Let. 7.

and State of Europe .

157

was declared. France , you see, appeared the

common friend of liberty, the defender of it in

the Low Countries against the king of Spain , and

in Germany against the emperor , as well as the \

protester of the princes of the empire, many of

whoíe estâtes had been iìlegaUy invaded, and

whose perso n s were no longer safe from violence

even in their own places. Ail thefe appearances

were kept up in the négociations at Munster,

Where Mazárin reaped what Richelieu hadsowed. The demands that France made forherfelf were very gréât; but the conjuncture wasfavorable, and stie improved it to the utmost. Nofigure could be more flattering than her’s, at théhead of thefe négociations ; nor more mortifyingthan the emperor’s through the whole course ofthe treaty. The princes and states of the empiréhad been treated as valsais by the emperor:

France determined them to treat with him on thisoccasion as íovereigns, and fupported them in thisdétermination. WhilstSweden feemed concernedfor the protestant interest alone, and sliowed noother regard, as stie had no other alliance: France affected to be impartial alike to the protestant andto the papist, and to hâve no interest at heart butthe common interest of the Germanie body. Herdemands were excessive, but they were to befatished principally out of the emperor’s patrimo-nial dominions. It had been the art of herministers to establiísi this général maxim on manyparticular expériences, that the grandeur of France Was a real, and would be a constant security to