Category: War

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.

Tuesday, July 11. 1704.

Numb. 37.
[161]

THe long Digression from the Course of our Story, which has now taken up two Reviews, has carried, I hope, its own weight with it —

As this Paper is farthest from a Design to write what should be disobliging to any body, much less to the Publick; so no body shall with reason, be able to Charge the Author with pursuing any Interest different from that of his Native Country.

But this makes more than a usual Parenthesis, and interruption to his Story; for that he thinks himself bound to explain himself, where he is not understood.

He has been told the Explication of his last Paper, was with too much Contempt of the Objectors, as if no body might misunderstand him, but what deserv’d the name of Fools. Continue reading Tuesday, July 11. 1704.

Saturday, July 8. 1704.

Numb. 36.
[157]

HAving broke the Thread of our History in the last Paper, on Account of the Clamours rais’d at something formerly express’d, and which wanted Explaining; it has been thought not improper to continue the Digression a little farther, on the occasion of the surprizing turn of Affairs in Europe, since our last.

Now, says one of our constant Cavil Masters, Where’s your French Power? Now you have a blow given your French Greatness; Now you are a false Prophet.

I am, indeed, no Prophet at all, nor the Son of a Prophet, and yet I had always the foresight to see, and the freedom to say, That the late Attempt of the Duke of Marlborough was the only probable Step, that the whole Confederacy has taken a great while, and must have some extraordinary event; I know most People are fond of saying, after a thing falls out, we thought ’twould be so.

But as I am perhaps too apt to speak my Mind, especially when Truth has been in the Case; so who ever thinks it worth their while to look back into these Papers, will find I have express’d my self very freely on that Head. Continue reading Saturday, July 8. 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 27. 1704.

Numb. 33.
[145]

Of the true Causes of the present Greatness of the French Power.

I AM not so arrogant to undertake to give an Account here of all the Causes of the present Grandeur of France; there may be some which I am not sensible of; there may be some which I am not Master of History enough to have known; for I never pretended my Knowledge, to be universal or my Judgment infallible; there may be some conceal’d in the Reason and Nature of Things, which no Man has yet guest at; there may be some conceal’d behind the dark Curtains of Inscrutable Providence, which I nor any Man else have ever yet seen, or had Room to guess at, or the least Circumstance to guide us into the knowledge of.

’Tis hard I should be under the Necessity of making such a Cautionary Exception, but since I have almost as many Opponents as Readers of this Paper, some of whom to requite me for just Exceptions against their Morals and Scandalous Lives, and who by Way of Return for their Nonsence, are ready to object against every thing they see: ’Tis for their Sakes I am oblig’d to make long Digressions, and place needful Cautions in the Front of almost every Paragraph, to let them know where they think they have me; I saw it as well as they; ’tis for their Sakes I am oblig’d to give Reasons for what all Historians in the World have taken the Liberty to do, without asking the Leave of their Readers or making Apologies for.

This might have serv’d for an Answer to a Querulous Pevish Enquirer, whose Two First Questions are reply’d to in the entertaining Part of our last Paper, Whether we do not mistake Preamble for History; but as the Examples I might give in this Case among our best Historians will fully justifie me, without farther insisting on the particular Circumstances of the Author, the Writer, the time I write in, or the Persons that read; I refer the judicious Reader to the several Histories of Sir Walter Raleigh, the Bishop of Sarum, and any either antient or modern, whom they please to quote for me. Continue reading Tuesday, June 27. 1704.

Tuesday, June 13. 1704.

Numb. 29.
[129]

THe Frontiers of France, which now remain to finish the Circle drawn round the whole Monarchy, respect only the Coats, since the Borders on the Spanish side, Fortified by the Pyrenees, are more the Work of Nature than of Art.

’Tis true, there are some strong tho’ small Towns, on the Edge of Rousillon, and the Borders of Catalonia; but the French having always been Agressors there, and frequently pierced Catalonia, even to the subduing the whole Province two or three times; as they have the more neglected their Frontiers, so the restoring the Memory of Leucates.

Other such Places on the Passes of the Frontiers here, would serve very little to the Instruction of the Reader, which is the main End of this, and all profitable History.

It is easy to look back in History, to a time when all France was full of Fortified Places, and every great Town was also a strong Town; and when we come back to the History of the Wars with the Hugonots, and to the Famous Sieges of those Times, the Relation will of Course, be a Description of those Places of Strength. Continue reading Tuesday, June 13. 1704.

Saturday, June 10. 1704.

Numb. 28.
[125]

THe last Paper left off at the Swiss being always manag’d by the French, with the Artifice of Words, and gave an Instance in the Story of the Franche Comté, where the Cantons were most egregiously impos’d upon by the French, and at last banter’d by all Europe.

I cannot but be pleas’d to see the Publick Instance of the very same Practice happen to suit it self so exactly to the former; and ’tis exceedingly to my purpose, that the Account of it in our Gazette of Monday last, so well hits the Subject I am now upon.

The Swiss Cantons have demanded a Neutrality for Savoy; they have insisted upon this Demand as most reasonable upon sundry Accounts; as that they cannot see themselves surrounded by the French, as they are obliged to concern themselves in the Tranquility of Italy, and especially as they are engag’d to the Duke of Savoy by sundry Alliances and Treaties, obliging them to take that part of his Country into their Protection, or to assist him with a certain Number of Men, whenever it shall be Invaded.

The Reasons and the Justice of their Pretentions seem’d so plain, and above all, the Interest of the whole Helvetick Body was so much concern’d in it, that it pass’d with unanimous Zeal in all the petty Diets of the Swiss, that they should not suffer the French to take Possession of the Dutchy of Savoy. Continue reading Saturday, June 10. 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.

Saturday, June 3. 1704.

Numb. 26.
[117]

OUR last Papers brought the Line of Towns, Strengthned for the Defence of the French Monarchy from Dunkirk, on the Sea-shoar, to the edge of Lorrain.

And here to have a good Barrier, the French has always thought fit to keep the Duke of Lorrain under his foot.

The two Famous High-Ways made about the Year 1676, thro’ the whole Country of Lorrain, are Monuments of the entire Submission of the Duke of Lorrain: these traverse his whole Country, for the March of the King’s Armies to Alsace and the Middle Rhine; and as they are always kept in repair, and are broad enough for the Horse to March a full Squadron in Front; it mightily facilitates the March of the French Forces that way.

On the East of Lorrain, the Kingdom of France, which is openest on this side, always preserved the Possession of the Saar and the Moselle; here Saar Louis and Montroyal were wholly built by his Majesty’s Directions, the last Demolished by the late Peace; besides this he has the Castle of Traerback, the Cities of Mets, Thionville, Saar-bruck, Saar-alb, and a whole Line of small Places, from the City of Treves, on the Moselle, to Saarburgh, on the edge of Burgundy. Continue reading Saturday, June 3. 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.