Category: Holland

Saturday, September 23. 1704.

Numb. 58.
[245]

THE State of the Case between Emperor and the Hungarians, was by the last Review, brought to this; That the Germans, tho’ they were brought in to Assist them against the Turks, have Opprest them so much, and Treated them so Barbarously, that they now desire rather to submit to the Turk than to the German; and that they ought to have their Liberty.

I confess ’tis pity they that would be Slaves, should not be Gratifi’d with the Advantage of that Happy Condition; especially when they are brought so low, as to chose Turkish Slavery, which of all sorts of Bondage, was ever thought the worst.

But there are a great many Cases, wherein People have not a Right to dispose of themselves; and most of those particulars concur here.

As first; When a Nation that is a Barrier to another, will give it self over the Enemy, it has always been thought justifiable in the other Nation to seize on it by force, to prevent the Neighbourhood of a too powerful Nation: This has been the Case of Flanders, as to England and Holland, who have thought themselves oblig’d on all occasions, to prevent the Flemings falling into the hands of the French. Continue reading Saturday, September 23. 1704.

Saturday, July 29. 1704.

Numb. 42.
[181]

HE is but a sorry Physician that tells us a Disease, but prescribes no Remedy: I have Entertain’d the World, in three Reviews together, with the Case of the Swedes, in the Dispute with Poland, and the War of the North; I have insisted long upon this Head, and ventur’d at an Essay on the great Damage done the Confederacy in General, and the Protestant Religion in Particular; I have said much of their opening a Gap in the Confederacy, at which the French Power has broke in; and I am yet unconvinc’d of any Mistake in the Matter.

I am oblig’d now to apply the Remedy to this Evil, and answer this great Question, How shall we help it?

I confess I could better have answered it six Months ago, and shown how you might have help’d it, than I can say now how it shall be help’d; but it may not be too late yet, especially if the King of Poland and the Confederacy can hold out but one Year longer.

If any Man ask me why I make an if of the latter, I answer, If the Duke of Marlborough succeeds in his Design on Bavaria, there is no doubt indeed of it; but if that had either been not undertaken, or had miscarried, I would not have answered for the Subsistence of the Confederacy one Year longer. Continue reading Saturday, July 29. 1704.

Tuesday, July 25. 1704.

Numb. 41.
[177]

A Grave Objector comes in now and demands, but what is all this to the English and Dutch, and what have they to do with the Quarrel between the Kings of Sweden and Poland; and last of all, if it be, what is it to the Matter in Hand, the Encrease of the French Power?

Patience, and the Process of the Story, will answer these Questions of Course. The King of Poland is our Confederate, a Member of the Grand Allyance; one, that whatever he has done to the Swede, would have assisted the Emperor with all his Forces against the growing Power of France, as appears by the Assistance he did spare him last Year, notwithstanding his own Streights, and therein we are all concern’d.

And as we have been very particular on the Royal Progenitors of the Swede, and their Glorious Actions, let us consider the King of Poland, tho’ the Changing his Religion, a thing we have nothing to do with in this Quarrel, may have prejudic’d us against his Person.

He is the Great Grandson of that famous Elector of Saxony, who joyn’d Heart and Hand with the Great Gustavus Adolphus, in that War against Ferdinand II. in which the Liberties of Germany, and the Protestant Religion were resumed from the Tyranny of the House of Austria; and who help’d to deliver Europe from Universal Slavery, then as much fear’d from the Austrian, as now from the Bourbonne Race; — That Prince who first dar’d to take up Arms against the Emperor when all was desperate, who form’d the Conclusions of Leipsick, and could never be prevail’d upon to renounce them, when all the rest of the Members of that League, the brave Landgrave of Hesse excepted, were frighted out of them by Count Tilly: That Prince who join’d his Forces with Gustavus Adolphus, and with him fought the terrible and bloody Battle of Leipsick, where Tilly and Popery were utterly routed together, which they never recovered; and from whence the Protestant Religion dates its Restoration in Germany. Continue reading Tuesday, July 25. 1704.

Tuesday, July 18. 1704.

Numb. 39.
[169]

EUROPE look’d without any concern upon the prodigious Conquests of the K. of Sweden; believing the Dane ought to be Chastis’d for so basely Invading the Dominions of a Prince, with whom he was in a strict League; without any Provocation, and without so much as a Declaration; and while that Prince was engag’d in a Bloody War, remote from his own Dominions.

But under all these Provocations, the King of Sweden used so much Moderation in his Victory, that he contented himself with forcing his Enemy to a Disadvantageous Peace, by which the Swede obtained great part of Schonen, a share in the Toll of the Sound, and a great many considerable Concessions.

But as Princes are not always capable of bounding their Ambition, and the Dangers of excess in Prosperity are very great, the King of Sweden pretending next Year, that the King of Denmark was Arming against him, but really vex’d at Heart, that he had let his Enemy slip out of his Hands, when he might have made an Entire Conquest of his Dominions; breaks the Peace, puts to sea with a great Fleet, Lands an Army in Seeland, and sits down again under the Walls of Copenhagen.

The Gallant Defence the King of Denmark made, how he would not quit the City, as his Councellors advis’d him, but resolv’d to be shut up with his Citizens; how he pitch’d his Royal Tent upon one of the Bastions of the City, and nearest to the Danger; that, as he said, he might call to his Soldiers, Come to the breach, and not bid them Go. How he Challeng’d the King of Sweden to fight him, hand to hand, for the Crown of Denmark, who told him for Answer, That Kings do not use to fight, but in good Company. These things I may hint for the Readers Diversion, and to Invite them to read the Histories of Those Times; but I omit Writing them at large, as Foreign to the present purpose. Continue reading Tuesday, July 18. 1704.

Saturday, July 15. 1704.

Numb. 38.
[165]

I Hope, when the Readers of these Sheets expect me to make good the last Paragraph of the former Review, they do not at the same time look for an Indictment against the King of Sweden fill’d with all the long Scroul of Adverbs, that the Lawyers Croud into their Forms of Process, the Malitiouslys, Ambitiouslys, &c.

Or if they look for ill Language from me on that Head, and think I shall treat the King of Sweden with less respect than becomes me, to a Crown’d Head; such People will be equally mistaken.

I shall never forget when I mention that Prince, that I am speaking of, Charles the XIIth. King of Sweden, whose Glorious Ancestors have done such great Things for the Protestant Religion, as all the World cannot Parallel; that his Father was the general Mediator of the Peace of Riswyck: That he was the true Preserver of the Glory and Valour of his great Progenitors, that he charg’d at the Head of his Horse-Guards in the Battail of Bremen, and fir’d his Pistol in the Face of a Danish Collonel, when we was not above 16 years of Age, and gain’d the Victory by his extraordinary Courage.

I cannot forget that Carolus Gustavus the first King of this immediate Race, over-ran all Poland, drove King Cassimire quite out of his Kingdom, and being Invaded by the Dane, in a manner not much unlike the Present King of Poland’s Invading Livonia; viz. when the Swede was engag’d at a great distance with other Enemies; he quitted Poland after having ravag’d it in a dreadful manner, and in the depth of Winter, with an Army of old Iron-fac’d Swedes, as hard as the Ice they March’d on; began such a March as never was attempted in the World before; he March’d from Cracow in Poland, to Fredricksode in Holstein, and was upon the Dane before he had time to Examine, whether he flew through the Air, or march’d over Land; his very Approach frighted the Dane from the Continent, and presuming the Swede could not fly over the Sea, nor swim thro’ the Water, he took Sanctuary in the Isles of the Baltick, with his whole Army. The Swede, whom neither Winter by Land, nor want of Vessels by Sea, were capable of stopping, in the fury of his Undertaking; Assaulted the strong Frontier Town of Fredricksode, carried it Sword in hand, his Dragoons swimming thro’ the River, among the flakes of Ice, and put the Garrison to the Sword. Continue reading Saturday, July 15. 1704.

Saturday, July 1. 1704.

Numb. 34.
[149]

AS our Folly appear’d in not Relieving and Supporting the King of Bohemia, and the French made their Advantage of it, to lay the Foundation of their rising Greatness: So all the Decrease of the Protestant Interest, both in Germany and afterwards in France, is a double Proof of this Truth, that our Error has been their Advantage.

The not Relieving the Protestants in France, laid the Foundation of their Destruction, and their Destruction Cemented the French Power.

They that say King Charles I. did not Relieve Rochel, say true, and more may be said on that Head hereafter; King Charles I. was ill serv’d in that Affair; I make no Question, but that Prince was very hearty in his own Desires, of Relieving Rochel, and I believe he spent as much Money in the several Enterprises to that purpose, as would effectually have brought it to pass; and therefore they mistake me very much, who expect I should reflect upon his Memory in this Article; but I can no more excuse the Managers of it, than accuse the King. His Majesty parted with large Summs for the Relief of the Protestants, and that at a Time when Money was not very Plentiful, nor easy to come at; but the Misapplication of the Summs, or the ill Conduct Abroad, left his Majesty disappointed, the Nation Buffoon’d and Contemn’d by the French; the Protestants in the utmost Distress, at the Mercy of their Enemies, and drove the King to make a Dishonourable Peace.

This the French fail’d not to make their Advantage of, and treated the English with all the Haughtiness and Insult, that ’twas possible for one Nation to shew, or the other to bear. Continue reading Saturday, July 1. 1704.

Tuesday, June 6. 1704.

Numb. 27.
[121]

SOme have reflected very much on the French Prudentials, for suffering themselves to lie so open on the side of Savoy, while at the same time they have with so much Care and Cost, Fortified every Avenue of the whole Kingdom, on the other sides.

But I presume such People have not given themselves leave to consider, that the French have always acted their Parts by Policy on that side, and found it as Effectual.

France had Fortify’d it self in every Place, in due Proportion to the Enemies it had to fear: and those on this side being never likely to be in a condition to Attack so Powerful an Enemy, the King of France never found any occasion of great Strengths on that side, at least till he had opportunity to fix them in the Italian Territories.

France’s Principal Enemies must come out of Spain, England, or Germany; if the Germans had been absolute Lords of Italy, there is no Question but the French would have been as well guarded on that side, as on the Rhine and the Moselle. Continue reading Tuesday, June 6. 1704.

Tuesday, May 30. 1704.

Numb. 25.
[113]

IN pursuing this Article of the French Greatness, our next Head relates to their Defensive Strength, and this, as I take it, includes the Fortifications on their Frontiers, their vast and incredible Magazines, and the strength of their Coasts.

I think I may touch at these without the Reader expecting the Geographical Description of the Country.

Nor is it needful I should Delineat the Fortifications of every Town, and tell you how many Bastions, Gates, Guns, &c. Every Fortification contains; the Octogons, Pentagons, Hexagons, that have Lines, Curtains, Tenails, Redouts, Horn Works, and all Monsieur Vaubon’s hard Names, are no part of the Design.

Our Ingineers will be better able to do that, when they come to take them, which I could wish they would begin, because I foresee ’twill be a tedious piece of Work for them. Continue reading Tuesday, May 30. 1704.

Saturday, May 27. 1704.

Numb. 24.
[109]

SInce so long, yet I hope not unprofitable Digression, relating to the French Grandeur, some of which every days News informs us, is too true; ’Tis time to let the Reader know, we do not forget the Connexion of the Story, and that it remains to consider the Grandeur of this Monarch, by Sea.

Something of this Nature has already been touch’d at, when I was Enquiring by what Methods the King of France furnish’d himself with Seamen; but to proceed regularly in this Case, it may not be amiss to Examine when, and how he has improved his Naval Power.

We find in the Reign of Lewis XIII. Cardinal Richlieu saw the great Deficiency of the French in this Matter; for the Rochellers, strong in Shipping, and supplied from England with Stores, grew so very formidable, that they spread the Seas with a Fleet of 35 Sail of Men of War, which made Prize of all the Roman Catholick Ships, ruin’d the Trade, and Enrich’d themselves to admiration: For as the King had no Fleet able to Encounter them, they Imploy’d themselves not only in Defence of themselves, but rov’d over the narrow Seas as Privateers, and by this Means kept themselves in a Posture able to Match the King, and to support their Forces by Land; and an Instance of this is found in the Histories of those Times, in the Year 1625.

Seven of the King’s biggest Ships lay at Blavet, a Port of Bretaign, not far from Rochel; Soubize, the Admiral of the Rochellers, Attack’d ’em, took fix of ’em, and carried them into Rochel, in spight of all the Fire from the great Batteries on the Shoar. Continue reading Saturday, May 27. 1704.

Saturday, May 13. 1704.

Numb. 20
[93]

IF I was ask’d what is the true occasion why the French have so many happy Turns, and how they maintain a War with so much Advantage, against all the United Powers of Europe, I should Answer, ’tis because those Powers are United and not United; ’tis because the separate Interests of Nation’s, People and Parties, occasion such Confusion of Councils, such dilatory and unhappy Procedures, as never fail to give the Enemy continual and unusual advantages.

History is so full of Examples, where in all Cases, the Strife and Contention of Parties, have been the overthrow of the whole Undertaking, that it seems very unaccountable, all the Prudent Nations joyn’d in this vast Confederacy, should not have Eyes to see the Rock, on which so many great Undertakings have split, and so many Great Generals Miscarried.

’Twas the Dissention between the Roman Generals, Varro and – which gave Hannibal the occasion of overthrowing their Army at the Battle of Cannæ, where the Romans lost the Flower of their Citizens, and left 80000 Men dead on the Field of Battle.

How many times have the French Defeated the late King William in Flanders, because the Germans would not stay, as at the Siege of Oudenard; or because the Spaniards were not ready, as at the Siege of Mons; or because the Ammunition was not furnish’d, as at Charleroy; or that the Dutch would not venture their Army, as at Steenkirk and Namure, and the like. Continue reading Saturday, May 13. 1704.