THE New Politics OF THE COURT OF FRANCE.  
Under the Reign of LEWIS XIV.  
WHEREIN Are to be seen all his Intrigues, and his present Manner of Acting, in respect of all the Potentates of Europe, to satisfy his Ambition and Grandeur.  
Made English from the Original Printed at Cologne, 1694.  
LONDON, Printed for Henry Rhodes, at the Star the corner of Bride-lane, in Fleetstreet; And John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultry. 1695.   

THE Secret Intrigues OF THE COURT of FRANCE.  
THat which we call the Policy of a State, very nearly resembles the Oeconomy of a Private Family: the Ministers and Treasury-Officers of the One, are like the Steward and Caterer in the Other. And therefore it was, that an Ancient Author made no difficulty to say, That a Politic Court supported the State, in like manner as Oeconomy kept up the Grandeur and good Discipline of a single House. And as there are two sorts of Oeconomy; the one Honest, and Praiseworthy, the other Mechanic and Sordid, which a Lunatic Person makes use of to pile up Riches any manner of way, thereby rendering himself odious to all Men of worth, 'tis very near the same thing with Policy, which may be also distinguished into two Classes, the one Lawful, the other Illegitimate. Which latter having only usurped the Name of Policy as Usurpation has done, conceals itself under the Appellation of Conquest, On the other side, True Policy is not only beneficial but commendable, and permitted by the Laws of God and Man. She is the Daughter of Prudence, and the Prince that makes use of her Profitably and Sincerely, wins to himself by that means, the Admiration of Foreigners, as well as the Love and Respect of his own Subjects; and frequently merits the Epithets and Surnames of Great, ●a●●●●ise. O●●he other ●●de, False Policy is merely ●ly●● cunning, wil●ly Craft, or in a word downright Knavery and Cheat, always covetous of other men's Goods, leaving no Stone unturned to aggrandise itself at any rate whatever, come what will come of it, and tacking, according to the Proverb, The Foxes to the Lion's Skin. And these two different sorts of Politics, are as two Opposite Mirrors, that openly display the Inside of Princes, and show their virtuous or wicked Inclinations. Nor can I forbear divulging to the World that the Court of France, ever since the Death of Hen. IU. has very much studied the Practice of this same false Policy, on purpose to endeavour the Aggrandizing of herself by Cheat and Usurpation. And it may be said to have had extraordinary Success in this last Reign of Lewis XIV. under a false Idea of Conquest, having thereby augmented his Revenues to above two Thirds, and his Dominions above a Third Part; as might be easily proved, were it not visible to all his Neighbours, or if his Neighbours were not sensible of it by woeful Experience. And I do farther aver, that it was almost impossible for France to aggrandise herself, and every way to enlarge her Dominions as now we see her Limits extended, or for her Monarch to raise himself to the present Pinnacle of Grandeur, had she not made a smart use of Violence, Usurpation & Breach of Faith. To which I may moreover add, the Hypocrisy and Deceit which the King of France has used in these latter times of Religion, on purpose to trample under foot and appropriate to himself the Estates of his Subjects; and the Treacherous Leagues he has made with Foreign Princes the more easily to deceive 'em, and lay hold upon favourable Opportunities to invade their Territories, when least they dreamed of any such thing, but lay reposing under the Security of a Peace; and all this to make himself Master of their Dominions, when it was not in the Power of their Allies to assist 'em. Formerly indeed the Romans, who were Pagans, made use of the same Maxims and the same Stratagems to grow great upon their Neighbours, and to make themselves universal Masters of the World. And now Lewis XIV. believes he cannot fail of obtaining the same Success in his vast Expectations by treading the same laudable and worthy Steps.  
We have seen, that since the Churchmen, for most part greedy Heapers of Wealth, have intruded into the Ministry of the Court of France, they have instilled into the Government Sentiments like their own; that is to say, Sentiments of Usurpation and Covetousness, and a Liberty to do whatever they please: and as it is usually seen, that a Master endeavours to bring up his Disciples in his own Sentiments, and to be of his humour; so the Cardinals of Richlieu and Mazarine inspired into Lewis XIII. and Lewis XIV. eager Desires to make themselves Great by Usurpation, infusing into 'em by all the ways imaginable, that a Prince was always cried up in his Undertake, let 'em be good or bad provided that they prospered in their Erterprises, because the People adore, and like the Sun-flower, turn toward the Glitter of Prosperity. That it was neither necessary nor beneficial for a King to be good, sincere or merciful, only that 'twas sufficient to appear so; in regard it was frequently dangerous to be so indeed; and for that it became a King above all things, to be always his own Master, by acting quite the contrary, when his Affairs required it, whether it were to make himself Great, or for his own Honour; seeing that Men judge rather by the Eyes then by the Hands; every body having the Liberty to behold and consider the Actions of Kings, but not to handle 'em; that is, to examine and dive into 'em; those are Mysteries concealed, like the Oracles of the Pagans in times of Old. Lewis the XIV is so strongly persuaded that the People are only taken with Appearances, and gaudy Show, that he affects no more than only to appear outwardly honest, sincere and Religious; when in reality and at the bottom of his Soul there is nothing of all this in him, as has been seen by all the World, ever since his first coming to the Crown. Seeing there is no better way to judge of the Inward Heart then by the Constancy of a Man's outward Actions; than which there can be nothing more plain, if we consider the Opressions, the Exactions, the Cruelties committed during the whole Course of his Reign, as also his Usurpations upon his Neighbours. Nor can the more Moderate of his Subjects allege any thing fairer in his Excuse, then only this, that his Design is to aggrandise himself; and that this is the surest Means to render himself formidable as well to his Friends as to his Enemies both at home and abroad. Therefore to become Great according to Lewis the Fourteenth's Method, there was a Necessity for him to fail of his Word and Faith, so soon as he found the Keeping of either prejudicial to Him; to break his Alliances concluded and solemnly sworn with his Neighbours and nearest Relations, so soon as an Opportunity presented itself to invade their Territories. It may be said, that this Monarch has made an excellent Use of Cardinal Mazarine's Lessons. For that same Prelate being both Crafty and Cunning, and somewhat of a Cheat besides, fail d not frequently to lay before his Prince the Example of Alexander VI who notwithstanding his being the Vicar of Christ, never forbore to falsify his Word, when he found there was a necessity for it: tho' never any man promised things with more solemn Oaths, and his Deceit proved successful to him: Nor was Ferdinand, King of Castille and Arragon, beholding for his Grandeur to any thing, so much as to his Breach of Faith. The Emperor, Charles V was always wont to swear By the Faith of a Man of Honour, when he had a Design to act contrary to what he promised. This Mazarine maintained as a Maxim never to be contradicted, and that it behoved a Sovereign to observe this Rule, if ever he designed Grandeur and Puissance, never to stick to, or govern himself according to the established Laws of a Monarchy, when they agreed not with his present Interest, and the Politics requisite to enlarge his Power: because the same Laws that were made in former Ages, were good and wholesome at that time, but could not always so continue. As much as to say, that a King may break and trample over the Fundamental Law● of a Realm, when they concur not with his Ambition and his Inclination to plunder his Neighbours, and ruin his Subjects. For this reason it is, that for some Years since, we have seen Lewis XIV. practise all these Maxims with a vehement Swing, but with little Circumspection; consulting neither the Laws of his Kingdom, nor the Prerogatives of other Princes. However observing this Rule, never to threaten beforehand, but to execute his Design at the same time that he set forth his Manifesto, that his Adversary might have no time or leisure to oppose his Torrent.  
Moreover, Men judge of the Inclinations of Princes by the Ministers and Great Personages that are in favour near their Persons: and the Deceased Prince of Orange, William the First, was wont to say in his time, with great Reason and upon solid Grounds, That a True Judgement might be given of the Natural Disposition of Philip II. King of Spain by the Cruelties which the Duke of Alva, his Chief Minister committed without fear of punishment in the Low-Countries. If it may be lawful to say the same thing of Lewis XIV, What Sentiment ought we to have of that Prince? If we look narrowly into the Inclinations and Proceed of the Ministers that have served him all the whole time of his Reign, to begin from Mazarine till this very time, we shall find 'em to have been all Birds of Prey, and most Cruel and Insatiable Blood suckers of the People, Cardinal Richlieu was the First who laid the Foundations of this Policy now practised by the Court of France: For that same Minister abusing the Simplicity of Lewis XIII. made himself absolute Master in the Kingdom. He was naturally Violent, nor could he endure any Companion; all People must submit to Him; He Exiled, and Imprisoned; he cunningly got rid of the Baron d'Ancre, of Monsieur de Thou and Cinqmarc; chose rather to establish the Security of his Person and his Fortune by Rigour and Violence, then to hazard either by Clemency, or by too much Complacency with those that were beloved by the King, and so he triumphed over all, even over the Protestant Party, which was very numerous in France, and which he endeavoured to oppress by all manner of ways, against the Edicts of Pacification, and ruin'd 'em all by ruining Rochel; which that he might the better bring to pass, he deceived the English and Hollanders, who in good Policy were bound to have ventured all to have preserved that Important Place, which was another State within the State itself, and was a kind of Sanctuary and Place of Retreat for all the Malcontents of the Court. And it may be said that the Loss of that City was the Source of all the Calamities that befell Charles the I. King of England. For France not only raised the Tempest in the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland: sent Money into England to Kindle the Fire, and feed the Civil War, but encouraged Oliver to lay hands upon the Person of the King: in hopes at that time to bring down the Power of that Formidable Monarchy by Sea, as is easy to judge by the Entertainment which the Court of France gave to the Princes of the Royal Family of England in that Conjuncture.  
Moreover after what a Treacherous manner did France act with the Old Duke of Lorraine, that 〈◊〉 might have an Advantage to usurp his Country. For Cardinal Richlieu under pretence of Friendship drew him to Lion, where Lewis the XIII then lay with a Powerful Army, under a false pretence, that it believed him to come and pay his Respects to that Monarch. Thither the Prince, suspecting nothing but honest and fair dealing, repaired, and was received at first with Extraordinary Honour and Civility, not only by the King and the Cardinal, but by all the Grandees of the Court, who were ordered to treat him Splendidly. But that was but the Bait to draw him on: for when the poor Duke, laden with the Honours of the Court, and satisfied with his Kind Reception, was about to return home, he was stopped by the Cardinal's Order; nor could he procure his Release, but by delivering back into the hands of France a great part of his Territories, which afterwards occasioned the loss of all the rest, under pretence that the Prince was an active stirring Soldier, and devoted to the House of Austria. But indeed, because the Policy of the Court of France could not brook so near her a Sovereign Prince, whose Territories were a Goad in her sides, and might serve for an Inlet into France out of Germany.  
Now in regard it is the Policy of a Minister of State, to the end he may be lamented and desired after his Death, to justify his Conduct in the Eyes of the People, Richlieu was willing to have for his Successor a Minister that should out do him, and finish what he had begun: therefore he recommended Cardinal Mazarine, an Italian by Birth, and of ●ean Extraction, naturally covetous, and deceitful 〈◊〉 whatever he undertook, covering himself with the Fox's Skin, the better to deceive others and play his own part, not caring for whatever People said of him, nor what Mischief was laid to his charge, so he could bring about his Grand Design, which was to get Money; so that all the whole time of his Ministry he was called The Horseleech of the People. By good luck, he came to his Ministry during the Regency of a Credulous Queen and a Young King, whom he Christened, that he might acquire to himself the more Respect and Veneration. It was easy for him both to imprint in the mind of this Young Prince, and instill into him Precepts according to his own Humour, which were to Sacrifice every thing to his own Interest; Honour, Word, Alliances, Edicts, Promises, Oaths, when all these Virtues were opposite to his Aggrandizement: That it behoved a Prince that would be great, to accommodate himself to the Necessity of Affairs: that it was sufficient for a Prince to be Virtuous, when he could not dispense with being otherwise: that it was good and commendable to know what was just and honest, but not always expedient to practise it. That there were some Vices which no way hindered a Prince from Governing well: that Solomon was subject to Women, yet looked upon to be the Greatest and Wisest of all Kings: for that there is always a Distinction to be made between the Domestic and Public Life of a Prince, his Royal and his Private Virtues. Cardinal Mazarine having thus found out the Genius of his Disciple, 'twas an easy thing for him to imprint in his Mind these New Lectures of Policy, which afterwards served for a Basis and Foundation to the Reign of Lewis XIV. who together with the Queen-Mother, out of pure Gratitude delivered into the Cardinal's hands the Keys of all the Favours and Honours of his Kingdom, upheld him in despite of all the Princes of the Blood, and notwithstanding all the earnest Importunities of the Parliament and People, underwent all the Dangers of a Civil War for some Years; and not being able to live without the Cardinal's Presence, the King sent for him twice out of Banishment, and received him with those Honours that were no way due to him, even to the going several Leagues to meet him, and to express his excessive Joy for his Return by mutual Embraces. I shall not here enlarge upon the Authority and Power which that Italian Cardinal had in France; 'tis sufficient to say, That the King, during his Minority, had all the Deference and Respect for that Prelate which a Son could have for a Father, and that it was the Cardinal who only reigned in France. In lieu of which, he promised the King and Queen, That he would make him the Greatest Monarch in Europe▪ In order whereunto, he was to do▪ Two things. The First, was, To heap up Treasure, and augment his Revenues. The Second, was, To lay aside all Scruples of Conscience, when the main Concern was, the Aggrandizing his Kingdoms. The first Trial of Skill which the Cardinal made in the behalf of France, wa● during his Nunciature when the Peace was concluded at Chi●iasc●, where the crafty wilily Minister deceived the Pope his Master, the Princes of Ital●, and the King of Spain, in favour of the French Court; and so well Cullyed the Duke of S●●●●, that he wrested out of his Hands that Impor●●●● Place of Pigne●ol, to deliver it into the Hands 〈◊〉 which was an Acquisition that all the King's Money and Power could not obtain before, though he had had an aching Tooth for it a long time. And this same Cheat, and cunning piece of Knavery it was, though the Court of France paid for it in good Ready-Money, that purchased him the  of all the Court of France, and the Friendship of Cardinal Richlieu; which Mazarine still improved, and kept tight by Presents which he sent him out of Italy, from time to time: and so well he understood to inveigle all the rest, that he was called into France in the Year 1639. where, a little time after his arrival, the Death of Father Joseph the Capuchin, became the Life of Ma●arine. This Capuchin was he who served Cardinal Richlieu in all his Intrigues both within and without the Kingdom; and who was sent into England, during the Reign of Charles I. to sow Division, and raise a Civil War, which cost that Nation Rivers of Blood. So that the Capuchin had good reason to say, at his return out of England, That he had set Fire to those Sparkles which would kindle such a Flame as would not easily be extinguished: in Acknowledgement of which, the Court of France promised to get him a Cardinal's Cap to cover his Bald Pace. But he was not so happy as to see himself clad in Purple, Dea●●● seizing him in the Habit of a Saint of a Franciscan. After which, the Court of France bend all her Solicitations in favour of Ma●arine. To which Cardinal Richlieu was the more willing to give his Consent, as being glad to see himself succeeded in the Ministry by a Person of no less Rank than he was; who, though he were inferior to him in Birth, yet was his Equal in Dignity, Both Princes of the Church; yet not without some secret Jealousies between 'em. But the King and Queen favoured him, in Consideration of the Business of Pignerol, and his declared Devotion for the Interests of France; so that he was advanced to the Purple toward the End of the Year 1641. Immediately after his Promotion, he went to take Possession of the Principality of Sedan, which the two Cardinals had wrested from the House of Bovillon by Violence; forasmuch as that Principality bordered too near upon France, and also durst make Head against it, but at a time when France was not so powerful as now it is. 'Tis true, that the Duke of Bovillon, Frederick Maurice, who was then Sovereign of the Place, had very much contributed to the loss of it, by changing his Religion, upon his marrying the Countess of Berghe. For being at that time Governor of Maestricht, and in the Service of the States of the United Provinces, whose Protection warranted his Territories from all Assaults of France; yet finding himself no longer acceptable to the Prince of Orange, his near Kinsman, nor to the States themselves, he desired leave to lay down his Commission and retire to Sedan, there to lead a private and quiet Life, and wholly to employ himself within his Principality to the Propagation of the Roman Religion, which he had embraced; in which Employment he made some Progress during some Years. After which, he met with Business much more considerable▪ by reason of the Refuge which he gave to the Count of Soissons, one of the Princes of the Blood, and who was retired in discontent from the Court of France, by reason of some Quarrel with Cardinal Richlieu; and this Count was followed by the Duke of Guise. Now the Duke of Bovillon thought to have avoided all Occasion of Trouble, by giving notice to the Court of France of the Retreat of those two Princes: but the Cardinal, a subtle and crafty Politician, seeing he could not hinder it, persuaded the King to approve what he had done, till an Opportunity of Revenge presented itself, as it appeared not long after by the King's taking the Field, in order to besiege the City of Sedan. Nor had the Duke, at that time, any other way to preserve himself, but by clapping up a League in all haste with the Emperor and Spain, by which they were to assist him against France with Seven thousand Men, and Two hundred thousand Crowns in Ready-Money. But the Emperor only performed his Promise, and sent him some Forces under the Conduct of General d'Amboi. Nevertheless, the Germans, together with about Four thousand Men which the Duke of Bovillon had raised at his Charges, defeated the French Army under the Command of Chatillon; the Fruit of which Victory was, the Taking of Doncheri, not far from Sedan. And this lucky Beginning of the Duke made the Court of France begin to look about 'em, as being afraid lest that petty War should kindle a greater. Thereupon the Duke of Brezé was sent the same way with Five and twenty thousand Men; and the Cardinal persuaded the King, and all the Court, to march as far as Rethel. But unfortunately for the Duke of Bovillon, Lamboy quitted him, with all his Men, being ordered to march to the Relief of Air, which the French had besieged. So that the Duke finding himself constrained to shut himself up within the Walls of Sedan, and seeing himself besieged, began to think of an Accommodation, so much the rather, because the Count of Soissons, who had been the Occasion of the War, had shot himself in the Head with a Pistol Bullet. This was no more than what France desired, as having at that time a War with Spain, several discontented Princes and Lords within the Kingdom, who waited only for an Opportunity to rise, and the Siege of Aire begun; uncertain therefore of Success, and having so many Irons in the Fire, she durst not venture the besieging of Sedan, which they were convinced that the Duke would defend with the last drop of his Blood; besides that he had Great Men that took his Part at Court, as not being willing that Place should fall into the King's Hands, which, upon many Occasions, served 'em for a Retiring Place. Wherefore being also no less desirous to spite Cardinal Richlieu, who was looked upon as the first Author of that War, they persuaded the King, who was advanced as far as Meziere, to hearken to an Accommodation. Thereupon the Cardinal seeing it was not to be avoided, offered his Mediation to the Duke of Bovillon, to the end that the Affair passing through his Hands, the Duke might think himself beholding to him for this Kindness, though his Design were to ruin the Duke some other way. To which purpose, he made great Protestations to the Duke, who took all for Gold that glisterens; and being but a new Catholic, believed that whatever that same Prelate and Prince of the Church assured him, was sincere, and truly honest. But whatever Protestation his Eminency made, he had always a Reserve which he kept close in his Breast: and the better to cover his Design, and show his , he would needs enter into a Treaty, as a Security for the Duke's Sincerity; and a Gauranty on the King's behalf, That His Majesty would perform the Agreement to the least Tittle of the Stipulation, the better to lull the Duke asleep, and draw him to the Court. Thereupon the Articles being signed on both Sides, the Duke went forthwith to pay his Respects to the King at Meziere, where he was entertained with Court-Holy-Water, fair Words and Compliments, and received by the King, the Cardinal, and all the Lords, with all the Honours imaginable due to his Dignity. The Cardinal also gave him large Demonstrations of Friendship, and made him extraordinary Promises, on purpose to engage him to have a Confidence in him, and make him believe that he had forgot the injurious Manifesto which the Duke had printed against him. Yet all this was nothing else but Snare and Decoy. For his Eminency told the King, in the presence of all the Court, That he could not do better then to entrust an Army under the Command of the Duke of Bovillon, as one that so well deserved the Honour, seeing that with a handful of wretched Germans he had beaten the Army of France; so that there was nothing which he might not well expect from his Valour and Experience, when he should once come to Head the Valour of the French. This the Duke took in good earnest, and so fell into the Snare; and though he had been forewarned by the Cardinal's Enemies, that the more Affection and Kindness that Minister showed, the less he was to be trusted; yet he was so easily wrought upon, as to accept the Command of an Army in Italy; and that was the very Place where the Cardinal was desirous to keep him. For being in that Post, he forgot himself to that degree, as during the Sickness of Lewis XIII. to give the Duke of Orleans a Letter of Credence to be admitted into Sedan, together with the Queen-Mother, and the Children of France, under pretence of retiring thither after the King's Death, to avoid the Oppression of the Cardinal, tho' the Count of d'Aubijoux, who went to him in Italy, promised him with great Oaths and Imprecations, that he would never deliver the Letter, unless there should be an Absolute Necessity. But the King escaped that Sickness, and the Cardinal having notice of every thing to the smallest Circumstance, gave him an account of every particular, and thought it a favourable Opportunity to revenge himself for what was past, and to put the Principality of Sedan into the Hands of France without the Effusion of Blood. For he seldom separated the Remembrance of an Injury and the desire of Revenge. It happened at the same time that the Duke of Orleans finding his Brother very Infirm and sickly, and believing that during the Minority of the Young King, when the Cardinal would have all the Power in his hands, he should lead but an ill life in the Court of France, and seeing himself exposed to the Resentment of his Adversary, he bethought himself of making a League with the Spaniards by the mediation of a Gentleman, whose Name was Fourraille, whom he sent to Madrid. But the Cardinal having got an Inkling of it, sent his Secretary Chavigni, privately to give the King notice of it, and in the mean time he left no Stone unturned to discover the Contents of the Treaty that had been concluded at Madrid; and he set so many Engines at work, that he found a way to get a Copy of it from some Secretary to the Duke of Orleans. So soon as he had read it, he sent it to the King by the same Chavigni, and ordered him to assure his Majesty that the Copy was drawn from the Original itself; and for this same Piece it was that Cinqmarc and du Thou were apprehended, and that the King ordered his Brother the Duke of Orleans to be very narrowly watched, who finding it Impossible for him to make his Escape out of France, took a Resolution to submit himself to the King's Mercy, and implore his Pardon; and wrote a very submissive Letter to the Cardinal, which he sent him by one of his Favourites; wherein he set forth his Repentance in very moving Expressions, and his desire to be beholding for the Favour of his Reconciliation with the King to his Eminency, who willingly embraced the Opportunity of gaining the Duke of Orleance's Friendship, and of having at his Beck an Instrument to ruin the Duke of Bovillon. Thereupon he made the Duke of Orleance's Peace with the King, upon Condition that he should deliver into his hands the Original of the Treaty. But the King's Brother protested that he had burned the Original, and had only kept a Copy signed with his own Hand, and Countersigned by the Secretary of his Commands; by virtue of which Copy both Cinqmarc and the Thou were both arraigned, and the Fatal End they came to is well known. But to return to the Duke of Bovillon, you are to understand that Fontraille, who was sent into Spain to conclude the Treaty, that he might bring it the sooner to pass, and imprint a higher Opinion of the Business in the Court of Madrid, would needs insert the Duke of Bouillon's Name in the Treaty without his Knowledge; and promised that he should not only ratify it, but allow Sedan for a Place of Refuge; tho' the Duke never ratified the Treaty, nor ever caused his Name to be inserted; but quite the contrary had always opposed it, when the Duke of Orleans had formerly made some Overtures to him of the same nature. However there needed no more to ruin him; so that the Cardinal dispatched away a Courier forthwith into Italy, with Orders for seizing his Person, which was done at Casal by the General Officers, who commanded under him, from whence he was conducted by a numerous Convoy to the Castle of Pierre-en-Cize. And there it was that the Duke first understood, That he had been comprehended in the Treaty of Madrid, of which the Duke of Orleans had given him a Copy signed with his own Hand; and that he at the same time had discovered the Queen's and the Duke's Design to retire to Sedan, upon the King's Decease. The crafty Cardinal observed by this Confession how much he was feared and dreaded, which served to render him more absolute than ever, and impower'd him to revenge himself of his Enemies more loftily and more inexorably. For whatever Excuse the Duke of Bovillon could make, and tho' it could never be proved that he ever signed or ratified the Treaty, or gave any order for the inserting of his Name therein, there was no other Choice for him to make, but either to lose his Head or his Principality of Sedan. Which was no more than what France had sought a long time, and for the bringing of which to pass, there was no foul Play which the Minister had not put in Practice, no Snare that he had not laid to entrap the Innocent. The Duchess of Bovillon, having notice of her Husband's Imprisonment, and of the danger he was in of his Life, sent her Sister in Law to Court, to let the Cardinal know, that if the Duke were put to death, she would deliver Sedan to the Spaniards, to which purpose she had already sent to brussels to solicit their Approach to the Town. But Mademoiselle de Bovillon, arriving at the Court of France, and understanding that du Thou had been condemned for only being privy to, and concealing Cinqmarc's Design, changed her note, and was so far from delivering the Duchess' Menaces to the Cardinal, according to her Instructions, that she told the Cardinal she had Orders to enter into a Negotiation, and to engage for the Life and Liberty of her Brother. This was that which the Cardinal expected, and therefore without giving her any time to recollect herself, the Treaty was concluded, That the Duchess should deliver Sedan to the King of France, and that the Duke her Husband should be put into possession of other Lands of equal value in the Kingdom; and that at the same time that the French Garrison should enter the Town, the Prisoner should be released. Thereupon, Cardinal Richlieu not being able to go himself, sent his Coadjutour in the Ministry, who took possession of it, and secured it to all Intents and Purposes. Thus that Important City which had withstood the King, fell into his Hands, partly through the ill Conduct of the Duke of Bovillon, but chief through the Snares which the Policy of France laid for him, ever since he quitted his Religion and the Service of the States. For in good Policy they ought to have preserved that City which gave Protection to the Protestant Party.  
The Death of the Cardinal happening in one and the same year, the Queen being declared Regent, and Duke of Orleans Chief of the Council, the Duke of Bovillon returrned to Court, flattering himself with being restored to his Dominions, considering that his Misfortune did not befall him, but for the good Services which he was ready to have done those Two Illustrious Persons, that now sat at the Helm of State, and who had engaged him without his Knowledge. But when he came to Court, he only found a change of the Regency, but not of the Ministry, which was still cunning and wilily: For Mazarine, who succeeded Richlieu in the Government, outdid his Predecessor. He found that the Disciple knew more than the Master; that he had a double portion of Avarice and Self-Interest; that Italian Knavery had succeeded French Refinedness, and that he had no mind to let go the Prey which he already held fast in his Gripes, and for which he had laboured conjointly with his Predecessor. 'Tis true, that when the Duke of Bovillon first arrived, he received a world of Compliments from the Queen, the Duke of Orleans, and all the Court; but when he came to talk of Business, all that Courtship vanished, nor could he obtain so much as Audience either of the Queen or the Duke of Orleans, till at length by dint of Pressing Importunity he got so much favour, that the Abbot de la Riviere, a Favourite of Orleance's was appointed to confer with him about his Pretensions; and that merely to be rid of him: Bovillon therefore seeing he could do no better, fell upon the Matter with the Abbot, and told him, That he was willing to fulfil the Treaty made with Lewis XIII, but that the Evacuation, the Verification in Parliament, and so many other Formalities absolutely requisite, would infallibly take up a tedious Space of several Years: therefore till all those Ceremonies were at an end, that 'twas but just that Sedan should be restored him to be surrendered back into the King's Hands, so soon as he should be put into Possession of the Equivalents: that considering the Present Posture of Affairs, he foresaw long Delays and infinite Cavils; whereas if Sedan were in his Hands, it would be looked upon as the King's Business, no less than the Enlarging of France by the Acquisition of a Sovereignty, and a City of great Strength and Importance. That if these Reasons would not work upon the Queen nor Monsieur, he desired the Abbot to lay before 'em, that the One or the Other might happen to die before Things could be brought to that perfection, as to be fit to be put in Execution, which would inevitably prove the Ruin of his Family; and that they were engaged as well in Honour as in Conscience not to expose him to that Extremity. To this he added, That tho' the Queen and the Duke had the least reason in the world to distrust his Words, nevertheless he offered to give his Children in Hostage, or to submit to whatever Precautions they desired to take, for the Security of the Young King. But this was like knocking at a deaf Man's door; for the Abbot, who had his Instructions, told him with a great many Compliments, That he had only Orders to hear him; but that he would make a faithful Report of what he had said; adding with great Protestations, That it should be none of his Fault that he had not a favourable Answer: but that was a thing which was never intended. So that Bovillon finding that the Abbot never came at him more, resolved to address himself directly to the Queen and the Duke of Orleans: but both the One and the Other knew so well how to avoid meeting him, that he could never find an Opportunity to speak to 'em. Which put him into a Rage, and caused him to let fall some hard words against the Queen and the Duke, as being too forgetful of what he had done for 'em. However Bovillon, unwilling to return Home without a positive Answer, applied himself again to the Abbot: but then he could never find the Abbot at home, his Servants having Orders still to deny him whenever Bovillon came to ask for him. Nay, it happened one day, that tho' he knew that the Abbot was at home, by certain Persons of Quality that waited in his Antichamber to speak with him, yet the Abbot was so unmannerly as to send out one of his Servants to tell him bluntly in the hearing of those Gentlemen, That the Abbot was gone abroad; which put the Duke of Bovillon into such a Rage, that he bid the Servant tell his Master, That had it not been for the Respect which he bore the Duke of Orleans, he would have returned him such a Treatment for his Sauciness, that should have stuck to him as long as he lived.  
This Transport of Passion in the Duke made a great noise at Court, so that the Queen, and the Duke of Orleans were glad of this pretence to rid themselves of a Person whose presence continually Reproached 'em with his past Services, and the Cardinal proposed in Council a second seizure of his Person. But Bovillon having notice of it underhand, took Post for Turenne, there to spend the Remainder of his days, having lost not only the Important City of Sedan, but the promised Equivalent besides. Nor does the Court of France do any thing more for the Family of Bovillon, then only lull 'em asleep with Cardinal's Caps and Benefices of the same value. Thus we send Trifles to the Indians, and bring away their Gold and Silver.  
I would fain have the French Emissaries tell me what reason the Most Christian King had to make himself Master of the Principality of Orange, to beat down the Fortifications of the Castle in the year 1667, when the Sovereign was under Age, and afterwards utterly to demolish the Castle and Walls of the City, and not content with that same Desolation, to solicit the Corporations to submit themselves to the King, threatening, if they refused, to burn and totally ruin the Inhabitants, as afterwards the French Forces did, notwithstanding their Independent Sovereignty. I am persuaded the best reason those Emissaries can give, is because the Policy of France cannot brook a Foreign Sovereignty within her Dominions: and so it was the Interest of the Court to make themselves Masters of it, before the Sovereign was in a Condition to withstand their Power, by means of his Friends and Confederates: and all the while they pretended that they had done the Prince of Orange a signal Piece of Service, because they had spared him the Expense of a Garrison. But if such be the Charity of the Most Christian King, what may we expect from his Severity?  
Without Question the same Spirit it was that inspired France to seize upon Burgundy and Franche Conté, without any pretence of Claim, after the Pyrenaean Treaty, and without any other reason, but because Spain being weak, was not able to defend herself, and because it is really the Court of France to aggrandise herself so soon as she finds an Opportunity, without any respect to Treaties or Alliances. And it may be said, that the Ministry of Mazarine was a continued Chain of Oppressions, and that he made it his Study all his Life-time to extinguish the Nobility of France by all the ways imaginable, whether right or wrong: tho' he were cunning enough to support 'em during the Troubles which happened in the Kingdom during the reigning King's Minority.  
But so soon as he had managed 'em, so soon as he had humbled their Power by ruining 'em: for he who deprives a Prince of Money, takes from him the Soul of Authority; the Princes of the Blood did nothing but cry out and openly reproach the Court, that she was full of nothing but Craft, Artifice and juggling Tricks to abuse the People and the Confederates; but they might cry as loud as they pleased, the Ministry went its own way, and the Cardinal let 'em say what they pleased, provided he did his own business. For it may be said of him, that his Tongue belied his Heart, and that his Countenance quite differed from his inward Thoughts. He was often wont to say, that the French were naturally Turbulent, given to Novelty, and prone to Sedition, and that the Court was full of Restless Spirits. Which was the Reason that he always endeavoured to cut 'em out Employment without the Kingdom. But in regard he had no reason to be satisfied with the People, he was the Inventor of the greatest part of the Taxes now raging in France, the Father of the Publicans and Toll-gatherers. He sucked the Blood of the Subjects, in imitation of the Grand Signior, for the Support of the Soldiery, preferred before the People, at the Expense of the People, and tho' it should be to their utter Ruin; to the end he might be able to quell 'em, when ever they should be inclined to Mutiny and Insurrection; Insinuating into the Young King, that the Preservation of his Crown depended upon his Soldiers; as heretofore the Germane Legions vaunted to hold the Empire in their Hands. And in pursuance of that Maxim we have seen, that during this Reign, the Court of France has practised this Lesson, which has ruined her People, that she has impoverished her Subjects, deprived the Nobility of their Privileges, and all this merely by keeping great Armies on foot, to serve her at all times with both Hands to ruin the People, when ever they went about to shake off or complain of the Excessive Taxes and Imposts with which they are daily overwhelmed: to chastise the Parliaments when they refused to verify the Edicts and Impositions which the Kings sends to 'em: as also that she may have her Legions always ready to invade the Dominions of her Neighbours, when they least dream of any such Acts of Hostility; or are otherwise employed, relying upon the Faith of Treaties. As we have seen how that after the Peace of Nimeghen, when France finding her Treasures quite exhausted, and her numerous Armies ruined by Sickness & Hardships, was constrained to make fresh Provision, fearing a Change of Fortune, as she had already felt at the Battle of St. Dennis. For this reason she sought Peace to break the Union, and obtained it in despite of those who well foresaw that France would no longer keep it after she had once recovered Breath, or that she found a Propitious Opportunity to break it. For since the King of France falsified his Oath to observe the Pyrenaean Peace, so solemnly sworn upon the Altar, Sincerity is fled from the Court of France, and returned to Heaven, from whence it descended, and Corruption has taken the Place of Justice and Integrity. In regard the Ministry of France was only meditated to aggrandise the King. And therefore the deceased Sieur de Colbert, Chief Minister, never scrupled to assert, That the King might break and make Laws at his own pleasure; Privileges being Chimeras odious and offensive to it, and that Law was only the Inclination, Reputation and Authority of the Prince.  
When the King of France has a mind to make himself Master of a Country, or only of a single Town, he never considers the Outward Situation, but the Inward Condition of it; by whom it is governed, who defends it; and the Lovidores are most commonly the Cannons with which he attacks it. And therefore Pompone, formerly Ambassador at the Court of Sweden, had in some measure good Reason to say, that France with her Money would always do what she pleased; and that it was by means of that Metal, that she was at that time become Mistress of his Swedish Majesty's Cabinet, and that she became Mistress of so many Places after the Peace of Nimeghen, under pretence of Appendences and Dependences, of which a great Volume might be made. This is a Truth not to be denied, since we have seen it with our Eyes, and that we still behold the Inhabitants of those Places groaning under the severe Servitude of the Despotic Government of France. But in regard that Usurpation cannot always long subsist, and for that so many Princes are at last awakened from their Oppression, the Court of France finding herself very much embarrassed to preserve what she has usurped since the Peace of Nimeghen, all her Policy could find out no better Expedient then to propose a Truce while the Emperor and the Empire were engaged in a War against the Turk.  
The Court of France had two Prospects in desiring this Truce. The first, That in detaining all the Places of which she had made herself Mistress, she at the same time lulled asleep the Court of Vienna on the Rhine side, that she might oblige the Emperor to continue the War with the Grand Signior. Secondly, Not to observe the Truce any longer then till one or other of the Two Empires were reduced to a Low Condition. Had it been the Emperor's misfortune to have lost Vienna, than the Business was concerted and decreed, That the King of France was to have invaded the Empire with a powerful Army, and to have been proclaimed Emperor with a high hand. On the Other side, if the Turks were beaten, he was to declare War against the Emperor, to prevent him from growing too great by his Conquests. But the latter falling out for the good of Christendom, presently France without any regard had to Truces or Alliances, openly attacked Philipsburgh, carried it, and afterwards marched with his Army into the Palatinate which he over-ran with Fire and Sword, and by Violence, and Conflagrations, got sure footing all along the Banks of the Rhine▪ where we to this day behold the sad and deplorable Remainders of the Rage and Fury of the French Armies. However in regard that Violence never wants a Pretence, and that the most Impious Actions veil themselves in like manner with some Outward Appearances; the King of France to justify himself before all the World, out of a kind of Generosity pretends to declare the Reasons why he was constrained to resume Hostile Arms, to the end he might persuade all Christendom of his sincere Intentions to establish the public Repose, while his Soldiers in all Places ruined and burnt whole Provinces, and carried away the Goods and  of the Poor Inhabitants.  
To this purpose the Most Christian King follows his begun Hostilities with a Manifesto, wherein the Principal Reasons that France alleges to cover her Breach of Faith, are first, That she was well informed that so soon as the Emperor should have made a Peace with the Turk, he had resolved to bend all his whole Force upon the Rhine against France. To which I shall answer hereafter in Particular: but in general thus much is to be said, that the Most Christian King, after he had broken the Truce, desired to make a Peace upon two Conditions. First, That the Truce for Twenty Years might be changed into a Perpetual Peace: and Secondly, That the Cardinal de Furstenbergh might be put into the Possession of the Electorate of Cologne; and that afterwards the King would endeavour to bring the Cardinal and the Chapter to such Accommodations as should be proposed for the Satisfaction of Prince Clement of Bavaria; that is to say, to cause him to be declared Coadjutour to the said Electorate.  
As to the first point the Politics of the Court of France were very fine Spungius and extremely Crafty; seeing that while the Emperor and the Empire were engaged against the Turks, it was the proper time for her to appropriate to herself all the Places, Lands and Signiories which by the Truce were not left to the enjoyment of France but for Twenty years, of which three were expired, and which the King was fully persuaded in his Conscience that he could not justly keep, but must be forced to restore at the Expiration of the Truce.  
As for the Possession of Cologne by the Cardinal of Furstenbergh, (the detaining of which from the said Cardinal was another specious Pretence for his resuming Arms) all Europe is sufficiently acquainted with the Engaging Reason which the Most Christian King had to make himself Master of that Archbishopric: seeing the Cardinal and the King were all one, and so by means of that Possession, the King of France had one Foot in the Empire, and upon the Territories adjoining, belonging either to the States of the United Provinces, or the Palatine and Brandenburg Electors. But because it will be a difficult matter for us to treat otherwise then confusedly of the Policy of France in general, we shall descend to Particulars, thereby to render it more Intelligible, beginning with the Holy See.  
The Kings of France have always held themselves highly honoured with the Title of Eldest Sons of the Church, and would have made War upon any one that should have ventured to dispute that Title with 'em. In like manner, they have all along given Marks of their Filial Obedience, and a devout submission to what ever came from the Holy See. And to have seen Lewis XIV. persecute the Huguenots in France, there is no body but would have sworn that he had been the most Zealous Catholic in the world. Nevertheless we have seen the contrary, and that what he has done in reference to the Protestants, was only to ward off the Accusations that might have been charged upon him for openly opposing the Holy See, while he affronted, as all the world knows he openly did, Pope Innocent XI. only because the Holy Father would not give way to his Usurpation of the Regale in France; which produced the Assembly of some Prelates of the French Clergy in the Year 1682. wherein the Archbishop of Paris who presided there, being flattered in case of a Rupture, with the hopes of being Patriarch of the Kingdom, or in case of an Accommodation, with the expectation of a Cardinal's Cap, got all the Prelates who were present at the Assembly, to degrade the Papal Authority, and of a Universal Pontiff, to make him a Simple Bishop, subjected to Councils. And the King constrained all the Preachers in the Kingdom, and Rectors of Universities to declaim and teach a Doctrine in Opposition to the Authority of the Pontiff Nay, the Business went so high, that the Court of France undertook to govern Rome itself, in opposing the Suppression of the Franchises of Ambassadors Quarters in Rome; which indeed were no more than a Sanctuary for Robbers and Bankrupts. Moreover, the King of France, that he might remain peaceable Possessor of the Regale, went about to set a foot an Old Pretention of the Duke of Parma to the States of Castro, and Ronciglione, supposing 'em Guarranties only of the Treaty of Pisa, which was a Pretence to seize upon the City and Country of Avignon, which the Court of France had for a long time looked upon as an Estate that lay convenient for her, and only sought an Opportunity to detain it, without being obliged to make Restitution; and which had taken effect, had not Innocent the XI. been a quiet and peaceable Pontiff, suffering with a Christian Patience while he lived, all the Affronts of the Court of France, referring the Revenge of 'em, as he was often wont to say, to his Crucify'd Saviour; and to him it was, that the Holy Father appealed, when France sent him a Copy of the Extract of the Registers of the Parliament of Paris, in the ensuing Words.  
This day the King's Advocate-General coming into the Chamber of Vacations, and declaring, That the Matters of Fact explained by the Letter which the King wrote to Cardinal d'Estrees the 6th. of this Month, having obliged his Majesty to let our Holy Father the Pope know, That for the future he could not but look upon him as a Prince engaged with his Enemies, consequently that he could not acknowledge him for a Judge of every thing that concerned his Majesty's Interests, the King's Advocate General thought it his Duty, at the same time to take the Precautions settled by the Law, practised upon several Occasions, and grounded upon the Opinions of the Italian Canonists themselves, to hinder his Holiness from pronouncing Effectual and Regular Judgements upon these Matters. To which purpose, he has put in to a Universal Council an Appeal Extrajudicial, as to all Proceed of his Holiness at present, or for the Future; and as to all Sentences which he may have given, or hereafter pronounce, to the Prejudice of the King, or the Prerogatives of his Crown, or of his Majesty's Subjects. Of all which, the Respect which he owes the Crown, has obliged him to come and give the Court an Account, and present to their view the Act which he has made, wherein he cannot but acknowledge the Piety; Wisdom and Moderation of the King in this particular, which seem to have extinguished in the Person of the King, those Passions that most vehemently agitate other Men. He hopes that the Court will approve his Conduct, and assures himself that they will both zealously and faithfully use all the Authority with which it has pleased the King to invest 'em, to maintain the Respect which is due to his Majesty, and to preserve the Prerogatives of his Crown, the Tranquillity of his Subjects, and the Liberties which are not only particular to the Gallican Church, but which she has preserved with more Learning and Vigour than any other. Which things being considered, the Chamber Ordains,  
That the said Act of Appeal be Registered in the Registers Office, that recourse may be had to it, as occasion serves, and that Thanks be returned to the King for ordering his Advocate-General to proceed according to the Usual Practice upon the same Occasions, and that the First Precedent do assure the King in the Name of the whole Society of their Devotion to his sacred Person and his Service; and that they will at all times make use of that Authority which the King has conferred upon 'em, to support the Prerogatives of the Crown, the Liberties of the Kingdom, and the Repose of his Subjects.  
It was also further added by M. Harlay, the King's Counsellor in his Council of State, and his Advocate-General, That the Reputation and Piety of our Holy Father Innocent XI. causing his Majesty to rejoice at his Exaltation to the Pontificate, his Majesty endeavoured to close with his Holiness, in order to a unanimous Care of what ever might be for the Glory and Service of God.  
That his desires and the Progresses he made in order to such a Pious Design, not having had that Success which he expected, the King however still continued on his part to employ the Power which God has put into his hands for the preservation of the Purity of the Faith in his Kingdom, and to bring back to the Bosom of the Church a Great Number of Children that are gone astray, as also to afford the Church all the Protection, which she could expect from the Authority of a Great King: his Majesty also has edified by his Example, and instructed all his Subjects by his particular Piety.  
Nevertheless, our Holy Father the Pope, to whom so many wonderful Virtues and Actions ought to have rendered the Person of the King so dear, has with great heat embraced the Complaint of the two Bishops about the Right of the Regale; and his Holiness at the same time rejected the Testimonies of all the rest of the Prelates of the Kingdom, touching the Favours they have received from the King in that particular to the Prejudice of his Prerogatives.  
He went about to take from the King's Ambassadors at Rome the Franchises which they enjoyed, even under his Pontificate, in a City where it became the Gratitude of the Popes to have preserved to our Kings, more singular Marks of that Sovereignty, of which they formerly despoiled themselves, to enrich the Holy See.  
Our Holy Father has also looked upon as a dangerous and suspected Doctrine, the Declaration which the Assembly of the Clergy made in the Year 1682. of their Opinions concerning Ecclesiastical Power; at such a Conjuncture too, when some of his Predecessors would rather have been banished to the Extremities of the Earth, then have suffered so many New Converts.  
He refused his Bulls to several ecclesiastics nominated by the King to supply the vacant Churches in his Kingdom.  
The partial Behaviour of our Holy Father in reference to the Archbishopric of Cologne; his Resolute Refusal to acknowledge or give Audience to the King's Ambassador at that Conjuncture; but thundering out anathemas against him, and Interdicting him from St. Lewis' Church in Rome, will perpetuate an Example almost Incredible to Posterity of the King's Zeal for Religion, and his desire to preserve the Peace of Christendom, and of the Pope's proceed so contrary to the Obligations of the Place which he supplies.  
Wherefore seeing His Holiness stops his Ears to all the King's most just Complaints, we are constrained at length to defend ourselves, and to maintain the Dignity of the Crown, and the Repose of the King's Subjects by the Rules of Justice, at a time that his Majesty does the same, with so much glory, by the Puissance of his Arms.  
Thereupon the King's said Advocate-General, having first obtained the King's permission, declares, That he is Appellant in the King's behalf, and in behalf of all his Subjects to a Universal Council, which His Holiness shall be pleased to call in due and Canonical Form, etc. Protesting in the mean time in the Name and by the Express Command of the King, that 'tis his Intention to remain inviolably devoted to the Holy See as the true Centre of the Church's Unity, etc. And so soon as our Holy Father, being better informed, shall show the Equity, the Sentiments and Partiality of a Judge and common Father, his Majesty will pay to his Person the same Filial Respect, as he did before; and from which nothing but the ill Conduct of his Holiness causes him to abstain.  
After the Court of France had put these unheard-of Affronts upon the Holy See, and thus debased the Authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, instead of making use of those means which the Catholic Church and Councils have put into his Hands to bring back Princes and People to their Christian Duty, the Pope out of a peculiar Fund of Charity and Piety, contented himself with making appear to all the World, the Justice of his Proceed and the Injustice of the French Court, declaring all along, that he was persuaded that the Truth of Affairs had never been truly represented to the King of France; only that the Artifices and Passions of those who are no Lovers of Peace had infused into him an Idea altogether different. Otherwise that it was never to be believed that the King would have harboured in his Mind those Injurious Sentiments contained in Cardinal d'Estree's Letter: his Holiness having never failed to show himself a true Father to all Catholics, but more particularly to France; who upon several Occasions had received various Testimonies of his Indulgence and Esteem; but instead of being repaid with Grateful Acknowledgement, his Holiness had been exposed to most heinous Injuries and Affronts not only offered to his Person but the Holy See, by extending the Regale to above half the the Churches in France that are no way subject to it; but by the Second General Council of Lion, by prescription of almost 400 Years. by the Testimonies and Evidences of Edicts of several Kings, Decrees of Parliament, and Registers of the Chamber of Accounts, as also by the Opinion of the most celebrated French Lawyers, aught to be exempted from it.  
The Pope loudly complained of the Violence done to the Convents of the Carognes' and Urbanistes; and that, only for applying themselves to the Holy See, in Opposition to an Invasion of their Privileges, and the Canonical Rules of their Orders, which imports, That Abbots and Superiors ought to be Elective, and continue for three Years together. In contempt of which, the King had introduced Abbots of his own Nomination. Besides the Rending away of Five Abbeys, without the consent of the Apostolic See, to erect a Commandery, and applying to Other uses the Revenues possessed by several Monks and Nuns, according to the Will of the Donours.  
But that which was more enormous, was the King's Prohibiting the Bishops to have any Recourse to the Pope, according to their Duty and the Custom of all Times, to ask his Counsel in matter of Religion; as also in reference to what concerned Prince Clement of Bavaria: tho' in granting him the Eligibility for three Churches that were Legally possessed by the deceased elector of Cologne, all Christendom saw that the Pope had no other Aim then the Public Good. For besides the high Value which it behoved him to have for that Illustrious House, the Merits of the elector his Brother, who had so gloriously defended Christendom against the Invasion of the Turks, his Holiness had done nothing in that particular, but only imitated the Liberality of his Predecessors, who conferred the like and greater Favours also upon Persons much Inferior in Birth, Age and Merit, than Prince Clement, and that too at the Request of the Kings of France.  
And for the Bull granted to Prince Clement, the Pope could not be accused of any Injustice for so doing, since that Affair was exactly and seriously examined in a Consistorial Congregation at Rome. Besides that the King of France had neither any Reason nor Right to intermeddle in that Affair, since it was a Business that only related to a Germane Archbishopric, and an elector of the Empire, which no way concerned France either directly or indirectly, but the Pope only in respect of Apostolic Confirmation, and the Emperor, as to the Investiture of the Pincipality in admitting him into the Electoral College, to which belongs the Right of Electing a new Emperor, and which has a very great Sway in managing the Affairs of the whole Empire. So that the Pretence for War which France lays hold on from the Proceed at Cologne is to be imputed to the King's Passion, and his own Interest.  
After what past in the Assembly of some Part of the Clergy at Paris, where among other things, the King caused the Regale to be adjudged his Right, notwithstanding the Appeal of the Bishops of Alets and Pamise, to the Pope; and the Propositions so injurious to the Apostolic See, supported by Royal Edicts, enjoining every Body to receive and publicly profess and teach 'em in such a manner as was never yet practised, His Holiness had great Reason to refuse his Bulls to the ecclesiastics nominated by the King to supply the vacant Bishoprics, because they were present at the said Assembly of 1682. and there openly declared themselves Enemies of the Apostolic See; and for that the Canon Law, and the Agreement made with France, that the Pope should be judge of the Capacity of the Persons nominated, prove moreover, That the said ecclesiastics nomianted by the King, were not Persons proper to be entrusted with the Instruction of the People, but absolutely addicted to their pleasures, and their worldly Interests, seeing that they never scrupled to revolt against their Spiritual Chief, and to betray the Liberty and Privileges of the Church, to the end they might gain the King's Favour, and augment their Temporal Means. Upon this, the Court of France being desirous to vex the Pope, made choice of the Marquis of Lovardin for his Ambassador to Rome, because he was a Known Enemy of the Apostolic See, and was both able and willing to affront and molest his Holiness. No wonder then if he never had Audience of the Pope, seeing that according to the General Rule, no Minister should be sent to a Sovereign Prince, but such a one as is acceptable to the Prince with whom he is to negotiate: besides that it is not sufficient for a person to be sent by a Prince, to entitle him to the Prerogatives of an Ambassador, but according to the Laws of Nations, he must be acknowledged for such a one by the Sovereign to whom that Minister is sent. Therefore the Court of France had no reason to complain that the Pope refused to give Audience to the Marquis. Nor indeed would any Sovereign have suffered the Marquis, as he did, to enter Rome with Armed Force, as it were to deprive him of one Part of his Sovereignty, and on purpose to affront him after such a manner, unheard of even among Barbarians themselves.  
'Tis observable that when France has any occasion to court the Favour of the Holy See, she sends Prelates, Cardinals and Bishops for her Ambassadors; in regard it is a Thing both decent and becoming ecclesiastics to be submissive to the Pope; besides that they are allowed Admittance, when Seculars are excluded. But when France has a mind to affront the See, she sends a Lawyer or a Swordman, who neither depends upon the Pope, nor expects any Kindness from him, and who dares ruffle him stoutly, when it is to promote the Interests of France. But France seeing the Pontiff inflexible, and that he was not to be gained either by his Nephew nor by the Cardinals that were most Intimate with him, resolved either to rid him out of the world or to wait for his Death. But Old Age sparing France the Labour of her first design, he was no sooner dead, but France began her old Custom of making Parties, and scattering her Lovidores up and down Rome, to purchase a Pope of her own Faction; and the Lot fell upon a Venetian, Ottoboni, who took upon him the Name of Alexander VIII. France thought him her Friend, and attributed the whole Glory of his Election to herself. But she found him to be a Venetian, that is to say, one that concealed his real Sentiments as long as he lived, and never declared himself till he came to lie upon his Deathbed; but then he did it in such a Manner as was no way for the Advantage of France. Now in regard he was very Old, and desirous to make the best of those few Years he had to live, to raise the Fortune of his Family, the French Ministers failed not to be liberal of their enchanting Golden Philters, to allure his Kindred into the Interests of the French Court. But how willing soever, or how Importunate to Oblige their Uncle to do something in favour of the King, could never procure from him any thing more, but only that while he held the Pontificate he did France neither good nor harm. However, the Italians say this of him, That he did like the Swan, that is, he Sung a little before his Death. Nevertheless France suffered patiently that petty Mortification, and the loss of all her Presents to the Family of the Ottoboni, in hopes to have at length a Pontiff more favourable to her Purposes. At last after much canvasing, most Voices were for a Neapolitan, of the Family of Pignatelli, whom the Cardinals of the French Faction would not exclude, upon his promise to the French Cardinals that the French Court should have no reason to be dissatisfied with his Pontificate. But being elected he forgot the Promises he had made, the rather because the Imperial and Spanish Ambassadors dissuaded him, as much as lay in their Power, from the observance of 'em. The Court of France therefore finding that they had to do with one that was not less weak in Mind then infirm in Body, pressed it upon him that he would occasion the damnation of a great number of People that were without Pastors, if he persisted in the Refusal of his Bulls to the Bishops of France, who were present at the Assembly of the Clergy in the Year 1682. And at the same time the French Cardinals, according to their Instructions, gave the Pontiff to understand, that a War was very near breaking out in Italy, and that he would be answerable for the Blood that should be spilt; seeing the Most Christian King's Patience was at an end, and that most certainly he would withdraw himself from his Obedience to the See of Rome, and set up a Patriarch in his own Kingdom, and thereby retain several Millions that went every year to Rome. Thereupon, those Fears that usually seize People superannuated, and the Delicacy of Conscience without any necessity of a Pontiff, made him determine to satisfy the Court of France, upon frivolous Promises that the Bishops should submit, tho' to the prejudice of the Holy See; since the King retracted nothing of what he had done publicly against the Authority of the Pontiffs and the Religion of the See, and for that the Registers of the Parliament of Paris (containing the Injurious Appeal of the King's Advocate-General) still remain upon Record, and for that France will one day revive it again, when she finds a favourable Opportunity to humble the Court of Rome.  
Neither the Pope nor the Holy See are to judge of the Catholicity of Lewis XIV. or his Court by the Passion which he has shown in persecuting the Huguenots within his Kingdom. So far from that, seeing that while the French Monarch persecuted the Huguenots in his own Realm, and destroyed their Churches and their Exercises, he succoured Count Teckeli, the Head of the same Sect, that were revolted from their Sovereign in Hungary: and the Court of France was not only more closely Allied for his sake with the Ottoman Port, to which he also gave considerable Assistance, but made Vows for the Prosperity of the Mahometans, and repaired their Mosques even as far as Vienna itself. Moreover, I have frequently heard the Director of my Conscience say, and have heard several of the quaint Doctors of the Sorbonne preach, that the Fruits of the Christian Religion were Charity, and that he who was void of it could not be a True Catholic; that Charity was a Virtue which produced a Patiented Spirit, that it was benign, that it was not covetous of other men's Goods, nor sought its own advantages; that it neither commits Injustice nor possesses any thing unjustly got: that it endures every thing, believes every thing, bears with every thing; never carries itself insolently or dishonestly. This is the Character of a True Christian, according to the Learned. Now if the Pope finds but one of these Virtues in the King of France, I mean that Sincerity which Pope Gregory required from a true Catholic, which consists in fulfilling by our Actions what we have promised in Word: in that case I agree, that the Pope may not only embrace him as his Eldest Son, but canonize him after his Death, and I will be the first that will pay my Homage to the Great St. Lewis. If it be enquired, From whence this way of proceeding arises, so different and irregular in reference to the Holy See, more especially in a King who adorns himself with the Title of Most Christian; I answer, that 'tis from hence, because that whatever he took in hand was for the Service of that Great and Ambitious Design which aimed at nothing less than to be the Master of all Europe. To which purpose he had it in view, by the Persecution of the Religionaries of his Kingdom to acquire to himself the Suffrages, the Esteem, the Assistance of all the Roman Catholics, in the midst of those great Designs which he had to invade the Empire by means of that Succour which he gave the Turk. There is nothing makes the King of France so sick at heart, as the Prosperity of the Emperor. He would willingly make War against Heaven, because God did not give him all the Earth to himself, or at least because he thinks his Neighbour has the better share, and possesses the more lovely part. For this Reason you see that France is always upon the Enquiry; Her Emissaries continually inform themselves what Territories, what Splendour others enjoy, that their Monarch may have an Opportunity to fall upon This or tother, or Both together. Envious Persons are as it were the Animated Skeletons of Demons, that are nourished only by their own Torments. Agrippina, the Mother of Nero, was wont to say, That there was nothing in the World which a Prince ought not to Sacrifice for a Crown. And therefore it was, that Katherine de Medicis, Queen of France, finding herself ready to sink under the Burden of the Civil Wars, after the death of her Son Francis II. and not knowing any longer, after she had tired 'em all out, to what Saint to recommend herself, went to the Devil with her three Younger Children, Charles IX. the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Alencon. And the Medal is still to be seen with this Device beneath her Figure, engraved in Copper, and the Figures of her three Children which she offered to the Daemon, Soit, pourvu que je regne. Let it be, so I may reign. If these Miserable Women have carried their Ambition so high for a single Crown, what may it not be Lawful for Lewis XIV. to do, so he may gain the Universal Monarchy? For still whatever he does, the French have a Name for it; they call it Grandeur of Soul. They offer Incense at this very day to the Divinity of Lewis the Great, and below his Statue, the Head of which is environed with a Glory, there are written these Blasphemous words, Numini Ludovici Magni. This is the Religion, and this is the Idol of the Court of France, and of their Emissaries, that compass the Earth to make Proselytes to embrace and adore the Interests of France. If among such proceed as these, if in such a Dreary Chaos, the Holy See can find out Catholicity, I will acknowledge him to be like God himself, who alone can bring Light out of Darkness.  
But Lewis the XIV. was not content with the Crown of France, nor to make himself Emperor, but to be the Universal Monarch of the World, and then not having any more to conquer here below, like the Giants of Old he would have built a Tower to scale Heaven, and Dragoon the Inhabitants of the Eternal Mansions. However the Sovereign KING of Kings, who derides the Folly of Men, has in a good Measure confounded the Counsels of France, and dissipated all her Great Designs; particularly since the raising the Siege of Vienna, upon the 12th. of September 1683. a fatal day for France, but glorious for the Emperor and Empire, and Happy for all Christendom. This unexpected Blow, contrary to the Hopes and Expectations of Lewis the XIV. and his Ministers, constrained him to seek a Truce, which was granted him for Twenty years; and by which the Policy of France had a fair Prospect of Keeping those Towns of which she was Mistress; and on the other side had gained time to see the Issue of the War between the two Empires, with a Design however, as already has been said, no longer to observe the Truce, till the King beheld the Fate of the Two contending Parties. If the Emperor fell, than the King was to march in Person into Germany, and cause himself to be proclaimed Emperor and Protector of the Christians, at the Head of his Army. If the Grand Signior had the worst of it, than the King was to send his Forces to his Aid, by ravaging all Germany, and dividing the Forces of the Empire, as he did under imaginary Pretences; which was more than openly to Succour the Turks, who in Truth had broken with the Christians barely upon the Solicitations of Count Teckeli and the King of France, promising great Assistances, if they happened to prove the weakest, and in that alone the French Monarch may be said to have kept his Word. 'Tis also no less true that his own Interest was at the Bottom, he not enduring to behold the Prosperity of the Imperial Arms; and fearing least the Emperor, proving Victorious, should one day re-demand the Towns and Territories which he had usurped from him.  
France then seeing the Emperor's Success, the Christians winning Battle after Battle, the Turks driven beyond Belgrade, his Design upon Cologne frustrated, the Baron of Plettenberg chosen Bishop of Munster, the Baron of Elderen elected Prince and Bishop of Liege, and by this means all the vast Designs of Lewis XIV. quite ranversed, she was no longer to be restrained within the Bounds of a Truce, so that her Fury fell first upon Phillipsburgh, which the Emperor not being in a Condition to defend, the King carried the Town, the 29th. of October 1688. and thus neither Decorum, nor the Interest of the Christians; neither promised Faith, nor all the Catholic Religion itself, could hinder the perfidious Victor from declaring openly for the Infidels and Enemies of Christ and the Christian Name. However if on the one side France in some measure wrecked her Revenge by the War which she unjustly declared against the Emperor, it may be certainly said, that the Acquisition of Philipsburgh cost King James his Crown, as being at the same time abandoned by Lewis the XIV. to his Evil Fortune. The Council of France soon after, but too late, acknowledged their Fault, and could find no other way to excuse the Blunder, but by entering into a War with England, Spain, and the United Provinces, at the same time that they declared War against the Emperor: and this same mistaken piece of Policy occasioned that strict and sincere Confederacy, which we see a● this day, between the greatest part of the Christian Princes to preserve themselves from the Invasions of France; and Lewis the XIV. to wreck his Revenge upon 'em for the sad Fate of K. James, his most dear Allye, whose Misfortunes were only the Consequences of his having followed the Counsels of France and her pernicious Politics, was obliged to raise Great Armies and equip a Numerous Fleet, to restore K. James to his Throne; tho' hitherto he has not been able to accomplish any thing in his Favour, but rather has lived to see the Disappointment of all the Hopes that flattered his first Attempts. Whereas if the Ambitious Monarch had turned his whole Force against the Empire only, and bend all his strength on that side, he might have gone a great way into the Empire, and have given Mahomet, his Dear Friend and Allye, a fair Opportunity to recover his Losses. But while he laboured the Remounting of two unhorsed Princes, he ruin'd both the One and the Other. And here it is that we ought to adore the Divine Providence that confounded and struck with a sudden Stupidity the Counsels of France, on purpose to dissipate those unjust Designs which her False Politics had suggested to her, no less than the Assailing of all Europe at a Time; according to the Proverb, Covet all, and Lose all.  
There is no question but that France was sensible of her Error, after the Revolution in England; for which reason she discharged all her Fury upon poor Germany, where the French Soldiery exercised the utmost Extremities of Cruelty and Barbarism, because that Electorate belonged to the emperor's near Relation and Confederate.  
France being thus Embarked upon this Tempestuous Sea, the Prosperity of the Imperial Arms, the Revolution in England, and the strict League of all the Confederate Princes for the Defence of the Common Cause could not choose but raise prodigious Storms about his Ears; and therefore finding there was no repairing the Fault she had committed, she was constrained to caress and promise the Ottoman Port whatever Succour the Infidels demanded both of Men and Money to oblige the Turks to continue the War. With a Design however to deceive and forsake 'em, so soon as the Court of France should find it convenient to agree with the Emperor. But in regard the French have drawn in the Ottoman Port, and blinded with their Presents the Principal Ministers, and more especially the Mufti, who holds his Dignity for Life, 'tis almost impossible to open the Eyes of the Grand Sultan, who is willing to flatter himself with the Hopes of recovering that part of Hungary which he hast lost. So that as long as the French are able to domineer at the Port as they do, 'tis in vain to send Ambassadors thither, to make proposals of Peace, since it so absolutely behoves the Court Politics of France to hinder it, by all manner of means, cost what it will, either by Money or Poison, as we have seen. 'Tis not long since, that the French perceived, that the Ministers of the Mediators had made some Progress in the Interim that our Minister was hastening to the Port; but their Emissaries both at Constantinople and Adrianople overturned with Money all the Measures that had been taken. So that there is nothing but an Insurrection in the Ottoman Empire, that can ranverse the Practices and Machinations of France; and this is that which the Christians ought to meditate, if they desire a Peace between the two Empires; and there are ways to bring it about, if they would but put 'em in Practice.  
Nor is it to be questioned but that France drives on all the Intrigues imaginable in the Ottoman Court, where she is in daily fear, least early or late a sudden Truce should be clapped up between the two Empires, by reason of some unexpected Insurrection, as I have already said. And therefore it is, that the Court of France endeavours to supplant her Confederate, and to make a Peace with the Emperor and the Empire, by restoring several Places which she now holds in Germany; because that Lewis XIV. and his Ministers see very well, that they cannot continue the War, so long as the Confederacy continue their Union, as hitherto they have done: that being alone by himself to bear the Burden of so many Enemies, he stands in need of Numerous Armies to oppose the same Adversaries that environ him on every side, in Germany, Flanders, Brabant, Catalogna, Navarr and Piedmont; but above all, the Conjoined Fleets of England and Holland, that threaten his Coasts, and enforce him to an Excessive Expense to guard himself from a Descent: his Trade being quite lost, his Subjects reduced to utmost Misery, and his Exchequer decreasing every day, through the decay of Trade, and the Poverty of the Inhabitants of his Kingdom. We must believe, that France would fain have a Peace, while she thinks she has some Advantage, before any Terrible Blow befall her, which would enforce Lewis the Great, to accept of such a Peace as it would please the Emperor and the Confederates to afford him. 'Tis no less certain then, that his Imperial Majesty, together with the Confederates, have no more to do then to continue the War a little longer, to compass their Ends upon France, that can never be able to make Head against 'em for any long time. Which is the reason that we find her already beginning to change her Batteries, at the same time that she sees herself obliged to alter her Designs in respect of the Empire. Formerly nothing would serve Lewis the XIV. but the Imperial Crown for himself, and the Title of King of the Romans for the Dauphin his Son. But now no more of that: The Grapes are out of his Reach, and therefore he cries, They are sour. All those vast Designs having failed, and all his Lofty Erterprises being come to nothing, the Policy that France made use of when the Turks were marching to the Siege of Vienna, is now no farther useful: the End failing, the means must of necessity surcease. Formerly France was all for dethroning the Emperor; but now 'tis well if she can keep the Crown upon her Monarch's own Head, in preserving by the force of her Arms what he has usurped from his Neighbours. Heaven has altered the Face of Affairs, by the ill success of the Ottoman Arms, and thereby confounding the Counsels of France; the designs of both being the same, and both acting in order to the same Ends.  
And as the Designs of France are changed in respect of the Emperor, who is the Chief and Head of the Empire, so they may be presumed to be the same in regard of the Electours, who are the Members of it: Formerly, 'twas the Policy of France to caress 'em one after another, to dazzle 'em with the Grandeur of Lewis the Great, and persuade 'em to side with the Interests of that Monarch; sparing neither for Promises nor Presents to render 'em inclinable to elect French Coadjutours. But afterwards they were clearly convinced that this was the Apple of Discord which the King of France threw into the Empire, to the End he might swallow 'em up one after another. Now therefore let us see what new course he takes to manage the Princes of the Empire. They can now no longer be serviceable to him in making the Dauphin King of the Romans, in regard they have Check-mated him on that side already. So that they have spared him a world of Trouble, and a great deal of Money which he was wont to throw away by Shovel-fulls upon that Occasion. Much less is it to be thought that Lewis has now any Hopes of being Emperor, since I am told, that the Book entitled, The just Pretensions of the King to the Empire, written by the Sieur Aubri, Advocate in the Parliament of Paris, serves now to no other use, then to wrap up Butter and Cheese in the Chandler's Shops.  
The Ministry of France now labours to separate the Electours and Princes of the Empire from the common cause (not by the means of Gold or Silver because he finds 'em incorruptible) but by invading their Territories by Fire and Sword, as he has done the Palatinate, the Dioceses of Cologne, Mayence and Treves, with a design to enforce 'em to persuade the Emperor to accept of a Separate Peace; by which means France will remain the Mistress still of the Greatest part of all her Usurpations. To which purpose she makes a dextrous Use of the easy Access which the Monks and Jesuits have to the Persons of the Roman Catholic Princes, and to intrude among the Ministers of State, every where extolling the King's Catholicity, and his great design to have exterminated Heresy, had not King James been dethroned. But some have said very well in Answer to those Emissaries, that all those forward Acts of seeming Zeal were no other than a sort of Clumsy Trapans; that they must go and tell their Stories to Children and Fools, for that they were no Strangers to the King of France's Religion.  
There is one thing very Remarkable, that Lewis XIV. designing the Destruction of the Empire, was the occasion of the strengthening it, and of underpropping it in some measure with new Supports, by adding a Ninth elector to the Electoral College, and more particularly by the Choice which the Emperor and the Electours have made of the Duke of Hanover, to supply that Place, to the great Grief of the Court of France, who with all her wilily Stratagems and false Politics, could not prevent it. The Election of a King of the Romans, of Prince Clement of Bavaria, to the Electorate of Cologne, of the Baron of Elderens to the Bishopric of Liege, of the Baron of Plettenberg to that of Munster, but more especially the Revolution in England, were bitter Morsels for the Most Christian King to swallow, and still lie heavy upon his Stomach. And whenever France comes once to see the Bottom of her Exchequer, there is no question but her Fall will be very great, since it was her Money that only upheld her in all the Courts of Christendom, that she has plastered over all her Usurpations, and that she has lulled several Princes asleep, whose real Interest it was to oppose her. Silver is a sort of Metal every where acceptable, and the Avarice of the Swissers has spread itself into several Courts, according to the saying of Alexander, That there was nothing inaccessible to Silver: tho' Matchiavell upholds, That 'tis a hard matter for Steel to keep possession of that which is purchased with Gold. Nevertheless we have seen the Contrary both in Germany and Flanders, where the King of France bought several Places with good ready Money, and has held 'em for several Years. But give me leave to add this Reason for it, I mean the little good Correspondence at that time between the Princes of the Empire, and the Powder of Gold which their Jupiter reigned among 'em. That Monarch not only got great Footing within the Territories of his Neighbours, but made his Possession good. Witness Strasburg, Hunninghen, and several other Places upon the Rhine, as Mayence and several Fortresses in the Diocese of Cologne, if Heaven, by a Blow that France little expected, had not linked together that Sacred Union, in the Empire, for the Common defence, which all the gilded Politics of France could never prevent, nor her Poison put a stop to. And this is a Truth never to be contradicted, that the Sincere Union of the Princes of the Empire preserves 'em from being corrupted, and early or late will render 'em Victorious over the Common Enemy, and put 'em in a Condition of being able to recover what they have, and fix 'em in the Possession of what they hold untouched. No wonder then that the French destroy and ruin Germany where they come, because they find they cannot hold it, but must surrender back all their Usurpations: tho' by the Havoc which they make, they are in hopes to weaken the Strength of their Enemies. 'Twould be but Justice then, and what the King of France has no such reason to wonder at, that he should be one day constrained to repay the Damages, for the Spoil which his Armies have committed, in pursuance of his Infernal Politics.  
During the Reign of Philip the II. King of Spain, it may be said, that France and Spain divided Europe between 'em; and that they were truly the Two Scales of a Balance, which the Other Sovereigns endeavoured to keep in an Equilibrium, and sided sometimes with the One, sometimes with the Other, as their Interest directed 'em, in order to keep an Equality of Force, for fear of being swallowed up by the Strongest. But since King Philip's time, it may be said, That Spain has been continually sinking lower and lower; that she has been in good part the Prey of France; and that had it not been for the Allies, the French at this Hour would have been not only Masters of the Low-Countries, but of Madrid itself. And indeed it may be said, that the Duke of Alva lent the first helping Hand to the fall of the Spanish Puissance, by his Proclamation concerning the Tenth Penny in the Year 1569. by his Depriving the People of the Liberty of Conscience, and the Massacres that succeeded, and which was the real Cause of the Revolt of part of the Low-Countries, and the Fountain and Original of all the Misfortunes that afterwards befell that Monarchy, which instead of striking Dread and Terror into all Europe, and the Other World, is dwindled away to that degree of Impuissance wherein we now behold it; governed 'tis true, by one of the best Princes in the World, leading a Pious and Exemplary Life, and void of any Vicious Inclination: and it may be certainly said, that the People and Grandees of the Kingdom are happy under so Just a King, if they understood their Felicity, and would but correspond with the Pacifick Genius of their Prince. But most commonly the Ministers and their Adherents make their Advantage of the Good Nature of their Prince to fill their own Purses by emptying his, and by that means deprive him of his Ability to withstand the Sworn Enemy of Spain, who environs him on every side, and who for more than one Age together, has studied nothing but his utter Ruin, and makes a dextrous use of his Imbecility. The King of France has been a long time acquainted with the Constitution of the present Catholic King, and upon that Knowledge it is that the Policy of France has built her Designs, and so well understood to carry on her Affairs, that she brought about a Marriage of that Monarch with a Princess of France, Daughter to the Duke of Orleans, and that merely to be informed of what passed even in this Catholic Majesty's Bedchamber, as was seen by the Relations frequent in the Court of France, and which merely served for Sport among the French Ladies, who are naturally inclined to Gossipry, Tittle Tattle, and Railliery. And therefore 'tis a pernicious sort of Policy in the Court of Madrid, to bestow the Daughters of Spain upon France, and to match their Sovereigns with the Daughters of France: and of this there are recent Proofs that make us sensible. For it is certain that the Marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa to Lewis XIV. has brought nothing but War and continual Trouble upon Spain, and still will become the Occasion of More, by reason of the Dauphin's Pretensions, in case the Catholic King happens to die without Heirs. 'Twill be in vain then to allege that Lewis the XIV. at his Marriage renounced his Claims with a Solemn Oath: for if he broke his Oath, and all the Princes blame him for doing an unlawful and unjust Act, tending to Usurpation, a Sin against Reason and Conscience: 'tis presently told ye, that he could do nothing to the Prejudice of a Third Person, meaning the Dauphin of France, the only Offspring by that Marriage; and usually in such differences between Sovereigns, the longest Sword carries it. Ratio ultima, Regnum, was the Motto which Cardinal Richlieu caused to be engraved upon the Arms of France. Or if it be not reason, 'tis the definitive Will of Kings, and becomes Reason, if once it proves successful. The want of Issue by the Catholic King's second Marriage with the Princess Palatine of Newburgh, increases and swells the Ambition of France; and 'tis very probable, that Lewis the XIV. would not be willing that the King of Spain should happen to die (which God forbidden) during his being engaged in a War with almost all Europe; in regard that not having his Hands free, he could not so easily fall upon Spain with a sufficient Force, as he might be able to do, to make himself Master of that Monarchy, in prosecution of his Hopes and Pretensions, if his Catholic Majesty did not prevent him, in his Life-time. 'Tis the Policy of France to insinuate into the Grandees of Spain desires of enriching themselves, while they have an Opportunity; to the end that after his Death, they may be able to erect Petty Sovereignties in every Corner of the Kingdom, for there is not any Prince among 'em who wants a Pretention, with a promise to every one that she will stand by Him, and grant him her Protection against all Assailants; They not considering all this while, that France will at last swallow 'em all up, one after another, and that they will become the Sport of Lewis the Great, their secret Enemy. Who in the mean time by this means enfeebles Spain, extenuates the King's Treasure, and deprives him not only of the power to recover the Places he has lost, but to defend those which he has yet in his Possession, which the French wrest from him by degrees, because that Spain is not in a Condition to make a Potent Opposition; as Experience had taught us too apparently, not only during the War, but also in time of Peace. For that since the Pyrenaean Peace, Spain has suffered the Usurpation of a great many Provinces, as Burgundy, Franche Conté, and Considerable Portions of the Low-Countries and Catalonia. And all this, because that Spain is a languishing and sickly Body, whose Forces waste by degrees, through the too much softness of the Sovereign, and the Greedy Covetousness of the Grandees of the Kingdom. Whereas if the Catholic King would make use of his Authority; forsake his Cabinet and Head his Arms, there is no question but that the Face of his Affairs would quickly alter. It behoves him for the replenishing of his Coffers to squeeze the Sponges that have swelled themselves with his Treasures, and enriched themselves at the Expenses of his Crown and People. A Prince that leads a Soft and Effeminate Life is neither feared by his Enemies, nor beloved by his People. He is looked upon as a Statue, and resembles those that wish for mighty Things, as if they designed to leave only their Dreams to Posterity. Whereas a Monarch ought with his own Sword to make the Pen that is to write his History: that is to say, that his Valour and Prowess ought to afford his Historiographer, Matter: otherwise he only serves to fill up the Catalogue of the Kings, and the Day of his Birth, and the Day of his Death are the most Illustrious and Memorable Parts of all his History. A King receives his Crown from his Ancestors, but his Renown must spring from himself. The Council of Spain falls asleep presently after a Peace, and many times after a Truce, not considering that France is always awake, and that she never lays down her Arms but that it Costs the King of Spain some or other of his best Towns. It would be superfluous to set forth in Painting to the Spaniards, the misery of their Condition, should they once fall under the Despotic Dominion of France. They need no more than cast their Eyes upon the lamentable and wretched Estate to which the French are at this day reduced; while some are forced to wander about the World, exposed to utmost Misery, to Hunger and Cold, and all this merely to avoid the Cruelty and Tyranny of their Monarch; and they that remain behind, lie Groaning under the weight of his Iron Sceptre that continually bruises 'em to death with his Oppressions and his Imposts. The only way therefore for the Spaniards to prevent their Ruin, is to countermine the Policy of France: to supplicate their Monarch to appoint his Successor in his Life-time; to the end he may be bred up in the Court of Madrid, and be ready to oppose the Invasions of France after the King's decease. But more especially to beg of the Emperor to put a speedy End to the Turkish War, that he may have his Hands at Liberty to be assisting to Spain at a time of need.  
'Tis also an Affair of Great Importance, and most Essential toward the Preservation of the Remainder of the Low-Countries, and not to rely as the Council of Spain does upon her Neighbours; which is the reason that they neglect to send the True Succour, which it would behoove 'em to send in time into those Provinces which were within a Finger's Breadth of being utterly lost, during King James' Reign. And indeed there happen so many Changes and Revolutions in the World, that a well advised Monarch ought never to rely upon the Forces of Other Princes but his own.  
While the Provinces of the Spanish Low-Countries were governed by Interested Vice-Roys, who preferred their own private Concerns, before the Preservation of the Provinces, with which they were entrusted, we still found that France seized upon City after City, and is now in Possession of whole Provinces; and it may be said that a better thought never came into her Head, then when she abandoned the Conquest of Italy (where she Exhausted her Men and Money) to turn her Forces upon Flanders, where all Appearances seemed more easy, since she saw well that Governors were sent thither only to enrich themselves: among whom the Greatest Part minded more the getting of a Million into their Purses, than the preservation of the Best City in the Low-Countries! To avoid which Mischief, there is a necessity of having a Prince for Governor, whose particular Interest it is to preserve 'em, who will march at the Head of his Army, lay out the Subsidies of the People, in defraying the Necessary Expenses of the People, and take care for the Timely Returns of Money; for that the Low-Countries can never subsist without an Army well paid.  
We have met with all these Advantages in the Person of his Electoral Highness the Duke of Bavaria; and it may be said without flattery, That the Choice which his Catholic Majesty made of that Prince for the Government of the Low-Countries, was one of the best and most important Hits of State that Spain has been for some time guilty of. 'twas such a Blow to France, as broke all the Measures she had taken, during the Government of Gastanaga; nor could Lewis XIV. ward off this Blow which the King of England gave him, without ever giving him warning to guard himself.  
'Tis a thing no less observable than wonderful, That the Council of Spain having no more than this little Corner of the Earth to guard, should neglect it as They do; seeing that good Policy requires, that Spain should drain herself, rather than part with it, were it for nothing else but to serve her as an Amuzement to the Arms of France, as we have found it to have been in all the last and present Wars, and the Counterguard that keeps the most Christian King from Marching to the very Walls of Madrid itself. The reason of this Carelessness may well be thought to be the Popular Error of the Inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant, who tell the Hollanders, when they upbraid 'em with their Remissness as to their own Preservation, 'Tis you that ought to defend us, for the sake of your own Interest. And indeed, there is some reason for this Opinion. But the chief reason proceeds from the Avarice of the Spanish Ministers, who shrowded themselves under this Mistake, which serves 'em to heap up Wealth, while the King their Sovereign is engaged on every side to preserve himself.  
The Policy of France, together with her Louid'ors, works now the same Effect with the which formerly Philip II. wrought by virtue of his Doublon's. For I have heard say, That even in Time of Peace, there was not any Place in the Low-Countries where Lewis XIV. had not his Creatures and his Cabals ready to declare themselves in Time and Place, and when an Opportunity required. And certain it is, That if this were not the whole which was then said, 'tis a good part of the Truth. For having beheld what we have seen in our days, in reference to that impregnable City of Luxemburgh, and the Acquisition of the whole Province that followed, we ought to be convinced, that that same Place of so great moment was not obtained by the Bravery and Courage only of the French. There is no better way then, to disappoint those Treacheries, then by often changing the Garrisons, and sometimes the Governors themselves; but above all things, to Pay well, and Punish without Exception, when there is the least Fault committed. The Low-Countries are, at present, like an Insolvent House, that must be resettled by good Oeconomy, and by affording the Inhabitants the Means of being able to contribute towards it.  
The Low-Countries have a long time been the Mark at which the Court of France has aimed. Upon the least Dispute, or Pretence of a Quarrel with the Court of Spain, in she pours with all her Fury upon the Low-Countries, like an impetuous Torrent; plunders, burns, and never retreats without some considerable Loppings which she dismembers from the Body of the Tree. Which nevertheless is not a Mischief never to be remedied; since the Sea itself is many times restrained by Causeys and Mounds, though it be an Element a thousand times more to be feared then the Policy and Pride of Lewis XIV. And this is that which the Duke of Bavaria, and the rest of his Brave Confederates must do, to stop and curb the rapid Inundations of France. They must look upon the French Monarch as one that thunders in all his Forces and his Fury upon those Places where he is sure to find but little Resistance, and from such Victories as those he reaps his greatest Honour. I confess, that a Prince who is violent, and a Usurper, is happy so long as Fortune goes hand in hand with his Natural Humour. But in regard she grows weary, for the most part, of always carrying one Man upon her Back, we also find that the same Prince becomes unprosperous, when Fortune changes her Mind, or rather, when there is an Opposition made against him. And therefore, if we may build upon outward Appearances, and if there be any thing of Prognostication in the Presentiments of Wise and Judicious Men, the Low-Countries may well hope, by the Blessing of Heaven, the prudent Conduct of their Great and Sage Governor and Leader, and the sincere Intentions of the Confederates, to be soon delivered from the Yoke and Barbarity of France, and enjoy the Fat of a fruitful Soil, that has so long fed so many Thousands of Foreigners, both Men and Beasts.  
From the Low-Countries I cross over into England, where I find, that the Revolution which happened in the Year 1689. affords a large Field, and ample Matter to supply my Discourse. The Court of France not only cried The Town's ours, but Europe's my own so soon as she beheld James II. upon the Throne of Great Britain. I shall not here enlarge upon the Accident that set him in the Throne. But certain it is that, France and He had long and passionately waited for the happy Minute; for that according to their Saying between 'em, Charles II. was a mere Slug, and had neither vigour nor courage to put in Execution the Projects that France was a Brewing. But far from that, Charles II. wanted neither Policy nor Ingenuity, and might have gone to his Grave with the Character of Prudent and Virtuous, but for his scandalous Inclinations for Women. However, it may be assuredly said, That the Match to which he was in a manner driven against his own Consent, made him disgust Matrimony, and threw him into a Vein of wanton Courtship. 'Tis true, 'twas a Weakness in him too apparent for his Honour; but France, and his Brother the Duke of York, knew how to make their Advantage of it. And therefore the Joy of Lewis XIVth's Court was not to be conceived, so soon as both He and his Adherents understood the Death of that good Prince, and the Elevation of James II. to the Throne; the Jesuits rejoiced in particular; and never was such Posting backwards and forwards between Versailles and London, as after the King of England's Death came to be publicly known at the French Court. And there was some reason for it; for that then it was, that the French Council began to take terrible Resolutions, in order to the putting in Execution a Design that France had kept concealed in her Breast for many Years before. She began with the Revocation of the Edict of Nants; a Thing which she durst not meddle with, so long as King Charles was alive, (though that Prince, in his heart, was none of the Devoutest Religionaries; but a Politician much more, and one who observed his Measures, by reason of his Parliament, that was well informed that England was the Garrantee of that Edict.) But so soon as James II. became sole Master in England, the Court of France gave herself her full swinge, and pushed on her Design upon Europe, might and main, because that then there was no longer any fear of England, which was the only Puissance that could either disappoint or advance her Enterp●●●● And this was a Truth at all times so well know● 〈◊〉 the Kings of England, that Hen. VIII. made a Me●●● of Gold, upon which was engraved a Hand stretching itself out of a Cloud, and holding a Pair of Sca●●● that were equally poised, with this Motto, M● Friendship turns the Beam.  
But in King James' Time it was not Eng●●●● turned the Scale, but France, while England like 〈◊〉 Ox, ignorant of his own Strength, tamely surrendered her Neck to the Golden Yoke of Lewi● XIV.  
Formerly the Policy of France sent to the Court of England Lovely French Nymphs to cultivate the Hearts of the English Lords, and of the Monarch himself. But during King James' Reign, another sort of Vermin were made use of, and Monks and Jesuits were sent in Shoals, that like so many Caterpillars and Locusts devoured the Country; and who had already dispersed themselves over all the Kingdom, and had made themselves Masters of the King and his Privy-Council, to the great grief of all his good Subjects. What a Heart-breaking must it needs be to the sounder Party at Court, to see a Father Peter's Chief in the Privy-Council, parched upon one of the highest Dignities in the Kingdom, slighting and domineering over the Lords and Peers of the Realm, as having got the Sovereign Authority into his Hands, and for that the King and the Queen (a Princess transported altogether by her Passion) suffered themselves to be deluded and governed by this Tartuff of a Hypocrite, and he overruled by Father La Chaise, who had all his Orders from the Court of France. By which it may be easy to judge in what Condition France was at that time; what Devils haunted both 〈◊〉 Court and the Kingdom, trampled o'er the ●●●ks of the King's best Subjects, and were just ●●●osing the People to the Rage of Queen Mary's ●●ign, who allowed her Subjects no other Choice 〈◊〉 of the Mass or the Faggot.  
●●ey who seriously consider the Policy of France 〈◊〉 respect of England, during the Reign of King ●ames the II. will find the Game but very ill played, ●eeing that in so short a time it gave an occasion to ● Revolution so dangerous to France. But so it happened, because that Lewis XIV. not foreseeing the Consequences, after he had once given a lose Liberty to the Monks and Jesuits, was no longer Master of the Affair; and those Vermin pushed on King James with so much precipitancy, that he being desirous to do too much at once, they ranversed at the same time all the Designs of France, and cast him headlong from the Throne into an Abyss, from whence he will never be able to rise again so long as he lives: nor will all the Power of France, nor the detestable Wealth and Politics of the Jesuits be able to restore him again.  
If the Court of France were so excessive in their Rejoicing upon the Coronation of King James, we may assure ourselves, that they were no less drowned in Tears of Grief and Rage upon his Abandoning the Crown. And then it was, that all the best Headpieces, both Jesuits and Courtiers, met together which way to apply some proper Remedies to a Blow so fatal and so unlooked for: and then it was that Lewis XIV. acknowledged his Error in following the Marquis of Louvois' Counsel, which was to attack Philipsburgh instead of Maestritcht, and give the Prince of Orange an Opportunity to pass undisturbed into England But that which deceived France, was an Army o● Forty thousand Men which King James had afoot, of which a great part were Irish, and a Fleet of Forty Men of War riding out at Sea; which indeed was a Force sufficient both by Sea and Land to have resisted so small a number as attended the Prince into England. But it may be said, that that same great Body was a mere Monster, all Arms but no Head, and whose Veins were filled with Water only instead of Blood. And if France had bethought herself to have sounded in the first Place, the Heart of King James, she would have found there more of Cowardice than Courage, and without question she would have marched her Troops to the Lower instead of sending them to the Upper Rhine. But by this we see that there is a certain Destiny which all the Wisdom, all the Force and Industry of mortal Man cannot escape.  
But now the Constitution of the Court of England being changed by the Alteration of the Government, there was a necessity for the Court of France to change her Batteries, and to employ all her Politics which way to dethrone the reigning King, whether by the Sword, by Fire or by Poison, 'twas indifferent to her, provided she attained her Ends: and for the Truth of this, we have sufficient Proofs; the Testimony of grandval at his Death, and the authentic Depositions of Demont, who is still living to the Shame and Confusion of France; the Remembrance of which will be a lasting Stain to her Honour; a Fact which her succeeding Princes will deny, as a Reproach to their Posterity, and for which Histories only furnish us with the Exrmple of Darius, King of Persia, who not being able to vanquish his Enemy Alexander in Battle, treacherously laboured to have won the Grecian Soldiers either to kill or betray their Prince. And for that it was that the Macedonian Victor upbraided Darius' Ambassadors, when they came to sue for Peace, and to return him Thanks for the Civilities he had showed to his Mother, his Wife and his two Daughters; to which Ambassador the Macedonian Monarch thus began his Answer. Tell your Master, that Thanks are superfluous among Soldiers that make War one upon another; and therefore if I were Civil and Courteous towards his Relations, 'twas only to satisfy myself, and not out of any Affection that I bear to him; for 'tis not my Humour to insult over the Miserable. I never attack Prisoners nor Women, I only assail those that I meet with Weapons in their Hands, and who are in a Condition to defend themselves. So that if he sincerely desired Peace, I should consider what I had to do, but seeing that he still continues by Letters and Money to solicit my Soldiers, to betray me, and my Friends to Kill me, I am reseved to pursue him to the uttermost of my Power, no longer as an Enemy, but as a Poisoner, and a Ruffian, etc.  
'Tis not to be denied, but that when any man designs to murder his Enemy, 'tis because he dreads him with a more than Ordinary Fear, and to deprive his more valiant Adversary by such a Cowardly and detestable Action of the Honour of vanquishing him in Battle. But such Assassins' never come to good End: for Darius perished miserably, being murdered by his own Subjects, and at the same time ●ost both his Life, his Diadem and all the Wealth of ●●●sia. But to return to our Subject.  
During the Reign of King James, France sent into England whole Legions of Monks and Jesuits, under pretence of Propagating the Faith, and to screw themselves into the most considerable Families of the Realm, under pretence of Religion, as also to assist this Unfortunate Prince, to observe his Footsteps and dive into his secret Thoughts, to the end he might not be able to avoid the Chains which the Court of France had prepared for him. But now the Emissaries of France have altered their Language; and whereas at that time they preached nothing to the English but Peace and Obedience there; now they breathe nothing but Fire and Flame, Sedition and Murder where e'er they come, fomenting Rebellion in all parts of the Kingdom, and ready once more to fire the City of London, if they believed the Conflagration would contribute any thing to their wicked Designs.  
The whole Policy and Craft of France is at a great Loss at this Conjuncture, to find that all her Machinations against the Life of the King of England, at present prosperously Reigning, are still disappointed. Nor is it less a bitter Choak-Pear to Lewis XIV. the Proudest Monarch upon Earth, to see himself at last constrained to acknowledge his Brittanick Majesty the Lawful Monarch of the Three Kingdoms, and sue to him for Peace; and all this after he had Vaunted before all the World that he would never lay down his Arms ●●ll he had restored King James to his Throne, not without a profane and Daring Application of the words of God the Father to the Son. Sat thou at my Right hand till I make thy Enemies thy Footstool. Now after such a Bounce, a man would think it should be a trouble to the Court of France to find herself constrained to dismiss this poor unfortunate Prince. But there will be no such Thing: For when Persons that have been profitable to the Court of France become once unserviceable, she never scruples to send 'em packing in cold Blood. 'Tis true that she observes some Measures, and lets ye know her Mind at first by Hints and indirect Whispers: but if you do not understand her Mute Language and Dumb Signs, she fails not to inform your Stupidity with plain and downright Expressions: it being a Maxim of the French Court, never to love the Unfortunate. But you'll say, what Benefit can accrue to Lewis XIV. by keeping King James in France: 'tis not for the Benefit of his Counsel; for he could never give or take any himself; nor is it out of any heat of Concupiscence for the Queen of England; for he has much handsomer and Prettier in his Seraglio of St. Cyr, where Madam de Maintenon out of her Pious Care, for several Years together has kept in good decorum a numerous Bevie of young handsome Ladies, who are as it were so many Victims which she offers to the Divinity of Lewis the Great; and though that Monarch had not that Reserve for his little Pleasures, the Court is full of Coquetts, and the Mothers are such Ninny-hammers as to carry their Daughters thither, to try whether or no their good Fortune will advance 'em to the Embraces of that Great Monarch, and all this in hopes to raise the drooping condition of their Family. Insomuch that I have known some Parents condescend to that point of Panderism, as to Lesson their Daughters and instruct 'em what they were to say and do, in case the King should happen to take notice of 'em. So that most assuredly, it would not be to Queen Jemmykin that the Sultan of France would throw his Handkerchief, unless it were with that Limitation that Alexander observed, who refused to exercise at the Olympic Games, unless he might have Kings for his Competitors. And thus Lewis XIV. grown more Great perhaps then formerly, would have the World believe, that he'll no longer be a Gamester in the Sports of Love, unless he may have Queens for the Objects of his Passion. However, the King grows old, and therefore let us be so favourable to him as to believe, that if the Court of France did entertain King James and all his Train at St. Germains, 'twas not for any Affection the French Monarch bore him, but because the English Fugitive who generally, feeds upon Chimeras, fancied Himself, and endeavoured to persuade the Court of France that he had a Great Party in England; not only all the Roman Catholics, but all the fanatics in the Kingdom. That the Quaker Penn, who indeed is no other than a Jesuit in Masquerade, assured him of the Absolute Devotion of that whole Sect to his Party and Service. But the Court of France has been well informed, that all these Assurances were mere Illusions, seeing that neither Catholics nor Quakers are admitted into the Parliament, nor into any the meanest Offices in the Kingdom; and that it would be a very difficult thing not to say an Impossibility to embody all those that go by the Name of Jacobites, scattered up and down in several Parts of the Kingdom, and for the most part known to be such. Besides that, we find that no sooner a Dozen of these Rebels meet together, but they are presently discovered; a visible Sign of the Care that Divine Providence takes for the Preservation of their Brittanick Majesties; and that the same Providence watches over 'em, while they, without intermission, labour to settle the Government, to protect the Nation against their Enemies, and to re-advance the Honour of the British Name, beyond what the Princes, their Predecessors, have done for several Ages.  
There is no question to be made but that the King of France, or his Council, is very well informed of the Constitution of England, and that it will be in vain for their Enemies to attempt any thing there, so long as the King and his Parliament are united together, as we find 'em at this Day. Insomuch, that this good Correspondence has furnished the King with powerful Supplies, to oppose his Enemies both by Sea and Land, tho' their Number were double to what it is at this Day. For that so long as the English have a formidable Fleet upon their Coasts, who shall be so daring as to attack 'em? Not France, I'm sure. Besides, that if they can but come to grapple with their lurking Enemy, the French would soon be constrained to quit their Coasts. So that all things being considered, there is nothing more for France to do, but to give over the War with England; for that unless they be Masters of the Sea, their Trade is lost, and they are absolutely ruined, not being able to sell their Wines, their Brandies, and other Products of the Kingdom; besides that, they are forced to drain themselves of all their ready Money to pay the King's Subsidies; with a number of Impositions and Taxes with which the Kingdom swarms. And which is worst of all, their Harvests having failed for Two Years together, from whence shall they have Corn if they be not Masters of the Sea? more especially being at War with the Hollanders, and excluded out of Spain, which has several times supplied their Wants. So that 'tis no marvel that the French begin to be weary of the War, especially with England; and that he no longer observes any Measures with King James, who at present resembles one of one those petty Saints, to whom they will not put themselves to the trouble of lighting up a small Wax Candle, because they neither cure any Diseases, nor are able to make their Guardian's Pot boil.  
France has begun a War, which she will not get quit of when she pleases herself. Her Monarch has a long time acted Orlando Furioso, and affronted both in Word and Deed, a Prince that was not in a Condition to defend himself; but now that Providence▪ by a miraculous Conduct, has placed the injured Prince upon the British Throhe, 'tis not for the Court of France to think, that God, by his Providence has so highly exalted that Prince, has conferred upon him the Government of several Kingdoms and Provinces, and put so great a Power into the Hands of the only Prince that France is afraid of; a Prince that has so well united the greatest part of the Princes of Europe, in order to make a vigorous War against the common Enemy, who by degrees has so largely usurped upon their Dominions, and all this only to render more conspicuous the Honour of Lewis XIV. as his Emissaries give out. 'Tis never to be believed; and they that imagine it, must be either void of Sense, or be of the Number of those fanatics that have no more Wit then to adhere to King James.  
But if France can get nothing by a War with England, she may be much a loser, considering the present Condition of her Affairs. For should the English once happen to set Foot in France, they have not forgot their Right to Normandy, Guienne, Poiton, and Lunguedock. When the English quitted Calais, they promised the French Governor, who came to take possession of it, to return when their Sins were not so crying loud as those of the French. At least the Court of France is not to believe that the English will let 'em alone in the quiet Possession of Dunkirk; a Place that is no more the Patrimony of the Kings of France, than Strasburgh. They that sold both the one and the other of those Cities, had no right to make the Bargain: France treated with those that were under Age. Now we know that what an Infant Sells or Contracts for, is liable to be cancelled. Charles the Second had neither conquered nor purchased Dunkirk; he found it annexed to the Crown upon his return to his Kingdoms; nor was it for him to sell it, to satisfy the Avarice of his Chancellor. So that the Kings his Predecessors, have still an undeniable Right, either to regain it by Force of Arms, or recover it by Treaty of Peace, with much more Equity and Justice, than the Chamber of Metz can pretend, to make Reunions to the Crown of France.  
The words surrender back, are doubtless very hard of Digestion to Lewis the Great, who pretends at all times to be the only Person that can restore Peace to Europe: and therefore he ought in the first place to understand what Restitution is. The Greatest and Wisest of Kings assures us, That Destruction presses close upon the Heels of the Proud; and as I have already said, Fortune grows weary of always carrying the same Prince upon her Back. There are many Reasons why France should sink, after all the Cruelties she has committed, and which are not yet at an end. People trail their Chains after 'em for some time without much complaint; but 'tis with a design to break 'em upon the first Opportunity: and there is no question to be made, but that if the English once set Foot ashore with their Prince at the Head of 'em, but that the greatest part will receive him as their Deliverer. And I dare be bold to affirm, that there are at Present a Great Number in France who wish it, and wait for their Deliverance, and that there is hardly a Lord at Court, or a Prince of the Blood, who does not pray for the bringing down their Monarch, and the Prosperity of the Confederates Arms. The Race of Valois ended in France for less Crimes than those that Bourbon has committed. But there is a precise Time appointed for humbling the Monarches of the World, concealed from Humane Knowledge, and it is a Folly to go about to penetrate into a Secret which Divine Providence has reserved to itself. However we see the King of France tries all Ways and Means to Support himself, like a Man that strives against Death. He ruins his Subjects to maintain his Armies; he Impoverishes 'em, to constrain 'em to turn Soldiers. He calls in all their Money, embases it, and pays 'em with New Money enhanced above a Third part of the True Value, to fill his Coffers, He seizes upon all the Church-Pla●e, and what belongs to private Persons, and coins it into Money; and the better to inveigle the People as it were to follow his Example, he sends his own Plate First of all to the Mint, and sends for it back the next day. There is not any Tax, or Toll, or Imposition that has escaped the Invention of his Flint-Skinners; so that the greatest part of all the Handycraft Tradesmen and Peasants have abandoned their Farms and their Houses, to wander about and beg their Bread, or else to seek their Livelihoods in foreign Countries. I have often with my own Ears heard very good Men and Old Catholics cry out, When will the Prince of Orange, meaning the King of England now reigning, come and deliver us from all our Miseries. Rightly judging, That the English are They who can only give that Lucky Blow; by reason that their nearness to the Coasts of France facilitates their Entrance into the Kingdom. The Court of France knows this to be true, and therefore takes so much care to line their Coasts: tho' the King of France's whole Army would not suffice to guard a Compass of 300 Leagues in Extent so well as they should do, to prevent the Enemies landing in some part or other: Where they that land have no more to do then only to stand the First Shot; for the Second Discharge will prove very moderate; and for the Third, there will be no occasion to fear it.  
I affirm then, that the English alone are able to harrass France more than any of the Confederates, to put her to an Excessive Expense, which dreins her Treasury, forces the King to oppress his Subjects that he may replenish his Coffers, provokes the Malcontents to shake off the Yoke of a Despotic Government, and to desire a Government like that of England, which beyond all contradiction is the most Just and most Equitable, as well for the King, as for the People; every one there enjoying their Rights and Privileges, the King his due Prerogatives, and the People their Repose.  
If any one of the Republics of Europe be able to infuse Jealousies and Fears into France, it is the Republic of the United Provinces, which is at present the most potent, the most Illustrious, the most glorious, and the most wealthy Republic in the World. I acknowledge that Venice may dispute the Point of Antiquity with her: otherwise there is no Comparison to be made between 'em. No wonder then that her Neighbouring Puissance has drawn upon her the Envy of France. The Policy of her Ministers, ever since the Beginning of this Reign, has very Judiciously exercised itself in finding out the most clever and probable ways to swallow up those Provinces, either by Conquest or by Ruining 'em, to which purpose Measures have been taken a long while ago. And Lewis XIV. at the Beginning of the War 1672. did verily believe to have compassed his Designs: having invaded the States at a Time when they relied upon the Faith and Sincerity of Treaties, and had neither any Forces a foot, nor any General to lead 'em; Good Husbandry being Natural to Republics in Time of Peace. Nevertheless France could not strike that Blow so home as she desired, without the Consent of England; and therefore it was that the Court of France was so careful to improve their Friendship with Charles II. sparing neither for Money nor the Allurements of Pleasure to inveigle and fasten him to their Interests, and to cause him to bury in Oblivion all the Benefits he had received from the Republic and the House of Orange. Nor would France quit her Hold, till England had in conjunction with her, declared War against the United Provinces, where the Ambassadors of France had for some Years laboured underhand by the Enticing Baits of Gold and Silver to gain Creatures within the Republic, since which time the Count d' Avaux understood so well to follow their Steps, that he outdid 'em. For that being Young, and a Courtier, he made his Love of Women serviceable to get him Admittance into certain Families that had some share in the Government; and there were few Cities where he had not his Creatures, who gave him Intelligence of all things that past in Council; and some there were, who like Nicodemus' came to him by Night, not daring to appear in the daytime.   

The Greatest Policy of France was always to foment Division between England and the United Provinces; afraid of nothing more than a good Correspondence and Union between the Two Puissances. Nor did she see any way more Probable to compass her Ends upon the United Provinces then by sticking close to England; which had fallen out luckily for her, during the two preceding Reigns while she amused those two Princes with Hopes of sharing in the Conquest. And upon this Score Lewis XIV. had very little trouble to persuade James the Second to close with him; for that in his Heart he was an Enemy to the United Provinces and the House of Orange; besides that he was besieged by the Monks and Jesuits, and particularly by Father Peter, who kept him under the awe of the Ferula, putting him in hopes of Great Rewards from Heaven, in case he would lend his Helping hand to destroy the Heretics; persuading him that the United Provinces were the Centre of Heresy. So that he added to his private Hatred that Biggotry, which those Hypocrites of Monks continually blew in his Ears. And indeed, all Things were in a ready forwardness to recommence, in Conjunction with France, a new War against Holland. The King's Inclinations were altogether bend that way, and the Thing would have had the Effect desired, so soon as James the Second had once obtained to be Master of his Parliament, had abolished the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom, and laid low the Heads of some of the principal Lords, the best Affected toward the Welfare of the Kingdom, and the Preservation of the Privileges of the Nation. But the Revolution in England falling out so unexpectedly toward the end of the Year 1688. and the Year following, fended off the Blow, and broke all the Measures of those Two Princes; to which we may add, the rejecting of the Cardinal of Furstenburgh from being Archbishop of Cologne. All these Events, so contrary to the Expectation of Lewis XIV. very much contributed toward the Preservation of the Low-Countries. For there is no doubt but the Cardinal, who is a Man dangerous; turbulent, actuated by the Daemon of France, to whom he has sold and devoted himself, since he withdrew himself from his Obedience to the Emperor, his lawful Sovereign, was introduced into the Chapter of Cologne, only to be the Tool and Organ, by whose means the Most Christian King might the more easily disturb the States of the United Provinces But all these ways failing, tho' not his good Will, and finding he could not be assisted, either by Cologne, nor England, nor by the Bishop of Munster, as in the preceding War, France could no longer contain herself, but under pretence of assisting King James, presently declared War, and fell upon the United Provinces to prevent 'em from aggrandizing themselves by the sincere and strict Union which they were about to make between the King and Queen at present prosperously reigning. But in regard that frequently Revenge never considers the Danger to which it exposes itself for the satisfaction of its Rage, in like manner the King of France has drawn upon himself, all of a sudden, the the most numerous, and the soundest part of the Puissances of Europe, who will never lay down their Arms till he has made those Restitutions, which they shall think convenient for the Welfare of Europe; there being no other way of Reliance upon the Promises and Faith of the Most Christian King.  
I believe that Lewis XIV. spoke just according to the Sentiments of his Heart, when he happened one Day to say, That he neither Feared nor Loved the Hollanders, who nevertheless filled him full of Jealousies and Fears, and often broke his Measures. And yet 'tis to that warlike Nation, that he is at this Day beholding for his having got the upperhand of Spain: For as France formerly made use of the Hollanders to humble Spain, so the Spaniards are now glad of succour of the United Provinces to humble the Pride of France: And the Moderation and Phlegm of the Hollanders, proves very effectual to abate the Fury of the French, which only affrights those the fear it, and are not acquainted with it.  
In the Year 1672. the United Provinces alone made Head against the Two Potent Kings of France and England, were Victorious at Sea, and constrained the latter to make a Peace, and the other sued for the Peace of Nimeghen. Tho' through a remissness Injurious to the Honour of the Parties, the Plenipotentiaries, out of a Compliance not to be endured, suffered the slipping in of those Words, That the King of France being desirous to restore Peace to Europe, etc. Whereas it was he that begged for it, and made such Condescensions to the City of Amsterdam, that she consented to it; so that to speak properly, 'twas she, and not Lewis XIV. that restored Peace to Europe. But in regard it was made without any great Precautions, and without taking any other Guarranty, than the Sincerity of a Prince who never had any, therefore it lasted but a short while; and within the space of Six Years, the Peace-Restorer committed several Hostilities, took many Cities and Fortresses, so that there was need of a new Peace, and a Truce followed, to the end he might retain what he had usurped: Nor were all these Treaties Mounds sufficiently strong to restrain the impetuous Torrent. He breaks through all the Ties of Sanctity and Religion, and falls upon Philipsburgh, the loss of which was attended with several other scurvy Inconveniences. Now upon what Foundation could the States of the United Provinces treat with a King that observed no Rule of common Morality, but broke his Faith, his Word, his Promise, even with the Emperor himself. Certain barbarous People, whom Alexander the Great would have obliged to swear Fidelity to him, returned him answer, That they never swore any Oaths, but gave their Word, which they kept inviolably; from whence I observe that they were not French.  
The Ministry of the Court of France imagines with itself, that Lewis XIV. not having usurped any thing upon the Republic of the United Provinces, during the Peace, nor won any Place from her, during the War, that it would be always an easy thing for their Monarch to make a Peace with her: besides that, the Hollanders are greatly inclined to Peace, by reason of their Trade, which is much obstructed in time of War; neither is it the Interest of a Republic, to enlarge her Confines, or to add new Provinces to those she has already, but to preserve United what already she possesses, and to secure her Frontiers the best she can. But tho' France may be in the Right, as to some Circumstances, yet is she deceived in the main: For it is not so easy to make a Peace with the Hollanders, as the King of France imagines. Those People, tho' naturally good-natured and easy, are not readily twice deluded. That Prudence which never forsakes the Counsels of their Sovereigns, has seen, by the Consequences of the Peace of Nimeghen, that there is no trusting to France; but that all her Promises and Treaties were only mere Amusements, that is to say, a sort of Recoiling to fetch the greater Leap: he must be a very mean Politician, and very dull-sighted, who does not perceive, that France had a great mind to have made herself Mistress of the United Provinces, their Wealth, and their Religion; those three things so precious and so necessary, that the Inhabitants neither can nor aught to lose 'em, but with their Lives. And therefore as they ventured all to purchase those Blessings, so they will use their utmost Endeavours to preserve 'em, as the most precious Jewels of the Republic. For the Hollanders are not like King James, who left the care of his Crown to the Count of Lausune, while he ran away before the Battle of the Boyne, and before his Person was in any evident Danger.  
France knows not as yet the strength of the United Provinces, as being ignorant of what she can do, if once she be hard put to it: Seeing that if they could find the way, not only to shake off the Chains of Servitude, but to make head for several Years against one of the most Potent, and one of the greatest Monarches of Europe, Philip II. and come off with Honour, why should the Ministers of France flatter themselves under this Reign that they are able to destroy 'em? 'Tis only because Men are apt to flatter themselves that they can compass what they desire; and generally they never care to be disabused, in regard that Hope supports, and in some measure, satisfies an ambitious Mind. Usually the Court of France is crowded with Flatterers, who make no other Prayers then for the Glory of their Monarch, and sing no other Hymns then in his Praise; all their Operas sound forth the Grandeur and the Conquests of their new Deity, Jupiter-Bourbon. They persuade him that he was sent into the World to reign by himself, and to subdue all the People of the Earth under his Dominion; they have given him the Surname of Dieu-donné, or God's Gift, and they make their Oblations to the immortal Man, Viro Immortali. To which purpose they have erected his Statue in the Piazza of Victory, at Paris, to the end that all his Subjects should pay the same Homages to his Figure as to his Person. Marshal de la Fueillade would needs pay it the first Honours: For being a Colonel of the Foot-Regiment of Guards, he marched his whole Regiment before the Idol, saluted it with his Pike, and ordered all his Soldiers to salute it with a Royal Volley; insomuch that at first there was no Body durst pass by it, without some kind of Genuflexion. And by that Statue it is that Men may make a shrewd Conjecture of the Design and good Intentions of Lewis XIV. since he had caused to be engraved upon the Pedestal of the Idol, the Hollanders, as well as other Nations linked and chained together like Slaves under his Feet. By which 'tis easy to discern, as in a Mirror, the very inside of Lewis XIV. and his kind Intentions toward the United Provinces, in case he could attain his Ends. And he discovered his wicked Purposes so openly, after he thought himself assured of King James, upon his Elevation to the Throne by the hastened Death of Charles II. that 'twas the public Discourse in the Court of France, how they were going to fall upon the Hollanders, and that they would drown their Provinces under Water, to the end they might never rise again, to vex the King by their opposing his just Designs. This was the common Language of the Court, and he that should have contradicted it, would have been Impaled after the Turkish manner. I must confess, that at present they see with other Eyes at the French Court, and their Language is quite another thing. 'Tis the main Business of the Court at this time to flatter and caress the Hollanders, by that means if she can to disburden herself of a War too ponderous for a Kingdom groaning under Famine and many other Calamities; and which are more likely to increase then abate. So that if the United Provinces, together with the rest of the Confederates, do but stand their station, tho' they should gain no ground upon the Enemy, France must be forced to condescend to what Conditions they please.  
But say some of the more peaceful and quiet sort of People, what Assurances have we of being able to constrain the King who makes Head against all the Confederates, to restore to Spain so many Towns and Fortresses, and so well fortified, which he has in his Hands, to the end the Hollanders may enlarge their Barriers? I answer, That in this War the King of France is in an Association with the Turk, who by the Diversion he makes, cuts out Work for the most considerable Forces of the Emperor and Empire: That the Ottoman Empire consists of a capricious and giddyheaded People, who have been several times of late, and indeed upon all the most considerable Occasions defeated, and that by consequence there is nothing of certainty for France to trust to on that side, who only sways the Port by the force of her Money, and a few frivolous Promises. So that there needs no more than an Insurrection of the People, or a humour of the Grand Signior, the Prime Visier, or the Mufti, to produce a Treaty of Peace and overturn all the Hopes of France. Besides, that if we do but consider the Bottom of things, we shall find that this War which the Turk continues with so many Disadvantages, costs the French Yearly those Sums which they are unwilling to boast of. Secondly, Lewis XIV. alone by himself, is bound to pay and maintain above Four hundred thousand Men, to make head against his Enemies. Whereas the Confederates are not bound to keep so many Men in constant Pay; for the supply of which, every one bears his Proportion: nor does he that is most burdened bear a Fourth part of the Load of France. 'Tis true, the Body of the Confederates is a bulky Fabric, but it moves upon several Engines which makes it go the surer. Now I dare maintain, that 'tis impossible for the King of France, to act alone by himself, above Six Years, as he does, against a Confederated Body, without ruining his People. At the long-run, the Soldier turns the Citizen out of his House, and reduces him to beggary for want of Trade: The Taxes devour that little which the Inhabitants have heaped up during the Peace. The Treasury fails because the Springs are grown dry; the Merchant is ruined by his Losses. The Customs and Gabells, which were formerly the best and most ready Money the King had, by reason of the great quantity of Salt that used to be uttered all over the Kingdom, must needs be very low, when People want Money to buy Bread more than Salt. And 'tis not long since that I heard one of the Farmers say, That the Gabells of Salt are fallen above half in half; and it is the same thing with all the other Farms in France. A Monarch without a full Exchequer, is like a Man without Hands and Eyes.  
Of all the Sovereign Puissances at present in Confederacy with France, there is not any one can contribute more to her Ruin, than the United Provinces, and that two ways: the one by preventing all Commerce and all manner of Trade with France, and forbidding under severe Penalties the carrying of Provision and Corn to the Enemy's Country; in regard that Merchants are greedy of Gain, and care not whether they supply Friends or Enemies: insomuch that 'tis said of some People, to express their Extraordinary Thirst after Profit, that if there were a Fair or Market in Hell, they would carry their Goods to the Infernal Gate, so they might put 'em off. The Other way to Ruin France, is to make themselves Masters of the Sea, which they might easily do in respect of the French, and by that means prevent any thing for going or coming out of the French Ports. Add to this, the Necessity that France is in to send for Horses into the United Provinces, to remount her Cavalry, which it is in the Power of the States with ease to prevent.  
Besides all this, the United Provinces have had a vast advantage over France during the Continuance of this War, by the Trade which she has driven all along into the Indies, Italy, Turkey, Spain, England, the Baltic Sea, etc. whereas the French have only Italy and Turkey free to themselves: for if they will have any thing from the Baltic Sea, they must put up Swedish or Danish Colours to protect 'em from the English. On the other side, I must confess that several Merchant's Ships of both Nations fall into the Hands of the French Capers, and a far greater Number than those that are taken either by Dutch or English. But then we must consider that there are a hundred English and Dutch Ships for one miserable Frenchman, continually trading upon the Sea; and many times our Capers meet with French Prizes that are hardly worth the Taking. Then again the Number of French Privateers surpasses double and Triple the Number of the Dutch; in regard that the French Merchants having nothing else to do with their Vessels, turn 'em all into Privateers, that so they may not lie idle. Insomuch that all the Ports of France are become Nests of Pirates and Sea-rovers only. Nor do we find all this while that their illgotten Purchases enrich either the Sovereign or the People. For according to the common Proverb, That which is got with the Flute is spent with the Drum. And therefore it is, that the Inhabitants of St. Malo's and some other Ports of France are not a little troubled, that they have no better employment then to addict themselves to Piracy; but their Trade with Holland and Spain being quite ruined for the present, they are constrained to turn Sea-rovers for their Subsistance.  
Now than we may assure ourselves that 'tis so far from being the Interest of France to ruin and destroy the United Provinces, that 'tis the Study of all her most serious Policy to gain their Friendship, and inveigle 'em by fair Promises to accept a Peace, either separate or general, because the Intercourse between the two States in times of Peace, brings more Profit to France then all the rest of Europe besides. But this Peace is not to be obtained by France either from the United Provinces or from any other of the Confederates but upon safe Conditions. For to such a Dilemma has the Most Christian King reduced himself, by beginning an Unjust and Cruel War, neither provoked nor compelled to it by any other Motives than those of an Inordinate Ambition. So that it may be said of the Sun, which Lewis XIV. has made choice of for his Impress, that it resembles the Sun in March, which stirs and raises the Humours of the Body, but has not Heat sufficient to consume their Malignity.  
To say Truth, France may be looked upon as one of the worst Neighbours in the World: for she lets no Prince alone that has the Misfortune to lie near her. So that after Lorraine, the Spanish Low-Countries and the United Provinces had felt the Effects of her Fury, she began again to prosecute her Old Designs upon Savoy. And the First course she took to get footing in that Family, was by the means of several Matches with French Princesses, to the End she might have her Spies and Creatures in the very Beds of those Princes. For that is one of the most Refined Pieces of French Policy for the King to make the Matches himself and to give 'em their Dowry, to engage 'em the more Cordially to his Interests. And at the same time he sends 'em home to their New Spouses, full of Great Ideas of the Monarch of France, and the vast Obligations which they own him, besides that before their Departure, he causes 'em to Swear upon the Holy Evangelists, That for the future they shall be absolutely devoted to France; that they shall uphold the Interests of that Crown at all Times and against all Persons whatever, in the Courts where they reside, and shall inform either him or his Ministers of all that passes in their Husband's Cabinets; and blindly obey the Orders that are sent 'em by the King, or given by his Minister residing in the Court. And then there is no reason to wonder at the Troubles which Henrietta Maria, and Christina, the Daughters of Hen. IU. married by Lewis XIII. into England and Savoy, occasioned in those Countries. The first never ceasing till by her ill Conduct and exasperating her Husband to act contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom, she had brought Charles I. to an Untimely End; and her going into England may be said to be as it were the Source and Leaven of all the Misfortunes that ensued in our days.  
Leaving England, take a view of the greatest part of all the other Courts of Europe, and you shall find French Princesses who play their Parts with the Lovidores of France. In Tuscany, we have seen the present Grand Duke, that he might procure his own Peace at home, send a Bill of Divorce to the Grand Duchess, his Wife, (who is a Princess of the House of Orleans) and return her back to France, to undergo the same hard Fortune as Henrietta Maria, wasting the remainder of her Days in a mean Condition, depending upon the Inconstant Humour of the King of France. To whom such a return cannot choose but be a tacit Reproach of the Misfortune befallen her for upholding his Interests: But in regard that Large Consciences are all the Mode of the Court of France, they can never be injured by Petty Stings or little Keckings. If you look upon Portugal, you shall find there Mademoiselle d' Aumale married to two Brothers one after another, tho' the first were alive at the time of the second Marriage. King Alphonso VI somewhat morose by nature, and not willing to comply with the Counsels and Caresses of that Princess, the Court of France found a way to be rid of that Prince, who was banished to the Islands of Tercera, and his Marriage after dissolved by the Duke of Mercoeur, the Queen's Uncle, made a Cardinal at the Solicitation of France, and sent Legate into Portugal with a design to cut the Nuptial knot (a Secret all this while unknown to the Pope, who was ignorant of the Contrivances of the French Court) and tho' that during the Three first Months of the Marriage it was given out that the Queen was with Child, yet they parted the Wedded Couple for all that, under pretence of Impotency, and married her to Don Pedro, Successor to the Crown and her Husband's Brother; and if Charles II. of England would have consented to a Divorce between Him and Queen Katherine, the Court of France had designed him the Princess of Nevers. Spain has several times experienced to her cost, the fatal Consequences of Matches with France: and his Royal Highness of Savoy at present ruling, had been within a Finger's breadth of losing his Territories, had he pursued his Journey into Portugal, to espouse the Infanta, at the earnest Solicitation of the Princess his Mother who is a French Woman, and by the Persuasion and Management of the Court of France, who were very Industrious to procure that Match, on purpose to remove the Duke out of his Dominions, and oblige him to stay in Portugal in Hopes of a Crown, while France took the Opportunity to make himself Master of Piedmont and Savoy.  
France has been a long time contriving and studying for a favourable Pretence to colour the the Execution of this Design. Harry the Great in his time agreed with the Duke of Savoy, that upon his resigning up to him all the Pretensions that the Duke had in Milanois, he should oblige himself to conquer it, and afterwards exchange it for such Lands as the Duke held on this side the Mountains, which consist in Genevois, all the Principality of Nissa, the County of Foussigni, and a part of Savoy as far as the Alps; to the end it might be in his Power to call himself Master from the Pyrenaeans to the Alps. But the Tragical End of Hen. IU. put a stop to that Enterprise. However it did not quench the greedy Thirst of the Court of France, which was rather increased then abated, as we have seen, by what was aimed at by the Match with Portugal, which Heaven prevented by a Kind of Miracle, his Royal Highness having already taken leave of his Estates.  
The Court of France has always so narrowly watched the Duke, that she thought it impossible for him to escape her Trains, or to withdraw himself from the King's Pleasure, who had so near a Relation at the Court of Turin, that he had Intelligence of every thing which was acted there, and of every Petty Resolution that was taken; and the main Business was to hold the Duke under the King's Ferula; but above all, from holding any Correspondence with the House of Austria. And for proof of the Truth of this, it may be remembered that the Duke of Savoy could not go for his Diversion to Venice with his Electoral Highness of Bavaria, but he was followed and watched by the Envoy of France, who was then at his Court, and who knew so well to work and undermine with his Lovidores, that he was informed of all that past at that Interview. Which gave the First Occasion that Kindled the Fire of the War at present between France and Savoy. And tho' there be a great Disproportion between the two Contenders, nevertheless the Duke gives no small disturbance and trouble to the Court of France▪ whether it be by the Alliances which the Duke has entered into, or by the Constitution of the Italian Climate, which has always cost France a world of Men, as having been always called the Churchyard for the French; and notwithstanding the inequality of Puissance, the King has been constrained to keep up a numerous and chargeable Army on that side, to which he is obliged to send, at vast Expenses out of the Dauphinate and Provence, his Ammunition and Provision, for their Subsistance. Moreover France never imagined that the Duke of Savoy could or durst have undertaken any thing against her. For which reason the Policy of France ne'er thought it worth while to fortify her Frontiers on that side, to prevent in time of War the Savoyards from entering into Provence and the Dauphinate. Nor was ever the King more surprised, or madder, than when he heard that the Confederates had got footing in those two Provinces. So that had it not been for the Accident that befell his Royal Highness, and the unhappy Consequences of his confiding too much in the Jesuits of Ambrune, which was in part the Cause of the Return of his Army, certain it is that the Duke had entered Victorious into Grenoble. The Dread of his March reached not only to Lion, but as far as Paris. A good part of the Inhabitants of the Dauphinate and Provence had already quitted their Country, but the Greatest part impatiently waited for the Conqueror's coming to deliver them out of their Misery, and break their Chains: but they were frustrated in their Hopes for the Reasons above mentioned. The Court of France always flattered herself till now, that if she restored to the Duke of Savoy some Town that she had taken from him, that he would be glad to renew his Alliance with her: Nay, she believed it an Honour which he would sue for; but she found herself deceived. For she met with a Haughty and undaunted Prince, who would not listen to any Proposals that tended to disunite him from his Confederates: and besides, knowing France too well, his Royal Highness was absolutely convinced, that there was no relying upon the Promises and Word of a King, much less upon the Faith of his Ministers, who glory in deceiving those with whom they have to deal, if any Benefit redounds from thence to France. The Court of France had her Aim and her Prospects in her Offers which she made last to the Duke of Savoy, and it was the Strife of her Policy to bring him off from the Confederates, and to have rendered him liable to their Ill Opinion; who would doubtless have abandoned him, and thereby have left France at her Liberty to have invaded his Country. For should France resign to the Duke all the Places she had taken from him, but keep Pignerol and Casal in his Hands, that were still no more than lying always between the Hammer and the Anvil. His Royal Highness therefore having drawn his Sword against France, that continually oppressed him, it behoves him never to sheathe it again, till he has procured his full Freedom, and secured himself from future Dangers, seeing he may well expect to be sincerely succoured by the Confederates, who never will forsake him, but always stick by him as hitherto they have done. So much the rather, because they may be able in case the Catholic King dies without Issue, to seat him in a better Station, to which he has already Great Pretensions by the Marriage of Charles Emanuel, in the Year 1561. with Katherine, Infanta of Spain, the Daughter of Philip II. So that by the Addition of Piedmont to Milanois, he may take upon him the Name and Title of King of Lombardy: Which is an Advantage he can never attain to, if he depart from the Interests of the House of Austria, to embrace the Promises of France, which early or late will deceive him.  
'Tis never to be thought that France will ever mend, or that she will act for the future with more Fidelity than hitherto she has done. To trust to her, would be for a Man to put a willing Cheat upon himself. The Blackmoor can never change his Skin, nor the Leopard alter his Spots: So France can never help her Usurping upon her Neighbours: Ambition is an inveterate Disease that has seized her, never to be Cured, but by the Prosperity of the Confederates. I know very well that they flatter his Highness with a Match between the Duke of Burgundy (the Dauphin's Eldest Son, and who in his Turn may wear the Diadem of France) with one of the Young Princesses of Savoy: but this is still to cast Oil into the Fire, and give France a New Handle to lay hold on, who is ready enough to grasp all Advantages without giving her an Opportunity. These are Baits, which the Emissaries of France throw about at a venture, to try whether they will take or no. If not, however it fails not to make some Impression in the Breasts of the Ladies, who being Members of the Frail Sex, easily fall into the Snare, and willingly feed themselves with worldly Honours, never considering what they will cost 'em, nor the Dangers that attend 'em.  
The Antipathy between the Danes and Swedes, whether it proceeds from any Hatred of the two Nations one of another, or from Interest of Trade, by reason that the Dominions of Both Kings lie so close together, has in some measure paralleled 'em with France and Spain. Which is the Reason that the King of France has always endeavoured to procure their Amity; or at least to have the one or the other on his side. And this has been his Care all along during this War, which began in 1672. at what time Sweden declared openly for France. Tho' he repent of it afterwards; whether it were by reason of his Ill Success and the Advantage of the elector of Brandenburg, during that War, or the Infidelity of the Court of France, so far from observing her Word, that she never paid the Money which she promised to that Crown, but on the other side deprived the Northern Prince of his Duchy of Deux Ponts. Which ill Usage lost the French all their Credit in the Court of Sweden, where they were afterwards looked upon as Cheats: insomuch that the Good Correspondence formerly between those two Nations turned into Hatred and Scorn. After this Change, in regard the Policy of France found it Convenient to have one of these two Northern Princes tacked to her Interests, she cast her Affection upon Danemark, and so well plied the Ministers of that Court with her Lovidores, that now she governs 'em as she Pleases, and makes 'em dance to the French Airs. I must acknowledge that the King of France pays the Violins, but still Lewis XIV. has the Pleasure to see the Danes dance and foot it to his advantage. The Siege of Ratz●nburgh cost France Three hundred Thousand Crowns, which were paid at Hamborough, upon throwing the First Bomb into that Fortress. For the Policy of the Court of France would needs venture that Sum at a time when she had little reason to have spared it, in hopes that this Siege would have made a notable Diversion, and that all the Princes of the House of Luneburg would have recalled all their Forces from the Low-Countries and the Rhine, to defend that Place. But here the French were cullyed by the Danes. For the Difference was made up between both Parties, France not being able to prevent the Reconciliation, which seemed to her, to have been Impossible. But this is not the First Attempt of the Court of France that has come to nothing: So that it cannot be said that she takes her measures so truly as never to be mistaken; as her Emissaries give out with high applause. For to hear them Chatter, a man would swear that the Resolves of the Cabinet of their Great Monarch were the Decrees of Heaven that never err; which France does often and more frequently than she would herself.  
In the Present Conjuncture, France ready to sink under the Burden of a Long & Chargeable War, makes use of Danish Flags and Vessels, to get Corn and Naval Stores for her Men of War. In short, at present she embraces the Danes whom she contemned before, as her only Patrons and Deliverers to whom she can have Recourse: and she would said have the King of Danemark declare War against the United Provinces. The Minister of France residing at Coppenhaghen, is continually beating his Brains day and night, to furnish the Danish Ministers with Pretences to begin a Rupture; he promises Ships and Money to assist 'em, and that tho' it should be their Misfortune to come by the worst, yet upon the making of the Peace he would never forsake 'em, no more than he did the Swede when the Peace of Nimeghen was concluded. The Lovidores of France are most alluring Baits at the Court of Coppenhaghen, but their Interest so undeniably requires 'em to hold a good Correspondence with the Hollanders rather than with any other Nation, that only that Consideration out-ballances all the Golden Persuasions of the French Ambassador Bonrepos; who having quitted his Religion to please his Master, labours by all the Artifices of Fallacy and Deceit, to become serviceable to him, in acknowledgement of the Honour done him in sending him upon an Embassy for which he thought him a more fit Person then any Body else, by reason of his Employment in the Sea Affairs under the Marquis of Segnalai.  
But that which most embarrases France and Danemark both together, is this, that Swedeland, which is the far more potent Kingdom of the two, being engaged in a strict Alliance with the Emperor and the United Provinces, and having also Pretensions to Danemark, will not be wanting to cross the Erterprises of the Danish King, who, all things being considered, can ne'er hope for any great Assistance from the French, in the Present Conjuncture. Moreover such is the Jealousy between those two Nations upon the score of Trade, that the Danes are always afraid lest the Swedes should be too hard for 'em, and agree with the Hollanders to furnish 'em with all the Wood and other Naval Stores, which otherwise they fetch from Danemark, and which would be a loss to 'em that France would never be able to repair.  
If the King of France cannot oblige Danemark to break with the United Provinces, he is bound at least to procure as much Succour as he can from the North, and to make use of Danish Colours, to pass freely without molestation, with promise to reimburse all the Losses which the Danes shall sustain by their Protection: in regard the Danish Ministers readily foresee that so great a Number of Passports which they give, for Money, to all Vessels, and all sorts of Nations that desire 'em, must at length open the Eyes of the Confederates, and force 'em to put a stop to a Trade that only serves to carry Counterband Goods into France, contrary to Justice and Reason, and to the prejudice of the Treaties. Bonrepos does all he can to continue this Game, and he keeps by him whole Reams of Blank Passports, to fill 'em up in favour of those who desire 'em; and to encourge 'em to sail for France he gives 'em to some, and promises 'em to others, and bequeathes himself a hundred Times a day to the Devil to assure 'em of the Honesty and Sincerity of his Master. In short, that Ambassador takes a world of Pains; so that if he succeed in his Negotiation, the King his Master may well bestow upon him the Collar of the Order of St. Lewis, in recompense of his Toil and Labour, and in exchange for his Religion.  
The Count d' Avaux, a Cunning and Crafty Minister, at present the French Ambassador at Sweden, is so well known in the World, that we should do him wrong to write his Panegyric He acted his part so well during his Embassy at the Hague, that his Master sent him to King Jam●● to assist him with his Counsel▪ during the Heroic Expedition of that Prince in Ireland. His Instructions are not altogether the same with those of Bonrepos' at Coppenhaghen, because those two Courts are not both of one Opinion; and for that the Promises of France have not that Reputation at Stockholm as at Coppenhaghen. And therefore while Bonrepos presses the Danes to a Rupture, d' Avaux only solicits the Court of Sweden to stand Neuter, and to continue their Trade with France, or instead of that, to grant Passports to such as shall desire 'em, to the end that Sweden and Danemark may be equally concerned, in case the Confederates should take disgust at the Great Number which the Dan●s give out to all Comers. And indeed it is to be said, to the Praise of Sweden, that that Crown has always acted sincerely with her Confederates, and even with France itself, at a time when Sweden could not have reaped any great Advantages by a Correspondence with her; and when no less sedulous Endeavours were used to have drawn off the Court of Sweden from her. France has always courted Sweden, to remove the Obstacles that continually lie in her way: which is the Reason of that Infidelity of the French, who break with their Allies at all times, when the Humour takes 'em; and well understand that Sweden, being so potent and considerable, is able to counterpoise Affairs, provided she will but concern herself: For in that respect she has always observed a very prudent Conduct, neither does she approve all the Invasions of the French. She knows the Truth of what M. Lyonne reports in his Memoirs, where he says, That there is not any State, which is not bound to oppose the Aggrandizement of the Court of France; and Sweden ab●ve all the rest seeing that if the King had taken the Low-Countries, he would have taken no further notice of her, as believing he had no more Occ●sion for her. This is a solid Expression and to the purpose, and aught to make a deep Impression in the minds of those who have prejudice against the Court of Sw●den, either deluded by the Flatteries of the Ministers of France, or some base and sordid Interest of their own, which greatly prevails in the world, and leads a world of People astray. But certain it is, that Sweden has long since sounded the Ambition and Arms of France, more especially at the Peace of Osnabrug; and if at any time she hearkens to the Ministers of France, 'tis without doubt because she finds some little pleasure in draining France, and doing her but little Good.  
'Tis also certain and visible that the Ministers of Sweden and Danemark, who reside in Foreign Courts, and more especially in those of the Confederates, are frequently and vigorously assailed by the Emissaries of the French, on purpose to fish out, how Squares go among the Confederates, and may well retort upon the French Satan's, the Words of the Lord's Prayer, Led us not into Temptation, but deliver from Evil: but above all, from the Evil Spirits of France, that continually environ us. For indeed a man ought to be shod with Frost-Nails, to preserve himself from falling in such slippery Ground, and he that can surmount those Temptations, may well be numbered in the Catalogue of Upright Ministers, and Faithful to the Interests of his Master.  
Corruption or Bribery is now a General Mischief in the world, but never any advanced the Price of it so high as the King of France: for most certain it is, that that one single Expense amounts to above Twenty Millions a Year. For it is a Thing past all dispute, that France upholds herself more by her Gold then by her Sword. 'Tis true, she is many times put to her Plunges in time of War, which dreins her Exchequer, and enforces her to advance her Coin; by which she gains considerably. Formerly instead of enhancing her Money, France made use of another Stratagem, which was to coin Lovidores raised in value, but mixed with a base Alloy than those that went current in the Kingdom, which were distinguished by a little Mark quite different from others. And some there are in the Court of Danemark, who if they durst own the Thing, could bring a Cloud of Witnesses to make it out; as having experienced upon several Occasions the full swing that French Knavery allowed itself. I know likewise, that the Thing was murmured at, but the Cheat passed for that time, upon promise of doing better the next time. Therefore Charles II. King of England, who was well acquainted with the Knavery of France when he received any French Pension, which was usually paid him in Lovidores, ordered the Receivers to cut 'em in two pieces, to see what Metal they were made of; and then caused 'em to be refined into Guinea's. So natural it is for the Court of France, not to leave any Cheat omitted to defraud all those that rely upon her.  
As for Poland, in regard it is a Kingdom remote from France, it can do her neither▪ any great Good, nor any great Harm; nor is there much Trade or much Communication between the Two Nations. Corn is the Only Merchandise wherein Poland abounds, and which it Transports from Dantzick into Foreign Countries. But the Kings of Poland may in some measure sometimes be profitable to the Designs of France, tho' it were only to molest the Emperor in many occasions that may and frequently do fall out. For this Reason the King of France takes Great Care to send an Ambassador with Money to the Diets, upon the Election of a New King; or else if they are not married, to offer 'em a Princess born in France; and 'tis very probable that the French Ambassador Beauvais, and Cardinal Fourbin, who was then at the Diet in Poland, contributed very much to the Election of the Present King; for which he has not been ungrateful. However he was guilty of two Bold Strokes, which tho' they were greatly for his Honour, were no way delightful to France. The First was the King of Poland's March to the Relief of Vienna, which was effectually performed with the loss of 60000 Turks to the great Grief of Lewis XIV. and contrary to his Expectation and his Wishes. And tho' some Remains of Decorum and Honour retained the Court of France from openly displaying her Resentment, yet the Silence of the French discovered how much they were vexed and mortified by it, at a time when all Europe resounded with loud Acclamations of Joy and Gladness, and all the Churches, with Thanks givings to Heaven. Only the Sorrow of France notoriously displayed itself, by her Prohibiting the Bishops of the Conquered Cities in the Low-Countries to suffer Te Deums to be sung within their Dioceses.  
The second Blow which his Majesty of Poland gave to the Contrivances of France, was the Marriage of Prince James to one of the Princesses of Newburgh, Sister to the Empress, notwithstanding all the Oppositions of the French Ministers, and particularly of the Marquis of Arquin the Queen's Father; wherein the Contests grew so high, that the King of France ordered one of his Ministers to tell his Majesty of Poland, That since he could not hinder the Marriage, he would hinder the Prince from being King. But in these two Affairs the Polanders were guided by their real Interests; which was to bring down and ruin the Turks, their sworn Enemy and near Neighbour, as also assure to themselves the Amity and Alliance of the Emperor, and the Imperial Protection for the Prince his Son, when the Throne should become vacant.  
But if the King of France proved unsuccessful in the main, he has had his satisfaction in Part. For it is visible that his Intrigues in the Court of Poland have a long time hindered his Polish Majesty from being Master of Caminieck: for what could else have hindered him but the French Lovidores? more especially seeing the Polanders, ever since this War have had only to deal with a beaten, baffled Enemy, whom their Prince had defeated, and forced to rise from before the Walls of Vienna with Ignominy and a Prodigious Slaughter. Nevertheless these Great Advantages produced not great Effect; tho' the Pope still continued his Supplies of Money to carry on the War. But the reason is plain: for the Pernicious Policy of the Court of France, who was resolved to march to the Succour of the Turk, her dear Confederate, wrought so powerfully at the Court of Poland, by means of the Queen, and Great Presents, that the Lovidores which tarnished the Honour of Poland, surmounted the Pope's Piety and his charitable Assistance both together. Moreover, the King of Poland being naturally Thrifty, and rightly judging that the Prince his Son may one day have need of ready Money, to hoist him into the Throne, had so much power over himself, and so much presence of Mind as to keep both the Assistance of Rome, and the French Pension. His Majesty of Poland who is a wise and an understanding Prince, knows also that Money is a good Movable at a time of Need, and by a Knack of Prudence, the Critics may call it Pitiful, Mechanic, and below himself if they please, he provides an Apple against he comes to be adry. But if this be the King's Weakness, 'tis the Strength of the Prince his Son.  
The Policy of France has this particular Gift, that it carefully studies the Inclination of Princes, the weak sides, and where lies the strength of those Courts into which she strives to introduce herself, and get to be Mistress of Misrule. Thither she sends such Persons as are proper for the Genius of the People, either as Public Ministers, or private Spies. For Example, to send to the Courts of Italy, where Gallantry and Courtship abounds, such Persons whose Principal Virtue consists in hard Drinking, would be an Idle Thing, and spoil all. No, the Court of France is more refin'dly cunning then so; she reserves her Lovers of Bacchus' Liquor for the Courts of Germany, where the Temper of the Climate induces the People to drink, on purpose to steel their Bodies against Cold Wether, and there it is that frequently between the Pear and the Cheese, they strike the Home-strokes and do their Business, when the Wine has warmed their Courage. As for the Court of Poland, 'tis a Place where neither Courtship nor the Pleasures of the Table are predominant, but the Powder of Gold prevails with a witness; and indeed not only there, but in most part of the Courts of Europe. There are few Courtiers and fewer Women, so void of Ambition as to be proof against the Attacks of Money: I mean, that can refuse to embrace his Interests, who courts 'em in Showers of Lovidores. They are such Irresistible Temptations to those that are short of Money, as it usually happens in the Court of Poland, where Money does not tumble about proportionable to the Expense, and where the Courtiers are not so thrifty as the King. The French Men and French Women, who generally affect a Port answerable to the Grandeur of their Prince, many times sacrifice their Fortunes and their Honour, to render themselves useful to their Country; and such are easily gained: A Director of Conscience works Miracles upon the Minds of such People: and therefore the Policy of France is very Careful to maintain French, both Men and Women, in the Court of Poland; and the Ministers of France are so dextrous as to recommend French Men to serve him, with the Character of Public Ministers in Foreign Courts, without any Expense to his Polish Majesty; while France takes care to provide 'em a Maintenance; and by that means, the Court of France is informed of all that passes, not only in respect of the Affairs of Poland, but also of all that comes to the knowledge of the Ministers in those Courts where they reside: those Ministers having sold themselves to France, and only acting and actuated by the Spirit and Counsel of France their Benefactress. As we have seen by Experience at the Hague, during the Residence of the Sieur Moreau; and of which the Proceed against Grandval and Demont are authentic Proofs. We ought to be convinced, that France would never have paid those Ministers, but that she received some Benefit by 'em; more particularly in a time of War, when she cannot send Ambassadors to Princes in Confederacy against Her. For tho' that France has not any public Minister in the Courts of her Enemies, nevertheless we find she is informed of every thing that passes there; she neglects nothing, but makes a dextrous Use of the Weak side of Princes that are willing to listen to her, and takes her Advantage of all Opportunities. 'Tis the chiefest, and indeed the Main Policy of France, to surprise her Friends, as well as her Enemies; and therefore they had need be always upon their Guard, and always distrustful of whatever France proposes to 'em.  
The Kingdom of Portugal since the loss of the Battle in 1578. was possessed by the Moors, and after that by the Spaniards till the Year 1641. at what time John of Bragansa, assisted by France, and being the next Heir to the Crown, was declared King of Portugal; after a general Revolt of the Kingdom, which not being able any longer to endure the Oppression of the Spaniards, shook off their Yoke under the Reign of Philip IU. The Kings of Spain always thought they had an Ample Right to Portugal, by virtue of a Donation from the Cardinal of Portugal the lawful Heir of the Crown after the Death of King Sebastian, his Brother, who died without Issue. That Cardinal being unwilling to quit the Priesthood, was pushed forward by the Solicitations of the Jesuits, who besieged him in such a manner, that they never let him rest, till he had made a Donation of the Kingdom of Portugal to Philip II. King of Spain; which could not be done to the Prejudice of the Lawful Heirs, whom the Spaniards, contrary to their Politics, suffered to live and grow up in Portugal. Nor did they lie asleep, but laid hold of the first Opportunity, as has been already said. And certain it is, that France, spurred on by her own Interest, contributed toward it with all her Power: for indeed the Policy of France requiring the pulling down and ruin of Spain, she could not take a better Course, then to dismember and rend a whole Kingdom from the Spanish Puissance; in regard that Spain decreasing in Dominions and Revenues, must needs decrease in Strength.  
France, during the Reign of Lewis XIII. and the Minority of Lewis XIV. had great cause to fear the Strength of Spain, but very little, to be afraid of the Strength of Portugal, tho' separated from Spain. Quite the contrary, Portugal might well make use of France to molest Spain, which visibly decreased, and perhaps will never be in a Condition again to pull that Thorn out of her Foot; and to reduce Portugal under her Obedience. For after that Revolution which followed that of the Low-Countries, Spain languished away by degrees, and Portugal increased both in Strength and Riches, and is become so Potent, that alone by herself she can make head against Spain, which at this day resembles a strong Man consumed and wasted by Inward Sickness and Distempers, and easily overturned by the puny strength of a Child.  
The Portuguezes therefore, who are good Politicians, understanding their own Interest, leagued themselves with the Greatest Enemies of the Spaniards, that is to say, the English and French, who in a time of necessity might openly declare for 'em, if Spain should happen to be in a Condition to attack 'em. But now Portugal has no need of Assistance against Spain; much rather she ought to fortify herself against France, which in this Reign has looked with a Covetous Eye upon the Wealth that arrives at Lisbon from the East and and West Indies; and I am persuaded, that the Court of Portugal is truly convinced of it. Which was the reason that enduc'd 'em, to the no small Vexation of France, to seek the Friendship and Alliance of the House of Austria, by the Marriage of Don Pedro to the Princess of Nieuburg.  
However the Policy of France, that understands without all doubt the Design of the Portuguezes, is careful at present to embrace the Friendship of the King of Portugal, to the end that during the War she may have the free use of his Ports, to fetch Provisions and Necessaries which she can have no where else. And we have seen, not long since, that the French Men of War wanting Seamen, and fearing to be attacked by the English and Hollanders, supplied themselves from the Coasts of Portugal. So that considering the Need which the French have of the Portuguezes, would Don Pedro and his Council make the best of so favourable an Opportunity, there is no doubt but the House of Austria, would grant him very Advantageous Conditions, in case the Portuguezes would join with the Confederates, and declare War against France. And her Interest advises her to it; for that if the Dauphin, after the death of the Catholic King, should get the upper hand in Spain, there's no question to be made but he would revive the Pretensions of Al●honso King of Arragon, and Philip II. King of Spain: for by the same reason that formerly the Policy of France required her to support Portugal, it would be then her Interest to ruin & make herself Master of it. 'Twere well that all the other Courts of Europe would do as France does, who foresees things at a Great Distance, and continually builds Designs upon a Basis of Probable Futurity: and for fear of being deceived, usually forms three or four Contrivances which way to bring about one and the same Thing; so that if one fail, another may hold. This is a Piece of Human Prudence that not only prevents Surprise, but shows the way to undertake several Erterprises, which else a Man would never have thought of. 'Tis a Maxim to be observed by all Sovereigns, to mistrust even their nearest Allies, and so to act, as if they were just ready to come to a Rupture; more especially they that border upon France, that never observes Peace or Treaty any longer than she finds it for her Convenience.  
The City of Paris abounds in Persons full of Curiosity and Invention. Among the rest, there are a Great Number of old Practitioners, who employ their Wits, to get Money, in searching for Claims and Rights in Old Parchments, a good part of which has served to feed the Rats and Mice, and to invent and set up Titles: so that if they are but largely paid, they will prove their Benefactors Descent from the Royal Race, tho' before that, he could hardly reckon a Groom among all his Predecessors. These Antiquaries tell ye, that Portugal is derived from Po●tus Gallo●um. Thus you you see a Foundation laid for the French to pretend, that Portugal belongs to France. Moreover there are still to be seen among the Archives certain Ancient Registers (or if they are not there, they can find 'em elsewhere) containing the Expenses that France was at some Ages since, in assisting the Portuguezes against the Moors of Castille and Andalusia, in the Reign of King Henry, who was of the House of Lorraine, and married the Natural Daughter of Alphonso King of Arragon, who gave him an Army to conquer Portugal, or Lusitania, from the Moors. Now there would not need so much, were this Affair once brought before the Tribunal of Metz, which is the Sovereign and Irrevocable Court of Judicature to determine the Right of the Dependences and Appendences of France. However the Germans would have the first Right; in regard it was to the assistance of that Warlike Nation that Henry was beholding for the Conquest of L●sitania, as also of Algarva, which is the reason that the Germans enjoy such Privileges all over Portugal. But here's the Mischief of it, that if the Case should come to be argued before the Despotic Tribunal of Me●z between the Germans and France, that Court would never do the Germans Justice.  
As for the Swissers, they are composed of Thirteen Cantons, which are as it were so many Separate Provinces, free and independent one from another. These Cantons having withdrawn themselves from their Subjection to the Emperor▪ by reason of the hard usage which they suffered under the Germane Governors, bethought themselves of a Democratick Government, which they have upheld till this present time after they had sustained several tedious Wars, and fought a great number of Battles, always Victorious, protected by Heaven, and by that means becoming so powerful as to be sought to by the Emperor and the Neighbouring Princes. Th●y very rarely sent Ambassadors to the Potentates, their Confederates, unless it were to renew an Alliance, or upon some Extraordinary Occasion However the same Princes have generally their Ministers residing among them, but more-especially France, whose Ambassador keeps his Station at Soleurre, tho' it be one of the meanest Cantons, and that Berne be one of the most powerful and the largest: for which we shall give the Reason in due Place.  
Any Prince who desires the Assembling of a Diet in Switzerland, must request it by his Ambassador or Minister there residing; but he must pay for it: and therefore they never refuse it to those that desire the Meeting, which would not else be summoned, and consequently there would be no notice taken of the Business there intended to be proposed. This same Coldness, natural to the Swissers, makes me believe, that that Nation cares not so much for the Friendship of their Confederates, as for their Money. However it be, this must be agreed in their behalf, that they are not only faithful to what they promise, but stout upon all occasions, as we may see by fourteen Battles which they fought with the Emperor Ferderick, and three others which they won from Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy, and all the Brave Achievements which they performed in Italy, as well for, as against France, under the Reign of Charles the VIII. Lewis XII. and Francis I. And for that reason it is, that since that time the Greatest Potentates of Europe have always sought their Friendship and their Alliance; and that the French have caressed 'em with a great deal of Artifice and Money; not so much out of any Kindness which the French have for the Swissers, or for the need which they have of their Men in time of Peace, but for fear lest the Cantons should enter into a Solemn Engagement with the House of Austria. For which reason France is careful to stipulate in all the Treaties which she renews with the Cantons, that they shall not send above such a number of Men to any other Foreign Princes, and those only for the Guards of their Bodies.  
The Ambassador of France has made choice of Soleurre for the Place of his Abode, because the Inhabitants of that Canton are all zealous Roman Catholics; who pin their Faith with great Submission upon the Sincerity of their Curate: and the Ambassador resides here, to show the Particular Honour which his Master has for the Roman Catholic Cantons, above the Evangelic, and that the Monks and Priests may have free Access to him, who bear a great Sway among the Catholics. Moreover, the little Sums of Money which the Ambassador scatters among the Chief of 'em, procure him Creatures, that still will be inclined to the Interests of France, and readily stoop to the Lure. And by this means it was, that the French got leave to build the Fortress of Huninghen, which as long as it stands, will be a Hook in the Noses of the Inhabitants of Bale, to lead 'em which way the Policy of France shall judge most convenient for her purposes. Nor is it long since the Governor of that Fortress made an Essay whether the Cannon of that Place would reach as far as the City, that he might take his Measures accordingly. For whatsoever Protestations of Friendship France at present makes to the Cantons, Lewis the XIV. had rather be their Sovereign, than their Confederate; that Monarch has a long time cast a Covetous Eye upon Bale and Geneva, and had e'er this, been Master of 'em, had not other Considerations kept him within Bounds; and were he once Master of those Barricado's of Switzerland, the rest would soon be exposed to the Misfortune of lying fit for his Convenience. He is a Fox; but he has Lion's Claws; and he makes use of his Head to deceive the Catholic Cantons, under the Specious Pretence of Propagating Catholicity; but he reserves his Paws for the Protestant Cantons.  
There is no question, but that among the Swissers, among whom there are some who have travelled and seen the World, there are to be found several Persons sufficiently quick-sighted & Politic, and such as understand how Things are carried. 'Tis not long since a Difference happened in the Canton of Glaris, which France first kindled, and ●●mented to the utmost of her Power; bu● Innocent the XI. quickly stifled it, by his Wisdom and Piety.  
I am convinced that those Persons are deeply sensible of the Affronts which France puts upon 'em from time to time, and with what Scorn she treats their Ambassadors, the last of which, were forced to return without being able to procure Audience of the King, after sedulous Applications to Colbert Croisy, Secretary of State for the Foreign Affairs. But the more prudent sort of Swissers, you'll say, would fain have the Lion chained, and his Claws pared before they fall upon him. To which I Answer, That the Swissers may contribute very much toward the Chaining of the Lion, as furious as he seems to be, and yet not openly declare themselves neither; by demanding the dismantling of Huninghen, and for want of so doing, by recalling their Men out of France, which compose the greatest part of the French Infantry, and are the only Combatants well seconded by the Cavalry, upon which the French depend for all their Success. The King of France is now Convinced of the Value of the Swissers, and so has been, ever since Louvois' Ministry. Formerly they were not well beloved at Court, nay, they were contemned; but since the Alteration of the Face of Affairs, they are at present considered, for the Benefit which France receives from 'em, like Twins that are tied together, and must die together. I must confess that the Establishment of the Swiss Regiments is worth some Money to that Nation, and discharges the Country of abundance of idle lazy People: but I'll maintain it, that the French Service is the Plague and Destruction of vast numbers of Young Men of Good Protestant Families that ruin themselves by the Debaucheries of Wine and Women, which always terminates in a Revolt against their Religion and their Country. Which would never happen, if they served the Protestant Princes. The Court of France knows well that she cannot fasten an Officer of Quality to her Interests with a stronger Tie, so as to make him absolutely forget his own Country, then by the Change of his Religion. And therefore she Labours underhand by means of the Women and Monks; and those Snares take Effect with the greatest part that are attacked by those Vermin, as was seen by the Example of the Two Stoupa's.  
Not to reckon the more Inferior Sort, all the Swiss Officers and Soldiers, as well those that serve in France, as those that are sent to the Mines in Sweden, I look upon 'em equally lost both to their Families and their Country; for they never return again, unless they make their Escapes by some sort of Stratagem: but it may be said, that the Pleasure and Voluptuousness of France is so great, that they are pleased with their Misfortune. There they are bred, and there they die, to make room for other New Comers, who are Tempted thither like Young Pigeons with the smell of Roasted Dogs.  
France has had no place from whence to supply herself during this War, but the Swiss Cantons: Some Seamen she may get indeed from the North: but for Land-Soldiers, of necessity it behoves her to caress and embrace the Helvetian Body, without whose Assistance the French would never be able to bring such Numerous Armies into the Field: And the Swissers are the Only Persons upon which the King of France may depend, so long as he keeps his Word with 'em, and that he pays 'em what he contracts for, and what he promises. Nor will they stand to the Losses of his enhancing and re-inhauncing his Money. They must have their Money paid according to the old value set down and agreed upon in their Contracts; that is to say, the Lovidores at Eleven Livres; and the White Crowns at Sixty Sols. For the Swissers are thrifty Husbands, and send a good part of their Pay to their Parents in Switzerland, where there is no Variation of the Coin admitted.  
Now it being so certain, as I have already said, that France stands in need of the Swissers in this Conjuncture, this is the reason that the French Ambassador residing in Switzerland, has Order not to disgust 'em, nor give 'em the least Subject of Complaint, but in every Canton to caress all those in particular who have the best Interest, and carry the greatest Sway▪ on purpose to prevent 'em from entering into a more strict Alliance with the House of Austria, the King of Great Britain, and the States of the United Provinces. For which reason it was that the French Minister used all his Power and Interest to stop the Levies which M. Cox, the King of Great Britain's Envoy would have raised not long ago. But if the Business did not then succeed, France is beholding for it to the want of Management in those that understood not the right knack of dealing with the Swissers, seeing afterwards others found the way to discover the forward Inclinations of that Nation toward the Confederates, by the Levies that were made underhand, which is a terrible Blow to France, in regard that those new Regiments draw away a Great Number of their fellow Countrymen out of the French Service, especially the Protestants. However, we do not find that France dares to make any great noise about it, moderating and restraining her Passion, till a more propitious Opportunity: but in regard the Cantons on the other side may be assured that she Barrels it up, and that if at present they escape , yet whenever it lies in her Power, France will never forget such heinous Provocations; therefore 'tis now the Swissers Interests to labour with the rest, the humbling France, now the Confederates are following her so close at the Heels. For the Lower France is brought, the more the French will caress the Swissers, and seek their Assistance; whereas in their Prosperity they slight and domineer over 'em, and would utterly subdue 'em, were it in the Power of the Court of France, that resembles Fire or the Sea, which never will acknowledge they have enough. But at present, the Policy of the Ministers prompts 'em, as the wisest Course, to temporize, and to oppose whatever is transacted to the Prejudice of France, rather by Remonstrances and Presents, then by Force and Menaces.  
As for the Turks, they have been all along Enemies of Christ and the Christians; because the Gospel destroys their Koran. The Sultan takes upon him the Title of Musulman, or Most Faithful, as the King of France assumes the Title of Most Christian. Yet we know, that the Turkish Emperors have established their Dominion by Cruelty only, and that their Throne is soldered together with the Blood of a Great Number of Martyrs, and an Infinite number of all sorts of People and Nations; yet notwithstanding all this, the Turk is at present the sole Refuge of France, and she embraces him as her only Patron: She is entered into a strict Alliance with the Ottoman Port; furnishes him with Money, Cannon, and other Warlike Ammunition; supplies him with Able and Expert Officers and Engineers, to the great damage of the Christians. And which was more pernicious, the Policy of the Court of France exerted itself to that degree, as to persuade the Turk to break the Truce with the Christians, two Years before it came to be expired, merely to support the Rebellion of the Hungarians, who according to the Opinion of the Ministers of France, were to contribute toward the Ruin of the Empire and Emperor of the Christians. Had the Bishop of Perefixe been living at this time, he must have been forced to have recanted what he asserted in his History of Henry IU. where he says, That the Valour of the French was made choice of by God, to support the Christian Religion. Seeing that the Court of France labours nothing more earnestly then to destroy the same Religion. She never minds whether or no the Turks change the Churches into Mosques, or set up the Standard of Mahomet above the Cross of Christ, provided her Monarch satisfy his Ambition and become Master of the Empire.  
Tho' the Turks are People both Barbarous and altogether Infidels, nevertheless they observe this Maxim, never to abandon those that put themselves under their Protection, and to keep their Words and Promises; and this is one of the Points of their Law. And therefore it is, that they acknowledge that all the Misfortunes and Losses which they have sustained during this War, have proceeded from their Breach of Faith and Truce. And this it was which spurred 'em on about two Years ago to send their Envoys to Vienna, with Offers of Peace to the Emperor. Which hotly alarmed the Court of France; but she, being Subtle and Crafty, took an Occasion to insinuate into the Turks, That they might continue the War without any Scruple of Conscience, seeing they had offered Peace to the Emperor, that he had refused it, and continued his Hostilities against them; That now the Turks who were to look upon the War as purely defensive on their side; and the French Ambassador at the Port, understood so well by Considerable Presents to gain the Grand Mufti to his side, who is the Oracle of the Ottoman Court and consulted in all Cases of Conscience, that the Infidel Pontiff embraced the French Divinity, and made it out to the Sultan and the People, after the Return of the Envoys, that they might continue the War without any scruple, and that their Submission to the Christians, was a sufficient Expiation for the Crime they had committed. Nor is it a difficult thing to persuade the Turks to these Things, who naturally hate the Christians, and are easily induced to undertake their Destruction, and so Self-interested, as readily to yield to the Temptations of Presents. Moreover their Extraordinary Inclination and their Interest to recover Hungary which they have lost, persuades 'em without any Reluctancy to embrace the Proposals of the Court of France, and to renew the League between 'em from time to time, upon the Assurances, Promises, and Oaths of the French Ambassador, that his Master will make no Peace with the Emperor, wherein the Turk shall not be comprehended. And yet all the World knows how earnestly the Ministers of France solicit the Confederates to make a Peace without mentioning the Turk in the least: and it was an Argument of the French at Rome to spur up the Pope, that a Peace would give the Emperor great Advantages, and strengthen him to carry on his Conquests to the very Walls of Constantinople (for which France would not be a little Sorry.) But when these Projects of France were made known at the Ottoman Court, and that the Grand Visier upbraided the Embassour with 'em, he appeased the Prime Minister by telling him, That what the Court of France had done in respect to that Affair, was only to deceive his Enemies, and to amuse 'em with Frivolous Offers, on purpose to put a stop to their Preparations against the next Campaign, and to make the People the more unwilling to contribute toward the War. It may be, some Persons well affected to France, take this to be a Calumny, and will not believe that the Most Christian King persuaded the Turk to break with the Christians. But to convince 'em, I shall here insert what past at the Pyrenean Treaty, where Lewis XIV. espoused the Infanta of Spain, renounced all the Pretensions which that Princess might have to Spain or the Low-Countries, and consented with an Oath, That if ever he Pretended to what he had renounced, that his Pretention should be accounted Null and Void, and that if he proceeded to force of Arms, he besought all Princes and Free States (observe the Expressions) to repute it unlawful, unjust, and wickedly attempted, a Piece of Tyrannical Usurpation against Reason and Conscience. This Protestation is to be met with in the Sixth Article of the Renunciation of the King of France belonging to the Pyrenaean Treaty in the Year 1660. Nevertheless, we have seen how Lewis XIV. broke this Peace so solemnly sworn in a few Years afterwards, immediately upon the death of Philip iv King of Spain, on purpose to renew the renounced Pretensions of his Queen, which have since cost so much Christian Blood, and still are like to cost more before the Conclusion of the War.  
These Things being considered, all Men must be convinced, that France fomented the War in Hungary, that she encouraged the Turks to besiege Vienna, that she designed the Dethroning of the Emperor, and to have set up her Monarch Lewis the Great, in his Place. But she met with many Disappointments. The Great Victories of the Christians, the Conquest of Upper and Lower Hungary, but above all, the Taking of Belgrade, together with the frequent Revolutions in the Ottoman Court, ranversed all the Affairs of that Empire: and then it was that all the Persuasions, nor all the Promises nor Presents of the French could make any Impression upon the Turks; all the Policy of the Court of France was reduced to this last Shift, which was to persuade the Ottoman Port to continue the War but one Campaign more, and then if the Face of Affairs did not alter, but that their Misfortunes continued, she would consent to a Truce such as the Turks should think fit to make. This Expedient wrought well for the French: For in the Year 1690. the Infidels retook Belgrade by Assault, which puffed 'em up to a high degree. Nor was it then a difficult thing to persuade 'em that their Misfortunes were at an end, that Heaven was now going to punish the Emperor for refusing the Peace which they had offered him; and that to second this happy beginning, the King his Master or the Dauphin (who was called the Young Sultan at the Port) would come in Person with a numerous Army; and make a Considerable Diversion upon the Rhine. But in regard the Turks have never yet seen any Effects of these Mighty Promises, the French Ambassador is forced from time to time, to bear the Brunt of most bloody Reproaches from the Lips of the Grand Visier, and to endure many a rugged Storm without going to Sea. And the least affront put upon him is that of Dog; That his Master is a man of no Faith, and worse than a Christian; and that if he does not keep his Word for the future, the Port will make a Truce with the Emperor, and leave him to himself. But these are Reprimands which the French never boast of; and the Ambassador has Phlegm enough to stay till the Tempest be over, and never to return to the Charge with his Flamms and Excuses, till the first firing be over, and that the Grand Visier's Fury be abated; and then with new Presents he makes fresh Promises, and like the Children, promises to do better next time. A sad Conjuncture for a Monarch, who believes himself to be the first and greatest in the World, and ranks himself like Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, in the Number of the Gods, to be forced to such mean Submissions, and to suffer continual Affronts and Reproaches from an Infidel, to preserve the Friendship and Assistance of the Turks. But this is now the Depth of the Policy of France, rather to Cringe and Creep, and become a kind of Tributary to the Ottoman Port, then to make Restitution of what he has usurped from the Christians: rather to allow Liberty of Conscience to the Turks then to the Huguenots. And this I have been assured, that Chasteauneuf, the French Ambassador, not knowing one day which way to appease the Grand Visier, offered him that Liberty in his Master's Name, and that he should give leave to the Turks to erect Mosques at Tholoun and Marseilles. The same Offers have also been made to the Governor of Algiers in any place of Bretaigne that he should make choice of, provided he would send his Men of War into St. George's Channel to rob the English and Hollanders. And if these Offers did not take Effect, 'twas because the Grand Signior stood in need of the Algerines to serve against the Venetians, and reinforce his Fleet in the Levant. Nevertheless, these Offers failed not to work with the Grand Mufti, who like the Romish ecclesiastics, loves the Propagation of his Faith and the Free Exercise of his Religion; and who being sweetened up withal, by some Considerable Present openly declared for the French Sultan. But as submissive as France is yet a while to her Ally, that she may preserve his Friendship, you shall see that he will leave him in the Lurch, and deliver him up a Prey to the Emperor, so soon as he can find a way to make Peace with the Confederates. And then that Separation would infallibly beget a War between the two Sultan's, were the Turk in a condition to revenge himself. However his want of Strength to commence a War will not hinder him from loading the French Merchants that reside in his Dominions with Terrible Oppressions; and so the poor Merchants must pay for the Infidelity of their Monarch. But the Court of France never troubles her Head about That, provided she can but compass her own Ends. And for the Obtaining of those, she will never Spare for the Blood or Estates of her own Subjects, nor did she ever value the Lives and Liberties of so many poor Christians as have been sacrificed during this War with the Turk, to the Ambition of Lewis the Great.  
But we are now ascending if we can, to the Pinnacle of French Policy, so high that few or none can reach it; that is to say, the Depopulation of France, and consequently the Ruin of the Kingdom for Religion's sake. For it is well known that the Protestants of France have always made a Considerable Body of that Realm, and tho' they have been Persecuted and Massacred under divers Reigns, more-especially in the Reigns of Charles IX. and Henry III. nevertheless they have still revived again and considerably increased their Number; yet always faithfully devoted to the Service of their Sovereign: and that Fidelity obtained all those Edicts of Pacification and Liberty of Consciennce, which were granted 'em by Henry IU. and Lewis XIII. For as the Historians themselves confess, the Huguenots were the Men that fixed the Crowns upon the Heads of Henry IU. and his Offspring Lewis XIII. and Lewis XIV. now Reigning, whose Crown, when he was Young and in his Minority, the First Prince of the Blood would have wrested from him, pretending that the Succession belonged to him by Right of Birth after the Death of Lewis the XIII. openly asserting his Claim as well by word of Mouth as public Manifesto's, at the Time of the Parisian Bar●cado's. Nor could the King himself forbear to give Truth her due, in several Declarations and Edicts, and by Letters written to the Protestant Princes. And indeed so Signal a Piece of Service, and a Devotion so faithful to the Person of this Monarch gave the Protestants all the Encouragement in the World to hope for an Irrevocable Protection, and an Enlargement of their Liberties & Assurance of Safety both for themselves and their Posterity, not only during the Reign of this King, but also of his Successors. Nevertheless, notwithstanding all these Signal Services, they only obtained the Title of Faithful Subjects, which the King affected to bestow upon 'em in all his Edicts and Declarations. Nay their Fidelity was so disserviceable to 'em as to create nothing but Fears and Jealousies in the Prime Ministers and Courtiers; and augmented the Natural Hatred of the Jesuits, who all together from that time forward meditated nothing more than to abase and ruin the Protestant Party, and inspired into the Young Prince distrustful Sentiments of those to whom he was beholding for his Crown; persuading him, that if the Huguenots were so powerful as to settle him in his Throne, they would be able at another time to throw him down again whenever he refused 'em any Privilege which they demanded. These Disturbers of the Repose of France having thus found the Monarch disposed and inclined to follow their pernicious Counsels, the Jesuits, Directors of the Prince's Conscience, failed not to improve those Sentiments so Opposite to his Real Interests and his Promised Faith; and for the Expiation of some Great Sin, imposed upon him, by way of doing Penance, the cancelling some Privileges granted to the Protestants by the King his Predecessors, and with an Oath confirmed by the Reigning Prince. And as it is usual for Scorn to degenerate into Hatred, the King having laid a Design to ruin the United Provinces, thought it then high time to begin with the Destruction of the Protestants of his Kingdom. And then it was that every Body studied who should be most forward to second the Bloody Design of their Sovereign, and to invent new Torments for the more quick dispatch of the Great Work, as the Court of France called it: and the King himself could not refrain himself from saying, That he would have the satisfaction, in his Life-time, of having the Honour to destroy Heresy, and that he had rather leave the Dauphin a Beggarly, then Heretical Kingdom; and thus inflamed, Men, Women, Children, Monks and Ministers of State, all cried out, To the Sack, to the Sack with the Churches of the Huguenots; and every one according to his Power lent a willing hand to the Diabolical Work. Madam de Maintenon, an Old Female Sinner, was the Jesuits faithful and sedulous she-Intelligencer, who for that purpose held their Cabals both day and night: the Marquis of Louvois sent away the Dragoons into the Provinces, and St. Ruth put in Execution with great delight the Cruel Orders that were dispatched from Court, and recommended to his Executioners and Hangmen the Care of tormenting the poor Creatures with all sorts of Barbarism and Cruelty. And while this Tragedy was acting in the several Provinces, the Chancellor Tellier, sent forth Declaration upon Declaration against the Protestants, and issued out the Revocation of all their Edicts, Privileges and Liberties, with so much Satisfaction, that as he was sealing the Revocation of the Edict of Nants, he could not forbear declaring, That it was the greatest Blessing that ever overjoyed him in his Life, and that he could be content, after he had seen that happy Day, to die; and he was so impious as upon that Bloody occasion to repeat the Song of Simeon: and indeed God took him at his word: for within a few days after he delivered France from that same Monster of Men. However the Persecution did not cease with the Life of that Minister, who left very good Disciples behind him: for that Father La Chaise, finding one day the King in a Good Humour, obtained an Order from him for a General Massacre of the Huguenots all over France, grounding his Persuasions upon the Constancy of some of 'em, with whom the Prisons and Convents were crammed; and upon the Hypocrisy of the New Converts, who when Opportunity served, would be as so many Enemies within the Kingdom, and that therefore there wanted a little Blood-letting to cure the Mischief. And if this Order were not put in Execution, the Protestants were beholding to the Two First Princes of the Blood, Condé and Contí, who took it out of Father La Chaise's Hands, and returned it to the King. This Persecution, which produced nothing but Hypocrites and forced Catholics, constrained a vast number of People to quit France, and retire with their Effects into Foreign Countries, contrary to the Expectation of the Court, and the Policy of the King and his Ministers, who never intended to dispeople the Kingdom, as the Spaniards did their Country, by expelling the Moors: and for fear of falling into the same Blunder again, they committed another as bad: setting forth Rigorous Prohibitions, forbidding all People to stir out of the Kingdom, guarding the Passes and ordering all to be brought back Prisoners that should be taken upon the Frontiers, and filling the Prisons, Convents and Galleys with their Captives, which was very near the same thing as expelling 'em the Kingdom.  
All this so barbarous and unheard-of Usage was premeditated, however, notwithstanding the outward show of Piety, to be serviceable to the King's Design, as having been for some Years contriving the Utter Ruin of the Protestants: and therefore rightly judging that the Potentates their Confederates would never consent to their Destruction, in regard their Downfall would only serve to aggrandise France, and augment her Strength in order to the carrying the whole Universe before Her; therefore the Policy of the Court of France very sillily believed that the Persecution of the Huguenots would draw all the Catholics into her Snares which she had thus baited with her Pretended Zeal. But the same Catholics being more discreet and wary, and well acquainted with the Tricks and Finesses of France compared the French Zeal to Crocodiles Tears, that weep to drill Passengers within their reach, and then darting themselves upon their Prey, seize and devour it. Nay, the Pope himself smelled out the Cheat, and did all that lay in his Power to oppose it; as was apparently seen by the Business of Furstenberg.  
But tho' the Event has showed us that France was mistaken in her Calculation, yet she still goes on with her Prosecutions of the Protestants, tho' less at one time then another, in regard that 'tis the best way for Princes to go through with Follies begun, and for that the King's meaning was to make all Europe believe, that he had no other End then to make Proselytes, and to propagate the Catholic Religion, which is a thing that most prudent and moderate Persons of the same Religion could never perceive by what is past, nor discover in any Prospect of Futurity. Nor has the King of France procured the least Advantage to the Roman Church by his Oppressions within his Kingdom, or by his persuading and inveigling the Duke of Savoy to persecute the Vaudois with the same Severity; quite contrary to the Sentiments of Innocent XI. who openly disapproved Violence in Matters of Religion, and who could not forbear saying, That at the same time that the French Ambassador made Bonfires at Rome, and rejoiced for the Destruction of the French Huguenots, That his Heart bled Tears of Blood: foreseeing that all those Forced Conversions would one day prove extremely Prejudicial to the Church: and that the King of France did but dispoil himself of the Lovely Robe of Primitive Charity, to put on the Old Rags of Paganism, died with the Blood of so many Martyrs.  
Moreover these abominable Proceed of France have only served to render the Catholics suspected to the Protestants, and to beget a Scorn and Hatred of 'em in Places where before they lived together in Brotherly Love and good Correspondence.  
But what is more Considerable, and for which Rome and all the Catholics will have just Reason eternally to reproach France, and complain of her Monarch Lewis XIV. is this, That he preferred the Advancement of Mahometism before the Support and Preservation of the Catholic Religion in England, quite ruined by the Dethroning of King James, whom he forsook in his Greatest Necessity; more-especially seeing that unfortunate Prince had never fallen into such ●n Abyss of Misery, had he not followed the Pernicious Counsels of his Confederate who incensed him to persecute his Subjects in England, as he had done his own in France; and to alter the Religion and Laws of his Realm, to serve the Interests and Designs of France.  
But the English, more Prudent and Circumspect than the French, foreseeing the Tempest that began to gather already over their Heads; and of which the Consequences could not but produce a Shipwreck, like to that which had swallowed up the Protestants of France, seeing that the Dragoons began already to cross over out of France into England, where there was a Father Peter's animated with the same preposterous Zeal as Father La Chaise; and a Chancellor Jefferies no less wicked and bloody than Tellier or Louvois; the English, I say, beholding the Scaffolds erected, and the Fires just ready to be kindled, withdrew themselves in time from the Yoke that France was preparing for their Necks; and by that Resolution for ever dashed the vainglorious Hopes of all the English Catholics.  
In short, the King of France has great Reason to repent of Two Things; his Persecution of the Protestants of his Kingdom, and his last Siege of Philipsburgh. For that those two Things were the Original Cause of the War, and the Basis of all the Calamities with which France is at present overwhelmed; and which daily augment beyond any Help or Remedy, which all the Policy of that Court, all the Wiles, the Artifices and Knavery of her Ministers, and all the Bigotry of her Male and Female Hypocrites can apply to stop their spreading, or prevent the same Destiny from befalling the Reign of Lewis the Great as befell Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes or, The Illustrious: there being so great a Uniformity in their Manner of Acting, the Beginning and Progress of their Achievements, that we have great Reason to hope, that their Exits will be the same.   
FINIS.