<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2008-09-02</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>tcpstaff</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B080840.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B03987">
<STC T="W">L1112</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">52614743</BIBNO>
<VID>175937</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 1 -->
<HEAD><HI>His Imperial Maje&s;ty's Letter to the Pope; wherein is offered, his Rea&s;ons why he cannot accept of any Offers of Peace with</HI> France.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Tran&s;lated from the Original.</HI></P>
<LETTER>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Most Holy Father,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WHat deep and &s;orrowful Impre&s;&s;ions the great Calamities and Mi&s;eries of the pre&s;ent War, which all Chri&s;tendom groans under, have made on your Mind, as al&s;o the great and &s;pecial Care your Holine&s;s takes to reconcile the exa&s;|perated Minds of all Chri&s;tian Princes, in order to the promoting of an univer&s;al Peace, has been given us to under&s;tand at large by your Holine&s;s Letter, from the 8th of the la&s;t Month. And truly the great and increa&s;ing Mi&s;chiefs, atten|ding a War that has been rais'd under &s;o frivolous pretences, moves no le&s;s ours, than your Holine&s;s Fatherly Heart. Yet &s;ince We did not take up Arms till We were forc'd to it by an unavoidable Nece&s;&s;ity, We have this Con&s;olation left us, that (calling God and our Con&s;cience to Witne&s;s) we are wholly free from the Cau&s;e of it: Be&s;ides your Holine&s;s, by a long and &s;olid experience, is &s;o well acquainted with the remote&s;t Inclinations of our Heart, that you'll ea&s;ily conceive, that We can &s;uffer nothing with more Unea&s;ine&s;s and Impatience, than to &s;ee the effects of a Natural Tendency to Peace and Quietne&s;s, ob&s;tructed by the ambiti|ous and envious Endeavours of <HI>France.</HI></P>
<P>As yet no Obligations, Promi&s;es, no not the mo&s;t Sacred Oaths could prevail with that Crown to keep it from the breaking of the mo&s;t Solemn Treaties as &s;oon as they were made, for to pa&s;s over all the re&s;t, the Chri&s;tian World knows it; and future Ages will relate it with a&s;toni&s;hment, that the mo&s;t Chri&s;tian King has cau&s;ed him&s;elf to be &s;educed &s;o far, as to ob&s;truct the Glorious Cour&s;e of Our Victorious Arms over the Infidels; and when we were relying on his Friend&s;hip, but &s;o lately renewed, and con&s;equently not at all &s;tanding on Our Guards, to Invade Us upon a &s;udden the &s;econd time with his Ho&s;tile Arms, putting all to the Fire and Sword, before he had acquainted Us with his having the cau&s;e for it, and indeed, all Divine and Humane Laws are Violated, rather than <HI>France</HI> &s;hould let &s;lip any occa&s;ion of enlarging her Frontiers, or to hinder Us from the &s;ecuring of Ours, and to deprive Us and Chri&s;tendom of all Means to end the War with the <HI>Turks</HI> with Succe&s;s and Advantage.</P>
<P>Thus have We been obliged by the Mo&s;t Sacred Ty of Our high Office, by rea&s;on of that mo&s;t Ignominious League between the mo&s;t Chri&s;tian King, and the Sworn Enemy of the Chri&s;tian Name, to Unite Our &s;elves with Our Friends and Confederates again&s;t <HI>France,</HI> to the Defence of Us and Our People; which U|nion and Confederacy is of &s;o high a Nature, that we can do nothing towards the Conclu&s;ion of a Peace, without their Advice and Coun&s;el. But &s;ince We are wholly convinc'd that their Inclinations are no le&s;s tending than ours to &s;uch a Peace, by which all Chri&s;tendom, according to the <HI>We&s;phalian</HI> and <HI>Pyrenean</HI> Treaty (&s;ince violated by <HI>France</HI>) may be re&s;tor'd to its former Quietne&s;s and Tranquillity, all will be reduced to this point, that your Holine&s;s will be plea&s;ed to employ to the outmo&s;t, your Fatherly Care to prevail with the <HI>French</HI> King as the &s;ole Author of this War, to re&s;tore both the abovementioned Treaties, which he him&s;elf has broke.</P>
<P>In Ca&s;e your Holine&s;s can obtain from him the&s;e &s;o ju&s;t Demands, there &s;hall be wanting nothing on our &s;ide to render effectual this &s;o Holy De&s;ign of your Holi|ne&s;s, tending to the good of Chri&s;tendom, and your proffered Fatherly Service for the promoting of a General Reconciliation, &s;o acceptable to Us, and &s;o much wi&s;h'd for by all the re&s;t of our Confederates. This We have thought fit to reply to your Holine&s;s's Letter, according to our Zeal for your Per&s;on, Praying God Almighty long to pre&s;erve your Holine&s;s to the benefit of Us and the Church.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><HI>Vienna,</HI> <DATE><HI>Jan.</HI> 30. 169<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P><HI>Edinburgh,</HI> Re-Printed by the Heir of <HI>Andrew Ander&s;on,</HI> Printer to Their mo&s;t Excellent Maje&s;ties, 1692.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
