A PROTESTATION for the Duchefs de Lefdiguieres, and the Duke de Villeroy, relating to Neufchatel and Valengin.

PAula Francoife Magaret de Gondi de Retz, Duchefs Dowager de Lefdiguieres, Widow of the most High and moft Mighty Lord Emanuel de Bonne and de Crequi, Duke de Lefdiguieres, Peer of France, the King's Governor, and Lieutenant-General in Dauphiné: To all, to whom thefe prefents may come, we notify, That by the Deceafe of the most High and Mighty Princess Madam Mary d'Orleans, Duchefs of Nemours, which happen'd the 16th of June 1707. We have a Right to fucceed to the Sovereignties of Neufchatel and Valengin, as being the nearest Heir, by the oldeft Branch of the Houfe of Longueville. Therefore, knowing the Integrity and Capacity of Leander de Reffi, Chevalier of St. John of Jerufalem, we have, with the Confent of the King, our Sovereign Lord, nominated by these prefents, and conftituted him Procurator General and Special, in Order to repair to the Congress of Utrecht, there to reprefent the Juftice of our Rights, and demand, that we be put into full Poffeffion of the Principalities of Neufchatel and Valengin, at prefent detain'd by his Electoral Highnefs the Mark-grave of Brandenburg, withou? any other Right, than that of Force; and in cafe of Refufal, to reprefent the Juftice of our Rights; and that nothing may be done to the Prejudice of our Caufe, we charge and impower the Sieur Leander de Roffi, Chevalier of St. John, to make, in our Name, and in the Name of our Nephew Louis Nicholas de Neufville, Duke de Villeroy, the Proteftations neceffary for the Prefervation of our Rights, which according to the Order of Nature, ought, one Day, to be his, and thofe of his Pofterity. We have, for this pur pofe, requir'd the faid Lord, our Nephew to fign thefe prefents, that the Bearer thereof may act in his B 2 Name,

Name, as well as in ours. In Witness whereof we have fign'd them, with our Hand, caus'd them to be counterfign'd by one of our Secretaries, and fix'd thereto our Coat of Arms, as our Nephew has likewife done. Given at Paris, the 24th of February, 1713.

Paula Francoife Margaret de Gondi,

Duchefs of Lefdiguieres.

Louis Nicholas de Neufville,

And on the faid Power, written on Parchment, in Form of Letters Patent, hang the Coat of Arms of the faid Duchefs, and that of the faid Lord Duke, the Principals and Constituents.

WE, whofe Names are underwritten, having in the Month of March 1713. repair'd to the Town of Utrecht, in order to act, by Vertue of, and for the Ends fpecify'd in, the Power given us, by the moft High and Mighty Lady, Paula Francoife Margaret de Gondi de Retz, Duchefs Dowager de Lefdiguieres; as alfo by the moft High and Mighty Lord Nicholas de Neufville, Duke de Villeroy, and Nephew of the faid Lady, our principal Conftituent; and finding, that the Congrefs is not manag'd in the ufual Manner, by the Intervention of a Mediator, to whom we might make Application, we could not take a better Courfe, in order to declare and preferve the

Rights committed to our Care, than to inform the Minitters of the Parties at War, of whom the Congrefs confifts, and to publish in the Place it felf, where the Affembly is held, a Writing, containing the Reasons whereon the faid Rights are founded, which Writing may acquaint with the faid Rights, the present or any future Congrefs, which not having hinder'd his Pruffian Majefty from remaining in Poffeflion of the Sovereignties of Neufchatel and Valengin; By Vertue of the Treaty of Peace, fign'd in this Town of Utrecht, the 11th of April 1713. between the most ChristianKing and theKing of Pruffia, and by Vertue of divers other Acts, in Prejudice of the just Rights of the Lady and Lord, our Conftituents, we have, by Vertue of our Power, protested, and do protest against this Poffeffion, before the venerable Magiftracy and Regency of the Town of Utrecht; Declaring, that we do in no wife acquiefce therein; but that we appeal to Times more favourable to Justice, that the Rights of our Conftituents may not be deem'd the lefs juft; and that . this Proteftation may be the more publick, we depofit the Original thereof, together with our Power, in the Archives of the Town-Houfe of Utrecht, requesting the venerable Magiftracy and Regency to grant us a Deed of the faid Depofitum, and of the Proteftation aforefaid. Done at Utrecht, the 13th of April 1713. and fign'd: The Chevalier Roffi,

We Burgomafters and Counsellors, Members of the Regency of the Town of Utrecht, declare, That the Sicur Leander Roffi has, in Quality of Procurator, depofited in our Archieves, the Power and Proteftation, the collated Copy whereof is above written; and that he has reiterated his Proteftation before us. Of which we thought fit to grant him a Deed, under the Seal of our Town and Signet of our Secretary April 16. 1713.1

.

A MEMORIAL, for Madam the Duchefs de Lefdiguieres.

After the Death of Madam the Duchefs of Ne

mours, Sovereign of Neufchatel, Madam the Duchefs de Lifdiguieres, as next Heirefs, by the eldest Branch of the Houfe of Longueville, which has been above 250 Years in Poffeflion of that Sovereignty, thought fhe had a Right to put in her Claim as Succeffor.

Monfieur, the Duke de Villeroy, her Nephew, whose Birth intitul'd him to the fame Rights after her, went to Swifferland to prove them: But finding the Judges determin'd by other Motives, than thofe of Justice, he made Proteftations, and retir'd.

What Madam the Duchefs of Lefdiguieres could not obtain, in a time of Trouble and Party Divifions, fhe has now Grounds to hope for, when all the Powers of Europe are affembl'd to re-establish Peace throughout the fame, and therewith Equity, which ought to be infeparable therefrom.

Her Genealogy alone proves her Title: She defcends, as doth Madam the Duchefs of Nemours, from Leonor d'Orleans, who was Sovereign of Neufchate!. Leonor d'Orleans, the common Stock, left Six Children, viz. Henry, Francis, Catharine, Margaret, Antoinette,and Eleonore. Thefe Six Children form'd each a Branch, and thefe Six Families were call'd fuccef-fively to the fame Sovereignty.

Madam the Duchefs of Nemours finish'd, by her Death, the Branch of Henry, which was the first. By the Extinction of the firft Branch, the Succeffion was legally devolv'd on the Five following Branches: But there being no Defcendants in the first Three, which are thofe of Francis, Catharine, and Margaret, it paffes to that of Antoinette, in which Family Madam the Duchefs de Lefdiguieres holds the firft Rank, and after her, Monfieur the Duke de Villeroy. So that the Line of Antoinette, which fucceeds in Place of that of Henry, forms at prefent the eldeft Branch of the Houfe of Longueville: And fo long as

there

there are any Defcendants of that Line, the younger Branch can have no Right.

If Antoinette of Orleans were alive, fhe fhould cer tainly have the_Preference above Eleonore, her younger Sifter: The Defcendents of Antoinette d'Orleans, who reprefent her, in all her Rights, ought for the fame Reafon to be preferr'd to the Defcendents of Elconore; because the first fucceed to the eldeft Title; and that Title communicating itself to all the Offspring in that Line, excludes the others for ever.

After having fhewn, that the Duchefs de Lefdiguieres is among the Defcendents of the Houfe of Longueville, the only Party who has acquir'd a Right to the Sovereignty of Neufchatel, it were to no purpose to prove the Rights of the House of Longueville, against the Pretenfions of the Houfe of Chalons. The only Foundation of thofe Pretenfions, was the Hopes the oppofite Party had of getting Advantage, by a certain Conjuncture of Affairs, fo as to procure that Favour and Credit, which was not to be expected from Juftice. A Poffeffion for 250 Years, approv'd by feveral Sentences, even of the States of Neufchatel, and confirm'd by divers Treaties of Peace, would have been more than fufficient to fecure the Rights of the Houfe of Longueville, if the Affair had been duly examin'd, and other Confiderations had not prevail'd.

But fince the definitive Decifion of this Matter is referr'd to the Treaty of Peace, Madam the Duchefs de Lefdiguieres hopes to find, in the Conferences, all the Protection which is due to the Evidence and Juftice of her Rights.