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<DATE>2014-04-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140210.apex.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B23236">
<STC T="W">F2193</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]14874206</BIBNO>
<VID>206133</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE French Plot Detected.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">BEING A Relation of a late Barbarous and Horrid De&s;ign of the <HI>French,</HI> to Burn and De&s;troy the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, in the Port of <HI>Naples;</HI> and of their De&s;ign of Bombarding that City.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">With an Account of the Examination, Confe&s;&s;ion, and Execution of an <HI>Italian</HI> Abbot, (late Confe&s;&s;or to the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Admiral) and Five <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Prie&s;ts, his Accomplices, for the &s;aid Horrid Con&s;piracy.</HEAD>
<LICENSE LANG="eng">
<P><HI>Licen&s;ed according to Order.</HI></P>
</LICENSE>
<P>THE Dint of Sword, and Policy of Conduct, together with a due Reliance on a&s;&s;i&s;ting Provi|dence to Crown the Succe&s;s of Battle, are the great Hinges of War, on which every ju&s;t Cau&s;e and glorious Arm &s;hould depend. But as <HI>France</HI> has too little of the la&s;t two Preten&s;ions, it has not overmuch Gonfidence in the &s;ole &s;trength of the three fir&s;t Supporters; and therefore has recour&s;e to a Fourth Auxi|liary, <HI>vix. Infidelity,</HI> &s;uch as the vile and abject Treachery of &s;ordid and Mercina|ry Renegadoes and Traytors, to betray Succe&s;s and Victory into their Hands, if tho&s;e fair Names may properly be given to &s;uch foul practi&s;es. A more notorious in&s;tance of which has not been, than in their late <HI>Italian</HI> Expedition, the De&s;ings and Attempt of their <HI>Thoulon</HI> Fleet, upon the City and Fort of <HI>Naplas,</HI> and the <HI>Spa|ni&s;h</HI> Fleet before it.</P>
<P>The Martial part of our Relation has been already &s;ufficiently and loudly pub|li&s;h'd: Neverthele&s;s, as a nece&s;&s;ary Intro|ductian to our following Narration, we mu&s;t make &s;ome &s;hort Repetition, and tell you, that the <HI>French Thoulon</HI> Squadron, con&s;i&s;ting of 22 Capital Ships, with Nine <HI>Bomb-Ketches,</HI> and 12 <HI>Fire-Ships,</HI> and all other nece&s;&s;ary Attendance, &s;et Sail the 12th. of the la&s;t Month, with a De&s;ign up|on the City of <HI>Naples,</HI> and the whole <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, as well Merchants as Men of War, lying in the Port before that City. Now &s;o far as this Expedition was &s;ilently formed, and carried on &s;o near to Execu|tion; as to that part of the <HI>French</HI> Con|duct, to be ju&s;t to an Enemy, we mu&s;t a&s;cribe them all due Honour: The Execution likewi&s;e of &s;uch a De&s;ign, as endeavour|ing no le&s;s than the Burning the whole <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, and Bombarding of &s;o capi|tal a City under the Dominion of <HI>Spain,</HI> as <HI>Naplos,</HI> which gives its Name to the whole Kingdom, and po&s;&s;ibly grants the Precedence to no fairer, nor richer Si&s;ter <HI>(Rome</HI> only excepted) thro' all the Prin|cipalities of <HI>Italy;</HI> &s;o formidable a De&s;ign, we mu&s;t acknowledge a Projection of Bulk and Importance.</P>
<P>But when we mu&s;t de&s;cend, &s;o far as to inform you of their poor and &s;ordid Mea&s;ures, taken for accompli&s;hing &s;o va&s;t a De&s;ign, in&s;tead of <HI>France</HI>'s priding her &s;elf in her high Atchievments of Glory, &s;he has but too much Rea&s;on to blu&s;h at the infamous Foundation, on which &s;he builds them. For example, for manag|ing this intended Blow upon <HI>Naples,</HI> as the &s;troke was not to be &s;o much their own handy work, as indeed no &s;uch open, or generous Ho&s;tility, they had privately corrupted and &s;uborned a Traytor, of no le&s;s Figure than an <HI>Italian</HI> Abbot, and Confe&s;&s;or, to <HI>Papuchino</HI> the Spani&s;h Ad|miral, who together with five other beje|&s;uited Sub&punc;villain Tools, had laid this Horrid and Execrable Plot, which was upon the fir&s;t Advance of the <HI>French</HI> Fleet, to have &s;et their own Admiral's Ship of fire, by a <HI>Fire-Che&s;t,</HI> prepared for the pur|po&s;e; the effects of which, as po&s;&s;ibly it might be of that dangerous Con&s;equence, as &s;preading a larger Conflagration thro' the whole <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, or at lea&s;t it would certainly &s;trike that Con&s;ternati|on and Confu&s;ion through them, as to fa|cilitate the <HI>French</HI> Acce&s;s, by giving them means and opportunity of making an ea|&s;ier Execution by their own <HI>Fire-Ships;</HI> and thereby, after the entire De&s;truction of the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, to have been made Ma&s;ters of the whole Port, and &s;o have been rendered capable of laying one of
<PB REF="2" MS="y"> the mo&s;t glorious Cities in <HI>Europe</HI> in Rub|bi&s;h and A&s;hes, by their Bombs and Mortars.</P>
<P>This Egregious Villainy, though thus near hatcht, had neverthele&s;s this peculi|ar Defeat, through a &s;pecial Ble&s;&s;ing and Providence, as to be cru&s;ht in the <HI>Embrio.</HI> For by a private Intelligence, received from <HI>Rome,</HI> not only the intended Approach of the <HI>French</HI> Fleet was adverti&s;ed (though not many Hours before its appearance) but likewi&s;e this whole Treachery was informed the <HI>Viceroy</HI> of <HI>Naples;</HI> who cau|&s;ing the Traytors to be all Apprehended, the Trea&s;on was charged upon them, though very ob&s;tinately and utterly de|nied by them all, e&s;pecially the <HI>Abbot,</HI> Ne|verthele&s;s, the <HI>Vice-roy</HI>'s Intelligence being too authentick (as being &s;uppo&s;ed to come from no le&s;s a Hand than the <HI>Pope's)</HI> and being likewi&s;e &s;upported and con|firm'd in each part and point, by a frail weak Brother, who&s;e remor&s;e of Con&s;ci|ence bad made him fall off from the Par|ty, he was &s;o fully confronted with it, 'till at la&s;t he confe&s;t the Fact, and was accordingly, with the re&s;t of his wicked Accomplices, immediately hang'd at the Yards Arm. After this Conviction, upon &s;ome Que&s;tions made him, <HI>viz.</HI> What mo|tives could induce him to &s;o barbarous a Trea&s;on again&s;t his own Native Prince, and that too in behalf of the Univer&s;al Enemy of <HI>Europe,</HI> he was plea&s;ed to An|&s;wer, <HI>That what be acted was out of a prin|ciple of Religion. For as the King of</HI> France <HI>had in &s;o many &s;everal Re&s;pects &s;ig|nalized him&s;elf &s;o true a Son of the</HI> Church; <HI>and on the other &s;ide the King of</HI> Spain <HI>had &s;o notoriou&s;ly Leagued and Con&s;orted with</HI> Hereticks, <HI>he had entertained a veneration for the one, and an aver&s;ion for the other; and from thence had been per&s;waded into this particular Service to</HI> France.</P>
<P>Having given you this full Matter of Fact, I &s;hall not make any long Flouri&s;h or Di&s;cant upon it, only oh&s;erve, That we are not &s;o much to wonder at <HI>France</HI>'s clande&s;tine Traffick with Villains and Mi&s;creants, for gaining her ends; for 'tis not to be &s;uppo&s;ed &s;he could &s;hrink at hi|ring of Traytors to burn Navies, when la&s;t Campaign in <HI>Flanders,</HI> (to her only glory be it recorded) &s;he could hire Ruf|fians to murder Kings; nor is this Abbot's Religions Motives for his Infidelity, any new Miracle, when if we will but look back, we &s;hall find the &s;urrender of <HI>Mons</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">o be owing to much &s;uch another Eccle|&s;ia&s;tick Per&s;ua&s;ive: All that looks &s;trange in it, is, that the Enthu&s;ia&s;tick Members of a Church, &s;hould have tho&s;e Tran|&s;ports of extravagant Zeal, more than the Head of it him&s;elf has. They may call it their Religion to contrive and perpetrate &s;uch a Trea&s;on, when he may think it a part of his Religion to detect and bla&s;t it.</P>
<P>But to return to our Narrative, The Accompli&s;hment of this De&s;ign, be&s;ides the blow it had given the <HI>Spaniards,</HI> had yet a further reach. The Scene of Action was laid in the <HI>Miditerranean Seas,</HI> as of|fering, po&s;&s;ibly, one of the be&s;t occa&s;ions of Aggrandizing the <HI>French Glory,</HI> when &s;o important a Naval Succe&s;s (as expect|ed) &s;o near his grand Allie, the <HI>Turk,</HI> had undoubtedly not only confirmed the glo|rious Character of the <HI>French</HI> King, &s;o in|du&s;triou&s;ly heightned and magnified at <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and thereby not a little &s;trengthened the Intere&s;ts and Confede|racies betwixt the mo&s;t Chri&s;tian, and mo&s;t Antichri&s;tian Monarch; but likewi&s;e had, in a very high mea&s;ure, repair'd their la&s;t Years Di&s;honour and Lo&s;&s;es at Sea.</P>
<P>But whatever Renown or Advantages they had propo&s;ed to them&s;elves, their whole Conduct herein has, on the con|trary, &s;o blazon'd both their weakne&s;s and &s;hame, that though their lo&s;s has not equall'd that of the la&s;t Year, their Re|putation has &s;uffered little le&s;s. For on the <HI>18th.</HI> of the la&s;t Month, with 22 Capital Ships, with <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> and <HI>Dutch</HI> Colours, they appeared before <HI>Naples,</HI> on the <HI>19th.</HI> they advanced &s;o near, as with|in reach of Cannon Shot, both from the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Fleet, and the Ca&s;tle of <HI>Baya,</HI> and the Batteries from the Rocks on the Shoar; from all which they were very warmly &s;a|luted with the Enemies Shot: but in&s;tead of returning the Compliment, the next day they drew farther off; and the <HI>21th.</HI> and <HI>22th.</HI> lay off at Sea, and the day fol|lowing, without the lea&s;t Attempt what|ever, not &s;o much as the di&s;charge of one &s;ingle Gun, they very &s;hamefully retired towards <HI>Thoulon.</HI></P>
<P>Thus their Plot detected, their Hire|lings hang'd, their Enemies provided and prepared for their Reception, they poorly Skulkt home again, and being immediate|ly after di&s;per&s;ed and &s;hattered by a vio|lent Storm, they made hard &s;hift, not 'till the fourth In&s;tant, to reach <HI>Thoulon,</HI> with not only &s;ome &s;ad marks of the angry Heavens, the Tempe&s;t they had &s;uffered under, but likewi&s;e with the double mor|tification of &s;o glorious an Enterprize &s;o meanly fru&s;trated, and &s;o potent an Allie as the Grand Seignour, &s;o near neigh|bouring a Witne&s;s, of &s;o inglorious a Re|treat and Defeat.</P>
</DIV1>
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<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P>London, <HI>Printed for</HI> J. Wright, <HI>in</HI> Fleet-&s;treet, 1693.</P>
</DIV1>
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