A Letter from Pope Innocent the XII. to the Emperour, where∣in He Indeavours to perswade Him to a Peace; With His Im∣perial Majesties answer. To which is subjoyned the Reso∣lutions of the Confederates in the present Conjuncture.
Done out of French.
MOST Beloved Son in Jesus Christ; We great you with Health and our Apostolical Benediction. When from this sublime post, exalted almost to Heaven, in which, as unworthy as we were of it, we are placed, We cast our eyes upon so many faithful People that are committed to Our Pastoral care; We are almost ready to expire with the excessive Grief and Melancholy we are affected with, at the view of all those great calamities, to which they are exposed by this cruel War, which at present afflicts almost all Christendom. And therefore being deeply concerned at the great and piercing clamours of so many Persons thereby exposed to Destruction; And being so very well assured of your Majesties pious inclinations, and of the great desire you have, to promote the advantage of the Christian Commonwealth, We have resolved to employ with your Majesty, the same Prayer we continually without ceasing address to the Fathers of Mercies, That it would please him to dissipate those dreadful Storms from whence so many Evils proceed, and to make them give place to a succeeding Calm of Peace so much desired.
We hope, that taking into your Consideration, the greatness of our Sorrow, and having a careful regard to the Miseries of so many poor People, and the dying groans of those that are daily slain in the War, you will be the more confirmed in the Inclination you have for Peace, and that you'l labour to augment it. And certainly when you shall have made a serious Reflection upon the ungovernable Licenciousness of Soldiers, and upon the contempt that sort of Men have for Sacred things, and upon the loss of so many Souls as we have just occasion to fear, Considerations which wound us to the heart with grief, We cannot doubt; but suffring your self to be swayed by the motion of your natural Piety, you will readily form a Design for the procuring the repose of so many ruined People, the Reestablishment of God's Service, and the Salvation of Souls: Most sure it is you can in no juster or fitter manner acknowledge those benefits, which the Authour of all Good has so abundantly bestowed upon Your Majesties Sacred Person, than by reestablishing the Heritage which the Lord Jesus Christ left by his Testament, to his Church, before he ascended into Heaven.
Wherefore employ your whole endeavours as far as in you lies, Most Beloved Son in Jesus Christ, towards the easing of the Christian Commonwealth from those miseries with which it is now afflicted; And propose for your aim, the Glory which they shall receive; who by procuring the Peace of that Commonwealth, shall benefit it with an unexpressible felicity, and the Applauses of the People thereby Resetled, who will never cease to proclaim the just praises of the Authours of their tranquility.
As for Us, We will put in practice all that we can think of to facilitate to Your Majesty, and to all the rest of the Christian Princes, the means of putting in execution a Work so useful and so advantagious.
Page 2In this Expectation, We most heartily give you our Apostolical Benediction, as in assured earnest of our good will.
Given at Rome, at the Church of St. Marie Major, under the Seal of the Fisher, the 8 of Decemb. 1691. and in the first year of our Pon∣tificat.
MARIUS SPINOLA.
The Emperours Answer to the Pope.
Most Holy Father,
YOUR Holinesses Letter dated the 8th, of last Month, has sufficiently informed us of the cruel di∣sturbances you are affected with, at the view of those many Evils which the Christian People is overwhelmed with by the War at present enkindled almost every where, and of your Holinesses care to moderate and calm the animosities raging between the several Irritated Princes, and to dispose them to Peace and Concord. And indeed the calamities which the Christian Commonwealth suffers by this War so unjustly enterprised, together with those it is farther threatned with thereby, no less afflict Us than they do your Holiness.
But our comfort is, That God and our Conscience bear Us Witness, that the fault cannot be im∣puted to Us, since We took not up Arms, but when there was a necessity so to do, for the Defence of the Empire, and of the People committed to our Protection, against those who attacked them. The most inward thoughts of our Heart are so well known to your Holiness, by the long acquaintance and converse you have had formerly with Us, That you will easily believe, there could happen nothing more displeasing to Us, than to see the Love We naturally are byassed with for the Peace, and tran∣quility of the Publick, to be continually disobliged, and forcibly turned towards the contrary extrem, by fresh injuries daily perpetrated against Us, and above all things, by the Ambition and Malicious envy of France.
For the Respect which is universally granted to be due to the Publick Faith, and to Solemn Treaties, has not hitherto been of any force to bridle that Crown from violating them as often as they have been Sworn to. And to pass under silence several other things, the Christian World with sighs beholds, and posterity with horrour will hear related, that it has been possible for a King most Christian, to fix upon a resolution to stop the Rapid Course of our Victories over the Infidels, to break those Bands of Amity We had but a little before renewed with him, and to make a fresh War upon Us, just at the moment when trusting in the Faith of those Treaties so lately made with him, We lived in all manner of security, and to fill all Places with Murthers, Rapines, and Burnings, before he was pleased to inform Us for what Reason he Renewed the War, and what just pretence We had given him for it. Certainly it must needs have been done upon this principle, That it was much more eligible to trample under foot all things bo•h Divine and Humane, than for France to have lost the oppornity to extend her Limits to the Rhine-ward, and to leave to Us and the rest of Christendom, the leisure necessary suc∣cessfully to finish the War with the Turks, and to secure our Frontiers on that side.
And therefore the August Dignity with which We are invested, obliged Us to make the best Alliances We could, to defend our selves and People against the Arms of the most Christian King, and at the same time against the Enemies of the Christian Name, Who by a shameful union Act in consort a∣gainst Us. 'Tis true the principal Condition of the Alliance by which we are engaged to our Confede∣rates, is, That We shall not have power to hearken to any separate Treaty of Peace, without first con∣sulting of it conjointly with them, but as we can very well answer for them, that they no less desire than We, to see Peace Reestablished in the Christian World, by the Reinforcement of the Articles of Pacification concluded at the Pyrenean and Westphalian Treaties, which have been violated by France. It will be necessary above all things, for your Holiness to employ all your best offices and that with the utmost efficacy you can, to induce the King of France to restore things to the State required by the Arti∣cles of those two Treaties, as he himself testifies to be inclin'd to do.
If Your Holiness can obtain from that Prince a thing so just, We will not be wanting on our side, to use our utmost endeavours, that the Pious Intentions of your Holiness for the good of Christendom, and the offer of your Paternal care and good offices for the advancement of Peace, which are to Us most acceptable, may be embraced by our Allies, and produce their desired effect. This is what We thought our duty to Answer to your Holinesses Letter, which was so pleasing to Us, and which We have accord∣ingly done, with all due Respect to Your Holiness; Whom We pray God long to preserve both for the good of the Church in General, and Our own in Particular.
At Vienna,the 20th of Janu. 1692.
The Resolution taken by the Confederate Princes, and other Allied Powers, in Relation to France.
HAVING Resolv'd to make this Year, a Descent into France, that by so attac∣king Our Common Enemy where Our efforts may be most sensibly felt, We may the more easily Reduce him to Reason: In order thereunto, We first, all Solemnly Swear, and Protest before God, That We will make no Peace with Lewis the Four∣teenth, but upon the conditions Stipulated by the Articles of the Pyrenean, and West-phalian Treaties which have been violated by France, and upon those other agrements which We have hereunto Subjoyned, which tho' they be partly the Fundamental Rights of the French Nation, and partly priviledges confirm'd by the most solemn E∣dicts, have been with no less violence and injustice infring'd.
I. Till the General Estates of the Kingdom be restored to their Ancient Liberties, Power, and Share in the Legislative and suprem Power; and till both the Clergy, Nobility, and Third Estate be Reinstated in all their former Legal priviledges; And till there be good provision made, that all Kings of France in time to come, shall be obliged to con∣voke the said Estates, when they shall need mony for any Publick concerns, and shall have no power, in any manner, or upon any pretence whatsoever, to raise any Taxes, •o any sort of Imposts without their Consent.
II. Till the several Courts of Parliament in the Kingdom be reinstated into that sufficient and Legal authority with which they were primarily invested, That so without being awed by any check from an arbitrary Power, or being obstructed by the corruptions ordinarily arising from undue and illegal promotions to those high Posts of Judicature, they may be both able, and well inclined to do justice indifferently to all Parties.
III. Till all the Cities of the Kingdom be restored to their old Charters and Priviledges, and to the Revenues assigned for their support and the Publick good of their several Corporations which have been so Inhumanly, and unjustly Ravished from Them.
IV. Till all those Swarms of Caterpillers of Monopolists, pernicious Publicans, and Far∣mers of the Royal Revenues, and other oppressed undertakers be Removed, and all the illegal and new invented Charges and Taxes be taken off, as in particular, the Irregu∣lar Lodging and Quartering both of Courtiers and Soldiers, the exactions for Winter-quarters, the salaries of Governors, and Multitude of Sham Debts and private businesses of the Crown, unnecessarily and without authority charged upon particular Persons, Towns, or Cities, and which enter not into the State or Accounts of the publick Re∣venues; of Extraodinary excises upon Wine, Cider, and other Liquors, the Gabelle upon Corn, and Flour, upon Hoofed Beasts, and Salt, the unreasonable and unexam∣pled imposts upon the Marks of Paper, Mony, and all Utensils, or Movables made of Metal, upon Hats, Silk-stockings, Wools, and Wollen Manufactures, Shoes, Slipers, Wooden Shoes, all sorts of Linen, and Perriwigs; as also upon Tobacco, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, &c. upon all Manufactures of Silk, and upon all the Estates and Goods of Noble or Geutlemen every five Years, the Taxe of the Frank Fifs, and several other oppressive exactions upon the Buyers and Sellers, or Morgagers of Lands, Houses, &c. and upon the Officers of the Courts of Judicature, and of the Treasury and Exchequer; Page 4of the Injurious, and Arbetrary Retrenchment of Wages, Raising or Lowering the value, and debasing the purity of Mony and Coin, and unjust Reunion to the Crown Lands, and possessions long enjoyed by great and deserving Families, upon Dispotical pretences, and besides an infinite many other new and unheard of exactions; of the strange impositions upon Marriages, Christnings, Buryings, and Bastards, &c. and to conclude all in a Word: Till the Revenues of the Crown be Fixed, and Reduced with∣in such certain and moderate Bounds as shall seem most Requisite to the wisdom of the General Estates when Conven'd; and good provision be made that no succeeding French Monarchs shall ever pass those bounds.
V. Till he has Rendred to all the Protestants of his Kingdoms the Estates, Effects, and Liberties they were seised of by vertue of the Edict of Nants, and all other priviledges they injoyed thereby according to the true meaning, and to the full extent of the said Edict: And till for their future security both in their Civil, and Religious Rights and Capacities, according to the meaning of the said Edict, the said French King shall have deliver'd some sufficient cautionary Towns to be held and fortified by those Protest∣ant Allies that shall be made Guardians, or Conservatours of the Treaty to be agreed upon
VI. And Lastly We Declare, as in the sight of God, That in these our just attempts, We are not actuated by any hatred or animosity against the French Nation, nor by any ambitious designs to Conquer or Seise on any of the Antient and Lawful Dominions of France, or to dismember that Moarchy of any of the Provinces justly belonging to it, but that Our ultimate aim is only to repress that exorbitant Power whereby that Crown has been inabled hitherto to oppress its own Subjects, and Threaten the Liberty of all Europe besides; And that We advance towards the Fronteers of France. with as hearty an intention to Rright the Wrongs of its Subjects, as those of Our own people, estee∣ming the reestablishment of their just and ancient Liberties, to be the best Bulwark of Our own, against Our and their Common Oppressour; And that therefore; We doe friendly and heartily invite them to come in to Us, and to joyn their Arms and other assi∣stance with Us, towards their Deliverance, assuring them We will treat them as Our best friends, and will take care to preserve their Persons, Towns, Lands, and all that shall concern them as if they were our own; But at the same time We have thought fit also to Declare to all that shall not comply with Our invitations, and assistances intended for their Common good, That We shall Distinguish them for Enemies of their Country, and of all sort of Christianity, and Humanity, and as Barbarous wretches that have abetted, and approv'd all the persecutions, Burnings, Desolations, and other vexations which have been committed by those of their Nation both within and without France, and shall make them feel without mercy those pains which their inhumane Countrey-men have made so many thousands of miserable people suffer.
And We have thought fit to make Publick this our Declaration, that all the World might know the sincerity of our Resolutions, and particularly those of the French Na∣tion, which groan under the intolerable oppression of the present Government there, and who with the loss of their Liberty, have redoubl'd their desires of Recovering it again, that they may be inform'd to whom, and with what confidence and assurance, they may apply themselves, in this great opportunity offer'd them by the Just and Almighty God, to Regain their ancient freedom and priviledges which have been so long, and so cruel∣ly extorted and detained from them.
