Letters of State, Title page – To the reader
LETTERS OF STATE, Written by Mr. John Milton, To moſt of the Sovereign Princes and Republicks of EUROPE.
From the Year 1649. Till the Year 1659.
To which is added, An Account of his Life. Together with ſeveral of his Poems; And a Catalogue of his Works, never before Printed.
LONDON: Printed in the Year, 1694.
TO THE READER.
PRejudice over rules and ſways a World of People; and there is no queſtion but this Collection will meet with a great deal. There are ſome perhaps may cenſure it with an Infandum Regina jubes— Bigots to ſomething, but they know not what; nor is it in their Nature to examine the Reaſons of their Antipathy. For after the exacteſt Scrutiny that can be made, there is nothing to be met with in the following Sheets, not wreſted by Tyrannical Innuendo's, that can give the leaſt Offence; unleſs good Latin made good Engliſh be a Crime. Here are no diſcuſſions, which of the Contending Parties were in the Right; no Juſtifications of the Proſperous, nor Concluſions from Succeſs. Here are only bare Matters of Fact, abſtracted from the Domeſtick Broils, and Civil Diſſentions of thoſe Times. It only appears from hence, that a Certain Party of People, having by Victory obtained the Supream Government of the Kingdom, took the Common Methods of Prudence and Policy to ſtrengthen themſelves abroad, by Leagues and Amities with Foreign Princes. Whatever they had done at home, they paid to all the European Monarchs and Potentates, that deference which became 'em: yet were they not ſo puſillanimouſly forward neither to court Forreign Friendſhip, or to conclude any Treaties but to the Advantage of the Nation, according to thoſe Maxims which they profeſſed; and how ſevere ſoever they were to thoſe they believed their Enemies within dors, both the one and the other were moſt careful, not to ſuffer the Merchants to be abuſed abroad, if either Force or Interceſſion could prevail. Then, for the Honour of thoſe People, who had in thoſe times ſucceſſively Vſurp'd the Supream Authority of the Nation, nothing more plainly diſcovers it then the different Style of the enſuing Letters: for Mr. Milton is not to be thought to have Written his own Senſe, but what was dictated to him by his Superiours. The Language of the Long Parliament was more Imperious and downright; Oliver's Vein more full of Cants; and where he concluded with Threats, he began with Godly Expoſtulations. In the laſt place, to queſtion the Truth of thoſe Tranſactions to which theſe following Letters have Relation, would be a Soleciſm which Ignorance it ſelf would be aſhamed to own. The Dates, the Subſcriptions, Superſcriptions, render every thing Authentick. So that were it only for their Character of Truth which muſt be allow'd 'em, that alone is ſufficient to recommend 'em to Poſterity: at leaſt to thoſe who may be ambitious to be the Engliſh Thuanus's of ſucceeding Ages, to whom the Verity of theſe Letters will be a uſeful Clue, ſo far as it reaches, to guide them through the Labyrinth of forgotten ſtory. Hony Soit qui mal y pence.