THE German Spy: Truly Discovering the DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE KINGDOM and SUBJECTS OF THE French King.  
BEING, An ABSTRACT of the several Years Observations of a Gentleman, who made that the Peculiar Business of his Travels.  
WITH A Continuation of Christianismus Christianandus.  
LONDON, Printed for Randal Taylor, near Stationers-Hall, 1691.   

THE German Spy: TRULY DISCOVERING The Deplorable Condition of the Kingdom, and Subjects of the FRENCH King.  
A Certain Germane Gentleman, a Subject to one of the Northern Princes, a Person of great Uunderstanding, and no less devoted to the good Cause; being returned some Weeks ago, by the Way of Italy, from the Kingdom of France, where he Travelled a long time, and took an extraordinary Care to inform himself of all things; with an admirable Exactness, has imparted to us in his own Language, a Writing, containing several Remarks of considerable Importance, which he made upon the present State of France; of which we find it to be our Duty, and for the Interest of the Public Good, that the Nation should be informed: To which effect, we immediately with great diligence, set ourselves to Translate the same.  
And this we do so much the more willingly, because we find that several Persons have formed in themselves such an advantageous Idea of the Power of France, by reason of the taking of Mons and Nyssa; that we deemed it proper to disabuse those People, and all others that are led into the same Error.  
Our Author gins with a Discourse of the Beauty of the Country, and Temperature of the Climate, the goodness of the Fruits, the agreeable Dispositions and Politeness of the Inhabitants, and their Assability towards Strangers, which in truth is very great; and after he has entertained the Reader for some time with these things, he tells us,  
That the Miseries of those People, are not to be expressed; That there is not any Nation under Heaven so oppressed, even in a time of Peace, neither excepting the Muscovites nor the Turks; and that those distressed People are reduced to such a Condition of Poverty, that though the merciless Exactors exercise in those Places, ten times more Cruelty than an Hostile and Victorious Army is wont to do upon a People newly subdued; nevertheless the King is not able to raise the half of his ordinary Imposts, which he raised about three Years ago, because the People have no Money, and for that the Kingdom lies so like a Desert in many Places.  
That this Year there will be a Failure of above Thirty Millions, upon the Score of Non-ability to pay.  
That all Manufactures are at a very low Ebb; as those of Silk, Linen, Paper, etc. And that all the Artificers are either dead, or in the Wars; and that their Trade is absolutely ruined, as well by Land as Sea, as well without as within the Kingdom; and that Lewis XIV. receives but very little Money by it: Which is the reason, he has been constrained to have recourse to violent Means, which are never made use of, but when the State is ready to perish; such as are the Creation of a great number of new Officers, the Borrowing of Thirty Millions, the Augmentation of Officers Fees for large Sums, the extraordinary Taxes upon the Clergy, his Command to sell a great part of his Plate, and the enhancing the Value of Money; by which means, the King has raised above a Hundred Millions, without which he could not have paid his Men this Year.  
That all Provisions for the Belly, as Corn and Wine, are sunk above the sixth part of the Value, which they were formerly worth, and much less than what they cost the Husbandman.  
That they who have Lands to Let, cannot find Farmers, and that the Houses tumble down, and the Lands lie untilled.  
That they who have Offices, have no Profit by them.  
That they who have Money due, cannot get the Interest of their Money i● a long time, unless they be such who have lent Money to the King some years ago, because he thinks thereby to oblige all those that have Money, to lend it him.  
That all the Subjects of that Kingdom in general, are all equally ruined: as,  
The Churchmen, who formerly were very Wealthy and Powerful, but now their Lands and other Estates no longer yield 'em any Money: And for the inferior Clergy, they have nothing to do, for they neither Mary, nor Baptise, nor Bury; all the Men being killed in the Wars.  
The Grand Nobility live only upon their Pensions, and Court Employments: The Gentry are a Body the most miserable in the World, and which ought to curse the Reign of this King.  
The Officers of Justice, of the Politic Government, and the Finances receive no Benefit, either by their Estates or Employments, and yet the King loads them every day with new demands.  
The Universities, Colleges, and Academies for Riding, Dancing, and Exercise of Arms, are all so low, that the Masters die for Hunger.  
That whereas prudent Princes never make War, but with one Part of the Revenue of their Subjects, and never Conquer, but to Enrich and People their Dominions, Lewis XIV. has devoured in War three Fourths of all the Funds of the Kingdom, and is hastening to eat up the Remainder; and that his own Subjects are a thousand times more miserable, than the People which he has Conquered; as appears,  
First, In that the Lands and the Houses, one with another, are not worth above the fourth Part of the Revenue, of what they were worth; besides, that there is no Rent to be seen, and to fell them, they would not yield a sixth part.  
That there is a fourth Part of the Houses, that fall to ruin; and a fourth Part of the Lands, that are thrown up.  
That the Husbandman, who formerly gained 8 Sous a day, living in the Country, now gets not above two, and that paid him in Corn, of which a Bushel that was formerly commonly worth 30 Sous, is not worth above five or six; and withal, that there is very little Corn in the Kingdom, take it in general.  
That by consequence, the King has devoured all the Money that was due to the Rich Men of the Kingdom, by the Loans of Money to particular Persons; and this exceeds above a third Part of all the Stock of the Kingdom. For Lands, Houses, and Rents being eaten up, the Mortgages must fail.  
That he has several times devoured the Offices and Employments of the whole Kingdom, which he sold at dear Rates, and which were to him instead of a Grand Principal Substance, which produced nothing to the Officers.  
That all these Offices of Judicature, Civil Policy, and the Finances, could not have cost less than eight hundred Millions, and that the small Wages which they receive from the King, are swallowed up in the Taxes which they pay from time to time.  
That the innumerable multitude of these Offices, and of their exorbitant Prices is such, that these People having but small Wages, and ill Paid, cannot drain less than a hundred Millions a year▪ from the People, by the litigious Pettifogging, their Cheating and Extortion.  
That the King has dissipated above two Thirds of the Coined Money of the Kingdom, as well by exhausting the Price, as by transporting it out of the Kingdom, and besides that has devoured two Thirds of the Plate within these 40 Years.  
That he has devoured the Estates and Lands of Cities, Corporations, and particular Persons, by reuniting them to the Crown Demesnes.  
That he has devoured several Hundreds of Millions, which he extorted from those that were called Partisans, who were Farmers of his Imposts, whom he despoiled and robbed, after they had robbed others.  
That the Kingdom of France is dispeopled within these Forty years, above half in half; but chief within these ten Years.  
That there are in the Armies of the King of France, between six and seven Hundred Thousand Men, including in the Number, a hundred, or a hundred and twenty Toll-gatherers, and Subsidy Collectors; and are thus numbered: 50000 Horse, 18 Dragoons, 33●000 Foot, 30000 belonging to his Artillery, and Provision, and Ammunition Wagons, and 50000 in his Fleets and Galleys, and above 100 or 120 Camp-Varlets, which make up the number of 700000 Men, the greatest part of which are Un-married.  
That there are destroyed and die every Year, few less than a Third part of these Men, according to the Lists of Recruits, which are so many Females excluded from Marriage. And that at the end of 10 Years, Marriage being so much hindered, above the half of any numerous Nation will come to be destroyed.  
That the Lives of all the People lost within 10 Years, according to the Estimate, which is made of Men and Women Slaves in Algiers, amounts to several thousand Millions.  
That from the Example of Paris, where this Depopulation is least discerned, the rest of the Kingdom must be extremely dispeopled.  
That he is very well informed, that there are fewer People in Paris by a Third part, than there were about Twenty years ago, and that they live in extreme Misery there, notwithstanding the multitude of Coaches, and the great Court.  
That the Houses, for the generality, still retain above half the value of their ancient Hire; but that the Rent is ill Paid, and several of the Houses stand empty; that the Tradesmen die there for hunger.  
That there are hardly any Lackeys, Clerks, Proctors, or young Barbers to be seen, as being all consumed by the War; and that all the rest of the Cities and Towns of the Kingdom, are in a worse Condition.  
That there may be still near Ten Millions of Souls in the Kingdom, and that within the last ten Years, the number has lessened between 4 or 5 Millions.  
That by the number of Parishes, which are Twenty Seven Thousand, compared with the number of Men not Married, which are in the War, or in the number of Collectors, that there ought to be 22 Men, and one fourth in each Parish one with another.  
That France can never recover itself, (though the Government should be changed,) without a long Peace, and unless she abandon her Conquests and Usurpations; by reason the Manufactures are carried into Foreign Countries, the half of the People destroyed, the Money wasted, the Funds charged with more Debts than they are worth; because the vast Army of Toll-gatherers and Collectors is not dismissed; the Sale of Offices and Employments is not suppressed; and because all those Officers drained, exhausted, and samished, will lie sucking the People to the very Marrow, as well as the Court; otherwise who can believe, though Trade were once again restored, that France can always raise the same Sums, which she has done for a long time, unless these Maxims of Injustice and Violence be restored, with which she is overwhelmed.  
That the Money is extremely diminished in France: For that for a long time, the King purchased the Alliances and Amity's of all Princes, corrupted their Ministers and other, Counsellors, paid large Pensions to make them declare for France, or only remain Neuters; expended upon Spies, both great Ones, and those of lesser Note, considerable Sums; sent Armies out of the Kingdom into the Service of other Princes; purchased Cities and strong Holds, as Dunkirk and Casal, the Garrison of which Place stands him in a great deal of Money every Year, as also pignerol. The Huguenots have carried out Thirty Millions. The Horses sent for every Year out of Germany; Switzerland, and other Places since the War, cost at least Six Millions every Year, each Horse brought from thence, being Valued at 20 Pistols a piece; for that there are no Breeds of Horses in the Kingdom, by reason of the incredible Poverty of the People, that cannot compass it to have Stocks before hand.  
That in Goldlace, Embroidery, Cloth of Gold, Fringes and Gild, there are wasted in France above Ten Millions of Livers in that Metal, and in England more; adding withal this Sentence, Ambitiosa Paupertate perit Gallia. Through ambitious Poverty France is ruined: And in this is shown the Blindness of the English Nation, who complain of the Transportation of their Money, and that it is scarce, while they themselves in ten Years, destroy as much Silver by this means, as there is Money in the Kingdom.  
That all the Money which France raises by Contribution, does not exceed for or five Millions of France, which is not above the Fortieth or Fiftieth part of her Expense.  
That the Trade which remains behind, is very little.  
That the Profit by Privateers is not considerable.  
Lastly, That the War, beyond Comparison, does less mischief to the Confederates than to France; That the Confederates, for the most part, gain by this War; That Germany in general, draws great Advantages from it, though several Princes and States suffer by it; and that those Advantages advance to a considerable Value.  
That the Advantages will far surmount the Disadvantages, which Holland receives thereby; and that at length she will gain much more than she does at present, and will get a large Interest, by the principal Sums she now disburses. That Spain will also be a gainer, though she loses at present.  
That the D. of Savoy will find his Satisfaction for that he loses, and will lose much less being United with the Confederates, than if he had closed with Lewis XIV. upon the Conditions which he proposed; for that then he had been despoi'ld past recovery, in regard that France never keeps her Word. But that England gains more than any of the Confederates, though many People will not believe it.  
That in time of Peace, ten Thousand English, as well Masters as Servants, travel into France, who spend three times as much, as the Revenues of Scotland and Ireland; their Expense reckoned at a 100 Livers Sterling a piece, one with another. They get, for the most part, above a Million Sterling by the Baubles of Paris; and that now they get but little by the Manufactures of Goldlace, Silk, large Hats, French Glass, Woodden-Combs, Paper, Linen, which are settled here by the favour of the War; by the Salt, Brandy, Cider and Bear, which is made here; by the small Quantity of French Wine which is consumed at present; by the several Fruits Dry and Green, and French Sweatmeats, which are little esteemed.  
That England is, at this day, much more Wealthy than France; and that if God had afflicted England with such a Government, and a King of Lewis the Fourteenth's Humour, she might do much more than France does now.  
That therefore all Princes, that are tempted to imitate that King in his Humours, to be a Conqueror and an Absolute Prince, ought rather to swallow Poison, and quit the World, than to suffer themselves to be overruled by such Barbarous and Cursed Passions.  
That indeed, in some measure, Lewis XIV. is to be excused for his Attacking Mons and Nyssa; as supposing him to have a good Correspondence, both in the one and the other, and that his Design was thereby, to re-establish or maintain the Reputation of his Great Power, of which he began to be somewhat doubtful; and to prevent his Credit from falling, as well among the Rebels in Ireland, as among his own Subjects, and at Rome, where there is such Disputing about the Election of a New Pope; and that he thought this would strike a Terror into the Confederates, especially the Duke of Savoy, who he troubles the most, and therefore would oblige him to make his Peace apart, and others after, or together with him. He was also willing to make the World believe, that the Congress at the Hague, of which he had Intilligence 8 Months before, did nothing astonish him. And therefore believing it was high time for him to Attempt something, he picked out Mons, before any other in the Low-Countries, and took all his Measures to Crown the Enterprise with Success. And the Reasons why he pitched upon Mons were these: Because it was a Place the most advanced toward France, and for that the Confederates would sooner make an Invasion of his Country on that side, than any other way; because it was a Place which fetched great Contributions out of France, and the Conquered Provinces, and for that being large and wealthy, it might serve to make a Magazine for K. William's Army; and because that if the Confederates were so far weakened, as to make a Peace to his Advantage the next Winter, he would rather keep it, than Aeth, Oudenard, or Charleroy, which he had been once already obliged to quit, to serve as a Bar to the Spanish Low-Countries; besides that, it is the Capital City of a large Province, which the Conquest of that Town would reduce wholly under his Subjection. As for Nyssa, assuredly it was Bought and Sold; for that otherwise it would have been a foolish attempt to have Attacked it in the Heart of Winter, being a Place Impregnable; and that the Traitors were agreed, to cover their foul Play, to fire the Powder, under the Favour of the first Bombs that Catinat should throw into the Town; by which means they should take the French Money, yet appear honest Men. That as for the Circumstances and the Soldiers killed by the Accident, it might all be so managed, as if the whole had happened fortuitously, the better to cover their Intrigues.  
Therefore 'tis presumed, that France went the best way to try, whether she could by these means separate the Allies one from the other; and farther, that there is no question to be made, but that France, by other Intrigues, supported with Money, will do her utmost to make a Peace the next Winter; for that otherwise she is ruined for ever, notwithstanding all the outward haughtiness she carries in her looks, and that it is the Interest of the Allies, not to be too hasty, but to stand resolutely upon their Terms.  
That whatever outward show Lewis XIV. makes, it will be impossible for him to support another Campaign after this, but that he must be obliged to constrain his Subjects to sell the last remainder of their Plate, and to raise the Price of his Money at least half in half. And that all this will hardly suffice for another Campaign; for that the farther he goes forward in these Excesses, and the more his usual Imposts decay, the less Money he will have, and the more the People will be ruined.  
Having now given you a short, but faithful Account of the Miseries and Calamities that the French King's Subjects groan under at home, as also the sinking Condition of the State; which we may modestly affirm to be the Effects of his Tyrannical Government on the one hand, and of his Infidelity and Injustice towards his Neighbours and Allies on the other; let us now examine the Particulars of his Transactions with each Neighbouring Potentate for some time past, and then let the Impartial judge, whether any thing but Oppression to his People, and Ruin to his Kingdom, are likely to be the Events of such perfidious Practices. We will begin with England.  
How happy was the King of England, at his first Restauration, beloved by his People, adored by his Parliament, and in perfect Union with his Neighbours the Dutch! What might not those two Potentates in close Confederacy have done? France trembled at the thoughts of it, and despaired of grasping Universal Empire, unless she could divide this solid opposition, so pernicious to her soaring Projects.  
The French King well understood that the King of England, would he but put himself to the trouble of knowing his own strength, and making a true use of it, was in a condition not only to mediate, but to force a Peace among all the Potentates of Europe. For by a strict Union with the Hollanders, he was absolute. Master of the whole Ocean, and consequently of the Riches of the World; insomuch that the Mines of America were not safe to the King of Spain, but by his Permission; and by sending to the weaker side the assistance of his Land Forces, formidable as well for their Courage as their Discipline, he was able to have turned the scales of Victory which way soever he pleased. Now then in regard that by the common Rules of Policy and Foresight, the French King could not but be well assured, that whatsoever Princes he assailed, the other would be as certain in the weakness of his Condition, to have recourse to the two Grand Fortresses of Europe, Potent at Sea, and no less powerful by Land, to prevent the R●vage of his Territories; whether the Dictates of Achitophelism, and Machiavilism, might not in some measure justify the most Christian King, in pursuing the best Methods he could to separate such a Conjunction, so prejudicial to his aspiring Ambition and Self-interest, may not be so much, perhaps, the Question; but whether he is not to be looked upon as the worst of the whole Race of Cain, and as a Mischief and Pest which all Mankind ought to eschew; who, besides the most unchristian like ways, by which he sought to subdue his Enemies, treated his most faithful Friends and Allies with that infidelity, that Treachery, that base and scornful Ingratitude, as he did the King of England. By which it was plain, that all the Kindnesses and Remuneration which the Most Christian Lewis intended the King of England for all his Services, was only that he should have been the last, that for all his Services and Assistences given to the French Crown, to the oversight of his own Interest, and his  
True it is, that notwithstanding the Convulsions that threatened his Kingdom during his Minority, yet Mazarine having by a Conjunction with Cromwell, surmounted all those difficulties, much increased his Power, and enlarged his Conquests by new Acquisitions: (For Cromwell, whom for his pains Mazarine was wont to call a Fortunate Fool,) gaping after the Golden Mines of Peru, to supply his empty Coffers, contrary to all the Rules of English Policy, was altogether for pulling down the distant Monarchy of Spain, and advancing the neighbouring power of France. Mazarine had the length of his Foot; and therefore resolved to make the best of him, by pampering up his Gold craving humour, and fostering his Animosities against the Spaniard. And so cunning was Mazarine, that he granted the heedless Usurper whatever he demanded, considering that when Cromwell had assisted him to do his work, in bringing under the House of Austria, and by that means casting the Balance of Europe on the French side, he should afterwards have leisure enough to recover what he had seemed to part with; which was afterwards too unhappily verified by the easy regaining of Dunkirk. Thus Cromwell being the first that raised the Grandeur of the French, to which he contributed not a little by the War which he made at the time with Spain; the two Princes that succeeded him, were so wheedled and bewitched by the French Kings specious pretencees and fair Promises, that they did, though undesignedly too much assist, him to get up to the Pinicle of Universal Dominion; as if this Most Christian King had made use of Charms and Philters to fascinate their Eyes and Ears, neither to see themselves so often abused, nor to hear the advices of their most faithful Counselors.  
How happy was the King of England, at his first Restauration, beloved by his People, adored by his Parliament, and in perfect Union with his Nighbours the Dutch! What might not those two Potentates in close Confederacy have done? France trembled at the thoughts of it, and despaired of grasping Universal Empire, unless she could divide this solid opposition, so pernicious to her soaring Projects.  
The French King well understood that the King of England, would he but put himself to the trouble of knowing his own strength, and making a true use of it, was in a condition not only to mediate, but to force a Peace among all the Potentates of Europe. For by a strict Union with the Hollanders he was absolute Master of the whole Ocean, and consequently of the Riches of the World; insomuch that the Mines of America, were not safe to the King of Spain but by his Permission; and by sending to the weaker side the assistance of his Land Forces, formidable as well for their Courage as their Discipline, he was able to have turned the scales of Victory which way soever he pleased. Now then in regard that by the common Rules of Policy and Foresight, the French King could not but be well assured that whatsoever Princes he assailed, the other would be as certain in the weakness of his Condition, to have recourse to the two Grand Fortresses of Europe, Potent at Sea, and no less powerful by Land, to prevent the Ravage of his Territories; whether the Dictates of Achitophelism, and Matchavillinism, might not in some measure justify the most Christian King, in pursuing the best Methods he could, to separate such a Conjunction, so prejudicial to his aspiring Ambition and Self-interest, may not be so much, perhaps the Question; but whether he is not to be looked upon, as the worst of the whole Race of Cain, and as a Mischief, and Pest which all Mankind ought to eschew; who, besides the most unchristianlike ways by which he sought to subdue his Enemies, treated his most faithful Friends and Allies with that Infidelity, that Treachery, that base and scornful Ingratitude as he did the King of England. By which it was plain, that all the Kindnesses and Remuneration which the Most Christian Lewis intended the King of England for all his Services, was only that he should have been the last, that for all his Services and Assistences given to the French Crown, to the oversight of his own Interest, and his People's welfare, should have been rewarded with Invasion and Conquest.  
To make this Separation therefore between England and Holland, the most subtle Mercuries of France were sent abroad with their Silver Wands, to lull the British Argos asleep, and prevent his watching over the Hesperian Garden of European Liberty; or rather with a deeper Intoxication of Aurum Potabile Draughts, to allure his Ministers into a downright Falsification of their Trusts. Nor was it possible for all of them to escape, being befascinated or to resist those Golden Temptations; but, like People that must go through with what they have taken money to perform, presently several artificial insinuations of Injuries received from the Dutch, as to Amboyna, and the Fishery, were whispered about in England, while at the same time the freedom of the Sea, and the preservation of Trade, were with the same subtlety to be disputed in Holland, on purpose to exasperate the jealousy of those People. Things that might so easily have been adjusted where there had been the least Condescensions to Reason, that it was undoubtedly above the reach of most men's understanding, that the Policy of Great Britain should prefer a trivial Quarrel about Sprats and Herrings, (for the business of Amboyna had been compounded long before,) above the common safety of three Nations, and that a Protestant Kingdom, without being constrained thereto by some unavoidable necessity, should ever fight with so much Rage and Fierceness for the Destruction of the Protestant Interest: Or that English Counsellors should advise their Prince to run the Fortune of a French King, without any rational Prospect of Advantage to himself. But it was plain that the Most Christian King was then laying his most  Trains for the Destruction of England; and as palpable it was, that the Dutch War was designed by the French to ruin the naval strength of both Nations, and thereby to break the Balance of Europe. It was a Mystery beyond unfolding, that the Chief Ministers of England should take such strange Measures, so to misled their Sovereign, that in order to the making good his Title to the Kingdom of France, he should enable the French King to invade all Christendom, and to extend his Empire beyond all bounds; or that to secure to himself and his People the Sovereignty of the Seas, he should with so much industry endeavour to force all the Dutch Ships, with all their Naval Power, into the Arms of the French, and rejoice at their Victories as if by Conquering the Land, the French did not at the same time become Masters of the Havens, Rivers, and Fleets of the Dutch. And yet such was the vast Predominancy which French Treason, and the hidden Conspiracies of French Counsels had over these great Politicians, and the Asscendent which they had over the King of England, that he was so kind to the French King, for setting him together by the ears with the Dutch, that he sent him his Vice Admirals, and other Sea Officers, to encourage and promote the setting out of his Fleets, and in pity of their want of experience in Sea Affairs, took his raw Seamen by the hand, trained them up in his own Fleets, among the best of his Seamen, and taught them that skill which the English had been many Ages a learning; and all this in hopes to enable the French King to assist him in beating his best and most secure friends; wherein the French, according to their wont Treachery, failed him too, when they were put to the Trial.  
All the World would have thought the King should not have so soon forgot the Punic Faith of France in their kindness to his Person, while he was abroad in Exile among them; or if then they might pretend the Interest of their Kingdom, and palliate their faithless and inhuman Dealing with him by necessity of Self preservation; yet no such necessity constrained him to forget the French King's opposing his Restauration with so much violence as he did; and his Caballing with his greatest enemies to keep him out of his Kingdom, more especially since he was then so sensible of it, when it was recent in his Memory; that upon his coming into England, he commanded away Monsieur Bourdeaux, the French Ambassador, and would not suffer him to come into his presence.  
But the Most Christian King knew full well how to work himself again into the King of England's favour, and at length by throwing a French Dalilah into his embraces, quite cut off the Locks of the British Samson. All on a sudden France seemed to be removed into England; nothing but French Baubles and Gugaws pleased our English Gentry: A French Faction prevailing at Court, French Mountebanks for Physicians, French Fashions, French Hats, French Lackeys, French Fiddlers, French Dancing-Masters, French Tooth-Drawers, French Barbers, French Air in our very looks, French Legs, French Compliments, French Grimaces, and French Debauchery, to fit us for French Slavery: And had the French Disease been then unknown in England, 'tis to be questioned whither it would not have been entertained with as general a Consent as the Sichemites submitted to the Pain of Circumcision, though to the hazard of being all destroyed by the French Simeon and Levi, while sore and drivelling under the Distemper. Nor is it to be doubted but the French Christianity would have as easily made trial of such a Design as they did of the rest of their Tricks, had they thought it would have taken effect.  
It is well known, that before the first Dutch War was entered into, the King of England sought to make Alliances with France and Spain, but the Spaniards were so Cocksure of the French Promises, that they would not make any Approaches to Friendship with England, without the giving up of Dunkirk, Tangier, and Jamaica.  
As for the French, a Project of a Treaty was offered them, and promoted with all earnestness by the Lord H—s at Paris, but it was plainly discerned that the principal designs of the Most Christian King was only to draw the King of England into such an Alliance, as might advance his design upon Spain; and therefore so soon as he had set the Dutch and us together by the Ears, and saw that thereby the Balance of Europe was broken, he no longer minded Alliance with England: But after many Proposals of Leagues, and many Arts used to heighten the jealousies between Us and the Hollanders, he at last sided with the Dutch, though to so little purpose, that his Intentions plainly appeared to be no other, than to see the two most Potent Obstacles of his Ambition destroy one another, to the end he might with less Opposition invade his Nighbours, and increase his own Naval Strength. Nay, the Juggle went much farther, for that in the heat of all the War, he still kept Negotiations on Foot, and made overtures and proposals of Peace, by means of the Queen-Mother, whom in the end he so far, and so treacherously deluded, as to ascertain her, and by her means to assure the King of England her Son, that the Dutch would not set out any Fleet the ensuing Summer, and yet underhand pressed the Dutch with all the Vigour and Importunity imaginable to fit out their Men of War again, with a promise, rather than fail, that he would join his Fleet with theirs against the English. Now it was upon a Supposal that the Most Christian King was at that time a good Christian and true to his Word, in pursuing his pretended Proposals of Peace; and upon that faithless French Paroll it was, that the King of England put forth no Fleet to Sea that Year, upon which followed that Fatal surprise of our Ships at Chatham; than which a greater Dis-honour never happened to the Nation since the memory of History. But at last, as we had been obliged to the Craft and Treachery for the War and the Shame we received by it, so we were glad to receive the Peace that ensued from his favour; which was concluded at Breda between England, France, and Holland.  
By this Treaty of Breda, the French were obliged to restore St. Christopher's to the English in the same manner and form as is expressed in the Articles; but instead of performing their Engagement according to the true intent and literal meaning of the Articles, they from time to time upon several unjust and frivolous Pretences, deluded and delayed the English Commissioners that were sent to take Possession of it; till finding there was a necessity to comply with us in so small a matter, while we were preparing to venture a second quarrel in their behalf, it was at last surrendered, after four year's baffling, to Sir Charles Wheeler. However to show the perfidiousness of French dealing, before they delivered it they destroyed all the Plantations, laid the whole Island waste, and left it in a much worse condition than if it had never been planted. And as if the seizure and detaining of the King of England's Territories had not been sufficient, they interrupted also the Trade of his Subjects in those Parts, and assuming to themselves the Sovereignty of those Seas, would not suffer any Ships but their own, to sail either by or about those Islands; but as if it had been Criminal so to do, took and confiscated several Vessels upon that account. From all which a Question will arise easy to be resolved, whither any thing be recorded of the old Carthaginians more perfidious than this; and whether the King of England might not have expected more Honest and Christian dealing from the unbelieving Turk, than from the Most Christian King.  
'Tis true, that after the Peace of Breda, the King of England was at liesure to consider how the French King had abused him, by engaging him in a War with his Protestant Nighbours, and how he had seemingly taken their parts to prolong the War; that while they were battering, and bruising, and weakening one another, he might have the fairer Opportunity, in violation of all the most solemn and sacred Oaths and Treaties, to invade the Spanish Netherlands; and observing with what a rapid Torrent of Victory he bore down all before him, thought fit to interpose before the flame that consumed his next Nighbour, should throw its sparks over the Water; and therefore sent into Holland to invite them to a nearer Alliance, and to enter into such farther Counsels as were most proper to stop the Fury of the French King; which offer being by the Dutch embraced with open Arms, a defensive League was concluded in five days time between Holland and England, together with another for the repressing the farther Progress of the French Arms in the Spanish Netherlands: In which the Sweeds afterwards making a third Party concerned, gave it the name of the Triple League.  
This was no way pleasing to the French King, however for a while he dissembled his resentment of the Affront, though from the first moment he resolved to make use of all his Charms, and Golden Magic to dissolve this Triple Knot, whatever it cost him.  
To this purpose the Duchess of Orleans, is said by the French to be sent over hither, believing no Instrument so proper as the King of England's own Sister to prevail with her Brother. King Charles met her at Dover, where their endearments one to another were so much the more reciprocally prevailing, by how much it happens that Princes more rarely than private Persons enjoy their Relations: And when they do, yet their kind Interviews are many times attended with some fatal disaster; of which though there was no appearance here in England, yet the first News we heard of her upon her Return to France, was, that she was dead: However the Affair was so dextrously managed, that a French Ambassador was forthwith dispatched out of France, and an English Ambassador sent to Paris, and as the French gave out, a private League was clapped up, to the ruin of the Triple Alliance, to all the height of Intimacy and Dearness; as if upon dissecting the Princess, there had some State Philter been found in her Bowels, or that a Reconciliation with France could not have been celebrated with a less Sacrifice than that of the Bloud-Royal of England. This supposed Treaty was a work of Darkness, not to be dived into in a great while, but afterwards the French King caused it to be made public, as we shall see by and by.  
'Tis true, the Knowledge of this was of great Importance to England; but the discovery was the most apparent Demonstration in the World of French Perfidiousness, so enormous as it could not be imagined to have entered into the Breast of a Most Christian King, so treacherously to expose the Secrets of his dearest Confederate, after he had drawn him in by all the Assurances of his assistance imaginable: And the reasons that induced him to make the detection were no less Impious, though agreeable to the Practice of the French King; who after he has made it his business to decoy in Princes, that lend an easy ear to his Enchantments, or with too much facility suffer themselves to be overcome by his Alluring Engagements, into any unseemly and dishonourable undertaking, believes he has them then safely tacked to his Interests, and that they will not dare to flinch from his Desing, for fear of being exposed to their People, which he takes care in due time to have artificially instilled into their Ears; a Maxim of Christianity which lies concealed from all other Men, but the most Christian of Princes: And thus it was, that the French King having amused the Emperor with the Noise of a Treaty, and at the same time brought the Turk into Hungary, to join the Malcontents, to excite his Private Confederate the King of England to follow his steps in Government Bare-faced, causes a little Book to be Printed and Published, with the Privilege Du Roy, Entitled, The History of the Transactions of this Age, and therein ordered the Dover Treaty (as they called it) to be inserted, and to that purpose furnished his Historiographer with Notes and Directions by the Hands of his Secretary Colbert, to the end that the King of England, being truly as he designed, set out in his Colours, and despairing of being ever after trusted by his People, might be enforced to take such Resolutions as Despair and Fury should inspire him withal, to the Destruction of those he had so highly disobliged; there being nothing more than the Subversion of England which the French King aimed at. 'Tis true, he was so kind as to recall the Book, upon the loud complaint of the King of England's Ambassador; however it was an apparent Demonstration to all the World, how little trust or reliance there was in French Amity, and plainly shows that there is no way to bind this mighty Samson by Oath, Promises, Treaties, or by any other the most Religious Ties and Considerations, which are no more to him than Spider's Webs, but by an absolute clipping off the Locks of his Power, and disabling him so as never to rise more.  
But to return to the Triple League: In the end the French King by his wicked Policy so contrived the matter, as to cause a new Rupture twixt the Dutch and the English; and as if he had intended to be the Master of Iniquity, and to make the King of England as bad as himself nothing would suffice till he had prevailed with the King to attack the Dutch Smyrna Fleet returning home, and dreaming of no such matter; which, as it was contrary to the Genius of the English Nation, and to the Nature and Gentle Disposition of the King of England himself, is wholly to be attributed to the Wiles and wicked Temptations of the Most Christian Prince, who never ceased pealing it into the King of England's Ears, that if he could but master the Wealth of the Smyrna Fleet, he should never want Money again. And being thus betrayed by wheedling French Hallucination, what can the French expect but the Severity of England's just Revenge; wherein we may venture with the greater hopes of Success, as being engaged with all in the common Cause of Christendoms Tranquillity.  
Add to this, that when the French King thought the King of England was engaged so far by the Smyrna Attack, as that he must needs go forward, the Most Christian King then openly declared, 'twas none of his Quarrel, and that he only engaged in it to assist the King of England, merely in respect to His Person: By which means the King of England was again betrayed and necessitated to declare War first, and to expect the Assistance of his Confederate afterwards.  
Nor is it less observable, that the French King, in conjunction with a Protestant Prince, to render him odious among all the States and Princes of Europe, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, gave it out, that the War against the United Provinces was a War of Religion, undertaken merely for the Propagation of the Roman Catholic Faith, and as the French Minister expressed it in a Solemn Speech to the Emperor's Council, that the Hollanders being Heretics, who had forsaken God, all good Christians were bound to Unite to their Extirpation. To confirm which the more, the French Ministers, no doubt not contrary to their Instructions, declared and assured many Princes, that to let all the World see how far their Master was from any such Ambitious designs as were laid to his charge, and to satisfy the World that he entered into the War merely out of a Religious Zeal, and for the Glory of God; he was ready to part with all his Conquests, and to restore to the Hollanders all the Towns he had won from them, if they would but re-establish the True Worship they had banished out of their Dominions. Such is the Most Christian King, who scruples not to falsify with Heaven, so it may but support and colour his falsehood upon Earth.  
Well, the Most Christian King, having by his Ungodly Policy thus engaged us in a Bloody War with Holland, pursues his own design by Land with all the Vigour Imaginable, in so much, that the swiftness and force of his Motion seemed to be somewhat Supernatural; but all this while he leaves us to do our own work by Sea. 'Tis true, his Fleet appeared among us, and made up a third Squadron under white Colours, but under that Colour of Innocence, they thought it such a crime to shed Blood, that they always kept out of harms way: Rather they did us more mischief than good, in regard that when our Admirals encountered the Enemy in hopes of their Assistance, they always left the English in the Lurch to bear the Brunt of the Engagement against the superior Numbers, which it was their Duty to have attacked. A piece of Treachery so insupportable, that only they who suffered it would have endured it, by which the whole English Navy was absolutely betrayed by a faithless Ally, and by which the Lives of great numbers of the English were lost, which by their Conjunction might have been saved. So that it was apparent that those sacred Ships of the French were a sort of Noli me Tangere's, not sent to assist their Confederares, but only to sound the English Seas, to spy our Ports, to learn our Building, to contemplate our way of Fight, to consume ours, and preserve their own Navy, to increase their Commerce, and to order all so, that the two great Naval Powers of Europe having crushed one another, he might remain sole Lord of the Ocean, and by consequence Master of all the Trade of the World,  
Thus it happened, that after three Engagements of Ours against the Dutch Fleet in one Summer, while nothing was tenable at Land against the French, it seemed that as to us every thing at Sea was Impregnable; which was not to be attributed either to want of Courage or Conduct, but was only to be imputed to our unfortunate Conjunction with the perfidious French like the misfortunes that happen to Men by being in ill Company.  
This Misbehaviour of the French raised the Indignation of the English to such a Pitch, that the Parliament resolving to give no more Money for the continuance of the War; the King was persuaded to make a Peace with Holland; which was concluded accordingly, towards the latter end of the Year 1673.  
And to show that the King of England had all the reason in the World so to do, we are to take a little farther prospect of the uprightness of the Most Christian King to his Friend and Ally, who had at such a ●●a●t expense of Treasure espoused his Quarrel.  
For the French Army having passed the Wale, caused such a General Consternation all over Holland and the Confusion they were in was such, they could hardly resolve whether to yield or continue to defend themselves. The States therefore sent away several of their Deputies, some to the King of England, others to the Most Christian of Princes, to know of both upon what conditions they would be willing to make Peace and Agreement.  
Those that were sent to the King of England (to show how justly he intended to have dealt with the French or whether it were out of Fear of giving him any Jealousy or Offence,) were met as far as Gravesend; and being forbidden their approach to White-Hall, were conveyed to Hampton-Court, and there, as it were, honourably confined, till his Majesty of England could hear from the Most Christian King, whether those Deputies might be admitted.  
But the other Deputies no sooner arrived at the French Court, but two Secretaries of State were sent to them, who, without farther delay, demanded in the first place what Power they had to Treat; and next, what Proposals they had to make in order to a speedy Peace.  
The Deputies answered, they came not to make Proposals, but to receive Conditions from his Most Christian Majesty, as it better became them. Upon which, to hasten them to a Conclusion, the French Ministers told them in short, That whatever his Most Christian Majesty had conquered, in their Dominions, he looked upon as his own already and therefore would not part with it, without an Equivalent, as well for what he might farther subdue, before the conclusion of the Treaty, as for what he had already in Possession.  
With this Answer Monsieur De Groet, one of the Holland Deputies, posted back to the Hague, and with no less speed was sent back again with full Instructions and Authority, jointly with the rest of his Colleagues, to treat and conclude a Peace with them.  
No sooner was he returned, but Monsieur Louvoy, one of the French King's Secretaries, gave the Deputies a Draught of a Treaty, or rather the Pretensions of the King his Master; upon the granting of which, he was both willing and ready to return to his former Amity with the States, and to conclude a firm Peace with them.  
Upon which two things are Observable First, that the Conditions themselves were such, which, if granted would have made the French King as perfectly Master of the Country, as if he had Conquered it by the Sword. And in the Second place, That in all the Articles there was not the least word relating to England, nor any more notice taken of the King of Great Britain, than if he had not been at all concerned in the War.  
And farther, to demonstrate that it was never the design of the Most Christian Prince that the King of England should be a gainer by the War, Monsieur De Groet declared at his second return to the Hague, when he carried the King's Project along with him, that when the French Ministers were asked what was to be done with England, they made Answer, that the States might do as they pleased with England, and come off as cheap as they could, for that the French were not bound by their Treaty to procure them any Advantages. A great Happiness in the mean time for the King of England to be engaged in such a War, with such a False and Treacherous Ally; for it is plain, that the Dutch had no sooner signified their desires, but the Most Christian Prince had it presently in his Head to have cheated the King of England. For could the Most Christian King in that same dreadful Consternation of the Dutch, have got the Possession of the United Provinces by the more concise, and less expensive way of Treaty, he would soon have found an expedient to have defrauded his dear Confederate of any share in them. Which was the reason the Most Christian Sophister spurred on the consternated Dutch with so much haste, and with such a clandestine speed pursued his Advantage, that the King of England might not have a Moment's time to provide for himself.  
But the King of England having served the Most Christian Prince more justly in his kind, by a separate Peace with Holland, and the sudden Advancement of His Highness the Prince of Orange, attended by the Fall of the De-witts, quashed all the lofty Frenchman's hopes of gaining, either by Treaty or by Conquests, what his thoughts aspired to. So that now, as if he had been arrived at the Tropic of his Fortune, he was forced to roll back again with the same swiftness as he ascended to the height of his success. However that he might not lose his old wont, as a mark of his displeasure, and as it were to punish the English Nation for his disappointments, notwithstanding the Peace that was still firm between the two Crowns, he let lose his Privateers among the English Merchants, to that degree of Treaty-Violation, that from that time for near two years together (Peace all the while, if French Peace may be called Peace,) there was no security of Commerce or Navigation, but at Sea they Murdered, Plundered, made Prize, and Confiscated all they met with. The French Pickaroons lay before the Mouths of our Harbours, hovered all along our Coasts, took our Ships in the very Ports, so that we were in a manner Blocked up by Water. And if any made Application at the Sovereign-Port of the Most Christian Solyman for Justice, they were most insolently baffled, except some few who by Sir E. L's interest were redeemed upon somewhat easier Composition. For evidence of which the following Papers, returned by certain Members of the Privy Council, in Pursuance of the King's Order, as also the Register which was annexed to it, of the several Vessels that were then complained of to be taken, are a Memorial not easy to be cancelled.  
So loud and so thick were the daily complaints of the English Merchants, of their losses sustained by the French Privateers, in the Year 1674. and 1676. notwithstanding the Public Amity between the two Nations, that the King referred the Examination thereof to several Lords of the Committee of Trade, who, upon due Examination of the Affair, observed that the Petition of the Merchants, presented to the King the 31st. of May, 1676. was grounded upon these Heads.  
First, That their Ships and Goods, though manned according to the Act of Navigation, and furnished with all necessary Passes, were daily seized, carried into Dunkirk, Calais, Sherbrook, and other Ports, the Masters and Owners kept close Prisoners, to force them by hardship to abuse their Owners, or else for the relief of their own private Necessities (being commonly Stripped and Plundered) to enter into the Privateers Service, which great numbers had done with very pernicious Effects.  
Secondly, That the delay and charge of prosecuting the Law in France, did commonly make the Owners become losers of half the Value, when ever they were successful.  
Thirdly, That there was no reparation ever gotten from Privateers for what they Plundered and Imbezled, which made them freely seize upon all they met, and perpetually molest the Navigation of the King's Subjects; for which Reasons they humbly implored His Majesty's Relief and Protection.  
Thereupon the King was pleased to command that some of his Frigates should sail forth to clear the Coast of those Privateers, seize them, and bring such as had offended to make Restitution. Moreover the King ordered, that the Lords of the Committee of Trade should take good notice of the particular Cases and Complaints depending, that such as were of weight and merit, might be fitted for his Gracious Recommendation for Relief: As also to survey the whole number of Seizures which had been made upon his Subjects, in order to lay before his Majesty what hardships had been sustained at Sea, and what sort of Justice had been administered in France.  
In Obedience to which command, they brought in a List of such Ships as had been seized to the number of fifty three; and the Cases wherein the Owners had repaired to the King for relief. Which, as in the General it supposed a Justice in such complaints, so it left a suspicion of great hardships in the Methods of Redress; besides that the number of Captives was no small proof of the facility of Condemnation.  
While the Lords were in the midst of this Examination, there was presented to the Committee, as it was received from Monsieur Courtin, the French Ambassador, an Extract of a Letter from Monsieur Colbert to Monsieur Pompone, one of the French King's Secretaries, dated June 28th. 1676. in these Words.  
FOr what concerns the Prizes, it would be a difficult matter to answer all the Cases contained in Monsieur Courtin's Letter.  
What I can say to it, is, That the Council for Marine Affairs sits every day at St. Germans.  
That all Privateers and Reclaimers know it.  
That Sir Ellis Leighton, nominated by the English Ambassador, hath always notice of it, and is always present at it.  
That not a week passes, but I give him two or three Audiences, and oftentimes I send for him on purpose.  
That his Reasons are all read, reported and committed; as likewise are all Petitions of Reclaimers, and I shall tell you more, I acquaint him with the Reasons upon which Judgement is given.  
In giving Judgement, all Vessels which have any Appearance of being English are released, and very often; and almost always; though we are satisfied that the Ships are Dutch, yet they are released because there is some appearance of their being English, and every thing is judged favourable for that Nation. And it is no less true that all Ships that are taken are Dutch Built, that they never were in England, that the Masters and all the Equipage are Dutch, that the Cockets are for Persons unknown, and which are not ofttimes so much as named; that they carry with them only some Sea Breifs from Waterford or some other Town of Ireland; that the whole Ships Company deposes, they were sent to Holland; that we have found on Board three or four Vessels, Bills of Account, by which it is seen that the English took two, three, and four per Cent, for owning Ships and though it is impossible to avoid confiscating them, yet these are the Ships which make such a noise in England.  
To which the Lords of the Committee upon serious Examination, by way of Answer represented to the King, That their Sentiments of the matter were quite different from what was pretended by the French; for that they understood that when the English Ships were carried into the Ports of France, many of the Mariners complained of ill Usage, and some of Torment, their Papers being seized, and their Persons under restraint, till all the Examinations were ready prepared; and that then all their Writings were sent up to the Privy Council at St. Germans, where judgement was definitively given, and seldom any reasons for the Condemnation mentioned in the decree, and never any Appeal or Revision admitted; and whether that were the Tenderness or the Justice pretended by the French, they could not tell: But they appealed to the Ambassador Monsieur Courtin himself, whether the Method of proceeding in England had not been quite otherwise; and therefore that the different Methods of Justice and Clemency in England, might have entitled His Majesty to a different acknowledgement, and more advantageous effects from the French.  
That as to the latter part of the Paper, it seemed to contain very harsh Imputations upon the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects; and that only from some ill practices perhaps found out, general Rules were made, which having entered the Thoughts of some Eminent Ministers, that wondered that notwithstanding the frequent and multiplied Recommendations of his Majesty for Justice, the event of the French Trials should prove so unfortunate; that if his Majesty would but cast his Eye upon the Causes annexed, he would soon see.  
Whether, as it was imputed, all the Ships taken were Dutch Built.  
Whether they were all such as never were in England.  
Whether all the Masters and Mariners were Dutch.  
Whether the Cockets were for Persons unknown, and oftentimes not named.  
Whether in the whole List there was any more than one Ship from Waterford, any more than six from the rest of all Ireland, or so much as one from Scotland.  
Whether it were credible that all the Ships Company should swear they were bound for Holland, when so many were taken coming from Holland.  
On the other side, His Majesty would find in the List how many were English Built, taken with English Colours, English Mariners, English Owners; some of them known to His Majesty, and to whom the best Papers His Majesty could sign, or the Treaties required were given all in vain.  
So that if the Case were in the General quite different from what in the General is represented, they hoped it was no crime for His Majesty's Subjects to make some noise in England, when they are Damnified, and see their Goods taken from them by Violence, and that Violence rather justified than redressed by Law.  
Wherefore considering that the Root of all these Disorders arose from the Violence and Rapine of the French Capers, who were to be looked upon as Disturbers of the Public Quiet, and Enemies of the Good Friendship between the two Crowns; they were humbly of Opinion that His Majesty had just Occasion from the injuries past, and those which were then depending, and which every day increased, to make a serious Representation of all to the Most Christian King, and not only to press for some better Method of repairing the Greivances mentioned, but to insist upon the calling in of all the French Privateers; or else that His Majesty ought to do right, and give defence to his Subjects, from all the insolences which they so frequently met with. This was signed.  

Anglisey  
Bath  
Craven  
J. Ernle  
Finch C.  
Bridgewater  
H. Coventry  
G. Carteret   
I might here add the List itself, by which it plainly appears, that, contrary to Monsieur Colbert's Allegations, the Ships so taken were all either English Built, or Foreigners made Free, freighted by English Merchants, owned by English Men, and manned with English, with Cockets and Bills of Lading to English. But 'tis sufficient for me to show, that the Ministers and the Masters are Christians alike, Plunderers and Robbers, not only of Imperial Territories and Royal Dominions, but Beasts of Prey, that turn the Seas into a Desert, to gorge their voracious Appetites upon the Estates of private Persons; and that upon the Account their Injustice and Rapines so wickedly and unjustly practised upon the People of England, no Nation under Heaven can have reasons more allowable on their side to justify a War with France, than England has, for the many Dishonours, Injuries, and Affronts so ungratefully done us, in recompense of all the Kindness and great Services done them from time to time.  
For what greater kindness could there be, than to furnish the Aspiring Monarch with a continually recruited body of Ten Thousand of our English Youth, whose daring Bravery and Courage made oftentimes a Rape upon Victory itself, to force her on his side, and rescued once his whole Army from destruction; when in consternation, and pursued by the Imperalists, upon the fall of Turenne? Yet when by the importunity of the Parliament, they were recalled out of his service, instead of fairly dismissing them, well paid, for Dunkirk or Calais, from thence to cross over for Dover, which was their direct Way; they were sent through Burgundy, through Liomois, and so through the Provinces that lead to the Ports of Guyenne, that so the French might have time to debauch the Officers and Soldiers. In short, the Soldiers who since their being in France, had been accustomed to drink Wine, finding themselves in a Country where it was almost as plentiful as Water, would not cross the Sea to go home and drink Beer, but took pay under the Captains of the French Army in Catalonia, who were for that purpose posted in their way. As for such of the Officers as had nothing to lose in their own Country, they were likewise debauched after the same manner, and dispersed at the same time in the Regiment of Fustenburgh, which was in the Garrison of Perpignan: So that when the English arrived at the Place where they were to Embark, they were not the Tenth of what they should have been, had France dealt faithfully in the Business.  
Thus we have run through the Treacheries and Infidelities of the French in reference to England. There is no Question, but much more might have been said; however, here is enough to show that there can be no safety in the friendship of a Prince, who makes it his study to be injurious in all his Actions, and faithless in all his Promises: Mendaciis & fallaciis tanquam praeclaris Artibus gaudens. But such is the mischief of that pernicious Vice, desire of too much Glory, that it constrains a Man to be perfidious, as it was said of Cneus Domitius; Nimiae Gloriae Cupiditas perfidum existere coegit. And this was a Maxim among the Ancients, that Fidelity, like the Soul, when it has once left a Man, never returns again: And therefore with such a one, Bellum suspecta Pace tutius est.  
Now let us look Abroad, where we shall find the Most Christian of Princes, straddling over Violations of Oaths by another Name, called Perjuries, and all the Laws and Bounds of Justice which God and Man have provided against the Inundations of Violence, to grasp the Universal Monarchy of Europe. There you shall find him Invading, Burning, Spoiling, Plundering, Sacking, and Depopulating the Territories and Dominions of his Peaceable Christian Neighbours, hewing out his way through the Bowels of Christendom to the Imperial Throne; and all this under Claims and Pretensions, abjured by all the most Solemn Renunciations that Religion could invent. Yet in Revindication of those Claims and reassumed Rights so religiously renounced, like another Parentibus abominatus Hannibal, filling all with Blood, Massacre and Devastation to Tyrannize over wasted Ruins, Cities laid Desolate; and desert Mountains, rather than not to Tyrannize at all. Where he could not enter with his Sword, he opened a Passage with his Gold for subservient Treachery, and the Foundations of future Mischief into the Courts of most of the Princes of Europe; deflowering the Fidelity of their Counsellors, and ravishing the Allegiance of their most Bosom Intimates, as if there had been a kind of Omnipotency in the Power of France to make Treachery and Falsehood Ubiquitary.  
Perhaps this may be thought a little too severe; but this is not a time to Compliment the Public Enemy of Christendom. This is a Season to speak out, since the welfare of England is involved in the Common Fate of Europe. It is the Business of England to evidence how the French have violated the Law of Nations, which is common to all; and how they have laboured to introduce such Maxims into the World, as would destroy even the whole commerce of Mankind, and render Humane Societies no less Dangerous than a company of Tigers, Bears, and Lions. Nor is England less concerned to defend the Public Faith of Treaties against the crafty Elusions and Acquaint Evasions of the French, and to remove out of the sight of Christendom such Scandalous Examples, which, by consequences no less fatal than unavoidable, would expose the Weakest to the Predominant Will and Pleasure of the strongest, and estabish Force, the Grand Arbitrator of all the Proceed and Affairs of the World. It is the Business of England, in confederacy with Foreign Princes for the General Welfare of Christendom, to betake Herself to such means and courses, as may put a stop to a rapid Torrent against the Impetuosity, of which no Ties of Treaty, Marriage, Oaths, Blood, Kindred, Friendship, or Condescension, can be Mounds and Bulwarks strong enough to keep it within its Channel. It is the Business of England, as far as in Her lies, to defend the common Interest of all Princes and States against a Prodigious Design; which for its Foundation, has nothing but an Exorbitant desire of Conquest; no other End, than only Dominion; no other Means, but force of Arms and Treacherous Policy; nor any other Bounds, but what Chance and Fortune will be pleased to prescribe. Lastly, It is not only the Business, but also for the Glory of England at this time, to recover Her former Grandeur; and as She was wont to do, so at this time to decide the Fortune of Europe, and pronounce the Sentence either of Her Freedom or Slavery: For between these two, there is no Medium to be expected, nor Peace to be secured. England for a long time has lain in a profound Lethargy, and therefore it is high time for Her now to awake, and put Her helping hand to prevent the Misfortunes and Calamities to which all Europe is exposed by the prevailing Tyrannies and Oppression of France.  
We are then in the next place to consider how like a Christian the Most Christian King has dealt with the King of Spain, his Brother, His Friend, and Ally, after a Peace the most Solemnly concluded and ratified, after the most Sacred manner that could be imagined. Certainly the Calamities, the Miseries, the Murders, Rapines and Devastations, and Innumerable Impieties that attend on War, are so disagreeable from the Principles of Christian Religion, that nothing ought to be more Seriously, more Moderately, and more Warily considered than the Justice of undertaking it: And therefore said Herennius, Captain of the Samnites, having entered into a War against the Romans, after all that could be done to procure Peace, Rerum humanarum maximum Momentum est; quam propitiis, quam adversis agant diis. Nor did he justify the War upon any other grounds, than that his Countrymen were constrained to it, and had no other hope but in their Arms. Justum est Bellum, Samnites, quibus necessarium, & pia Arma, quibus nulla nisi in Armis relinquitur spes.  
The Romans, though too blame perhaps in the Samnite War, (for which they dearly paid, and well it might be wished the French might pay as dearly for what they have done,) generally never entered into a War, but they set forth the Justice of their Resentment, which for the most part was in revenge of their Allies, or to secure their Friends and Confederates. Thus the first Punic War was to succour Messana in Sicily, besieged by the Carthaginians. The second in revenge of Saguntum, sacked by Hannibal, contrary to the League between the two Commonwealths. And the third also for Reasons of the same Nature: And so cautious they were to avoid the Scandal of being thought to make War, merely out of an Ambitious desire to extend their Dominions, that after they had vanquished and reduced the Rhodians, who had taken part with Perseus in the Macedonian War, they let them go unpunished: Ne quis divitiarum magis quam injuriae Bellum incoeptum diceret. And the same Author says, that in all the Punic Wars, after the Carthaginians had committed many nefarious Acts and Breaches of Faith to their Detriment, they never took any occasion to do the like; Magis quod se dignum foret, quam quod in illos jure fieri posset quaerebant: So that occasions of enlarging their Dominions were rather offered than sought for by that Victorious Commonwealth. And it is observable, that the Ceremonies of denouncing War that were first instituted by Ancus Martius, the Heathen King of the Romans, were performed as Religiously, and with equal Soleminty to the Ceremonies of their Divine Worship. For when the Fecial came to the confines of the Country, against which the War was intended, Audi Jupiter, he cried; Audite Fines, Audiat Fas: Hear O Jupiter, Hear O ye Confines, hear Right and Justice: I am the Public Messenger of the People of Rome, and come a Fecial, justly and piously sent, and let Faith be given to my Words. After that, having made his demands, he again calls Jupiter to Witness, and thus proceeds. Si ego , impieque illos homines illasque res dedier Nuncio Populi Romani Exposco, tum Patriae Compotem me nunquam sinas esse; if satisfaction were not given by the Prince or People to whom he was thus sent within three and thirty days, the Fecial returned again, and denounced War after this manner. Audi Jupiter, & tu Juno, Quirine, Diique omnes coelestes vosque terrestres, vosque inferni audite; Ego vos testor Populum istum injustum esse, neque jus persolvere, etc.  
Thus the more noble Heathen Romans, before they invaded the Borders of their Enemies, invoked the Gods to Witness the Justice of their Cause, and the Wrongs and Injuries of those that had incensed them to take Arms. On the other side, the Most Christian King not regarding either God or Man, unexpected, unprovok'd, nay, after he had given assurances that he had no such design in his thoughts, thundered into his Neighbour's Territories, under the Protection of League and Amity; and like a sudden Tempest, with Sword and Fire, levels all before him.  Burgundos Fraude Petivit 
Such an Ignoble and Unprincelike way of entering into Hostility, as looks more like Robbing upon the Highway, than a generous Method of War: For that it was a base and ignominious surprisal against the Faith and Honour of a King, besides the Breach of Treaty is apparent from two Circumstances; the one that passed at Paris between the French King himself, and the Marquis De la Fuente Extraordinary Ambassador from Spain, who being upon his return into Spain upon the Death of the Old King, and not a little apprehensive and jealous, that the vast Preparations made in France, were intended against the Queen and the Young Prince, was very importunate with his Most Christian Majesty, to give some new and greater Assurances to the Queen of Spain, of the reality and sincerity of his Intentions, though it were but only to quiet and settle her mind, against all the contrary Advices she received from all Parts. Upon which the Most Christian King with all possible Asseverations engaged his Faith and Royal Word to the Queen, in the Person of her Ambassador, that he would religiously keep the Peace, and continue a most faithful Friendship both to Her and her Son.  
Another circumstance was that of the Arohbishop of Ambrun, who, after the French Army was already in the Field, and had possessed Charleroy, some four or five days before the News of it came to Madrid, protested and vowed in Verbo Sacerdotis, and by all that was Sacred among the Roman Catholics, that his Master intended nothing less than what was reported of him, and that he would never break with the King of Spain, nor invade his Dominions as long as he was under Age. And when the March of the French Army, and the Hostilities which they committed, so little agreed with the Promises of the Most Christian King; answer was made that it was no Breach, but only a taking Possession of what belonged to him: But the only way to surprise Men, is to take them unprovided; and the only way to take them unprovided, is to swear with all the Asseverations imaginable, that you never intent to do them any harm. And this is one of the Most Christian Kings ways of making War upon his Neighbours, so far from giving them thirty three Days Notice of his coming, that he will hardly allow them thirty three Minutes: But it is a meanness in a Prince instructed by so great a Tutor as Mazarine, to be a slave to his Word; for which reason Fides Gallica, is of late become Fides Punica, no sooner given but as soon broken.  
True it is that the French Academy has been long endeavouring to refine their Language, by leaving off the use of some obsolete Words, by introducing others of a new Coin, and enriching it with several acquaint Expressions of a fresher Date; but how they could alter the signification of Words, and call War by the name of Peace, is a thing not easy to be understood: And therefore it were to be wished, they would explain to the World what they mean by the word Rupture, and how they can make a violent Invasion with Men and great Guns, to agree with the Observation of a Treaty, which forbidden all manner of Attempts by armed Force, and was stipulated and contracted to no other end, but to prevent them: That they would explain which way it is possible for Peace to consist with the Fatal effects of War; and how it is to be imagined that wanting the Formality of a Herald to Proclaim the Hostility, it should lose all its Terrors and Injustice; since most Men of ordinary Reason believe that to be a Rupture which opposes the very Essence and Being of the Peace, ranverses the very Foundations, and discomposes all the Harmony of it.  
Now the Causes that moved the two Crowns to make the Pyrenaean League, were the desires of the Welfare, repose and ease of their Subjects. The effect was, to put an end to the many mischiefs of the War; to forget and extinguish all the Causes and Motives which occasioned the War; and to establish a Sincere, Entire, and Durable Peace between the two Kings, and their Successors.  
All which was ranversed by the first Invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, which disturbed the Welfare and repose of the People, renewed the Public Calamities, and rekindled all the Causes of the past Wars.  
But to come to Particulars, the abandoning of Portugal was one of the essential Fundamentals of the Peace, without which it never could have been treated nor concluded. In reference to this, the Sixtieth Article runs thus: For that His Majesty, meaning the Most Christian King, hath foreseen and feared, lest such an Engagement should be an unsurmountable Obstruction to the conclusion of Peace; and consequently, reduce the two Kings to the necessity of a parpetual War. And a little lower in the same Article, he goes on in these Words: Although in consideration of the Peace, and considering the absolute necessity his said Most Christian Majesty has been in to perpetuate the War by the Rupture of the present Treaty, which His Majesty found to be unavoidable, in case he would have any longer insisted upon prevailing in that affair with His Catholic Majesty, to have obtained other conditions, than such as he offered.  
In the second place, it is plain that the King of Spain, to show how resolved he was that France should abandon Portugal, rejected the French King's offering, besides the places he was bound to restore by the present Treaty to his Catholic Majesty; all the rest of the Places and Conquests, generally made by his Arms, during the preceding War, provided that the Affairs of the Kingdom of Portugal might be left in the same condition as they were then, as by another part of the same Article it appears: So that when nothing else would do, it was by the same Article concluded and promised as follows:  
His Majesty will no farther meddle with that Affair, and obliges and engages Himself, and promises upon his Honour, and upon the Word of a King, for Himself and his Successors, not to give unto the said Kingdom of Portugal, either in General, or to any Persons in particular, of what Dignity, State, Condition, or Quality soever they be, now or hereafter, any Help or Assistence, Public or Secret, Directly or Indirectly, of Men, Arms, Ammunition, Victuals, Ships, or Money, upon any pretence or any other thing whatever, either by Land or Sea, or in any other manner: As also, not to suffer that any Levies of Men be made in any parts of his Kingdom or Dominions; nor to grant Passage to any that may come from other States, to the Assistence of the said Kingdom of Portugal.  
One would think that nothing could have been more authentically expressed, or in terms more clear or more particular, beyond the power of Nicety to find a flaw, or to make any other interpretation of the words, contrary to the sense and meaning of the Parties at that time. And yet the Most Christian King found out a way to fail in all the Points, and all the circumstances of his Promise: For notwithstanding his Honour, and the Word of a King, before the Treaty was signed, Cardinal Mazarine, sent privately the Marquis of Cheases into Portugal, to assure them, that tho' in order to the conclusion of the Treaty then on foot with Spain, the French were forced to leave them out, and to engage not to assist them; yet, whatever they promised, they would never forsake them, but would still protect them against Spain, as they had done before: And they kept their word with Portugal, because it was to the prejudice of Spain. To which purpose, the Peace was no sooner concluded, but they suffered several Bands of Soldiers secretly to convey themselves into Portugal; which being complained of by the Marquis De la Fuente, such was the Punic Faith of France, that openly they sent Public Orders to the Governors of their Ports, not to suffer any Soldiers to embark for Portugal, but underhand gave them other Orders to let them pass by way of connivance. Soon after M. Turenne made public levies of Men, for the relief of Portugal, which the Spanish Ambassador representing to the Council of France, received a cold and scornful answer, that it was a particular Act of Martial Turenne, wherein the Court was no way concerned: Nor did the French cease to furnish the Portuguieses with Corn, and all sorts of Warlike Ammunition and Provision. Moreover, Letters were intercepted by the Spaniard, by which they were ascertained, that all along after the Peace was concluded, the French fomented and encouraged the obstinacy of the Portuguieses, and diverted them from accepting the advantageous conditions that were offered them, by animating them with the hopes of potent Succours, not only for their own defence, but also to carry an offensive War into the heart of Spain. Other Letters were likewise intercepted, Written from the Arch Bishop of Ambrun, and Monsieur Lienne confirming the continual correspondence which was between them in favour of the Portugals: Nor was this all, for the D. of B. was presently after the Treaty, sent to lie with the French Fleet upon the Coast of Portugal, and stayed there a whole Summer to secure the coming and landing of Provisions and Ammunition, of which the Portuguieses were then in extreme want; and this at the same time that the French offered to mediate an Accommodation between Spain and Portugal. Nor was it long after the conclusion of the Pyrenaean Treaty, that Monsieur Colbert made several Voyages into Portugal, to encourage them against the Spaniards, and to enter into secret Alliance with them: And sometime after the Spaniards took a French Vessel, wherein was found an account of the succours which France had sent from time to time into that Kingdom; by which it appeared, that France had paid at her own expense a standing Army in Portugal, to support a War against Spain.  
And to complete her Perfidy, at length she concluded a League offensive with that Kingdom, of which these were the principal Conditions: That they would be the Friends of each others Friends, and Enemies of each others Enemies, England only excepted: That France should furnish them with as many Men, as should be necessary to carry an offensive War into Spain, both by Sea and Land, and should advance by way of Loan, the one half of the Pay for the maintenance of the Auxiliary Troops. That France moreover should pay them every Year by way of Loan, the sum of 300000 Crowns, and that all the Ports which should be taken from the Spaniards upon either Sea, should be put into the hands of the French, and that they should not treat either of Truce or League without joint consent. This League to continue Ten Years.  
By so many several Instances, let all the World be judges how little credit there is to be given to the Punic Faith of France, or what any other Prince can expect from his Honour, or his Promises in any matter whatsoever; who thus foully forfeited such a most Solemn Engagement to the Crown of Spain. For that a Treaty carried on between two Princes in order to a Marriage, which is one of the most Solemn Negotiations that can be handled among Men, and confirmed by an Oath, sanctified with all the most sacred Mysteries of Christian Religion, for a punctual obligation of performance, should be thus inhumanly violated, is not to be paralleled by any Example or Instance in History.  
That noble example of the Roman Consuls, who bid Hanno not to fear, the Public Faith secured him, is a thing of late unknown in France, where there is no security or trust in the Honour or Royal Promise of the Prince. For his truth to Portugal was only self-interest, to support the Portuguieses against Spain, as formerly the French were wont to league with Scotland against England; so that whether the Character of Amurath the first, Emperor of the Turks, who is said to have been Homo fallax, qui datam fidem ex opportunitate proferendi imprimis metiebatur, bella & pace simulato Egregius, may not fitly be applied to the Most Christian King, is left for them to determine who have felt the smart of his broken Leagues; which brings us to the second Breach of the Pyrenaean Treaty. It is said, and acknowledged by the Plenipotentiaries in 33d. Article of that Treaty, that the particular Capitulation of Marriage between the French King and the Eldest Daughter of Spain, bearing date with the General Treaty, was of the same force and vigour with the Treaty of Peace, as being the chiefest part thereof, and the most worthy, as well as the greatest and most precious Earnest of the security of its Duration.  
The Queen Mother of France, and Aunt to the Infanta, desiring nothing more than the happy and suitable Union of two Persons that were so dear in her Affection, to remove all impediments, and dispel the doubts and scruples of the Spanish Counsel; found out an expedient, that by the contract of Marriage, the Infanta should absolutely renounce all manner of Right or Claim, which she might for ever have to the whole, or any parts of the Spanish Succession under any Pretence or Title whatever, to the end the Spanish Monarchy might in no case be liable, either to Foreign Subjection, or to be Dismembered: And they were more inclinable on both sides to this expedient, because the way had been opened for them before by the Example of the Queen-Mother, whose Renunciation was of the same Nature with the Pyrenaean, both in form and substance, and grounded upon the same incompatibility of the two Successions.  
The King of Spain believing the same sincerity in others as in himself, harkened to the offer, and thought that with such a precaution he might reconcile the Spanish Law with the Salic, and fully secure the Liberty of his Subjects. France on the other side acknowledged the thing to be just and usual, and freely consented to it, for the sake of the general good that should result from such a Peace, and confirm him in the possession of so many conquests. Thereupon the Instrument was drawn up by consent, and the French King obliged himself to ratify it.  
Whence it is plain, that the Renunciation was an essential Member of the Peace, the very Soul and an inseparable condition of the Treaty of Marriage, without which it never had been projected nor concluded, and consequently neither the Treaty of Peace.  
Then again, that it was no private Act, but a Law and Pragmatic Sanction established by joint consent of the two Crowns, is as clear from the words of the Act itself; And in the fifth and sixth Articles of the said Treaty, it has been decreed and resolved by joint consent, that is to say, of the two Kings; and with one will, after serious consideration, etc. that both myself, and the Children which God shall give me by this Marriage, are and shall remain uncapable, disabled, and absolutely excluded from any right or hope to succeed in any of the Kingdoms, States, Signiories, etc. And a little lower, condescending to this with the joint desire and earnest wishes of their Subjects, Vassals, and Natives, who desire that it may have the force and vigour of a Law and Pragmatic Sanction, and that it may be received and observed as such; and some lines lower in the following Section, are added these words: And it shall be decreed, by joint consent, that it is their Majesty's Pleasure, that this Act shall have the force and vigour of a Law Established in favour of their Kingdoms, and the public interests of them.  
A little above the three moving causes are specified; And in regard it concerns the Public State of both Crowns, that being so large, they may never come to be united together, and to prevent all occasions that may happen of joining them, &c, which is more fully explained two Pages lower. And having jointly regard to the Public and Common Good of the Kingdoms, which God has entrusted him with, which together with these belonging to the Crown of France, are equally interested in this; that the Grandeur and Majesty which they have upheld and maintained for so many Years together, with so much Happiness and Glory to the renown of their Kings, may not be diminished nor fall to decay, as of necessity they will diminish and fall, if by the means and cause of this Marriage, they shall happen to unite and be joined together in any one of the Children and Successors; the ill consequences whereof would cause such discontents and afflictions to the Subjects, as aught to be considered: Then the causes of the Renunciation are expressed to be the public good of the Kingdoms, the preservation of the Grandeur, and Glory of their Majesties; to prevent the discontents of the People, and the Inconveniences which might otherwise arise, and to facilitate for the future the Marriages between the Children and Successors of the two Princes. All which causes being in their own nature unalterable, and of necessity absolute, could not be fastened upon any particular Act, nor limited to any testrictive conditions.  
This League therefore thus grounded upon these Foundations, were such Limitations and bounds to a Person aspring to the Universal Monarchy of Europe, as were not to be fenced in with the common Ties and restraints of Oaths and Treaties. And therefore so soon as the Old King of Spain was dead, the French Lawyers, well understanding the humour of their Sovereign, and preferring the little Quirks of Law before the Public Faith started up a claim for their King in the right and behalf of his Wife the Infanta, notwithstanding her Solelmn Renunciation, which was made a Member of the body of the Treaty, and as sacredly sworn to by the French King himself; pretending that a great part of the Spanish Low Countries was devolved to him in her Right by the Municipal Laws, and Local Customs of those Countries. Whereas it is a thing well known, that when Sovereign Princes enter into Treaties (which are indeed the true and only Laws between Monarches) they are regulated and confirmed according to the Law of Nations common to all; and being so to be understood, it is an idle thing for Civilians to imagine, that a consideration of Laws Municipal, or customs belonging to any particlar Country, under the Dominion of either of the Treating Princes, can be admitted to the overthrowing of a Treaty, or the depriving either of the Parties of the Benefit and Security which he has thereby.  
But notwithstanding the Renunciation was so carefully Penned, as if a whole Grand Council of Civil Lawyers had been called to outdo all former Terms and expressions used in such Contracts, and to find out new binding Clauses; to prevent all possibility of Evasion, the French King was more easily induced to believe that his own great Cannon-Law was above all other Law, and more consentaneous to his Reason and h●s Designs; and therefore against the very sense and end of the Renunciation, under the slight pretence of a Nonentity, he betook himself to force and violence, and with a powerful Army fell on a sudden upon Flanders, and other parts of the Spanish Territories, with such an Inundation of War, that it was impossible for the unprovided Spaniard to resist him; more especially, after such deep Asseverations, that all his vast Preparations were no way intended against the Spanish Dominions.  
These prosperous successes occasioned the Triple League, which put a stop to the French Career, and brought on another Treaty, which was managed at Aken, or Aix la Chappell●, in order to a new Agreement between France and Spain. The Observation of which affords us another instance of that ye call French Fidelity.  
By this Treaty the French King was to remain possessed of Charleroy, Binch, A'the, Douai, the Fort of Scarp, Turnay, Oudenard, Lille, Armentiers, Courtray, Bergues, and Turns, and all their Bailiwicks, etc. and restore to the King of Spain the County of Burgundy together with Alost. And to this Treaty all the Princes of Christendom were invited to give the two Kings their Promises and Engagements of Warranty, as to all the Contents of the Treaty. And by another Article of the Treaty it was accorded, that whatever should on the day of the Ratification of the Peace be found upon the Lands of France, should appertain to Her, and that whatever in like manner should be found upon the Lands of Spain, should appertain to the Crown of Spain; but, as if it were an impossibility for France to keep her word, the Most Christian Prince designing to make his Advantage of this Article, before the Ratification came, caused the Axe to be set to a Wood of Overgrown Trees, which was upon the Lands of Spain, and having felled the Timber, transported it into his own Dominions, that when the Ratification should come, he might have an excuse for what he had done.  
In like manner, though he were to restore all Burgundy by the Articles of this Treaty without reservation, and though he were Sworn upon the Cross, the Holy Evangelists, the Canons of the Mass, and upon his Honour, fully, really, and bona fide to observe and accomplish all the contents of the Articles: yet he both dismantled the strong Holds and Places of the County, carried away all the Ammunitions and Warlike Provisions, and would have destroyed the Rich Salt Pits of that Province, but for the powerful Interposition of England and H●lland.  
Nor could this Treaty of Aix, so religiously sworn to tie up the French King from exacting heavy Contributions from the Duchess of Lymburgh and Luxenburgh, from laying new claims to some Towns as important as any of those that had been granted him by the Peace; nor from confiscating the Estates of the Subjects of the King of Spain, that refused to forswear their Allegiance, not sparing the Royal House of Mary Mont. And as if these Infractions and Encroachments had not been sufficient, they forced their way with great Quantities of Merchandise through the Spanish Territories, without paying Customs, and not long after enveavoured to surprise the Town of Hainault. And in short, they did whatever they pleased, plundered even the most sacred Places, and acted without remorse or pity, whatever can be imagined by insolent and unconscionable Men.  
This perfidious dealing of France with England and Spain, spreading over Europe like a Gangrene, as it proved extremely prejudicial to some, so it became no less pernicious to others of the European Princes.  
Among the rest, the Duke of Lorraine, by the Pyrenaean Treaty, was to be restored to his Dukedom of Lorraine, with all the Places and Towns which he had possessed in the Bishoprics of Mets, Toul, and Verdun. But France, after the Exeeution of the other Articles of that Peace, delayed as long as she could the performance of that part which related to the Duke, and still refused to restore him to his Country, till she had made him condeseend to another Treaty with her, whereby he was constrained to part with several other considerable Places, besides what had been granted to him by the General Peace. Nor would that Usurpation satisfy her voracious Appetite; for that after a Year and an half of an unsettl'd Possession, during which time, under several unjust pretences, new quarrels were every day picked with him, till she forced him with a considerable Army, to surrender into her hands his Town of Marsul.  
Nor was it long after before the French again compelled him to sign a new Treaty, still more disadvantageous than the two former; nor could he then, as little as before, have any quiet Enjoyment of that little they had left him, till they had wormed him out of all. For every day the French encroached upon his Jurisdiction, the Liberties of his Territories, and his Sovereignty itself: He laid most Enormous Taxes upon the Duke's Subjects; he constrained him to disband his Forces, and then to raise new Men again, as the Most Christian Usurper thought fit. He was kept from revenging his own Quarrels, to take part in that of others, all his Enemies were let lose against him, to stop the progress of his Armies, as soon as he had gained the least Advantage. And in few Words, the Noble Duke, who deserved a much better Treatment, was all that while rather a Vassal to France, than a Sovereign Prince. Neither would this satisfy the Ambition of the French King, who finding by many circumstances how highly the Duke resented such Despotic Usage, he sent one of his Generals to surprise and seize his Person, and to bring him either dead or alive. A new French Mode of dealing with Sovereign Princes, not known in the more generous Climates of Europe, and which may give us some Hopes of seeing the Northern part of the World governed by Bassa's as well as the Eastern.  
But 'tis an infallible Maxim, that every Prince dispossessed of his Estate, may hold for certain there will be nothing omitted on the Usurper's part, or Conqueror in Possession, to ruin him if possible, and all his Generation. Therefore 'tis not strange that the French King should leave no Stone unturned for the Destruction of His Highness of Lorraine: From hence it was, that the Imperial Governor of Philipsburgh, the same who afterwards basely and cowardly surrendered up that Garrison to Crequi, so notoriously and openly as he did, attempted the Destruction of that Prince, by a Trap-door which he cunningly caused to be contrived for that purpose in the Bridge of that Place; through which the Duke, not dreaming of any such French Treachery so near him, fell head long to the Bottom of the Ditch. For may it not be justly inferred, that this Governor had capitulated and agreed with some Christian Minister of France, to execute so greatfull a piece of Treason, more especially, since it was by the Power of the Favourers of France at Vienna, that the Traitors escaped altogether unpunished.  
And now we are come to Vienna, it will not be amiss to take a short view of the Most Christian King's behaviour towards the Emperor, where he will be found nothing changed either in his Morals or his Politics.  
As for the occasion that ever his Imperial Majesty gave the French King, to make such Bloody Wars upon Him, there is no body that can tell of any: Nor is it probable that a Prince so good Natured, so Piously inclined, so much given to Repose, and Peace, and so averse from contending with his Neighbours, or making War upon his Inferiors, as he is said to be, should be an Aggressor: But all the World knows that it has been long the Ambition of France to grasp in his hands the Universal Monarchy of the fourth part of the Habitable Earth; and this is that which makes the French King seek Occasions of Public Universal Disturbance, and the better to succeed, to leave nothing unattempted that force or fraud can procure. It is no Quarrel between Nations, bearing enmity to one another, neither is it in revenge of Injuries received, but an impotent Rage and Lust of Empire in one Man, that has set all Europe together by the Ears; Delirat Ludovicus, plectitur Europa. One man is mad for the Empire, and that madness of one man sets all Europe in a Flame.  
Now for that the worst of Usurpers would be thought to have some glittering pretence for their Injustice, therefore it is that the French King makes it his business, to find out men of Wit and Cavil, to turmoil for Justifications of his illegal Actions; such men are easily found, and the Temptations of Gold makes them no less sedulous to gratify the Jupiter that commands the Golden Showers; so that if they can but find him a Pretence of Claim, he'll find Armies and Bombs to make it good. Under the warmth of such Golden Encouragements was Hatched that Elaborate Peice, Entitled, The just Pretensions of the King (meaning the French King) to Europe; wherein after the Author has laid it for a Foundation, that the Demesnes and Conquests of Kingdoms are always the Demesnes and Conquests of Sovereigns, and that the Conquests and Demesnes of Crowns cannot be ascertained or prescribed; he adds, That the greater part of Germany is the Patrimony and Ancient inheritance of the French Kings.  
Charlemaigne possessed Germany not as Emperor, but as King of France. From which Doctrine it is evident, that his Imperial Majesty, nor indeed any Prince in Europe, can ever be safe, nor hope for any quiet, while the Ambition of France is in a condition to lay such a claim to their Dominions. More especially, since it is known by woeful experience, that the French King gives no other Reasons for his unjust Violences, nor cares to give any other than what the Lion gave to the weaker Beasts; one part is his Right, as King of the Forest, another because he is able to subdue; the third he takes by Force, and for the rest, touch it who dares.  
Another Cunning, to set up a French Title is by the means of certain Scribes, as good as ever Granger, so dextrous at the strokes of their Pens, that they will imitate the obsolete Gothick Characters with that exactness, that you would swear they were Written above Five or Six Hundred Years ago, and by that means, they will set up a Dependence from such a distance of time, that Beelzebub himself shall not be able to disprove it.  
Upon these Foundations it was, that as if he were dealing only with the Farmers of his Revenues, by a Public Declaration he erected a Sovereign Court at Mets, composed according to the custom of France, of a dozen of his Lawyers, who, by virtue of the King's Authority, and the Ministry of the Catchpoles of that clandestine Jurisdiction, summon before them all such Kings and Princes as are possessed of any Territory which the King is pleased to call a Dependence upon any State, with which he has nothing to do; and when no body appears to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of this Tyrannical and Universal Piepoudre, and to give them an account by what Right they possess what their Predecessors have for three or four Hundred Years peaceably enjoyed; presently the Most Christian Prince makes his own Power his Judges and his Army his Advocates, and immediately with Fire and Sword seizes upon the confiscated Dominion. And by virtue of such Pretensions as these, he claims and has possessed himself of the Dukedom of Lorraine, the Duchy of Deux Ponts, and the best part of Alsatia, as being dependencies of the Bishoprics of Toul, Metz, and Verdun; and consequently must be united to the Demesnes of the Crown of France.  
Having then so clear a Title to the Empire, no wonder he pursues so dreadfully the recovery of his Right. And yet the true Mother of the Child could not endure to see the Bowels of her Infant ripped up before her Eyes; no, nor can we believe the Most Christian Prince to be the Hereditary Father of those Countries, which, in detestation of all Compassion, he so inhumanly ransacks and depopulates; being then a Spurious Title, disowned by the Legitimate Parents of all true Titles, Law, and Justice, which only fraud and force could make good. Of both how dreadfully, and how too successfully the Ambitious Monarch has made use in asserting his illegal claims, all Europe can too sadly testify; no less lavish of his Gold than of humane Blood. The Grand Visier, and the Cham of Precopite Tartary, were his Pensioners, dazzled with several Millions of his Lovisian Medals; the one to divert the Arms of Poland; the other to keep his Imperial Majesty employed in the utmost Limits of his Dominions, bordering upon Turkey, that he with the less resistance might revel in the Ruins of the flourishing Gardens and Cities of the Rhine. And as he tramples under foot all Faith and Honour at Home so by tampering with the Ministers and Subjects of other Princes, he instructs them here to manage their fidelity to the best advantage of his own Ambition, and by a Metal of his own, tries what Metal they are made of before he deal with their Masters. And with this sort of White Powder, which does execution without Noise, shoots down more Citadels, Castles, and strong Holds, and takes in more Towns than all the Thunder of his Cannon. In so much, that it has been observed, that when his Ambassadors go abroad, they either carry along with them the Principal Engines, or else they are sent after them; an Ambassador, or an Agent go before his Army, and then usually a Conquest follows. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is his Motto: A new way to Honour and Renown, unknown to Alexander, or any of the dull Roman Conquerors.  
Had not the Steward of Commissary General Capellier's House been tainted with this golden Poison, he had never been surprised by his Master in the very Act of Traitorous Correspondence with the Minister of France, to whom he gave an exact account of all he could discover in his Master's House. And to confirm what his Master had detected, at length certain Letters, which the Steward was to have received from the French Minister, were seized at the Imperial Post-Office in Frankford.  
After the Peace of Nimeguen, the City of Strasburgh thought itself in full security, confirmed by several fervent and vehement Letters, which the French King wrote to them from time to time, and the assurances given them by his Resident abiding in the City, that his Master desired nothing more than to live in Peace and Amity with the Emperor, and with the Cities of the Empire. And yet by the underhand, contending and tampering with the same Resident, a Traitor was chosen Burghermaster, who acted altogether conformable to the Advice of France. On the other side, the Magistrates and Burghesses being lulled asleep by the fair Promises and Protestations of France, dismissed their Guard of Swissers, which were the chief security of their City: But no sooner were the Swissers departed, but Monsieur Louvoy with a powerful Army invested the City, and forced them to surrender upon such Conditions as he was pleased to prescribe them. After which the French King made no scruple to violate those pitiful Articles which they granted them, and to treat them as Slaves like the rest of his Subjects.  
The Treaty of Nimeguen began in the Name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity; and the end of it was, that there should be an  and unshaken Peace between his Imperial Majesty and the French King, to stop the desolation of so many Provinces, and the Effusion of so much Christian Blood; yet, no sooner was the Emperor engaged against the Turk, and that Spain and her Allies had laid down their Arms and disbanded the greatest part of their Forces, relying upon the Faith of the Treaty of Nimeguen, but the Most Christian King fell in upon Flanders with a more than Turkish Fury, Burning, Plundering, and Levelling with the Earth whole Towns and Villages, on purpose to constrain the People to revolt, and to become his Vassals to preserve themselves from utter ruin.  
The Correspondence of the Most Christian King with the Ottoman Port, is too well known, and how it was at his Most Christian Importunity, that the Grand Signior broke the first Truce which he had made with the Empire, to second the designs of Count Teckeley. whom France, out of a particular Zeal to the Catholic Religion, assisted with Men and Money, and that prevailing charm it was that wrought upon the Port to send back Count Caprara, and reject the Propositions of Peace which he carried along with him. Of which the Marquis of Seppeville, than the French Ambassador at Viena, failed not with all diligence to give his Master Notice; who with no less sedulity dispatched another Person to the Grand Visier, to oblige and encourage him to contrive the Siege of Vienna, urging him that it was for his Honour not to quit it; That the City was at its last Gasp, and that it behoved him to take it, whatever it cost him, for the sake of his Reputation, and the public Good of the Port; for that the Siege having made such a noise in the World, he could not leave the prosecution of it without Eternal Infamy to the Ottoman Empire, and the Grand Vizier; adding withal, that to facilitate the taking of the Town, and to divide the Emperor's Forces, his Master would enter into Flanders with a Puissant Army, which would infallibly oblige the Princes of the Empire, to recall their Forces for their own Security. And in that point, he was as good as his Word to the Turk, entering Flanders at the same time with Fire and Sword, as if he had been second to Mahomet. But when Vienna was relieved, he was so far from partaking in the general Joy of the rest of the Christian World, that he forbidden his ecclesiastics to observe any Thanksgiving for the Victory of the Christians, upon pain of incurring his High Displeasure.  
Nor is it only by the assistence of open and professed Infidels, that the French King fights the Emperor abroad, but by the means of his pretended Friends, and nearest Counsellors, who having fingered the Gold of France, become Traitors to their Lawful Prince, and betray his very Cabinet Secrets. This occasioned the misunderstanding that happened between the Duke of Brandenburg and Montecuculi, General of the Imperial Forces in the Holland War.  
For in the Year 1672. when all Europe looked upon the United Provinces near the brink of Destruction, the Elector of Brandenburg, fore seeing the consequences to be expected from the successful enterprises of France, took the Field with a considerable Army, at what time Montecuculi was on his March, with a design to act jointly. Upon which Turenne was sent to oppose those two Armies, but by the several Marches and Counter Marches which the Elector made, Turenne's Army was so tired and harassed, that about the end of the Campaigne it was in so miserable a condition, that all Turenne could do, was to defend himself; which caused the Elector to make a vigorous Remonstrance of all things to be made to the Imperial Council. Which wrought so effectually, that positive Orders were sent Montecuculi to join the Elector and fight Turenne, without farther loss of time; so that nothing but Treachery, the mode of France, could have prevented the Total Ruin of Turenne's Army. But the French Instruments in the Imperial Court so ordered the matter, that Montecuculi's Orders were changed, and an express command sent him, neither to join the Elector, nor to fight Turenne. The Elector, who had received from the Court of Vienna a formal Letter, which gave him an Account of the true Order which the Emperor had sent his General to join him, and fight the shattered Enemies, wondered when Montecuculi, being by him summoned to execute the Order, refused to obey it: But Montecuculi, who knew nothing of the Letter sent the Elector, could do no less than follow his own Instructions.  
The Elector was concerned in Reputation to make the Emperor sensible of Montecuculi's proceed; and if Montecuculi was strangely surprised, when at his return to Vienna, his Imperial Majesty called him to a strict Account, why he neither joined the Brandenburgher, nor fought Turenne, the Emperor was no less amazed, when his General produced for his discharge an Order in exact form, forbidding him to do either the one or the other. This was a perfect Mystery, however, afterwards it was found out to have been a contrivance between the French Emissaries, and some of the Imperial Ministers, who having easily found a way to intercept the Original Order, and in the same Dispatch to transmit a false one under a counterfeited Hand and Seal. And thus perhaps it was that General Souches, after the Battle of Senneff, drew off from the Prince of Orange, and left him in the Lurch, under pretence of not having order to do any more than what he had done.  
Tarbrack was a Town upon the Borders of Germany, that stood conveniently for the purposes of the French King, and therefore he resolved to fortify it. On the other side, the Imperialists complained of it to the French King, as a Truce and Treaty both at one time; but all the Answer they could get, was, that the Royal Chamber of Mets had irrevocably decreed it to belong to the Crown of France, and therefore the Imperialists had no reason to complain of a Sovereign Monarch's fortifying his Frontier Towns.  
His very proposals of Marriage are only snares to entrap such Princes as will accept of his Matches; and because his main design is at the Empire, therefore he strives to scatter his Circe's and Medea's among the Princes of Germany. Believing Wives to be the fittest Instruments to betray their Husbands, and the nuptial sheets to be the securest Harbours for Treachery.  
Thus after the Marquis of Bethune's Sister was married to the King of Poland, jealousies between the King her Husband and the Emperor were fomented, and Factions set up in that Country, by the means of those Golden Rays which the Sun of France displays in that Court by the Hands of the Bankers of Hamburgh and Dantzick. And the more to encourage her to play her Gaime according to the French Instructions, his Most Christian Majesty made her Father a Duke and Peer of France, and promised to receive her as a Queen, and not as a Subject, if she returned a Widow, in her own Country. Thus he thought to have caught the Young Duke of Bavaria with one of his natural Daughters; but that Heroic Prince despised the Motion. And if the French King were assured that the Young Prince of Poland should succeed his Father, there is another natural Daughter of France ready prepared for him; for otherwise, it would be a Daughter merely thrown away, if she could not be in a Station to serve her own Country. For that the main end of the French King, in giving French Wives to the King of Poland, and the several Princes of Germany, is to divide the strength of the Empire, and lessen the Authority of the Emperor, by separating from his interest the particular Princes of the Empire by private Intrigues, and distinct Treaties, which though it be contrary to the Treaty of Munster, yet that signifies nothing to a Prince who has no such Veneration for Leagues as to think them worth observing.  
As for the French King's dealing with the Duke of Nieuburgh it was somewhat Barbarous; for that, after the French King had caused him to Mortgage the greatest part of his Estate almost beyond the hopes of Redemption, in expectation of the Polish Crown, to which France had promised to advance him by the assistence of a strong Party, which she had in that Kingdom, contrary to the Treaties, as well with the Duke as with the Elector of Brandenburg, and to his reiterated Promises and Vows, both by word of Mouth and in Writing; he underhand, by his Creatures and Agents, opposed the Duke's pretensions, and endeavoured with all the industry and importunity imaginable, to have the Prince of Conde preferred before him, and all the rest of his Competitors; a sufficient warning to all Princes how they rely upon the broken Reed of French Integrity.  
The Elector of Brandenburg was environed with French Emissaries and Spies, and some of his Principal Ministers so intoxicated with the Elixirs of France, that nothing was said or done in his Palace, of which the French Envoy had not swift Intelligence. And the World was well informed of all the Intrigues and large Presents, which Monsieur De Rebenack scattered about in that Court; of which the Agent himself was so unwary, or so foolish, as to make his boasts.  
The Elector of Saxony better understood his own Interest, and therefore would not by't at the Golden Hook, as one that disdained the treacherous Offers of France; but the French King endeavoured by other ways to raise him disturbances in his own Family, and to set him at Variance with his Neighbours, which would have strangely imbroild him, had not the Emperor in time provided against those Mischiefs. However, lest it should be said there was any Court in Christendom, wherein the French King had not some Plough or other going, he forbears not to send into Saxony such as know how to accommodate themselves to the Humour of the Country, more especially the stoutest Drinkers he can find out, who by that means, making themselves familiar at the Tables of the Great Persons, watch their opportunities in the height of Jollity and Compotation to draw the Worms out of their Noses, and dive into the bottoms of their opened hearts.  
The Palatine Electors, neither Father nor Son, would close with the Interest of the French, and therefore his most Christian Majesty sacrificed the depopulated Cities of that Country to his Fury, even to the compassion of some that were the Executioners of his Rage; a Depopulation which none but such Monsters of Men as the Most Christian King employs would have undertaken; Men so impious and fearless of God, that one of them being mildly reprehended for the burning of a fair Town, replied, That he would burn God in Heaven, if his Master the King of France commanded him to do it. But perhaps the Most Christian King is of the Opinion of the Ancient Galls, believing there is no way to give peace to a Country, but by rooting out the Inhabitants, according to that of Tacitus, Galli, ubi solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appellant.  
Nor could the Bishop of Munster, as cunning as he was, preserve himself from being out-witted by the French infidelity. For that being comprehended in the League of the Rhine, when he found himself attacked by the States of Holland within the Empire, he implored the Aid of France according to the Guarranty, but in vain; for which when he was about to make his complaint, he was of a sudden overwhelmed with the Forces of France, and had not his Enemies used Moderation toward him more than his own Ally, his Territories though the Patrimony of the Church, had been laid in Ashes before now.  
When the French King broke Faith with Holland, to the surprise of a great part of their Country, he was so far from assigning any Cause, true or false, for his Actions, that he only published a Declaration of War without any other Reasons, than only the Ill satisfaction which His Majesty had of the behaviour of the State's General toward him, being risen to that Degree, that he can no longer without Diminution of his Glory, dissemble his Indignation against them, etc. Therefore he had resolved to make War against them by Sea and Land, etc. And commands all his Subjects courir sus upon the Hollanders, for such is Our Pleasure.  
Certainly it was never known that in any Age or Nation in the World the Sword was drawn upon no better Allegations; a style so far from being Most Christian, that nothing but some French Romance could parallel the Expression. All that can be said, 'twas A-la-mode de France.  
But Holland had no reason to wonder at these proceed, considering what a Prank the French King had played them before, when he pretended to join with them in the War against England. At what time France, by virtue of a Treaty of Guarranty with the States of the United Provinces, after several requests ineffectally made by the States, found herself obliged to make a show of undertaking to defend them against England; among the rest of the Articles, there was one by which it was concluded and agreed in express terms, that the Allies should not Negotiate, much less conclude any Peace or Truce with the common Enemy, without the consent of the other, and without procuring the same satisfaction for his Ally, as he would for himself. The States tied themselves with that Integrity to this Obligation, that notwithstanding the considerable Advantages offered them to treat separately; they would not so much as lend an Ear to any Proposition of that Nature. France on the other side, had always kept on Foot a private Negotiation, which nevertheless the Dutch had all the Reason in the World to suspect, because of the continual Posting of Curriers between Paris and London. However France confirmed them so authentically in a contrary belief, and gave them such positive Promises, that she would never hearken to any Proposition, unless in a joint Assembly, for a General Peace, that she ordered the Count D' Estrades, that in Case the States would not give Credit to what he assured them as an Ambassador, he should quit that Character for so long time, and pawn his Faith to them as a Private Person. A great honour indeed to the Count d' Estrade, to have the Reputation of a Person that would not tell an untruth, but under the Character of a Public Minister of France, and that the Probity of his Person was above the Dignity of his Employment. Though had he been so improvident to have been bound for his Master, he must certainly have answered both the Principal and Interest; for certain it is that England and France concluded the Peace without the consent or so much as the knowledge of the States; neither did France make any mention of them or their Interests, or of any reserve or relation to the General Peace. But that which was more surprising was this, that after the French King had thus concluded a private Peace with England, notwithstanding he had promised the King not to exercise any Act of Hostility against him, he used all his endeavours to oblige the Dutch to put forth their Fleet to Sea, engaging to join with them, and agreeing upon all the Conditions necessary for that purpose. A double headed piece of Treachery, fit to be recorded to the Eternal Infamy of the Faith Breaker.  
If we look into Sweden, we shall find that she was considered as more potent than Denmark, and therefore a League was clapped up with them, to prevent the Danes assisting Holland, and by that League the King of Sweden was to receive by way of Pension or Gratuity, Sixteen Hundred Thousand Crowns. But the French, upon second Thoughts, finding the Treaty with the Sweeds to be of little use to them, refused to ratify it, and sent away Monsieur Trelon, to tell the King of Sweden in short, that his Master declared it void; a quick and Majestic way to rescind a Treaty at any time.  
If we remove into Poland, there you shall find no body more busy than the French King's Ambassadors at the Elections of the King, to procure the choice of such a one as may be tacked to his Interest, or at least such a one as may have no kindness to the House of Austria, and all this to enable him the more to disturb the Peace of the Empire. In pursuance of which ungodly designs, under a pretence of Advancing the Affairs of Poland, and settling a perfect Amity with that Kingdom, the French King contrived a Marriage for the Polish Prince, with a Lady of France. By which means he had a fair opportunity to send thither as her Attendants, and for the more Splendour of her Fame, so many expert Instruments of Mischief, that immediately they formed and settled a Cabal with such Intrigues as in a short time inflamed the Nobility of that Kingdom into Animosities and Factions, not likely to be so soon again extinguished: And at that time they wrought so far, that the King soon after became willing to resign the Kingdom; upon which, the Turk, seeing the great Divisions that were raised among them, was the more easily allured in by the French Cabal, who procured by Versallian's directions that Mischief, partly out of revenge because they could not compass another King either of French Blood or French Interest at the next Election, and partly, because the New King had contracted a Marriage with the Emperor's Sister.  
And now Poland, by reason of its Situation, being sheltered under the Wings of the French Ambassador, is fixed upon by the French, to convey themselves from thence into Hungary, and the Ottoman Port, for the better and more easy carrying on their Intrigues between France, the Male Contents, and the Turk. And first, it appeared by several Letters dispersed both in Constantinople, Transilvania, and Hungary, that upon the 30th. of December, 1681. the War was resolved upon, and Sworn to against the Emperor, in the Seraglio of Constantinople, in the Holy Council, called the Divan, where the Mufti, High Priest of the Mahomitan Religion, sits Precedent. Which sufficiently laid open the Authors and Procurers of that War, and clearly showed, that the French were not ashamed, as if it had been a famous Action in them to take advice of the Divan, and applaud the success of the Negotiation, as they did in their Letters written backwards and forwards to the Rebels, in which they congratulated with the Rebels; for having drawn the Rebels to their Succour, they promised each other in their Letters all the Advantages they could expect, which aimed at no less than to have driven the Emperor out of the best of his Dominions.  
It was known that such of the Hungarians as were forced to run their Country for conspiring against the Emperor, lived only upon such supplies of Money as they received from the French, to the end they should not be constrained to make their Peace with the Emperor, whose Clemency they were made believe extended no farther than to offer it; so that they resolved to prosecute their Enterprise upon the Promises that were made them from France. Which was the reason that Akakia renewed and confirmed more powerfully than ever the League and Alliance with the Malcontents in Hungary. The French Emissaries also, without any shame of violating the Law of Nations, and in Countries where the Solemn Treaty of Peace was in full force, though they had been manifestly discovered in a secret Conspiracy, run on afterwards more than ever with an unparallelled Impudence, as if all things had been lawful for them to act without control.  
An Hundred Thousand Florins were ordered at Paris to foment the Discontents of the Hungarian Rebels, and quicken the Motion of the Turks; which sum was delivered at Dantzick, and paid into the Hands of a Banker, who afterwards delivered it into the Hands of the French Emissaries, at several Payments, the better to hid the Business. And the Sieur du Vernay Boucauldi, Count Teckely's real Spy, caused to be delivered to the Sieur Valentine Nemessan 11300 ducats, to oblige the Malcontents to take Arms again▪ and attack the Citadel of Zatmar, after the French Mode; that is, to endeavour to gain the Garrison or Citizens with Money.  
These Tricks of the French Emissaries were so well known, that the Princess Radzivilliana forbade the suffering any French to pass through her Country of Saculia, fearing lest they should as in other Places, corrupt her People with Money, and one being taken passing through her Country, was by her command laden with Irons, and severely punished. Nevertheless they took other Roads, and had frequent private interviews with Valentin Nemessan, Peter Jagel, and other particular Friends and Allies of Teckely. They made it their Business likewise to have more and more frequent conferences in Transilvania, sending first one, and then another to Paris with ample Accounts of their Proceed, and for farther Instructions.  
Of all these things the Emperor's Ambassador in the Court of Poland complained to his Majesty, and desired that no French Man, not being an Ambassador, or bearing some other Employment, might be permitted to stay in his Dominions. Upon which the King gave Notice to the French Ambassador, to order Akakia and Du Vernay to withdraw: The Senate also told the same Ambassador, that they well understood that the French were they who had stirred up the Troubles in Hungary; that they knew what Money had been given for it, what Cabals they had held, and what the Sieur du Vernay kept ●very day. They declared him to be a Spy, and that he had no other business to detain him about Leopold, but only to treat with the Turks and Mahometans about drawing the War into Hungary. The Ambassador answered, that Vernay was sent with him into Poland to manage the Affairs of the Most Christian King his Master, and denied that either Vernay or he had any commerce with the Hungarians or Turks.  
But the Spanish Ambassador having made new Discoveries, renewed his complaints to the King, who gave him Audience in the presence of Vitry the French Ambassador, and before the whole Senate; where he spoke a long time against the abominable Methods and Practices of the French, carried on by Vernay, to promote the Troubles of Hungary, and bring the Turks into Christendom; but than it was that Vitry, having no way to avoid it, declared Vernay to be joint Ambassador with him from the French King▪ by that means to shelter a Traitor to Christendom under the Protection of the Law of Nations.  
Much about the same time the Castellan of Primislau perceiving that neither His Majesty of Poland nor the Senate expelled the French Spies, and moreover that their designs still succeeded better and better, refused to permit Vernay to enter his Village of Nimoravia, but forced him to pass another way.  
Vitry was highly incensed at this, and going directly to Court, laid before the King the Affront and Indignity offered to his Associate Vernay, and was so bold as to demand the Imprisonment of the Castellan for satisfaction; but the King not enduring his Confidence, told him plainly, that it was to no purpose to couch Vernay under the Quality of an Ambassador, for that the Tragedies he acted under the vain pretence of an Ambassador, were too well known; that all the devices of the French, and their contracts with the Turk were discovered, that the places which Vernay had corrupted were named; their Resolutions and Designs known, that he could exactly tell how much Money had been remitted from France to Hungary, and how they had used Violence, Deceit, and wicked Practice against the Emperor, to the misfortune of Christendom.  
The Ambassador would have pretended to have cleared himself of these things, which he said were wrongfully charged upon his Nation. But the King growing hot, would not hear him, only told the Ambassador he would lay Ten Thousand Pistoles with him, that he would undeniably prove all that he had said to be true.  
At which the French Ambassador stood amazed, and by his silence sufficiently confirmed the thing. The rest of the French that were present also, in a Consternation fixed their Eyes upon the Ground; not lifting them up, but to gaze upon one another, as it were accusing themselves. So certain it is, that the inward reproach of Conscience, and the secret Power of Truth, put the most fierce and confident out of Countenance, and by reducing the Guilty to a shameful Silence, force them to make some sort of confession of their Crimes.  
Besides what has been recited, there were several Letters intercepted, which cleared up the Truth of the French correspondence with the Turks and Hungarian Malcontents. One from Monsieur Vernay to Count Teckely, wherein the French Spy tells him, that he had received with great joy the Letters which he sent him from the Camp before Filleck, enclosed in the Packets of the French Ambassador at Constantinople. That he had endeavoured to send Jaygell what he had promised him, and what he had received, but wanted an Opportunity; farther he desired the Count to order it so, that his Messengers should come to him by Night, and directed him which Road they should take, to avoid the Searches of the Polonians, concluding that he should take care in all things that the Count should be pleased to command him.  
Another Letter from Count Teckely to Vernay, wherein the Count gives Vernay thanks to his faithful Agent Valentine Nemessani, and promises him to acknowledge it, as occasion should serve; gives him an account of his taking Cassovia and Filleck, and how he intended to prosecute his good Success.  
Another Letter from Peter Jaygell Governor of Cassovia to Monsieur Vernay; wherein Jaygell gives Vernay an Account of the taking and dismantling of Filleck, that Teckely had been Proclaimed King of Hungary, and confirmed in that Quality by the Great Turk, who sent him from the Port a Hat instead of a Crown, a Standard, and a Sceptre. He tells Vernay farther, that Nemessani was gone to treat of Affairs at the French King's Court, and presses Vernay to hasten the supply promised by the French King.  
Sufficient Proofs of the pernicious and Most Antichristian Treacheries of the Most Christian King to the ruin of Christendom. After all this, to show the extent of French falsehood, you shall see that if it stand with his own Interest, the French King will not stick to betray himself, and discover his own Treasons; for that at the beginning of the Dutch War, when he saw the Emperor arming himself in good earnest to assist the Dutch, to dissuade and divert him from his purpose; and to engage him, had it been possible, not to concern himself in the Quarrel, he very fairly offered to deliver into the Emperor's hands all the Original Letters and Papers he had received from time to time from his bribed Friends and Creatures in Poland and Hungary, to the end that both his Imperial Majesty and the King of Poland might take such Orders as they thought fit with those Traitors▪ whi●● may serve as a fare warning and determent to all those that prefer French Money before their Loyalty, and the true Interests of their Country.  
'Tis true that for some time the Most Christian King made the raising of his Siege from before Luxenburgh a great Argument of his Christian. Zeal and Generosity to his Imperial Majesty, not to assail him when the Turk was at his Doors, but the true ground of his retiring, was this notwithstanding his specious pretences, at the instance of the Confederates, all good Offices were done by the King of England, and Memorials given, but all to no effect, till the word Parliament was put into them. That powerful word had such a charm in it, that even at a distance it raised the Siege; which may convince us of what Efficacy a King of England's words are when he will give them their full weight, and threaten with his Parliament.  
Then it is that he appears that greater Figure which we ought to represent him in our Minds, the Nation his Body, he the Head, and joined with that Harmony that every word he pronounces is the Word of a Kingdom. Such Words are as effectual as Fleets and Armies, because they can create them; and without this, his Word sounds abroad like a Faint Whisper, that is either not heard, or which is worse, not minded.  
But to return to the French King, and bring him home to his own Dominions, where you shall find his extraordinary Kindness to his then Highness the Prince of Orange, in demolishing the Castle, and pulling down the Walls of the chief City of his Principality of Orange, to save him the expense of a Garrison, and Plundering and Exacting vast Sums of Money from the Subjects of another Prince, living in Peace and giving him no Disturbance, merely under pretence of entertaining the Children of Hugonots. Nay, you shall find him persecuting his own Subjects under the Name of Heretics, and sending his Missionary Dragoons to conver● them by ransacking their Houses, robbing them of their Goods, defiling their Wives, deflowering their Daughters, and inflicting upon the Men torments more cruel and inhuman than those of the Ten Persecutions; and all this while, they were under the Protection of several Edicts, solemnly granted and ratified to them for the Exercise of their Religion without disturbance.  
These are the Renowned Acts of Lewis XIV. displaying the lovely prospect of his Falsehood to England, his breach of Faith with Spain, his Infidelity to Holland, his Juggling with the Northern Princes, his Treacherous Aspiring to the Imperial Throne, his vast Expenses to divide the Princes of Germany from the Empire, his endangering the subversion of all Christendom by confederating with the Turk, and his Violations of the Peace of his own Subjects.  
In a word, it has been his common Practice to give the World all manner of Disturbance, and to render France the common Enemy of the Peace of Manking, and a public Pest among all States and Princes; in every Country and Kingdom he either finds Combustible Stuff, or else makes it, and then sets Fire to it, being at an excessive charge to find Fodder for the various Animals of Faction in all Places. Which sort of Politics appear to be so much the more Criminal, because there is no just revenging them, but that which obliges all generous Nations to fight their Enemies with their Arms in their hands, and openly. There being nothing so base as that which makes Men make use of wicked devices and execrable Treasons as the instruments to ruin others; nor does he that thinks to assume the Name of Great by unworthy Artifices, render himself a whit the more truly Glorious: Souls truly Royal and Magnanimous have always despised the Conquests they could more easily obtain by Cunning and Trapan, than by Force and Arms: And it was out of their Opinion, worthy a Noble Spirit, that Alexander the great sharply rebuked his Favourite Parmenio, who would have put him upon a crafty contrivance, telling him, it was only fit for Robbers to have recourse to Treachery, as their only means to compass their Theiveries. But the French King is of another Temper, and thinks it more safe to conquer by Divide & Impera, than by dint of Sword. He knows himself good at Burning, witness Alsatia and the Palatinate laid in Ashes, and therefore thinks it better to set other Countries, which he cannot otherwise come at, in a Flame by Treachery and Faction, that having enough to do to quench their own Fires at home, they may have neither Leisure nor Power to hinder his Projects abroad.  
Doubtless then, since England has so lately seen her Nighbours' Houses in so sad a conflagration, it is a sufficient Justification for her to look to her own, and to secure herself and all Europe from such Boutefeus', and the said effects of their impious designs.  
Seeing then there is so little ●redit to be given to the Carthaginian Faith of France, and that all the Motions of that aspiring Monarch tend directly to the subversion of the whole frame of the Government of Europe, and to erect a French Tyranny over all the enthralled Princes of this same fourth and best inhabited part of the World, there are two Motives which ought to excite the Princes of Christendom, to take the common cause in hand: the one is interest of State, the other the strict obligation of Justice. The first is, the general concern of all the Potentates of Europe; the second, the particular interest of the Princes of the Empire. We shall only take notice of the former, as being the most Universal, and most considerable in the World, and which will lead us insensibly into the second. The grand concern is now to support the Right of Nations, which is common to all, and to prevent the introducing of Maxims into the World which destroy all commerce among Men, and will certainly render humane Society no less dangerous and insupportable than that of Lions and Tigers; to defend the public Faith of Treaties, and remove from the sight of Christendom a scandalous example, which, by the fatal consequences of it, will surrender the most feeble to the Will and Pleasure of the strongest and most Potent; to stop the Inundation of a Rapid Torrent, against the impetuosity of which neither Leagues nor Marriages, neither Oaths nor Ties of Blood and Parentage, neither Amity nor Condescensions, are Mounds or dams sufficient to defend the common Bulwark of Christendom against a vast design, which has no other ground than the Insatiable thirst of Conquest, no other end than despotic Domination by dint of Arms, and slight of Intrigue, nor any Limits but such as Fortune shall prescribe. In short, England is now to decide the Fate of Europe, and to pronounce the Sentence of her Liberty or Bondage.  
Nor does there want justification sufficient to pursue so great and glorious an Undertaking to the utmost, when we consider the Maxims of France, which are easy to be gathered from the past and present conduct, her insulting Monarch; whose design was to have thrown his Wash-pot over the Empire, and his Shoe over all the rest of Europe. The first Mixim of France is, to make War always abroad, and to exercise her Young Nobility at the expense of her Nighbours. A Maxim very Politic, and well adjusted for her own Advantage; but very incommodious for all the rest of the World: For it is certain the Genius of that Nation cannot long endure the Calms of a Lazy Peace, so that if you cannot find employment for them abroad, they will be framing Commotions and Disturbances at home. The Eldest Sons of all their Noble Families carry away the Estates without leaving any thing to the Younger, but an empty Title and their Swords; so that being little addicted to Learning, and disdaining the life of Mechanics, nothing remains but War, or Thievery, to rescue them from Misery; which is the reason that the Politics of France oblige her to be continually picking Quarrels with her Nighbours, to evaporate those Flames, which otherwise would pray upon her own Bowels.  
Their second Maxim is, to insinuate themselves into all sorts of Affairs on which hand soever it be, and to make themselves Vmpires in all business, either by Force or Subtilty, by Threaten, or under pretence of Friendship, to wriggle themselves into Treaties of Peace where they are Parties interested, as they did in that of the Bishop of Munster, and afterwards in the Assembly at Breda. There never was any Quarrel wherein they had not the cunning to pretend some Interest or Right; and never any People showed the least inclination to rebel, but they always made them their Allies. But experience tells us that they never took part in any War but to inflame it the more, nor ever interposed in any Peace, to Sow the Seeds of new Differences.  
Their third Maxim is to make Interest of State the only rule of all their Actions, without having any regard to the Faith of Treaties, or the Sanctity of Religion, or any other Ties of Parentage or Friendship, according to the Fundamental Principle of the D. of Rohan, That Princes commanded the People, and Interest, commanded Princes: So that all that the Turks have gained upon Europe from the time of Francis the First till this time, they own to their Alliances with France, and the Diversions she had made in their favour, by giving disturbance to those that enterprised any thing against the common Enemy.  
Their fourth Maxim is, to keep, as much as in them lies, all Foreign States employed and divided at home, or else engaged in Foreign War, (of which England in particular has found the sad Effects,) and under pretence of assisting sometimes one, sometimes another, to seek their own Advantages in the Troubles of others.  
These are the Maxims of Men that make haste to be Rich in Ignoble Conquests; and the infallible marks of a profound and vast design, that must be stopped in time, to stop the spreading of the Ambitious Grangrene; for from a Royal and powerful Professor of such Maxims as these, there is no Prince that can be safe in his Dominions. Among private Persons it is the most difficult thing to deal with a Man of a large Conscience; how much more a most Herculean task it is to cope with a mighty Potentate whose Conscience is no less wide than his Ambition is Vast, who having eleven Millions of Sterling Pounds, torn from the Bowels and Mouths of his poor and wanting Subjects, at command to maintain his Wars, and bribe his way to Conquest through all the Fences of Religion, Morality, and Common Justice, values not the tremendous Anger of Heaven, nor the Violation of all the Laws of God and Nature, nor the preservative Constitutions of Men to attain his ends. It is said of Tamerlane, though a Scythian and Barbarian, that to one who earnestly importuned him in behalf of Bajazet, he made this answer, that he did not punish a King but an impions and nefarious Man. The same justification have the Princes of Europe, that they fight not against the Most Christian King, but an Antichristian Usurper, who conquers to oppress, and oppresses merely to support his Oppression, and show the Grandeur of his Power.  
England has more just pretences to his Dominions, than perhaps he has himself, at least far more just than what he has to the conquests which he has wrested out of the hands of the Spaniard and the Emperor. England has the greatest Reason in the World to recover her Ancient, and till lately uncontested Glory, and assert her long continued Dominions of the Seas, usurped by the Assistence of a purchased Navy, which if once destroyed, nothing but the same opportunities could again recover. It is said that the Portcullis was added to the Royal Badges of the Crown of England, to signify that the Kings of England had a just Right and Title, at pleasure to shut up and open the Sea when they thought fit; and it may still be proved by several substantial Evidences, that the King of England's Title to the Propriety of the Sea, is as good and perhaps better than any Title the French King has to any part of his Dominions by Land. And the Letters are still to be seen in the Paper-Office at White-Hall, if not removed, Written by this King's Grandfather with his own hand to King James, to ask leave for some few Vessels to Fish for Sowles, as he should have occasion for his own Table; and it ought to be so again, for it is only fit that England should guard the Seas, that so well defend and guard Her. Justice itself now loudly calls to England to demand satisfaction for the illegal and vexatious Depredations and Practices committed upon her Merchants, even at the time when she was in strictest League and Combination with her, to the ruin of her Trade, which is the Apple of her Eye, and the main support of her Wooden Walls, her chiefest Glory, and, next under Heaven, her chiefest Safeguard and Protection. She ought in Justice and Honour to resent the Indignities and Affronts so lately put upon her, in making her that ought to be the Balance of Europe, the Derision of her Enemies, and only the Pity of her Friends; such a generous Animosity and Resentment as this would wean the English Nation from that fond Dotage upon French Baubles, French Fashions, and French Vermin, to the loss of above Sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds Yearly to this Kingdom, (there having been Yearly so much more imported of French Commodities, than exported of ours,) which only serves to enrich the Capital Foe to our own Ruin, and to fit us for the Yoke of French Slavery. For this is a certain Rule, that the first step to the subducing of a Nation is to insinuate into them a good liking, or rather a dotage of those that are to be their subduers; and therefore it was, that the French King observing, that while the English were under the Conjunction of the Triple League, there was a general humour in the Nation in opposition to Frence, insomuch that they had thrown off the French Mode and put on Vests, to the end we might look the more like a distinct People, and not be under the servility of Imitation, which always pays a greater reverence to the Original, than is consistent with that Equality which all independent Nations should pretend to; I say the the French King observing this, did not like this small beginning of ill Humours, wisely considering it as a natural Introduction, first to make the World his Apes, and then his Slaves; and therefore he set his Instruments at work to Laugh us out of our Vests, which she performed so effectually, that in a Moment, like so many Footmen who had quitted their Master's Livery, we all took it up again, and returned to serve the French.  
And happy would it be for England if she would cast off her French Modes, her French Fashions, and French Humours, which only serve to corrupt and soften the minds of those for whom it would be much more glorious to remember the Fields of Poitiers and Agincourt, and rather to study the generous Examples of their victorious Ancestors, than be the Slaves of French Imitation. The conquering Romans retired indeed to Athens to improve their Learning; but it betrays a poorness of Spirit inexcusable in the English, who have two such Magnificent Universities of their own, to gallop to Paris for Breeding; as if Coupees, Compliments, Grimaces, and Shrugs of the Shoulder were the only Accomplishments of a Gentleman. Surely it was much better both for England and the General Peace of Europe, when the English taught them their running Sarrabands, and the good Breeding of Obedience, nor will it e'er be well, till the English become their Tutors again: For certainly there is no Government in Europe under which the People live so Miserably, as under that of France; the Grand Signior, or the Ksar of Mosc●vy are not more absolute of the People than the Tyranny of France. The French King may well be called Tyrannus, for he makes and abrogates the Laws at his Pleasure; he cannot be said to Rule, but Tyrannize over Cities, deprived of all the Franchises and Privileges that render Societies happy, and to domineer over a poor naked People, stripped of all things that make life comfortable. So that the People may be said to Toil and Moil, but the Prince to wipe off the Sweat of their Brows into his own Coffers. You would swear that the whole Country were the habitation of Poverty, where Penury walks about in wooden Sandals, single Petticoats, and wrinkled Faces, as if the Products of that fertile Soil were forbid to be touched by the Innocent Manurers of that Terrestrial Paradise, where the Corn, and Wine, and Fat of the Land is carried off to fit the Royal Magazines, or sold abroad to cram the King's Exchequer. And after all this, when the shoals of Locust Publicans have devoured all, even almost to the very Stalk, for the small remainder to bear the Burden of insolent free Quarter, is not only Tyranny, but licentiated Inhumanity.  
All these Calamities and Miseries has England yet escaped, though fairly threatened with them, had not Providence been very merciful to Her. The Husbandman plump and jolly, enjoying his Liberty and a fair proportion of his Labours, does not fear what the Confusion of Babel never knew the horrid Jargonry of  
Aid, Octroy, Preciput, Equivalent, Crew, Taille, Estate, Subsistence de quartier d'hyvere, Garinzons, Mort pays, Appointments de Governors, Debts & Affaires du Roy, Gratifications Extraordinaries, Deu Gratuity, Frais.  
The necessary supports of Life, Wine, Beer, Cider, are not enhanced by,  
Aids sur le Vin, Bierres & Cidres, plus le Huictieme Denier, le Souquest, le Batire, Imposts & Billets.  
The Markets are not pestered with Gabelles upon Corn and Meal, nor the Mills with Measure Coupee.  
No Tolls of pied Fourchue, nor Duties taken by weight upon every pound of Flesh sold in the Shambles, nor Gabelles upon Salt▪ but what are laid on by consent of the People themselves.  
The Shop Keepers are not molested with the Gibberish of the mark upon Paper, the mark of Silver, the mark of Tinn, the mark of Hats, the mark of all Stockings, Silk, and Woollen, the mark of Shoes, the mark upon all Stuffs, Woollen, and Silk, the mark upon Linen, the Gabelle upon Jie, the control of of Exploits.  
The Gentry are not vexed with the Tax of free Gifts, Fifts, and Resists, and Amortisements.  
The pr●ce of Valuation, the mark of Gold, the two Soulx in the Pound, the sealed Duty, the duty of control, the registers Duty, the Priest for being admitted to the Annual, and the Annual or Paulette.  
A sort of Language of the Galleys, not understood by English Liberty, yet all these and many other abominable Taxes, Tolls, and Impositions, are punctually leavy'd one way or other at the King's sole Will and Pleasure, with many more too prolix to be numbered, and what ever else his Absolute Power shall think fit to impose anew, where ever any subjects of the French Monarchy have their habitations, when his emergent occasions intimate a pretence, and must be paid without any remorse or compassion to the half Famished Children and Families of the poor People, crying out for Bread.  
Certainly to conclude therefore as I begun, the Lician Chimaera, and Lernaean Hydra that wasted all the Country round about them, and ruined the Inhabitants with the scalding Flames and Pestilential Breath that issued from their Pestiferous Jaws, were Types of Tyranny in General, so more particularly of the present French Monarchy; but on the other side, we find that both Bellerophon and Hercules continue to this day eternised for subduing those Monsters.  
Such Fables as these, being the Offspring of great Reason, and wise Head pieces, were not invented merely to please their Readers, but to instruct the World, that Wars, which unavoidably must be attended with great Mischiefs and Calamities, are not to be unjustly undertaken to do wrong for wrong's sake, under pretence of Illegal Claims and Pretensions, but may be legally enterprised to repel injustice and violence, and to curb the lawless Invasions of Right and Property, which are the original Blessings and Benefits of God and Nature, the unjust Assailour of which becomes an Enemy to both; and a Monster no less pernicious than either of those two: For those Monsters no question were no other than two aspiring Potentates, that made unjust and cruel Wars upon their Neighbours, without provocation given, and therefore were most justly subdued by Bellerophon and Hercules, and they no less justly rewarded for the benefit received by their glorious Actions, which even exceed all Fame. Virtue is Virtue still unalterable; from whence we may conclude, that the same Glory still attends, and that the same success will prove the subduing these Chimaeras and Hydra's of Men, that for so long time have harras'd Europe with wicked Wars, and impious Depopulations, merely to gain the Honour of being like those Monsters, Terrors and Destroyer's of Mankind.   

A Catalogue of French Commodities Yearly transsported into England, by which it appears that our Trade with France has been at least Sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year, clear loss to this Kingdom.  
1. THere is transported out of France into England, great quantities of Velvets plain and wrought, Satins plain and wrought, Cloth of Gold and Silver, Armoysins and other Merchandises of Silk, which are made at Lions, and are valued to be Yearly worth one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds.  
2. In Silk, Stuffs, Taffetas, Poudesoys, Armoysins,  of Gold and Silver, Tabbies plain and wrought, Silk-ribbands, and other such like Silk stuffs as are made at Tours, valued to be worth above Three Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year.  
3. In Silk-ribbands, Gallowns, Laces, and Buttons of Silk, which are made at Paris, Rouen, Chimont, St. Estienes in Forests, for about one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
4. A great quantity of Serges, which are made at Chalons, Chartres, Estamines and Rheims, and great quantities of Serges made at Amiens, Crevecoeur, Blicourt, and other Towns in Picardy, for above one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
5. In Beaver, Demicastor and Felt Hats, made in the City and Suburbs of Paris; besides many others made at Rouen, Lions, and other places, for about One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
6. In Feathers, Belts, Girdles, Hatbands, Fans, Hoods, Masks, gilt and wrought Looking-glasses, Cabinets Watches, Pictures, Cases, Medals, Tablets, Bracelets, and other such like Mercery ware, for above One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
7. I● Pins, Needles, Box-combs, Tortoise-shell Combs, and such like, for about Twenty Thousand Pound a Year.  
8. In perfumed and trimmed Gloves, that are made at Paris, Rouen, Vendosme, Clermont, and other places, for about Ten Thousand Pounds a Year.  
9 In Papers of all sorts. which are made at Auvergne, Poictou, Limosin, Champagne and Normandy for above One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year.  
10. In all sorts of Iron-mongers wares that are made in Forests, Auvergne, and other places, for about Forty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
11. In Linen Cloth that is made in Bretaigne, and Normandy as well course as fine, there is transported into England, for above Four Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year.  
12. In Householdstuff, consisting of Beds Matresses, Coverlids, Hang, Fringes of Silk, and other furniture, for above One Hundred thousand Pounds a Year.  
13. In Wines from Gascoigne, Nantois and other places on the River of Loyerc and also from Bourdeaux, Rochel, Nante, Rouen, and other places, are transported into England for above Six Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year.  
14. In Aqua Vitae, Cider, Vinegar, Verjuice, and such like, for about One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year.  
15. In Saffron, Castle-sope, Honey, Almonds, Olives Capers, Prunes, and such like, for about One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year.  
16. Besides five or six hundred Vessels of Salt laden at Ma ron, Rochel, Rovage, the Isle of Oleron, and Isle of Rhee, transported into England, and Holland, of a very great value. So as by this calculation, it doth appear, that the yearly value of such commodities as are transported from France to England, amount to above Six and Twenty Hundred Thousand Pounds.  
And the commodities exported out of England into France, consisting chief of Woollen , Serges, Knit Stockings, Led, Pewter, Alum, Coals, and all else, do not amount to above Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year. By which it appears that our Trade with France is at least sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year, clear lost to this Kingdom.  
FINIS