Forces to oblige him thereto. The Emperor and the King of Sicily have confented to it: But all the Means which his Majefty and the King of Great Britain have ufed, feparately and jointly, with the King of Spain, not having been able to make him fufpend his Enterprizes, nor make him relith a Peace fo fuitable to his Interefts and his Glory, his Majefty could not avoid to act according to the Engagements which he enter'd into by the Treaty of London, of the 2d of Augult last, without violating Juftice, and abandoning the Inte refts of his People: And he is oblig'd, in Confequence of the third feparate Article of the faid Treaty, to declare War against the King of Spain ; yet at the fame Time conjuring him with the fame Inftantes that have for a long Time been inceffantly made to him, not to refufe Peace to a People who have brought him up in their Bofom, and have generoufly expos'd their Lives and Eftates for maintaining him on the Throne of Spain, as he has himself acknowledg'd in his Declaration of the 9th of November last. If his Majefty be forced to carry his firft Arms against him, he has at least the Confolation of preferring nothing to that Prince, but only the Safety of his own People, if indeed Arming at this Time against Spain be not as much for the Intereft of that Prince and his Kingdom, as for the Intereft of all Europe. And for this Purpose his Majefty, with the Advice of Monfieur the Duke of Orleans, Regent, has refolv'd to employ all his Forces both by Sea and Land, fupported by the Divine Protection, which he implores upon the Juftice of his Caufe, to declare War against the King of Spain. His Majefty ordains and enjoins all his Subjects, Vaffals, and Servants, to fall upon the Spaniards, and moft exprefly forbids them to have hereafter any Communication, Commerce, or Intelligence with them, upon Pain of Death; and, in Confequence, his Majefty hath revok'd, and doth revoke from this prefent Time, all Declarations, Conventions, or Exceptions to the contrary, as alfo all Permiffions, Fafsports, Safe-Guards, and Safe-Conducts, that may have been granted by him or by his Lieutenants-General and other his Officers, contrary to thefe Prefents, and hath declar'd and doth declare them Null and of no Effect or Value, forbidding all Perfons whatsoever to have any Regard thereunto. His Majefty commands and ordains the Admiral, and the Marthals of Admiral France, France, the Governors and Lieutenants-General for his belong, That they caufe, each in his Station, the Contents of thefe Prefents to be executed, in the Extent of their Powers and Jurifdictions. For fuch is the Pleafure of his Majefty, who Wills and Com- mands, that these Prefents be Fublifh'd and Fix'd up in all the Cities and Towns, as well Maritime as others, and in all his Ports, Havens, and other Places of his Kingdom and the Territories under his And Lower, Le Blanc. A Manifefto fhewing the Caufes of Rupture between France INGS are not accountable for their Actions but to God alone, from whom they derive their Au- thority. Being indifpenfibly engag'd to labour for the Happiness of their People, they are not oblig'd to give an Account of the Means they take to fucceed in it, and they may, according to their own Prudence, conceal or reveal the Mysteries of their Government. But as it is of fome Importance to their Glory, and to the Tranquillity of their People, which cannot be Teparated, that the Motives of their Refolutions be known, they ought to act in the Face of the Uni- verfe, and make that Juftice fhine out in Publick, which they have confulted in Secret. His Majefty, govern'd by the Counfels of the Duke of Orleans, Regent, believes himself under this En- His Majefty can never impute that Infraction to a Prince, who is commendable for fo many Virtues, and particularly for being a most religious Obferver of his Word; fo that it can be only owing to his Minifters, who having too lightly engag'd him, know how to make that Engagement. it felf a Reafon and a Neceffity to him to fupport it. His Majefty, in the Measures which he has taken, proposes to himself to fatisfy equally two Duties; the Love which he has to his People, by preventing a War with all their Neighbours, with which they are threaten'd; and the Friendthip he has for the King of Spain, by conftantly taking Care of his Interefts and his Glory, which thall for ever be the more dear to France, in that the looks upon them as the Reward of her long Labours, and of all the Blood which it cost her to maintain him upon the Throne. Thefe Intentions of his Majefty will fenfibly thow themselves, and without Interruption, in all the Facts herefater mention'd. 'Tis known, that in the Courfe of the laft War, France was almoft reduc'd by her Loffes to the hard Neceflity of confenting to the recalling the King of Spain, and that the had without Doubt experienc'd that Grief, if Providence had not interpos'd, and prevented that Injuftice, by changing the Events of the War, and the Hearts of our Enemies. The Rights of the Catholick King were acknowledg'd at Utrecht; but the Emperor, altho' abandon'd by his Allies, would not yet renounce his Pretenfions. The taking of Landau and Friburg could not. even reduce him to it; and the late King, of glorious Memory, who in the Middle of his laft Succefs, felt the extream Need his People were in of Peace, concluded it not 'till after having propos'd to the Em peror in the Negociation of Raftadt, to enter upon an Accommodation between him and the King of Spain & He had always in View the finishing his Work, and to ftifle the Seeds of War which the Treaty of Utrecht had left in Europe, by regulating only provifionally, and without the Concurrence of the Emperor, the Interests of that Prince and of the King of Spain. B 2 * His *Inftructions for the Plenipotentiaries for the Congress of Baden, April 15, 1714. His Defign of cementing the Peace by a Reconciliation between those two Princes, was infinuated at Baden the 15th of June, 1714, to the Count de Goes, and communicated the 7th of September † following to Prince Eugene of Savoy, who affur'd, that the Empe ror would not be averfe to it. After the Signing of the Treaty of Baden, the King order'd the Marthal de Villars to purfue, with Prince Eugene, the fame Object. And when the Count de Luc was named for the King's Embaffador to the Emperor, he was particularly charg'd by his Inftructions to act acording to thofe Views. The King of Spain had often reprefented to the late King, by Letters written with his own Hand, that his Condition was not fecur'd by the Treaties of Utrecht. You will eafily judge, fays he, in one of his Letters of the 16th of May, 1713 that the Peace, the Solidity whereof all the World equally defires, cannot be ftable, if the Archduke, who difputes with me the Crown of Spain, doth not acknowledge me its lawful King. You know, writes that Prince in his Letter, Jan. 13, 1714, that I have comply'd with all the Preliminaries, and that I am ready to confent that Naples, the Milaneze, and the Low Countries, ball remain to the Archduke, as I have done by Sicily in Favour of the Duke of Savoy, and by Gibraltar and the Iftand of Minorca in Favour of the English, and that I am ready to do the fame by Sardinia, in Favour to the Duke of Bavaria. The Archduke ought, upon thefe Conditions, to renounce what remains to me of the Monarchy of Spain. So that we may have no more, neither He nor I, to pretend upon one another. I flatter my felf, fays the fame King of Spain in his Letter, May 17, 1714, that knowing of what Impertance it is, to make the Archduke depart from all his Pretenfions upon Spain and the Indies, you will put que into a Condition of establishing solid Terms, to fecure to me the peaceable Enjoyment of them. This *Letter of thofe Plenipotentiaries to the King, June 15, 1714. Letter of Marfbal Villars to the King, Sept. 7, 1714. Memorial given to Marshal Villars from the King, Seps, 23, 1714 Inftructions for the Count de Luc, going to Vienna, Jangary 3, 1715 This Prince beliey'd not himself fecure in the Throne of Spain and the Indies, but by the Emperor's folemn Renunciation of his Pretentions, and he infifted fo warmly upon that Security, only because he had known the Importance of it thro' the Extremities he was reduc'd to by the Events of the War excited by the Emperor's Pretenfions. This was alfo all that he demanded of the late King as the most sensible Pledge of his paternal Friendthip, and as the la Effort with which he was to crown all that France had done for his Interefts. The late King labour'd with all the Affection of a Father to fatisfy his Grandfon herein: But as the Emperor appear'd inflexible, and that there remain'd a Diffidence throughout Europe; it being the general Opinion that the Peace could not laft, which kept ftill the greateft Part of the Potentates in Arms; the War in the North and the Alterations that happen'd in Great Britain, made it fear'd that the Fire of War might foon be rekindled; it was neceffa→ ry to take again new Measures for preventing it. 1 It was in thefe Conjunctures that the late King was taken from France. His Majefty will never forget thofe Advices, fo falutary and fo important, which he gave him in the laft Moments of his Life, He is willing to make it the invariable Rule of his Reign, and the World will foon fee that all his Steps have been answerable to it. The long Wars had left in Europe the Remains of an Averfeness and Hatred against us, which lay ready. to revive; and our Neighbours, ftill full of the Jealeufies and Fears they had fo often had in our Profperities, and even at our Refources in our greateft Difgraces, already meditated, for finishing our Downfal, to take Advantage of the Minority of the King, and the exhaufted State of the Kingdom, of which we our felves complain'd fo loud as to encourage our Enemies to attempt any Thing. The old League threaten'd to join again, and the Nations mutually excited one ano❤ ther to War, by the Importance of fecuring themselves for ever against a Power too formidable, and which they took Pains to render odious by unjust Reproaches of its Unfincerity. What Means was there more fure for diffipating this Storm, than by uniting our felf with the Potentate, who, in Concert with us, had reftor'd Peace by the Treaty of Utrecht? The King neglected nothing for fucceed |