FRANCE UNDER MAZARIN WITH A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRAT1ONN3F RICHELIEU JAMES BRECK PERKINS WITH PORTRAITS. VOL. II. FOURTH EDITION. NEW YORK SL LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS &|jt jftnitkcrbochtr $ress 1894 COPYRIGHT BY JAMES BRF.CK PERKIN i86 K X- Press of G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Nev/ York College Library TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE 1648-1650. PAGE Prejudice against Mazarin ......... i Complaints of the Parliament ........ 2 Edict as to Loans .......... 4 The Regent Leaves Paris . . . . . . . . . 6 Beginning of Hostilities ......... 8 Elboeuf Made General-in-Chief . .10 He is Replaced by Conti . . . . . . . . .12 Madame de Longueville at the Hotel de Ville 13 Condition of Paris 15 Beaufort Returns .......... 16 Accusations of Parliament against Mazarin ..... 17 Insurgents Defeated at ( harenton . ... . . . .18 Envoy of Spain Visits Parliament . . . . . . .20 Both Parties Weary of War 22 Negotiations at Ruel .......... 23 Peace of Ruel . .25 Opposition to its Acceptance 27 Demands of the Nobles ......... 30 Terms Granted Them ......... 33 The Treaty is Ratified ......... 34 Troubles in the Provinces -35 Disturbances in Guienne . 36 Ravages by the Soldiers ......... 38 Position of Conde .......... 39 Brawls at Paris . . . . . . . . . . .41 Defeat at Cambray .......... 43 The Regent Returns to Paris ........ 44 Mazarin brings his Nieces to France . . . . . . .46 Terms Imposed by Conde on the Government ..... 49 Quarrels over the Tabouret . '. 51 Troubles about the Rentes ........ 52 iv FKANCE UNDER RICHE1JEU AND MAZARIN. PACK Pretended Attack on July ......... 54 Assault on Conde .......... 55 Retz and Beaufort Accused of this Attack 56 Overtures with Retz and Others -59 Affair of Jarze . . . . . . . . .01 Marriage of Duke of Richelieu ........ 62 Intrigues against Conde ......... 63 Arrest of the Princes .......... 04 Disgrace of Riviere .......... 66 CHAPTER XII. REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDI!; 1650-1651. Madame de Longueville Goes to Normandy ..... 67 Mazarin's Alliance with the Fronde ....... 69 Disturbances in the Provinces . . . . . . . 7' Conde's \Vife Goes to Bordeaux ........ 73 Insurrection There .......... 74 Bordeaux Besieged 7^ Epernon Removed . ......... 77 Terms of Peace Made ......... 79 Spanish Invade France ......... 82 Invasion Ended . . . . . . . . . .84 Losses of the French in Italy ........ 85 The Princes Removed to Havre . . . . . . .87 Discontent at Paris . .88 Retz Demands to be Cardinal ........ 80, Campaign in Champagne ......... 9 2 Victory of Rethel 93 Alliance Proposed against Mazarin -94 Petitions for Conde's Release ........ 96 Death of the Princess of Conde -97 Remonstrances of Parliament ........ 99 Terms of the New Alliance 100 Orleans Attacks Mazarin 102 He Quarrels with the Regent 104 Mazarin Retires from Office 105 He Goes to St. Germain 106 Unhappy Condition of the Regent 108 CHAPTER XIII. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN 1651. The Princes Released by Mazarin 109 Power of Conde and Madame de Longueville HO TABLE OF CONTENTS. V PAGE Mazarin Ordered to Leave France 112 He Goes to BrUhl 113 Demand for the States-General . . 114 Jealousy of the Parliament . . . . . . . .116 Quarrel between Clergy and Parliament . . . . . .118 Changes in the Ministry ......... I2O Chateauneuf Loses his Office . . . . . . . .121 Quarrels between the Frondeurs .122 The New Alliance Dissolved . . . . . . . .124 Mole Removed from Office . 125 Mazarin's Letters to the Queen . .127 Retz Goes into Retirement . . . . . . . .128 Intrigues against Conde . . . . . . . . .129 Conde Leaves Paris . . .130 His Demands upon the Regent . 131 Intrigues for Mazarin's Return . . . . . . . .133 Alliance between him and Retz . . 134 Proclamation against Conde . . . , . . . 135 Quarrels between Retz and Conde . . . . . . .136 Majority of Louis XIV. ......... 139 His Character ............ i /? CHAPTER XIV. CONDI'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN 1651-1652. Changes in the Ministry 144 Conde again in Rebellion ......... 145 Alliance with the Spanish ......... 147 111 Success of Conde's Forces 150 Mazarin's Desire to Return . . . . . . . .152 Conduct of Retz . . 154 Mazarin Marches to France 155 He Enters the Kingdom . . . . . . . . .156 His Library is Sold 158 Conduct of the Parliament .159 Mazarin Rejoins the Court ........ 160 Intrigues of Retz at Rome . 161 He is Made a Cardinal 168 Orleans Allies Himself with Conde* 169 Conde Leaves Guienne . . . . . . . . . 1 70 Death of Sirot 171 Character of Mademoiselle 172 She Rescues Orleans . 1 73 Conde's Victory at Bleneau . . . . . . . . 175 He Goes to Paris 176 vi FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. PACK Condition of that City . . . . . . . . .177 Intrigues for Peace .179 Disturbances at Paris . . . . . . . . .181 Capture of St. Denis 182 The Duke of Lorraine at Paris .184 Procession to St. Genevieve ........ 186 Conduct of Beaufort 187 Attacks on the Judges .188 Battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine . . . . . . .189 Conde's Troops Admitted into Paris 193 CHAPTER XV. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE 1652-1653. Massacre at the Hotel de Ville .195 Feeling against Conde . . . . . . . . .199 Orleans Made Lieutenant-General ....... 200 Duel between Beaufort and Nemours . . . . . .201 Parliament Summoned at Pontoise . 202 Mazarin Retires from France 204 Edict of Amnesty . . . . . . . . . 205 Ravages of the Soldiers near Paris ....... 206 Parisians Desire Peace 207 Delegations Sent to the King ........ 210 Conde and Lorraine Retire . . . . . . . .211 The King Enters Paris . 212 Orleans Sent to Blois .213 Edict Restricting Power of the Parliament .214 Intrigues of Retz 216 His Arrest 217 Results of the War during the Fronde ...... 220 Loss of Dunkirk 222 Loss of Casal . 224 Catalonia Subdued by the Spanish 225 Hostilities against Conde ......... 226- Edicts Imposing New Taxes . ... . . . . . 22"} Mazarin Returns to Paris . . . . . . . . . 229 Dinner Given Him at the Hotel de Ville 230 Troubles in Guienne .......... 232 Rebellion of Harcourt 233 The Ormee, at Bordeaux ......... 234 Terms Granted Daugnon ......... 238 Negotiations between England and Bordeaux ..... 239 Plan for a Republic 241 Siege of Bordeaux ....... . . 243 End of the Insurrection in Guienne 244 TABLE OF CONTENTS, vii CHAPTER XVI. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND 1653-1656. PAGE Hostilities between France and Spain 246 Arrest of Duke of Lorraine. Terms made with Harcourt . . . 248 Colbert's Management of Mazarin's Property ..... 249 Marriage of Mazarin's Niece with Prince of Conti .... 252 Consecration of Louis XIV. ........ 253 Sieges of Stenai and Arras ........ 256 Capture of Stenai 257 Relief of Arras 258 Expedition against Naples 260 Conduct of Duke of Guise ......... 260 Troubles with Retz 262 He Escapes from Prison 264 He Reaches Rome .......... 266 Charges Made against Him . . . . . . . . 267 Death of Innocent X 268 Election of Alexander VII. ........ 270 Proceedings against Retz . . . . . . . . .271 Trouble with his Vicars at Paris ....... 273 Lionne Recalled from Rome . .276 Retz Leaves Rome 277 End of his Career .......... 278 Imposition of a Stamp Duty ........ 278 Treatment of the Parliament by Louis XIV. ..... 279 Origin of the Saying " L'Etat, C'est moi " . . . . . 280 The Parliament is Tranquilized ........ 281 Campaign of 1655 .......... 282 Treason of Hocquincourt ......... 283 Alliance with Duke of Modena ........ 285 Negotiations with Cromwell ........ 286 The Republic of England Recognized ...... 289 Cromwell Delays in Making an Alliance ...... 291 Charles II. Leaves France . 294 Massacre of the Vaudois ......... 295 Conduct of Cromwell ......... 296 Treaty between France and England ....... 297 Negotiations for Peace with Spain ....... 299 Trouble with the Parliaments 300 Further Treaty between England and France 301 CHAPTER XVII. PEACE OF THE PYRENEES AND DEATH OF MAZARIN 1657- 1661. Campaign of 1657 302 Complaints of Cromwell . . . . . . . . . 303 viii FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. PAGE Capture of Mardyke 304 Battle of the Dunes 305 Success of the Allies 306 Christine of Sweden .......... 307 Murder of Monaldeschi 310 Death of Ferdinand III 311 Intrigues as to the Election of a New Emperor 312 Dealings of France with the Electors 313 Proceedings of the Congress . . . . . . . .315 Election of Leopold 1 316 The League of the Rhine Formed .31? Negotiations for Marriage of Louis XIV .318 Maria Theresa 319 Spanish Minister Visits Paris 320 The French Court at Lyons 321 Preliminary Treaty Made with Spain ....... 322 Passion of Louis XIV. for Marie Mancini 323 Mazarin Discourages the Marriage . . . . . . .325 Mazarin and Haro Meet at Isle of Pheasants 326 Terms Granted Conde ......... 328 Negotiations about England . . . . . . . .330 Gramont Sent to Spain 331 Terms of the Peace of the Pyrenees 332 Marriage of Louis XIV. 334 Career of Fouquet 335 Financial System . . . . . . . . . .336 Frauds and Extravagance of Fouquet 338 Plots Formed by Him 341 His Overthrow ........... 343 Influence of France in Europe 344 Terms Granted Lorraine 346 Illness of Mazarin .......... 347 His Death 348 His Fortune 348 Careers of the Nieces of Mazarin ....... 350 CHAPTER XVIII. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. Nature of the French Government 357 Secretaries and Superintendent of Finance ..... 358 Frauds in the Finances ......... 360 Condition of the Army 362 Condition of the Navy" 364 Internal Duties on Goods 366 Differences in Prices 366 TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX Condition of Manufactures 367 Ravages of Pirates 368 Trading Companies .......... 369 Highways 370 Relative Value of Money 371 The Taille 372 Weight of this Tax 373 The Taille in the Pays d'Etats 374 The Gabelle 376 Other Indirect Taxes 379 Cost of Collecting Taxes 380 Sales of Offices 381 Amount of Rentes . . . . 382 Population of France .......... 383 Population of Paris 384 Wages 385 Price of Wheat 387 Condition of Agriculture ......... 389 Prices of Meat and Other Articles 390 Relative Condition of the People 391 Ignorance Among the People ........ 392 Overflows of Rivers 393 Debts of the Towns .......... 394 Violence Practised by Nobles 395 Misery of the People .......... 396 Ravages at Laon and Marie During the Wars ..... 397 Sufferings in other Provinces 403 Fall in Rents 408 Decrease in Population during the Fronde 409 Comparative Condition of the French Peasants To-day and Then . 410 CHAPTER XIX. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. Numbers of the Nobility 411 Comparative Expenses of Living .412 Incomes of the Nobility 413 Their Extravagance .414 Cost of Dress 415 Dress of Ladies 416 Hunting 417 Gambling .418 Duelling , 419 Quarrels for Precedence 420 Education among the Upper Classes ....... 421 Influence and Condition of the Nobility ...... 422 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Prices of Various Offices ......... 424 Corruption among Holders of Political Office ..... 425 Influences Exerted upon Judges ...... . 427 Nobility of the Robe ...... . . . 428 Incomes of Lawyers and Doctors ..... . 429 Hours of Rising and of Meals ....... . 429 Luxuries of the Table ....... . . 430 Wine-Shops and Drinking ........ . 432 Italian Opera ........ ... 433 Comedies ......... ... 434 Theatres ............ 435 French Academy .......... 436 Libraries and Laws of the Press ..... . -437 Newspapers ......... . . 438 Building in Paris ........ . 440 Palace of Mazarin .......... 442 Library Collected by Him ......... 443 Price of Land and Rate of Interest ....... 444 Improvements in Paris . ..... ... 445 Cabs and Carriages .......... 446 Bad Condition of Streets ......... 447 Robbers in Paris ........ . . 448 Bridges in Paris .......... 449 Robbers in the Country ......... 450 Time Required for Travel ...... . . 451 Mails and Rates of Postage ........ 452 Jardin des Plantes .......... 453 Punishment of Criminals . ....... . 454 Customs as to Marriages ......... . 455 Superstitions ........... 45^ Prosecutions for Witchcraft . . . . . . . .458 Condition of the Jews ......... 459 Literature under Richelieu and Mazarin ..... . 460 Hotel Rambouillet .......... 462 Malherbe and Balzac ... ..... . . 43 Voiture and Scudery . . . . . . . . 464 Influence of the Port Royal . ..... . 465 Descartes ......... . 466 Corneille and Moliere ...... . 467 Letter and Memoir Writing ........ 48 CHAPTER XX. THE PORT ROYAL. Condition of the Gallican Church . ...... 49 Saint Vincent de Paul ....... 47 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi Monastery of the Port Royal . . . . . . . .471 Its Reformation by Mother Angelique ...... 472 Saint Francis of Sales ......... 473 Saint Cyran and Jansenius ......... 475 Publication of the Augustinus ........ 477 The Five Propositions 478 The Port Royal Defends Jansenius 479 Arnauld's " Frequent Communion" ....... 480 The Recluses of the Port Royal 481 The Little Schools of the Port Royal 483 Pascal ............ 484 Position of the Jesuits . 485 The Provincial Letters 486 Their Influence .......... 489 Miracles at the Port Royal ........ 490 Persecutions of the Port Royal , 491 Dissolution of the Monastery 492 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. CHAPTER XI. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. THE treaty of Westphalia, which brought religious peace to Europe and carried France to the Rhine, was hardly noticed in that kingdom. Few of the chroniclers of that time even mention it. By many of the pamphleteers of the Fronde, this treaty was added to the endless list of Mazarin's crimes. A Mazarinade of 1649 said that the minister wore the purple of the church only to show the bloody stabs he had inflicted on it in Germany ; no one could read the treaty, made in favor of the Swedes and Protestants and to the prejudice of the Catholic faith, and believe that it was devised by any one but a Turk or a Saracen disguised under the cloak of a cardinal. 1 Mazarin's great achievements in foreign affairs were ob- scured both by the din of faction, and by the tortuous and ignoble qualities of his own character. By a strange for- tune, among a people most easily dazzled by success in war and by territorial gains, the man under whom Alsace, Roussillon, and much of Artois were added to France, was, of all her ministers, most hated when alive, and has obtained but a scanty popularity with posterity. Not only did Mazarin gain nothing by the triumphant end of the German war, but the concession of the edict of 1 Choix des Mazarinades, vol. i., pp. 99. lou I 2 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. October 22d was equally ineffectual in insuring peace for his administration. On the I2th of November the Parlia- ment again assembled, but it was soon seen that the dis- contents had not been allayed by the vacation. 1 The judges returned from the quiet of their country seats ready for tumultuous debates and fierce denunciations of the cardinal. Many of the provisions of the edict of October had been distasteful to the government, and they were enforced with the irregularity of reluctance. Complaints were soon made of failures to comply with its regulations. Fourteen or fifteen millions had been raised since La Meilleraie had charge of the finances, but the soldiers had received no pay, the officials no wages, and the rentiers no interest. It was the intention of the queen, said Orleans and Cond in her behalf, to execute the declaration in good faith, and if there had been any violation of it she desired to be informed, that it might be remedied ; but if pretexts were sought to prevent raising the necessary supplies, and if it was endeavored, under the pretence of seeking the public good, to raise obstacles to the government, they would be the first to advise her to seek the necessary means for preserving the state and the royal authority.* There were many who were quite ready to obstruct the government, and who were not to be deterred even by the threats of the prince of Conde. The public denunciations of Mazarin became more bitter, and some libels that were published were so fierce that, tolerant as the cardinal was of public abuse, he had the printer of one of them arrested and banished." He could not be wholly indifferent to such attacks or to the countless abusive pamphlets, which, under the name of Mazarinades, furnished the chief literature of Paris. " It is hard," he wrote to Servien, "to be exposed as I am to the malice of those who circulate reports so 1 Talon, 306. Dis. Ven., cviii., 154, et passim. 1 journal du Parlement, 106-108. Talon. 311, 312. Dis. Ven., cviii . 160. Talon, 313. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 3 false, that a man of any sense or affection for the state de- tests them. I need an extra zeal to labor for a public which treats me so ill at a time when, without vanity, I could say it has received some fruit from my labors. I watch night and day for the quiet of the kingdom, and the advantage of the poorest subject, without thought of myself. I not only have no money, but the most of my silver and jewels are in pawn, and if I should have to leave the kingdom, I should not have the means with which to make the journey." ' Mazarin perhaps exaggerated his poverty, but his great fortune was not accumulated until after the Fronde. Before that he had received liberally, but he had expended lavishly, and his finances during the Fronde were in almost as much confusion as those of the government. Mazarin claimed the credit also for having induced the queen to return to Paris, and said that he hoped now for continued harmony.* The cardinal was universally thought responsible be- cause the negotiations with Spain had ceased, and the war with that nation still continued. He gained no popular favor because he had obtained an honorable peace from Germany, but he was fiercely attacked because he failed in obtaining peace with Spain. The enormous wealth of the farmers of taxes and financiers seemed more conspicuous and more odious in a time of general misery, and the hatred felt towards them, was felt also towards him who allowed their practices and their gains. Even the receipts from the taille had been farmed, a thing contrary to custom and denounced by the Court of Aids.' " It was," says a lady of the Court, " the fashion to hate 1 Lettres de Mazarin, hi., 220-224., Oct. 30, 1648. * Ibid., 220. It is necessary at some times to have Mazarin's Garnets as well as his letters, to know what his views really were. The Garnet which has been quoted does not agree with the tone of this letter, though this was written to one of his most trusted political agents. In a letter to the Prin- cess of Orange in August, 1648, he recommends the bailli of Souvre to her. and says that the bailli is one of his intimate friends. An entry in his Car- nets not long before gives his real views : " Souvre is a rogue, and every day I know it more." Garnet viii., 4. ' Journal du Parlement, 107. 4 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Mazarin," and the fashion spread from the Palais Royal to the Faubourg St. Antoine. The courtier must profess a hatred of Mazarin as well as observe the last fashion in ruffles. The huckster abused the cardinal as he sold his wares and thought of his taxes ; his confusion was drunk in the taverns by the men who there wasted their wages or the money they had stolen, and even the gamin vending the last pamphlet along the Pont Neuf cried, " No Mazarin ! " A new regulation was issued in reference to the payment of interest, and it was one entirely proper and neces- sary ; but it was used to foster discontents by the enemies of the government, some of whom acted from ignorance and some from malice. The payment of interest on loans had been made by acquits a comptant, and thus concealed from any public scrutiny. But the declaration of October had limited such acquits to three millions, and it was im- possible that the large payments of interest should longer be made in this manner. Loans were necessary for the government, and an edict was published regulating them, and authorizing the payment of interest at ten per cent. The rate was high, but the credit of the government was so poor that it could expect no better terms, and it rarely obtained as good. The measure was one, however, which, even if required, could easily be made odious, and it was seized upon by Retz for that purpose. To the coadjutor, the growing political complications furnished an opportu- nity for putting into practice the maxims of the conspiracy of Fiesque, and of posing as a follower of Catiline. A personal disappointment stimulated his love for- plot- ting and intrigue. He had been allured by the prospect of being appointed governor of Paris, and he confesses that the baton crossed by the crucifix had seemed to him a most agreeable figure. 1 But this hope had been disappointed, and he now dreamed of becoming the ruler of Paris in insurrection. 1 Retz, 202. Mazarin, in his Garnets, speaks of Retz's intrigues for this, place. Also in Lettres, 111., 267. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 5 An edict, which authorized the payment of high rates of interest on money lent to the state, could well be used to excite the passions of the inhabitants of the city. Usury was condemned by Holy Writ, and the profits of the lend- ers to the government were odious to the people. Retz sought the opinion of the doctors of the Sorbonne upon this matter, and they decided that to loan money at ten per cent., or any other rate, was usury, a mortal sin, and a thing which could not be authorized, even by the consent of the Parliament. 1 Thereupon Retz instructed his cures and canons to de- nounce from their pulpits an edict which sought openly to authorize what was condemned by the law of God, and to lift up their voices against this legalization of usury. Parishioners heard from their priests the condemnation of this defiance of religion, which all knew had been devised by the greedy and impious Mazarin. In eight days Retz boasted that he caused the cardinal to be regarded as the worst Shylock there was in Europe." The offending edict was withdrawn, but the regent and her ministers resolved to check these constant encroachments upon their authority. Some advocated using the Arsenal and Bastille as cen- tres of military operations, and coercing the Parliament into obedience.' But Mazarin favored rather retiring again from the city, and by cutting off its supplies, starv- ing it into discontent with the Parliament and into sub- mission to the king. The preparations for leaving Paris were made with great secrecy.* The queen was always an adept at deceit, and on the evening of January 5, 1649, 1 Journal de Debuisson-Aubenay Mss., December 30. 1648. * Retz, 225. It H unnecessary to remark that Retz says "Jew," not Shy- lock. To him, as to almost every Frenchman of that time, the works, and probably the name, of Shakespeare were unknown. See also Garnets, xi., 17. ' Aff. Etr. France 123, 124. 4 But the Venetian minister, writing January 5th, says that Mazarin was of the opinion it was best for the Court to leave Paris and mortify both the people and the Parliament, cviii., 174. He says that Mazarin proposed retir- ing on account of the hostility felt to him, but the queen said this would be most injurious to the interests of her son, 178. 6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. she jested with her ladies-in-waiting, and seemed free from care, and in exceptionally good spirits. She watched the young king playing, joined in some sports with her attend- ants, and said she must pass the next day in devotions at Val de Grace. A little after midnight she retired, but she shortly arose and prepared for flight. At three, Louis and his brother were taken from their beds, and,, with a few attendants, they all went down the back stair- case from the queen's apartments into the garden ; there carriages were waiting, and they were immediately driven away. At the rendezvous they were joined by Orleans, Cond6 and Mazarin, and a few to whom the secret had been entrusted. Anne preferred a vigorous policy against the upstarts of the Parliament, instead of the concessions to which her ministers had forced her to agree, and now that resort was to be had to force, she was as gay as if she had won a battle, captured Paris, and hung all those who displeased her.' They all drove to St. Germain. This was a summer palace, and in winter it was stripped of its furniture and conveniences. The secrecy of the plans had not allowed any preparation to make it habitable. There were no- beds, no linen, and no silver. The queen slept on a couch that Mazarin had sent. The most of the company were glad to find even straw to rest upon, and the demand for it was such that it furnished a profitable speculation for the few who had any to sell. Mademoiselle of Orleans tells us that she slept in a chamber richly painted and decorated, but with windows without glass, which she found unpleasant in January." There was universal consternation in the city on the morning of the 6th, when the news spread that the king, the regent, and the chief officers of the state had fled from Paris. Such a movement, it was said, would be the prelude of troubles far mor2 serious than the barricades of the past summer. There had been complaints for some time that 1 Montpensier, 50. Journal du Parlement, January 6. 1649. Dis. Ven., cviii., 182. 'Montpensier, 51. Motteville, 230-232. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE J the troops were gathering about Paris, and it had been feared that some hostile measure was contemplated. This had now become only too plain. The city was to be starved into subjection, the Parliament was to be humbled, and the odious rule of Mazarin was to be permanently established. The prospect was alarming, and it seemed the more so because this flight had been so sudden and unexpected. A population estimated at 900,000 had to be fed ; troops must be raised for defence and to keep open the roads for supplies, and the organization and control of a great city in a state of siege was suddenly thrown upon the Parlia- ment and the Hotel de Ville. 1 The retreat to St. Germain was at once followed by en- deavors to alienate Paris from the Parliament. This had been the hope of the regent and the plan of the cardinal. A proclamation was sent to tbe authorities at the Hotel de Ville, declaring that the perfidious designs of some members of the Parliament, who were in relations with the enemies of the state and had even plotted to seize the royal person, had forced the king to leave Paris, but from the bourgeois and citizens of the town he hoped con- tinued affection and good service. 1 On the /th, a mes- sage was brought to the Parliament by a lieutenant of the guards, commanding it to retire to Montargis and there hold its further sessions. The officers of the city were informed that so soon as the rebellious Parliament had obeyed her orders, the queen would return to Paris, provisions would be abundant, and commerce be reestab- lished. If the Parliament went out of one gate, the king would come in by the other. 1 In the meantime, those members of the Parliament who refused obedience were declared guilty of high treason, and orders were issued forbidding the country people to sell their cattle to the Paris butchers. 4 It was 1 Journal d' Ormesson, i., 610. Ormesson gives these figures. The actual population of the city was much less than 900,000. 1 Reg. de 1* Hotel de Ville, 62-4. Motteville, 233. Mole, iii., 313. Let- tresde Mazarin, iii., 249-251. * Reg. Hotel de Ville i., 70-82. 4 Reg. de 1' Hotel de Ville, vol. i., 89, 91. Talon, 320. 8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. hard, Mazarin wrote, thus to be obliged to employ the arms of France against Frenchmen, and to risk losing the advantages of a long war in which that kingdom had re- gained its ancient boundaries on the Rhine, and was on the eve of an advantageous peace with Spain. 1 But the spirit of resistance was strong, and the city authorities and the members of the courts were ready to unite in the common defence. Such a feeling was fostered by a few discontented nobles, who saw in this commotion an opportunity for gaining for themselves positions or governments. The lower classes of the city were always ready for any popular ferment, and among them agitation was easily excited, either by praise of the magistrates who were attacked in their efforts for the public good, or by abuse of Mazarin, who was prosecuting his plans for the public injury. The Fronde had thus reached the stage of open war. The government was resolved to crush the opposition of the Parliament, and to coerce the city of Paris, if it con- tinued in sympathy with the Parliament. The resistance to the regent, on the other hand, was based upon the en- deavor of the courts to exercise a control which the public believed would be for the general welfare. The financial disorders and the burdens of taxation had affected the bourgeois and even the artisans of Paris, and in most of the provinces there was widespread misery. The efforts of the judges were, therefore, supported by the hopes and the sympathy of a large element of the population. Burdensome taxation and general distress were found at the beginning of the Fronde as at the beginning of the Revolution, but in less degree and in a different condition of public feeling. One hundred and fifty years later, misery had increased and loyalty had diminished ; the burden was greater, the love for the king was less. Even an injudicious endeavor to change a system of gov- ernment much in need of amendment, gave a certain dignity to the early phases of the Fronde. The movement was 1 Lettres, Hi., 251, Jan'y 15, 1649. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 9 soon to fall into the hands of the Condes, the Retzes, and the Bouillons, and to become only a mercenary burlesque on the former struggles of the great nobles for local inde- pendence. Nothing but the picturesqueness of the actors then relieves the insignificance of the action. The Parliament and the city officers met the royal proclamation with energy. On the pretext that it was not sent by the proper channel, the Parliament declined to receive the edict which ordered it to retire to Montar- gis. It answered the king's justification of his retreat by desiring the names of any of its members who had plotted against the royal safety, that if found guilty they might be punished, while if innocent, those who accused them might be condemned as calumniators. 1 After a tumultuous debate it was voted that the Cardi- nal Mazarin, as the author of all these disturbances, should be asked to leave the Court within twenty-four hours, and France within eight days, and that troops should be raised in sufficient numbers to provide for the food and safety of Paris.* An army of about 12,000 men was organized. 3 The in- defatigable coadjutor furnished a regiment of cavalry at his own expense, which, from his titular archbishopric of Corinth, was dubbed the regiment of Corinthians. The warlike prelate did not escape ridicule, and when, at its first encounter, the regiment suffered defeat, the combat was called the first of Corinthians. A war tax was voted twice as large as had been imposed during the panic in 1636, when the Spaniards were at Corbie. One million livres were to be furnished by the different sections of Parliament. The counsellors created by Richelieu had been practically ostracized by the body, and their offices rendered of little value. No suits were 1 Ormesson, i., 605. 1 Ormesson, 612. Journal du Parlement, 113-118. 1 Ten sous a day was to be paid to foot-soldiers and forty sous a day to horsemen, payment to be mnde every Saturday. Journal d* Aubenay. January II, 1649. Journal du Parlement. 126. The wages were above those usually paid, but the price of provisions was high. 10 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. given them for examination, their opinions were hardly asked at public audiences, and the places for which they had paid largely could only be sold at a great sacrifice. They now offered to pay 300,000 livres for the cause, and at this cost they received full recognition and their legitimate opportunities for earning legal fees in the future. 1 A general was needed for the troops now to be raised, but of willing generals there was no lack. There was rather a race to see who could first profess his zeal for the cause of the people. The Duke of Elboeuf was one of the adventurous House of Lorraine, and the kinsman of the Duke of Guise, who had lately headed the revolution at Naples. Elboeuf was ambitious and poor, and he now saw his opportunity ; he professed his regret that he had not more blood in his body that he might spill the last drop of it, serving the Parliament for the good of the state.* He was received with applause at the Hotel de Ville, and proclaimed general-in-chief. Although the Parlia- ment complained that a general had been selected without first consulting it as the chief body in the state, it rati- fied this choice. 8 But Retz had secured still more dignified allies, and El- boeuf soon lost his precedence. Conde's younger brother, the Prince of Conti, had long fluctuated between the church and the army. During the last autumn it had been decided in the family councils that the family interests would be most advanced by his espousal of religion. Accordingly the nomination of the Abbe de la Riviere for the cardin- alate had been revoked, and the name of Conti substi- tuted. 4 Both Riviere and his master, Orleans, were 1 Talon, 321. Ormesson, 614. Journal du Parlement, 118. a Ormesson, 619. * Reg. Hotel de Ville, i., 103-111. 4 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 10, 811. The minister was instructed, however, to obtain Conti's nomination as extraordinary, and to preserve the ordinary nomination for Riviere. The Venetian ambassador said this would not do the Abbe much good, as the Pope would not be apt to appoint two cardinals from a nation that was not especially friendly. Dis. Ven., cviii., 120, 121. The Pope did not appoint either of them. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE, II greatly incensed by this blow to the Abbess ambition, but it was useless to contend with the advantages Conti derived from his superior rank. The prince was, however, only a weak boy, and he was turned from his plans of ecclesiasti- cal ambition by his only strong passion, his love for his sister, Mme. de Longueville. 1 This passionate affection seemed to exceed the love of brother for sister." It gave to Mme. de Longueville the absolute control over a prince whose rank made him important, and this control she now began to exercise. She had quarrelled with Cond6, and she was drawn to plans of ambition by her love for Rochefoucauld, who had become the confessed master of her fate. Nothing in the maxims of the great satirist is more cynical than his description of the begin- ning of this intrigue. Mme. de Longueville, in 1646, was not only the most beautiful woman in France, but she then possessed a great influence over Conde\ Many had sighed for her, but in vain, and the present suitor was Caesar Phoebus, Count of Miossens. " I had reason to believe," says Rochefoucauld, " that I could make more use of the friendship and confidence of Mme. de Longueville. Miossens agreed to this. He knew my relations at Court, and I told him my views." Miossens yielded the place he had not won, and Rochefoucauld, who was then called the Prince of Marcillac, and in whom the fire of youth con- cealed the cynicism of the satirist, soon gained the com- plete devotion of his lady-love.' " In all she has done since," writes a lady of the Court, " one could plainly see that it was not ambition alone that filled her soul, but that the interests of the Prince of Marcillac there held a great place. For him she became ambitious ; for him she ceased to love repose, and, absorbed by her affection, she forgot her own good name." * Three years had passed, and had only strengthened this affection. Mme. de Longueville's relations with her hus- band were still those of nominal amity, either because he 1 Retz, i., 218-219. Mole, iii., 327. * Rochefoucauld, 94-96. 1 Retz, 219. * Motteville, 120. 12 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. was not fully informed of her conduct, or because his own adventures forbade his being argus-eyed. Both Roche- foucauld and Longueville were discontented with the regent and with Mazarin. Mme. de Longueville was ready to accompany her lover in civil war, or to the field of battle, and Conti was happy to go where his sister led. On January loth, Conti and Longueville presented them- selves at the gate of St. Honor6, to join the popular cause. Their relations with Conde made the people dis- trust these would-be allies, and not until Retz and Brous- sel gave'assurance of their fidelity, were they allowed to enter and proceed to the Parliament. 1 Elboeuf said he would surrender only with his life the command-in-chief, which he had obtained by his greater celerity. But he was driven to yield, and on the iith of January, the Prince of Conti, a youth in years, deformed in body, and feeble in mind, was proclaimed generalissimo of the armies of the king, under the orders of the Parlia- ment, with Elbceuf, Bouillon, and De la Mothe Houdan- court as generals under him. 2 Bouillon brought to the cause the hereditary ability of the house of De la Tour, sharpened by years of resent- ment that Sedan, torn from him by Richelieu, had never been restored. Though crippled by disease, he was still the ablest of the noble auxiliaries. It was hoped, also, that his influence would secure for the cause his brother Turenne, who had under his command a victorious and devoted army. 3 Houdancourt had been disgraced and imprisoned for his ill success in Catalonia, and possessed an ill-founded popularity as a victim of Mazarin. He was a man below mediocrity, who combined incapacity with sullenness. On the same day the new auxiliaries gave valuable hostages for their fidelity. Mme de Longueville and her step-daughter drove to the Hotel de Ville and entered the 1 Journal du Parlement, 1 19. a Ormesson, 620-5, Journal du Parlement, 115-124. Dis. Ven., 182-8. Retz, i., 240-50. Talon, 321, 322. Mole, iii., 328-335. 1 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 266. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 13. grand hall. The Duke of Longueville told the aldermen and the provost that, having no dearer pledges, he had brought these to answer for his fidelity, and they prayed for shelter. The city fathers, not undisturbed at the prospect of such guests, answered that they doubted not the good-will of M. de Longueville, but the Hotel de Ville furnished scanty quarters for persons of their quality. ' There, however, they were lodged, and Mme. de Longue- ville took an active part in the consultations of the leaders of the Fronde. Her son, whom the evil-minded declared of uncertain parentage, was born at the Hotel de Ville, held at the font by the officers of the city, and baptized Charles Paris. This child of the Fronde had hardly at- tained manhood when he fell in his country's battles by the shores of the Rhine, and caused tears which litera- ture has made immortal. Even childbirth hardly inter- rupted the political zeal of one who had heretofore been as well known for her gentle languor, as for her unequalled beauty. Mme. de Bouillon also assisted at these counsels, and the two ladies, each beautiful and each bearing an infant in her arms, drove through the Greve, so crowded that the very roofs were covered with people, the men shouting their applause at beauty combined with patriot- ism and courage, while the women wept for tenderness. The Hotel de Ville presented a mixture of cuirasses and ladies' scarfs, violins and trumpets, such as were more often seen in romances than in real life.* The Duke of Longueville retired into Normandy, and through his influence the Parliament of that great prov- ince resolved upon union with the Fronde of Paris. The initiative of Paris was followed in many of the provinces. Local troubles and the creation of new judges and semes- tres were the matters complained of by the various courts. The Parliament of Provence declared its union. Rheims, Poitiers, and other places, led either by the local authori- 'Reg. d'Hotel de Ville, i., 115. * Retz, i., 249. Lettrcs de Mazarin, iii., 266-8. Lettres de Patin, 412. Journal du Parlement, 154-6. 14 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ties or the neighboring noblemen, took up arms in behalf of the Fronde. The Parliaments of Toulouse and Bor- deaux were preparing to join the cause. ' It was hoped to gain Orleans and some planned to take the regency from Anne and choose Gaston in her place." Such a meas- ure would have been revolutionary, and it was too violent a step to be attempted by the Parliament. Hostilities were confined to Paris, nor even there were they prosecuted with much vigor. The regent had been disappointed in her hopes of terrifying the city into sub- jection, and she now proceeded with her plans to cut off its supplies. It was believed that the mechanic with no bread, or the shopkeeper with a scanty dinner of stale vegetables, would soon weary of the rule of legal pedants, and would tell the judges to go about their law cases and allow plenty and quiet again to reign. The people would come to ask pardon with the halter around their necks, when for three days, they found no bread of Gonesse at the market. 8 The government resolved on the step of summoning the States-General to meet at Orleans on March I5th. It was thought a good device to prevent harm resulting from the present disturbances. 4 But neither party desired a meeting of the States and the session was not held. Occasional skirmishes took place between the forces commanded by Orleans and Conde and the troops raised by the Fronde. None, however, were of much import- ance. Though the advantage of arms was rather with 1 Ormesson, i., 645. Reg. de 1'Hotel de Ville, i., 344, 377, 385,399. Journal du Parlement, 129, 137, i63, - etc. Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 278, 284, etc., upon the events in Normandy. 1 Dis. Yen., cviii., 188. * Ormesson, 653. Retz, i., 270. Brienne says Tellier allowed six months to starve Paris into subjection. Mem. de Brienne, 105, 106. Gonesse was a town near Paris where the best bread was made. * Brienne to Fontenay, Jan. 15, 1649. Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 268. Dis. Ven., cviii., 188. Mazarin, in his letter, says the States were to be called to meet at Rouen, but this is a mistake. The royal proclamation shows they were called for Orleans. Following Mazarin's letter, M. Cheruel says they were to be held at Rouen. t. iii., 158. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 15 the Cardinalists, as the Frondeurs called their adversaries, supplies reached Paris in tolerable abundance. The forces of the regent were not sufficient to reduce the city to a condition of actual siege, and while supplies from some quarters were cut off, from other directions they arrived with but little interruption. Wheat sold at a dollar and a quarter a bushel. The bread furnished the soldiers was re- quired to be between white and black, composed of two thirds of wheat and one third of rye, and its price was not immoderate.' In the early part of February the condition of Paris was said to be admirable. Bread was good ; though its price was variable and at times high, there was no distur- bance ; the workmen were at their tasks, and every one was attending to his own affairs. There were no marks of a siege except at the churches, where every one prayed God very devoutly." An unprecedented overflow of the Seine excited the city without doing serious harm. One could go in the Rue St. Antoine only by boat, and the waters covered the island and the Faubourg St. Germain. There had not been such an overflow since 1576.' Tranquility was not, however, so complete that the Parlia- ment found no embarrassment in its role of a legislative and executive body. Ev^ery morning, not excepting fete days and Sundays all the chambers assembled, and, with the princes and generals, discussed public affairs. Two or three times a week they met to superintend the distribution of bread on market days. Some of the judges were charged with preventing disorder and restraining the populace, and 1 Reg. d'Hotel de Ville, i., 192. Journal d'Aubenay, Jan. I3th. Or- messon, 631. Lenet, 519. Lettres de Mazarin, Hi., 280-2, Jan. 28lh. ' Ormesson, i., 647. Lettres de Patin, 403-411. Journal du Parlement, passim. Mole, however, says that labor ceased among the artisans and traffic and commerce among the merchants. Memoires, iii., 320. But to a man reverencing the ordinary routine of government and inclined to friend- ship with the regency, any interruption of legal forms seemed a lamentable revolution. With equal tenacity for legal forms, the Parliament, Retz said, in- sisted on technical defects in the performance of the edict of October, in the same manner as if they were irregularities in a foreclosure. ' Ormesson, i., 631. Journal d'Aubenay. Les Inondations de France. 1 6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. in this they were assisted by the city magistrates and the bourgeois. 1 The Bastille had been captured at once. It made, indeed, but a formal resistance. A few rounds were discharged at it from three pieces of cannon. The women carried their chairs into the garden of the arsenal, knit their stockings, and watched the bombardment/ Its governor surrendered the keys, and Broussel was ap- pointed in his place. 3 Beaufort appeared in Paris and demanded a vindication from the charges that had so long hung over him. He rode through the streets of the city, beautiful in his aure- ole of golden hair, and accompanied by the coadjutor sounding his praises. Men cheered him and women kissed him. Parliament at once considered his case, and declared him triumphantly acquitted, with leave to pro- ceed for damages against his accusers. 4 The torrent of pasquinades was more abundant than ever, and even the Parliament endeavored to put some check upon them. The regent suffered as well as Maza- rin, and broad hints were thrown out as to the relations of the cardinal with Madame Anne, as the queen was nick- named by the common people. No terms of vituperation were spared in the assaults upon the cardinal. He was the person whom all the world knew to be the disturber of public repose ; the enemy and ruih of all France ; one million souls had perished in the disorders and wars he had kindled in Europe. And who was the man who had done this untold evil ? His arms were hatchets and a bundle of rods, but they were not those of the Roman senators, but the hatchets with which his grandfather chopped wood and the whips with which his father whip- ped the horses. Sprung from the dregs of the people, a subject of Spain, within six years he had mounted on the shoulders 1 Talon, 328 , Mole, iii., 320. * Retz, i., 266. Journal d'Aubenay, January I3th. 1 Journal du Parlement, 126. 4 Journal du Parlement, 126-8. Retz, i., 267. Talon, 322. Lettres de Patm, 415. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 17 of the king of France. Stealing untold millions, he had wasted them in unheard-of sensuality. He had spent three years in concocting pomades to whiten his hands ; he had invented a new drink of which the cost was be- yond conception ; his name was perpetuated, not by admiring cities named after him, but by pasties and ragouts. Since he had been minister, ballets, comedies, and buffoons so filled the palace that it seemed as if the whole state had been bitten by a tarantula. 1 The leaders and warriors of the Fronde did not escape ridicule. Pasquinades represented Captain Picard com- posing a company himself, with no soldiers ; Beaufort covered with a cock's feathers ; the bourgeois Monsieur " Somebody," with immense ears, posing at his counter as a statesman. In one of them the colonel says, we have ordered all our soldiers to carry boot-tops, lest the brooks formed by the blood of those we shall -slay should flow over the tops of their shoes. On the 2 1st of January the Parliament adopted, for submission to the king, a labored justification of its action. It consisted chiefly of a long attack upon the cardinal, which, in virulence, was hardly exceeded by the most bit- ter Mazarinade. Two notable examples, it said, the Mar- shal Ancre and the Cardinal Richelieu, had shown how the elevation of a subject had made him formidable to the king, and intolerable to the people. But the queen, like many of the good, having too little mistrust of the wicked, had allowed Mazarin to succeed to Richelieu's plans and designs. He conferred all favors, ordered all punish- ments, and bestowed all offices. He left to the regent none of the gratitude of the fortunate, but only the ill- will of the disappointed. Under him the true interests of the State had been abandoned ; peace had been delayed, the finances exhausted, and the people ruined. Who could not see that he had prevented peace in order to render himself more necessary, and to raise greater sums 1 Choix des Mazarinades, vol. i., 94, 95, 99, 156, and see the vast number of similar pamphlets at the Bibliotheque Nationale. 1 8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. for his own enrichment ? Such a man was the Cardinal Mazarin, who had so pillaged the kingdom that there were few persons in it to whom a bed was left ; fewer who had bread to eat, and none at all who could live without scrimping and discomfort. He hated the Parliament be- cause it sought to relieve the misery of the subjects and to improve the revenues of the king, and he had resolved to involve Paris and the Parliament inV>ne common ruin. They had taken up arms, not for their own safety, but for the protection of the king and of the kingdom ; a thing which should therefore be regarded, not as an act of re- bellion, but as a performance of duty. 1 Such accusations were undoubtedly believed by many of the Parliament and by most of the populace ; but while the nation had suffered some evil from Mazarin's errors, and from the disorders which his financial incapacity had allowed to increase, there was little justification for such sweeping abuse. He justly claimed that he had rendered great service to the state. Even if he was not justified in his assertion that he had taken nothing for himself or his relatives, there is no doubt that he felt his conduct had been disinterested. In his private notes he said that he would gladly account for all his transactions with the state, and they would show a disinterestedness that was without example. 2 Even though fair order was preserved in Paris, the strain of war was felt. On the 8th of February the army of the city suffered a defeat at Charenton, and that place was captured by Conde\ The engagement was unimportant, but Charenton was one of the few remaining places of supply. 3 The citizens gathered near the Port St. An- toine, discussing with amazement the news brought by the returning troops, and accusing Elbceuf and the other gen- erals of treachery. Large bodies of the bourgeois pa- 1 Talon, 322-328 ; Journal du Parlement, 138-146. * Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 277, January 22d. Garnet, x., 95. 1 Mazarin recognized the importance of this place. In Garnet, xi., 69, he writes: " Prendre sans delai Charenton et la garder y etablissant un quar- tier," etc. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. IQ trolled the streets, and the coadjutor pleased himself and displeased many of his parishioners, by riding through them with a gray habit over his gown, and a brace of pis- tols at his belt. 1 Elboeuf complained that his troops were so poorly paid that few were ready for service, but it was replied that the troops on the rolls were all paid, and if they did not receive their money it was from the frauds of the captains, who reported and received pay for fifty men when they had not over a dozen under their command. The faint- hearted said after this reverse that it was better to think of making terms now than to wait until they were re- duced to extremities, and discontent in the city began to show itself." But Charenton was not held by the king's troops, and the roads remained open for supplies.' There was trouble, however, in raising money. On the tenth of February the Parliament passed a resolution imposing taxes to be paid monthly by the bourgeois for the support of the army. Many protested against this edict. The tax on some persons of considerable means amounted to one or two thousand livres. It was said that every one would let his furniture be sold rather than pay such impositions, and the Parliament would not dare to order forced sales for the collection of taxes, lest it should run the hazard of exciting pillage. 4 To supply these financial deficits, resort was had to confiscation. Money or property belonging to Mazarin or his partisans was confiscated, and the rewards offered to spies led to a constant supply of informations. Private houses, even churches and graveyards, were searched.* The furniture of Mazarin was seized and sold, and the 1 Ormesson, i., 655, 656. *Dis. Ven., cviii., 206-208, Feb. I2th. 1 Ormesson, 657. Talon, 331. Journal du Parlement, 179-184. 4 Ormesson, 641, 657. Journal du Parlement, 182. * Joly says, p. 19, one third was given to informers, and the Venetian Minister says one fifth, t. cviii., 203. Talon, who is more correct in such matters, tells us they received but one tenth. Talon, 329. For these con- fiscations see Journal du Parlement, passim. Ormesson, 657, 658. 20 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Parliament discussed the dispersion of his great library. An inventory was made that the sale might proceed at once if so ordered. Such vandalism, though defeated for the present, was unfortunately only delayed. 1 While the Parliament was struggling with these difficul- ties, the generals and nobles associated with it were plot- ting to obtain the aid of Spain. The Spaniards were now relieved from the fear of being speedily forced to an in- glorious peace, and they were eager to assist an insurrec- tion in France. An envoy from the Archduke Leopold, the viceroy of the Low Countries, visited Paris with offers of aid. Treating with the open enemies of France was a perilous negotiation, and the generals desired that the Parliament should become a party to it. So dangerous a remedy, it was said, would certainly be fatal unless it passed through the alembic of the Parliament. 8 Only a few days before the herald of the king of France, dressed in his coat of violet velvet, and carrying his baton ornamented with fleurs-de-lys, had asked for entrance into Paris, as the bearer of messages from Louis of France to the Parliament. It was difficult for those who professed to be loyal subjects of the king to decline to receive his messages, but a technicality furnished an excuse to the leaders. Heralds, it was said, could only pass between enemies and equals. To send this one was a device of Mazarin to lead the Parliament to acknowledge itself the enemy of its king, and entitled to treat with him as one sovereign with another. Admission to the city was, therefore, refused to the herald, and he was obliged to content himself with fastening his despatches to the bar of the gate of St. Honore. 3 On the iQth of February, a week later, the Prince of Conti informed the Parliament that an envoy of the Arch- duke Leopold prayed an audience. To refuse admission to a messenger of the king of France, and to receive 'Journal du Parlement, 192. * Retz, i., 272, 280, 291. Mole, 441. journal du Parlement, 184-188. Talon, 332, 334. Retz, i., 278, 282. Ormesson, 661, 665. Dis. Ven., cviii., 214. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 21 one from the king of Spain, was a step that was openly treasonable, and many were alarmed to see themselves drifting into an alliance with the public enemies. Presi- dent Mesmes asked Conti if it was possible that a prince of the blood would ask a reception upon the fleurs-de-lys for the representative of the most cruel enemy of France. "" A Spaniard does not frighten me as much as a Mazarin- ite," cried one. " We have," said Charton, " two enemies: the one open, the other secret ; the one Spanish, the other Italian ; the one proud and haughty, the other false, cunning, and dissembling. I mistrust the cardinal more than the archduke." ' A resolution was passed for the reception of the envoy, and he presented an artful letter on behalf of the arch- duke. In truth he was not a regularly accredited ambas- sador as he claimed, but a monk sent by Leopold, whose address was prepared in Paris by Retz and his associates. In this he stated that Mazarin had for two years refused advantageous offers of peace, but since the king had left Paris, he had offered favorable terms to Spain if it would now unite its troops with those of the king, to chastise the rebels of Parliament, and bring Paris to reason. But the Catholic king was unwilling to contrib- ute to the oppression of so august a body, or to trust a man condemned and declared an enemy by its decree. He preferred to submit to its members, as arbitrators, reasonable terms of peace, and, in the meantime, he offered to Parliament 19,000 soldiers to be used solely for its protection and under its orders.* These offers from Spain were heard with dismay by many of the judges. As servants of the king, their con- sciences reproached them for listening to such proposi- tions. Many of the magistrates found they had been carried much farther than they had anticipated, in open opposition to the king. The position of avowed disobe- dience to the royal authority was alien to their legal train- 1 Ormesson, 673. ' Talon, 336. Journal du Parlcment, 196-202. Retz, 282-298. 22 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ing and to their respect for law. In the city, also, there was a feeling of langour and weariness. The taxes levied were severe and odious. No heroic or inspiring achieve- ment relieved the disarrangement of business which re- sulted from a condition of partial siege. The price of bread had now become high, and there was much com- plaint. The judges discussing technicalities all day, or examining whether some silver plate or bags of coins could be declared prizes of war, could not keep warm the fervor of revolt. The generals had shown too little skill to excite enthusiasm or confidence. It was charged that the courts clung to technicalities and could not de- part from forms in affairs whose urgency allowed no forms ; that these judicial bodies, organized for times of peace, could never be fitted for seasons of commotion. 1 Many therefore were desirous to find some way for reconciliation, though they were opposed by the younger judges, who were eager for excitement, and by the populace, who were inclined to disturbance. When it refused to receive the king's herald, the Parliament, by way of compromise, had coupled with the refusal a resolution to send an embassy to the queen explaining and justifying the act. It was. also resolved that the message from the archduke should be reported to St. Germain for the regent's considera- tion. 8 There was some debate whether deputies should be re- ceived from a body which had refused an audience to the king's messenger, and granted one to the envoy of the archduke. But the queen and Mazarin were both willing to avail themselves of any fair opening for negotiations. They found themselves involved in a tedious and almost impossible task, that of reducing a great city by starva- tion, and that city was the capital of the kingdom. Per- sistence in the endeavor might compel an alliance of the Fronde with Spain, deprive the queen of the regency, and reduce the kingdom to the condition of England. The situation of Normandy and of several of the southern 1 Retz, 272, 280. a Journal du Parlement, supra. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 23 provinces was critical, and the attitude of Spain was very threatening. 1 The coup d' Mat had proved abortive, and it was best to retire from their position on any reasonable terms. Mold's request that the edict of January 6th, " that fatal and unhappy day," might be revoked, was, therefore, listened to with complaisance, and conferences at Ruel were agreed upon to consider terms. During these nego- tiations, free passage of provisions was to be allowed into Paris. Measures that looked towards peace caused tur- moil among the eager Frondeurs. On hearing that terms with St. Germain were to be discussed, a mob gathered about the Palace of Justice, crying, " No peace ! No Mazarin ! Long live the coadjutor ! " But some cried, " Give us bread, or peace ! " " On February 28th, it was decided to send representa- tives from the Parliament and the Hotel de Ville, with full powers to make peace on such terms as they should deem advantageous for the state, and especially for the city of Paris. On the 4th of March, twenty-two deputies met at Ruel with the representatives of the king. 8 But among the latter was Mazarin, and with him, as a man condemned to exile, the deputies of the Parliament said they could, under no consideration, confer. Both sides were firm. " There will be no conference and no peace," said Anne to her attendants ; " so much the worse for them." But neither Cond6 nor Orleans 1 "The truth was," Lionne wrote Servian, "it was necessary to make terms on account of the archduke, whose vanguard had already entered the kingdom." Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 318. Garnet, xi., 56. Journal du Parlement, 214. Dis. Ven., cix., 225. 1 Retz, i., 330. Motteville, 256, 259. Ormesson, 695. Bread was now very dear. Journal d' Aubenay, Feb. 27, 1649. Mazarin's Garnets show the arguments he constantly used with the queen to prove the necessity for his own retention. The news of the execution of Charles I. reached Paris, and Mazarin shows how this had resulted from his abandonment of his principal minister, Strafford. Garnet, xii., 5, 6, 8, 10, 76. References to the English Parliament and its conduct at this time are fre- quent in his notes., x., 86, xii., 8, 9, et pas. * Reg. de 1' Hotel de Ville, i., 328. Journal du Parlement, 215, 340. 24 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND AIAZARJX. wished the negotiations to fail, and it was agreed that two from each party, of whom Mazarin should not be one, should confer together and report to their respective associates. 1 A week of conference followed, during which the pros- pect of peace seemed remote. Bouillon and Retz con- tinued their negotiations with the Spaniards, and both parties were eager for a union of forces. Turenne had formally declared himself for the insurgents. He had been treated with marked favor by Mazarin and by the regent. He had received the command of the army in Germany, and had already gained for himself a military reputation second only to that of Conde". Suddenly to abandon the king he served, and unite his fortunes with those of a doubtful rebellion, seemed contrary to his cautious and deliberate temperament. No reason was assigned for his act, but sympathy for his brother, the Duke of Bouillon, and the family ambition for the re- covery of Sedan, probably led him to take such a step. The leaders of the Fronde hoped from it the most im- portant results. Turenne commanded the remains of the Weimerian forces, the veterans of almost a dozen years of German warfare, and devoted to their leader. He would lead these soldiers to Paris, and scatter the inefficient and inexperienced troops commanded by Conde" and Orleans. The government declared Turenne guilty of high treason, and this declaration was, on the 8th, annulled by the Parliament. 11 On March nth, the Duke of La Tre"mouille offered, within ten days, to march ten thousand men to the assist- 1 Mole, iii., 348-360. Talon, 338-344. Reg. de 1'Hotel de Ville, 273, 274, 328-336. Motteville, 254. Brienne, 106. Dis. Ven., cix., 1-9. * Mazarin seems accurately to have forecast Turenne's course. He wrote that Bouillon had not received satisfaction in the matter of Sedan, and he would excite Turenne to commit some folly. Turenne, in his memoirs, gives no explanation of his course, except that he thought the departure of the king from Paris a rash and improper act during a minority. The letters of the regent, endeavoring to hold Turenne to his allegiance, show the im- portance the Court attached to his course. Mem. de Turenne, 421-424. Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 287, 291, 1082, et passim. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 2$ ance of the Fronde, on condition that he should be al- lowed to seize the monies of the government at Poitiers and other places. The Parliament at once instructed him to send forward his troops, and help himself to the monies. 1 But on the same day the negotiations of Ruel were brought to a sudden close by the signing of articles of peace. The representatives on both sides were anxious to come to terms, and at nine o'clock on the evening of the nth., they reached an agreement, and the articles were signed forthwith. There had been a large variation in the terms proposed by the opposite parties. Orleans and Conde demanded that there should be no assembly of the chambers of the Parliament for three years, with- out the express permission of the king, except for their ordinary judicial duties, and at no time should any one participate in such meetings who had not served for twenty years ; twenty-five of the body should retire from Paris, and a solemn deputation of aldermen and citizens should demand pardon of the king in behalf of the inhab- itants of the city. The effects and furniture confiscated must be restored, or reparation made for their loss. Such terms, however, were promptly refused. Some of the representatives were active Frondeurs, and even Mole, and the President Mesmes, who were most anxious for peace, were tenacious of the dignity of the body to which they belonged. They demanded in their reply that free pardon should be granted to all ; the edict against the Parliament should be annulled, and his majesty should be humbly requested to enforce the edict of 1617, which for- bade any foreigner being admitted into the ministry or management of affairs; the declarations of May, July, and October, 1648, should be inviolably observed, and Paris be discharged from the taille for three years. Or- leans and Conde were at first little inclined to yield any 1 Retz. ii., 38. Reg. d* Hot. de Ville, i., 313, 314. Journal du Parle- ment, 371. The sale of Mazarin's furniture still continued, and on the gth, Ormesson saw great quantities struck off to an Abbe of Normandy, and a tall stranger named Lopes buying numerous tables and other articles. Ormesson, 703. V 26 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. thing, and the prince manifested more than his usual hauteur ; but on the I ith a disposition was shown to com- promise, and terms were agreed upon. It was said that Mesmes and Mazarin had decided, at a secret conference, that some terms must be made without more delay. 1 By this agreement, amnesty was granted to all, and the edicts were revoked that banished the Parliament to Montargis, or imposed penalties upon its members. But during the year 1649, there should be no assembly of the chambers upon any pretext, except for regular meetings, to discuss their own procedure and internal regulations. Their decrees passed during the insurrection, except in the ordinary decision of cases, were likewise to be re- garded as of no effect. Loans might be made by the king during the years 1649-50, as he should judge neces- sary for the expenses of the state, at the rate of eight and one third per cent. 2 Conti and all those who had joined with the Parliament were to be restored to any offices which they held when they took up arms, if they declared within four days that they joined in the peace. To show his affection for his good city of Paris, the king would return there as soon as matters of state allowed, and, as a compliment to the Parliament, one of its members should be chosen whenever deputies were sent to treat for peace with Spain. No reference was made to the edicts of the past year, and the taille at Paris was left for the king's further consideration.' 1 Retz, ii., 41-43. But, as the coadjutor claims he was a principal ob- ject in their conferences, his statement must be received with the allowance required from his constant desire to.magnify his own importance in these transactions. Mazarin claimed afterwards that if Conde and Orleans had remained firm, Paris and the Parliament would have been obliged to surren^ der unconditionally. Lettres a la Reine, 11, April, 1651. 9 Mole, iii., 372. M. Cheruel says this was to be allowed only for 1649, but the treaty as published in Mole shows it was for 1650 also. * Mole, iii., 370-374. A very full account of the whole negotiation is^ contained in the Reg. de 1'Hotel de Ville, i , 328-371. See also Journal du Parlement, 342-381. See Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 316-324. He expresses great satisfaction in his letters, and says the peace restores the authority of the king and will destroy the hopes the Spanish had built on their dissensions. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 2f By this treaty the regent failed to attain what had been hoped in January would result from the abandonment of Paris, but the terms were even more unpalatable to the Fronde. The Parliament was indeed to remain at Paris, but for the rest of 1649 it was to consider no politi- cal questions. For almost a year it abdicated its position as a legislative body. What was still worse, Mazarin remained in full power ; not only was he undis- turbed in his office, but his name was signed to the treaty as one of the representatives of the king. The leading Frondeurs heard of the treaty late at night on the nth, and they at once began to consider in what manner it might be rejected. It was easy to excite tur- bulence in the mob, by the cry that the judges had agreed to a treaty that was signed by Mazarin. The majority of the Parliament, also, were at first displeased by this act of their representatives, but it was probable that their resentment would be brief. But the anger of the noble allies was strong and deep. A peace had been made, not only without their counsel, but without provision for their interests. It insured them indemnity indeed, but they had taken up arms, not for indemnity, but for gain. Yet they had declared that they joined the Parliament that their last drop of blood might be shed for the public weal, and now they would be driven to say that they would consent to no terms, but such as would secure their individual emolu- ment. In these straits Bouillon favored protracting the negotiations until the army of the archduke could reach Paris, when he would be in position to continue the war or dictate terms. Some advocated separating entirely from the Parliament, closing the gates against the deputies on their return, and with sufficient forces coercing the magistrates both of the Hotel de Ville and the Palace of Justice. Retz had a policy so intricate and devious that no one else could understand it. But their secret and lengthy consultations resulted in nothing, except an endeavor to keep the Parliament from accepting the articles of peace. 1 1 Retz, ii., 45-57. 28 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. It was urged by many of the judges that the authority of the deputies had ceased before they signed the treaty. There had been complaints that supplies were not allowed to pass freely, and on the Qth, the Parliament had resolved that the conference should be suspended till there should be free passage for all sorts of provisions. An amendment had delayed the publication of this resolution, until in- formation could be received whether further safe-conducts for wheat had been sent. 1 There was little doubt but that Mole and some of those with him were desirous of peace, and had hastened the treaty, in the fear that nego- tiations might be abandoned. They had resolved to take upon themselves the heavy responsibility of signing a peace that possibly would be rejected, and would expose them to opprobrium and the -danger of violence. On the 1 3th of March they returned to Paris and presented the treaty to the Parliament. As its members entered the palace they found a mob surrounding it and filling the great hall, crying with confused and terrifying clamor : " No Peace ! " " No Mazarin ! " " Throw the Mazarinites into the Seine ! " The body assembled, and the first president arose to make his report. But he was met with cries of " No peace ! " " No report ! ' " The treaty is null and made against our orders ! '" " Wheat was not fur- nished ! " " Longueville and the generals are not included !" He made himself heard at last, and a long discussion fol- lowed. In the meantime a great tumult raged outside the door, the people crying for the treaty to be given them, that the common hangman might burn the signature of Mazarin. The Marquis of Longas urged the court to send out a paper with a counterfeit signature, but the Parliament was not yet willing to yield to mob law. The time for adjournment was reached, and the mob was so fierce that Mol, who was in most danger from its violence, was ad- vised to go out through the record office, and so escape unnoticed. "This court does not hide itself," replied the 1 Journal du Parlement, 361. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE, 29 first president ; " they would find me at home if they thought I feared them here." Retz and Beaufort were believed to have aroused this tumult, but they walked out through the grand hall with Mol, and he passed unmolested through the crowd. Cries of " A republic ! " were heard as they passed out. 1 On the 1 5th the treaty came up for further discussion. Broussel said this was a very serious deliberation, and it had best be postponed. " It is serious," said Mole, " and therefore it had best be finished." The debate proceeded, Bouillon defending the military policy and prospects of the Fronde, and Broussel attacking the terms of the treaty. It was null, he said, because made contrary to orders ; it consented to abandon the meetings of the Parliament ; by the articles on loans it showed that this war had been carried on solely for the interest of the money-lenders, and by surrendering the arsenal and Bastille it furnished the means of destroying Paris. Retz declared that he, more than any one else, desired peace, but he wished it to be safe and honorable, and this was neither ; the sessions of the Parliament were prohibited ; the generals failed in their efforts to deliver the public from a man who had been declared the enemy of the state ; all things were in a condition for them to obtain a glorious peace ; they should not accept this agreement, but ask from the queen terms worthy her goodness and justice. The articles as to the loans repelled the President Hodic. He said the presence of the archduke was better than peace on such conditions, for the archduke was a Catholic enemy, obeying God, but loans and usury, which the articles allowed, were contrary to God's laws, as well as man's. But Broussel disconcerted his associates by de- claring his vote for the acceptance of the treaty, upon the condition that the deputies should return to St. Germain in order to obtain the revocation of certain articles, and to treat of the interest of the generals. The friends of the measure were content with this resolution, which practi- 1 Retz, ii., 62. 30 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. cally confirmed the treaty, and left the interests of the generals where they might be urged, but could not be made a condition of peace. All, therefore, cast their votes for the motion of the popular Frondeur, and it prevailed. Broussel was a mere child in the affairs in which his arrest had given him an accidental prominence. Shrewder men used him to advance their plans. He was easily persuaded by any sophistry, and his great favor with the people made any thing that he advocated popular with them. But he was a dangerous ally, for his mind was very simple, and after speaking one way, he would give the victory to the enemy by some act, the effect of which he was unable to understand. 1 In conformity with this resolution, the deputies on the i6th returned to St. Germain, to ask for modification in the terms that had been granted by the regent. The generals and princes had submitted separate statements of what each demanded for himself, and many of them conducted private negotiations in their own behalf. The generals were charmed with a programme which allowed them to play the bravo in the Parliament all day, and try to make terms with the government all night. But a statement of their demands, which Mole, perhaps with a malicious intention, at once made public, covered them with ridicule. Each seemed to vie with the other in the preposterous greed of his desires. Even the smallest offi- cers had sent requests, which would have been large if they had been demanded by Longueville or Bouillon.* Retz had sufficient dignity or sufficient shrewdness to preserve his claim for disinterestedness, and he asked for nothing. He even refused to have his name inserted in the treaty among those who were specifically declared to be included in the amnesty, saying that, as he had done nothing which he had not believed to be for the service 1 For these debates see Ormesson, 705-720 ; Talon, 346, 347 ; Retz, ii., 51-65 ; Journal du Parlement, 383-393. 1 "Chacun croyt d'aujourdhui de fayre ses affayres dans les minorites des Roys." Garnet, xii., 59. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 31 of the king and the interest of the state, he needed no amnesty. 1 No such modesty was shown by his associates. Conti asked fora position in the council and the government of some strong place. Rochefoucauld demanded the tabou- ret for his wife, and for himself eighteen thousand livres for commanding the fusiliers, to be continued whether there were fusiliers or not. Longueville wanted an im- portant government in Normandy, with the reversion to his children. Elboeuf asked for the payment of large sums that were claimed to be due to him and to his wife. Beaufort wished Brittany for his father, and money for himself. Bouillon desired a vast sum of money as com- pensation for the loss of Sedan, and for Turenne the gov- ernment of Alsace and Philipsburg. For La Mothe over 700,000 livres of compensation were required, and the Prince of Harcourt and others of less degree made re- quests that were nearly as large.* To preserve their dignity in some degree, Conti declared in their behalf that if Cardinal Mazarin, the sole cause of all the evils of France, was retired, they would abandon their just claims, and they sent a special deputy to an- nounce this resolution.* But all knew that the regent would as soon lose her own right hand as sacrifice Mazarin. The deputies were in- formed that subjects must not prescribe the choice of the ministers of state to the sovereign, and that both the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde deemed the retention of Mazarin advantageous to the kingdom. 4 The hopes of the Frondeurs had already met with a dis- appointment. By great activity and the use of large sums 1 Retz, it., 112. This omission was unjustly and unfairly used by Mazarin in 1655 as allowing him to press against Retz charges for whatever he had done in 1648-9. * These requests are contained in full in Mole, filling twenty-two printed pages in., 449-471. They are also condensed, though with her usual cor- rectness, by Mme. de Motteville, 267-269. " De' principi general! le pre- tentioni eccedenti." Dis. Ven., cix., 22. ' Talon, 348. Mole, Hi., 471, 474. * Mole, iii., 475, et seq. 32 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of money in bribing the officers and paying to the soldiers the arrears due them, the greater portion of Turenne's army had been induced to desert him. Finding himself abandoned by his troops, he retired with a handful of followers into Holland. 1 Retz says that a special mes- senger announced this alarming news to him and Bouil- lon, when they were conferring with representatives of the archduke. 2 The archduke was still desirous of advancing to Paris, and his army entered the French territory. But the Frondeurs apprehended that if they were unsupported by Turenne, the assistance of the archduke might become a dictatorship, and they did not wish to sacrifice them- selves to help Spain, but to sacrifice Spain to help them- selves. The merchants and artisans were suffering from the dearness of provisions. Being without business, the bourgeois were forced to discharge their domestics, and were in danger of losing their credit. They now desired peace without delay. 3 Conti, the generalissimo of the Fronde, feigned fre- quent illness, because, it was said, he was afraid of the disturbances at the palace. 4 Yet Mazarin did not feel entirely safe in his position. The Parliament of Paris was respected and he was de- tested over all France. Many Parliaments and cities had 1 Mem. de Turenne, iv., 22, 23, 422, 423. Lettres de Mazarin. iii., 291, 1082 et passim. a It would seem that this news must have reached them before the articles were signed on March nth. A letter of Lionne, of March 6th, says that Turenne had been abandoned by his army. Aff. Etr., t. cxxv., p. 73. Mazarin speaks of this intelligence discouraging the representatives at Ruel. Let. de Mazarin, iii., 307, March 7th. The duty of buying the German mer- cenaries away from Turenne was entrusted to Barthe'lemy Herwarth, ib., iii., 308, et passim. 1 Talon, 357. Dis. Ven., cix., 18. " La maggiore parte dei Parlamentarii e de' Popoli mutati d* opinione," etc. 4 Retz, 104. Conti was ridiculed in the political satire of the time : " L' univers doit etre averti, , Qu'il a sauve la pauvre France, Monsieur le Prince de Conti, Avec son zele et prudence." THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 33 declared their union, and were raising troops for the common cause. 1 The armies of the archduke had reached Pontavert, and Mazarin thought that the Parliament should be conciliated. 4 A personal annoyance may also have increased the car- dinal's desire for peace. The sale of his furniture still con- tinued at Paris. It was said to have caused him much pain, because he loved what belonged to him, and espe- cially what he had obtained from foreign countries with so much trouble. His palace had been magnificently fur- nished with tapestries, paintings, and statuary." The conferences were, therefore, held night and day. The article was omitted which forbade the joint sessions of the chambers of the Parliament during the year. The regent contented herself with the promise of the deputies that none should be held. The demand for a bed of justice at St. Germain was waived, and the restitution of the Bastille was not insisted upon. The demands of the princes and generals were treated with less favor. Mazarin boasted that with a little powder of alchemy he had destroyed this cloud of pretensions. " He would have been wiser," says Retz, " to have mingled a little gold." 4 The leaders, at all events, received little but abundance of fair words. The sums justly due, the declaration said, should be paid. Vendome was to receive his pension, and the king was to use his influence to induce the States of Brittany to compensate him for the destruction of his chateau, and on all occasions that might offer, his majesty would desire to favor and advance his family. For Har- court and others, all was to be done that was possible. Commissioners were to consider what sum would be just to compensate Bouillon for Sedan, and Turenne was to be 1 Reg. del' Hotel de Ville, 344, 377, 385. 399. * Aff. Etr. Fr., dccclxv., p. no. 1 In one of the Mazarinades. an inventory of some of his furniture and property was given, in order to excite the people by a description of its costliness. The pamphlet complained also of the shameful nudity of the statues. The statue of charity, it was said, was found in a dark place. Ma- marinades, vol. i., pages 143-148. * Retz, ii., 109. Motteville, 267 34 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. rewarded as his qualities and services demanded. 1 But the princes and generals received much more in promises, than in ready money or in commissions already sealed and delivered. 2 The articles were, however, agreed upon by the representatives of the courts and of the Hotel de Ville, and on April 1st, the king's declaration embodying them was presented to the Parliament. Popular ferment still threatened that body, and the streets were filled with men crying : " No peace ! No Mazarin ! " Those who fav- ored the treaty declared that these emotions were excited by the use of money, and that some of these brawlers were heard in the grand hall of the palace saying : " You have promised us a scudo to cry ' No Mazarin ! ' but we have only been paid thirty sous. We will cry no longer." ' Fearful of some bloody tumult, companies of bourgeois guarded the Palace of Justice from four o'clock in the morning. 4 At nine o'clock the session began. The articles were read, and each of the princes and generals attacked what he considered was an insufficient allowance for himself. Bouillon complained that his interests had not been even discussed. To this Mole replied that his deputies had given no information, and that if he would say precisely what he wanted for Sedan that would be what they had thus far been unable to discover. An in- discreet debate disclosed the fact that the generals had negotiated separately for the best terms they could ob- tain, and that Bouillon had demanded the enormous sum of nine million livres, and said that nothing less would satisfy his pretensions. 6 Though many grumbled, it was useless to oppose, and the articles of peace were, unani- mously registered. 6 1 Mazarin, in a memorandum made March 2ist, points out why no great favor should be granted a house whose chief had declared against the king and younger brother committed treason. Let. de Mazarin, iii., 329-331. 1 Mole, iii., 475, 493. ' Ormesson, 727. * Talon, 350, 351. * Mazarin said that in 1648 Bouillon demanded 18,000,000 as compensa- tion for Sedan. Lettres, iii., 105. 'Ormesson, 729, 733. Mazarin, Lettres, iii., 335, expresses disappoint- ment at some of the conditions of the peace as finally made, but says they THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 35 The twelve weeks' war was ended, to the satisfaction of the Parliament, which desired that the forms of law should be no longer disturbed by insurrection, and of the better class of citizens, who wished for public tranquillity. But the peace created little enthusiasm among the people, who had hoped never again to see Mazarin, or among the nobles, who were disappointed of any advantages from this uprising. 1 Permanent tranquillity was by no means assured by the treaty. The popular discontent with Ma- zarin had become no less. The dissatisfied and turbulent nobles were neither contented nor intimidated. The government was not strong enough to restrain the people or overawe the nobility, and it excited neither love nor fear. The disturbances in some of the provinces were not en- tirely allayed by the peace of Ruel. Normandy had joined in the treaty. Deputies from Rouen had visited St. Germain, and presented requests in behalf of their province. Among other things they stated that the ruin of commerce came chiefly from the impositions on manufactures and the entry of foreign goods, and the king was prayed to prohibit the introduction of dressed leather from foreign countries. 8 Satisfaction was granted to some of their requests. As to the latter, it was said that the merchants trafficking in such things must first be consulted.' But serious attacks were still made on the royal au- thority. The payment of duties was stopped. Salt was taken from the royal store-houses, in which it was placed for the collection of the gabelle. Its open sale, at half the price demanded by the government monopoly, excited a feverish enthusiasm among the poor, who suffered from could do no better, and it was by a miracle that they were so well rid of the demands of the generals and nobles. Talon, 350, 353. Journal du Parlement, 393-427. 1 Dis. Ven., cix., 31. " II Popolo di Parigi non apparendo per la sua parte intieramente contento," etc. The unsettled condition of popular feeling and the probability of new troubles are constantly referred to by the ambas- sador. " Mole, vol. iii , 426, 427. ' Mole, iii., 437, 440. 36 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAKIN. this odious tax. 1 Some concession had been made to the Parliament of the province, but its chief desire was for the abolition of the semestre, the new judges created by Riche- lieu, who diminished the duties and emoluments of the former members, and in this it failed. 2 The creation in 1647 of a semestre in Provence, added to- a long series of encroachments upon local rights, had there excited a general feeling of discontent. The sentiments of the older judges were so bitter that they hoped to prevent the sale of any of the offices of this new creation. An advocate named Gueydon, who was among the first who sought to become a member of the semestre, was assassi- nated. 3 But purchasers were found who dared death for fees. At the first sound of a revolt in Paris, the Parlia- ment of Provence sent a petition to demand aid and pro- tection. A peace was negotiated in March for them by Cardinal Bichi, and the offices of the additional judges were abolished, upon reimbursement to those who had bought the positions. The province and its governor continued, however, on very bad terms, and there was constant discontent and disturbance. 4 The condition of Guienne was still worse. The op- pressions of a local potentate had there, also, aggravated the discontent against the general government. The governor of the province was the Duke of fipernon, in whose family pride, selfishness, and tyranny seemed to- be hereditary. In 1648 the duke had excited serious troubles. Bribed by a gift of twelve thousand livres, he authorized some merchants to export wheat from Guienne, which was then suffering from a severe dearth, and send it to Spain, where the need was still greater. When all nations allow the unchecked exportation of grain, and it flows freely to that quarter of the world where it is most needed, such a measure would not seem improper. But 1 Floquet, " Parlement tie Normandie," t. v. 1 Mole, iii., 427, 439. * " La Fronde en Provence." 4 Journal du Parlement, 129, et passim. Dis. Ven., cix., passim. " Lr Fronde en Provence," Gaffarel, published in the Revue Historique, 1876. Letires cle Mazarin, iii., 332; et passim. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 37 at a time when the means of transportation were imper- fect, and when artificial barriers increased the difficulties of communication, to ship a moderate amount of grain from a district might bring upon it the possibility of famine, and the certainty of famine prices. It required more time, expense, and labor to send a quantity of wheat from Picardyto Poitou than now to ship it from Kansas and lay it down on the docks of Havre or Marseilles. The trans- portation of supplies was not only difficult, and hindered by countless duties of ferryage, ingress and egress, but in times of scanty crops it was often forbidden. Local feel- ings were not then merged into national sympathies, and Maine, in its hour of need, would spare no bread for Brit- tany, nor Burgundy for Champagne. Ignorance of the condition of affairs in neighboring districts still further hindered that uniformity of prices, which comes from cheap transportation and frequent communication. Dif- ferences often existed in the prices of food and labor at a distance of one hundred miles, greater than would now be found between Iowa and Hesse Cassel. The exportation of a small amount of grain from Gui- enne might therefore cause a famine, and a furious crowd gathered about the quays to stop its shipment. Epernon tried to check the disturbance, but he was surrounded by crowds of men dressed in rags, and of starving women, crying out that they were perishing from hunger and he was sending away bread. The king cancelled the per- mission granted by the governor, but the condition of the province continued disturbed, and it became worse after the outbreak of Paris. These troubles did not cease with the peace of Ruel, and Epernon's forces inflicted severe loss on the ill-disciplined rebels, who had no military skill except such as was furnished by famine and despair.' Such disorders, though no great armies met and no great victories were won, caused as much distress to the 1 Leitres de Mazarin, iii., 343. Lettre d'Argenson a Mazarin, May 16, 1649. These disturbances are quite fully stated in Dis. Ven., cix., and ex., and Let. de Maz., iii., passim. 38 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. country as if it had been a battlefield for the forces of Gustavus and Wallenstein. One account out of many describes the misery of Guienne, a misery no greater there than in the other provinces which were scourged by the presence of the armies. " The country around Bor- deaux," it says, " is in great desolation. One hears only the cries of the miserable inhabitants, one sees only the villages burned and the roads strewed with the dead. It is a country of desolation and sadness. Camblanes, Carignan, and Tresses were for several days the prey of the soldiers, who were the more insolent because their excesses were unpunished. At Camblanes the church to which the inhabitants had fled was given to the flames, and a young girl, pursued by the soldiers, threw herself into them, preferring death to dishonor." Normandy was also infested by disbanded soldiers, rob- bing, pillaging and murdering, while the fields that had been abandoned in despair by their laborers, remained untilled. 1 In Picardy were five German regiments, accompanied by 1,500 women and 900 servants. They did not know the language of the people on whom they were quartered, and they regarded them as idolaters worshipping the mass. Their taste for pillage was increased because they did not receive their pay. To robbery and rape for employment, they added murder and torture for amusement. They dressed up a goat in the clothes of a woman they had killed, put it to bed, and took the cur there to adminis- ter the sacraments of the church. He refused to turn his religion into a travesty, and they tortured him to death. Peasants had fire put to the soles of their feet to compel them to discover their hoards, which usually had no exist- ence, and if this was not effectual their daughters were violated before their faces. The country was filled with outcasts seeking the alms and shelter which few were able to afford them.* 1 See statements published in " La Misere," 144, 151. Complaints of such outrages are referred to by the Venetian ambassador, cix., 47, el pas. " Contemporary relation published in " Le Diocese de Laon pendant la Fronde. " THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 39 Though such ruin made more miserable the lot of those whose fate at best was poverty and need, the civil war was regarded by many of its leaders as an amusing burlesque. It was called by Tallemant a burlesque war, " Guerre pour rire" and it was deemed by the ladies of the Fronde such a war as might be waged by the Grand Duchess of Gerol- stein. At Paris, the leaders of the insurrection were now en- gaged in presenting their submission to the government, and in forming combinations for new disorders. The position of the Prince of Cond was in such plans the most important element. His relations were naturally with the Frondeurs. Mme. de Longueville was again on friendly terms with him, and she used her sisterly arts to draw him from his alliance with Mazarin. The aristo- cratic Frondeurs saw in the prince a man whose rank and character made him their most proper leader. On the other hand, Mazarin and the regent were willing to pur- chase his support at any price. Cond6 felt that by the aid he had given the government in the last few months, he had deserved from it more than all it could bestow. Nothing could long satisfy a man who inherited his father's colossal greed, and joined to it a pride and lust for power peculiar to himself. Both Cond and all others overestimated the real value of his assistance. He had the power which be- longed to his position as first prince of the blood, and that power was great. He had vast possessions, large terri- torial influence, and the reputation that comes from bril- liant victories. All those things made him important in the state, but not all-important. In the greater part of France he had no popular support, and he excited no pop- ular enthusiasm. He had won battles, indeed, and shown that reckless valor and brilliant audacity which excites more admiration than the achievements of a soldier like Turenne. But the glamour of Lens and Rocroi was over- shadowed by Condi's pride, arrogance, and greed. In a time when few generals cared for the misery and ruin of the people, Cond6 cared least of all. Not only the hard- 4O FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ships that were caused by the siege of Paris, but the cruel- ties practised and the devastation wrought on French soil as freely as if it were German, inflamed the popular mind against him. The country around Paris had been devas- tated and the fields laid bare, men murdered, and women violated.' At Charenton it was said that Condi's troops threw some of the prisoners into the Seine, which there flows towards Paris, saying : " Go, and see your Parlia- ment." Some were stripped and left naked in the cold, and Mile, of Orleans sent money with which to clothe them from her own pocket. Cond6 visited Paris after the peace, but his vulture face was seen with aversion by the people, who despised him as the supporter of Mazarin, and hated him as a man ad- dicted to cruelty, the one vice from which they acknowl- edged Mazarin was free. 5 The women in the streets shrieked insolent words at his carriage as it passed, and reproached him with the misery which they had suffered during the siege. He continued, however, to exercise a great influence at Court. The chief Frondeurs paid their respects to the regent, but they were received with chilling coolness by Anne, who disliked to conceal her animosities. Mme. de Longueville, we are told, being naturally timid and likely to blush, was so impressed at her reception that it was with difficulty that she said any thing to the queen. 3 The regent and the great frondeuse had been unfriendly before they met, and they parted with in- creased dislike. Retz also waited upon the regent, but he insisted that his position at Paris would be imperilled by his visiting the cardinal, though the queen pressed him to do so, with much ill-humor at his refusal. Some brawls at Paris, in themselves of little importance, excited an undue amount of popular interest. At the end of the present garden of the Tuileries, Renard then had a garden and restaurant where the Place de la Con- 1 Ormesson, 739, Journal du Parlement, passim. 'Talon, 359. Dis. Ven., cix., 43, April 2Oth : " Senza applause, ma con striddi de tutto il populo," etc. ' Motteville, 274. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 41 corde is now. There, on the terrace, the great nobles lounged, supped for two pistoles a plate, talked gossip and politics. 1 There Jarze, a nobleman of small importance, met with some companions, among whom was the Duke of Candale, a son of the Duke of Epernon, and also a de- formed dwarf, who was to become the great Marshal of Luxembourg. They sounded the praises of Mazarin and Cond amid the strumming of the violins and the cracking of the bot- tles. They had added some raillery upon the Duke of Beaufort, and the king of the Fronde and of the markets felt that this his dignity could not suffer. He appeared at one of those suppers with a large body of followers, and after some words of dispute, he seized the cloth and pulled it from the table, throwing dishes and bottles in one common ruin. A scuffle followed in which no one was seriously hurt, but the followers of the two parties were excited to great animosity by this brawl.* Such exploits only increased the popularity of Beaufort among the populace of Paris. When shortly afterwards he fell sick, there was a procession of people all day long at the Hotel Vendome, to get news of his condition. It was said that two thousand women visited him in one day. Many, throwing themselves on their knees, prayed that health might be restored to their father and libera- tor. When he played at the tennis court the milk-women clamored for admission. " Play boldly," one cried to him ; " you shall never lack for money. My gossip and I have brought you two hundred crowns, and if you need more we will go for it." ' Another street encounter is one of the many proofs of the lawlessness of the times. Some Frondeurs, filled with wine and patriotism from dining at Termes, started in search of those riotous adventures which were freely in- dulged in by reckless and dissipated young nobles, and 1 See Joly, 23. Ormesson, 746. Motteville, 279. Retz, ii., 137-8. 1 Motteville, 279, 280. Joly, 23. Retz, ii., 137, 140. Talon, 359. * Joly, 23, 24. Lettres de Gui Patin, vol. i., p. 43 : " in numero mtinito corsero alia sua habitatione." Dis Ven., cix., 55. 42 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIX. which helped to make a walk through the streets of Paris, by night as alarming a journey for the peaceful shopkeeper, as an excursion among the banditti of Sicily. They met with some lackeys whose uniform showed that they were of the king's household, and this would ordinarily have pro- tected them from assault. But the Frondeurs said kings were no longer in fashion, and they attacked the unlucky valets and beat them unmercifully, bidding them go and tell the queen and Mazarin. 1 For publishing a very gross and vulgar libel upon the regent, one Morlot had been condemned to death. But when he was taken to the Greve, the mob charged the officers, crying : " Down with the Mazarinites ! " Morlot was rescued, and left the officers to escape from the mob with difficulty. 8 All these insults to the royal authority irritated Anne of Austria, but she could not attack and punish them. The Court was said by one of its members to have been in a sad plight. To the usual disorders of the treasury, were added the difficulties of collecting the taxes in many of the provinces. Even the royal table was poorly fur- nished. Some of the crown jewels were in pawn, and the young pages were sent to their homes because there was no money to pay them. 3 These disturbances affected the armies, where the pay of the soldiers was more irregular than usual. The ratifi- cations of the Peace of Westphalia had been exchanged in February, with a provision that France should be released from the promised payment of three million livres for Alsace, until Spain had consented to its cession. With Spain itself no peace could be made. Mazarin would not grant more favorable terms on account of the internal disturbances, while the Spanish hoped much from the Frondeurs and desired no peace, except on conditions far more advantageous than those which were offered. " If I am reviled," the cardinal wrote in his private 1 Motteville, 283. Talon, 361. * Registres cle 1' Hotel de Ville, ii., 34. * Motteville, 284. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 43 minutes, " having served as I have done, what would be said of me if I consented to disgraceful terms of peace. They would say from my own desire for vengeance I had obliged the queen to sacrifice the interests of the king." ' Notwithstanding the troubles in the provinces and the lawlessness in Paris, Mazarin did not abandon the war against Spain. Conde had declined the command of the army, anticipating, perhaps, little glory from the cam- paign, and it was entrusted to the experienced Count of Harcourt. Ypres had been captured by the archduke, and it was decided to lay siege to the important city of Cambray as an offset to this loss. The cardinal took great interest in this endeavor. He wrote Tellier it was a matter of life and death that money should be raised to proceed with the siege, and that the Crown jewels and his own would be pledged if any one could be found to loan on them." Cambray was attacked on June 24th, but on July 3d the archduke succeeded in throwing reinforcements into the place, and Harcourt abandoned the siege. 8 The news of this defeat was received with open exultation by the enemies of the Court, who preferred national disaster to Mazarin's prosperity. 4 The cardinal was greatly disap- pointed by these reverses, and, though ordinarily smiling and impassible in times of ill-success, he showed his dis- comfiture openly. 6 Mazarin went to St. Quentin in order to visit the army 1 Garnets, xi., 96. * Lettres de Mazarin, Hi., 359-374. These letters show the curious shifts to which a government turned when it had an army and had no ready money. The Garnets .show the same interest xii., 53: " Envoyer M. le Comte d'Arcourt pour commander 1' armee et la fayre partir a plustot," 53-6, 60 ft seq., are full of the schemes for raising money. . 1 Montglat,2i3. Dis. Ven., cix., 103, 109, 114. Let. de Mazarin, Hi., 375. 4 Dis Ven., cix., passim. * In his letters to Le Tellier (Let. de Mazarin, iii. 375-6) Mazarin ex- presses his disappointment, and also criticises Harcourt's conduct. " But," he says, "we must be careful not to speak of it, lest the leaders of our troops may think we mistrust them. We must even see in what manner this matter is discussed in the Gazette." See also letters published in Mole, iv., 348, 356, July, 1649. 44 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. personally. The German mercenaries, formerly com- manded by Turenne, were there, having been brought from Flanders under the command of General Erlach. Mazarin entertained their principal officers, and they all became exceedingly drunk, in conformity, as we are told, with the German custom. 1 Harcourt resumed the campaign, notwithstanding the check at Cambray, captured the town of Conde, and devastated the neighboring territory, but dissen- sions and want of money prevented a considerable suc- cess, although the French were superior in numbers." In Catalonia, the Spanish had hoped to profit by the weakness of the French government to regain much of the territory they had lost ; but the inhabitants of the province, seeing that France could do little for them, furnished money and troops freely for the country of their adoption, and the Spanish made but small progress." In the unsettled condition of Paris, with the violent hostility to the cardinal that was manifested, the regent hesitated about returning to the city. But the absence of the king was a constant irritation. The populace missed the outward display of royalty, and the bourgeoisie missed the trade of the Court. 4 It did not seem that this condition of affairs would improve while the king re- mained away, and, on the i8th of August, he made a sol- emn entry into Paris. Nothing showed more clearly that the popular feeling had been only a caprice, and had rested on no strong convictions, than that the return of the regent was received with frenzied enthusiasm. An enor- mous multitude followed the king's carriage, and it could hardly pass through the crowd. The windows and roofs were alive with people ; flags and decorations covered the houses ; and at evening bonfires proclaimed the public joy, around which the inhabitants passed the night, drink- ing the health of their majesties. Even Mazarin, who 1 See Mazarin's letters from St. Quentin to Le Tellier, of July 23, el seq. Letlres, tome iii. Mole, iv., 351-3. * Let. de Mazarin, iii , 381, ft pas. * Montglat, 214-216. 4 Dis. Ven,, cix., 132, et passim. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 45 rode in the king's carriage, was greeted with no more un- friendly words than the frequent remark, " There is Mazarin." It was perhaps true, as Retz said, that they were received as kings always have been and always will be received, with acclamations signifying nothing; and that those who applauded to-day would be ready to con- demn on the morrow to cry, " Down with Mazarin ! " and to gossip about Madame Anne. 1 To the queen this unexpected reception was the more gratifying, because her return had been delayed by the fear of personal danger to Mazarin. Instead of finding him- self in danger of assault, the cardinal went in safety, with a scanty escort, through all parts of the city. The boat- men of the Seine gave a fete in his honor. Others talked of his beauty, and drank deeply to his health." The annoyances of the minister sprang less from his enemies than from his protector. Conde's demands con- stantly grew larger. His insolence was more open, and his contempt for the minister was less disguised. He was attended by flatterers, and followed by a body of young nobles, whose only political principle was a childish adula- tion of the Prince of Conde. They aped his grandiose manners, and as they styled the prince " The Master," they were themselves dubbed by the people, " Petits Maitres," the little masters. Anxious as Mazarin was for Conde's aid, he could not bring himself to give all the prince asked, nor probably all that he himself had prom- ised, for the minister promised too freely to perform fully. Conde's jealousy was also excited by the endeavors of Mazarin to strengthen himself by matrimonial alliances, and by the part which Mazarin's nieces began to play in the politics of the day. The experience of the last year had convinced the car- dinal that he must seek support from powerful alliances, and his nieces were now nearing the age when they could 1 Retz, vol. ii. , 149-150. Montglat, 218-219. Motteville, 289. Supple* ment to Ormesson, 761-762. Dis. Yen., cix., 150. 1 Motteville, supra, and Journal de la Bibliothtque, Aug., 1649. 46 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. be used in political combinations. For five years after he had become chief minister, Mazarin remained an isolated man. He had no relatives in France, and he brought none of his kinsmen from Italy to share his prosperity ; on the contrary, he pointed to this as one of the proofs of his disinterestedness in public affairs. For himself he wished nothing, and he desired to have around him only the servants of the king. The beautiful statues from Rome, with which his palace was filled, he declared to be the only kinsmen he wished to bring from Italy. His affection for his family was, however, strong, and he had used the diplomacy and power of France to make his brother a cardinal. From this brother he received lit- tle thanks, and less assistance, while nothing he had done excited such hostile criticism as his efforts for this begging friar. Such a storm of abuse discouraged any desire to bring his father or sisters to France, but the younger members of his family seemed possible elements of strength. Having been chief minister for nearly five years, firmly established in the queen's affections and apparently firmly established in power, he made his first experiment in trans- planting his family. Mazarin's two sisters had married Roman gentlemen of fair position. The one, Signora Martinozzi, was a widow with two daughters. The other sister, Signora Mancini, had been blest with ten children. In 1647 the cardinal sent Mme. de Noailles to Rome to bring to him the elder Martinozzi, and two daughters and one son of the Mancini. These children were from seven to thirteen years of age. Though they were re- quired to go to a foreign land to which their mothers were not bidden, there was no hesitancy in sending them to the brilliant lot that would there await the adopted children and heirs of the great cardinal. In September they arrived at Fontainebleau, and were gazed at with cu- rious eyes as children probably destined to brilliant and extraordinary fortunes. Laura Mancini, the eldest, was a handsome brunette of twelve or thirteen. Olympe was THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 47 also dark, with a long face and pointed chin. Anne Marie Martinozzi was a blonde, with soft, pleasing eyes, and feat- ures giving a promise, not to be unfulfilled, of great beauty. The queen received the children affably. They were given for their governess Mme. de Senece, a lady of great rank, who had been the governess of Louis XIV. The courtiers crowded around them, and speculated as to their future fate, and they at once began a life differing little from that of those of the blood royal. The boy was educated by the Jesuits at the college of Clermont, receiving as much def- erence as a Conde or Vendome. 1 Anne of Austria often took the nieces to her favorite resort, Val de Grace, and herself directed their devotions. The arrival of the Italian family of the cardinal fur- nished abundant material for the wits and libellers of the Fronde. They said that he had brought from Rome lit- tle beggars, and had these Mazarinettes educated in the king's palace with all the state of princes of the blood.' Their persons were spared as little as their birth. They had the eyes of an owl, the skin of a cabbage, the eye- brows of a condemned soul, and the complexion of a chim- ney.* "Your nieces," wrote another scribbler, "those dumpy monkeys, were born paupers, and, worse than the Goths of old, have bidden adieu to their beggarly parents to be married to Candales and Richelieus." 4 These young adventurers soon met with some of the vicissitudes of their lot. Only a few months after their arrival began the troubles of the Fronde, and during the retirement of the Court from Paris, the nieces were depos- 1 Mem. de Motteville : Lettre du Pere Michel, Feb. 19, 1649, published in Renee, " Nieces de Mazarin," 41. 'Choix des Mazarinades, vol. i., 50, 56, 104. Renee, page 56, gives the title of sixteen of these Mazarinades, devoted to the nieces, and mostly printed in 1649. " Regrets of the nieces of Mazarin over the evil life of their uncle," is the title of one, and gives a fair sample of the others. One bit of doggerel ran : " Adieu, uncle of the Mazarinettes. Adieu, father of the Mar- ionettes. Adieu, drinker of lemonades and inventor of pomades. Con- chino, Conchini, True rhyme to Mazarini." 1 Satyre sur le Grand Adieu des Nieces de Mazarin a la France, 1649. * Le ministre d'etat flambe, 1651. 48 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ited with the Sisters at the Val de Grace. But after the peace of Ruel, Mazarin turned his thoughts to the mar- riage of the eldest, Laura Mancini, who was now fifteen years old, and had the early maturity of children of south- ern climates. " Les Mancini, les Martinosses, Illustres matieres de noces," a poet of the Fronde justly called them, and Mazarin, like many Italian ecclesiastics, knew the advantage of leading a flying squadron of beauties. There had been thoughts of the Duke of Candale, the heir of the wealthy and powerful Duke of Epernon, for one of these children, but Candale was content with the role of a Lothario, for which his rank and great beauty fitted him, and he delayed matrimony. A still more in- viting alliance was offered in the house of Vendome. The Duke of Mercosur was a young man of high degree. His father, the Duke of Vendome, was weary of opposition, and ready to receive in peace such good things as the car- dinal would give to those allied to his family. Through Mercceur Mazarin hoped to be able to oppose the influ- ence of Vendome to that of Conde, and to gain Mercceur's brother, Beaufort, although that blonde Catiline was still entirely governed by Mme. de Montbazon. The marriage was agreed upon. 1 Vendome was to re- ceive the admiralty. Mercceur was to have for dowry six hundred thousand livres and the first vacant government. Conde had consented to this alliance, but, as the time for it approached, he became opposed to a step that would make Mazarin less dependent and Vendome more power- ful. 8 The cardinal desired to have the marriage celebrated in the latter part of September, and Conde was asked to sign the contract. He answered that he was not related to the parties, and his signature was not needed. He complained also that the cardinal had failed to obtain for him some 1 Lettres de Mazarin, May 25, 1649, t. iii., 1113, et passim. * Garnet, xii. , 69, 70. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 49 German possession, which was to have been purchased from the House of Wurtemberg, and he demanded with renewed zeal the government of Pont de 1'Arche for Longueville, an office which would have increased the power of that duke in Normandy, where it already over- shadowed the authority of the king. 1 As Mazarin was strenuous in his refusal to this, Conde" left the room in wrath. 2 The news of this rupture was instantly noised about the Court and town, and by the next morning, September i6th, the leaders of the Fronde were at Condi's palace, zealous with proffers of aid, and eager to enlist him as their commander. Conde 1 was equally full of professions of zeal and sympathy, but fresh endeavors were made at a reconciliation. La Riviere acted as chief mediator, and on the I /th a new peace was made; the regent yielded Pont de 1'Arche, and it was said that Cond6 was to have the sale of offices worth almost a million of livres, while neither Venddme nor Mercceur was to be admiral. Conde told his sister that Mazarin and himself were now but two heads under one bonnet, but she answered him that such vacillation would presently leave him with neither friends nor good name. On the night of the i/th Mazarin supped with the prince as a pledge of reconciliation. The feast was a sad one, and while all the guests were melancholy, the cardi- nal was the most melancholy of all. The prince also was serious, and found his only relaxation in slightly concealed sneers at the minister.* This hollow truce was little regarded, and the prince continued caballing with the Fronde. But the govern- ment was not strong enough to brave the united forces of 1 Dis. Ven., ex., 17, Sept. 21, 1649. 1 Motteville, 296, 297. Retz, ii., 153. Le Tellier visited the prince to see if his resentment could be cooled, but he bade him tell the cardinal that he should no longer be his friend, he would no more attend the council, and instead of being the cardinal's protector as heretofore, he could be counted as his bitterest enemy. See letters published in Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 409, 411. "Lenet, 197, 198. Dis. Ven., ex, 18, 21, letters cited above. 50 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Conde", Retz, Beaufort, and their followers, and so abso- lute a surrender was made, that even Cond could ask no more. On October 2d Mazarin signed a written agree- ment, which was deposited with Mole for safe-keeping, by which Cond6 became almost a dictator. That a perfect understanding might exist with the prince, it recited, and that her majesty might show her affection and confidence, Mazarin promised, at her request, that no one should be appointed to any government, or to any important office at the Court or in the army, nor should any resolution be taken on any important question of state, unless the advice of Cond6 was first asked. His friends and servants were to be remembered when any vacancy occurred, and Mazarin promised that neither his nephew nor any of his nieces should be married unless the prince was first consulted. In consideration of this agreement Conde promised his friendship to Mazarin, and that he would serve him in his plans against all opponents. 1 Cond had secured a great influence, but he had obtained it by the alienation of the Frondeurs, who felt that he had used them, deceived them, and abandoned them when his own interests required. 2 At his request, made to please his sister, the tabouret was granted to Mme. de Pons and to the wife of the Prince of Marcillac ; while to the latter himself was given the right to enter the court of the Louvre in his carriage.' Such concessions may not seem of importance, but they excited the whole nobility of France. The tabouret was a stool, and the right of the tabouret was the right to sit in the presence of the king and queen. This privilege was as much valued as the right of the Spanish grandees to 'Aflf. Etr. Fr., 864, p. 243, Let. de Mazarin, iii., 410-412. These agreements, reduced to writing and signed, are found in Lenet, 204, 205. Their terms were not then made public. Retz, ii., 155. These intrigues are fully and accurately described in a Ms. memoir printed in the Journal d'Ormesson, i., 792-799. The Venetian ambassador states the results, t. ex., 29, et passim, and calls it a capitulation " con grande pregiudizio della Reggenza e discredito considerabile di sua Eminenza." 1 Motteville, 304. Joly, 26. a Dis. Ven., ex., 29. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 51 remain covered in their sovereign's presence, and it was claimed that it belonged only to wives of princes or of dukes. In the profuse times of the regency, honors had been scattered as freely as pensions, and now the tabouret was granted to the wife of a son of a duke, and to a lady who had only a fictitious claim to belong to the princely house of Albret. The aristocracy of France resolved to act to- gether in this crisis. They had regarded the Fronde as a laughing war. They had been indifferent to the peace of Westphalia, and had sneered at the attempts at Parlia- mentary reform. They had regarded any popular cause or popular measure of as little importance as the pedigree of a Parisian shop-keeper, but they were stirred to their depths by the question of footstools. The nobles would suffer arbitrary imprisonment in the Bastille without complaint, but their souls revolted against another sitting while they stood. The whole nobility of the kingdom were invited to join in so just a cause, and a large assem- blage of gentlemen, not only from Paris but from the provinces, met to consider these dangerous innovations. A written agreement was presented by which, after reciting that as the nobles were the only true and firm support of the monarchy they must be united, they bound themselves to stand by one another in every measure of just resentment against the granting of privileges that belonged to princes, to those who were not of princely families, and against the granting of princely rank to those who were not of princely birth. Whoever de- serted them in this union, should be regarded as a man without faith or honor and no gentleman. This declara- tion of their rights was signed by many dukes and mar- shals, and by a long list of the historical and noble names of France. A delegation was sent to ask from the queen protection for their privileges. They met with a friendly reception. Anne was pleased that Cond, by persisting in his demands for one or two of his friends, had brought upon himself the hostility of the whole nobility of France. She received the deputation with affability, and acceded 52 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. to their requests. The tabourets were to be withdrawn from Marcillac and Pons and from others who had im- properly received them during the regency. 1 Only to those who were princes by birth should that rank be al- lowed, though as the rights of the Duke of Bouillon had obtained recognition from the Pope, they were reserved. With such promises the nobles were content, and the as- semblage dispersed, equally satisfied with the regent and dissatisfied with the Prince of Conde." A still more serious complication engaged the attention of the government. The rentes of the Hotel de Ville were the portions of the national indebtedness which were most carefully paid. They were held in large quantities by the bourgeois of Paris, and their amount was regarded as a proof alike of the prodigality of the goverment and the wealth of the city. Many families in moderate cir- cumstances depended for their entire income upon the payment of those rentes, and any failure reduced thern at once to actual distress. They were secured by the duties upon salt, which were considered the most certain revenues of the state. It had been solemnly agreed by the farmers of those taxes, that the rentes, which were already in ar- rears from the disturbances the last year, should now be regularly paid. But in those disordered times, the rigor- ous laws which punished any evasion of the salt duty were openly violated, and contraband salt-makers were protected by the sentiment of the people. It was now autumn, the season for salting provisions, when the re- ceipts from the gabelle were ordinarily the largest. But the government warehouses in many of the provinces, and even in the district of Paris, had but scanty sales. Bands of discharged soldiers, of deserters, and of ruined and des- perate peasants, sold contraband salt at prices far below government figures. It was openly sold at the fairs, at the very church doors, like an article of ordinary merchandise. 1 Aff. Etr. France, t. 867, p. 121. ' Montglat, 219, 221. Talon, 366-368, Motteville, 303-311. Dis. Ven. ex. 30, 37, et passim. Journal de Dubuisson Aubenay, Oct. 4-13. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 53 Hanging some of the contraband dealers, and sending some to the galleys, did not discourage others, and the offenders were sometimes rescued by the mob from the officers who endeavored to arrest them.' There was, perhaps, sufficient excuse for the failure of the tax farmers to pay the rentes, and the government could not help them. But the rentiers none the less excited a fierce commotion at this repeated public bank- ruptcy. The Parliament ordered the farmers to pay the sums agreed, but the government sought to protect them. Meetings were held at the Hotel de Ville, and twelve syndics were chosen to attend to righting the wrongs of the rentiers. When the matter was brought before the Parliament early in December, excited crowds gathered around the courts threatening violence and breeding confusion. Retz and the leading Frondeurs were active in directing this popular disturbance. The coadjutor had been profuse in benefactions among the poor, to preserve his great influence at Paris, and he now espoused the cause of the middle class on the question of rentes. Emeri had again been made superintendent of the finances, but their condition was such that his restor- ation was received with indifference, if not with favor.* He had afforded some relief to the rentiers, but it was only partial, and the feeling was such that at any sudden commotion barricades might again arise in the streets, and Paris be given over to open violence. The Frondeurs desired that an assembly should be called of all the chambers of the Parliament, for thus they could most easily obtain the cooperation of that body in violent proceedings. During the autumn the judges had shown little inclination to favor the measures of those who desired new turmoils, and their cooperation was much desired.' Acting with the Parliament, those who otherwise 1 Gazette, 1649, passim. Talon. 368-9. Ordinance, July 6, 1649. *Dis. Yen., ex., 68, 69. *Dis. Ven. , ex., 49, 82, et passim. "Li malcontenti non hanno quel seguito ne quell' applause che sarebbe necessario a suoi torbidi fini." Dis., Oct. 26th. 54 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. would be regarded as seditious tribunesof the people, would become the defenders of the widow and orphan. 1 To create an excitement that should compel such an assembly, a ficti- tious scheme of violence was concocted. Wise, possibly, after its failure Retz claims that he advised against the plan.* It was decided that a feigned attempt at assassination should be made upon some one who had been sufficiently active in the public interests to arouse popular excite- ment. It was not easy, however, to find a person who was willing to expose himself to a pretended assassination that might prove a real one. Among the syndics of the rentiers, one Guy Joly, a devoted follower of Retz, had become the leader through his activity and zeal. He now said that if his position as syndic would make an attack upon him of sufficient importance to excite the public, he was ready to expose himself. An adroit and daring adventurer, called D'Estainville, was chosen for the assail- ant, and he and Joly went to a friend's house for practice in assassination. Joly's cloak and doublet were adjusted, and D'Estainville practised firing at them, and with great accuracy sent a bullet through them, where it would apparently injure the wearer, but would not kill him. Joly's arm was then bruised by flints to give the appear- ance of an injury by a ball. On the morning of the nth of December, as Joly's carriage passed along the Rue des Bernardines, with its occupant carefully placed in posi- tion, D'Estainville stepped up and fired at him. Then turning, he at once made his escape, so that it was im- possible to discover who had done the deed. The ball passed safely through the carriage, but Joly, with his pierced mantle and his bruised arm, was at once taken to a physician. All had been so'skilfully arranged that even the surgeon was deceived, and the syndic's wounds were duly dressed and poulticed.' 'Retz, ii., 1 66. * Ib., 166. Joly, page 28, says the coadjutor favored the plan, and he cer- tainly acquiesced and assisted in it when it was decided upon. 'This whole scheme and its execution is described by Joly himself. Joly, 28, 29. See also Reg. Hotel de Ville, ii., 70. Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 429. Dis. Ven., ex., 93, 94. 99. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 55 In the meantime a rumor that Joly, the patriotic syn- dic, had been assassinated spread through the city. The rentiers flocked to the Tournelle demanding justice, and a disturbed session of the Parliament was held. But a real or pretended attempt on the life of a greater personage eclipsed the excitement raised over the gallant syndic. When the news of the assault on Joly was first noised about Paris, the Marquis of La Boulaye, a nobleman of small parts, and holding a subordinate position under Beaufort, was so affected by the frenzy of the times that he endeavored to raise an insurrection. He went through the streets with a handful of followers crying out " To arms ! The Court has murdered the syndic and en- deavored to murder M. de Beaufort." But the endeavor fell flat. A few shots were fired, and a few bakers marked up the price of their loaves on the possibility of trouble. 1 There was no uprising and there were no barricades. This fiasco left La Boulaye in a position which would have been ludicrous, had it not been dangerous. He sought perhaps to make his peace with the Court by attempting an assault upon the Prince of Conde. Conde was warned of such a danger, and he sent his carriage with some of his lackeys where he himself was expected. It was fired into on the evening of the eleventh on the Pont Neuf, and one of the lackeys in the carriage following was injured. The city was already in a turmoil, and the excitement rose to a fever height at the news of the attempted assassina- tion of the Prince of Conde. License and burlesque went together even to the verge of tragedy, and it was impossi- ble to decide whether this was an attempt to murder the first prince of the blood, or only another farce. The Frondeurs claimed that Mazarin had devised this plan, and by calling it a plot of theirs, intended to inflame the prince against them. Others said that the shots were discharged by some drunken butchers, and were not intended for the prince. There is nothing to show that the leading Fron- 1 Jly. 3- Retz, ii., 168. Suite du Journal du Parlement, 3-5. 56 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. deurs knew of the matter, but they were accused of it, and Cond believed that Retz and his associates had formed a plan to murder him. Whoever planned the attack, or whether it was simply an accident or a disturbance by a few ruffians, Mazarin encouraged him in this belief, in- tending to cause dissensions that would destroy the possi- bility of any further alliance between Conde and the Fronde. 1 The cardinal manifested the liveliest resentment at such an attack upon his friend and the prop of the state, while the prince himself, who was always violent and in- discreet, fell into the snare that was laid for him, and solicited his friends to avenge this plot against his life.* The attempted assassination was at once brought before the Parliament, and Retz, Beaufort, and Broussel were charged with instigating an attempt upon the life of the Prince of Conde\ Even in this time of suspicion and excitement there was nothing to show that they had any part in an act equally criminal and impolitic, and the charges were supported only by the evidence of witnesses unworthy of credence. One of them, Retz claimed, was a man condemned to be hung at Pau. Another had been broken on the wheel in effigy at Le Mans. A third had been convicted of perjury before the Tournelle, and the others were arrant blacklegs.' These brevet witnesses, as they were called, gained so little credence that Talon and Bignon, who were advocates- general, refused to report any accusations to the Parlia- ment upon their testimony. But the procureur general, 1 " Salutem ex inimicis nostris," he wrote in his diary of this assaault, Garnet de Tours, 51. 1 Joly, 30. Retz ii., 169, 172. Motteville, 318. Journal d'Ormesson, i., 782-4. Lenet, 208. Mazarin is charged by Joly and Rochefoucauld with devising a pretended assault upon Conde, and such a thing is hinted by Retz. His Garnets written at the time, for his own use, ' ' Garnet imprime de Tours, " 30-42, seem to be inconsistent with any such idea. Lenet, page 208, says Mazarin explained the whole affair to him, and that he spoke of it as a pre- tended attack. He wrote in this Garnet, p. 38, of the attack on Conde : " Cela rend 1'affayer plus noyre et plus punissable." A man does not make such an entry of his own act in a memorandum intended for his own eye. * Retz, ii., 183. Journal du Parlement, n, et seq. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. $? pressed by the Court and Conde, and strongly supported by President Mol, who in this matter showed a zeal hardly to be reconciled with judicial impartiality, brought before the body charges against Beaufort, Retz, and Brous- sel. 1 They were formally accused of having joined in a plot to murder Cond, and they were ordered to appear before the body, that they might be heard in their own behalf.* Even though they were innocent of the offence charged, the position of the accused was by no means free from danger. The attempt to excite a popular rising by the assault on Joly had proved a fiasco, and the leading Frondeurs were subjected to the odium and ridicule that comes from failure. Retz and Beaufort were unscrupulous men, and it was not incredible that they should have planned to rid themselves of their enemy. They could easily have cajoled Broussel to give the appearance of assent to their designs. In an excited state of public feeling judgments are based upon other things than testimony, and con- demnations are in the air if not in the evidence.' After innumerable plots unpunished, it would not be strange that they should be condemned for one which they had not planned. The influence of the Court and of Cond was exercised to the utmost. The Duke of Orleans attended the sessions of the Parliament, Conde's friends and servants demanded vengeance, and over a thousand followers of the prince are said to have thronged the halls when the cause came up for consideration. 4 The judges were equally solicited by the friends of the accused. The latter sent even into the provinces to bring up their re- tainers to overawe the court, or to engage in any bloody melee that might arise.* 1 Mole claimed that the prosecution would fail unless it was pushed with rapidity, while public feeling was excited. Garnet de Tours, 50. * Talon, 372, 37-3. Journal d" Ormesson, 784-9. Garnet de Tours, 39, 50. " II faut aiguilloner le procureur general, car il va lentement." " Tout le peuple crie justice et rigueur.estant persuade de la verite et de quelque chose de plus." Garnet de Tours, 61. 4 Dis. Yen., ex., 104. * Retz, ii., 182-196. 58 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. The accused made a counter-assault upon Mol6, and some of the members of the Inquests declared that for 30,000 scudi in the rentes he had betrayed his associates, and demanded that he should not be allowed to sit as judge in these trials. 1 On January 4th it was decided by a vote of ninety-eight to sixty-two that Mol was entitled to continue to act. a Many of the judges absented themselves to avoid voting upon this question, while the political future was so un- certain. The investigation continued during the early part of January, 1650, but in the meantime the cup of Condi's offences was full, and the hour had at last come when his pride and his selfishness left him exposed to a sudden and disastrous overthrow. In the alarm which fol- lowed the events of December nth, Retz and his associ- ates tried to check the indignation of the Prince of Cond. They endeavored, both with him and Mme. de Longue- ville, to prove their innocence, and they offered to make a firm alliance against the cardinal. But Cond was irritated and defiant, and Mme. de Longueville was unfriendly to Retz. 3 It was claimed that Retz had informed Longueville of the conduct of his wife, but the coadjutor declared he would have been incapable of such an act. 4 As there was no hope of reconciliation from that quarter, the Frondeurs were driven to seek an alliance with Mazarin against a per- son who had made himself odious to all. Such an alliance the cardinal had already contemplated, and his enemies of the Fronde had become less hateful to him than his pro- tector, the Prince of Conde\ It was impossible that Mazarin should be willing to remain in the condition of subservi- ence to Cond, in which he was placed by the agreement of October. " I think only to serve him in every way and every thing," Mazarin wrote in his private notes, " with a 1 Some of the witnesses had included Mole among those who were aimed at by the plots of the conspirators, and it was claimed that his personal in- terest rendered it improper for him to act as a judge. 1 Ormesson, 789-801. Journal du Parlement, January 4, 1650. * Rochefoucauld, 158. * Carnet of Tours, I, 2. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE, 59* resignation without example, that, having every thing as he desires, he may assist in restoring the royal authority." "As for my nieces," he says again, " I renounce all marri- ages. I have drawn upon myself ill-will, and I will put them in a convent." To Val de Grace they were accordingly sent, and the marriage with Mercoeur was indefinitely postponed. In the notes in which Mazarin entered, with painful persist- ence, the abuse of himself that reached his ears from so many quarters, he writes : " Mme. de Montbazon says the prince hates the cardinal to the utmost, talking of him as of a slave who could refuse him nothing, and whom he will send off when he desires."' Cond had at various times insulted Mazarin in the council, and he delighted to boast of the affronts he had inflicted on a man who was much more than his equal in ability. 3 While Mazarin yielded with marvellous facility to any press of circumstances, buying, surrendering, flying, no one was more acute and indefatigable in guiding events as he wished. He used every effort to prevent an alliance between the prince and the Frondeurs, and as he had availed himself of Cond against the Fronde, he was now willing to avail himself of the Fronde against Cond6. Overtures for such a combination were made by that veteran intriguer, Mme. de Chevreuse. After the peace of St. Germain she had returned to Paris, and through Retz she was in the closest relations with the leaders of the Fronde. But she showed an inclination to preserve good terms with the Court against which she had intrigued so long, and she soon became a valued adviser of Mazarin. Years of exile and of disappointment had cooled the flames of opposition in her heart. She could no longer lead dukes and princes captive by her beauty, and she sighed for the rest and comfort which were insured by 1 Camets. xiii., 76, 77. Garnet of Tours, 9. * Many of Comic's remarks of this sort, which savored much more of the ill-bred bully than of the statesman, are reported by Morosini to his govern- ment. Dis. Ven., ex., So, 89, etc. " M. le Prince, qui m' avayt offense de- gavete de coeur": Mazarin said in his notes. Carnets, xii., 121. 60 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. friendly relations with the government. 1 To Mme. de Longueville, who was still young, beautiful, and romantic, she left the diversified role of a princess-errant. The influence of Mme. de Chevreuse among the Fron- deurs was increased by the fact that her daughter was now the mistress of the coadjutor. The mother had approved of this intrigue, even if she had not devised it as a means of political power. She confided to Mazarin, that she held the coadjutor by means of her daughter, who had given him her love and turned him from that he had for Mme. de Guemn. a To this affection Retz was for some time constant, with occasional relapses, which the prelate describes with great particularity. Mme. de Montbazon, if his statement is accurate, endeavored to break the alliance. " Tell the true reason that you will not leave Paris," said the beauty to the archbishop. " You cannot quit your nymphs/' Then she continued, she could not see why he should amuse himself with an old woman, who was more wicked than the devil, and a young one who was more foolish than the mother was bad. 3 This beautiful and immoral woman was herself a power in politics, and the cardinal endeavored to obtain her as- sistance in the alliance he desired. She controlled Beau- fort, and many others paid tribute to her charms. When the Marquis of Hocquincourt, who was Governor of Pr- onne, decided to join the forces of that city with the Fronde, he is said to have wntten to Mme. de Montbazon that Pronne yielded to the fairest of the fair, thus send- ing treason in a madrigal.. In fact, most of the intrigues and phases of the Fronde turned upon amours, and roun- delays and pasquinades were its diplomatic correspond- dence. Retz said of Mme. de Montbazon that he had 1 Garnets, xii., 117, 118, et pas. * Lettres de Mazarin a la Reine, 16. Retz, who discusses the character of his lady-loves with the same cynical, if not brutal, frankness with which he discusses his relations with them, says that Mile, de Chevreuse had beauty, but was naturally silly to a ridiculous extent. Retz, i., 261. * Retz, ii., 173, 174. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 6 1 never known any one who in vice preserved so little re- spect for virtue, and Beaufort who was not disturbed by her gallantry, was in despair when he found her eating meat on Fridays. 1 She was now treated with consideration by the regent and Mazarin. Her daughter received a tabouret, and she herself had a substantial pension from the crown. Both she and Mme. de Chevreuse were inclined to make terms with the regent, and through them Retz and Beau- fort could be moved as lovers as well as politicians.' Conde had continued to make himself odious to the regent and her minister. He had contrived to outrage the queen not only as a sovereign, but as a woman. The Marquis of Jarz6, who had already figured in the broils of the year, and who was wholly devoted to Cond, flattered himself with the delusion that he could excite in Anne of Austria sentiments of personal attachment. The prince was believed to have encouraged this hope, which, if it had been well founded, would have deprived Mazarin of the hold he had on power through the queen's affection. The minister was vigilant to discover such plans. In his Garnets he has written down the words which Anne was to use, in order publicly to dispel this folly. " The queen might say before the princes and the others : ' I should be wrong now to complain of anything, having a gallant so well made as Jarz, only I fear to lose him some day, for he will be taken to the mad-house.' * * * Then, if he should have the effrontery to again present himself, she could say to him: "Ah, M. Jarz, do you find me to your taste? I never thought to have such good fortune.' * And if he made any answer, she could say. ' If you were not a fool you would be thrown out of the window. I command you to retire and be doctored.' ' The queen was the instrument of the minister, who put the words into her mouth. Almost with these very expressions she burst one day upon the unhappy Jarze, who retired covered with shame to have 1 Ibid., 174. * Garnets, xiii., in, 112, 115, et fas. 1 Garnets, xiii., 95, 96. 62 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. his open discomfiture discussed not only in the Court, but in the streets and alleys of Paris. It even reached, as a precious morsel of gossip, the ears of remote provincials. 1 Notwithstanding this rebuke by the queen, Conde insisted that Jarz should still be received at Court, and he forced upon Anne the society of a man who, she thought, had insulted her." The regent dared not refuse, but no Spanish woman was ever capable of cherishing a more enduring resentment for such an affront. Another act showed Conde's resolution to render his power independent of the crown. Havre was one of the few places in Normandy which was still in hands friendly to the goverment. Mme. d'Aiguillon held it as guardian for her nephew, the young Duke of Richelieu. This young man saw much of Mme. de Pons, the intimate friend of Mme. de Longueville ; but his aunt did not suspect that her nephew would be attracted by a middle-aged widow. Mme. de Pons, however, angled for the young duke, and she was encouraged in her plans by Mme. de Longueville, who promised Conde's protection. Richelieu was en- snared, and the marriage was secretly celebrated at a chateau, belonging to the Duchess of Longueville, and was announced to the Court the day after Christmas. 8 The marriage was at once followed by an endeavor of Rich- elieu to seize Havre for himself, and Havre in his hands would be subject to Cond6. This marriage and its evident design excited irritation. Mme. d'Aiguillon bewailed to the queen the rape of her nephew by an elderly widow, neither rich nor beautiful, whom the courtiers called the homely Helen. 4 The gov- ernment was alarmed by the prospect of losing the strongest place in Normandy, and by Conde's indifference to its authority. 1 Motteville, 313, 315. Sup. au Journal d' Ormesson, 780. The event is related with various details by all the memoir writers. * Dis. Ven., ex., 80., Dec. 7th. Garnet de Tours, 3-5. ' " Persuaso e incantato da Principe di Conde," says Morosini, ex., in. 4 Garnet de Tours, 71, 72. Motteville, 319, 320. See Aff. Etr. France, 870, 32. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 63 But Condi's position was now such that it was no longer necessary to submit to his despotism and insolence. The prince, Mine, de Chevreuse said, was strong among the weak, but he was weak among the strong. The nobility and the other princes were incensed against him. She prom- ised to answer for Beaufort, the coadjutor, and all their party, if the queen would give them her entire confidence. 1 Retz was accordingly sent for early in January, 1650, and he visited the regent in profound secrecy. She told him her grievances against the prince, and mingled with them her sorrow at the trials of her minister. " The poor cardinal," she constantly repeated. She offered to with- draw the nomination to the cardinalate from La Riviere, and give it to the coadjutor. 5 Mazarin complained bit- terly of La Riviere, as false to him and too faithless to be true even to himself.' The minister, however, had not been inferior to the abb in duplicity, for with the official nomi- nation, he is said to have sent a private letter to Rome, that would have obtained for Riviere the yellow hat of a heretic rather than the red hat of a cardinal. 4 Retz disclaimed any desire to bargain for honors for himself, but suitable compensation was fixed for the chief Frondeurs, and it was agreed that there should be no pub- lic clamor at the arrest of the Prince of Cond. Orleans had also to be gained, and he was discreetly weaned from his favorite. Mme. de Chevreuse pointed out to him that La Riviere, for his own interests, had neglected those of his master, and that he was devoted to the House of Cond, on account of his consuming desire to become a cardinal. Conde had offended the duke by his imperious manners, and his great power excited Orleans' fears. The Duke of Orleans, declared Mazarin, could be the happiest 1 Garnet, xii., 118-122. " Le coadjuteur, Beaufort, et tout le party seroyt entierment :i moy, si je le volys recevoir." Garnet of Tours, 60, Dec'r. 1 Morosini, in speaking of this, says that Retz : " tra li malcontent! e" certa- mente il solo che ha talenti." ex., log. 'Complaints of Riviere are found, Camet de Tours, 19-27, 77, etc. 4 Retz, ii., 197, 203. The Venetian minister wrote in June it was re- ported that Riviere offered Donna Olympia 100,000 scudi for his promotion, and Mazarin offered her 200,000 to prevent it. Dis. Ven., cix.. 83. 64 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. man in the world, enjoy the king's confidence, pay the expenses of his establishment, make peace, and be adored by the people, but he should lose no time. 1 Thus skilfully plied, the timid and fickle prince was easily cajoled and frightened into an agreement to abandon both Cond and La Riviere. On January i6th, Mazarin signed a paper with Conde, by which he agreed again that he would never depart from the prince's interests, but would re- main attached to him before all and against all." Two days later, on the i8th, all was ready for Condi's arrest and imprisonment. Rumors of his danger had been car- ried to his ears, but he was too confident of his position to give credence to them. On January I /th, one of his friends warned him of the peril, but the prince replied that was the seventeenth folly that had been talked to him on that day. It had been decided, however, that Conde', Conti, and Longueville should not attend the Louvre together,, so that the three great members of their house could not be arrested at once, but on the i8th, Mazarin said that the council would consider the reversion of the royal lieu- tenancy for Normandy, which Longueville had solicited for a friend, and also matters of importance and of inter- est to all. Shortly after dinner on that day, the three arrived at the Louvre. The regent was in bed feigning a headache, and waiting with anxiety for the result of the perilous enterprise. Cond met Mazarin, who conversed with him with his customary affability. The prince, as usual, was full of complaints. The Parliament was pro- tecting his enemies ; Orleans was cold in his support, and La Riviere was treacherous and using his influence in behalf of the Frondeurs. He talked loudly, and the sounds reached the queen, who imagined he was protest- ing against his arrest. La Riviere now arrived, and the cardinal turned and took him into his chamber, leaving Cond, Conti, and Longueville in the gallery with some others of the council. All being now ready, Anne arose from her bed, gave the order of arrest to Guitaut, captain 1 Garnet of Tours, 74, etc. 3 Mss., cite'! in Re'z. ed. Champolior, ii., 206. THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 65 of the guards, and retired with the young king to her oratory, to pray for the success of her undertaking. Guit- aut entered the gallery, and speaking to Conde, said : " I have orders to arrest you, the Prince of Conti, and M. de Longueville." " Me, M. Guitaut," cried the prince; "you arrest me? In the name of God, go to the queen and say I ask to speak with her." ' The captain obeyed, and Conde, turning to the others, said : " The queen arrests you and me also. I confess this astonishes me, who have always served the king so well, and who believed myself so assured of the friendship of the cardinal." Guitaut now returned, saying that the queen's orders were explicit for their arrest. They accordingly followed the guards, and went by a back passage into the gardens of the Louvre, where they entered the carriage prepared for them. Some of the gendarmes of the king stood at the gate of the garden as they passed. " This is not the battle of Lens," said the prince to one of them, but no one answered. The prisoners were driving rapidly over the back ways to avoid passing through the chief streets of the city, when the carriage was overthrown. Cond6 sprang out, and could have escaped, but he was stopped by Miossens, a lieutenant of the guards. " Miossens" said the prince, " if you wish, see what you can do." " I am grieved to be forced to this," answered the lieutenant, " but I must obey the king and the queen." The prisoners were then safely carried to Vincennes, and there confined. No beds were ready for them, and they spent the night play- ing cards. Conde bore his overthrow with better grace than he had his prosperity, but Longueville was becoming old, and he was cast down by the prospect of imprison- ment. " That is a good haul," said the Duke of Orleans, when he heard of the arrest. " They have taken the lion, the monkey, and the fox." * 1 Brienne, page 124, says Conde sent the chancellor to inquire of the queen. Mme. de Motteville says he sent Guitaut, and her account is fuller, and probably written nearer the time of the occurrence. So, al- though Brienne was a witness, it is possible that his recollection was in fault in that respect. * Joly. 33- 66 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Retz fulfilled his pledge that no disturbance should fol- low the arrest. Indeed, Conde" was so unpopular that his downfall was greeted with universal joy. Bonfires blazed before the houses of the bourgeois, and they fired their rusty arquebuses into the air. The reports reached the prisoners at Vincennes, and when Cond6 was told they were firing in honor of his arrest, he was filled with amaze- ment. 1 " I have something of consequence to tell you," Mazarin had said to La Riviere, as he led him into his closet. When the abb heard of the arrest of the prince, he treated it at first as a fable, but when he found that such a step had been agreed to by the Duke of Orleans, without con- sulting him, he knew that his power was gone. " I am a lost man," said the unhappy favorite. He visited the duke and tried to show him that he was wrong in distrusting his fidelity. But Mme. de Chevreuse had persuaded the duke that the vision of a cardinal's hat had turned the abbess head, and Orleans was deaf to his entreaties. The fallen favorite was ordered to retire to one of his livings, and his expectations of becoming a cardinal vanished forever. For six years he had controlled the wishes, beliefs, and actions of the Duke of Orleans. He had, at least, large wealth to console him, in his retirement, for the ruin of his hopes and the loss of his greatness. He was said to have fifty thousand livres of rentes and two millions of ready money. 9 1 For an account of the arrest of the princes, see Motteville, 325-331. Aff. Etr. Fr., 870. p. 7. Garnet, xiv., 116-118. Nemours, 629-632. Journal d' Ormesson, 803-5. Despatch of Mazarin, Jan'y 22, 1650. Mont- glat, 225-227. Brienne, 123-125. Montpensier, 6l, 62. Talon, 379-389. The accounts of Mme. de Motteville and of Brienne, who were present at the arrest, are the fullest and most accurate. * Motteville, 334. Talon, 380. Garnets, xiii., pages 2-4. He died in 1675, and left 100 crowns to whoever would write the best epitaph upon him. La Monnaye wrote this : " Ci git un tres grand personnage, Qui fut d'un illustre lignage, Qui posseda mille vertus, Qui ne trompa jamais, qui fut toujours sage. Je n'en dirai pasdavantage ; C'est trop mentirpour cent ecus." CHAPTER XII. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. THE arrest of the princes was followed by an attempt to seize the most important of their followers, but they es- caped and raised the standard of rebellion wherever they possessed any local influence. Mme. de Longueville was now recognized as one of the chief political leaders, and commendation of her political skill had become sweeter to her than the praise of her " beaux yeux," to which she had listened so long. She fled at once into Normandy in order to avoid arrest, and endeavored to lead that province into insurrection. But Normandy was weary of disorder and could not be charmed into turmoil even by so beautiful an intriguer. Richelieu was negotiating with the Court about Havre, and Rouen was cold to the cause. Mme. de Longueville fled to Dieppe, and endeavored to inflame the citizens against the cardinal. But they told her they loved their quiet, and suffered no disturbance from Mazarin's rule. They would as willingly serve him as any one else. The chateau which she occupied was hedged in by troops, and she was in danger of capture. Disappointed in all her hopes, but with her courage unabated, the wandering princess prepared to fly still farther. She wished to embark in a fisherman's smack, hoping to meet some vessel for Holland, but, as the boatman was assisting her aboard, the wind being furious and the sea very high, he lost his hold, and she fell into the ocean. She was rescued with difficulty, and was warmed and re- vived at the little hamlet of Pourville. When the princess 67 68 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. had become a saint instead of a politician, she commem- orated this terrible night and her rescue by sending on each anniversary of it 200 fagots to the cur of Pourville, to be used in warming the poor. 1 It was now impossible to go by water, on account of the fierceness of the storm, and she obtained some horses, rode all night, and at last found shelter at a gentleman's residence. In his house she lay concealed some days, and finally disguising herself as a man, she engaged passage on an English ship, and reached Holland in safety." There she was joined by Turenne, who, influenced by his brother, and fascinated by her, now entered into treasonable al- liances with Spain. But, as it was said, the crime of high treason was fashionable at that time. 3 Marcillac, who had now become by his father's death the Duke of Rochefoucauld, also attempted a movement on behalf of the imprisoned princes, and rallied about him a large body of gentlemen of Poitou. He sent frequent accounts of his progress to Mme. de Longueville, and a desire to shine in her eyes seems to have been his chief motive. 4 Mme. de Longueville and Mme. de Chevreuse could over- throw ten states, Mazarin said, and he complained to the Spanish minister of this development of female activity in politics. " You," said the cardinal to the Spaniard, " are happy. You have, like every one else, two sorts of women, plenty of coquettes and a few good women. The one wishes to please her gallants, and the other her husband, and they have no desires but for luxury and vanity. They do not know how to write except to lovers or confessors, and their heads would be turned if you talked politics to them. But our women, whether prudes or gallants, young or old, wise or foolish, wish to have a hand in everything. 1 Hist, du Parlement deNormandie, v. , 449, * Motteville, 335-337. Nemours, 619, 632, 633. Lettres de Colbert, i., 5. 1 Motteville, 192. For these transactions in Normandy, see despatches of Mazarin to Le Tellier, published in appendices to Mem. de Relz, ii., iii. Dis. Ven., ex., 133, et pas., and Let. de Mazarin, iii., 456-491. 4 Lenet, 223. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE, 69 A woman will not go to rest until she has talked over the affairs of state with her husband or her lover. They wish to know every thing, and, what is worse, they wish to manage and embroil every thing. We have three, Mme. de Chevreuse, Mme. de Longueville and the Princess Palatine, who cause us every day more confusion than ever there was in Babylon." "The most important in- trigues in this kingdom," Richelieu had written, ' are usually begun and conducted by women." While these attempts at insurrection were madt, the Frondeurs, the old Fronde as they were called, to dis- tinguished them from the new Fronde of Condi's follow- ers, proceeded to reap the fruits of their alliance with Mazarin. They did not receive all that they wished, but they received something. The seals were taken from Chancellor Seguier and given again to Chateauneuf. It was seventeen years since Richelieu had taken them from him, because he had yielded himself to the counsels of Mme. de Chevreuse. After so many years of disappoint- ment and disgrace, he was at last restored by the influence of the woman whose attractions had caused his overthrow.* He was now over 70, but years had not cooled his ambi- tion, and his friends were exultant, hoping that since he was again in the service of the government, it would not be long before he would replace the cardinal. But the queen informed her confidants that they were deceived who thought he would ever be more than he then was. 4 Mazarin greeted his possible successor affably, and treated all the party with attention, saying he found it very agree- able to have become himself a Frondeur.* He proclaimed 1 Lenet, 254. * Mem. de Richelieu, xxiii., 229. The cardinal wrote this in 1637, when he was in danger from the hostility of Mme. de Hautefort, to Mile, de la Fay- ette. The Venetian ambassador wrote his government in 1652 : " In questo pacse prevale 1'autorita e 1'entratura delle dame anco nelle cose piu serie e piu importante." Dis. Ven., cxv., 92. * Dis. Ven., cxi., 11. 4 Motteville, 338. * Jly. 35- " r> e quitter tout et de se fayre frondeur," Mazarin said of his conduct. Garnet de Tours. 82. /O FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. his desire to advance Retz's friends, who were now his own, but advised moderation in promising them places of importance. 1 On account of Beaufort's garrulity, the plot for the ar- rest had been concealed from him till immediately before its execution. He and Mme. de Montbazon complained that they had been trifled with in this matter, but Retz, to show that he had been mindful of their interests in the bargain with the Court, pulled from his pocket the rever- sion of the admiralty which had been granted to Beaufort. The duke embraced the faithful coadjutor, and Mme. de Montbazon kissed him five or six times, very tenderly. 1 A pension of 3,000 livres was given to a son of Broussel.* The accusations against Beaufort, Retz, and Broussel were at once dismissed by the Parliament. The followers of the prince endeavored to obtain assistance from that body, but the Frondeurs were firm in their alliance with Mazarin, and defeated these efforts. Le Coigneux, a member of the Inquests, demanded for the princes an ex- amination or a trial, and protested against holding them without legal charges in indefinite confinement. Such a right had been demanded by the Parliament, in 1648, and had been granted by the edict of October in that year. But French politics at this time turned on persons and not on principles. The right, which is the most valuable check on arbitrary power, was viewed with indifference when it was invoked for an opponent, even by those who had most loudly clamored for it. Had the men excited no personal interest, Prynne's ears might have been cropped in France, and Hampden. been arrested for not paying il- legal taxes, and no one would have murmured. In France, Wilkes could have been outlawed, fined, and sent to prison, and the feeling that the oppression of one man is the oppression of all men would not there have made an infamous profligate the most popular man in the kingdom, All Paris could be roused to tumult by a mob, crying, 1 Let. de Mazarin, iii., 467-8, Feb. yth. * Retz, ii., 235, 236. 1 Garnets, xiv., 21. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. "J\ " No Mazarin ! " but no continued resolution and enthusi- asm enforced a popular right or defeated an illegal tax. Le Coigneux was hissed down by the Parliament, and his proposition was rejected with universal contempt. 1 Apart from the disturbances threatened in Normandy and Poitou, Bouillon had embarked in the cause of the princes. Champagne was ready for revolt, while in Guienne the long smouldering discontent with Epernon made it easy for the partisans of Cond6 to excite serious trouble. Mazarin resolved to quiet these revolts in person, and on February ist he left Paris with the regent and the young king. Normandy was easily pacified. There was indeed no serious disturbance there. The royal party was received at Rouen with great enthusiasm. By the latter part of Feb- ruary, Mme. de Longueville had sailed for Holland, and the province was entirely peaceful.* There was little difficulty in overcoming the insurrection in Burgundy, though Cond6 had been its governor. Mazarin and the king proceeded there, and the siege and capture of Bellegarde ensured the tranquillity of the prov- ince." But the troubles in Guienne were more serious. The Parliament was irritated by the insulting conduct of Eper- non, and the people were distressed by the taxes. 4 It was there that the friends of the prince went for assistance. Condi's cause was vigorously espoused by his mother and wife. His wife had been forced upon him by the greed of his father and the ambition of Richelieu. He long cherished thoughts of repudiating her, and such plans 1 Motteville, 340. *Let. de Mazarin, iii., 456-491. Garnet 14, pas. in early portion. Lettres de Colbert, i., 1-8. Among the appointments by the government, Pierre Corneille, the poet, was appointed syndic of the States of Normandy. Maz- arin received from the queen 300,000 livres, to recompense him for his services there and for his loss from the pillage of his effects at Paris. Dis. Ven., cxi., i. The same despatch of March i, says : "In pochi giorni riddotta tutta la Normandia ad una vera obbedienza'. " A pamphleteer complains that they appointed Pierre Corneille, who knew well enough how to make verses for the theatre, but was said to be ill fitted to manage matters of state. Suite du Journal du Parlement, 57. * Let. de Mazarin, iii., 494-536. * Dis. Ven., cxi., 45. /2 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. had yielded to an ill-disguised neglect and contempt. But in the hour of her husband's adversity the niece of Rich- elieu showed herself no unworthy consort for a Cond6. The dowager princess was ordered to retire to Mont- rond or Bourges, but instead of obeying, she complained to the Parliament of the treatment with which she was threatened, little befitting her age and quality, and in- flicted upon her for the crime of being the mother of two princes. She asked for an asylum in Paris, where she might in retirement pray for her unfortunate family. While the judges were not wholly disinclined to listen to her complaint, they recommended to her obedience. 1 At Chantilly, however, active measures were planned on behalf of the imprisoned princes. There were carried on together intrigues of diplomacy and gallantry, the mingling of politics and frivolity which marked the period of the Fronde. At Chantilly, writes one of the most ac- tive of Conde's followers, after prayers in the chapel, every one retired to the apartment of the princess dowager. There were games, singing, and conversations about the intrigues of the Court and affairs of gallantry. Some read the. letters from the Duchess of Longueville and the last lampoons on Mazarin, or they discussed and revised others which had not yet been published. Pam- phlets, sonnets, elegies, rhymes, and puzzles exercised the witty. By day they wandered through the avenues of the park or along the lake singing, writing verses, or reading romances, and even the jealousies of the young ladies over their lovers only gave zest to the pleasures of exist- ence. 4 But the release of the princes could not be obtained solely by laying plots in such agreeable surroundings. At midnight on May Qth, Condi's wife left Montrond, where she had retired by the queen's orders, and with her son, the Duke of Enghien, a child of seven, and a small body of followers, she started to rouse the southern provinces 1 Talon, 387-389. Motteville, 360. Dis. Yen., cxi., 64-5. Suite du Journal, 68-74. * Lenet, 230-1. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE 73 in her husband's behalf. She travelled amid dangers and hardships, over rough and perilous roads, and joined the Duke of Bouillon at Turenne. There she was received with an enthusiasm worthy her courage and rank. The firing of cannon greeted her as she entered the town fol- lowed by a body of cavalry and nobles. One hundred covers were set in the great hall where she dined. The noise of the feast grew furious as they drank the toast to the Prince of Cond. Some drank standing, some on their knees, but all with head bared and sword in hand pledged the prince's restoration, until many, incoherent, but still faithful, were laid among the bottles under the table. 1 The princess rapidly gathered a considerable force, and many of the influential nobles in Southern France joined her cause. By the last of May she appeared before Bor- deaux. That city and the province of Guienne were ready to aid any party which was hostile to the gov- ernment. Epernon's cruelties and arbitrary rule made him hated by all, and this hatred was reflected upon the government which supported him. His removal had been repeatedly asked, but Mazarin was unwilling to deprive of so great an office the father of a possible husband for one of his nieces. It was justly charged that the cardinal sacrificed the interests of this great province to the desire of obtaining the Duke of Candale as a nephew." It is certain that Epernon was allowed to remain in a place where he increased the dangers to which the gov- ernment was exposed. A bourgeoise named Nanon of Lartigue, of little beauty or wit, but having the skill to charm the proud duke by feeling or feigning a profound admiration for him, and by treating him as a great prince, had become the mistress of his actions. He was said to have bestowed on her a fortune of two million livres, and 1 Ibid,, 264-272. 1 Lenet, 300. The well-informed Venetian ambassador speaks of Maz- arin's desire for this alliance and the negotiations pending for it, and says that by that Epernon secured Mazarin's support. Dis. Ven., cxi., 262. " La grande disposizione di sua Eminenza a questo partito," etc. 74 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. the scandal of her influence with the duke and of the wealth and power heaped upon one who had sprung from an inferior position, added to the hatred felt for Epernon by the people of Guienne. 1 It was resolved to admit the princess into the city of Bordeaux. The people broke open the gates, swearing they would kill any one who opposed her entrance, and she was received by a great multitude, who pressed eagerly to kiss the hand of the young Enghien, showered flowers upon the mother, and rent the air with cries of " Long live the King, and the Princess of Conde ! " mingled with execrations against Mazarin and Epernon. On June first, the princess took her son to the Parliament, followed by a multitude of eager sympathizers. She demanded from the judges protection from the violence of Mazarin, and assistance for the prince and his unhappy house, so unjustly perse- cuted. The young duke knelt on the ground, and said to the court : " Act as a father to me, Messieurs, for the Cardinal Mazarin has taken my own father from me." It was voted amid sobs and acclamations that the princess and her son should remain under the protection of the city, while the king was petitioned to lend a favorable ear to her remonstrances. A proclamation was issued in the the name of Claire Clemence de Maille Brez, wife of the Prince of Cond, Duke of Enghien, Chateauroux, Mont- morenci, Albret, and Fronsac, governor of Burgundy, Bresse, and Berri, asking aid for a prince who had so often exposed his life in the service of the king and the welfare of the people, and who was now kept by Mazarin in chains and rigorous captivity.' The princess and her supporters at once turned to Spain for assistance. A Spanish envoy was received at Bordeaux, and help was demanded from him for a prin- cess overwhelmed with misfortune, and for her infant son. But the Spanish wished to furnish aid in proportion to 1 Lenet, 267. 1 Lenet, 276, 284. ' ' Histoire veritable de tout ce qui s'est fait en Guyenne pendant la guerre de Bordeaux," 1-7. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. J$ the strength of the party which could be organized in Conde's behalf. This was not satisfactory, for the most of those from whom help was expected in Bordeaux or out of it, were only ready to act in the hope of a recom- pense proportionate to their services, and funds sufficient to excite their activity must come from Spain. A treaty was, however, signed, and representatives were sent to Madrid, but except some very moderate sums of money, the princess received little help from that government. But the populace continued eager in her- behalf, prais- ing her courage and attractive manners, and heaping im- precations upon the cardinal, whom they declared the enemy alike of the state, and of God and man. 1 The Parliament, not without opposition, and somewhat con- strained by violence, declared a formal union with the princess, and its representatives were sent to obtain the cooperation of the Parliament of Paris. A resolution was there offered, asking the queen to liberate the princes, and to grant peace and relief from their miseries to the people of Guienne ; the Frondeurs were still firm in their hostility to Cond, and it was lost by a vote of 113 to 65. But crowds gathered at some of the sessions, crying out against the government, and accusing even Beaufort of being a Mazarinite, and the cardinal complained that when he was openly attacked in the Parliament no voice was raised in his defence. 2 Negotiations continued between the two cities, and the Parliament of Paris, though making no formal union, yet interposed its friendly offices in behalf of the Parliament of Bordeaux. One of the remonstrances presented by the latter was thought by all to have been prepared in Paris, on account of the elegance of the style and arrangement, which it was not believed could have proceeded out of Gascony.' Paris was then the literary centre, and the style, even of the best educated, and of members of the 1 Lenet, 311, 313, 321. * Talon, 390-391. Dis. Ven., cxi., 183. Let. de Mazarin, t. iii., for July ' Talon, 394. 76 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. highest courts, who lived remote from the capital, was ordinarily provincial and unpolished. After Normandy and Burgundy had been quieted, the Court returned to Paris, but Mazarin resolved to march south, and endeavor to allay the disturbances there. Such an expedition was viewed with little favor by the leaders of the Fronde. 1 Notwithstanding their nominal alliance with the cardinal, they were willing that his power should be embarrassed by internal disturbances. Mazarin, however, decided that it was necessary, and in July he pro- ceeded southward with a considerable army towards Bor- deaux. The young king accompanied the expedition, but his presence did not command obedience. It was voted that neither the cardinal nor the troops of the king should be received into Bordeaux, and the city was thereupon re- duced to a condition of partial siege. Negotiations were begun and it seemed probable that terms could be agreed upon, but an ill-advised act of severity strengthened the feeling of resistance. The Castle of Vayres was defended against the royal army by Richon of Bordeaux. When the castle surrendered, it was resolved to deal with its commander, not as a prisoner of war, but as a rebel. Not- withstanding threats of retaliation, he was condemned to be hung, as one taken in open insurrection, and the sen- tence was forthwith executed. This solitary example of severity, visited on an officer of secondary rank, apparently because he had made a gallant resistance, excited in Bor- deaux rage rather than fear. The inhabitants deplored the cruel death of their fellow-citizen, and voted to meet this act by reprisal. The lot fell on a Captain Canol, who had been made prisoner by the insurgents. He was found talking with some ladies, and was instantly taken to execu- tion. The man was a Huguenot, and some said that time should at least be allowed for a priest to visit him, and convert him from his errors before it was too late. But the mob cried out that he was a Mazarinite, and so he would be damned at any rate, and the unhappy man was 1 Dis. Ven., cxi., 92, 93. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 77 hanged forthwith, and his body left suspended from the walls of the town. A solemn mass was said for the repose of Richon's soul, and it was attended by the members of the Parliament, and of the city bodies, who declared they thus showed their respect for one who had been sacrificed for his country. 1 The populace continued fierce in its zeal for the Prince of Cond. A general review was had and twenty-five thousand men were said to be under arms, all declaring they would die rather than consent to peace unless the princes were liberated. The streets resounded with innu- merable cries of " Long live the king and the princes, no Mazarin ! " The young Duke of Enghien, hearing the sound of the drums and musketry, cried to his attend- ant : " Give me my sword, that I may go and kill Mazarin." * The Parliament of Paris continued its endeavors to ob- tain favorable terms of peace for a sister court. Already, Condi's imprisonment had lessened the popular hostility to him, and the Frondeurs were wearying of their alliance with Mazarin. Though Orleans opposed any measures for the release of the princes, he promised the people of Guienne that they should be relieved from Epcrnon. 1 Favorable consideration was asked for the complaints of the magistrates of Bordeaux, and both the Parliament and the duke sent their representatives to endeavor to make peace. Such interference with its dealings with a rebel- lious province was little relished by the government. Dele- gates from Bordeaux proceeded directly to Paris without paying any attention to the regular officers of the crown. The cardinal was obliged to order the Duke of Epcrnon to leave the province, though he protested this was to sacrifice the authority of the crown. He still struggled to have the suspension of the duke's authority only tempo- rary. He had long protected Epernon, sacrificing in this 1 Lenet, 331, 332, 7. Montglat, 234. Motteville, 353. Lettres de Maza- rin, iii., 664. Memoires de Coligny-Saligny, 32-34. 1 IlUtoire Veritable, etc., 46. 3 Aff. Etr. France, t. 871, p. 77. Talon 391. 78 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. instance the welfare of the state to the elevation of his nieces. 1 As is the case with many men, Mazarin's most unjustifiable acts were committed when he was seeking the advancement of his family. The various delegations could not reach any terms that would be accepted both by the Bordalese and by the regent. Summer was passing away. The incursions of the Spanish threatened Paris and Northern France, and it was necessary for Mazarin to begin active operations against Bordeaux, or retreat with the disgrace of leav- ing the city unsubdued. 2 On the 5th of September the royal forces, under the Marshal of La Meilleraie, began the siege of the town. It was continued for ten days with no great loss on either side, and with no marked advantage. The princess en- couraged the defenders, although she declared that she would oppose no peace that was deemed for their interest 1 The charge that Mazarin protected Epernon in the hope of marrying his niece to the duke's son was universally made. The Venetian ambas- sador refers to it in despatches of March 22, June 28, August 2, et pas,, 1650. He says in August, t. cxi., 170. " Non havendo havuto altra causa la pro- tezione di Epernon che il matrimonio d'una nepote." The cardinal him- self declared that such rumors were absurd, and that he cared nothing for such a marriage, (despatch to Le Tellier, July 29, 1650; Let. iii., 641), but other letters show how much this and other alliances occupied his mind. See his letters to Epernon in 1648 and 1650, Lettres t. i\\., passim, in which he promises Epernon his support, refers constantly to their common interests, and shows his desire for Ep.ernon's good-will. The great office of Admiral had been promised to Vendome, as a part of the contract by which his son Mer- coeur was to marry one of the cardinal's nieces. Mazarin's letters show how entirely this important office was bestowed to secure the alliance. He writes Le Tellier : "I cannot disguise the fact that the Queen is greatly enraged at the proposition to give the admiralty at once to M. de Vendome without any thing being said of the marriage, Her Majesty has said that she would be greatly pained to give occasion to the world to mock her and me if this office and the survival of it should be carried off without any talk as to the marriage." Despatch of May I, 1650. Here, as always, Mazarin claimed that these advancements of his own family, though indifferent to him, were insisted on by the regent. He used his influence with her to have such demands made nominally in her name. Mazarin's defence of Epernon, and his resolution to protect him, appears in a great number of letters. Lettres, t. iii., 625, 679, 782, 806, etc. Lettres de Colbert, i., 26. Carnet de Tours, 63-5, etc. * Lenet, 371. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 79 by the citizens. Bouillon and Rochefoucauld were in the city and endeavored to keep its inhabitants zealous in their opposition to the government. But on the I5th, deputies from the Parliament of Paris arrived bringing terms of a proposed peace, which were gladly accepted by its defenders, who were wearied with their exertions, and by the burg- esses, whose zeal was abated by the long-continued hostili- ties. The adherents of the prince feared that such a peace would leave him a captive, but they were in no condition to oppose the popular desire. There was no money to pay the troops, and but a scanty supply of provisions. Special causes also cooled the zeal of the people of Bordeaux. The grapes were now ripening on the hills, and the season of the vin- tage was drawing near. After the vintage, they told Lenet, they would embark again in the cause, but now the grapes must be gathered. To lose the chief crop of the year would mean a season of want and business depression. The owner of a rich grapery longed to be at liberty to gather his fruit unhindered by sieges or predatory troops ; the shop-keeper feared lest the country people, losing the product of their vines, should have no money with which to buy his wares ; the judges were wearied of their posi- tion as leaders of an insurrection against the royal au- thority. Retz claimed that their character was such that the oldest and wisest of them could gamble away his property in a night without hurting his reputation. 1 But however low their moral standard may have been, the name of rebels was distasteful to them. Though Mazarin complained of the interference of the Parliament in this mat- ter as a dangerous precedent, he was ready to grant easy terms. Little impression had been produced on the city by the attack of La Meilleraie, and alike the presence of hostile armies, and the intrigues of the Frondeurs and of Conde's friends, demanded his presence at Paris. When both parties were thus inclined, the deputies of the Parlia- ment found little trouble in proposing acceptable terms of peace. Lenet and the followers of the Princess of Conde 1 Retz, ii., 231. 80 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. lacked both money and men, and felt they could hope for nothing better than reasonable terms for themselves, leav- ing the liberation of the prince to fortune and intrigue. On October first, articles of peace were signed between the regent and the insurgents. Lenet boasts that their reso- lution, even in desperate circumstances, enabled them to make peace with the king almost as one crown with an- other. By the treaty, a full amnesty was granted to the inhabitants of Bordeaux, and to all who had taken any part in these disturbances ; the Princess of Cond, Bouillon, Rochefoucauld, and all her other followers were allowed to retire to their residences in the full enjoyment of all dignities or offices which they held, on condition only that they laid down their arms, and continued in the future in fidelity and obedience. Epernon it was under- stood was not to be recalled to the province. Its inhabi- tants desired some one appointed in his place as governor, but it was said the king had not the power to deprive him of his office, though he agreed that the duke should not exercise its duties. 1 On the 3d of October, the princess sailed from Bordeaux, accompanied by many of her officers, and escorted by a crowd of twenty thousand persons of all ages, who wept at her departure and poured benedictions upon her and her son. On the next day she visited the regent, and ex- pressed her regrets if she had done any thing that had dis- pleased, and also prayed for the liberation of her husband. "Now that you acknowledge your fault, you are in the right way," replied the queen. " I will see when I can give you the satisfaction you ask." a On the 5th, the 1 For the disturbances at Bordeaux see Lenet. 233-411. Let. de Maz. for- July, August, and September, iii., 581-852. Hisloire Veritable, etc. Le Courier Bordelois, 1650. Suite du Journal du Parlement, 93-172. Dis. Ven., cxi, cxii. , passim during these months. Morosini says the peace was received "con sommo contento della Corte e delli habitant! " cxii., 26. Mazarin says it was received with joy at Bordeaux, but the abandonment of Epernon was very distasteful to the cardinal, iii., 823, 833, etc. ' Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 841-4, 863. " Je ne fais nul cas de tout cela,'" he says of the refusal of the judges to visit him. Dis. Ven., cxii., 38.. Montpensier, 1 71. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 8 1 regent and her son made their solemn entry into the city. One of the perfect days of Southern France favored the solemnity, and the roaring of cannon, the waving of flags and tapestries, and the acclamations of a mul- titude ready to applaud any ceremonial, greeted the entry of the young king with the same enthusiasm with which they had bidden farewell to the princess. The Parliament, however, refused to call upon Mazarin, and the minister was obliged to submit to this affront. Bouillon and Rochefoucauld visited him, and were affa- bly received. He took them and Lenet to drive. As they started in the carriage, the cardinal said : " Who would have believed, ten days ago, that we four would be to-day riding in one carriage ? " " Every thing comes to pass in France," replied the author of the maxims. 1 These internal dissensions had weakened the French armies, and French subjects endeavored to stir into life the ordinary Spanish torpidity. After Mme. de Longue- ville escaped into Holland she joined Turenne at the little city of Stenai, on the Meuse. Turenne claimed that he was under obligations to bear arms against the govern- ment until Conde should be set at liberty. It is more probable that the charms and smiles of Mme. de Longue- ville lured him into rebellion. Though he was not a favored lover, the admiration she had excited when she visited his camp on her way to Miinster still exerted an influence over this cold and loyal soldier, and it carried him into an alliance with the Spanish, his life-long adversaries, in be- half of Cond, his life-long rival. At Stenai Mme. de Longueville played a part fully to her taste. La Moussaie was also there, and she stimulated his zeal as well as Turenne's by her flattery, and a rivalry for her favor excited both to increased activity." There, 1 Lenet, 412, 413 : "Tout arrive en France." M. Bazin seems to think this the origin of the mot which has become a proverb, and which has been so constantly verified by the extraordinary variations and changes of French politics for two centuries. Rochefoucauld had seen enough of such in his own career to have suggested the remark, which bears traces both of his sen- tentiousness and his cynicism. " Letters of Mme. de Longueville, published in Journal des Savants, 1853. 82 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. as among the followers of the Prince of Conde, war and coquetry went hand in hand. Early in May Mme. de Longueville issued a manifesto justifying her conduct in taking up arms. A despised clergy, a persecuted nobility, and a ruined people, together with the crowning outrage, the arrest of her brothers and her husband, had driven her to this course. By it she hoped to deliver the princes from an unjust imprisonment, to restore peace to France, and to free it from the unbearable yoke of the tyranny of a foreigner. 1 Her zeal was so great that she was included with Turenne, Bouillon, and Rochefoucauld in the royal proclamation registered by the Parliament, in which they were declared disturbers of the public repose, guilty of high treason, deprived of all their dignities and offices, and their estates confiscated to the government.* But as no one believed such punishment would be in- flicted, to be thus singled out for condemnation gratified Mme. de Longueville's vanity without exciting her fear. She and Turenne made a treaty with the Archduke Leo- pold, by which it was agreed that no conditions should be made with France until the princes were released from prison, and a just, equitable, and reasonable peace had been made with Spain.* The early campaign of the new allies was unsuccessful. They laid siege to Guise and were repulsed, to the great satisfaction of Mazarin. 4 But in August, when the march to Guienne of the forces of the king had left the northern fron- tiers ill guarded, these were invaded by the Spanish. After capturing some towns, they met the French, under Hoc- quincourt, at Fismes. In command of the invading forces were the Marshal of Turenne and the future Marshal of Luxembourg, the two greatest French captains of the age. They were to acquire permanent fame in the service of France, but they gained little military reputa- tion when leading foreigners against their native land. 1 This manifesto is found in " Choix de Mazarinades," ii., 168-176. * Talon, 389. Mold, iv., 81-83. Turenne, 425, 426. 4 Montglat, 230. Turenne, 426. Instructions & Tellier, " Journal d'un Bourgeois," p. 8. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 83 Hocquincourt, however, was repulsed and fell back with some loss, and late in August the enemy penetrated as far as Fert Milon, only ten leagues from Paris. Hocquin- court's disaster, exaggerated by rumor, spread consterna- tion there and in the country round, and it was expected within a day or two to see the Spanish colors flying before the walls of the city. But the position of the invaders was full of peril. The French forces were assembling, while the promised risings on behalf of the princes did not occur. Turenne was anxious they should push on and endeavor to liberate Conde" and his associates, who were still at Vincennes, but the Archduke saw many dangers in such an attempt, and uncertain advantage even if it were suc- cessful. If the princes were liberated, all parties might become reconciled, and Spain be deprived of the benefit she derived from the dissensions of her adversaries. He distrusted, said one, the French humor, easily embroiled, but still more easily reconciled. 1 But the cardinal resolved to remove so valuable prizes out of danger's way. He had already desired to change their place of confinement to some spot where they would be farther from Paris. 3 On the other hand, the Frondeurs, led by Retz, insisted that if they were transferred to any other place it should be to the Bastille. There they would be entirely under their control, and a way would be open at any time for a new turn in the political kaleidoscope, and for a reconciliation which would leave Mazarin exposed to the united assaults of the factions.' Before he changed the place of the prisoner's confinement, he wished, however, the consent of the Duke of Orleans, whose position, if not his talents, still gave him great influence. After La Riviere's overthrow, the duke had fallen under the control of a still more dangerous adversary, for he was now guided by the insidious counsels of the coadjutor of Paris. Retz claimed that he did not desire to have 1 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 768, et pas. Montglat, 231. Turenne. 427. Lenet, 318. Plessis Praslin, 406-419. Motteville, 354. Mss. of Estrees, cited in Cheruel, iv., 143, 144. * Let. de Mazarin, iii., 607. ' Dis. Ven., cxi., 16. Let. de Mazarin, iii., 769, 922. 84 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. thrown upon him the burden of Orleans' fears and irreso- lutions. He had thought to put the President Bellievre in the place, because, he said, it was necessary that Or- leans should always have some one to govern him. 1 The duke objected that Bellievre's appearance was too keen and bourgeois, and Orleans at last drifted under the con- trol of the coadjutor, to the great sorrow of the Court, who dreaded his restless ability, and to the discomfort of Retz himself, who feared that his favor would interfere with his libertine life. The importance of having the custody of Cond was appreciated by Retz, but the Court succeeded in obtaining from Orleans a consent that the princes should be temporarily taken to Marcoussis be- yond the Seine, and removed from danger of capture until another place of confinement could be agreed on." Thus deprived of any chance of releasing the prisoners, Turenne was ready to fall back from Paris. The army lay for a month at Fismes in Champagne, and ambassa- dors were sent to ask the Duke of Orleans to agree on terms of peace between the two countries. The duke was pleased to assume such a role, and Mazarin deemed it politic to authorize these negotiations. Orleans sent envoys to treat with the archduke, but Leopold was only trifling, and the mediators were finally informed that the negotiations could best be carried on with Orleans in person, and not at present, but at some other convenient time. Instead of treating for peace, the archduke laid siege to Mouson. The town was not one of great import- ance, but it made a long and stubborn resistance. Rains and the lack of ammunition delayed the enemy, and the place did not surrender until November 6th, after seven weeks of siege. Wearied and reduced in numbers, the Spanish army then went into winter quarters. 3 Apart from the terror and suffering they had inflicted on Northeastern France, the Spaniards made some prog- 1 Retz, ii., 217. * Aff. Etr. France, 871, p. 158. * Montglat, 231-32. Dis. Ven., cxii., 15, 16, 19, 24. Let. de Mazarin, "i' 773. 783- Turenne, 427 and 428. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 85 ress in other regions. In May, both Piombino and Porto Longone were invested. These places had been conquered but four years before, at an enormous expense of money, and a serious loss of men. Their capture had made Mazarin's brother a cardinal, and his enemies said that was the only object of so great exertions, but to lose them again seemed a disgraceful end to those costly en- deavors to gain a foothold in Central Italy. The French government was, however, too crippled to be able to pre- serve what it had cost so much to gain. The small forces garrisoning the towns defended them with valor, but the resistance they offered caused only delay. On June 2Oth, Piombino surrendered. Porto Longone held out until the last of July, when its governor agreed to capitulate if he did not receive succor within fifteen days. No succor was sent, or attempted to be sent, and the conquests of Mazarin proved as evanescent as most French conquests in Italy. The loss of these places caused little regret. Their possession was so associated with Mazarin that many were quite content to see them recaptured by Spain. 1 The government was hardly able to cope even with its internal enemies, and was almost powerless from want of money. Mazarin was then in Guienne trying to quiet the troubles that had commenced from the support he gave Epernon. " In God's name," he wrote, " let the super- intendent raise money in some way to pay the troops. The soldiers are without money, without clothes, and without food." In Catalonia their distress threatened the loss of that province. The people there had rebelled against Spain on account of the oppression they suffered from Spanish soldiers, and for a like reason they would now rise and expel the French. " It is a crime," he wrote again, " not to raise money in any way, rather than lose places which, like Casal and Brisach, have been won by torrents of French blood." For himself he had not a sou nor any hope of finding one." 1 Dis. Ven., cxii., 16. 1 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 586, 710, 733, 797, 846, etc. 86 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIX. After the peace of Bordeaux, Mazarin spent a few days in the endeavor to rekindle by the royal presence the flames of loyalty in that city, and then turned his face northward. He was much embarrassed as to the course he should pursue. Paris needed his attention and the presence of the king, but the cardinal dreaded to return to the city in which he was held in abhorrence. His nominal allies, the Frondeurs, were cold in his support, and they made little effort to conceal the hostility which they had always felt. 1 The return was delayed, also, by the queen's illness, which detained her at Amboise for several days. She was de- pressed by the condition of her health and the unsatisfac- tory position of public affairs, but with her usual courage and pertinacity she pressed on as soon as she was able, and on November 8th she arrived at Fontainebleau. There she found embarrassment from the intrigues of Retz and his followers. She had asked the Duke of Orleans to meet her, but, acting under the advice of his associates, he received this request of his sister-in-law with indifferent courtesy. After much delay, due partly to discontent and partly to fear, Orleans at last betook him- self to Fontainebleau, and there, notwithstanding his re- missness, he was favorably received. His consent was asked to a measure on which Mazarin had set his heart. The three princes were still confined at Marcoussis, and Mazarin greatly desired to have them removed to Havre. He was entirely sure of that city, which was now under the command of Madame d'Aiguillon. Its strength defied attack, and it was far removed from the Frondeurs and from the Parisian populace. Plans for this change had long been laid, and the cardinal was eager to obtain Or- leans' consent and have the prisoners at once conveyed to their new place of confinement. Anne asked the duke what he thought of such a change. " Half yes, half no," he replied. A consent was easily obtained on a matter which he apparently viewed with indifference. But Or- 1 These intrigues against Mazarin are described in his letters for Novem- ber and December, 1650. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 8/ leans was the slave of fear, and he constantly turned from one policy to another, as those who met him practised upon his timidity. That night the mistake of such a con- sent was pointed out to him by a Frondeur, who terrified him into believing that the princes once at Havre, Maza- rin could treat with them or release them, as he saw fit, and their power might be united to the ruin of any other authority in the state. The next morning the duke de- clared loudly at Fontainebleau that he would not consent to the change, and for two hours he harassed Le Tellier, the secretary of state, with his remonstrances against the plan. But Le Tellier told him that it had already been announced, and the king's honor was at stake on its execution, while its results could only further that union between Orleans and the regent in which consisted the welfare of the kingdom. At early morning the duke had aroused Fontainebleau by his protests ; by noon he was calm, but he still manifested displeasure ; by even- ing he had again visited the queen and was in full harmony. All that he demanded was that he should not be required to enter Paris in the same carriage with Maz- arin. 1 No time was lost in transferring the princes to their new prison. On the I5th they were taken from Marcous- sis, and were conveyed to Havre under a guard of eight hundred horse and four hundred foot soldiers. Some movement for their release was expected, but the transfer was so promptly and vigilantly executed that none was even attempted. The Count of Harcourt, illustrious from his victories at Turin and at Casal, himself acted as com- mander of the guard, a task perhaps unworthy of his great reputation. A storm of obloquy and ridicule was heaped upon him by the wits and Frondeurs of Paris, for having been willing to exchange the laurels of Italy for the posi- 1 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 607. Talon, 399, 400. Motteville, 357. Retz, ii., 296-300, claims that Orleans, under his advice, consented to the transfer with dignity and promptness. Mademoiselle de Montpensier. 74, 75, says he did not consent at all. The account of Talon is probably the most accurate. 88 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. tion of tipstaff for Mazarin. 1 Under Harcourt's charge, the princes were safely lodged in the citadel of Havre. But the removal which had been so much desired and so carefully planned made the situation worse instead of better. Conde's friends were indignant at the prospect of a longer and severer captivity. At Havre, it was said, the prisoners were entirely under Mazarin's control ; they were confined in an unwholesome place, dangerous to health, and where they might be dead for a year before one heard the news." Such complaints were used to in- crease the popular sympathy with the princes which was created by their long confinement, by the heroism of the Princess of Cond, and by the natural fickleness of the populace. On the other hand, the Frondeurs regarded this act of Mazarin as hostile to their interests. The princes might as well be confined in one of the cardinal's own houses as at Havre. There he could hold them indefi- nitely, subject only to his own will ; if other factions seemed to be threatening, he could secretly make terms, and he would find Conde ready to promise his alliance as the price of his liberty.' On November i6th the regent and her minister made their entry into Paris. They found the city mutinous and discontented. But a few days before the cardinal had been solemnly hung in effigy, and his portraits, arrayed in a red gown, and covered with infamous doggerel, had been dragged through all the public places of Paris. 4 A serious rupture with the Fronde was also threateneed by the demands of the coadjutor. 1 A song, said to be composed by Conde in the carriage during the journey, was sold and sung all over Paris. Get homme gros et court, Si connu dans 1'histoire, Ce grand comte d'Harcourt Tout couronne de gloire, Qui secourut Casal et qui reprit Turin, Est maintenant, Est maintenant, Recors de Jules Mazarin. 1 Talon, 400. ' Brienne, 128. Retz, t. ii., passim. *Motteville, 358. Let. de Mazarin, iii., 917. Mazarin refused to offer any reward for the discovery of those who had thus insulted him. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 89 Retz's activity in public commotions had been due less to the desire for emoluments or personal dignity, than was the case with most of his noble associates. He loved the excitement of intrigue. He delighted in late and hidden meetings, in midnight secrets, in Machiavellian maxims, in sending agents to arouse the populace of the city, in delivering long political dissertations to his lady-loves and his associates. He loved to cruise about Paris at night, disguised as a cavalier, arrayed in a hat with long plumes, and with his bandy legs concealed by rich and magnificent garments. 1 He desired a large political influence, but he was indifferent whether he exercised it as a member of the queen's council, or as a leader of the Parisian populace. He had not been greedy for pensions or sinecures, but the time had at last come when he resolved to demand the only dignity which was sufficiently imposing to allure him. The idea of Retz's becoming a cardinal had been fre- quently suggested, and the queen, according to his state- ment, had offered him the nomination as a condition of his alliance against Cond. His family, and his probable succession to his uncle as Archbishop of Paris, gave the coadjutor a reasonable expectation of some day being made a cardinal, even if he had shown no political activ- ity and boasted no political influence. The dignity was a great one. It gave a precedence in rank which was grati- fying to vanity, and it usually secured an immunity from personal assault which was valuable in politics. Many cardinals had been chief ministers in France. For twenty- five years two cardinals had exercised an authority which overshadowed the crown, and such power Retz hoped some political revolution would bring to him. His active hostility to Mazarin insured his favor with Innocent X., who hated the minister, and Retz's friends were assured that if he could obtain the nomination of the French crown, the hat would be willingly and promptly bestowed by the Pope. It had long been the object of his ambition, 1 Mem. de Nemours. Guy Joly, passim. 90 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and in the summer of 1650, Retz formally demanded his own nomination for the next cardinalate to be given to France. He announced that the time had come when he must be a cardinal or the leader of a party. The choice was offered the Court of securing him permanently by ob- taining for him this dignity, or by refusing it, of driving him to exert his influence in Paris to disturb the govern- ment and overthrow the minister. This request was doubly odious to Mazarin. He feared the influence and the ability of the coadjutor, and he knew well that no favors could hold him in alliance with the ad- ministration. If Retz were made a cardinal, there would remain nothing by which he could be allured. His desire then would be to become, not Mazarin's lieutenant, but his rival or his successor. There was, moreover, a strong antipathy between the two men, which they could not conceal, and much less repress, even when policy de- manded. Mazarin's private notes and his letters to the queen are filled with complaints of Retz's unscrupulous character, his intrigues, his ambition, his faithlessness, his. disturbances of public peace, his violations of private morality, his contempt for the religion which he professed and the sacred office which he filled. 1 " God never made a worse man than the coadjutor," wrote Mazarin's secretary. 8 A formal request for his nomination to the cardinalate was made to Le Tellier, and he was asked to send it to Mazarin. These agreeable despatches, as Retz styled them, 3 were received by the minister while in Guienne, and he attempted the hopeless task of trying to cajole an acute and experienced enemy. Mazarin wrote frankly ta Le Tellier, late in August, that there was no argument that would bring him to grant the coadjutor what he ' Garnets, passim, Lett res a la reine, 1-13, etc. Instructions to Le Tellier in supplements to Retz's Mem., vols. ii. and iii. " The queen," he writes Le Tellier, "will never nominate the coadjutor for cardinal, because she knows that he is a very bad man, having neither religion nor fidelity, and that all the world knows him for such." Mazarin's letters for 1650 contaia constant complaints of the conduct and intrigues of Retz. * Instructions & Tellier, September 17. ' Retz, ii., 293. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 9! demanded ; increased power would only make him the more dangerous, and he would continue his hostility, hav- ing nothing to hope or fear from the government. 1 Tem- porizing measures were, however, chosen, and the cardinal, relying as usual on time, endeavored to have the matter postponed until his return. It was sought to satisfy the coadjutor in other ways. His debts should be paid, and he should receive some rich abbeys and preferments." Retz had his price, but it was not money and abbeys. To have his debts paid was a small temptation to a man who had lamented that at the same age Caesar owed six times as much as he, and such offers were contemptuously rejected. Special endeavors were made to draw from her alliance with the coadjutor Madame de Chevreuse, of whose sagacity both the queen and Mazarin had a high esteem, but she remained constant to his cause. When the Court had returned to Fontainebleau, she went there to use in Retz's behalf that persuasive skill in which she had no superior, and to insist upon an answer to his request.' Mazarin held out hopes which, for the moment, deceived even Madame de Chevreuse. The matter was submitted to the council, and under cover of its opposition, a definite refusal was given to the request. The coadjutor's hostil- ity to Mazarin was inflamed, both by the refusal, and by the fact that, from the demand which he had made, his opponents could diminish his influence by claiming that he was no longer disinterested in his conduct. At the same time that Retz suffered this disappoint- ment, an important office was given to a man who was destined to be prominent equally from his capacity and his corruption. Nicolas Fouquet had shown, in his posi- tion as a master of requests, ability and devotion to Mazarin, and he was now chosen for the important office 1 Instructions a Tellier, August 28 and 29, 1650. Lettres de Colbert, i., 33-8. These were written by Colbert, but under Mazarin's dictation. 1 Ibid., September I7lh, i8th, et passim, ' For these negotiations see Retz's account in his memoirs, ii., 281-308, corrected by Mazarin's private notes and instructions, and the letters of Le Tellier from August to December, passim. 92 / RANGE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of procureur general. The place was of great dignity and of great value. The holder of the office was entitled to receive from his successor the sum of 450,000 livres, and this great amount Fouquet paid to his predecessor on taking his place. 1 These changes and intrigues did not draw Mazarin's at- tention from the external interests of France. Almost alone among the French leaders of the day, he never for- got the Spanish armies during Parisian discontents, and he never favored a Spaniard to coerce a Frenchman. A desire to strengthen his own position by a brilliant success over Spain may also have increased the cardinal's zeal, and he was always ready to take active part in a campaign. The enemy now held a large part of Champagne, and Mazarin was resolved to attack them. The king's army had entered the province under the command of the Marshal du Plessis, and early in December Mazarin went there in person. It is not certain whether the cardinal's early life as an officer had given him any military knowl- ledge, but he had, at least, the activity and the courage of a good soldier." Timid when surrounded by intrigues and faced by political discontents, he was bold in the presence of physical danger, and ready to take the chances of battle. Rethel, a place of some importance, was invested on the 7th of December, and on the I4th it was surrendered by its Spanish garrison. Lieut. General Manicamp had taken a gallant part in pressing the siege, and in honor of their delivery from a foreign yoke, the inhabitants voted that they would give a sword to him and to the oldest heirs male of his house for all time to come.' Turenne led an army to the relief of the town, but rinding it had surrendered, he fell back a little distance. Then the French came up and he resolved to give battle. The 1 Le Tellier a Mazarin, October 12, 1650. Aff. Etr. France, 871, p. 99. X,et. de Mazarin, iii., 825, 881. * Retz says that Mazarin was filled with the idea of his military capacity, and frequently talked of it with him, distinguishing between the government and the conduct of the army. ii., 329. Retz's statements as to Mazarin must be received with caution, as many of them are untrue. * Montglat. 239. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 93, French had been for several days under arms, working and marching amid the rain and mud, and the night be- fore they had spent in order of battle amidst a cruel hail- storm, but they now marched against the enemy with alacrity and gayety. The contest was for a while obsti- nate, but it resulted in a complete victory for the French. Turenne's genius and fortune deserted him when he fought against his countrymen, and he narrowly escaped capture. His army was entirely scattered, and among the prisoners were the future Marshal of Luxembourg, and that Jarz6 whose unfortunate devotion to the queen had made him so conspicuous. Three thousand of the Spanish were made prisoners, and twelve hundred men were killed. 1 Mazarin had not been present on the field of action, though he was near by at Rethel, from which place the battle took its name. The army was com- manded by the Marshal of Du Plessis, who here, as on many other battlefields, showed himself a skilful general and a gallant soldier. The marshal found victory and misfortune together, for his son fell on the field of battle. It was too late to besiege Stenai, but it was hoped that so brilliant a campaign would confound the enemies of the government and reflect especial lustre on the car- dinal, who had taken in it so active a part. But his enemies had gone so far that this victory, instead of dis- heartening them, stimulated them to greater activity. At first, indeed, they were in consternation. Weeping and despairing partisans wearied Retz all the night with their lamentations, and the Duke of Orleans was dumb with terror." But they soon rallied. Even the effect of the battle of Rethel was decried, and Mazarin was ridiculed for trying to appropriate the credit of a victory at which he was not present, gained over an army which he had never seen.* An alliance between the followers of Conde 1 Lettres de Mazarin, in., 929-961. Montglat, 239, 240. Turenne, 428- 431. Du Plessis, 416-421. The battle was fought on December 15th. ' Retz, ii , 336. * Brienne, 127. Mazarin in fact made no endeavor to claim any merit for this campaign to which he was not entitled. He even wrote requesting that his name should not appear in the reports published in the Gazette. 94 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and the old Fronde had long been planned, and had been the political combination which Mazarin had always sought to prevent. These factions united, and having the assistance of the Duke of Orleans, could compel the regent to abandon the minister whom she had so long kept in power. Many things now rendered such an al- liance possible and desirable. The unnatural union be- tween the Fronde and Mazarin had been weak when first made, and had steadily grown weaker. The cardinal did not receive the aid he expected. The Frondeurs did not receive the offices and favors they demanded. He was planning to make the government so strong that it could do without their support. They desired to keep it so weak that it must have their support. And now Retz, with his life-long hostility to Mazarin inflamed by the open refusal of a cardinal's hat, was ready to give up the pretence of supporting the government. The friends of the princes claimed that Mazarin's promises for their re- lease were not fulfilled, and the removal to Havre made their deliverance seem more hopeless. In this, as in many junctures of the period, the chief part in devising and forming new combinations was taken by women. The Princess Palatine was a second daughter of the Duke of Mantua. She, herself, early became known by her adventures. She was beloved by the volatile Duke of Guise, who was then Archbishop of Rheims. She in- sisted on the title of Madame de Guise, and when the archbishop fled from France, she dressed herself in man's clothes and pursued him. When he had entirely escaped from her, she returned to Paris, and resumed her name as the Princess Anne. After this, she had been married to Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, one of the sons of the unfortunate Elector Frederick. But the French women who married foreign princes longed for their own country, and the intrigues and pleasures of foreign Courts seemed dull and unprofitable when compared with those of Paris. Her husband was jealous and poor, but she per- suaded him that only by living in the great world could THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 95 one gain its benefits, and she returned to Paris and there took a leading part in the politics of the day. She was now thirty-five, in the fulness of her beauty and her intel- lect. Retz declared her fit to govern a kingdom, and said that Elizabeth of England was not better able to conduct a state. Her eulogy was pronounced by Bossuet, when, over thirty years later, she left the world in which she had been so active, and a very different and more accurate description of her morals was given by Bussy Rabutin, whose love for witty scandal caused his ruin. 1 An active friend of the princess in her intrigues was Madame de Rhodes. Madame de Rhodes could claim an hereditary right to shine among the ladies addicted to gallantry and politics. She was the illegitimate daughter of the Cardinal Louis of Guise and of Charlotte des Es- sarts, once the mistress of Henry IV. She had married a gentleman belonging to the family of Phillippe Pot, who had gained prominence at the States-General of 1484. Retz had formed a close alliance with her, and the libels of the time charged that she Was one of the many loves of the coadjutor, but as the future cardinal in his memoirs speaks with freedom of all his conquests and does not claim her, the charge may have been unjust. 2 The Palatine endeavored to unite the different political interests by a system of marriages. Madame de Chev- reuse and Retz were to be won by the marriage of Made- moiselle de Chevreuse to the Prince of Conti. Orleans and Cond6 would be bound together by an alliance 1 "Carte Geographique de la Cour," vol. i., p. 348. It has been denied that this was written by Bussy, but its wit, its scurrility, and its indecency, are all characteristic of him. See for other accounts of the Princess Palatine, Retz, i. ( 261 ; Mem. de Mademoiselle de Montpensier, edition Cheruel, i., 283 , Tallemant des Reaux, iv., 538. * A pamphlet of 1652 on this question, published in Me"m. de Retz, ii., 313, gives a fair idea of the scurrility of the publications of the time. The morals of those they attacked were, from their own statements to the world, quite as black as they were painted. Retz. ii., 189. The freedom, and often the indecency, of the language and letters of this time are very marked. Cardinals wrote to duchesses in language that now a scullion would not use to a harlot. g6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. between the young Duke of Enghien and one of Mon- sieur's daughters. All parties thus united, and controlling the courts by their parliamentary influence, would compel the liberation of the princes and the overthrow of Mazarin. This plan was carried out almost as it was originally de- vised. The Frondeurs feared that Mazarin would make an alliance with the princes, and they were eager to antici- pate him. Madame de Chevreuse was allured by the pro- posal to marry her daughter to the Prince of Conti. Retz's intimacy with the daughter was thought to have become only a tender regard, and he now desired for her a safe and brilliant establishment. Beaufort was easily persuaded to join the movement. The most difficult task was in resolving the doubts and fears of the Duke of Orleans. Early in December a movement was begun in the Parliament for the liberation of the princes. On the 2d of December a petition was presented from the young Princess of Conde, praying for the deliverance of her husband. On the same day that it was laid before the Parliament the dowager Princess of Cond6 died. She had been the beautiful Charlotte of Montmorenci, and her career was brilliant and romantic, but checkered by many misfortunes and attended, perhaps, by more of splendor than of happiness. She had once expressed her regret that Bentivoglio had failed to obtain the Pontificate, for then she could have added a pope to the long list of cardinals, princes, marshals, and nobles of all degrees, who had been subjugated by her beauty. As a girl she had been pur- sued by an enamoured king, who declared his adoration by following her disguised as a one-eyed huntsman. 1 Forty years later, when age was coming on, she found her life turned into bitterness and sorrow by the imprisonment of both her sons. She had never seen them since they parted on the morning of their arrest, and their imprisonment and overthrow had wounded her affection as a mother and her pride as a princess. As the end came she saw the vanity of the life she had led. " Tell that poor, miserable 1 Lenet, 230. Motteville, 360. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 97 woman at Stenay," said the dying princess to a friend, speaking of her daughter, Madame de Longueville, " the state in which you see me, and let her learn to die." 1 The daughter, many years before her own end, was to re- nounce her career of ambition and pleasure and make her life one long preparation for death. While the mother of Conde was laid to rest from her pomps, her loves, and her disappointments, the Parliament considered the petition of her daughter-in-law for the lib- erty of her sons. Such a request furnished an opportu- nity to demand the liberation of the princes, but the judges were in doubt, and they avoided the question by resorting to technicalities. The rules of the body for- bade a married woman's acting in the name of her hus- band, and, though here the husband was in close con- finement, from which he could send neither petition nor authority, the procureur and advocate-general, " consider- ing that the solemnities of judicial proceedings corre- sponded to the ceremonies of religion," recommended that the petition be dismissed.* But an agent now ap- peared before the courts presenting a letter, which he said had been signed by the princes, and by them given to an attendant on their journey to Havre. This letter was addressed to the court, and asked for justice and for re- lease from their imprisonment in violation of the declara- tion of October, 1648.' These matters were under discus- sion on the ninth, when the queen sent for some of the members, and, being then ill in her bed, requested of them that the subject might rest until her recovery. Such a re- quest could not be altogether denied, but the Parliament was not willing to wait long for courtesy. It was voted on December loth that the matter should stand till the I4th. The regent complained that was allowing short time to a queen who had suffered paroxysms of fever and had been eight times bled.' Notwithstanding her com- 1 Motteville, 360. "Talon, 403. * Lenet, 489. 4 Talon, 403, Dis. Ven., cxii., 100. etpas. Journal du Parlement, 1650, 1-9. 98 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. plaints and the news of the victory at Rethel, the judges proceeded with their deliberations. The attacks on Mazarin became bolder, and, on December 3Oth, solemn remonstrances were voted, demanding the deliverance of the captive princes. It was said that the Parliament even contemplated the union of all the courts of France. 1 Upon his return from Champagne, Mazarin found, in- stead of quiet insured by victory, disturbance fostered by the union of his enemies. He was informed of these pro- jected alliances through his system of spies, but he seems to have been undecided and unready in meeting them. He had himself been pleased with the idea of marrying one of his nieces to the Prince of Conti, but he was unwill- ing to expose himself again to the insolent dictation of CondeV He would not consent to gratify the ambition of a man as odious and dangerous as he thought Retz. He seemed irresolute, confused, and was charged with using a petty finesse. 8 Rochefoucauld took part in the negotia- tions for a reconciliation between Mazarin and theCondes, and he declares that the cardinal showed in them none of his usual ability. 4 He hoped to detach the vacillating Orleans from the alliance, and that Madame de Chevreuse would not assist with her genius for intrigue in any plans against himself, and he trusted that time and his own acuteness would divide the councils of his enemies.* But their plans were laid too discreetly to be thwarted simply by inaction. The cardinal endeavored to have Orleans and the regent agree on the terms upon which Cond6 should be released, but the duke was controlled by the faction of the coadjutor. A wiser plan was suggested 'Garnet, xv., I. Mazarin charged all the intrigues to the faction of the coadjutor. 1-4. * According to Rochefoucauld, 223, et seq., he offered Mazarin, by the au- thority of Madame de Longueville, reconciliation with the entire family if he would release the princes. * Rochefoucauld, 226. 4 Rochefoucauld, 226. * Mazarin's information and views are found in the xv. Garnet, which is filled with the events of this crisis, p. 1-31. His chief hope seems to have been in keeping Orleans friendly to the Regent. See also Aff. Etr. Fr., 872., 161, etc. Letters of Mazarin to Le Tellier, Nov. and Dec., 1650. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 99 by Mazarin. Meetings should be held of the principal bourgeois and citizens of Paris, and there addresses should be made pointing out the evils which the city suffered from these frequent disturbances, and showing that if France could enjoy tranquillity an honorable peace would soon be obtained from Spain. 1 On the 2Oth of January, 1651, the remonstrances of the Parliament were presented by Mole to the regent. Though the first president was friendly to the govern- ment and often did it good service by checking or delay- ing the ardor and the insubordination of the chambers, yet, when the Parliament had declared its resolution, he was always ready to give expression to it. His dignity of manner added weight to what he said, and he was fearless of utterance in any presence. Now, also, he was perhaps in full sympathy with the demands. He had never been friendly with Retz. Though Retz had a sincere admira- tion for the first president, whose character, except in personal intrepidity, was so unlike his own, Mole had only mistrust for the involved intrigues and the dangerous ambition of the coadjutor. But Mole had always been friendly with Cond, and the prince's long and illegal detention shocked the judicial mind. On this occasion, he expressed the views of the Parliament with a boldness and a freedom that delighted the Frondeurs and scanda- lized the regent. His majesty, said he, must know the sad condition to which France was reduced, and how many conquests, won by great expenditure of blood and treasure, had been unhappily lost. Such misfortunes following the arrest of the princes showed the unfortunate policy of that act, which had been the cause of all their evils. Since that unhappy day, there had been only division, civil war, and a decrease of the royal authority. All well wishers of the state desired the release of the captives, who were now held where their lives were in danger. Their illustrious services should blot out all light suspicions. The force of the kingdom was in the 1 Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 966, 971. 100 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. union of the royal family. With Orleans and Cond united, nothing could overthrow the fortunes of the state. Therefore the king was besought to release the princes, that they might continue to show their valor and expose their lives for the happiness and tranquillity of France. 1 Mazarin listened with displeasure to this reference to- his unfortunate policy, while the young Louis showed his impatience of any interference with the dignity or omnip- otence of a king, and declared that if he had not feared giving offence to his mother, he would have silenced Mole and chased him from his presence. 4 On the 3Oth, the answer of the regent was given by Chateauneuf, the guard of the seals. It declared that the intention of their majesties was to pardon the princes and forget the past, but they must wait for a fit time, in order to oblige those who were in arms to lay them down, and those who were in alliance with the enemies of the state to return to their duty. Meantime, the alliance projected by the Palatine had been completed. Formal articles embodying its terms, were signed on January 30, 1651." By these articles, which were contained in four separate treaties, it was agreed that the princes should be set at liberty, and Mazarin be driven from his place. Cond should not demand the office of Constable, nor make changes in the council without Orleans' consent. To bind these two- together, the young Duke of Enghien was to be married to one of Orleans' daughters, when the parties should reach a proper age. It was agreed in behalf of the princes and of Madame de Longueville, that the Prince of Conti should seek Mademoiselle de Chevreuse in mar- riage, and Conti's faith and honor were pledged that so soon as he was at liberty he would wed her in the face 1 A full account of this speech is contained in Talon, 405, 406. These transactions are reported as they occurred by Morosini Dis. Ven., cxii., 149, et seq. * Talon, 406. * A treaty by which Retz and others bound themselves to labor for the prince's liberation had already been signed. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE, IOI of our Holy Mother Church. The princes were to see that the Court paid the Duchess of Montbazon within two years 90,000 crowns, and she undertook, for that amount, to control Beaufort and his followers in their interests. The princes promised Orleans to honor with their friendship his adherents, and especially Beaufort and Retz. The signatures of Conde and Conti to the articles could not be obtained, but some of their friends acted in their name, and were authorized to negotiate for them. The greatest difficulty was in obtaining Orleans' coopera- tion. His timidity and irresolution were excited to the utmost at a crisis like this, and by plans and treaties of such importance. Even Retz's persuasive powers were insufficient, and the duke had to be enlisted almost by force. Caumartin, with the treaty in his pocket, caught him between two doors, put a pen in his hands, and the duke signed as if he was signing a contract with the fiend, and was afraid of being surprised by his good angel. 1 It was not strange that Orleans should dislike to put his name to such a paper, for in the July preceding, he had signed with the regent a solemn and very different treaty. By that, it had been agreed that under no circumstances should the princes be liberated during the regency, and as it was important they should not be at liberty until the king was old enough to manage the state, both agreed to use all efforts that the princes should be kept in confine- ment for at least four years after Louis reached his ma- jority. They agreed, also, that neither should take or allow any steps for the princes' liberation without the knowledge and consent of the other.* But where factions represented only personal interests, and were espoused and abandoned as pique or personal ambition suggested, it was natural that political changes should be rapid. Mazarin charged Retz with having changed his party six 1 Retz. ii., 326. These treaties are found at the Bibliotheque Nationale, and are printed in full in " Madame de Longueville pendant la Fronde," 378-382. * This treaty is published in a note to Retz, vol. ii., 326, 327. Garnets, xiv., 66, 67. 102 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. times in less than eighteen months, 1 yet the coadjutor was as the pole star when compared with most of his asso- ciates. The queen's response to the demand for the liberation of the princes left the hour of their deliverance postponed to an uncertain future, and it was, therefore, received with disfavor. When it came up for discussion on February first, Retz stated before the Parliament, that the Duke of Orleans had decided to cooperate and that he would do all in his power to obtain the release of his cousins. Such a public declaration from the uncle of the king, and lieutenant general of the kingdom, excited confidence and enthusiasm among the Frondeurs of every stripe. The coadjutor, after vainly asking Orleans to declare himself before the Parliament, had with difficulty obtained per- mission to speak in his behalf. Had the declaration been ill received, Orleans could easily have disavowed it, and on the night after he gave Retz this uncertain authority, his wife declared that the duke's labors over the matter were attended with greater pains than she had ever suffered in childbirth. 4 But the applause that followed the step gave him new confidence. He avowed the declaration to the judges and to Le Tellier, and on the fourth he attended the Parliament, and spoke in person. He declared that he was wearied of the fair words of the cardinal, and of his failure to perform them. He had long indulged the queen on this subject, but now the state was perishing from Mazarin's bad administration, and Orleans could not allow the interests of any one man to destroy the tranquillity of the kingdom. The incapac- ity, the inordinate ambition, and the sordid avarice of the Cardinal Mazarin were the cause of all their troubles, and he felt in conscience bound to chase away their author. 3 1 Lettres a la Reine, 10-13. *Retz, iii., 5-11. ' Talon, 409. Mazarin's Garnets during January are full of the endeavors made by the regent to find what Orleans' really desired. ' ' La Reyne demande a S. A. R. s'il veut en effet la liberte de M. les Princes sans declarer son intention." 19, et passim. As Orleans' desires charged from week to week there was difficulty in ascertaining them. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 1 03 Orleans was a ready and skilful speaker, and both his ad- dress and his rank added weight to his words. Great applause, especially from the younger members of the In- quests, greeted the duke's speech. All milder resolutions were voted down, and the king and queen were asked forthwith to liberate the princes and to dismiss the Car- dinal Mazarin. The Parliament adjourned till Monday, the sixth, to deliberate on the answer which might be given to its petition. 1 When Mazarin was endeavoring to keep the Duke of Orleans from uniting with the Fron- deurs, he had compared the Parliament to the English House of Commons, and its leaders to Fairfax and Crom- well. This comparison, which was alike inaccurate and in- judicious, Retz reported to the body, where it was received with violent anger and protestations. One of the scenes followed common in French legislative bodies. Some cried that the cardinal should be instantly brought before them. Some, that he should be forthwith dismissed, and that the edict against foreigners should be enforced. All was rage and tumult. Mazarin had often accused Retz of wishing to play the part of a Cromwell, and of professing an admiration for Cromwell's character, but neither Retz nor his associates need have been at any pains to disown the resemblance." They were but a genteel travesty on the great English leaders of the Long Parliament, and the Fronde itself was a burlesque on the English Revolution. As an immediate answer had been required, the repre- sentatives of the Parliament presented its request to the regent on Sunday. The Duke of Orleans, they said, had declared that he held in such aversion the person she had established as prime-minister, that he could take no part in the councils of the king. To obviate this obstacle, and in order that the lieutenant-general of the kingdom might again assist in its government, she was besought to remove the minister. Historical illustrations were given, 1 Talon, 407-409. Retz, Hi., 13, 14. * Lettres a la Reine, vi. " On a bu a la sante de Cromwell," he says of one of their meetings. Carnet de Tours. 43. 104 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAKIN. from Justinian dismissing John of Cappadocia down to Henry the III. dismissing Epernon, which showed the wisdom of such conduct. Following these examples by dismissing the Cardinal Mazarin, she could grant relief to the complaints of all orders in the kingdom. 1 Anne told them to come the next day and receive her answer, but, on that day, the cardinal himself solved the problem, by abandoning to his enemies the place which he had for eight years held. After Orleans declared his union with the opponents of the minister, every endeavor was made to draw him again to his allegiance to the regent. Anne reproached him, after the announcement of February first, and an angry inter- view followed. The duke left much irritated by his con- ference with the minister and the regent, and declared that he would never again put himself in the hands of that madman and that fury.* Anne endeavored to have Or- leans visit her again, to see if a reconciliation could not be made. Knowing how easily he could be persuaded to any course, and that when he was exposed to personal solicitation from the regent, there could be no certainty of his resistance, Retz and his associates endeavored, and with success, to prevent any interview. Orleans sent word that he would never again enter the Palais Royal while Mazarin was there ; besides, he had the gout and he could not go. Anne then offered to visit him at the Luxembourg, but this offer was evaded. Orleans told the king's governor that he would be held responsible for the king's person, and he ordered the city officials to keep guards about the Palais Royal, lest Louis should be taken from Paris. In this extremity, Mazarin sent the "Marshal of Gramont to see if some reconciliation could not be ef- fected with the princes, but it was now too late for such negotiations. 3 Unable or afraid to meet the storm which was aroused, Mazarin resolved to retreat before it. He 'Talon, 409-411. Dis. Ven., cxii., 164, 165. The proceedings of the Par- liament are contained in Journal for 1651. i., 9-35. * Retz, iii., p. 6., Retz puts this interview on January 3ist. 1 Aff. Etr. Fr., 874, piece 16 22. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 1 05 was apparently no more threatened with danger than he had been before. His hold upon the queen's confidence and affection was unshaken, and she had the boldness and the stubbornness to support him to the last. But the minister lost his courage when the Parliament, the king's uncle, the followers of Conde, the old and the hew Fron- deurs had all united in demanding his overthrow, and when the inhabitants of the great city, in which he was, viewed him with hatred and scorn. Perhaps, also, he be- lieved that his temporary retirement would strengthen the regent, and improve the condition of the kingdom. Though his policy was often selfish, it was more patriotic than that of his opponents, for theirs was a uniform self- ishness, free from suspicion of regard for the public weal. Mazarin loved power and he sought it by tortuous ways, but he was usually mindful of the interests of the king- dom which he so greatly desired to rule, and of the inter- ests of the regent, who gave him so unwavering a sup- port. If he were away, the demand for his overthrow could no longer unite all parties, and he trusted to his own intrigues and to the jealousies of discordant elements to dissolve the alliance against him which now appeared so firmly united. His exile might be very brief. He might make a speedy alliance with Conde, and return under the shadow of his authority. 1 At all events, he decided to re- tire temporarily from the Court and from his office. The queen consented to this step, as to all plans on which the minister decided, although one of her attendants tells us it did not meet with her approval. In such a crisis as this, she was bolder than her minister and more reluctant to yield. 1 On the evening of February 6th, they had their final interview. Whatever her feelings were at seeing the man to whom she entrusted her son's kingdom and her own affections driven from her by his enemies, she preserved the calmness of manner which deserted her only when she 1 The last entry in the Garnets is " Conditions avec M. le Prince," and contains an unfinished memorandum of terms that might he made with him on his release. Mazarin's diary, or Garnets, were abandoned on his retreat, and he never began them again. * Motteville, 374. 106 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. was angry. After this interview, Mazarin disguised him- self in a red cassock and a plumed hat, and followed by two gentlemen left the Palais Royal on foot. He went out of the city by the gate of Richelieu. There he met attendants and horses and went to St. Germain, where he passed the remainder of the night. The rumor of his intended flight had already spread through the city, and he feared being stopped, but the guardian of the gate of Richelieu had been bribed, and he passed through un- molested. 1 At St. Germain, he waited to see what further steps were taken by the regent. Before he left Paris he had instructed her on the course which she was to pursue. If r even after his departure, Orleans and the Parliament should continue in their evil courses, instead of accept- ing this sacrifice as sufficient, Anne with the young king must leave Paris secretly on the night of the 7th. Away from Paris they would have troops, fortified places, the princes in their power, and would be masters of all, but remaining in Paris without being its masters, they ran a manifest risk. Should, however, it be impossible to es- cape, Anne was, under no circumstances, to consent to the unconditional release of the princes. But, if this also became necessary, Mazarin resolved that the release should be granted by him, and to guard against any measures to which she might be forced, he obtained from the queen a written order to the guardian of the priso- ners, directing him to execute all orders of the Cardinal Mazarin concerning the liberty of the princes of Conde and Conti and the Duke of Longueville, notwithstanding any subsequent order that might be sent in her "name or that of the king. Lastly, the young king was to send Maza- rin a written promise that he would not abandon him." On the morning of the 7th, Orleans was asked to attend 1 Motteville, 375. Loret, 91. Letter of Morosini, February 7, 1651. Dis. Ven., cxii., 164-168. Retz, iii., 27. 'Garnets, xv., pp. 29, 30. Letter of Mazarin of February 8th. Aff. Etr. t. 268 ; t. 267, 311. Mss. Bibl. Nat., 4209., 190-93. Motteville, 387. THE REVOLTS FOR THE RELEASE OF CONDE. 1 07 the king's council, the offending minister having departed, but the Parliament was not satisfied with this victory. It voted thanks to the queen for the dismissal of the cardi- nal, but it coupled with them another demand for the re- lease of the princes, and for a declaration that all foreigners should be forever excluded from the councils of the king. Orleans sent word that he could not go to the Palais Royal till the princes were at liberty, and the cardinal farther re- moved from the Court ; he was now only at St. Germain, and from there he still governed the kingdom, while his nephews and nieces remained at the palace. 1 On the Qth, a resolution was adopted by the Parliament that within fifteen days Mazarin must leave the kingdom, taking with him all his family, and under no pretext and on no occa- sion should he be allowed to re-enter France." Mazarin's temporary retreat had led to no reconciliation, and had only encouraged his enemies. The regent now desired to escape from Paris with her son. She seems to- have contemplated leaving on the night of the 9th, but the plan is said to have been revealed to Madame de Chevreuse by Chateauneuf and Villeroy. Whether the alarm was well founded or not, Madame de Chevreuse notified Orleans, and Retz was aroused from his sleep to go to the Luxembourg in all haste, and deliberate on the measures to be taken. The duke was found in bed, and he declared that the queen would not take such a step, and that no action was needed. But his wife scribbled an authority for the coadjutor to call out the city's forces in order to prevent the creatures of Mazarin taking the king out of Paris. The alarm was sounded, and the streets were soon full of martial shop-keepers and mechanics, rushing from their beds to join their companies. One colonel was not found at home, but his wife donned her petticoats, and going into the streets had the drum beat the alarm. De Souches was sent to the Palais Royal to see if the escape had been made. He insisted on entering the king's chamber, and found the young Louis in bed 1 Retz, iii., 30. 31. Talon, 412. Dis. Ven., cxii., 167. 'Talon. 413. 108 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and the queen in tears, protesting that she had never harbored any such design. 1 However this may have been, it was impossible to execute it now, and the king remained in Paris almost as a prisoner. Soldiers guarded the gates, searching even baggage-wagons to see if he was concealed in them, and marched every night about the Palais Royal. Bargemen patrolled the Seine with their boats lest the king and queen should escape by water. <( The prince is at liberty," said Mol afterwards, "but the king, our master, is a prisoner." " At least he is not a pris- oner in the hands of Mazarin," was the reply." Anne could resist no longer, and, on the loth, she signed an order for the unconditional release of the princes. Her condition was very miserable. She was separated from the man she loved, and was hardly less a prisoner in Paris than Marie Antoinette one hundred and forty years later. " I wish it was always night," she said to her attendant, " for though I cannot sleep, the silence and solitude please me, because in the day I see only those who betray me." ' 1 Motteville, 378, 379. Retz, Hi., 34-37. Montglat, 246, 247. 9 Dis. Ven., cxii., 171-76. Retz, 39. Montglat, 247. Motteville, 380, 381. Joly, 46. f Motteville, 376. CHAPTER XIII. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. MAZARIN saw that there was no hope of making terms with Orleans, and he therefore left St. Germain and travelled towards Havre. On the road he was in- formed that the queen had ordered the release of the princes, and he decided that the only course left for him was to grant the release himself. Such a step might lead to a reconcilation with Cond or establish some hold upon his gratitude. He reached Havre on the I3th of Febru- ary, before the arrival from Paris of the messengers bear- ing the queen's order of the loth. He was received with the firing of artillery, and was taken to the chamber of the princes. He announced to them their unconditional release, and asked in return their friendship for the king, for the regent, and for himself. The cardinal tried to assure Conde that his imprisonment was due to Orleans, while the liberation had been granted at his own solici- tations. They dined together, but the situation was a forced one, and Mazarin seemed embarrassed. After din- ner Conde, Conti, and Longueville prepared to leave. Mazarin followed them to the carriage, and, though the forms of courtesy were preserved, as they rode off Cond is said to have burst into an uproarious fit of laughter, within the hearing of the fallen minister. 1 Mazarin might better have saved his dignity than made this humiliating and hopeless endeavor to obtain the good-will of the prince. Gratitude was unknown to Conde, and he felt 1 Lettres de Mazarin, Feb. 13, 1651. Mss. Bibliotheque Nationale, 4209, 197. Montpensier, 79. Priolo, 301-305. 109 110 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. under no obligations for a release which had been granted when it could be no longer refused. Retz said that this step of the cardinal seemed to him, under all the circum- stances, one of the most ridiculous of the time, but Maza- rin hoped for good results from it. 1 Cond6 was to show equal indifference towards those who had in truth gained his liberation, and who had far better reason to expect his gratitude. On the i6th of February, 1651, the princes arrived at Paris. The journey from Havre of one hundred and forty miles occupied three days. They were received with much enthusiasm. The same people who thirteen months before had burnt fires from joy at Condi's capture, now had them blazing in honor of his release." They were met by Mon- sieur, who had then agreed to their imprisonment, and by whom they were now solemnly presented to the Parlia- ment. They supped with him and with many of the political leaders, and the health of the king was drunk with the refrain, " No Mazarin ! " ' But hardly had the broken glasses been swept away, and the cheers ceased to re-echo, when Conde and his new allies began to find cause for variance. A year's confinement had not taught the prince modera- tion or unselfishness. His father had been imprisoned for three years in the early part of the reign of Louis XIII., and the remembrance of it had exercised a restraining in- uence over the rest of his life. Even his greed never overcame his prudence. But the son was of a more un- ruly nature. He was fierce in his desires, impatient of any sense of obligation, and unable or unwilling to concil- iate enemies or soothe the vanity of friends. He was re- stored to liberty under circumstances which promised him absolute power. Mazarin was in exile, the young king practically a captive, the regent discouraged and apparently powerless. His sister's reputation added to the lustre of the family 1 Letter of Mazarin cited above. Retz, iii., 40. f Retz, iii., 42. 1 Rochefoucauld, 447. Dis. Ven., cxii., 178, 180. Montglat, 246, 247. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. Ill name, and to its overshadowing influence in the state. After the release of her brothers and husband, Madame de Longueville had returned to Paris. She had stayed very contentedly at Stenai, planning campaigns with the generals in the morning and hearing them make love to her in the afternoon. 1 But she had taken part in the intrigues which led to the liberation of the princes, and had consented to the alliances by which this was secured. She reached Paris early in March, where, the Gazette says, every one applauded her heroic actions." She had achieved the position for which her soul thirsted. To the sighs of lovers were now added the plaudits of statesmen. She was an acknowledged leader in French and European politics. She had made treaties, organized armies, liber- ated princes, exiled cardinals. She was not able to bear the intoxication of the position, and from the hour of her return in triumph her political career is a record of errors. Cond6 himself could hardly excel her in haughti- ness. She received with a disdainful smile, not only the people of Paris, but the greatest seigneurs who came to do her reverence. 1 Over both her brothers she exerted a strong influence, and there is little doubt that, under the control of very feminine passions, she advised them to steps which were fatal to their political position. Madame de Longueville was brave, adventurous, and enthusiastic, but she had none of the good judgment, the sagacity, the consummate tact which made Madame de Chevreuse one of the great politicians of the age. Meanwhile the fallen minister was slowly making his way into exile. When he parted from the princes at Havre, Mazarin hoped that upon their return to power their influence would be used to favor his recall. Some words uttered over their champagne at their last dinner in cap- tivity, he interpreted as promises of their good offices. 4 Had such promises been given, Mazarin might have known how unlikely it was that they should be fulfilled. In brcak- 'Lenet, 353. * Gazette, 1651, 296. * Motteville, 388. * Aff. Etr.. t. 267, fo. 264. Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 196, et seq. 112 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ing pledges he found the nobility equal to the clergy, and his hopes that Conde would ask the restoration of the man whom he had always hated, and by whom he had been kept thirteen months in prison, were soon dispelled. The minister went to Dieppe and thence into Picardy. At Paris the peo- ple were impatient at his delays, and complained of each day that the red shoes of the cardinal trod on French soil. The remonstrances of the Parliament were so angry, that the regent sent messengers to Mazarin at Doulens direct- ing him forthwith to leave the kingdom in obedience to the edict. Secret messages of love and fidelity may have accompanied the public dismissal, to which the regent was forced. Mazarin replied in a dignified letter, which was read before the council. He should obey her majesty's commands, said the letter, as her commands had always been the rule of his life. Though unprovided with all things needed for a journey, he would forthwith go wher- ever he could find shelter. Rather than do any thing that was prejudicial to the state, he would yield to the passion of his enemies, but their own conduct showed they knew how certain was his fidelity to the king. Familiar as he was with the secrets of the state, they had not feared to expel him with violence, knowing that he would never turn his knowledge to the assistance of the enemies of France. He would gladly conceal from the latter the return he had received for his labors, lest they should wonder that a cardinal, after twenty-two years of faithful service, could find no safe retreat in any nook or corner of a kingdom, the boundaries of which had been so greatly extended by his pains. 1 The governors of some of the frontier towns offered to sustain the cardinal with their forces, and to defy the edicts of the judges at Paris." But Mazarin was not the man for such a course. Rather than face the storm he would bend to it, and wait till it had abated. More patri- otic motives had also some influence, and deterred him 1 Motteville, 383, 384. This letter of Mazarin's is printed in Mme. de Motteville's memoirs. * La Barde, 605. Aff. Etr., 267., 439. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 1 13 from stirring up civil war, In March he left France and sought refuge in the bishopric of Liege. It was not easy for him to find a suitable place for retreat. 1 In honorable contrast with Cond and the leaders of the Fronde, Maz- arin would make no alliance with the Spanish. The king's uncle, the judges of the royal courts, the heads of the great families, which enjoyed honors and estates granted by the Capets and the Valois, joined hands with the enemies of their fatherland, in order to gain assistance in their revolts against their own government ; but this Italian priest, in his hour of exile and distress, would seek no aid from those in arms against his adopted country. However selfish Mazarin may have been in his personal ambitions, Richelieu was no more steadfast than his suc- cessor in an unswerving endeavor to make France triumph- ant over all her foes. He wrote from Peronne to the Marshal of Gramont : " I do not tell you where I am going, for I do not know. Wishing to live and die a Frenchman, it would not be well forme with the Spanish or their allies. As for the friends of France they are almost all heretics. I do not think of Rome. I do not hate the Pope, but the Pope hates me.'" He had with him his nieces, who, he wrote, were a greater embarrassment than could be im- agined.' In April he went to Briihl, in the dominions of the Elector of Cologne, and there he remained until Oc- tober. He was received with honor and treated with deference. Briihl was a pleasure house of the elector, but a short distance from Cologne. He found the palace furnished and adorned as was appropriate for a great min- ister, and gifts of choice wines and savory fish cheered his hours of exile. 4 But though the cardinal had at last been driven from France, he maintained a constant cor- respondence with Anne, and those of her ministers whom he trusted. His enemies were quite right in their claims, that whether he was writing from Briihl, or conversing 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 207, et seq., Mazarin a Tellier. * Letter of Mazarin of March IO, 1651, Aff. Etr., 268. * Letters of March loth, published in Motteville, 385, 386. 4 Letter of April 1st, Aff. Etr., 267. 114 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. with her in the chambers of the Palais Royal, the coun- sels of the cardinal controlled the conduct of the regent. Mazarin's hope had been that discord would soon arise between the jealous and inharmonious allies who were arrayed against him, and upon this he based his plans for a return to power. He was unable to cope with them when united, but he had for years withstood their hostility by dividing their forces. Anne obeyed his direc- tions implicitly, and the burden of his instructions was to sow discord among the leaders of the Fronde. 1 Hardly had he left Havre when questions arose which excited division between the nobility and the Parliament. Seven or eight hundred gentlemen had assembled in Paris at the hall of the Cordeliers. They had met to assist in the agitation which was to release the princes and exile the cardinal, but when those objects were accomplished they continued to confer on the condition of the country. To heal the evils from which their own order and all France were suffering, they demanded that the States- General should be summoned. Their convocation was also asked by an assembly of the clergy in behalf of their order. It was now nearly forty years since the States-Gen- eral had met. In the troublous times that had inter- vened, a meeting of the States had been several times demanded and several times promised. The demands had been made with no desire that they should be an- swered, and the promises had been given with no inten- tion that they should be fulfilled. The States had been convoked for March, 1649, but the call was little heeded, and the session was indefinitely postponed. Cond and Orleans seconded the demand that was now made. Over such an assembly, convened when the government was powerless, they hoped to exercise control. Alarming rumors were brought to the regent of the violent changes which they expected to accomplish by this means. On 1 Such advice is found in Mazarin's letters at this period, together with constant suggestions as to the manner of alienating the factions. Anne fol- lowed implicitly the directions she received. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 11$ September /th, Louis XIV. would have completed his thirteenth year, and the regency would cease at his majority. In a people so strongly attached to a mon- archy as the French, it was easier to repress the unruly when the government was in the hands of a king, even if he were only a boy. Regencies had often been times of disorder. Those who reverenced a king felt that they owed to a regent neither obedience nor respect. Yet, with a boy of fourteen on the throne, it was impossible that his mother should not for some years keep an au- thority, which would be the greater, because she would exercise it in his name. To guard against this, to pro- long the period in which their own authority could be un- bridled and their disorders unchecked, it was said that the great nobles desired the States-General to meet while Louis was still a minor, and to change to eighteen the age at which a king could assume his authority. The regency would thus be extended for four or five years, and, to- gether with this, it was hinted that the assembly would proceed to another step, depose Anne, and put the Duke of Orleans in her place. 1 The first article of the requests of the three estates would be to demand that Mazarin should never be allowed to return to France. Whatever measures were seriously contemplated, the regent looked with apprehension at any meeting of the States-General, and she found assistance in her opposition from the active hostility of the Parliament. The Parliament of Paris desired to obtain political power for itself, and was jealous of any meeting of the National Assembly, in the presence of which its own politi- cal role was overshadowed. It even claimed at times a rank superior to that of the States-General. The States- General, said President Mesmes, in 1649, could only pro- ceed by petition, and address their sovereign on their knees; but the Parliaments held a rank above them, being mediators between the people and the king.' 1 Aff. Etr., 267., 396-7. Mss. Bio. Nat., cited supra, 310, 325, 328, 355 et passim. Letters of Tellier to Mazarin, Talon, 423. 5 Journal il Onnessnn, i., 60,8. Il6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. The great body of nobles now gathered at the Corde- liers had convened by no summons, but both from the number and the rank of its members it was justly consid- ered as a representative assembly of the nobility of the kingdom. 1 Irritated alike by their meeting and by the purposes for which they had met, the judges of the Parliament deliberated on declaring this assemblage an illegal body and ordering its dissolution. 8 Their jealousy of another power in the state was reciprocated by the nobility. A few great nobles were entitled to a seat in the Parliament of Paris. A few ambitious princes and prelates fostered the power of that body as an as- sistance to their own plans. But to the mass of the nobles and of the clergy to the honest gentleman of ancient lineage, who lived at his chateau in the country; to the bishop who attended to the spiritual wants of his flocks, instead of intriguing for a cardinal's hat this new and enormous power assumed by a body of lawyers was alarming and odious. " France," said the Bishop of Comminges, " is a body composed of three members the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate. A fourth mem- ber cannot be joined without there resulting a horrible monster." It was shameful, cried the nobles, that from the overthrow of ancient laws, young scholars, just out of college, should become the arbiters of the public fortune, by virtue of a piece of parchment which cost them sixty thousand crowns. Anne acceded to the demand for a convocation of the States-General, but she fixed the first of the following October as the time for their meeting. In behalf of the nobles and clergy, Orleans asked that the session should begin before the majority of the king. The pertinacity with which this was pressed excited the more Anne's ap- prehensions of the measures that might be attempted if 1 It was said that in the decorum of their meetings they set a praiseworthy example to the assemblies of the judges. Affairs were discussed with much less noise and tumult than in the Parliament, and the speaker was free from annoying and discourteous interruptions. Joly, 48. * Journal du Parlement, 55-70. Talon, 423. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. II 7 the States-General met while Louis still remained a minor. She refused to accede. Orleans tried to excite her alarm at the possible results of the irritation of the nobility and the bad feeling between them and the Parliament. Should that body pass a decree against the nobles, the latter would not suffer it. Barricades would rise in the streets of Paris, and blood would run in the gutters. First President Mole and his son Champlatreux would be the first to be thrown into the Seine, and even the Palais Royal might not be left unmolested. 1 But Anne still refused to yield. Some endeavors were made to excite the magistrates of the Hotel de Ville and the bourgeoisie to join with the other orders in this movement, but they were weary of agitation, and their sympathies were more with the judges who had sprung from their midst, than with the nobles by whom they were regarded as Pariahs. Conde also was becoming lukewarm in this measure. He was allured by the great promises which the regent was now making him, and as his alliance with her grew closer, his ties to Orleans and his faction became looser. Nor was an assembly which might possibly make the Duke of Orleans regent a thing earnestly wished by the Prince of Conde. Anne refused to consent that the States- General should meet even one day before the king's majority, but she agreed that it should be convened for the day following, which was the 8th of September, and with this promise Orleans advised the nobles to be content.* To this, therefore, the assembly assented, and it there- upon dissolved. Letters were sent into some bailiwicks directing deputies to be chosen for the forthcoming States-General, but before September the most of those who had clamored for the session had forgotten their demand, and those who had agreed to it found no trouble in disregarding their promise. One hundred and thirty- eight years were to pass before the three estates con- 1 Mss. Bib. Nai. 4210., 329, Tellier to Ma/arin. * Ibid., 332, letter of April 7th. Talon, 423-425. Il8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. vened. 1 Had they met during the disturbed period of the Fronde, it is difficult to say to what action such a body might have drifted. But the sentiments of the majority of the people and the differences between the orders were such that it is probable it would have accom- plished little more than the States of 1614. A revolution like that of England was not possible in France at this period. In the numerous edicts which the Parliament passed to hurry Mazarin out of France, it succeeded in embroiling itself also with the clergy, and materially dampening the zeal of the coadjutor. An edict had been introduced in February declaring that no strangers, even though natural- ized, should thereafter sit in the council of the king. To this was added a provision that no one should be allowed to sit there who had taken an oath to any other prince than the king of France. The object of this was to exclude French cardinals from acting as ministers of the government, because they took an oath to the Pope. The first person who would probably be affected by the meas- ure was Retz, who hoped soon to be made both cardinal and minister. " There is a fine echo," said the Prince of Cond, who bore no good-will to the ambitions of Retz, when this proposition was received with noisy acclama- tions." To prevent Mazarin from returning to power, and Retz from obtaining power, was a measure of which both features were pleasing. But the clergy received this proposition as one aimed at the dignity and influence of their order. Why, it was asked, should those who had received the highest dignity of the Church alone of all Frenchmen be deemed unfit to serve their country? If the plea was urged that they received their office from the Pope, the answer was plain. The Pope bestowed it upon those nominated by the king, 1 The proceedings of the Assembly of Nobles are contained in Journal de 1'Assemblee de la Noblesse, 1651. Mazarin advised the regent to talk about summoning the States-General, but "a les convoquer en effet, c'est ce que je ne me saurais pas resoudre de conseiller." Aff. Etr., 267, fo. 264. Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 196, et seq. ' Retz, iii., 43. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 1 1 9 and it was to the king that French cardinals in fact owed their rank. From Clovis to Louis XIII. the dignitaries of the Church had exerted great and beneficent influence in the affairs of the state. Some of the most glorious chap- ters in French history were those in which the counsels of cardinals had guided the steps of kings. Why, now, should those whose learning, piety, and talents had been rewarded by this great dignity, be branded as unworthy to become their country's servants ? The lawyers and judges who advocated the measure were not lacking in arguments. Those who were chosen cardinals, they said, took an oath of fidelity to the Pope. Even if they owed to the king their nomination, no sooner had they obtained the dignity than they became the sen- ators and coadjutors of the pontifical power, and imagined themselves to possess a portion of his authority. Clad in the imperial purple, they sought first the power and glory of Rome, and afterwards considered the welfare of their own country. By the Council of Basle, cardinals had been declared the very entrails of the pontifical authority. They were bound more closely to the Pope than to the parents to whom they owed their lives, or the sovereigns to whom they owed their obedience. French history showed the truth of these statements. The Cardinal of Amboise had used the armies of Louis XII. in an en- deavor to intimidate Italy and compel his own election as Pope. When in 1614 the great question was discussed, whether any authority could excommunicate kings and release subjects from their fidelity, the Cardinal du Perron had stirred up dangerous resistance to the maxims that were demanded for the safety of the state. Even Cardi- nal Richelieu had advised the sovereign to release valu- able rights which he held in church property. 1 After some delay Anne gave her consent to this edict of the Parliament. Retz had made little opposition to the measure. He knew that as soon as the king wished to 1 Journal du Parlement, 52-54. Mss. Bib. Nat., 4210., 332, et sty., despatch of April 7th. Talon, 419-422, 427-429. 120 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. disregard such an edict, he would do so without a mur- mur from those who had advocated it most loudly. Such was the fact, and in less than a year a cardinal was again chief minister. As with most edicts which enacted any constitutional change, the king had no thought of regard- ing them, the Parliament no power of enforcing them, and those who clamored for their enactment sought only some personal and temporary end. More interest was excited by the changes in the minis- try. The regent had attempted to conciliate Conde by the most liberal promises. 1 He was offered the govern- ment of Guienne in place of that of Burgundy, while Provence was to be given to his brother in exchange for Champagne. These governments would give them great power in the south of France. Guienne was disaffected and the name of Cond was there one to conjure with. He could.be in that province almost an independent prince, and through his brother he could exercise equal authority in Provence. Changes in the ministry were also suggested, which were acceptable both to Anne and to Cond. Chavigni had long been in retirement. He was a friend of Cond6 and hostile to Mazarin. But the cardinal now advised that he be again taken into the ministry, hoping with him as with Cond to overcome past aversion by present favor. " It is necessary," he wrote, " without losing a moment, to inform Chavigni in advance of what I have done for him, and of the resolution her majesty has taken at my supplication." 11 On the 2d of April, Chavigni ar- rived at Court. He was taken up a private staircase and received by the queen in her oratory. On the third he took his seat in the council. When Orleans found him seated at the council table, he said to the regent that he was amazed to find that without consulting him she had introduced a minister into the king's council. "You I On March I4th, Morosini wrote that Anne's favor to Conde would soon destroy the good intelligence between him and Orleans. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 7. II AfT. Etr.. t. 267, Letter of Feb. 25th. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 121 have done so many things lately without consulting me," said Anne, loudly, " that you must not be surprised if I do the same." Cond6 watched the dispute with a mali- cious pleasure, though he took no part.' Another change had been greatly desired by Anne. Cha- teauneuf had been selected by the Importants and by the Frondeurs as Mazarin's successor, and the choice had done him no good in the regent's eyes. His aged gallantry made him ridiculous to her, and his ambition and his jealousy of Mazarin made him odious. Condi's family were also hostile to him. When Mazarin fled from Paris, Chateau- neuf found himself in the position which he had so long desired. He was nominally prime-minister. He hoped that now at last offices would be at his disposal, foreign politics be regulated by his judgment, masters of cere- monies would bow low before him, and ladies would overlook declining years in the chief minister of the king. His hopes were doomed to a bitter disappointment. He .soon discovered, what every one else discovered, that the affairs of the crown were guided by the minister at Bruhl, and not by the minister at Paris. Anne hardly concealed her disfavor, and the signs of coming disgrace became plain. Chateauneuf had imagined that he might be made cardinal instead of Retz, and he regarded the edict against cardinals as one which would be injurious to his fortunes.* He was in little danger of being affected by it, but he declared that he would never place the seals to such an edict. Anne intimated that she would relieve him of the necessity. In the evening of the same day that the queen approved the edict in reference to cardinals, a messenger waited upon Chateauneuf and demanded of him the seals. The unhappy man surrendered them, and they were forthwith given to Matthieu Mole.' Mold's courage and upright- 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4210., 335, et seq., Tellier 4 Mazarin. Motteville, 39 2 . 393- 1 Mazarin also suggested that Chateauneuf might be nominated as cardinal. He doubtless thought he would be less dangerous than Retz. 1 Talon, 429, 430. Motteville, 393. Tellier to Mazarin, April 7th. 122 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ness made him popular with the people without making him hateful to the regent, while for Conde he had displayed an active zeal. His nomination was one which Mazarin had advised, and which was approved by all except Orleans and his immediate followers. 1 The announce- ment of these changes created mingled surprise and dismay. It showed that Anne was still resolved to hold the control in her own hands, and it was another proof that absence had not affected Mazarin's ascendency. Such an attempt by the regent to exercise her own will in the choice of ministers nearly caused renewed violence in Paris. When Chateauneuf found the seals of office were taken from him he was plunged in an agony of rage and chagrin. He regretted that he had obeyed the queen's orders, and that he had not gone to the Luxem- bourg, demanded the protection of Orleans, and dared death with the seals of office rather than 'life without them. 2 In the meantime a fierce debate already raged at the palace of the Luxembourg, as to the course which should be followed after the appointment of Chavigni. At about eleven in the night the news was brought of Chateau- neuf s disgrace. At the conference Orleans, Retz, Conde, Beaufort, Rochefoucauld, Mme. de Chevreuse, and other leaders of the Fronde were present. Orleans was full of fire and fury, and he asked their advice on the steps that were proper in view of the queen's endeavor to act independently of their control. Several said that a force should at once be sent to Mol6 to demand of him the surrender of the seals. Retz advised that guards should also be stationed along the quays, and de- clared that Beaufort and himself would answer for the populace. " I will speak for myself, Monsieur, when my turn comes," sharply interrupted Beaufort. The com- pany were thunderstruck by this proof of internal dis- cord. Cond at once followed, and declared that he was not a master in a war of chamber-pots, and that he would 1 Aff. Etr. France, 268., 85. * Motteville, 393, 394. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 12$ confess himself a poltroon where brick-bats and cobble- stones were flying. If Orleans felt so outraged that he must begin a civil war, Cond6 said that he would retire into Burgundy and leave the duke free to exhibit his courage in Paris. The prince and his followers shortly retired and, as they went down the steps of the palace, their jests and laughter were heard over the war of the chamber-pots. The women of the conference demanded of Orleans to order their immediate arrest, but the valor of the duke had already oozed away, and Condi's desertion left him in the lowest stage of fear and uncertainty. He began to whistle, which Retz declares was always an un- favorable sign. Presently he slipped into his library and sent his farewells to the company. 1 The conference dis- persed and it was followed by neither mobs nor barricades. Shortly after this rupture the engagement between Conti and Mile, de Chevreuse was abruptly broken. After the princes were released, they had freely ratified the treaties by which their liberty had been gained. Retz offered to relieve Cond from the engagement to marry his brother to Mile, de Chevreuse, but the prince angrily asked for what manner of man he took him. 2 Conti visited Mile, de Chevreuse, whom it had been promised he should wed in the face of the Church. Pleased with her beauty he saw her often, and seemed an eager lover. In March great preparations were making at the Hotel Chevreuse for the approaching marriage. Three of Mazarin's tapestries, the Scipio, the Paris, and one of green and gold, which he had pledged to raise money, were taken by Mme. de Chevreuse to add to the decora- tions of her palace.' This was the most important of the 1 Retz. iii., 57-62. Motteville, 394. Rochefoucauld, 250-252. DisVen., cxiii., 33. Motteville says that Beaufort offered his services to stir up com- motion in Paris. Retz was present at the interview and, as he had no mo- tive to color it, his account is probably substantially correct. It is somewhat differently related in a letter of Le Tellierof April 7th Mss. Bib. Nat., 4210., 337, ft. seq., but I do not think that he had as good facilities as Retz for knowing what was said. " Retz, iii., 52. * Aff. Etr., t. 267, Letter of April 1st. 124 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. alliances, by which the Palatine had planned to unite the great aristocracy for the control of the kingdom. Mme. de Chevreuse was related to the houses of Lorraine and Rohan. By her daughter she held Retz firmly bound, and through her allies and her political genius she could exer- cise a great influence in the councils of the Fronde. The marriage of her daughter to the House of Conde would bring to it more power than the government of Guienne or the hat of a cardinal. The daughter herself was no more immoral than most women of her rank, and was much more beautiful. It is impossible to trace accurately the causes which led to the insulting and ill-advised rupture of this alliance, but to the influence of Mme. de Longueville it must probably be charged. She had no desire to see her brother taken from her control to become the husband of .a woman younger and more beautiful than herself. The new Princess of Conti would take precedence of her. She would walk before her at balls and make her courtesy first at the Court. Her brother would be controlled by the beauty of his wife and the sagacity of his mother-in-law. It was easy for Mme. de Longueville to induce Conde to oppose the marriage. If the face of Mile, de Chevreuse had made any impression on Conti, this could be dispelled by reports only too well authenticated of the relations of his future bride with the coadjutor. The Condes hardly deigned to give an excuse for their action. It was, indeed, stated that the regent had refused her consent to the alliance, as made with designs prejudicial to the state ; but with Condi's position he could have ob- tained the queen's approval of his brother's marriage, if he had seen fit to demand it. Anne, however, was quite ready to refuse her consent, for the rupture of this pro- jected alliance immediately dissolved the great combina- tion that had been so carefully and laboriously made. It had lasted for two months and a half, and so had exceeded the ordinary duration of the political alliances of the Fronde.' 1 This engagement was broken on April 15th. Aff. Etr. France, t., 874. p. 117. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 41. Telliera Mazarin, April 28th, Mss. 4210., 351,352. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 12$ Orleans continued inflexible in his hostility to the first president, and Cond consented to sacrifice him to the duke's demands. Such a sacrifice was the easier for the prince be- cause Mole" had been active in his behalf during his imprison- ment. The feeling of obligation was to Conde of all feelings the most distasteful. Beaufort was fortunate, he said, be- cause he owed his escape only to a few of his domestics, and so found himself free without any onerous debt of gratitude. The regent informed Mole that she must consent to his retirement to appease Orleans, but she besought him to suffer with patience this sacrifice for the good of the state. She offered him the nomination for a cardinalate or 100,000 crowns in money. Mol said his nomination as cardinal would not be favorably received at Rome, and that the treasury was in no condition to pay out such a great sum of money. He retired with dignity to his judi- cial position, but he was little pleased at the loss of the seals. 1 He did not forget that Cond6 rewarded his ser- vices by desertion, and another powerful influence was arrayed in stately but implacable hostility against the prince. The seals were given to Chancellor Seguier, who was called back from retirement to enjoy again his former dignity. Mazarin, in his letters, protested against the enormous offers which had been made to Conde", though they were made in the hope of purchasing the prince's friendship for the regent and himself. Cond, he said, wished to es- tablish his power by the abasement of the royal authority ; he was insatiable in his desires, he was ungovernable in his passions, he was untrustworthy in his promises. 11 Mazarin's letters were full of plans for his own return, and he complained often that Servien, Lionne, and Le Tellier were neglectful of his interests and deceitful in their pro- fessions of zeal for his restoration. But he did not lose sight of the interests of the state, and he was unwilling 1 Le Tellier a Mazarin, Mss., 4210., 348, 349. "M. le President a rendu mal volontiers les sceaux et tres mal satisfait de ce changement." Mazarin expresses his regret at Mole's retirement. Mss., 4209., 232. 1 Aff. Etr., 267, Let. of March 9, 1651. 126 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. that his return should be bought by making an unruly prince more powerful than the king. " The greatest hap- piness the cardinal has," he wrote the queen, " is that his return was not stipulated in the accommodation by which the prince was accorded establishments that sooner or later would ruin the king; for the cardinal would have been in despair to see himself reestablished by means so prejudicial to the state." His return had not, indeed, been secured even by all that was offered the prince, and possibly that sharpened his reproaches against Lionne and his associates for hav- ing sacrificed to Cond6 the interests of the state." Gui- enne and Provence, he justly said, were unruly provinces and adjacent to Spain. Already Cond6 was again nego- tiating with the Spanish, and once in command of these great governments, he could ally himself with the king of Spain and bid defiance to the king of France. 3 While Mazarin's letters were full of reproaches towards Lionne, Le Tellier, and Servien, who were regarded as his creatures and believed to be devoted to his interests, the devotion of the queen was so steadfast that even the cardinal's sus- picions were not aroused. He had confirmation of her good-will from her own letters, and he received assurance of it from other sources. A correspondent writes him : " I have the honor to speak almost every day with the queen, who says that you show distrust of those who sur- round her. She is in despair that affairs do not progress as rapidly as she would desire. For herself she would give her life to serve you, and this she says with incred- ible tenderness. Again, when walking at Ruel, she asked me if I had not seen her emotion while there, because she felt as if she must die of displeasure when she remembered how she had formerly seen you walking those paths amid so much splendor and with so great a following." ' Mazarin's letters to the queen are full of protestations of 1 Lettres de Mazarin a la Reine, 44, 68-70. * Lettres de Mazarin 4 la Reine, 73. 1 Aff. Etr. France, 267., 421, et seq. 4 Aff. Etr. France, t. 875, p. 54. Cited by Cheruel, iv., 333, 334. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 1 27 a fervid devotion, which show their relations were not only those of subject and prince, but of lover and beloved. " My God," he writes her, "how happy I would be if you could see my heart, or if I could write you what is in it. I did not suppose my friendship would deprive me of all con- tentment when I employ my time otherwise than in think- ing of you, but so it is." ' " Since your majesty wishes that ceremonies should be banished," he writes again, " I obey with much pleasure. * * * There is timidity and feebleness among my friends, but so the world has always been. You must be excepted, for you forget yourself, when there is a question of my interests, and as the ex- ample is rare, you may infer what sentiments I have for such friendship." " " All the letters of the queen are more touching than those of Balzac or Voiture, and in eight days they have been read ten times." ' " I thank you for the letters you have sent me, and they have greatly consoled me. I have read them with pleasure for they are so con- ceived that one sees well it is the heart which speaks. * * * But I would fain know when the time will come that there will be no more need for writing or reading." ' 41 Mazarin dies for the queen. If he could send his heart there would be things seen which cannot be imagined." * " After reading the letter of the queen, he was so moved that he wept for an hour. * Those who seek to injure the cardinal in the mind of the queen will gain nothing, for they are united by bonds which you yourself have more than once acknowledged could not be broken by time nor by any effort." ' The queen had gone far in her efforts to please Cond, in the hope of inducing him to favor the return of Maza- 1 Let. de Maz. a la Reine. 30. 31. 1 Ibid., 87. These letters are largely in cipher and often in the third per- son, but I have translated them as they were understood. ' Ibid., 202. * Ibid., 219, 220. * Ibid., 236, 237. * Cipher symbols of affection constantly occur in the letters. " I am a thousand-fold . . . " he ends one of his letters, using a cipher which is frequently employed to denote the affection between them. " Adieu," he writes, ". . . to the last sigh of my life.' Let. a la Reine, 281, 352. See also Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202., 26, etc. 128 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAR1N. rin, but without success, and now negotiations were actively carried on with the other faction.' Immediately after the rupture between her daughter and Conti, Mme. de Chevreuse had directed that the cardinal should be informed there were sure means to serve him if he would advise the queen to confide in her.* The Princess Palatine was also weary of her allies, and entered into a secret and confidental correspondence with Mazarin to- aid his return to power and gain advantages for herself. Through Chevreuse and the Palatine, Retz was brought to promise his assistance to the cardinal. After the rupture which followed the appointment of Chavigni, the coadju- tor had decided to retire from politics into pious solitude. He said that having driven Mazarin into exile and released the princes, he could now devote himself solely to the du- ties of his sacred office.. He accordingly announced that he was to enter the cloister of Notre Dame and attend exclusively to the exercise of his profession. Orleans showed manifest relief at the retreat of this turbulent ad- viser, who kept him from the timid courses he liked best. Conti congratulated the pious hermit. The Prince of Cond6 looked his surprise, and Madame de Longueville received the farewells of Retz with indifference. 3 In the cloister Retz devoted himself to holy works, and even ad- ministed confirmation in several of the parishes of the city. 4 He did not, however, abandon himself so entirely to Providence as to disregard human means to protect himself from his enemies. He issued various pamphlets filled with praise of his own conduct, and with covert at- tacks on the Prince of CondeY and he went from his parish labors by day to the Hotel Chevreuse by night. His devotions at the cloister were interrupted by mes- sengers who summoned him to the Palais Royal. Retz visited the queen secretly, and declared that he would 1 Lettres de Mazarin a Lyonne, May 2gth, June gth, 14, et passim. Aff. Etr. France, t. 267. * Aff. Etr. France, 267., 358. Dis. Yen., cxiii., 54. * Retz, Hi., 64-67. 4 Joly, 50. 6 " Defense de 1'ancienne et legitime Fronde." "Avis disinteresse sur la conduite," etc., etc. Choix des Mazarinades. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 12$ compel Cond6 to leave Paris within eight days. Anne assured him that if he could do this he should receive the nomination for the cardinalate. 1 The new allies at once deliberated on what steps should be taken to get rid of the prince. He was already dis- contented at the failure of the queen to give him all that had been promised, and he no longer visited the Palais Royal. Though the Swiss guards were unpaid and the queen's household was in need, money had been given Conde, in order, if possible, to prevent another civil war. He had received the government of Guienne, but the queen hesitated about making his brother governor of Prov- ence. Conde had lost the support of many who had been eager in his cause, and his greed and ingratitude reduced the number of his followers." Retz advised that the prince should be arrested when he was visiting Orleans, but fear- ing lest Conde should be left entirely in the power of the Frondeurs, Mazarin disapproved of this plan. 3 Some even advised Conde's murder, but such a course was shocking to the queen, and Retz claims was equally distasteful to him. 4 It was decided, however, that the prince should be arrested, but the intelligence of this design was at once conveyed to him through Lionne and Chavigni. Though bold on the field of battle, Cond was very apprehensive of finding himself again in confinement, and a groundless .alarm caused his retreat from Paris. 6 A company of guards was sent to one of the gates, to see about the 1 Retz, iii., 73-82. These intrigues were probably begun by Retz. On May 2gth, Mazarin writes the Abbe Fouquet, " that the coadjutor might feel assured of his friendship." Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202, p. 6, in cipher. * Dis. Ven., cxiii , 61, et seq, * Aff. Etr. France, 267. Mazarin a Lyonne, July isth. * Different versions are given of this, some saying that Retz and Mme. de Chevreuse suggested the prince's murder, and others that they refused to adopt such a plan. There was nothing in the character of either to make it incredible that they would be willing to resort to such a measure, but it is not certain that they advocated it in this case. See Motteville, 398 ; Retz, iii., 98, 99 ; Montglat, 251. * Morosini was of opinion that Conde's fear of arrest was only a pretext, and that his retreat was to drive the queen to give Conti the government of Provence. Dis. Ven., t. cxiii., 126. 130 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. entry of some wines, free from duties. They were ob- served by Conde"s domestics, and he decided that this was an enterprise formed against his liberty or his life. He resolved to fly at once, and early in the morning of July 6th, accompanied by a few attendants, he rode out of Paris, and retired to his chateau at St. Maur, two leagues from the city. In this retreat, where Catherine de Medici had once dwelt, but which had now long been a possession of the house of Cond6, his followers gathered to decide what steps should next be taken. 1 During the day Cond6 was visited by the Marshal of Gramont, in behalf of the regent and Orleans, assuring him there were no plans against his person, and that he could return in safety. The messenger had been sent for effect, and he was received with disdain. Cond met him in the outer court, and in the presence not only of his friends but of his servants. There he informed the mar- shal that he could put no confidence in the queen while she was surrounded by the creatures of Mazarin. She was skilled in deceit, and he would trust himself to her no more. As for Orleans, he besought him to make no promises which he would not be able to keep.* On the 7th the matter was brought before the Parliament. Whatever secret negotiations were pending in Mazarin's interest, the hostility to him had as yet lost little of its fierceness in the Parliament or among most of the politi- cal leaders. Conti, in his brother's behalf, complained of the secret influence of the cardinal ; he said that messengers were constantly passing between Paris and Bruhl, and that at Briihl and not at Paris was the country governed. Cond sent a letter to the body, saying that he would return to Paris when the three ministers were dismissed who were merely valets of Mazarin. The Parliament was bitter in its hostility to Mazarin, and it was unanimous in request- ing the regent to repeat what she had already promised, 1 Rochefoucauld, 261-7. Retz, iii., 108-115. Motteville, 398, 399. 1 Aff. Etr. France, 874, p. 4. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 123, 124. Mss. Bib. Nat., 4210, Le Tellier to Mazarin, July yth. Morosini says Conde spoke politely of Orleans. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 13! that the cardinal should never be recalled. Amid great tumult it was declared just that the prince should be satisfied, and that all vestiges of Mazarin's power should be destroyed. Both Retz and Orleans united in these demands. It had been agreed that Retz and his asso- ciates should not be required to undertake any public defence of Mazarin. To speak in his behalf would have deprived them of influence either in the Parliament or the city, and have rendered their alliance of no value. The only debate was whether the regent should be asked to dismiss from her counsels Lionne, Le Tellier, and Ser- vien, the ministers who Cond6 declared were acting only as agents for Mazarin's restoration. It was finally agreed that a milder course should be used. The queen was asked to give a new declaration against the cardinal, and to grant to the Prince of Conde all the surety necessary for his safety, but the offending ministers were not named, nor was their dismissal formally demanded. 1 The situation of these ministers was doubly unfortunate. Owing their positions to Mazarin, he now complained of their remissness in his service. Lionne and Servien had become special objects of suspicion to him, and he charged that they were content that their benefactor should con- tinue removed from power ; that they made treaties with Conde, granting him enormous advantages without ob- taining by these sacrifices the cardinal's return, and in all things had been guilty of duplicity and treachery, which made him lose faith in man.* On the other hand, Cond called them the creatures of Mazarin, who plotted his return and were governed by the utterances of the oracle at Bruhl. Anne distrusted the ministers when they were complained of by Mazarin, but viewed them with favor when they were accused by Conde. She was 1 Journal du Parlement, 1651, 12. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 124, 125. Talon, 435. 436. 1 Untold pages of Mazarin's long letters to the queen are filled with such complaints, especially of Lionne. These letters do not show the minister in a favorable light. He appears suspicious, impatient, querulous. Let. de Mazarin i la Reine, 128, 134, 135, 165, 169-173. 132 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. almost ready to dismiss them from inclination but very loath to dismiss them under compulsion. But it was thought best to satisfy Cond, that he might be put wholly in the wrong if he persisted in his hostile attitude. On July igth Lionne, Servien, and Le Tellier retired from office and went to their country seats. Le Tellier was most favorably viewed by the queen, and he was dismissed with many marks of good-will and with assurances of a speedy return. 1 Cond6 was ill pleased that the grounds of his com- plaints had been so speedily removed. 4 He cherished a grievance and had little desire to be without one. But on July 23d he returned to Paris and appeared again at the Parliament. The removal of the ministers did not satisfy him, and he now demanded that the queen should be required to declare that their dismissal as well as that of Mazarin was irrevocable. But his followers in the Parliament cried out against constantly bringing forward new and insulting demands upon the regent, when she had promptly done all that was required of her. The measure was lost, and this check irritated and annoyed the prince,, who was offended by any opposition. 3 He did not for some time pay the customary visit of respect to the king, though he thundered by the palace, followed by a long train of carriages and accompanied by a great body of gorgeously arrayed officers and valets. At last he made a formal visit on the king and queen. The interview was a frigid one and the conversation was only on bagatelles. Conde claimed that he feared arrest and he did not go again to the Palais Royal. 4 It was evident that he was resolved to have the government of all Southern France given to his family that he might be almost an inde- pendent prince. Intelligent citizens feared that Conde's power would become so great that there would be little prospect of quiet for the kingdom.' 1 Mazarin made frequent complaints of Le Tellier in hisletleis during the early part of the year, but ultimately he bjcame convinced of his fidelity. Mazarin a Oudedci, July l8th. * Di>. Ven , cxiii.. 138. 1 Talon, 438, 439. 4 Motteville, 405. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 145, 146. * Dis. Ven., cxiii , r6, "Causa di poca quiete all' interno di quesio stato." THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 133 Mazarin had long cherished the hope that satisfactory terms could be made with Conde. The interview at Havre had left his mind imbued with the idea that the prince was well disposed to him and by judicious measures could be drawn to his support. But all hopes of help from Conde had now faded away, and Anne, with the skilful assistance of the Palatine and Mme. de Chevreuse, turned her attention to cementing the half-formed alli- ance with the Frondeurs. Mazarin's negotiations with Retz and his associates had his own return for their final object. Though not formally promised, this was tacitly understood. Few of his new allies, however, desired to see him again at the Palais Royal, but they hoped that the future would enable them to receive the ad vantages of the alliance without having to accomplish its end. In June the cardinal had sent a secret messenger to Paris to see if the time was yet ripe for his return, and he complained that no arrangement was made for his restoration or for his meeting the queen. Servien wrote him that by October the condition of affairs would allow him to return to the Court. He answered that he would not wait till then, he would not wait a month ; Retz and Chateauneuf were willing to consent to his immediate return, were it not that his interests were betrayed by Lionne, to whom the queen and the Palatine foolishly and blindly committed these negotiations. ' But the regent and her advisers agreed on the terms which they believed the best that could be obtained, and the cardinal was obliged to submit to their decision. During the summer the articles of agreement between the contracting parties were ratified. By them it was pro- vided that the coadjutor, in order to maintain himself in the confidence of the people, reserved the right to speak in the Parliament and elsewhere against the Cardinal Mazarin until a favorable time came to declare for him without hazard. Mme. de Chevreuse, Chateauneuf, and Retz were to do all in their power to detach Orleans 1 Lettrcs de Mazarin a la Reine, 154, et passim. 134 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. from the interests of Conde, without, however, making any direct propositions in favor of the cardinal. Chateau- neuf was to be first minister, but the seals were to be given to Mole. Vieuville was to be superintendent of finances on paying four hundred thousand livres to Mazarin. Retz was to be nominated for cardinal and be made a minister immediately after the meeting of the States-General. Mazarin's nephew, Mancini, was to be made Duke of Nevers and then to wed Mile, de Chevreuse, whose matri- monial future was a second time made one of the condi- tions of a great political combination. Various of the friends of the allies were to be properly rewarded, and they were to act together in perfect confidence for the ruin of Cond6 and the advancement of their own in- terests. 1 Unlike most of the treaties of the time, almost every article of this was performed. Such a result was perhaps due to the fact that all the parties to it were acting in bad faith. Retz hoped so to cajole the Court that he could receive his promotion as cardinal without being obliged to take any steps to assist in Mazarin's return. He was entirely willing to oppose Conde, but he had no thought of helping Mazarin. Chateauneuf believed that, having ob- tained the position of first minister, he could continue to hold it. Mazarin desired to allure Retz by the nomination for the cardinalate, and to prevent his actually receiving the promotion. But by force of circumstances the treaty reached a more perfect fulfilment than the contracting parties had intended. Retz actually became cardinal, Chateauneuf was for a while minister, and Mazarin ulti- mately was restored to power. One article was never fulfilled, that which provided for the marriage of Mile. 1 Mme. de Motteville, 416-418. These articles were published by Conde, and were declared a forgery by the Frondeurs. Even if the alleged written treaty was suppositions, and some of its wording sounds as if it might have been devised by an ingenious enemy, the subsequent conduct of the parties and the performance of the alleged articles show that substantially such an agreement was made. The terms of it are discussed in the letters between Mazarin and his agents. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 135 de Chevreuse ; but there was no opportunity for bad faith in that. Within little more than a year death carried off the cardinal's nephew for whom so brilliant a destiny was waiting, and the frail beauty for whom so great alliances had been planned. Anne was now ready to declare open war upon the Prince of Conde\ She sought to excite popular favor by joining to a pronunciamento against the prince the required declaration against Mazarin. On the i/th of August a message from the king was presented to the Parliament, by which it was declared anew that Mazarin was forever to be excluded from the kingdom. After this, which was a reiteration of what had been proclaimed be- fore, and was promised with as little sincerity now as then, the message proceeded to arraign the Prince of Conde" for ingratitude, insubordination, excessive greed, inordinate ambition, and a desire to turn the state upside down. These facts, it declared, could be no longer dis- simulated without abandoning the rudder of the state which God had placed in the. king's hands, and to such disorders he was resolved to bring a prompt remedy.' The prince replied to this attack, that he had been un- justly slandered by his enemies. He doubted not, he said, turning to Retz in the Parliament, that he was the author of this calumny, which was worthy of a man who had advised that the seals should be torn by violence from one to whom the queen had seen fit to intrust them, 1 but he relied upon the Duke of Orleans to vindicate his honor. Orleans' tergiversations had placed him in a posi- tion more embarrassing than usual. He had promised assistance both to the queen and to Cond6. He had heard the declaration against Cond read in the council, and had made some suggestions as to its form.' The prince now demanded of him to declare its falsity. In this em- barrassment he betook himself to his usual resource, and said that he was ill. Two counsellors came from the Parlia- 1 Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, ii., 203-210. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 161-6. ' Retz, iii., 212. * Motteville, 407. 136 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ment to ask his attendance there, but he told them that he must be bled, and he could not come. Cond, how- ever, was not thus to be put off. His messenger went to the duke's palace and compelled him to sign a paper, by which he stated that the charges in the queen's declaration were unfounded, and that he could not believe the Prince of Conde guilty of any designs against the king or the welfare of the state. 1 This certificate of character the prince presented to the Parliament on the I9th, and de- manded his justification. Retz replied to Condi's assault on him, that he had done nothing unworthy of a man of honor, and for any thing he had said at the Luxembourg he would answer to the Duke of Orleans. The regent was always pleased with a spirited conduct, and she now asked Retz to carry on an open conflict with the prince. For this part of his engagement the coadjutor was ready. The idea of bidding defiance to the great Conde, of leading bodies of retainers and cut-throats, of being surrounded by gentlemen and hired ruffians armed to the teeth, of marshalling his followers against those of the greatest prince in France, the prospect of brawls in the streets, and vituperation in the Parliament, was congenial to his war- like and turbulent tastes. Volunteers were plentiful in such a cause. The Mar- quis of Rouillac, famous for his extravagances, but as gallant as he was reckless, offered his services to Retz. Just after him came the Marquis of Canillac, whose char- acter was much the same. He saw Rouillac, made his bow to Retz, and retired. " It is not just," he said, " that the two greatest fools in the kingdom should belong to the same party. I will go to the Hotel CondeV' Thither he repaired, and enlisted on the other side." The Fronde was a war of bon-mots, and in no period of history was there more wit and less wisdom. On the 2 1st of August, between five and six in the morning, the followers of Retz began to gather about his 1 Dis. Ven., cxiii., 166. Motteville, 410, 411. Journal du Temps Present, 54-63. a Retz, iii., 215. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 137 house. Both he and Cond6 were early at the Palace of Justice, accompanied by great bodies of armed retainers. Retz had fewer nobles with him, but he had a larger following among the people. The expectation of dis- turbance was such, that many of the counsellors and members of the court had swords and daggers concealed under their gowns. When Conde had taken his place, he said that he was astonished at the condition in which he found the palace. It was more like a camp than a temple of justice. There were military positions taken, pass- words given, and companies acting under orders. He did not suppose there were persons so insolent as to seek to dispute the pavement with him. Retz replied that he yielded it only to the king. The presidents besought the two opponents to respect the place where they were and the safety of the city. Cond at last agreed to send Rochefoucauld to direct his followers to retire, and Retz said he would give similar orders to his. As he passed into the great hall of the Pas Perdus, some of Cond6's followers drew their swords and, in a moment, hundreds of weapons were brandished in the hall. A combat seemed imminent, but by the exertions and coolness of a few men it was prevented. Retz now sought to return, but he reached a door at which Rochefoucauld had stationed him- self. He tried to force an entrance, and Rochefoucauld caught him between the folding-doors and held him in that position, which was both uncomfortable and dangerous. " Kill him ! " some cried, and Rochefoucauld confesses he was tempted to end Retz's turbulence by a death which he thought was merited. The people of the prince, he says, did not realize what a service they could render their mas- ter, and while they hesitated Mold's son arrived and res- cued the coadjutor from his danger. He returned to his seat and, order having been restored, he accused the Duke of Rochefoucauld of having tried to murder him. " Traitor," replied the duke, " I care little what becomes of you." " Very good, Mr. Frankness," said Retz, giving Rochefoucauld his cant name among the Frondeurs, "you 138 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MA ZAP IN. are a poltroon and I am a priest, we cannot fight." " I lied," Retz remarks in his memoirs, " for Rochefoucauld was certainly brave." ' After this scene of turbulence the queen asked Retz to go no more to the Parliament, and he accordingly stayed away and avoided further possibility of bloodshed. The injury to his sacerdotal character, which he claims to have feared from these brawls, was but slight, for it was below injury. Some had cried as he entered the Parliament : " No Mazarin, no coadjutor.' ' The familiar cry of " No Mazarin," greeted and encouraged Conde after his return from St. Maur, but an experienced Frondeur says that men had to be paid to do the shouting. It was not like the times past when it needed no hired brawlers, but all the world with one accord cried " No Mazarin," and the mouth spoke from the heart's fulness. 8 The citizens of Paris of every grade were wearying of these fruitless disturbances, and were beginning to think that Mazarin and order would be as well as No Mazarin and tumult. Retz was attacked as a man who sold himself for money and was gained by the hope of a fine hat ; who put his favor at auction, was a Frondeur to-day and a Mazarinite to-morrow, and was only fit to sow schisms and preside among intriguers. 1 Still the advantage of this conflict was rather with the coadjutor. The great Conde had been openly defied by a priest, and if the result was evenly balanced that was shame to the prince and glory to his opponent. 4 On the next day the coadjutor was in his carriage leading the procession of the Great Brotherhood, when the prince came from the Parliament attended by a band of his fol- lowers. The two processions met face to face. Some of the prince's followers cried : " The Mazarinite," but Conde stopped them, alighted from his carriage, and dropped on his knees as the coadjutor passed, arrayed in the vest- ments of his sacred office. Retz pronounced upon him, 1 For account of this see Retz, in., 213-229. Roche., 281-289. Motte- ville, 414, 415. Journal du Temps Present, 64, 65. 3 Joly, 52. * Requetesdes Trois Etats, 1651. 4 Aff. Etr. France, 876, 130. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 139 and upon Rochefoucauld who was with him, the episcopal benediction and the procession passed on. " God alone could decide," says the chronicler of the time, " if the benediction was well given and well received." Retz was now in high favor with the queen, and Mme. de Chevreuse encouraged him to try to gain still more of the royal affection. " Seem pensive in her presence," said that veteran intriguer, who was familiar with all the resorts of gallantry as well as of politics. " Look con- stantly at her hands, of which she is vain. Storm against the cardinal." The queen was a coquette and not averse to the flattery of devotion, but Retz soon found, to use his own phrase, " That though the benefice was unoccupied, it was not vacant." Neither Mazarin's misfortunes, nor his absence, nor his complaints loosened his firm hold on the queen's affections. The time had now come to which the cardinal and the regent had looked forward with eagerness and with anxi- ety. Louis XIV. had reached his majority and the perilous period of the regency was ended. Orleans and Cond6 professed still to desire the States-General, but they insisted they should be called to meet at Paris. The queen would only consent to summon them at Tours, and the Parliament did not wish them to meet at all. Maza- rin had often written that some means must be found to postpone them. While a few deputies were elected, there was little public interest in the matter, and the pro- posed session was omitted without exciting notice or complaint." Louis XIV. was born on September 5, 1638, and by the law of France attained his majority on completing his thirteenth year. On the 5th of September two declara- tions were presented to the Parliament.' By one of them, Cond6 was formally exonerated from the charges made against him. It was hardly two weeks since they had 1 Loret, 150. Retz, iii., 231, 2. Rochefoucauld, 289, 290. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 178. * Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 256, 257, etc. * Talon, 441. Journal du temps present, 75-77. The declaration against Mazarin was published in the Grand Chamber on the 6th I4O FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. been solemnly proclaimed, but now it was hoped that by this reparation the prince would be drawn from his hostile position and the young king's majority would not be harassed by the revolt which was threatened. The other declaration sought to gain public favor by a denunciation of Mazarin so bitter that his worst enemies could have asked no more. It charged him with the imprisonment of officers of justice, the waste of the public funds, the de- lay of a general peace, the ruin of commerce, and the con- finement of the princes. All the violations of the edict of 1648 were said to be the work of that bad man, who contravening the praiseworthy intentions of his majesty, had by his conduct justly excited the hatred and contempt of the three estates of the kingdom. On the 7th of September, the majority of the king was celebrated with a pomp and splendor not unworthy of the reign so full of pomp and splendor which awaited Louis XIV. A long procession of nobles, officers, and soldiers marched through the streets of St. Honore, St. Denis, and over the bridge of Notre Dame to the Palais de Justice. All were arrayed in that gorgeousness of dress which had not yet faded into the colorless costumes of modern times. They passed through an innumerable crowd which thronged the streets and filled the windows and the roofs of the buildings. The lieutenant of the Swiss guards was dressed in a habit of satin of the color of fire. His mantle was rich with gold and silver lace. Bands of satin ornamented his breeches, his shoes were red and his garters of silver and gold, while from his velvet cap waved a heron's crest with plumes sparkling with diamonds. The Count of Clere wore a doublet of cloth of gold, with crimson breeches of Holland camelet. Near the king rode the Count of Harcourt, grand equerry of France, bearing the king's sword in its sheath of blue velvet. His horse was adorned with trappings of crimson velvet. Finally came the king dressed in a habit so covered with gold that neither the material nor color could be seen. " His august countenance," says the THE EXILE OF MAZARIN. 141 courtly chronicle, " and his mild and royal gravity made him remarked by all as the delight of human kind, and tears of joy were drawn from the spectators' eyes by his grace and majesty." The reign of flattery had begun. Having reached the palace the king entered the Sainte Chapelle and heard mass. Marching from thence with one hundred Swiss preceding him and beating their drums, he entered the Grand Chamber to hold his bed of justice. The officers of the courts, bishops and archbish- ops, marshals of France, and the great nobility of the kingdom were there assembled. " I have come to my Parliament," said Louis, "to announce that according to- the law of my state, I wish to assume myself the govern- ment, and I hope, by the goodness of God, that it will be administered with piety and justice." The queen then addressed her son and said that for nine years she had had charge of his education and of the government of the state. God had blessed her labors and preserved the per- son, which was so dear to her and to his subjects. She now gladly resigned her power, and hoped God would give the king grace to make his reign happy. " I thank you, madame," Louis replied, " for the care you have taken of my education and of my kingdom. I pray you to continue to give me your good advice." The king's brother and those present then rendered their homage. Edicts in favor of Conde and against duelling and blas- phemy were read and approved. After this the advocate- general, Omer Talon, addressed the king. From Hector of Troy, from Alexander and Augustus, from the armor of Minerva and the prophet addressing Joshua, the orator drew lessons and illustrations for the young king. " The speech of the advocate-general," says a contemporary, " was very eloquent, but so long that it wearied all the company." It ended at last, and the procession returned to the Palais Royal. The fountains ran wine instead of water. In the evening illuminations and fireworks made the night as the day. ' The earth," says the enthusiastic gazetteer, " added countless artificial stars to those oC 142 FRANCE UNDER RICHELTEU AND MAZARIN. heaven, as if to contest the glory of lighting this happy night, when joy was spread over all France. 1 Thus auspiciously commenced the reign of Louis the Great, but ten years were to elapse before the king him- self began to rule. Though legally invested with the government, Louis took little more part in its control than he had for the eight years that had already passed since he became a king. Physically he was tall and well-developed, but his intellectual qualities, never brilliant, were of slow growth. It has been charged that Mazarin neglected and stunted his education, in order longer to preserve his own power. There is nothing but the malice of enemies and the gossip of untrustworthy servants on which to base any such charge. Louis received little literary culture, but he received as much as most of those of high rank. His life showed that his training was sufficient to develop, fully and strongly, the natural tendencies of his character. He was not fond of books, and probably little endeavor was made to compel a royal pupil to study what was distaste- ful. But the regent and the cardinal seem to have taken an interest in his full physical development, and in imbu- ing his mind with those views which they deemed of im- portance for his future course. Louis submitted gladly to Mazarin's control while he was a youth, and in his ma- ture life he cherished no feeling that his character had been moulded and trained otherwise than he himself would have wished." Though the young king took as yet 1 Talon, 441-446. Choix des Mazarinades, ii., 310-313. See account copied in Motteville, 418-422. Dis. Ven., cxiii., 185, etc. Journal du Bourgeois de Paris, Mss. Bib. Nat., 10,275. * This view of Louis XlVth's education is not taken by all. It is, bow- ever, I think, correct. The letters of Mazarin and the queen show an inter- est, both active and rational, in their charge. The complaints of La Porte, on which many base their opinion, I regard as of very little value. He was a disappointed and untrustworthy courtier. St. Simon, in a well-known pas- sage (xii., 13, et seq.), has complained of the neglect of Louis' education. His strong prejudices do not prevent St. Simon's statements from having great value. There is no doubt Louis was not a well-educated man, but there is nothing to show any intentional or specially blameworthy neglect of his early training. THE EXILE OF MAZARIN". 143 little part in the control of his government, he commenced that life of solemn and wearisome display which for sixty- four years constituted in his own eyes and those of the world so important a part of his existence. The first valet of the chamber awakened him. His grand chamberlain and those who had the first entry came to view him when he "had donned his shirt. The first gentleman of the cham- ber presented the holy water. The great multitude of those entitled to the second entry found the king putting on his shoes, which he did himself with skill and grace. They saw him kneel at his bed to say his prayers, and the clergy, and even the cardinals, who were there, knelt also. His meals were served and watched, his devotions offered, his pleasures pursued with the same elaborate ceremonial, when he was a boy at the Palais Royal, and when he was an old and broken down man at Versailles, and of this his somewhat stolid mind never wearied during more than sixty long years. CHAPTER XIV. CONDI'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. THE confidence which the government gained from Louis' reaching his majority, was at once shown by some changes in the ministry. They were mostly those that had been agreed on in the alliance with the Frondeurs, but they were made without asking the consent of either Cond6 or Orleans. The seals were taken from Chancellor Seguier, and again given to Mole\ Chateauneuf was made chief of the Council of Despatches, and was regarded as first minister. The Marquis of Vieuville was made a duke and superintendent of the finances, a promotion which he owed to the friendly offices of the Palatine. He was a man about seventy years of age. In 1623 he had been appointed to the same office which he now obtained. He had been justly charged with corruption and removed by Richelieu. In his resentment he afterwards became im- plicated in the plots and intrigues of Monsieur and of Mary de Medici. His estate was declared confiscated, and he was condemned to death for contumacy in failing to appear before some court appointed for his trial. After the cardinal's death he had been declared innocent by the Parliament, and had begun 'again a career of unsuccessful in- trigue. Now, at last, his ambition found a strong support in the favor of the Princess Palatine for his son. By her intrigues, and by the promise of 400,000 livres in ready money to Mazarin, he again obtained the office which he had held thirty-eight years before. He was to have a brief enjoyment of it, and then to have his ambitions and intrigues quieted in the grave. 144 CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 145 The queen had already gratified her own desires by dismissing Chavigni. Mazarin's recommendation of him in the spring had done nothing towards removing the rancor which for eight years had festered in Chavigni's mind. 1 The cardinal justly regarded him as one of his ablest and bitterest opponents, and the queen viewed all men through Mazarin's eyes, and dismissed him from office. The first prince of the blood had been conspicuous by his absence at the celebration of the majority of Louis XIV. Refusing to be appeased by the public declaration of his innocence, Conde retired to meditate rebellion at Trie. He was now in a position where he must either make his peace with the government, or soon find himself in armed rebellion against it. There had gathered at St. Maur a great number of partisans and nobles to consult and join forces with the prince. " There were an infinite number," says Rochefoucauld, " of those uncertain per- sons who offer themselves at the beginning of parties, and betray or abandon them when their fears or their in- terests demand." Conde's court was as well filled with persons of quality as that of the king himself. Balls, comedies and gambling, the chase, and good cheer were mingled with plots and intrigues.* Though discontented with the Court, Conde seems to have hesitated at the prospect of a civil war. His lady-love, Mme. de Chatillon, had been gained in the interest of the Court, and she ad- vised measures of reconciliation. Rochefoucauld was variable in his counsels. The very keenness of the great satirist's mind, his ability to see every side of a problem, unfitted him for the role of a party leader. Rochefou- cauld was said to spend all his mornings creating imbrogl- ios, and all his evenings laboring for reconciliations.* He was becoming weary of the disappointments of rebellion, and willing to accept the more substantial advantages that came from favor at Court. But Mme. de Longueville, 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 269 et pas. Mazarin a Tellier. Mazarin claimed that Chavigni promised his friendship when he obtained his appointment, but such promises were rarely kept. ' Rochefoucauld, 271. ' Retz, iii., 118. 146 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. whom he had trained for a heroine, was now unwilling to abandon that part. The duke, her husband, was weary of rebellions the result of which was a prison. He did not care to risk imprisonment for the rest of his life in order to satisfy the immoderate ambitions of Conde. 1 He was now in his province of Normandy and expressed no political desire, except that his wife should cease to be the leader of armies and the lady-love of wits, and should return to her lawful spouse. 8 No prospect could have been so ap- palling to her. The duke was old and prosaic, and after her life of excitement to rejoin a gloomy and irritated husband, to lead a life of ennui amid the weariness and insipidity of provincial life was a peril from which she thought her brother should rescue her, even if he had to embroil all France in the endeavor. 3 " I do not love the chase, nor to walk through the woods, nor to play at games," she said; "I do not love innocent pleasures."' Her desire to begin hostilities was shared by others, and Conde finally resolved on that step. " They know little of parties," says Retz, who knew much of them, "who suppose that the chief of a party is its master." ' " It is not from desire," said the Prince, " that I take my sword from its scabbard, but when drawn it will not easily return there." ' But in truth Conde was full of discon- tent. He expected support in the south of France and aid from Spain, and believed that with his genius as a commander he could dictate terms to the king of France. The third civil war in the course of four years was begun almost without the pretence of any motive, except that Conde was irritated and his followers needed excitement. Having resolved on war, the prince at once proceeded 1 Dis. Ven., cxiii., 62. 1 His daughter, the Duchess of Nemours, says this desire was attributed to the Duke of Longueville rather than felt by him, and that her stepmother need not have been so greatly alarmed by the peril she imagined. Nemours, 645, 646. * " Le dit due se rend tous les jours plus difficile, soup9onneux et mes- fient." Garnet, vii.. 2. 4 Lettres de Madame, May 31, 1718. Dis. Ven. cxiii., in. 6 Retz, iii., 257. * Priolo, 352. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 147 southward. He received on his journey manifestations of popular favor which encouraged him in the step he had taken. Soon reaching his new province of Guienne, he was greeted at Bordeaux with every mark of public joy. He was popular on account of his own exploits and his wife's gallant conduct a year before. He came as the successor of the hated Duke of fipernon among a people who were ready for revolt^ The Parliament declared in his favor, and asked the union of the other Parliaments in the kingdom. 1 In this, as in all the rebellions of the period, those in insurrection at once sought an alliance with the enemies of the state. Conde had been negotiating with the Spanish for months, and Lenet was sent to Madrid to ob- tain a treaty with Spain.* He found a favorable reception from a people who hoped by fostering French discontents to recover what they had lost by French victories. Cond might gain for them as a rebel what he had won from them as a general. A treaty was signed betweed Philip IV. of Spain, and Cond, Conti, Rochefoucauld, Nemours, and Mme. de Longueville, by which it was agreed that Spain should furnish large sums of money and 10,000 men, partly in the south and partly in the north, the latter to act under the command of Turenne. The Spanish king was to be allowed to hold some post in the Gulf of Lyons until a final peace. No treaty should be made by either party until just terms were granted his Catholic Majesty, and satisfaction was given the Prince of Conde and his associates. 1 Conde's example was followed by others of his party. The Count of Marchin was governor of Catalonia and commanded the French army in that province. He suc- ceeded in seducing his soldiers from their allegiance, and 1 Dis. Ven., cxiii., 197. Lenet, 527-8. 1 Le Tellier wrote of Conde's intrigues with Spain, in May of this year, when the prince was an active member of the Royal Council. Mss. Bib. Nat., 4210., 379. ' This treaty is printed in " Mme. de Longueville pendant La Fronde," 387-400. It was signed subsequently by La Tremoille, Prince of Tarente. 148 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. led them to Condi's assistance, leaving Catalonia defence- less. Such atrocious treason in the desertion of his command in the face of the enemy was favorably viewed by Conde"s followers.' But the prince found less encourage- ment when he sought the aid of some of his former allies. The assistance of the Duke of Bouillon and his brother, the Marshal of Turenne, was justly regarded as of great importance. Both had taken an active part in the upris- ing which had Conde's liberation for its object. Bouillon was one of the most powerful of the French nobility, and Turenne's military genius rendered him a still more valu- able ally." But they were now wavering in their support. Neither thought that Conde" when liberated had shown any great appreciation of their services, or obtained for them any just reward. To them, as to all others, he had been ungrateful and overbearing in the hour of prosper- ity. " Among the prince's great qualities," Mazarin said, "he surely has not the gift of keeping his friends." 1 The cardinal fully understood the importance of gaining the support of the brothers, and he had in- structed the queen to spare no exertions to that end.* In the bidding for their favor the Court could offer the most and it obtained their aid. Bouillon was to have an enormous indemnity for the loss of Sedan, and Turenne to be commander of the king's armies. He knew that the object of the revolt was only to advance the interests of a small number of persons without regard to the public welfare, and he had long been anxious to leave the rebellious courses which he found little to his taste. 6 Rochefoucauld had obtained from Bouillon a prom- ise of his own and his brother's support. But they failed to respond and a little later, when satisfactory terms had been made, they declared themselves openly for the Court.' Conde" saw Longueville in person and extracted from 1 Montglat, 255. Aff. Etr. France, 879, p. n, etc. 9 " Turenne chi era, si puo dir, il suo Achille." Dis. Ven., cxiii., 126. 'Aff. Etr., 267, fo. 408. 4 " Conservarsi 1'affetto di questi due persdne." Mazarin a Oudedei, Aug. nth. * Mem. de Turenne, 433. * Rochefoucauld, 292-7, 303. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 149 him a promise of aid, but when the duke found himself safely in Normandy he left his brother-in-law and his wife to work out their own fate. The prince tried to gain the assistance of the Huguenots by granting favors to their churches, but they said that he sought only his own great- ness, and was always ready to sacrifice his friends and his cause. 1 He endeavored also to obtain aid from Cromwell, and he offered to England free trade with Guienne.* Orleans in the meantime remained at Paris in his usual fluctuating course. He formed no alliance with Cond ; he did not espouse the cause of the Court. Retz still gov- erned his conduct and sought to make him the leader of a third party, which, standing between the queen and Condd, should control the state, and itself be controlled by the coadjutor. Rctz justly said that such a part was far above Orleans' ability. But to make out of judges and bourgeois, wearied of tumult, a party which should nei- ther obey the king nor act with those in revolt against him, was a part beyond any one's capacity. Both Or- leans and Bouillon endeavored to act as peacemakers be- tween the hostile parties. Liberal offers were made to Cond6 for himself and his friends, but he was now in no mood to accept any terms. He sent word to Bouillon that it was no longer time to listen to propositions which would not be carried out. If he would declare in his fa- vor, as he had promised, and Turenne would assume the command of the troops at Stenai, he would then be in condition to* listen to the offers of the Court and make a treaty that would be sure and glorious.' The majority had been proclaimed and Cond was in open rebellion. Anne and the council decided therefore to proceed to the seat of hostilities. Mazarin had long insisted on the king's leaving Paris. Away from there intrigues would diminish ; it would be going from captivity to liberty. He would be king in fact, and not merely 1 Retz to Charrier, letter of Oct. 26, 1651. 'Dis. Ven., cxiv., 29, Aff. Etr. England, 61., 34. * Rochefoucauld, 305-306. Gourville, 502-503. 150 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. king in name. 1 No party in Paris was in condition to oppose such a step, though the bitter Frondeurs lamented afterwards, that when they allowed the king to escape from the city they committed a fatal error, and left open the way for Mazarin's return and triumph. There was some uncer- tainty as to whether the Court should proceed north to be nearer the scene of hostilities with Spain, or go south to oppose Conde. Anne favored the former course. It would bring her nearer to Mazarin and make it easy for her soon to meet with him. But Chateauneuf of all things most dreaded such a meeting and he insisted on going south, where Conde's active measures needed prompt attention. It was wisely decided that in the south was the most immi- nent danger. On the 26th of September Louis with his mother and his principal officers left Paris. They proceeded to Fontainebleau where they remained until October 2d, and then moved southward into Berri.* Condi's success when commanding the king's armies did not attend him when he had taken up arms against them. Such forces as he could gather were for the most part ill disciplined, and his genius as a bold and dashing general in a pitched battle was little adapted to the semi-guerilla warfare which was now waged. Har- court commanded the king's forces with his usual good fortune. Cond6 endeavored to excite the central prov- inces to insurrection and to save Guienne from being the seat of war, but he failed in both endeavors. Bourges opened its gates to the king. Cognac was- rescued by Harcourt in the sight of the prince. Cond6 had hoped to enlist La Rochelle in his cause, and its governor, Daugnon, promised his aid. But the inhabitants of the city were weary of Daugnon's oppression and tyranny, and were now faithful subjects of the king. Harcourt marched there and obtained possession of the place. In order to attack the tower of St. Nicholas, Harcourt had a ship covered with 1 "La meilleure nouvelle que je pourrais recevoir sera celle que leurs majestes soient hors de Paris, "etc., Mazafin a Lionne, July 4th. Aff. Etr. France, 267. Mazarin i Millet, Aug. 8th. Aff. Etr. Fr., 268, et passim. 1 Motteville, 424, 425. CONDE'S REBELLION AND AfAZARIN'S RETURN. !$! plates of iron to protect it from fire. This iron-clad moved successfully up to the tower, and as the miners began to sap the walls the place surrendered. 1 Cond refused to accept the terms offered by Miradoux, and the town was defended with such vigor that it held out against its assail- ants until assistance could reach it. Some small skir- mishes took place between the armies, with the advantage mostly with Harcourt, but though much superior in num- bers he hesitated to risk a pitched battle against Conde 1 . The prince was, however, obliged to fall back to Agen in Guienne, and the campaign was one of almost uninter- rupted success for the forces of the king.* While Cond6 was waging an unsuccessful war against the government, Paris continued in an uncertain position between the combatants. A declaration against Cond6 and his followers was presented to the Parliament in November, but Orleans had not entirely broken with the prince and he prevented its immediate registra- tion. 1 Retz had at last obtained what had been so long promised. On September 2ist he received the nomination for the cardinalate. It was sent to Rome, and the coad- jutor at once began active intrigues to obtain the promo- tion from the Pope, before his nomination could be revoked by the Court. By gratifying this long-cherished ambition Mazarin hoped that he could now obtain Retz's active support. 4 He obtained the promise but not the performance. At the Court Retz professed hostility to Cond, to prevent the revocation of his nomination. At Paris he professed hostility to Mazarin to preserve his favor with the people, and in his heart he was resolved to do nothing to assist the return of the man, who distrusted him and whom he despised. If Mazarin was again in power his own prospect of becoming minister would fade away. While Paris and its leaders endeavored to preserve a 1 La Borde, " De Rebus Gallicis/'dsS. "Rochefoucauld, 308-340. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 14, et pas. 'Journal du Temps, 115-137. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 47-51. * Lettres de Mazarin a la Reine, Sept. I2th, et pas. 152 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. position of neutrality, Mazarin continued to prepare for his return to France. He had already been absent much longer than he had expected when he fled from the Palais Royal in February. His desire for a speedy return had been strong. A long absence would allow others to fill his place. Firm as he felt the queen's affection to be, time and absence might shake it, and he was alarmed at occasional reports that she consoled herself for his loss. Mme. de Chevreuse said that the queen's attachment for the cardinal could not survive eighteen months of ab- sence. 1 He had hoped to secure his return through Conde's influence, and that hope had failed. Lionne and Servien had not procured it, and Mazarin complained had not really desired it. After the Palatine, Mme. de Chev- reuse, and the coadjutor had allied themselves with the queen in the early summer, he believed that he could soon return to Paris, but his friends advised him that the time had not yet come. 2 His letters were full of querulous complaints that he was neglected and left in needy and hopeless exile.' When Louis reached his majority, the cardinal felt sure that the hands of the government would be so strength- ened that its favorite minister could be recalled, but as he read the fierce abuse with which he was attacked in the declaration, granted in September to soothe the people and the Parliament, he was filled with dismay. He wrote the queen on September 26th : " I have taken my pen ten times to write you, and have not been able. After the mortal blow which I have just received, I do not know if what I can say will have rhyme or reason. The king and queen have declared 'me a traitor, a public fobber, inefficient, and the enemy of the repose of Christianity, after I have served them with so great fidelity and so 1 Lettres de Mazarin a la Reine, 340. * He wrote Fouquet in June, that the reports of his return excited the activity of his enemies and he saw little hope for his affairs. Mss. Bib. Nat. , 23,202., 26. 1 " En un chemin d'aller a grands pas a la mendicit^," he says in one letter, Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202., 16. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN' S RETURN. 153 r .-cat success. * * * The most zealous of ministers passes now for an infamous wretch. * * He has been declared the most criminal and abominable of men. * * * It is no longer a question of wealth or repose or of whatever else. I demand the honor which has been taken from me." " I must be insensible," he wrote to Bartet, " if I were not troubled when my master has declared me in so ignominious terms a traitor, the enemy of France and of the human race. Siron will tell you the condition I am in, and the just reasons which I have for saying that I am the most unhappy of men." ' But he was soon consoled by the assurance that it was not the queen's heart that had spoken in the declaration. It was suggested that in view of the hatred felt against Mazarin, it might be well to have him attend to the inter- ests of France at Rome ; but he declined to return to his birthplace and beg alms from the Pope.* He had long advised the king's departure from Paris, and when once the Court was out of that city, he saw the way open for his return. For the Palatine and the coadjutor he now pro- fessed the warmest friendship, and he endeavored to ob- tain from Retz that open aid which the nomination for the cardinalate gave him the right to expect.' He surpassed even the usual exuberance of his professions of amity in his utterances about the coadjutor. " I assure you," he wrote the Princess Palatine, " that Mazarin will follow blindly the counsels of the coadjutor and Mme. de Chev- reuse." " " I have been charmed," he writes another, " at all you send me from the coadjutor, and I learn with great pleasure the assurance of his friendship. I am sure he will never have reason to doubt mine. * * * I pray you give him my congratulations in advance on his pro- motion, and tell him that they come from the heart, and that I am persuaded nothing could be more advantageous 1 Leitres de Mazarin a la Reine, 291-3, 301. * Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202, 14-16, letter of Sept. i8th, " a demander 1'au- mosne entre les mains du Pape." * Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202, pieces 6, 16, etc. 4 Letter of Oct. 3, 1651. 154 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAR1N. for the king, and for my own interests, than to see him in possesssion of that dignity." '. " This friendship," he writes again to the Palatine, " must be subject to no change. I see that the coadjutor and Mazarin have the same thoughts, condemn the same things, apprehend the same evils. * * * I beseech you to tell Retz that I will serve him sincerely, and that he will never have occa- sion to complain of me." * " My letters," he says again, "will have confirmed the coadjutor in the belief that I desire nothing more eagerly than to form an indissoluble friendship with him." A place in the ministry, the marriage of a niece of Mazarin to one of Retz's nephews, the assurance of the cardinalate, a practical duumvirate in which he and Maz- arin should unite in the government of France, were sug- gested as baits to draw the coadjutor to an open and active support. But Retz was not to be cajoled by promises. He was himself full of fair professions, and Mazarin seems, during part of the autumn, to have be- lieved, or at least hoped, that Retz was sincere in his alliance, and that he would declare openly for his return from exile. But the coadjutor could not be led to any open declaration. Mazarin sought to have a meeting with him, where they could agree upon the policy to be pursued. Retz professed himself ready for such a meet- ing, but objections were raised to every place that was proposed for it, and it never took place. While the co- adjutor declared his friendship for Mazarin, he employed himself in working secretly against him, to prevent his again obtaining the power he had lost. In one thing he was sincere, and that was his hostility to Cond, and to the fear that he might ally himself with the prince and enlist Orleans and Paris in his support, he owed it that the Court did not revoke his nomination. " I have said a hundred times," Retz told a representative of the queen, " that I will make no terms with the prince if my nomination is 1 Aff. Etr., France, t. 268, letter of Nov. I3th. 1 Let. of Nov. igth. ' Let. of Dec. 5th. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 155. not revoked, and that I will make terms and don the Isabel scarf to-morrow if they even threaten its revocation." Cond manifested his hostility by endeavors to prevent Retz's promotion as cardinal and even by attempting to kidnap him. In October, Gourville, a bold and unscrupu- lous adventurer, who had, by vigor and daring, raised him- self from obscurity to wealth and esteem, together with a party of reckless followers, acting under Conde's com- mand, resolved to seize the coadjutor, and carry him as a captive to Damvilliers. The prince would thus be freed from his restless opposition, and if in the scuffle that might arise the coadjutor were killed, that would be equally satisfactory. They came up from Guienne, and Gourville relates with much complacency that, funds being low, he captured a collector of taxes, took from him 5,000 livres and some horses, and giving him a receipt for the funds as taken for the service of the prince, proceeded on his way. Reaching Paris, they decided that Retz's nocturnal visits furnished the best opportunity for seizing him and conveying him out of the city. They lay in wait for him one night when he should come out from the Hotel Chevreuse very late, as was his custom, but he chanced to go home by an unaccustomed way. The plot was discov- ered and confessed by some of those engaged in it, and the coadjutor for a while escaped the prison to which his tortuous policy was slowly leading him. 1 Mazarin now resolved to attempt the return, which had been so often forbidden and so long apprehended. He marched at the head of an army to join the Court and assume again the position from which he had been driven, and he abandoned at last the timid policy to which he was addicted. He left Briihl, hired an army of German mercenaries, and with this command he slowly moved nearer the French boundary. 11 The regent was eager for his return, but she was surrounded by those who ad- vised against it. Chateauncuf had promised Mazarin his 1 Loret, Muse. His., 180. Gourville, 498-500. Letter of Retz to Char- rier, Nov. 27, 1651. * Aff. Etr. France, 268, Mazarin to Fabert, Oct. 22d. 156 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. aid, but he had no thought of giving it. 1 This, he said, was not the time for his return. The king's armies had been victorious over Conde\ Soon all revolt would be sub- dued ; but at this time for Mazarin to reappear would drive Paris and half of France to Conde's assistance. Some of Mazarin's friends, however, were of the opinion that he should come at once, and the queen preferred their advice. " The poor man," she said often, " when shall we see him again?" On November I7th, Mazarin received instructions from the king to return to France and again rejoin the Court.' He did not, however, at once obey the summons. He was resolved that when he returned it should be with a force that should ensure his entry, and with which he could claim to be marching to strengthen the armies of the king. Some time was em- ployed in raising troops and in negotiations with the Duke of Lorraine and with Cromwell. Though Mazarin had lamented the poverty to which he was reduced, he was still able, from his resources, to raise an army of 5,000 men, who wore the green scarf, the colors of the cardinal. At Dinant he issued a manifesto addressed to the king and explaining his return to France. He would have continued to live in exile, it said, if his misfortune would have contributed to the welfare of France. But instead of that affairs had grown worse, and everywhere were con- fusion and disorder. With the authorization of their majesties, he had resolved to employ his feeble resources for the defence of their cause having for his only end to expose his life for the good of France, for his only wish the repose and glory of that kingdom. 4 On December 24, 1651, he entered France. He was received by the governors and officers of the places where he went with the honors due the minister of the king, .and the firing of artillery and military salutes greeted the returning exile. The Marshal of Hocquincourt, with 3,300 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4212, Le Tellier a Mazarin, 260. 5 Mss. Bib. Nat. ,4230, Letter of Oct. 24, 1651. 1 Let. de Mazarin a la Reine, 372-7. An order to lead hi.s army into France was given Dec. I3th. 4 Aff. Etr. France, vol. 268., 416. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 157 of the royal forces, accompanied him in his march into the kingdom. 1 His progress was deliberate, but uninterrupted. He met with no more serious opposition than two mes- sengers from the Parliament, who were sent to induce the cities and provinces to take up arms against his return. Hocquincourt captured one of the messengers, and the other took to his heels." The cardinal proceeded through Champagne, crossed the Seine, and on January 16, crossed the Loire and entered Berri.* But though his return ex- cited little feeling among the provinces through which he passed, it aroused fierce commotion in the Parliament and among the remnants of the old Fronde. In Paris there was indeed little excitement among the bulk of the popu- lation. The better and middle classes were for the most part beginning to weary of broils, and to think the presence of Mazarin no more odious than the turbulence and self- ish ambition of those who stirred up civil war from op- position to his presence. Prosperous trade and the pipe of peace under Mazarin, might be as well as serving in the patrol and closing their shops under Orleans or Cond6. But the Parliamentary leaders were still eager in the cause which was fast losing its popular support. The declaration against Conde had been finally regis- tered early in December by a vote of 124 to 40. To the last Orleans opposed this, but though he succeeded in delaying it, he could not prevent it. 4 Conde's followers endeavored to excite a riot in Paris. The mob burst into Mole's room, howling for peace, and accusing the present ministry, but he calmed them with his usual intrepidity, and the officers of the city took measures to prevent such disturbances.' Soon, however, Orleans was able to alarm the Parliament by sure intelligence that Mazarin was 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209.. 304. " Dis. Ven., cxiv., 88, 96 " Salvatosi 1'altro con la fugga." 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202, p. 26g. Mazarin to AbbeFouquet, Jan. 18, 1652, wrongly dated 1653. " Les habitants ont tesmoigne' une veritable joye de mon retour. " 4 Dis. Ven., cxiv., 57, 58. The ambassador justly described the vote as 124 for the king and 40 for Conde. p. 58. Talon, 447-452. * Dis. Ven., cxiv., 64, Dec. I2th. 158 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAR1N. attempting to return. The warnings of such a danger had been frequent, and when it was known that the cardinal was leading an army through France, it was no longer possible to disregard them. The most violent and fac- tious of the popular tribunes obtained the ear of the Parliament, and on December 2gth a decree was passed, -which would not have been unworthy of the revolutionary tribunal. By it a reward of a hundred and fifty thousand livres was offered to whoever should bring Mazarin before justice, dead or alive. Should the person who might gain this reward have been guilty of any crime, pardon for it was to be granted. 1 The assassin who added to his other crimes the murder of a cardinal, would receive pardon for the past, and wealth for the future. This reward, which, as the advocate-general justly said, would not have been offered for the capture of bandits or pirates, was to be paid by the sale of the great library which Mazarin had slowly and laboriously collected for the use of the scholars of his own day and of all time. It was resolved to proceed at once with the sale of these books." To gather them had been for Mazarin a labor of love, and he hoped to leave them as a noble benefaction to Paris, the city of his adoption. They had been collected from every quarter and at great cost. Even in his instructions to the gen- erals, Mazarin often added to plans for a campaign, or for the capture of a city, the request that any rare or valuable book found might be saved and sent to his library. 8 Every endeavor was made to purchase the library as a whole, that its contents might not be scattered, never again to be collected. But the Parliament proceeded with an ignorance and malice which might have been ex- pected from communists rather than from judges. Dur- ing all the month of January, the destruction of the great "library proceeded by the sale of the books in small lots. 4 1 Journal du Parlement, 1651, 158, 159. 8 Journal du Parlement, 1651, 161. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 81. Talon, 458- 460. ' See his letters passim. 4 Colbert says that the members of the Parliament who had charge of- the sale, stole many of the valuable books. Lettres de Colbert, i., 215. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN' S RETURN, 159 " One could not re-collect them," lamented Mazarin, " in fifty years with a million of money. There were fifty-four thousand volumes. I had sent all over the world to gather the most curious. I had spent a hundred thousand crowns for a building proper to put them in. All this to make a present of them to Paris, and the Parliament has sold them at a ruinous price to use the money to murder me." ' This piece of brutal vandalism was not accompanied by any acts which might really have hindered Mazarin's re- turn. The Parliament fired declarations at him, but it would do nothing towards firing cannon. A counsellor said that the soldiers under Mazarin's command would make merry over the deliberations of the Parliament, unless they were conveyed to them by bailiffs with good muskets and good pikes, but the Parliament decided that the enlistment of men of war belonged only to the king." The judges contented themselves with sending a deputa- tion to Louis, to inform him of the evils that would follow Mazarin's return, and to ask that the cardinal be driven from the kingdom, in conformity with numerous royal declarations. The deputation was informed that the Parliament doubtless was not aware that Mazarin had raised no troops save by the express order of the king, and that by his command he had entered France. While his majesty, therefore, would not censure what had been done, he doubted not that when the Parliament re- ceived this information and knew that the cardinal de- manded only an opportunity to justify himself, it would set an example of obedience to the people of the king- dom.' The judges were put in no better humor by re- ceiving this response. They endeavored again to excite opposition to Mazarin's entry into the kingdom, they in- vited the cooperation of the other Parliaments, and they 1 Mazarin a Fouquet, Jan. n, 1652, Cipher Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202. Ib. 4209., 327, Mazarin a Le Tellier. * Retz, Hi., 292, 293. Journal du Parlement, 1652, 171, et sff. ' Talon, 460-463. Journal du Parlement, called " Histoire du temps present," 173-177. l6o FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. declared the Marshal of Hocquincourt and all his posterity responsible if he refused to release the messenger of the Parliament of Paris whom he held a prisoner. 1 Having 7,000 soldiers with him, Hocquincourt was little alarmed for himself, and left his posterity to its fate. Nothing delayed the steady progress of the cardinal's army tow- ards Poitiers. 8 As the time for their reunion drew near, his letters to the queen show plainly enough the nature of their rela- tions. " My God," he wrote in December, " when is it that the queen and Mazarin shall be happy! " "All shall perish," he wrote on the 26th, "or I will see you in fifteen days. In saying this, I am beside myself. Think, I pray you, what will happen when Mazarin shall see the queen." "When will it be," he wrote again in January, " that one shall have repose, and that Mazarin shall enjoy it near the queen ! I will not begin to speak of that, for I should not soon finish. Believe only that I will be yours till the last sigh." ' Anne was no less desirous for his return. Such was her eagerness, that the courtiers said the cardinal had either bewitched her or married her. " The cardinal is good and wise," she replied; "he has affection for the state, for the king, and for me." On January 29, 1652, Mazarin reached Poitiers where the Court then was. Louis with his brother went out two leagues to meet him, and the cardinal was driven into the city in the carriage of the king. It was said the queen stood for an hour at the window watching for him to appear. 5 The merchants and citizens of Poitiers con- 1 Talon, 462. Retz to Charrier, Letter of January igth. * "Continua il Cardinal Mazarin la sua marchia verso la corte con la fe- licita piu desiderabile e riceve in tutti i luochiglihonori piuconspicui." De- spatch of Jan. 16, 1652. * Lettres de Mazarin a la Reine 450, 467, 480. It is unnecessary to say that these letters are in cipher, but I have translated the symbols used to designate Mazarin and the queen. 4 Letter of Le Tellier of Dec. 28th, Mss. Bib. Nat., 6887. 6 Mem. de Joly. Talon says she received him with indifference, 463. Neither were eye-witnesses of the reception, and the gossip from the Court probably gave different reports. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. l6l gratulated him and expressed their pleasure at his return. 1 He did not immediately assume his position in the royal council, but he at once became the real head of the gov- ernment. The members of the council were willing to be the instruments of his views. Le Tellier had been re- warded for his zeal by recall to office in December, but Chateauneuf's love for place could not reconcile him to the bitterness of holding it under Mazarin. He had sought to prevent or to delay his return, but that return was now accomplished. Full of years, and of disap- pointed ambitions, Chateauneuf retired to Tours and promised that he would not leave there without permis- sion. 2 A few days later than this, on the igth of February, Retz received the promotion for which he had so long hoped and labored. His intrigues at the Court of Rome are a curious chapter in the religious history of the time.* Immediately on receiving the royal nomination, Retz had dispatched the Abb Charrier as his confidential agent to secure his promotion from the Pope at the earliest possi- ble moment. The abbe, by his unscrupulous zeal in in- trigue, had received the appellation, not altogether appro- priate to his religious calling, of " Charrier the devil." There was at Rome a field well suited for the exercise of the talents which he possessed. The Pope, Innocent X., had long been under the control of his sister-in-law, Olympia Maldalchini. Whether her ability, which was great, or her personal charms, which were not small, had gained her this power, she possessed and exercised it without stint. She watched over the pontiff in his illness ; concealed behind the curtain, she listened to his audiences with foreign ministers ; ambassa- 1 Dis. Ven., cxiv., 112. 1 Mss. Bibl. Nat., 23,202., 29, Mazarin a Fouquet. "I would gladly have lived in friendship with him," Mazarin says, "but he was controlled by advices from Paris." " For the account of Retz's intrigues in reference to the affair of the car- dinalate, I am indebted to the curious letters of Retz which M . Chantelauze has discovered. l62 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. dors called on her as the representative of the papal power ; her portrait adorned the palaces of cardinals, and her treasury was filled with the bribes of those who sought ecclesiastical preferment. " Olympia primus, Pontifex maximus," ran the satirical legend. A medal showed her on the one side with the tiara and the keys of St. Peter, and Innocent on the other with the distaff and the spindle. " Donna Olympia," wrote the Venetian ambasssador, "sells, taxes, hires, receives presents for all the acts of government, for favors and for justice. Pretty in her person, agreeable in her conversation, indifferent to all the princes, she is for him who gives the most." Her avarice was beyond all bounds. She was said to have established a tariff for ecclesiastical offices, to have de- demanded almost a third of their revenues, and to have insisted on payment in advance. From all this corruption and bribery she was thought to have accumulated a for- tune of 25,000,000 livres. 1 The great palace Pamfili built for Innocent X., and the palace Doria Pamfili still stand, gorgeous results of this ill-gained wealth. In the Doria palace is a portrait of Olympia, showing her eager, stern, and determined. There also is the portrait of Innocent X., with his soft, expressionless face. " On a red chair, before a red tapestry, under a red hat, in a red cloak, a red figure the figure of a worn-out pedant." ' With such a person as Olympia the coadjutor had not failed to be on friendly terms. " You will readily believe," says Retz, in his memoirs, " that it would not have been easy to induce me to give money for a cardinal's hat." We can judge of the truthfulness of this claim from what we find in his private letters to his agent. He raised and borrowed from his friends 450,000 livres as much as half a million dollars now and this vast sum, either in money or in the shape of precious stones and other costly presents, he put at Charrier's disposal. He writes : " I have 150,000 crowns at my disposition, which, in my 1 For these details see Ranke, " History of the Popes," and " Vita di Alessandro VII.," by Pallabicino. ' Taine's Italy, 265. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 163 judgment should not be spared if it were to gain only a moment." ' " Be careful not to give your money injudi- ciously and unless you are sure of what is promised ; but also spare nothing to succeed and find no fault with what is demanded." 4 "Above all, spare nothing to succeed, and by giving, giving, for you know the rascals of the country." ' " I send you some embroidered English gloves," writes the archbishop to the abb6 on the seventh of November, " to give to whom you wish, even to some of your own mistresses. Though you draw bills of ex- change for 50,000 crowns they shall be promptly paid, therefore spare nothing, though it should advance the mat- ter only by quarter of an hour." Intrigues and plottings made the coadjutor a hard-working priest. " It is five in the morning," he writes in one of his letters, " and I have worked since six last night, so excuse mistakes in the cipher. I pray God that the Pope will give a plenary in- dulgence to your rheumatic shoulder." ' Unfortunately for Retz, at the time of his nomination Olympia was under a temporary cloud. But the Princess of Rossano was then believed to be in high favor with Innocent, and the money at Charrier's command made it easy to secure her assistance. The secretary of state, however, was now Fabio Chigi, who had been the nuncio at Cologne, and afterwards became Pope Alexander VII. He was a man of a different stamp from the Barberini and the Pamfili, strict in his religious belief, inaccessible to bribery, stern against the abuses that had grown up about the papacy, and the infamous influences of such women as Olympia. Nothing gave Retz more embarrass- ment than dealing with an adviser of the Pope who ob- jected to heresy, and was insensible to bribery. He was embarrassed between the desire of gaining Chigi's favor, and the fear of offending him by an endeavor to purchase 1 Letter to Charrier of October 1st. These letters to Charrier, and the other letters cited in reference to these intrigues of Retz, are published in the second volume of the interesting work of M. Chantelauze, " Retz et 1' Affaire du Chapeau." Letter of October 5th. ' Letter of October I2th. * Letter of Nov. 25th. 164 PRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MA /.A KIN. it. All that Chigi was willing to accept was a ring, which could not with good manners be declined. Such virtue seemed problematical to the coadjutor. " Perhaps, after all," he wrote Charrier late in November, " what M. Chigi is seeking in all these difficulties is money as well as rings. Keep watch of that adroitly." The nomination of Retz was favorably received by In- nocent X. Retz had long been assured by those who stood near the Pope, that if he could obtain the royal nomination his promotion would easily follow. Innocent had never relaxed his hostility to Mazarin, and as the coadjutor had made himself hateful to the minister, he had become dear to the pontiff. When the nomination was officially announced to Innocent, he replied with a smiling face that the coadjutor was a good Frenchman and a good ecclesiastic. He felt great satisfaction that the king had recognized his parts and his fidelity. 1 The French ambassador at first solicited the Pope in good faith to accord the promotion, but soon his zeal in this behalf abated. Though the nomination of Retz was not revoked by the French Court, Brienne's letters presently suggested to the ambassador that he should nominally hasten the promotion and really delay it, that the Court might obtain from Retz a more active and open support. The fear that he would ally himself with Condd, kept for him the nomination, and during all these months of in- trigue Retz believed, and believed justly, that the Court would not dare to revoke it." But when the promotion was once accorded all hold on Retz was gone. There remained his promises of gratitude which he probably would not keep, and his ambition for the ministry which the queen did not intend to gratify. Only by forcing him to an open declaration for Mazarin and the Court, could the coadjutor be put in a position where possibly he might help and certainly he could not harm. The Bailly of Valengay was the French ambassador at Rome, 1 Letter of the Bailly of Valer^ay to Brienne, of October 9, 1651. 1 Letter of Retz, of Feb. 9, 1652. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 165 and as he himself cherished hopes of being made a car- dinal, he was willing enough to do what he could to delay Retz's elevation. He was not however in a position where he could accomplish much. A French consul at Civita Vecchia had been treated in an arbitrary and un- warranted manner by the officers of the Pope, and the bailly, after a violent interview, ceased his visits at the Vatican. He claimed, however, that the best way to retard the promotion would be to have it supposed that the French Court was eager for it, as he had to deal with a Pope who always wished to do the reverse of what the king desired. 1 An open and strenuous opposition to Retz's ambition was interposed by the Prince of Cond6. Cond had no desire to see his inveterate enemy clothed with the dignity of the purple, and entitled to the prece- dence which the French Court granted to cardinals. He had for his agent one Montreuil, well known for his wit and gallantry, who amused the Pope, without however accomplishing much by the ingenious intrigues he en- deavored to weave. A more dangerous obstacle to Retz's pretensions was the charge that he was a close ally of the Jansenists and inclined to favor their heresies. The quarrel of Jansen- ism was then raging fiercely, and the Jansenists were re- garded as little better than Protestants at the papal Court. They were believed capable of a dangerous insubordina- tion to the papal authority, and the influence of the Jesu- its at Rome was vigorously exercised against these enemies. The secretary, Chigi, when he himself became Pope, used all his authority for the overthrow of the follow- ers of Jansen, and to him the accusation of a tendency to such beliefs was the most injurious that could be made. The Pope demanded of Retz before his promotion a writ- ten denial of any such heresies. No one was less apt to be involved in any doctrinal difficulties, than the coadju- tor. He was neither a Molenist nor a Jansenist, and re- garded questions of efficacious and sufficient grace with 1 Letter of the Bailly of Vtxler^ay, December nth. 1 66 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAKIN. philosophical indifference. 1 " It is wrong to accuse him of being a Jansenist," said a pamphleteer, " for, before a man can be a Jansenist, he must first be a Christian." The Abbe" Charrier had been furnished with letters signed in blank to be filled in case of necessity, and he accordingly wrote over Retz's signature an equivocal denial of any tendency to Jansenism and presented it to Chigi. The coadjutor was much pleased with this device, and wrote approvingly to the abbe" : " I know already all the interview you had with M. Chigi on Jansenism, and how to amuse him you wrote a forged letter, of which I much approve." But Retz hesitated about committing himself in any formal manner on this subject. His political career had brought him in close relations with many disciples and friends of the Port Royal, who were largely found on the side of the Fronde. If he was disappointed in his hopes of promotion, to become a leader of the Jansenist move- ment might gratify his restless activity, and enable him to show the Pope that in rejecting a useful ally he had made a dangerous enemy. He directed his agent to suggest this possibility as one of the reasons for his promotion. " It is just," he wrote, " that I should sustain my position by doing either good or evil ; which, will depend on the treat- ment that I receive. On this subject you must let yourself be understood, rather than speak openly, and as you have al- ways been a great knave, I do not doubt that you will per- form this commission well. Remember to suggest Jansenism as something in which resentment may engage me, though I have as yet taken no part in it." " " It is for the interest of the Court of Rome not to light a fire in France which would be extinguished with difficulty, and which would arouse spirits who are now sleeping in a Christian and sub- missive peace, but who little by little might even withdraw themselves from the obedience of the church." He sent, however, in February a letter to Charrier which might be shown to the Pope, full of subtlety and eloquence, in which he claimed a righteous indignation that any such 1 Guy Joly, 69. * Letter of Nov. 25th. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. l6/ declaration should be asked from him, and said that he would rather die by martyrdom, than corrupt by temporal considerations the testimony of his conscience. He sug- gested, however, rather than asserted, in language worthy of a father of the church, the views which he held and his veneration for the church's head. A more ingenious letter was never written, nor a better example given of how far intellect, without conviction, can furnish the language of sincerity and religious faith. Other considerations besides Jansenism were suggested to hasten the Pope's action. Retz made a cardinal could be a far more powerful adversary to Mazarin, whom the Pope hated. The States-General might soon be held and Retz would be a member. With a cardinal's hat, he would there be the powerful defender of the authority of the church. Without it, his great influence might be used in ways that would be prejudicial and dangerous. 1 There is little reason to doubt that Innocent intended from the first to make Retz a cardinal, but he proceeded with the deliberation always characteristic of the papacy, and he wished to make other promotions at the same time. The unwelcome news of Mazarin's return to France hastened the Pope's action. Retz had often suggested the possibility that his nomination might be recalled. " Claim always," he wrote Charrier in January, " that you fear a revocation. Not that, between you and me, I be- lieve my nomination will be soon revoked, but it is well that you should talk in this manner." If Mazarin actually intended to revoke the nomination, Innocent at the last gave him no opportunity. The French ambassador was kept in entire ignorance of the Pope's intentions. On the 1 2th of February, the bailly wrote that he did not believe any promotion would take place during Lent, and that Providence was assisting the Court in its desire for delay, until the coadjutor could render service before receiving his recompense. The ambassador had been ordered to resume his visits at the Vatican, and had de- 1 Letter, Dec. i8th. 1 68 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. manded an audience for Friday of the week of the ipth of February. On the morning of the ipth, the Pope an- nounced the promotion of ten cardinals. Secretary Chigi was one of them, and Retz was another. His letter on Jansenism had not yet been received, but Innocent had resolved to delay no longer. " All the world agrees," wrote the bailly, " that the true reason for the Pope's decision was the fear that there should arrive a change in the French nomination." "Yesterday," said the Gazette of France of the 2d of March, " was received the happy news of the promotion made by his Holiness of the coadjutor of Paris to the cardinalate, which has spread an incredible joy in the hearts of all worthy men, who believe the great virtues of this learned prelate fitly honored by the purple. For one can form no other judgment, than that these are so many steps, by which he mounts to this sublime dignity of the church." Mazarin joined in the congratulations which the new cardinal received, but he ordered a severe reprimand sent to the ambassador for having failed to hinder the promotion. Retz had at last received this long-desired honor. It was to prove the end of his po- litical career, and he claimed in after years to regret that he had obtained what he sought so eagerly, so skilfully, and so unscrupulously. The alliance between Orleans and Conde, which had lotig been eagerly pressed by the prince and coyly de- clined by the duke, was brought about by Mazarin's return. Orleans said that he would rather become a Turk, than con- sent to the cardinal's reestablishment. 1 On the 24th of Jan- uary, 1652, a treaty was signed by which the two princes bound themselves to call together the States-General, and to make no peace until Mazarin should again be expelled.* In this treaty Retz did not join. Mazarin's threatened return had compelled him to take some definite position, and he declared to the Court, that while friendly to the cardinal, he must oppose his return. But the cardinal's 1 Let., Dec. 16, 1651, Aff. Etr. France, 877. 1 Aff. Etr. France, t. 88, piece 60. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 169 hat which he received kept him so far faithful to the interests of the king, that he did not ally himself with Conde, but continued to oppose that prince with pamph- lets and subterranean plottings. 1 From all this turmoil of intrigue and confusion, he still hoped to find himself either the leader of a third party, or the successor to Mazarin's power. He was apparently willing, however, that Orleans should ally himself with the Prince of Conde and he nursed his hostility to Mazarin." Important military changes soon followed the new alliance, but the operations of the king's troops continued to be successful. In Anjou, the Duke of Rohan Chabot had invited the inhabitants to declare for Cond. This nobleman had become illustrious by marriage, and he was under deep obligations to the prince for his great fortune. 1 Henri de Chabot, a gentleman of Poitou, of no large estate gained the affections of Marguerite de Rohan, the daugh- ter and the heiress of the name and great possessions of the heroic Duke of Rohan. It was said that his grace at balls and ballets attracted her attention, and that he danced into fortune. Such a marriage was far above the rank of Chabot, but he had been supported in his suit by Conde, had gained his bride, and had himself, been made a duke, with the title of Rohan Chabot. He now at- tempted in Anjou to make a vigorous opposition to the king's forces. They proceeded to lay siege. to the city of Angers, and all France was for a while in suspense, watch- ing the outcome which might have produced important results, if the defence had been long and vigorous. 4 The command of the forces of Orleans was given to the Duke of Beaufort, and he attempted to lead reinforcements to the city. His movements were slow, and Rohan's defence was pusillanimous.' On the 28th of February the gates 1 "Je perirais plutot que de me racommoder avec ce traitre." Retz to Charrier, letter of Jan. 19, 1652. " Mazarin a Fouquet, March 4, 1652. Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202. 1 For the family of Chabot, see " Histoire de Poitou " by Thibeaudeau, ii., 49. * Rochefoucauld, 325. * Letter of Beaufort, Aff. Eir. France, 889., 6l. 170 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of Angers were opened to the royal troops, and the im- portant province of Anjou became subject to the royal authority. The Duke of Rohan had permission to retire to Paris. " He commenced as a Rohan, he has finished as a Chabot," said the Duke of Orleans. In the south of France, the insurgents were no more successful. Harcourt continued his series of small victories, and Cond was harassed by the internal discords which had arisen in Bordeaux, and which were to be the ruin of his party in Guienne. He had been urged by many of his followers to leave that province, proceed toward Paris, and assume command of the forces which were assembled in that part of the kingdom. He was annoyed by the de- feats his party had sustained, and impatient to leave a province with whose dissensions he was unfitted to deal, and where his scanty forces compelled him constantly to retreat before the enemy. 1 On Palm Sunday he started on his journey, accompanied by only six followers, and disguised as a servant of the Marquis of LeVy. The party travelled with great rapid- ity and were exposed to many perils. In eight days they traversed one hundred and twenty leagues almost with- out change of horses, riding night and day, and several times barely escaping capture by the king's troops. The Duke of Rochefoucauld, who accompanied the prince, was suffering from the gout, and his son Marcillac was nearly drowned in crossing one of the morasses that rendered travelling dangerous in those days of imperfect communi- cation. 9 Near the canal of Briare, several regiments were stationed and there was danger of encountering the king's troops at every step. The prince rode on, with Marcillac one hundred paces ahead, and Rochefoucauld one hundred behind, that he might be informed of any approach in either direction. Suddenly four horsemen appeared close upon them. Fearing that others had surrounded them, 'Rochefoucauld, 347. In November, 1651, Morosini wrote : " Multi- plicano nella citta di Bordeos cosi numerosi le male soddisfationi di quelli habitant! contro il Principe di Conde," etc. Dis. Ven., cxiv. , 49. " Rochefoucauld, 356-365. Gourville Memoirs, 504-6. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. I /I they prepared to charge and die, rather than be taken, but the cavaliers proved to be friends. On April 1st Cond arrived at the army of the insur- gents and was greeted with much enthusiasm. The army had accomplished little under generals who were at once inefficient and inharmonious. While Beaufort com- manded the forces raised by the Duke of Orleans, Beaufort's brother-in-law, the Duke of Nemours, had been sent by Cond to command the foreign soldiers furnished by his Spanish allies. Under Nemours* lead- ership these troops had marched into the heart of France, pillaging along the way, after the custom of the soldiers of the day, who made amends for the poor pay they received from their leaders, by the abundant plunder they extorted from the peasants. 1 Nemours wasted some time in Paris in festivities that were said to be carried on with such debauchery, that men and women became intoxi- cated together. The two armies then united, but the brothers-in-law were so hostile that they accomplished little though their forces were larger than those of the king. In an unimportant skirmish at Jargeau, the Baron Si- rot, the most skilful and experienced officer in their army, was mortally wounded. His military life had been long, varied, and brilliant. During fifty-five years he had gal- lantly assisted at the siege of many cities, which had all been taken, and in sixteen pitched battles, which had all been won. He had never passed through a siege or a battle without receiving a wound, and his body was tat- tooed with honorable scars. He had pressed near enough in battle to the kings of Bohemia, of Denmark, and of Sweden to have fired his pistol at all three, and claimed to have wounded them all. He received his last wound at this skirmish, and it was said his irritation, at being un- able to be with his command when Cond joined the army, hastened his end.' 1 Dis. Ven., cxiv., 147. The citizens of Paris were much distressed at the presence of 6,000 Spanish soldiers laying waste the heart of France. * Letter from Paris of April 12., 1652, printed in the appendix to " Mme. de Longueville pendant la Fronde," Montpensier, 96, 7. 1/2 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN, The only noteworthy achievement before Condi's arrival from Guienne.was securing the city of Orleans to the cause of the princes. Like so many of the notable acts of the Fronde, this was the work of a woman. Mademoiselle, the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, was now twenty-four years old. She was the daughter and heiress of Orleans' first wife, and inherited the vast possessions of the house of Montpensier. Alike her birth and her wealth made her a proper match for kings and princes, and to matri- mony Mademoiselle gave a constant and eager attention, which was to result in her dying unmarried at sixty-six. Her hopes had first been excited at nineteen, by the suggestion of marriage with the Emperor, who had just become a widower. The possibility of becoming an em- press, and her desire for such a lot, led her, she tells us, to endeavor to form her habits for her fortune, and hearing that the Emperor was devout, she sought to immerse herself in the religious severities of the Carmelites, read only the life of St. Theresa, and listened to no talk save of Germany and the Germans. But the pious Emperor found consolation in another wife, and Mademoiselle abandoned the life of St. Theresa. There was next held out the prospect of an alliance with the Archduke Leopold, with Flanders to be set off to the new couple, and peace between France and Spain to be cemented by their union. Though much debated, this was never ef- fected. New hopes were excited a few years later by the dangerous illness of the young Princess of Conde. " Many people said," writes Mademoiselle, that " if she should die, I might marry the prince. I dreamed on this. In the evening, walking in my chamber, I reasoned on it with Pre"fontaine, and found the matter was feasible, from the union which existed between Monsieur and the prince." But the Princess of Cond recovered, and marriage with her husband was not feasible. Another suitor was found in Charles the Second of England, who was then an exile at the French Court. He was ardent, Mademoiselle tells us, and his mother was eager. But Charles was a king CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 1 75 without a crown, and Mademoiselle and her family hesi- tated about devoting her great estates to the recovery of a lost kingdom. Of lords and dukes of less degree there were many who would have desired so great an alliance, but their pretensions were not considered sufficient by a would-be queen or empress. The marriage which seemed the most attractive of all was one with her cousin, Louis the Fourteenth. He was eleven years younger than she, but such an alliance might seem the best way to propitiate the Duke of Orleans and secure peace for the kingdom. It was hinted at by emissaries of the Court, but the matter did not go beyond hints. 1 An opportunity now offered for Mademoiselle to please her vanity, by posing as a rival of Mme. de Longueville and the other heroines of the Fronde, and perhaps, also, fairly to bombard Louis into matrimony. The king's forces sought to obtain possession of the important city of Orleans, and it was necessary to send some one there to oppose their efforts. The Duke of Orleans did not wish to go ; his daughter was eager, to go, and she was accord- ingly sent to assume the command in his name. Though frivolous in her views, Mademoiselle was courageous, gen- erous, and beside her father assumed almost the propor- tions of an heroic character. She was encouraged in her expedition by the friends of Conde\ Mme. de Chatillon told her that she and the Duke of Nemours had talked for two hours on the day before about making her queen of France, and that she should not doubt that Conde would labor for this end with all his heart. Accordingly Made- moiselle mounted in her carriage with the countesses of Frontenac and Fiesque, whom the wits dubbed her man'- clialcs de camp, and accompanied by a few soldiers, pro- ceeded rapidly to Orleans. The gates were closed, and the officers of the king demanded entrance at one side of the city and Mademoiselle at the other.* A judicious use 1 These various matrimonial plans are described in " Memoires de Mile, de Montpensier," and are frequently referred to in the diplomatic correspond- ence of the time. * Talon, 473. 174 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of money made her success easier. 1 The gates continued closed, but some of the boatmen plying on the Loire took her in their barges and rowed her to where the river passes under the city walls. An opening was knocked in some old passage over the river, and Mademoiselle scrambled up a ladder placed on two boats. One of the rounds was broken, and she found great difficulty in mounting the gap. But she says she counted nothing difficult which was advan- tageous to her party, and she reached the opening, was pushed through the hole by a valet, and at last, dirty but triumphant, she entered the city, She received a hearty welcome from the officials and inhabitants, and installed herself at the Hotel de Ville as governor of the place. Her reception ended the efforts of the king's forces to gain admittance. Mademoiselle enjoyed discussing campaigns with the generals and poli- tics with the aldermen, and her reputation as a heroine, which she had so suddenly gained. But perhaps no com- pliment pleased her more than that of the adroit courtiers, who insinuated that the new Joan of Arc had saved Or- leans from its enemies, after first repelling the English in the shape of Charles II. She found, however, thorns in power. She desired to admit Conde into the city on his arrival from Guienne, but the burgesses objected to his reception. The aristocratic feelings of the princess were outraged by any doubts cast on the Tightness of Condi's actions, and she declared that the intentions of the great should be like the mysteries of the faith ; it did not be- long to common people to penetrate them, but only to revere them and believe that they were always for the welfare and the safety of the state. She was tried also by the dissensions between Beaufort and Nemours. These belligerent brothers-in-law quarrelled and struck each other in her presence. She compelled them to surrender their swords to her, and Beaufort expressed his regret for his conduct and his sorrow for Nemours' unfounded hostility 1 Dis. Ven., cxiv., 163. " Con denari e promessi guadagnarono li bat- teliere." CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 175 to him. Nemours, however, remained angry and impo- lite. In May, Orleans being now firm in the cause of the princes, Mademoiselle and her female lieutenants re- turned to Paris. On her way she visited Conde's army, was received with the honors due a victorious gen- eral, was shown a review, and the polite officers offered to fight a battle with the king's forces for her enter- tainment. She declined this spectacle and passed on to Paris. In the meantime, Conde had assumed command of the army, and its movements were marked by new vigor. He found the Marshal of Hocquincourt encamped at Bleneau, while Turenne, who had been made general of the king's forces, was at a short distance. Cond resolved to lead the attack at once, and endeavored to defeat the two branches of the army separately. The assault on Hoc- quincourt was vigorous and successful. The royal forces were speedily routed. The camp equipage and provisions, 3,000 horses, a large number of soldiers, Hocquincourt's .silver service, his jewels, and much of his money fell into the hands of the enemy. The king and the Court were at Gien, and the news of this defeat spread consternation and almost panic. It seemed for a few hours as if Cond was to become master of the kingdom by a single brilliant movement, but his triumph was brief. Turenne promptly led his troops to the assistance of the routed forces of Hocquincourt. Unwilling to encounter Conde's cavalry in the open field, he placed his army on a height, com- manded by artillery, and strongly protected by a wood and some neighboring marshes. A sharp encounter at once began in the defile which led to the hill, and a pitched battle seemed imminent between the two greatest generals of France. But Conde was unwilling to risk the fortune of the war against a general like Turenne en- trenched in a position of great strength. He fell back, and two or three days later he left the army and proceeded to 1 Memoires cle Mademoiselle de Montpensier, 89-109. Dis. Ven., adv., 163, et seq. 176 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ' Paris. 1 Napoleon criticises both leaders. Turenne, he says, should be blamed for opposing the whole army of the Fronde with a single division of the royal army, in- stead of waiting for reinforcements from Hocquincourt and Bouillon to have made him equal or superior in numbers. Conde", on the other hand, lacked in audacity, and fearing to attack Turenne when his. forces were superior, lost the possibility of speedy victory for the cer- tainty of slow defeat. Chavigni and other of Condi's friends had desired that he should go at once to Paris. The importance of the victory at Bleneau was magnified in the city, and with these fresh laurels Conde believed that he could check the intrigues of Retz, overawe the friends of the government, arouse the enthusiasm of his own followers, and that Paris firm in his cause would carry the kingdom with it. In truth, few men were less fitted than Conde to deal with the caprices of a great city, and to gain either strength or glory by plots and counterplots. When he left his army for the capital, he found only disappointment, defeat, and disgrace. The burgesses were by no means desirous of receiving so turbulent and powerful a visitor, but it was stated that Conde came to Paris only to confer with Orleans for a little time, perhaps not over twenty-four hours. After that he would return to the army, and Orleans pledged his word that during this time there should be no disorder in Paris. Upon such conditions the city government dis- regarded the order of the king and consented to Conde's entry. 8 On April nth he drove into the city, followed by fifty carriages filled with his friends and retainers, and scat- tering louis d'or among the pick-pockets and vagabonds, who lighted bonfires and filled themselves with bad liquor in honor of his arrival. The prince appeared in the Par- 1 Rochefoucauld, 366-374. Gourville, 506, 507. Duke of York, 536, 537. Memoires de Turenne, 435-436. Dis. Ven., cxiv. , 173-5. Hocquincourt's jewels and money, which he had with him in camp, and which were captured, amounted to 400,000 francs. 8 Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, ii., 232-5. Journal du Temps Present,. 254, et seq. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 1 77 liament, but he was coldly received. President le Bailleul said that he wished he could have seen him in his place under other circumstances than the present, when a con- demnation issued by the king and registered by the Par- liament still hung over his head, and when his hands were red with the blood of loyal Frenchmen. These words excited a violent commotion among Condi's adherents, but an angry discussion was the nearest approach to wel- come which the prince received. 1 The feeling in Paris was very confused, and the practi- cal unanimity which had been found there in the earlier stages of the Fronde had passed away. Some months before this, the change had been noticed by Retz, than whom no man knew better the ebb and flow of passion and feeling in the great capital. In January he wrote to Charrier : " As for Paris, I do not remark the warmth which there was formerly on such occasions. They cry out enough against Mazarin and the queen, but they do no more." * As the spring advanced there was much misery and discontent in the city, and a weariness of turmoil came over the citizens. Prices were high. In March one of Mazarin's correspondents wrote him from Paris, that misery was increasing every day from the dearness of provisions, and one saw such attenuation in the bodies of the poor that they seemed perishing in plain sight. Such a condition caused apprehension of the pest. Wheat, according to the writer, was already over two dollars a bushel and meat thirty cents a pound.* Some of the artisans declared they would rather see the king back, even though he brought Mazarin with him, than to be without work for themselves and bread for their families during disorders that had no end. Merchants and burgesses complained even more than the artisans. The members of the Parliament, they said, debated and prated and drew their wages, while mechanics were starv- 1 Talon, 475-476. Dis.Ven., cxiv., 175, 176. Journal du Temps Present, 262, 263. Letter of Jan. 5, 1652. * Aff. Etr. Fr., 889, piece 64. Cited in Cheruel i., 147. 178 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ing, while mercenary soldiers were cutting the green crops and burning the farm-houses about Paris, while manufactories were stopped, fairs were abandoned, no boat or pack train could go in safety, there was no money to pay workmen, and no market to sell goods. The number of the poor who demanded charity in Paris was very great, and a hundred thousand more were ashamed to ask, but were sorely in need. 1 Mazarin employed money freely in paying for the services of pamphleteers, who endeavored to stimulate returning loyalty. He directed Fouquet to advance 6,000 livres, to be used among the people or for publishing pamphlets. He sent money to be given to the clergy, that they might persuade their flocks." The cry of " Vive Mazarin ! " was heard in the streets by night, and some of the bourgeois said they would rather have twenty foreign cardinals than a day of battle in the streets of Paris." Amid all these disturbing elements, the members of the Parliament and the officers of the Hotel de Ville pursued a vacillating policy that made them equally odious to the king, the princes, and the populace. All were agreed that they wanted to be rid of Mazarin. Orleans and Cond6 declared that if Mazarin were sent away again they would ask no more, which was false. The judges and aldermen said that if the king would come back to his good city of Paris without Mazarin they would be contented, which was true. Assemblies of the different courts were again held at the Chamber of St. Louis, but they disputed about questions of precedence and dignity, and did little more than implore the king to send away the cardinal.* Conde and Orleans were as uncertain in their course as were the counsellors of the Parliament and the colonels and aldermen of the Hotel de Ville. Mme. de Longue- ville in Guienne had continued to advise war; but when Cond reached Paris, he was subjected to influences that 1 Talon, 483-490. Conrart, 550, 551. * Lettres a Fouquet, Cipher Mss., Bib. Nat., 23,202., 29, 33, etc. * Dis. Ven., cxiv., 199. 4 A full account of these meetings is found in Talon, 470 et seq. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 179 tended towards peace. His mistress, Mme. de Chatillon, was as beautiful as his sister, but less heroic. 1 Early mar- ried to one of the family of Admiral Coligny, she had been early left a widow. She had been the lady-love of the Duke of Nemours, and had now a strong hold on the affections of Conde\ She was greedy for admiration and still more greedy for money. After seeing one lover killed and another exiled, she was to marry a German prince, and to die at seventy with the reputation of being almost the richest and altogether the meanest woman in France. Over this woman, who was as attractive and as unprincipled as any of the heroines of the Fronde, Maza- rin secured an easy hold by offering her large bribes to induce Conde to make peace. She had an acute and a zeal- ous assistant in the Duke of Rochefoucauld. Rochefou- cauld was weary of war, and disappointed in ambition, and to this was now added a spiteful jealousy of the woman he had so long adored. Among the many misfortunes of the last few months in Guienne, Mme. de Longueville, whether justly or unjustly, had excited Rochefoucauld's jealousy and injured her own reputation. If she had not been con- stant to marital obligations, she had thus far been true to the laws of romance. But when Nemours went south he had relieved his military duties by devotion to Condi's sister. Whether she was weary of her sarcastic and despondent admirer, or for whatever reason, she gave much encouragement to Nemours, and Rochefoucauld came to Paris filled with pique and rage. " He told me," says Mme. de Motteville, " that from jealousy and vengeance he did whatever the Duchess of Chatillon wished." With such negotiators terms of peace were proposed to the Court. It was provided by them that Mazarin should retire from the kingdom, but Cond seems to have been willing that there should be a tacit understanding that 1 Conde showed his affection in the way she liked best, by giving her land* of which the rental was said to be ten thousand crowns a year (Muse histori- que of Loret). Mademoiselle said that the Bourbons gave so rarely, that when they gave at all they always gave wrong. 180 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. this retirement should only be temporary. 1 If personal advantages could be secured, he was ready to abandon the nominal pretext for the years of rebellion which had devas- tated half of France and caused as much misery in that kingdom as all of Richelieu's wars with foreign powers. Orleans and Conde were to be charged with the negotia- tions for peace with Spain. Orleans was to be satisfied in his demands and his friends were to have their de- sires gratified. Cond was to have the government of Provence, Nemours the government of Auvergne, Roche- foucauld a hundred and twenty thousand crowns to buy a government, and other friends and followers were to be rewarded with titles or money. Mme. de Chatillon, it is said, was to have a hundred thousand crowns for her ser- vices. Mazarin received and considered these propositions, but he had no thought of acceding to them. 2 All these intrigues made Orleans distrustful of Conde, the Parlia- ment distrustful of both, and the people distrustful of all three. 3 The Parliament also carried on its own negotia- tions, but they resulted in nothing. Mazarin was a past master in diplomacy of this sort, and by it he gained time for himself and bred division among his enemies. As they could not obtain the terms they wished, the princes desired that the Parliament and the Hotel de Ville should unite with them, and the city of Paris should thus be fully enlisted in their cause. The judges were willing to join in the demand for Mazarin's expulsion, but they were not willing to unite in the other requests of the princes. Unable to find the support among the better classes which the old Fronde had once possessed, Conde endeavored to enlist the populace in his cause. By an ap- peal to the lowest element in Paris, it was hoped that the courts and city council would be driven to his support. By inflaming the worst classes he would terrorize the better classes. When Cond and Orleans made their en- 1 Morosini, who was well informed, wrote on May 28th : " Conde si e pero resoluto ad approvare la dimora del cardinal," t. cxiv., 212. 8 Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202. Mazarin a Fouquet, May 7th, also p. 209, Dis. Yen., cxiv., 188. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MA ZA KIN'S RETURN. l8l try into the city, a mob of five or six thousand vagabonds and blackguards gathered at the Pont Neuf insulting pas- sers-by and reviling Mazarin. Even ladies in their car- riages were compelled to stop until they should utter filthy passwords of abuse, and the favor of this disorderly element was cultivated. 1 " I am weary," said the prince, " of rendering an account of my actions to these little fellows, who when I make war, say I wish to take the crown from the king's head, and when I propose peace, call me a Ma- zarinite. I will reason no more with these knaves, but I will teach them to behave and show the respect that is my due." f As Cond6 and the Duke of Beaufort came from the grand chamber on May i$th, they told the people that the Parliament was trifling with them and would resolve on nothing. The mob gathered and howled, Union ! Union ! and then rushed for one of the entrances to the court, and forced it open. The judges hastily passed a resolution, asking the king for a speedy answer to their request for Mazarin's dismissal, and escaped from the palace by other entrances. 3 On the 4th of May Turenne had won a small victory at Etampes, and Conde was resolved to counteract the discouragement caused by this defeat. Saint Denis was near Paris, and scantily garrisoned, and an attack upon it offered an opportunity for an easy victory. On the morning of the nth of May Condd rode through the streets crying out, "Let him who loves me follow me; let us go and beat the Mazarinites." He was soon lead- ing a motley army of 20,000 ill-armed or unarmed men. Some gathered about the Hotel de Ville and demanded arms for the service of the princes, but they were told that no arms could be furnished except for the defence of the city. The wives of those who were married made so terrible an uproar at these preparations for battle, that many of the warriors stayed behind, ensuring peace at home and 1 Talon, 474. Journal du Temps Present, 255, 256, etc. ' Conrart, 555. ' Registres de 1'Hotel de Vi'lo, ii.. 321. 182 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. avoiding danger abroad. Leading a few thousand of these irregular troops, mostly shop-boys and cut-purses, together with about 1,500 regular soldiers, Cond proceeded to St. Denis. A few hundred Swiss mercenaries guarded the town and the abbey. Cond6 forced an entrance into the place after a short resistance, and reaching the abbey and monastery, demanded that the Swiss should surrender at once, or he would pillage and burn all that he found. Fagots were piled up against the great door of the church ready for lighting. The Swiss were in no condition to make a successful resistance, and the monks besought them to yield the punctilios of honor and save the property of the Lord. They accordingly surrendered. 1 On the morn- ing of the next day, which was Sunday, Cond marched into Paris leading sixty Swiss prisoners two by two, with his citizen soldiery as triumphant as if they had come from Lens or Rocroi. A garrison had been left at St. Denis, but on the 12th Turenne sent the king's forces against the town, and by vespers the attack was begun. The place was retaken as easily as it had been captured. The monks who had been reviled as Mazarinites the day be- fore, were now accused of being Frondeurs. A party of Condi's troops had taken refuge in the tower of the abbey. Their surrender was demanded, and the unhappy prior and under prior were roundly abused for not compelling it. Part of the abbey was set on fire and even the sanc- tuary of St. Denis, the apostle of the French, was pro- faned by the flames. The monk tells us that the person who ordered the fire to be lighted, perished a few weeks later by a violent death. Fighting went on in the abbey itself. Some were wounded in the cloisters, and one soldier was shot dead on the steps of the tomb of Francis I. Fifty 1 The troops entered the monastery, and as the under prior appproached a party of them cried out. " There goes a Mazarinite," and he was glad to escape with sore shoulders and his cowl torn off his head. Conde, however, was courteous, and expressed no desire except for food. It was fast day, and all the monks could furnish him was fruit and two fresh eggs. The prince ate one with great appetite and gave the other to Rochefoucauld. Chronique de 1'Abbnyp. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 183 of Condi's soldiers climbed over the vaulting of the Chapel of the Valois and reaching the garden made their escape. Those who were left in the tower at last surrend- ered. The monks were much embarrassed in conscience by the question of whether the church must be reconse- crated after the sacrilege it had suffered. It was at last decided that a fresh consecration was not necessary. The monks returned to their pious labors, and the abbey again resounded only with matin song and vesper prayer. The bones of the kings were to rest in peace until the mob came a hundred and forty years later to tear them from their tombs. 1 . A new actor now appeared at Paris. The Duke of Lorraine had long been a duke without a duchy, and he lived as a princely highwayman, having under his com- mand a small but well-disciplined army of mercenaries, whose services he sold to any party. He endeavored to draw pay from both sides, and to preserve his troops by allowing them to fight on neither side. His assistance was solicited by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Orleans, and by the Prince of Conde. He promised them his support, and at the same time suggested to Mazarin that he might furnish his army for the aid of the king.* In diplomatic deceit and the art of lying he was not inferior to the cardinal, and he marched his army into France holding out hopes and extending promises to all parties. If there was doubt as to his final object, it was clear that his im- mediate object was plunder. On the banners of his army, it was said, the legend ran, " Strike hard, take every thing, and yield nothing." The march of his troops was an un- broken course of robbery, arson, and murder.' His army consisted of twelve thousand men, accompanied by four thousand women and four thousand servants. Much of the territory through which they passed was already so 'Conrart, 551, 552. Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, 322-328. Livre des Choses Memorables de 1'Abbaye de St. Denis, 336-394. 1 In September, 1651, Mazarin wrote that Lorraine offered an alliance, and if they could not get Conde's good-will it had best be accepted. Mss. Bib. Nat., 23,202., 16. ' Dis. Ven., cxiv., 227. 184 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. desolate, that only a soldier of Lorraine could glean any thing from it. In some places the people were reduced to living on bread made of bran, and on grass, snails, dogs, and cats. 1 Where the soldiers could find nothing to eat they at least found houses to burn, and they pillaged im- partially the homes of the peasants and of the gentlemen. Some towns bought exemption by paying enormous fines. Where no money could be obtained the soldiers avenged themselves by destroying whatever they could find. Early in June Lorraine reached Paris, and, leaving his army near the city, he himself entered the capital. He had a reputation for bravery ; his manners were frank and jovial, and he became the hero of the day. But though he was greeted with much honor by the princes and the populace, the Parliament refused to receive an open enemy of the state. He found amusement during his stay by telling of the brutalities of his troops, how they had made soup of nuns, and there were among them a thousand men, any one of whom would undertake to murder Mazarin for an old silver piece. He was willing to make love to all the Amazons of the Fronde, though Mme. Montbazon pleased him most, being the equal of any in beauty, and excelling all in vice. But while the duke would talk love he would not talk busi- ness. Etampes was besieged, and as the news came that it was hard pressed the princes endeavored to draw from him some plan of action. The only answer he would give was to sing and dance, to play on his guitar, and tell stories so broad, that they brought blushes even to the cheeks of the ladies of the Fronde. " If it was not known he was a very able man," says Mademoiselle, " one would take him for a fool. a His army in the meantime was encamped near the village of Choisy, pillaging, and cutting the unripe hay and 1 Archives des Aff. Etr., cited by Haussonville. * Montpensier, 115. Conrart, 556. " Reunion de la Lorraine, "etc., Haus- sonville, ii., 330, et seq. Talon, 488. The Venetian minister called Lor- raine's conduct very bizarre, t. cxiv., 226. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 185 wheat. The unhappy farmers dared not complain, because it was said that these were the soldiers who had come to chase away Mazarin. Their leader, however, had no thought of attempting such an undertaking. Through the diplomacy of Chateauneuf and Mme. de Chevreuse, the king finally made a treaty with Lorraine by which the duke agreed forthwith to retire from France. 1 In order to satisfy such lingering pretences of good faith as he made, it was agreed that the siege of Etampes should be raised. To relieve this city, the duke announced to his allies at Paris, had been the object of his expedition, and when this was accomplished he could retire with honor. He accordingly left Paris, though he would gladly have kept his troops for the present in free quarters in France. But the Marshal of Turenne would suffer no trifling from this freebooter. He led his forces from fitampes to Lorraine's camp, and informed him that he must prepare for battle or march forthwith on a route indicated, and be outside the borders of France within twelve days. Refusing to trust his word, Turenne demanded hostages for the per- formance of this agreement. Lorraine had no thought of risking his army in a battle against Turenne. The hostages were given, and within an hour his troops were under march. 11 This desertion carried dismay among the followers of Cond and Orleans. Discouraged in their hopes of aid from Lorraine, the populace became still more violent against the delays and uncertainties of the city govern- ment and of the judges. If no help came from outside, it was the more important that Paris should be wholly in 1 Letters of Fouquet and other documents, Aff. Etr. Fr., t. 883, published by Haussonville. s Charles II., of England, who was then a fugitive at Paris, receiving from the French king a pension for his support, acted as mediator between the two generals. His brother, the Duke of York, who was himself to be de- pendent on Louis' bounty many years later, was then serving as a volunteer in Turenne's army. His finances were so low, that if a Gascon gentleman had not lent him three hundred pistoles, he could not have provided himself with the moderate equipments that were necessary for the service. Turenne, 441, 442. Mem. de York, 535, 543~545- 1 86 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. the cause. If timid judges who had no thoughts beyond their fees, and sleek aldermen who cared only for their shops and their merchandise, would not do what the interests of the state demanded, it was time they were terrified into vigor and patriotism. Pamphlets were circulated as vio- lent as those of later revolutions. " Let us spare neither great nor small, young nor old," said one ; " Let us leave the holes we live in, barricade, kill, and sack, and sacrifice to a just vengeance whoever is not for liberty, and the true party of the king." In the troubled condition of affairs the people had demanded that there should be a solemn procession to St. Genevieve, the patron saint of the town, to beseech her to aid in bringing peace and driving away Mazarin. The shrine of the saint was borne along in pious state. When it passed Conde he rushed to it, threw himself on his knees in the middle of the street, kissed a hundred times the holy relic, and retired amid the applause of the popu- lace. "Ah ! the good prince ! " cried the fisherwomen and the boatmen, the cut-throats and the thieves. " See how pious he is." Money as well as piety was used among the people. Their zeal was praised, their pockets were filled, their superstition was gratified. Thus prepared, they were incited to violence by open abuse of the judges and officials, who were held out as dead to the public weal, and as mere tools of Mazarin. On the iSth of June a general assembly of all the city bodies, with representatives from the religious communi- ties and the trade organizations, was held in the Chamber of St. Louis to consider measures for the relief of the poor. Little was done there except to discuss the great number of persons who, in the disturbed condition of 1 Mme. de Motteville, 435. Registres de 1' Hotel de Ville, ii., 364-377. This procession was on the nth of June. The clergy of the church were required to furnish a breakfast for the city officers, and there was bitter com- plaint because they gave the provost and a few of his associates two loaves of bread and two bottles of wine, and gave the others nothing at all. The complaints of the hungry aldermen were entered in their official minutes. Reg., p. 373. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 1 87 trade and manufactures, needed aid from those who had any thing to give. On Friday the twenty-first, the cham- bers of Parliament were again assembled to discuss further the needs of the city and the citizens. The Duke of Orleans could not be present because, compelled either by his health or his timidity, he stayed home to be bled. An angry crowd of malcontents gathered around the palace, howling alternately " Peace ! " and " No Mazarin ! " Fear- ing a more serious disturbance the judges voted to adjourn to the twenty-fifth, but as they came from their chamber some of them were roughly handled, and one had his hat knocked off and his head punched. On the same day the Duke of Beaufort returned from the army and endeavored to increase the irritation he found among the dregs of the population, to whom he was specially dear. Placards were posted on the corners of the streets asking the people to gather in the Place Royale, and there Beaufort went in the afternoon and harangued a mob of hired bravos and idle and restless artisans. He told them that the army of Mazarin was almost at their gates, but the Parliament and the Hotel de Ville were full of the cardinal's followers and would do nothing. They must have new colonels and captains, said the duke, and have money voted. He himself would give them a list of the houses of the Mazarinites which they could visit, and either compel the inhabitants to contribute for the good cause or drive them from Paris. If this were done, within three months they would have peace and plenty, and Mazarin would be wearing his red gown outside of the French boundaries. The mob shouted their approval and cried out that their lives and the rags on their backs were all at Beaufort's disposal. He bade them come to the palace early on the morning of the next day with their arms, to compel the Parliament to unite with the princes. That body, however, was warned of some such disturbance, and had already adjourned till the twenty-fifth; the city officials had chains fastened across the streets, and the train bands patrolled them to check any violence or plun- 1 88 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. der. Beaufort's conduct was ill received by the better element, and the popularity he once possessed was now found only among the lowest classes. " He has talked like a bandit, and not like a prince or a gentleman," said the president Novion. All this disturbance, said others, was only because Beaufort feared his associates would make a treaty without him, and he wanted forty thousand crowns for his lady-love, the Duchess of Montbazon. 1 On the twenty-fifth the Parliament met again, with several companies of the city guards stationed in front of the palace to protect it from violence. The judges assem- bled at eight, but it was not until after a seven hours' ses- sion that they succeeded in reaching a vote. All parties agreed that renewed petitions should be sent to the king, but the judges wished to send the former deputies, while Orleans and Conde wished new men to be chosen. It was carried against the wish of the princes by a vote of 92 to 85. The crowd outside had already come to blows with the guards. Some shots had been fired, three or four killed, and a few wounded. As the counsellors and presi- dents came from the palace, the mob demanded of them what had been decided. The answers were not satisfactory, and many cried out that unless they resolved on union with the princes they would tear them to pieces. Some of the judges received only abuse, but others received blows as well. Le Coigneux was pursued and fired at, and he escaped only by finding refuge in a shop, discarding his gown, and appearing in disguise. Most of them passed through a running fire of maledictions accompanied by kicks and blows. Orleans was still in the grand chamber, and as he heard the tumult he started out and returned again more than ten times, turning a deaf ear to those who asked him to try to calm the mob. At last he was carried off in safety in his carriage. Some shots were fired, and some of the bourgeois were wounded while watching the commotion from their windows. "They will find out," said the rioters, " that firearms are more ' (Jonrur. , 5^2-3. Talon, 491. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 240, et seq. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 189 dangerous than their yard sticks." After this scene of violence the most of the judges refused to attend further sessions of the Parliament, for fear of injury to life and limb. A few violent Frondeurs still came to the palace and said that they required no guards, even if the Maza- rinites stood in need of them. Broussel, who was a respectable tool for the extreme Frondeurs, declared that judges should want no guard but their own probity. But neither lawyers could be found to plead, nor a court to hear them, in the terror that prevailed. 1 The army of the prince was now stationed at St. Cloud, burning houses, destroying gardens, and giving much offence to the Parisians who owned country places in the environs. 2 The royal army had marched to St. Denis, and from there it was expected to cross the Seine and attack the prince at St. Cloud. To prevent this he resolved to lead his forces to Charenton, and he broke camp during the night of the ist of July. By four on the morning of the second, his forces were under way, and they marched around the outside of Paris, from the gate of St. Honor6 to that of St. Antoine, where they reached the direct road to Charenton. Turenne had at once moved in pursuit, and after some skirmishing near the gate of St. Martin, by nine in the morning he came up with Cond6 at the Faubourg St. Antoine, which lay south of the Bas- tille. Turenne was superior in numbers, but an addi- tional force would soon have reached him under La Fert6 Seneterre, and he would then have had an overwhelming advantage. Mazarin and the king's advisers were, however, eager for an immediate attack. It was not believed that Paris would open its gates to admit Condi's forces. De- prived thus of any opportunity for retreat, they could be driven to the walls and exterminated, and the war ended by one battle. Bouillon advised his brother to attack at once, lest his prudence should be interpreted as faint- heartedness for the cause in which he had so recently en- 1 Conrart, 563-5. Suite du Journal du Parlement, 1652. 1-23. Talon, 492, 493. * Dis. Ven., cxiv., 248. "Giardini ch'eranoladeliziadi Parigi." FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAR1N. listed. Conde fell back into the Faubourg St. Antoine, and the battle raged fiercely. He found there, however, the means for a vigorous defence. Chains and barricades had been placed in many of the streets to protect them from attacks by Lorraine's soldiers, and behind these Condi's troops made a stout resistance. The streets were narrow and cut up by ditches and deep ruts, which made it difficult for cavalry and even for foot soldiers to pass over them. The houses were filled with soldiers, and an irregu- lar but murderous fire was poured from the windows and the roofs. In such a field of battle both sides displayed a reckless bravery. The officers led their troops amid firing in front and from either side, and the number of them killed was out of all proportion to the importance of the engagement, or the total number of the slain. The Marquis of St. Megrin had for years borne a special hatred against Cond. He had cherished a strong and unfortunate love for Mile, du Vigean, who in turn enter- tained a hopeless affection for the Prince of Cond and refusing all other lovers, had abandoned the world in the freshness of her youth to dream of him amid her prayers in the monastery of the Carmelites. 1 St. Megrin resolved to reach Cond, and by killing him avenge his lost love and end the war. Passing through the soldiers, he rode with a company of light cavalry down a nar- row street, and charged on the barricade at the end. As he was pressing the attack, he was shot dead on the spot. There was mortally wounded with him, one before whom a great career seemed to be open. The young Mancini was the only nephew of Mazarin in France, and was destined to be the inheritor of the cardinal's enormous wealth. Many princes of the blood would have been glad 1 The poets sang of this loss to the court : " Lorsque Vigean quitta la cour, Les jeux, les graces, les amours, Entrerent dans le monastere. Les jeux pleurerent ce jour-la ; Ce jour la Beaute se voila, Et fit vceu d' etre solitaire." See also Mem. de Conrart, 567. CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN'S RETURN. 19! to exchange lots with the heir of the chief minister of France, and the richest man in the kingdom. He was but sixteen, brave, handsome, and of great promise. As he was gallantly leading his soldiers, he was struck by a bullet, and died of his wounds a few days later. ' Conde's followers attacked the enemy with equal valor. Beaufort, Nemours, and Rochefoucauld charged down a street amid firing from the soldiers behind the piles of stones and in the houses, and captured and held a barri- cade almost without support. In this reckless and useless assault Nemours received thirteen wounds, and Rochefou- cauld, struck in the cheek by a bullet which passed under both eyes, fell blinded and was carried away from the fight." Conde acquitted himself with the skill of a general, and the desperate valor of a reckless soldier, in this hand- to-hand contest. One after another his nearest friends were shot down and carried away dead, or dangerously wounded. At last the troops led by La Ferte Seneterre came up and joined Turenne. Against fresh soldiers and a great preponderance in numbers neither skill nor valor could longer avail. Conde's soldiers were exhausted by their march and by a close conflict of five hours, waged in the intense heat. Many of their officers were killed or disabled, and they could fight only with the recklessness that comes from want of command. The gates of the city were still closed against the hard-pressed and overpow- ered troops, and the destruction of Condi's army seemed imminent. But in the hour of their sore need a safe retreat was at last opened to them. No union with the princes had as yet been voted by the Parliament or the Hotel de Ville, and the .city of Paris, therefore, standing neutral between 1 Party hatred did not spare even the young and the innocent. In the pamphlets of the day, we find one that tells of the meeting of St. Megrin and Mancini in the world below, and of the apartments prepared in hell for Mazarin and his family. * The Venetian minister sent off his dispatch while the fighting was going on, and wrote that Rochefoucauld had just been brought in wounded, and there was little probability of his living. 192 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. them and the king, had refused entrance to the forces of either side. If Orleans had ordered the gates to be thrown open for the retreat of Conde's army he would have been obeyed, but, as the danger became greater, Orleans grew more timid. His greatest anxiety had been lest Cond should station his army in the Faubourg St. Germain. A conflict there, Orleans could see from his own win- dows, and the artillery of the king could throw balls into the palace of the Luxembourg. On the day of the battle he walked about his palace, uncertain as to his course, alarmed by the firing, afraid to relieve Conde, afraid to leave him unrelieved, and whistling every tune ever heard in the Place Royale. His daughter resolved to move him from his lethargy. Her laurels were fresh, and she wished to be the maid of Paris as well as of Orleans. Sympathy for the prince and his soldiers, in their distress, had also its effect upon the heroine, who, though often foolish, was always good- hearted. Admission had been given to the wounded soldiers, and the constant succession of these during the day, in every condition of pain and mutilation, had ex- cited her compassion as well as that of many of the citizens. She met Rochefoucauld, who was covered with blood, and unable to see, but still endeavoring in his misery to excite the citizens to the relief of the prince. By her resolution she obtained from her father an order to the magistrates, that they might treat her as his repre- sentative and follow her directions. Thus fortified, she proceeded to the Hotel de Ville, followed by a few of her attendant Amazons. She demanded of the city fathers that troops should be sent for the protection of the Fau- bourg St. Antoine, and that they should order the gates to be opened for Condi's troops. The king had written with his own hand warning them against allowing these soldiers to enter. But armed with her father's au- thority, and with the influence of her own enthusiasm and courage, she obtained what she desired. She had ac- companied her prayers with threats, that if they were not CONDE'S REBELLION AND MAZARIN 'S RETURN. 193 heard, she would order her soldiers to take L'Hopital and the provost of the merchants and throw them out of the window. Troops were sent to the Faubourg and orders given that the wounded should be received into the city, and if Condi's troops were hard pressed the gates should be thrown open for their retreat. From the Hotel de Ville, Mademoiselle went to the Bastille. Watching from there the battle raging in the narrow streets, she ordered the governor to turn his can- non upon the enemy. Mazarin and the king were sta- tioned upon the heights of Charonne, from which they could overlook the entire combat, and hoped to see the destruction or capture of Condi's army. As they stood there a puff of smoke came from the Bastille, and cannon- balls were fired into the king's forces. They did little damage, but they showed that Paris had at last de- clared for Cond, and that his army was safe. Wearied and hard pressed, Condi's troops saw the gates opened for their retreat, and they found safety within the walls of Paris. They had lost about a thousand killed, and Turenne's loss had been nearly the same. 1 The battle might be regarded as a drawn one, with the advantage for Cond that, as a result of it, his troops had been received into Paris and he could now control the city. But this advantage was only apparent. He could ill afford to lose the soldiers that had fallen, and the loss among the officers and nobles who had been earnest in his cause was still more serious. The possession of Paris by an unruly soldiery was soon to lead to the most fatal 1 For accounts of the battle of ihe Faubourg St. Antoine, see Rochefou- cauld, 397-415. Mademoiselle, 118-125. Conrart, 565-567. Turenne, 443, 444. Duke of York, 545-550. Reg. de 1'Hotel de Ville, iii., 39-47. Chronique de 1'Abbaye de St. Denis, 416-419. Mem. du Prince de Tarente and Relation de Marigny. Motteville, 436-439. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 249- 252. Morosini says if Turenne had been willing to do his duty, and press the attack as Mazarin desired, he could have destroyed Conde's army. The Duke of Orleans signed an order, directing the officers of the Bastille to fire on the army of the king and assist the troops of Conde. Mss. Bib. Nat., Fonds Baluze. But it was undoubtedly signed at his daughter's request, and so does not materially alter the correctness of her account. 194 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. event in the history of the Fronde, and the battle of the Faubourg of St. Antoine was one of the last efforts of the nobles in opposition to the royal authority. It left them exhausted, disheartened, struggling against a final defeat, that had now become certain. Though Condi's army had been received into Paris, the sight of some of the soldiers that composed it filled many of the citizens with shame and distress. There were seen in the capital of France soldiers carrying the cross of Burgundy and the red scarf of Spain, and it seemed as if Paris, by its own choice, had fallen into the hands of the Spanish. These bodies of troops added to the agitation which already existed in the city, and, countenanced by their leaders, they excited the massacre which appalled the Parisians and destroyed the Fronde. CHAPTER XV. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. THE Parliament was unwilling and afraid to take any fur- ther part in the confusion that existed, but it called a gen- eral assembly to advise on the measures necessary for the welfare and safety of the city. This met on July 4th, at the Hotel de Ville. The city officers, some of the clergy, many members of the Parliament, and delegates chosen from the various parishes were in attendance, in all to the number of three hundred and ten. From them the princes desired to obtain a resolution for the union of the city with themselves, in the war they were waging against the king. The majority of the delegates were friendly to their cause, and had Orleans and Conde attended the meeting and asked for such a resolution, it probably would have been adopted. They were apparently too indifferent to do this, and preferred to leave it to the ruffians among their ad- herents to frighten the burgesses into cooperation. The assembly met in the afternoon, and waited for the arrival of the princes. All the approaches to the Hotel de Ville were filled with a dense crowd of the lowest elements of the city, who threatened the passing delegates, unless they decided on the measures that were required. A message arrived from the king forbidding the assembly, but it was received by a din of hooting and hissing. Some hours had passed since messengers had gone for Orleans, and as no answer came from him, the members resolved to consider what had best be done. The procureur- general addressed them, and ended by offering a resolu- tion that the king should be asked to grant peace to his 195 196 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. subjects, and return again to his city of Paris. An uproar at once began, because in these resolutions there was nothing said against Mazarin. The officer replied that his whole speech had been directed against the cardinal, but that there might be no uncertainty, his resolution should request the king to return without Mazarin. It was now nearly six, and at last Orleans, Conde, Beau- fort, and a few other nobles made their appearance. In order to distinguish themselves from the Mazarinites, the adherents of the princes had lately chosen the device of a wisp of straw. This was carried not only by the men, but by women and children. Even the horses and donkeys were decorated with straw as they dragged their loads through the streets. The princes and their followers now had their hats liberally adorned with straw, and waved this emblem as they passed through the crowd. They took their seats, and the proceedings of the assembly were read to them. They asked for no further resolution, and as it was now past six, they at once left the Hotel de Ville. As they passed through the mob outside, they threw some pieces of money, and said that nothing had been decided and the place was filled with Mazarinites. It needed no more to excite the ruffians and thieves who now blocked every entrance to the Hotel de Ville. Hardly had the princes driven away, when some shots were fired and bullets began to strike the windows of the hall of the assembly. These did little damage, but the soldiers among the mob taught them the rules of warfare. 1 Ascending the buildings around the square, they began a raking fire into the hall, from above or on the same level. The delegates threw themselves on the floor, or hid in different parts of the building. It was hoped that the mob might be conciliated by the action which had been desired, and a resolution for a union with the princes was hurriedly passed. A paper containing the resolution was thrown from the windows, and the priests displayed the 1 The Venetian Ambassador says there were some two hundred officers of Conde's among the mob, disguised as boatmen. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE, 197 sacrament, but neither had any effect upon the populace. Miron, of the Chamber of Accounts, went out to persuade them that the assembly had done all that was wanted, but he was murdered in the Place de Greve. Some of the delegates succeeded in making their escape by different ways and in various disguises. Many of the rioters only desired plunder, and for liberal pay they conducted some of the magistrates safely home. Others were butchered as they tried to escape, and the most of them remained in the Hotel de Ville, afraid to make any attempt to leave it. The entrances to the building were guarded, and only a few of the rioters succeeded in entering. But in the mean- time it had been fired in several places. It burned very slowly, but the smoke and heat added to the terror of the scene. Pitch had been piled up against the doors and oil poured over this, in order to start a sufficient fire to destroy so massive a building. It was soon filled with a dense smoke, and this was accompanied by a terrible smell. As the fire made an opening at the great door, one of Conde's officers, with about thirty followers, rushed in to mount the grand staircase. But they were repulsed, and many of them killed. It was feared, however, that by the fire all the doors would soon be opened to the mob. Some of the rioters now forced an entrance. They murdered a few of those they found, but their chief desire was plunder. The delegates barricaded various rooms with furniture, in order to make such de- fence as was possible, confessed themselves to the priests, and prepared for death. The governor of the city and the provost of the merchants were known to be friendly to the government, and they were specially odious to the followers of Conde. The governor succeeded in escaping in the disguise of a valet through a crowd clamoring for his death, but the provost remained concealed at the Hotel de Ville. It was now eleven at night. The shooting and occasional murders had proceeded leisurely for five hours. The heat within the building was terrible, and its inmates were in danger of soon being burned to death. The re- 198 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARJN. ports of this butchery had been carried to the princes, and they were told that as many of their adherents as of their opponents were being murdered. They declined, however, to take any steps to check it. Conde" said, laughingly, that he was a poltroon in seditions of this sort. Orleans was always a coward, and he dared not expose himself. But Beaufort was said to be in a shop near the scene of the slaughter, and it was at last decided that he had best make some endeavor to stop it. Mademoiselle was always brave and kindly, and she drove in her carriage towards the Hotel de Ville to use her in- fluence in quieting the rioters. It was towards midnight when Beaufort arrived. Mademoiselle came somewhat later. Beaufort had little trouble in dispersing the mob. Some cried out : " It would be better to roast the Maza- rinites,'' but they were quieted. Those who still remained in the building were enabled to make their retreat in safety. The provost of merchants resigned his office into Mad- emoiselle's hands, and was escorted safely to his home. By two o'clock order was restored, and all those who were in danger had made their escape. Attention was now turned to saving the building from destruction by fire. The massive stones of which it was built had made the progress of the flames very slow. The people worked incessantly with the poor supplies of water, which could be obtained for conflagrations at that time. By nine the next morning the fire was entirely extinguished. It had done some damage, but the main portion of the building, which was historically the most interesting in Paris, and among the most beautiful, escaped destruction. By a curious fate, the Hotel de Ville, so peculiarly con- nected with the history and traditions of the city of Paris, was burned in 1871 by Frenchmen and Parisians, similar in character to the mob of 1652.' About thirty of the delegates had been killed or wounded, and as many as one hundred and fifty others 1 Registres de 1' Hotel de Ville, iii., 51-75. Dis. Ven., cxiv., 253, et seq. Mem. de Montpensier, 125-128. Talon, 494-496. Conrart. 567-574. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 199 were said to have been killed. Cond6 had not designed this series of brutal murders, but he had deemed it ex- pedient to terrorize the city officials. The attack had been conducted by his soldiers, and he had been crimi- nally remiss in any attempt to check the slaughter. 1 Little effort was made to punish the perpetrators of these crimes. Two were arrested and executed, one of whom was one of Conde's cooks. No one dared to make any searching investigation into the matter, and the ruffians who had allowed some deputies to escape on taking what money they had and receiving the promise of more, visited their victims and demanded the remainder of the ransom. It had been intended to terrify the city into submission, and this massacre produced the desired result. No one questioned further any wish of the princes. Many of the Parliament and city officials fled from Paris. Meetings were called of those who remained, and they adopted without debate any propositions that were submitted. Broussel was unanimously chosen provost of the mer- chants, and this ancient imbecile closed his career by ac- cepting a vacancy compelled by arson and murder. He took his oath of office before the Duke of Orleans, instead of the king. 2 But of all Conde's mistakes the most fatal one was his belief that by terror and violence he could compel Paris to render him assistance that would be of value. The massacre was the death-blow to his party. He was regarded by all as responsible for scenes, which were de- clared to be the most brutal that Paris had ever witnessed. All except the refuse of the population were filled with loathing for political parties, who sought their ends by ' Conrart says that as Conde and Orleans drove away from the Hotel de Ville they said : "Ce sont des Mazarins, faites ce que vous voudrez." The registers of the Hotel de Ville say the princes gave money to some, and said the Hotel de Ville was full of Mazarinites, " etq'il falloit mettremain basse." Morosini states their language in almost the same words. Rochefoucauld, Conde's friend and companion, says the prince was unjustly accused of plan- ning the massacre, hut that he had wished to frighten those who were not in his interest. Mem., 417-419. 9 Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, iii., 76-85. 200 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. such violence. Paris had long begun to weary of these civil wars, which caused disaster and were productive of no good, and in which the prejudices of the people against an unpopular minister had been used to advance the greedy plans of ambitious leaders, who had always been ready to desert their supporters, and who had now begun to murder them. 1 While the feeling of aversion to insurrection was grow- ing stronger, it was resolved to yield again to the preju- dice against Mazarin. The deputies of the Parliament were informed by Louis that so soon as the necessary orders had been given for the restoration of quiet in the kingdom, the cardinal would retire from the ministry. Such a promise was agreeable to the city of Paris, but not to the princes. They did not wish a peace based upon Mazarin's retirement, unless that was accompanied by the personal advantages which they demanded. The declara- tion was therefore criticised as evasive and given in bad faith, and it was demanded that the Duke of Orleans should be invested with an authority such as was required by the difficulties of the situation. In conformity with this request, the Parliament of Paris, on July 2Oth, de- clared that the king was held in captivity by Cardinal Mazarin, and the Duke of Orleans was chosen lieutenant- general of the kingdom so long as that minister continued in France. Conde was made general-in-chief of the army, and it was decided to send no more deputies to treat for peace while Mazarin remained in France." The cooperation of the other Parliaments was asked, but none, except that of Bordeaux, were willing to approve of so revolutionary a measure. The fiction of the king's cap- tivity under Mazarin had become ridiculous. Louis had attained his majority. He commanded armies of thou- sands of men, and the only captivity he suffered was that he desired to have the cardinal for his adviser. For a Pari- sian court to assume to choose a .lieutenant-general who should act against the king, and a general-in-chief who 1 Talon, 495, 496. Montpensier, 128. Joly, 76, etc. 'Journal du Parlement, July 2Oth. Talon, 497-501. FHE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE, 2OI should lead armies against those of the sovereign, was a revolutionary act, and could only be justified by a popular demand for the overthrow of the royal authority. No such desire existed. Cond was gratified at being enabled to exercise a despotic control in Paris, but while he compelled the authorities to pass resolutions to his taste, popular support deserted him, and he was soon driven from the city without the firing of a gun. The Parliaments of Rouen and Toulouse protested against this act of the Parliament of Paris. The other judicial bodies treated it with indifference. Orleans issued a proclamation declaring his assumption of the office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, but, except in Paris, no one recognized his authority. He proceeded, however, to appoint a council of state to act as his advisers. Cond6, Rochefoucauld, Beaufort, Chavigni, and some other noble- men, with various members of the courts and of the city government, composed this body, whose duties were to regulate all the affairs of the kingdom, but whose exist- ence was very brief. The quarrels between some mem- bers of the council had a tragic end. Though the Dukes of Beaufort and Nemours were brothers-in-law, they had long been unfriendly, and their animosity increased with time. The quarrel had arisen from some question of precedence, and Nemours now insisted on a duel. As they reached the grounds back of the Hotel of Vendome, Beaufort tried to remonstrate against the scandal of a duel between those so closely allied. Nemours was implacable, fired his pistol, and missed. He then ad- vanced with his sword and Beaufort shot him dead. Eight seconds took part in the duel, of whom two were killed and one severely wounded. None of them had any controversy, but they fought with the fury re- quired by the fashion of the time. Nemours was but twenty-eight. He was brave, witty, quarrelsome, and licentious, and was a fair type of the great noblemen who were leaders in the civil wars of the Fronde. 1 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 10. Montpensier, 128-130. Marigny i Lenet. Mss. Lenet, 7156 ; il>., 8409. 2O2 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Money was needed to pay the troops which had been enlisted by the princes. At Orleans' request the au- thorities of the Hotel de Ville ordered a tax of 800,000 livres to be imposed on the city of Paris to defray these expenses, and also to pay the 150,000 livres which was still offered for the head of Mazarin. Each house having a porte cochere was to pay 75 livres or 1 50 francs, the shops paid 60 francs, and the small houses 30. But though it was easy to impose the tax, it was found impossible to col- lect it. The people were in no humor to pay considerable sums of money, under an illegal assessment, to carry on war against the king. The armies of Conde and Orleans had been reduced by the engagements of the spring and summer, and they lost still more by desertions from want of pay. They had numbered as many as twelve thousand men, but by August they were reduced to two or three thousand. 1 The advisers of the king resolved to establish an op- position to the Parliament of Paris, that the king might have a friendly organization which would have the weight of that great name. A royal declaration required the members of the Parliament to meet at Pontoise, where Louis then was. It was not supposed that the body as a whole would regard this order. Its members claimed that the king had no power to order their sessions to be held out of Paris, and they avoided any discussion by resolving that the letters-patent directing the transfer should not be read while Mazarin remained in the king- dom. But some of those who were zealous in the royal service obeyed the call, and about thirty judges gathered at Pontoise and formed what the king recog- nized as the legal Parliament of Paris. Their zeal was not unrewarded, for pensions of 6,000 livres were afterwards granted to all those who had acted as members of the court at Pontoise. By their brethren at Paris they were regarded as a pope regards an anti-pope. A resolution 1 Registres Hotel de Ville, iii., 122-127. Memoires du Pere Berthod, 582. Dis. Ven., cxv., 8. Aff. Etr. Fr., 883, pp. 24, 5, 9. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 203 declared that unless the absent members within eight days returned to their places, they should forfeit their offices, and they and their posterity should for ever be incapable of holding any position in the Parliament. 1 Unaffected by this violent and foolish action, the court at Pontoise proceeded with the part which had been as- signed to it. Mazarin had resolved for the second time to leave France. Many had claimed that his return in January had been premature, and had given fresh vigor to Condi's failing rebellion. He himself had occasionally felt that more time should have been given, to allow the animosity against him to exhaust itself. It was now plain that the feeling which had so long sustained the commo- tions of the Fronde was giving way to a desire for peace, and for the restoration of orderly authority. The leaders in the rebellion against the king still made the demand for Mazarin's exile the pretext for their conduct, and if they were deprived of this, they would lose still more of the public support which was so fast deserting them. The Parliament at Pontoise accordingly presented its- petition, asking the king to restore tranquillity to his people by sending Mazarin from France. The cardinal seconded this petition, and asked that he might be allowed to retire. But Mazarin's second retirement from office was very different from his first. Then he had fled before a combination of his enemies, leaving the queen practi- cally a captive, with the Parliaments all over France ful- minating edicts against him, and with a large portion of the population both hoping and believing that he would never again resume the position from which he had been driven. The regent had been obliged to declare that she would never recall him, and to issue proclamations accus- ing him of inefficiency and crime. When he left the kingdom for the second time, Orleans and Conde" were in open rebellion and Paris was in the possession of the insur- gents. But the change in public sentiment during a year 'Journal du Parlement, 1652, 87-126. Talon, 505. Dis. Ven., cxv. I 6-22. 2O4 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and a half allowed the king to adopt a very different tone in reference to the minister. A manifesto recited his ser- vices, and the unjust and extraordinary assaults to which he had been exposed by those who were now in league with Spain. But that entire tranquillity might be restored, the king acceded to the petition of his Parliament and the repeated requests of Mazarin himself, and allowed the faithful minister to retire from office. 1 No one believed that this retirement would be long continued, but it was, however, a very judicious measure. It embarrassed the princes engaged in a failing cause, and it quieted those ready to cease their resistance to the royal authority. On the I9th of August Mazarin left Pontoise, escorted by a large body of cavalry. He went to Sedan and from there to Bouillon, where he remained for some time. His departure was greeted with general applause, and it increased the desire for peace that was daily be- coming stronger. 2 Neither Conde nor Orleans intended to dismiss their soldiers and cease their revolt, merely because Mazarin had left the country, but they endeavored to propitiate public opinion by an answer to this measure. They de- clared that if the king would retire his troops from about Paris and from Guienne, would grant a full amnesty and restore all things to their condition before these troubles, and would allow a safe retreat to the foreign soldiers whom the princes had brought into the heart of France, they would then lay down their arms. 8 There was no thought of granting any such extraordi- nary conditions. The princes asked for passports that they might send deputies to treat for terms of peace, but they were informed that passports would be furnished when they had laid down their arms and renounced their alliance with Spain. Mazarin's retirement, they had de- clared, had been the object for which they had taken up arms, and now that that had been accomplished, there 1 Journal du Parlement, 1652, 108-113. a Dis. Ven., cxv. . 2& 1 Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, iii., 223-7. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 2OJ was no need of deputies to treat of terms. They had now only to conduct themselves as obedient subjects of the king.' On August 26th an edict of amnesty was issued. During five years, this said, France had enjoyed great prosperity, and her armies had everywhere been success- ful. Then internal discords had arisen, and for three years they had so hampered the resources of the state, that adversity had succeeded to prosperity. Those who sought advantage in turmoil had declared the Cardinal Mazarin to be the cause of these misfortunes, and in 1651 he had retired from the ministry. An edict against his return had been registered at the king's majority, but immedi- ately after that Conde and his adherents had again begun a civil war, and had leagued themselves with Spain. Yet if all those who were now in rebellion would, within three days, lay down their arms and would send from the king- dom the foreign troops they had brought into it, a full amnesty would be granted. As a part of this act of grace, however, the king declared that all edicts of the Parlia- ment should be annulled which had been passed since February I, 1651, and had any reference to these internal troubles." The various declarations against Mazarin were thus swept away, together with the other acts of eighteen months of turbulence and civil war. The French kings claimed and exercised the right ta annul, by their own will, the edicts registered or adopted by the courts. Those which the king had granted, he could revoke, and many of the measures, which had been adopted by the Parliament alone, were in the exercise of a political jurisdiction resting neither on tradition nor statute. The present act of the king was no more arbitrary than the acts of his ancestors, whenever they were powerful enough to be arbitrary, and it was regarded as a legitimate exercise of the royal authority. The Parliament of Paris 1 Journal du Parlement, 130-142. This course was advised by Chateau- neuf, Mazarin a Tellier, Aug. 2oth, Mss. Bib. Nal., 4211. 1 Journal du Parlement, 142-152. 206 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. was gratified by Mazarin's retreat, and showed no resent- ment at an attempt to sweep away so much that it had enacted. The forces raised by Cond and Orleans had been much diminished, but they now received liberal reinforce- ments from their foreign allies. An army of twelve thou- sand men, composed partly of Spanish troops and partly of the soldiers of Lorraine, advanced through northern France and camped near Paris. Mazarin hoped to obtain Lorraine's aid for the king, and he complained of the duke's perfidy when he advanced into France. 1 The car- dinal had promised Lorraine to obtain for him permission to make a plundering excursion into France, but he advised the council not to grant it. The duke in turn promised Mazarin that he would ally himself with the king, but had allied himself with the king's enemies. 2 Turenne had only about eight thousand men, and he could not repel considerably larger forces. He succeeded, however, in checking them somewhat and in avoiding a battle. The allies might, perhaps, have crushed Tu- renne's army, but Cond6 was engaged in negotiating with the king, and he finally became sick and had to leave the field. Lorraine never wished to expose his troops to the risk of battle, and the Spanish archduke preferred keeping the most of his army to assist in the siege of Dun- kirk and the other places which he was rapidly capturing. The armies remained for some weeks near Paris, and the devastations they committed alienated still more the former supporters of the princes. Until the leaders of the Fronde had brought the soldiers of Lorraine and of the archduke to their assistance, Paris and its environs had escaped the ravages of the wars with Germany and Spain. The country about Paris was rich and fertile and it offered an inviting field for the plunderers. It was now pillaged for the second time in this year. The zeal of the burgesses 1 Mazarin & Tellier, Sept. gth, Mss. Bib. Nat., 4211. 1 These negotiations appear in the letters of Mazarin and Le Tellier for the latter part of August and early part of September, Mss., 4211, 4212. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 2O/ and peasants to drive away Mazarin grew faint, when their villas were burned and their crops cut down by mer- cenaries who claimed they had come to Paris on that errand. In the meantime the endeavors were continued to pre- pare the way for the king's return to Paris. Negotiations were carried on in behalf of all those who were still en- gaged in hostilities, but more attention was given to the people than the princes. It had long been attempted to build up a party in the city, which should be active in the royal service, and free from any alliance with the old or the new Frondeurs. The progress of events, and the evils produced by civil wars waged without justification, were most efficacious instruments in changing the tone of public feeling at Paris. But much was also done by Mazarin's agents, who, in various secret and complicated ways, endeavored to wean the public mind from judges like Broussel, priests like Retz, and generals like Cond. Much of this work was done by the clergy, who were Mazarin's favorite instruments for such intrigues. Money was used in some quarters and persuasion in others. It is doubtful whether these agents accomplished by their labors as much as they thought they did. 1 But the Fronde was near its end, and when the public feeling inclined towards a restoration of tranquillity, they assisted in di- recting it. Retz saw that the times had changed, and he endeavored to put himself at the head of a popular movement for the return of the king. The clergy sent a delegation to assist in restoring peace and Retz acted as their spokesman. On September I ith he made a formal address, and he also had private interviews with the queen and with Le Tel- lier. He claimed that if the Parliament could be restored 'Accounts of these intrigues can be found in the memoirs of Pere Berthod and the Mss. letters of the Abbe Fouquet and others to Mazarin in 1652. These accounts are usually interesting, and often valuable, but I think they should be read with caution. Such agents exaggerate the sentiments which they desire to find. Fouquet "s letters are the most trustworthy, and he was a man of much ability in intrigue. 208 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. to Paris and public sentiment gratified in that respect, he could make peace in eight days, and Mazarin could re- turn in eight more. Orleans was ready to make terms, and if Conde refused, he could be forced to leave Paris. Retz talked much of his own skill in the management of the public, and of the great influence he possessed in that city. But the ministers of the king distrusted his fidelity, and justly believed that his influence had much diminished. He was treated with courtesy, but he was unable either to represent the king, or to lead the people, in the move- ment now taking place. 1 Many other veteran intriguers engaged in the endeavors to restore tranquillity. It was felt that those who at this time found themselves in office and favor might ex- pect along continuance, and that those who were ill viewed at the Court now would have little reason to anticipate any change for the better. Chateauneuf and Chavigni took an active part, but they gained nothing for themselves or their friends. Chavigni professed to represent Conde, of whom he had been an able and zealous follower. But a letter of his was intercepted in which he seemed to show a willingness to abandon the interests of his patron. Conde's violent temper was excited, and he reproached Chavigni with unbounded virulence and ferocity. This, and other mortifications, affected a constitution which may have been already impaired, and he died a few days after his interview with the prince. 2 Conde was little troubled by seeing that the burgesses and shop-keepers were becoming weary of him. He was unfitted to deal with them, and was perhaps glad to be re- lieved from this necessity, even at the cost of losing Paris. But he believed that, with the aid of the Spanish, he should still be considerably superior in military strength to the armies of the king, and he demanded exorbitant 1 Telliera Mazarin, Sept. I4th. Mjs. Bib. Nat., 4212., 76-79. An enter- taining, but not entirely accurate account of his mission, is given by Retz him- self, iv., 77-101. 8 He was only forty-four, and he had eighteen children. Lettres a Lenet. . Ocl. nth. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 209 terms of peace. 1 Marchin must be made a marshal for be- traying Catalonia to the Spanish, and Daugnon a marshal for trying to betray La Rochelle. Cond himself wished to have troops under his independent command, to remain for a while the ally of Spain, and ultimately to be charged with making peace with that country. Though such con- ditions were absurd, Mazarin thought it might be best to grant reasonable terms. The king could not contend against so powerful enemies as Spain, Lorraine, and Cond, and if an accommodation with the prince could be made, the minister advised such a measure. 8 But he was dissuaded by some of his assistants. Ser- vien had been reconciled with Mazarin and was again in office. He protested against the policy of giving rewards for insubordination and treason. Cond, he said, was only acting in bad faith and to gain time, and it was useless to endeavor to make terms with one so violent, false, and ambitious. 3 Paris was weary of war and irritated against the princes. It desired only the advantages that would come from the presence of its sovereign. 4 Twice he had returned to the capital of his kingdom after treaties and concessions, but only to find new turbulence. It was now time that the king should return, not as the result of negotiations, but freely and without conditions, recalled by the desire of the people. The action of the king in refusing to receive delegates from the princes had a wholesome effect, and it was specially efficacious upon Orleans' timidity. The duke soon reached the condition where he was ready to abandon Cond, and desired peace on any terms. 5 In Septem- ber the Hotel de Ville sent delegates to the king, but those also he refused to receive. The city, he told them, after the massacres of July, had illegally chosen 1 Conde 4 Lenet, Sepl. 22d. " Tout est en si bon estat, que nous pourrions tout ce que nous voudrions." 'Mazarin a Tellier, Mss. 4211., 180. Letter of Sept. igth. 1 Servien 4 Mazarin, Oct. 2d. 4 Ibid. Sept. gth, Mss. 4211., 133. 5 Tellier 4 Mazarin, Oct. 4th, Mss. 4212. 210 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Broussel for the provost of merchants, and Beaufort was acting as its governor without authority from the king. While they continued at the head of the city government, the king could not regard any delegates chosen at the Hotel de Ville as representatives of the people of Paris. 1 But private bodies sent supplications to Compiegne, asking for the speedy return of the king, and all such were well received. The six companies of merchants fol- lowed the example of the clergy, and expressed their desire for an entire restoration of harmony between his majesty and his subjects of Paris. 4 On September 24th a public meeting was called to favor the unconditional re- turn of the king. About four thousand met and passed resolutions demanding peace with the king, the retreat of the foreign troops, and the resignation of the illegally chosen officials. The city was still under the control of the princes, and they prevented further meetings of the sort, but the effect of this was not inconsiderable. 3 Brous- sel tendered his resignation as provost of the merchants, and Orleans gave passports to the delegates whom the mer- chants wished to send to the king. He himself was weary of war, alarmed at every disturbance, and apprehensive of being deserted both by Paris and the prince. It was evi- dent that the city was returning to the service of the king, and the leaders quarrelled about the responsibility for the loss. Orleans told the prince that he had given him Paris, and Cond replied that he gave him twelve thousand men with which to hold it. 4 The plundering by Lorraine's soldiers created such hatred in the city, that even that freebooter began to find his position uncomfortable. On October iith he 1 Registres de 1' Hotel de Ville, iii., 237-264. * This was after the meeting of September 24th. * This meeting is described in the correspondence of Mazarin's agents, and by the adherents of the princes, with considerable discrepancy. There is no doubt as to the results which followed. The Venetian ambassador wrote it was dispersed by military force. cxv., 52. 4 Lettre de Martigny a Lenet, Sept. 25th. Lettre de Rochefoucauld a Lenet. Mem. de Berthod. Lettres de Tellier a Mazarin, Sept. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 211 was pursued by an angry crowd, who declared they would hold him a prisoner until he gave satisfaction for the pillage that had been committed by his soldiers. He made his escape, but he did not desire to return again to Paris, and he obtained a treaty from the king allowing him to lead his army from France without being attacked. 1 Beaufort tried in vain to keep the people zealous, by talk- ing of that long-established union between the Parliament and the princes, which alone could bring a secure and hon- orable peace." The time for such appeals was past. The Hotel de Ville and the Parliament united in asking Orleans to remove the foreign mercenaries who were de- vouring the land. Cond6 was unable to accomplish any thing against the popular sentiment. Paris was weary of his violence, and he in turn was weary of Paris. He did not wish to return to Guienne, where he would also have to meet the complaints and uncertainties of city officers and organizations. The life of a princely highwayman like Lorraine was congenial to his tastes, and unless he could have an authority in France like that of a general in a camp, he was eager to do all in his power to injure his fatherland. On October I3th Lorraine and Cond6 led away their troops and marched towards Liege and Stenai.' For seven years Cond commanded Spanish armies against his countrymen. The retreat of these armies left the way open for the return of the king, but it was desired that other leaders of the Fronde should leave Paris, to ensure its tranquillity. Mazarin wrote that the king could not be safe in the cap- ital until Orleans, Retz, and Beaufort were out of it, and that the unruly members of the Parliament must also be expel- led. 4 Orleans became constantly more terrified. He was urged by Chateauneuf and Retz to excite the people, and 1 Aff. Eti. Fr., 885, 47. * Dis. Ven., cxv., 66, 67. ' Muse Historique, Oct. igth. Tellier 4 Mazarin, Oct. I3th. Lettres de Paris, Oct. l8th, published by M. Cousin. * Mazarin a Tellier, Mss. 4211., 113, 114 ; 4 Fouquet, 23,202, Oct. I2th. 212 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. erect new barricades against the entry of the king. But he feared such dangerous counsels, and he agreed to leave the city, and make no opposition to the restoration of the royal authority. 1 Beaufort obtained the promise of 100,000 livres, and, on October I4th, he resigned his position as governor of Paris. Mazarin would have been glad to have accompanied the king on his triumphal entry into the stronghold of the Fronde, but it was thought best to improve the favorable condition of public feeling, with- out waiting for his return. The cardinal wrote, that if the king could enter Paris and be again established at his capital in tranquillity and the full possession of his author- ity, he wished no delay from any regard for his personal interests. 2 Orleans had as yet received no assurance of the terms on which he could retire, and, on the I9th, he sent word to the city officers that unless those were agreed on, he would resort to any measures. But no one heeded his threats. On the 2ist the king slowly proceeded tow- ards the city from Saint Germain, accompanied by Tu- renne's soldiers and met by great bodies of citizens and officials. It was dark before they reached Paris, and the procession marched by the light of torches through the Cours de la Reine and the gardens of Renard, and Louis XIV. slept that night in the palace of the Louvre. Though he was received with applause and with no attempt at dis- turbance, strong guards were stationed about the Louvre, and soldiers were encamped near the city. 8 The king had returned amid acclamation, and it was resolved that he should reign with authority. The Duke of Orleans was ordered .to leave the city at onge, and it was decided to arrest him if he refused. He asked to be allowed to stay until the morning, and his request was granted. At five o'clock on the 22d he left Paris, accom- panied by Beaufort and Chabot Rohan, and retired to Li- 1 Tellier a Mazarin, Mss. 4212., 189-199, et pas. Mazarin a Tellier, Oct., Mss. Bib. Nat., 6890; a Fouquet, Mss. 23,- 202. Servien a Mazarin, Oct. I2th, etc. Tellier a Mazarin, Oct. 2Oth and 22d, Mss. 4212. Mem. de York, 556, 557. Berthod, 598-599- THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 21 3 mours. 1 The political role of all three was ended. Terms were granted Orleans by which he agreed to disband the troops levied in his name. He was allowed to enjoy his appanage and his wealth, and he retired to the quiet city of Blois. He died in 1660, but after his departure from Paris he had no political influence, and he spent his days in the indolent luxury of a royal prince. He ended his career, appropriately, by disclosing to Le Tellier the vio- lent measures to which he had been urged by his asso- ciates, and by becoming a witness against his friends." For over a quarter of a century the rank and the restless dis- position of Gaston of Orleans had made him the centre of the intrigues and insurrections against the royal authority, and against the two cardinals by whom it was successively administered. His career had been a record of cowardice, vacillation, and treachery; he had never kept his word, and he had always betrayed his friends. He crowned the failures of his life, by an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the beauty of the chateau of Blois. Retz claims he had prophesied to Orleans that the result of their intrigues might be, that the duke would find himself a royal prince retired to Blois, and that Retz would be a cardinal im- prisoned at Vincennes. Part of this prediction was now fulfilled, and the rest was soon verified. Mademoiselle of Orleans was also ordered to leave Paris. She had reproached her father for his resolution to abandon the cause of Cond, and submit himself to Mazarin. When they sold lanterns " a la royale " to cele- brate the king's return, she said she wanted to buy lan- terns " a la Fronde." If the others left Paris, she would stay there with only her fcmmes de chambre, and brave the king. Her father told her it was time to aban- don the role of a heroine, but she replied that her ancestry was such, that she could do nothing except what was elevated and great. But she was obliged at last to 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 4212., 190, 191. 1 Tellier a Mazarin, Oct. 3Oth. The details of Orleans' negotiations and treaties are found in Mss. 4212., 332, et seq. 214 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. yield, and leave Paris, and she ended her political career, courageous and absurd to the last. 1 Another leader of the Fronde soon followed. On No- vember i8th Chateauneuf was ordered to retire to Berri, and there he died during the next year." The duchesses of Montbazon and Chatillon were also compelled to leave Paris. But the treatment of the Parliament presented a ques- tion of much more importance for the country, than end- ing the career of some unscrupulous politicians, and of some dissolute women. The Parliament of Pontoise was recalled to Paris, and on the morning of October 22d Louis held a bed of justice at the Louvre A number of royal declarations were read, affecting the present condition of affairs, and the future organization of the body. A free amnesty was again granted to all those who, within three days, should submit to the king and renounce all alli- ances with the enemies of the state. The Parliament was formally transferred to Paris, but the authority was recognized of those who had attended at Pontoise, in conformity with the order of the king. All acts of those who had remained at Paris were declared to be void. The Parliament was ordered in the future to as- sume no control over the general matters of the state, and to attempt no direction of the public finances. It was to be simply a court, for the decision of lawsuits. As its members had often been led into evil courses by the influence of others, they were forbidden to hold any office or receive any pension from princes or noblemen. Finally, Beaufort together with Broussel and nine other members of the Parliament were banished from the city. 1 The king had before endeavored to prevent the Parlia- ment's becoming a political body, and exercising a restraint upon his authority. But the edict that was now regis- tered, was to be enforced. It was just four years since the 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 75-80. Mss. 4212., 191. Mem. de Montpensier, 144-9. 1 Tellier a Mazarin, Nov. i8th. * Journal du Parlement, 1652, 235-252. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 21 5 edict of October, 1648, had seemed to recognize in the Parliament of Paris a political authority embarrassing to the king and important to the state. The manner in which the judges sought to preserve and to exercise that authority, prevents any regret that the king was at last successful in his efforts to overthrow it. The reforma- tion of the government of France could not have been effected by making a legislature of a court. Such an endeavor was now abandoned, and the edict of October 22, 1652, may be regarded as the end of the Parliamentary Fronde. A few months more were employed in over- coming the resistance of Condi's followers, and in quiet- ing the troubles of Guienne. There were members of the Parliament who were offended by these edicts, and would have been glad to have resisted them, but it was impossible to make any effective opposition, either in or out of the body. Those who had been most active in such matters were now exiled, and no barricades were raised in behalf of Broussel, when he was a second time attacked by the royal authority. He had allowed himself to be so far involved in the violence and massacre of the summer, that he had lost the popular veneration which alone made him of importance. Some of the judges had been secured in the interests of the government by pensions and favors, many had long been weary of the violent courses into which their body had been led, and those who still de- sired to be unruly dared not oppose the order of the king. 1 The Bastille was still under the command of Broussel's son. Its surrender was at once demanded, but he re- plied that he held it under the authority of the Duke of Orleans, and he could yield it only by his order. He was told that he must surrender it to his king, or it would be bombarded forthwith. He consented to give possession to the king, but he obtained 40,000 livres as compensa- tion for resigning his office as governor. 1 One formidable leader of the Fronde remained at Paris, 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 75. ' Mss. 4212., 190. 2l6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and though his power was much reduced, he still excited apprehension among his former opponents. The Cardinal Retz had endeavored to take an active part in the popu- lar demonstrations for the king's return, but with little success. He asked Turenne to assure Mazarin of his good-will, and to suggest a marriage of his nephew with the minister's niece. The cautious general declined to do any thing more than simply convey the message, and Mazarin replied there was reason to believe that Retz's promises to aid only came from his inability to harm ; ' tranquillity and obedience to the king could not be as- sured while Retz remained in Paris." Servien and Le Tel- lier were equally distrustful of the cardinal's turbulence. Retz himself was annoyed that he had not played a more active part in the late events, and he pursued a vacillating course. He was quite willing to have the favor of the Court, but he found it difficult to abandon the endeav- ors to excite popular disturbances, which had so long been his employment and his pleasure. He coquetted with Conde" and excited mistrust by such advances.' He was offered a retreat that would have been honor- able and agreeable. The Court was willing to send him as its representative to Rome. 4 Mazarin had declined such a suggestion for himself when it was made a year before, but Mazarin had actually held the power which Retz had only anticipated holding. Retz's talents would be valuable to his government at Rome, and he could exer- cise a great influence in the intrigues of the papal curia. The prospect was not distasteful to him, but he delayed in making the agreement to accept this position and leave Paris. He was embarrassed by the enormous debts he had incurred, he desired to obtain favors for some of his friends, and he still overestimated the power which he held in the city, and the terms which he could compel the 1 " 11 y a grande apparence qu' elles ne proviennent que de 1'impuissance de continuer a mal faire." Mss. Bib. Nat., 4211., 410. Mem. de Turenne, 449, 450. s Mazarin a Fouquet, Oct. 26th. Mss. 23,202. * Lenet a Conde, Dec. I2th. Mazarin a Fouquet, Dec. I7th. 4 Ibid., Joly, 82. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 2 1/ government to grant. His position as a cardinal, and the great influence which he had possessed among the inhabi- tants of Paris would, he believed, prevent the king from attempting his arrest. But the ministers resolved that Retz should be arrested, and Mazarin approved their decision.' Retz had discon- tinued his visits to the Louvre, and it was difficult to find an opportunity to take him into custody. His residence in the cloisters of the archbishop's palace he had made almost a fortress, and from there he could easily escape into Notre Dame. The king ordered him to be taken dead or alive, but it was not desirable that a cardinal of the church should be torn by violence from the altar of his cathedral. But he delivered himself into the hands of his enemies. Acting under the treacherous counsel, it is said, of some female adviser, on December I9th he again visited the Louvre, in order to dispel the mistrust excited by his absence. The news was brought that Retz would soon be there, and preparations were hastily made for his arrest. The king greeted him with the affability that so often beguiled those who had been selected for punishment. Louis presently retired to hear mass, and the cardinal offered to help in its celebration. Apprehensive, how- ever, of some preparations that he noticed, he decided to retire, but as he reached the ante-chamber he was at once arrested. He was taken to the prison of Vincennes and kept in close confinement for fifteen months, and was then transferred to Nantes, where he remained until his escape. He complained that his person was searched, but nothing more important was found than part of his sermon for the next Sunday." No public agitation followed the arrest of the coadjutor of Paris. In acquiring the dignity of a cardinal he had 1 Le Tellier a Mazarin, Nov. 26th, Dec. ist, Mss. 4212. Mazarin a Le Tellier, Dec. 3, 8, etc., Mss. Bib. Nat., 4211 and 6891. Mazarin a Fou- quet, Dec. 2d, Mss. 23,202. *Le Tellier a Mazarin, Dec. i8th and 2Oth. Paulin a Mazarin, Dec. asth. Letters de Colbert, 1,403. Mem. de Retz, iv., 156 et seq. Joly, 81-5. 2l8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. lost his hold on the populace. 1 But his position in the church led the clergy to make some exertions in his be- half. Mazarin, himself, felt that it was embarrassing to have it announced that one cardinal had been arrested by the order of another. He had indeed advised the policy which the government had pursued ; the leaders, he had said, must be expelled ; only by vigor and firmness could the authority of the king and the happiness of his subjects be assured. 2 He had expressly approved the arrest of Retz, though he affected to regret that the advisers of the king should have felt constrained to such an act. 3 But Mazarin was desirous that these acts of severity should seem to proceed from the government while he was absent, and that his own return should be associated with a renewed era of mildness. He was exceedingly anxious to overcome the personal hostility to which he had so long been subject, and he wrote his agents at Paris to use every effort to inspire the inhabitants with favorable sentiments towards himself/ He now sent a letter to the king asking the release of his brother cardi- nal. This was published, together with Louis' answer, showing why the interests of the state required his im- prisonment. But it was easy to see that one man was playing all the parts in the comedy. 6 The curs of Paris and the chapter of Notre Dame presented their petitions for Retz's release. He was their religious supe- rior, and he was also popular among them. They were incited both by their zeal for the privileges of the church, and by their affection for their pastor. For forty hours prayers were said for the liberty of Cardinal Retz, and some even wished to close Notre Dame and the churches of Paris. But Retz's uncle, the archbishop, had been jealous of his nephew, and he showed little zeal in his behalf. He presented the petitions of the clergy to the 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 113. 8 Mazarin a Fouquet, Oct. 25th. Mss. 23,202, cipher. " Letter of Dec. 23d, etc. 4 Mazarin 4 Fouquet, pa ssim. Mss. 23,202. 8 Dis. Ven., cxv., 120. " Comedia, nella quella il Cardinale fa tutti le parti." THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE, 2l<) Court in a very apologetic manner, and refused to allow Notre Dame to be closed. Cond offered his services to Retz, and an effort was made to combine their friends in some action against the government. Few however were disposed to undertake any thing more than polite petitions for the cardinal's release. One or two priests, who made themselves conspicuous by the fervency of their prayers that Retz might be delivered from the hands of his enemies, were arrested, and it began to be said that Mazarin had decided to imitate Richelieu, and adopt a policy of rigor instead of mildness. 1 Innocent X. sent a legate to demand that the cardinal should be released, or be turned over to the officers of the church, to consider any charges that were made against him. The French govern- ment refused to entertain this request. The king, it was said, had the right to proceed against cardinals who were French subjects, if they had committed any offence against the state. He could not recognize the jurisdiction of the Pope, even to present remonstrances on such a matter. The envoy was reminded, also, that while the Holy Father now professed a special interest in any wrong committed upon one of his cardinals, he had been entirely undisturbed when the Parliament of Paris had offered 150,000 livres for the head of Cardinal Mazarin. 1 Retz remained in prison, complaining of the treatment he received, and disturbed by the fear that his enemies might quietly dispose of him. Secret murder was not an unknown device among Italian politicians, but it was never resorted to by Mazarin. There now seemed no reason why the minister should not return to Paris. The Parliament was quiet. Cond and Orleans had been driven from the city. Retz was in prison. On October 26th, immediately after the king had made his entry, he sent a letter to Mazarin saying that his rebellious subjects still continued in arms, though they had claimed that the cardinal's departure was all that they desired, and there was no reason why he should not return, and the crown again enjoy his assistance and good Ibid., 120. Joly, 85-90. * Dis. Ven., cxv., 163-6. Retz iv., i8u 220 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. counsel. 1 His friends told him that he could come to Paris in entire safety. Rooms were prepared for his accommodation. 3 The queen sent word that she was dying -of impatience for his return. But Mazarin showed no haste. He was willing that more time should be given to judicious endeavors to turn the Parisians from the per- sonal hostility, which they had for so many years cher- ished against him. He was willing to remain absent, while the king was occupied in exiling nobles and judges, imprisoning cardinals, and curtailing the power of the Par- liament. Important matters demanded his care, and he wished to give his personal attention to resisting the arms of Conde and the Spanish, and regaining some part of the great losses which France had suffered during the year. Though the success of the French armies was often affected by the inefficiency of commanders, and by the financial disorders of the country, the wars under Riche- lieu and Mazarin had shown how far superior France was to the disunited government of Germany and the decayed government of Spain. Richelieu had met with moderate success when he first became involved in wars in Germany and with Spain, but the end of his administration saw the arms of France victorious in every quarter. The first five years of Mazarin's administration had been still more brilliant, and such successes had obtained the Peace of Westphalia. The war with Spain continued, but the campaign of 1648 showed that France single-handed was more than a match for her antagonist. But in that year internal agitations began to weaken the country. The finances were soon in a state more deplorable than their usual bad condition. In many provinces the collection of taxes was paralyzed. The few soldiers who could be paid and fed had to be employed against armies of Frenchmen, instead of against the armies of Spain. Notwithstanding 1 Mss. 6892, Bib. Nat. ' Lettres de Colbert, t. i, Nov. ist. Aff. Etr. Fr., 885, p. 127. Dis. Ven., cxv., 81. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 221 these misfortunes, though France gained nothing in 1649, she lost but little. Ypres, however, was taken by the Spanish. Mazarin failed in his attempt to capture Cam- brai, and this disaster was viewed with satisfaction by innu- merable Frenchmen. In the next year, 1650, the followers of Cond6 were in active revolt in many provinces. They at once sought Spain as an ally, which the Parliamentary Fronde had refused to do. The nobles, less patriotic than the judges, called the Spanish to the invasion of France, and, under the leadership of French generals, foreign troops laid waste Champagne and Picardy, and penetrated almost to the gates of Paris. While Mazarin was endeavoring to overcome the resistance of Bouillon and Rochefoucauld in Guienne, Piombino and Porto Longone were lost to France. In Catalonia the influence of that kingdom was fast being destroyed, and Mazarin tried in vain to send additional troops and money for its protection. The people, however, still remained attached to the country of their adoption, and they succeeded in preventing their reconquest by Spain. After peace had been restored in Guienne, Mazarin went to Champagne, and the victory of Rethel rescued that province from the ravages of foreign troops. That victory had been followed by the cardinal's overthrow. Since the beginning of the Fronde, France had ceased to hope for any advantage in the war. The best that could happen was that she should lose little. During the early part of 1651 Cond engaged the attention of the Spanish with negotiations for a new alliance against his country, and in October he was again in revolt. The archduke contented himself with recapturing Furnes and some places in Flanders, but the treason of Marchin left Catalonia in a still more critical position. In 1652 both Orleans and Cond had armies engaged against the gov- ernment, and the Spanish sent troops to their assistance. Guienne was in revolt and Provence was much disturbed by internal dissensions. Paris was in the hands of the in- surgents, and its inhabitants were paying taxes to the 222 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. princes instead of to the king. The year was one of disaster in every section where the war waged. The Vene- tian minister wrote that former years had been filled with constant victories for France, but now every week brought the news of some loss. 1 There were no important defeats in the field, for the French had no armies with which to fight, but Spain regained what had been taken from her by years of costly and bloody warfare. The troops of Lorraine and of the Spanish general Fuensaldana ravaged Picardy and the country about Paris, but the archduke preferred using most of his soldiers, in retaking from the French their important con- quests in the Low Countries. In May the Spanish attacked Gravelines, which had been taken from them in 1644, after a siege of two months. Its garrison was small and in no condition to make a successful resistance, and on May i8th the place surrendered." It was a severe blow to Mazarin, but while the armies of the king were inferior in numbers to those of the rebels against his authority, no aid could be given to the places attacked by the Spanish. The cardinal tried to obtain the assistance of England and made the most liberal offers, but Crom- well was still coquetting between Spain and France, and he would not make a treaty of alliance. The archduke resolved to attempt a still more import- ant conquest. He blockaded Dunkirk, and in August he began a regular siege of the place. The only way in which supplies and reinforcements could be introduced into the town was by water. The Duke of Vendome was ordered to bring some vessels from La Rochelle, but he was met by the Spanish ships and those of Condi's ally the Count of Daugnon. After an encounter, he was obliged to put back, and he could get no money with which to repair his ships or obtain further supplies.' Orders were then given to collect all the barks and vessels that could be 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 77. Montglat, 279. " Dis. Ven., cxiv., 183, 210. " L'avviso ha colpito il Cardinale nel piu vivo." ' Le Tellier a Mazarin, Aug. 23, 1652, Mss. Bib. Nat., 4212. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 22$ 'found at Calais and Boulogne, and attempt the relief of Dunkirk. On September I4th, seven vessels and some fire ships set sail. The Spanish ships were under the Mar- quis of Leyde, who was eager to conquer the place which he had been obliged to surrender six years before, but he was saved the necessity of opposing the entrance of these reinforcements. The English claimed that some of their merchant-ships had suffered from French pirates, and they avenged themselves in any manner they saw fit. Crom- well was then using every effort to develop the power of England on the sea, and he proceeded with little regard for the rights of other powers. A fleet of fifty-four sail .attacked the French ships, proceeding to the rescue of Dunkirk, and captured them all. The last hope of re- lief was now gone, and on September i6th the city surren- dered to the Spanish. The lack of supplies and the hos- tility of the English had cost France this important sea- port. 1 The French charged that Leyde had promised the English commander 4,000 scudi if he would prevent the reinforcements reaching Dunkirk. They asked reparation for this act and the restoration of the vessels. But their complaints received little attention. They were told that the vessels would be held as a reprisal for damages done by privateers sailing under French letters of marque, and they were not surrendered. 1 France was in no condition to avenge such an insult as this, inflicted by a power with which she was at peace. Mazarin knew that a war with England would ensure the complete triumph of Spain, and that in an English alliance was his strongest hope for victory over the Spaniards. True to his character, he suffered the affront and continued his endeavors to obtain Cromwell's aid, which, after years of delay and rebuffs, were to be crowned with entire success. The news of the surrender of Dunkirk was received with exultation in Spain and by the friends of Cond. The 1 Ibid., Sept. 2d, I4th, etc. Gentillat a Servien. Sept. I7th. Montglat, 279. 280. Reports from Dunkirk, M*s. 4,212., 46, 84, et. seq. Dis. Ven., cxv., 48. 1 Letters of Telher and Gentillat cited above. Letters of Bordeaux to Brienne, passim, 1652-3. 224 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. prince wrote that now they were complete masters of the sea. 1 In Italy the Spanish met with equal success. After capturing Trino, they laid siege in September to Casal, one of the most important positions in Northern Italy. Casal was associated with some of Richelieu's most famous campaigns. Mazarin himself had first gained prominence in the contests for the possession of that city. It had been held by the French since 1628, and they had suc- cessfully withstood three important sieges. If it was now lost, the influence of France in Italy would be entirely destroyed. The honor and the power of France, Mazarin had long declared, depended upon holding Casal." But little could now be done to preserve the city. There was no army to send across the Alps. Some money was furnished to assist in the defence, but in October Casal surrendered. The Spanish had for twenty-four years endeavored to wrest it from France, and they rejoiced greatly at their success. It was put in the possession of the Duke of Mantua, but with a Spanish garrison, and the duke became the ally of Spain instead of France.* The greatest loss in this unfortunate year was that of Catalonia. That great province had rebelled against Spain in 1640, and had joined itself to the kingdom of France. Before Richelieu's death it was entirely in French posses- sion, and it was justly regarded as a part of France. Though Mazarin had afterwards contemplated surrender- ing it, this was only upon the condition that France should receive a still more valuable acquisition in the Spanish Low Countries. During the four years which had been filled with the troubles of the Fronde, Spain en- deavored, and with success, to reconquer the province which had abandoned her. In 1650, Mazarin had recog- nized the peril of Catalonia, and had endeavored to send assistance in war and money. 4 It was possible, how- 1 Gourville a Lenet, Sept. 22d. Conde 4 Lenet, Sept. 23d, published Mem. de Lenet, 572-575. ' See letters to Tellier, summer, 1650, t. iii. 1 Montglat, 281, 282. 4 Lettres de Mazarin, t. iii., cited before. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 22$ s ever, to do but little. In 1651 the Spanish besieged Barcelona. After Marchin's desertion they hoped to capture it at once, but it was defended with the cour- age and constancy of the Catalonian people. LaMothe Houdancourt was again put in command of the province. He had been unsuccessful there when France was strong, and it could hardly have been expected that he could rescue it when France was weak. He succeeded, how- ever, in forcing his way into Barcelona, and defended the city with as much success as could, perhaps, have been an- ticipated from the scanty means at his command. The inhabitants endured, with constancy, the danger and want caused by the siege, rather than surrender themselves to Spain. Some French ships sailed for the rescue of the place, but they acquitted themselves with little valor. Provisions were sent into the town, but the commander claimed he was not in condition for a conflict with the Spanish fleet, and he retreated. Endeavors were made, both by the French troops and those of the Catalonians, to raise the siege, but without success. In October, after a siege of fifteen months, Barcelona surrendered. Roses was captured soon after. Leucate was betrayed to Spain by its governor for 40,000 crowns. He intended to enlist under Orleans, but learning the king had reentered Paris, he made his peace, by agreeing to betray no more. The Spanish granted an amnesty to the people of Catalonia. The whole province fell into their hands, and became again a part of the kingdom of Spain.' The loss of Catalonia was chiefly due to the turbulence and disloyalty of Cond. * Had it not been for the groundless rebellion which he excited in the autumn of 1651, and which absorbed the energies of the French armies during the next year, Catalonia might have been saved for France and have remained a part of that king- 1 Dis. Ven. cxv., 77, 89, et pas. Montglat, 282, 283. 1 Don Luis de Ilaro, the Spanish chief minister, said at the conferences for the Peace of the Pyrenees, "que M. le Prince avoit etc cause, par les diversions en France, de la prise de Barcelone, et de la reduction de toute la Catalogne." Mazarin a Le Tellier, Sept. 12, 1659. 226 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. dom. The idea of surrendering it had been scouted by Mazarin and his associates, unless upon the condition that it should be exchanged for the Low Countries. When Spain had demanded it as a condition of peace, they had refused to listen to such a proposition, and if the province had not been conquered by arms, it would never have been surrendered by treaty. 1 It was a national misfortune that Catalonia was lost. This great and important province would have been a valuable accession to France. Its brave and hardy population would have become loyal and industrious Frenchmen, and have added to the wealth and power of that kingdom. For the Catalonians it was still more unfortunate that their lot should thus have been determined. They were not closely related to the people of Aragon or Castile. They were now left to share in the slow decay of the Spanish kingdom, instead of having an opportunity for development in intelligence and pros- perity as members of a great and progressive nation. The king was again established at Paris, and only at the south was there still resistance to the general government. Conde, after leaving Paris, had gone to Champagne, and there united his own troops with those of the Spanish. The forces amounted to twenty-five thousand men, and the French army opposed to them was not over ten thousand strong. They met, therefore, with little resist- ance, and during October and November, Conde captured Rethel, Sainte Menehould, Bar le Due, and several other places in Champagne. Mazarin now resolved to make a more vigorous resistance, and to endeavor to drive the Spanish from French soil. A few thousand raw recruits were furnished Turenne, and as the Spanish army was by this time considerably diminished, he assumed the offen- sive. It was so late that the Spaniards had regarded the 1 The views of the French ministers on this question are found scattered through Mazarin's and Servien's letters, especially in the correspondence published in " Negociations Secretes touchant la Paix de Westphalie," and tome ii. of Lettres de Mazarin. The Venetian minister said the next year : " II puntodella Catalogna, che non si puote superare a Munster col negotio, e stato espugnato con l'armi." Dis. Ven., cxvi., 61. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 22? campaign as ended, and expected to have Champagne for their winter quarters. But they were unwilling to risk a battle, and their army retreated to Luxembourg. The French captured Bar le Due and some other places. Mazarin was now with the army, and he was anxious to undertake the siege of Sainte Menehould. But it was late in December. The weather was very cold, and the hail and northeast winds were so severe over the great plains of Champagne, that many soldiers perished from exposure. Turenne thought it rash to attempt the siege of this place in such weather, and Mazarin was governed by his advice. Vervins was, however, attacked. The soldiers murmured because they were not allowed to go into winter quarters. The Spanish shouted impreca- tions against the cardinal from the walls of the town, and the besiegers in the trenches answered, Amen. But the city soon surrendered, and the campaign closed with the gain of a large portion of what Cond6 had captured. 1 As the government was resolved to carry on the war with vigor, and hoped the next year to have 40,000 men in the field, it was necessary to resort to new taxation. On the last day of December, 1652, Louis went to the Parliament to hold a bed of justice. He was accompanied by his guards, and the presence of numerous soldiers was a reminder to the judges, that the king was now prepared to enforce his authority. Edicts were read which reestab- lished a large number of offices and rights that had been abolished by the edict of October, 1648, imposed a tax on franc fief s, and increased the duty on wine. The Chamber of Justice, which had been established to proceed against the financiers, was now abolished. 700,000 livres were added to the wages of officers of judicature and finance.' The establishment of taxes similar to these, in January, 1648, had led to the conference in the Chamber of St. Louis and the beginning of the Fronde. The government 1 Lettres de Mazarin a Le Tellier, December and January, Mss. 4211. Mem. de Turenne. 450 452 ; Mem. de York, 557-563. 1 Journal du Parlement, 1652, Dec. 3ist. Talon, 516. Dis Ven., cxv.. 124. 228 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. had then been unable to enforce them, and had been com- pelled to grant an edict recognizing to some extent the control which the Parliament sought to exercise. The imposition of such taxes in 1653 caused discontent among many of the inhabitants of Paris, and was offensive to some members of the Parliament. But the court had proceeded to extreme measures, and the results of its action had been disastrous. It had sought to exercise such authority, that it had lost the power it once pos- sessed. It was weaker at the end of the Fronde than it had been at the beginning. The most factious members were now in exile. Those who would have been glad to attempt remonstrances against these new edicts found no leaders, and they were registered and enforced in silence. The administration also did away with the restraint on its conduct, which had limited to 3,000,000 the amount to be paid by acquits a comptant. The Chamber of Ac- counts remonstrated, but the king's brother was sent to hold a bed of justice and order the registration of the order of the council. The members of the Accounts were forced to obey, and their remonstrances were regarded as so insignificant that a boy of twelve was sent to overcome their resistance. In January a few hundred holders of unpaid rentes attempted some disturbance. A company of soldiers at once fired on them and checked the com- motion. They complained that the government paid its debts by musket balls, but they abandoned any attempt to excite disorder. 1 All was now ready for Mazarin's return. The queen had long urged it, and wrote the cardinal that if he knew what she suffered from his delays he would surely be touched. He must at least write her daily, and that would be some solace to her." At last he yielded to such supplications, and returned to Paris. The king offered to come out to escort him, but he declined such an honor 1 Dis Ven., cxv., 148. * Letters of queen to Mazarin. Mss. Bib., Nat., Clairembaut, 1144., 89, et seq. These have been published by Cousin. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 229 lest it should be interpreted as meaning that he needed the king's presence to protect him from popular hatred. 1 On the 3d of February, 1653, he entered Paris, victorious over all his enemies, after being twice in exile, and after five years of disturbance. He had borne their affronts, he had yielded to their animosity, he had been driven from the kingdom at their demand, but he had overcome them at last. From the day of his re-entry into Paris until the day of his death, he was the absolute ruler of France. Not only the opposition to him, but the animosity to him, faded away. The cry of "No Mazarin ! " was heard neither in public nor private, and even the most obstinate Frondeurs forgot some of their hatred against the man whose fortune had proved itself to be invincible. He en- tered Paris accompanied by a great following of soldiers, courtiers, and city dignitaries, and he was met by the king. It was a rainy day, but even his enemies admitted that only the rain checked the popular applause on his re- turn." In the night bonfires lighted up the streets, and the next morning a multitude was gathered in his ante- chamber. All his friends were there, eager for reward, and his old opponents gave him their support for fear of punishment.* While the cardinal showed no desire to pun- ish his enemies, the honors and emoluments were bestowed upon those who had been faithful to his interests. It was seen that there was no road to favor, except that which led to the chamber of Mazarin.' He brought from Rome his remaining nephews and nieces, that he might have more material for alliances with the powerful families of France and Europe. His niece, the Duchess of Mercoeur, entered the city, bringing with her the others of his family, and she was accompanied by as great a following as the queen herself. The marriage between the Duke of Mer- cceur and Mazarin's niece had been delayed by Condi's opposition. But the duke had remained constant, and 1 Mazarin & Tellier, Mss.. 4211., 606, et seq. * Lettres de Patin, i., 207. ' Lettres de Patin, i., 224. Sagrado, the Venetian ambassador, says of Mazarin: " Rittornato nello steso posto d'auttorita e di grandezza, anzi piu stimato e piu temuto che mai," cxv., 150-152. 4 IbiJ., 154. 230 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. when Mazarin was in exile at Briihl, and it seemed possible that he could never regain power, Mercceur married the niece of the fallen minister. The Parliament claimed that this was an act of high treason, and the duke was sum- moned before it to answer for his conduct. The proceed- ing resulted in nothing, and after Mazarin's return to power, Mercceur was soon rewarded by receiving the gov- ernment of Provence. Fouquet, the procureur-general, and his brother the abb, had been active and valuable agents in alienating Paris from the Fronde. The pro- cureur-general and Servien were now made superinten- dents of finance. 1 Fouquet's appointment proved a very unfortunate one, and after he obtained control of the finances, he involved them in incalculable disorder. The clergy were much employed politically, both by Richelieu and Mazarin, and many of them were now rewarded with bishoprics and livings. Various nobles were made mar- shals and dukes. So many of the latter were created, that the wits charged Mazarin with saying that he would make it ridiculous to be a duke, and ridiculous not to be a duke." He endeavored in many ways to regain the good-will of the Parisian bourgeoisie, whose hostility had been so per- sistent and so injurious. The best means to that end was one which he now adopted. An order was given to re- sume the regular payment of the rentes of the Hotel de Ville, which had been for so many years interrupted. In honor of this and of the return of the minister, on March 29th, he was given a grand dinner at the Hotel de Ville by the officials of the city of Paris. The aldermen and col- onels were ready to receive the man against whom they had so often labored. He rode in his carriage through a great crowd, who cheered him as he went. At the din- ner, after the health of the king, the health of the min- ister was drunk amid tremendous applause, and the an- 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 155. * It is hardly necessary to say that there is no authority for Mazarin's uttering the words with which he was so often charged. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 23! cient building resounded with shouts of " Long live Mazarin ! " When he returned to his palace, the crowd, among which were many women, followed him. The doors were hospitably thrown open, and those who en- tered were served with refreshments. Who could help loving an affable and smiling cardinal who scattered gold pieces among the men and gave candy to their wives? 1 The government now turned its attention to those parts of France where tranquillity had not yet been established. There had been disturbances, both in Provence and Bur- gundy, excited by adherents of Cond or by local com- plaints. They were not, however, difficult to overcome. Burgundy was soon quieted. In Provence, the inhabitants of Toulon surrendered their city on Mercceur's threat that he would cut down the olive-trees. The new gov- ernor conducted himself with moderation, while his prede- cessor, the Count of Alais, had, by his tyranny and vio- lence, alienated the province and been the cause of its insurrections. Mazarin advised his nephew to restore the good-will of the people by soft ways and by improving their lot. 2 Though the minister had sometimes sup- ported the nobles, whose violence had made desperate the inhabitants of the provinces they governed, such courses were distasteful to him. During the remaining years of his administration the governments of many important provinces were held by Mazarin himself, or by the young nobles to whom he married his nieces, but there were no complaints of local tyranny or violence, where his counsels prevailed. More serious questions were presented in Guienne. That province had long supported Conde, but its support had originally been given him because he opposed the government. The discontents of the province found their utterance chiefly in Bordeaux, and that city was the scene of the last, and one of the most curious of the chapters of the Fronde. 1 Dis. Ven., cxv., 26, et seq. Mss. Bib. Nat., 10,275. Loret wrote in the Muse Historique : " O gens de Fronde, s'il en est encor par le monde, que dites vous de cette affaire." * Mazarin a Mercosur, May 17, 1652. 232 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. The peace of Bordeaux in October, 1650, had left the city tranquil, but not intimidated, and its citizens were neither attached to the government nor afraid of it. In the next year Cond6 was made governor of the province of Guienne, and when he took up arms in the autumn he found its people ready to support him in his revolt. The prince was unsuccessful in his campaign, and he was soon embarrassed by dissensions even in Guienne. As early as January, 1652, there were said to be three par- ties at Bordeaux : one in favor of the princes, one inclined towards peace with the king, and a third so revolutionary that it desired to follow the example of England and throw off allegiance to any monarch. 1 Wearied of dis- sensions and discouraged by ill success, Conde left Gui- enne and went to Paris. The insurrection continued subject to his orders, but Conti and Mme. de Longueville represented him at Bordeaux, while Marchin had the principal charge of military operations in his absence. Notwithstanding Conde's departure, the forces of the king were so much weakened that they made slow prog- ress. 2 Their troubles were aggravated by the discontent of the Count of Harcourt. Harcourt felt that he had not been sufficiently rewarded for his exertions on behalf of the king. He was already governor of Alsace and of the fortress of Philipsburg, but he now demanded the govern- ment of Brisach. Mazarin was unwilling to give him a place of such strength and importance, and Harcourt re- solved to seize it without waiting for authority. Charle- voix was under-governor of Brisach, and becoming jealous of the governor, he used his influence among the soldiers and drove him from the city. Charlevoix remained in command in defiance of the general government. There were no soldiers with which to reduce a place of such strength, but a woman offered to deliver Charlevoix into the hands of his enemies. He was drawn from the 1 Dis. Ven., cxiv., 89. One desired " havere modo di vivere all' uso degli Inglesi, governandosi senza obbedienza a monarchi." 'Archives du Ministere de la Guerre, 133, Lettres Mai, 26, 27, 28, Har- court a Tellier. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 233 fortress by an assignation with his mistress, and was captured by the king's forces. He was carried to Philipsburg, and there availing himself of Harcourt's discontent, he offered to receive the count as governor of Brisach, if he could be restored to his own position. The garrison at Brisach was fond of its commander, and ill paid by the king. It continued to hold the place in defi- ance of the royal orders, and demanded the release of Charlevoix, until Mazarin was obliged to grant it. Har- court now decided that it was safe to defy the govern- ment. On the night of August 15, 1652, he left the army under his command without a leader, and proceeded at once to Alsace. There he assumed command of the province, took possession of Philipsburg, was received by Charlevoix and his soldiers as governor of Brisach, notwith- standing the king's order for his arrest, and assumed the position practically of an independent prince. He did not, however, ally himself with Conde, but waited to see from which party he could obtain the most advantageous terms. 1 In the meantime the city of Bordeaux was a prey to in- ternal commotions. There, as at Paris, a violent element obtained control, ready for disturbance, and not alarmed by the possibility of radical changes in the government. The literature of the time shows that, in these years of turmoil, views of all kinds found utterance. Among the pamph- lets which were published and circulated at Paris and elsewhere, are many which seem to belong to the latter part of the eighteenth century. "Are kings of divine in- stitution?" some of them inquire. " Have they absolute power over our property and our lives ? " " Should not the government exist for the good both of king and people ? " "The great are great because we carry them on our shoul- ders." " Kings cannot be allowed to destroy the liberty of a people, to whose consent the monarchy itself owes its existence." 1 For the discontents and conduct of Harcourt and Charlevoix, see letters of Harcourt and others from Guienne, Archives Nationales K. K., 1219. Archives du Ministere de la Guerre, 133-136, passim. Correspondence of Mazarin and Tellier. Mss., 4201), 4210. 234 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Radical views, however, found no favor among the ma- jority of the people. Some were ready to preach the doctrine, but there were few ready to receive it. The ele- ment which obtained control at Bordeaux was more actu- ated by love of disturbance, than by love of liberty. During the popular emotion against fipernon, meetings, mostly of the lower classes, had been held under some great elms near the city, and from this circumstance a party had taken the name of the Ormee. It now assumed a more definite form, and began to protest against the slackness of the officers and magistrates, who, it was charged, were ready to abandon the popular cause. The Parliament was itself divided into two factions, both of which found followers among the bourgeoisie. The little Fronde was composed of those who had originally sought some extension of judicial privileges, but were discon- certed at finding themselves drawn into rebellion, and now desired a restoration of peace and of the royal author- ity. The great Fronde contained those who were staunch in the cause of the Prince of Conde. While the Ormee also professed allegiance to Conde, it contained a lower social element than was found in the followers of the Parliament, and was fiercer in its denunciations of any proposal to make terms with the government. The Ormee was a society composed originally of a small number of active and violent men, and in its organization not wholly unlike the society of the Jacobins. Its most influential leaders were Vilars, a lawyer, and Duretete, a former butcher. The butcher seems to have been an ignorant, violent, but sincere man. The lawyer was an unmitigated rogue. Troubles increased between this so- ciety and the Parliament, and on June 3d it held a meet- ing attended by three thousand armed men, and decided on the exile of fourteen of the judges who were regarded as traitors to the cause. The members prepared a paper declaring their union in the principles they professed, and endeavored to compel all to sign.' 1 Arch. Nationales K.K., 1219., 372. Gazette, June 6th. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 23 The offending judges were obliged to leave the city, but in a few days the Parliament again obtained control, and the exiles were recalled and received with great solemnity. But the Orme was not thus to be overcome. On June 25th these contests resulted in a battle in the streets, in which the society had the advantage. Many of the judges abandoned the conflict and left the city. The Orme"e es- tablished itself at the Hotel de Ville, and succeeded in con- trolling for the most part the affairs of the city. 1 The organization passed its resolutions, like the Jacobins, and then compelled their adoption by the officials. This authority was preserved by vigorous measures. Traitors to the cause were expelled, property was confiscated, and other punishments were inflicted. Scenes of violence were frequent, and as the Orme could count on twelve thousand men, and had the advantage of a vigorous lead- ership, it became the controlling element. 1 Under the cover of such an organization, there was much pillaging simply for the individual gain of those who sought a license for disorder and plunder. Cond6 decided that he would recognize the Ormee as a political organization, and strengthen it by his approval. He wrote his agent Lenet, that in his judgment the Orm6e was the strongest of the political parties, and it was best to make an alliance with it.* " Conduct our affairs," he wrote again, " so we shall always be in accord with the strongest party, whether it is the great or little Fronde, or the Ormee." 4 Paris, he said, had been lost because they had begun much, but finished nothing. At Bordeaux they must carry their measures through and continue masters of the city.* In December, when the Orme was becoming 1 Lenet a Conde, June 26th. Mss. Bib. Nat., 6707. Many documents on this subject have been printed by the industry of the Count de Cosnac, and can be found scattered through the eight volumes of his " Souvenirs de Louis XIV." * Memoires de Cosnac, i., 72. Correspondence of Lenet with Conde, 1652-3. Mss. Bib. Nat., 6707. 'Conde a Lenet, July 1 5th. 4 lb., August 26th. Many of the letters are published in the Memoires de Lenet. * Ib. , Dec. 28th. 236 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. more violent against the members of the parliamentary party, the prince wrote that matters must be carried to the end. Those who had been exiled must continue in exile. To consider now the services which they had for- merly rendered him, would result in the loss of Bordeaux, and he wished to hold that city at any price. To avoid embarrassment to himself, however, it would be well so to arrange, that all such violences could be attributed to his brother and sister, and no order of his should appear. 1 Conti and Mme. de Longueville followed Conde's instruc- tions, and declared themselves in full sympathy with the Ormee. The Parliament of Bordeaux continued to exercise a disturbed authority, its members and the Orme viewing each other always with mortal hatred. The Parliament approved of the action taken at Paris by which Orleans was declared lieutenant-general, and asked to be allowed to send deputies to his council, who should represent the interests of Guienne." The government followed the policy it had adopted at Paris, and ordered the Parliament to meet at Agen. Some of the judges friendly to peace gradually resorted there, and there were two Parliaments of Guienne, each claiming to be the legal body. It was necessary to appoint a general in the place of Har- court, and Mazarin selected the young Duke of Candale. The fact that he was a son of the Duke of Epernon made the choice an injudicious one, but the cardinal resolved upon it from the desire that he still entertained of ob- taining the young duke for one of his nieces. 1 Contis, Colonnas, princes of Savoy and Modena, were eager to marry into the family of the cardinal, but Candale, whose grandfather had been a minion of Henry III., and whose mother was a bastard of Henry IV., regarded such an 1 Ib., Dec. 26th. * Mss. 6709. Letter of Lenet of August I2th. 'Letters from some of the officers of Oct. I7th, to Tellier, Arch. Nat. K. K. 1219, state their disapproval of Candale's choice. Mazarin, in a letter to Ondedei, Sept. I5th, refers to his lingering hopes of the marriage of one of his nieces with the duke, though he thinks Candale holds out the possibility of it as a lure to secure advantages for himself and his family. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 237 alliance as degrading. Mazarin was disappointed in his hopes, but Candale conducted himself with fair judgment in Guienne. Venddme was associated with him as admira' of the fleet, but while the jealousies of the two comman- ders hampered the success of the king's arms, they did not prevent it. The restoration of the king's authority at Paris strength- ened the party at Bordeaux that desired peace, and in- creased the violence of the party that was opposed to it. Plots were laid for the overthrow of the local authorities, but they were wholly unsuccessful. Vilars, the leader of the Orme, agreed with some priests who were intriguing for the government that, on receiving pardon and ninety thousand livres, he would start a popular movement, which would throw open the gates of the city to the king's army. He was paid a part of the money, and then disclosed the plot to Conti. Father Ithier, who had shown more zeal than skill in his intrigues for the king, was at once seized and tried before a council of war. By the exertions of Mme. de Longueville he escaped death, but he was con- demned to be taken through the streets of Bordeaux, branded as a traitor to his country, and then to be im- prisoned for life on bread and water. This was not satisfactory to the people, and it was with difficulty they were prevented from tearing him to pieces. When the royal authority was restored at Bordeaux, Father Ithier exchanged his bread and water for a bishopric. 1 An ad- vocate named Chevalier was arrested, having a passport from the king to enable him to negotiate with the Duke of Vendome. He was tried before a court organized on the spot, and composed of some pastry- cooks, shoemakers, and apothecaries. Two hours were sufficient to put him to the torture, try, convict, and hang him. Filhot, an officer of the treasury, was also discovered engaged in a plot with the Duke of Candale for the restoration of order in Bordeaux. He was tried before a 1 I.enet i Conde, March 24, 1653. Mss., 6714. Mem. de Berthed,. 601-612. 238 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. court composed of Vilars, Duretete, and other ruffians, and presided over by the Prince of Conti. He was barbarously tortured, but it was impossible to compel him to reveal his associates. He was not executed, but he was left a cripple for life. Years afterward, when Louis XIV. was at Bordeaux, he desired to see Filhot and asked him whether he still suffered from the wounds he had received as a martyr for his king. " When I see your Majesty, they become dear to me," replied the loyal Filhot. Excited by these plots, the Orme'e resolved to purify its ranks, and to exile or imprison all who were found engaged in any such conspiracies. 1 Such violences did not prevent the growth of a feeling favorable to peace and the restoration of public order. Bordeaux was fuller than ever of faction, but the desire of the people, the nobility, and the clergy was for peace. Only by speedy aid from Spain could the city be kept in hostility to its king and in allegiance to Cond. Spain was asked to send assistance and prevent this important loss, but the Spanish delayed any vigorous action, partly from remissness and partly from lack of troops and money. 2 The most of the province of Guienne was gradually lost to the insurgents. Some towns had been allowed to remain neutral by Conti and Harcourt, some returned to their allegiance, some were captured by the king's armies. 3 The desertion of one of Condi's most powerful allies added to the discouragement of his party. The Count of Daugnon was governor of Brouage and of the islands of R6 and Oleron, and he used his power against the government from which he had received it. He had taken an active part in the rebellion, but as he became convinced that Condi's cause was hopeless, he de- cided to make terms. He surrendered the governments which he held, on receiving five hundred thousand livres in money, and being made a duke and a marshal of France. At this price the king was able to remove his subject from 1 Mem. de Cosnac, 52-54. Cosnac was Conti's confidential adviser. * Mss. Bib. Nat., 6713. * Lenet a Conde, April 12, 1653, et passim. THE CLOSE OF THE FRONDE. 241 the position in which he had placed him. Daugnon , solved to make his peace with his God as well as h^ country. He married his mistress and spent the rest o his life in wealth and obscurity. 1 Cond seems to have left Guienne to itself. He wrote very rarely and felt, perhaps, that he was powerless to do any more. 7 In this condition, the people of Bordeaux turned to Cromwell as the only person who had the power to help them. Conde had sent envoys to England in 1651, and had endeavored to obtain its assistance against France. It was evident that Cromwell was resolved to make England a power on the continent. The English queen and Charles II., had both found refuge in France, and Cromwell was told that if he allowed that kingdom to regain its former power, it would be used in an attempt to restore the Stuarts. 3 Free trade with Guienne was an additional ad- vantage which England would derive from assisting the cause of Cond. Cromwell so far considered the matter that in 1653 he sent an agent to Guienne, to see what strength his party possessed. But Cromwell's aid was sought by many nations, and he showed no haste in deciding on his course. Cond6 had permission to raise troops in Ireland, but Cromwell was willing to allow France and Spain also to take soldiers from a nation which bore little love to him. 4 On April 4, 1653, at an assembly held at the Hotel de Ville, it was resolved that Bordeaux also should send dele- gates to ask help from England. Three representatives were chosen and accredited from Conti and the city. They were instructed to cooperate with Conde's envoys, and to represent that when Guienne had fallen under the dominatipn of France, it had received various privileges which had often been confirmed. These had been vio- lated by Mazarin and the Duke of fipernon, and for these, as 'Mss. Bib. Nat., 6714., 289. "Complaints that Conde" sends no answers to his despatches are frequent in Lenet's letters in the year 1653. 1 Bordeaux i Brienne, May 2oth., Aff. Etr. Angleterre, 62. 4 Bordeaux a Brienne, April 7, 1653, Aff. Etr. Angleterre, t. 62. 24 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. we il as the wrongs inflicted upon the Prince of Conde, and that they would push directly on to Paris and dictate terms of peace.* Cond believed that if he appeared before that city, its in- habitants would again rise up against Mazarin and join hands with his enemies. He was mistaken in his judg- ment, but the result of the campaign made the mistake of little importance. The effective action of the allies was much hindered by bickerings about precedence among their generals. Cond was now regularly enlisted in the service of Spain, and he and the archduke had bitter quarrels as to their relative rank. 3 These were settled, but with little friendly feeling, and Fuensaldana, the Spanish general, was impatient of Condi's dictation. Turenne marched into Champagne and recaptured the important position of Rethel. * The Span- ish invaded Picardy, and desired to force Turenne to 1 Dis. Ven., cxvi., 63. * Caillet i Lenet, Mss., 6716., 63. 8 Dis. Ven., cxvi., 45. Lettres de Lenet. 24 (> WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREA TY WITH ENGLAND. 247 a battle while his army was inferior in numbers. But he hung closely to the skirts of their army, hampering their movements and occupying such strong positions that they dared not attack him. Once the rashness of La Fert6 Seneterre, who had been made a marshal, apparently as the reward for constant blundering, placed his command where a battle could have been compelled with great ad- vantage for the Spanish. Conde desired to attack at once, but Fuensaldana remonstrated that the soldiers were tired of marching in the hot weather and they had best wait till the next day. By the morrow Turenne had cor- rected the mistakes of his subordinate, and his position was such that Cond6 was unwilling to attack it. After endeavoring in vain to obtain some advantage over Turenne, the prince at last contented himself with laying siege to Rocroi. It was there he had become famous by his first battle against the Spanish, and he now attacked the place as the general of a Spanish army. It was captured after a siege of nearly four weeks, and Cond6 long held it as a base of operations from which to harry the neighboring country. The prince was now sick and the soldiers were in much need, having scanty food, and many of the cavalry being without horses. They at- tempted nothing more during this campaign. Turenne in the meantime captured Mouson, and after that Du Plessis captured Sainte Menehould. When the town was ready to surrender the young king was sent for at Chalons. He hurried over and received the capitulation, and it was added to his list of victories. The generals had advised against the siege of this city. It was late in the season and they claimed that the rigor of the weather would prevent its success. But Mazarin was resolved on attempting it, and it proceeded amid constant rains and predictions of failure. The rigor of the season, the courage of a well-supplied garrison, the unfavorable opinion of generals, all yielded to the fortune of the cardinal. 1 Though with inferior numbers, the French had 1 Dis. Ven.. cxvi., 202. 248 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. not only prevented the great advantages which their ene- mies hoped, but they had gained several important places. 1 The Duke of Lorraine had pursued his usual course dur- ing the campaign, assisting Cond with indifferent zeal, and carrying on active negotiations with Mazarin. The Span- ish were weary of so uncertain an ally, and in February, 1654, they arrested the duke and sent him to Spain.* He remained there in prison until the Peace of the Pyrenees. The next year Mazarin succeeded in obtaining the services of his army, which were of more value after its general was gone. Terms were also made with the Count of Harcourt. Mazarin justly said, that giving governors of provinces the governments of strong places in them was one of the most serious abuses in the kingdom. 3 Besides the author- ity which Harcourt had as governor of Alsace, he was himself in command of the strong city of Philipsburg. To this was now added the possession of Brisach, a place of such importance that its loss would have caused serious danger to the boundary of France by the Rhine. Har- court negotiated with the Spanish, who offered him a large price for the place, and he refused the liberal offers which Mazarin made him, in the fear that the count would ally himself with Spain and the Emperor. But the cardinal succeeded in undermining him, by a liberal use of money among the mercenaries who composed the garri- sons of Philipsburg and Brisach. The men were bought up by secret agents. The soldiers of Philipsburg refused to obey the orders of Harcourt's lieutenant, and the garri- son at Brisach was also secured for the king. Harcourt 1 This campaign is described in Mem. de Turenne, 451-457. York, 563- 571. Prince de Tarente, 148-164. Du Plessis, 437-440. All four took part in it. * Dis. Ven., cxvii, 9, He was an independent prince, and his arrest was a high-handed act on the part of the Spanish king. But it was justified publicly by detailing the ravages committed by Lorraine's soldiers under his orders, and showing that his own caprices and fluctuations constantly ruined the plans laid by the allies. The real cause was probably the discovery of his negotiations with Mazarin. * Mem. de Cosnac, 196. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 249 then decided to make terms. He received 50,000 livres a year, and Charlevoix received 100,000 livres in all. They resigned Brisach, and Harcourt was subsequently to give up the governments of Alsace and Philipsburg. 1 Mazarin resolved that these important positions should be held by some one whom he could trust. He had already received the government of Brisach, but he had been un- able to get possession. He now put a trusty lieutenant there under his orders, and he took for himself the gov- ernments of Alsace and Philipsburg, when Harcourt finally resigned them. He had done the same with Brouage, when Daugnon surrendered that place. To get rid of danger from turbulent nobles was not Mazarin's only object in these changes. These governments con- ferred power, and they also yielded large revenues. Though Mazarin had made his ministry sufficiently profitable to build palaces and gather unrivalled collec- tions of luxury and art, he had been in great financial embarrassment during some periods of the Fronde. If his conduct up to that time seemed to him as disinterested as he claimed, he had certainly gained no credit or popularity on that score. He resolved now to build up a fortune which should be beyond any danger of loss. The most judicious step he took for that end was the appointment of Colbert as superintendent of his property. The genius which was afterwards to rescue the finances of France from the disorders and corruption in which they were in- volved, Colbert first used in building up a gigantic fortune for Mazarin. The cardinal had no aptitude for such matters, and was a clumsy financier in the management of his own property, 1 The articles of this treaty are printed in the Gazette for 1654, 601-6. M. Cheruel, t. ii., 139, says Harcourt was to receive 150,000 livres per year. He does not give his authority, but that sum seems very large and I think it is a mistake. In a proposed treaty in 1653, when Harcourt was in a more favor- able position, Charlevoix was to have 120,000 livres and Harcourt 500,000 in all. Archives du Ministere de la Guerre, 139. 150,000 livres a year seems a large increase for the government to have made in its offer, when it was in a better position. 250 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. as well as of the state. He usually received large interest on the advances he made to the public treasury. But his zeal was so great in the success of his plans, that he at times embarrassed himself, by the loans he made in the frequent periods when there was not money on hand with which to pay the ordinary expenses of the government, and still less to meet the demands of the army. Colbert wrote him in 1651 that in borrowing on all sides to help the king, he had brought his own affairs into a very bad plight. 1 The minister was reproached by his employe for his looseness in the management of his estate. " If I had been in charge of your affairs from the beginning," he said, " I would not have allowed the horrible waste you have made of your property. You have given away your best benefices and created great pensions on those which are left. Your Eminence needs some one to check you in your immoderate desire to dissipate your estate." "Your affairs are ruined," he wrote again, " from lack of order and good management." ' Mazarin's affairs, when he was in exile, were in such confusion that it was difficult to say whether he was worth any thing, but after he was again securely established in power, he accumulated governments and sinecures, some of which increased his power, and all of which increased his wealth. The income from many sources was gathered and husbanded by Colbert, until he made the cardinal the richest man in France. No detail was so small as to escape his attention. He sent to the minister statements of the chickens and calves on a farm, and reported that there was abundance of vegetables and fresh eggs. 8 The servants stole a great deal of silver plate, and he confessed that this was one of the things which gave him the most trouble and annoyance. 4 Mazarin received from him frequent rebukes. The cardinal did not pay sufficient attention to the matters which his superintendent desired should 1 Lettres de Colbert, i., 96. * Colbert a Mazarin, June 27, 1651. Lettres, i., 96. Ib., 118. ' /., 220. * Ib., 449. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 2$l receive his consideration. Colbert remonstrated with him about the cost of the covers for the mules, and complained bitterly at the expenses of the stable. 1 At items of small expense he was less disturbed. Some authors demanded a few hundred livres for publications in praise of the cardinal. " These people," he wrote, " seem very much in need of money, and it will do them twice as much good if they are paid promptly." ' Colbert was as eager for himself as for his master. He demanded constantly for himself and his family offices, pensions, any thing that yielded money. Much was refused, many favors were granted, but he continued his solicitations, undisturbed by what he lost and unsatisfied by what he received. 3 He was greedy for himself, greedy for Mazarin, and greedy for France. When Colbert at last succeeded in overthrowing Fouquet in his career of colossal fraud, and became himself superintendent of finances, he showed in the service of his country the same zeal he had shown for the minister. He restored order, stopped corruption, and brought prosperity out of confusion and distress. Though the condition of the country was much im- proved, it was not wholly tranquil nor prosperous. A tax falling on butchers was imposed early in the year 1653, and excited such discontent among that numerous body, that they declared they would cease butchering and leave the people without meat. The government deemed it wise to limit the duration of the tax to one year. 4 Com- plaints were still made of the injury done in some of the provinces by unpaid soldiers. 5 The hatred of Mazarin,. which was felt by many, was too deeply rooted to be removed, but at least his enemies had come to fear him.' His extraordinary good fortune was now accompanied by rigor against some of his foes, and his position was 1 Ib., 416, ft pas, * Ib., 205. ' There are over one hundred requests for abbeys, benefices, offices, etc. r for himself and his family, in his letters to Mazarin during less than seven years. 4 Dis. Ven., cxvi., 34, 45. * Ib., 75. * /., 123, FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. strengthened when most of the popular leaders had been driven from Paris, and others feared to follow their example lest they should share their fate. In the winter of 1654 Mazarin allied his family with the most illustrious house in France. " All the great nobles," wrote Guy Patin, " were eager to marry the cardinal's nieces and enter into the temple of fortune." ' The Prince of Conti decided that such would be a more agreeable lot than sharing the desperate fortunes of his brother, Conde. His agent made overtures for an alliance between the prince and Anne Marie Martinozzi. There were still negotiations for her marriage with the Duke of Candale, and it was suggested that it might be more con- venient to give him Olympe Mancini. Conti sent word that this change need cause no trouble ; he wished to marry the cardinal, and one niece would answer as well as another. He was finally allotted the Martinozzi, but the dowry allowed her was so inadequate that his agent told him that he was giving himself away for a song.* They were married on February 22d, and the bride was so gorgeously attired and the preparations so splendid, that it was said the wedding of the king could not have been more magnificent. It was a strange turn of fortune that thus allied the daughter of a simple Roman gentleman with a prince not far removed from the throne of France. 3 Conti was well rewarded for the alliance. He was given the command of the army of Catalonia and made governor of Guienne. At the same time that Conti made terms with fortune, Cond was tried by default for high treason. He was de- clared to have forfeited the name of Bourbon and his rank as prince of the blood, and all his property was confis- 1 Lettres de Patin, March 20, 1654, i., 216. 9 " On vous marie au dernier deux." Full accounts of these negotiations are found in Mem. de Cosnac, Conde's confidential agent, 131-150. Cosnac afterwards showed the cardinal that Conti's net income was 400,000 francs, the equivalent of about a quarter of a million dollars, and that sum, he said, would not pay his expenses for six months. Ib., 194. 1 Dis. Ven., cxvi., 255. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 253 cated. 1 Conde was as discontented in the service of Spain, as he had been in that of France. He received his pay irregularly. The Spanish were jealous of him and thwarted all his plans by their remissness or opposition. They, on the other hand, felt that they had obtained, at very high cost, an ally whose manners were overbearing, whose strength had been overestimated, and whose fortune de- serted him when he was on their side. After the surren- der of Bordeaux, Conde had no party in arms in France. He was no longer the head of a rebellion, but merely a discontented general in exile, and their minister reckoned that if England would make an alliance and embark Conde again in Guienne, not the least advantage would be that Spain would be rid of one whose assistance was as oner- ous as it was uncertain. 2 In June, 1654, Louis XIV. was crowned at Rheims. There the kings of France were consecrated, and it seemed a fit time for this solemnity, when Louis' armies were victorious and his subjects were tranquil. The ceremony contained many formalities indicating conceptions of the royal office which no longer existed. The forms were those used when the king was regarded as a spiritual as well as a temporal ruler of his people. They suggested memories of Charlemagne and of the times when the acclamations of nobles and people ratified the elevation of their leader. The twelve peers, who had originally owed their creation to the remembrance of the peers of Charlemagne, were supposed still to take a large part in the crowning of the king. But all the six lay peerages, the dukedoms of Burgundy, Normandy, and Aquitaine, the counties of Flanders, Champagne, and Toulouse, had become extinct, and their places were filled by nobles who officiated as their representatives. The six ecclesi- astical peerages still continued, but the archbishop of Rheims was a layman and so could not perform the duties of his office, the bishopric of Laon was vacant, 1 Extraits Mem. Andre Ormesson, 679, 682, 689-91. 1 Navarro to Cardenas, March 21, 1654, published by Guizot. 254 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and the Bishop of Langres was infirm and unable to attend. The functions of the twelve peers seemed still more mythical, when nine of them were present only by proxy, and six of these represented imaginary dignitaries. The sword was in like manner borne by an imaginary consta- ble, for the office was extinct. On the morning of the /th, the representatives of the Bishop-Duke of Laon and the Bishop-Count of Beauvais proceeded to the chamber where Louis was, and striking at the door, demanded the king. Twice they were assured that the king slept. The third time they demanded Louis XIV., son of the great Louis XIII. The door was then opened and Louis was found lying on his bed, as if sleep- ing. He was roused and escorted to the church. Four nobles then brought from the abbey of Saint Remy the holy vial of oil, which heaven had sent to Saint Remy for the consecration of Clovis and of his successors. The Bis- hop of Soissons, as the representative of the Archbishop of Rheims, crowned the king. The oaths and prayers were of that solemn eloquence, which is found in the ancient liturgies of the Catholic Church. The king first swore to preserve all the privileges of the Church. The bishop then asked those who were present if they accepted Louis XIV. for their king. The silence which followed the inquiry was regarded as signifying the assent, which was no longer necessary. The king then swore that he would redress the wrong, administer justice and mercy, and seek to exterminate all heretics from the land. He then received the sword. The bishop blessed it, bade him gird it about his loins with might, and prayed that it might be used for the protection 'of the widow and the fatherless, and to still the raging of the heathen. The king placed it on the altar to show that he consecrated it to God, and it was then given back to him and put in the hands of the constable. The bishop prayed that the king might have all spiritual grace, might enjoy the fat of the land, the fruit of the vine and the olive-tree, that he might reign in health and peace, and that his enemies might be WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 255 confounded. The prayers of fifty-six saints were then asked for specifically. After that the bishop consecrated the king with the holy oil in seven places. He was then dressed in a tunic and dalmatic to indicate the garments of a priest, and he received the ring, the mitre, the scep- tre, and the hand of justice, and was bidden to humble the proud and exalt the lowly. The twelve peers were then -summoned, and Louis was crowned with the crown of Charlemagne. It was adapted for an heroic age and was too heavy for a more modern one. The king was after- wards given a lighter crown, which was the one that was -worn. He was seated on his throne, and the Bishop of Soissons first presented his homage, and said : " May the king live for ever." The other peers then did the same, and the doors of the church were thrown open to the peo- ple. 1 Their acclamations greeted the king. Officers scat- tered gold pieces among them, and six hundred pigeons were let loose in the church. The celebration of mass followed, and after the ceremony at the church there was the royal feast. On the 9th, the king exercised the sacred power which he received from his consecration, by touch- ing over two thousand five hundred persons afflicted with scrofula. Officers followed him and gave to each one a .sum of money, and the official record says that nearly all of the sufferers were entirely cured of their malady.* The campaign of 1654 began soon after the king had been crowned. Considerable armies were sent both to Italy and Catalonia, but the actions of importance were on the eastern borders of France and in the Low Coun- tries. On the i gth of June the French invested Stenai, a city of much strategic importance in Lorraine, and one of 1 Saint Simon criticised this procedure as contrary to the theory of the office and to ancient custom. He said the people should have been admitted into the church before the consecration, that their consent might be asked to the choice of the sovereign. * The account of the king's consecration is found in " Sacre et Couronne- inent de Louis XIV.," published by the chapter at Rheims, 1654 ; also in the Gazette, 1654, 577 et seq , the Venetian despatches, etc. The Venetian minister complained bitterly of the expense he was put to from attending the ceremony in the manner required by his position. FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. the few places still belonging to the Prince of Cond. Louis XIV. accompanied the armies, and he took an active part in these campaigns. Though as yet too young to exercise control, he attended the councils of war, his presence animated the soldiers, and he was fond of the moderate fatigue and danger to which the king was al- lowed to be exposed. Mazarin usually took Louis with him and inculcated in him a love of arms, which \\.is manly, though perhaps unfortunate in his future career. Those courtiers pleased Louis best who addressed him as the most warlike of monarchs, and he acquired, from tak- ing part in campaigns conducted by such a soldier as Turenne, some knowledge of the art of war. He now demanded a prompt surrender from the com- mander of Stenai. That officer replied that he regretted to disobey his sovereign, the guns should not be pointed against the quarter of the camp where the king was, but he held his place under the Prince of Conde\ and he could surrender it only by his order. 1 Cond6 and the Spanish met this movement by the attack of a much more important place, the city of Arras, the strongest and most considera- ble position in Artois. It was thought that the French would abandon the siege of Stenai in order, if possible, to save Arras, but they continued in their entrenchments, and the attention of all Europe was turned to the fate of those two important places. Eight thousand men were left about Stenai, which had but a small garrison, and 18,000, under Turenne, marched to Arras in order to throw relief into the town. Many of the inhabitants of Arras were quite as well inclined to the Spanish as the French rule, and the garrison had to guard against the citizens as well as the enemy. About 32,000 men were besieging it under the command of Cond and Fuensaldagne, and Turenne was in no con- dition for a pitched battle. He attempted to cut off the convoys which brought supplies, and this caused a series of small encounters. Supplies were brought by parties of 1 Mazarin a Le Tellier, Mss. 4209. Dis. Ven., cxvii., 146. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 257 1,000 or 1,200 men, and in the wide open plains which surround Arras, it was difficult to intercept them. One of these parties met a strange fate. A regiment of cavalry was proceeding to the camp, each man carrying a bag of pow- der behind him. One of the men lighted a pipe of tobacco, and a lieutenant noticing it struck it from his mouth. The drunken soldier pulled out his pistol and fired, and the bul- let went into a bag of powder and ignited it, and this caused the explosion of the other bags. Very few of the regiment escaped. The light and noise of the explosion far off on the plains was seen and heard with amazement by the armies camped near Arras, and the next day, the burned remains of the men and horses was a melancholy sight even for those accustomed to warfare. In the meantime the siege of Stenai proceeded, its gov- ernor making a gallant resistance. The young Vauban was among the besiegers, and here began the career in which he was to become famous as an engineer and a cap- turer of cities. By August 5th the French had succeeded in blowing up so much of one of the bastions that twelve men could enter abreast. 1 The garrison could now do no more than sell their lives dearly, but the king retracted the threats he had made that they should have no quarter unless they surrendered promptly, and granted them hon- orable terms. On August 6th the garrison marched out with drums beating and banners flying, but the salutes fired from Turenne's camp announced to those besieged at Arras that Stenai had at last fallen, and they were answered joyfully by the firing of cannon from the city. Two thousand men had fallen at the siege of Stenai, and the rest marched at once to reinforce the army under Turenne. Cond6, on receiving this bad news, made a vig- orous attack on some of the outworks of Arras and cap- tured them. His men suffered severely from the grenades thrown by those within, which were of a form newly de- vised by some soldier of Flanders. Cond6 led them with his usual bravery, but behind the outworks which he 1 Mazarin a Le Tellier, August 6th. Mss. 4209., 374. 258 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIA'. captured, the besieged had thrown up new fortifications to protect the bastion. Supplies, however, were begin- ning to become scarce, and the place could not hold out many days longer. The Spanish had constructed formid- able entrenchments about the city, and Hocquincourt, La Fert6, and others declared that any attempt to break their lines would result in failure. But Mazarin was not afraid of the chances of battle, and he insisted that an effort should be made to save the place. Turenne thought it was feasible to break through the lines, and among the few who were of the same opinion was the Duke of York, who also took a gallant part in the execu- tion of the plan. 1 Whatever his faults when he became James II. of England, the Duke of York during the seven years that he served in the French army showed himself a brave and skilful officer. The army started its march on August 24th, on a fair, clear night, but the moon passed under the clouds shortly before they reached the Spanish lines. Their ap- proach was not noticed until the infantry uncovered the lighted matches for their guns, just before they arrived at the entrenchments. The wind had risen and the lights, amid the darkness of the night, seemed a formida- ble and prodigious illumination. Three false attacks were made on the lines, but Turenne conducted the real en- deavor to break through the lines, at one part of the entrenchments. It was entirely successful. The enemy were surprised and made an invalorous resistance. The French lost but a few hundred men. They took three thousand prisoners, sixty-three pieces of cannon, and a 1 The Venetian ambassador wrote home an account derived from some one present at Arras, and says that Turenne also advised against the assault upon the lines, but that Mazarin insisted upon it against the opinion of all. The Duke of York says that Turenne favored it, and his memoirs are the most valuable and accurate authorities for the -campaigns in which he took part. Mazarin's letters say nothing of Turenne's opposing this plan, and it is unlikely the cardinal would have overruled his views. Mazarin, however, here and at many times, was entitled to much credit for his resolution to en- deavor to accomplish something with the armies, in opposition to the half- hearted or disloyal advice of many of the generals. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 259 great amount of baggage, and only the desire of the soldiers for plunder prevented their pressing the victory still further. Arras was relieved, and the Spanish army abandoned their entrenchments and marched towards Cambrai. 1 Turenne did not hazard any attack upon the army un- der the command of Conde. The French marched through part of Flanders, meeting no opposition, and came within sight of Brussels, but they attempted no further undertak- ing during this year except the capture of some small places. The raising of the siege of Arras was, however, one of the critical stages of the war. Apart from the great importance of Arras, it was feared that its loss might induce Cromwell to turn his guerrilla warfare upon the French marine into an open war, and to accept the offers which the Spanish had long been making him. There was a large discontented element at Paris, and many hoped that Arras might be captured by Conde, lest its relief should add to Mazarin's authority and, by continu- ing the war, increase the burden of taxation. 11 Serious in- ternal complications might have followed the loss of the city. But the failure of the Spanish at Arras quieted these, and rendered it sure that the French could in the future carry on aggressive campaigns instead of having to repel invasions of their own territory. Another expedition attempted by Mazarin was less suc- cessful than the campaign in Flanders. Refugees and agents reported to him that Naples was again ripe for revolt, and that if a French fleet proceeded there the Spanish might be driven from the city. The cardinal decided on the expedition, and from some extraordinary motive he assigned the command of it to the Duke of Guise. Guise had recently been released from imprison- ment in Spain at Conde's solicitation, and upon his agree- 1 The authorities for the sieges of Stenai and Arras are Mem. de Tu- renne, 459-466 ; York, 573-587 ; Letters of Mazarin to Le Tellier, Mss. Bib. Nat., 4209., 340-387 ; Dis. Ven., cxvii, 133, 168, 192, ft stq., et pas- sim ; Aff. Etr. France, 893., 175, 187. Dis. Ven., cxvii, 239. 200 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ment that he would undertake nothing against that coun- try in Naples. It was not strange that the duke should desert Cond and be willing to break his promise, but why Mazarin should have risked such an expedition to a man whose character and abilities he estimated so justly and estimated so low, is incomprehensible. It may have been hoped that Guise still had some following in Naples, but generals of rank, who lost campaigns by inefficiency, were often sent back to repeat their blunders. 1 The fleet was equipped in a very dilatory manner. The captains had charge of preparing and furnishing their own ships, and such a system naturally caused much delay. Imprisonment had not sobered the character of its leader. He had made for him robes that might be appro- priate for a king, and 25 violinists were hired and taken along, in imitation of the musicians who played for the king of France. He sold his chateau at Meudon, and flattered by fair hopes prepared to spend his days at Naples. On October 5th the expedition sailed, consist- ing of 23 vessels, 6 galleys, and 6,000 men. Its direc- tions were to disembark in Calabria, and it was hoped there would be a rising among the people of that district. But the expedition met much stormy weather and at last landed at Castellamare. Guise hoped that the Neapoli- tans would rise in revolt when it was known that their former leader was so near, but not a person in the city showed any desire to start a movement in behalf of the Duke of Guise. The Spanish met him with superior forces. The only competent French general in the ex- pedition was killed, and after his death Guise at once reembarked his men and 'sailed back to France. He reached there on December 2ist with no great loss, and the expedition was a ridiculous failure. One of Mazarin's most intelligent agents wrote him that the force sent out was too small, it was poorly provisioned, it was delayed 1 Montglat, 303, says: Guise persuaded Mazarin that he had valuable political relations at Naples. The Venetian ambassador thought favorably of the expedition, cxvii., 243. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 261 until the Spanish had eight months to prepare for it, landing at Castellamare was fatal to any chance of suc- cess, and the Duke of Guise was viewed with such contempt in that country, that from the day he was chosen as leader it was felt that the enterprise was doomed to failure. 1 Guise had no occasion to use his royal robes, but he furnished amusement on his return, by his endeavors to obtain some other property. His extraordinary and fantastic passion for Mile, de Pons has been spoken of. Although he had already a wife, he had signed a contract of marriage with Mile, de Pons, and spent upon her as much as 200,000 a year. But his affection had not survived absence and imprisonment, and the duke now brought a lawsuit against her, claiming she had stolen from him a pair of diamond earrings and some tapestry worked in silver and gold. His former lady-love claimed that these were gifts, and Guise retorted that .they were thefts. The parties were directed to appear before the court. They indulged in violent reproofs and invectives against each other, and the conflicting evidence furnished of their former rela- tions and pledges was listened to by the judges with amusement and amazement. 11 Mazarin's satisfaction at the victory of Arras had been dampened by the news that his old enemy, Cardinal Retz, was again at liberty. Retz, after his arrest, had been kept closely confined in the prison of Vincennes, suffering both from his imprisonment, and from the feeling that the pub- lic was very little disturbed by it. The king demanded his resignation of the coadjutorship, but Retz was unwill- ing to relinquish the office which gave him his influence in Paris. While these negotiations were pending, the death of his uncle made Retz a much more serious embar- 1 Thevenot a Mazarin, Aff. Etr. Fr., 894., 3. The accounts of this ex- pedition are given in Thevenot's letters, Aff. Etr. Rom., 126. Dis. Ven., cxvii., 115, 232, 330-336, et fassim. Montglat, 303. Mss. Bib. Nat., IO,- 276. 1 Mss. Bib. Nat., 10,276., 407, 408. " Qui ne peuvent estre entendus de compagnie sans estonnement et sans raillereye." 262 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIX. rassment to the government. On the 2 1st of March, 1654, the Archbishop of Paris died, and the coadjutor succeeded to his dignity. He had signed a procuration to be ready for this accident. 1 The chapter of Notre Dame met at seven in the morning, three hours after the archbishop had died, recognized Retz as the lawful in- cumbent of the see, and sent a petition to the king that their archbishop might be at once released to officiate at the solemnities of Holy Week. His procureur was re- ceived, and the chapter afterwards recognized the authority of the vicars appointed by him. At ten Le Tellier sum- moned the chapter by the king's command, in order to- have it take possession of the archbishopric as vacant, but its action had already been taken and nothing more could be done. The government was greatly annoyed by this adroitness of the former coadjutor and his friends, and it declared that Retz, not having taken the oath of allegiance to the king, could not be recognized as Archbishop of Paris. At the same time it was announced that he would not be allowed to take this, until he had been tried and vindicated from the charge of high treason made against him. a That the oath to the king should be taken, before the incumbent was entitled to enter upon his charge, was claimed to be the doctrine of the Gallican Church, but Retz's adherents, among whom were most of the clergy of Paris, insisted that on the death of his predecessor he became invested with the office, and that because he was kept in prison and not allowed to take the oath to the king, he was none the less the lawful Archbishop of Paris. The king, it was said, was laying his hand upon the altar and following in the footsteps of Henry VIII. The two vicars appointed in Retz's stead proceeded to administer the affairs of the diocese. His signature to their appointment had been skilfully forged, as his friends had no opportunity to get it from him. 1 Joly, 92. It is said the signature was a forgery, but it was a forgery committed by his approval. *Arret, March 22, 1654. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREA TY WITH ENGLAND. 263 The holy sacrament was exposed and frequent prayers were offered in all the churches of Paris for the liberty of their archbishop. One priest added to the prayers of the church a special petition for deliverance from that wicked and crafty man who kept their pastor a prisoner. 1 Such disturbances increased the desire of the govern- ment to obtain Retz's resignation. His resolution was somewhat broken by fifteen months' imprisonment, and he feared that he might be sent into still more rigorous confinement. He intended also, as soon as he was at liberty, to claim that any resignation was invalid, because obtained by duress. On March 28th, therefore, he resigned his archbishopric, upon receiving in exchange seven abbeys, yielding in all 120,000 livres. This resignation would only become valid by the consent of the Pope, but when that was received, he was to have the abbeys and be re- stored to liberty. 2 In the meantime he received some alleviation in his lot, for he was transferred to the castle of Nantes, allowed every luxury and the society of his friends, and comedies were acted for him almost every night. It was claimed that he gave his word of honor that he would not attempt any escape, but as he was still guarded, the parole would not have been regarded even by a less elastic conscience.' His resignation of the archbishopric was sent to Rome, but, as might have been expected, the Pope refused to accept an act signed by a bishop held in bonds. 4 Innocent X. hated Mazarin intensely, and his friendship for Retz was increased by the attacks now made on him. The cardinal's friends suggested that his liberty could only be secured by the acceptance of the resignation, but the Pope replied that the laws of the church forbade such an act, and if Retz had fallen into the hands of the Turks, he must endure it with patience.* 1 Dis. Ven., cxvii., 37. Joly, 93. * Mem. de Retz, iv., 188-199. * Mazarin claimed that Retz promised he would not attempt to escape, even if he had only to walk out of an open door. Aff. Etr. Fr., 893., 126. 4 Lettre i Brienne, May II, 1654. * Joly, 98. 264 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN, The Marshal of La Meilleraie was Retz's jailor at Nantes, but kept a very careless guard over his prisoner. Retz's friends had the opportunity to concert plans with him, and improved it. On August 8th he walked on the ramparts of the castle, as was his custom. Two of his attendants with a bottle of wine occupied the attention of the guards who were near. The cardinal fastened his red gown on a pole between two battlements, that the sentinels might suppose he was standing and surveying the country. He then slipped down by a rope, was re- ceived by his friends, and made his escape. 1 It had been intended to push directly on to Paris. The siege of Arras was then progressing, and its result was doubtful. Retz hoped that he might take possession of his archbishopric, rally his parishioners about him, and bid defiance to the government. It is not probable that any such programme would have succeeded. Some of the old bitterness remained, but the government became constantly more powerful, and after Arras was relieved the warlike archbishop would have found his position an embarrassing one. Any such design was prevented by an accident. Retz was thrown from his horse, and his shoulder was so badly broken that he suffered from it for years. The pain and weakness this caused interfered with his journey. Soldiers of the Marshal of La Meilleraie were already in search of the fugitives, and Retz made his way to the sea-shore, embarked in a boat in the disguise of a soldier, and finally reached Spain. As soon as he made his escape, he sent a revocation of his resignation as archbishop, and he notified the chapter of Notre Dame of his liberty. 2 His clergy re- ceived the news with great exultation. The " Te Deum " was sung at Notre Dame in honor of his escape. The great bell rang to express their joy, and bonfires blazed at night.' The Pope wrote the fugitive, stating his pleasure 1 Joly, 101, 102. Retz, iv., 200-212. *Joly, 102-108. * Servien a Mazarin, Aug. I4th. Dis. Ven., cxvii., 175. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 265 that the succor of heaven had delivered the cardinal from the misfortunes in which he had been involved. 1 His escape was exceedingly annoying to Mazarin and the government, and they proceeded against the arch- bishop with a severity that seemed like persecution. His vicars were forbidden to exercise their functions further, and were sent from Paris, and the chapter was ordered to take possession of the archbishopric, which the king re- solved to treat as vacant. Five of the canons, who had been most active in their zeal for their bishop, were or- dered to leave Paris, and those who were left, intimidated by this act of vigor, named grand vicars to administer the spiritual affairs of the diocese." Mazarin contemplated also proceeding against Retz for high treason before the Parliament of Paris. That body would have entertained the charge, but such a measure would have been regarded as a grave infringement upon the privileges of the clergy. Mazarin had no desire to excite a grievance which would have united the clergy of France against the government, and would, perhaps, have reduced the annual gift which they voted for the king. 8 The bishops of Paris assembled, at the secret instiga- tion of Mazarin's agents, and remonstrated against any proceedings being taken before a lay court against a cardinal of the church. A gracious answer was returned to their protests, and the proceedings before the Parlia- ment were abandoned. 4 In the meantime the illustrious martyr was making his way through Spain. He sold the cargo of sardines which the boat had carried, and raised a little money with which to buy clothes more fitting his dignity. He declined re- ceiving aid from the Spanish government, lest he might give cause for some accusation of treason by dealing with foreign enemies. He was, however, hospitably received, and travelled as comfortably as was possible with his 1 Letter of Sept. 30, 1654. Seguier an Roi, Aug. 3ist. * Mazarin 4 Fouquet. Mss. Bibl. Nat., 23,302., 139 et seq., Oct. 8th. 4 /., Dis. Ven., cxvii., 248. 266 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. broken shoulder, in a country where inns were so- lacking that voyagers had to carry with them all that they needed, even to their beds. He avoided Aragon, because the pest was raging there, and went to the island of Majorca, where he found that the women were all of an extraordinary beauty. The only ugly woman he saw was the wife of the viceroy, who came from Aragon, and she served as a contrast for the sixty beautiful ladies who attended her. The archbishop had concerts given him at the convents, and he declared that the singing of the nuns was passionate and delicious. He left such pleasures and sailed for Italy. After dangers from storms and pirates he reached there, and on November 28, 1654, he arrived at Rome. He was well received by the Pope. His revenues in France were entirely cut off by the government and he was obliged to rely on the bounty of his friends. He claimed, how- ever, that it was necessary, in order to sustain his struggle, that he should live with much splendor, and by this he also gratified his natural taste for display. Six tables were always served at his palace, and the viands were such as found favor with epicurean bishops and cardinals. He gave large sums to the poor and thus gained the good-will of the common people. 1 The government resolved to carry on the contest against Retz before the Pope and, as there was no French ambas- sador at Rome, Lionne was sent there as a special envoy. Innocent X. was very infirm, and Mazarin wished also to prevent a successor being chosen at the next conclave who should be so bitterly hostile to himself. Lionne was to obtain from the Pope, if possible, the appointment of an ecclesiastical commission, to be composed of French bishops who would try Retz upon the charges made against him by the king." A letter was sent to the Pope, in which all of Retz's crimes were detailed. He was charged with having stirred up sedition, preached 1 Joly, 102-114. Retz, iv., 220-250. "Aff. Etr. Rome, 126., 275. Instructions 4 Lionne. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 267 rebellion, and with being a criminal, incorrigible and utterly abandoned. Against so notorious an evil liver the Pope was asked to grant justice, and to appoint com- missioners that the truth of these charges might be estab- lished. 1 Innocent X. was little affected by such accusations. He declared them to be the voice of Louis, but the hand of Mazarin ; the hostility of the minister imagined Retz's crimes, but in truth he was purer than a baby after its baptism. 1 Retz issued a letter reciting the wrongs he had suffered, which was expressed with great ingenuity and elo- quence. He had been kept in prison without forms of law, in chains that, at the same time, were fetters upon the lib- erties of the Gallican Church. No accusation had been brought against him during twenty months of imprison- ment. His enemies had sought to despoil him of the dignity, the possession of which was his only crime. When God had granted him deliverance, the archbishop of Paris had been treated in the city of his bishopric, as if he were a bandit or a captain of robbers. Infamous pla- cards were posted in the streets. All the officers of the kingdom were ordered to seize one who was a prince of the church and a minister of God, as if he were a brigand and a public enemy. His enemies had used the sacred name of the king in their violent measures, but it was plain that it was not the monarch, but those who bore a personal hatred, who had devised these acts. Be- cause his person was free from their malice, they now attacked his estate, his friends, and his church. His bishopric was declared vacant, as if the laws of the church had established that her archbishops could be deprived of their charges at the will of a favorite. Though with inflexible fidelity to the king, he would also stand constant for the sacred rights of religion and for the rank which God had given him, and he trusted 1 Lettre du Roy au Pape, Dec. 12, 1654. /., 126. * Lettre d'un Cardinal a Mazarin. /<*., 126. " Piu puro die un bambino d'appoi battesimo." 268 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. that soon His Majesty would listen to the complaints of an oppressed church and check those who, under the false pretence of advantage to the kingdom of France, were doing great harm to the kingdom of Christ. 1 The government took every measure to prevent the circulation of this letter. All the copies that could be seized were burned by the common hangman, and those who had any in their possession were ordered to bring them for destruction within twenty-four hours, under pain of death. 2 On January 6, 1655, Innocent X. died. Mazarin had already sent to the cardinals who were in the interests of France instructions as to the course they should pursue. The choice of France at this conclave, as in 1644, was the Cardinal Sacchetti, who was a man of high character and learning. Against two only were they in- structed to interpose the veto of France. One was Francis Barberini. The other was the Cardinal Chigi, who had been the papal nuncio at Miinster, and was thought to have shown too much friendship for Spain during those negotiations. Chigi, it was said, had his head filled with false maxims about the affairs of the world and Christian princes, and was the more dangerous because he had an extraordinary confidence in his own judgment. He was a man that had neither solid learning nor solid virtue, but only a superficial and pedantic smattering of literature and an illusive appearance of religious zeal. 3 As a result of Innocent X.'s hostility to France, that kingdom had but few cardinals who were devoted to her interests. The French faction numbered only five cardi- nals. Retz offered to attach himself to it, but under the instructions which they had, they refused to have any relations with him. He therefore joined what was called the flying squadron. This consisted of about ten cardinals, who regarded themselves as free from obliga- 1 This letter is published in Mem. de Retz, iv., 254-293. 5 Decree of January, 29, 1655. 3 Instructions pour le Conclave, Aff. Etr. Rome, 126. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 269. tions to any government or to any other cardinal, and who therefore, as Retz said, recognized only the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Spanish faction contained over twenty members, and about as many more acted under the nominal leadership of the Cardinal Barberini. On January 2oth the balloting began. There were sixty-six cardinals present, and forty-four were necessary for a choice. Sacchetti received the votes of the French and the Barberini factions, and most of those who formed the flying squadron. The latter, it was said, really pre- ferred Chigi, but they voted for Sacchetti in the confi- dence that he could not be elected, that they might at last incline Barberini to the man who was their secret choice. Sacchetti was recognized by all as a worthy man, and was popular from his gentle manners ; but at this conclave, as at the former one, the Spanish faction would not support him, because they believed him the friend of Mazarin. He received at every ballot from thirty to thirty-five votes, but he was unable to obtain any more. The other votes were scattered, and the cardinals watched for future combinations. The rules of the conclave forbade any intercourse with the world, but they were not strictly enforced. One of the attendants on Cardinal Antonio was able to carry all of Mazarin's orders to the conclave, by means of some dishes with false bottoms which he had made for the pur- pose. 1 The cardinals ate separately, and they were sup- posed to have but one dish for each meal. Many violated this rule and lived with much pomp, and Retz was among those who thus disregarded the traditions of the church.* The balloting proceeded with little change. The Spanish minister insisted on the exclusion of Sacchetti, and it seemed possible that a combination might be made on one of several cardinals. Chigi had as yet received no votes, but he had been much in the thoughts of all. His char- acter stood high for learning and probity. He was 1 Thevenot 4 Mazarin, Jan. 17, 1655. 1 Relation du Conclave, Aff. Etr. Rome, 129. 2/O FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. acceptable to the Spanish ; he was the choice of the flying squadron, and they endeavored to make Barberini see that the election of Sacchetti was impossible, and draw him insensibly to the support of Chigi. That cardinal conducted himself with much judgment. He answered questions with a disinterestedness that edified all. He joined little in the general conversation, but stayed in his cell, receiving no visits. He spoke only of the zeal due the church, and the necessity for studying the Scriptures and the traditions of the councils. No one could accuse him of showing any wish for the pontificate, except the apostolic desire for a bishopric, because it was a good thing. Sacchetti was himself a friend of Chigi, and, having probably little hope of his own elec- tion, he wrote Mazarin, commending the virtues of his rival, and asking for the withdrawal of the veto of France. 1 The minister decided to follow this advice. It was not certain but that Chigi would be elected in any event, and if he declared for him now he might hope for credit with the future Pope. On March i/th the French cardinals were notified that the king, having been informed of the merit and probity of Cardinal Chigi, had revoked the ex- clusion against him, and directed them to support him if it was impossible to elect Sacchetti. 2 The voting for Sacchetti continued, but it was evident that he had no further chance. On April /th, after eighty days of ballot- ing, all united on Chigi, and he was unanimously elected Pope. He wept when the scrutiny was announced by which he was chosen, because he was separated from his associates by his new dignity. He took the name of Alexander VII.' 1 Lionne a Mazarin, Feb. 15th. Aff. Etr. Rome, 129. * Declaration de Lionne. 1 The history of this conclave is found in the relation already referred to, and the letters of Lionne during its continuance. Aff. Etr. Rome, 127 and 129. Many of these letters have been published by M. Valfrey, in " Les Ambassades de Hugues de Lionne." Retz, t. iv., 293-323, has given an entertaining account of the conclave. It is, in some things, corrected by the letters of Lionne. Retz says this conclave, and all of the conclaves that he IV A K WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 2/1 Both Retz and Mazarin hoped to have the active cooperation of the new Pope, and both of them were dis- contented with the action he took. The question of the position of the Archbishop of Paris was an embarrassing one, and the new Pope's desire was to delay any decision so long as he could, and to avoid it altogether if it was possible. Lionne at once visited Alexander VII. and pre- sented the letter which asked for proceedings to be taken against Retz. The Pope told him that the French were in the habit of writing very long letters, but sometimes the affairs of this world changed, as had the position they took in reference to the Barberini. The ambassador answered they had more reason to complain of the long letters which Cardinal Retz wrote. 1 The Pope received the letter, but he announced no action. In May, Mazarin requested him not only to send commissioners to France to investigate the charges against Retz, but in the meantime to arrest him and put him in the castle of Saint Angelo. Alexander demurred to the latter part of this request, but said that a commission should be appointed before which the charges could be presented. 9 But his next act disconcerted the French government and was believed by the friends of Retz to show that the Pope was wholly in their favor. At the consistory of June 1st, Retz demanded of the Pope the pallium as Archbishop of Paris. Alexander VII. acceded to this request, and it was given him early in the morning of the next day, before the French envoy received any opportunity to protest against its bestowal.' Retz was thus solemnly recognized as the legal incumbent of that office, which the French government treated as vacant. Lionne protested against this act, and the Pope assumed somewhat of an apologetic tone. He said that the be- stowal of the pallium added nothing to the authority of ever attended, were conducted with entire courtesy, mutual respect, and charity, and the appearance of the body was always that of reserve, dignity, 'and wisdom. ' Lionne i Brienne, April igth. Aff. Etr. Rome, 129. * /*., May 1 7th. /*., June loth. 272 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. an archbishop, and that Retz must be assumed innocent until he was proved guilty. The envoy replied that if one was accused of crime and the accuser offered to prove it within a month, it had been held that the Holy Father should delay in giving the pallium, and that the letters of accusation of the king should have been regarded as equivalent to such a charge. The Pope agreed to hasten the procedure against Retz. His commissioners would go to France, and witnesses could be produced before them who would testify, for in- stance, that on such a day they saw the Cardinal Retz at the head of a regiment, called the Corinthians, levied against the king, dressed in a short habit with pistols in his belt and a green feather in his hat, and that at another time they heard him preach sedition and order the erec- tion of barricades. On evidence of this nature the Pope would consider and make such decision as should be just, without regard to the amnesty granted by the king in 1652.' He complained, however, of the scandalous con- dition in which the bishopric was left, there having been no prelate to administer ordination in it for a year, and .the souls of the faithful suffering from spiritual want. The Pope was subjected to conflicting influences, and in- clined first to one side then to the other, but he refused to demand of Retz that he should resign his arch- bishopric. 3 The offending archbishop now proceeded again to dis- turb the government by attempting to exercise his au- thority. The bull for the jubilee was to be pronounced, and Retz sent letters to the chapter, directing that if his former vicars were detained from Paris, the curs of Saint Severin and the Madeleine should act in their place, for this and other purposes. The latter was charged with being a Jansenist, but he was a bold and active man and devoted to Retz's interests. The vicars appointed by the chapter 1 Letter of June loth. * Depeche du Roi, June 4th, Aff. Etr. Rome, 12.7. Lionne i Brienne, June 28th, Ib. , 129. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 273 decided that they had no further authority and ceased to act. The papal nuncio said that he could not recog- nize them, and they admitted that to continue their func- tions contrary to the order of an archbishop who had received the pallium, would be to create a schism in the church of Paris.' The government was resolved that it would allow no action on the part of those authorized by Retz. One of his former vicars undertook to perform some function, and he was arrested and lodged in the Bastille.* One of the new vicars obeyed the royal order and re- tired from Paris. But Chassebras, the cure of the Made- leine, carried on an ecclesiastical war with great vigor. In order to escape arrest he concealed himself at the Port Royal and in other retreats. He could have no open communication with the clergy of the flock, and his orders appeared in proclamations pasted up in various parts of the city. The officers tried to arrest those who did this work, but it was impossible to discover them. Discreet agents walked through the streets at night with the bulletins prepared, and, in an unobserved moment, the documents were pasted upon church doors and in public places, which informed the flock of the orders of its arch- bishop's representatives, and denounced spiritual penalties upon those who disregarded them.' The bishops of Dol and Coutances administered ordina- tion in the churches of Paris without consent of the archbishop. A proclamation of Chassebras denounced this violation of ecclesiastical law, and notified them that they had brought upon themselves the penalties declared by the canons of the church against such offenders. 4 The Chatelet rendered a sentence against Chassebras by de- fault, condemning him for having had dealings with Retz, which had been forbidden to all subjects, and sen- 1 Seguier a Brienne, June 14. 1655. ' Bachelerie a Mazarin, July 1st. * Claude Joly, 177. Histoire del'Eglise de Paris. Joly was one of the canons of Notre Dame at this time. 4 Aff. Etr. Rome, 128.. 228. Seguier a Brienne and 4 Tellier, Aug. 24th. 2/4 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAR1N. tencing him to banishment and the confiscation of his property. The cure replied by a placard ordering those who were persecuting the church to cease and repent of their sins, lest they should bring on themselves her excommunication. Many of the archbishop's friends wished him to issue an interdict and direct the churches to be closed. The majority of the cur6s of the chapter, it was said, would obey such a direction. But Retz was not a Thomas a Becket. He may have feared that the age of a Becket was past, and that the interdict would be treated with contempt. He also cherished the hope of some reconciliation with the government, and he hesitated to invoke the thunders of his office.' He adopted in all these struggles an inconsistent position, trusting to in- trigue and finesse, more than to the privileges and power of the church, and the result was, that while he caused the government a great deal of annoyance, he was unsucessful in the conflict. Lionne asked the Pope repeatedly to proceed with the trial of the charges against Retz, as he had promised. The Holy Father replied that he feared the grievous scandal of such an affair, and felt confident that he could induce the archbishop to make some settlement which would be satisfactory. Moreover Cardinal Retz assured him that these charges were utterly groundless, and at most were only raking up some faults of his youth. The envoy re- plied that he had with him the official proceedings of the Parliament showing that Retz had assisted in its delibera- tion when in rebellion, and had preached to his flock that they must sell even the sacred vessels of the church, in order to raise money with which to levy war against the king.* Retz was an unsuccessful Cromwell, and he was a Jansenist besides. 8 Alexander VII. was an enemy to the Jansenists, but he thought the relations of the archbishop with them were purely political, and adopted to strengthen his position. 1 Joly, 124, 125. * Lionne & Brienne, Aug. 23d. Aff. Etr. Rome, 130. 1 lb. t Oct. 1 8th, et pas. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 2/5 41 He has disputed, written, and preached against the doctrine of Jansen," said the Pope. " That he has never sought aid in the purse of the Jansenists, that I would not affirm." 1 At last, on November pth, the Pope appointed a con- gregation of eight cardinals and four bishops to consider the charges against the Archbishop of Paris. Retz said he was quite ready, and that the day his process began he would have one instituted against the Cardinal Mazarin.* But the Pontiff did not desire that the appointment of the congregation should lead to the beginning of any proceed- ings. He endeavored to satisfy the French government by a different measure, and on November I5th, an instru- ment was sent to Paris appointing a suffragan to adminis- ter the affairs of the diocese of Paris. The name was left in blank and was to be inserted by the king. This action seemed to solve the difficulties that existed there, and the intelligence of it was received with great satisfaction. 1 But when the instrument arrived at Paris, it was found to have conditions which the government refused to accept. The nuncio required to be assured that the assembly of the clergy and the Parliament would recog- nize this order of the Holy See and make no opposition to rts execution. Mazarin replied that the absolute and despotic power of France was in the person of the king, and no organization in the kingdom could pretend to have any part in it. 4 He wrote the queen that to agree to any negotiations with the assembly or the Parliament would be a step most injurious to the royal authority, which could not be dependent on any other. Were it otherwise, the king, instead of being absolute, would be only the doge of the republic of France. 4 The clergy showed also that they could not recognize any such authority in the Pope as he sought to exercise by appointing a *Ib. 1 Lionne a Mazarin, Nov. 1st ; a Brienne, Nov. I5th. Aff. Etr. Rome, 130. * Lionne a Brienne, Nov. isth. Servien a Mazarin, Nov. 26th. Mazarin a Brienne, Nov. 27th. 4 Mazarin A Brienne, Nov. 27th. * Mazarin a la Reine, Nov. 28th. 276 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. suffragan for a bishopric, without the consent of the bishop himself. 1 The French government declined to act upon the Pope's brief, but the Pontiff succeeded at last in having Retz appoint a vicar from a list prepared by the king. The cardinal was loath to do it, but the Pope was urgent ; he feared offending him, and he hoped that by thus acceding to the wish of the king he might receive the income of his bishopric. On January 2, 1656, Retz chose the Abbe Saussay as his grand vicar. He sent with the appointment a letter to the clergy of Paris, asking them to assist in obtaining the return of those of their associ- ates who had been banished. But the letter was returned to the cardinal, and no steps were taken towards recogniz- ing in him any rights to the fruits of his benefice. Mazarin was obliged to abandon his endeavor to have Retz tried before some tribunal appointed by the Pope, for the offences with which he was charged. It was evi- dent that the Pontiff had no thought except to prolong the matter indefinitely, and the dignity of the government demanded that it should cease further solicitation." Lionne was recalled in March, 1656, and the proceedings against Retz were abandoned. But, notwithstanding this, his position was little improved. Mazarin was implacable, and would make no terms, and Retz could not bring him- self to resign his archbishopric and thus make his peace. Though Alexander VII. had not gratified the French government by Retz's prosecution, he did little to help him in his struggle, and he did not choose him for one of his confidential counsellors in the administration of the pon- tificate. Retz loved display and large expense, but friends grew weary of advancing great sums of money to a man who seemed doomed to hopeless exile. The cardinal had hoped that he might have some hold upon Saussay, but the new vicar regarded himself as 1 Bishop of Coutances to Mazarin, Nov. 2yth. ' Mazarin i Oudedei, Nov. lyth. Brienne a Lionne, Feby. nth, 1656. Roi i Bichi, March gth. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 2/7 holding his office from the king, and he would have no relations with the archbishop. Thereupon, in the summer of 1656, Retz revoked his authority. The Pope was dis- pleased by this act and demanded his restoration. Retz refused to give it, and thinking that he had lost any hope of good-will from the Pontiff he left Rome, and began a wandering life. The government issued pronunciamentos against harboring him, and made some endeavors to arrest him. He, on the other hand, indulged in much under- ground plotting, issued occasional well-written pamphlets against Mazarin, and by various papers and orders caused at times some degree of ecclesiastical confusion in his diocese. But his life on the whole was a very obscure one. He thought at times of resigning his office, but his friends at the Port Royal bade him follow the examples of the holy bishops who remained concealed in deserts and caverns in times of persecution. He so far imitated them that his whereabouts were often unknown for considerable periods. Unfortunately the imitation was not complete. His follower says that he grew fond of wandering obscurely from tavern to tavern, and that while he compared his lot to that of the holy an- chorites, he found consolation in the society of rope dan- cers and ballet girls. 1 An archbishop posing as Athanasius and caressing Phyllis in a hostlery, was the sight presented to the faithful." When Mazarin died, Retz hoped for some improvement in his condition. But Louis XIV. was true to the traditions of his minister, and he said that the car- dinal should not return to France unless he resigned his archbishopric. Retz yielded at last. He resigned the archbishopric of Paris and received in exchange several lucrative abbeys. In 1665 he again visited the Court, but Louis XIV. did not forget those who had been active in the troubles of the Fronde, and Retz was coldly received. He lived, however, with much splendor out of Paris, and 1 Joly 138, 141. It is true that when Joly wrote this he had quarrelled with Retz and left his service, but I see nothing improbable in his account of the prelate's morals. * Sainte Beuve, Port Royal, iii. , 192. 2/8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. he was employed in the service which Mazarin had offered to him many years before. He was frequently sent to Rome on behalf of the French government, and attended several conclaves in its interests. At the last of these, eight votes were cast for Cardinal Retz as supreme pontiff. During his later years he prepared the memoirs of his life, which are among the classics of the French language. While the government was endeavoring to drive Retz from his archbishopric, the Parliament of Paris attempted again to exercise some authority over the imposition of taxes. Its effort was checked with vigor. Sixty thousand to seventy thousand men were to be under arms in the campaign of 1655, and Mazarin worked day and night at the preparations. War on such a scale required money ; the expenses of the gayeties and pomp of the Court of Louis XIV. were large, and Fouquet had already begun to despoil the treasury by giving enormous profits to his associates among the financiers. A new edict created various offices, imposed taxes on baptisms and funer- als, and created other sources of revenue. Its most important provision was one which directed that all paper used in instruments prepared by notaries should be stamped. A considerable revenue was expected to be raised from this duty. Financiers offered to pay eight million livres a year for the farm of it, and those who complained of it said it would take as much as twenty millions from the people. 1 It was the beginning of the im- position of a stamp duty in France, and the government had chosen a proper subject for taxation. It was a duty from which the poor would be almost entirely exempt, and which would fall upon others in proportion to the number and importance of their transactions. It was known, however, that there would be opposi- tion to the edict, and on March 20, 1655, the king held a bed of justice at which it was registered. But after this forced registration the Parliament resolved to consider 1 Dis. Ven. cxviii., 1.8. Journal d'un Bourgeois, Mss. Bib. Nat. 10,276.. 325. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 279 the provisions of the edict, with a view to presenting remonstrances against them. On the pth of April it assembled to hear the edict again read, and the tax on stamped paper was subjected to special criticism. It was said to be burdensome, inconvenient, and offensive, and the members intended to continue their sessions and proceed with the discussion of these matters. There were many friends of Retz and Cond still left ; there were many who still dreamed of making the Parliament a great political body, and Paris itself was wearied of its troubles rather than cured of its animosities. 1 But both Louis and Mazarin were resolved that there should be no renewal of the Fronde. The young king was hunting at Vincennes when he heard of these discussions, and he resolved to check them at once. On April I3th, he hastened back from his hunting and proceeded to the Palais de Justice, without even waiting to dress himself as etiquette required. He had on a red coat, with a gray plumed hat, spurs on his riding boots, and a sword by his side. No king of France had ever appeared before his Parliament in such a dress. Louis showed manifest anger in his face. It was at this time, that Louis XIV. is said to have answered the remon- strances of the president as to the interest of the state, by the famous remark : " L' Etat, c' est moi." These words perhaps expressed Louis' conception of the government,, but he never uttered them. Like many of the sayings attributed to famous men, they are apocryphal. As a matter of fact the king entered the parliament unan- nounced, and at once interrupting their discussions, he said : " All know how much trouble your assemblies have excited in the state, and what dangerous effects they have produced. I have heard that you claim you will continue them, under the pretext of deliberating on the edicts which were registered in my presence. I have come here ex- pressly to forbid their continuation," he said, shaking his finger at the members of the Inquests, "and to forbid you, 1 Turenne, 468. 280 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. M. first President," shaking his finger at him, " to allow them to be held, which I do absolutely." Having finished these remarks, the king rose at once from his seat, and left the court without giving time for any reply. 1 The members of the court were filled with consternation at the words and manner of the king, and still more at his dress. Mol had resigned his place as first president, and the position was now held by Bellievre, a judge who had formerly been somewhat identified with the Fron- deurs, and an able and ambitious man. He visited Maz- arin, and in behalf of the body represented its consterna- tion at this extraordinary visit of the king. The cardinal adopted the role of a conciliator. The dress, he said, was that of a hunter, which the king had neglected to change, and not that of a soldier assumed for the occasion. The motion of the hand was casual, and not intended for a threat. The president reported these favorable words, and held out hopes that the Parliament would still be al- lowed to consider the edict. He was sent again to the king to deprecate any feelings of animosity, and to ask that the body might be allowed to deliberate on these measures. Louis replied that he felt no bitterness towards the members, and had no wish to deprive them of any of their privileges, but the condi- tion of affairs did not allow any such assemblies to be held, and he forbade their continuation. The other members of the cabinet thought Mazarinhad been too lenient in his expressions. Colbert wrote him that Bellievre had mis- stated his remarks when he reported them to the Parlia- ment, and that all right-minded people lamented that he would not so far control h'is natural benignity as to incul- 1 This account of the interview of the king with the Parliament, is taken from Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris, Mss. Bib. Nat., 10,276., 325, et sfq., and from the report sent by the Venetian minister, cxviii., 45. The two are substantially the same. Montglat, 306, Mme. de Motteville, 444, also des- cribe it, but with less fulness and accuracy. No contemporary writer attributes to Louis any such words, as " L* Etat, c' est moi." The remark is legendary and its origin considerably later. M. Vian and M. Cheruel have fully re- viewed the authorities on this question, and shown that there was no evi- dence that Louis said any thing of the sort. WAR WITH SPAIN AND TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 28 1 cate fear in the minds of these people, as that was the only way to compel them to their duty. All the presidents and deans of the different chambers should be summoned before the king, and any hope of their receiving permission to assemble and deliberate on the edict should be dispelled in vigorous and energetic terms. 1 The cardinal obtained Turenne's aid in quieting the opposition of the Parliament. The marshal saw President Bellievre, represented to him the injurious effects on the campaign that was about beginning, of opposition to the financial measures of the government, and Bellievre promised that he would use his efforts to prevent any discussion of these matters.* He recognized the fact that Louis XIV. was inflexible in his resolution that he would not allow any such meeting, and at the same time the president wished to preserve his credit with the body, for being zealous in its interests. He conferred, therefore, with the most strenuous of the members. While profess- ing eagerness in the cause, he said the government was now irritated, and would pursue those who demanded a meeting to consider the provisions of this edict. It was better to allow a few weeks to pass, during which per- mission for such discussions could be obtained. 3 It was decided, therefore, to postpone the matter. In the mean- time the zeal of many was quieted by substantial re- wards. Six thousand livres were given one president to help finish a terrace for his country house, and it was suggested to him that more might follow. Other sums were judiciously distributed among those who could be approached in this way. 4 Some arrests showed that the government could be severe as well as liberal, and that old caballers must be more cautious in what they said about the minister.* Some slight concessions were made, 1 Lettres de Colbert, i., 234, April i6th 1 Turerme, 468. Le Tellier 4 Mazarin, May I4th. ' He reported the progress he was making to the ministers of the crown. Aff. Etr. Fr., 894., 103, 106. 4 Gourville, 517, 518. Gourville himself handled the money. * Journal d'un Bourgeois, 338. 282 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and the parliamentary opposition faded away. In the summer, Mazarin sent the President Bellievre three hun- dred thousand livres to reward him for his discreet con- duct in quieting the opposition of his associates. 1 The president was singularly fortunate in this matter. He preserved the good-will of the Parliament for his apparent zeal in its behalf ; he obtained the favor of the government and a great sum of money ; and he has gone into history as the liberty-loving judge, who dared to plead for the interests of the state to the very face of a booted and enraged monarch. The campaign of 1655 was successful, but it did not result in any very important advantages for the French. They captured Valenciennes, and after that, Turenne's army being now larger than Condi's, he marched through a portion of the Spanish Netherlands. The enemy could do nothing but watch their progress, and it was proposed to push on to Brussels. It was decided not to attempt so important a movement, but the young king took great pleasure in accompanying this military promenade through the enemies' country. Once Turenne nearly caught a portion of Condi's army as they were crossing a stream, where he might have captured or destroyed the most of them. But the Marquis of Castelnau was sent on to arrest their march, and some of Condi's officers, who were the marquis's friends, came under a flag of truce to have a chat with him. With the courtesy which the French nobles prided themselves on extending to their adver- saries in war, he checked his troops to exchange the compliments of the season with his friends, and while he was doing this Condi's soldiers got across the stream. Turenne reported to Mazarin that the prince's troops went in such hot haste, that some of them had to swim over the stream and leave their cannon behind. The letter fell in Conde's hands, and he was so incensed that he carried on a diplomatic correspondence with Turenne, accusing him of having falsely maligned his honor and his ' Lettres ., Hi., 699, 700. It should be remembered, however, that all of those reckoned under Richelu-u were not strictly vessels of war. 4 Comptes Rendus, par Mallet. 366 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. merce on the Mediterranean were not accompanied by any large degree of success. Manufactures and internal com- merce were greatly hampered by the complicated cus- toms duties which divided France and made its different provinces regarded as foreign nations to each other, and by the countless regulations and restrictions on trade. The exchange of products even within the kingdom was checked, and in some parts almost prohibited, by the num- ber of local tolls, both on land and water, to which it was subjected. Goods from Havre to Paris paid local duties or tolls at Rouen, Andelys, Vernon, Roche Guyon, Mantes, Meulan, Poissy, Conflans, Maisons, and St. Denis. They then paid at Paris duties on river gate and ban. 1 There were twenty-eight different tolls on the river Loire. Besides several thousand legal tolls and duties, many were imposed that were illegal. Some local governor would forbid the passage of wheat from his district to another, in order to compel the owners to pay him for a passport for its transportation. 11 Even without such impositions, the carriage of goods was so expensive from the badness of the roads, that it was not practicable for any long dis- tance, except by water. The difficulty in the exchange of products caused great differences of price in different parts of the kingdom. Wheat would be selling much lower in Picardy than at La Rochelle.* Provisions, wine, or cider would be at very low prices in one district, and be very dear in another twenty or thirty leagues away. The farmers and dealers would leave crops to perish rather than attempt to trans- port them even that distance, and pay the numerous and uncertain duties which would be imposed at different places on the route. 4 The cost of transportation on bulky articles was very great. To bring a barrel of codfish from the coast of Normandy to Paris cost seven livres, or as much as eight dollars now. 6 A pound of salt which cost 1 Mss. Bibl. Nat., 18,510, f. 193. * Let. de Colbert, i., 2IO. ' Ib. t 316. * Disme Royale, 32. * D'Avenel, ii., 261. THE ADMINISTRA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 367 two sous at Rochelle, would cost twenty-five sous when it had reached Paris. 1 Not only different measures used in almost every city, but different rates of duty imposed in almost every prov- ince, added to the uncertainties. A measure of brandy paid a tax of six livres at Rouen, five livres at Conflans, and four livres and a half at Paris. 11 In 1650 certain duties were sixteen deniers the pound in Normandy, twenty in Burgundy, and twenty-three in Champagne. Colbert de- clared that the merchants were ruined by the tolls. 3 Manufactures, however, had not been entirely checked by such obstacles, in a country whose natural richness and fertility to some extent triumphed over the bad govern- ment from which it suffered. The value of the fabrics exported from France to England and Holland was esti- mated in 1656 at 80,000,000 livres a year. 4 Linen and serge stuffs were made at Rheims and Chalons ; silk and woollen stockings in Beauce and Picardy ; silk goods came from Lyons and Tours, and beaver hats from Paris and Rouen.* In 1656 the first establishment for making woven stockings was started in France, and was success- ful. It was stated, however, that from 1620 to 1663 the manufacturing interests of France had considerably de- clined, and that the English and Dutch had gained much of the trade that formerly belonged to the French. The manufacturers of silks at Lyons and Troyes had been most fortunate in retaining their business, but even these had lost.' There had been no change in tariffs which had modified the relation of French to foreign goods during this time. But manufacturing interests had suffered, with all others, from the evils of war and internal disturbances, and from the effects of excessive taxation and commercial restraints. When Joly was in Holland in 1647 he was impressed by the absence of beggars and of disorderly ' " Mem. sur les Finances " presente a Louis XIV. ' Edict of January 12, 1633. ' Lettres de Colbert, ii., 48. * Mem. de Jean de Witt, vi., 182. * Addresse des six Corps des Marchands, 1654. * Let. et Instructions de Colbert, ii., 125. 368 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. soldiers. " The troops," he said, " were paid, and one could go in safety by day and night." In this order and tranquillity, which he noticed because it contrasted with the condition of France at this time, the Dutch mer- chants and manufacturers had prospered and increased their trade. In England, the Revolution, which produced so much greater political changes than the Fronde, had not so much disturbed the prosperity and business of the country. In fishing, also, the Dutch were far in advance, and claimed to have engaged in this industry thirty times as many vessels as the French. The weakness of the navy was a serious injury to French commerce. The trade of the cities of southern France on the Mediterranean was greatly injured, and in some places destroyed, by the ravages of pirates. Two million, even six million livres of property belonging to the French was said to be destroyed yearly by the corsairs, who came from Algiers, Tunis, and Dunkirk, and whose ships were often manned by desperadoes from every part of Europe.* The French government was unable to extirpate these pests, and they frequently ravaged the coasts. Houses and towns along the Mediterranean shore were fortified and armed so as to be ready for some sudden invasion. Cannon commanded the bays. A flag hoisted on a high tower by day, and fires by night, warned the inhabitants of the approach of the corsairs. In one town eighty per- sons were captured within four months and taken off to be sold as slaves.* The corsair ships were well armed and equipped. One that was captured had seventeen cannon and a crew of one hundred and fifty Turks. Forty Chris- tian slaves of different nations worked at the oars.' The reprisals that were allowed are contrary to our ideas. The French captains were ordered to make descents on 1 Voyage & Mllnster en 1647, 119, 120. 1 Gazette. Assemblee des Notables, 1626, 207. Recueil des tats Gen- eraux, xvi., 43 ; xvii., 193. 1 Much curious information on this subject is found in the official report of the voyage of inspection of M. de Seguiran in 1633. 4 Gazette, 1631, 470. THE ADMINJSTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 369 Barbary and take such prisoners as they could, that they might work as slaves in the French galleys. 1 It was claimed that the commerce of Marseilles in 1633 was not over half of what it had been, and this diminution was charged, in large degree, to the effects of the war and the ravages of pirates. But many vexatious restraints on trade, both in France and other countries, had also inter- fered with its development. 11 Toulon did not have over one hundred vessels, and the most of those were only fishing smacks. The capital then invested in shipping was only about 1 50,000 livres.* Many of the numerous trading companies that were organized under Richelieu never proceeded further than their prospectus. Still there was some development of French interests in the colonies. Though the various settlements attempted in Canada produced but small re- sults, beginnings were made of French colonization in the Antilles and at various places along the coast of Africa. 4 A treaty of commerce was made with Russia, but that empire was still thrown open very cautiously to strangers.' Various expeditions were made against Algiers to repress piracy and compel that country to make peace and observe it, but the relations of France with Algeria were confined to redeeming captives and hanging pirates. The interest in colonial development which was aroused at this time was increased under Colbert, and France established many prosperous colonies which might have been the foundation of a foreign empire like that of Eng- land. Improvements in the condition of any country consist 1 Lettres de Colbert, iii., 28, et passim. It was, however, claimed that the spiritual welfare of the heathen would be advanced by their slavery in Christian countries. * Relation de Seguiran, 230, 231. */., 274, 275. 4 The measures adopted for the colonization of Canada seem to have been sometimes more vigorous than judicious. Grotius, in 1643, " Epistolae Ined- itae," 113, speaks of the intention of the government to send to Canada all women of bad character for the increase of its population. The young Hol- landers at Paris, in 1657, speak of a similar endeavor, made at that time. "Journal d 1 un Voyage a Paris en 1657," 214. * See Mercure Francois, t. xvi., 1022, et seq. 370 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. largely in improving the means of communication. Mod- ern, like Roman civilization is a civilization of roads. The great increase in the prosperity of France under Henry IV., can be measured by the sums which were expended on rivers, canals, and highways. Six hundred thousand livres were spent on them in 1599, an< ^ m I ^^ three millions and a half of livres were appropriated for these purposes. Such works were abandoned after Henry's death. The insignificant sum of 37,000 livres was expended on them in 1616, 38,634 in 1639, and but 100,000 in 1661.' The highways were left to the care of local authorities,' and what little was done was usually the construction of a road leading more conveniently to the residence of some great nobleman. They were not laid out of a uniform width, and frequent encroachments on them were made by adjacent owners. They were ill repaired, and were ordi- narily sinuous, full of holes, stones, and other obstructions. The overflows of the rivers, which were much more fre- quent and serious than now, often made impassable the highways which before had been only dangerous.* The chief evil under which France suffered was, how- ever, the system of taxation, and its abuses were aggra- vated at a time when the needs of war compelled a great increase in the amounts to be raised. This period, and especially the years of the Fronde, found the condition of the mass of the French people one of special misery, and their suffering was due in almost equal degree to the ravages of the soldier and of the tax-gatherer. In ascer- taining the amount that was taken from the people, and also the amount of wages which they earned at this time, it is necessary to state the relative value of the money of that period and our own. The actual value of money was subject to considerable fluctuation from the variations in the price of silver. Then, as now, France used the double standard. But the relative value of gold to silver was one to 11.85 m 1615, and one to 14.76 in 1640. 1 Conferences sur 1'Histoire etc., des Fonts et Chaussees : Ancre. "See various "Pieces Justificatives " on the condition of the roads, printed in "Etudes sur 1'Administration des Voies publiques," Vignon, t. i. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 371 The government endeavored to hold its silver at its former value, and the merchants insisted on taking it at its present value. In 1640 the change was, however, recog- nized by the creation of a new coin, the louis d'or, which was used until the Revolution, and was made of the value of ten livres of silver. 1 The value of the louis d'or is about twenty francs of the present money of France, and the livre, from 1640 to 1660, represents in money value two francs. The difference is still more considerable when we con- sider the relative value. So many elements affect prices that such an estimate must be a rough one, but, compar- ing the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. with the present time, I think it is not excessive to say, that a given amount of money then had a relative value as large as three times as great a sum would have now.' In giving, therefore, figures in livres, the term of account then used, one livre is equal in weight to two francs, and in relative value would represent about six francs, nearly one dollar and twenty cents of American money, or five shillings of English money. ' The increase in amounts collected by taxes, from the death of Henry IV. to the death of Mazarin, was much more than the depreciation in the value of money, which did not exceed thirty per cent., or than the increase in wealth, with was very small, if any. The chief item in the French budget was the taille. This was a direct tax im- posed upon the property of those assessed, and in theory it was in proportion to the amount they possessed. But in the most of France it fell chiefly upon personal property. It was impossible that with the most exact and honest system it should be accurately apportioned, and 1 Ord., March 31, 1640. * A vast number of figures supporting this estimate can be found in D'Avenel, t. ii., 158-178. It is not based solely on the price of wheat, as is sometimes done, and this alone does not, I think, furnish a sufficient criterion. * These figures are all, of course, approximate, and expressed in round numbers, for convenience. 3/2 FRANCE UNDER R I CHE LIE V AND MAZARIN. the system that was in force was both loose and dis- honest. The local assessors exempted some and over- taxed others ; they released their friends or their villages, and imposed an increased burden upon others, and, to a very large extent, exemptions or reductions were obtained by those who had money with which to bribe or to liti- gate. 1 The bulk of this tax fell upon the peasants. From it, indeed, a large part of the population, and the part possessing the most of the wealth of the coun- try, was entirely exempt. The nobility were free from any personal tax, and under this head were probably included 400,000 people. The clergy were free, almost all of the officials of every kind, and the members of many professions and trades. Many of the cities had obtained exemption from the taille by the payment of a sum of money, which was either nominal or very moder- ate. Only laborers and peasants, it was said, still remained subject to it. 8 Out of 11,000,000 people in those portions of France where the taille was a personal tax, probably 2,500,000 were exempt. 8 The amount collected by this duty increased during the war with ruinous rapidity. The taille in 1618 amounted to 20,000,000 livres; in 1630 to 38,000,000, and in 1657 it reached 53,400,000.* Such amounts could not be entirely collected. The arrears of old taxes increased, and in many cases the peasant had nothing left with which to pay. Arrears down to 1646 were discharged in 1648, at the request of the Parliament, and 20,000,000 of arrears were discharged for the later years of Mazarin's administra- tion. 6 To the amount of the taille must be added the sums 1 Lettres Patentes, Sept. 30, 1638. Edict, Nov., 1641. Testament Politique de Richelieu. Cahiers Etats de Normandie, passim, etc. Lettres, etc., de Colbert, i., 360, et passim, referring to such abuses in Guienne. The authorities for the various abuses in taxation are innumerable. 1 See Vauban " Dime Royale." tat de la France en 1648. Forbonnai*. " Recherches sur les Finances." D'Avenel : " La Monarchic Absolue. " * Lettres et Instructions de Colbert, ii., 19, 66. 4 Mallet : Comptes Rendus. * Lettres de Colbert, ii., 8. THE ADMINISTRA TIOW AND THE PEOPLE. 373 collected, in the same manner, for the support and ra- tions of the troops, which often increased this tax by more than one half. 1 In 1643, it is safe to estimate that there was collected for these taxes in the portions of France where there were not local States, 60,000,000 livres, and that this fell upon 8,500,000 people. Over 7 livres, as much as 42 francs now or about eight dollars, was paid by the poorer classes per capita in one year for direct taxes. Such a rate of taxation was unbearable, and there is abundant proof of the ruin it produced in many parts of France. Towns became burdened with arrears ; the inhabitants were held liable as a body until they deserted their homes, and a former village became a wilderness. The taxes were collected with wastefulness and brutality from those who had no ready money with which to pay. A company of fifty men were sent to Orbec by the tax-re- ceiver. They broke the doors of the houses, cut the wheat and sold it at ruinous prices, and burned the carts.* In Picardy and Champagne parishes were deserted, and labor had ceased in many parts of the kingdom.' At Cirey, in 1651, the rolls for the taille, required from the local officials, could not be furnished, because there was no one in the village who knew how to read or write, but a staff was found on which various marks made by a knife represented the sums imposed on the inhabitants, and the amounts they had paid. A few half-ruined houses now composed the village, and unless they were released from their taxes the inhabitants said they must leave it. There were already 200 livres of arrearages and payment was impossible. 4 In 1643 the Court of Aids in Normandy declared that 1 Cahiers de Bresse, 1649. Mss. Godefroy, cclxxx., 60. Arrets du Conseil, Aug. 3, 1660; Jan. 5, 1662. ' Cahier des Etats de Normandie, iii., no. ' Arrets de Conseil, May n, 1641. 4 Proces Verbal of 1651, published by Feillet. In his valuable work, " La Misere au Temps de la Fronde," M. Feillet has collected and published a great number of contemporary official statements of the condition of various towns and provinces. 374 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. the prisons were full of men who had paid their owr taille, but were confined because they were unable to pay that of their insolvent neighbors. More than fifty men imprisoned for such a cause had died at Pontandemer alone, and the province demanded succor in the wretched state to which it had been reduced by the rigor of the farmers of taxes. 1 This system of collecting the taille did not extend over the whole of France. Languedoc, Provence, Burgundy, Brittany, Beam, and some smaller divisions, were coun- tries of the States, portions of the kingdom which had preserved their local assemblies. By these States the direct tax which the province paid to the general govern- ment was voted and imposed. The endeavor of the French kings was to do away with these remains of par- liamentary government. The last session of the States of Normandy was held in 1657." For many years before that, their authority had been practically destroyed, and their sessions only served for the description of the rav- ages from war, and the oppression from taxation, to which that unfortunate province was subjected. Dauphiny and Guienne in like manner had lost their right to local gov- ernment. But in some provinces, these institutions were still in full vigor in the middle of the seventeenth century, and their existence caused a great difference between the prosperity of those favored districts, and that of the rest of France. The local States not only attended to various local expenses, but they fixed the amount of the gift or contribution which the province would make to the gen- eral expenses of the country, and they attended to its collection. What this sum should be was a matter of constant controversy between the officers of the king, and the representatives of the province. Personal influences^ bribes, and threats were used to produce liberality among the delegates, and the government often endeavored to 1 Articles de Remonstrances, etc., Nov. 26, 1643. Reg. Seer., Aug. 8, 1644. * See Lettres de Colbert, t. 2, Cahiers des tats, 411. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 375 obtain the election of those who would act in its inter- ests. But these bodies still retained such a degree of independence, that the amount collected by the taille from the countries of the States was, per capita, less than one third of the sum paid in the rest of France. The pro- vinces of the States contained nearly one third of the population of France. They paid one tenth of the taille. In 1639, Normandy and Brittany had nearly the same population. Normandy paid 7,000,000 for the taille and Brittany 1,500,000.' Not only did the inhabitants of these provinces pay much less in proportion, but the taille was there collected as it should have been in all of France. It was a real and not a personal tax. It fell upon the land, and was there- fore imposed with ease and comparative accuracy. Lands that were called noble were exempt from taxation, but it was an exemption that belonged to the land. The ex- emptions from the taille, though unjust, were not so numerous nor so glaring as in the rest of France. The tax was collected under the direction of the States at a com- paratively moderate expense, and the peasant who owned no land was free from the pursuit of the tax gatherer. The south was largely a country of States, and it pos- sessed also exemption from most import duties. These provinces had not entirely lost their independence in their gradual union with France. They refused to pay the duty on merchandise. The government decided to collect the duties at the border of the northern provinces, until the inhabitants of the others should suffer the establish- ment of these taxes, and the matter remained in that con- dition for four hundred years. Brittany also was outside of the customs duties. The local States often showed a narrow spirit, and made unreasonable objections to meas- ures that were liberal and beneficial. Their members caused occasional scandal by the liberality of the allow- ances for their own expenses. But the condition of the 1 Normandy was probably a wealthier province, but no such difference ex- isted in wealth as was found in the amount of taxes. 376 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. residents of these provinces, except as they were some- times exposed to devastations by the armies, was far superior to that of the rest of France. The difference was chiefly found in the country and the small towns, but the commercial advantages which the provinces enjoyed increased the trade and the wealth of their cities. The risings of peasants, caused by taxation and misery, were generally in the other portions of France. The influence of these local States was not affected by the efforts of Richelieu, and they were not attacked by Mazarin. The countries of the States were unable, however, to preserve their independence undiminished, during the reign of Louis XIV. In 1689 Mme. de Svign6 described the States of Brittany, the province which least of all be- came French in its character, and which jealously en- deavored to preserve its local independence. There was a crowd, a press, a great confusion. The governor of the province indulged in a profuse and reckless magnificence. His table was constantly set for sixty. The representa- tive of the king demanded 3,000,000 livres, and it was voted without debate. " One has only to demand what the king wants," she writes again. " No one says a word. Presents, pensions, gambling, balls every night, comedies three times a week, there you can see what are the States." ' Next to the taille, the most important tax was the gabelle, and, though less onerous, it also produced a vast amount of misery. The gabelle was a duty on salt, and it was farmed by the government. The burden of an ex- cessive tax was increased by the cupidity of those who bought the right to collect its proceeds. The French government retained a monopoly of salt, much like that 1 Lettres de Mme. de Sevigne, t. vi., let. 1119, and letter of Oct. 26, 1689. A similar condition in Languedoc is described in a letter of the Bishop of Mirepoix to Colbert in 1672. Cor. Ad. sous Louis XIV., t. i., 288. The best authority for the condition of the local States is in the letters and despatches contained in " Correspondance Administrative sous Louis XIV.," t. i. They fill a volume of 1000 pages. See also D' Avenel, t. ii. t p. 205-220. Lettres et Instructions de Colbert, t. iv., 1-179. THE ADM1NISTRA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 377 which it now possesses of tobacco, but the price which it charged for this article of necessity was such, that the States of Normandy declared that salt cost the people more than all the rest of their food. 1 In some provinces the price fixed imposed a duty of about 3,000 per cent., and salt sold for nearly ten sous a pound, thirty times its present price in France, though it is still subject to a considerable duty." From this tax there were no personal exemptions, but large portions of the country were not subject to the gabelle. Brittany was free. Guienne, Poitou, and several other provinces were wholly exempt or paid a trifling subsidy. About one third of the population were free from this duty, and the exemption was so valued that a rumor that the gabelle was to be imposed was sufficient to excite a local insurrection.' Such a duty, on an article like salt, was also necessarily much more oppressive for the poor than the rich. As the exorbitant price would compel many to go without the commodity, the tax was often rendered a direct one. The amount of salt was fixed which a family should consume, and this they were forced to take at the price established by the government. 4 Houses were searched in the investigation of the amounts that had been taken, and still more in the pursuit after illegal salt, and the persons of the peasants were often ex- amined without regard to age or sex. & The gabelle was farmed for about 20,000,000 livres, and to cover the expenses and profits of the farmers probably 27,000,000 in all was collected from the people. A family of six would, on an average, pay the equivalent of ninety francs, or about eighteen dollars a year, for this duty. The 1 Cahiers des Etats de Normandie, i., 150. 1 Edicts of 1636 and 1638. D'Avenel, ii., 281. This, of course, is allow- ing for the difference in relative values of money. See Relazioni Venete, Francia, ii., 343. 1 Letter of Richelieu to Archbishop of Bordeaux, Aug., 1631. 4 Lettres de Mazarin, i., 286. There are a great number of edicts regu- lating and confusing the imposition of the gabelle. * Cahiers des Etats de Normandie, i., 184. 378 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. peasant of Normandy or Champagne, during the Fronde,, who gave for a pound of salt a day and a half of labor, would see with envy and amazement his descendant eating salt that costs ten centimes. When the cost of this article was so high, it was una- voidable that there should be large amounts sold illegally, and that every endeavor should be made to avoid buying it of the government. The punishment of death did not prevent the sale of salt by contraband dealers, and the apprehension of such smuggling furnished an excuse for new abuses. The officers of the tax farmers not only made frequent searches, but they often seized government salt under the pretext that it was contraband, and against sucij oppression an ignorant peasant without money had neither defence nor redress. The gabelle caused local insurrections among the peasants almost as much as the taille. 1 In the disorders which were excited or encouraged by the Fronde, contraband salt was often made openly. Gangs of disarmed soldiers or marauders sold it, and were welcome among those oppressed by this duty. Even the soldiers in the service, in default of pay, often resorted to this source of profit. An officer relates that as his troops were poorly paid, they sold contraband salt openly at Saint Valery, and the officers of the gabelle protested in vain. Their commander approved of their conduct, as they thus obtained subsistence without costing any thing to the king, and without oppressing his subjects." An edict declared in 1646, that gentlemen, soldiers of all conditions,, and the most of the inhabitants of the frontiers, many of them openly and with arms in hand, sold contraband salt,, forced the warehouses of the gabelle and diminished the revenues by half. 8 Even using sea-water for cooking was an offence demanding severe punishment. It is not strange, that official documents show that complaints of 1 Lettres de Richelieu, v.. 485, et passim. Lettres de Mazarin, passim. *Me'm. de Pontis, 601, 602. * Ordinance, Oct. 15, 1646. Ib., July 6, 1649. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 379 frauds on the gabelle caused each year almost four thou- sand seizures in private houses, and the arrest of four thousand men and women, and that over two thousand people were usually serving in prison for offences against these laws. 1 The other indirect duties, though imposed on a great number of objects, did not altogether yield as much as the gabelle.* They also were farmed, and very largely at an inadequate price. One financier held a farm at a cer- tain sum for twenty-four years. At last the government demanded an increase of 600,000 livres in the yearly rent, and he paid it rather than abandon his contract.' Mazarin wrote to Turenne that while the Duke of Bouillon claimed that he had received 100,000 livres a year of reve- nue from Sedan, and though the royal commissioners had estimated the revenue at 75,000, the government did not actually receive over 40,000. But the sums which the king received, he admitted, were no criterion by which to judge what could be collected by an individual for his own benefit. 4 A very important question in every government is the cost of collecting the revenues, the difference between the sum which the people pay, and that which the treasury receives. What has been said about the financial meas- ures of this time shows, that this must have amounted to a percentage which would now be regarded as monstrous. It is impossible to do more than give a very rough guess at what this percentage was. Enormous profits were made by those who farmed the taxes, but there is no record of the amount, except the size of the fortunes which were accumulated. The fees and profits of the great body of officials, who assisted in the collection * Figures given in "La Misere au Temps de la Fronde," 68. I think the true number probably exceeded the figures that are here given. * They were so numerous that Guy Patin complained they would presently impose the tax established by Vespasian, which in Paris would produce a large revenue. Lettres de Patin, i., 43. * Tallemant des Reaux, ii., 36. Rocher Portail. * Lettres de Mazarin, iii., 104. 380 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of the taille and the duties which the government did not farm, mounted to a very large sum, but no accurate record was kept of them. They seem to show an entire expense of about 1 0,000,000 livres, in collecting 40,000,000.' The farmers of taxes probably collected them more cheaply, but this gain was more than offset by their own profits. Apart from the additional loss caused by seizures, and sales of property, and by outrages committed by the tax offi- cers, it is safe to estimate, that under Richelieu and Maz- arin, the tax-payers paid 25 per cent, more than the gov- ernment received, and this is a much smaller percentage than is given by many contemporary writers. 4 The amount raised by these various methods was not sufficient to defray the expenses of the government during this period. The total cost of carrying on the war was from 50,000,000 to 80,000,000 a year, and very large sums were paid for interest. Some items of expense were in- deed very small. The budget prepared for 1629 shows but 75OOO livres for the posts, 39,000 for public institutions, and 80,000 for charities. 3 But in 1626, Richelieu esti- mated that the expenses of the government exceeded its receipts by 10,000,000, and that it owed 52,ooo,ooo. 4 In 1648, Colbert stated the debt at 1 70,000,000.' It was still larger at the close of the maladministration of Fouquet. These figures do not, however, represent the actual amount by which the government was increasing its charges. Large sums were raised every year by the crea- tion and sale of new offices, but an office was bought, be- cause it conferred the right to a salary, or to the collection of fees or emoluments of some sort. Such creations, therefore, increased the permanent charges upon the peo- ple as much as the issue of new rentes. 1 Mss. Arsenal, 4487. 9 Rapine : Relation, 201. Archives Nationales, K. K., 1072, etc. Vau- ban in 1700, estimated the expense of collection at 25 per cent. (Disme Royale 29), and it was probably larger at this period. 3 Comptes de Mallet, Arsenal, 4487. D'Avenel, ii., 447. * Lettres de Richelieu, ii., 318. * Lettres, etc. de Colbert, ii., 17, et seq. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 381 Under Richelieu and Mazarin, the sums received for the sale of new offices must have exceeded 10,000,000 a year, though the opposition of the Parliament produced a bene- ficial effect in diminishing this pernicious source of rev- enue. The edicts under Richelieu show the greatest in- genuity in the creation of new and imaginary offices. 1 Examiners of paper, inspectors of hogs, superintendents of hay, honorary counsellors, gentlemen of the chamber, masters of the chase, every variety of office was devised, and there were many officials of every class." It was esti- mated that there were under Louis XIII. 40,000 heredi- tary offices.* Many positions were held by three in- cumbents. Each performed the duties during one of three years, but all received salaries. Richelieu says that these offices were sold at a rate which practically cost the government twelve per cent, on the money it received. 4 Apart from temporary loans and the creation of offices, large amounts of rentes were issued. The rentes of the Hotel de Ville had been created in 1522 and constituted a permanent national debt, secured on various taxes, and redeemable at the pleasure of the government. In 1620 the interest charge was less than 3,000,000. In 1639 it amounted to over 20,000,000, and at the end of Fouquet's administration it was said to be 52,000,000. The payments were made at the Hotel de Ville from a list that was fur- nished of the holders, and as there was no system for identifying the persons, the owner of rentes would some- times find that another had answered to his name when called, and had received the interest due. 6 But a more serious trouble was the failure of the government to pay any one. The expenses caused by the indefinite creation of offices are shown by the fact, that on the payment of 16,000,000 1 D'Avenel, ii., 307, states the sum received under Richelieu, for the sale of offices, at 500,000,000, but I think the figures are too high. 1 The long list of these new creations can be found in the edicts. 1 Anciennes Lois Fran9aises, 1662. 4 Testament Politiquc, ii., 167. * Mss. 4487, Arsenal. 382 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN- livres of rentes in 1648, the fees of the officers charged with the duty absorbed 1,600,000.' Not over three quar- ters of the amounts due for the rentes were paid during the later years of Richelieu's administration, and during the troubles of the Fronde the rentiers had difficulty in obtaining half the sum that was due them.* Various edicts issued after Fouquet's overthrow can- celled many rentes as fraudulent, authorized' the redemp- tion of others at the price for which they had been issued, and reduced the interest from nearly six per cent, to five per cent. On one issue of 1,000,000 of rentes under Fou- quet, the government had received but 100,000. The holders protested in vain against measures which claimed for their justification, the welfare of the state and the frauds attending the issue of many of these obligations. 3 We have considered the nature of the government at the middle of the I7th century, the system of taxes by which its expenses were paid, and the financial straits to which it was driven by war and insurrection. The facts that have appeared have not indicated general prosperity. The condition of the mass of the people in France under the old regime was, at best, one of little comfort, and at worst, one of great misery. The period of the Fronde, and the years that immediately preceded and followed it, were full of suffering and distress for large portions of the French people. An examination of the wages that were earned, the taxes that had to be paid, and the amount of the necessaries of life that could be purchased with the residue, will show how poor was the lot of the peasant and the common laborer, even when he was safe from violence and pillage. Innumerable contemporary records can be produced, to show how greatly these evils were aggravated by the effects of war and internal disturban- ces. Some of these causes of misery were only tempo- rary, but many of them were permanent, and their result 1 Reg. Hotel de Ville, ii., 436. * Reg. Hotel de Ville, ii., 425-451. 1 Journal de la Chambre de Justice, t. ii. Anc. Lois frai^aises, xviii., 69- 71. Lettres de Colbert, ii., passim. Journal d'Ormesson, ii. , 149-156. THE ADMINISTRA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 383 was at last to be the French Revolution. The condition of the people in a country specially favored by climate, posi- tion, and natural fertility, shows how unwise or corrupt government, the greed and the selfishness of the classes that have possession of power, injudicious laws, and in- jurious regulations, can retard prosperity and cause misery to multitudes. An industrious and frugal people, in a fen tile and beautiful land, found poverty as its ordinary lot. To escape the severest forms of need and misery, was as much as could be expected by the mass of the population. I do not intend to discuss, in this place, the customs or modes of life of the social classes who were raised above the necessity of manual labor. These would be, perhaps, of more interest, but the review of any period is very defec- tive which does not indicate the condition of the poorer classes, which at this time constituted four fifths of the population. The material, from which to describe their condition fully, is difficult to find at a time when few statistics were kept, but a fairly accurate idea of it can be gained. No census of the French population had as yet been taken, and the estimates that were made from time to time were necessarily exceedingly loose. People ordinarily overestimate the population of their own country or city. Between 1640 and 1650 it was calculated by some, that France contained 40,000,000, and even 60,000,000 inhab- itants. 1 Paris was estimated to have 900,000 people by a very intelligent magistrate, who lived there all his life, and the Gazette, in 1636, said that it had 1,000,000.* Such figures are enormously exaggerated. The enumera- tion prepared by the superintendents towards 1700 showed the population of the provinces which composed France in 1640 at 16,300,000.' Alsace was added in 1648, and Rous- sillon and Artois were added by the Peace of the Pyrenees. While the condition of the country seems poor and 1 Mss. Godefroy, cxxx., 260. * Journal d'Olivier d'Onnesson, 610, in 1649. Gatttte, 1636, 558. 'See table printed by d'Avenel, ii., 430, 431. 384 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. squalid when we compare it with France of to-day, it ap- peared prosperous to those who compared it with other countries at that time. When Mazarin crossed the Alps in 1630 he was impressed by the populousness of France. 1 Richelieu boasted in 1622 that France had so many men, that foreign cities compared with hers seemed like deserts.* In 1657, when the country had rallied somewhat from its depressed condition during the Fronde, it seemed not only beautiful, but populous, to travellers who lived in Holland. These travellers saw, however, only Paris and the country between that city and Calais. 3 Over forty years later, when the wars of Louis XIV. and the persecutions of the Huguenots were enfeebling the kingdom, Vauban esti- mated its population at 19,000,000, but others estimated it as low as I5,ooo,ooo. 4 I think that the average popu- lation of France during the administration of Mazarin was about 16,000,000 people. It is equally difficult to ascertain accurately the popula- tion of Paris. Under Henry II., a century before this time, it seems to have been from 300,000 to 350,000. A rough enumeration under Richelieu made it somewhat over 400,000. In 1657 the Dutch embassador investigated the question, and concluded that Paris contained 30,000 houses and 600,000 people. 5 Vauban, in 1700, estimated, how- ever, that the city had only 24,000 houses, but had a pop- ulation of 72O,ooo. 6 Judging from such data as we pos- sess, Paris by 1655 had at least 500,000 inhabitants. The majority of the French people at this time were engaged in agriculture. The development of manufac- tures and the changes produced by modern inventions have largely increased the percentage of the population which lives in cities. The wages of the ordinary French laborer of this period were not only subject to the usual fluctuations, but variations existed in the different por- 1 See his letter of Feb. 14, 1630. Jeunesse de Mazarin, 196. * Mem., i., 260. 3 Journal d'un Voyage, 22, etc. 4 Disme Royale, Int., 20. 'Journal d'un Voyage, 249. * Disme Royale, 76. THE ADMINISTRA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 385 tions of France much greater than could now be found. Where the peasant was born he usually lived and died, and to move from Normandy to Touraine or from Picardy to Poitou was an undertaking more difficult than it would now be to cross the Atlantic. The wages of a day laborer at farm work averaged from six to nine sous. A woman would not receive more than half as much. 1 In 1700 the wages of such laborers are stated at nine sous in harvest time, and not over eight sous at other seasons, and there had been a considerable appreciation of prices within fifty years." Taking seven sous as an average, that would be fourteen cents, or in equivalent value forty-two cents a day. Those most employed would not usually work over 200 days a year, after deducting Sundays and feast days. 1 An income of seventy livres, one hundred and forty francs, twenty-eight dollars, or in relative value eighty dollars, would be above, rather than below, that of the most of the peasants. Richelieu said that he would pay a man to work on a canal on his grounds one hundred livres a year, and for that he could live well. 4 It was an amount undoubtedly larger than would be received by most laborers of that sort. It was upon this class that the taxes fell. " The taille falls only on the peasants and the misera- ble," one of Colbert's officers wrote him. " Those who have credit escape." ' The average amount of the gabelle, the taille, and the support of troops, was nine livres in the provinces subject to the full weight of both taxes, and we must multiply this by four to reach the average amount paid even by a small family. The violence often attending the collection of these taxes has been referred to. " Those who collect the taille," the Lieutenant of Orleans wrote, "are such terrible animals that a great portion of them 1 Figures given by Monteil from Mss. in his possession. Figures showing that these were average prices can be found stated incidentally in many papers and memoirs of the period. 1 Disme Royale, 95-8. " Forbonnais : " Recherches sur les Finances." 4 Let. de Richelieu, iv., 304-306. * Pellot. Supt. to Colbert, Cor. Administrative sous Louis XIV., iii., I, a. 386 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. ought to be exterminated." ' Considering these condi- tions during the heavy taxation and distress of war, one half that a family earned must often have been consumed by taxes. The wages of artisans were somewhat higher. They are stated to have averaged twelve sous in 1700, and probably averaged ten sous at this time. This would give an income that would be equivalent to $120 or over. Skilful cutters, weavers, locksmiths, and other superior artisans commanded considerably higher wages.* The artisans also suffered much less from the taille. Many cities contributed little or nothing to this tax, and some handicrafts were exempt from it. Domestic servants were numerous from the great num- bers employed by people of wealth. There were probably at least a million and a half serving in various capacities. Twenty livres a year was small pay for them, and they had food and lodging besides. They were little troubled by the tax gatherers, for the exemption of the head of an establishment usually protected his domestics. A valet receiving sixty livres a year, the equivalent of about seventy dollars, was regarded as largely paid.' Though such wages seem low, the prices of all other things were, of course, much lower than now. They were not so low, however, that the earnings of the most of the population amounted to more than starvation wages. The average wages of a laborer were seven sous, or fourteen cents a day. The sum that was allowed for the food of a soldier per day was three sous three deniers, or about six and one half cents. For a sailor there was allowed four sous six deniers. 4 This, however, was some years later, and it was the amount paid the captain for furnishing rations to the sailors, on which doubtless he 1 Courbeville to Colbert. Id., 363. The evils and abuses of taxation can be found fully stated in the official correspondence of the time. We are not obliged to take them from the complaints of the taxed or the remon- strances of local States. * Disme Royale, 92-4. ' Tallemant i., 249. Monteil. Disme Royale, 82. D'Avenel, t. ii., tables in appendix, 4. * Lettres et Inst. de Colbert, iii., 728. THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PEOPLE. 387 was expected to make a profit. But at that price, the cost of the rations of two people would absorb a laborer's entire wages. The most important item of consumption is bread, and the price of wheat ordinarily attracts most attention. The fluctuations in its price during this period were rapid and great. Wheat in Paris, from 1615 to 1630, averaged 2^-| livres or 5^ francs, or nearly one dollar per bushel. From 1630 to 1643 the average price was three livres or as much as one dollar and fifteen cents per bushel. 1 These prices continued about the same, except as they were affected by bad crops or military disturbances. In 1649 the best wheat sold at a dollar and twenty-five cents, and rye for eighty cents ; a in 1658 it was selling at ninety cents in the country;* in 1660 for about one dollar and five cents at Paris. 4 But these prices at times rose with great rapidity. Wheat was selling in Paris at thirteen livres the setier in January, 1649, and eleven days later it was selling at thirty livres, and for a few days in March it sold at sixty livres or nearly five dollars a bushel. This, however, was when the king was endeavoring to cut off the supplies from the city, and does not, perhaps, furnish an accurate criterion. Peace was made in March, but the crop of 1649 was bad. The price again rose rapidly, and wheat was purchased for Paris at twenty-one livres the setier or three dollars and a quarter per bushel. 5 There was a bad crop in 1630, and the failure of the crop soon produced a famine. A very inferior article of wheat had been selling at seven livres the setier, and in fifteen days it sold at nineteen.* 1 These prices are taken from the mercuriales of Paris or official reports of the sales at the regular Paris markets. Archives Nationales, K. K., 986 991. In reducing them to our measures, the setier, the measure then used, is calculated at no kilogrammes, and our pound at 453 grains. The livre of that time is estimated at two francs, its present money value, and the figures given are the actual money equivalents without any reference to the relative values of the same amount of money. "Journal d'Onnesson, i., 631. ' Lettres de Coll>ert, i., 309, et seq. * Traite de la Police, ii., 1021. *Registres de 1'Hotel de Ville, ii., 405-425. Assemblee au Chaielet, Dec. 12, 1630. Traite de la Police, ii., 1016. 388 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. The Parliament of Normandy forbade the removal of wheat from that province, and the Paris merchants in December were seeking for it in Picardy and Champagne, where it was said to be abundant. A still worse failure of the crops occurred in 1660 and 1661. In June, 1660, wheat was selling at thirteen livres ten sous the setier, or about five and a half francs, or one dollar and ten cents a bushel. In a few days it was selling at thirty- four livres the setier. The government, as usual, forbade any exportation, issued ordinances against the merchants who were claimed to be storing wheat and making an un- conscionable profit, and bought large amounts for the use of the city. In September it had fallen to eighteen livres, but after the bad crop of 1661 it reached fifty livres the setier, or about four dollars and twenty cents a bushel. Bread sold at five cents a pound. In April, 1662, the government imported a large amount and sold it to the citizens at a little over eleven francs, or about two dollars and fifteen cents a bushel. 1 The average prices that have been given are the prices at Paris, and for the best quality of wheat. Wheat usually sold higher there, than in many parts of the country where the cost of transportation was less. On the other hand, when there was any scarcity, wheat was transported to Paris rather than to some remote province, where the roads were almost impassable and the amount of the demand was uncertain. The artisan of Rheims or Poitiers who in one year paid less for his loaf than the shopkeeper of Paris, might in the next year have to pay more. Fifty years later, Vauban gives seven livres the setier, or three francs a bushel, as the price for the wheat which the weaver would mix with rye to make his loaf. He could, however, only have meant the inferior wheat grown with rye, which always sold in the Paris market at about twenty per cent, below the price of good quality wheat. He esti- mates the rye, for the other half of the loaf, at over two 1 Ordinances, etc., for that period contained in Traite de la Police, ii., 1021-1033. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 389 francs the bushel. 1 A gradual increase in the price of grain is seen during this period. There was some depreciation in the value of money, and the large amount of land that was left desolate from the results of war and pillage must have had some effect. But it is apparent that the price of grain since then has appreciated much less than that of many articles. While it is, I think, an under-estimate to say that the money wages received for labor are three times as high now as they were then, the price of a bushel of wheat has appreciated, if we take the figures of the last few years, less than fifty per cent. There has been a greater increase than fifty per cent, in the price of the bread the laborer buys, but that is because the loaf is more palatable, more wholesome, and more nourishing, than that eaten by his ancestors under Richelieu and Mazarin. Nor was the relatively higher price of wheat of advan- tage to the agriculturalist. The figures furnished by the French government show that the average production of wheat per acre has doubled since the time of Vauban. From 1635 to 1660, the total amount grown must have been less than could have been raised even by the appli- ances of that time, in a season of peace and tranquillity. The study of the leases of various properties during a long term of years leads to the conclusion, that while the six- teenth century in France was a period of increasing pros- perity and agricultural progress, the seventeenth century, after 1610, showed only a stationary condition, if not in- deed actual decadence.* Rye usually sold for a little over half the price of wheat, and oats somewhat higher than rye. The average prices from 1630 to 1643 at Paris were about seventy cents for rye and eighty cents for oats. Barley sold for about half the price of wheat. 8 Enormous variations in price existed in different parts of the country, when there 1 Disme Royale, 98. The price of wheat had, however, fallen somewhat when compared with the period from 1640 to 1660. 1 Revue Archeologique de Sens., vi., 1 50, -191. 1 Let. de Colbert in 1658. 390 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. had been a short crop in some sections. The abundance of one province was with difficulty and great expense sent to relieve the need of another. In 1693 wheat was selling for 24 livres the setier at Paris, and 1 1 livres at Nantes. 1 The price of wheat at Limoges usually varied twenty-five per cent, from that at Poitiers. The places are not one hundred miles distant. Veal and mutton in 1640 sold at 5 sous or 10 cents a pound at Paris, and chicken was higher. 4 The average price was perhaps 7 or 8 cents. In the provinces veal and mutton were somewhat cheaper, but they were still beyond the reach of a laborer who earned 14 cents a day. The peasant could buy a work-horse for 25 livres or 50 francs. A horse for driving sold for four times that amount.' A donkey sold for 9 livres, and a pair of shoes could be bought for 12 sous or 25 cents. 4 Measuring these figures by the wages of labor, and taking the prices of average years, a bushel of wheat would cost seven days of the work of an ordinary laborer, a bushel of rye five days, a bushel of oats five and a half days, a bushel of barley over three days, a pound of mutton half a day, a pair of shoes almost two days, a horse for plowing would cost perhaps seventy- five days. It is evident, therefore, that the purchasing power of the average wages for a day of labor in France has greatly increased. Wheat flour was a luxury far above the reach of peas- ants and laborers. It was indeed a luxury for all, and lit- tle bread that was eaten would now be regarded as white bread, or consumed by those accustomed to ordinary com- fort. The bread that was eaten by laborers was made of barley and oats, from which the bran had not been re- moved. 6 A loaf of such bread sold at about 8 deniers or a cent and a quarter. Five sorts of bread were made at Paris ; two called wheat bread, two moderately white, or 1 Correspondance des controleurs generaux. This was in a time of famine. * Arret du Parl't, March, 1640. * In 1650, Mss. Godefroy, 132, Tarif du Conseil du Roi, 1641. * Tables, App. 4, t. ii., D'Avenel. Tariffs for 1640 and 1641. * Oisivetes : Vauban. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 391 bourgeois bread, and one still poorer, called black bread, which was eaten by most. The bread eaten by a regu- larly employed weaver would be half wheat and half rye. 1 Bread prepared for the army was directed to be made of two portions of barley to one of wheat.* The consumption of wheat was then much less than now. The amount of wheat produced in France has increased in a much larger ratio than its population. But at this time, wheat, except in years of famine, and except as affected by commercial regulations, was one of the largest ex- ports. 1 France has now long been a large importer. Meat was rarely eaten by peasants and laborers. 4 The houses in the country in which they lived were sometimes of wood, but more often of mud. Many had no chim- neys. Any sort of lamps or candles were little used, and gave little light. The inhabitants were always dirty, usually ragged, and often hungry. In 1625 France consumed 25,000,000 livres of sugar per year.* It sold for about 10 sous a pound or as much in relative value as 3 francs or 60 cents a pound now, and it was of course used by few. A pound of sugar, like a pound of salt, could only be earned by a day and a half of labor. The average consumption in that country was then a pound and a half per capita, and is now over seven- teen pounds. Two million pounds of tobacco were con- sumed.' The ordinance which imposed a prohibitory tax of 30 sous a pound on all which did not come from cer- tain French settlements, declared that the king's subjects by reason of its cheapness were using it at all hours, to the great prejudice of their health. 7 It was, however, used by few, and regarded as a vulgar habit. The con- sumption has increased since then 160 fold." Notwith- 1 Disme Royale, 98. * Lettres de Colbert, i., 309. 1 Vauban classes it with wine. Disme Royale, 27. 4 In 1760 the consumption of meat in Lorraine was stated not to be over a pound per month to a person. Zulestein. " Mem. sur. la Lorraine," 1762. Let de Richelieu, ii., 165, 166. Ib. ' Anciennes Lois Fran9aises, xvi., 347. * D'Avenel, ii., 267. 392 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. standing the endeavor then made to compel a large use of salt, the average amount consumed by the individual is now four times as much as then. 1 The price of wine was comparatively moderate, but the average consumption is now nearly one half more than it was then." That ignorance was almost universal among the lower classes is well known. In 1651, in the village of Cirey, there was no one who could read or write. In the parish of Montacher, there were only four of the inhabitants who knew enough to sign their names. 8 Little more educa- tion was found among those who were better circumstanced than the peasantry. Those employed in bringing chickens, eggs, and other provisions to Paris, presented their peti- tion, in which they stated that the majority of the sup- pliants could not read or write, and they asked to be allowed to employ clerks who could sign receipts in their names. 4 Few valets or servants could read or write. Some men made a living by acting as writers for this class, and charged them from five to twenty sous for writing a letter for them, depending upon the elevation of style that was required. 5 The sum which the government appropriated in 1639 for public instruction was only thirty-nine thousand livres. Education was in the hands of the colleges and the clergy, and the administration paid no attention to it. Richelieu said that the number of colleges was already too great. It encouraged the poorest to have their chil- dren study, so that few would be left for trade and war, which were the occupations that built up great states.' Great forests still covered large portions of France, and the game that was carefully preserved for hunting, often 1 Ib., 289. 9 Mss., 1428. Fleury Bib. Nat. Statistics of France for 1881. * Memoir published in Bulletin archeologique de Sens. " Ont declare les dits habitants ne savoir signer, a 1'exception de quatre. " * Ordinance, May 17, 1623. * Journal d'un Voyage a Paris, 1657, 46, 47. * Lettres de Richelieu, ii., 181. Similar objections against having too many schools are found in the Mercure for 1624, 426. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 393 destroyed the crop of the peasant. The peasants could chase these animals from their fields with stones, but only upon the condition that they should not injure them. 1 As late as the States-General of 1789, numerous complaints are found in the cahiers, that beasts were preferred to men. The condition of the people had been very prosperous under Henry IV. The natural reaction that follows a long period of disturbance was assisted by allowing a free export of grain, by judicious aid to manufacturers, and by large reductions in taxation. A contemporary declared that the recollection of 1609 was delightful to him ; that the peasants then tilled their fields with- out disturbance from soldiers or tax-gatherers ; they had comfortable furniture, sufficient food, and were in no danger of having their beds sold from under them ; there was no complaint of excessive impositions, and no parish was pillaged by men at war. " Such " he says, " was the end of the reign of the good king, and the be- ginning of infinite evils."* After his death, this improvement was checked, if not altogether lost. The peasant's lot was worse under Louis XIV. than under Henry IV. It has been claimed, and is probably true, that the increase in the small ownerships of land under Henry was lost during the Thirty Years' War and the Fronde.' It is certain that little of the land was then owned by the peasants. The frequent overflows of the rivers produced great damage, and they seem to have been very numerous at this period. But thirty-two inundations were noticed from 1600 to 1610, and forty-eight from 1649.10 1659.* The Seine, the Rhone, the Loire, the Marne, the Garonne, and 1 Article 137 of Ordinance of Orleans. * Mem. de Marolles, i., 19-24. 3 This statement is made by Michelet, but he gives no statistics by which to prove it. M. Feillet adopts it on Michelet's authority. I think such must have been the result of the condition of affairs, but I have not been so fortunate as to find satisfactory statistics. 4 Champion : " Histoiredeslnondations en France," t. vi., tables. But the lack of records prevents these figures from being certain. There were many more in both periods. 394 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. most of the important rivers of France contributed more or less to such calamities. The lack of retaining" walls or levees usually left the low streets of the cities in danger of being flooded by any considerable rise in the rivers. At the overflow of the Seine at Paris, in 1658, it was said that one could have rowed for some distance along the Rue Saint HonoreV The country was even more exposed, and the freshets often carried away the roads and the crops together." Though the cities had suffered less than the open coun- try, many of them were heavily in debt at the end of the wars with Germany and Spain ; their industries, which had developed during some portions of the sixteenth century, and under Henry IV. were crippled and often destroyed. In addition to that most of them had incurred debts, not for their own uses, but to avoid some of the evils of war. Tours owed 500,000 livres, a sum which would be equiva- lent to a debt of over half a million dollars now. It had also conveyed to the government the octroi duties, from which its expenses would usually be defrayed, that it might be freed from the duty imposed for the sustenance of soldiers.* Many places had in like manner been forced to convey their octroi duties to the government, and though they were allowed to provide for their own needs by the simple process of doubling the octroi, such a remedy increased the price of food so greatly that it usually was not adopted. 4 Amboise was a poor town, and subsisted only from such travel as went through it. But its advantage of position had been its ruin, for the troops had frequently passed through during the war. It owed 15,000 livres, borrowed to pay for the subsistence of some prisoners taken at Rocroi. 6 A more severe case was that of Beaune, a little city, whose population is not much over 10,000 now, and 1 /*., t. L, 86. " Rapport au Roi sur la Province de Touraine, 1664, 104-108. ' Rapport au Roi sur la Province de Touraine, 1664. 4 Lettres de Colbert, iv., 27 * Rapport au Roi 133-5- THE ADMINISTRA T1ON AND THE PEOPLE. 395 was undoubtedly less then. This place had incurred a debt of 560,000 livres during the war, its ordinary revenues having been taken by the government. These are not exceptional instances, but are illustrations of the condition of a great number of the French cities, both large and small. In them was also found another evil that resulted from the multiplication of offices. The expenses and fees of the various local officers consumed what the towns raised for public purposes. Debts accumulated, the interest was unpaid, and bridges, streets, and roads were neglected and left to perish. 1 The town of Chatellerault had become involved in 200,000 livres of debt, and as it could not be collected, the mayor and assessor were several times im- prisoned by the creditors in their endeavors to obtain pay- ment.* Though the peasants now suffered more from the taxa- tion imposed by the general government than from feudal dues, many petty feudal rights still existed, some of which were vexatious, and some of which were oppressive. The seigneur in many places still retained an authority which was often abused. In the descriptions of prominent noble- men, which were furnished the government by the superin- tendents, the entry is frequent " He beats the peasants." ' Such seems to have been one of the ordinary manifesta- tions of a violent temper. Even those who had reached the position of prosperous farmers were not safe from outrage. A farmer of Poitou was worth 6,000 crowns, and some gentleman resolved to marry his youngest son to the farmer's daughter. He accordingly rode over to the farm, accompanied by 200 followers, to seize the girl and have the marriage performed forthwith. But she and her father had left, and in his rage at this the gentle- man and his party pillaged the house, and carried off the farmer's wife. 4 1 Rapport sur la Touraine, 138, 139. The condition of Touraine at this time should have been no worse than that of the most of France, and it probably was no worse. " Histoire de Chatellerault, Salanne. 1 See Rapports sur Poitou, and sur Touraine, passim. 4 Rapport au Roi sur Poitou, 145. 396 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. For such acts of violence committed on inferiors there was no redress. A day laborer had no money to prose- cute the gentleman who broke his whip over his head, and if he had, it would have done him no good. The in- fluence of a nobleman with the courts and officers of justice would be sufficient to defeat a prosecution, started by some man who possessed neither wealth nor pedigree. It was felt that the right to beat one's peasantry, occasion- ally, ran with the land, and if a gentleman with hasty temper sometimes exercised it with too much violence, it could not be regarded as a serious offence. The peasants, wrote Ferron de Colbert, in 1658, wished to see the authority of the king fully established, that it might relieve them from the grievous tyranny of the seigneurs. 1 To small pay, heavy taxation, poor crops, flood, famine, and all that ground down the poor, were added the devas- tations of war. One might content himself with saying that disorder and misery were found through large por- tions of France, but a general statement such as that con- veys little idea of the wretchedness that existed. It is easy also to exaggerate in summing up the condition of the people, and the facts can only appear satisfactorily by collecting a variety of contemporary accounts, made in different years, and in different parts of the country." The little city of Laon, occupying a commanding po- sition, and with an ancient and interesting cathedral, is about ninety miles northeast of Paris. Near it is the small and unimportant place of Marie, and around are the various towns that compose the diocese. They were un- fortunately situated, lying between Paris and the Low Countries, not far from Rocroi, Lens, and many great 1 It., 135. The above statements are founded on the reports made to the king of the conditions of various provinces. Allowing for the natural ten- dency of those submitting reports to Colbert, I think their complaints of violence, perpetrated by some gentlemen upon their peasantry, are well founded. * Many of the records to which I shall refer have been collected and printed by the research of M. Feillet in "La Misere au Temps de la Fronde." THE ADMINISTRA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 397 battle-fields. A notary of Marie registered with the dry- ness of a legal document, from 1636 to 1665, the vicissi- tudes of his town in the foreign and domestic wars. He furnishes an accurate history of the lot of the inhabitants of this place during that period. At the invasion of Corbie, in 1636, the Spanish captured the chateau of Marfontaine near by, and took a large amount of booty, grain, horses, and other animals. . Fifteen men and women were killed by them, and the enemy marched within six miles of Marie. At this, the women and girls fled from the town and re- mained away for three months. The expense of this, we are told by the notary, who usually reduced the misfor- tunes of his town to a money basis, was estimated at twenty thousand livres. The village and abbey of Claire- fontaine near by were burned and destroyed. 1 In August the pest raged at Marie and continued until December. Four hundred people died, and the expense was eight thousand livres.* In November a garrison was placed in the town and remained until June, 1637. The inhabitants were obliged to furnish them with subsistence, and this amounted altogether, the careful notary tells us, to 39,815 livres and 10 sous.* In June, 1637, the royal army remained near there for four days. The oats were ruined and a part of the wheat. On the 1 5th of June the pest began again and raged until the end of November. Six hundred people died. In De- cember three hundred and fifty men were again stationed there as a garrison. The town paid the men six sous a day and furnished them with bread, but, notwithstanding that, during theirstay until March, 1638, they caused un- paralleled disorders. 4 During the most of 1638 a regiment of six hundred cavalry, under Colonel Gassion, was in the town. These brought with them two hundred servants and sixty women, and lived at free quarters. Twenty houses were burned at an expense of fifteen thousand livres. In this 1 Journal concernant les Desordres qui se sont passes dans la Comte de Marie pendant la Guerre, 2, 3. * lb., 4. lb., 6. 4 Ib., 6, 7. 398 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. year the town paid eight thousand livres to the govern- ment for taille and subsistence, while its local expenses were only two thousand. 1 Two different regiments were quartered on the town in 1639, and twice the army was encamped near it, in all for seven weeks. They destroyed most of the crops, and the expense to the town of furnish- ing supplies for the troops was estimated at twenty-nine thousand livres. The three following. years are filled with similar entries." In 1643 the battle of Rocroi was won, but Marie was obliged to take charge of some of the sick, and also of four hundred Spanish prisoners, and all these things were at the expense of the town. It cost them 7,300 livres, and in July the Count of Grancey camped near it for four days, and this ruined the wheat. In Sep- tember the notary minutes that Innocent X. had been elected Pope and had taken for his arms a dove with an olive branch. " God grant," he says, " that this may be a sign of the peace that shall be given us." * The next four years contain similar entries. There was not a year during which some part of the crops in the vicinity were not destroyed ; not a year in which Marie was not obliged to furnish subsistence to soldiers ; not a year in which some companies were not living there at free quarters for a longer or shorter time. But the miser- ies from 1636 to 1648 were to be far exceeded during the years of the Fronde. 4 The depositions taken at Laon tell a similar story. In 1636 the Spanish armies, and in each year from 1636 to 1647 successive French armies, commanded by Le Meil- leraie, Orleans, Enghien, Gassion, and others, marched and countermarched over the country. Many villages and churches were burned, and the ordinary course of justice was entirely interrupted during those years. Most of the in- habitants had been reduced to poverty, and crimes were committed with impunity by them, as well as by the soldiers. There was no attempt made to bring criminals to justice.' '73., 7-9. /., 10-16. '/., 19. * St., 19-29. 6 Relations, etc., printed by Fleury. " Le Diocese de Laon pendant la Fronde," 22-5. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 399 In 1647 a witness declares that the soldiers lived with such license, that many laborers were obliged to abandon their houses and farms and to take refuge in the woods. In Barenton Buguy, where there had been two hundred families, there were now but seven or eight. 1 In the year 1648 the battle of Lens was won, but this victory brought no relief. Some of Enghien's troops camped near Marie for fourteen days, and lived at discre- tion on the country. What they ate cost 30,000 livres, and what they destroyed was very much more. In Sep- tember three regiments of cavalry entered Marie and re- mained there twenty-three days, pillaging the fields and destroying some houses. In October five regiments en- tered the town, consisting of the mercenaries of Erlach. The ravages were more severe than usual. Thirty houses were burned, and the entire damage they did was esti- mated at 100,000 livres." The counsellor at Laon testified, that women and girls were violated and turned naked into the streets.' The ravages of 1649 were still worse, and this year there was a failure of the crop, even where it escaped destruction from war. It was almost impossible to labor, and a portion of the people died from hunger by reason of the dearness of provisions. 4 But in 1650 the district felt the effects of the Fronde. Turenne had declared for Conde and held Stenai in his interests. Taking ad- vantage of the embarrassment of the government from these revolts, the Spanish invaded France. Plessis Pras- lin marched to meet them, and his army of 15,000 men was for nine days at Marie. The country was laid waste for four leagues round. On the 6th of August, Plessis Praslin left the town, and on the I3th it was captured by the Spanish. Its inhabitants were promised their honor and their lives, but the Spaniards left them very little else. A special contribution of 1,000 livres saved, however, the decorations of the great clock of the church. The 1 73., 30, 31. Relation de Marie, 29-35. ' Diocese de Laon, 34. 4 Relation de Marie, 39. 400 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. Spanish evacuated on the I5th of August, but sickness followed, and from then till December eight hundred per- sons died. Two hundred more would have died of hun- ger had it not been for the charitable labors of the priests of the Mission, acting under the direction of Saint Vincent de Paul. The notary found one consolation amid the mis- eries of the time, for he entered at the end of his journal for 1650, that this year by the mercy of God and the zeal of the Company of Jesus, China had been converted to the faith of its emperor and all of his court baptized. 1 The reports sent by the priests employed in charitable work in the diocese of Laon describe the condition of other towns in it. At Montcornet, where there were three hundred families, seven hundred persons had died. Neither laborers could be found, nor horses nor oxen, for working the fields. Seventy houses had been burned at Marjot out of one hundred and ten. Men and women who had been mutilated were numerous in the diocese. For almost a year many had eaten only roots and spoiled fruit. Some had occasionally obtained bread so bad that hardly a dog would eat it. Some were found in caves in which they had taken refuge. In the faubourgs of Saint Quentin the houses had been burned. Twenty-five mud huts had been put up, and in each of them the mission- aries found two or three sick, and in one of them ten. Two women and eight children were lying on the ground in one hut, entirely without clothes. Of the curs of the diocese, eighty had died and one hundred had been forced to leave. During the winter it was said that every day as many as two hundred persons died of hunger in the provinces of Picardy and Champagne.* "For sixteen years," the notary writes in 1651, "the misery of the city of Marie had been such as could hardly be described or imagined, but it was necessary for the 1 Relation de Marie, 35-47. 4 Relations, etc., Diocese de Laon, 47-71. These relations are the reports sent by the missionaries to their principals, and they are uniform in their tone. Nothing could be more authentic or trustworthy. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 401 troops of the king to oppose the enemy, and it was usual that the enemy themselves should pillage a country they entered. The inhabitants had suffered their misfor- tunes as the natural results of war, but their patience was exhausted when these evils were increased by the ravages of rebels against the king." During all the summer of 1651 Marie was occupied by the troops of the Prince of Conde. Of two hundred and fifty houses in the fau- bourgs, one hundred were burned. The officers were en- gaged in constant debaucheries, and made havoc of the houses in which they took their lodgings. The air was full of execrations against the queen and the cardinal, and all were compelled to cry, " Long live the Prince of Cond ! " Those who complained of the pillage of their houses were called Mazarinites, and treated accordingly. The soldiers marched out to plunder the neighboring coun- try in bodies of twelve or fifteen hundred men, with drums beating, and their officers at the head. Every night from the city walls the light could be seen of burning houses, or barns, or of entire villages. From the 1 3th of August to the 7th of September eleven villages were pillaged. At Houry a body of fifteen hundred men first burned the village and then burned the church in which the inhabitants had taken refuge. The people escaping were, for the most part, only plundered. But two men and one woman were killed, and some of the women were violated. 1 At Laon the governor testified that over two thousand five hun- dred people were incessantly asking for relief, and many died in the hospitals and in the streets.* The year 1652 brought no change. The Duke of Lor- raine led his troops to Paris, but their pillaging was mostly carried on south of Marie. The Spaniards, how- ever, marched near Laon in their endeavor to join Conde's forces in Guienne, and were encamped there for some time. The accounts of their conduct are the same as in other years. There was no longer much in the diocese to plun- der. Of three hundred parishes it was said that one hun- 1 Relation de Marie, 49-69. ' Diocese de Laon, 71. 402 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. dred and fifty had been abandoned. Many had left Marie because they had no means of subsistence there. Those who remained had to live on bread made of oats and barley. Even those who had been the richest of the residents could no longer collect their rents, and commerce was destroyed. They were satisfied with bread of which half or two thirds consisted of barley and peas. 1 " It is with sorrow," the notary writes at the beginning of 1653, " that I describe the miseries of my country, and I regret that I have begun, for I see no end to our misfortunes. The pen falls from my hand, and I am almost resolved to cease a work which can only cause pain to our succes- sors." a In this year more troops were in the diocese than at any other time. The soldiers of the king, of Cond, and of the Spanish archduke were all there, and some of the armies contained as many as 35,000 men. The king's forces, under the marshal La Ferte Seneterre, committed ravages equal to those of the enemy. The in- habitants asked for protection, but the marshal only an- swered that the soldiers must live. There was but little difference the next year. Troops were stationed at Marie for 167 days, and the notary makes a detailed calculation of how much they cost the town. Among the expenses are 10 sous a day for each of 70 valets, and the same amount per day for 30 women. Even 60 dogs had to be supported at 3 sous each a day. In all it cost Marie 94,686 livres and 10 sous. Besides this about 30 small houses were destroyed and 1,200 trees. 1 The country was exhausted. Those who had been worth 60,000 livres were now without bread. Nothing but straw to sleep on was left for most of the inhabitants of the coun- try. There were six hundred orphans under twelve in the small city of Laon. 4 The Prince of Cond established 1 Relation de Marie, 78-95. Diocese de Laon, 78. ' Relation de Marie, 95-8. This outbreak is curious, as the most of this journal of misery is written with extraordinary dryness. The facts are put down with no more comment than as if it were a book of account. But eighteen years of unbroken misfortune exhausted the most patient. * Relation de Marie, 95-135. * Diocese de Laon, 85, 86. THE ADMINISTKA TION AND THE PEOPLE. 403 himself at Rocroi, and from that town pillaged and levied blackmail on the country. After 1656 this district was less afflicted by the passage of armies. In 1659 peace was made. For the last few years of the war little record is found of the condition of the diocese. It was so ex- hausted that the inhabitants had no longer the energy even to recount their misfortunes. In 1660, it was said that not only here, but in all Picardy, Champagne, and Lorraine, it was rare to find a house where there was suffi- cient bread, that a bed covering was seldom seen, that the well and the sick slept on straw, and had only their rags to cover them. 1 In the diocese of Laon during each year, for over twenty consecutive years, troops were quartered, forced levies were exacted, and some portion of the crops was destroyed. The twenty years are an unbroken record of pillage and plunder, house* burned, crops destroyed, men murdered, and women violated. It may be thought that Laon and Marie from their position were specially exposed to the passage of armies, and that they suffered more during these years than the rest of France. But an equally detailed relation would show a similar condition in a vast number of districts. When civil war was added to the misfortunes of the time, hardly a province of France escaped disturbance and pillage. Even those portions which were entirely free from the presence of soldiers, were so burdened by taxation and the disorders caused by the war, that their condition was little better than that of Alsace or Picardy. Lorraine, which was not yet indeed a part of France, but was grad- ually becoming incorporated with that kingdom, lay be- tween the combatants, and was the battle-field for all. It was ravaged equally by the soldiers of its own duke, and by those of the Spanish, the Swedes, and the French. At one time there were six armies and 150,000 soldiers upon its fields. The town of Saint Nicholas in 1630 was a flourishing place of 10,000 people. It had local fairs 1 Rerueil Thoisv. 1660, t. xiv. 404 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZ.ARIN. and a considerable trade in jewelry. It was enriched also by frequent pilgrimages of the pious to its shrines. At the end of the war it had but a few hundred people left. 1 The poor of Lorraine, other relations tell us, died of hunger ; bread sold for a franc the loaf, and the people lived on acorns and roots. The wolves came from the great forests, and accustomed to feed on the bodies that lay exposed in many parts, they often attacked and de- voured women and children. Eighty villages were de- serted and ceased to exist. The glass-works of Damey were closed, and many flourishing industries disappeared. * Alsace was in like manner suffering the evils that attend the transfer of a province from one government ta another, and its condition was as bad as that of Lorraine. Bourbonnais was further removed from the scene of war, but it suffered from the civil commotions and from famine and disease. " The people are in great terror," writes a contemporary, " because there is a rumor that Monsieur is to pass through this country with a large army. God give us soon a good peace, and incline the king to succor his poor people, who are now in extreme distress." ! Normandy also was free from the pillage of soldiers, except during a year or two of the Fronde, but taxation was especially onerous in that province. The chancellor's sister wrote him that the prison of Pontoise was full of per- sons confined for non-payment of the taille, and they were consumed by misery. The rich paid less than the poor, and the receiver of Gisors was becoming wealthy from the oppression of the defenceless. " Grant justice to the op- pressed," wrote the Carmelite, " and God will grant you mercy." * Twenty-one years later the receiver of Gisors was at last brought to trial for robbing the public, and seven hundred witnesses testified against him. & A bad 1 " Description du Feu et du Pillage de Saint Nicolas," written by a witness and published by Marchal. 1 " Depopulation de la Lorraine." " Histoire de la Reunion de la Lorraine a la France." * Printed in Cabinet Historique, t. vi. 4 Lettre de Sceur Jeanne de Jesus, Carmelite indigne. Mss. Bibl. Nat. Lettre de Guy Patin, Dec., 1664. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 40$ harvest in 1648, and the destruction of the crop by the troubles of the Fronde in 1649, bred a pestilence. The hospitals were so crowded that eight and ten were put in one bed, and sometimes a living person was found in the midst of corpses. 1 Champagne was exposed to the ravages both of civil and foreign war. In three years Rethel sustained four sieges, and the enemy passed through the country five times. The governor of the troops at Sainte Menehould in 1652 notified the neighboring towns to furnish a certain amount of grain, in default of which they would be pil- laged and burned. In August, 1653, a correspondent writes that the garrison made constant excursions, and carried off the corn and sheep. Nineteen persons had been captured within eight days, and were held for ran- som. At one time but fifty-three of its inhabitants re- mained at Sainte Menehould.* Picardy lay very near to the scene of the war in the Spanish Netherlands, and its sufferings had little intermis- sion. An illustration of the customs of the time is found in a letter from the French garrison at Saint Quentin to the city officers. The soldiers said they had protected the city for five months, but they had received no pay. They regarded themselves as deserving a reward for their pains, and they notified the officials that if they did not soon receive their back pay, they had resolved to plunder the best shops and the market, and set fire to the city in four quarters." Such messages were not simply a grim joking, but the soldiers only too often executed their threats. In 1652, the inhabitants of Saint Quentin and other towns in Picardy and Champagne were reduced to such a condition that they had nothing with which to plant and cultivate their fields, except as they received charity from Paris. From regard to their needs, the Par- liament extended for a year the time for the payment of 1 Recit de ce qui s' est passe en les hopitaux de Saint Louis et Saint Roch. Mss. Bibl. Nat. Relations, etc. Arch. Nat. K. K., 1072. ' Bibl. Nat. Mss. Col. Picardie, t. Iviii. 406 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. their debts, and directed the release of all levies that had been made. 1 Near Rethel, some of the villages organized for their own defence. A Scotch regiment of one thou- sand men was stationed there in 1651. The crops in the vicinity had been so injured by them and other troops that rye sold for one dollar and fifteen cents a bushel. One Oudard acquired some reputation as a guerilla cap- tain, and with about two hundred peasants he under- took the defence of the towns, and of the residences of some of the nobles which were threatened with assaults. He stationed his men advantageously, from his knowledge of the country and the woods, and carried on a small war with the soldiers, when they attempted plundering ex- peditions. No quarter was given, and when they captured any of the soldiers, although they were in the employ of the French government, they slaughtered them at once. Disease came at the end of such a year as this. Food was so dear that those living in the best houses had to be con- tent with bread made of oats and barley, and occasionally some meal soup, and dysentery raged during the autumn.* The peasants who had taken up arms in their own de- fence presently themselves became highwaymen. Oudard and his nephew were at last captured and hung. The disorders of the Fronde continued in Guienne longer than any other part of France, and that province suffered very severely. Discontents had long been rife in that section. In 1643 a superintendent wrote the Chan- cellor from Gascony that he found disorders in every quarter. The people paid their taxes with reluctance, and there was hardly an officer who was not guilty of many abuses. He feared trouble, and it soon came. The inhabitants seized some of the tax-collectors and plunged them in a kettle of quick-lime used by the tanners for hides. They escaped half boiled, and a sedition followed.' The oppression practised by pernon irritated the 1 " Misere au Temps de la Fronde," 364. 1 Bibl. Nat Mss., Rheims, t. vii. * Bibl. Nat. Mss. fonds Germain, 709, 8-34. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 407 people still more, but the Fronde only made their condi- tion worse. The country was wasted by the soldiers and the pestilence. In 1652 it was said that half the popula- tion of Agen perished from disease, and that there were eight thousand deaths at Montauban. 1 Donjon was threatened by two thousand soldiers of Conde, and immediately after them came three companies of cavalry, who are characterized as cruel devils, and who, for seven days, robbed the town and held inhabitants for ransom, in order to compel the payment of the arrears of the taille for three years." The official reports of the condition of towns show the extent of the ravages more clearly than loose complaints. Auxonne, in 1646, had a population of only 618, of whom 144 were widows, and 141 peasants that had fled from the country. It contained 417 houses, of which 120 were uninhabited. The roads, were bad ; many of the inhabitants slept on straw ; the bridge was in ruins, and the town owed 160,000 livres. It had been reduced to this condition, partly by the war, and partly by violent epidemics in 1636." Auxonne is now a prosperous place, with good roads and bridges, and a pop- ulation of five or six thousand. The little city of Lan- gon was captured and recaptured during the Fronde in Guienne. Its inhabitants had a detailed statement pre- pared of the houses that had been destroyed. In the Rue de la Mer, ten had been burned or destroyed ; in the Rue Biron, eight ; and in the Rue Saint Gervais, the church and ten houses burned, and the windows and doors destroyed of the others. In this manner the amount of the devastation is traced from street to street ; the place had not been sacked, but such were the results of the casual and wanton damage inflicted by two armies. Accounts such as this, year after year, can be collected in almost every province in France. War and taxes so re- duced the condition of the people that, in 1655, an Eng- lish correspondent wrote that the people were weighed 1 " Misere au Temps de la Fronde," 479, 480. " Registres paroissiaux du Donjon. ' Proces Verbal de 1646. 408 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. down with poverty, tallies, and all sorts of impositions ; yet they preferred to suffer them all rather than have war. 1 Mother Angelique wrote the queen of Poland, in 1654, that the general misery was such, that there were few artisans ; where the ravages of the war had been, they had been killed or scattered, and it was difficult even to find men to culti- vate the fields. Some artisans could be obtained from Normandy, where the taille was so heavy, that it would be easier than in the other provinces to get men to leave, and go even to Poland. Many laborers had been ruined by the taille, and had been driven to abandon their homes. 8 In 1659, the appeals for aid were as urgent as during the years of the civil war. Extraordinary misery was found in Burgundy, Picardy, and Lorraine. Even in the envi- rons of Paris, men would dispute with the dogs for a dead animal found in the streets. Of 200 persons in one vil- lage, 1 80 had no bread. It was believed that 10,000 had died of need, and, unless aid was given, the men would not be able even to cultivate the crops. Pestilence would be bred by insufficient nourishment, and would ravage Paris, as well as the country. In Berry, another wrote, people were dying of hunger. The faces of those one saw were pale, livid, and death-like. The people lived on herbs, with occasionally a piece of black bread. In 15 parishes, there were 1,500 sick people, lying on straw and eating roots boiled in water, with no salt. The fields were full of men, almost naked, sick, starving, hunting for roots or for the dead body of some animal. 1 The records have been kept of the leases of several pieces of property near Sens ; they show that land which yielded an income of 18 livres an acre in the sixteenth century yielded but 6 livres from 1650 to 1660. In 1860, four times as much income was received from the same land. 4 1 Paper cited in " La Misere au Temps de la Fronde," 502. * Letters to Queen of Poland, Jan. 28 and April I, 1654. 8 Relations of 1659 and 1660 ; there was a bad crop in 1660. 4 Published in Revue Archeologique de Sens, vi., 150-191. THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE PEOPLE. 409 The years of the Fronde were so attended by the misfortunes created by civil war, that the effect is shown in the records of births. At Arnay from 1648 to 1650 the average number of births was 110. It sank to 86 in the years from 1650 to 1654. In 1652 there were but 65, a figure which was not reached again until the famine of 1693. At Limours in the center of France, from 1647 to 1650 there were 32 births a year on the average and 28 deaths. For the next three years the births averaged 23 and the deaths 58. At Dreux the mortality went from 260 to 400, and in 1651 there were 551 deaths. The births had decreased from 265 to 189.' Most of these records show a condition of exceptional misery, caused by foreign or domestic war, by taxation of great severity, by famine, plague, and inundation. The entire country was not always in a condition such as this, or it would have again reached the state of France during the English wars. But there were general causes which kept the mass of the people always poor and often miserable, and the calamities which aggravated their lot were of frequent occurrence. War raged during a large proportion of the time. Taxation was almost always of crushing severity. Among ignorant laborers, with poor commercial regulations and industrial appliances, bad crops were frequent. A bad crop among a poor people, with the means of communication expensive and difficult, meant a famine, and famine bred pestilence. " Under Henry IV. France was in advance of us in all things." Arthur Young wrote late in the i8th century, "Thanks to liberty, we have changed the role.'" The French peasant and laborer of to-day, if we com- pare him with his ancestor two centuries ago, eats a larger loaf of better bread ; his house is lighter, larger, and drier; he has more salt and sugar with his food ; he does not fear 1 Many figures from various towns are collected and published in " La Misere au Temps de la Fronde," 369-373. It is difficult to find trust- worthy records of births and deaths at this period. * I quote this from recollection, but this is the idea if not the exact wording. 410 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. that he will be imprisoned for his taxes, nor that the land- lord will whip his son or the collector insult his daughter ; he occasionally has meat for his dinner ; he has his voice in the choice of the representative who shall fix the amount he must pay the government ; he drinks more wine, of a better quality ; and he smokes his pipe with contentment, as he surveys the piece of land that is his own. The suf- ferings of the past were so sharp that years have not softened their remembrance, and he indulges in no re- pinings for the " good old times," and as he considers the difference in his lot he is equally thankful for the industrial improvements of this century, and for the social revolution of seventeen hundred and eighty-nine. CHAPTER XIX. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. IN considering the customs and modes of life of the classes which were raised above the necessity of manual labor, the nobility naturally first attract our attention. The body of the nobles was a very large one, and it was estimated that it contained in all as many as four hundred thousand persons. In Poitou alone the superintendent reported there were fifteen hundred gentlemen, 1 and with their families there must have been several thousand of gentle blood in this small province. Not only were all members of noble families noble, but nobility had been profusely granted to officials of many classes. Many also assumed the rank without being entitled to it, in order to obtain social position and to enjoy exemption from taxa- tion. Frequent investigations were ordered as to the real status of such offenders, but they were usually abandoned. An aristocracy must be rich in order to hold its posi- tion and influence, and the incomes of many of the nobles were large for the period. Except for a few great nobles, and for those whose connection with the Court led them to an absurd extravagance, living was relatively cheaper then than now. The wages of servants were low, and many modern sources of expense had not .been discov- ered. Persons of good position could live with comfort on sums which would now be utterly inadequate. The 1 Rapport sur Poitou, 25. Including all officials who were ennobled, I think 400,000 is not too high a figure. The older nobility who held land, as distinguished from the new men who held office, constituted probably over half of this body. The line which legally separated the noble from the plebeian was loosely drawn. 411 412 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. figures seem moderate, even when we remember that prices on an average were one third of what they are now. A little later, in 1678, Mme. de Maintenon estimated the sum upon which a family of good position could live, keeping ten servants and four horses, at twelve thousand livres about one thousand pounds, or five thousand dollars. A family could not live now in any great city and support such an establishment for five times that amount. The manner in which this sum was to be divided shows the difference in modes of life. One thousand livres went for rent, one thousand for servants, and one thousand for the dress of madame. Six thousand livres was allowed for the table, and three thousand for the dress, expenses, and magnificence of monsieur. In 1657, five or six thousand livres was considered a good income on which to marry. 1 A century later Arthur Young said that for eight thou- sand livres, a gentleman could live in the country and keep four servants and three horses." In the society of the small cities, which consisted of officials, professional men, and prosperous bourgeois, the expenses of life were still smaller. The Archbishop of Poitiers had an income of forty-two thousand livres, and, as was said, this was very large in a city where the richest families had usually only three or four thousand livres ($1,200 or $1,600) a year. There were but two or three families that had in- comes of seven or eight thousand. 3 A gentleman who was content to stay at his home in the country needed only a valet or two, and he did not startle his village by riding through it adorned with embroideries or tinsel, like a courtier in Paris. 4 It is impossible to give the average incomes of so large a body as the nobility. In Poitou, in 1664, many are reported with incomes of twenty or thirty thousand livres (forty or sixty thousand francs). Many others had as little as eight or ten thousand livres. Some, it was said, in Lorraine had incomes of less than two thousand 'Journal d'un Voyage a Paris, 152. * Travels in France, i., 206. ' Rapport sur Poitou, 4. 4 Address to Assembly of Notables in 1626. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 413 livres, but they were usually those who had fraudulently assumed the rank of nobility. There were fewer nobles then, than a century later, who had for their patrimony only their titles and their pride. 1 Many received enormous incomes, partly from their lands, and partly from the offices and pensions bestowed on them by the king. In 1650 the incomes of the Princes of Cond6 and Conti and of the Duke of Longueville amounted altogether to nearly two million livres." Cond6 alone left property yielding nearly a million a year, besides his governments. 3 Mademoiselle of Orleans, who was said to be the richest princess in France, had an income of three hundred and thirty thousand livres. 4 This was not enormous, as its actual money value would not be over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The great incomes were largely derived from pensions or the salaries of offices. The rents of the land were often a small pro- portion of the receipts of a rich nobleman, and invest- ments in personal securities were unknown among the aristocracy. The Duke of Orleans had an income of a million livres, of which only one hundred thousand came from his land. 6 The government paid several millions annually in pen- sions. Most of the powerful nobles received large sums in this way, and almost all of them who had any standing at the Court received something. These gifts were sometimes made in the form of offices, and sometimes by granting monopolies of some branch of trade. While trade was disgraceful, yet, if some monoply was granted by the king, the noble could avail himself of that without derogating from his rank. It was felt that the govern- ment should in some way come to the relief of the nobles when in need of money. The Princess of Cond asked for some little monopoly to be granted her to pay some 1 Rapports sur Poitou et Touraine, passim. * Lionne to Le Tellier, April 3, 1650, printed in Mem. cle Mole, iv., 380. ' Mem. de Motteville, log. Journal d'Ormesson, 372. 4 Mem. Orleans, 570. Ib. 414 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of her debts. 1 One lady had the monopoly of Sedan chairs, and another of the hangings used at the funerals of bourgeois in Paris. 1 But these large sums were drawn from the treasury by nobles who spent a great portion of their time at the Court. Life there was growing more expensive, and the extravagance of the courtiers was excessive. A noble- man complained that they would all be better off without any pensions, for the country gentleman, who lived quietly at home with one valet, came up to Paris in the hope of obtaining a pension, and there had his squire, two gentle- men in attendance, and many pages, was covered with plumes and gold lace, and consumed his whole income in two or three months. 3 Those of still higher position lived in great splendor, and usually spent more than they re- ceived. A few thrifty nobles like the Prince of Cond6 accumulated great fortunes, but the majority of them dis- dained to save their money. Most of it came easily and was spent recklessly. The Duke of Guise spent 30,000 livres on a ball ; an extravagance as great as spending $30,000 now. His affairs were greatly embarrassed at the time, but it did not disturb him. 4 That was a matter for his superin- tendent to see about. Bassompierre received a visit from the king, and he spent as much as this in entertaining him with magnificence. 5 When Retz went on a political mis- sion to Compiegne, he had seven tables served and spent 2,400 livres, or a thousand dollars, a day." Very many servants were kept by all, and the great nobles had about them a little court, composed of servants, and gentlemen who were their retainers and bore the same relation to them that the courtiers did to the king. Richelieu com- plained of the extravagance of his nephew, who had six secretaries and six valets-de-chambre. He insisted that his establishment should be reduced to forty-four servants in all. Three thousand livres a month must answer for 1 Let. de Richelieu, vi., 869. ' Edit de Mai., 1645, arret Dec., 1634. 1 Address to Assembly of Notables, 1626. * Journal a Paris, 56. * Bassompierre, 129. 'Mem. de Retz, iv., 100. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 415 the expenses of the table and horses, and the nephew must live on 50,000 livres a year. If he could not live on that at Marseilles, the cardinal said that all the money in the world would not suffice. 1 The result of extravagant living was often an enormous indebtedness. Bassompierre owed 1,600,000 livres and had no money with which to pay his creditors.* It had been incurred by lavish expenditure, keeping a great establishment, dressing in the pink of fashion, and enter- taining with magnificence. The queen gave Mme. de Chevreuse over 200,000 livres to pay her debts. Pont de Courlay, Richelieu's nephew, ran in debt 400,000 livres in ten years by his profuse mode of living.' The Fronde in Guienne was unable to raise money because the noble- men who supported it were already greatly in debt, and as their reputation for paying what they owed was very poor, no one was willing to advance money upon their credit. The dress of the time was very different from our own, and that worn by people of fashion was very expensive. While the dresses of the ladies were often costly, the greatest expenditure was on the clothes of the men. So- ciety was still in the condition where the male seeks lustre from a gorgeous habiliment. Many edicts were issued against this extravagance. These declared that the French were consuming their estates in an excessive passion for luxury and dress. 4 Gentlemen were sometimes arrested and the unlawful finery taken from them. 6 But the edicts had no effect in checking such customs. A cloak adorned with gold lace cost 800 francs or $160. The dress of a gentleman of good fashion would cost 3,000 or 4,000 francs, and that worn on great occasions would cost 10,000 francs, or more. At the baptism of the Duke of Orleans the dress worn by the Marshal of Bassompierre 'Let. de Richelieu, v., 481, 3, 503, 4, vii., 800. 'Bassompierre, 97. 'Let. de Richelieu, v., 481. 4 Declaration of November, 1639. Mole, iv. , 194, i., 148. * Voyage a Paris en 1657. 41 6 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. was of violet and cloth of gold. It was covered with pearls, and, with his sword adorned with diamonds, his entire dress cost 1 14,000 francs. He had but 4,000 francs with which to pay for it ; but he won 30,000 francs at cards at one sitting, and afterwards gained enough to pay for it all. 1 When Turenne was at Court as a young man he wrote his mother that he was in a sad plight, having only a dress of black and one of red, while those of the least importance were ashamed to be seen twice at great balls, in dresses that had cost 4,000 and 6,000 francs. They were ruining themselves, he said, for things which added little to a man's reputation. 2 White plumes on the hat, and red shoes, showed that their wearer belonged to the Court.' The dress of the ladies was rich, but, except in the difference of fashions, does not present so much contrast with that of more modern times. Powder and rouge were then used liberally, and ladies ate lemons to make them pale. There was much luxury in gloves, and some insisted that three hours was as long as a pair should be worn. 4 Ladies of wealth had many diamonds and precious stones. When Mme. de Longueville and her daughter went to Miinster, they carried with them jewels costing over 600,000 francs.* Masques were often worn by ladies. Introduced at the end of the sixteenth century, they came gradually into use, and became very common during the Fronde. In theory they shielded the face from the intense gaze of inferiors, and in practice they were often convenient for ladies devoted to politics and gallantry. The usage was confined to the upper classes. Politeness required that the masque should be raised in the presence of one of superior rank. Loret tells us that the ladies wore masques when driving on the Cours la Reine, but when the king passed, five hundred beautiful faces exposed their charms.* 1 Mem. de Bassompierre, 49, 50. * Let. of Feb. 22, 1631. 8 Tallemant, i., 36. 4 Ib., i., 128 ; v., 100. Let. de Richelieu, iv.,2g6. Voyage d MUnster, 2. Mem. de Motteville, 84. 6 Muze Historique, May, 1655. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 417 In 1664, Mme. de Sevign speaks of going masked to watch her friend Fouquet, when he was taken to the ar- senal. The custom, however, disappeared in the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV. For a man to keep on his hat was still the privilege and the practice of the nobles. They wore them even when they ate and when they danced. A book on etiquette in 1660 says that gentle- men should keep on their hats at table, except during the grace and the benedicite. 1 After the ballet, when the ladies had taken off their masques, the gentlemen put on their hats, and all danced together.* It was one of the reforms introduced by Mme. de Rambouillet, that at her salon usage required that the gentlemen should take off their hats. 1 As serious employment could not be allowed, amuse- ments were largely sought. Hunting was much followed. Louis XIII. was especially devoted to this sport, and gave to it a large part of his life. Game was abundant in the great forests which covered a considerable part of France. Deer, wolves, and wild' boars were hunted on horseback, and birds of various sorts were chased by fal- cons. Animals were also shot, and Louis XIII. was a very accurate marksman. Hunting was forbidden to the roturiers, and it was exclusively the sport of gentlemen. 4 But a very different and far more pernicious amusement occupied a large portion of the time, and the taste for it extended somewhat to other social classes. Gambling was universal among the aristocracy, and fabulous amounts were lost at play. At Court there were tables for cards both day and night, and ladies as well as gentlemen played for high stakes. Ancre lost 80,000 pistoles in one night. Or- leans, Tubeuf and Cardinal Mazarin lost over half a million at a sitting. Gourville won 1 10,000 francs of the Duke of Richelieu in a few minutes. The duke sold a piece of land 1 Traite de Civilite, Courtin. Tallemant, vii., 59. * Journal de Dubuisson Aubenay, Feb. 23, 1648. 1 Hist. Amoureuse des Gaules, i., 50. * This prohibition was often repeated. It is found in edict of 1629. Anc. Lois, xvi., 280. 41 8 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and paid the amount. M. de Crequi lost 600,000 francs, and it was charged that he only paid half the debt. Ma- dame de Roquilaure lost 30,000. Her husband paid the money and told her to play no more. Where many gentlemen ruined their estates by gam- bling, some clever young adventurers made their living out of it. Gourville says he played with care and won great sums. Henry de Campion tells us he lost at dice, but he abandoned what was mere luck, and being a good player at cards, he lived upon his gains for a long time. The Count of Guiche, who afterward became a marshal, wrote that when he came to Paris the courtiers and finan- ciers had plenty of money, and played passionately and recklessly. This adroit young Gascon needed only to profit by his opportunities, and live in splendor without asking aid from his family. It was said that when he had become old and distinguished, he was as unfortunate at cards as he had been successful when a lad. In one year Bassompierre's net profits at tric-trac were 600,000 francs. Gallet won over 2 000,000 and died a beggar. 1 The government declared that excessive play was ruin- ing the best families, and endeavored to close the public gambling houses. But the highest play was at private houses. Some even extended their hospitality so far as to furnish the money with which their guests could bet. After a dinner with the Duke of Lerma, two bags, each with a thousand pistoles, were placed upon the table for the use of those who wished to play. If we can believe Retz, the taste extended to some of the judges, and he charges the members of the Parliament of Bordeaux with recklessly gambling.' In 1657 the ladies complained that the men were so devoted to cards, it kept them from par- ties and society.' Duelling was somewhat checked by Richelieu, but the 1 Mercure, 1617, 162. Ormesson, 336. Gourville, 529, 530. Voyage a Paris, 1 60. Campion, 117. Gramont, 237, 238. Bassompierre, 123. Talle- mant, x., 6-8. There are innumerable references to high play in the me- moirs of the time. * Richelieu, xxi., 43. Orleans, 602. Retz, ii., 231. 1 Voyage a Paris, 53. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 419 practice still continued. Nothing could be more frivolous than the grounds for these meetings, and nothing more ferocious than the encounters. One gentleman praised the memory of another. The latter said a good memory implied small judgment, and he insisted on a duel to avenge this affront.' The seconds must fight also, but gentlemen were reckless of life, and an invitation to act as a second was regarded as a favor. No less than twelve took part in one encounter, five seconds on each side.* Pontis says, that during the eight years of the regency of Anne of Austria, 935 gentlemen were known to have been killed in duels. 1 Even this was an improvement on the condition of affairs twenty years before, and during the reign of Louis XIV. this absurd and pernicious practice was largely checked. One brave but cruel gentleman, Riche- lieu said, had killed seventeen men in duels. 4 To be a gallant man was the great desire of a French nobleman, and the fear of forfeiting this title led him to many ab- surdities. La Tuye and Binau fought on horseback, and La Tuye was shot through the body. His horse turned and the wounded man could not control it. "You are flying," cried his adversary. La Tuye died on the same day, saying his only regret was that it could be said he had fled. 6 The same spirit made the bravery of the gentlemen in battle often become mere foolhardiness. The Marquis of Seneterre invited his friends to dine with him in the trenches of a city they were besieging. They dined there in the open air, finding a zest in the cannon balls that flew about them. Before the dinner was over a ball struck the marquis, and he was killed at table in the midst of his guests. Such exploits, which would now ex- cite contempt, then aroused admiration. The brave man was not he who met danger when it was required, but who sought peril when it was useless The young cavaliers committed innumerable acts of reckless bravado which often interfered with the discipline of the army, but 1 Cited in D'Avenel, ii., 83. * Mem. de Bussy Rabutin, i., 196. 1 Pontis, 655. * Richelieu, xxi.. 246. * Tallemant, x., 12. 42O FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. gained for them a reputation for daring. The French sought death, it was said, as if the resurrection were to- morrow. 1 The nobleman of this time, though he was becoming a courtier, had not as yet entirely lost the roughness or the violent habits that belonged to the feudal era. Acts of violence were common, which a century later had become rare. There were various instances of women carried off by force, and detained by some gentleman and his retainers in defiance of their families and of the law. Mademoiselle de Sainte Croix, an heiress with eighty thousand francs a year, was seized by the friends of one lover and put in a convent to prevent her marriage with a rival. The father, with several men, attacked the convent ; a crowd gathered, and four or five were injured. 2 Doradour, with a hundred gentlemen, burst by night into the house of an artillery officer in Paris, and carried off his daughter. By appeals to Richelieu's influence, she was at last restored.* The frequent struggles over precedence at public occa- sions often ended in violence. The Duke of Epernon quarrelled with the Archbishop of Bordeaux. He called him an insolent imbecile, and followed this by knocking off the archbishop's hat and beating him. 4 Bautru, of the Academy, had ridiculed the Countess of Vertus, and her men caned him and wounded him in the head. 6 Even those whose positions would seem to forbid such excesses were sometimes equally violent. The members of the Parliament and of the Chamber of Accounts quar- relled about the order in which they should march at a procession in Notre Dame. First the judges pushed each other, and then they came to blows in the church, and it needed the officers to restore order.' Precedence was nowhere insisted upon with more vigor or violence than in church. Even Vauban, who was willing to give up 1 Mem. de 1'Abbe Arnauld, 518. 4 Mem. de Richelieu, xxii., 570. "Journal d'Ormesson, 471. Mch., 1648. * Tallemant, iii., 102. *Lettres de Richelieu, vi., 39. Mem. de Bassompierre, 356. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 42! many of the privileges of the nobility, insisted that they should be distinguished by having separate seats given them in church. 1 Education among the upper classes was often very su- perficial. From thirteen to sixteen the young noble usually began his military service. Before that, the two things which he studied most and understood best were riding and dancing. It was necessary that a soldier should ride well, and equally necessary that a courtier should dance well ; and in these two accomplishments it was said the French masters exceeded those of all other na- tions. " Without dancing a gentleman can do nothing," said the professor in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme. " There is nothing so necessary as dancing." His statement was hardly exaggerated. Dancing was then a complicated art, and the graceful performance of long and involved figures showed the person familiar with good society. The Abb6 Arnauld noticed the difference in the balls in Italy, where the ladies sat separate from the men, and their dancing was no more than walking in cadence.* The brief studies of most of the young nobles left but a small trace of learning, and the education of girls was often still more neglected. After Richelieu's niece was married to the Duke of Enghien, she was sent to the con- vent of the Carmelites to learn to read and write.' Few of the great ladies of society and the Fronde could spell correctly. 4 It may be said that spelling had not then be- come an exact art, and people often spelled even their own names in different ways. There was indeed a circle of highly educated women at this time, but many of these were members of Parliamentary families. An aristocracy that was idle, and of which a large por- 1 Disme Royale, ch. 10. *Mem. de 1'Abbe Arnauld, 574. Life in Italy was in every way simpler than in France, and it was said that 100,000 livres there went as far as 300,- ooo in France. Let. de Richelieu, vi., 761. "Mem. de Montpensier, 14. Let. de Richelieu, vi., 790. 4 Cousin " Jeunesse de Mme. de Longueville," 23. The fact is apparent to any one who reads their correspondence, which has been preserved. 422 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. tion was unfitted for any active work except war, gradu- ally lost its influence in the nation. Its members were lazy, agreeable, well-bred, and useless. In the sixteenth century the gentleman lived less at Court, and his estate was usually sufficient for the expenses which he incurred. But in the seventeenth century the life of the courtier had become expensive. Commerce and trade were forbidden. The lucrative offices were largely held by those of in- ferior birth, and except by pensions from the crown, it was impossible to replace the fortunes spent in extrav- agance. The judicial and most of the executive offices were not filled by members of the ancient aristocracy. This result was not produced entirely, or in large part, by any jealousy of the sovereign. Though they occa- sionally demanded some part of these lucrative and influ- ential positions, the nobles really did not desire places that required industry and special training. It was justly said at the States-General in 1614, that it was not the paulette that kept them from the judicial offices, but because they had been trained to believe that study and learning were inconsistent with valor. Their influence slowly diminished. New men acquired great fortunes from the development of commerce or from dealings with the state. Writers ceased to be the dependents of great nobles, and began to exercise a large influence upon the public. The nobility continued to hold privileges which had become odious, without rendering services that should compensate for them, and without possessing the ability with which to protect them. 1 At a great ball given by the chancellor in 1657, a for- eigner familiar with French society said one could easily distinguish the daughters and wives of people of the city, or of the robe, from the ladies of the Court. The former in their air and bearing appeared like chamber-maids. 1 Al- lowing for some prejudice in the critic, his remarks were 1 The causes of the decline of the French nobility are well discussed by the Vicomte d' Avenel in "La Monarchic Absolue," and by Taine in " L'Ancien Regime." ' Voyage i Paris, 1657, 411. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 423 doubtless not wholly unjust. The daughters and wives of the merchants and judges were, for the most part, neither as well educated nor as well-bred as the same classes to-day. They were outside the charmed circle of perfect good breeding, and consciousness of the fact made them ill at ease. They could not attain to the perfect repose of manner of those who belonged to the aristoc- racy. They were disturbed by ordinary and domestic cares and troubles, and the gentlemen and ladies of the Court were raised above these. However much such a life may have unfitted the no- bility for being of use in the world, it doubtless perfected their manners. It is doubtful if the charm of manner and conversation which then existed in the best society of France can now be found in any class. Talleyrand said that only those who had lived before 1789 knew the charm of life. The changed conditions of a world, where all are so nearly equal, has rubbed off a certain ineffable grace. There are women now as beautiful as Mme. de Longueville, but it is doubtful if any possess her de- licious languor of manner. When Arthur Young was at Paris at the beginning of the French Revolution, he spoke with amazement of the perfect unconcern of the nobles at events which were to decide the future of their own class and of the French monarchy. He dined with them when the National Assembly was organizing, and its members taking the oath of the Jeu de Paume. They talked about tennis and trinkets. 1 This was due in part doubtless to the want of any political knowledge. They felt the unconcern of children at political events, because they comprehended them no more than children. But they possessed also the breeding which enables one to meet the vicissitudes of life and the overthrow of fortune without change of countenance. They witnessed their own ruin with as much indifference of manner as they had witnessed the ruin of others. With unruffled faces they left the chateaux of their grandsires and the leve'es of their king to give dancing lessons in Piccadilly. 1 " Travels in France," i., 206, etc., French translation. 424 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. The great value attached to many political and judicial offices has already appeared. Notwithstanding the large number of offices created, the prices paid for them in- creased rapidly. Some of them were, legitimately or illegitimately, very lucrative. All of them furnished a sure income and the sensation of official dignity,' while from comparatively very few was any burdensome service required. The office of colonel of the Swiss guards sold for 800,000 francs ; that of first gentleman of the chamber for 1,000,000, nearly four times as much as it brought 40 years before. For the chancellorship of the order of the Holy Spirit 340,000 livres or almost 700,000 francs were paid. The position of general of the galleys brought 1,400,000 francs. 1 The prices of judicial offices were equally high. The place of president a mortier of the Parliament of Paris was worth 1,000,000 francs, or nearly 200,000 dollars. The office of first president of the provincial Parliament at Grenoble brought only quarter of this sum. The office of master of requests sold for 400,000 francs, and 1,500,000 livres or 600,000 dollars was paid for the office of attorney-general. 8 Even religious offices were sometimes transferred for a money consideration. The charge of grand almoner of the queen was sold to the bishop of Alet for 30,000 livres, Richelieu took the money and bought Limours. His bishopric of Lu^on was also disposed of, after he had be- come cardinal, to the dean of Saint Martin of Tours. He received for it the deanery of Saint Martin and the abbey of Saint Vast, and also reserved a pension of five thousand livres on the revenues of the bishopric of Luc.on. The deanery and abbey were stated to be worth seven thousand three hundred livres a year, and were to be conveyed clear of any charges. Each party agreed to obtain the consent of the king and the Pope to his own resignation, and to the 1 700,000 livres. Choisy, 585. Bassompierre, 329. Ormesson, 268, 492. The office of first gentleman, which sold for 550,000 livres in 1648, sold for 150,000 in 1609. Let. de Richelieu, vii., 93. "Journal d' Ormesson, 6, 185, 426. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 425 appointment of his successor. These transfers were exe- cuted in proper form and preserved among the official papers. There was no concealment about them, and ap- parently no feeling of any impropriety in selling or trading religious offices. A deanery or bishopric was transferred in as business-like a manner as a right to cut wood or pas- ture cattle. 1 Corruption prevailed to a great extent, and bribes were given to those in positions, where now such practices are rare or unknown. The corrupt use of official position was almost universal. Prime-ministers, secretaries of state, superintendents of finance, all grew rich by practices that would now destroy the reputation of any public man, and which, even if they are occasionally discovered, are no longer common. Money was used to buy the support of cardinals and bishops of the church ; it was distributed among the judges of the Parliament ; it was given to the representatives of the provinces in their local States ; even the favor of the Pope was purchased by abbeys for his nephew and money for his sister-in-law.' One hundred thousand livreswere used in corruption among the deputies at the Protestant Assembly at Saumur. 1 Richelieu made out a list of the prominent Swiss who should receive " gratifica- tions" from the French agents. 4 Mazarin's representatives reported to him the money they were o' liged to spend in obtaining the election of a satisfactory archbishop of Mayence. Forty-three thousand five hundred livres were paid in all for the election. The Baron of Reissemberg had hopes of being chosen archbishop, but he agreed for ten thousand crowns to relinquish his own claims for ecclesiasti- cal promotion, and to support the bishop of Wurtzburg in- stead of the bishpp of Worms. Fifteen hundred livres had to be given the vice-chancellor of the archbishop of Treves, 1 Lcttres de Richelieu, vii., 525, 530, 531. The contract for the bishopric of Lu9on is printed on page 531. These curious instruments have not, I think, been noticed by prior writers on this period. "Numerous statements of such transactions are found in the letters of Richelieu and in the letters, and especially the Garnets, of Mazarin. 'Rohan, 497. * Let. de Richelieu, viii.,367. 426 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. and the rest of the money was judiciously used among the clergy of the chapter. 1 Money was sent to Holland, and to the congress at Miinster, to influence the representatives of other powers. Ninety-two thousand livres were paid the commissioners of Holland who had obtained for France a treaty with their own country. 5 Some English politicians, it has been discovered, were in the pay of Louis XIV. There was nothing extraordinary in such a thing at that era. In every country there were men of prominence who received money from other governments. While such dealings were, to some extent, kept secret, their discovery was not fatal to the reputation of those who had them. The fear of being placed in a compromising situation was little felt. An am- bassador or a minister rendered friendly services to a foreign power, and it was only just that he should be paid for his good offices. Richelieu wrote the French ambassadors at London to employ money with the English who could be of service. The ministers had advised the cardinal that such a course would be judicious, and they were authorized to advance or promise whatever amounts they thought best.* The dishonesty which existed among those who were officials of the government or had dealings with it, has already been noticed. There were some who were poor ivhen they retired from public office, but they were a small minority ; there may have been those who did not seek fraudulent or unconscionable gains when they contracted with the state, but their names have not been preserved. There does not seem to have been much corruption in judicial decisions. The judges of the highest courts were rich, and the salaries and fees of their offices yielded a large income. They were beyond the reach of bribery in any ordinary litigation, and the most of them drew from the spirit of their order a stubborn independence, which could not be influenced by money. The government ob- tained the political support of some of the judges by 1 Negociations Secretes touchant la Paix de Westphalie, iii., 519-522. Re- ports of Vautarte. a Lettres de Richelieu, v., 534. 'Lettres de Richelieu, ii., 254. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 427 favors and pensions, but it did not ordinarily interfere with their judicial duties. The average character of the members of the provincial Parliaments was not equal to that of the judges of the Parliament of Paris, and there was more complaint of misconduct among them. Pontis describes a long litigation he had with a rich financier. He solicited all the judges and spared neither trouble nor money. His opponent spent in the controversy nearly 400,000 livres. 1 It was claimed that some of the judges fav- ored officials and attorneys who brought suits before them, and thus furnished them the opportunity for gaining fees. 1 But usually the complaints were more of the delays of litigation and the large fees which the judges took, than of the corrupt decisions rendered by them. Personal influences were, however, resorted to, and were not regarded as discreditable. When persons of distinc- tion had important cases, their relatives aad influential friends would surround the judges as they came from court, and they received, without objection, private visits and personal solicitation. Richelieu wrote Mole that as the Seigneur Beauregard had rendered the king good ser- vice and was a friend of his own, he hoped that in the litigation he now had before the Parliament the first presi- dent would give him the most favorable decision that was possible. 1 Similar letters are often found in his corres- pondence and in that of persons of importance. 4 Such endeavors to influence justice were not thought improper in those who made them, or for the judges who allowed them. But it is probable that when such methods of per- suading the judicial mind were suffered by the judges, the likelihood was small of a common man obtaining justice against a great prince.* The nobility of the robe constituted a large and influ- ential body. Not only their character and their habits, but even their dress, distinguished them from the nobility 1 Mem. de Pontis, 518-521. * Rapport sur Touraine. 'Mem. de Mole, ii., 403, 404. 4 Lettres de Richelieu, ii., 433, etfas. * See remarks of Florimond Rapine, supra. 428 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. of the sword. While the marquis was arrayed in a cloak of many colors, the president of the Parliament wore the black gown of the scholar. On occasions of special im- portance a gown of red marked his dignity, but the sim- plicity of his dress always contrasted with the elaborate and costly garments of the courtier. Though many judges had their country houses and lived in much splendor, still their ordinary mode of life was simpler than that of the class above them. There was also less immorality among them. Domestic tastes and virtues have generally pre- vailed among this class in France, as well as among the bourgeoisie. The character of the ladies who were among the leaders of the Fronde gives an air of license to the age, which did not extend through all ranks in society. The wives of the counsellors of the Parliament and the aldermen of the city were less bewitching, and more dis- creet. The prices paid for judicial offices show how large the income must have been which was derived from them. A master of requests, holding a position of less dignity and value than a member of the Parliament, speaks of receiv- ing sixty-three livres in one day for his fees. 1 This in money value would be nearly twenty-five dollars, and in relative value would represent seventy-five dollars for a day's work. The opportunity of earning a large income often came to a man very young. When only eighteen, the son of the former First President of the Chamber of Accounts received that important and lucrative office. 1 The attorneys and solicitors who practised in these courts constituted altogether a large body, but apparently their average income was not large. Vauban estimates at 300 livres the average income of the attorneys.* This would be 600 francs, or 120 dollars, and is certainly not large. Many of course earned much more than this, but the satires of the time said that while a woman must have 30,000 livres for her dowry to hope to marry an advocate, and at least 75,000 before she could aspire to a counsellor 1 Journal d'Ormesson, i., 8. * /#., 747. ' Pisme Royale, 84. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 429 of the Parliament, 12,000 was quite enough to entitle her to marry an attorney. A president of the Parliament of Paris was regarded as so elevated a personage that he was placed at 300,000 livres, and in the same class with a duke or a genuine marquis. 1 The physicians were at this time obtaining a better position. The practice of calling apothecaries, who had no medical education, and who sold their patients vast amounts of drugs, was gradually ceasing, and regular physicians were at once sent for by the patient. 8 The treat- ment which they inflicted was sufficiently severe. Bleeding was in full vigor, and one man was bled sixty-four times in eight months for rheumatism.* The pay received by physi- cians seems to have been moderate. Patin, who was among the leading physicians in Paris, regarded himself as hand- somely paid when he received three livres, or about a dollar and twenty cents for a consultation. 4 A doctor of less standing did the bleeding that was required for the servants of Cardinal Retz for fifteen sous, or thirty cents, for each operation. 6 Physicians ordinarily rode on mules in making their visits. Much earlier hours were kept then than now. A nur- sery rhyme declared that he who rose at six and retired at ten, would live to be ten times ten. The difficulty in obtaining sufficient light to make the evenings agreeable was perhaps one reason why most of the working hours were during the day time. The rich used wax candles, and at great balls and fetes it was declared that the rooms were as light as the day. Wax was very expen- sive, and it was said that a gentleman, after losing great amounts at play, would go home, blow out a candle, and 1 Roman Bourgeois, 33. The scale given of the fortune requisite for marriage, however imaginary, is good evidence of the relative social rank of various occupations at this time. Lettres de Guy Tatin, i., 57-59. * Ib., 353. * /f., 4. Physicians curious about the practices and theories of thrir pre- decessors of this age, will find a great deal of information on the subject in these volumes of very agreeable letters written by Guy Patin. * Tallemant, vii., 55. 430 FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. reproach his butler for the extravagance in lights. 1 The most of the community were content with ordinary candles, and the poor used very imperfect oil lamps. Most per- sons were usually up at six. The courts ordinarily began their sessions at eight. Other public bodies met equally early, and a night session would have been regarded as very extraordinary. Processions of the courts and city officers started as early as half-past six." Breakfast was served at seven, and the usual hour for dinner was twelve." In the early part of the century it was sometimes at eleven. In the regulations given for a medical college, Richelieu directed that the students and doctors should dine at eleven and sup at six, and that the outer gate should be locked at nine and the keys kept by the dean. 4 The hour of dinner by the time of the Fronde was, how- ever, often as late as one o'clock, and the supper at seven or eight. 6 Louis the XIV. dined at twelve, but his at- tendants had to wait until he had finished, and Mme. de SeVigne said that by one o'clock she was famishing.' Children as old as ten were in bed by seven o'clock." The meals that were eaten varied, of course, with the wealth of the family. The heavy pomp of the feudal din- ner was disappearing. Louis XIV. was fond of flowers, and they were used profusely at fashionable dinners, as well as at balls. Complaint was made of the luxury and expense of such entertainments. Patin speaks of fifteen courses at a dinner, as showing the excessive luxury of the age. 8 Even eight courses were regarded as making a very elaborate dinner. An ordinance of 1629 forbade having more than three services, or more than six dishes for each. Entertainments were often given by those who were to be received into some office, and the price of these was limited to 100 francs. Three livres a guest was the utmost that could be paid for the feast at marriages or 1 Marechal d'Estrees, Tallemant, ii., 55. " Registres Hotel de Ville, ii., 370. This was in June. 1 Mole, ii., 94. Retz, iii. , 289. * Lettres de Richelieu, iv., 77, 1630. * Registres de 1'Hotelde Ville, i., 369. * Le Grand d'Aussy, i., 308, 309. T Mem. de Montpensier, 9. "Lettres, i., 193. SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 431 any such festivities. 1 Such a law was not regarded, and the physicians complained that the Parisians ate and drank liberally, while taking less exercise than their health required." Some dishes that are common now were not in use then. Potatoes had not been introduced into France. Even a century later, they were regarded as a dish fit only for the gross palate and vigorous stomach of the vulgar, but not adapted to more delicate tastes.' Peas, on the other hand, were esteemed a great luxury, and fabulous prices were paid for early green peas. Epicures of wealth and fashion would have peas on their tables, costing more than the choicest strawberries in mid-winter cost now. Madame de Maintenon wrote of the impatience to eat peas, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the anticipation of eating more. Oranges were also regarded as a great delicacy. The son in " L' Avare " says that he has purchased China oranges for his mistress, to indicate a costly delicacy. Ice was a great rarity. The man who used ice to cool his wine in the summer was looked upon as a Sybarite. 4 Tea was little drunk. It was introduced about 1636, but it made its way slowly. In 1648 a doctor read a thesis before the physicians to prove that the use of tea increased the sharpness of the intellect, but this view was not adopted by his brethren. 6 Chocolate was intro- duced still later. Some said it first became familiar to the French on the marriage of Maria Theresa in 1660, but it was claimed that the cardinal of Lyons had used it seven years before. It was regarded with suspicion, as in the na- ture of a drug. Madame de Sevign at first recommended its use to her daughter, but she wrote, afterwards, that it was accused of causing palpitation, and being very dele- terious in its effects. Mme.de Grignan claimed, however, that she found it both beneficial and agreeable. Coffee was drunk in France in 1658, but it does not seem to have become at all popular, until the visit of the embas- 1 Anc. Lois fnmcaises, xvi., 264-5. * Lettres de Patin a Plon, 353. ' Le Grand d' Aussy, i., 145. * Le Grand d' Aussy, Hi., 3