MOST Beloved Son in Jeſus Chriſt; We greet you with Health and our Apoſtolical Benediction.

When from this ſublime poſt, exalted almoſt to Heaven, in which as unworthy as we were of it, we are placed, We caſt our eyes upon ſo many faithfull People that are committed to Our Paſtoral Care; We are almoſt ready to expire with the exceſſive Grief and Melancholly we are affected with, at the view of all thoſe great calamities, to which they are expoſed by this Cruel War, which at preſent afflicts almoſt all Chriſtendom. And therefore being deeply concerned at the great and piercing clamours of ſo many Perſons thereby expoſed to Deſtruction; And being ſo very well aſſured of your Majeſties pious inclinations, and of the great deſire you have, to promote the advantage of the Chriſtian Common-wealth, We have reſolved to employ with your Majeſty, the ſame Prayer we continually, without ceaſing, addreſs to the Father of Mercies, That it would pleaſe him to diſſipate thoſe dreadfull Storms from whence ſo many Evils proceed, and to make them give place to a ſucceeding Calm of Peace ſo much deſired.

We l ••• e that taking into your Conſideration, the greatneſs of our Sorrow, and having a c • reful regard to the Miſeries of ſo many poor People, and the dying groans of thoſe that are dayly ſlain in the War, you will be the more confirmed in the Inclination you have for peace, and that you labour to augment it. And certainly when you ſhall have made a ſerious Reflection upon the ungovernable Licenciouſneſs of Soldiers, and upon the contempt that ſort of Men have for Sacred things, and upon the loſs of ſo many Souls as we have juſt occaſion to fear. Conſiderations which wound us to the heart with grief, We cannot doubt; but ſuffering you to be ſwayed by the motion of your natural Piety, you will readily form a Deſign for the procuring the repoſe of ſo many ruined People, the Re-eſtabliſhment of Gods Service, and the Salvation of Souls: Moſt ſure it is you can in no juſter or fitter manner acknowledge thoſe benefits, which the Authour of all Good has ſo abundantly beſtowed upon your Majeſty's Sacred Perſon, than by Re-eſtabliſhing the Hereitage which the Lord Jeſus Chriſt left by his Teſtament to his Church, before he aſcended into Heaven.

Wherefore employ your whole endeavours, as far as in you lies, Moſt Beloved Son in Jeſus Chriſt, towards the eaſing of the Chriſtian Commonwealth from thoſe miſeries with which it is now afflicted; And propoſe for your aim, the Glory which they ſhall receive; who by procuring the Peace of that Common wealth, ſhall benefit it with an unexpreſſible felicity, and the Applauſes of the People thereby Reſettled, who will never ceaſe to proclaim the juſt priſes of the Authours of their tranquility.

As for Us, We will put in practice all that we can think of to facilitate to Your Majeſty, and to all the reſt of the Chriſtian Princes, the means of putting in execution a Work ſo uſeful and ſo advantageous.

In this Expectation, We moſt heartily give you our Apoſtolical Benediction, as an aſſured earneſt of our good will.

Given at Rome, at the Church of St. Marie Major, under the Seal of the Fiſher, the 8th. of February, 1691. And in the firſt year of our Pontificat. MARIƲS SPINOLA.

The Emperours Anſwer to the Pope. Moſt Holy Father,

YOUR Holineſſes Letter dated the 8th. of laſt Month, has ſufficiently informed Us of the cruel diſturbances you are affected with, at the view of thoſe many Evils which the Chriſtian People is overwhelmed with by the War at preſent enkindled almoſt every where, and of your Holineſſes care to moderate and calm the animoſities raging between the ſeveral irritated Princes, and to diſpoſe them to Peace and Concord. And indeed the calamities which the Chriſtian Common-wealth ſuffers by this War ſo unjuſtly enterpriſed, together with thoſe it is farther threatned with thereby, no leſs afflict Us than them do your Holineſs.

But our comfort is, That God and our Conſcience bear Us Witneſs, that the fault cannot be imputed to Us, ſince We took not up Arms, but when there was a neceſſity ſo to do, for the Defence of the Empire, and of the People committed to our Protection, againſt thoſe who attacked them. The moſt inward thoughts of our Heart are ſo well known to your Holineſs, by the long acquaintance and converſe you have had formerly with Us, That you will eaſily believe, there could happen nothing more diſpleaſing to Us, than to ſee the Love We naturally are byaſſed with for the Peace, and tranquility of the Publick, to be continually diſobliged, and forcibly turned towards the contrary extreem, by freſh injuries daily perpetrated againſt Us, and above all things by the Ambition and Malitious envy of France.

For the Reſpect which is univerſally granted to be due to the Publick Faith, and to Solemn Treaties, has not hitherto been of any force to bridle that Crown from violating them as often as they have been ſworn to. And to paſs under ſilence ſeveral other things, the Chriſtian World with ſighs beholds, and poſterity with horrour will hear related, that it has been poſſible for a King Moſt Chriſtian, to fix upon a reſolution to ſtop the Rapid Courſe of our Victories over the Infidels, to break thoſe Bands of Amity We had but a little before renewed with him, and to make a freſh War upon Us, juſt at the moment when truſting in the Faith of thoſe Treaties ſo lately made with him, We lived in all manner of ſecurity, and to fill all places with Murthers, Rapines, and Burnings, before he was pleaſed to inform Us for what Reaſon he Renewed the War, and what juſt pretence We had given him for it. Certainly it muſt needs have been done upon this principal, That it was much more eligible to trample under foot all things both Divine and Humane, than for France to have loſt the opportunity to extend her Limits to the Rine-ward, and to leave to Us and the reſt of Chriſtendom, the leiſure neceſſary ſucceſsfully to finiſh the War with the Turks, and to ſecure our Frontiers on that ſide.

And therefore the Auguſt Dignity with which We are inveſted, obliged us to make the beſt Alliances We could, to defend our ſelves and People againſt the Arms of the Moſt Chriſtian King, and at the ſame time againſt the Enemies of the Chriſtian Name, who by a ſhameful union Act in conſort again Us. 'Tis true the principal Condition of the Alliance by which we are engaged to our Confedrates, is, that we ſhall not have power to hearken to any ſeperate Treaty of Peace, without firſt conſulting of it conjoyntly with them; but as we can very well anſwer for them, that they no leſs deſire than We, to ſee Peace Re-eſtabliſhed in the Chriſtian World, by the Reinforcement of the Articles of Pacification concluded at the Pyrenean and Weſtphalian Treaties, which have been violated by France. It will be neceſſary above all things, for your Holineſs to employ all your beſt offices and that with the utmoſt efficacy you can. to induce the King of France to reſtore things to the State required by the Articles of thoſe two Treaties, as he himſelf teſtifies to be inclin'd to do.

If Your Holineſs can obtain from that Prince a thing ſo juſt, We will not be wanting on our ſide, to uſe Our utmoſt endeavours, that the Pious Intentions of your Holineſs for the good of Chriſtendom, and the offer of your Paternal Care and good Offices for the advancement of Peace, which are to Us moſt acceptable, may be embraced by Our Allies, and produce their deſired effect. This is what We thought Our duty to Anſwer to your Holineſſes Letter, which was ſo pleaſing to Us, and which We have accordingly done, with all due reſpect to Your Holineſs; Whom We pray God long to preſerve both for the good of the Church in General, and Our own in Particular.

At Vienna, the 20th of March. 1691.

The Reſolution taken by the Confederate Princes, and other Allied Powers, in Relation to France.

HAVING Reſolv'd to make this Year, a Deſcent into France, that by ſo attacking Our Common Enemy where Our efforts may be moſt ſenſibly felt, We may the more eaſily Reduce him to Reaſon: In order thereunto, We firſt, all Solemnly Swear, and Proteſt before God, That We will make no Peace with Lewis the Fourteenth, but upon the conditions Stipulated by the Articles of the Pyrenean, and Weſtphalian Treaties which have been violated by France, and upon thoſe other agreements which We have hereunto Subjoyned, which tho' they be partly the Fundamental Rights of the French Nation, and partly priviledges confirm'd by the moſt ſolemn Edicts have been with no leſs violence and injuſtice infring'd.

I Till the General Eſtates of the Kingdom be reſtored to their Ancient Liberties, Power, and Share in the Legiſlative and ſuprem Power; and till both the Clergy, Nobility, and Third Eſtate be Reinſtated in all their former Legal priviledges; And till there be good proviſion made, that all Kings of France in time to come, ſhall be obliged to convoke the ſaid Eſtates, when they ſhall need money for any Publick concerns, and ſhall have no power, in any manner, or upon any pretence whatſoever, to raiſe any Taxes, or any ſort of Impoſts without their Conſent.

II. Till the ſeveral Courts of Parliament in the Kingdom be reinſtated into that ſufficient and Legal authority with which they were primarily inveſted, That ſo without being awed by any check from an arbitrary Power, or being obſtructed by the corruptions ordinarily ariſing from undue and illegal promotions to thoſe high Poſts of Judicature, they may be both able, and well inclined to do juſtice indifferently to all Parties.

III. Till all the Cities of the Kingdom be reſtored to their old Charters and Priviledges, and to the Revenues aſſigned for their ſupport and the Publick good of their ſeveral Corporations which have been ſo Inhumanly, and unjuſtly Raviſhed from Them.

IV. Till and thoſe Swarms of Caterpillers of Monopoliſts, pernicious Publicans, and Farmers of the Royal Revenues, and other oppreſſed undertakers be Removed, and all the illegal and new invented Charges and Taxes be taken off, as in particular, the Irregular Lodging and Quartering both of Courtiers and Soldiers, the exactions for Winter quarters, the ſalaries of Governours, and Multitude of Sham Debts and private buſineſſes of the Crown, unneceſſarily and without authority charged upon particular Perſons, Towns, or Cities, and which enter not into the State or Accounts of the publick Revenues; of Extraordinary exciſes upon Wine, Cider, and other Liquors, the Gabelle upon Corn, and Flour, upon Hoofed Beaſts, and Salt, the unreaſonable and unexampled impoſts upon the Marks of Paper, Money, and all Utenſils, or Movables made of Metal, upon Hats, Silk-ſtockings, Wooll, and Woollen Manufactures, Shoes, Slippers, Wooden Shoes, all ſorts of Linnen, and Perriwigs; as alſo upon Tobaco, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, &c. upon all Manufactures of Silk, and upon all the Eſtates and Goods of Noble or Gentlemen every five Years, the Tax of the Frank Fifts, and ſeveral other oppreſſive exactions upon the Buyers and Sellers, or Morgagers of Lands, Houſes, &c. and upon the Officers of the Courts of Judicature, and of the Treaſury and Exchequer; of the Injurious, and Arbitrary Retrenchment of Wages, Raiſing or Lowering the value, and debaſing the purity of Mony and Coin. and unjuſt Reunion to the Crown-Lands, and poſſeſſion long enjoyed by great and deſerving Families, upon Diſpotical pretences, and beſides an infinite many other new and unheard exactions; of the ſtrange impoſitions upon Marriages, Chriſtnings, Buryings, and Baſtards, &c. and to conclude all in a Word: Till the Revenues of the Crown be Fixed, and Reduced within ſuch certain and moderate Bounds as ſhall ſeem moſt Requiſite to the wiſdom of the General Eſtates when Conven'd and good proviſſion be made that no ſucceeding French Monarchs ſhall ever paſs thoſe bounds.

V. Till he has Rendred to all the Proteſtants of his Kingdoms the Eſtates, Effects, and Liberties they were ſeiſed of by vertue of the Edict of Nants, and all other priviledges they injoyed thereby according to the true meaning, and to the full extent of the ſaid Edict: And till for their future ſecurity both in their Civil, and Religious Rights and Capacities, according to the meaning of the ſaid Edict, the ſaid French King ſhall have deliver'd ſome ſufficient cautionary Towns to be held and fortified by thoſe Proteſtant Allies that ſhall be made Guardians or Conſervators of the Treaty to be agreed upon.

VI. And Laſtly We Declare, as in the ſight of God, That in theſe our juſt attempts, We are not actuated by any hatred or animoſity againſt the French Nation, nor by any ambitious deſigns to Conquer or Seiſe on any of the Antient and Lawful Dominions of France, or to diſmember that Monarchy of any of the Provinces juſtly belonging to it, but that Our ultimate aim is only to repreſs that exhorbitant Power whereby that Crown has been inabled hitherto to oppreſs its own Subjects, and Threaten the Liberty of all Europe beſides; And that We advance towards the Frontiers of France, with as hearty an intention to Right the wrongs of its Subjects, as thoſe of Our own people, eſteeming the reeſtabliſhment of their juſt and antient Liberties, to be the beſt Bulwark of Our own, againſt Our and their Common Oppreſſor; And that therefore We do friendly and heartily invite them to come in to Us, and to joyn their Arms and other aſſiſtance with Us, towards their Deliverance, aſſuring them We will treat them as Our beſ • friends, and will take care to preſerve their Perſons, Towns, Lands, and all that ſhall concern them as if they were our own, But at the ſame time, We have thought fit alſo to Declare to all that ſhall not comply with Our invitations, and aſſiſtances intended for their Common good, That We ſhall Diſtinguiſh them for Enemies of their Country, and of all ſort of Chriſtianity, and Humanity, and as Barbarous wretches that have abetted, and approv'd all the perſecutions, Burnings, Deſolations and other Vexations which have been committed by thoſe of their Nation both within and without France, and ſhall make them feel without mercy thoſe pains which their inhumane Countrey-men have made ſo many thouſands of miſerable people ſuffer.

And We have thought fit to make Publick this Our Declaration, that all the World might know the ſincerity of Our Reſolutions, and particularly thoſe of the French Nation, which groan under the intolerable oppreſſion of the preſent Government there, and who with the loſs of their Liberty, have redoubl'd their deſires of Recovering it again, that they may be inform'd to whom, and with what confidence and aſſurance. they may apply themſelves, in this great opportunity offer'd them by the Juſt and Almighty God, to Regain their antient freedom and priviledges which have been ſo long and ſo cruelly extorted and detained from them.