It is sufficient for us that their interest is opposite, and that
religion and liberty may be preserved by their mutual jealousy. And I
confess, my lords, that were the Austrians about to attain unlimited
power by the conquest or inheritance of France and Spain, it would be
no less proper to form confederacies against them.
The testimony which has been produced of the convenience of a weak
emperour, is to be considered, my lords, as the opinion of an author
whose birth and employment had tainted him with an inveterate hatred
of the house of Austria, and filled his imagination with an habitual
dread of the imperial power. He was born, my lords, in Sweden, a
country which had suffered much by a long war against the emperour; he
was a minister to the electors of Brandenburgh, who naturally looked
with envy on the superiority of Austria, and could not but wish to see
a weaker prince upon the imperial throne, that their own influence
might be greater; nor can we wonder, that a man thus born and thus
supported should adopt an opinion by which the pride of his master
would be flattered, and perhaps the interest of his own country
promoted.
It is likewise, my lords, to be remarked, that there was then no such
necessity for a powerful prince to stand at the head of the Germans,
and to defend them with his own forces till they could unite for their
own preservation.
Pages:
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490