him a fair and large way all along the River Meuse.

I add to what I have said be­fore, concerning the Death of the Queen of Spain, that seeing she has left no Successor, through her Barrenness, to the Crown of Spain, so necessary for the good of the Kingdom, and for the quiet of Christendom, it appear'd as a kind of necessity for the one and the other, that the King should forthwith think of entring into a second Marriage with some Prin­cess of a fruitful Family; I know that policy (to endeavour to re­cover Portugal) would advise to [Page 115] look on that Infanta, but the sterility of the Queen of England her Aunt, has made the Council of Spain to fear falling into the same accident again; if France had had more Princesses to Marry that had been worthy of his Catho­lick Majesty's Choice, (as Spain may thank God it had not) it had not fail'd to propose them, to make up a match, in the hopes thereby to have obtain'd a Neu­trality, because all those Marriages have always produc'd some ad­vantages to France. But having nothing to fear that way, Spain has been oblig'd to turn towards Germany, and to fix in the Family of the Prince Palatin Nienbourg, there was still remaining there a beautiful Princess, Sister to the Empress, and to the Queen of Portugal; though elder than this last, she had no mind to go to Portugal, by some certain fore-knowledge she had, such a Marriage [Page 116] would have contracted a more strict Allianee betwixt those Pow­ers and Portugal; the German La­dies are usually fruitful, that Prin­cess comes not from a House, whose Interest should make them to desire Barrenness, there being therefore nothing to fear on that side, there is no question but that the Queen-Mother has us'd all her Power, as well as the Empe­peror, to accomplish it; and that on the contrary, the French Emis­saries have labour'd with all their subtleties to prevent it; but their ill fortune has been such, that their Credit has been very incon­siderable in those Courts; they are like those petty Saints, who no longer work Miracles, and whose Feasts are over; their false­hood is but too well known al­ready all over Europe, wherefore now they begin to take their March into tke new World, to the Kingdoms of China and of Siam, [Page 117] where those good People believe that all Persons are as honest as themselves, so that it will not be difficult for the French to impose upon them; but as to Europe, we are now in a time that no Prince will have any Alliance with France, much less with any of its Prin­cesses as Wives, seeing there is ge­neral complaint of them, for ha­ving caus'd Disorders in all the States they came to.

The United Provinces are high­ly concern'd to keep low the French King, to take from him all desires of molesting them, nor to go so far towards them, as the Conquest of the Netherlands of Spain. It was always the aim of Lewis the Great, according to the advice of Mounsieur de Sulli, formerly Ambassador of France into England, in the time of Henry the IV. who gave him to observe, that the conjunction of the United Provinces with France, was the [Page 118] only means to restore it to its an­cient Grandeur, and to render it Superior to all the rest of Christen­dom. Formerly the French Kings had their folly fix'd on Italy, be­lieving, in imitation of the an­cient Romans, that it was the Gate they were to pass through to at­tain to the Universal Monarchy, but having found that way too Thorny, and that Country having frequently been the Church-yard of the French, they have grown weary of it, and have turn'd them­selves towards the Low-Coun­tries, where hitherto Lewis the XIV. has succeeded better, and he had found out a means to conti­nue there his Progress, if the Heavens had not prevented it, by the change in England. I know that the United Provinces had had nothing to fear, if the Netherlands of Spain had been in a condition to maintain themselves with their own strength, or if the late Kings [Page 119] of England had had the same Sen­timents which Queen Elizabeth had, and if Charles and James the Seconds had said to Monsieur Ba­rillon, that which that Queen said to Monsieur of Sulli, That neither France nor England, nor any other Prince, had any thing to pretend to the Netherlands, that she should not suffer that the King his Master should have any thoughts that way. Per­haps the Lewis D'Ors were not currant in those Days in that Great Princesses Court, as they have since been, and that that Prin­cess did better understand her own true Interest, than divers Kings who have succeeded her have done. But thanks to Heaven, those Kings are pass'd, and God has at this present seated on the Throne a King who understands very well his Interest, and that of the Na­tion, much better than did his Predecessor, and who following the Traces of that Great Princess) [Page 120] was no sooner got to the Go­vernment, but he sent back Mon­sieur Barillon, to tell his Master, that he had nothing to do in the Netherlands, and that he would prevent him from any further Usurpation in those parts. The Elevation of that Great Prince on the Throne of England, is a fatal Blow to the greatness of Lewis the XIV. (we must have so much Charity as to confess it) but at the same time it produces the Quiet and Repose of all Europe; it is a Bit clapp'd in the French Kings Mouth, which retains him from a running so far as to the United Provinces, and that shelters them from all his Insultations, and from all his Threatnings, and furnishes them at the same time with Means to resist him vigorously, and to clip his Wings so short, that he may not fly any more beyond his just bounds; it is a bitter Pill which he is forc'd to swallow, and which [Page 121] will make him to disgorge, and to re-establish those bounds which he had remov'd during his Neigh­bours weaknesses, in a profound and universal Peace.

The United Provinces, as well as divers other States, find them­selves deliver'd now from that dan­ger that threatned them, and it is now their turn to speak aloud, finding themselves assisted by so powerful an Allie as England; they may demand the Restitution of all the Places of the Spanish Nether­lands, which have been taken from them since the Peace of the Pi­reneans, because those places serve to preserve them, and as bars that puts a large Territory betwixt them, and so dangerous a Prince; besides that, the damage they have su­stain'd in their Trade is very con­siderable, and gives them cause of great pretensions. France has sup­planted and deceiv'd them in di­vers occasions, and it has endea­vour'd [Page 122] to lull them asleep, espe­cially in the last place, by the Count d'Avaux its Ambassador; through vain promises (which Fa­ther Limojou the French King's Al­moner, call'd Illusory) and in which there was no sincerity nor good Faith, as we have seen in all his Proceedings after the Peace of Nimeguen, and that it has been but a continual Usurpation. That this King might the longer and with more safety enjoy those Places that he had Usurped, a Truce was patch'd up for Twenty Years, during a full Peace, which he likewise broke in few Years after. After he had Fortified those Conquer'd Places, made his Alliance with James the II. and destroy'd (by an unheard of Cruelty which is natural to him) the Protestants in his own Kingdom, as he assures by his Declaration of the revoca­tion of the Edict of Nants, that he had made that Truce but in [Page 123] order to destroy them, notwith­standing all the Protestations to the contrary, which the Count d'Avaux had made to obtain it; and to deceive with more ease, in the opinion, that after he had made an end with those Prote­stants, whom he accus'd of having Dutch Hearts, and Intelligences with them, 'twas to that end that the seisure tended, which was made of all the Books and Papers belonging to their Consistories, throughout the whole Kingdom, to know the Sums they had sent into Holland during the War; and seconded by the King of Eng­land (then Reigning) he should over-run the United Provinces, and (leave for a time those of the Spa­niards) considering them always the only ones that could cross his Designs, and hinder him from making his great Conquests over Europe. But now Fortune has turn'd her back to him, and by [Page 124] the event, we find that he has not cast up right, and that his Most Christian Majesty had not reckon'd on the Elevation of the Prince of Orange to the Crown of England, by that fall of his Ally; who has broken all his Measures, and de­stroy'd his Alliances, open'd a way to the States to attack him in his own Hold, and to reduce him to Guard his own Kingdom, no longer to think, but to defend himself; it is no longer now the time of the Peace of Nimeguen, which was made upon its conside­ration, but through the Treachery of France, as the baseness with which it has observ'd it, as well as the Treatises of Trade, shew us sufficiently; and that the King had quite another aim than the States-General had propos'd to themselves at the conclusion of that Peace, and afterwards of the Truce. Seeing that the King has violated all Trading, and declar'd [Page 125] War to the United Provinces, on the frivolous pretence, and on the account of a sorry Priest, the Car­dinal of Furstemburg, a Rebel to his Lawful Soveraign the Empe­ror, and to his Superior the Pope; who during his whole Life, in lieu of adhering to the Service of the Church, to which he had de­sign'd himself, has made it his business to disturb Christendom, and to give occasion to spill blood in Europe, and notwithstanding all that, the French King has pre­fer'd the Interest and Friendship of that Man, odious to God and Men, to that of their high and mighty Powers, and to their Al­liances, which he had sought after with so much earnestness and pro­testations, by the Peace in 1678. Thus France having first broke, the States ought to make use of the means which God puts in their hands, by the assistance of the revolution of England, which has [Page 126] not only produc'd them a strict Alliance and sincere Union, but a considerable Assistance also, that by that Union and that mu­tual Assistance, they may oblige the French King to repent of his unjust Proceedings, of all those barbarous Actions and Oppressions which he has committed in Eu­rope, to bring him back to Reason and Justice, and to put him in a condition to make no Innovations for the future, so long as that happy time shall last for those Two Nations; they both ought there­fore to make a last Effort to maintain themselves in that pre­cious liberty, which they at pre­sent enjoy, by a special favour of Heaven, that is that inestimable Gem which France has endea­vour'd to Ravish from those hap­py Provinces; but God having deliver'd them from all the Threat­nings of Lewis the Great, and from the design he had projected [Page 127] to entirely destroy them, he must be frighted in his turn, and his Court must be fill'd with such a terrour as he never has had since his coming to the Crown, which may surpass that which he had at the Baricado of Paris, since he has no longer in his Kingdom those that delivered him from it, and who he has since so ill rewarded.

There needs but a descent on his Coasts to give it him in good ear­nest, and that is therefore what he apprehends the most, and that unhinges him before hand, finding the heart of his Kingdom tainted, and the Enemy at home, who waits but for an opportunity to declare. It is not a Sampson who is no longer tied with such new Cords as never were strong enough to retain him, and to stop him; but a Sampson whose Locks are cut, and whose Eyes are put out, who turns and winds on all sides, to find out some body to lead him [Page 128] out of the Precipice wherein he finds himself; he has given the hand of Association to the Grand Seignior, he will soon find a pre­tence for it, it is doubtless, he'll say in his Manifest, to endeavour to Convert him to the Catholick Faith, for that is the wet sheet with which he covers himself at present against the storm which is going to fall on his head, which grows giddy so soon as he thinks on that descent; five hundred leagues of Coast confound him, not knowing where his Enemies will Land; there needs but some false allarm, and at the same time a real descent, to set all those Troops he has along the Coasts in disorder. Joyn to that the attack at the same time of his Enemies by Land, he must undoubtedly bow under those pressures, and much more yet, if ever the Allies are so happy as to enter into the heart of his Kingdom, then he may pack up [Page 129] his tools, and go seek in Poland that which King James has found with him; for to follow him to Rome, he would not be better wel­come there than the Marquess La­vardin. 'Tis his own Concern, let him look to it betimes, that King knows that it is impossible for him to prevent a descent, let him keep never so good a Guard by Land, and though he be never so strong at Sea, he has too much of shore to keep, wherefore he has order'd his Generals to burn his own Country ten Miles round, when ever the English set footing on it, and to his Fleet to retire into the Mediterranian, where he pretends to be the Lord of the Sea.

But 'tis likely that his Reign will be but short there, for the English and Dutch having sufficiency of Ships, it will be easie for them to drive it into the Port of Tholon, where yet it will not be absolutely secure, thirty good Vessels will [Page 130] make them flye to it, having no longer any place of retreat in Spain, and the Italians not being able to endure them since the business of Genoua. England, and Holland need not to strain very hard to fit out together 120 Sail of Ships, yet that number will be sufficient to overcome France by Sea, and to set that Kingdom into the highest Consternation. In the Year 1673. De Ruiter (that great Sea Heroe, whose Memory, and Valour shall last as long as the World) with a much less number of Forces did beat the French and English joyn'd together against that State; but now that the English Fleet shall be joyn'd to that of the United Provinces, France will be extreamly put to it, and Monsieur of Segnelai will have as much need of good Counsel as of Money; but say the French, if we can do nothing in Europe, we will preserve our selves for America; [Page 131] where they think they will do much in ruining some Plantations of the English and Dutch that have settled themselves there, during the time that the Cities and Pro­vinces of France will be ruining; mean time that fear that he shall cause to the Savages, will not Cure him of his.

The good disposition in which all Europe is, and the Revolution of England, ought highly to en­courage the States of the United Provinces, now that they find themselves supported by all Chri­stian Princes, who have with their High and Mightinesses but one and the same Design, which is to pull down the Pride of France, and that in destroying their Common Enemies, they may find themselves deliver'd from future danger, by the sole motion of England. It is another advantage to the said Provinces, to find themselves in good Intelligence with their nea­rest [Page 132] Neighbours, who are at their door, and that the Arch-Bishops, and Bishops of Colen, Munster, and Liege, are all Unanimously bent to embrace their Interest, and that France can no longer do in regard to those Prelates, that which she did in the year 1672. But on the contrary, they joyn now with the good party, to oppose themselves, as do their Allies, to the French King's Insultations, who endea­vours to make us believe that he has still very great Ties with Den­mark, seeing that in his Declara­tion of the 12th. of last March, he grants to all those Refuged Per­sons that have left his Kingdom, half of those Revenues they left there behind them, yet with that Proviso, that the Officers shall go and serve in the Troops of the King of Denmark. But because that Kingdom cannot do well with­out a Trade with Holland, it seems that it would be a good piece of [Page 133] Policy to make him expound him­self, for it would be a breach which his Danish Majesty would make to the Alliances, and he would be failing in his Faith in the Treaties, to consent that Officers should be drawn out of the Troops of his Allies; besides it seems as if the Affairs of Europe could not per­mit at this time any Neutrality to any Prince under what pretence soever: that being granted, Den­mark ought to make his Choice, and in his Choice, to consider well the advantage he draws from the United Provinces, the Trade and Profit that results from it to his Subjects, and the advantage that the King's Treasure receives by the Entries and Exportations, (and let them take care not to fall again in the same Consternation, in which they were the last year, for scarce would the Affairs settle again a second time) on the contrary, he can draw no Succour from France [Page 134] in the present Condition it is, and though it promises to keep it in the possession of Holstein, that can be but a Chymerical Promise, seeing Lewis the XIVth can no longer preserve his own Provinces, nor keep his Cities, part of which he undermines, through a foresight he has, to be oblig'd to abandon them at the approach of so many Ene­mies. Thus ought Denmark Inviolably to joyn it self to that which is sollid, which is Uniting with the United Provinces, have never any thing to unravel which may break the Alliance, nor give occasion to come to a Rupture, and follow their Interest, as the Shadow follows the Body, and ge­nerously contemn some pitiful Pension, ill pay'd at the best, which France offers; it is a broken Reed which will hurt his hand, and a Will'oth' Wisp, which leads to a Pre­cipice. Let his Danish Majesty but represent to himself the advantage [Page 135] of being free, and that a King ought to depend but of God, and of his own Sword: it is good being in a Condition of making Choice, and of following ones true Interest, without being tied by Pensions, which are but gilded Shackles, that are not the lighter for it. Sweed, which the King of Den­mark has continually at his heels, and who has no Cause, no more than many others, of praising Lewis the XIVth, nor to have any Con­sideration for those Powers that shall Allie themselves with that Monarch, who detains from him the Dutchy of Deux-Pont, and considerable Sums of Arrears due to him, which he would never pay in spight, because his Sweedish Majesty would not continue with him the Alliances which had been Contracted. The same will happen to Denmark, if they take not care beforehand; But when it once finds it self deceiv'd, then will it have [Page 136] recourse to the States of the United Provinces; and to the Em­peror, but perhaps a little too late; mean time, it cannot be thought that the Emperor, and the Prin­ces of the Empire will look with a quiet temper on the Alliances of the King of Denmark with their common Enemies, nor even that he should remain Neuter, for still that is the way to serve him in­directly, and to give the People the means to carry into France all the Provision that it will stand in want of, their Merchants growing Rich by the Spoil of those that Fight. I would gladly see how the King of Denmark would defend himself, when his Allie Lewis the XIVth shall ask him for Powder, and Salt peter for his Money, which is that he has most need of at present. Mean time it is easie to judge that that would be a great prejudice to the Enemies of France, and that it would deprive them [Page 137] from a great advantage, which it is likely they might obtain by their Enemies want of Ammuni­tions; wherefore in such a fa­vourable juncture, the Allies will not endure any thing to their pre­judice, nor that can impead their Enterprizes. It is much better for Denmark, immediately to embrace that party, as being its true Inte­rest, than to deferr doing so, 'till France has had a blow.

The Most Christian King rec­kons much on the King of Poland his Allie, there is betwixt them a very great Commerce of Money, and of Letters, that is no News, every body knows it, though one should not make it ones business to prye into it; those Messengers which so frequently pass to and fro shews it sufficiently, and no body is ignorant that the French Interest is entirely predominant in that Court, That King Employs for the most part French Men for [Page 138] his Ministers in the Foreign Courts. The Queen is still French in her inclinations and heart, as well as by Birth; (that is a quality which all the Princesses of France carry along with them, when they are Married out of the Kingdom) they meddle with Affairs; and that which she understands not well how to mannage, she is inform'd in by Monsieur the Marquess of Bethune her Brother. The Grand Seignior has been infinitely oblig'd to him during the late Campaigns; and though that War would not produce any great advantage to the King of Poland, yet he is for no Truce, he has his particular Reasons, which he is not oblig'd to tell: If that Prince after the de­liverance of Vienna had gone for­wards with his Victories, long since had the important Fortress of Caminieck been in his hands. France flatters him with words that are but wind, assuring him [Page 139] that it shall be put into his hands by agreement, but who knows whether it will in a little time be in a Condition of keeping that promise. It is an unhappiness for Christendom, that Lewis the XIVth has found so much Credit in that Court, and that the French Coin is so well known in those parts. It were well for Prince Jacob, if the King his Father did cleave more closely to the Emperor, than he has done since Vienna, and that preferring the General interest of Christendom to that of France, he should give his helping hand to­wards a Truce, to prevent by that means Europe from falling into a greater Mischief than it is lately got out of. But let us turn our selves towards its Deliverer.

Though the English are a Na­tion which is naturally War-like, Undaunted, and whose Courage frequently runs even to rashness, they loving that Liberty in which [Page 140] they are Born: yet it may be said, that England, during the Reign of its two last Kings, has Conrribu­ted to the downfal of Europe into Slavery, when it could have pre­vented it with one word, through a deceitful hope, that it could save it self from ruine, either by the Situation of the Country, and by its Forces or by the Illusory pro­mises of France. All the Princes of Europe have always pris'd very highly the Alliance with England, even in the time of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, (as we have seen before) those Kings have held the Ballance in Europe, so long as they have not swerv'd from their true tnterests, and that they have not sold their freedom to France, Henry the VIIIth did compare Spain and France to the two boles of a pair of Scales, that that side weigh'd it down on which he lean'd. He spoke justly, for the Monarchs of that Kingdom being [Page 141] well united with their Parliaments, may stile themselves the Arbitra­tors of Christendom: It is not with­out reason then that France has flatter'd them, during the two Reigns that have preceded this, and Lewis the XIVth thought him­self at the top of all his Designs, when he did see James the IId on the Throne, making open profes­sion of the Roman-Catholick Re­ligion, perhaps with a little more passion than became a King; but that was the weak side by which the French King would catch him, and detain him in his Bonds; for that Prince, ever subtle and crafty, did hit him on that side on which he was most sensible, to the preju­dice of his Honour, and against the inclination of the Nation, and the Parliaments expectations. Mean time Lewis the XIVth had so well manag'd his Allie, that it may be said, he already Triumph'd over him; and that through all his [Page 142] Managements, Intreagues, and Lewis D'Ors, he was become Master of King James his Fortune, by the subtlety of his Ministers, who lull'd him asleep on specious Offers of Sixty Millions, and of 60000 Men, to support him a­gainst his Enemies, and even a­gainst his own People, if they would have resisted, and set them­selves free; France little caring for the evil consequences that this Commerce could not but produce, so it did its own Business, and render'd that Prince odious to his Allies, and to his Neighbours, as well as to his own Subjects, who began to feel the smart of a per­nicious Council, either in their Li­berties, Laws, or Religion; and seeing themselves press'd down by a Tirannical Authority, and De­spotick Power of an obseded and gained King, by France, and wholly devoted to its Interests, the English have found themselves constrain'd [Page 143] to prevent their falling into the same Predicament their Neigh­bours were in, to have recourse to their Liberator, that in being themselves deliver'd, they might deliver all Europe also from that slavery in which it was going to fall, and to that purpose offer the Throne to the Prince of Orange, and to the Princess his Spouse, as the lawful Heirs to the Three Kingdoms; and God having granted the Nations Vows and Petition, he has so well conducted that Great Prince's Enterprise, that it may be said, he has led him by the Hand, and seated him on that Throne that was designed for him without any effusion of Blood. This Mi­racle we have seen, but our Off­springs will scarce believe it; it is an happy and more than happy change, seeing that it will render a calm and quiet to all Christen­dom, and that he restores to Eu­rope its Liberty. It was William [Page 144] the III. that Providence had de­sign'd, through the Assistance of the States of the United Provinces, to be the glorious Instrument of so great a Work, capable to cause once more the dumb Son of Cressus to speak, if he were yet living. But in the place of that Prince, Europe, that was become in a manner Dumb, through those great Evils that it suffer'd before-hand, has set up the Standard of Liberty and of Deliverance. Since that Prince and Princess of Orange have been Seated on the Throne, all Christendom begins, as it were, to revive again; Catholicks and Protestants, all raise up their Heads against their Oppressor, as when a Tree is fallen, every body runs to take their share of the Bows. But to accomplish the Work, Two Things are requir'd; First, a good and firm League amongst the Christian Princes, who have under-gone, and who [Page 145] still fear to fall under the French Kings Usurpation, should he get off of this present danger, so that nothing may be able to dissolve that Union, and that no private Interest, nor Eldership, should pre­vail over the general Good, and that he who shall separate from that Union, so necessary to Chri­stendom, should be look'd upon as a Perturbator, and a common Enemy, and set in the number of the Turks, and the French, to be set upon as a Deserter, and Traitor to the general Good of Europe. That Neutrality have no Place in Christendom; that he who is not for us is against us. Assu­redly that League being so well Cemented, all the offers of France, nor the satisfaction that it might give to some of the Pretenders, not being able to break the Union, it is most certain that all will bow to the Allies; that they shall en­ter. [Page 146] Drums beating and Colours flying, into their Enemies Country, where they ought by all means to take up their Winter Quarters the next Season, to prevent Lewis the XIV's Forces from entring in­to the Country of the Allies, as he designs, and to give him at Home so much Business, that he may not go seek for some else­where. For if they enter not in­to France, but that the Allies con­tent themselves with taking some Places which he has formerly seiz'd on, with a design to amuse them to get time, as Mentz, Bonn, Keiserwaert, and others, that are about his Kingdom; that would be doing nothing at all, seeing the King has still his end, and that he holds those Places but to busie the Allies during this first Campaign, either to tire them, or to drain them through length of time, or to Alienate some. That is Lewis [Page 147] the XIV's chief end, and the best Advice that he could take in such a pressing juncture, in which he finds himself at present. But if that for his good, and for the ill of Europe, he can break down the Dike, though the Breach be never so small, he will drown all Chri­stendom, and the last evil would be worse than the first. To avoid this mischief, no Prince of the League ought to suffer any French Emissary in his Territories, they ought to be Banish'd as In­fected Persons, and not Pardon the very first that shall be found, not sparing even the Church Men; those are flying Plagues, who like stinking flesh Flies, infect all pla­ces they light on; it is a dan­gerous Seed, which is to be rooted quite up.

The Allies ought not to be con­cern'd at the great number of Men there is in France, they are young [Page 148] Vipers that will eat a Passage through their Mothers Belly to get at Liberty: Nor the Tenth Part of that great People have cause to be contented, and the most sound part waits but for its Deliverance, on what Side soever; and it may be said that Lewis the XIV. is not better belov'd in his Kingdom than James the II. was in his. It is certain, that when the Prince of Lorrain shall appear before his own Subjects, they will receive him with the same Joy that the English have receiv'd the Prince of Orange: I say the same of Burgundy, and of the French County, and of divers other People, who wait but for the happy Moment of their Li­berty.

The Second thing to be done, is a powerful Fleet, which the King of England is to keep conti­nually at Sea, that in conjunction [Page 149] with that of the States-General, he may be Master of the Sea, and not only give an Allarm on the Coasts of France, but make a de­scent also in Two different places, so soon as possible it can be done; then will that Kingdom be in a Combustion, and the King of it will lose the North, not know­ing what place first to Succour, as a City that the Fire seizes in all Places; and those that shall Land there may be assur'd to be Seconded by a great number of the Inhabitants, all along that Coast, and from the Neighbouring Provinces. William the III. now Reigning, ought to be certain that his Predecessors have not for no­thing preserv'd that Title of King of France; the Rights of Kings never grow out of Date, they are always Pupils, and at liber­ty to claim what has wrongfully been taken from them. So long [Page 150] as England shall subsist, the Kings will have a double Right to France, which will never be lost so long as Henry the V. shall have any Successors to the Crown of England; he was Son to Marga­rite of France, and she Daughter to Philip le Bell, whose Sons de­ceas'd without Successors to the Crown of France, and that Henry, as a further Right, Married the Daughter of Charles the VI. Being come to France, it was decreed by the States of the Kindom, that he should be their King after the Death of Charles the VI. and in that Quality the Queen his Mo­ther in Law, made him Heir of all her Means, and of the Crown of France. I am perswaded, that there would not need any thing near so much to Lewis the XIV. to frame an irrevocable Pretension on England, and that the Royal Chamber of Metz would very [Page 151] readily confirm it without the least trouble, but there is no such thing; on the contrary, there has happen'd a time, in which all the deceits and subtleties of France begin very much to unstitch, and to be thread-bare. William the III. has overturn'd the Bankers Tables, which the French King's Emissaries had set up in all places; their false Coin is no longer currant; their Money is cry'd down, their Lewis D'Ors, which were Worshipped as the Heathen do their Puppets, are grown odi­ous to honest People, at least the occasion of their Distribution; and they are no more capable to cor­rupt at this time, than is the Cop­per of Sweede.

Thus France beginning to be cried down by all Christendom, and to be slighted in all the Courts of the Princes of Europe, it has chang'd its Game, and en­deavours to imitate those an­cient [Page 152] Curtisans, who being grown old and wither'd, are cast off, and abandon'd by every body, who alter the Passion once had for them, which obliges them also to an alteration, in turning Biggots and Superstitious, endea­vouring to counterfeit Mary-Mag­dalen, thereby to regain that e­steem of the People which they had lost by their debauched Lives. Thus Lewis the XIV. to draw on new Friends and Allies, the better to oppose himself to the King of Great Britain; and per­ceiving that all his Credit with the Catholick Princes is at an end, that none will any longer confide in him, and that his Maxims are cried down, he has taken in hand other Means, much more subtle than the precedent were; he no longer speaks to them of his own Interests, but he now Proclaims to them, That they [Page 153] must come to the Assistance of the Catholick Religion. That it was aimed at, when King James his Ally was Attack'd; and that he has no other design of making War, but for the support of that dear Religion, especially by the re-establishment of that Prince on his Throne; that if all the Ca­tholicks would but join with him, or remain Neuter, that he alone will undertake to Re-esta­blish him, and at the same time the Catholick Religion, in Eng­land and Scotland, and after that, beat down Heresie in its very Center. But all this while, Lewis the XIV. is far from telling what he conceals under those specious Pretences, which would be that after he had pull'd down William the III. overcome the Protestant Princes, he would do the like to all the Roman Catholicks, one after another, and thus become Master of Europe.

[Page 154]It is certain, that the diver­sity of Religion has always been as a large and vast Abiss, be­twixt the Catholick and the Pro­testant Princes, but the Cruelty and Perfidiousness of the French, has fill'd up that Abiss, and levell'd the way between them, and all difficulties are at present laid aside. Even the French King him­self, unknowingly, has given a help in hand to the Business, with all his Power; for while he endeavours to perswade all the World, that he has no other aim than to promote the Catholick Faith, and that he Preaches in all places his Conversions, that he importunes the Pope to join with him for the Defence of the Church, and just in the height of such a fair Mission, in all ap­pearance, he orders his Troops to enter into the Territories of the Catholick Princes, to Attack those [Page 155] of the Prelates of the Church, and even to insult the Pope, though Head of that Religion which he protests he would de­fend, burning and destroying all over Germany, where his Troops but set their Foot, without ex­ception of Religion, nor of Per­sons, Sacrificing to their Rage the most Sacred Places, their In­solence not sparing so much as the Monasteries of the Virgins, devoted to the Service of God, nor their impiety the Image of our Saviour, and that of the holy Virgin his Mother, which they have Treated with the greatest Indignation and irreverence that any Atheist could have been guilty of, acting in all places like Men that had no Faith, and that acknowledg'd no God; and all this too, as the whole World knows, against the promis'd Faith of Trea­ties, and Capitulations, which they [Page 156] own they have agreed to, but to enter the further, and with more ease into Places, and to put in Execution their Wicked and Pernicious Designs; the King threatning to Cashier those Of­ficers that should not execute with all barbarousness, and ex­actly with the last extremity, the Orders of the Court; as if they had been sent to put an end to the World by Fire, be­fore the appointed time by Di­vine Providence.

After all this, how can so cruel and so inhumane a Prince take up­on him the Title of Most Christian, and while that by an over-plus of Crimes he joyns with the Turks to exterminate and ruine Christendom, assuring those Infidels, that he has not taken up Arms but to come to their Assistance, and to pro­cure them the means to recover what they have lost in Hungary, [Page 157] and to return before Vienna. It is no small trouble to that Most Christian King to have mist his oportunity, during the last Siege of Vienna, not to have ad­vanc'd with his Army (which was ready at hand) into Germany, without expecting as he did the taking of Vienna; but he then believing the loss of it inevitable, he thought he should deferr his March but a few days, and the better conceal his wicked De­sign, and that then the pretence would not only be plausible, but just also, to all appearance, be­cause it had been to prevent the Turks from entring any further; but at the same time to render himself Master of the rest of Ger­many, and of all the Empire also; which should have been his share towards the defraying of the Wars; so he had divided with Mahomet the IVth all the Ter­ritories, [Page 158] both Catholick and Pro­testant, of Germany. If after all these Contrivances, one may stile ones self a Zealot to the Catholick Religion, I referr it to the Judgment of the Pope; let us then say rather, that he is a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathings, cover'd with a false Piety, to devour the Christian Princes one after another; That was Cardinal Richlieu's Maxime, Not to value what he Promised, nor his Faith in the observation of Treaties, so he but serv'd the French Interest: And doubtless it is from those rare Lessons, that this Zealous French King has so well improv'd, and which he endeavours to imitate so exactly, before those of the Gospel, which forbid us to do to others, that which we would not have done to our selves.

But if we look on Businesses [Page 159] nearer at hand, we shall not wonder at the King's pressing for the Re-establishment of James the Second, and that he leaves no stone unmov'd, to reseat him on the Throne: We shall find at last that it is not so much Religion as Interest that moves him to it, and that the return of that Prince to his Kingdom, is most necessary for him, much more than the Establishment of the Cardinal of Fustemberg, in the Arch-Bishoprick of Colen. It cannot be believ'd that it is the natural affection which he has for those two Princes that make him act, or the Zeal to Re­ligion, as he publishes, but his Ambition, and the Preservation of his Kingdom. For if Prince Joseph Clement, and the present King of England, would but em­brace the Party of France, and Unite themselves with that Mo­narch, [Page 160] he would send the Car­dinal to Strasbourg, and King James where he was in Cromwel's time, or into some corner of the State of Modena; and if the Town of Algier would now send Ships into the Channel, he would not only harbour them with their Prizes in his Ports, but would give them Liberty also to build a Mosque there, if that Town should require it. I see no greater difficulty nor Crime in that, than in lending his Forces to Re-build some in Hungary, and to pull down the Christian Churches. These are then the fruits of this great Zeal, of which the French boasted in Rome, and at Madrid. Now let us turn our faces towards Truth. It is not Religion that pushes the French King, but he has the Shepherd at his heels, the Nets are spread on all parts [Page 161] for him, and he has no prospect of escaping; and in that dread he is, he would embrace the Alcoran, if he saw it would shelter him from the new King of England's Resentments, whom he has reason to fear, as the most dreadful and most powerful Enemy that he has at present, or ever had; with whom there is no Composition to be made, though Lewis the XIVth should return four times as much as he has Usurped from him, when he was yet but Prince of O­range. Perceiving then, that by the means of William the Third he has all Europe on his hands, and that he must leave some Fleeces behind him, no won­der he extends his hands (though in vain,) towards the one, and the other, to find out a Me­diator, to draw him out of that Danger in which he finds him­self: [Page 162] But he, having taken his Eternal farewel of all Faith and Honesty, and it having abandon'd him, every body does the same, daring no longer to trust to him, 'till first he has been de­priv'd of his Savageness, of his Ambition, of his Pride, and of his insatiable desire of Usurping the Goods of his Neighbours; and that is what will not hap­pen, 'till he has first been hum­bled by Losses, either in his Armies, or of some of his Pro­vinces; and that he has been oblig'd to restore to every one that which he has stoln from them; and that is what may be advantageous, and necessary for his poor People, and to all Europe. In vain he Flatters him­self with an accommodation with some of the Allies, whom he pretends to divide from the Union in which we see them [Page 163] at present, and by that means to draw himself out of the Briers.

This King has been inexo­rable to the Cries of the Poor, whom he has Ruin'd and Tor­mented; of the Widdows and Orphans, whom he has stript Naked; the Heavens will re­turn it upon him, as well as all his Enemies; who will return him double the Evil which he has done, and will force him to swallow down the bitter Fruits of his Ambition, and breach of Faith, and to Disgorge all his Usurpations which he has Baptis'd with the specious Title of Con­quests; and return to his Sub­jects that Liberty of Conscience, and places of Hostages which he has forc'd from them, against the Faith of Edicts, under the pretence of Conversions; re­store to all his People in ge­neral [Page 164] the General States, for the surety of their Persons, and Means, whereas they now groan under the heavy pressure of the Intendants these are Mon­sters, which our new Hercules must vanquish; which God has gi­ven to free Europe from that sla­very in which part of it was al­ready reduc'd, and wherein the rest was going to fall, the Irons being already set in the Fire for it, by the means of James the II. who abandoning his own In­terest, and that of his Nation, had given his Consent and Assi­stance to the ruine of Europe; and had enter'd into a League with the Usurper, to make it to fall under the slavery with more ease and greater expedi­tion. But the Heavens, who have granted the Vows and Pe­tions of all Europe, has broken those Chains by the means of [Page 165] a Republick, of which he had made his Prey; for it may be said, without exageration, that the States of the United Pro­vinces have given the first blow to break those Shackles, through the Assistance they have given of Money, of Forces, and of Ships, to the King of England, when he was yet but Prince of Orange. Wherefore Europe ought to consider them as the Cause of its Deliverance, and the Re­storer of its Liberty, the Refuge of all the Afflicted, the Retreat of those whom Lewis the XIVth had Persecuted, and stripp'd; and the Azilum of all good People, who ought in gratitude to ha­zard their Lives for the Support of a State, who has free'd them from the Lyon's jaws, and has receiv'd them with so much Hu­manity and Charity, which doubtless shall be the Cannons [Page 166] with which they shall destroy their Enemies, and the Heavens will render them Victorious, and their Names shall last to the last of Ages.