THE EMPERORS ANSWER TO THE French King's MANIFESTO.  
Translated from the LATIN.  
LONDON, Printed for Brabazon Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill, over against the Royal Exchange, MDCLXXXVIII.   

THE EMPERORS ANSWER TO THE French King's MANIFESTO.  
IT is known to the whole Christian World that when the Peace of Numigen, within a little after its Conclusion, was by the French King, many ways violated, and large countries' and Provinces, contrary to the Express Tenor of the said Peace, were, under the new and strange Pretences of reunions and Dependencies and the like, torn away from the Roman Empire, (there being a kind of a Mock Court of Justice Erected at Metz and Brisac; in which the French Ministers acted the parts at once of Pleaders, Witness, and Judges) that it was at last agreed in the Year 1684 upon the 15th of August, between His Most Sacred Majesty the Emperor on the one part, and the Most Serene King of France on the other, that there should be a Mutual Cessation from all Acts of Hostility, to be Inviolably observed for Twenty Years: And that, for the Honour of God, and the security of the Christian Religion which was in Danger, and not without great Advantage to the French Affairs: It being permitted in the mean time to the French, that they should have quiet and peaceable Possession of almost a Sixth part of the Provinces which after the Peace of Numigen remained of right to the Empire.  
It is known also, with what strictness in the mean time, and Confidence in the King's Word, and favourable Interpretation of all suspicious Actions, and Injuries, which His Majesty the Emperor suffered, and which the Princes and States of the Empire often complained that they suffered from the Crown of France, the said Peace on the Emperor's side was observed; And how His Majesty the Emperor trusting in the Faith of this League, was unmoved at every thing, insomuch that His Subjects as well as Foreigners did wonder, that He seemed not to be in any Fear, though His Frontiers lay open every where to the French, if they would break their Faith, there being scarce above one or two Legions to defend such a large open Country, the Confederates themselves being called away to Hungary, and the Frontier Carrisons such as Philipsburg, Constance, and the rest, being in a manner neglected and disregarded: And all to the intent that His Imperial Majesty might defend the Christian Religion in Regions far remote, though He saw in the mean time the French Forces unreasonably increased, new and unnecessary Garrisons made on the bank of the Rhine, which belonged not to the French King: and that Fraud and Violence was every where to be feared from Him.  
Certainly to this day there has not been any one Action on the Account of which the King might justly accuse the Emperor of so much as attempting to break His Eaith, much less of actually doing it. Nay those little suspicions which France loved to make to itself, as if Caesar had in Thought, or in his secret Wishes inclined to any such Thing, were by him immediately discussed, and the Matter fully cleared, by his great Moderation, in that he let alone what he might lawfully have taken, and generously omitted advantageous Opportunities, lest he might seem by any the least spark, to kindle the Flame of the French Jealousy.  
Yet behold now again that Flame breaks out on a sudden which the French Court unwillingly covered over for a time. The French seize on the Diocese of Cologne, Invade the Palatinate, Besiege Philipsburg, and without observing any Law or Article of the Peace, or so much as the Ancient Manner of King's going to War one with another, the French King falls most unjustly upon the Emperor and the Empire, like one that had been long secretly a contriving it: And at last forsooth in His smooth-tongued fashion, not when He denounced War, but when He had already begun it, He orders His Fallacious Memorial to be presented us, in which He does not Excuse but openly Avow the Violence and Injustice of His Arms, as if He had been provoked to a War, and did not bring it on a sudden, upon those who thought nothing of it.  
In those His Letters (or that His Manifesto) He publishes those which the Compiler of 'em calls the Causes, whereby the Most Christian King is induced to take Arms again against Caesar and the Empire, and by which He says the Christian World ought to be convinced of His sincere desire of the public Tranquillity thereof; That forsooth His Sacred Majesty the Emperor intends to make a Peace with the Turk, that He may turn His Arms against France.  
This He will have to appear, First, In that presently after the Peace concluded, the Emperor sought new Alliances, which by divers Artifices and Craft were transacted at Ausburg, and Norimburg, contrary to the French Interest.  
Secondly, For that, Although the Emperor were persuaded even by the Pope's Ministers, to turn the Twenty Years Truce into a perpetual Peace, yielding only thus much to France, that what the French now enjoyed for so long, by virtue of the Truce, they should enjoy for ever, by this Peace, yet Caesar would by no means yield to it.  
Thirdly, For that the Most Serene Elector Palatine has violently invaded and taken possession of divers Goods, movable and , which belong to the Duchess of Orleans, by Inheritance, from the deceased Lords, her Father and Brother; and hitherto detains 'em, finding means to elude by divers Arts the Patience both of the King and His Brother, but depending all the while upon the protection of the Emperor, whom He therefore has persuaded to make peace with the Turk, and to bring back His Arms to the Rhine, having entered into divers Leagues for that purpose.  
For that in the fourth and last place, The Cardinal of Furstenburg contrary to the Holy Canons, the freedom of the Chapter, and the Instrument of peace, His former Faults which by the Emperor had been pardoned, being brought into remembrance, and alleged against Him by the Emperor's Ambassador before a Session of the Chapter, is openly and expressly excluded from the Electoral Dignity, and the Most Serene Prince Joseph Clement of Bavaria by base Arts, the Pope Himself being seduced, and a Brief of Eligibility, as they call it, obtained from Him, to the scandal of all People, and the Forces of the Protestants being brought into the Electorate of Cologne, is violently thrust in, in His stead; with this malicious Intention, that he the said Clement of Bavaria, being by entering into Orders, hindered from Marrying, if the Most Serene Elector of Bavaria should happen to die, as he is at present, without Issue (which may easily be, he exposing himself continually to so many dangers in the War) than a Family suspected always by the House of Austria should be taken out of the way.  
By all which ('tis said) it may appear clearer than the Sun at Noonday, that the Emperor not regarding the desolation of the Archbishopric of Cologne, and the oppression of the Catholic Religion, does endeavour to have War made upon France at the Charge and Hazard of the Electors, Princes and States of the Empire, that so the Roman Diadem may at last settle on the Head of the King of Hungary (now a Child) and all Germany, large as it is, being torn away from the King's Friendship, may fall under the most miserable Tyranny and Servitude of the House of Austria? Even as these things are more largely and invidiously set forth in the foresaid Writing.  
When His Sacred Majesty, the Emperor, Read this infamous Libel, (infamous not to Him, but to the Author or Authors of it) and saw in it not so much as a shadow of Reason, but the most impudent Slanders wickedly forged, both against His Sacred Person and the Popes, as also against the Most Serene Elector Palatine, He easily persuaded Himself, that it was quite contrary to the Sense of the Most Christian King, and therefore far from having been Read or Approved by Him, but that rather it was Compiled by some Malicious French Minister of State; for that He believed the French King would not suffer willingly, that His Imperial Majesty, in a way so unusual betwixt Crowned Heads, should be so unworthily Reproached, which matters he certainly knew in His Conscience to be False, or that the Reason of His own Actings, such as they are, should be written in such an impudent stile, and with such venomous reflections and interpretations of things: And therefore His Imperial Majesty doubted a great while whether He should think it worthy of an Answer, and not rather pass it over in silence: But forasmuch as the French Court is not ashamed, irreverently to Publish it, by its Ministers as well in the Emperors own Court, as at Ratisbone in the Diet, and endeavours by such False and Contumelious Reasons to justify Their bringing on Us a Cruel War, in a way little better than downright Treachery and Perfidiousness, without so much as denouncing it before hand, as the Law of Nations does Require, and has been often Agreed; and without letting us know what injury they had to complain of, but even deceiving us all by their fresh Assurances of constant Friendship, and pretended Kindness▪ Therefore His Imperial Majesty thought it necessary to demonstrate to the World the vanity and insignificancy of all those undeserved Imputations.  
To begin therefore with that which is the Foundation, on which all the French Reasoning stands, viz. That the Emperor had resolved to make a Peace with the Turk, that He might fall upon France, that can with no more Truth be charged upon Him now, than it was the last Year at Rome in a Proposition made by Cardinal D' Estree. And as Impartial Judges will hardly believe, that so Religious a Prince, supported by God's help in the present War, and having all the success He desired, forced by no necessity, would so much as think of making a Peace with the Turks; without the Privity of His Allies, thereby to defile His Conscience with the rash Breach of a League made against the Ottoman Empire, and at the same time to incur the Just Censures and Complaints of the Pope, the King and Senate of Poland, and the Commonwealth of Venice; so how vain a suggestion the other is, that His Imperial Majesty should have an intent to make War with France, (when He has neither an Army nor Provisions at hand, nay when all His strong Places, Cities and Provinces, as the event shows, by too much trusting the King's Word, are left in a manner destitute of Soldiers, and of all kind of Necessaries for Defence, and His whole Strength gone against the Enemy of Christianity) every one will easily see who will but take the pains even slightly to consider, upon how weak and frivolous Arguments that surmise is grounded.  
Those Arguments certainly amongst those that know nothing of the matter will scarce seem to bear the weight of a thin and brittle Conjecture; but to those who do understand it they will appear to be mere Fictions, which yet if they were true, would prove nothing to this purpose. For who is there that can draw so much as a probable consequence from hence, that because the Emperor favours the innocent in defence of Himself, and of the Alliances which His Friends have made, because He refuses to turn a Twenty Years Truce into a perpetual Peace, without first hearing those that are concerned in it, and without any discussion of the matter, because by His Counsel and Help he sustains His Father in Law, the Elector, that France may not have the deciding of his Cause: Because Lastly, He removes Furstenburg, the Man that has been so fatal to his Country, and promotes to the Bishopric of Cologne a Prince of great Expectation, of the Family of the Dukes of Bavaria, which has deserved very well both of their Country, and of that Archiepiscopal See: Who I say can hence draw but a probable consequence, that therefore the Emperor intends to take the first opportunity to make War with France.  
Nay France itself, if it would but remember what was remonstrated in Letters to the Pope, and to His Most Christian Majesty both by Words and Writing the last Year, by the Count Lobcowitz the Emperor's Ambassador, would doubtless acknowledge, that all the other superadded Arguments, and especially that drawn from the League Established at Ausburg, were vain and frivolous. For this League brought on nothing that was New, but only Established some Ancient Agreements betwixt the Emperor and some of the Circles of the Empire: It Renewed what was necessary betwixt the Princes and States of the Empire, for the Circumstances of the present time: It tended to the hurt of none, but only to that which is most innocent, and allowed by all Law, their mutual Defence: And besides it took in but a moderate number of Heads, and a small Strength into it: And therefore the Mighty Crown of France did not need to be afraid of it.  
Truly the forgetfulness of the Compiler of this Libel is very wonderful, that he will not so much as remember that his own King, to prevent all just occasion of quarrelling with the Emperor and Empire upon that account, before the Signing of the Truce, did Promise, that after it was Signed He would not be against the Empires Consulting the best ways for its own Safety. Nay, and it was expressly Declared in the very League of Truce, that such Agreements of the Empire might be strengthened by any kind of Guaranty of Foreign Princes. But the same Author's ignorance is yet much more to be admired, that he should not know, that there is nothing more Anciently Received in the Germane Empire, nor nothing more Agreeable to its Laws, then that the Members should always most closely adhere to the Head for the Preservation of the whole Body. And Lastly, his Arrogance or his Folly is greatly to be admired, that whilst he presumes it Lawful for his own King to make vast Preparations of War in His Kingdom, nay and under pretence of a League unjustly made with some of the Chapter of Cologue, to send His Forces into that Archbishopric, He supposes the Emperor in the mean while to have so little to do in the Empire, that He may not so much as meet with the Princes and States thereof to consult about the Peace of their Country, without doing such an injury to France as must be revenged by Force of Arms.  
His second Argument has much the same degree of Force and Validity in it, viz. That the Emperor refused to turn the Truce into a Peace: If He had wholly refused it, and that upon other Conditions, that were not so unworthy of the Emperor, and noxious to the whole Empire, as those which at that time happened to be prescribed rather than propounded by the Court of France, had that been any Crime? The Twenty Years Truce ought certainly to have been stood to, and during the continuance of that a Peace should have been Treated of, which His Most August Majesty never refused, provided the King would agree to a Peace that was Honourable, maturely considered and Just: There ought therefore to have been a Meeting appointed, and both sides heard, and all the Chief Controversies concerning matters of right, in those things which were attempted by France as well before as after the Truce, should have been Examined; and then might have ensued a Peace, every one having their own restored to 'em, by common consent, and such as might have been likely happily to continue.  
The Most Christian King might remember, that at His desire the Truce was lengthened out to Twenty Years, both that there might be time enough to discuss and determine all Controversies, as it was fir, and that the Electors, Princes and States of the Empire, might with the greater security take Arms against the Common Enemy of the Christian Name: And therefore that it cannot be without the French Kings breaking His Agreement, and violating His Word; that when scarce Two Years of the Twenty are gone about, and while the Turkish War yet lasts, He should so change His Mind, that nothing now forsooth should remain to be discussed or determined, but a sixth part of the Provinces of the Empire, must at once by a full and irrevocable Right be made over to Him. Now this is what the Emperor could not Lawfully have done, if He would: It would have been contrary to Right, and to the Tenor of the Truce, and they who had thought themselves injured would doubtless have withstood it.  
Therefore His Imperial Majesty excused Himself as to this matter; and lest any the least suspicion should remain, He not only declared several times by His Letters to the Pope, and by a Writing exhibited to the French King by the Count Lobcowitz then Resident in the French Court, that He would keep inviolably the Twenty Years Truce, as well after the end of the Turkish War, as during its Continuance, but also if the King thought it necessary, He would confirm it by an Oath, to be deposed in the hands of the Pope: In which when the French King did then acquiesce, and with all did obtain that His mighty Building of Fortifications, which He had begun and desired to finish, though contrary to the Articles of the said Truce (and of the Peace of Westphalia and Nimegen) should not be looked on as a just Cause to break it, He promising over and over again the most sincere and constant Friendship during the whole Twenty Years: Any one may hence easily gather how frivolously this same pretence is made for the French infraction of their League, and what lasting Peace can be expected, if such idle Reasons may serve, to break His Faith, and overthrow His Agreements, so that a Twenty Years Truce can hardly last Four.  
As for the Third Argument taken from the Succession in the Palatinate, His Imperial Majesty does not so espouse the Cause of the Most Serene Elector Palatine, as to defend it at all Adventure without its coming to a fair Trial: But it is most evident that that Prince (who is famous all over the World for the Nobility of His Blood, the Probity of His Behaviour, and His great Wisdom and Prudence) did not violently Invade the Countries of the Palatinate, but entered peaceably, observing all Forms of Law. Whatsoever things did undoubtedly belong to the Duchess of Orleans by Inheritance, he willingly let her have. As for what was doubtful not being willing to be blindly prodigal of what He had, He thought fit to retain it, till the Matter were cleared by a Competent Judge.  
The French King has undertaken the Cause of the Duchess of Orleans, and given notice to the Elector Palatine to yield up what she pretends to: He appeals to the Court of Judgement, the Court Palatine of the Empire: This the King refuses. What if the Emperor should undertake the Cause of the Duke of Lorrain's claim to his Inheritance, for the sake of his dear Nephew, and should refuse to let it be tried in France? Has the French King more right in the Empire, than the Emperor has in France? Afterwards there being a proposal of referring the matter to the Pope, the Elector Palatine admitted him as Mediator (Arbitrator) whom he could not allow of as a Judge without giving Offence to His own Court, by whom it should be tried, and without the consent of his Kindred, He sent a Minister to Rome fully instructed and informed. The Duchess of Orleans sent never a one. The Pope sent a Monition to her, but all in vain; so that at last after a whole years stay the Palatine's Ambassador was dismissed by the deluded Pope. And yet very lately the French King's Ambassador here at Vienna the Count De Lusignan assures the Emperor that His Master was resolved not to departed from the Arbitration of the Pope, though he was very averse and unfriendly to Him. Thus the French King drills it on with vain Pretences, till me falls in with His Arms upon the Palatinate. And this is the true series of the matter.  
That which is added concerning the Emperors being solicited by the Elector Palatine to make War upon France, and a League made to that purpose, is all a Fiction. Neither is the Most Serene Elector so imprudent as to seek any gain by War, when, fall how it will, it will be sure to be most pernicious and fatal to His own Country.  
The last Argument remains concerning the business of Cologne for the putting out of Furstenburgh, and thrusting in the Bavarian, which is so stuffed with Calumnies, that from thence it may appear how destitute Frunce is of any Reason, or shadow of Reason to cover the Injustice of their breach of Faith.  
What the Emperor did at Cologne He did according to Right, and agreeable to the Laws of Justice, and His Imperial Office, and the Patronship of all Churches, thereunto annexed. He did exhort the Chapter to choose him that was best and fittest for the Church, giving Reasons why those Qualifications were not to be found in the Cardinal of Furstenburg. He alleged his former Crimes upon no other account, but as they have been increased by new ones. And the Emperor would willingly have forgotten all old Faults if Frustenburg would have laid aside his old evil Temper, and were not found still plotting worse things than he was guilty of before. But He left every one of the Chapter their entire Liberty as well in as after the Election, He corrupted none of 'em by promises of Reward, much less did He Threaten, or use any Violence; He did neither stir up any Foreign Forces to enter the Archbishopric, nor did He send in His own, but remitting the whole Controversy to the Holy Apostolic See, the only Competent Judge in this Matter, He quietly expected a Decision of it. Thus did the Emperor in the Empire: Did France do the same? But it may be the French King has more Authority not only in His own Kingdom, but in the Germane Empire. He violated not the Holy Canons, nor the Articles of Peace, nor the Liberty of Voting, whilst without advising with, yea against the Will of the Pope, first by secret Arts, and afterwards by a great Sum of Money He got the Cardinal of Furstenburg into the Coadjutorship, by the help of such Voices as He had bought, whilst He made an unlawful Agreement or League at Luxemburg, Seventeen Months ago, and promised that He would not only send, but at His own Charge maintain a strong Army in the Archbishopric whereby he that was thus pretendedly postulated to the Coadjutorship, being not confirmed but rejected by the Vicar of Christ, should be upheld even against the Will of God, whilst lastly He terribly threatened the Greatest Princes of the Empire if they offered to come, or so much as to matter a Word against Him. It was His Offences against the Apostolic See, and the Rashness of His Actions, and not any hatred against France, nor any Intercessions of other Princes, nor any Conspiracies that Men may dream of, that made the Emperor zealous against Furstenburg, and inclined Him to prefer the Prince of Bavaria, one already Bishop of Frising and Ratisbone, a Young Man indeed, but of great Virtue and pregnant Hopes, and whose Family has highly deserved of the Church. Is this a Scandalous thing? Let the People of Rome say, who at the Doors of the Consistory in great numbers did most highly applaud it, when they understood that Joseph Clement that most innocent and good Prince, by the unanimous Vote of that Assembly, was to be Archbishop of Cologne. Let Italy speak, let Germany, yea let England and Holland, where Men that hated the very Name of the Pope, at once both Learned and Taught others on this occasion highly to commend Pope Innocent.  
His Imperial Majesty does willingly acknowledge that He was glad when so great a Prince appeared as a Competitor in the Cologne Election, and that He most readily consented to the Desires of Him, and the most Serene Elector of Bavaria. But that this should be done out of a wicked and base Design, that the whole Bavarian Family, suspected by the House of Austria, might the sooner be Extinct, this, as it is a great Wickedness but to imagine it, so the Boldness, Impudence, and Rashness of this Author, who durst to write, and publicly object this against the Emperor deserves to be punished by the Hangman. The Imperial Court does not think of, much less practice such Wickedness. What the French Court does they know best. No body will believe such things can be done any where else. But all will easily believe, that which is indeed the truth, that this most Impudent French Writer had a mind to make the House of Bavaria jealous and suspicious of that of Austria, as it is the Custom of these paltry French Politicians, to poison all Courts with the Seeds of Discord that being divided they may fall the easier.  
Thither to be sure that tends, that according to the French Fashion in a tedious digression He endeavours to whisper it into the Ears of the Electors, Princes, and States of the Empire, that the Empire's design is to make War at their Cost, and by the Ruin of the Archbishopric of Cologne, and Oppression of Religion to obtain the Roman Crown for His Son, that is yet but a Boy, and to bring all Germany, being withdrawn from its Alliance with France into a dishonourable and miserable Slavery.  
He endeavours to amuse their minds with such Stuff lest they should agree and join together for their true Honour and common Security, thinking that the French King will easily rout 'em all severally, though if all should join together, they would quickly drive Him away. And therefore He strives all He can by Fraud and Craft, to cause Germany to forsake the Patronage and Auspicious Conduct of the House of Austria. But the House of Bavaria is not so Weak, nor the Germane Nation so silly, as not to understand these Artifices which cannot easily be hid. And as the Most Serene Elector of Bavaria does gratefully acknowledge the kind Offices which the Emperor at his Request did for his House in the Election at Cologne, so according to its usual Wisdom, it will but laugh at such little Sparks of Suspicion, as it has done already, having had experience of these prating Sowers of Dissension; And will easily see, that there is nothing to be hoped for from the French who seek but what they can get. But the German whoever he is, that is free from the Iron Yoke of the French, may easily see by the Oppression of the People even in Germany itself where they come, and from the Condition even of their own Nobility and Gentry in France, whether comes nearer to Tyranny, the Governor of the House of Austria, or the French manner of Ruling; And will rejoice truly that the Roman Crown does not fall that way, whither the French Court has often shown that they have designed it, and then especially, when after their Ancient Fashion without any regard to Honesty, to their Faith, their good Name, or to Conscience, they have not only cherished the Rebels in Hungary, followers of the Turk, by sending 'em Captains, Messengers, Arms, Money and large Promises, but also, as it is done even at this day, have stirred up and encouraged the very Enemies of the Christian Name to War against His Imperial Majesty. As it may be manifestly proved by the Authentic Letters of the French Emissaries and of the Rebels and others, which are ready to be produced.  
And this is that which His. Imperial Majesty has ordered to be answered with as much brevity as possible, to that Contumelious Libel or French Manifesto, not to injure the Reputation of the Most Christian King, whom He believes to be induced to this unjust breach of the Peace, by the malicious and false Suggestions of those, who seek Gain by these Troubles, and who He believes would not approve of such ill Language and unjust Railing against His Sacred Person, but to wipe off all the Scandal which this Impudent Writer has endeavoured to fix upon the House of Austria, and which the Ministers of France do every where scatter about, and to defend His own Innocence.  
And moreover that this His Cause may be more and more publicly known and testified to all the Christian World He does publicly declare and call the Omniscient God to Witness, that He never thought any thing of breaking the Truce, but that He was always firmly resolved, and it is still His true and serious purpose to keep it inviolably, if it will at last please His Most Christian Majesty to stand to the Covenant of Truce, and the Declarations which He made and reiterated but the last year from Paris, and not to endeavour to make any alterations. But as for passing this Truce into a firm and perpertual Peace, He persists in that, that He will most candidly and willingly show forth all readiness in endeavouring it, provided that a Commission being appointed for the dividing of the Borders, and discussing the Controverted Rights, may proceed in that Manner and Order as is agreeable to the Laws made betwixt France and the Empire. Wherefore if there be any regard to Justice in the Most Serene K. of France (as it is hoped) His Imperial Majesty has good Reason to believe and trust, that He will of Himself Chastise and Correct the Calumnies and Slanders of this Scandalous French Print, will withdraw His unjust Arms, restore Damages, bring back all into its Primitive State, permit the Most Serene Prince Clement, long since Legally Confirmed by His Holiness, to enjoy quietly the Electorate and Archbishopric of Cologne, and will remit the Cause of the Prince Palatine to a competent Court of Judicature, in which His Imperial Majesty does promise that Justice shall be Faithfully and Impartially done: And Lastly, That He will suffer the Peace which He says He wishes for, to be procured in the time, manner and order as is set down in the Truce.  
But if He be not willing to do these things, none can then suppose there is any other cause for the French King thus to revive the War, then that the singular favour of the Divine Providence, and the wonderful defence it has afforded to the House of Austria, are things displeasing to Him, or that He fears the great increase and enlargement of that August Family, by their, late Victories which have carried the Empire beyond Belgrade; or that He has a desire to raise up again the beaten and depressed Turks by diverting our Arms, as 'tis said He has promised them. Or Lastly, That through too greedy a desire, not only of assuring to Himself for perpetuity, what He has got for a time by the Articles of the Truce, but also of Conquering the whole Roman Empire, He thinks Himself not obliged by any Pacts or Covenants, but that He may break them at any time at His Pleasure. Whatever it is, the Most Glorious King of France shall not escape the Infamous Mark of a Perfidious Prince that violates His Faith. And therefore His Most Sacred Imperial Majesty does protest before God and the whole Christian World, that the said King is free to stretch forth His Hands either to the Fire or the Water, and either to abuse the felicity of His present Power, or in time to fear those Adversities which he provokes the Omnipotent God 〈◊〉 Anger to send upon Him. But as for Himself, being driven to the necessary Defence as well of His Provinces, as of the Sacred Roman Empire, the Electors, Princes and States thereof, He shall be blameless and free from all the guilt as well of the calamities like to follow from the War, and the effusion of Christian Blood, as of the Mahometan Superstition continuing still in Europe, and of the destruction of so many Christian Souls miserably groaning under the Yoke of the Turk.  
The Author indeed of this Print boasts and glories that His Most Christian Majesties Arms are proved just from Heaven by their success wheresoever He moves 'em; but with what Truth let him show if he can. His Imperial Majesty being fully satisfied of the goodness of His Cause, is resolved if it shall please God in this occasion to give prosperous success to the French Arms, He will never the less adore and Magnify the secret Counsels of God, who has sometimes chastised and Corrected even those whom He Loved, by such as Attilas: But He is glad that He has cause to hope better in this World. The Most High has thrown down and humbled the Turk that broke his League but a little before it was ready to empire: And He will also throw down and humble the French Violater of a League, which should have held Sixteen Years longer.  
Vienna, Octob. 18th 1688.  
FINIS.