French got nothing from the Dutch, but large countries from the Spaniards. "The ambition of France did not stop there; for they seized Luxemburg and Strasburg, upon account of certain dependencies, and forced Eu rope to confirm their usurpation by the truce of 20 years, concluded anew 1684. This did not satisfy that crown, for in the year 1688, the Dauphin took Philipsburg, and destroyed the Palatinate, and occasioned a general war in Europe, in which England being concerned, they turned the scale, and the great prudence of his Majesty forced France to sue for peace, which was concluded at Ryswick, September 10, 1697, and thereby France restored large territories both to the Spaniards and the Empire. "Nothing having occurred since, except the treaty of Carlowitz, we come to the chief transactions of this year, which will be as famous in our annals as any; for we have therein the war and peace of Holstein, so glorious to England, Sweden, and Holland; the invasion of Livonia by the king of Poland, and the czar of Muscovy, the unsuccessful siege of Riga by the former, the defeat of an army of 100,000 Muscovites by the young king of Sweden, who, with a handful of men, and at the age of 18 years, has gained more glory in one campaign, than some other princes have done with numerous armies in the course of a long reign. This year has likewise produced a new kingdom kingdom of Prussia, erected in favour of the elector of Brandenburg; a new Pope, and a new scene of affairs by the death of the late king of Spain, and the accession of the duke of Anjou to that monarchy. Europe has feared for about thirty years the sad effects of the death of that prince, and his Majesty and the States of Holland, always zealous for preserving the peace, had, as mediators, proposed some terms for settling that succession, to the satisfaction of all parties. France accepted of them, and entered into the famous treaty of partition; and her ministers and ours, with the Dutch, solicited all the Courts of Europe to enter into the same. The emperor and others did not think fit to accept it; and now the late king of Spain having appointed the duke of Anjou his universal heir, the French have thought fit to accept his will, without sticking religiously to the conditions of the treaty with their allies, especially as to the two months time, which were to be given to the emperor. They tell us, that they did so only for preserving peace, but I remember that the siege of Philipsburg in time of peace 1688, was coloured with the same pretence. "What will be the consequences of this affair, God knows; but whosoever considers what mischiefs the union of the empire and Spain in the house of Austria has done the world, must, upon several accounts not to be mentioned here, expect greater calamities from the union of France and Spain in the house of Bourbon. "Popery 66 Popery has still been more cruel this century than the last. The gun-powder plot, the massacre in Ireland, wherein above 200,000 persons were murdered, the massacre in the valleys of Piedmont, and the horrid persecutions in Hungary, Silesia, the Palatinate, and chiefly in France, are instances not paralleled with a former age. "To conclude this discourse, I think that whosoever will be at the pains to consider the present juncture of affairs, the dispositions of mankind, and the little regard they have for solemn treaties and oaths, will find sufficient cause to fear, that the next age will be still worse than the former, and conclude with Horace, Damnosa quid non imminuit dies? SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF A PLOT. It is said, in the publications of the close of the year 1700, that Groningen had a narrow escape from being delivered by treachery into the possession of the bishop of Munster, which was prevented by the following accident: A person of some importance in the place, and a rigid catholick, had been writing in his private apartment, whence he was suddenly and unexpectedly summoned on particularly pressing business; he inadvertently left the door open, and immediately after his son, then very young, entered; the child, observing papers lying on the table, seized the first that came to hand, and carried them with him to school, where the master's attention was attracted by the circumstance, who thought proper to examine them, as they appeared to be in the form of intended letters. One was addressed to the bishop, informing him that the town was in a state of fancied security, and proportionably unprovided with the means of defence, that the Protestant burgomasters, suspecting nothing evil against them, might be dispatched without difficulty or opposition, and suggesting other propositions tending to the same point. The schoolmaster, sensible of the importance of the discovery, went immediately to the magistrates, and communicated his intelligence, who sent officers of justice to apprehend the offender; but he had escaped beyond a possibility of detection; and they were reduced to the unpleasant uncertainty of forming conjectures, whether this plan originated with the person implicated, or whether it was part of an extensive plot. However, their precautions, or some other cause, prevented the publick tranquility from being further disturbed. DEATH OF JAMES II. We are indebted to the Editor of the Postman of October 30, 1701, for the following translation of a Latin speech pronounced by the Pope, in a Con Consistory held at Rome on the third of October in the above year. The feeling manner in which the Pontiff expressed himself on announcing the death of his spiritual son, shews the strong necessity that produced the Revolution of 1688. "Venerable Brethren, We impart to you with tears and sighs the most sad and doleful death of James king of Great Britain, of illustrious memory, which we could not hear of without feeling in our paternal heart a most grievous affliction; and we cannot doubt but you will be affected with the same grief for the great loss the Christian commonwealth has sustained in the death of a truly catholick prince, a true son of the church, and a true defender of the faith; which we do sadly lament at this time. But as we are not to sorrow, according to the advice of the apostle, for such who sleep, as others that have no hope, the great piety of the deceased King, which no time shall blot out, and which shall be remembered to the latest posterity; his heroic contempt of all human things for the Orthodox Religion, so well known to all the world, which that excellent prince preferred to his country, riches, kingdom, and even his life; and lastly, his constant and. most religious death, as we are informed by noble testimonies, give us just grounds to hope, that as God has been pleased to try him during his life as gold in a crucible, so he has received him after his death as an acceptable sacrifice. How U 2 |