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W1 >-«..■ -^ d^ ro LJ ^ <^ ri3 5 -n Ï-» zs^ t>i : O =3 lI. -< O >iJAIi^lUn> ijuaMvj-jv ■jjiij."iv-iur ^'JdiAiriuitt^ -< %Odiiv; -'JijJAi/lilJi^'' '.'.\OV(lil|i l»' -t'Agvflail'Jv» ^ ^WEUNIVERÎ/A ^ •'^ jA;OfCAll É\ ^ ..vlllP!?A!>YQc .^Mf-UNIV[RÎ/A OxlO^-AMCFlfr, ^sm >lNn3WV^ <,nM-1!R!?ARY(9/C, A:A^l!BRARYGr^ ex ;3 %J13:., ^M^UNIVER% .v\in5-ANcnfj> il# "^/AîJÎAINMWV^ .A.CFCAMFO/?^ ^.^f-CAnFO/?,^ .^WEUNIV ANCElfj-;» 'ANCElfj> ^^t•llBRARYac >i \ & ^OfCAtlFO/?^ ^OfCALIF0% %i. .MNHWV ^lllBRARYQr ^;^^t■llBRARYQ^ ^iOJllVDJO'^ '^tfOJIlVJjO'^ ^WEONIV u rx FrAiimp,, ,nF.r,uirr;r ^- ce <. ce A\UUNI\ _^UIBRARYQr A'rtEUNlVERî/A ! \ urn ii\V^ < , .V ,/^ ^lOSANCElfx> ce i2^S I ■<^i\\m MEMOIRS OF- MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, DUKE OF SULLY, PRIME MINISTER TO HENRY THE GREAT. CONTAINING The Hiftory of the Life and Reign of that Monarch, And his own Administration under Him. Tranilated from the French. To which is added^ The Try al of R a v a i l l a c for the Murder of HENRY the GREAT. THE THIRD EDITION. VOL. IL LONDON, Printed for A.Millar, in the Strand; R. and J. Dodsley, in. Eall-Malli and W. Shropshire, in New-Bond-Street, MDCCLXL- SUMMARY O F T H E Books contained in the Second Volume. SUMMARY OF THE ELEVENTH BOOK. MEMOIRS from the year 1 599 to 1 60 1 . Affairs of the mar- quifate of Saluces. Artifices of the duke of Savoy to avoid making a reftitution of Saluces. Journey of Henry IV. to Blois, Diffolution of his marriage with Margaret of Valois : his amours with mademoifelle d'Entragues, who perfuades him to give her a pro- Inife of marriage : the courage and refolution of Rofny on this occa- fion. Articles of marriage with the princefs of Florence concluded. Foreign affairs. Rofny takes upon him the guardianfliip of his ne- phew d'Epinoy. Revocation of the permiffion for manufaduring rich fluffs. Rofny is made grand mafter of the ordnance, and gives great application to the affairs of this pofl. The duke of Savoy comes to Paris ; brings over the courtiers to his intereft ; endeavours to bribe Rofny, and afterwards to exclude him from the conferences ; but fails in both attempts, and returns home. Nicole Mignon attempts to poi- fon the king. A public difpute betwixt the bifliop d'Evreux and Du- Pleffis Mornay. New fubterfuges of the duke of Savoy : reafons for declaring war againfl him; preparations made by Rofny for this war. Henry IV. marries the princefs of Florence by proxy : takes Cham- béry, Bourg, Montmélian, Charbonniers, &c. Other particulars of this campaign : great fervices performed there by Rofny, notwithflanding Vol. II. a the SUMMARY. the jealoufy and oppofition of the courtiers. Cardinal Aldobrandin comes to negociate a peace ; Rofny's reception of him : the conferences broken off by the demolition of fort Saint-Catherine : refumed by Rofny ; who concludes the treaty. The queen come to Paris, and is received by Rofny at the Arfenal. Foreign affairs. SUMMARY OF THE TWELFTH BOOK. MEMOIRS of the year 1 60 1. Affairs of the finances ; of mo- ney; of commerce, &c. Prohibition againft carrying gold or filver coin out of the kingdom. Chamber of juftice eflabliflied, but to little purpofe. The author's reâeélions upon luxury and corruption of manners. The officers of the robe and finances fupprefled. Journey of Henry IV. to Orleans. Affairs of the United Provinces. Henry goes to Calais. The French ambaffador infulted at Madrid. Embaffies from the Grand Seignor and the Venetians. Elizabeth comes to Dover. Letters betwixt Henry and Elizabeth. Rofny goes to Dover. Con- verfations between Elizabeth and Rofny, in which they lay the foun- dation of the great defign againft the houfe of Auftria : the great wif- dom of this queen. Death of young Châtillon-Coligny. Birth of Lewis XIII. Henry makes La-Riviere calculate his nativity. The af- fair of the Ifles concluded with the grand duke of Tufcany. Rofny procures the count of Bethune to be named ambaffador to Rome, not- withftanding the endeavours of Villeroi and Sillery to the contrary. Oppofition made by thefe minifters to the opinions and policy of Rofny. Particulars of the confpiracy of maréchal Biron : Rofny endeavours to recal him to his duty: Henry fends him ambaffador to London; to Sweden : he refumes his intrigues at his return. La-Fin's depofitions. An account of the pretended Don Sebaftian ; and other foreign affairs. SUMMARY OF THE THIRTEENTH BOOK. MEMOIRS of the year 1602. Foreign princes at Paris. Henry IV. goes to Blois : the occafion of his journey. An account of maréchal Biron's confpiracy : a council held at Blois upon this occa- fion. A defign formed to arreft the dukes of Epernon and Bouillon : the firft clears his condudlj the great art and addrefs of the fécond. Quarrels between the king and queen : Henry's converfation with Rofny upon this fubjetfl. The effedts of Henry's journey into the provinces : he refolves to have Biron arrefted : particulars of his and the count d'Auvergne's imprifonment 3 and of Biron's trial and execution : * Rofny's SUMMARY. iii Rofny's behaviour throughout this affair. Henry pardons the baron de Lux, and the count d'Auvergne, who again betrays him : reafons why he behaved in this manner to the count d'Auvergne. The prince of Joinville arrefted : The king pardons him ahb; but he is confined in priibn. The duke of Bouillon artfully avoids coming to court. The courtiers endeavour to raife fufpicions in Henry againft Rofny : curious converfations betwixt them on this occafion. Affair of the advocates: difcourfe of Sigogne. Edidrs and regulations upon the coin, commerce, finances, &c. Mines difcovered in France. Edidt againft duels. The alliance with the Swifs renewed. Journey of Henry to Calais. Ac- count of the military exploits between the Spaniards and Dutch i and other foreign affairs. SUMMARY OF THE FOURTEENTH BOOK. MEMOIRS of the year 1603. Troubles at Metz : Henry goes thither and baniflies the Sobolles : other affairs tranfafted in this journey. Memorial againft the cardinal d'Olfat : examination of the fentiments and condudl of the cardinal. Affairs of the Low Countries. Intrigues of the duke of Bouillon, and new feditions of the Calvinifts. Death of Elizabeth. James L king of Great Britain. Henry's return: his converfation with Rofny upon the death of Elizabeth : refolves to fend Rofny ambaffador to London : deliberations in the council, and intrigues in the court upon this embafly. Indifpofition of the king. Public and private inftruâions given to Rofny : his departure with a numerous retinue. Character of young Servin. Rofny embarks at Calais; infulted by the vice-admiral of England: his reception at Do- ver ; at Canterbury, &c. he is received in London with the highefl honours: his feverity in the aff^air of Combaut. State of the political affairs of Great Britain. Charafler of the Englifli: of king James : of the queen, &c. Several faflions at this court. Rofny's conferences with the Englifh counfellors ; with the deputies of the States General; with the refident from Venice, &c. He obtains his firft audience : he is concerned at not being permitted to appear in mourning. SUMMARY OF THE FIFTEENTH BOOK. F^ARTHER memoirs of the year 1603. Continuation of Rofny's embaffy to London : detail of what paffed at his firft audience : public converfations of the king of England with him, upon different fubjefts. Accidents at the court of London favourable and unfavour- a 2 able iv SUMMARY. able to this negotiation. Difpofitions of the different courts of Europe. Rol'ny's firll conference with the Enghfli minifters. Intrigues of Spain. Rofny's fécond audience, and private converfation with king James : he perfuades him to fupport the United Provinces: other affairs tranf- acfled between them : his fécond conference with the Britilh minillers, who endeavour to overthrow his negotiation. Imprudent proceedings of count d'Aremberg. Third audience. Rofny admitted to the table of the king of England : public converfations on different fubjeâs». Third conference with the Englifli minifiers and the deputies of the. United Provinces. Artifice and perfidy of Cecil. Fourth audience : private converfations with king James, to whom he communicates the. political defigns of Henry IV. and Elizabeth ; and endeavours to gain his approbation of them : a fhort abflradt of thefe defigns : James de- clares himfelf publicly in Rofny's favour. SUMMARY OF THE SIXTEENTH BOOK. FARTHER memoirs of the year 1603. Continuation of the embaffy and negotiations of Rofny at the court of London. Form of a treaty with his Britannic Majeffy : fubftance of this treaty. Dif- patches from Rofny intercepted. Audience of leave, and Rofny's laft converfation with king James : prefents which he makes in London : his return : dangers at fea : his reception from Henry IV. public con- verfation between them on the fubjeil of his negotiation. Memoirs of the ftate of affairs ia England, Spain, the Low Countries, and other foreign countries. Rofny refumes his labours in the finances. Henry fupports him openly in a quarrel which he had with the count de Soiffons : he entertains the king at Rofny. Journey of Henry into Normandy : what pafi!ed in this journey. Mutiny of the proteflants of the affembly of Gap. Rofny made governor of Poitou. Eflablifhment of the filk manufadtory in France : converfations on this fubje6l, in which Rofny endeavours to diffuade Henry from this defign. Remarks on his opinion of wearing filk, and on other parts of luxury. A colony fettled at Canada. SUMMARYoF THE SEVENTEENTH BOOK. MEMOIRS of the year 1604. Medals prefented to his ma- jefly by Rofny. Death of the duchefs of Bar : particulars con- cerning her death, and the difputes which it occafions. Deliberations upon the re-eflablifhment of the Jefuits. Converfations of Rofny with Henry, SUMMARY. lîenry, and the arguments which he urges againfl: their re-eftahlilTi- ment; the conditions upon which they are recalled: protedion grant- ed them by Henry, Father Cotton makes his court to Rofny. Me- morial againfl: cardinal D'OfTat. Sentiments of Rofny not favourable to this cardinal or the policy of the catholics. Treachery of Nicolas L'Hôte ; how difcovcred : particulars upon this fubjeét. Villeroi's con- du6t examined. Rolhy's fentiments upon the difference of religion. Promotion of cardinals, and affairs of Rome. Curious converfation of Henry with Rofny, upon the domeftic diforders occafioned by the queen and the marchionefs of Verneuil. SUMMARY OF THE EIGHTEENTH BOOK. FARTHER memoirs of the year 1604. Continuation of the preceding article, upon the difquiets and domeftic quarrels ot Henry IV. Rofny endeavours to put an end to them : the rifle he run upon this occalion from the queen and-the marchionefs of Verneuil ; her malignity. Wife and difinterefl:ed condu(!l of queen Margaret. Faélions of the protefl:ants and feditious in the kingdom. Henry's jour- ney to the provinces defigned and prevented. Rofny vifits his govern- ment : how received at Rochelle, at Poitiers, &c. Hatred of the pro- tefl:ants againfl him : other particulars and advantages of this journey: his reception from Henry at his return. Juflification of the duke d'E- pernon : falfely accufed. New intrigues of the count d'Auvergne : means ufed by Henry to have him arrefled : letters which he received and wrote to him : an account of his being feized : his tryal. The marchionefs of Verneuil is likewife arrefled : Rofny is employed to in- terrogate her : he can, neither by advice nor intreaties, perfuade Henry to banifli her from France. Weaknefs of this prince for his miftrefs. SUMMARY OF THE NINETEENTH BOOK. FARTHER memoirs of the year 1604. Henry IV. depofites his treafure in the Baflile : a council held on this occafion. Con- fiderations and mr.xims of Rofny upon government : means he makes ufe of to recover money. Verification of rents : other operations and tail of the finances. Regulations of the police and army. EftabliOi- ment of a military hofpital. The talents and abilities of Henry IV. for government. Caufes of the weaknefs of ftates. Rupture between France and Spain, on account of commerce. Peace reflored by Rofny, by means of a treaty : particulars and fubftance of the treaty. Farther account: / VI SUMMARY. account of the affairs of the United Provinces, of Spain, and of England. Agreement and treaty between the two laft powers. Caufes of the difcontent of the United Provinces againft England. The conftahle of Caftile comes to Paris : his converfation with the king. Other con- verfations between Henry and Rofny concerning this ambaffador. Er- roneous maxim of Rofny's on the Salic law. Introdu6tion to the ex- ecution of Henry's great defigns. Affairs of the Grifons, and of the fort of Fuentes : proceedings of the French, and other particulars en this affair. Difpute with the Pope on the fubjeél of the bridge of Avignon ; terminated by Rofny in favour of the king. The acquifi- tion of the earldom of Saint-Paul : prudent advice given by Rofny to Henry on this occafion. Religious orders eftablifhed in France. SUMMARY OF THE TWENTIETH BOOK. MEMOIRS of the year 1605. Conclufion of the procefs againft the counts of Auvergne and Entragues. Complaifance and weaknefs of Henry IV. for the marchionefs of Verneuil. The Jefuits procure the demolition of the pyramid. Great difpute between Rofny and father Cotton, on the fubjedl of the college of Poitiers : defends himfelf againft the calumnies of his enemies : his reconciliation with father Cotton : he quarrels with the duke d'Epernon and Grillon : their reconciliation. Inftances of the fantaftical humour of Grillon. New calumnies againft Rofny, by which he is in danger of being dif- graced. An affedling converfation with Henry, in which they are reconciled : an interefting detail of this whole affair. Other attempts of Rofny's enemies to ruin him : marriage of his daughter with the duke of Rohan : Henry refufes to give the lieutenance-dc-roi of Saint- Jean d'Angely to the duke of Rohan : other favours and gratuities granted and refufed to Rofny by the king. Henry's defign to marry mademoifelle de Melun to the marquis of Cceuvres. SUMMARY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST B-OOK. I^Sjl^RTHER memoirs of the year 1605. Details of the finances. JL^ and of government. Reflections of the author upon the taille, la gabelle, 6cc. Debts of France; difcharged. Flourifliing ftate of the kingdom. Henry IV's application to the affairs of ftate : his letters to Rofny. Death of Clement VII. Leo XI. owes his exalta- tion to the protcâion of Henry : his death. Paul V. Pope. Panegyric of the embaffy of the count of Bethune. Brief of Paul V. to Rofny : the SUMMARY. the eAeem in which this minifter is held at Rome. Farther affairs of Spain, Flanders, and England. The kings of France and England dilfatisfied with Spain. Affairs of the proteftants : informations given to Henry of their bad defigns . Rofny's opinion of the prefent ftate of this body. Jndifpofition of Henry. Affembly of the proteftants at Châtel- leraut : the views of Henry and the huguenots in calling this affem- bly : Rofny fent thither on the part of the king ; his public and private inrtruftions : his converfation with queen Margaret. Intrigues of the duke of Bouillon and his party againO: Rofny : his wife conduft in the affembly : his bold fpeech at the opening of it : he refufes to be pre- fident of this affembly. SUMMARY OE THE TWENTY-SECOND BOOK. FARTHER memoirs of the year 1605. Continuation of the account of the affembly held at Chatelleraut. New artifices of the duke of Bouillon : his letters to the king and affembly. Imprifon- ment of the Luquiffes. Different advices given to Henry IV. concern- ing the feditious : Rofny's opinion of thefe advices. Rofny difconcerts the fchemes of the protellants at Chatelleraut : he concludes every thing at that affembly to the advantage and fatisfaftion of the king. The affairs of the deputies general : that of the cautionary cities, &c. His advice is not regarded in the affair of Orange : difmiffes the affembly j declare.; the king's plcalure to them ; and returns to give an account of his proceedings to his majeHiy. Flenry's journey to Limofin : Rofny atcompanes bim thither. Turenne, and the other places belonging to the duke of Bouillon, (luTenai. r to the king. His majefty's return. Rofny holds the chamber Les Grand Jours. Myrargues, and the two Luquiifes beheaded. Death of Theodore de Beza. Rofny quarrels with the count of Soiffons, on account of fome privileges annexed to the pofl of grand mailer of the ordnance : with the duke d'Eper- non, upon account of the city of Rochelle : Henry's reception of the deputies of this city. Rofny's return to Paris : account of his pro- ceedings. Queen Margaret arrives at Paris j her reception froni-i^heir majefties. Memorial of Rofny upon duels, wherein he explains the or'^in, and the different cuftoms of duelling. Henry's blameable in- dulgence in. this refpeit ; the good and bad fortune of this prince. vu ..J ' ,.:.; SUMMARY VIU SUMMARY. SUMMARY OF THE TWENTY-THIRD BOOK. M EMOIRS of the year 1606. Rofny prefents medals to the king. The king and queen confer with Rofny on the fubjeft of their quarrels. Converfation between Henry IV. and Rofny upon politics, in which they concert meafures to humble the houfe of Au- flria. Rofny is made duke and peer of France. The expedition to Sedan: intrigues at court upon this occafion. Letters from the duke of Sully to the duke of Bouillon : his advice to Henry : difgufted up- on account of the treaty of Sedan : complains of Villeroi. Sully's ad- vice to Henry to feize the fortrefles in the earldom of Saint-Paul ; which is not liftened to : Henry offended with him upon account of his entry into Paris. Differences of Paul V. with the Venetians. Henry gives good advice to both parties. The city of Metz has a dif- pute with the Jefuits : new favours granted them by Henry. Adven- ture of father Cotton on the fubjed; of Adrianne De~Frefne. Difputes upon religion ; with the clergy, on the fubjedl of the council of Trent; between the catholics and the proteftants of Rochelle. Ceremony of the baptifm of the children of France. Regulations upon the gabelle and the eleflions. Other operations and regulations in the finances. Private life of Henry : his amufements : converfation between him and the courtiers. Military affairs in Spain and Flanders. Refleclions upon this war. Other foreign affairs. Confpiracy againfl: the king of England. IT MEMOIRS MEMOIRS O F SULLY. BOOK XL TH E time fettled for the agreement about the marquifate of j ^gg, Saluces, of which the terms were referred to the pope, had elapfed without any dccifion by his hoHnefs, becaufe the duke of Savoy, who knew better than any other perfon that it could not be favourable for him, had, to * elude the fentence, made ufe of all thofe arts that were generally praâifed in this little court, whofe po- licy it was, when its fafety or advantage was in queflion, to employ cunning, treachery; fubmifTion, and the appearance of the flrongeft attachments. The firfl thought that prefented itfelf to the duke of Savoy's mind was, to revoke an agreement which had only been made to gain time, or with a hope that France would embroil itfelf with the holy fee : but as this proceeding feemed too difingenuous, he had recourfe to another artifice to make the pope voluntarily refign the arbitration : he apprifed his ambaflador at Rome, that he had certain intelligence from France and Italy, that Clement VIII. had fuffered * This marquifate was a transferable fief of Dauphiné, to which the houfe of Savoy had no right. V<5l. II. B himfelf MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XT, 1599, himfelf to be gained by the king, on a private condition, that his moil chriftian majefly fhould engage to yield afterwards to the popehimfelf all his claims upon the marquifate of Saluces. The ambaflador, who was firft impofed upon by his mafter, explained himfelf in fuch a manner upon this collufion, that his holinefs, who had only accepted of the arbitration for the advantage of both parties, refigned it with indignation. The duke of Savoy, who had not doubted but that the pope would aft in this manner, gave the king, however, to underlland, that he would rely entirely upon him, without having recourfe to any foreign arbitration upon the difpute. He thought, by piquing this prince up- on his honour, to obtain that which was the fubjeft of their conteft, which he took care to have reprefented to him, as a thing of fuch fmall value, that it could not merit the attention of fo great a king. And it was with thefe inftrudions that the fieurs de Jacob, de la Roehette, deLullins, de Bretons, and de Roncas, the duke of Savoy's agents, came to Paris. With views of this nature the minifler and the confident of the prince is commonly the perfon whom they begin to engage in their intereft, or (to be plainer) whom they endeavour to corrupt ; and if he fliould not appear very virtuous, do not even conceal from him the defign with which they come, and in their difcourfe make no longer any ufe of that caution which is obferved in a congrefs. Thefe gentlemen therefore told me, that their malter did not pretend to hold the marquifate of Saluces of his majefly any otherwife than as a meer gift of his munificence j and at the fame time infmuated to me plainly enough, that this prefent would produce from the duke of Sa- voy advantages for me proportionable to the importance of the requeft, and my folicitude to fecure its fuccefs. I would not feem to under- ftand thefe lafl: words : and with regard to the firfl, I told the agents drily, that fmce, as they well knew, no one could beflow upon another what was not immediately in his own polTefTion, it was neceffary the duke of Savoy fliould firft begin by refigning all claim to the mar- quifate of Saluces; and that then his m.ajeily, who I afTured them had no lefs greatnefsof mind than his highnefs, would ufe his power roy- ally. And I very earneilly intreated them to addrefs themfelves di- reftly to the king : which they did, difcouraged with the manner I fpoke to them. Henry treated them with great civility, but appeared fo rcfolute upon every thing which regarded that ftate, that after fe- veral Book XL MEMOIRS OF SULL Y, 5 veral ufelels attempts, they laid afide all thoughts of fucceeding this 1599- way. Finding all France, and the court itfelf, filled with malecontents and mutinous perlons, they imagined that by pufliing them on to Ibme violent refolution, they might give Henry fufficient employment within his kingdom, to make him lole fight of all that palled without. The duke of Savoy's prefence appeared to theni abfolutely necelTary to en- gage more clofely thofe lords that liftened to their fuggefiions ; and they wrote to him, that his interefl: required that he fhould take a journey to Paris. This projeft was perfedly fuited to the duke's cha- radler* ; heconfcnted toit, and ordered them to demand his majefty's leave for that purpofe; which the king would have denied, ifhe could have done it with any appearance of reafon. But the duke of Savoy had deprived him of the Icaft pretence, by protefting, that he under- took this journey, in order that he might himfelf treat with his nv.i^ iefty; or rather, that he came to fubmit entirely to the king's will. This declaration he accompanied with fo many complaints againfl: Spain, that he feemed to be upon the point of coming to an open rupture with that crown ; and that henceforward he would place all his hopes of I'ecurity on an union with France. He had a lliort time before refufed an advantageous propofal made him by the king of Spain, to fend his fon and his eldeft daughter to the court of Madrid, to appear there as princes of the blood-royal of Spain. By this ftep of the duke of Savoy, the pope was fully determined to concern himfelf no further with the affair of Saluces : but nothing could make the king negled; two things, which from the very firft appeared to him abfolutely necelTary ; namely, to give up no part of that fatisfaftion which was due to him by the duke, and to difco- ver all his tranfaftions with the malecontents of his court. Among thefe the king always gave maréchal Biron the firft rank. His majefty knew, that during the ftay this maréchal made in Gui- enne, he had lolicited the nobility of that province to engage in his interells ; and that at his own table he had had fuch converfations with them, as proved him to be an enemy to the royal authority. All this might have been attributed to the pride and infolence of his difpofi- • It is faid, that this prince, during his " come into this kingdom to reap, but to refidence at the court of France, one day " fow." let fall the following words, " I ana not B Z tion; MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL tion ; but what gave mofl weight to this behaviour was, that his in- trigues at the court of Savoy, although carried on with all pofliblc caution, came at the fame time to his majefly's knowledge. And the journey the king took this year to Blois, had in reality no other mo- tive than to difconcert the projecfls of Biron, and to retain the people in their duty j but in public, the king talked of it as a party of plea- fure, to pafs the fummer in that agreeable climate, and to eat, he faid, fome of the excellent melons there. His removal from Paris likewife, in the ftate things then were, was a matter of indifference. I ATTENDED his majefty, whofe flay at Blois produced nothing of confequence enough to be mentioned : he pafled his time there in the employment I have already fpoken of, and in endeavouring to procure the fo earneftly defired dillolution of his marriage with Margaret of Valois. As long as the duchefs of Beaufort lived, no one was felicitous to prefs Henry to a divorce, either becaufe they apprehended that their endeavours would turn to the advantage of his miflrefs, who was uni- verfally hated, or that they did not care to expofe themfelves to the rage of this woman ; who was always to be feared, even though her defigns fliould not fucceed : but as foon as (he was dead, there was a general combination of the parliament, all the other bodies, and the people, to folicit him on this fubjedl. The procurer-general came to his majefly, and intreated him to give his fubjeâs this fatisfaftion. The king, though he was not determined upon his choice, promifed, however, to yield to the defires of his people. I NOW refumed my correfpondence with queen Margaret with more ardour than before : I had taken no pains to remove the obflacle which this princefs made, on madam de Beaufort's account, to the conlent that was required of her ; for I looked upon it as a refource to which, pro- bably, every one mufl: have applied ; and it was this only that could have reftrained the court of Rome, if the king had fufFered himfelf at laft to be gained by his miftrefs : befides, the compliance I obferved in Margaret affured me that flie did not make it a pretence for an abfo- lute refufal. I was confirmed in this opinion by the anfwer flie wrote me from UfTon, to a letter I had juft fent her, in which I mention- ed the facrjfice that was expeifled from her, in very refpeâiful but in very clear terms, as fuch negotiations require. Margaret, on her fide, to fliew that fhe perfectly underftood what was to be done, ex- plained herfelf abfolutely upon the bill of divorce, annexing to it fuch reafonable conditions as took away all difficulty for the future; flie only Book XL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. only defired a decent penfion might be afTigned her, and that her 1599. debts might be paid ; appointing a man to conclude this affair, either with the king, or with me, who, though firmly attached to her, could not be llilpeéled : this was Langlois, who had ferved his majelly io faithfully in the reduction of the city of Paris, and had been reward- ed for it with the poft of maiier of the requefts. It was not eafy to find a man who was more capable of bufinefs : he brought his majefty an anfwer from Margaret*; for the king thought he likewife was under a neccfllty of writing to her, which he did with equal goodnefs and complaifance, but in terms far lefs explicit than I had done. With the letters, Langlois brought a ftate of this princefs's demands, which were immediately granted. To render the thing more firm, Langlois undertook to make her write to the pope in terms that gave his holinefs to underfiand, that fhe was far from being conftrained to thisadl; that flie had the fame folicitude for the conclufion of this affair as all France had. D'Offat provided Vv'ith a writing of the fame kind, found no more obfiacles : he was feconded by Sillery, who en- deavoured to efface the fcandal of his firft commifllon. The holy father ufed no more delays in granting the favour that was demanded of him^ than what decency and ceremony required; and did not fuffer himfelf to be influenced by fuggeftions of envious perfons, a deteftable fort of men who are to be found in every place. He appointed the bifliop of Modena, his nephew and nuncio, to put the finifliing hand to this affair, which could be only done in France; affociating with him two commifiioners of that nation, the archbifhop of -f- Aries, and the car- dinal de Joyeufe : the courfe they were to take, was to declare the par- tics free from all engagements, by the nullity of their marriage. While this affair was haflening towards a conclufion, Henry re- turned to Fontainebleau ; and giving great part of his time to diver- * See thefe two letters of Henry IV. to reafon of confanguinity, different religion, Margaret de Valois, and of Margaret's to fpiritual affinity, compulfion, and for want Henry, in the new colicftion des lettres of the confent of one of the parties ; fo? du Henry le Grand. Henry IV. and Margaret de Valois were t Horace del Monte, the archbifhop of related in the third degree ; the mother of Aries, and Francis dc Joyeufe, the fécond Jane d'Albert, who alio was called Mar- fon of William de Joyeufe. Thefe three garct, being the fifter of Francis I. See commifl'aries having met in the palace of the hiflory and pieces concerning this di- Henry de Gondy, bifhop of Par's, after vorce in Matthieu, tom. II. b. ii. De maturely examining the rcafons alledged on Thou, liv. cxxiii. La Chronologi'; Sep- both fides, declared the marriage void, by tennaire, ann. 1599. fions. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XI. fions, and thepleafuresof the table, heard mademoifelle d'Entragues* often mentioned. The courtiers, eager to flatter his inclination for the fair, fpoke fo advantageoufly of the beauty, wit, and fprightlinefs of this young lady, that the king had a defire to fee her, and became im- mediately paffionately enamoured of her. Who could have forefeeu the uneafinefs this new paflion was to give him ! but it was Henry's fate, that the fame weaknefs which obfcured his glory fhould likewife deftroy the tranquility of his life. The lady was no novice : althougli fenfible of the pleafure of be- ing beloved by a great king, yet ambition was her predominant paf- fion ; and (he flattered herfelf fhe might make fo good ufe of her charms, as to oblige her lover to become her hufband. She did not therefore feem in hafte to yield to his defires ; pride, chafliity, and interefl:, were employed in their turns; flie demanded no lefs than one hundred thoufand crowns for the price of her favours. And per- ceiving that fhe had only increafed Henry's paflion, by an obfl:acle, in my opinion much more likely to cool it, fmce his majefly was ob- liged to tear this fum from me by violence, fhe no longer defpaired of any thing, and had recourfe to other artifices; flie alledged the re- flraint her relations -f- kept her in, and the fear of their refentment. The prince endeavoured to remove all thcfe fcruples, but could not fatisfy the lady, who taking a favourable opportunity, at length de- clared that fhe would never grant him any thing unlefs he would give her a promife, under his hand, to marry her in a year's time. It was not upon her own account, flie faid (accompanying this ftrange requefl: with an air of modefl:y, with which Ihe well knew how to enflame the king) that (he allied for this promife, to her a verbal one iiad been futHcient, or, indeed, flie would have required none of any kind, being fenfible that her birth did not allow. her to pretend to that ho- * Catherine Henrietta, daughter to Fran- foundation. If we may believe the marc- els de Balzac, lord of Entragues, Mar- chal de BafTompierre, in his Memoirs, her coufTy, and de Malefherbes, by Mary mother was indeed very condefcending in Touchet, miftrefs to Charles IX. whom this affair ; and it was even flie that drev» he married for his fécond wife. The wri- the king to Malefherbes, a houfe where fhe tings of thofe times reprefent her as not fo lived : but her father v^'as not fo comply- beautiful, though younger, than the fair ing, any more than the count d'Auvergne, Gabriclle, and flill more gay, ambitious, half-brother by the mother to the lady. and enterprizing. This fketch, which cor- They wanted to pick a quarrel with the refponds with what the duke de Sully fays count de Lude, whom Henry IV. employ- -here, will be very much confirmed in the ed upon this occafion : and they carried fequel of thefc Memoirs. the lady to MarcoufTis, where the king t This fear was not entirely without iicverthelefs went to fee her. Tom. I. nour. Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. nour, but that fhe would have occafion for fuch a writing, to ferve as an excufe for her fault to her relations ; and obferving that the king ftill hefitated, fhe had the addrefs to hint, that in reality (lie fliould look upon this proinife as of very little confequence, knowing well the king was not to he fummoned to a court of juftice like one of his common fubjedts. What a ftriking example of the tyranny of love ! Henry was not fo dull but that he plainly perceived this girl endeavoured to deceive him : not to mention likewife thofe reafons he had to believe her far from being a veftal, or thofe intrigues againft the ftate of which her father, mother, or brother, and even herfelf, had been convidted, and had drawn upon this family an order to leave Paris, which I had fo lately fignified to them from his majefty ; notwithftanding all this, the king was weak enough to comply with his miflrefs's defires, and promifed to grant her requeft. One morning, when he was preparing to go to the chace, he called me into the gallery at Fontainebleau, and put this fliameful paper into my hands. It is a piece of juftice, which I am fo much the more obliged to do Henry, as the reader muft perceive that I do not endea- vour to palliate his faults, to acknowledge that, in the greateft excefles to which he was hurried by his paffions, he always fubmitted to a can- did confefTion of them, and to confult with thofe perfons whom he knew were moft likely to oppofe his defigns. This is an inftance of re(!litude and greatnefs of foul, rarely to be found amongfi: princes. While I was reading this paper, every word of which was like the ftab of a poignard, Henry fometimes turned afide to conceal his con- fufion, and fometimes endeavoured to gain over his confident by con- demning and excufing himfelf by turns ; but my thoughts were wholly employed upon the fatal writing. The claufe of marrying a miftrefs, provided fhe bore him a fon in the fpace of a year (for it was conceived in thefe terms) appeared indeed ridiculous, and plainly of no effedt ; but nothing could relieve my anxiety, on account of the fhame and contempt the king mufl: neceffarily incur, by a promife which, fooner or later, would infallibly make a dreadful confufion. I was alio afraid of the confequences of fuch a flep in the prefent conjun6lure whilfl the divorce was depending ; and this thought rendered me filent and motionlefs. Henry, feeing that I returned him the paper coldly, but with a Tifible agitation of mind, faid to me, *^ Come, come, Ipeak freely, I *' and- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL 159g. " and do not aflume all this referve." I could not imnnediately find words to exprefs my thoughts, nor need I here affign reafons for my perplexity, which may be eaiily imagined by thofe who know what it is to be the confident of a king, on occafions when there is a neceffity of combatting his refolution, which is always abfolute and unaltera- ble. The king again afliired me, that I might fay and do what I pleafed, without offending him; which was but a juft amends, he laid, for having forced from me three hundred thoufand livres. I obliged him to repeat this aflurance feveral times, and even to feal it with a kind of oath ; and then no longer hefitating to difcover my opinion, I took the paper out of the king's hands, and tore it to pieces, without faying a word. " How !" faid Henry, aftoniflied at the boldnefs of this adion, " Morbieu! what do you mean to do ? I think you are mad." *' I am mad, I acknowledge, fire, replied I, and would to God I was *' the only madman in France." My refolution was taken, and I was prepared to fuffer every thing, rather than, by a pernicious deference and refpeft, to betray my duty and veracity ; therefore, notwithfland- ing the rage I favv that inftant imprefied on the king's countenance, while he colleâed together out of my hands the torn pieces of the writing, to ferve as a model for another, I took advantage of that inter- val to reprefent to him, in a forcible manner, all that the fubjeft may be imagined to fuggeft to me. The king, angry as he was, liftened till I had done fpeaking, but, overcome by his paffion, nothing was capable of altering his refolution ; the only effort he made was not to banifh from his prefence a confident too fmcere. He went out of the gallery without faying a fingle word to me, and returned to his clofet, whither he ordered Lomenie to bring him a ftandifii and paper; he came out again in half a quarter of an hour, which he had employed in writing a new promife. I was at the foot of the ftaircafe when he defcended ; he paffed by without feeming to lee me, and went to Maleiherbes to hunt, where he flaid two days. I WAS of opinion that this incident ought to put no flop to the affair of the divorce, nor hinder another wife from being fought for, for the kirfg, but rather that it fliould haften both : his majefiy's agents at Rome made therefore the firil: overture of a marriage between Henry and the princefs Mary of Medicis *, daughter to the grand duke * Mary de Medicis, daughter to Fran- rings and jewels. La Chronologic Septen- cis grand duke of'I'ulcan)', by the arch- naire, anno 1600, p. 121. and Matthieu, duchcfs Jane of Auihia, daughter to the torn. II. liv. ii. p 336, give aji account of emperor P'erdinand. She had for her por- the negotiations of d'Ofl'at and dc Sillery, tion lix hundred thoufand crowns, befides relating to his marriage. of Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. of Florence. The king fuffered us to proceed in this buiinels, and, by the force of repeated importunities, even appointed the conilablcj tb.e chancellor, Villeroi, and I, to treat with the perfon whom the grand duke fliould fend to Paris. We were refolved not to let the affair fleep. Joannini, the perfon deputed by the grand duke, was no fooner arrived, than the articles were inllantly drawn and figned by us all. I WAS pitched upon to communicate this news to the king, who did not expeft the bufinefs would have been concluded fo fuddenly. As foon as I replied to his queftion from whence I came, " We come, " fire, from marrying you," this prince remained a quarterof an hour as if he had been firuck with a thunderbolt. He afterwards walked up and down his chamber haftily, delivering himfelf up to reHeâions, with which his mind was fo violently agitated, that for along time he could not utter a word. I did not doubt but that all I had reprefented to him had now a proper effeft : At length recovering himfelf like a man who had taken his refolution, " Well !" faid he, rubbing his hands together, " well, Depardieu! be it fo, there is no remedy : if for the good " of my kingdom I muft marry, I muft." He acknowledged to me, that the fear of fucceeding no better in his fécond than his firll: marriage was the caufe of his irrefolution. Strange caprice of the human mind ! A prince who had extricated himfelf with glory and fuccefs from a thou- fand cruel difl"enfions, which war and policy had occafioned, trem- bled at the very thoughts of domeftic quarrels, and feemed more troubled than when, that very year, upon notice fentfrom a capuchin of Milan *, an Italian, who had come to Paris with an intention to poignard him, was feized in the midft of the court. The marriage, though concluded on, was not folemnized till the following year. Other foreign affairs in this, which remain to be mentioned, are thefe ; the war in the Low Countries, which was vigoroufly begun when the archduke went into thofe provinces ; the king, upon reite- rated complaints from Spain, forbad his fubjedts to bear arms in the fervice of the States, but this was merely for form's fake, policy not permitting him to iuffer the Flemings to be oppreffed. His majefly not only forbore to punifli thofe who difobeyed thefe orders, but likewife affiiled that people privately : the war in Hungary, which I fliall lay * His name was FrereHonorio. Henry him by his amb.ifl'ador at Rome. Mat- rV. thanked him himfelf for it, andcaufed thieu, toni. II, Ji\'. ii, p. 302. ft vera! advantageous offers to be made • ^OL. II, C nothing lo M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XT. I egg. nothing of, except that the duke of Mercœur afked and obtained leave to ferve in the troops of the emperor Rodolph; the revolution that happen'ed in Sweden, v/here the then reigning king and elecfled one of Poland '* was dethroned by his fubjedts, who put his uncle Charles duke of Sudermania in his place ; and loft all hope of ever being re- flored, by the defeat he received from his rival. "With refpedlto my own perfonal affairs, this \vas the moft conlî- derable. This year the princefs d'Epinoi-j-, came to me when I was at Blois, to engage my interell with the king againft the princes of Ligne, who had attempted to ufurp her eftate, and that of her chil- dren. Thefe children were five in number, four of whom, three fons and her eldefl daughter, fhe had brought with her ; the youngeft was educated under the care of madam de Roubais, widow of the vifcount de Gand her uncle and mine. The princefs told me, that the nearefl relation by the father's fide which her children had in France being myfelf, it was fit 1 fliould be their guardian. I accepted willingly of this truft, to procure them juftice ; and had the fatisfaâion at the end of feven years, during which time I took the fame care of thefe chil- dren as my own, to reftore to them the polfeflion of all their eftates, which amounted to a hundred and twenty thoufand livres a year. I fhall have occafion hereafter, to take notice, of the obligations they received from his majefty. About the fame time the merchants of Tours came to in treat my. affiftance in procuring leave for them to eflablifli manufadlures of filks, and of gold and filver fluffs, which had not yet been made in France, together with a prohibition for importing any from foreign countries for the future, affuring me that they had fufficient to fupply the whole kingdom. Before I gave them their anfwer, I required time to exa- mine if their report was truej and being convinced it was not, I en- deavoured to difluade them from an enterprife, which could not mif- carry with impunity : I could not prevail. Upon my refufal they ad- dreffed themfelves diredtly to his majefty. I thought it necefiary not to oppofe an eftablifliment, which, if well conduced, mJght be of great * Sigifmond. This misfortune befel Peter dé Melun prince d'Epinoi, died in him for nitempting to re-eflablifh the ca- 1594. The princes de Ligne, of whom he tholic religion in Sweden. See, witli re- fpeaks here, are l'Amoral prince dc Ligne, gard to all thefe foreign affairs, De Thou, governor of Artois, that married Mary de le Septennaire, and other hiftorians, an. Melun, who had the feigniories of Rou- 1599. bais, d'Antoing, and his brothers. t Hippolite de Montmorency, widow of ufè. Book XL M E M O I R S OF S U L L Y, ufe. The king, overcome by their importunity, granted all they afked ; but fix months were fcarce palled, when, for want of, having taken proper meafures, they came to get their commiffions revoked, which had given general difcontent on account of the inconvenienc3r and increafe of expence to the purchafers, which had been produced by this new regulation *. The king, believing the affair of the marquifate of Saluces would notbefinifhedwiîhoutftrikingablûwfor it, had, forlbme time, thought of getting a man to perform the duties of grand mailer of the ordnance, who was capable of acquitting himfelf well of them, and above all of aâing by himfelf; this good old d'Eftrées was not able to do: how- ever, his majefty would not take away the polf from him, for his chil- dren's fake, of whommonfieur d'Eflrées was the grandfather; but the expedient he hit upon was, that the elder de Born being defirous of refigning the poft of lieutenant-general of the ordnance, I might treat with him for it, and unite the duties of that employment to thofe of the grand mafter of the ordnance, although I was not invefted with this lafl. He even offered, in my favour, to augment the privileges of the firft, already very confiderable, by raifmg it into an office, giving it authority over all the lieutenant-generals in the provinces, augment^ ing the falary, and laftly, by granting the patents gratis. However, I muff acknowledge, that I was not to be won by thefe offers, and could not relblve to ferve under another, after having been difappointed of the firft place : I therefore excufed myfelf, upon the bufmefs I was already charged with, from not complying with the king's intentions. The king was not to be impofed upon by this anfwer; and, after many foli- citatiorjs which I knew how to defend myfelf againft, he left me in an- ger, telling me that he would mention it to me no more, but, that fmce I would liffen to nothing but my caprice, he would take his own way. ■* The murinu rin2;s of the bankers and the methods of manufaflurins: thefe fluffs the public farmers of the revenue, whofe ourfelves of a more beautiful, finer, or profits the new prohibition had confider- cheaper fabric. At this very day a great ably diminifhed, likewife contributed not a number of foreigners take them off our little to its revocation. Chronologie Sep- hands, and the prohibition is in force only tennaire, p. 94. an. 1599. Thecafe is the as to Indian ftufFs and printed linens ; but fame with regard to thefe fluffs as all the it were to be wifhed that ws would be other parts of traffic. The freedom of more careful to forbear the ufe of the lat- trade which fliould fubfift between all the ter, or rather make in France fuch iiuHs ■nations of the world, will not give us, in as would ferve infiead of tliefe which are this refpeiSl, any advantage over our fo commodious and fen'iceable, •neighbours, farther than we can find out C 2 His 12 M E M Ô I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XL 7 599, His kindnefs for me made him that moment forget his threat. He cauled a propofal to be made tomonfieur de Ellrées to refign his em- ployment, which, as foon as I was informed of, I offered, by monfieui* and madam du Peche, three thoufand crowns to madam de Nery, who governed the old man entirely, to procure his confent. The mafter of the ordnance being importuned by this woman, told the king that he was willing to accept of an equivalent for his poft. The king immediately acquainted me with his refolution, addmg, that he required nothing of me for the offence Î had given him, but to put his artillery into a condition to obtain the marquifate of Saluces for him, which, he was every day more convinced, would not be yielded without force, that is to fay, without a great number of very difficult fieges ; for that is the ufual way of carrying on a war in Savoy. I thanked his majefty, and agreed with dEftrées for eighty thoufand crowns ; all thefe petty claims rifing to a coniiderable fum more, I was, on this occafion, obliged to take up rents to the value of a hun- dred thoufand crowns from Morand, Vienne, and Villemontée ; and three days afterwards I was folemnly inverted with the dignity * of grand mafter of the ordnance, and took the ufual oath for it. This was the fourth great office with which I was then honoured ; the an- nual produce of it was twenty-four thoufand livres. I thought my- felf obliged, in gratitude to his majefty for this lafl inflance of his bounty, to give all my cares to the artillery. I vilîted the arfenal, where every thing feemed to me in fuch a miferable condition, that I refolved to take up my refidence there, that I might apply myfelf wholly towards its re-eftalifliment, although this caille was then very ill built and deftitute of every conveniency. The affairs of the artillery were ftill worfe. I began by a reform of the officers of this body, who not having the flightefl: notion of their trade, were, in fadl, only the fervants of the officers of the court of juftice. Icaffiiered about five hundred of them at one flroke. I con- * The king declared it an office of the " c?j;ion, efpecially as the importance of crown, and that in favour of M. de Sully. " the thing itfelf and his own good fenfe Brantôme, in the place where he gives us " would have it fo. Witnefs what he the liftof the grand mafters of the ordnance, " performed in the laft war with Savoy, fpealcs thus, " Since M. dc Rofnyhas had " where, in a fliort time, he gave proof " this charge of grand mafter, who un- " of very quick difpatch and diligence, by " doubtedly does the place fo much ho- " being fooner in the field than he was " nour, the arfenal is in very good order, " expedled." Vies des hommes illuftres, *' owing to his great capacity and appli- art. M. Rofny, tom. L p. 227, 228. ferred Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ferred next with the commiflaries for faltpetre, and agreed with them for a confiderable provifion of powder, which I fliewed to the king. I treated likewife with the mafters of great iron- works, for iron to make carriages and bombs ; with foreign merchants for the metal ; and with cart-wrights and carpenters, for the wood-work neceflary for the defigns I had formed. His majefly came to vi(it his arfenal himfelf, fifteen days after I was fettled there ; and thefe vilits became afterwards one of his chief amufements : he took pleafure in feeing all the pre- parations that were making there, and the extreme diligence with which I applied myfelf to them. That diligence indeed was no more than neceffiiry in the prefent pofture of affairs in Savoy, the detail of which, and that of the war they produced, will make up the fubjedl of thefe Memoirs for all the following year. It was at the end of this, that the duke of Savoy left his own dominions to come into France with thofe intentions I have already mentioned, but they were too well known to produce the effedis he had promifed himfelf from his artifices. The refledlions which the pafi:conducft: of this prince, together with that of his agents, and a knowledge of his charaâer gave rife to, were far from being favourable to him. There was likewife fomething ftill more pofitive againft him : Lefdiguieres had fent advice to his majefiy, that the duke was fortifying his caftles and towns with great care, efpecially thofe of Brefle, and furnifhing them with ammunition and provifions. It was known, ly means of the count de Carces and the fieur du PafTage, that he had firongly folicited the court of Madrid, and prefixed the pope, to procure a fécond reference of the affair; reprefenting to him, that it was the interefl of all Italy not to fuffer that his mofl chriflian majefly fhould pofîefs any thing beyond the Alps. The French refidents at Florence lent advice, that the duke's purpofe, by coming into France, was to circumvent the king ; who, on his fide, was perfuaded, that it was M. de Savoy himfelf who would be the dupe, not only of him, but of the king of Spain and other princes of Italy ; for thefe lafl were at no pains to conceal their diflike of the duke of Savoy's ambitious and reftlefs Ipirit : and the king of Spain had not forgot the public com- plaints he made, that while they gave the Low Countries and Franche Compté, of more value than the two Cafiiles and Portugal, as a por- tion for one of their infantas, the other, whom he had married, had nothing but a crucifix and an image of the Virgin Mary. Many other indecent failles of the like nature, followed by reciprocal complaints» had abfolutely ruined their former good correfpondence. Ths 14 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XI. 1599. The event proved the juftnefs of thofe obfervations which the let- ter the king fliewed me from Lefdiguieres occafioned ; but in public he fliewed no refentment at what he had learned of the duke's proceed- ings ; he even ordered me to fpare no expence to give him, at Lyons, fuch reception as is due to foreign fovereigns. This prince, I believe, had no caufe to complain of me upon this account : but meffieurs the counts of Saint- John * did not adt in the fame manner ; they denied him certain honours which the dukes of Savoy claimed in the affem- bly of canons as counts of Villars. It was at Fontainebleau and at Paris where the fliew was moft magnificent. The -f-duke of Savoy, on his part, appeared with fplendor fuitable to his rank. Three days after his arrival at Paris, the king, who was defirous •of Ihewing him the new regulations in the arfenal, fent me notice that he would come and fup there with the duke and chief lords and ladies of his court. The duke of Savoy came fo long before, that I could not impute fuch extraordinary hafte to meer accident. Fie de- fned to fee the magazines ; which was not what I wanted ; I was aOiamed of the poverty of the old magazines, and therefore carried him into the new work-houfes. Twenty cannons latelycafl, and as many more in a readinefs for it, forty completely mounted, and fcveral other works which he faw carrying on with great diligence, furprifed him fo much, that he could not help afking me what I meant by all thefe preparations f Sir, replied I, fmiling, to take Montmelian. The duke, without giving any indications that tbis reply had a little difconcerted him, afked, with an air of gaiety and freedom, if I had ever been there; and upon my anfwering him in the negative, "Truly, I thought " fo, faid he, or you would not have talked of taking it; Montme- *' lian is impregnable." I anfwered in the fame tone, that I would not advife him to oblige the king to make the attempt, becaufe I was * It was by order of the king, accord- ftcr, and giving him rank in the church •ing to F. Matthieu, vol. II. b. ii. p. 323. among the canons. that the canons of Lyons rcfufed the duke f Notwithflanding this magnificent re- ot Savoy the place of honorary canon in ception, the duke of Savoy, after the firft their cathedral, which they had granted conference he had with Henry IV. became to the former duke his father, and that for fcnfible that he was not likely to obtain his a very obvious reafon, the houfe of Savoy demand. " I have delivered my meflage, having fince that time loft pofTeffion of the " fays he, and may now go whenever I earldom of Villars. This ceremony con- " will." Matthieu fur le Vovage de ce fiftcd in prefenting fome facred vcftments prince en France, torn. II. liv. ii. to the duke at the entrance of the cloy- very Book Xr. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. very certain Montmelian would, in that cafe, lofe the title of im- pregnable. These words gave our converfation immediately a very ferious turn. The duke of Savoy taking occafion to mention the affairs which brought him into France, had already, in a polite manner, begun to make me fenfible that he knew I was not in his intereft, when we were interrupted by the arrival of his majefty : and afterwards no- thing was thought of but pleafure. However, the fame night com- miflîoners were named for examining the occafion of the conteft : the conftable, the chancellor, maréchal Biron, Meifle, Villeroi, and myfelf, were appointed for the king; and for the duke of Savoy, Belly his chancellor, the marquis de Lullin, the fieurs de Jacob, the count de Morette, the chevalier de Bretons, and des Allymes. The duke of Savoy had already brought over the greater part of 1600', our commiffioners to his interefts : he gained them completely at laft, by the liberal gifts which he beflowed both on them and the whole court* at the new year. But I was the perfon that gave him moft trouble ; for every time, when the queftion was debated amongfi: the commiflîoners, I conllantly held firm to this determination, either that a reftitution fliould be made to his majefty of the marquifateof Salu- ées, or that Breife, and all the border of the Rhone from Geneva to Lyons, fliould be given him in exchange. But for the apparent in- civility of fuch a proceeding, they would have folicited my exclufion from their meetings : therefore they had again recourfe to an attempt to gain me, which they refolved to do at any price whatfoever. On the 5th of January, Des Allymes •!• came to make me the ufual compliments, in the name of his highnefs : he intreated me,. * The duke fent the king two large difpenfed with. The duke of Savoy play- bafons and two cryftal vafes, as a new- ing at primero with Henry, on a bett of year's gift. "In return of which, the king 4000 piftoies, the king neglected his play, " gave the duke a crotchet of diamonds, fuppofmg that he had already won the " where, among others, was one with his game : but the duke, who had it in his " majifty's piiSure : itwas avery fine piece, own hand, contented himfelf with fliewing " and the duke had a great value for it: he the cards to the dukes of Guife and D'Au- " made prefents to all who came to com- bignc, who were prefent, and thenfhufflcd " pliment him." Chronologie Septen. ann. them together. It is D'Aubigne that re- 1600. It was faid that he had gained over lates this circumftance of the duke's gene- the duchefs of Beaufort to his intereft. So rolity or policy. that if this lady had not died, it is probable f Rene de Lucinge des Allymes, am- the reftitution of Saluces might have been bafl'adorfiom Savoy to the court of France. withi MEMOIRS OF SULLY. llooic XÎ. with great politenefs, to attend to his mafter's reafons ; that is, in plain terms, to approve of them ; for at the fame time that he made me this requeft, he prefented me with his highnefs's pifture, in a box en- riched with diamonds of fifteen or twenty thoufand crowns value. To affid me in making a compolition with my confcience, he told me, that this picture came from a daughter of France ; and while he per- ceived me bufy in admiring the brilliants, added, that it was given me by a prince whofe attachment to the king was equal to his friend- fliip for me. I ftill kept the pidture in my hand, and aflced Des Allymes what were the propofals he had to make m.e ? He, who thought the decilive m.oment was now come, immediately difplayed his whole ftock of eloquence ; and, for want of good reafons, endea- voured to prove the advantage that was to be gained by the pretended rupture of his malier with Spain, \vho offered to affifl: the king in conquering Naples, Milan, and the empire itfelf. All this coil: him liothing ; and to hear him, one would have thought that he had been able to difpofe abfolutely of thefe dominions; for which he added, that he did not doubt but the king would yield willingly to the duke a paltry marquifate. Ï COULD keep filence no longer. I told Des Allymes, that if the king demanded the marquifate of Saluces to be reftored to him, it was not on account of its value, fince that was very inconfiderable ; but that he could not in honour fuffer the crown to be difmembered of one of its antient domains, and which had been ufurped at a time when the duke of Savoy, having received the higheft obligations from Henry IIL at his return from Poland, ought in gratitude to have abftained from it. I thanked the deputy for his obliging expreilions in my favour; and, to pay his compliments with others, afTuredhim, that when the duke of Savoy had made an abfolute reftitution of Sa- luces, I would not forget to ufe my intereft with his majefty, to en- gage him to procure thofe opulent kingdoms for the duke which he had offered to the king, and which would be much more convenient for him than his majeily. Saying this, I opened the box, and after praifingtheworkmanfhipand thematerials, I told Des Allymes, that the great value of the prefent was the only reafon which hindered me from accepting it ; but that if he would allou' me to return the box and the diamonds, I would keep the picture with great pleafure, in remem- brance of a prince fo obliging. Accordingly, I feparated the box and diamonds from the picture, when Des Allymes telling me, that it did not Book XI. MEMOIRS OF S U L L Y. not belong to him to make any altenitions in his mafler's prefents, I intreated him to take back all together. And he left me in defpair of ever being able to engage me in his mafter's interefl, and appeared but little fatisfied with my behaviour. All that remained now to be done was to exclude me from their meetings. Upon his majefty's refufing to gratify them in this requeft, the duke of Savoy took it in his head to defire, that the patriarch * of Conftantinople might affill: at thefe meetings in the name of the pope ; which the king agreed to, not thinking of the artifice concealed under this propofition. The next day, the king having an inclination to play at tennis, appointed the aflembly to be kept at the conflable's houfe, becaufe he could conveniently make his party when he went from thence, after he had feen the conference begun : but before he left us, he exhorted all the commiffioners to have a flriét regard to juftice ; and whifpering me in particular, " Take care of every thing, faid he, " and do not lufFer them to impofe upon you." Upon the king's departure, I found, that inflead of taking their feats, they divided into parties, two and three together, and the nuncio fometimes conferring with one fet, ibmetimes with another, not fuftering the bufinefs to be entered upon regularly ; and, above all, carefully avoiding to fay any thing to me. At length, Bellievre told me, that the good patriarch could not fubdue his fcruples about con- verfing with an huguenot ; and intreated me, in the name of the af- fembly, to abfent myfelf, fmce nothing could be done while I was prcfent. linftantly comprehended the caufe of this behaviour; and bowing profoundly low, withdrew, intending to go and give the king an account of what had palTed. I met him in the gallery, where he had flopped to fpeak to Bellengreville : he afked me with fome fur- prife, if all was over already ? and upon my acquainting him with the truth of the matter, he fell into a great rage, and ordered me to return to the commiffioners, and tell them, that if there was any perfon amongft them to whom my prefence was difpleafing, it was his bufi- nefs to withdraw, not mine. I difturbed a little the joy of the af- fembly, by repeating this new order of the king's. The mcafures they took were, to wafi:e the hours in feeking for expedients, till din- ner-time approached i and then they deferred entering upon the que- * Father Bonaventure de Calatagirone, general of the Cordeliers, and the pope's nuncio. Vol. II. D flion MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL flion till the afternoon. But notwithftanding all their endeavours with his majerty, I continued ftill in the number uf the commiflioners, and the nuncio was obliged to vanquifli his reludlance. Bretons and Roncas turned themfelves on every fide, to avoid' yielding to a reftitution of the marquifate ; they offered to do homage for it to his majefty, and if that \\ as not fufficient, to hold Breffe upon the fame conditions. I eafily rendered all thefe propofals ineffeftual, and got it unanimoufly declared, to give the duke of Savoy this alter- native, either to refign Saluces to the king, or, in its place, the county of Breffe as far as the river of Dain, the vicarfliip of Barcelonette, the valley of Sture, that of Peroufe, and Pignerol ; in which cafe, all the towns and fortreffes taken on both fides were to be reftored *. The duke of Savoy expedled a quite different cqndudt from the commiffioners ; but the truth is, they durft not openly oppofe a deter- mination which they knew to be the king's : all therefource they had left was, to join with the courtiers in fupporting the interefts of the duke of Savoy j and were continually reprefenting to the king, that he ought not to aét too rigoroufly with a prince, whofe alliance he might purchafe at a very inconliderable price, and would be much more advantageous than a fief of no value, and which would be very difficult to preferve. The alternative they offered the duke of Savoy afforded them a pretence for granting him fix months to come to a refolution : he defired eighteen ; and I maintained, there was no ne- cefîîty for any delay. I went to his majefty to acquaint him with this refolution, which was taken in fpite of me, and reprefented to him the great inconveniency of giving the duke of Savoy fo long a time to renew his correfpondences, and to prepare for war. Henry, preju- diced by the difcourfe of the courtiers on the neceflity of granting a delay to the duke of Savoy, afked me how it was poffible to do other- wife ? " By granting the duke of Savoy, faid I, an honourable efcort " of fifteen thoufand foot, two thoufand horfe, and twenty cannon, " to condu(5t him to Montmelian, or what other place he fhall chufe * A kind of agreement was concluded feized, and by that means obliged to per- upon this plan between the commiilaries, form his part of the articles. But this pro- which it was much fufpedted the duke of pofal was rejeded by the king. See the Savoy would not obferve, becaufe of the particulars of the negotiation, and of the delays he defired : whereupon, as Le Grain duke's relidencc at Paris, in M. De Thou, relates it, a certain perfon propofed to and Le Septennaire, an. 1599, 1600. Henry, that the duke of Savoy fliould be " to Book XI. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. î0 " to go to, and there oblige him to explain himfelf upon the alterna- 1600. ♦' tive that has been propofed to him." The king did not approve of ' my advice, his word was given to the contrary : I was truly grieved at it; for I have been always firmly perfuaded, that, but for this com- pliance, his majefly might have avoided a war, and have received com- plete fatisfadion. All I could obtain was, that three months fliould be taken from the fix that had been agreed upon. The duke of Savoy, finding that his majefly, who was weary of the continual felicitations that were made him on this fubjed:, would no longer anfwer otherwife than in thefe few words, I am rcfohed io have my marquifate, fet out a little time after for Chambery, where, till the expiration of the time pefcribed, which was in the month of June, he employed himfelf in preparations for his defence. He would have had no occafion for them, if the plot of a woman, named Nicole Mig- non, had fucceeded. She had undertaken to poifon the king *, and thought to have engaged the count of Soiflbns, who, on all occafions, made known his difcontent, in her defign; but he conceived fo great an horror at it, that he difcovered her immediately : fhe confefTed her crime, and was burnt. Nothing remarkable happened during thefe three months, except the difpute between meffieurs Du Perron and Du Pleffis. Towards the latter end of the lafi: year, appeared a book -f- of Du Pleffis upon the eucharift, which was looked upon, by the proteftant party, to be a mafter-piece, and which I fent immediately to the bifliop of Evreux, * By procuring her husband to be ad- dered in her fenfes. Chronologie Septen- mitted into the number of the king's cooks, naire, anno 1600. by the intereftofthecount deSoifrons,ftew- f This book is intitled, Inftruftions ard of the houfhold. She was well known de la fainte euchariftie, and attacks the to all the princes of the blood, and to Hen- mafs by pretended arguments drawn from ry himfelf at St. Denis, where (he kept the fathers. As foon as it appeared in pub- one of the principal inns during the war. lie, many catholic divines exclaimed The count of Soiilbns, to whom (he had againft the falfliood of a great number of hinted, that it would be his own fault if the quotations it contained. This obliged he was not one of the greateft princes in Du Pleflis to offer a kind of challenge, the world, fufpefting that this woman which thofe doctors prevailed upon the bi- had fome bad defign, caufed Lomenie to (hop of Evreux to accept. After feveral conceal himfelf in a clofet, which gave letters and fteps taken on both fides to fet- him an opportunity of difcovering what tie the method in which they were to pro- means (he intended to ufe. She was ac- ceed, and in which it appears that Du Pleflis cufed of praûifing forccry, but was only a repented more than once of having gone profligate woman, and fomewhat difor- fo far; the king determined that there D 2 who 20 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book Xî- 1600. who was at his diocefe : the difference of religion had never been able to deftroy that friendlliip and gratitude which this prelate had always for me, nor thataftcdion and reverence, which I had ever prel'erved for his merit, his abilities, and even for his quality of being my biflaop : the letters we wrote to each other were always in this flrain. I was greatly furpriled to read in that he wrote to me on account of the fhould be a public difpute betwen the two aiitagonills, wherein fifty of thefe paffages were to be made good every day, till all the five hundred and fifty were ejone through, which M. Du Perron had ex- cepted againft. They met in the council- chamber at Fontainebleau, in the prefence fif the king and commiflaries appointed by him : thofe for the catholics were the pre- fident De Thou, the advocate Pithou, and the fieur Martin, reader and phyfician to his majefty ; for the calvinifts, Frefne- Canave, and Cafaubon. They met on Thuifday the 4th of May, at one o'clock in the forenoon. Of fixty-one paffages which Du Perron fent to his antagonift, the latter was only prepared on nineteen of them, which he had feleâed from all the reft : as to thefe, faid he to the king, I will lofe my reputation or life, if one of them be found falfe. However, he was convifted of an unfair reprefentation in all thofe that were examined : and they could only go through nine of them : the chan- cellor then declared the opinions of all pre- fent, upon thefe nine articles feverally, that in the firft, which was from Scotus, and the fécond from Durandus, Du Pleflis had taken the objeftion for the anfu'er ; in the third and fourth from St. Chryfoftom, and the fifth from Jcrom, that he had omitted fome of the moft material words ; in the fixth, that it was no where to be found in St. Cyril ; on the feventh, which was taken from the Code, that it was in- deed from Crinitus, but that Crinitus had falfified the text : as to the eighth, which included two propofitions from St. Bernard, that Du Pleffis ought to have feparated them, or at lend to have put an ijfc. between : w'th regard to the ninth from Theodoret, that it was mutilated, and that the word idols was taken for ima- ges. This was the only conference that was held. Du Pleffis Mornay, being feized with an indifpofition next day, went to Saumur fome days after, without taking- leave of the king. Frefne-Canaye one of the commiffioners, and Saint Marie du, Mont, another eminent proteftant, were foon after this difpute, in which Henry himfelf fometimes fpoke, converted to the catholic faith. Du Pleffis pretended to prove, by the authority of St. Cyril, that it was not a cuftom among the primitive chriftians to adore the crofs, and yet he al- ledged the reproach which the emperor Julian throws on them upon this very ac- count. " It is not very likely," returned the king, " that Julian the apoflate " would have reproached the chriftians for " adoring the crofs, if they had not ac- " tually done fo ; otherwife he would have " expofed himfelf to be laughed at." It was the king likewife who faid, that at leaft an àfc. ought to have been put in the paffage from St. Bernard. A catholic having obferved to a calvinift, that Du Perron had already gained feveral paffages of Du Pleffis, No matter, an- fwered the proteftant, provided that of Saumur be ftill left to him. Matthieu, ib. This faft, which is told in the fame man- ner in feveral polemical treatifes, is gene- rally attefted by all our good hiitorians, and even thofe who treat the proteftants moft favourably. M. De Thou, liv. cxxiii. p. 843, who was himfelf one of the commif- faries. Matthieu, ibid. Chron. Sept. p.123, &c. Suppl.au Journal d"HenryIV. torn. II. p. 51, &c. Vol. 8778, de la Bibliot. du Roi, Le Grain, and feveral others, who give us a relation of the whofe difpute ; fo confequently no credit is to be given to the manner in which it is related in La Vie de Du Pleflis, liv. ii. p. 269. book Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. book I had fent him, that the errors and falfhoods it contained were lb numerous, and followed one another fo dole, that the whole book was jullly cenfurable. " Not that I would accule monfieur Du " PlelTis of iniincerity," added the bilhopof Evreux, with equal mo- dcmtion in his adveriary's regard as politenefs in mine, " but I am " lurry for his misfortune in having given credit to the confufed col- " ledtions of compilers, who have greatly deceived him. ' The re- mainder of his letter contained only compliments upon my late prefer- ment to the port of grand maftcr of the ordnance, and alTurances of the plealure it would give him "to fee me" he laid, " who com- *' manded the cannons of France, obey the canons of thee hurch." I NEVER had fo good an opinion of Du PlelTis as the reft of the party had, who were all prejudiced in his favour; and I would not have chofen to have been fecurity for the exaftnefs of thofe large vo- lumes, which he fent into the world in fo quick a fuccelfion, for that on the eucharift had been preceded by a treatife upon the church. To write well, and upon thefe fubjedls efpecially, long reflexion is necef- fary. This 1 told the bilhop of Evreux in my anfwer, but at the fame time I obferved to him, that I could not believe Du PlelTis's book was, as he faid, a feries of errors. I told Du Perron at the fame time, that this would be the fubjedl of a great difpute between them, for Du Pleffis would not fuffer his accufations to pafs unanfwered ; this was all the ferions part of my letter, the reft of it was filled with compli- ment, praifes, and an invitation to vifit my new dwelling, which do not deferve to be repeated *'. What I had forefeen happened. However, I had expecfled only a private not a public difpute. I would have interpofed the king's au- thority, to have hindered the two champions from proceeding fo far, . but Du Pleffis was the moft difficult -f- to be perfuaded, and perfifted in his refolution to meafure his weapons with thofe of the bilhop of Evreux. Every one knows how the difpute was terminated. Du Pleffis's defence was weak, and ended in his difgrace. The king, who would honour this challenge with his prefence, gave a thou fan d praifes to the wit and learning of monfieur d'Evreux. *' What do you think " of your pope," faid Henry to me, during the debate (for Du Pleffis * See thofe letters in the original, torn, fend, and I intreat you would fufFer me II. part I. p. 52. to do fo : don't you meddle with it, for + Sir, faid Du PlefTis to M. de Rofny, you have not reared it. Matthieu, torn. 11. my book is my own child, which I will de- liv. ii. p. 340. was 22 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XL 1600. was with the proteftants what the pope is amongft the cathohcs) " I think, fire," repHed I, " that he is more a pope than your majefty " imagines, for, at this moment, he gives the cardinal's hat to monneur *' d'Evreux. If our rehgion has not a better foundation than his legs *< and arms crofled, I would quit it this inftant." It was upon this occafion, that his majefty, in a letter to the duke of lEpernon, told him, that the diocefe of Evreux had vanquiflied that of Saumur ; that this was one of the greateft advantages, which for a long time had been obtained for the church of God ; and that fuch a pro- ceeding would draw more proteftants to the true church than a courfe of violence for fifty years. This letter, the turn of which was no lefs fingular than the choice Henry made of the duke of Epernon to ad- drefs it to, made as much noife as the difpute itfelf, when it became public, which could not fail of happening when it was in fuch hands. Some faid that the king wroteit to deftroy the fufpicions of his not being a fincere catholic, which, notwithftanding his converfion, prevailed during his whole life, and gave room to the Jefuits to mention him dif- advantageoufly in their letters to Rome : others imagined that this let- ter had a meaning which was not at firft perceived, and maintained, that the king had a view in it to perfuade either Spain or the proteftants, that all efforts to induce the council of France to take violent and fan- guinary methods with them would be ufelefs. The fix months that had been given to the duke of Savoy were now expired, yet he had taken no care to fatisfy his engagement. His ma- jefty began to think he (hould obtain nothing but by force; but, be- iidesthe perfuafions of his courtiers, who all feemed to have fold their voices to the duke of Savoy, this prince was then retarded by an obfta- cle far more powerful, his fondnefs for his new miftrefs, to whom he had given the title of marchionefs of Verneuil. He was no longer able to think of a feparation, and (it is with fome confufion that I mention it) after I had, by repeated importunities, prevailed upon him to take the rout to Lyons, he deliberated whether he fliould not carry her with him, to which he was farther incited by the flatterers about him *, She was now with child ; and, having the promife of marriage in her polTeflion, the affair became of great confequence to Henry. Provi- * She came to meet him at St. André de ciled : after which, this prince carried his ]a Code. Baflbmpierre, who was with miftrefs to Grenoble, where he continued Henry, fays, that the lovers quarreled at with her (even or eight days, and after- their firfl; meeting, but were foon rccon- wards to Chambery, torn. I. 86, &c. dence Book XL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. dence once more interpofed in his favour. Madam de Verneuil was fo frightened by the thunder during a ftorm, that flie was delivered of a dead child. The king was informed of this accident at Moulins, whither he had advanced, and from vvhenca he fent many a melan- choly look to the place where he had left his miflrefs ; but, reftored to himlelf by his own refleftions, he continued his rout to Lyons, where his troops had orders to join him. I INTENDED to follow, as foon as I had fettled all affairs relating to- the government, and taken proper meaiures to fecure the neceflary fupplies for the war, which I did not delay till the moment of execu- tion. I had written to the receivers-general, that, according to the king's order, they were no longer to pay any bills drawn upon them, except thofe which were for the fupport of the frontier garrifons and the payment of the troops, becaufe all others vvould be immediately difcharged at the treafury, to which I ordered all their money to be carried diredtly. I likewife forbad thofe that paid rents, to difcharge any bills without a new order, to keep them from paying, as they were accuftomed, fuch notes as had been revoked or created without money. I raifed fome militia, which I chofe rather to incorporate in the old corps, than to compofe new regiments of. I applied myfelf more par- ticularly to the affairs of the ordnance. I fent orders to the lieutenants of the ordnance of Lyonnois and Dauphiné, and to the commilîîoners of that of Burgundy, Provence, and Languedoc, to collect all their bed pieces, and to make a great number of carriages for cannon and balls in proportion, and fend them all with the powder and other am- munition to Lyons and Grenoble : and fearing, left my orders fhould not be pundually executed, I went myfeif to Lyons, and returned in three days. I GAVE the like orders in all the other provinces, and brought car- riers to Paris, whom I obliged to enter into an engagement before a notary, to carry in fifteen days, three millions three hundred thou- fand weight to Lyons, without explaining to them what kind of merchandife it was. They were greatly aftonifhed when they found their loading was twenty cannons, fix thoufand balls and other things belonging to the ordnance not very portable. They alledged, that fuch heavy pieces could not be comprehended in goods of carriage;. but having threatened to feize their carts and horfes, and they not being willing to lofe the expences they had been already at, re- folved to do what was required of them : and I had the fatisfaétion to 24 M E M O I R s F s U L L Y. Book XI. 1 600. to fee all this luggage arrive fafely in fixteen days at Lyons ; whereas, by the ordinary methods, it could not be done in lefs than two or three months, and at an infinite expence. It was always doubted whether tlie king would ferioufly renew the war, till his majefty was feen to take his rout to the Alps. The chan- chellor Bellievre, who had perfifted in his endeavours to diffuade him from it, finding my advice prevailed, came to me with an intention to make me approve, if pofTible, of the reafons he had againft it. I did not regard him as one of thofe perfons with whom to enter into an ex- planation would have been ufelefs. His fincerity appeared in the man- ner in which he fpoke to me, and the reflexions with which his mind feemed to me to be agitated : the condition France was in, for which a war of any kind whatever could not but be fatal : the king's honour, which was engaged to maintain a work fo folid as that of the peace of Vervins : the reproach of the infraction of that peace to which he ex- pofed himfelf : the fear of bringing all the duke of Savoy's allies upon him, to oppofe whom he had an army fufficiently provided with ar- tillery indeed, but confifting only of fix or feven thoufand foot, and twelve or fifteen hundred horfe, and (for fo Bellievre imagined) defti- tute of all neceflary provifions. This was the fum of the chancellor's objeftions.. I DO not think that, in any paflage of thefe Memoirs, or in the con- duct of my whole life, efpecially fmce I have been called to the go- vernment of public affairs, there is any thing that can lay me under the neceffity of juftifying myfelf with regard to too great a propenfity for war. Should it appear to any one that, on this occafion, I ailed in contradidlion to my own maxims, I anfwer, that, in reality, no maxim, however general it may be, can fuit all cafes j and fuppofing war to be (as I really believe it is) an evil at all times, it is alfo certain that it is often a neceffary and even an indifpenfable evil, when by that only thofe claims can be fupported, which it would be a bafenefs to renounce ; fince it mull: be likewife confefied, that generofity and mild- nefs, two qualities abfolutely neceffary in fovereigns, yet when em- ployed agamfi; the common rules of prudence, degenerate into weak- nefs, and are looked upon as inftances of bad condudl. To this general reply I added the particular reafons for the prefent war. I fliewed the chancellor, that he fuffered himfelf to be unkafon- .ably alarmed : the king of Spain was the only formidable ally, whom it Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. it might be apprehended would join the duke of Savoy ; but it was to be confidered, that the reigning king of Spain was a young man, with- out experience or abiUties for war, fufficiently employed in reducing his own fubjedls, and wholly guided by a minifter as little inclined to war as himfelf, by the natural turn of his difpoiition, and a defire of keeping in his own hands the money which muft be confumed by a war i and laflly, that he bore no good- will to the duke of Savoy, and was convinced, as well as all Europe, that the king demanded only a reftitution of what belonged to him : that this war would appear a mere difference between the king and the duke of Savoy, or rather an effeél of the intoxication of the latter, occafioned by an ill-grounded, prefumption, and the intrigues carried on in his favour in the council of France : and this prefuppofed, the fuccefs of the war depended upon its being purfued with expedition. I maintained to the chancellor, that, with four thoufand men this year, the king would gain greater advan- tages, than with thirty thoufand the next, but I did not negleft to prove to him, that his majefly was not fo unprovided as he imagined, at leaft, that he fliould not want for two things, which, in the offices I held, it depended upon me to furnifh him with, that is money and artillery. Belliévre was fo far from being convinced by my arguments, that he left me with chagrin : the event will fhew who had the befl: reafons on his fide. The duke of Savoy feeing that, contrary to his expectation, a French * army was ready to fall upon him, had recourfe to his ufual artifices, to prevent, at leaft, any a6l of hoftility before the winter was begun. He fent deputy after deputy to his majefty at Lyons; fbmetimes he appeared willing to perform the agreements, fometimes he eluded them by fpecious reafons, and at other times, he propo- fed advantageous projefts for his majefty, and continued to impofe upon this prince fo completely, that Henry believing he fliould be under no neceffity to go farther than Lyons, ftaid there much longer than he ought to have done. While I continued with Henry in this city, I guarded him againft the fubtiltiesof the duke of Savoy ; but, as foon as I left him to return to Paris, to haften, as I have faid, the pre- parations for war, the king was fo effedlually deceived by the duke's pretended fincerity, that he wrote to me to fufpend my cares, for every thing was fettled in an amicable manner. * He was encouraged, it is faid, by cer- that proved very true, fays Perefixe, for tain idle predictions of aftrologers, who at that time he was vidtoious in the heart gave out that, in the month of Auguft, of Savoy, there would be no king in France ; a thing Vol. II. E In 26 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XI. 1600. In effect, the duke of Savoy had agreed to all that was demanded of him, but this was a meer verbal agreement, and propofed that hof- tages fhould be given on each fide ; a very proper management to de- lay the performance of his word, by the time that was neceflarily taken up in naming thofe hoftages, and fending them to each other. I wrote to the king very freely my opinion of this pretended accommo- dation, and did not fcruple to difobey his orders, by forwarding the ammunition*, and came in perfon to Montargis, from whence I fent my baggage up the Loire, intending to ride poft myfelf. Here it was - that I received a letter from the king, which contained only thefe few words, " You have gueffed truly : the duke of Savoy has deceived us ; " come to me as foon as poffible, and negledt nothing that may be *' neceflary to make him fenfible of his perfidy." I WAS informed more particularly of all that had paffed, by a letter from Villeroi. The king had fent for Roncas, from whom he had received fo little fatisfadlion in the explanation he demanded of him, that, refolving to prefs him in fuch a manner as to leave him no fub- terfuge to have recourfe to, the Savoyard deputy at length betrayed himfelf by his equivocations, which threw the king into fo great a rage, that he would hear no more, and inftantly took his rout towards Chambery ; and it was from this place that the abovementioned billet was dated. His majefty imagined that this city would furrender at his approach, and that he iliould not be at the trouble of inverting it ; but in this he was miftaken. This interval was employed by the king in foliciting his marriage with the princefs Mary of Medicis; and this negotiation, which was highly pleafing to the pope, was of fervice to the king, in hindering his holinefs from taking any part in the affairs of Savoy. D'Alincourt, whom his majefly had fent to Rome on this occafion, obtained all that he demanded : the marriage was concluded on, and nothing now re- mained but to fend fome perfon to Florence, to folemnize it by proxy. Bellegarde earneflly Iblicited for this honour j but all he could obtain was to be the bearer of the procuration, which was given to the duke of Florence. * Matthieu, in the account which he fure afcribes to him the honours of that gives of this expedition into Savoy, be- campaign. Tom. II. liv. ii. p. 352, 361, llows, in feveral places, high encomiums 365, &C. on the duke of Sully, and in a great mea- While Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 27 While this ceremony was performing in Florence *, Henry 1600. thought it necefîary to appear wholly taken up with balls, plays, and '— v — entertainments : however, that did not hinder him from laying out no lefs affiduoufly the whole plan of the campaign : he ordered Lef- diguieres to take an exaél view of the caftle of Montmelian; and up- on his report, that with twenty pieces of cannon, and twenty thou- fand difcharges, it might be taken, he refolved to attack it. He like- wife caufed that of Bourg-en-BrefTe to be reconnoitred by Vienne and Caftenet, who were with me ; and it being their opinion that the place might be carried, it was refolved to endeavour the taking of thefe two towns by petard and in the fame night : and in proper time befiege the two citadels in form. Maréchal Biron, to whom his majefty committed this enterprife, gave the expedition of Montme- lian to Crequy, and referved that of Bourg to himfelf. The king had, without knowing it, pitched upon him, amongfl all his general officers, who was the leall: likely to give fuccefs to the enterprife. Biron was at that time deeply engaged with the duke of Savoy. It is thought that his treaty might have been at leafl: rough drawn or fketched out by this time. He fent word to Bouvens, the governor of Bourg, to be upon his guard, and informed him of the night and the hour when it was defigned to furprife him. All this was afterwards proved. But what is iingular enough, this treachery did not hinder the taking of Bourg, and on the fame night that it had been refolved to attack it, BouvENS communicated the advice he had received to the parrifon and inhabitants of Bourg, exhorted them to defend themfelves brave- ly, kindled great fires, doubled, nay, trebled the corps-de-guard, and, in a word, took all poffible precautions on the night that he expedled to be attacked, even to the ftanding centinel himfelf. Every one im- patiently expeâed the hour mentioned in the billet, which in reality was to be that of the attack. However, it happeiied that marflml Biron, who was himfelf at the head of his troops, either to give the governor more time, or to render the enterprife impoflible to be exe- cuted, or perhaps by mere chance, took a road fo far about, that in- flead of midnight, it was break of day when he appeared before Bourg. He would then have perfuaded his officers to defer till ano- * See the whole account of it in La Chronologic Septennaire, an. 1600. E 2 ther MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL tlier time an attempt which at fuch an hour was very improper. But his opinion was fo ftrongly oppofed by Saint- Angel, Chambaret, Lou- flrange. Vienne, and particularly byCaflenet, who had undertaken to fix the petard in open day, even though the baftions fhould be filled, p ,,pc and likewife by BoëlTe, to whom his majefty had promifed the go- daca de Bo- vernment of it ; that Biron, fearing left he fliould incur the imputa- èfle. tion of cowardice, and believing that the defign would mifcarry, was obliged to confent to it. The affair turned out quite otherwife : the garrifon and the citizens having been upon the watch till two, three, and even four o'clock, ^veve of opinion that the enterprife was blarted, or that it was merely imaginary; and when day appeared, went to breakfaft, and to refre(h themfelves with lleep ; leaving the care of guarding their walls to fom.js centinels, who being opprefled with fleep, acquitted themfelves very ill of their charge. Caftenet, with three faithful men whom I had given him, advanced as far as the counterfcarp, with each a petard in his hand, followed by twelve men well armed, and of tried bravery : the centinel cried, " Who goes there ?" Caftenet, whom I had in- flrufted, anfwered, That they were friends of the city, v/ho were coms to advertize the governor, that fome troops had appeared at the dif- tance of two thoufand paces, and were gone back : he added. That he had much more to fay to monfieur Bouvens from the duke of Savoy j and defired the foldier to go and inform him of it, that the gate might be opened. The centinel quitting his port to go to the governor's houfe, Caftenet, without lofs of time, advanced to the gate and fixed his petard, which carried off the draw-bridge, and made a breach, through which, the ditches not being very deep, twelve men, by ths help of fhort ladders, entered immediately, and after them the whole army. All this was executed with fuch rapidity, that the city was filled in a moment with our men, and Bouvens had only time enough to retire precipitately, with his garrifon, into the citadel. The town of Montmelian * was taken in the fame manner; and Chamberry, by his majefty's orders, was inverted : the citizens, full of terror, thought not of defending the town, but fortified themfelves in the caftle, where at firfl they made a fhew of refiftance ; however, they capitulated the next day, being intimidated by a battery of eight * Confult lil:£wire, on all thefe military Sully is mentioned with great honour. See expeditions, De Thou, Matthieu, and La likewife torn. I. des Mem. de Baffjnipi- Chronologie Septen. an. i6co. in which ene, pieces Book XL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. pieces of cannon, the fire of which they durft not ftand. By the or- der his majefty caufed to be obferved, there was not the leaft violence committed. The French ladies, who followed their hufcands in this- expedition, fettled at Chamberry ; and the next day after the reduc- tion of it, my wife gave a ball to the principal ladies of the town, where all appeared as gay as if it had not changed its mafler. After this, the king fent me to Lyons, to give orders for the fur- nlfhing and conveyance of the ordnance ; and commanded me to vifit, in this journey, the citadels of Saint-Catherine, Seifiel, Pierre-Chatel, I'Eclufe, and other fortrelies of BrefTe, particularly the caille of Bourg: he ordered me likewife to provide a quantity of gabions, three feet iii heighth and nine in width ; upon which I anfwered him, that fuch gabions were only proper to make an enclofure forflieep newly bought up in the country. The king, on his fide, in the mean time, went to poffefs himfelf of Conflans, Miolens, Montiers, Saint-Jacome» Saint-John de Morienne, and Saint-Michael : not oneof thcfe places held out againft the cannon. The taking of Miolens reftored liberty to a man who had been detained in the prifons there fifteen years ; Feugeres brought him to me on account of the Angularity of a pre- didlion that had been made him, upon the duration of his captivity, and the perfon by whom he fhould be delivered ; which was found to be exactly fulfilled. I LEFT Lyons, to execute the commiffion his majefty had given me. j^ the Upper I reached Miliars by dinner-time, and Bourg in the evening, where Biefle. I was received and treated with great politenefs by maréchal Biron. When he found that I came to take a view of the citadel, he ufed his utmoft endeavours to diifuade me from it ; reprefcntiiig to me, that I expofed myfelf to evident danger. He was certainly right ; the en- terprife was full of hazard ; but it was becaufe that this maréchal, having failed in his attempt to hinder me from executing my defign, had given the enemies (for I cannot think otherwife) fuch exad in- formations, that wherever I prefented myfelf I found a battery againft me. Notwithftanding this, I continued there night and day, till I had finiflied all my obfervations. BiRON, who probably had expedled that I fliould pay dear for my curiofity, finding that I had efcaped, laid other fnares for me : on the day that I was to leave Bourg and return to Lyons, I received advice,, that a party of the enemy, conhlting of two hundred men; had ar- àved 30 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Hook XL 1606. rived at acafHe near the place where I was to lodge that night. I took <- — -/-— ' notice of it to Biron, who then had none of that obliging folicitude for my fafcty which he had difcovered before, and treated the information asajeft; which raifed my fufpicions. I asked him for an efcort of foldiers ; which he excufed himfelf from granting, telling me, that he would commit this care to his own guards : but he privately or- dered them to return, and leave me at Villars ; which they did, not- withftanding my intreaties to the contrary, as foon as 1 alighted at Villars, and my mules were unladed. The defign of this proceeding appeared now but too plain. I ordered my mules to be loaded again, and travelled four leagues farther, nor flopped till I came to Vimy, where I thought myfelf in fafety. My fufpicions that Biron had un- dertaken to deliver me up to the duke of Savoy were changed to a certaintv, when I learned that three hours after I had left Villars, the two hundred men came and liormed the houfe I had been at, and feemed very much concerned that they had milfed their blow. A courier from his m.ajefty waited for me at Lyons : his bufinefs was, to get a train of artillery to force Conflans, the only one of thofe little towns which the king had attacked that made any refiftance, and ■which furrendered immediately at the approach of the cannon. The king, whom I went to vifit at Saint-Pierre d'Albigny, told me, that he was afraid he fliould not accomplifli fo eafily his defigns upon Charbonnières and the caftle of Montmelian ; and feemed to make fome difficulty about undertaking thofe fieges at the approach of win- ter. I affured his majefty, that inftead of five months (for fo long he imagined the fiege of Montmelian would lall) it might be ended in fo many weeks, provided that during that time the works were carried on with vigour. The king gave no credit to what I laid on this head, and after I had left him laid to my brother and La-Varenne, that my enemies would take advantage of my prefumptuous manner of talking. However, the attention with which I had examined the weak parts of this caftle, which had apparently efcaped the obfervation of others, convinced me that I had not advanced any thing lightly. The next day, the king taking a journey to Grenoble, left the command of the army in his abfence to me. During this time, I no longer employed myfelf in obfcrving Montmelian, under the cannon of which we were, but in forming the plan of the out- works, and of the difpofition of thofe batteries with vv'hich I expefted to carry the fort. I went afterwards to the king at Grenoble, who had pafled his time Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. time in deliberation with his council upon this enterprize, which he had forbad me ablblutely to begin in his abfence. I infifted again up- on the realbnablenefs of undertaking it ; and again found the fame oppofition. I know not whether it was through enmity to me, or attachment to the duke of Savoy, that the count of SoifTons, the duke D'Epernon, La-Guiche, and many others, appeared fo unrea- fonable : amongft all the counfellors, only mefTieurs de Lefdiguieres and de Crequy were of my opinion. I laid the plan I had juft finiflied upon the table, and went out, faying, that while they deliberated whe- ther Montmelian fliould be attacked, I would go and put myfelf in readinefs to take it ; and in the mean time would f\Il upon Charbon- nières, that the example of this fort, for the taking of which I de- manded only eight days, might teach them what to expedl from Montmelian. Accordingly, I laid fiege to Charbonnières, where I fuffered incre- dible fatigues ; the firft difficulty was to bring the cannon to bear on the place; the only road that led to it was extremely narrow, bordered on one fide by the river Arc, of which the bank was all along perpendicu- larly fteep, and on the other by impradticable rocks : they could with difficulty travel a league a day, becaufe they were every moment obliged to unharnefs the cannon, one of the wheels almofl: always running over the fide of the precipice. We were certain at kaft of favourable weather; for in this climateitisgenerally fair during the autumn; however, there now fell fuch violent rains that the road was all under water, and the eight days which I had thought fufficient for taking the place, had been almoft wholly confumedin bringing up the carriages. This was my excufe in the council, againft the malicious remark which the count of SoilTons and others did not fail to make upon the promife I had given. The king who that moment looked at me attentively, perceiving that my face was very red, and all overfpread with pim- ples, ran to me, and unbuttoning my clothes, examined my neck and breafi:, crying, " Ah ! my friend, you are very ill." He lent imme- diately for Du-Laurens *, who, after examining thofe pimples, faid, that by bleeding and taking a little care of myfelf they would be re- moved. I had, indeed, over-heated myfelf with labour; and, when in a violent fweat, had been wet quite through my clothes with the rain, without perceiving it. I was bled as foon as I got to my quarters, which were at Semoy : the king had his at Rochette, from whence he * André Du-Laurens, the king's phyficiaiu fent 32 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XL 1600, fent Thermes the next day to know how I was ; and was greatly fur- priled to hear that his mellenger had found me on horfeback, viiiting my batteries. Before I erefted them, I was willing to take a more exatSt view of the place, beginning with Aiguebelle, for that was the name of the little town at the foot of the fort. It feemed to me that I was known every where, and that there was a general confpiracy againfl; me ; for as often as I appeared in view, a volley was difcharged upon me. The rock upon which Charbonnières is fituated, appearing inacceffible on all fides, and not to be taken by the cannon, I was greatly afflidied : however, examining it more narrowly, I thought that I had found out a part where what feemed on the outfide a natural rock, might probably be a place filled up with earth covered with green turf. I reprefled the ioy this difcovery gave me, till the night afforded me an opportunity of being convinced of it. I approached very near tlie wall, being fa- voured by the darknefs of the night, and was tranfported with joy, when, upon trying the ground with my pike, I found that it went down as I defired, and that this baftion was fuch as I had believed it to be. I was no longer in doubt on what fide I fliould batter the fort, and no difficulty now remained, but to find out feme place proper for erefting thefe batteries ; for Charbonnières is, indeed, furrounded with mountains that command tlie town, butfolleep that a man can hardly afcend them on foot. I began again to creep along thefe m.ountains, which, in reality, had a terrible appearance, and all feemed wholly inaccefiible to the cannon, except one, upon the declivity of which, I faw a road where it was not impoflible but fome pieces of cannon might be heaved up by main ftrength. Unfortunately the accefs to this road was by another which paffedfo near the fort, that they might pelt us from thence with flones. This was another obftacle, which did not, however, cool me in my attempt. I chofe out two hundred French, and as many Swifs, to each of whom I promifed a crown, provided they could, by this road, bring up fix cannon, which 1 gave them, and mount them on an emi- nence that I pointed out to them. I pitched upon a very dark night for this work, recommending to them particularly, to make as little uoife as poffiblej and, to prevent the befieged from obferving it, caufcd horfes and carmen to advance in the oppofite roads, whofe cries and the fmacking of their whips, drew all the enemy's fire to that fide, but with no effed; for thele carts were covered, in their march, by trees. Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. trees, gabions, and even by the walls, while my men that were em- ployed in forcing up the cannon, efcaped the notice of the befieged, who were deafened with the noife of their own fire. I appointed La Vallée *, lieutenant of the ordnance in Brittany, and other officers, to watch over and encourage my men in this uncommon method of car- riage. It rained fo violently, that La Vallée and the reft of the officers left their poft to go to fupper, and the foldiers their cannon, when they were got about halfway- This was what I had expected ; and, having taken that ro id, I met them in their retreat, and gave them a fevere reprimand, threatening them that they fliould have no pay for three months, and brought them all back, that inftant to their tallc, which they rcfumed, and the cannon again began to move. I did not quit them till I faw them out of danger, which did not happen without receiving fome check : their delay at length occafioned their being difcovered, and fix were killed and eight wounded. I GOT back to my quarters while it was yet dark, foaked through with the rain, and fo difguifed with dirt, that I was not to be known, but full of joy that my lix pieces of cannon were out of danger, though not yet upon the top of the rocks. I flcpt an hour, and breakfafted, and returning to my work, met La Vallée, who, not knowing what I had done, began to value himfelf upon the performance of the night. The reproaches I loaded with him, while I contradicted what he faid, ought to have covered him with confufion ; but he was the moft undaunted lyar I ever knew, " What ! you have been there " then," faid he, without the fmalleft difcompofure. *' Well, I fin- " cerely confefs I am a fool." " You are fo, indeed," replied I, " and fomething worfe, but avoid fuch a behaviour for the future, '* and repair your fault." It was not doubted but the befieged would endeavour to make themfelves amends for their being furprifed ; which did not hinder the cannon, by the meer force of my men's labour, without any aflîftance from the horfes, from being placed upon the rock at nine o'clock, where, during that time, I had made provifion of gabions, planks, and every thing that was neceflary to make platforms there. • But, when the gabions came to be filled, no earth was to be found within half a league of the place : all that could be got in this ftubborn ground was ftony, and could not be ufed for making port-holes and * Michael de La Vallée Piquemouche, governor of Comper. Vol. n. F plat- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL platforms, without running the danger of laming all who were em- ployed in the work. The officers, for want of this ufual defence, feeing themfelves expofed to the whole fire of the place, came, in great confternation, to acquaint me with the condition they were in. I told them, without arty appearance of emotion, that they fhould begin di- reétly the palifade, which I had ordered them to ercft along the bor- ders of the rocks, making it very high and thick, to deprive the enemies, at leail of the fight of the cannon, which otherwife, they would be able todifmount; and this was performed immediately, thefe moun- tains being almofi: all covered v/ith wood. To lupply the reft, I or- dered the carpenters, and pioniers of the army, to cut down two hundred large beech trees, which were cleaved into billets, fome round to fill up the gabions, ethers fquare, to make a fecure lodgment for the fix pieces of cannon ; and the better to conceal their laft fituation from the enemy, to which the branches of the palifade greatly con- tributed, I contrived, that there jfhould be on each fide feveral open- nigs filled with baikets of earth ; upon which the enemy made a con- tinual fire, without knowing at what part of the palifade the artillery was placed, till the moment v/hen we were prepared to difmount the battery of the fort, and throw down the palifade by which our can- non had been concealed. At two o'clock in the afternoon, this work was completed ; and about an hour afterv/ard his majefty came to vifit it, and embracing me, afiTuredme ot the fatisfa(5lion it gave him. He faw no obfiiacle that fliould hinder ua from beginning to batter the place. I reprefented to him, that it was fi:ill necefi^ry to delude the befiegedtill night : this prince fubmitted to my opinion, but the count of Soiffons, d'Epernon, La Guiche, and Villeroi, who attended him, making obfervations that his cannon was pointed againfi: a rock, on which it would be ufelefs to lofe more time, Henry came to me and faid, that he would have them fire, that inftant, fome voUies upon the oppofite ravelin : againfl I contefted this point vv'ith him, and perhaps with rather too much heat ; for it gave me great uneafinefs to fee a work, that had coft me fo much labour, likely to be ruined by two much precipitation. My refifliance put Henry into a paflion, and he again, and in a very abfolute manner, commanded me to obey him, even adding, that I forgot he was the mafter. *' Yes, fire," replied I immediately, " you are the rnafi:er, and fliall be obeyed, though at " the expence of ruining exery thing." I caufed the palifade to be thrown down, and gave orders that they £honld fire, but I would not be a witnefs of it, and withdrew in great difcontent. As the guns were Book XI. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. were not aimed, every body took upon thein to dirCtS them according to his own mind, but no one hit the right p! ice. After a hundred in- effe(flurd dilcharges, the king fent La Guefle for mc to complain to me of the faults of my batteries. I replied, that I intreated his ma- j'efty would cxxufe me; for it being now funfet, it was no longer time to undertake any thing. His majefty ordered the firing to ceafe, and every one withdrawing, I came and lay in the midlt of my batteries, which I caufed to be completed during the remainder of the night, notwithftanding the rain that fell in great abundance. The belieged on their fide, laboured as hard, and were not without feme apprehen- fions that they ihould find the place, to which they gave the moft attention, dcfeâ:ive : I judged fo by the fires and candles which I faw lighted up in the fort, and contented myfelf with interrupting their fecurit)', by firing fome difcharges from time to time. At the b^eak of day, there arofe fo thick a fog, that, at fix o'clock, the fort could not be feen : this unlucky accident gave me great uneafinefs, becaufe all my batteries were ready ; and I had boalled over night, that I would take Charbonnières the next day. I fancied, however, that the agitation of the air, occafioned by the cannon, might pofiibly difperle tlie fog, and I caufed fome vollies to be fired. Either by chance, or by a natural efted;, that which I had jeftingly propofed, fuccceded almofl: beyond my hopes. No fooner had the refi; of the artillery anfwered the cannon from the top of the mountain, than the fog wholly difappeared. The befieged had been all night employed in eredling a battery of four pieces of cannon over- againlt my fix, which the imprudence committed the day before had difcovered to them, and which, at that inftant, they endeavoured to difmount. I found that, there was no time to be given them, and caufed a piece to be pointed directly oppofite to their port-holes, which ren- dered two of their four cannons ufelefs, killed one gunner, and wounded two others : but this did not happen till after their dilcharge had killed, on our fide, fix gunners and two pioniers, and at length made our pieces ufelefs, till they were diflodged from thence. The king ran thither upon the noife, at nine o'clock, and ordered his dinner to be brought to a place which I had contrived in fuch a manner, that he might fee every thing that pafied without danger. This was an enclofure made with the largeft trees, laid at their length one upon another, in the form of a rampart. I flicwed his niajcfty the bodies of thofe that had been juft killed, and made him fenfible, that F 2 this MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XI. this was the confequence of the bad counfel that was followed the day before. I did not fiy this without defign, perceiving that the fame perfons continued flill to find fault with my work, and to prejudice his majefty againfl: me. I did net fuffer myfelf to be at all difcompofed with their obfervations, and told them haughtily, that, not having yet eat any thing, though I had laboured hard all night, I would leave the place free to any of them that were defirous of playing the grand maf- ter of the ordnance ; but that, at my return, if they did not permit me to order my batteries as I pleafed, I would abandon them entirely. My table, as grand mailer, confifted of forty covers, and was placed under a kind of half arch, formed by nature in the rock, and hung with ivy. The king fent me a large trout pye, which was fent him from Geneva. My dinner was foon over, and I went again to intreat his majefty that he would fuffer me to perform the duties of my em- ployment alone, and renewed my promifes that I would make him mailer of Charbonnières that day. The king replied that he would be contented if it was taken in three days: upon which La Guefle faid, that, if he was in the place, he fhould know how to hinder it from being taken in a month. Go there then, faid I to them all, fa- tigqed with their impertinence, and if I do not hang you all to-day, let me pafs for a boafter. The king then withdrew into his enclofure, and delivered me from the importunate prefence of his courtiers for three hours, which he paf- fed in waiting for his dinner, at table, and in furveying the park of artil- lery. At the end of this time, I faw h*m come back with the count of Soiflbns, to whom he faid loud enough for me to hear, " This place will " not be taken to-day." The count anfwered, with great complaifance. That his majefty, who had more knowledge of war than any perfon M^hatfoever, ought to make ufe of his authority to force me to obey, in- ilead of wafting time in battering a rock, which could not be hurt by the cannon. I had my revenge that inftant. The king came jufl at the time that the enemy beat a parley, and the lieutenant of the place came out to treat with me. I intreated his majefty to have no part in the capitulation ; and I told the lieutenant that he might go back again, for I was refolved that the garrilbn fhould furrender at difcretion. The lieutenant returned with a perfonated boldnefs, faying that there were ftill two hundred men in the fort who were able to hold it out eight days longer. Henry withdrew, leaving Lefdigueres and Villeroi with me, who perfuaded me to accept of the conditions offered by the befieged. Lefdigueres even carried me towards the fort, to Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. to (hew me that the enemies were not reduced to extremity. I top- ped him when we came within two or three hundred paces of the curtain, telling him, that it would be rafhnefs to expole himfelf to the mouth ot the cannon of the fort ; and I withdrew to a rock a hundred paces diiiant, which ferved me as a fhelter, while thefe gentlemen very unfeafonably rallied me for my caution ; but they foon changed their tone when a terrible fire obliged them to follow me. a^ The lieutenant of the fort returned a fécond time, but with propo- fals little different from the former. I fent him back without hearing him: upon which Villeroi faid. That, if the city failed of being taken that day, he could not difpenfe with himfelf from acquainting the king that it was owing wholly to me. I pretended not to hear him : and, fending the belieged my laft refolutions in writing, ordered the artil- lery again to pi ly : the fécond difcharge fet fire to the powder of the befieged, and killed twenty or twenty-five of their m,en, and fix or feven women ; at the third, the little ravelin fell down entirely, and they could no longer bring any aflîftance to the breach, becaufe the cannon, fweeping along a low path that led to it, at every fire deftroyed fome of their beft foldiers. This made them refolve to beat a parley once moi'e, which I pretended not to hear, although I faw their drum- mer carried up in the air at the heigh th of twelve feet, by a cannon ball which entered the ground where he ftood, but did him no other hurt. The befieged then held up a pike, with a flag faftened to the top, crying out that they furrendered, and implored us to ceafe firing. Yet the artillery continued to play, till the enemies, holding out their hands over the breach to our foldiers, I was afraid fome French would be killed amongft them. I then mounted myhorfe and entered the city on full gallop. It was lawful to treat it as one carried by aflault j but that heart muft be wholly impenetrable to compafilon, that could not be foftened by a fight fo truly pitiable as now prefented itfelf : it was the women, the wounded, and thofe that were fcorched by the fire^ who came and threw themfelves at my feet. I never in any other place beheld the fex fo lovely as in this city, nor fo finifhed a beauty as one woman in particular who came to implore my mercy : inftead of exe- cuting my threat, to hang all the inhabitants, I gave the fame condi- tions I had offered at firfi:, and caufed the garrifon to be conduced to a place of fecurity which I had appointed for them. Notwithstanding this fuccefs with Charbonnières, Jfiill found great oppofition in the council to my propofal of attacking the caftle o£ Ô ^,8 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XL 1 600 of Montmelian. The debate ran very high : " Take care what you " do," faid his majefty to me, prejudiced by the great number that diCapproved of the attempt j " for if we are obHged to raife the fiege, <' every one will exclaim againfl you, and I poffibly fhall be amongft " the firfl." They were not fenfible at that time what a ftrong train of artillery, well condufted, was able to do at a fiege : what had happen- ed at Charbonnières had fo confirmed me in my opinion on that head, that I did nut fcruple to engage that I would carry Montmelian in five weeks, as I had already promifed in a former council : I ftipulated only for one condition, which his majefty could not deny me, becaufe he had accepted it, without its being named, and this was, that he lliould not be prefent at the fiege. I forefaw that it would be very bloody. I produced a plan of the fortrefs, and of the attack ; and every one agi-eeing that I ihould make the attempt, I laid fiege to the caille of Montmelian. This caftle is fituated on a rock almofl as hard as that of Charbon- nières, and fo high, that it commands the whole country about it ; fteep and inacceflibleon all fides except that next the city, where the afcent is lefs difficult, but on which, to make amends, there runs a ditch, cut in the rock itfelf, and which mufl have been done with infinite labour with the point of a fharp chiflel ; befides which, there were three baf- tions, that could neither be fapped nor undermined, their foundations being of rock itfelf, almoft impenetrable, and above a toife and a half deep- The country is ftrewed with feveral mountains, but fome are fo diftant, that they appeared to be abfolutely out of the reach of cannon, and the rocks that are nearefi: are fo fi:eep and pointed at the top, and fo rugged and bare, that far from being poflible to carry up and make ufe of cannon, it is difficult to believe that a man could chmb up. The caftle was then provided with thirty pieces of can- non, with powder for eight thoufand vollies at leaft, a proportionable garrifon, and ammunition in great abundance. The firfl thought that occurred to my mind, and fupported it againfl obfiacles in appearance unfurmountable, was, that however folid and continued the rock feemed to be, upon which, or rather in which, the baflions were raifed, it was not poffible that it ffiould be all of equal hardnefs ; and if one part of it only was ever To little weaker than the rell, the artillery I had would fecure me the means of opening a paf- hgQ through it. In order to be convinced, I began to open the trenches before the baflion called Mauvoifin ; for otherwife it would have been impofiible Book XT. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. impoffible to have approached near enough to difcern whether this whole mafs was an entire rock, cut with a chiflel ; but the rock which we found even with the ground hindered us from carrying on the trenches. I WAS obhged to have recourfe to artifice; and one very dark night caufed a hut to be built with clay, and thatched over, very near this baftion, and fo low that it could not be thrown down by the cannon : it was fhot through and through with the fmall arms as foon as the day difcovered it to the befieged; but it was not overturned, and none of our men were in it. I fuftered the enemy to difcharge their rage for fome days upon this hut, till of themfelves they fhould ceafe to fire ; which at length they did, fuppofing it had been built there to make them fpend their powder in vain. When I found the befieged neg- lefted it, I entered it in the night, taking no other arms with me but a buckler, with which, upon occafion, I could entirely cover my body againll: the fire. From this hut I carefully examined the whole ba- ftion ; I perceived there a light at the bottom, from whence I concluded that it was hollow, and that it was not an entire rock which could be cut into fo deep. Without doubt the befieged were then making fome repairs there. The day beginning to appear, I perceived likewife that the flank was uncovered; and this was proof that it was not a folid rock that formed either ; and that this flank prefented itfelf naked and eafy to be pierced with the cannon. I was now fatisfied, and had no other care but how to get out fafely, which in broad day could not be done without difficulty, the hut not being above a hundred paces di- ftant from the parapet, which was lined with foldiers, and I had above two hundred to go before I could flielter myfelf. I feized that mo- ment when the guards being relieved, the foldiers began to be carelefs, and leaving my buckler in the hut, I began to run as faft as I was able; four centinels perceiving me, cried out, and fired upon me at the fame time ; their mufquet-fliot whiftled about my ears and covered me with gravel and flint ftones, but did not wound me; before the other fol- diers were ready, I had gained the neareft lodgment. I HAD at firft refolved to place a battery of cannon on an eminence on the fide of the Ifere, where they might be carried up more cahly by the help of fteps cut by the hands of men; but having obferved, on the oppofite fide of the water, another eminence which faced the cita- del, and which had this advantage, that from thence might be feen the road tliat led to the wells of the caftle, and to the magazine, the en- trance MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL trance of the tower, and the guard-houfe; I preferred this laft, and confidered upon the means to carry up fix pieces of cannon. This eminence was perpendicularly fleep on all fides but one, and even this fide of the afcent was a league about : but this was not the greateft difficulty ; to plant them there we mufl level rocks of fuch hardnefs, that moll of the officers thought the enterprize ridiculous. The enemies were not of the fame opinion : as foon as they found that we had undertaken to make a lodgment upon the edge of the rock, they pointed fix pieces of cannon there likewife, and made a continual fire : the firfl: volley was fhot one day when I was giving diredtions about the works, with my ftafFof command in my hand, drefled in a green coat laced with gold, and a plume of green and white feathers upon my head. I obferved that this fiiot had palled a good deal above my head, and that which followed it as much below : perceiving that they were going to fire a third time, I faid to Lefine, Maignan, and Feugeres, that this would be between both, and that, without doubt, the befieged having perceived me would take an exad: aim. I retired two or three fteps behind a llielving part of the rock, from whence I held my pike in one hand fixed in the place where I had llood myfelf j one ball threw down the pike, the others killed three pioniers and two gunners, and broke fome glaflcs and bottles that had been brought for a refreflmient, and were placed in a hole of the rock. This accident was related to his majefty, as an inflance of rafiinefs in me ; and he wrote to me immediately, that my perfon being fiill more neceflary to him for the bufinefs of the ftate than war, he defired that I would not adl like a meer foldier of fortune, who had a re- putation to raife; and that he would recal me, if I difobeyed this command. Henry could not refill: the defire he had to fee the difpofition of this fiege, and wrote to me a fécond time, defiring I would difpenfe with the promife he had given me to the contrary, afiliring me, that he would go to thofe places only that I fhould appoint, and with no other attendants than the count of Soifibns, D'Epernon, Bellegarde, and me. I intreated him at leall to difguife himfelf in an ordinary cloak; and, above all, to Ihun, at the expence of going half a league about, a cer- tain field, ftrewed over with flint fiones, oppofite to which the befieged kept a party of thirty or forty foldierscontinually, armed withmufquets ; and ten or twelve pieces of cannon were pointed there, becaufe they knew that our men palled every moment through this field, to go to the Book XL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. the new battery raifed upon the rock. I did not doubt but that he would have compUed with this requeft ; but when he was upon the fpot, he could not relblve to ufe this precaution ; and my intreaties be- ing ineffedual, we marched all five in a file. Some muflcet -fiiot that we were expofed to at firfl: made two or three of the company look pale J but it was much worfewhen we entered the field j there was at once fo terrible a difcharge of the heavy cannon and fmall-fliot, that we faw ourfelves in a moment all covered with earth, and our {kin. fcratched with a fhower of thofe little flint-ftones. Henry making the ûgn. of the crofs, " It is now, faid I, that I acknowledge you to be •' a good catholic." " Let us go, faid he, this is a bad place." We doubled our pace, efteeming it a fingular piece of good fortune that none of us were killed, or at leaft lamed. No one thought of return- ing the fame way, but took the road from the mountains, where I caufed horfes to be brought for the company. The king was a little afhamed of his unneceflary raflinefs, which was the caufe, that fome days afterwards, when I fent him notice that all my batteries were finiflied, his majefi;y, who was then returned to the Tarantaife, having an inclination to fee them, ordered me to make a truce for fome hours with the governor. The king's curiofity being fatisfied, I was feized with an inclination to exert the prerogative of a grand mafter exercifing his office in the royal prefence ; but as this could not be done without a difcharge of the artillery, which would have been confidered as an infradlion of the truce, which was not yet expired, to induce the befieged to break it I ordered fome commiffiiries to fend certain ammunitions to the battery upon the rock, which they had an occafion for there. The enemy, who had not loft any part of their fiercenefs, and probably repented of having granted the truce, cried out that it was violated, and that they were going to fire. Accordingly, they fired twelve or fifteen cannon-fhot. I had given my men orders, in cafe this happened, to hold themfelves in readinefs to anfwerthem immediately by a general difcharge. This was the firft, and afi-orded matter for ferions refîeélion to the befieged, when they faw their tower battered by fifty cannon : they were the firfl: to demand a continuation of the truce ; efpecially when a fécond difcharge fucceeded fo rapidly. From that moment they began to al- ter their opinion, that the citadel was impregnable, and privately fought out ways to procure an honourable compofition. Vol. IL G Two 42 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book Xl. 1 600. Two women were by chance the firft movers * of this accommo- dation. Madam de Brandis, wife to the governor of Montmehan, and then with him in the caltle, amufed herfelf with making Httle glafs toys and pieces of chair-work. My wife being then in the town, flie fent her a pair of ear-rings and two chains of exquifite workmanfhip. Madam de Rofny, in return, fent her wine and venifon, and defired to know if it was not polTible for them to fee each other : they ob- tained permiffion for it, and paffed three afternoons together with fuch famiUarity, that at length they began to confider how Montmehan might be furrendered with honour. Each acquainted her husband with the fubjedt of their converfations, and we were fo far from oppof- ing them, that they were authorifed to go on, but concealed from one other that they adted by permifllon. Madam de Brandis had an in- difpofition that made the country air neceflary for her. Her husband thought he could procure this favour through the interpofition of my wife ; and fhe made fo reafonable a reprefentation to him of the con- dition to which he would be foon reduced, without being able to obtain honourable terms afterwards, that he confented to treat with me, and fent me a deputation for that purpofe. I dilpatched notice of it to the king, who propofed it to his council ; and it was there re- folved, that a month Ihould be granted to the governor,, after which, if he was not relieved, the place fliould be furrendered. I was very fure that it could not hold out fo long, and that it was relying too much upon the doubtful fincerity of an enemy to grant fuch condi- tions. I gave my opinion freely, but it was to no purpofe to oppofe a refolution in which envy had as great a fliare as fear. The king did not begin to repent of having followed the counfels of maréchal Biron and d'Epernon rather than mine, till, a little while before the expiration of the time granted to the belieged, a report was fpread, that an army of twenty-five thoufand men was coming over the Alps to their afliftance. The king acquainted me with the per- plexity into which this news threw him : he was determined to meet the enemies and fight them ; but he was fenfible of the danger he ran, in leaving behind him fuch a fortrefs as Montmehan. He aiked me if by fome means or other there was not a poffibility of putting him in pofi*eirion of it before that time. Difficult as it appeared, it was neverthelefs accomplifhed, and in this manner. * The hlftoiian who has given us the Life of the duke d'Epernon, afcribes to him Ever the hcnour of taking Montmeljan. Book XI. M Ë M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 43 Ever fince the rufpenficn of arms, the count of Brandis fuffered all 1600. étrangers to enter his caftle who brought provifions and neceflaries which the wounded, and even madam de Brandis herfelf, had occafioa for. As there was only one gate to enter by, the crowd was often fo great that fome blows paffed between them ; for which the governor could not chaflife them, becaufe there were a great many Frenchmen amongft them, and therefore intreated me to apply a remedy to this inconvenience : and I now believed that I had found the opportunity I fought for. 1 placed a guard of fifty chofen men at the gate of the caftle, commanded by officers who, being informed of my defign, ac- cuftomed the guards of the caftle to fee them enter it, at firft three or four only in number, afterwards more, till at length, the garrifon not daring any longer either to hinder or fire upon them, they found themfelves almoft m-afters of the caftle itfelf, without giving them any affiftance ; but, on the contrary, inftead of lefi!ening the diforder, thel'e French did all they could to increafe it. Brandis imputed all to thelicentioufnefs of the foldiers, and com- plained to me of it. I told him, that he might fall upon all thofe ftrangers, whom I fuppofed to be country people. He replied, that he would have done fo, but for the great number of my foldiers that were amongft them ; and that rather than do them any violence, al- though without any intention to break the conditions, he chofe to con- fide to me the care of putting an end to the diforder. I feemed to yield to this expedient (which was what I moft ardently wiihed) only to reftore order and quiet, and told the governor, that I could eafily accomplifti it, if I had a guard within equal to that without : he con- fented to it, and I caufed fifty foldiers to enter; but thefe were not all, thirty had got in before, and a much greater number had flipt in with them ; I came thither myfelf likewife, with all my train : and from that time our party was fo ftrong, that the fort and part of the tower was at our difpofal. Brandis then found the fault he had committed, but could repair it no otherwife than by {hewing himfelf ftill more generous. He came to me and told me, that he confented I fliould take pofteffion of the tower, and that he remitted it wholly upon the fecurity of my word. I refolved not to abufe his confidence, and faithfully obferved all the •articles. I fupped and lay in the tower that night; and tJie next day sfter that in which I had received this commiffion from the king, I G 2 went MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL wenf to tell him that without any fears from Montmelian, he might march to meet his enemies ; which he did in good order, and at the head of his army^ but the information he had received was found to be falfe. The garrifon of Montmelian marched out after the month was elapfed, and yielded the place to his majefty, who commanded me to fettle Crequy there with his company. The garrifon was reinforced, and provided with great plenty of ammunition of all kinds. I would have perfuaded the king to have difmantled this place, as it mufl: un- doubtedly be reliored to the duke of Savoy in cafe of a peace ; and to have done the fame by all the other conquered fortrefles : but the ad- vice of the courtiers, who all feemed to be in the pay of the duke, faved Montmelian from a treatment that good policy required. The myftery of this condudt with regard to Montmelian, as well as many other things, was explained two years afterwards, by the dif- covery of fome letters of maréchal Biron in cyphers : he told the duke of Savoy, to whom they were addrefled, that he had obtained a month for the garrifon of Montmelian, to give him time to raife the fiege : that he had nothing to expeél from his friends, unlefs he made fln effort to fave this place, which could hold out three months longer ; and affured him, that the réduction of it would give him great concern. Li the letter he wrote to this prince after the caftle was taken, he tells him, that his negligence in fuccouring it had filenced the French lords in his party, who would have declared againft the king, if, by advancing to join them, he had put it in their power to do fo with fafety. Notwithftanding the caution he obferved in not writ- ing their names, they were all fo well defcribed, that it was not diffi- cult to know them. The filence I keep with regard to thefe names is only in favour of fome whom the public perhaps has not fufpeéted. Montmelian was not yet furrendered, when it was reported in the French army that cardinal Aldobrandin, the pope's nephew and legate, was on his way to come and treat with his majefty concerning a peace and his marriage. The king having appointed me to go and receive his eminence with all imaginable honours, I advanced to meet him with a body of 3000 foot, and 500 troopers, all fpruce fellows. It was not difficult for him to perceive that it was the grand mafter of the ordnance who waited for him, by the manner in which he was re- ceived at his approach to Montmelian. The truce affording me an op- portunity Book XI. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 4^^ portunity to make ufe of the artillery of the place as if it had been my 1 600. own. Upon this occafion I joined them together, to pay him the ' greater honour : the fignal was given by a white flag raifed on the bat- tery of the rock : mine began after a great fire of the fmall-fliot, and was anfwered by that of thecaftle, in fuch a manner, that both hav- ing time to load again, this double difchargeof an hundred and feven- ty cannons, performed with the utmoft regularity, and multiplied by the echoes formed amidft the mountains, had the noblefl; effedt ima- ginable, though not in the legate's opinion, I believe, who was more frightened than foothed, by an honour fo magnificently dreadful, be- lieving all the mountains about him were going to fall down, and had feveral times recourfe to the fign of the crofs. I CARRIED the cardinal to dinner at Notre Dame de Miens, and forewarned him of two things relating to the bufinefs he mentioned to me ; one was, that he fliould give no credit to any of thofe perfons who would make a boalt to him of their interefi: with his majefty ; the other, that if they promifed him to get all the places taken from the duke of Savoy to be reftored without being demoliflied, he lliould believe them ftill lefs, for he might be aflured this would never hap- pen. After this caution, I refigned him freely to thofe fent by his majefty to fetch him, and continued my hoftilities, by befieging the citadels of Bourg and fort Saint-Catherine. The latter was attacked before the other, at the intreaty of the citizens of Geneva, whom the king was glad of an opportunity to ob- lige. Upon our arrival at this fort, which is fituated on a rifing-ground, in an open field, of which it feems to be the centre, maréchal Biron, who by chance was near me, afked me to go that inftant, on horfeback as we were, and reconnoitre the place v^^ith him. I told him that we were too gayly drefi'ed, and had too many plumes on, to examine it in open day : for the maréchal was mounted on a white horfe, and wore a large plume of feathers of the fame colour. " No, no, faid he, " you need not be under any apprehenfion : morbieu 1 they will not " dare to fire upon us." " Let us go then, replied I, if you will, for " if it rains upon me it will fprinkle upon you." Accordingly, we came within two hundred paces of the fort, and obferved it a long time, while they only fired twelve or fifteen vollies of fmall-fliot, and I be- lieve in the air, although we were about twenty horfe; which furpriled mc greatly. " Certainly, fir, faid I to the maréchal, there is no one " within, or they are afîeep, or afraid of us." The king could with, difficulty MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL difficulty believe this, bccaufe being there himfelf the day before, with fix horfe only, they fired repeated vollies at his approach ; and when I returned the next morning at the break of day, on foot, and with no other company than Erard and Feugeres, I was received with fb great a noife of the artillery, that the king fent Montefpan thither, believing it was a fally. " Whom are thefe fellows aiming at ?" faid Montefpan to me, finding no-body in fight. " At me, I believe, re- " plied I, but I have feen all that I wanted to fee." However, I guefled foon after the reafon of that refpedl which they fhewed maré- chal Biron. I perceived that the flanks of the baftions of Saint-Cathe- rine were fo bad that great part of them had fallen down, and that the ditch was in no better a condition. I afi"ured his majefly, that as foon as the trenches were carried to the extremity of the ditch the place would furrender. In eff^e Hkev/ile ; and he retired to the queen's apartment. His majefty's arrival only increafed the warmth with which they con- tefted the articles of the peace : the plenipotentiaries were almofl all in the duke of Savoy's intereft, and glad of an opportunity to make their court to the legate; which was the caufe that Henry thought it neceffary to make them give an account of their negotiation, and feverely blismed the commiffioners for having exceeded the power that was given them. Bellievre and Villeroi had promifed the legate, that none of the fortreiles which had been taken fhould be demolifhed, but efpecially Saint-Cathe- rine, for which the legate particulary folicited, as being the beft, and even the only bulwark the duke of Savoy had againft the republic of Geneva. Henry maiie them fenfible, that their precipitation in fub- fcribing to an article of this importance, without confulting him, had given him fome fufpicion of them ; and added, that in a few days he would acquaint them with his intentions upon that head. Then fend- ing for me, he told me, that the fliortefl way to prevent the folicita- tion which he expefted from the legate, would be to blow up the five baftions of the fort, and to fend word to the citizens of Geneva to come and complete the demolition of it. No order was ever more expeditioufly nor more efFed:ualIy executed. The Genevois, in one night, laid this citadel even with the ground, and carried away all the materials fo carefully, that the next day it could with difficulty have been believed that there ever had been a fort in the place ; and at firffc the report ran, that it was deflroyed by lightning. When the truth was known, the legate expreffed great refentment at it, and did not fcruple to confefs, in the heat of his paffion, that I was the only perfon who had not deceived him with flattering hopes on this head, and that he had not fufficiently attended to my admonitions. But his having, upon the faith of the commiffioners, given very different expeélations to the pope, was what he was chiefly concerned at. For three or four days the negotiation was intirely broke ofi^ ; and when it was afterwards refumed, it was with fo much animofity on his eminence's part, that he rejecfted all the propofitions that were made him. Thefe propofitions were,That the duke of Savoy fliould yield to the king the courfe of the river Rhone and its borders : That he fliould not eredt any fort within a league of it to favour the Spaniards paffage : That he fliould leave to the republic of Geneva the enjoyment of certain villages fpecified Dauphiné. likcwife : That Beche-Dauphin fliould be demoliflied, Chateau-Dau- phin Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. phin reftorcd : and laftly, that the duke fliould pay an hundred and 1600. fifty thouland crowns for the expences of the war. The king looking upon this affair as wholly impraticable, through the obflinacy of the legate, refolved to carry on the v/ar more vigoroufly than before, and communicated his defign to me, which was, to go in fearch of the duke of Savoy at the head of his army ; while I, with the artillery, battered the citadel of Bourg. Each of us had particular obftacles to this double projed;, befides the want of money, which was common to both. I found the enterprife on Bourg very difficult to be executed, the feafon being now fo far advanced : the difference between this caftle and that of Montmelian, with which I think it may be com- pared, is this, that for thofe that have only ten or twelve pieces of can- non, Montmelian is equivalent to ten fuch places as Bourg, becaufe that the reduélion of Montmelian depends upon having artillery fufficient to batter the out- works ; but for an army fixty cannon ftrong, the cita- del of Montmelian is not more difficult to carry than that of Bourg; becaufe this lall: being more regular than the other, it can only be at- tacked methodically and by flow degrees. Had the counfel I gave, to attack this fort immediately after the furrender of Montmelian beea followed, it would have been now in the king's poffeffion. With regard to this prince, his perplexity was occafioned by his knowing in what manner the greatefl: part of his general officers con- fpired with Spain and the duke of Savoy againft him : he had great reafon to be apprehenilve of engaging himfelf in the enemy's country, if they were with him : Lefdiguieres was the only one on whom he could depend; he had lately given an inftance of his fidelity, in fend- ing notice by Calignon, that the duke of Bouillon made ufe of a man named Ondevous to carry on his correfpondence with the great lords of the kingdom, It is certain, that if Calignon had been more dili- gent to acquit himfelf of his commiffion, Ondevous would not have had time to efcape as he did, and his detention might have laid open all the fchemes of the feditious ; but there is no appearance that this happened through the fault of Lefdiguieres. I advifed the king to rely- entirely upon him, and to bind him ftill clofer to his fervice, by ma- king him a maréchal of France, and governor of Piedmont. As for the refl:, it was eafy to prevent the confequences of their ill intentions, by giving them employments at a diftance from the body of the army. Vol. il H Bur 49 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XL But the affair that appeared mofl; prefling to us both being to procure a fupply of money, it was refolved that I fliould fet out for Paris in four days : and that I might be enabled to pafs fix entire weeks there, I employed thefe four days in making all the neceffary prepara- tions for the attack of Bourg, in paying the foldiers out of what little money remained, and in providing for the ordinary as well as extra- ordinary expences of the king's houfliold. The very next day I fent away my wife and my equipages before me, with direftions to wait for me at Rouanne, where I propofed, as foon as I arrived, to fend them down the Loire as far as Orleans : they waited there for me three or four days longer, becaufe my meafures were broke by the altera- tions that happened in the affiir of the peace. When I went to take leave of the king, he advifed me to vifit the legate alfo before I fet out, he having always expreffed great efleem for me. I went to vifit him booted, my poft-horfes waiting for me on the other fide of the river, oppofite to his lodgings. He afked me where I was going in that equipage ? " To Italy, replied I, and I fhall " go with good company to kifs the pope's foot." " How ! to " Italy," faid he in great amazement: " no, that mufi; not be, fir.; " I beg you will aflift me to renew this peace." I feemed to confent, in refpedl only to his mediation, the king having laid afide all thoughts of it. I repeated, in a few words, all the principal articles that had been already propofed, and afterwards afked him if he would give credit to what I was going to fay to him? Having afiured me he would, I told, him, that he might be abfolutely certain, that of thefe articles, his majefcy would abate none of his demands with regard to the borders of the Rhone, the villages in the neighbourhood of Gene- va, Chateau-Dauphin, and Beche-Dauphin ; becaufe I was well ac- quainted with the king's intentions in all thefe refpeâs. He defired to know my reafons : which I excufed myfelf from telling him, on ac- count of the fliort time I had to fiay. After walking thoughtfully feveral times backwards and forwards in his chamber, he afked me, if with the fameproteftations of fincerity, I would affure him, that, pro- vided he agreed to all thefe points, there fliould be no mention made of the other. I told him, that I believed I might promife this. Upon which, he entreated me to go and acquaint the king with what he had faid. Henry was glad to fee me come back: and I returned a moment afterwards to the legate with full powers from his majefty. And we concluded Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. concluded that* inftant a treaty which had languiHisd fo long a time; the conditions of which were as follow. The duke of Savoy, in exchange for the marquifate of Saluces,- which the king of France gave up, was to make a ceffion to his ma- jefty of the fortreffes of Cental, Monts, and Roquefparviere, all Breffe entirely, the borders and country of the Rhone on both fides as far as Lyons, except the bridge of Grezin, and fome paffages neceflary for hishighnefs to enter Franche-Comté ; hut he was not by this ceffion to acquire a right to raife any tribute from thefe places, or to build any fort there, or to ferry troops over, but by the king's permiffion, and on condition that for this privilege of paiTing the bridge of Grezin tlie duke fhould pay France one hundred thoul'and crowns : That he fliould likewife refign to his majefliy the citadel of Bourg, the bailiwic of Getx, Chateau-Dauphin and its dependencies, with all that could be comprehended in the province of Dauphiné on this fide the Alps : That he fliould likewife renounce the property of Aus, Choufy, Vally, Pont d'Arley, Seiflel, Chana, and Pierre-Cliatel, to the borders of Ge- neva : That the fortifications of Beche-Dauphin fliould be razed : That the king fliould on his fide reftore all the other forts he had taken which are notfpecified here, withdrawing theartillery and ammunition that were then placed there. The other articles related to criminals and prifoners of war that had fled on either fide, church benefices, exchange of eflates between private perfons, &c. It was articled for the duke of Nemours, part of whofe eflate lay in this country, that he fhould not be difturbed in the poffeffion of it, neither for the part which he held of the king, nor for that which he held of his high- nefs. The other claufes common to all treaties I fliall not mention. Notwithstanding this treaty was figned by me for the king, by the legate for the pope, and the duke of Savoy's agents, yet the duke, influenced by the count of Fuentes, put ofl^fo long the entire conclu- fion of it, by his complaints and delays, that the king thought it ne- cefiary not to lay down his arms : he took poft to Paris ■f, where he waited for the duke's determinations. * M. De Thou, Matthieu, and La " one night poft from Lyons, in order Chron. Sept. agree with this account, ib. " to return to Paris ; and embarlcing at an. 1601. See alfo the treaty in the Mem, " Rouanne he landed at Briare ; from de Nevers, torn. XL p. 775, &c. " whence he came to lye at Fontaine- t " He departed, fays BafTompierre, " bleau, and next day dined at Ville- Uz In 52 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XI. 1 600. In cafe there fliould be a necefllty for his returning into Savoy, he had certain meafures to take for the affairs within his kingdom, and in Paris efpecially, at a time when every place was filled with male- contents. He left the conftable and Lefdiguieres, till his return, with fome good troops upon that frontier ; and Villeroi and two or three other commiffioners at Lyons, to conclude the bufmefs of thepeace. But his majefly found no occafion to return into thefe provinces. The duke of Savoy, after having long amufed himfelf with expecta- tions from the difaffedled French lords, gave place to more prudent thoughts ; and refleâ:ingon what he had already loft by his obftinacy, he thought himfelf very happy to accept the treaty in the form already mentioned j accordingly the laft formalities were added, and the peace was publi(hed at Paris and Turin with the ufual ceremonies : how- ever, the articles were not executed without many difficulties being raifed by the duke of Savoy, which detained Villeroi at Lyons part of the following year : it was not till then that every thing was entirely agreed to ; and Spain, who had taken great intereft in the affair, even advifed the duke of Savoy to comply with the articles of the treaty. On all thefe occafions Henry paid great deference to the pope. He granted all the delays with the duke of Savoy, by count Odlavio Taffone, engaged the legate to demand ; which was contrary to Ville- roi's advice : but his majefty, having in reality obtained all that he could demand, thought he ought not to obferve too rigorouily the manner it was yielded to him, nor hazard, for fuch a trifîe, a re- newal of the war. This produced as many advantages to the king as any war ended in a fingle campaign could pofllbly do. His majefly declared, that BrefTe fhould not be comprehended in the diftri(ft of Lyons, but that it fhould be re-united to Burgundy, and be under the jurifdi(5tion of the court of aides of Paris. The queen did not fet out immediately after for Paris. She had brought with her her uncle Don John, a baftardof the family of Medicis, " neuve ; and croffing the Seine below " having rode port with fixty frelh horfes, " the Tuilleries, came in the evening to " came and carried her to Fontainebleau, •' Verneuil (afterwards Senlis.) We con- " where after flaying five or fix days, fhe " tinued three days at Verneuil, and then " arrived at Paris, and was accommodated " came to Paris. At length the queen " with apartments at the houfe of Gondy." *' arrived at Nemours j and the king, Mem. de Bafibmpierre, torn. I. p. 89, 90. Virgilius Book XI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Virgilius Urfinus her coufin, who being brought up while young with 1 600 her had conceived hopes above his condition. Many more Italians of both '_ -.- fexes were in her train; atnongft others, a young man named Conchini, and agirl called Leonora Galiga'i, who afterwards played a great part in France. I went to Paris eight days before the queen, to make pre- '^ parations for the ceremony of her entry *, which was performed with great magnificence. The ne^rt day, the king brought the queen and the whole court to the arfena! io dine with me ; the queen was at- tended by all her Italian ladies, "/ho being pleafed with the wine of Arbois, drank more of it than was n^celfary. I had fome excellent white wine that was as clear as rock water . I ordered fome decanters to be filled with it, and when the ladies aflced for water to temper the burgundy, they were prefented with this liquor. The king fuf- pedled by their gaiety that I had played them a trick. This winter was wholly taken up with parties of pleafure, on account of the king's marriage. In Flanders, this year, the war broke out with great violence, prince Maurice of Orange gained a battle in the month of May againll: the arch-duke Albert, in which the -f admiral of Caftile, the man on whom he chiefly depended, was taken prifoner. He afterwards laid fiege to Nieuport, but was obliged to raife it. All I ihall fay of the war between the Emperor and the Grand Signior in Hungary, is, that the duke of Mercceur was made lieutenant-general here by his im- perial majefty. I fupprefs a detail of the grandeur and magnificence of the fecular ;}: jubilee at Rome, and fhall conclude the Memoirs of * It does not appear that- this princefs f This was the battle of Nieuport, that v.'as complimented with the ceiemony of was fought in the month of July, wherein a public entry into Paris. The citizens, the Spaniards loft 8000 men. The prince fays the Chronologie Septennaire, would of Orange was neverthelefs obliged to raife have prepared a very magnificent one for the fiege of Nieuport and retire to Holland, her, and addrefied the king for that pur- The grcateil part of thefe foreign tranfac- pofe ; but his majefty chofe rather that the tions are neither fully norexacElly related in expence of the entry fhould be laid out our Memoirs ; and I therefore think it un- on other things that were more neceflary. neceflary to give an account of them in the It afterwards adds : Upon her arrival at notes, but rather refer the reader to the the poftern-gate of the fuburb St. Marcel, Memoirs and Hiftories of that time. In like the marquis de Rofny caufed all the cannon manner confult the general and particular of the arfenal to be tired three times. She accountsof the military expeditionsbetweeu was carried in a litter along the moats of the armies of the emperor and the Grand the city, and that day lodged at the fuburb Signior, which are mentioned here. St. Germain, at Gondy's houfe, and the J It was faid, that 300,000 French, next at Zamet's, and after that at the men and women, went to Rome, to ob- Louvre. Ibid. tain the indulgence of the jubilee; con- this 53 54 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XI. 1600. this year with an incident that afforded matter for much ferious re~ fledlion upon duels : Breauté having * killed his adverfary in a very uncommon combat, was afterwards aflafllnated himfelf. cerning which, fee the ceremonies in La Septennaire, an. 1600, and other Memoirs of that time. * Charles de Breauté, a French gentle- man of Caux, captain of a troop of horfe in the fervice of the States ; his antagonift was a Flemifh foldier, lieutenant of a com- pany under the governor of Boifleduc, with whom he fought a fingularkind of combat, of twenty French againft the fame number of Flemifh ; he had the advantage in the firft encounter, in which he killed his an- tagonift, but was made prifoner in the fé- cond, and put to death by order of the governor of Boifleduc. He was one, fays the author of the Chronologie Septennaire, that eagerly fought after occafions of duel- ling, for which reafon he had been obliged^ to 4uit the court of France.. MEMOIRS MEMOIRS o F SULLY. BOOK XIL IN rhe foregoing book I finifhed the laft military narration that will 1 60 1 . be found in thefe Memoirs, in which at leaft France was con- cerned. The life of Henry the Great, hitherto wholly paffed amidfl: the tumult of arms, will in the fequel exhibit only the ad:ions of a pacific king, and the father of a family. The manner in which the campaign in Savoy had been conduced and terminated, leaving no room to fear that the peace would be again infringed by thefe an- tient enemies of the monarchy, or that it would not fubfift as long as his majefly pleafed, I refumed, by his orders, and under his infpedion, thofe fchemes with regard to the finances that the war had fufpended, and were now to meet with no more interruption. After the repre- fentation I have already given of the flate of affairs within the kingdom,, it would be injurious to confider the life which the prince and myfelf now embraced as idle and inadive : if it is lefs noify and tumultuous, it is probably more laborious. Behold me therefore again fliut up iii my clofet, where I applied myfelf with the utmofl attention to the examination of all the abufes that ftill remained to be rooted out of the chamber MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XII. chamber of accounts* ; the offices of the finances, the crown lands, the aids, the fubfidies, the equivalents, the five large farms, the tenths, and all the reft. I laboured at once for the prefent and the future, by taking fuch meafures, that the method I eftabliflied in the diredliori of every part of the finances fliould not be afterwards fubjed: to any alterations. I confidered of means to enrich the king without impo- veriihing his fubjeâs, to pay his debts, repair his palaces ; and ftrove, with ftill more affiduity, to complete the art of fortifying his cities, than that of attacking and defending them ; and to make provifion of arms and ammunition. I extended my cares to the repairing and re- newing public works, fuch as roads, bridges, keys of rivers, and other buildings, which refleét no lefs honour upon the fovereign than the fplendor of his own palaices, and are of general utility: for which pur- pofe I began to look into the application that had been made of the money granted for thofe ufes to the cities and corporations, or rather into the frauds that had been ufed in the management of thefe funds. O" The fcheme of drawing up an account of every part of the finances, under the title of a general fbate, which fliould lay down their nature uniformly and clearly, feemed always fo happy a thought, and fo pro- per to bring them to the utmoft exadlnefs, that wherever this method was pradlicable I made ufe of it. On the firll: day of this year, when I prefented to the king the gold and filver medals, as ufual, I gave him at the fame time five of thefe general fiâtes, each of which re- lated to one or other of my employments, bound up in one volume very neatly. In the firfi:, which was of the greateft importance, becaufe I there gave an account of all that concerned myfelf as fuperintendant, was fet down on one fide, all the money that was raifed in France by the king from every tax whatever ; on the other, all that was to be dedufted for the charge of colleâion, and confequently all that was to be brought clear into his majefty's coffers. I cannot perfuade my- felf that this method was never thought of by any one fince the finances were fubjeél to fome regulation ; but interefl alone prevented the execution of it. However that may be, I fhall always infift upon it, that without this guide there is no proceeding without miftakes or roguery. The fécond of thefe fiâtes was drawn up merely for the ufe of the keeper of the royal treafuryj here was fet down, whence and upon. * As to thefe reformations, confult likewife Matthieu, torn. II. liv. iii. p. 444. what Book XIL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. what account he received all the king's money that pafled through his hands during the year of his office, and how much he was at li- berty to dill)urfe out of the whole fum, and for what purpofes. The third was compiled for the ufe of the mafler of the ordnance, contain- ing an exadl account of money received and expended; with a true inventory of all that relates to the artillery ; the number and forts of cannon, and of other arms, the quantity of inftruments of war, and provifions of visual, laid up in different places, or magazines; the ftateof the arfenals and fortified places, and other obfervationsof thefame fort. The fourth related to the chief furveyor of the roads, and gave an account of all the money difburfed or to be dilburfed for the repair of every thing under his charge, whether it was to be done at the expence of the king or of the provinces. And, to conclude, the fifth contained a catalogue of cities and cafiles, particularly thofe on the frontiers, that required any money to be laid out upon them; with a kind of rough draught of the works necefi*ary at each place, formed with due regard to their natural fituation and prefent (late. The king, upon my reprefentation, reformed many abufes with refpedl to money, which had caufed a decay of commerce, of which money is the chief inftrument; the firft was the pradice which was then allowed, of putting money to intereft at eight, or even at ten per Cent. * a pradlice of equal mifchief to the nobility and the people; to the nobility, becaufe they, being forbidden to engage in trade, have no other riches but the produce of their grounds, of which the price was brought down by high intereft; to the people, becaufe, by putting out money to intereft, they made as great profit by fitting ftill as by labour, and thereby kept immenfe fums of money ufelefs to the pub- lic, which, without that method of growing rich, they would have improved by fome means advantageous to the commonwealth. The intereft of eight per Cent, was aboliflied, and fix per Cent, allowed id its ftead. The coin of different countries was till this time current in France,!, and pafiTed in commerce equally with that of our own fovcreign. A prohibition was ifilied, by which all money was put down but the coin * It is thus that a prince, in our times, tion that would oblige monied men to hz- remarkable for his abilities and fuperior skill take tliemfelves to commerce and agricul- in politics, has judged : being firmly per- ture, which are infinitely preferable to the fuaded, that the ftate would receive great bare and dead produce of rents, advantages in every refpeit from a régula- Vol. il I of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL 1601. of France *, that of Spain only excepted, which would have been too much milled in commerce had it been at once for.bidden. But it was more neceflary to rid ourfelves of the merchandife of our neighbours than of their money, for the whole kingdom was filled with their ma- nufactures; and it is incredible how much mifchief was done hy foreign ilufFs, particularly thofe of gold and filver. The importation of thefe, and of all others, was forbidden under fevere penalties: and becaufe France had no means of fupplying herfelf with them out of her own flock, we had recourfe to the true remedy, which is, to do without them } the ufe of all fluffs wrought with gold and filver being forbid^- den by an edidl -f*. All thefe declarations tended to introduce one, by which it wa3 forbidden to carry any fpecies of money out of the kingdom, under the penalty of a confifcation of all that fliould be intercepted in the carriage, and likewife of all the eflates of the offenders, as well thofe that favoured as thofe that were guilty of the infringement of this law. The king gave a public proof how much he had this affair at heart, by the oath he made not to grant any pardon for this fort of mifde- meanors ; and even to hold all thofe fufpedled that (liould dare to foli- cit him to the contrary: yet all this couLd only oblige thofe perfons that carried on fuch practices to conceal them more carefully. I was of opinion, that one example would be more efficacious in correcting this obftinate evil than all the threats that had been publifhed againft it. I was not ignorant that a great many very confiderable perfons, and even amongft the courtiers themfelves, made a fund out of this perni- cious traffic, either by fuffering this money to pafs under their names, or by felling, at a high price, the authority which enabled them to * It is true, that the fpecies of foreign comes to handle it, in the following book, gold and filver coin ought not to pafs cur- As to the prohibition of ufing gold and fil- rent and be confounded with that of the ver in cloaths and houfhold furniture, we prince in interior commerce, and in pay- fhall alfo have occafion, in the fequel, la- ments made between individuals ; but is it give our opinion on the principles he efl:a- not evident, that the more fuch coin a- blifhes with regard to luxury, bounds among our own money, the more t He fhewtd, by his example, how to flourifhing will our commerce be ? The retrench the fuperfluity of drefs, for he hiflorian Matthieu obferves, torn. II. 1. iii. commonjy went clad in .t coat of grey cloth,, p. 446. that this prohibition made the com- with only a pourpoint of fattin or tatfety, merce in Frajice fall almoft entirely ; and without any indented edgings, lace, or em- the duke of Sully himfelf agrees, a little broidery: he commended fuch as drefled in . lower, that he was obliged to have recourfe that plain fafhion, and ridiculed others, who to other means to retrieve it. We will carried, faid he, their windmills and their examine this qutllion with -him, when he old. woods on their backs, Peref. part iii. correfpond Book XII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. correfpond with the foreigners, and fecured the privileges of pafllige. I thought it moft prudent to apply myfelf to thole who were employ- ed by them for thefe correfpondences, and promifed them that, as a recompence for their difcovery, they Hiould have the fourth part of thofe fums that were feized by their informations ; for the king hav- ing made over thefe confifcations to me, I had a right to difpofe of them. By thefe means I was well ferved. A Month was fcarce elapfed, when I received notice from an inconfiderable man, the authors not being willing to make them- felves known, that there were two hundred thoufand crowns in gold colleding to fend abroad, which was to be fent at two different times, and that the firfl: carriage would be much lefs than the fécond. After having taken all the neceffary precautions, this fum appearing rather too confiderable for me, I thought myfelf obliged to mention it to the king, who made this qualification in the right he had given me, that if the fum did not exceed ten thoufand crowns, I might appropriate it to myfelf, but that the overplus fliould be his, " Which '• will come, faid he, very feafonably, having had fome lofs at play " that I durfl: not tell you of, nor make up with my own money." I was not mercenary enough to wait for the profits of the fécond car- riage. I ordered the firil to be dogged, and with fuch vigilance, that it was flopped half a league beyond the territories of France. It could not be done in the kingdom, though but a quarter of a league from the frontier, without furnifhing the offenders with a pretext for getting it releafed. There was found in piftoles, double pirtoles, and crowns of the fun, to the amount of eight and forty thoufand crowns, which had been concealed in fome bales of common goods for ex- portation. The king's refolution on this article was fo w-ell known, that the condudors named no perfon as proprietor of it ; and not- withflanding all the noife this feizure made at court, it was difavow- ed by every one ; and this fum was, by his majefty, divided in this inanner : feventy-two thoufand livres he referved for himfelf, five and twenty thoufand he ordered Ihould be given to the informer, and the remaining forty-feven thoufand he left to me; promifing me, that however large any future capture might be, he would take no part of it from me. But after this, no more money was attempted to be carried out of the kingdom ; this example had given a general diflike .to fo ruinous a traffic. I 2 Those 6o MEMOIRSOFSULLV. Book XII. 1601. Those that compofed the chamber of juflice * which was eredled againft the contradtors, treafurers, receivers, and others who had been guilty of inifdemeanors in their offices, were likely, in appearance, to exercife far greater feverities. It was my advice, that thefe offen- ders fliould not only be obliged to refund, but that thofe who were convided of embezzling the public treafure fhould be corporally pu- niflied. Money however, the poUèffion of which covers all crimes it is the caufe of, excepted this from the juft rigor of the law -f-. I would, were it pollible, transfuie into the brealts of my countrymen fome part of that indignation that fills mine, againfl: fo pernicious an abufe, and all that contempt which I feel for thofe that owe their elevation to it. If we confider as a flight matter, the defpicable light we appear in to our neighbours by this fhameful cuftom (for none ftrikes more diredtly at the honour of the nation) we cannot conceal from ourfelves the evils it has given rife to ; nothing has contributed more towards perverting our ideas of probity, candor, and difinterefled- nefs, or to turn thofe virtues into ridicule; nothing has more ftrength- ened that fatal propenfity to luxury, which is natural to all men, but is with us become a fécond nature, by that peculiarity of temper which makes us faften eagerly upon every thing that can gratify our paffions ; and nothing in particular has fo greatly degraded the French nobility, as the rapid and dazzling fortunes of contraélors and other men of bufinefs, by that opinion which they have circulated every where, and which is indeed but too well grounded, that in France this is almoft the only method of arriving at the higheft honours, and firfl: employments of the ftate, in the poffeffion of which all is forgot, and to the attainment all is permitted. To go to the fource, military virtue is almoft the only quality by which true nobility can, in France, be obtained, preferved, or dignified : * Otherwife called the royal chamber : of the chambers of juftice, he requires» it confifted of a prefident of the parliament that they {hoiild not confine their proceed- of Paris, two counfellors, two mafters of ings to pecuniary mulds only, but join to requell, a prefident and four counfellors of thefe corporal punifliments. And he feems the chamber of accounts, a prefident and to me to have ftill greater reafon, when, three counfellors of the court of aids, and in the fequel, he advifes to fupprefs this one of the general advocates of theparlia- method as abfolutely ufelefs ; and entirely ment, &c. Commiffioncrs were fent into abolifh, in France, the ufage of compofi- the provinces, to give them informations tions in farming the finances : and this is of fuch as were guilty of any malverfations. likewife the opinion of cardinal Richelieu. t The duke of Sully feems to me to Teflament Polit, part I. ch, iv. § 5. reafon juflly, when, infuppofing the utility and Book XII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. and in this pradlice there will be found no prejudice or empty opi- nion, ifit be confidered, that precedence muft naturally be granted to that rank, by which all other clafTes of the community are preferved and fupported in that fecurity without which there can be no pro- perty : but this ftate of life is not the way to a great fortune ; this fimplicity and feparation from lucrative purpofes fliew the antiquity and purity of the firfl: inftitution. By bravery nothing but honours could be got, becaufe in thofe times honour was the only reward of glo- rious actions : in later days, fince the notions of mankind are changed, and every thing is rated by the money which it brings, this generous body of nobility is brought in comparifon with the managers of the revenue, the officers of juftice, and the drudges of bufinefs. But this comparifon terminates in an univerfal agreement, to pay to thefe gather- ers of money that refpecSl which muft always be (hewn to thofe who are polfefted of power, and are, in fadl, our fuperiors, an advantage which the former have loft *. And, indeed, how fhould it be other- 6i i6o] * The fame cardinal Richelieu com- plains of this abufe, and propofcs a remedy for it, according to the duke of Sully's fchemc. " Gentlemeii, fays he, cannot " be promoted to places of truft and dig- " nity, but at the expence of their ruin ; " for at prefent all forts of people are ad- " mitted to them through the infamous " traffic carried on by means of money. " Fcr the future, all perfons fhould be " excluded from thofe pofts, but thofe that " have the good fortune to be of noble " birth." This minifter concludes, in another place, after M. de Sully, " That " the means of continuing the nobility in " that purity of manners which they derive " from their anceftors (thefe are his words) " is to retrench that luxury and intolerable " expence which have been gradually in- " troduced." Part I. ch. iii. § i. lîow- ever, the impartiality which I profefs ob- liges me to agree, that the notions of the duke of Sully are overflrained ; and that in this pafTace there is a little of what may be called invective and idle declamation. I anticipate a remark, which we fhall have occafion to make in what follows, and that is, the alterations which have happened in 'the political ftate of Europe from different conjunftures, and elpecially from the fpirit of commerce, v.'hich at this day feems to animate it, have obliged ftates to recede a little from thefe old maxims which relate to luxury and expence ; and therefore what follows feems to me to be the moft reafon- able method upon the whole. It is true, that that profeffion which' has for its end the defence of the ftate, ought to be in the pofTeffion of its principal dignities ; or, which is much to the fame purpofe, all man- ner of regard, honour, and refpei^t, fhould be paid to them. The duke of Sully has there- fore good reafon lo obferve, that of all the profeflions this has moft to fear from luxury and effeminacy. Hence that reludance officers fhew to refide with their regiments : and that averfion of the young nobility to a ftudy, which ought entirely to engage their attention. Hence that Àfiatic pomp of high living, and thofe exceffive pleafures into which armies are ufually plunged. Hence it follows, that foldiers, who from their youth have been only habituated to debauchery, are unable to undergo the fa- tigues and inconveniences of a campaign. And, laftly, we will farther agree with AI. de Sully, that theabufes accruing from un- equal marriages, are at this day carried to an almoft fhameful height ; and that, in general, we have too much ncg!e(5led a piece of policy, which has always been locked upon, and that with very good rea- wife> 6s: MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL 1601. wife, when we fee the nobility of the fame mind, with regard to this point, as the meaneft of the people, and making no fcruple to mingle the moll illuftrious blood in a fliameful alliance with a dirty pedlar, who knows nothing but the change, his fliop, his counter, and his knavery ? This abufe is necefl'arily produiftiveof two others, confulion of ranks, and degeneracy of families ; which laft is better proved by experience than argument. We need only take a view of that great number of mongril gentry with which the court and city is filled, and we fliall find them wholly deltitute of the plain and manly virtue of their anceftors; no depth of thought, no folidity of judgment, rafh, inconfiderate, a ftrong paihon for play, a natural propenfity to diffo- lutenefs, a folicitude fordrefs, and vitiated tafle in every kind of luxu- ry j that one would imagine they thought to exceed even the women in the effeminacy of their manners : yet thefe people engage in the army, but with fiich difpofitions, to which is often added a fecret contempt for the profeflion they embrace, what can be expelled from them ? This fubverfion of all order is indeed to be lamented, but is inevitable, while that profeffion, which has only glory for its objed:, is not exalted to the highefl rank, and dignified with the chiefeft fon, as one of the principal foundations of the fl:rength of a flrate, a flrift attention in making matrimony be honoured and re- fpcâed. But after all thefe conceffions, we nnifl: likewife agree, that one of the chief cares of a fovereign being to maintain and ftrcngthen unanimity between his fubjedls, by banifhing jealoufies from among the different ranks, and the mutual animoil- ties of the feveral orders towards each other, and war not being, as formerly, the true, and even the only means, of rendering a kingdom flourifhing, the greateft part of the maxims laid down with this view are unfupported. Would it not be much fitter to oblige the numerous families to divide themfelvcs equally among the different em- ployments in the army, the navy, the church, and commerce, and to permit the nobility to engage in trade, as a means ■without which it will henceforth be impof- fible for the great families to fupport them- felves ? We will refume the handling this fubje(5l pretty often ; but it is certain, in general, that a moderate degree of atten- tion is fufficient to make it plain, that the maxims of government, as to politics and commerce, Ihould not at prefent be abfo- lutely the fame as they were a thoufand years ago. It may be imagined, that as to the alterations necefTary to be made in all thefe refpefts, we could not do better than rely upon the various conjunctures, and the natural difpofitions, which render all man- kind fo clear-fighted with regard to their own intereft and welfare. However, a fa- tal experience has but too well taught us, how dangerous it is to leave to the giddy multitude the choice of the means how to arrive at it. Of thefe alterations there are fome which ought to accompany, or follov/, and be naturally fubordinate to, each other; a thing which the rabble can neither dif- cern nor relifh. There is in every thing excefs or abufe which they can neitiier forefee nor prevent. And this is the great point in the art of government, an art which requires continual application and atten- tion. The hand of the pilot is not necef- fary to bear up the veffel upon the waves ; but without it, file will in the end be dafhed againft rocks, or at leaft never be able to reach her wiflied for port. honours. Book XIL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. honours, which, for that purpofe, ought to be taken from the upftarts of fortune; and fince the infamy which we fliould find thefe creatures of chance ftained with, if we took pains to examine them, is not fuffi- cient to draw cur contempt, it is necelTary they Ihould be branded with pubUc marks of difgrace, to fignify the rank they ought to hold. The king was convinced by the juflnefs of this reafoning. How- ever, in this chamber of julHce, the fame thing happened that gene- rally does : the little rogues paid for all the reft ; the principal delin- quents found their fecurity in that very metal for which they were profecuted ; they made ufe of a fmall part of it in prefents, which faved' the other. This qualifying would not have prevailed with the king' had it been employed direcflly ; but it found acceptance with the ladies of the court, and even with the queen herfelf ; they gained the con- ftable, Bouillon, Bellegarde, Roquelaure, Souvré, Frontenac, and fome others, who, though not of this high clafs, knew as well how to work upon the king's inclinations ; fuch were Zamet, La Varenne, Gondy, Boneuil, Conchini, and many more of that fort. The complaifance of this prince for all thofe whom he fufFered to live- in fome degree of familiarity with him, and efpecially for ladies, def- troyedall his wife refolutions,fo that the ftorm fell only upon thofe that had reafon to reproach themfelves with not having yet ftolen enough to put their thefts in fecurity. The retrenching of part of thofe of- ficers of all ranks, with which the bar and the finances abounded, and which was done at this time, was looked upon as the work of the chamber of juftice. The great number of thofe officers, as well as their extreme licentioufnefs, are indubitable teftimonies of the calami- ties that are introduced into a ftate, and the forerunners of its ruin. In May the king and queen had the devotion to celebrate the ju-- bilee at Orleans. 1 attended their majefties as far as half a league be- yond Fontainebleau, from whence they proceeded that evening to Puifeaux. Ltook. advantage of this little vacation, to vifit the lands of Baugy, which had been juil awarded to me by a decree, for the great fums which were due to me from thefe lands, and upon which I began to build immediately with the confifcated money I have lately men- tioned. I was flopped within two leagues from the place where I in- tended to lie, by a courier from his majefty, who called out to me- while I was yet a great way before him. Ke brought me a letter' from the king which contained only thefe few words. " I gave • "you fix days for your journey to Baugy,, but I have received- " letters- 64 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XÏÏ. 1 60 1. " letters of great confequence from Buzenval, which I want to fliew you ; you will oblige me if you will come and lie to-night here at " Puifeaux, whither you need bring no necefl'aries. I have given " orders for your lodging, and fent thither my hunting-bed, and have " ordered Coquet to get your fiippcr ready, and your breakfaft in the " morning, for I will detain you no longer. Adieu, my beloved friend." 1 WISHED my wife, who accompanied me, a good night, and, taking with me only two gentleman, a page, and a valet de chambre, and one groom, I turned back to Puifeaux, where I found the king, who was amufing himfelf with feeing the youth of his train wreftle and leap in the court-yard of the priory. As foon as he law me, he called Pafquier, who had been fent to him by Villeroi with Buzenval's letters, which informed the king that prince Maurice had taken the field with his army, which he had increafed with garrifons drawn out of their quarters, and efcorted by two thoufand waggons : that, with this armv, he intended (as Buzenval had learned from the prince of Orange's officers, and from the prince himfelf) to crofs Brabant, the county of Liege, Hainault, and Artois, to gain by it the rivers along the frontiers of France, from whence he expeéled affiftance, and bring the war to the neighbourhood of Gravelines, Berque-Saint-Vinox, Dunkirk, and Nieuport; that the archduke, greatly inferior to the prince of Orange, not having yet received the troops which he ex- peded from Italy and Germany, beheld thofe preparations with aftonifhment, and duril not oppole his march, but that he contented himfelf with being near him, that he might oblige him to keep in a narrow compafs, and that while he obftiufted him he might be him- felf near the place where he perceived the florm would fall ; that, finding this ftep, which had been communicated to him, of great importance, he thought it was neceffary to inform the king of it. The knowledge I had of the Low Countries made this defign of the prince of Orange appear to me fo dangerous, that I thought it likely to draw upon him a total defeat. He would be obliged to march a great way within view of the enemy and upon their frontiers, through countries fo full of woods, hedges, and hollow ways, particularly in Liégois, that I thought them impafiable for fuch a number of waggons; and the king was of the fame opinion. After we had conferred toge- ther a long time, he refolved to fend prince Maurice his fentiments of it, and I refumed my route to Baugy, in which I vifited the lands of Sully, that I had a defign of purchafing, and did fo accordingly the following Book XÎÎ. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. following year. The king continued his pilgrimage to Orleans, and i6o( laid there the firft ftone for the rebuilding the church of the Holy <-^ ^ Crofs : he afterwards returned to Paris, to which place I had come three days before' his majefty. Henry's letters changed the defign of NafTau ; he befieged Rhim- On the berg, and took it on the tenth of June. The archduke Albert, in ^'^'"<=- revenge, inverted Oftend on * the fifth of July. Maurice, on his fide, laid liege to Bolduc, either to force the archduke to abandon his en- terprize, or to indemnify himfelf by the redudlion of this place, which was looked upon to be the moft important fortreis in Brabant, I Vi^as ilill of opinion that he would do neither; and when li.e king fent for me to hear my fentiments of it in the prefence of the courtiers who .were by when the pacquet which brought the news was opened, and who all fpoke differently of it, I faid that, although I was very young when I had vifited Bolduc, I had neverthelefs preferved the remem- brance of the place ; and, that not to mention its fituation, which rendered the fiege of it a work of immenfe labour, it feemed to me impofiible, conlidering the extent of the place and the great number of its citizens, to furround it in fuch a manner as to hinder anyone from going in or out, at leaft without an army of twenty-five thou- fand men. In effeâ, the prince of Orange failed in his attempt upon Bolduc : but all this did not happen till November. The war breaking out fo near our frontiers, made Henry refolve to go to Calais, as if he had no other defign but to vifit that country. Although he always fufpefted the Spaniards, he was not apprehenfive, in the prefent ftate of the affairs of that crown, that they would be prevailed on to break the peace : but he was not difpleafed at having an opportunity to give them a little uneafinefs, in revenge for the daily occafions of difcontent which he received from them. They aâed, indeed, in a manner fufficient to have obliged his majeily to do fome- thing more, had not policy prevailed over refentment. After many fruitlefs attempts to break the alliance between the Swifs cantons and France, ftnd to hinder the pope from acfling as arbitrator in the difpute about the marquifate of Saluées, becaufe his holinefs could not difpenfe with himlelf from giving judgment againfl the duke of Savoy, they had fent troops to that prince in the laft campaign, under the com- * It will be often mentioned ; thisfiege, three years ; but for a minute detail of in which many brave adtions were per- them confult M. De Thou, Le Septen- formeJ on both fides, having laftcd above naire, and other hiftoriaiis. Vol. II. K- mand MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL mand of the count de Fuantes. Their continued intrigues with maré- chal Biron, Bouillon, D'Auvergne, the prince of Joinville, were publickly known. Biron himfelf had confeffed it to his majefty : and laftly, the king, at his return from Orleans, received certain intelli- gence of their pradlices with the cities of Metz, Marfeilles, and Bayonne. At all this his majefty diflembled his difpleafure j but nothing pro- voked him againft that crown fo much, as the outrage which La Rochepot* , our ambaffador at Madrid, his nephew, and his whole train had received from that court. La Rochepot gave an account of it in his letters, " I fwear by heaven," faid Henry tranfported with rage, " that, if I can but once fee my affairs in order, and get a fuffi- " cient fupply of money, and whatever elfe is neceflary, I will make " fo furious a war upon them, that they fliall repent of having obliged " me to take arms." However, he ftill fhut his eyes upon fo gla- ring a violation of the rights of nations, but it was not without doing great violence to his inclinations. " I fee plainly," faid this prince to me fometimes, " that through emulation, jealoufy, and intereft of " ftate, France and Spain can never be on friendly terms with each " other, and that a proper fecurity againft that crown mull: have fome *' other foundation than words." He was fufliciently convinced of the error in Villeroi and Sillery's policy, who often, in his prefence, maintained againft me, that a ftridt union with Spain was not only neither impoflible nor dangerous for France, butlikewife the moft rea- fonable fyftem of politics that ought to be embraced. To their 3.rgu-r ments I oppofed that competition fo natural to thefe two crowns, the opposition of their interefts, and the remembrance of fo many recent injuries ; and I concluded that, with a neighbour fo artful and unjuft, the neceffarymeafures to be taken were to hold them always fufpedled, and to be always prepared for defence. The laft news that came from Madrid gave me, for this time, the advantage over my opponents, at leaft in the king's opinion, who hefitated no longer about going to . * Antony de Silly, count de la Roche- and thence dragged his nephew to prifon, pot. His nephew happening to bathe him- with others of his aflbciates that had taken i'elf with fome French gentlemen, was ia- {helter there. This difference was com- fulted by fome Spaniards, who flung his promifed by the pope, who caufed the pri- cloaths, and thofe of his companions into foners to be fent to him to Rome, and dsli- the river. Thefe revenged themfclves for vered them to the count de Bethune, brother the affront by killing and wounding fome of to M. de Sully, ambaffador of France at the Spaniards; thofe that fled foon after re- that court. See the above mentioned hif- turncd to forcc.openthc ambafTudor's houfe, torians for the year i6oi. Oftend, BoaK XII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 67 Oilend, after he had difmified two celebrated embaffies, which he i6or. received about this time. One of thefe embaffies was from the grand feignior, who, know- ing that the fophy of Perfia his enemy had fent a folemn deputation to the pope, the emperor, and the king of Spain, without taking any notice of the king of France, againft whom he feemed to make an overture of his affillance at the fame time that he alked for theirs, he was returning one adl for another. His highnefs, on this otcafion, made ufe of his phyfician, who * was a chriftian, and inverted him with the dignity of his ambaflador. The terms in which this haughty potentate expreiTed himfelf, with regard to the French -f-, difcovered a diftindion and refped:, of which there are few examples ; he fet a higher value, he faid, upon the friendship and arms of the French, than of all the other chriftian nations together; and that although they fliould all unite with Perfia againft him, he fliould think himfelf in a condition to defpife their attempts, as foon as he had fecured the al- liance and affiftance of a king, whofe fuperiority over all his neighbours, as well as his great perfonal qualities, he appeared not to be ignorant of. The Turkifti ambaflador prefented his majefty with feveral rich prefents, and gave me two fcymetars of exquifite workmanftiip, which I keep with great care. The other ambaflador was from the republic of Venice. This ftate had been a long time, by a particular alliance often renewed, and by their common intereft, united with France againft the Spanifli power : it had been amongft the firft in complimenting his moft chriftian ma- jefty upon his marriage and the peace, by the fieurs Gradenigo and Del- fin, the laft of whom was likewife in this embafly. Henry was de- firous that thefe ambafladors fhould be received with the utmoft dif- tiniftion in Paris. He ordered them to be ferved with his own plate, and loaded them with prefents of equal value with thofe he gave the firft. The letters he then wrote to me turned almoft wholly upon * Bartholemew Cœur, a renegado of faith of Jefus . . . the compofer of the dif- Marfeilles. He demanded of the king that ferences that happen between chriftian the duke of A'Ieicœur fhould be recalled potentates, prince of grandeur, majefty, and from Hungar}', becaufe, among the pro- opulence, and the glorious leader of the phefies which the Turks believe, there is greateft fubjedls, Henry the IVth emperor one, they fay, that the French fhall drive of France ; fuch were the titles which his the Turks out of Europe. highnefs gave the king. MSS. de la Bib- t To the moft glorious, moft magnani- liuth. de Roi. vol. 9592. mous, and moft illuftrious prince of the K 2 this 68 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XIL 1 60 1, this head, for he was then at Fontainebleau with the queen, who was ' V— ' far advanced in her pregnancy, upon which account the king could not come immediately to Paris, and ftill lefs the queen who had fo great a concern in this einbajjy. His majefty {hewed fo much refped: for the Venetian ambafladors, as not to fuffer them to wait for his re- turn to Paris, but let them know that he would receive them at Fon- tainebleau, to which place his coaches and equipages attended them. The archdukes could not fail to fufpedl, that the king, by marching towards Calais, would endeavour to obftruél their defigns upon Oftend, by way of reprifal for the ill treatment La Rochepot had received. In order to difcover the purport of this journey, they deputed to him the count of Solre in the quality of ambaffador, under a pretence of mak- ing him the fame compliments on the queen's pregnancy which he re- ceived from all parts; enjoining this ambaffador to infinuate a com- plaint of his journey, by which Solre gave a fair opportunity to the king, who, inflead of iatisfying him as to the occafion of his com- plaints, made, in his turn, very heavy ones againft Spain, affuriiig him however, but in a general manner, that he would not be the firfl to come to a rupture, provided that the Spaniards did not force him to it by continuing their unfair proceedings. With this promife the am- baffador pretended to be fatisfied. The queen of England hearing the king was at Calais, thought it a favourable opportunity to fatisfy her impatience of feeing and em- bracing her bcrt friend. Henry was not lefs deffrous of this interview, that he might confer with the queen upon the affairs of Europe in general, as well as on their own in particular, efpecially thofe which had been jufl: hinted to him by the Englifli and Dutch ambaffadors when he was at Nantz. Elizabeth firft wrote him a letter equally polite and full of offers of fervice ; fhe afterv/ards made him the ufual compli- ments, and repeated thofe affurances by the lord Edmund, whom ilie difpatched to Calais, till fhe herfelf could arrive at Dover, from whence fhe fen t the lord Sidney with other letters. Henry refolving riot to be outdone in complaifance, anfwered thefe advances in a manner that fliewed at once his refpedl for the fex of Eli- zabeth, and his efteem and admiration of her charadler. This inter- courfe continued a long time, to the great mortification of the Spa- niards, whofe jealoufy was ftrongly excited by proximity and clofe correfpondence. Of all the letters wrote by thefe two fovereigns on this occafion, I am pofleffed only of that in which Elizabeth informs the Book XIÏ. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. the king of thofe obflacles that prevented her conferring with him in perfon, lamenting the unhappinefs of princes, who, contrary to their inclinations, were flaves to forms and fettered by circumfpedlion. This letter "*, becaufe it was the occafion of the voyage I made to this prin- cefs, I have kept in my hands ; in it (he tells her mofl dear and well beloved brother (for fo (he called the king of France) that her concern at not being able to fee him was fo much the greater, as (he had fome- thing to communicate to him which flie durft not confide to any other perfon or commit to paper, and yet thatfhe was upon the point of returning to London. The king's curiofity v/as ftrongly excited by thefe lafl: words ; in vain did he torture his imagination to guefs their purport. Secretary Feret being fent by him to fetch me, " I have juft now received let- " ters," faid he to me, " from my good fifter the queen of England, *' whom vou admire fo greatly ; they are fuller of civilities than '* ever : fee if you will have more fuccefs than I have had in difcover- " ing her meaning." I agreed with Henry that it mufl: be fomething of great confequence which induced her to exprefs herfelf in this man- ner; it was refolved therefore, that I fliould embark the next day for Dover, as if with no other defign than to take advantage of the fliort- nefs of the paflage to make a tour to London, which would give me an opportunity of feeing what ftep the queen would take upon my arri- val, neither the king nor I doubting but that (he would be immediately * This letter, and this whole relation of fufpefted the true motive for propofing this the duke of Sully's concerning Henry the interview, which was the occafion of all IVth's journey to Calais, and Elizabeth's thefe letters that palTed between them, and to Dover, appear fufficient, without any caufed the duke of Sully to make the fecret other refleiftions, to fhew the error of all voyage to Dover, of which he here gives thofe various judgments current at that an account. Siri, on this occafion, builds time, and which have been mentioned by upon the refentment which he fiippofes different hiftorians concerning thefe two Elizabeth always preferved, both of the potentates. It was faid Elizabeth propofed peace of Vervins and the furrender of Ca- to Henry, either that he fhould come to lais, as well as her fear left: Henry fhould Dover, or at leaft confer with her in a aggrandife himfelf too much, and on the velTel half way between thefe two towns, jealoufy which the Englifh entertained of and that this propofal concealed a fnare in the French. Mem. Recond. vol. I. p. 130, which Elizabeth hoped to entrap Henry, by 150, &c. But this writer, fo well ac- feizing upon his perfon in the interview, and quainted with foreign negotiations, efpe- keeping him piifoner till he reftored Calais, cially thofe of Italy and Spain, is not right, and that Henry excufed himfelf from com- neither in the faiSs nor the opinions which plying with her re'quefi:, only becaufe he he produces concerning the interior of our fufpedtcd the defign; others fay, becaufe court and councils under the reign of Hen- his fears of the fea were fo great, that he ry the IVth. He knew neither this prince durft not venture into a vefl'cl. No one nor the duke of Sully. informed MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL informed of it. I acquainted no one with my intended pafTage, but fuch of my domeftics as were to attend me, and of thefe I took but a very fmall number. 1 EMBARKED early in the morning, and reached Dover about ten o'clock, where, among the crowd of thofe who embarked and difem- barked, I was immediately difcovered by the lord Sidney, who five or fix days before had feen me at Calais : with him were Cobham, Ra- leigh, and Griffin, and they were foon after joined by the earls of De- vonfliire and Pembroke. Sidney embraced me, and afked me if I was come to fee the queen ; I told him I was not, and even affured him that the king knew nothing of my voyage : I likewife entreated him not to mention it to the queen, for not having had any intention of paying my refpefts to her I had no letter to prefent, my defign being only to make a fliort tour incognito to London. Thefe gentlemen re- plied fmiling, that I had taken a ufelefs precaution, for that probably the guardfliip had already given a fignal of my arrival, and that I might quickly expecft to fee a meiïenger from the queen, v.ho would not fufFer me to pafs in this manner, having but three days ago fpoke of me publicly and in very obliging terms. I affedted to be extremely concerned at this unlucky accident, but to hope neverthelefs, that I might ftill pafs undifcovered, provided that thefe gentlemen would be fecret as to the place where I was to lodge ; from whence, I aflured them, I would immdiately depart as foon as I had taken a little refrefh- ment: faying this I left them abruptly, and had but juft entered my apartment, and fpoke a few words to my people, when I felt fome- body embrace me from behind, who told me, that he arrefted me as a prifoner to the queen. This was the captain of her guards, whofe embrace T returned, and replied fmiling, that I fliould efteem fuch imprifonment a great honour. His orders were to condu(fl me direftly to the queen j I therefore followed him. " It is well, M. de Rofny," faid this princefs to me as foon as I appeared, *' And do you break our fences thus, and pafs '* on without coming to fee me; I am greatly furprifed at it, for I •' thought you bore me more affedion than any of my fervants, and I " am perfuaded that I have given you no caufe to change thofe fenti- " ments." I replied in few words, but fuch as fo gracious a reception required. After which I began, without any difguife, to entertain her with thofe fentiments the king my mafter had for her. *' To give you '*' a proof," replied fhe, " that I believe all you have told me of the good- Book XIL MEMOIRS OF S U L L Y. " gôod-wlllof the king my brother, and of your own, I will difcourfe " with you on the fuhjcél of the laft letter I wrote to him; though " perhaps you have feen it, for Stafford (that is the name of the lord •' Sidney) and Edmund tell me, that the king conceals few of his fe- " cretsfrom you." She then drew me alide, that (he. miglit fpeak t» me with the greateft freedom, on the prefent ftate of affairs in Europe ; and this flie did with fuch ftrength and clearnefs, beginning from the treaty of Vervins, that I was convinced this great queen was truly worthy of that high reputation (he had acquired in Europe. She en- tered into this detail, only toiliew me how neceflary it was that the king of France fliould, in concert with her, begin to execute thofe great defigns which they both meditated againft the houfe of Auftria. The neceffity of this flie founded upon the acceffions this houfe was daily feen to make : fhe repeated to me all that had palled on this fubjeét in 1598, between the king and the Englifli and Dutch ambaf- fadors, and afked me if this prince did not ftill continue to have the fame fentiments, and why he fo long delayed to begin the enterprize.y To thefe queftions of queen Elizabeth, I anfwered. That his mofl chriftian maieftyll:ill continued to think of that affiiir as he always had done : that the men and money he was railing, and the other warlike preparations he was making, were deftined to no other purpofe than the execution of the concerted plan; but that in France things were far from being in fuch a ftate, as to enable him to undertake the de- ftruftion of a power fo folidly eftablifhed as that of the Auftrian princes. This I proved, by the extraordinary expences Henry had been at fince the peace of Vervins, as well for the general neceffities of his king- dom, as to reftrain the attempts of the feditious, and to carry on the war which he had juft ended with Savoy. I did not diffemble with thi-s princefs the opinion I had always entertained of this enterprize, which is, that though England and the United Provinces fhould ufe their utmoft endeavours to reduce the houfe of Auflria, unlefs they were affifted by all the forces of the French monarchy, and on whom, for many reafons, the chief weight of this war muft fall, the houfe of Aullria, by uniting the forces of its two branches, might, without any difficulty, not only fupport itfelf againft them, but even render the balance equal; it would therefore be uielefs, and even an impru- dent attempt, to endeavour to fap the foundations of fo formidable a power, by the fame means only that ferve merely to keep upon the defenfive with it : and it would be indifpenfibly neceflary to defer the attempt for fome years, during which, France would acquire all Ihe now- 72 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XII. 1 60 1, now wanted, to enable her to flrike more effeâiually the blow that was preparing for the common enemy; and would, in conjundlion with her allies, endeavour to engage the neighbouring princes and ftates in their defign, the princes of Germany efpecially, who were more immediately threatened by the tyranny of the houfe of Auflria. It was eafy for the queen of England to comprehend, by the man- ner in which I exprefled myfelf, that thefe were not fo much my own as Henry's fentiments which I communicated to her, and (he gave me to underftand as much, by confeffing, that they appeared fo jufl and reafonable to her, that fhe could not avoid adopting them : adding only, that there was one point on which all the parties could not be too foon agreed, which was, that the ultimate view of the intended combination being to confine the power of the houfe of Auftria within iuft bounds, it would be neceflary that each of the allies fhould {b proportion all his defires or expeftations which he might conceive in confequence of the event, as that none of them might be capable of giving umbrage to the reft : fuppofing, for example, that Spain fliould be deprived of the Low Countries, neither the whole nor any part of this ftate was to be coveted, either by the king of France, or the kins of Scotland, who would one day become fo of Great Britain, nor yet by the kings of Sweden and Denmark, already fufficiently power- ful by fea and land to make themfelves refpedled by the other allies ; and that the fame condu(5l ought to be obferved with regard to all the other fpoils that might be taken from the houfe of Auftria by thofe princes whofe dominions fliould happen to be neareft to the conquered countries j " For if my brother, the king of France, faid fhe, fliould ** think of making himfelf proprietor, or even only féodal lord of the *' United Provinces, I fliould never confent to it, but entertain a moft " violent jealoufy of him ; nor fliould I blame him, if, giving him " the fame occalion, he fliould have the fame fears of me." These were not the only refledions made by the queen of Eng- land ; flie faid many other things, which appeared to me fo juft and fenfible, that I was filled with aftonifliment and admiration. It is net unufual to behold princes form great defign s ; their fphere of adion fo forcibly inclines them to this, that it is only neceflary to warn them of the extreme, which is, the projefting what their powers are fo little proportioned to perform, that they fcarce ever find themfelves able to execute the half of what they propofed ; but to be able to diftinguifli and form only fuch as are reafonable j wifely to regulate the conduâ: of Book XII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. of them; to forefee and guard againfl: all obftacles in fuch a manner, that when they happen, nothing more will be neceflary, than to ap- ply the remedies prepared long before. This is what few princes are capable of. Ignorance, profperity, luxury, vanity, nay, even fear and indolence, daily produce fchemes, to execute which there is not the leaft poflîbility. Another caufe of furprize to me was, that Elizabeth and Henry, having never conferred together on their political projeâ:, fliould agree fo exaâly in all their ideas, as not to diifer even in the mofl minute particulars. The queen obferving my eyes were attentively fixed on her with- out fpeaking, imagined flie had expreffed herfelf fo confufedly in fomething fhe had faid, that I was unable to comprehend her mean- ing. But when I ingenuoufly confefled to her the true caufe of my filence and furprize, flie then, without fcruple, entered into the mofl: minute parts of the defign : but as I fhall have an ample occafion to treat of this, in relating the great fchemes which were prevented by the untimely death of Henry IV. I fliall not trouble the reader with ufelefs repetitions ; but in this place jull fhew the five principal points to which her majefty reduced fo extenfive a fcheme, as from the fequel of thefe Memoirs this will appear to have been. The firil: was, to reft ore Germany to its antient liberty, in relpedt to the eledtion of its emperors, and the nomination of a king of the Romans. The fécond, to render the United Provinces abfolutely independent of Spain ; and to form them into a republic, by annexing to them, if necefl^ary, fome provinces difmembered from Germany. The third, to do the fame in regard to Switzerland, by incorporating with it fome of the ad- jacent provinces, particularly Alface and Franche-Compte. The fourth, to divide all Chriftendom into a certain number of powers, as equal as may be. The fifth, to reduce all the various religions in it under thofe three which (hould appear to be moft numerous and confiderable in Europe. Our conference was very long : I cannot befl:ow praifes upon the queen of England that would be equal to the merit which I difcovered in her in this fhort time, both as to the qualities of the heart and the underftanding. I gave an exadl relation of every thing that paft!ed betv/een us to the king, who very highly approved all fhe had faid to me. Their majeflies correfponded by letters, during the reft of the time they flayed at Dover and Calais. All preliminaries were agreed on ; meafures were taken even on the grand objedl of the defign, but Vol. II. L with MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL with fuch fecrecy, that the whole of this affair remained to the death of the king, and even much longer, among the number of thofe in which only various and uncertain conjedures are formed. The king did not return to Paris till he had carefully examined all the fortreffes upon his frontier, and provided for their fecurity : in every other refpedl, he appeared an indifferent fpetflator of the quarrel between the Spaniards and the Flemilh : and all he did in favour of Offend, the fiege of which was ftill continued, was not to hinder fome French from engaging in the fervice of the prince of Orange, in which feveral of them lofl their lives ; amongft thefe, the death of young * Chatillon-Coligny, whofe head was fliot off by a cannon-ball before Oflend, deferved to be particularly lamented. The king, when he was told it, faid publicly, that France had loff a man of great merit : myfelf, in particular, was fenlibly afflitled at his death. Coligny, at an early age, had already united almoft all the qualities that form a foldier; valour, moderation, prudence, judgment, and the art of making himfelf equally beloved by the foldier and officer. But Coligny was a proteflantj and the jealoufy of the courtiers foon converted all thefe virtues into fo many crimes, in the opinion of the king; they told his majefly, that Coligny already afpired to the diftindlion of being head of the proteftants, both within and without the kingdom, to which he was folicited by the duke of Bouillon ; that he delired nothing with fo much ardour as to equal, or even to fur- pafs, the adtions of his father and grandfather ; and had been heard to declare, that he ffiould not regret the lofs of life, if he had the fa- tisfadlion to lofe it at the head of an army, fighting for the preferva- tion of his friends. His affecflion for the foldiers was treated as an artful and dangerous artifice. They hinted to the king, that he had already raifed a jealoufy in the prince of Orange j and that his ma- jefty" would one day have reafon to fear a flioot from a flock that had given fo much trouble to our kings. Henry was fo far influenced by thèfe infinuations, that when I went to alk fome favours of him for the mother and brother of Coligny, he dwelt continually upon what he had heard, and had given but too much credit to, and appeared * Henry de Coligny, lord of Chatillon, tillon Coligny came originally from Savoy, fon to Francis, and grandfon to the admi- of a very noble and antient Uneage, as he ral de Coligny : he carried to the afliftance fays, and who were formerly fovereign of Oftend a regiment of 800 French. Ac- princes, and very powerful. Tom. Ill, cording to Biantome, the houfe of Cha- p. 173. to Book XIL M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 75 to me not only full of indifference for the death of Coligny, but aUb 1601 . fo greatly prejudiced againft the whole family, that I defifted from ' r~—> a folicitation which could not but be prejudicial to myfelf, my con- nections and conformity of religion with the deceafed confidered. The king, at his return to Fontainebleau, had the pleafure to find the queen in as good a flate of health as he left her. He was feldom from her during her pregnancy, and took all poflible care of her hçalth*. In a letter he wrote to me fome days before the queen lay in, he fays, " Bring no people of bufinefs with you at this time, " no mention mud be made of it during the firfl: week of my wife's *' lying in ; we fliall have fufficient employment to hinder her from " getting cold." At length, the moment that was to fill the king, the queen, and the whole kingdom with joy, arrived ; the queen was, on the 17th of September -j-, delivered of a fon, whofe firong health, as well as the queen's, filled the kingdom with the moft agreeable hopes :{:. I believe I may venture to affirm, that this incident gave me more joy than any one elfe. I was attached to the king's perfon by the moft tender ties of afiedlion, an afi'edtion which I felt in a higher degree than the mofl faithful of his fubjedls, and was therefore more interefted in his happinefs. He was fo well convinced of this truth, that he did me the honour to give me notice of the birth of his fon in a billet, which, at ten o'clock at night, he fent from Fontainebleau to Paris, where I then was ; it contained only thefe few words : " The *' queen is juft delivered of a fon ; I fend you the news, that you may " rejoice with me." Befides this billet, which he wrote as to a friend, he fent me another the next morning by La-Varenne, as grand mafter of the ordnance ; he there mentioned the birth of the Dauphin as an * " We read," Hiys Bayle, in the Rep. " broke its conftitution. The king,- im- deLett. for January, 1686, " that Henry " ploring the bleffing of heaven upon the *' recommended to Louifii Bourgeois, a very "infant, gave him alfo his own benedic- " fkilful midwife, who laid the queen, to " tion, and put his fword into his hand, " perform her office fo carefully, as that " praying God, that he would be pleafed " there might be no occafion for employ- " to give him grace to make ufe of it only " ing a man-midwife. Since this, added " for his glory, and the defence of his " he, would (hock female modefty." " people." A'latthieu fpeaks in the very t On Thurfday night, about midnight, fame terms : "Mydeareft, fays he to the X Perefixe fays, on the contrary, " That " queen, be of good cheer, for God has " the labour was very difficult, and the " granted us what we wanted." This _ " child fo much fatigued, that it was quite writer adds, that a fhock of an earthquake *' purple when it was born, which pro- wasfelttwohoursaftermidnight.Tom.il. *' bably inipaired its vital principles, and 1. iii. p. 4^1. L 2 occafion MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL. occafion of inexpreffible delight to him, " Not fo much, faid he, for " the near concern I have in this incident, as for the general good of *' my fubjedls." He ordered me to fire the cannon of the arfenal ; which was performed in fiich a manner, that the report was heard even at Fontainebleau. On this occaiion it was not neceffary to order public rejoicings : all his majefty's lubjedts, from the firft to the meaneil, concurred in giving demonilrations of it, in which fear and policy had no part. The king's fatlsfadlion was only interrupted by a flight indifpofi- tion, which he had drawn upon himfelf. La- Riviere -^ was his firil phyfician, a man who had little more religion than thofe generally have that blend it with the profelTion of judicial aftrology ; yet the world did him the honour to iuppofe, that he concealed the principles of a proteftant under the appearance of a catholic. Henry, who al- ready felt a tendernefs for his fon, that filled him with an eager anxiety to know his fate, having heard that La-Riviere had often fucceeded wonderfully in his prédirions, commanded him to calculate the Dauphin's nativity with all tlie ceremonies of his art ; and that the exadt moment of his birth might be known, had carefully fought for the moft excellent watch that could be procured. It appeared, that the king thought no more of this defign till about a fortnight after, when he and I being alone together, the converfation turned upon the pre- didtions of La-Brofle, which I have formerly mentioned, concerning his majefly and me, which we had found fo exaâly accompliflied. Henry's inclination to make the experiment with his fon receiving new ftrength by this difcourfe, he ordered La-Riviere to be fent for. The phyfician, without taking any notice of it, had proceeded in his work. " M. de La-Riviere, faid the king to him, we have been *' talking of aftrology; what have you difcovered concerning my fon ?" " I had begun my calculations, replied La-Riviere, but I left them " unfiniflied, not caring any longer to amufe myfelf with a fcience " which I have always believed to be in fome degree criminal." The king immediately difcovered that this anfwer was not fincere, and that he concealed his thoughts, either through an apprehenfion of offend- ing his majefty, or from an efFeél of ill-humour, whim, or the cau- tion of an aftrologer, who held it dangerous to difclofe his fecrets. * La-Riviere fucceeded D'Aliboufl in the place of firft phyfician : he had been in the family of the diike of Bouillon, who refigned him to the king. « I Book XIL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ** I fee plainly, fiiid Henry, that you are not reftrained by motives of " confcience ; you are not of the number of perfons that are fo very " fcrupulous ; but, in reality, you are afraid of not being able to tell *' me truth, or of making me angry; but whatever it be, I will know " it, and I command you, on my difpleafure, to fpeak freely." La- Riviere fufFered him.felf to be preffed ftill longer; and at 1 aft, with a difcontented air, either real or dilfembled, faid, " Sire, your fon will " live out the common age of aman, and will reign longer than you ; " but his inclination and yours will be very different ; he will be " obftinate in his opinions,., often governed by hTs own whims, " and fometimes by thofe of others : it will be fafer then to think " than to fpeak : impending ruin threatens your for'rrter fociety : all " the effedts of your prudence will be deftroyed : he will perform great " things, will be fortunate in his defigns, and make a great figure ia " Europe : in his time there will be a vicilTitude of peace and war : *' he will have children : and after him things will growworfe. This is " all you can know from me,, and more than I had refolved to tell you." The king, after muling a little while on what he had heard, faid to La-Riviere, " You mean the proteftants, I know; but you fpeak thus " becaufe you are well inclined towards them." '* I underftand, " faid La-Riviere, what you would have, but I fhall fay no miore." His majefty and I continued together a long time in converfation, making reflexions on every word that had been fpoken by La-Riviere, which remained ftrongly on the king's mind. It was not poffible for me to ftay long at Fontainebleau ; but the king continued to give me, with great kindnefs, an account of every thing that happened. " You cannot imagine," fays he in one of his letters, " how well my wife is recovered of her lying-in ; (he drefles " her head herfelf, and talks already of getting up." In another, nine days after her delivery, he fays, " The queen goes already into her " clofet ; fhe has a conftitution furprifingly ftrong: my fon likewife is " very well, I thank God : thefe are the befl: news I can fend a faith- " ful and affedtionate fervant, whom I tenderly love *." Henry fent his fon to Saint-Germain to be nurfed, on account of the goodnefs of the air : and by one of thofe little ftrokes of popularity which fhew the heart better than more oftentatious aftions, he would have him fhewn to all Paris ; for which purpofe, he was carried openly through *"The original of this letter of Henry IV. to M. de Sully is ftill extant; it is dated ftom Fontainebleau, the 27th of Auguft, Cabinet de M, le duc de Sully. the MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XII. the midft of that great city. The Pari lians, by repeated acclamations exprefled their pleafure at this fight. The king had made a promife to the queen, that if fhe brought him a fon, he would prefent her with the caftle of Monceaux. " My *• wife," faid he, in a letter to me, " has gained Monceaux, by giv- " ing me a fon ; therefore I defire you will fend for the prefid ent " Forget, to confer with him about this affair, and take his advice *' concerning the fecurity that muft be given to my children, for the " fum which I pay for Monceaux." The city of Paris having like- wife promifed the queen a prefent of a fuit of tapeftry hangings for her lying-in, his majefty, in this letter, reminded me to demand it: an infanta * was born in Spain, about the fame time that Providence gave a prince to France. The negotiation, fo many years depending with the grand duke of Florence, wa-s concluded this year: that the reader may underftand the occafion of it, it is neceffary he fliould know, that, under the reign of Henry the third, Ferdinand de Medicis, grand duke of Flo- rence, took advantage of the troubles that then raged in France, to poffefs himfelf of the little ifles of Pomegue, Ratoneau, and If, with its caftle in the neighbourhood of Marfeille. Henry, fully refolved to make the grand duke reftore them, ordered d'OlTat, who was then on the other fide of the Alps, to demand them, in the year 1598. The grand duke not daring to ixfufe them abfolutely, reprefented only, that he had expended great fums of money upon thefe ifles, which he could not refolve to lofe: d'Offat of himfelf removed this obflacle,by engaging that the king his mafter fliould indemnify him for thefe expences, by paying him three hundred thoufand crowns, for which twelve of the richeft and mofl confiderable perfons in France fliould be fecurity -|-, as * Anna Maria Mauriette, afterwards which he wrote to his majefty, on the 5th queen of France, born the 22cl of Septem- of May, 1598, immediately after the con- ber. clufion of this treaty, and likewife in that t This is, in effe£1r, the import of the to M. de Villeroi, of the 4th of Auguft fifth article of the treaty that palTed on the following. He afterwards cleared himfelf ift of May, 1598, between the king of more fully, in a long memorial, which is France and the grand dulce of Tufcany^ by alfo inferted at the end of this collection, the intervention of cardinal d'Offat, which However, we cannot think the reafons may be feen at full length at the end of which M. Jo Sully produces againft this the colledlon of this cardinal's letters, convention groundlefs, nor believe that the The dtike of Sully does not here reproach duke of Florence would have broke the M. d'Offat with any thing which he treaty without that condition. had not already excufed in the letter if Book XII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. if his majefty alone had not been iufficient to anfwer forfo fmall a fum. The king, without greatly attending to tliis condition, ratified the treafy ; and a fliort time after the chevalier Vinta was fent by the duke of Florence to concludcj with Gondy, the bufinefs of the ifles upon this plan. The two agents did not go out of the council to feek for their fe- curities, and the affair was propolad to me among the refl : this me- thod of proceeding with a king, whofe power no part of Europe was ignorant of, appeared to me fo uncommon, that I could not help laughing at thofe who mentioned it to me. Villeroi took pains to re- prefent to me the neceffity of difengaging d'Oflat from his word : I replied, that there never had been any bankers in my family; for in- deed, this was rather the bufinefs of bankers than of gentlemen. None of the others, faid Villeroi, have made any difliculty about it. I be- lieve it, anfwered I with fome indignation, for they are all either de- fcendcd from traders or lawyers. Hereupon there arofe a difpute in the council, which was reported to the king, who only fmiled, and faid they had done wrong to mention it to me without firft informing him, iince he had not acquainted me with it himfelf, " I am aftonifl:ied," ad- ded he, " that he did not give a flill ruder anfwer: you cannot be igno- " rant of his temper, and how highly he values himfelf upon the nobi- *' lity of his birth : let this affair be concluded without his or any other " perfons entering into any obligation : I gave no permifi!ion to the bi- *' {hop of Rennes to agree to fuch an expedient." The grand duke did not allow himfelf to be folicited upon this head; he let the king free from the obligation of the twelve fecurities, out of regard to hisperfon. The ad: for it was paffed on the fourth of Augufl 1 598, but the affair was on neither fide concluded till the chevalier Vinta arrived in 1601. I WAS likewife employed to fettle certain eftates in Piedmont, for which the count of Soiffons was defirous of treating with his majefly : they came to him by the death of the princefs of Conti, in right of his wife who was of the houfe of Montaffié *. My report was not very favourable for the count : I reprefented to the king, that tliefe eftates, which had been too highly valued, were likewife fubiedl to fo much litigation, and were fo difadvantageoully fituated, that thefe con- fiderations ought greatly to leffen the price. The count of Soiffons * The prince of Conti was firft married Piedmont : and the count de SoifTons had to Jane de Coëme, lady Bonnetable, and married Anne de Montaffié, daughter to widow of Lewis count de Montaffié in that Lewis by the faid Jane de Cocmc. thought 8o MEMOIRSOFSUL ETY. Book XII. 1 60 1, thought proper to diflemble the refentment he entertained againfl me for this declaration. Fresne-Canaye *was appointed ambaflador to Venice, and Be- thune my brother to Rome, to the great mortification of the other mini- fters, efpecially Villeroi and Sillery, with whom 1 had often difputes, which the king had many times endeavoured to prevent. Thefe two gentlemen had undertaken to exclede me from any concern in foreign affairs, the cognizance of which they pretended belonged only to them. The nomination to embaffies falling under this head, they told his majefty, in my prefence, that, for the embaffy to Rome, they had abler perfons to propofe to him than Bethune, who, they faid, had no knowledge of the affairs of that court, and had yet performed no confiderable fervice to the ftate. My brother had, however, already been charged with the embaffy to Scotland, of which he had acquitted himfelfwell; and it could not be denied that he was circumfpeél, wife, and honed: ; qualities which, in my opinion, are not among the lead that are effential to an ambaffador. What thefe gentleman faid, therefore, was as falfe as it was contemptuous ; and this I made them fenfible of in my anfwer, by fhewing them the value of thole fervices which the ftate received from the military art, and which thofe gen- tlemen feemed to place below all others. Villeroi, piqued in his turn that I had not given the firfl; rank to his, maintained his caufe with great heat and animofity. His majefty found himfelf obliged to command us to be filent, telling us, that he was offended at our holding fuch difcourfe in his prefence; and that, without entering into a difcuffion of our fervices, we ought to be fatil- fied that he was pleafed with them. I afked the king's pardon for daring, after this prohibition, to add a few words to clofe the mouths of perfons who fo unjuftly placed the lazy bufinefs of the law, and the quiet employments of the cabinet, above the toils, the dangers, and expence of the military profeffions ; and I truly fpoke my fentiments of fuch partiality. " Well, well," faid Henry, interrupting me, " I " pardon you all, and take your words, as I muft, but upon condition " that, for the future, you will avoid thefe little debates ; and that " when one of you recommends his friend to my favour, the others " do not oppofe it, but fubmit to my choice : at prefent I determine " in favour of the fieur de Bethune, whofe family, wifdom, probity, * Philip Canaye de Frefne : Philip de Bethune, count de Selles and de Charoft. -- ** and Book Xll. MEMOIRS OF SULLY." 8i *' and even capacity, I efteem, having employed him in many affairs *' both of peace and war, which he has acquitted himfelf of worthily." The king promifed Villeroi that, after my brother's return, he would difpofe of the embaffy to Rome according to his recomm.endation. He then put an end to his walk, which this quarrel had protradted to more than two hours, and went to dinner. I went feveral times this year to Fontainebleau, to receive his majefty's orders concerning affairs that could no otherwife be communicated to him, and, being often, and for a confiderable time at a diftance from each other, I received, as ufual, a great number of letters from this prince : that in which he mentions the maréchal d'Ornano*, who had given him fome caufes of complaint, has fomething fingular in it. "I never, fays Henry, faw " fo much obftinacy and ignorance together in one man, but I pro- ♦' nounced him dangerous ; he has reached the fummit of infolence. " Take care that he gives me no occafion to be convinced what he is, " that is, unworthy of the honours that I have beffowed on him : his " fidelity only could deferve them ; his many a6ls of difobedience will " foon take away all claim to that charaéter : to fay the truth, I am " quite tired of him." The fiâtes of Languedoc meeting this year, the king wrote to me, that he muft transfer the place of their fitting to the Lower Languedoc, " that my fervants, faid he, may not go *' firrt: to thofe of the league." In another letter, he ordered me to fend for fome foals of his breed of horfes -f- at Meun ; and in another. 1 60 1 . • Alphonfo d'Ornano, fon to San-Pie- tro de Baftelica, a colonel of the Swifs. f " From his early years," fays Bran- tome, fpeaking of Henry II. in his Vies des hommes illuftres, torn. II. p. 42, " he was " always very fond of the exercife of rid- " ing, and kept always a great number of " horfes in his grand fiables of Tournelles, " which were the principal, as alfo at " Muns, at St. Léger, and at Oyron, " under the infpedlionof M. deBoifly maf- " ter of the horfe, the moft valuable part of " which was his breeding mares, wherein " he took great delight." He adds, that, this prince having one dayfhev/n his ftables to the emperor's niafter of the horfe, the latter told him, that his mafter had not near fo fine a fet of horfes, extolling them very highly, efpecially as the greatefl: part were of his own breeding. The ^roubles, dur- ing the laft reigns, were the caufe that the king's breeding ftables had then fallen into Vol. II. decay, and were in a worfe condition than they were under Henry II. That of Meun, or Mehun, in Berry, was the only place of thofe before mentioned, where horfes were bred for the king's ufe ; and thefe ftables were very inconfiderable, as may be feen from the archives of the fecretary of the king's fhoufhold, which are kept atPetitf- peres in Paris, where Meun is called Main, apparently to diftinguifh it from another Meun upon the Indre, that is alfo in Berry. In 1604, the duke de Bellegarde, mafter of the horfe, caufed Mark Antony de Bazy, captain of the breeding ftables, to remove the king's fet of mares to St. Léger, a foreft belonging to the crown. In 1 618, fome confiderable additions and improvements were made ; and greater ftill about 1665, when the late M. Col- bert, minifter of ftate, enlarged the bounds, made parks therein, and got together a great number of ftoned horfes and young M to MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XII- to give two hundred crowns to Garnier his preacher in Advent and Lentj the reft, which contain only a detail of flight circumftances, I fupprefs, although they are proofs of the extreme vigilance and atten- tion of this prince to matters of the fmalleft confequence. I SHALL comprife, in one article, with which the memoirs of this year will be concluded, all that relates to maréchal Biron, of whofe revolt there was at length the moft convincing proofs. After the king had been at Lyons, and had there entertained very ftrong fufpi- cions againft this maréchal, his majefty had a private converfation with him in the convent of the Cordeliers, and appeared fo well in- formed of all his tranfaâions with the duke of Savoy, that Biron, either becaufe he then thought that, after fuch a difcovery, all he could now do was to repair his fault, or that he fought only to deceive the king, confefTed to him, that he had not been able to refift the offers made to him by the duke of Savoy, joined to his promile of giving him the princefs * his daughter to wife. He asked the king's par- don for thefe proceedings, and protefted to him, with the utmoft ap- pearance of fmcerity, that he would never again fuffer himfelf to be intoxicated with fuch expedlations. Henry thought he might depend upon a promife, which was ne- verthelefs forgot in the inftant that it was made. Biron refumed his firft defigns ; went, according to his cuftom, at different times into the provinces, careffed all the malecontents he found amongft the gentry, entertained them continually with the injuftice he received from the king, and his credit and the correfpondence he carried on without the kingdom. He entered into ftronger engagements than ever with Bouil- lon, d'Entragues, d'Auvergne, and others ■f. He, who was pride and colts, by means of Alain de Garfault, who veftiture of Burgundy, Franche Comté, was then captain. It continued in this ftate and the County de Charolois : this was one till 1 7 15, at which time it began to be fet- part of the grand projed: of both thefe tied in Normandy, under the diredion of courts, which confifled in difmembring, in Francis Gideon de Garfault, Lewis de this manner, the kingdom of France, and Lorraine count d'Armagnac being then parcelling it out among the governors of ir.afler of the horfe in France : fince this its provinces. The proof of this may be lafl eftablilhment, it has every day more feen inVittorio Siri, Mem. rec. vol. L p» the appearance of the fiables of the moft 103, 127, who likewife extols the fervices powerful prince in Europe. which the count de Bethune, our author's * The maréchal de Biron, by marry- brother, performed on this occafion, to ing the duke of Savoy's third daughter, Henry IV. during his embafly at Rome, was to have received from the king of f The author fays nothing, in all this Spain, and that duke, the feigniory and in- account, of the confpiracy of the mare- fiercenefs Book XII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 83 fiercenefs itfelf, laid fuch a reftraint upon his inclinations, as to appear 1601. to the foldiers the moft humane and affable man in the world, and drew the afifedtions of the mob by playing the hypocrite and the de- votee ; for what appearance will not ambition afllime to attain its end ? Hitherto, however, it might flill have been doubted, whether he had not concealed his defigns within his own breaft, and if this condudl was not an effe6l of that difpofition which is obfervable in many per- fons, who, by their difcourfe, appear reftlefs, difturbed, and fond of novelties, yet are far from any intention of throwing themfelves head- long into rebellion. Hence arofe Henry's fufpence concerning the conduâ: of maréchal Biron, though he ll:ill continued to have him carefully obferved, and could not help being moved at the accounts that were brought him, of his conduâ in the lail journey he had taken to Dijon, where he had pafled the end of the preceding year and the beginning of this. Biron, who on his fide had his fpies at court, being apprehenllve of the impreflion which his behaviour made on the king, thought proper to write to me on that fubjecfl. His letter is dated the third of Ja- nuary; it turned only upon the ill offices that were done him with the king, and the injuftice even his majefty did him in believing him capable of defigns he had never entertained. He excufed his journey to Burgundy, on account offome domeftic affairs which made it abfo- lutely neceffary; and alfured me, that he fhould leave that province in two days : he concluded with entreating me to believe all that would be told me from him by Prevot, one of his agents, whom he had fent to me. This letter was too foon followed by inconteflable proofs of his treachery, to make it be thought fincere ; and I was fo far from believing his profeffions in it, that they only increafed my fufpicions. During the king's flay at Calais, he received flill clearer and more circumflantial informations againfl Biron, doubtlefs becaufe this maré- chal, believing himfelf lels fufpefted than before, took greater liberties than ufual: but Henry, inflead of taking thofe meafures that in pru- dence ought to have been no longer delayed, could notyet look upon this man as incurable 3 and refolved, if pofîîble, to bring him back to his chal Biron, his imprifonment, and the his: "The king does not at all hurt me, procefs againfl him, but what is confirmed " for I know how to be revenged on by the hiftories and memoirs of that time : " crowned heads, and even emperors." they mention thefe extravagant words of Matthieu, torn. II. liv. 2. p; 333. M 2 duty, I t MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL duty, by gentlenefs, kindnefs, and fuch diftindions as make theflrong- eft impreffions upon the heart of an honeftman. Biron having demand* ed a gratuity of thirty thoufand crowns from his majefty, the king thought it very reafonable, and granted it immediately; and becaufs that no obftacles fiiould retard the payment of it, this prince ordered me to take proper meafures to fatisfy Biron without delay; accordingly I paid him inftantly one half of the fum in ready money, and affigned him the other half at the expiration of a year. Biron thought there was a neceffity for coming to thank me fo? this favour ; he told me, that he was more obliged to me for it than the king, complaining to me that he had been forgotten and even defpifed by this prince, now that he had no longer occafion for his fword, this fword, faid he, that has placed him upon the throne. It was impoffible for me to keep filence upon this occafion ; I reprefented to the maré- chal, with a kind of reproach, that he accufed Henry fo much the more unjuflly, as this prince, to whom alone he was obliged for this gratuity, had not difdained to folicit himfelf for its payment : hence I took occafion to fpeak with flill greater freedom to Biron ; I remon- ftrated to him that, altho' he fliould even have proofs of his negledl, he ought always to remember that he fpoke of his mafler, and of a maf- ter who, by his perfonal qualities, ftill more than by his rank, en- gaged the efteem and refpedr of his fubjeCts. I told him, that there was nothing which kings were more fenlible of than difrefpedt to their perfons, an envious defire to leffen the glory of their arms, and ingra- titude for their benefits. Thefe terms were fufficiently plain, yet I went farther, and if I did not tell Biron pofitively that I thought him both ingrateful and a traitor, there was nothing to hinder him from conclud- ing it by all my difcourfe. I exhorted him to encourage a nobler emula- tion in his fouî, which might give him a title to real praifes; 1 dwelt upon the difference there was between making one's felf beloved by one's prince and country, and endeavouring to become the objedl of its fear : a deteftable attempt, and almofl always fatal to thofe that make it. I told him, that if he would join with me in mutual labours for tlie glory of the ftate and the public good, we might, in fome degree, make both depend upon us; he by his abilities for war, I by the fhare I had in the government at home; and hence we fliould tafte the refined pleafure of knowing ourfelves to be either the authors or inftru- ments of every public benefit. I finifl:ied my remonflrance, by endea- vouring to prevail upon him to go and return his majefty thanks for the gratuity he had jufl received.. To Book XIÏ. M E M O î R S O F S U L L Y. 85 To all this Biron, neither moved to gratitude by kindnefs, nor to 1601. repentance by convidlion, anfwered only by exaggerating his own merit £0 unfeafonably and in luch boaftful terms, that I was now con- vinced of a thing that I had hitherto only fufpedïed, which was, that the harflinefs of his manners and the inequality of his humour pro- ceeded from a flight taint of madnefs, for which fo much the lefs al- lowance was to be made, as that, hindering him from reafoning, it could not hinder him from fpeaking and adting ill : what appeared to me a complete proof of it was, that, after what I had juft faid to him, having reafon to look upon me as a man in whofe prefence he could not be too cautious, he was imprudent enough to let fomething efcape him concerning the defigns that filled his head. I took no notice of it; but he perceived the error he had been guilty of himfelf, and to repair it pretended to acquiefce with my reafons, and to approve of my fenti- ments : from that moment, I fo abfolutely defpaired of ever being able to recal this man to his duty, that I thought mine obliged me to dif- guife from the king nothing which I believed him capable of doing. It was always a part of Henry's charadler, to be with difficulty per- fuaded of the treachery of any perfon about him : he anfwered, that he knew Biron perfectly well; that he was very capable of faying all that was related ; but that this man, who, in confequence of his natural' violence of temper, the efFeét of melancholy, was never contented, and' exalted himfelf above every one elfe, was neverthelefs, a moment after, the firft to mount his horfe, and dare all dangers for thofe whom he had railed at fo much before ; therefore he well deferved fome indulgence for a little intemperance of tongue : that he was afTured Biron would never be induced to rebel againft him ; that if this fhould happen, as he had already given a proof on thofe occafions where he had faved the- life of this maréchal, and in the lafl place at Fontaine-Françoife, that he did not yield to him in courage, he knew likewife how to fliew him that he did not fear him. The king therefore made no alteration in his behaviour to Biron, except that he gave him ftill greater demon- ftrations of kindnefs, and loaded him with new honours, which he koked upon as the only remedy for his defedion. He was fent ambafTador to queen Elizabeth, with whom he had a very extraordinary converfation *. He was imprudent enough not* .J * A particular account of this embalTy may be feen in Matthieu, torn. II. ]. 2. p.- 4126,. feq. 86 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XII. 1 60 1." only to mention the earl of Eflex to this princefs, whom fhe had lately »^ — -V ' beheaded, but likewife to bewail the fate of that nobleman, whofe great lervices had not been able to preferve him from fo tragical an end ; and Elizabeth had the complaifance, in anfwer to this im- pertinent difcourfe, to juftify her condudl with regard to the earl, by fhewing the neceflity fhe was under to punifli him : fhe told him, that Eflex had madly engaged in fchemes which greatly exceeded his abilities ; and that after many proofs, and a full convidlion of his re- bellion, he might have flill by fubmifîion, obtained her pardon ; but that neither his friends nor his relations could prevail upon him to afk it. I know not whether the queen of England perceived any marks of refemblance between the French ambafiador and the Englifli favourite ; but the i-eafonable obfervations on the nature of royal heads, and the duty of fubjedls, with which fhe concluded her difcourfe, feemed to infinuate as much -, but Biron drew no advantage from it. At his return from London, the king appointed him likewife ambaf- fador extraordinary to Switzerland, to renew the treaty of alliance be- tween France and the Cantons ; flill continuing to believe, that an employment which would take off his thoughts from arms, and en- gage him in a commerce with a body fo wife and politic as the Helvetic Senate is, would fubdue at length all inclinations to fedition : but am- bition, envy, and avarice, arepaflions that can never be wholly quelled; and had the heart of Biron been thoroughly founded, it might probably have been found tainted with all the three. No fooner was he returned from his fécond embaffy, than, as if he had endeavoured to make amends for the time he had loft, he laboured more alTiduoufly than before to bring all his chimerical fchemes to perfection ; either perfua- ded thereto by the duke of Bouillon and the count of Auvergne, who had likewife formed their party, or having drawn them into his. To ffrengthen their mutual engagements, thefe three gentlemen fjgned a form of aflbciation, of which each kept an original : in this uncommon piece, which was produced in the procefs againft maréchal Biron, they reciprocally promifed, upon the faith and word of gen- tlemen and men of honour, to continue united for their common fafety. to and againfi all, ivithout any exception (thefe terms deferve a par- ticular obfervation) to keep inviolably fecret whatever might be re- vealed to any one of them ; and to burn this writing, in cale any ac-. cident fhould happen to either of the aflbciates. There was no pro- fpedof fucceeding in their defigns, but through the operation of Spain and Book XII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 87 and Savoy; they therefore renewed their correfpondence with thefe 1601. two powers, and on their fide, to fécond their endeavours, went about picking up all the difafFedted perfons they could find amongft the gentry and foldiers. To draw into rebellion many of the towns at the greateft diftance from Paris, particularly thofe in the provinces of Guienne and Poi(fl:ou, they took advantage of the fedition occafioned by the eflablifliment of the penny in the livre, which I had oppofed fo ardently in the aflembly des^Notables, and which I had not afterwards the power to fupprefs ; however, it could not poflîbly be raifed accord- ing to the original plan; it had been changed into a fubfidv of eight hundred thoufand franks, of which one half was funk in the taille, and the other in the cufloms. BiRON and his aflbciates, to increafe the difcontent of thefe people, already ftrongly incited by that impoft, perfuaded them, that to com- plete their calamities, they would fhortly be burthened with a duty upon fait; and many perfons were kept in their pay in each of thefe provinces, to terrify the inhabitants with perpetual alarms. What go- vernment can expeft to be free from thefe diilurbers of public 'tran- quillity, if that of Henry the Great, fo wife, mild, and popular, was not ? This evil, however, took its rife from the unhappy influence the civil wars had on the manners of the people ; that was the poifon which produced thofe turbulent fpirits to whom quiet was painful, and the happiell condition, a languid inadtivity : hence arifes that refllefs ambition, which keeps their reafon enflaved, makes them murmur at heaven, and quarrel with mankind for torments they bring on them- felves ; and raifes their malice againft princes, whofe whole power, fo obnoxious to them, is not fufficient to gratify their inordinate defires. Henry's eyes were at length opened with regard to the real cha- rafter of Biron, which he had hitherto flattered himfelf he knew fo well, and he began to fear he (hould be obliged to have recourfe to the moft violent remedy to fllop the contagion : informations multiplied every day, and came from perfons that could not be fufpeft- ed; all agreed in the chief point of the confpiracy ; fome mentioned the adl of afl!bciation, and, having feen it, related the very terms in which it was conceived. Calvairac * gave the king the moft circum- flantial and mod probable account that had been yet tranfmittcd to him ; befides the public rumour, he informed him, that Biron and his * John de SuJric, baron de Calvairac. collègues 88 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XIT, 1 60 1, collègues had received feveral thoufand pifloles from perfons who > V — -* came from Spain ; that they expected fums ll:ill greater, and a fupply efforces ; that the council of Madrid had agreed to it, on condition that the rebels fliould begin by feizing fome flrong maritime places, on the frontiers of Spain; that, conformably to this plan, enterprizes were already formed upon Blaye, Bayonne, Narbonne, Marfeilles, and In Upper Toulon ; and that the count of Auvergne was to wait only till thefe Auvergije. vverc executed, to begin openly his attempt upon Saint-Flour. All thefe informations made it abfolutely neceflary to examine the matter thoroughly. The king came on purpofe to the arfenal, where he found me bufy in completing the labour I had begun, to com- municate to me what he had learned, and gave me the detail, lean- ing upon the balcony over the great walk : he went afterwards to Fontainebleau, whither I followed him ; and it was in this place that we were to proceed to the lad: extremities with maréchal Biron. He had for a long time made ufe of La-Fin * to carry on his foreign ne- gotiations, a lively, cunning, intriguing fellow, whom Bouillon and he often called their kinfman. La-Fin had been fent feveral times to the king of Spain, the duke of Savoy, and the count of Fuentes; but afterwards, upon fome difguft Biron had given him, he retired to his houfe, where he remained unemployed. It was not thought im- pofTible to gain him ; and for this purpofe his nephew, the vidame of Chartres -f-, was made ufe of, who endeavoured to prevail upon his uncle to come to Fontainebleau. In the mean time I returned to Paris, to make preparations for a journey his majefty thought it neceflary to take immediately into all thofe places through which Biron had pafled, namely, Poidou, Guienne, Limofin, and efpecially about Blois. La-Fin having at length refolved to come to Fontainebleau, re- vealed all that he knew concerning Biron's confpiracy. The king was * James de La-P"in, a gentleman of Bur- " planted him in the marechal's favour ; and gundy, of thehoufe of Beauvois-la-Nocle ; " in revenge to the count de Fuentes, upon " the moft dangerous man, fays Perefixe, " the difcoveryof his attempting to betray " and the greatell traitor in France: the Icing " the latter, for that he had caufed his fe- " knevi' him vi'ell,and oftenfaidtothemare- " cretary to be arrefted : yet that he might " chal, Don't fufFer that man to come near " the better deftroy the maréchal de Bi- " you, lie's a rogue, he'll be the death of " ron, he pretended ftill to have the fame " you. He endeavoured to accufe the mare- " attachment to him as before." " chal de Biron, from a jealoufy he enter- f Pregent de La Fin, vidame de Char- *' tained, that the baron de Lux had fup- très. defirous Book XIL M E M O î R S O F S U L L V. 89 defirous that he fliould be detained and lodged at Mi- Voie, that 1601. he might be feen by none but thofe who were fent to confer with ]iim. His majefty judging by what he had firft declared, that my prefence would be necelîary, wrote thefe few words to me: "My " friend, come to me immediately, on an affair that concerns my " fervice, your honour, and our mutual fatisfadion. Adieu, my dear " friend." I took port immediately, and on my arrival at Fontaine- bleau, I met his majelty in the midftof the large avenue to the caftle, ready to go to hunt. I threw mylelf at his feet : " My friend," faid this prince to me, preffing me in his arms, " all is difcovered ; the " chief negotiator is come to zCk pardon, and to make a full confeffion : ** in his accufation he includes a great number of perfonsof high " rank, feme of whom have particular reafons to love me * ; but he ** is a great liar, and I am determined to believe nothing he fays with- ♦' out good proofs : he accufes one man, amongft the reft, whom you " little think of; come, guefs who this traitor is." " That is not " in my power, fire," I replied. After preffmg me fome time longer, but to no purpoie, " You know him well, faid he, it is M. de Rofny." " If the others are no more guilty than I am, replied I, fmiling, your *' majeily need not give yourfelf much trouble about them." " I be- *' lieve fo, faid the king; and to fliew you that I do, I have ordered " Bellievre and Villeroi to bring you all the accufations againft you <* and the others ; I have even told La-Fin, that I would have him " fee you, and fpeak to you freely : he is concealed at Mi- Voie, and " will meet you on the road from Moret ; appoint the hour and place, " and none Ihall be prefent at your conference." I COULD not imagine how my name happened to be found in this wicked cabal ; whether it came from fome of Biron's people, whofup- pofed me to be a friend of their mafter, or from Biron himfelf and his affociates, who thought it was lawful for them to make ufe of it to the Spanifti minifters, to fwell the number of their partifans; or of the malecontents of the kingdom : it was not impoflible, that two let- ters I wrote to the maréchal, through zeal rather than complaifance, * We may, doubtlefs, rank among the " we have at leafl this advantage," faid number of thefs, the charge which La-Fin M. do La-Force to Henry IV. throwing brought againft Biron, of his having at- himfelf at his feet, " that there is nothing tempted the king's life, and the Dauphin's, " proved as to his having made any at- according to Chron. Septennaire, fmce his " tempt on your majefty's perfon." Vol. friends made ufe of the proofs they had of 9129 of the MSS. in the king's library, the contrary, to obtain his pardon : " Sire, Vol. II. N might MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIL might have involved me in the number of thefe confpirators; and the rather becaufe, in alluiion to the converfation that palled between Biron and me, which I have formerly mentioned, I told him plainly, that there was nothing to hinder him from making himfelf ufeful and dear to the kingdom, by thofe meafures I had marked out to him : I like- wife told him, that although I was almoil always about the king's perfon, yet I had never heard him exprefs any refentment againft him: and I advifed Biron not to alTert fuch a thing publicly, becaufe the world would not fail to believe, and to report, that he only feigned to have received fome difgufl: from his majefty, becaufe his own con- fcience reproached him with having deferved it. Thus what I faid with an intention to bring Biron back to his duty, was interpreted to my difadvantage. Henry's opinion, as he has fince told me, was, that this accufation of me did not take its rile either from Biron or any of his affociates, but from La-Fin alone, at the inftigation of fome perfons, who hoped by that means to accomplilh my difgrace : however that may be, it made fo little impreffion on the king's mind, that his majefty, who had lately given me the government of the Baftile, and intended that the patent for it fliould not appear in my name, but only in that of La Chevalerie, altered his opinion on this occafion, and caufed it to be expedited under mine, knowing none, he faid, but me, by whom he could expedl to be ferved with fidelity, in cafe he fliould have birds in the cage. Accordingly, Villeroi was ordered to bring me the pa- tent a few days after, which was the beginning of the following year. I HAD a long converfation with La-Fin alone, in the foreft ; after voril'^b'iii. which, Bellievre, Villeroi, and myfelf, examined, with great care, all p. 482. the papers that contained any proofs againft the duke of Bouillon, maréchal Biron, and the count of Auvergne; fuch as letters, memoran- dums, and other writings of the fame kind. The names of many perfons befides thefe three gentlemen were mentioned in them ; but as it was probably with as little juftice as mine own, which was there likewife, I lliall not, on fo flight a foundation, give them a place in thefe Memoirs, which, to diftruftful perfons, might make them ftill more liable to fufpicion than the depofitions of La-Fin. After this examination we returned to his majefty, and a council being held, the refult of it was, to keep every thing fecret, that Biron might not be warned of the meafures that were to be taken to bring him to court, that he might be arrefted with the greater fecurity. It was likewife refolved. Book XH, MEMOIRS OF SULLY, refolved, that his majefty fhould fet out iminediately on the journey ■before mentioned. We fliall fee in the following year what thcfs meafures produced. It is neceffary to take fome notice of what happened this year in the feveral ilates of Europe : the court of London v/as thrown into confufion by a rebellion that was ftirred up by the Spaniards in Ire- land ; Elizabeth fent to befiege Kinfale, the ilrongeft place that the rebels were in poffeffion of, the earl of Tyrone, their leader, and Don Alonzo del Campo, who commanded the Spanilli troops in Ire- land, haftened to relieve it with all the forces they could get toge- ther, which were cut in pieces by the lord Piercy. Alonzo remained prifoner there, and Kinfale furrendered. Very different reports were raifed concerning the deftination of the fleet which was fitted out about this time by the king of Spain, but nothing could be certainly known about it ; for after it had rode fome time in the Mediterranean, it was attacked by atempeft, and was ob- liged to re-enter the port of Barcelona, which it did in a very fliat- tered condition : the command of this fleet had been given to prince Doria. Probably it was defigned againft Portugal, where the true or the falfe Don Sebaftian * llill continued to have a great number of par- tifans. Some fecrets which he revealed, that it feemed could have been only known to the king of Portugal ; certain natural marks upon his body which he fliewed, and fome other circumllances of the iame kind, confirmed his affertion. However, to confefs the truth, none of thefe proofs appeared unanfwerable ; neverthelefs, the king of Spain thought it the wifefl way to rid himfelf privately of this pretended prince : fo that the truth was never known, or at leaft to a few per- lons only, whofe intereft it was not to publifl:i it. * There is fomeîhing furely very fur- might likewife be applied to M. de Sully) prifing and uncommon in this perfedl re- than from any evidence they had, perfified femblance of all the parts, features, and in fupporting the claims of this impoftor. even the defeats of the body, which, ac- The Septennaire is very favourable to him, cording to all the hiftorians, was between an. 1601, p. 217. See what has been fiiid the real Don Sebaftian and this man, who is a little higher. The Spaniards were fo tho- faid to have been a native of Calabria; and roughly convinced of their having difco- it is no lefs difficult to guefs, how he could vered the cheat, when Ferdinand, grand come to the knowledge of the circum- duke of Tufcany, had delivered hini fiances of this king of Portugal's life, which up into the hands of the Viceroy of Naples, were fo peculiar and fecret, as to aflonifh that they no longer fcrupled to expofe all the world. The Portuguefe, ftill more him as a public gazing-flock, mounted deceived through their natural aft'ccStion for on an afs; after which they fent him to the blood of their kings, as alfo through the galleys. See Matthieu, torn. II. 1. iii. their hatred for Spain (this laft motive p. 451. N 2 A 92 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XII- 1601. A Diet was convened at Ratisbon, with intention to make fome ' r ' compofition between the popifh and proteltant rehgions, but this came to nothing : upon the firfl queftion propofed, which was con- cerning the authority of the holy fcriptures *, fuch heat was raifed among the difputants, that an accommodation became impracticable The papirts maintained, that their authority was derived wholly from the confent of the church, that they might add the prerogative of in- fallibility to the other rights with which they have fo liberally, and with fo little reafon, inverted the Pope : the proteftants treated this dodlrine with contempt and ridicule •\. The war in Tranfylvania rtiill continued difadvantageous to the Vaivodes, Battory, and Michael, who had revolted from the emperor; they were defeated by Georgs Bafte, and Claufembourg was taken. The duke of Mercoeur iignalized himfelf no lefs at the head of the Imperial troops againrt: the Turks \ ; he took Albe-Royale in Hun- Ferdinand of Z'^'^y^ ^ fortrefs ert:eemed impregnable ; and afterwards drove away the Auftria. Turks from it, who had returned to befisge it. The arch-duke, lefs By the chri- fortunate than Mercoeur, was beaten before Canife ; and the Knights Chat'eau-^'^ of Malta took and deftroyed the city of Paffava in the Morea. neuf. Constantinople and the palace of the Grand Signor was in no lefs commotion, through the difcontent of the Janizaries, who proceeded fo far as to ftrangle, in the prefence of Mahomet III. him- felf, feven of the favourites of his feraglio, and threatened to depofe him : he was a man, indeed, whofe vices rendered him unworthy of a throne ; he was cruel, treacherous, flothful, avaritious, and funk in every kind of voluptuoufnefs. * This queftion was publicly debated, among the falfe do£lrines of Calvin, the during feveral fittings, between the catho- moft untenable, namely, that fcripture is lie divines of Maximilian duke of Bavaria, the beft interpreter of fcripture ; or, what and the proteftant divines of Ludovic count is far worfe, that its fenfe may be deter- palatine of Neubourg, and of the eleiSlors mined by private perfons. This is the chief of Saxony and Brandenbourg ; the two fourceofthat monflrous confufionof feéts, firft of thefe princes aiTifled at it in perfon, with which the pretended reformation was and were obliged to put an end to this dif- immediately over-run. pute, the advantage in which, each of the J The duke of Mercœur, by his great parties, as is always the cafe, afterwards exploits, acquired the reputation of one of afcribed to themfelves. De Thou, Chron, the firft warriors of his time. See them, Septen. for the year 1601. as alfo the other fads that are here fpoken t This, however, will always be, in of, in the hiftorians. the opinion of unprejudiced perfons, one MEMOIRS M E M O I O F SULLY. BOOK XIII. AG I TAT E D as the minds of the people were by all thofe do- j gQ2. meftic infurreitions we have feen in the preceding book, yet it did not hinder them from refigning themfelves, this winter, to their accuftomed pleafures and fhews. By the queen's order, and for her amufement, a magnificent interlude was compofed : the arfe- nal was the place the king chofe for the reprefentation of thefe {hews, on account of the conveniency its fpacious apartments afforded both for the adors and fpedlators. At the time that this interlude was to be played, the wound I had received in my mouth at the fiege of Chartres happening to open again, I was not in a condition to give the neceflary orders at the arfenal, and they had already pitched upon another place for its reprefentation ; but the king chofe rather to wait till I was cured, which retarded it eight days. Towards the middle of Lent, the count of Schomberg, grand maré- chal of the empire, and envoy from the court of Vienna, arrived at Paris, into which he made his entry with a train of forty or fifty horfe : the king ordered the fam; honours to be paid him that the maréchal de MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Boor XIÎL de * Bois-Dauphin had received at Vienna. The prince, fon to the marquis of Brandenbourg, flaid likevvife fome time at Paris. It was not ufual to defray the expences of perfons of his rank, efpecially, as it was obferved by his majefty, if they did not follow the court : but the king was refolved to fliew a particular refpeél to a prince, whofe family, one of the moft illufirious in Germany, had always profeffed ■a remarkable attachment for France ; and I was ordered to fend him every day, in his majefty's name, prefents of the richell wines, and provifions for his table. When every thing was ready for the king's departure, and that his majefty, in the feveral journeys he had made to Paris, had given all the necelTary orders for fecuring peace and tranquility in that city, and in the provinces he was going to remove from, as well as thofe through which he was to pafs, he left Paris on the twentieth of May, and came to Fontainebleau, from whence he took the road to Blois. The queen and all her houfliold accompanied his majefly in this jour- ney ; I likewife attended him-, but did not fet out till a few days after : the king fent me notice of his arrival at Blois, and his inten- tion of flaying there eight or ten days. This delay was no more than necefîary for a regimen that was prefcribed him by his phyficians, to cure a defluxion of humours which had fallen on one of his legs, and for the time it lafled, as Henry wrote to me, might well be called the gout. Blois likewife was the moft proper city he could chufe to dif- cover the fecret praélices of maréchal Biron : Henry had many per- fons in this province in whom he could confide, who applied them- felves folely to the making thofe difcoveries, and almoff every hour fent couriers to him with the intelligence they had procured ; by them the king was informed that Biron's cabal extended to Anjou, the higher Poitou, Xaintonge, Mirebalais, Chatelleraudois, Angoumois, Perigord, Limofm, Marche, and Auvergne, and even took in the higher Guyenne, and Languedoc ; that it was fupported by four or five noblemen of the court, whofe names were not expreiîed, for fear of advancing any thing that was yet doubtful : the connexions with Spain, the fchemes for furprifing the frontier cities, and the argu- ments they made ufe of to difguft the people with the prefent go- vernment (the fame which I have already mentioned) made up part of thefe advices, to which the following new informations were added. * Urban de Laval, marquis de Sablé, who died in 1629. , The Book XIII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 95 1602. The feditious, to prepofTets the people with unflivourable thoughts of his majefty's journey to Blois, which was doubtlefs a fource of un- eafy apprehenfions to them, gave out every where that Henry had only undertaken it with a defign to chaflife feverely thofe that had refifted Jambeville, d'Amours, and the other commifîaries that had been fent to exaél the penny in the hvre, upon the rivers and other places of paflage, and to fettle it himfelf in fuch a manner, that, by a new re- gulation of the rates, it fhould produce thrice as much, and to force the duty on fait to be every where received by taking poffefllon of the falt-pits, for which the proprietors were to have no other recompence than fome rents ill paid from the town-houfe of Paris j and laftly, to flop the murmurs which it was expeflcd the exa(fting of two tenths would raife (which, they made them believe, Henry had obtained the pope's permifTion to levy) and the revocation of the draw- backs granted on the taxes of 1594, 1595, and 1596, which I have already mentioned in the account of my journey into the feveral diftriéts. Thus was this good prince reprefented throughout his whole king- dom as a furious and implacable tyrant. They were never without one fet of arguments to engage the catholic nobility in a rebellion againft him, and another to fow fedition amongft the prote/lant officers and gentry : to the firft they reprefented, that this treafure and this formidable artillery, which the king was providing, were to be em- ployed in depriving them totally of their privileges, and reducing them to a ftate of flavery ; they perfuaded the fécond, that the perfe- cution againft them was already begun, that the payment of their gar- rifons, the funds for the prefervation of their cities, the penfions of their leaders, their officers, and minifters, would be leiTened this year by one third, and the next by two, after which there would be fo much the lefs difficulty in depriving them of all their fortrefles, as it was a point already agreed upon by the council, to exclude the pro- teftants from all public offices and employments, by refufing to ex- pedite the patents for them. If the proofs againft the perfons of the confpirators had been as clear as thofe of their plots, the king might have that inftant given free courfe to his juftice; but, with regard to the dukes of Bouillon and Tremouille, for example, there was as yet lefs certainty of their guilt, than of maréchal Biron and the count of x'\uvergne's ; for at the moft there were only fufpicions, though thofe indeed were very ftrong, againft MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIII- agalnfl; thcrn : the other lords of the court, whofe names, to the number of eight, were found in the lift, might be well ranged under a third clafs of perfons, whofe doubtful conduâ: required feme expla- nation. The dukes of Bouillon and Epernon attended the king in his journey to Blois, and his majefty was of opinion he might be able to draw from themfelves a proot of their real fentiments, by attentively obferving the air and turn of their countenance, during the recital he made them of the news he received: he began firft with d'Epernon. A juft regard to truth has fo often reduced me to the neceffity of fpeak- ing diladvantageoufly of this nobleman, that it is with a real fatisfac- tion I feize this opportunity of fhewing his innocence, and giving hioi the praife he defer ves. D'Epernon hearing whifpers about the court of intn'gues and ca- bals, eafily apprehended that, as it is ufual to judge of the prefent by the paft, his name would not fail to be mentioned amongft thofe that were called enemies to the ftate ; for which reafon he took the pre- caution to renew to his majefty at Fontainebleau his affurance of fi- delity : thefe afturances were all the proofs he had to offer, and unfor- tunately Henry, who had been long prejudiced againft him, did not give much credit to them. Notwithftanding this ftep, he ftill con- tinued to fufpeâ him, and becaufe d'Epernon in fpeaking to him had referred to me, the king wrote to me at Paris an account of what had pafi'ed between him and the duke, letting me know at the fame time, that d'Epernon feemed to have an intention to make up matters with me, and he ordered me to make the firft advances to him, to the end that, if the crime with which he was charged fliou'd appear to be yet only intentional, his majefty might not have any caufe to reproach himfelf with having fuff'ered the duke to rufh intoadlual treafon, when there needed only good advice and kind treatment to prevent him. I OBEYED the king's orders, and from that moment became con- vinced of the duke of Epernon's innocence : he faid the fame to the king at Blois as he had done to me, and did not deny his having heard of fome commotions and fecret intrigues, but faid that thefe were always fo general, and fometimes fo full of contradidlion, that he could not imagine that any credit was to be given to them ; that thofe who were faid to be the authors or favourers of thefe plots having never given him the leaft intimation of them, he had treated as a fic- tion, a projedl which appeared to him wholly extravagant, the prefent lituation of affairs rendering the execution of it abfolutely impofiible ; but Book XIIÎ. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. but whether real or not, he offered the king to continue about his per- fon, as a fecurity for his own fidelity, during fix months j and if that time was not fufficient, he fwore to him that he would not quit him till his fufpicions were entirely erafed. The king could have no ob- jedlion to fo reafonable a propofition, and began, as well as I, to believe that the duke of Epernon was guiltlefs. The duke of Bouillon difcovered far lefs fincerity : on the firfl: men- tion his majefi:y made of the plot to him, he treated it as a calumny invented by fpies and informers, againfi: the nobility of the kingdom, to exaggerate their own fervices, and appear at leafl to gain the money that was given them to exercife this employment : to this reproach, which tacitly attacked his majefty, he added an application of a pafiage in the NewTeftament, "Itisimpofiible but that ofiences will come, but " woe unto him thro' whom they come," a paflage, which, if taken in its true fenfe, might have been with more jufiiice applied to Bouillon and his adherents. Bouillon did not fl:op here; he added, that it was true he was told, that the catholics, as well as the proteflants, com- plained of their being opprefied with imports, and that in proportion as the king's riches and happinefs increafed, they became poor and mi- ferable; that, befides thefe general complaints, he had, in a certain place, heard proteflants fay, that fooner or later it would be their de- iliny to be looked upon as the plague and nulance of the fi:ate ; that both they and their children would be hated, perfecuted, and pro- fcribed ; that they would be excluded from all honours and employ- ments, and that the kingdom would never be quiet till they were to- tally extirpated : he added, that the more credit was given to thefe reports, becaufe that perfons of the greatefl: abilities in the kingdom, not being admitted to the council, nor confulted on affairs relating either to the difference of religions, or to the new imports that were eftabliflied, they could not inform the people of the true motive of thofe refolutions that were taken there, nor could the people attribute them to any thing but a defign to enflave them. It was fufficiently plain that the duke of Bouillon, by talking in this manner, fought to infinuate to the king, that all thefe reports of a rebellion had no other foundation than the cries of the people opprefled with a multitude of taxes ; and that this feeming difcontent was put on to conceal from his majerty his real fentiments : but the infolence and the feverity of his expreffions rtiewed plainly enough that he could not refift this opportunity of difcharging fome part of his malice ; he Vol. II. Ô even MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIII- even added, with the fame lubtihy and with equal chagrin, that they had endeavoured to perfuade himfelf, that his majefty intended to abo- liili the privileges of his vifcounty of Turenne, and to purchafe the rights and claims of the houfeof Mark upon Sedan; but to this, as well as to every thing elfe, he had only replied, that he was perfuaded the king would never a(5l in fuch a manner, on account of the fervices he had at all times received from the proteftant bodyj he finiflied by protefting to his majefty, that, although all that had been told him concerning the feditious and traiterons attempts in the kingdom fhould be as true as he believed them falfe, yet it fhould never leflen his duty and fidelity. The king, diffembling to the duke of Bouillon the opinion he con- ceived of him from this difcourfe, made him a propofal of the fame nature with that which the duke of Epernon had of himfelf fo frankly- made, and which he expetfted would throw him into great confufion: he told the duke, that he was fatisfied with this alTurance, and that he would no longer preferve any remainder of dillruft of him, provided he would give the fame fatisfaftion that Epernon had offered, which was not to remove from the court while this affair continued in agita- tion ; and that he might depend upon it he would not keep him about his perfon without communicating to him all his defigns, and calling him to his councils, as he feemed to defire, that he might be himfelf a witnefs of his folicitude to relieve the people,, and be able to give both the proteftants and catholics an inconteftable proof of the purity of his intentions. Bouillon preferved an uncommon prefence of mind under this blow; he broke out into an exclamation of joy and furprile at the fentiments his majefly difcovered for him; and as to the propofal he made him, he told him that he would go and put himfelf into a condi- tion to fatisfy it, not for fix months only, but for his whole life, if ne- cefTary, by taking a journey throughout all his eftates, that nothing might afterwards interrupt the long ftay he intended to make at court. In this manner, by appearing to do all that his majefty required, he referved, neverthelefs, the power of doing only what he pleafed himfelf, and of making a plaufible excufe for the fudden departure he was meditating. Henry, comprehending his defign, refolved to call a fecret council to deliberate upon the meafures that were neceffary to be taken in this conjundure. The count of Soifîbns, the chancellor, Villeroi, MaifTe, and myfelf, were all that were prefent at this council : all other affairs were Book XIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. were poflponed till Defcures was heard, who had been fent by his ma- jefty to invite maréchal Biron to court, and whofe report was fuch that it Was unanimoudy refolved to arreft this maréchal and the count Peter Fou- of Auvergne as foon as they arrived. The king afterwards de- g^"» lord ot manded if it would not be proper to do the like by the dukes of Bou- I^^^'^"'^'^^- illon and Epernon, before they left the court. Almofl all thecoun- fellors were of this opinion, and the mofl diftinguifhed amongll them ■qualified it no othcrwife, than by faying that Biron was the only one to whom mercy might be afterwards extended, becaufe that ading no- thing by himfelf he would be eafily reduced to reafon, when he was feparated from thofe who hurried him on to his ruin. I took particular notice of this advice upon account of its Angularity : mine, however, was diredlly oppofite ; I could not approve of the arrefting of Epernon, or even of Bouillon : if in fuch cafes iufpicions were to ferve for proofs, it was likewife neceflary, I faid, to arreft all whom La-Fin had accufed, and myfelf the firft ; that in cafe they fhould afterwards be found in- nocent, they would, by this precipitate adlion, lofe an opportunity of feizing Biron and Auvergne, whofe treafons were manifeft, fince it would be impoffible to arreft them all at the fame time, and their flight would put it out of our power to prove any thing againft the prifoners. The arrefting of Bouillon and Epernon, I added, would have this farther ill confequence, that, whether guilty or innocent, his majefty could not difpenfe with himfelf from treating them as traitors, through a juft fear of what their refentment only of fuch a pub- lic outrage might induce them to aél againft him. The king yielded to this advice, and the council broke up, it being already dinner time. His majefty, being deftrous of conferring with me alone upon what had been debated in the council, bid me fnatch a foldier's dinner, and come back to him before the court filled again. When I went down into the hall, where I was waited for by a crowd of people who attach themfelves to men in power, I faw the duke of Epernon advancing to meet me, who, with the fame air of confcious innocence which I had before obferved in him, told me, that fuch long and fecret councils alarmed a great many pcrfons, but he was not of the number, becaufe he had nothing to reproach himfelf with. I replied, that he had then nothing to fear, the king being more difpofed to pardon the guilty, who confelTed their crimes, than to punifti the innocent on fufpicions only. " I perceive," added I, " many people who are leaving the court; but thofe whole confciences *' are clear need not have recourfe to that expedient." " I am one O 2 " of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIIL *'' of thefe," added Epernon, •' and I am refolved not to leave the " court while thefe difcontents continue." *' You cannot do better, *• monfeigneur," replied I ; " and I promifeyou, that, on this occalion, " you fhall not lofe the merit of havLng taken fo good a refolution." When I came home, I ordered my maitre d'hotel not to furniHi my table as ufual, but to ferve me up any thing that was ready. Nicolas * came in jurt as I was fitting down to table : " Come wafli immediately," faid I, without telling him of the orders I had jufl given, " and take *' your place." He was greatly aftoniflied to hear me, after I had drank two glaffes and eaten a hafly morfel, afk for the fruit, and, at the fame time order my horfe to be got ready : he who loved good cheer as well as mirth, was not pleafed at this order. " Pardieu, mon-^ " fieur," faid he, " I am not furprifed that you pafs for one of the '* wifeft noblemen in France j I don't know any one who can drink ** three glaffes during the whole time you are at dinner." " Well, " well, monlieur Nicolas," replied I, ** do you make an end of your " dinner, as for me I ha.ve bufinefs that calls me elfewhere." I RELATED to his majefty what d'Epernon had faid to me a little time before.. The king agreed with me that d'Epernon had no in- ducement to engage in an affair that was carried on by perfons, whole religion and difpofition were different from his, by which likewifci while he had no advantages to hope for, he ran the hazard of being flript of his eflates and employments. D'Epernon had judgment enough to know that the fcheme of thefe rebels was likely to be a fatal one. " Not„" faid the king, " that probably in his heart he is not *' glad of thefe diforders, that he may become more necelTary to me j " but he knows by experience fuch defigns are often blafted." His majefty charged me to make another effort to prevail upon the dukes of Bouillon and Tremouille to ftay at court, but to wait till he went to Poitiers, becaufe he might then receive intelligence that would deter- mine him. I.ufed my utmoft endeavours for this purpofe, in the pre- fence of meffieurs de La Noue, de Confiant, d'Aubigne, and da Preaux, but all were ineffedlual. + Simon Nicolas was the king's fecre- " more acceptable to company, according tary, " a poet, a facetious man, and an old " to the corrupt manners of thofe wretched " ' fFender, fays the Journal of Henry the " times. He died two years after in the " I Vth. believing in God only for interefl, " 70th year of his age, in his lafl: illnefs ex- " and, for this reafon, he became the " prefling himfelf with infamous impiety." During bed-chamber to the kinç. Book XIIl M E M O I R S O F S IT L L Y. loi During their majefties flay at Blois, an affair of a very differen f 1602. nature was in agitation at court, which I am under fome perplexity '— - v ' in relating, for it made too much- noife to be palfed over in filence ; yet I am not at liberty to enter into an explanation of it here, lefl I fhould betray the fecret confided to me only by the king and queen, whom it peribnally concerned ; the medium therefore which I fliall obferve, is to recount, only fo much, of it as got air, and came to the knowledge of the courtiers. It was reported that the king and queen had fome difference together, which was confirmed by the king's fending Armagnac for Firft gentle- me fo early in the morning, that he was ftill in bed, as well as the man of the queen, and,, contrary to their ufual cufiiom, each in their feveral apart- ments. It was obferved that I had been feveral times backwards and forwards between them, and I had been feen kneeling three or four times before the king and queen, as if I was endeavouring to obtain fome great favour of them. As nothing in fuch cafes efcapes the in- quifitive courtiers, each formed particular conjedlures upon thefe cir- cumftances, as alio that with the names of the king and queen, they heard thofe of the duke and duchefs of Florence and Mantua, Virgil Urfin, Don John, Bellegarde, Trainel, Vinti, Joannini, Conchini, Leonora, Gondy, Catherine Selvage, and the marchionefs of Verneuilj other perfons, they faid, were hinted at, under the covert name of the colour of tan. They endeavoured to difcover fomething by my wife, having learned that Conchini, who had often bufinefs with her, and who publicly paid her the fame ref'pedt as a fervant to his mif- trefs, and often addrelfed her by that title, had been feveral times fent by the queen to bring her, and that fhe paffed many whole after- noons fliut up with her majefty in herclofet, when fhe was alone, or when only Leonora was with her. But that which afforded mofl matter for difcourfe, was that, at the time when thefe difputes ran highefl. La Varenne came one morn- ing to acquaint me, that the king waited for me in the new gallery which he had lately caufed to be built at Blois, over thofe that were the length of the garden below : it is that in which there is the odd re- prefentation of a hind with a flag's horns. It was obferved, that his majefty ordered two Swifs, who underflood not a word of French, to be placed centinels at the end of this gallery which was not yetclofed up, and that, during two hours and more which we continued together,. 102 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XIII, 1602. we feemed to talk with great earneftnefs and aftlon. They might, notwithftanding the diftance, hear fome of our words, from which they could draw no lights -, but it was not the fame with thofe which his majefty fpoke when he went out; thefe they underftood and care- fully remembered. " No more need be faid of it. I will regulate my " whole condudl by your advice, faid the king, that I may be no " longer reproached with obftinately following my own will ; but re- " member, that we may probably both repent it one dav, for you " cannot but be affeéled with any misfortunes that happen to me. *' I know the difpofition of thofe perfons who foment our differences, " they will be the caufe of great uneafinefs to the fbate : gentlenefs *' and indulgence are laudable qualities, I confefs i but you cannot de- " ny alfo, that their extremes are dangerous." It was not difficult for them likewife to diftinguifh the latter part of my reply to the king : ** It was indeed, a part of prudence, I told him, to forefee and to " prevent bad accidents, but it was equally neceffary to avoid haften- *' ing them by ufelefs precautions." On this they founded their fu- fpicion, that the king had a delign to proceed to fome violent meafures againft certain perfons of the queen's * houfhold, and who were moft in her confidence. From Blois the king came to Poitiers ; he afterv/ards (hewed him- felf in the Limofin and Guienne : his prefence produced every where fo good an effedt, that he found no oppofition to his will, not even to the eftablifliment of the penny in the livre -f- : he might have afterwards continued this impoft, and the colle(fting of it would have met with no difficulty ; but, fatisfied with the fubmilTion of his people, he took that opportunity to change it into a fmall fubùdy, and afterwards to fupprefs It entirely. The edict of revocation exprelTed, that his majefty was wholly induced to it by the obedience of his fubjeds. Henry, pleafed •" This is fpeakiug very plainly ; and the Mother and Son, torn. I. p. g. that as- the other Memoirs ot that time all this prince had threatened her both with agree with this notion, it can i'carce be t;.e one and the other. It is probable doubted, that Henry had not only taken a that M. de Rofny thought this laft courfe reiblution to clear the court of thefe in- rather too violent, as, in faft, it was, all formers, who exaiperated the queen's mind circumftances confidered. againft him, but likewife to make this f La Septennaire fays, that M. de Rofny princefs fenfible of her indifcretion, by for- was fent for this purpoic by his majefty to bearing to fee her, and obliging her to live Rochelle ; and that he was commiffioncd by itt a diftance from him in one of his pa- the Rochellers to make remonftrances to laces, and perhaps by fending her back to the king, for fupprelîîng the pancarte or Florence. We may fee, in the Hiftory of tariff of this impoft. with Book XIII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 103 with the luccefs of his journey*, returned again to Fontainebleau, 1602. whither he was foon followed by maréchal Biron. The confternation his party was thrown into by the king's journey, convinced him that his affairs were not fo far advanced as he had been willing to believe; this made him take a refolution to go to court, which feveral other motives contributed to confirm. His treaty with Spain and Savoy was not yet upon fuch a footing, as could give him hopes of having an immediate fupply of what troops and money he had occafion for. Too glaring an oppofition of the king's will might raife fufpicions of his treafonablepradtices, which hitherto he imagin- ed had efcaped notice ; nor was it unlikely, as the baron de Lux, his friend and confidant, reprefented to him, that the king, upon his re- peated refufals to appear before him, would march diredly to him with an army, as to a declared rebel ; which would be a fatal llroke to the maréchal, who was neither in a condition to defend himlèlf, nor to retire into any of his fortrefi!es, which were unprovided with ammunition of every kind, particularly of artillery. I HAD prepared Biron for this flroke, by the precautions I took fome months before : I reprefented to him, that it was necefiary all the pieces of cannon in the fortified places of Burgundy fliould he caft over again, and the powder new beat. The attention with which I applied myfelf to all the duties of my employment, as grand mafter, was alone fufficient to have made this propofal pafs unfufpeded ; but that I might not give the leaft umbrage by it to the maréchal, I was the firll; to offer him to fupply the deficiencies, by furniHiing him with plenty of every thing that was necefi^ary from the arfenal of Lyons, which I had lately filled with great care. I confented that Biron fhould difpatch fome of his foldiers to Lyons, to efcort the boats that were to be loaded with the pieces of cannon I was to fend him, and that he fliould receive them before he fent away thofe he already had. He was ignorant that I had taken fuch meafures every where, that the boats from Lyons which went up the Saone very flowly, were flopped by the way, till thofe that came from Burgun- dy had got beyond the places under his jurifdi5lurcs and maxims of the times in which we both lived : and at all times, there is nothing againll: which it is fo difficult to defend one's felf, as the fecret machi- nations of envious courtiers : what effedl might they not be expedted to produce in the mind of a prince who could colledt a thoufand exam- ples of treachery, difloyalty, and difobedience to himfelf, and hardly one of real attachment ? Tojudge clearly of the fentiments which Henry entertained for me, we muft not confider him in thofe moments when the remembrance of fo many inflances of ingratitude, awakened by the mod artful impoftures, opened his heart in fpite of him to diftrull and fufpicion ; but when recovered from thofe impreflions which the plots they endeavoured to comprehend me in had made on his mind, he gave me the fincereft proofs of his tendernefs and efteem. The world therefore may judge as it pleafes of thofe little difgraces which I have been obliged to fuftain during the courfe of what will be called my glory and profperity, and which probably any other might have fuppreffed, for the honour of having it faid, that he diredled as he plea- fed the inclinations of his mafter ; on this fubjedl I fhall ufe neither difguife nor concealment, for truth is my guide, and inftruélion is my end. The duke of Luxembourgh having had a caufe brought before the parliament this year, the advocates that pleaded for him had the al- furance MEMOIRS OF S U L L Y. Book XIII. furance to exadt fifteen hundred crowns for their fees. The duke com- plained of this extortion to the king, who ordered the parhament to ifTue out an arret, by which the lawyers fees were reduced and fet- tled, and they obliged to give receipts for all the money they received, and a general receipt for what papers were put into their hands, that Ordonnance they might be conftrained to deliver up thefe, which they generally deBlois, art. ^Qp^ jj]] their demands were fatisfied. The necefTity of putting a curb to the avarice of thefe people had always appeared fo flrong, that the States had already given the fame orders, but to no purpofe. The parliament granted the arret that was demanded of them, but the law- yers, inflead of fubmitting to it, went, three or four hundred of them, to return into the public regifler the enfigns of their office, which pro- duced a total ceffation of law proceedings. There was almoft a gene- ral murmur throughout Paris, particularly among pragmatical cox- combs and badauds*, a fet of wretches with which the town is crowded, ■who, taking upon them to be wifer than the king, the peers, and the ilates of the kingdom, decided againft them in favour of the advocates -f-, and found fome abettors, even at court, who, with fo much power and art exaggerated an evil, petty in itfelf and eafily remedied, that the king was ftunned with their clamours, and began to be in pain about the confequence. While this affair was yet in agitation, his majefly being one day in his clofet converfing with fome of the courtiers, and relating the continual folicitations that were made him in favour of the advocates, " Faith, Sire, I am not furprifed at it," faid Sigogne, railing his voice and alTuming the air of one in a violent pafTion ; " thefe men make " it plainly appear that they know not how to employ their time, fince *• they diflurb themfelves fo niuch about a trifle : to hear their excla- " mations, one would think the flate, without thefe bawlers, would be " ruined ; as if the kingdom under Charlemagne, and fo many other *' great kings, during whofe reigns neither advocates nor attorneys were " heard of, was not in as flourifhing a condition as it is at prefent " when we are devoured by thefe vermin." Sigogne afterwards, to prove that the eflablifhment of advocates in France was not very an- * Such as are ftiled cockneys at London, of thefe Memoirs, he propofes the means of f Matthieu, in relating this incident, confiderably diminifhing the number of torn. II. liv. iii. p. 478. feems, in liice man- procefles ; and 'tis for tiiis that endeavours ner, to take the part of the advocates, and ought, indeed, to be chiefly ufed for bufi- yet, for all this, every good man muft be of nefs, to remedy the ahufes of wliich he the duke of Sully's opinion. In the fetiuel complains. cien-t Book XIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. cient, produced the regiller of the chancery, of which the firrt: paper is intituled, " A permiffion fo plead caufes by an advocate;" and per- ceiving that he was hftened to with pleafure, he added, that this fci- ence w?s eft'abiifned to the ruin of the nobihty and the people, and the defî:ru(3ion of trade and agriculture. " There is not, faid he, any artill:, ** or even any iimple labourer, that is not of more ufe to the com- *' munity, than t'lis fwarm of men, who enrich themfelves by our ** follies, and the artifices they have invented to fliflc truth, throw ** down all right, and darken reafon. If we are fo blind," continued he with a vivacity truly diverting, " that we will not, and fo un- ** happy that we cannot do without them, nothing remains to be done " but to command them to refume the exercife of their employment " within eight days at fartheft, upon the conditions prefcribed by the •' court, on pain of being obliged to return to the fliop or the plough " which they have quitted, or elfe to ferve the ftate in Flanders with ** a mufquet upon their fhoulders. I'll anfwer for it, if this method " be taken with them, we (hall foon fee them run with eagernefs " to refume thefe magnificent enfigns, like vermin towards a heap " of wheat.'^ There was not one in the company who could forbear fmiling at this lively fally of Sigogne's, and the king was among the firft, and confefTed that his arguments were very convincing ; but v.'hether it was that he fufFered himfelf to be overcome by the folicitations * that were made him, or alarmed by the fears of the confequences that might attend hisjoining this new diforder to thofe troubles by which the king- dom v/as then agitated, or that, as he afterwards declared, he had re- ferved to himfelf the making one day fuch a general regulation in this affair, that not only the advocates, but the attorneys and the wholebody of the law fhould be comprehended in it, he confented that the arret fliould, for this time continue without effedl : and thus was this ludicrous bufinefs terminated ; for refledtions upon which, I refer the reader to Sigogne's own words : fo the world was left to think that it was I who made him fpeak them -f*. * The medium made ufe of by the fame time allow them to make fuch remon-' king's people, who underhand favoured ftrances as they fhould think reafonable, the advocates in this afi'air, was, that the with regard to the exercife of their feveral king fhould fend new letters to the parlia- employments, and as they were particularly mcnt, whereby the advocates were ordered afliircd that they might aft as before, they to refume and continue their funilions, on had no difficulty to fubmit thereto. De condition, however, of obeying the arrets Thou, liv. cxxviii. Sept. an. 1602. of parliament, and the ordinances of the f Lc Journal d'Henry IV. relates a lit- fiates. But, as thefe letters did at the tie piece of hillory which I fliall fct down Vol. II. S This 130 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIIL 1602. This naturally leads me to take notice of the great law-fuit com- menced this year by the third eftate of Dauphiné againfl: the clergy and nobility, upon the manner in which the taxes were fettled and affized in this province : myfelf, together with thirteen other com- miffioners, chofen amongft perfons of the higheft diftindtion in the kingdom, were named to take cognizance of it, but it was fix years before it could be decided ; the animofity between the parties con- cerned was fo great, that there was a neceffity for fending a fécond time to take information upon the fpot. I took a more fpeedy me- thod to bring a man, named Joufleaume, to juftice j he had been a receiver-general in the revenue, and, becoming a bankrupt, had carried off a great deal of the royal money. I caufed him to be feized at Milan, whither he had retired, and he was hanged on a gibbet. All crimes that draw along with them the ruin of a multi- tude of families, cannot be too feverely puniflied. The king again fhewed himfelf folicitous for the intereft of his finances, in the affair of the receivers and treafurers-general of Burgundy ; fome draughts had been made on them for the charges of garrifons and works of for- tifications, which they had not paid, either through negligence, or with a bad defign. I advifed his majefly to fend thither a commif- fary on whofe probity he could depend ; he did fb, and he began by fufpending thofe men from their employments, and himfelf perform- ed the duties of treafurer. The money that was expended upon this occafion was raifed out of the falaries of thefe receivers and treafurers, " That I, faid Henry, may not pay the penalty for the fault they " have committed againft my fervice and their duty." here. Henry one time hunting on the fide him have a piece of their roaft-meat, or to of Grosbois, dropt his company, as he fre- give him leave to fit at one end of their ta- quently did, and came by himfelf to Cre- ble, upon paying for it ; both which they teil, which is a league on the other fide of refufed him. Upon this, Henry fent pri- the bridge of Charenton, and that at noon- vately for Vitry, and eight or ten more of day, and as hungry as a hunter. Going his attendants, whom he ordered to feize into an inn, he inquired of the landlady if thefe folicitors, and carry them away to fhe had any thing for him to eat ? To which Grofbois to have them well whipped, to fheanfwered no, and that he was come too teach them more complaifance to gentle- late, taking him only for a private gentle- nicn another time. " This the faid fieur man. Henry then afked her, For whom is " Vitry favv puntSually and fpeedily per- this roaft-meat I fee at the fire ? For fome " formed, fays the author, notwithftand- gentlemen, replies (he, that are above, and " ing all the arguments, entreaties, and whom I take to be folicitors. The king " remonftrances of the lawyers." fent, in a civil manner, to aflc them to let To Book Xm. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 13Ï To prevent the exportation of gold and filver coin I found a me- thod lefs tedious and levere thanpuniihments and confifcations, which was only to raife their value *, there being no reafon why they fliould 1602. * The crown called ecu d'or au foleil, which was valued at fixty ibis tournois, was raifed to fixty five ; that called ecu pifto- let of fifty-eight fols, to fixty-tvvo, and fo of the other goUl fpecies ; tfie filver franc of twenty fols was raifed one fol and four deniers, and the refi: in proportion. It was in the month of September that this double ordonnance pafl'ed, about the raifing the value of money, and the re-eflablifhing of reckoning by livres; for the reckoning by crowns had only taken place about twenty- five years before, that is, fmce the ordon- nance of 1577, which had abrogated the reckoning by livres. Matthieu very highly approves of both thefe regulations of the duke of Sully's, tom. II. liv. iii. p. 540. Le Blanc, on the contrary, fays, p. 351. 372, et feq. that, whatever cogent reafons they might have had for abrogating this famous ordonnance of 1577, it was very ill done, either with regard to the money it- felf, becaufe the gold and filver fpecies were afterwards raifed as much in feven years alone, as they had been during the ipace of feventy-five years before ; or with regard to commerce, becaufe that goods and merchandife were proportionably en- hanced in their prices. The opinion of this laft writer feems, to me, to be grounded upon ftronger reafons. The reckoning by Of owns had been in favour of thofe who had their revenues in fdver, thofe who im- proved their money in the public funds and otherwife, and thofe who fold goods upon credit payable at a certain time : the or- donnance of 1577 fecured the efFeâs of a confiderable number of the natives ; and befides, if there had been any con- fufion found in the coin, this neither was, nor could be, the caufe of it, but only the mifcrable condition into which the ci- vil wars had reduced France. The duke of Sully proje£ted thefe two regulations here fpoken of, to prevent thefe diforders, which were, according to him, the too great plenty of foreign fpecies that, in com- merce, occupied the place of our own ; fecondly, the enhancement of the price of merchants goods ; and laflly, the expor- tation of the gold and filver coin to our neighbours. It was equally eaiy to have made him fenfible, that his complaints, in all thefe refpefts, fignified nothing, any more than the remedy which he applied to them. We have already fhewn, a little higher, in what fenfe it is that this quantity of foreign coin, which abounds in our com- merce, is an advantage; and if it could be called an evil, the augmentation of the nominal value of coin, to wit, in reckon- ings, to which he has recourfe, would be more proper to heighten than lefTen it. As to the raifing of the price of goods, the fame augmentation could not but make way for it fliil more ; and the reafon for obviating it, which he draws from the computation by livres, will appear, to every one, very infufficient, and even fri- volous. Moreover, it appears to me, that the enhancing of the price of goods follows as a neceflary confequence and efFeâ of the multiplication of gold and filver in Europe, fince the difcov^ry of America. In order to prevent it, we mufl have prohibited all commerce, not only with Spain, whofe mines furnifli us now with thefe metals, but alfo with all our own neighbours, among whom they circulate as well as among us. A flate that fhould be conduc- ted by this principle, would, among the other fiâtes of Europe, make the fame figure, as the republic of Lacedemon did with refpe£l to the reft of Greece. The only thing to be attended to, and which is of very great confequence, is, that all the merchandife and goods, and generally whatever conftitutes a part of commerce, fhould rife at the fame time and in the fame proportion in value. If the produâion of manufaftures be enhanced without raifing the price of corn, for example, then agri- S 2 fe.: MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIIL be carried out of the kingdom, but that they would pafs for more in the neighbouring countries than at home. At the fame time, I fettled, over all the kingdom, the way of reckoning by livres, inftead of crowns, as had been till then the practice : by fome this may be thought an culture is negleiled. If the wages of jour- neymen be not proportioned to the one and the other, thofe people can no longer live and pay the taxes. As to the exporting of coin out of the kingdom, which feems to hav€ been the chief view of the duke of Sully, it is true, that the augmentation of its current value in reckoning might, in fome meafare, prevent it, in annihilating or diniinifiiing the profit of the dealers in bullion; and, apparently, this was the only reafon that determined him. The narrow views of his age, with regard to the finan- ces, and ftill more as to commerce, did not allow him to fee that he deflroyed a ilight corruption by one a great deal more confiderable, nor fuffer him to go up to the fourceof the evil: he would have per- ceived that the advantage of commerce, and conlequently the greateft quantity of gold and filver, will remain in that nation which fhall have made all others depend moft upon them for riches, either natural or acquired ; and that as long as the ballance of trade fliall be in favour of fome one neighbouring nation, this prohibition of exporting gold and {ilver, is neither reafonable, nor praticable. At prefentjwhen we begin to fee a little more clearly into theib matters, there is no one but agrees, that all thefe regulations, and this whole train of reafoning, did not rerxh the end propofed. Though the exigency of circumftances, which is almoft endleis, does not permit either the providing agr.ïnû, or the (ubjefting every thing to a iingle rule, we may, however, aver, that on the article of money and commerce, theie are two general and very fimple maxims which may be looked upon as invariable ; and thefe are, to avoid, with the greateft care ima- ginable, meddling with the coin, and en- deavour, continually, to render the French as laborious, induftrious, and frugal as pof- fible. The frequent variations in the coin give mortal wounds both to domeftic and foreign trade, by the extinflion of credit, the fliutting up of private purfes, the em- barrafTment and difadvantage of exchange, and the ruin of eilates : all this is palpable and obvious. To this we may add, that the king, who appears to be the only one who gains by fuch proceedings, to put the cafe impartially, always lofes confiderably more thereby than he gains ; befides, that the infolvency of his fubjeéts is an evil which he always fhares with them, and even feels much longer than they do ; all his expen- ces incrcafe with the coin, fo as not to be diminiihed even when that does. The other principle has ftill lefs need of proof. It feems, that nature has referved to France, the fovereignty of trade, from the advantage of her fituation, and the goodnefs of her foil, which obliges a great part of her neighbours to have recourfe to her for all thofe things that fupply the firfl and ellential necefiaries of lile : fhe has no more to do than to fhare, at leaft equally with them in the commerce of all thofe things that ferve but for mere con- veniency, or which luxury has introduced into Europe. If the conlumption of the latter fliould exceed the produce of the for- mer, we fliall complain unjuftly of our con- dition ; for to pretend to hinder the expor- tation of our materials of gold and filver to foreigners, when it is we that are indebted to thef; foreigners, is endeavouring to m-ake the eftedl ccafe, without removing the caufe ; but to fût a Frenchman to com- merce that is carried on hy fea, to nianu- faiftures and arts, to hinder him as much as pcffible from expending too much on things 'that come from abroad, and which are but fuperàuities, and, on the other h.and, to increafe his proper riches, by encouraging the cultivation of his' lands ; this is what we may truly call promoting tlie intL-reftof trade. Befides Le Blanc and Matthieu, confuit on tile fubjeâ: of this note De Thou, liv. cxxix/Le Grai«, liv. viii. 'Pete- ufelefs Book XîîI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ufolefs refinement, fince all the ways of reckoning mufl come to the fame thing at lafc : I am, however, of opinion, experience having fhewn me, that the cuflom of talking always of crovv'ns, for want of a .denomination of a nioney ^lore convenient for petty traffic, had im- Exe, and other writers of th^t time, in ci- der to find out the hiftory of thefe regula- tions of the finances and commerce ; for -in reality the reafonings of thefe writers on "this whole matter are but little fatisfaiSo- ry : we might well fay of ihcm >\'hat the duke of Sully faid of the parliament of Pa- ïis, " They are mafters of arts which none " of them know any thing of." Mem. pour l'hift. de France. As M. de Sully treats no mgre of mo- ney, I will fupply that part from the fame JjIeiiKiirs, torn.. II. p. 275, & feq. ;ho' this waiter fçems not. even to ijnderftand the ûv.ts of the queflion, and fpeaks not very favourably of the king and his minifters. " At that time," fays he, fpeakingof^ll the deliberations which were entered into upon this fubjeft in i6og, " there was " brought upon the carpet, and propofed *' to the council, a new edift for the " coin, which they vi'anted to diminifh " and alter, that is, to raife its value, " and by the fame means to ruin the " people. Every one murmured at this *' propofal : the king alone finding his " account in it, laughed at it, and at all " the world, even at his own miniflers, " and their remonftrances, as he did at " the firft prefident of the mint (William *' Le-Clerc) who being difconcerted in his " fpeech, having been twice interrupted *' by his majefty's breaking into a fit of " laughter, which made him ftop fliort in " the middle thereof; and upon his ma- " jelly's obferving it, he fays to him, Go " on, Mr. prefident, for I am not laughing " at you, but at my coufin, the count of " Solfions, who is near me, and tells me, *' that he fmells a fhoulder of mutton. " This feccnd ftroke ftruçk him quite " dumb. lUppn which, the ,kii\g falling -" into a fit of lajghter, went away and " left him. A native of Perigord, who " was one of the principal pcrfons that " had communicated this projc£l of the " ediit to the king, prefled much for its " being put in execution. The king, who " very well knew the iniquity of the edift, " feeing himfelf continually teafed by this " rude contractor, at length alked him " what countryman he was ; to which he V anfwered, I am a native of Perigord. " Ventrefaintgris, replies the king, I al- " >va>ys thought fo ; for in that country " they are all falfe coiners. — On Saturday, '^' the 5th of September, the court being *' niet on the editde monies, rejected it "entirely; Ncc dcl/cmus, nee poffuinus, we " neither ought nor can, concluded they " with one voice. The gentlemen be- *' longing to the mint were fent for; a- " mong whom one of the reformed reli- " gion, called Bizeul, fpoke his fentiincnts " very freely, for which he was highly " commended ; and M. le Premier prefi- " dent faid. Non in parabolis ijh- kcutits ejl " nobis. It muft beobferved, that as foon " as the people belonging to the coinage " had entered the chamber, the firft pre- " fident faid to them. Sit down and he " covered, and you fhall fpeak prefently. •" On Tuefday the 8th, in the evening, *' M. de Sully went to fee the firft prcfi- " dent, in order to prevail on him to pcr- " fuade the court to pafs the edidfs ; but " in this he found him inflexible : and as " the prefident reprefented to him the in- " juftice of it, M. de Sully anfwered, The " king ought not to look upon that as un- " juft which fuits his affairs. — On Tuef- " day the 15th of September, the king " fent his letters patent to the court, to " prolong the parliament for eight days, " during which time they were ordered " to fet about the regifteringof the .edicts, " two of which were in a manner rcvo- " ked ; and as to the others, it was hoped " they would die of themfelvcs." perceptibly 134- M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XIIL 1602. perceptibly raifed all that was bought or fold to more than its real ' value. The intereft of commerce was ftill more concerned in the news the king received from feveral parts of the kingdom, that thofe who had been employed to feek for mines, had difcovered a great number of* gold and filver ones. This report was fpread at court with fo many appearances of probability, that every one reprefenting to him- felf the diredlion of this new labour as a fource of immenfe riches, there was net one who did not ufe his utmoft endeavours to procure the grant of it. Monfieur Le Grand obtained the office of fuperin- tendant, and Béringhen that of comptroller general. This gave oc- cafion for La Regnardiere, a buffoon whofe jefts were equally fatiri- cal and agreeable, to fay, " that they could not have made a fitter '♦ choice of a man for the direârion of the mines, than one who was " himfelf a compofition of mines ■f." The improvement and work- ing of filk, of which I (hall have more occafion to fpeak in the follow- ing year, commenced in this, and an edidt was publifhed for the plant- ing of mulberry trees. Among all thefe different ediârs, none made fo much noife as that againfl duels :|:. His majefty went fo far as to make death the punifh- ment of thofe who difobeyed ; in which, I confefs, he atfled contrary to my advice. I have too plainly declared my thoughts of this pernt- * Le Septennaire mentions the places " profit, that M. De Thou had reafon for where thefe mines of all forts were dif- " difTuading them from meddling with . covered : " In the Pyrennees mines of talc " them ever fmce that time." liv. cxxix. ■ " and copper, together with fome of gold f The jefi lies in the word mhics, which " and filver; in the mountains of Foix, in French fignifies grimace and affectation. *' mines of jet and precious ftones, and % This edifl, in which duelling is de- " even carbuncles, tho' but hw ; in the clared to be high treafon or /dZf majcfiéy . " landsof Gevaudan, and in theCevennes, was paffed at Blois in the month of June, " mines of lead and tin ; in thofe of Car- and is a very fevere one : this is the •' caffonne, mines of filver ; in thofe of edift which firfl gave the conftables and " Auvergne, mines of iron ; in the Lyon- marechals of France a power of pro- " nois near the village Saint-Martin, of hibiting violent methods, and appoint- " gold and filver ; in Normandy, filver ing the reparation of the injuries re- " and very good tin ; at Annonay in the ceived. This the parliament reitricfled, in " Vivarais, mines of lead ; in La Brie the regiftring, to thofe rencountei's alone *' and Picardy, mines of marcafite of that concerned the point of honour, and *' gold and filver. Some of thefe mines, excepted all other crimes as debts, af- " but efpecially thofe of gold and filver, faults, he. M. de Sully, in the courfe of " are very difficult and troublefome to thefe Memoirs,- handles this afFair of duel- *' work, and at the fame time of fo little ling at greater length. cious Book XIIL M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 135 cious and favage abufe, to fear the accufation of having endeavoured 1602. to tolerate it ; but I forefaw, that an excefs of feverity in the means would be the principal obftacle to the execution. When it becomes neceflary to declare the will of the fovereign to the fubjeâ:, it is of the utmoft importance to examine carefully, whether the thing to be for- bidden is of fuch a nature that the fear of death may prevent dif- obedience; for otherwife thofe extremities are, in my opinion, lefs efficacious than degradation or di(grace, or even than a pretty high fine or forfeiture. If the pradice of duelling be ferioufly attended to, it will be found to be of this nature ; for it is commonly perfons of quality, and even of the greatefl diflindtion, who are guilty of it j for whom folicitations are fo much the more ardent and fuccefs- ful, as the punifhment with which they are threatened is great and infamous : it is not therefore to be doubted, that many pardons will be granted, the example, and the hope of which, are fufficient to encourage others to infringe the law. It often happens, that thofe punifliments are moft regarded, for which a pardon dare not, nor cannot be implored. Besides thofe embaflies I have already mentioned at the beginning of this year, the king received a folemn deputation from the thirteen Swifs Cantons : forty-two deputies from that nation came to Paris to renew the alliance *, which had been the occafion of maréchal Bi- ron's journey to thofe Cantons. I was appointed, together with Sillery, De Vic, and Caumartin, to treat with them j but, not being able, oa account of my other employments, to attend this bufmefs conftantly, I fatisfied myfelf with getting exaâ: informations from Sillery of all that pafled at their meetings. The only difficulty I ftarted, was con- cerning the three millions that were granted them, befides the forty thoufand crowns to which their ufual penfion was raifed : I could have wiffied that they had dedudled certain funis paid on their account, during the campaign in Savoy, and on fome other occafions : as for the reft, thefe gentlemen thought good chear, and deep drinking with them, the moft eflential parts of their reception. The king prefented them with gold chains and medals, and fent back the pope's chamber- lain, who came to compliment him in the name of his holinefs, loaded with prefents : he gave his confent to the alliance which the republic of Venice made with the Grifons againft Spain. * See all the ceremonies of entries, au- tennaire, ann. 1602. Matthieu, torn. II. dicnces, and performances of oaths, which liv. iii. p. 471, See. were obferved on this occafion, in le Scp- The i^ô • MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIIÏ. 1D02. The great armaments and other warlike preparations which that crown was making for the following year, kept the crown of France in continual attention to their motions, and were the caufe that Henry, who held it for an inconteftable truth, that it was by the military power alone a ftate could be rendered flourifliing, not only rejefted the pro- pofal I made him to dilband part of his troops, particularly to'lelTeii the number of his guards by twelve or fifteen hundred men, but alfo that he took a refolution to make a new levy of fix thouTand Swifs ; and it was with great difficulty that I prevailed upon him to defer this levy till the month of September. He was more folicitous than ever about the payment of his army, and I was obliged to the conflable for having folicited with great earneflinefs the payment of my company of gendarmes. And at laft he determined to take another journey to Calais, which was the moft confiderable of all his majefty made this year, except that into the provinces. Henry took his route through Verneuil * towards tlie latter end of the month of Auguft, leaving his queen in the fame condition (he was the preceding year, that is, far advanced in her pregnancy, for flic lay in of Madame her eldeft daughter, in November -f-. He re- commended to me with great earnefi:nefs to be afliduous about her, and endeavour to make her approve of this journey; as likewife to procure her every kind of diverfion that might alleviate her concerri during the firfi; days of his abfence. He never wrote to me without making inquiry about the ftate of her health, and the manner in which fhe pafTed her time: and it may be truly faid, that he never omitted giving her every inftance of relpeft and tendernefs that was able to make her forget the uneafmefs flie received from his amours. It was about this time that he legitimated the fon he had by the marchionefs de Verneuil |, which was among the number of thofe things that gave the greateft oifence to the queen. Henry was detained a little time at Monceaux by a fever, occafioned by a cold he got in walking late in • the evening to fee his mafons work ; the remedy he made ufe of was,, to go to the chace next day. As foon as I had acquainted him at Boulogne, that every thing relating to the queen was in fuch a fituation * VerneuH, near Senlis, a caftte which born on the 22d of November, 1602, and he had given'to his mil^refs, mademoiftlle married to Philip IV. of Spain in 1615. ii'Entragues, and from which (he took the J Henry de Bourbon, duke de Verneuil : title of marchionefs of Verneuil. he was at firft bifliop of Metz, and after- t Elizabeth, a daughter of France, was wards mairied Charlotte Seguier, as Book XIII, MEMOIRS OF SULLY. as he wiflied, he wrote to me to come to him in this city, with the prefident Jeannin, whom he expedled to have occafion for. It was from this place that his majefty was a witnefs of part of the event and exploits of the campaign between the Spaniards and the Flemifli, without having any inclination to difirm, whatever adu- rance might be given him by the king of Spain, till he had feen what turn affairs would take in the Low Countries ; where, however, they ftill continued to be on the fame footing as before. The fiege of Oflend was not carried on with fo much vigour by the befiegers, as it was fuftained by the befieged. Prince Maurice ofNaflau, after con- tinuino; fome time at Berg;, uncertain of what he fliould next under- take, went on the 19th of September to invefl Grave, and entrenched himfelf, not doubting but he fliould receive fome oppofition in this enterprize. Accordingly the admiral of Arragon, in the abfence of the arch-duke Albert, who was detained by ficknefs at BrufTels, en- deavoured, by means of a bridge which he threw over the river, to beat up one of the quarters of the befiegers, and to fuccour the place; but he did not fucceed : and he had even the mortification to find, that many of his Spanifli companies mutinied, and, after feparating from the main body of his army, poflefl'ed themfelves of Hoeftrate and Dele. He took fuch wrong methods to engage them to return, that they came to a refolution to apply to the prince of Orange, who gave them the city of Grave for a retreat, which he had taken, and which thefe Spaniards reftored to him, when the ravages and violences they committed upon the territories of the arch-duke obliged him to treat with them, and to accept of very flrange conditions from them *. The council of Spain, through adefire of carrying on the war, re- folved to make new and more vigorous efix)rts. A fquadron of twelve large gallies and pinnaces, fitted out at Sicily with great care, manned with a fufficient number of foldiers, and plentifully fupplied with all neceffary provifions, failed for this purpofe out of the Spanlfli ports, to cruife in the channel : the command of this fquadron was given to Frederic Spinola, coufin to the marquis of that name, whoconduiSed the fiege of Oftend ; he flattered himfelf that he fhould become mailer of the fea, and complete the ruin of the Flemifli. But this proved * See in the hiftorians the particulars of all thefe expeditions, vi'hich arc here only 'briefly related. Vol. II. T a vain 138 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XI1Î. 1602. a vain hope; of twelve veffels, two of them perifhed ere he had quit- ted the coafts of Spain ; the ten others, meeting with a Dutch fqua- dron,, were almoft all either taken or funk > the laft that efcaped, and in which Spinola himfelf was, happened to run a-ground within view of Calais, but fo difabled by the cannon, and in fuch a fl-iattered condition, that the flaves who rowed it having revolted and fled, the general found himfelf obliged to land alone, and with great labour, at Calais, from whence he went to Bruflels, to complain to the arch- duke of the fca and the winds. Spain made herfelf amends for thefe misfortunes by the acquifition of the marquifate of Final, which was taken by the count of Fuentes. There was not the leaft fliadow of a pretence for this ufurpation ; this little flate, which is on the coaft of Geneva, being inconteftably a fief of the empire ; neverthelefs, when the emperor, to preferve, in appear- ance at leafl, the right of the empire, offered to fend commiflioners to difcufs this affair upon the fpot, his offer was rejedled with con- tempt by the king of Spain *. He ufed the fame violence with regard to Piombino, a fief likev.'ife of the empire, which afforded him a con- venient port ; and had likewife the fame views upon Embden, when he undertook to fupport againft the inhabitants -f- the lord of this city, although he was avowedly a proteftant; but in this he did not fuc- ceed ; the citizens of Embden maintained their liberty againft both the one and the other, and joined themfelves to the ffates. The duke of Savoy fucceeded no better in the attempt he ordered" d'Albigny:}:tomake upon the city of Geneva. This expedition ended unfortunately for the aflailants, although they had opened themfelves a paffage into the city, by applying foldiers to the walls, and above two hundred of them had already entered, after cutting the centinel's throat, whom they had forced to tell them the watch-word, which- ferved them to get clear of the patrole till they had found their way through the firft guard ; and now they thought themfelves fecure of the city : but the citizens, deriving new ftrength and courage from the extremity they beheld themfelves in, tharged them with fo much fury, that they drove them back, and forced them to abandon their city. Some of thefe Savoyards threw themfelves off' the walls, to ef- * The marquis of Final, by his impor- an. 1598, and their conclufion, an. 1602. tunities, obtained a penfion during his life. % Charles de Simiane d'Albigny. De f He was called count d'Ort Frife. See Thou, liv. 129. Septen. an. a6o2. Mat- the origin of thefe troubles in Chron. Sept. thieu, ibid. 544. cape Book XIII. MEMOIRS OPSULLY. cape the rage of the enemies ; many others were taken, and hanged without mercy. Spain entered very deep into that black defign, which was followed by a peace between the duke of Savoy and the re- public of Geneva *. The revolt of Battori from the emperor continued the war in Hungary : the duke of Nevers -j- went thither, in expedlation of fuc- * The treaty was concluded the follow- ing year at Rarnilly, through the mediation of the Swifs Cantons. Siri, ibid. p. 200. t Charles de Gonzague, dukeof Mantua, de Nevers, de Cleves, and de Rhetel, who died in 1637. See howla Chronol, Septen. relates an aflion, of which M. de Sully fpeaks with a kind of contempt. " The " duke of Nevers thinking by his own *' example to recal the courage of thofe " who withdrew from danger, and to in- " duce others to come on, went diredlly " to the breach, trampling over the dead, " the wounded, and even thofe that were " flying ; but he received there the fhot of " a large arquebufe that was fired amidft *' a great number of other arms, from one " of the angles of the faid breach, that " {truck him juft on the left fide, pene- " trating into the breaft, near the heart " and lungs ; but it was condu£led fo " providentially, that, neither breaking or " hurting any noble part, it gained him " as much lafting honour, as it fhewed a " great miracle in his prefer/ation." Let us likewife hear this writer concerning the death of the duke de Mercœur : "• Having " an inclination, lays he, to return to " France, in order to prepare for fome " greater expedition againft: the Turks, he " went from Vienna to Prague, where he " took his leave of the emperor : but " while he was at Nuremberg he was *' feized with a peftilential fpotted fever. '< No fooner was the hoft brought him, " than the moment he faw it, though in " a languifliing and weak fiate of body, " yet of a vigorous and found mind, having " more faith than life (the device of the " dukeof Mercœur being, plus fidei quam *' vitœ) he threw himfelf out of bed, and ^' falling prollrate upon the ground, adored " his Saviour, uttering the moft devout " ejaculations." The whole of what this author adds concerning the afts, fayings, and fentiments, of the duke of Mercœur, till the moment of his death, is quite af- fefling, and ferves fufRciently to form a high elogiumof his character : " His fu- " neral oration was pronounced in the " church of Notre Dame at Paris, by mon- " fieur François de Selles, coadjutor and " bifhop elect of Geneve. The Turks " imagined that the affairs of the Chri- " flians did not profper but where-ever this " prince was." After the elogium of his family, the hiflrorian paffes to that of his virtues : " He was one of the moft tem- " perate men in the world as to diet, lb as " only to eat when obliged through necef- " fity, and he drank almoft nothing but " water : he was no lefs abftemious in " other temporal enjoyments ; humble in " the poffeflion of all thofe high honours " and great favours heaven had heaped up- " uponhim,and neverabufing any of them ; " for he was equally acceffible to rich and " poor; moderate in his recreations; he " had a great contempt for idle aflemblies ; " fo that what time remained for amufe- " ment he employed in reading ufeful " books. He had an exaft fkill in pra£li- " cal mathematics ; he alfo was eloquent, " and would gracefully deliver his elegant " fentiments not only in French, but like- " wife in the German, Italian, and Spa- " nifh tongues, in vv-hich he was more than " moderately skilled ; and yet he never " employed his elocution but to enforce " things that were ufeful, praifc-worthy, " and virtuous." The defcription which this writer afterwards gi\es, with regard to his performing the duties of religion and thofe of his ftation, his piety, his prudence. T2 ceeding MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIIî. ceeding to the pofl: and reputiition of the duke of Mercosur ; but lay- ing liege to Buda after Pefl had been taken by the Chriftians, the Turks, who on their fide had, at length, won Alba regalis, haflened thither with fuch numerous forces, that they forced them to raife ths liege ; and the duke of Nevers retreated very much wounded. An aftion of George Bafte, the imperial general, has been very much and very defervedly applauded. The rebels in Battori's party having feized Biftrith, Bafle retook this place by a capitulation, which dur- ing his abfence was violated by fome German foldiers. As foon as he was apprifed of it at his return, he hanged up all thofe foldiers, and out of his own money fatisfied the inhabitants for the damage they had received. The rebels were fo greatly affedled with the gencrofity of this action, that they all fubmitted to the emperor, and demanded no other fecurity than the general's word. and his other virtues, form altogether a for religion made him undertake a confpi- picture which may ferve for a model to the racy againft his fovereign. Matthieu, ibid', great of our times, if we except that an 456, fpeaks of him in the feme raanaer. immoderate ambition and iniftaken zeal MEMOIRS MEMOIRS O F SULLY. BOOK XIV. TH E city of Metz had been, for feme time, fliaken with thofe 1603. inteftine divifions, which broke out in the beginning of this {yW\J year. The duke of Epernon, who was governor of it, and of the whole country of Meffin, had placed Sobole * and his brother as his Ueutenants there ; who made fuch an ill ufe of their authority, that they were foon hated by the whole body of the citizens. This hatred was flrengthened by the difference of their religions ; and there was fuch a general outcry amongfl the citizens and country people, againft the lieutenants, that d'Epernou was obliged to go himièlf to Metz, to hear the complaints of both parties, and to endeavour to conciliate them to each other. Sobole complained, that the city re- fufed to furnifli the troops with victual, and the city, in their turn, threw the whole blame upon Sobole. Some difputes had alfo rifen concerning a certain Provençal prifoner at Vitry ; which, through rancour and a defire of revenge, occafioned feveral other matters lefs confiderable ; and thefe heats had already proceeded fo far as to make a revolt be apprehended. * Raymond de Comminges, lord of Sobo'e, and his brother, gemkmen of Guicony. Thiu 142 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y, Book XIV. The duke of Epernon was foon convinced that the two Soboles * had not juftice on their fide, at leafl, with regard to the firft com- plaint, which was indeed the chief, and by them made the occafion of a quarrel, with no other view, than to afford them a pretence for open- ing the magazines of the citadel, which was never permitted but in cafe of a war or a fiege, and tl)is to make themfelves maflers of them. D'Epernon would have been glad to have pacified matters, without being obliged to deprive his two creatures of their pofts j for he well knew, that this was an exertion of authority, which he would have fbme difficulty to fupport himfelf in, the two brothers being at the head of a party, flrong enough to oppofe the governor as well as the citizens. Things were in this flate, when the king received advice of what was doing at Metz : he lent me notice that he would come to the arfenal to confer with me, and defired that I would have a fupper prepared for him, and fix other perfons whom he fhould bring with him. He made me follow him alone into the great flore-houfes of cannons and arms, and, beginning, as ufual, to difcourfe about the fituation of affairs within the kingdom, with refpeft to the malecon- tents, he told me the news he had jufl received from Metz. Henry, without anyhefitation,refolved upon taking a journey thither, upon his refleding that if Metz, a city fb very lately difmembered from the empire, fliould unfortunately happen, in the prefent conjuncture, to feparate itfelf from France, it would be a difficult matter to recover iu Several other political motives made this journey abfolutely necelTary, befides that of taking from the duke of Epernon a citadel, which he might make ufe of to very bad purpofes, and a conliderable extent of country, wherein, under the reign of Henry the third, he had be- haved more like a fovereign prince than a governor; and, upon a fup- pofition that he fliould one day carry his great defigns into execution, there would be a necefTity for having, in this country, fo important by its fituation, a governor from whom he could promife himfelf more afîiflance than he could expert from d'Epernon. It was probable at leafl that fome favourable opportunity would offer to join Lorrain to France, and in that cafe it imported his majefly highly to go himfelf in perfon, and procure a perfed knowledge of this flate, and give the * Sobple. accufed the city of Metz of the king of Spain. This acciifation ap- holding intelligence with the count of peared to be falle. Vie du duc d'Epernon, Mansfield, in order to furrender jtfelfto p. 217. government Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. government of that province, which was upon its confines, to a man on whom he could depend. This journey hkewiie would be of ufe to him, affording him an opportunity of becoming acquainted with fome of the princes of Germany, and of founding their inclinations with re- fpedl to the houfe of Auftria, to know if he might expedt any afliftance from them in an advantageous conjuncture, and even to attach them to himfelf, by reconciling them to one another, for he was not igno- rant that many differences fubfifted amongil them. It was agreed between us, that his maiefty fhould fet out without lofs of time, to the end that, by appearing at Metz with his whole court (for it was refolved that the queen fliould accompany him) at a time when the two faftions not having yet proceeded fo far in their inlblence as to embrace a party contrary to the king, both the one and the other fliould think of nothing but of juftifying their conduâ, and fubmitting to his determination. The king would not even flay till the coats of his guards-, for about this time they were to be all new cloathed, were ready ; but leaving me at Paris to correfpond witli him, ordered only Villeroi among his lecretaries of flate to attend him, and left Paris the latter end of February, notwithflanding the rigour of the feafon, which made the roads very bad for the ladies to travel, and took his rout by La-Ferté-fur-Jouarre, Dorman-liir-Marne, Eper- nai, Chalons-fur-Marne, and Clermont : the court flopped at Verdun, and four or five days after arrived at Metz by Frezne-en-Verdunois. Henry's arrival put an end to all difputes, and nothing was talked of but fubmifBon and obedience: not but Sobole, who was fenhble this affair would be terminated by his expulfion, had ambition and re- folution enough to maintain himfelf in the citadel in fpite of his ma- jefty, and difclofed his thoughts to his particular friends; but the mofl prudent amongft them reprefented to him, that, if he engaged in fuch a dafign, he would be irretrievably ruined ; fo that, fubmitting to the arret for his banifliment, he gave up the citadel without making any conditions, and quitted Metz and the whole counriy of Mefîin. The king appointed Montigny * to be his lieutenant in this province, in the * Francis de la Grange, lord of Mon- in 1617. His brother v/as Antony, lord tigny, Sery, &c. was chief flcward of the of Arquien, commandant of the citadel of houfhold to Henry III. governor of Berry, IVIetz, governor of Calais, Sancerre, &c. Blois, Scc. knight of the order of the Holy- He is mifcalled by fome, John-James Ghofl, camp-mafter-general of the light- d'Arquien ; and d'Arcy, by father Daniel, horfe, governor of Paris, afterwards of John- James d'Arquien was nephew of • Metz, the Pays Meffin, Touj, and Ver- maréchal de Montigny. duD, at hû, maréchal of France, and died room MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIV. room of Sobole, and d'Arquien his brother to adl as lieutenaat for the governor in the city and cafHe of Metz. Montigny, for this new poll, quitted his government of Paris, the falary of which, however, he received this year. It was thought that d'Epernon was far from being fatisfied with all thefe changes, as may be eafily imagined, the two lieutenants being under no obhgation to him for tlieir preferment ; but he could have nothing to fay, he liimfelf, through neceffity, being the firft to require the banilhment of the two Sobole?, fo that every thing feemed to be done with his confent. I HAVE taken this whole detail from the letters his majefty honoured •me with during his flay at Metz, in which he informed me fuccindlly of all the incidents, and dwelt flill longer upon the manner in which he was received at Metz, and upon the city itfelf, which he faid was three times larger than Orleans, and finely fituated, but that the caille was not worth any thing; he likewife told me, that he wiflied for my prefence in that country, that he might fend me to vifit the frontier, and that before fix days, he fliould put every thing in fuch good order, as to be able to leave Metz. In efïeâ;, the king accomplilhed it in much lefs time, and was only detained there by an indilpofition, that obliged him to take Ibme medicines, after which he found him- I'elf quite well, although it was followed by a fit of the ague, which •be thought had been occafioncd by a cold. The duchefs of Bar, iîfler to his majefiy, came to Metz on the fixteenth of March, and the duke de Deux-Ponts, with his wife and children, arrived three days afterwards. The remainder of the time his majefty ftaid in this province was employed in concluding a marriage between mademoi- lelle de Rohan, and the young duke de* Deux-Ponts ; in compofing a difference between the cardinal of Lorrain, and the prince of Bran- denbourg'f-, concerning the biflioprick of Stralbourg, uhich was ac- complilhed by dividing the revenue of this billioprick equally between them, without having any regard to their titles and pretenfions; in re- floring tranquility to that city, and in being ferviceable to all theprinces who required his interpofition in any of their affairs. The name of * John II. duke of Deux-Ponts, of a fhopric of the pope .; and the proteftants, branch of the houfe of Bavaria, married on their part, got John-George, brother Catherine the daughter of Henry duke of of the eledlor of Brandenbourgh, eleffed ; Rohan. whence a war arofe, which cominued till t John Manderfcheidt, the catholic bi- this year. See the hiilorians, Baflbmpicrre's fhop of Strafbourg, dying in 1594, cardi- Memoir?, vol.1. Septennaire, &c. 7;al Charles of Lorrain obtained this bi- Hen 7 BookXIV. memoirs O F s U L L y. 14 j Henry became fo revered in this country, that fcveral Ibvereign princes 1603. of Germany took a relblution to come thither and pay their refpeds to him, to offer him their fervice, and demand his protedion ; which, however, they could only do afterwards, and by amballadors, the ne- ceffary preparations for their equipages taking up more time than his majelty had determined to ftay at Metz. There were only the cardi- nal of Lorrain, the duke de Deux-Ponts, the marquis of Brandenbourg and Pomerania, the landgrave of Heffe, and three or four others whofe dominions lay neareft the Rhine, that came thither in perfon. The Jefuits, who ever (ince their banifhment had been ufing their litmoft endeavours to procure their re-eftablifhment in France, ap- peared no lefs felicitous to make their court to the king ; for this purpofe, they made ufe of the good offices of the fathers of their order at Verdun *, fupported by La-Varenne, who declared himfelf their protevflor, that they might one day become his, and repay his zeal by the advancement of his children, for whom he already thirfted after the moft eminent dignities in the church. D'Offat, though not in France, laboured with equal ardour and fuccefs in their favour. The ambitious délire of being arbitrator of the affairs of Europe had often made this man undertake to treat of matters quite foreign to his commiffion : the obftacles he raifed at Rome to the marriage of the princefs Catharine, the king's fifter, is one proof of it, and his folicitations for the Jefuits another ; for the re-eftablifh- ment of this fociety was regarded by him, Villeroi, Jeannin, and other creatures of the Roman court in France, to be the moft effential part of that fyftem of politics, which they endeavoured to have pre- ferred there, to that purfued by the council. D'OssAT, by printing his letters, which -f prove the truth of my ^ffertions concerning him, feems not to be folicitous about concealing * The fathers Ignatius Armand, pro- kept them the whole day with him. They vincia!, Chiiteiller, Broflard, and La-Tour, returned on Eafter Monday, and the king introduced by La-Varenne, came on Wed- promifed to recal them, and even ordered nefday in Paffion week to throw them- th'e father provincial to come to him at Pa- felves at the king's feet, and to implore his ris, and bring father Cotton with him. " I Favour for their rc-admi/Troir into France. " will have you with me, added he, for I Henry IV. would not fuffer the provincial, " think you ufeful to the public, and to who (poke for the whole order, to addrefs "my kingdom." He difmiflèd them, after him kneeling. When he had done, the having embraced them all four. De Thou, king anfwered them, that, for his part, he b. cxxix. Chronol. Sept. anno 1603. MSS. was not an ill-wiftier to the Jefuits : he Biblioth. Royale, vol. 9129, &c. P. Mat- 'required them to give him, in writing, thieu, vol. II. b. iii. p. 556. what they had been faying to him, and f To fupport thel'e accufations brought Vol. II, U his 146 M E M O I R- s O F SULLY. Book Xm 1603. his true fentiments from the public; but, if he is inexcufable for hav- ing ahnofl always obferved acondufc quite oppofite to that which the: gratitude he owed to his prince and benefaélor ought to have fug- gelled to him, he deferves ftill greater reproaches for having endea- againfl: cardinal d'Ofiat, the aiuhor quotes fourteen letters, taken out of the collec- tion printed in 1627, eight of them to the king, and fix to M. de Villeroi : and he principally fixes on two of the fix latt men- tioned, of which he has even given an ab- llraâ:. There are fome errors in thefe quo- tations, which may be placed to the prin- ter's account; but truth compels us to ac- knowledge, that there are others of more moment than mere faults of the impref- fion, which may be laid to the charge of the pretended author of the memorial from Rome ; and that though the abftrafl: of thefe letters be conformable to the words of the text, yet it may be faid to be not more exadl on that account, fmce one cannot help taking notice of the vifible at- tempt to fupprefs thofe explanations and expedients which foften, and even fome- times totally deftroy the bad conftruitions which it has been endeavoured to put on them. I apprehend it will be neccffary here to make fome fhort obfervations on each of thofe letters, as well to ftand in the place of a difquiiltion, more fatirical than hiftorical, which I thought it incumbent on me to fupprefs, as to do juftice where it is due, and to make known the real fenti- ments of a man, efteemed amongft: us as a great negotiator, and a very able politician. The firfl: of the eight letters to the king (though the author reckons only feven of them) is da*ed the 19th of February, 1600. It only contains an accotuit given by the cardinal d'Ofl'at to his majeftv, of Ibme complaints made by the pope, by reafon of the king's having created M. de ha'Iire- mouille, who was a proteflant, a duke and a peer of France, and of his intending to make him admiral afterwards, as he had been in'brmed. D'Ofiat does not, in. this letter, fay any thing as being his o\.MiMen- timent, and even takes fome pains to juf- tify H'.nry IV. In the fécond letter of the 25th ol April, it is a^ain the pope who iu- fiftj on the publication of the council of Trent, and the re-admilTion of the Jefuits into France, and who, at the fame time, complains of fome abufes in the Gallican church ; to which the cardinal makes no . other anfv/er, but that his majefty fincerely labours to give his holinefs all poffible fatis-r faflion. The third of the 22d of May, the fourth of the 17th of June, and the fifth of the 30th of the fame month, turn on the affair of the difpenfation for the duke and dutchtfs of Bar: he therein ac- quaints the king with the difficulties that affair meets with at Rome ; he adds hjs . own opinion, which, in. truth, is not in fa^- vour of his majefty's intentions, but never- thelefs does not prevent his being ready to fécond them, by all the reafons he can think of, and hisfhewinghimfelf, above ail things, exceeding fenfible of the fhame that would redound to the houfe of France, if, as the duke of Bar fometimes gave out, it fhould be determined by the court of Lorr raine to fend the princefs back to France. . The fixth letter of the 26th of November, 1 60 1, contains nothing for which this pre- late can be blamed, but his difcovering, perhaps with too much complaifance, to Henry IV. the dcfign his holinefs had formed, on the death of queen Elizabeth, to transfer the -crown of England to the houfe of Parma. In the feventh of the 22d of December in the fame year, d'Offat alfo, polTibly with too much zeal, fuftains cer- tain rights of the pope, in the matter of eleâions. His fentiments, which muft ap- pear to be fingular in France, oblige me to (et forth fome of the terms he employs. " If the popes, fays he, have encroached , " on the liberties of the church, the kings, " fire, (I iay this only to yourfeif, and " even in doing fo, fhew the great opinion " I have of your gen.crofity and goodnefs) " have made no Icfs attempts on their " kingdoms, and even their churches ; and «< if <■'■'■■ fhould be reduced to their ori- voured Boo^ XIV. MEMt^îRS OF SULLY. ■voured both in his difcourfe and in his writings, to give a bad im- .preflion of the king and his minircers. When removed from the center of bufinefs, all the informations he could obtain muft be through the ■canal of wretches, to whom a man of fenfe and judgment ought to r47 i6o' *' ginal ftate, as is attempted to be done on " your fide in the pope's cafe in regard to '" the elections, the kings would be greater ■*' fufFerers by it than the pop^s." The firfl: of the fix letters, directed to M. de Villeroi, is dated the 23d of July '1621. Our author's exceptions to this îetter are becaufe d'Ofl'at therein maintains, ■with fome warmth, that the proteflants ought not to be fufiered in the Italian cities, ceded to the king by the treaty of Savoy. The fécond of the 23d of September, is mifdated. If the author meant to fpeak of that of the 3d of September, he is fo much the more in the wrong, becaufe the Spaniards are handled very roughly in that letter : but he pTobably fpeaks of that of the 17th of that month, for there the pre- tended reformed religion, and the cities of Sa\'oy, are again brought in queftion. The third of the i6th of December 1602, on the affairs of the duchefs of Ear, contains this circumfl:ance in favour of d'OiFat, that he therein declares the fufpicion he had con- ceived, that the duke of Loriaine might have fome evil intentions againfi: her. The fame thing may be faid of the fourth of the 30th of December, in which his eminence jeems perfuaded, that Spain appears to enter fo frrongly with the pope, into the affair of the fucceflion to the crown cf England, for no other reafon than to cover her own de- figns with the cloak of religion. As to the fifth of the 7th, or rather the 27th of Janu- ary 1603, which is one of the two the ■author applies himfelf to cenfure particu- larly, becaufe it points out, though but in general terms, the abufes in the govern- ment of France ; he is doubly to blame for concealing that d'Offat adds, at the fame lime, that the wifdom of Henry IV. had already redreffed them in part ; fince thofe words contain the real meaning, and an ex- planation of the cardinal's fentiments, and, at the fame time, a commendation which might be made to rebound from thgnce on M. de Rofny. The fixth of the loth of February, is produced as be-ing the moft vehement ; and, in truth, in this letter he expreffes himfelf with more freedom, on the evils with which the kingdom is inter- nally affli(îtcd, on the injuftice of the war cnrried on againft Spain in Flanders, and on the advantage of uniting the two kingdoms of France an J Spain in intereft and politics, by the marriage of the dauphin and infanta;. yet, v/hen all thefe circumflances are drawn together, and placed in the moft un- favourable point of light, as the author has done, he fhould, in juflice, have reinarked that d'Offat, in this letter, candidly fiâtes every fide of the queftion ; that he fays, he is convinced the Spahiards difcover a de- fire for an alliance with us, only to gain time to do their own bufinefs, and to amufe the king v, ith a treaty, to furprile him the better afterwards ; that he inveighs, per- haps with equal force, againft the rapaci- culnefs, ambition, arrogance, and perfidy o( the council of Madrid. Certainly, it is not the proper time to fhew this prelate's opinion, whilft he is thus balancing the rtafons on each fide ; but when he recapi- tulates what he has been faying in this letter, which is very long, he at laft fpeaks in his own name : and this is the manner in which he delivers his fentiments. " Upon " the whole, I apprehend that his holi- " nefs ought to be undeceived, in the " wrong notions he has formed of us ; that " we ought, fincerely and faithfully, to " obferve the peace made and fworn w/th *' the king of Spain and the archdukes on " our fide, provided they alfo keep it on " theirs, as they have by the pope offered " to do ; that this peace fiaould fiill be " ftrengthened by all forts of honourable " and advantageous obligations ; yet that " we fhould not place more confidence in " it than reafon warrants, nor abate our " vigilance and precaution ; but that we *' fhould, in all other refpects, leave the U 2 be 148 M E M O I R s O F s U L L r. Book XIV. 1603. be cautious of giving credit. It is not difficult to perceive that this ^■^ — -V— -^ palîage tends partly to juftify myfelf againft the cenfures of d'Offat, this cardinal having about that time wrote a letter to Villeroi, in which he did not fcruple to attribute maréchal Biron's rebellion, and the dif- content of the other French lords, to the very little fatisfadlion they received from Henry, and the oppreflion the people groaned under through the tyranny of his counfellors : and that he might not do things by halves, this able man, who valued himfelf upon his nice difcernment in affairs of ftate, prefumed, by defiring Villeroi to fhew his letter to the king, by advifing his majefty to remit his confidence and his authority into other hands. Poffibly if this proceeding of d'OlTat's was thoroughly examined, it would be found to have more artifice than miftake in it ; for it is not likely that a man, who received fuch exail informations from Villeroi of every thing that happened, could be ignorant that what he reprefented as a general conipiracy of all the fiâtes in the kingdom, was, in reality, only a fadtion compofed of a few perfons, whofe heads were turned by ambition, and the licenti- oufnefs of the late times ; and that all the reft of the French nobility placed their glory and their happinefs in their firm attachment to their prince .; that the clergy, on their fide, praifed him no Icfs, and, in effed:, had no lefs reafon to praife him, having but lately received a " king of Spain and the archdukes on the " footing they now ftand with other na- " tions, not from any evil defign or inten- " tion againft them, but for our own pre- " fervation ; that we fliould not furni{h an *' opportunity to thofe who have fhewn " an inclination to turn all their forces " againft France ; and that whilft the reft " are at war with one another, we fhould " employ the peace and quiet God has " blefled us with, in doing what is right, " improving what is good in the kingdom, " and extirpating what is bad." This difquifition confirms me in the opi- nion I have given above, of the fentiments of the cardinal d'Oflat ; for what he fays of the Spaniards, befides the letters already quoted, fee p. 51, 504, 540, 6g2, 705, &c. on the publication of the council of Trent, 217, 256, 354, 396, 400, 433, 466, 613, 615, and many other places i on the Jefuits, 69, 302, 303, 287, 309, 351, & feq. 613, & feq. Had the cardinal d'Ofiat even meant what his adverfary pretends he did, it could not be at all confiftent with the charafler of fo prudent and cautious a negotiator, as he is allowed to have been, to make an open difcovery of furh blameable fentiments : his prudence appears from his letters amongft other occafions, where, unquef- tionably againft his own advice he defends, the edift of Nantz before the pope, p. 391, 393, 400, where he approves of the im- prifonment of maréchal de Biron, 705, and where he takes the part of queen Eli- zabeth, 243. In fhort, nothing can be a ftronger proof that this cardinal had no perfonal diflike to M. de Rofny, as it has been infmuated, than his having never once mentioned his name with ill nature. He is fpoken of, p. 440, 377, 723 : this laft is the only place where he complains of him, though with all poflible moderation, on account of his having fufpended the payment of his al- lowance. very Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. very confiderable gratuity from him ; and laftly, that the pepole, belides the fuppreffion of the penny in the fliilHng, had, by his ma- jefty, been farther relieved by an abatement of two millions in the Jand-tax. I WAS not acquainted with any of d'Oflat's malicious pro- ceedings, nor of his perfonal complaints againfl me, for not paying his penfion exactly. Villeroi undertook to recommend the fpeedy pay- ment of it to me, and acquitted himfelf of this commiffion, by exalt- ing, as ufual, the great abilities and fervices of this cardinal. Some days afterwards, I was accofted by a banker, who made me a propofal to difcharge certain penfions,^ given by his majefly to perfons at Rome, among others d'Oilat's, which he did with the fame unpolite freedom that the cabal of my enemies aftedted to ufe me with. There are feme offices in themfelves of fuch dignity, as to draw refpedl and confideration upon the perfons who poiTefs them. I was not forry that the banker was made fenfible of this truth, andlfent him awaycoldlv enough. D'OlTat found himfelf obliged to write to me four months afterwards, and I received his letter at the fame time that one was brought me from my brother, who was ambaflador at that court. D'Oflat expreffed himfelf in fo infolent a manner in this letter, that it certainly deferved no better an anfwer than I had given the ban- ker. However, being of opinion that I ought not to regard it, I was going to make out a draught for his payment, when I received an in- conteftible proof of the injurious language he publicly ufed againft me : that inftant, I confefs, I withdrew the warrant, which was a very exaft one, and fubftituted another in its room of a more doubt- ful payment, and from that time refolved to expediate no more, but by the king's exprefs command. I wrote to Villeroi at Metz, and acquainted him with this refolution, and, in the poftfcript of my let- ter, gave him a detail of the fpeeches and letters of d'Olfat, in which I was concerned, and, in the heighth of my jufl: indignation, gave this cardinal the epithets of ingrateful and imprudent ; which, if what I had heard of him was true, he deferved ; if falfe, I gave Ville- roi to underftand, that I would pay a proper regard to his interpofi- tion in favour of d'Olfat. He was ftill inore affeded by my threat to acquaint the king with the infolence of his agent, and conjured me to be pacified : I confented, and all the revenge I took upon d'Offat, was to render his intrigues at Rome ineffedual : thofe in fa- vour of the Jefuits were continued only during this year, for tlie fo- ciety returned to France in the following year. I 150 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIV.. 1603. I Shall refume this article in a proper place, and fhall have occa- ^ "•' -' -lion once more to introduce d'Offat, on account of a memorial which was addrefled to me from Rome againfl him. At prefent, wliat re* mains to be faid of him regards thecoadjutorfliipofBaïeux, and the ab- bey of Coulon, if the affair was worth a long detail; but as it is not, J fliall content myfelf with only informing the reader, that d'Oflat pro- cured himfelf to be made coadjutor of Baïeux, and treated with the Maintenons for his abbey of Coulon, by an agreement not very ad- vantageous for them. His majeflygave me this abbey, after perform- ing the promife he made to the Maintenons, that they fliould lofe no- thing by it, fince they obtained an eq.uiva]ent upon the bifhopric of Evreux. Villeroi earnertly folicited his majefty for d'Offat, and en- deavoured to engage my intereft for his friend; Maintenon, on the contrary, was highly diffatisfied that this favour was granted him. The pope's nuncio made me another complaint in the king's ab- ■fence, upon the journey his majefty had undertaken. That his holi- nefs interefted himfelf in it, was occafioned by the Spaniards having joined to the notion they formed to themfelves of the occafion of this voyage, that which was conceived of his majefty's armaments and treafures, which common fame had greatly increafed, and infeded even the holy father with their apprehenfions. Henry, whom I in- formed of the nuncio's fears, ordered me to reaflure him, without troubling myfelf to draw either Spain or Savoy out of their opinion. His majefly and I treated by letters of many different affairs, and amongft others that of Flanders. It was computed that, the laft of February this year, the Spaniards had loft eighteen thoufand men, and fired above two hundred and fifty thoufand volleys of cannon before Oftend ; neverthelefs the fiege was but very little advanced, and, in the month of April, the befiegers attempting to make a general affault, they were repulled with great lofs. From this, the archduke was convinc- ed that, notwithftanding all his efforts, it would be time only, and a total want of men and ammunition of every kind, that would deliver the place into his power. Naffau, on his fide, after the redudion of Grave, laid fiege to Rhinberg, and from thence went to invert Boifle- duc, not confidering that this cnterprife exceeded his ftrength, it ijeing impoffible, as I have already obferved, to take Boilleduc with fo fmall a number of troops. Accordingly he was on the point of lofing toth his army and his reputation there; but, in revenge, he had the fatisfadion FooK XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. fatisfadion to drive the Spaniards out of the caftle of Va(!l:endonck, where they were, in a manner, already mafters. The garrifon of this place, too weak to refill them, and no longer thinking of any thin«- but retreating, had abandoned the city and the caftle to their difcre- tion, when they were joined by fome Dutch troops, who pafled by that place in their march to th.^ army of prince Maurice, and altoge- ther attacked the Spaniards, and diflodged them from the caille. It may be eafily imagined, that the United Provinces could not carry on this war without being at a great expence both of men and money, to which it was abfolutely neceflary that France lliould con- tinue to contribute. The fiege of Ollend alone had coll them one hundred thoufand vollies of cannon, and feven thoufand men. His Pau] Choart majelly, for the interell of both the powers, kept Buzenval in thofe deBuzenva!,. provinces, who was then upon the point of returning to France; and the agent fent by the Hates to the king was named Aërfens * i this agent reprefented to me that his countrymen would he foon in no condition to keep the field, unlefs his majelly would permit them to recruit the French companies that were in their fervice with Frenchmen. The king fent me an anfwer from Chalons-fur-Marne to this requell, which 1 had communicated to him, and told me that he conicnted toit, but, to avoid an open rupture with Spain, upon thel^ conditions, that it fhould be Aërfens himfelf that fhould raife the recruits, and not the officers, who would do it too publicly, having already aéled in fuch a manner, as to draw upon him fome reproaches from the king of Spain : that the recruits fliould be raifed with the utmoll expedition and the utmofl fecrecy ; and that the foldiers who lifted, die number of which he defired to know, lliould file off, without any noife, to the place where they were to embark, marching fix in a company at moll, with no other arms than their fwords, and no more money than was necefiary to anfwer their expences till they got there ; that they Ihould take Ihipping rather at Dieppe than Calais, this laft city being too much crouded with foreigners ; and that notice fliould be lent to Chaftes, * Francis Aërfens, refident, and after- rope. " It was the received opinion of that •wards ambaflador from the ftates of Hoi- " tunc, fays Amelot de la HoulFaye, that land at the court of France. The memoirs " Henry IV. had an amour vv'ith Aërfens' of that time reprefent him as a man of " wife, and that the husband was content a fubtil, artful, and even dangerous turn of " with it, by reafon of the profit he reaped mind. Cardinal dc Richlieu fpenks of him, " from it: this amour laid the foundation Oxenftiern, chancellor of Sweden, and Gui- " of his fortune. He left 100,000 livres fcardi,chancellorofMontferrat, as the three " a year- to his fon, Vi'ho was called Van., only politicians he had ever known in Eu- " Soinmerdyk. who Hiftory of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIV-. who was governor of it, and vice-admiral de Vic, whofe concurrence was necefTary to the delign, and for whom he fent me a letter without a leal. Some alterations, however, were made in thefe orders j Aërfens could not levy the men alone; and it being my opinion, that I ought not to meddle in it, the officers railed the recruits, but did it with all polhble fecrecy. His majefty thought it would not be amifs to fend the garrifon he had forced to leave Metz to Flanders ; and, for fear that they fhould enlifi: with the arch-duke, caft his eyes upon my coufin Bethune to conduâ: them. As for the penfion for which Aér- iens flrongly importuned me, the king deferred taking a refolution about it till his return. During the ftay his majefty made at Metz, the duke of Bouillon brought his affair likewil'e upon the carpet : he had retired to Ger- many to the eleélor Palatine, to whom he was allied by the eledlrefs : he prevailed upon this eledlor to undertake his juftification to Henry, Hcn°y duke ^^ ^^ deceive him again by a letter, which his majefty lent me im- of Bouillon, mediately to have my opinion of it. The purport of this letter, in •book V. which the eledlor Palatine very unfeafonably affeâed to treat with the king of France as with an equal, was to reprefent to him the great afBiftion it gave the duke of Bouillon to have his fidelity fufpeded by the king; and to alTure him, that he himfelf was convinced of his innocence, by proofs which he thought unanfwerable. The king had fent for Bouillon to come to him and clear up his conduct, and after- ward gave him notice by La Tremouille that he fliould at lead flop at Sedan, but Bouillon had done neither the one nor the other ; the Palatine therefore, to excufe the duke, alledged, that with regard to the firll complaint, the quality of his accufers made it imprudent for the duke to go and abandon himfelf to them; and to the fécond he faid, that the gentleman who brought his majefty's letter had found Bouillon at Geneva, from whence he had a fincere intention to go and expedl his majelly at Sedan ; but that thinking it neceffary to take his route through Germany, that he might avoid the countries in dependence upon Spain and Lorrain, and alfo to pay his refpefls to the eledor and electrefs, his kinfwoman, whom he had not yet feen, it was owing to this tedious journey that he had miffed the op- portunity of receiving his majefty at Sedan. The letter concluded with repeated affurances of the duke's attachment to his majefty, for the fincerity of which the eleûor brought the connexion there was between them as a proof. Henry Book XIV. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 153 Henry anfwered the elecflor's letter with more pohtenefs than he had realbn to expert, andpromifed, as he had always done, to reftore the duke of Bouillon to his friendship and efteem, but upon conditions which Bouill on knew himfelf to be too guilty to accept. In efFedt, at the very time that he was making thefe new proteflations, his majefty received, while at Metz, advice from Heidelberg, which he communicated to me, that a man, named Du-Pleffis -Bellay, bro- ther to the governor of the young Chatillon, had been fent by the duke of Tremouille to the duke of Bouillon with difpatches, in which his majefty was nearly concerned ; that this courier, who was to fet out from Longjumeau, had orders to pafs through Sedan without making himfelf known, not even to Du-Maurier ; and at his return, he was again to pafs througli Sedan, and afterwards Paris, with the anfwer to Tremouille's difpatches, whom he was to meet at Comblât. His majefty would not have entered into fo circumftantial an account of this affair, but that he wifhed (which however was not pradlicable) that I, in concert with Rapin, could arreft this courier, not before his arrival at Paris, but in the road from Paris to Thouars, after he fliould have received letters in that city, which would fully difcover the nature of his commiffion. His majefty had certainly no occafion for farther proofs of the duke of Bouillon's guilt. I may venture to affirm, without any danger of judg- ing too raflily, that the fubmiffion which appeared in that ftep he had lately prevailed upon the elector to make in his favour, was only diffem- bledwith a view to two things; the firft was,to infpire thekingwith afe- curity in regard to his perfon, and the fécond, to continue to draw from him thofe fums which for a long time he had regularly received for the fupport of his fortrefl'es. This demand he renewed by Saint-Ger- main, with whom Henry was highly difpleafed. His majefty recom- mended it earneftly to me, to have no regard to the inftances that were made me from Bouillon, but at the fame time to give him no reafon to fufpeft that I had any knowledge of what he had juft re- lated to me. Thefe orders were indeed unneceflary, after the dilco- veries I had lately made of the new difcontents which Bouillon and Tremouille had excited in the provinces amongft the proteftants, and from the refult of the converfation I had with Henry at the Arfenal, before his departure for Metz, of which I have only mentioned what related to this journey. Vol. II. X ,. To 154 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book. XIV. To proceed, after having long confidered the caft of the cabal, which ftruck a mortal blow to the heart of Henry, I found means at laft to fet him at peace, by fliewing him, that however formidable might be its prefent appearance, it would, aiter fome inefFedlual flruggles, fall into nothing. Whatever notions may be formed of the levity and inconfideratenefs of thofe whom we are pleafed to term the vul- gar, I have always found, that though they may fix upon fome parti- cular aims, and follow them not only with raflinefs but rapture, yet thefe aims are always to a certain degree general, and direfted to fome common interell: ; but that any private one's ends, fuch as pro- ceed from the anger or wiflies of a particular man, or of a fmall num- ber, are never long or much regarded, I will venture to fay farther, that of general interefls the voice of the people will give the moft certain judgment : allowing this principle, I confidered the feditious party as terrible, only on account of the mifchievous influence that it might have in the provinces, by mifreprefentations of the king and government ; and the dread that might be raifed of oppreflion and flavery. And as thofe influences and thofe terrors would be made every day lefs by efFeds of a contrary kind, and had never infeâed the prin- cipal governments, or great cities, the court could never fee itielf op- pofed but by a paltry rabble, and a few petty fortrefles, unable to {land a fortnight againfl a royal army. The king was at Metz when he heard the firft news of the ficknefs of queen Elizabeth which was fent to him by the count de Beau- mont*, our ambaflador at London : his majefty, thereupon, refolved to haften his departure from that city. At his filler's requeft, he went from thence to Nancy, where flie had caufed a magnificent ballet or interlude to be prepared for his entertainment. He remained there for fome days in great anxiety about the next advices which he expedled to receive concerning the health of EUzabeth. The death -f- of thi? * Chiiftopher de Harlay, governor of preach for being the caufe of the earl of Orleans, who died in 1615. Eflex's death, for whom, among all her + Elizabeth died the 4th of April, N. S. favourites, Ihe had fhewn the greateft af- in the 70th year of her age, and the 44th fe£tion. This is the opinion of Matthieu, of her reign. The public report, and the torn. II. liv. iii. p. 570. Thuanus and fome common opinion of the hiftorians at that others fay nothing of this fuppofed grief, time, were, that her death was occafioned but, on the contrary, fay, that like Au- by a fecret grief and melancholy which (he guftus, flie died without grief or fear, and could not conquer ; the occafion of v/hich only through the mere failure of nature. was attributed to her remorfe and felf-re- Her hatred againfl our religion, and her great dokXIV. m E m O I R s O F s U L L y. 155 great queen, which he heard of foon after, was an irreparable lofs 1603. to Europe, and to Henry in particular, who could not hope, in the ^ fucceffor of Elizabeth, to find the fame favourable difpofition to all his defigns as he had in this princefs, " the irreconcileable enemy of *' his irreconcileable enemies, and a fécond felf:" fuch were the terms, which Henrv made ufe of in a letter he wrote to me on this event, which was almoft wholly filled with the praifes of this great queen, and expreffions of forrow for her lofs. His majefty, who was immediately fenfible how greatly this event might influence the political affairs of Europe, determined, as I have already faid, to fend me in quality of ambaffador extraordinary to king James. He informed me of this his intention in the letter above mentioned ; and fearing, perhaps, that I fhould oppofe it, as I had formerly done, endeavoured to prevail upon me to accept this com- miflion by the llrongeft motives, and fuch as he knew moft likely to make an imprefilon on me. I was the only perfon Henry could think of for this purpofe ; I repeat his words, and that becaufe I was the only man in France who had any knov/ledge of the affairs that were to be negotiated in this embaffy. My religion, probably, had already difpofed the new king in my favour, and would gain me free accefs to him. I dare not mention what his majefty further faid, in regard to that reputation of honour and fidelity which he faid I had acquired among foreigners. Henry foon followed his letter : from Nancy he returned through Toul, Vitry, Rheims, Villers-cotterets, and Saint- Germaine-en-laye, to Fontainebleau, which, within a few days, com- pleted a tour of two months. I HAD received a fécond letter foon after the firft, in which his ma- jeily ordered me to meet him fifteen or twenty leagues from Paris. A report was current, that immediately upon the death of Elizabeth the Spaniards began to ufe their utmoft efforts to gain the new king ; we (liall afterwards fee that this report was but too well grounded. Henry had a thoufand things to fay to me on this head, which made him ex- cpuelty in putting her firft coufin, queen Italian, and Spanifh : fte was alfo well Mary, to death, have tarnifhed the luilre verled in the mathematics, hiflory, poli- of her reign : neverthelefs, I acquiefce in tics, &c. Beildes particular hiftories ot her the elogy bcftowed upon her by Thuanus, life, fee Thuanus, Perefixe, Journal de who concludes his enumeration of her great Hen. IV. La Septennaire, an. 1603. JVIe- abilitiesby faying, fhe had thofe of a king, moires d'Etat de Villeroi, torn. III. p. 20g. not merely as fuch, but of a very great and other French hiftorians. king. She fpake Latin,. Greek, French, X 2 tremely 1^-6 M E M O I R S Q F S U L L Y. Book XIV. 1603. tremely defirous of an opportunity to converfe freely with me about it. I joined him at the houfe of Monglat, where he had fcarce any attendants with him, at which he expreffed great fatisfad;ion. He embraced me ciofely three times, faid a few words pubHcly to me on the fuccefs of his journey, and enquired more particularly of me about his buildings * at Saint-Germain and Paris. Materials were then colleâing for building his grand gallery at the Louvre, for the arfe- nal, and for other works, of which I had the infpeclion and condud:, and which had been partly the fubjeds of thofe letters I had received from him ; therein he had alfo direfted me to proceed in the execu- tion of what had been projeded in regard to that apartment of the Louvre called The Hall of Antiquities. After I had, in a concife but fatisfadory manner, replied to all thefe articles, Henry took me by the hand and led me into the garden, at the door of which he ordered fome of his guards to be placed. The embaffy to England was the fole fubjed of our converfation. His ma- ]eily had at firll imparted to his court his refolution to fend this em- baliy, but without naming the perfon whom he had fixed upon to execute it. The knowledge of this alone had excited fome murmurs among the partifans of the pope and Spain ; and it was faid, that Henry fought allies only among princes who were of a different religion from his own. But when his majefty, notwithftanding, declared publicly his intention to inveft me with this employment, their difguft then fhewed itfelf without reftraint. This whole cabal, which I had good reafon to think was made up of my moft inveterate enemies, boldly reprefented to his majefty, that to fend a huguenot to treat concerning the intereft of the kingdom, with a prince of the fame religion, would be highly dangerous to theftate j and more efpecially fo, were he in- trufled with a full power. Finding they could not prevail upon his majefty to revoke my nomination, they contented themfelves with get- ting my commiffion confined only to condolances upon the death of the late queen, and compliments for the new king ; or, at moft, to an in- fpedion into the ftate of affairs in England ; but without any power to ad, or even to confer, on the principal occafion of my journey. Henry, at the fame time that he informed me of thefe fecret pradices in his court, of which I was till then ignorant, repeated to * Henry IV. built the new caftle of Saint-Germain, extended the gardens to the banks of the Seine, and formed its beautiful terralTes. me Book XIV. M' EMOIRSOFSULLY. 157 me his airuninces, that he had not been inHaenced by them to alter 1603. his defigns, either with reiped: to the embaiTy, his choice of me, or of ' — -\ -^ the particular point which he had at firft in view : and he further confirmed this his refolution, by judicioufly obferving, that an embaiTy, whofe commiffion fliould be confined merely to ceremony, would be ufelefs and vain ; and that, if there were any hopes of ever feein» the new king of England purfue the maxims of Elizabeth, in regard to the political engagements of that princefs, it would doubtlefs depend chiefly on the manner in which he fliould be at firft prejudiced againil the houfe of Auftria, and in favour of the alliance with France and its antient partifans : but he confeffed to me, that this point appeared to him, in all refpeâ:s, fo extremely difficult, that, unlefs it was ma- naged with the utmofl dexterity, both in the council of France, and at the Englifli court, it would, perhaps, be better not to think of it at all. He further faid, that it would firil be necefl"ary fo to impofe on the enemies which I had in the court and council, that they might fufpedl nothing in my commiffion more than what fliould be declared to me in their prefence, and even with their confent. His majefl:y, on this occafion, repeated a iimile, of La Riviere's, which he often ufed, that the kingdom of France may be compared to an apothecary's fliop, in which are contained not only the mofl: falutary remedies, but alio the moft fubtile poifons ; and that the king, like an able apothecary, ought to make the befl: advantage of both, by mixing them in the moft proper manner. In regard to the propofitions which I fliould make to the Englifli minifters, he faid, I ought to be cautious not to expofe the fovereign of the principal kingdom in Europe to the fliame of having made advances which fhould be negle(5ted or de- fpifed, and perhaps to a neceflity of revenging them : and as to the more fecret propofitions, which, at a proper opportunity, I fliould make to king James, he faid it would require great judgment and dexterity, to avoid haftening, by any imprudent ftep, his engage- ments with Spain, which as yet were, perhaps, uncertain, or at leaft far from being concluded. His majefty fuppofed, that all caufes of difîatisfaâion might, as much as it was poffible, be obviated, by giving me, in writing, and in open council, fuch inftruâions, in re- gard to my embafly, as fliould appear to be only general, and merely complimentary, which I might publicly produce in England as well as in France, but which, however, fliould not prevent my feconding his majefty's more particular intentions, whenever a favourable opportu- nity might prefentj provided, neverthelefs, that I did it as of myfelf, . and-i 158 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XIV. 1603. atul without giving this prince to underftand, that I was authorifed herein by the king my mailer. What his majefty thus acquainted me with, appeared to me of fuch great conlequence, that I delired him to grant me four days to conlider of it, before I gave him my aniwer. I immediately fet out poft for Paris, to be at liberty to make my reflexions, and Henry de- parted from thence for Jully. I eafily perfuaded myfelf to comply with the king's délires, but I thought it a neceffary precaution to have his majeily's more immediate avowal and authority for all thefe pro- poiitions which he had enjoined me to make to the king of England, as of myfelf, without which I thought it would be rifquing too much. To be favourably received and heard by king James, it would be pro- per to begin by gaining his confidence,, to which my religion gave me the befl; claim ; but I was fenfible, that, by this, I fhould be obliged to break through thofe bounds of circumfpeétion, whicJi, in France, I had prefcribed to myfelf, out of a deference to the religion of the prince. I had no reafon to doubt but that, whatever words might efcape me, which, in this refpeft, fliould appear fomewhat free, would be as induftrioufly reported by the enemies I Ihould have in that court, as they could have been in France; and I had equal caufe for being apprehenfive, that fomething of this kind fh.ould be afterwards reprefented in fuch a manner, as to appear criminal in the eyes of his majefty, who, as well as other good princes, had his mo- ments of miftruft and ill humour ; and fometimes one of thefe mo- ments is fufficient to ruin a minifter, however firmly fupported ; a reverfe of fortune which it was not impoflible but I myfelf might ex- perience. All thefe confiderations confirmed me in a refolution, not to de- part without a writing figned by his majefty, and known only to us two, whereby, whatever my condudl might be at the court of Lon- don, and whatever expreflions I might ufe to the king of England, I might be able, if neceffary, to juftify myfelf, and fliew that 1 had done nothing but to promote the fuccefs of our affairs, and that by his majefly's exprefs orders. Thus I declared myfelf to Henry, when, at the end of four days, he came to the arfenal to receive my anfwer ; though indeed I made this declaration no otherwife than by faying, that I was full of fears left any part' of my conduft, on this occai'ion, iliould draw upon me the misfortune of his difpleafure. We Book XIV. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 159 We were at this inftant alone. Henry, after having taken a fliort 1^03- turn among the workmen in the grand walk, and commended what they were doing, called me to him, and we went, as was his cuftom, to the end of this walk, which terminates in a kind of balcony, from whence there is a view of Paris. My propofal gave him a moment's thought, after which he confefTed I was in the right, and in a k'w days he brought me himfelf the writing I required, and, having read it to me, gave it into my hands. It was exprefTed in fuch terms, as rendered it highly probable that Henry would never oblige me to make it public. I was permitted to appear, to the king of England and his minifiers, fo zealous for the reformed religion, as to jgive them af- furances that I preferred it both to my country and king, to whom, on this account, I was not more attached than to the king of England. The propofitions which I was to make this prince were alfo enumerated, but I fliall omit them here, as being already related in the account of my conference with queen Elizabeth, and of Henry's grand defign : I was alfo diredled to defire the king of England, in cafe he fhould not approve of what I had to propofe to him, not to let it be known in France, becaufe I was not authorifed to make any fuch propofitions ; and further (fuppofing king James approved them) I (hculd feign to defer communicating to the king my mafter what might be agreed between us, till I fliould fee whether it would be as favourably re- ceived by the northern crowns, and the ftates-general of the United- Provinces, as by his Britannic majefty. Such was my fecret credential letter, which I then confidered as a great acquifition, and no doubt the king, on his fide, thought it as great a compliance ; yet it is certain, that by this we had neither of us done what was fufficient. It was neceflary to be prepared for the king of England's abfolute and entire compliance with all his majef- ty's intentions, and to be able to make the beft of an opportunity, which perhaps might never offer again. In a word, to conclude a treaty, I ought to have carried with me a blank figned by the king ; but our fear of the fadtion we had to combat in council did fcarce per- mit us even to think of this. In regard to the general inflruclions which I have mentioned, thr king deferred having them drawn up till he came to Fontainebleau, for vyhich place he fet out, attended by his v/hole court ; and in three days his council were to follow : but they were countermanded on ac- count i6o M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XIV. 1603. countof a violent diforder, which feized Henry immediately after his ar- rival at Fontainebleau, which was about the twentieth of May * : this was fo ftrong a retention of urine, that his phyficians at firft defpaired of his life. The king himfelf was ftrongly perfuaded that his laft hour ap- proached, and being defirous to divide the few moments which he had yet to live, between the care of his foul, and that of his kingdom, he ad- drefled himfelf with great fervour to God, and then didated the fol- lowing letter, which was immediately difpatched to me at Paris, where I was making the neceflary preparations for my voyage, and little expedled fo melancholy a meffage. ♦' My friend, I find myfelf ♦' fo ill, that it feems highly probable God will foon difpofe of me j " and it being my duty, next to the care of my foul, to make the " neceflary difpofitions to fecure the fucceflion to my children, that *' their reign may be profperous, and may promote the happinefs of " my wife, my kingdom, my good and faithful fervants, and my dear " people, whom I love equally with my own children, I defire to ■" confer with you on all thefe matters : come to me therefore with " all diligence, and fay nothing of it to any one ; make an appearance *' only of going to the conventicle at Ablon ; and having privately " ordered poft-horfes to he there in readinefs, proceed immediately " to this place." The perufal of this moft fenfibly affeded me. I fet out with the greateft precipitation. When I entered the king's chamber, I found him in his bed ; the queen was feated by him, and held one of his hands be- tween hers ; he held out the other to me, and faid, " My good friend, *' draw near and embrace me, I am extremely glad you are come ; *' is it not flrange that, tv/o hours after 1 wrote to you, my exceflive " pains fhiould begin to abate ? I hope, by degrees, they will entirely *• leave me, fori have made water three times, the lafl; moft profufely, " and with but little pain." Then turning to the queen, " This, " faid he, of all my fervants, is he who beil underftands, and is moft " careful of, the interior affairs of my kingdom, and, had I been taken " from you, would have been belt able to fcrve both you and my - * The, king, fays the maréchal de Baf- fultations were in thefe terms : MJiineat à fompierre, was feized with a retention of quavh muliere, etiam reglna; ftn minus, urine on ihe eve of Pentecofl, which pcrkuhim efl ne ante très nienfes elapjos gave him great pain, but he was foon freed vitam cum morte coimnutct. Henrv the IVth from it. The phyficians being aliembled, did not flriiSUv obferve what was here en- (thefe are the words which wc find in the joined hiin, nor did any bad confequence journal de L'Etoiie) the refu'.t of their con- anfe therefrom. " children •. Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. <' children : I know, indeed, that his temper is fomewhat auflere, *' that he is often rather too plain for fuch a fpirit as yours, and that, " on this account, many have endeavoured to prejudice you and my *' children againft him, that he might be removed from you ; but if *' ever this event fhould happen, and you fhould employ fuch and *' fuch perfons (naming themfoftlyin her ear) and, inftead of follow- •* ing the good counfels of this man, fliould be wholly guided by " their opin ons, depend upon it, it will prove deflrudlive to the flate, *' and may, perhaps, ruin my children and yourfelf. I have fentthus *' fuddenly for him, that, with him and you, I might confult upon •' the means to prevent thefe evils ; but I thank God my precautions *' will probably not yet be neceifary." Couriers upon couriers were the next day difpatched, todiflipate the difagrecable rumours which were already fpread in all places. I did not myfelf return to Paris, till I had feen the king make water : he would have it fo, and he did it twice with fuch facility, that I was perfedlly fatisfied all danger was over. Three days after, I received a letter from him, wherein he informed me, that, having been bled in the left arm by La Riviere the evening I left him, he had been greatly relieved, and, having refted well the whole night, found him- felf grow better and better every hour. He thanked me for the in- tereft I feemed to take in his health, and for the advice which, on this occalion, I had been free enough to give him, to be more moderate in hunting; and he promifed to obferve what I had faid. He was al- ready able to be as circumflantial as ufual in thofe details with which his letters were commonly filled : he dire6ted me in this, to fend two hundred crowns to each of the perfons afflifted with the evil, whom his own diforder had prevented him from touching, and whom neverthelefs he would not fend back. Herein alfo, he thanked me for the portraits of the new king and queen of England, which I had fent him. His majefty's phyficians were unanimous, on this oc- cafion, in making him the fame reprefentations which I had done, in regard to the injury his health received from the violence of his exercife in hunting. He followed their advice, and found himfelf confiderably better for it : he alfo received great benefit from the wa- ters of Pougues, which he drank this year for fome time, during which the young princefs his daughter was taken fo ill, that her lite was defpaired of; both the king and the dauphin his Ion went fre- quently to fee, her. Vol. II. Y To- i62 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XlV. Together with this letter from his majefty, the contents of which I have here related, I received another much longer, which Villeroi wrote to me by his order, upon the affairs of England. Herein he informed me, that his majefty had fent to acquaint the count of Beaumont with his recovery, that he might notify it to the king of England j alfo that I was expelled by his Britannic majefty, who at- tributed my delay to the king's indifpofition, and to the baron Du- Tour's not having notified to the king in form, the death of Eliza- beth, and the accelTion of James the Vlth * to the crov/n of Eng- land. The baron Du-Tour was, for this purpofe, fent by James to his mod chriftian majefty : he left London on the day after this prince's entry there, and arrived a few days after at Fontainebleau, where he acquitted himfelf of his commifiion. Villeroi further in- formed me, that my departure for England, for thefe reafons, being no longer to be deferred, the king would loon fend for me, and in- form me of the day : but his majefty changed his intention in this refpedl, and came himfelf to Paris. The heat, which had begun early this year, was exceffive, and rendered the fands of Fontainebleau infupportable to one but juft recovering from ficknefs. Two days after his majefty 's arrival at Paris, he aftembled the chan- cellor Bellievre, Villeroi, Maifle, and Sillery, on the fubjeâ: of my departure, and that I might receive my public inftrudlions in their prefence. When I entered the king's clofet, where this council was * Henry Stuart, baron of Darnly, duke " land, joined to the defire I have to do of Rothefay, &c. efpoufed Mary Stuart, " you fervice, have induced me to write widow of Francis II. of France ; flie hav- " to you, that, by the letter which I have ing after his death retired into Scotland. " juft received from the governor of He was ftrangled in his bed in 1567. " Dieppe, you might be informed of the James' Stuart, at firft king of Scotland, and " deceafe of the queen of England, of the afterwards of England, was his fon, and " acceflion, reception, and acknowledg- died in 1625. ,0n his acceflion to the " ment of the king of Scotland to that crown of England, the marquis of Rofny " crown, and that all things there are in wrote the following complimentary letter " a ftate of peace and tranquility; for to the archbifliop of Glafgow, at that time " which I rejoice with you, it being highly his ambaflador in France ; the original of " beneficial to all, and the defire of every which is in the cabinet of theprefent duke " good man. of Sully. "SIR,, To the Scots ambaflador. « Your moft humble coufin SiH, «' and fervant." " The intereft you have in the pro- *' fperity of the affairs of the king of Scot- Signed Rosnt. held. Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. held, I told his majefty that the count of Soiflbns was in the chamber without, and that it appeared to me neceflary that he likewife fhould be introduced, to be a witnels of my deputation. Henry replied, that he did not know the count was there ; and that, from v/hat I had jufl: faid, he would take occalion to reconcile us to each other ; for the count of Soiffons' refentment ftill fubfifted. Accordingly, the count meeting me two days after, as I entered the palace, told me, that he had learned from a good hand that I had rendered him an office which he had no reafon to expeâ; from me ; he thanked me for it, affured me that he would forget the paft, and for the future would be my friend : but he did not long continue in thefe fentiments. The principal objcdl of thefe inflruftions had always been a clofe ■alliance between France and England againft Spain, notwithftanding all that had been done to prevent it by the partifans of that crown in France. The principal difference between thefe, and the fecret inftruc- tions which I had received from his majefliy, was, that in the former he had concealed the true motives to this alliance : I will not tranfcribe them here, as the particulars would be too long and circumftantial. The fubflance of them was briefly as follows : To take every oppor- tunity of difcourfing upon, and informing the king of England, of all the unjuft and violent proceedings of Spain, thereby to infpire him with an averfion to that crown: to reprefent the various arts employed by her to embroil Europe ; her new ufurpations in Italy ; her fecret pradlices in. England, by means of the Jefuitsj her intrigues in Ireland and Scotland, under the fancftion of the authority which the Pope pretends to have over thofe kingdoms ; her defigns upon Strafbourg, by forcing the car- dinal of Lorrain to confent to the Pope's giving the coadjutorfliip of it to the brother-in-law of the catholic king j finally, her proceedings to obtain univerfal monarchy : all which did but too evidently appear. In confequence of thefe reprefentations,- the king of England muft either have concluded a peace with Spain, or have entered into an open or fecret war iigainft that crown : in the firft cafe, I was to convince this prince, that a peace would enable Spain to get pofleffion of the Low Countries : after which flie would not fail to turn her arms either . againft France or England ; and moft probably towards the latter, on account of the Pope's long inveteracy to it. I was alfo to undeceive ■the king of England, in regard to the report induflrioufly fpread by Spain, that fhehad no intention togetpoffeffionof the Low Countries, but only to form them into a diftindl kingdom, fuch as that of Bur- y 2 gundy i64 M E M O î R S O F S U L L Y. Book XîV^ 1603. gundy |îad beerrrfb^e^en to the arch-duke. As a laft refource, I was to infift, that Spain (houîd at lead be made to purchafe this peace at a high price, or fliould be obliged to the king of France or England for iti and efpecially that (lie (hould give up Oftend. In cafe an open war fhould be refolved upon, I was to endeavour to difcover the inten- tion of the king of England on that head, and if poffible prevent it, and reprefent to him the neceflîty of beginning by giving a powerful affift- ance to the States. Finally, if afecret war was refolved upon, in which I was to ufe my endeavours to confirm or engage the king of England, in this cafe I was to reprefent to him, that prudence required he fliould begin by flrengthening himfelf upon the throne, fecuring it to his de- fcendants, and by gaining Europe in his interefts; fo that Spain might be one day irrefiilibly attacked : that till this was efFeéted, it would be proper only to keep this power in awe, or engage her in a fruitlefs em- ployment of her forces againft Flanders j that in the mean time the conditions of the union might be agreed on, and cemented by a double marriage between the children of the two kings; which, hov/ever, fhould not be declared till they had begun the execution of their defigns. I was moreover to be particularly careful to regulate and determine the nature of the fuccours which were provifionally to be given the States ; and prevent the Englifli council from demanding the three hundred thoufand livres which that crown had lent the United Provinces, lefi; they might thereby be induced to throw themfelves into the arms of Spain : on the contrary, I was to perfuade his Britannic majefty to be at new expences, equally with his moft Chriftian majefty, in favour of thefe people, and to affift them with the fame number of fhips as queen Elizabeth had done; alfo to obtain permiffion, that the four hundred and fifty thoufand livres, which this queen had lent France, might be applied as exigencies fliould require in Flanders; and that three hundred thoufand livres more migh' be added to them by Eng- land,- that, with the feven hundred and fifty thoufand livres which Henry obliged himfelf to join to them, a fund might be formed of fifteen hundred thoufand livres for the prefent neceflitiesof the States- General. In cafe I could not gain a compliance with thefe articles, I was to endeavour to 2;et the States debt to England of three hundred thoufand livres difcharged, France obliging herfelf to pay it; alfo, to manage this afi^air in fuch a manner, chat the king of England might not have the maritime towns of Holland delivered to him as fecurities &r thefe fuccours; and to found his intentions in regard to thofe of which; Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. which he was already poffefTed hi Zealand. In purfuance of this plan, I was to conllilt with Barnevelt, ad: in concert with him and the ilates deputies at London, leem attached to their interefts, entertain thcni with agreeable hopes, perfuade them that their interefts were the care of the Britifti council, without giving umbrage to this council, and make the beft advantage I could of the knowledge they might have acquired of the new court and the king. These were th.e principal points of my inftruftions : there were fome others which did not relate to the fame fubjedt, or at leaft not immediately ; fuch was that in regard to the piracies of the EngliOi. I was charged to complain, that fince the treaty of Vervins they had taken from France to the amount of a million j and I was to endeavour to get a dilTolution of the treaty of commerce concluded between England and France in 1 572, as being difadvantageous to France, which by that treaty had not the fame privileges and immunities in England that the Englifli had in France. The clofe union between Elizabeth and Henry had caufed all things to be equal on both fides during the reign of that queen, and this treaty was then confidered as void, though it had never been formally annulled. My orders were, however, to be ex- tremely circumfped on this head, and even entirely to fupprefs it, if I found that by bringing it upon the carpet I might run any rifque of railing a fufpicion in the new king, from which Elizabeth herfelf had not been exempt, that France only fought to embark England in a war with Spain, out of which flie would then eafily extricate herfelL If what the baron Du-Tour had faid in France, of his Britannic ma- jefty's refolution to fuccour Oftend, fliould appear to be well ground- ed, I might then fpare myfelf part of thefe precautions. The manner in which I was to treat with the ambafladors of the icing of Spain and the arch-dukes; the attention which I was tobeftow on the affairs of Ireland and Scotland ; and the juftification of Beau- mont, againft whom king James had been prejudiced, and for whom I was charged to procure the fame privileges of this prince which were enjoyed by his agent in France : thefe were other articles of my in- ftrudtions. There was one article concerning the duke of Bouillon, in refpeft to whom I was to be filent, unlefs the king of England fliould fpeak to me about him, to which he would probably be induced by the eledtor Palatine ; and in this cafe I was to paint the duke of Bouillon in his real charadler, and not to engage the king of France in any thing on his account. We may obferve, that the fubjeds of my negotiations were.- i66 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XIV. 1603. were fufficiently extenfive ; for I was to gain a knowledge of thedif- pofitions of the king and people of England, not only with refpeâ: to Spain and Flanders, but alfo to the northern crowns : to fay the truth, the political ftate of all Europe was concerned in my enfuing conduél and its confequences. These inftrudions *, in which, to my other titles, his majefly had added that of marquis, having been read to me aloud, were then deli- vered to me in prefence of the count of Soiflbns, Sillery, and Jeannin, figned by his majefty and Villeroi. Henry alfo gave me fix letters, one from his majefty to the king of England, befides another for the fame prince for form-fake counter-figned ; two others, in the fame manner, from the king to the queen of England, and two others from the queen of France t-o the king and queen of England : his majefty alfo gave me a cypher, with which the council was acquainted ; but he likewife fe- cretly gave me another, of which none but we two had the key. When I went to take my leave of this prince, he prefented me his hand to kifs, then embraced me, wiflied me a good voyage, repeated his reliance upon me, and his hopes of my good fuccefs. The beginning of June I fet out for Calais, where I was to em- bark, having with me a retinue of upwards of two hundred gentle- men, or who called themfelves fuch, of whom a confiderable number were really of the firft diftindlion. Juft before my departure old Ser- vin came and prefented his fon to me, and begged I would ufe my endeavours to make him a man of fome worth and honefty j but he confeft"ed it was what he dared not hope, not through any want of underftanding or capacity in the young man, but from his natural in- clination to all kinds of vice. The old man was in the right : what he told me having excited my curiofity to gain a thorough knowledge of young Servin, I found him to be at once both a wonder and a mon- fter ; for I can give no other idea of that affemblage of the moft ex- cellent and moft pernicious qualities. Let the reader reprelent to him- felf a man of a genius fo lively, and an underftanding fo extenfive, as rendered him fcarce ignorant of any thing that could be known ; of fo vaft and ready a comprehenfion, that he immediately made himfelf • The original of thefe inftruftions, de Villeroi, according to his clefire, to ajfi/î figned with Henry I V's own hand, is ftill him in preparing 7ny ir^riifiions. This piece in being; as alfo another piece, written by is only a recapitulation of all the points M. de Rofny, bearing this title,  memo- which were the objeâs of his embalTy to .randum made by me, and delivered to M. London. Cabinet of the duke of Sully. jiiaftcr Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLT. mafter of what he attempted ; and of fo prodigious a memory, tliat he never forgot what he had once learned ; he poflcffcd all parts of philo- fophy and the mathematics, particularly fortification and drawing; even in theology he was i'o well ikillcd, that he was an excellent preacher whenever he had a mind to exert that talent, and an able difputant for and againft the reformed religion indifferently ; he not only under- ûood Greek, Hebrew, and all the languages which we call learned, butalfo all the different jargons, or modern dialeifls; he accented and pronounced them fo naturally, and fo perfeétly imitated the geftures and manners both of the feveral na-tions of Europe, and the particular provinces of France, that he might have been taken for a native of all or any of thefe countries; and this quality he applied to counterfeit all forts of perfons, wherein he fucceeded wonderfully ; he was, moreover, the befl comedian and greateft droll that perhaps ever ap- peared ; he had a genius for poetry, and had wrote many verfes ; he played upon aim oil all inftruments, was a perfed: maflerof mufic, and fung m^ofi: agreeably and juftly; he likewife could faymafs; for he was of a dilpofition to do, as well as to know, all things : his body was pcrfedlly well fuited to his mind, he was light, nimble, dexterous, and fit for all exercifes ; he could ride well, and in dancing, wreflling, and leaping, he was admired : there are not any recreative games that he did not know; and he was fKilled in almofl all mechanic arts. But now for the reverfe of the medal : here it appeared that he was trea- cherous, cruel, cowardly, deceitful ; a liar, a cheat, a drunkard and glutton ; a lliarper in play, immerfed in every fpecies of vice, a blaf- phemer, an atheill: : in a word, in him might be found all the vices contrary to nature, honour, religion, and fociety; the truth of which he himfelf evinced with his lateft breath, for he died in the flower of his age, in a common brothel, perfedlly corrupted by his debaucheries, and • expired with the glafs in his hand, curfing and denying God. From the moment of my departure to that of my return, I wrote regularly to his majefty, and gave him an exadl account of whatever happened to me. My letters were of three kinds : for indifferent things I ufed only the common charadler ; my general cypher I ufed for fuch matters as were to be known only to the council ; and my fecret cypher I employed in what I addrefled to the king himfelf, which was to be ■ feen only by him : his majefly chofe to have the greatefl part of my let- ters in this cypher, though he found the difficulty of decyphering fo great, that he at laft entrufted the key to Lomenie, whom he encou- raged from time to time to render himfelf well fkilled in it; but the difficulty • MEMOIRS OF SULLY, Book XIV. difficulty which I experienced myfelf in the ufe of this cypher, when- ever I wanted to defcend to particulars, compelled me to abridge the ordinary length of my letters; however, I complied with his'majefty's defires in this refpeél as well as I could, more cipecially after the affair of the loll difpatch. All thefe letters, which I have preferved, I fliall here reduce to the form of a narrative, wherein the public may be ex- adlly informed of every material circumftance relative to my embaffy at London, and my négociations with king James. I STAVED a day at Calais, waiting for Saint-Luc and fome others, who had honoured me with their company. I found the vice-admiral * of France ready to receive me : and the vice-admirais of England and Holland alfo came and defired I would embark in their fliips. The re- port current at Calais, of the good underrtanding between the Englifli and Spaniards, occafioned by what had paffed at the embarkation of count d'Aremberg, ambaffador from the arch-dukes, and the com- plaints which I favv made to De- Vic, of the enterprifes of the Englilh cruizers upon the coafts of France, inclined me at firft to refufe their offers ; but finding nothing in the letters which I received at Calais from Beaumont, concerning what I was told, to prejudice me againfl: the new court of London, I changed my defign in this refpecl ; and that I might not begin by giving them any caufe of complaint, 1 ac- cepted the two veffels offered me by the Engliih vice-admiral. I EMBARKED the 15th of Junc at fix o'clock in the morning. The Englifli, by whom I was ferved, paid me a refpedt which appeared to nie to degenerate into fervility : but I had very foon reafon to alter this opinion of them. Even at the very moment when they defired I would command them in every refpeâ as if they were of my own nation, De-Vic, who only fought an opportunity of (hewing the Eng- lifli his refentment of the violences committed by their pirates, ad- vancing, bearing the French flag on his main-top-gallant-maft, I found thefe complaifant Englifli were enraged at an offence, which, accord- ing to them, was equally injurious to the king of England, and the king of France, whom I reprefented : and I had reafon to think them flill more rude and unpolite, when, without deigning toconfult me, fifty ihot were immediately fired againll De- Vic's -f fliip. It was with great * Dominic De Vic, fignior d'Ermenon- f Thuanus and the Septenary Chroiio- ville, governor of Saint-Denis, Calais, and logy, whole teftimony hereupon is of great Amiens, vice-admiral of France : he died weight, more efpecially as they agree in it, in 16x0. both fay, that the captain of the Englifli difficulty Book XIV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. difficulty that I made myfelf heard ; which, however, I at lall effefl^ed, by reprelenting to them, that De-Vic aéted thus onJy to do me the greater honour j and alfo to give me a more diftinguifhed mark of his refpecft, by dropping his flag upon my firft command Co to do. I thought it would be moil: prudent to do this ; and my Englifh hear- ing what I faid, were fo far prevailed upon by it, as to make their next difcharge at random. I made a fign:,! to De-Vic, which he per- fedly well underftood, and took in his flag; but, as I was afterwards told, he fwore at the fame time to be revenged on the Englirt.\ when- ever he fhould again meet with them. Though ] much queftion, had 169 i6c-^. flup in which M. de Rofny was, did aâu- a!ly fire upon the French vice-admiral. Eut -as I fufpecl our Memoirs, either for the honour of our nation, or perhaps from va- nity, have fomewhat qualified this n after, I will here lay it before the reader as it is related in the Chronology above-mention- ed : " De-Vic, vice-admiral of France, " foon after he had cafl: anchor in Dover- *' road (at which place he had landed part *' of the retinue of M. de Roiny) failed '•• from thence on his return to Calais, and " paffing by the {hip on board of which " M. de Rofny then was, he ordered his *' flag to be hoift:ed, and gave him a fa- " lute ; foon after which, the flag was '* again taken in. The Englifli captain of " the {hip wherein M. de Rofny was, fee- " ing the French flag hoifted, commanded " his men to fire upon the vice-admiral of " France, fwearing he would fufFer no flag " to be feen in thefe feas but that of Eng- " land. A gun was immediately fired upon " De-Vic's fhip, who, having demanded " the reafon of it, prepared to defend him- "■ felf. IVI. de Rofny complained of it to <' the Englifli captain, and reprefented the " firing this fhot as an offence done to " himfelf ; but he talked to a man who " refufed to hear reafon, and who anfwer- " ed him only with rage and fury ; he was " therefore forced to fubmit, and made a " fign to the vice-admiral of France to " take in his flag, which he did. De-Vic " thinking himfelf injured, demanded fa- " tisfaction of the Englifh admiral ; who " anfwered him, that the king of England, *' his mafler, did not permit what the " captain had prefumed to do, defired that " he would excufe his indifcrction, &c. " and promifed that nothing like it {liould " ever happen again. This reply appeafed " and quieted all parties." Chron. Septen. and Thuanus, an. 1603. Cardinal Rich- lieu, in his Teflament Politique, makes ufe of this as an argument, to demonftrate to Lewis XIIL the abfolute neceflîty there was for a naval power : " The cannon- " {hot, fays he, by "Jiiercing the veffel, " pierced the hearts of all true Frenchmen; " and if the words of king James were " civil, yet were they of no other efFecl, " than to oblige the duke of Sully to ob- " tain his fatisfa£tion from his own pru- " dence, by feigning to be contented, tho' " his difcontent, and his reafon for it, was " really greater, and farther from being " removed than ever. The king, your '* father, was under a neceffity to ufe dif- " fimulation on this occafion, but he did " it with the refolution, whenever it " might again be necelTary, to maintain *' the jufl rights of his crown by fuch a " naval force as time would furnifh him " with the means to acquire." Part II. chap. ix. In regard to the fact, which is alfo related in the Teflament, the cir- cumflances are told in a manner almofl en- tirely different. We may further obferve, that M. de Sully, in that part of his IVIe- moirs where he fpeaks of the fatisfaclion v/hich he defired king James to grant him, pafles it over very flightly ; doubtlefs, be- caufe he wouKl not appear to have been fo very grievoufly oflcndcd as perhaps he really was. Vol. il Z the ■/ I70 M E M O ï R S O F S U L L Y, Book XIV- 1603. the opportunity now been given him, whether he could have obtained the revenge he threatened : be that however as it will, the difpute was ended by this means, and our paflage met with no further inter- ruption. r ARRIVED at Dover about three o'clock in the afternoon. Beau- mont, together with Sir Lewis Lewkenor, were there waiting for me.^ Sir Lewis had the fame office in England, which Gondy had in France, being that part of the reception of ambaffadors which confifts in pro- viding them with lodging, provifions, horfes, or chariots, and other things of this nature. The mayor of Dover alfo came and compli- mented me; and the acclamations of the people were fo great, that it was faid, that nothing like it had ever before been feen for any am- baffador. But I was not now to be impofed upon hy thefe appearances, having fo lately received a différent fpecimen of the Englifli polite- nefs,- of which I had another example, even before my departure from Dover. The governor of this place fent his nephew to me, to defire I would come with him and fee the caftle, he not being able to wait on me himfelf, being confined to his bed by the gout. This invitation was followed by a fécond, from which I conceived a good opinion of the perfon by whom they were fent; and I thought the imputation of want of civility might juftly have fallen upon myfelf, had I after this quitted Dover, without waiting on the governor. I therefore went to the caflle the next day, with all my retinue ; but I foon difcovered, that the chief motive to this civil invitation was the pecuniary reward exadled of thofe who have the curiofity to fee the caftle of Dover. This was demanded of every one of my retinue, and that too rudely enough, which was followed by the ceremony of making all, except myfelf, quit their fwords. Being introduced to the governor, whofe name was Thomas Wymes, he received us feated in his chair, but, perceiving that fome of us were looking at 'the towers and walls of the caftle, he put on fo four a countenance, that, pretending to be afraid left our prefence might incommode him, I immediately withdrew, without looking at any thing further. I had exhorted my retinue, whatever might be faid or done to them, not to forget the rules of French politenefs ; and this proved to be no unneceftary caution. When we were upon our departure for London, Lewkenor no longer fhewed himfelf that polite and obliging perfon, who but juft before Book XIV. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 171 before had demanded a lift of thofe who accompanied me, that, as he 1 current at that time concerning himlelf, being defirous to avoid giving any new caufe to vilify him upon this occalion, fought to be cxcufed, and defired that he might, at lead:, have an adjund:, that is, a witnefs of his words and atlions, though he afFoâ:ed not to receive him in that quality. This faâ: alone unanfwerably proves, that he was far from enjoying that favour which he was defirous the public fhould believe he abfolutely poffeffed. Kintore, a Scotchman, was the per- fon ailociated with him. D'Aremberg confined himfelf wholly to compliment, and to the mofl general terms : when prefled to come to particulars, he replied, that he was a foldier, and had no llcill in negotiation ; that he was come only to hear what the king of England had to fay to him, and that, after him, his mafter would fend a man of bufinefs. Thefe words were repeated and fpread throughout London, with all the ridicule and con- tempt they deferved : indeed no ambaffador was perhaps ever before guilty of fo great an imprudence, nor can one but with difficulty be- lieve it of a people fo acute as the Spaniards; it was of great diliervice to them in the Englifli council, and brought part of thofe who com- pofed it to favour me; and if the deligns of Spain were not here- by entirely fruftrated, which they might have been, it was becaufe this aukvvard behaviour was repaired by the addrefs of the other par- tifans of this crown, having Cecil himfelf at their head, notvvithftand- ing his endeavours to make the contrary be believed ; it was even en- tirely forgot, when it was faid that the Spanifh ambaiTador, who be- gan to be no longer expeéled, would foon arrive. Cecil, no doubt, waited his arrival, to begin the diffipation he was preparing for my projedts, and the other counfellors appeared difpofed to fall into their former irrefolution. 1 was even informed from good hands, that it not being doubted but this ambaffador would make propofals to his Britannic majefty, accompanied by irrefillible offers, part of thefe counfellors had begun to draw up an account of the debts of France and the States to England, whereby from the fums contained in this account on one fide, and the treafures of Spain dilburfed in London on the other, nothing might be proof againfi: them. What was moff remarkable in my reception on Sunday the 29th of June, was, that all the gentlemen of my retinue had the honour of being treated with a dinner by his majefty, and I had that of being ad- mitted to his own table. In purfuance of his majefty's directions, I ar- rived Book XV. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. rived at Greenwich about ten o'clock in the morning, and was prcfent with him at. divine fervice, in which there was a fermon : he faid no- thing particular tome from the time of my arrival to our fetting down to table; the converfation turned almofl: entirely upon the chace and the weather : the heat was excefhve, and much more violent than was ufual at London in this month. There were only Beaumont and myfelf who fat with James at table, where I was not a little furprifed to be- hold that he was always ferved on the knee : a furtout, in form of a pyramid, was placed in the middle of the table, which contained mofl: colily veffels, and was even enriched with diamonds. The converfation continued the fame as before, during great part of the entertainment : but an opportunity offering for the king to fpeak of the late queen of England, he did it, and, to my great regret, with fome fort of contempt; he even went fo far as to fiy, that, in Scot- land, long before the death of that princefs, he had direéled her whole council, and governed all her minillers, by whom he had been better ferved and obeyed than herfelf. He then called for fome wine, his cuf- tom being never to mix water with it, and holding the glafs in his hand towards Beaumont and me, he drank to the health of the king, the queen, and the royal family of France. I returned him his health, and that too without forgetting his children. He inclined himfelf to my ear when he heard me name them, and told me foftly, that the next health he would drink fliould be, to the double union which he meditated between the royal houfes. He had never till now faid a fingle word to me about this ; and I thought the opportunity which he had thus taken for it was not extremely well chofen. I failed not, however, to receive the propofal with all poffible marks of joy, and replied foftly, that I was certain Henry would not hefitate in his choice between his good brother and ally, and the king of Spain, who had before applied to him upon the fame liibjeft. James, fur- prized at what I told him, informed me in his turn, that Spain had made him the fame offers of the Intanta for his fon, as flie had to France for the Dauphin. The king of England appeared to me to be flill in the fentiments in which I had left him in our laft conference ; though he gave me no opportunity of converling with him in private. He told me, indeed, before all wno were prefent, that he approved every thing that had been done in the laft conference between the counfeilors and me; that he v/ould not fuffer the States to be over- whelmed ; and that the next day, the manner in which fuccours were to be granted them Ihould be fettled. For this purpofe, he gave or- ders-' MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XV. ders that his counfellors fiiould, the next day in the afternoon, repair to London, there to conclude the afFair with me. I thought thefe words' fufficiently authorifed me immediately to put into the hands of his Britannic majefty the form of a treaty, which I had drawn up and brought with me; and this I accordingly did in the prefence of his minifters. Having found means, in the courfe of the converfation, to drop fome few complaints of the piracies of the Englifh upon the French, the king faid, that this happened contrary to his intentions ; and he was even angry with the Englifli admiral, who appeared him- felf inclined to vindicate what had been done. At laft, he quitted the company to go to bed, where he ufually paffed part of the afternoon, and ibmetimes even the whole of it. The journey which James was to have made having been prevented or deferred, I hoped I fhould, without difficulty, be able to find an opportunity of telling him what I had yet to fay; and this gave me fome confolation for having done fo little this day. For notwithftand- ing what has here been faid of refolutions and fuccours in fupport of the States, I was not ignorant that affairs were not as yet brought to the iffue which I defired ; for the king of England ftill referred me, for the conclufion of them, to the fame perfons as before ; and thefe, I very well knew, were not difpofed in my favour : nor did Barnevelt and the deputies from hence draw a more happy prefage, for they were very far from confidering themfelves as having fucceeded in their offenfive and defenfive alliance with France and England with which they had fometimes flattered themfelves. They refolved to make a final effort with me, that they might at leafl fecure France in their interefts. For this purpofe Barnevelt repaired to me before any of the others, and after having made me acquainted with his apprehenfions in regard to the prefent fituation of affairs, and the effects of the arrival of the Spanifh ambaffador, which was always faid to be very near, he told me, that the Hollanders, being reduced to the loweft ebb of defpair, would abandon every thing, and feek an afylum out of their provinces. Barnevelt obferved, from my reply, that I was not the dupe of his exaggerations : I told him, that it was the English council, and not I, which was to be perfuaded ; becaufe I was fufficiently convinced the States were really in a perplexed fituation. He endeavoured to prove to me, that if nothing could be obtained of the king of England, good policy required that France Hiould openly and alone efpoufe the caufe of Book XV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. of the United Provinces, before their ftrength and fpirits were entirely fpent and exhausted. I replied, that he required of me what was not in my power, becaufe I was come to London only, if it v/ere poffible, to enter into an aflbciation with the Englifh, and in cafe they refufed this, to know their reafons. After this, we had fome difcourfe about the towns deftined for cautionaries. Barnevelt informed rne, that Cecil in a conference with Caron, one of the FlemiQi deputies, had given him to underftand, that England, being refolved to maintain peace with Spain, would require Holland to make the cefTion of thofe places as a fecurityj and in con- fequence of this ceflion, Cecil had only promifed hirn, that thefe towns fliould be preferved in a flridt neutrality, till the payment of the States debt. Barnevelt, who perceived that this affair appeared to me as in- terefting as it really was, acquainted me, though with all the referve which ought to be obferved by a man entrufted upon oath with the fecrets of his council, that the States had put things in fuch a train, that the council of London would have many difficulties to remove before it could fee itfelf in poffeffion of thofe places. But from hence he alfo inferred, in order to gain his point with me, that as the confequence of this would probably be a war between England and the United Provinces, it was therefore for this reafon that he preffed me immediately to join the forces of France with theirs, v/ithout which there would be no equality between the parties. I confeffed to Barne- velt, that I could not blame the refolution of his mafters ; but that the king of France, upon this occafion, could only lament their fitua- tion, not being in a condition to fupport them with open force againft- Spain and England together. In the afternoon, all the Flemifii deputies came in a body to afllft in the conference; and fcon after them the Englifh counfellors, ap- pointed by his Britannic majefty, alfo arrived. Cecil being, as ufual, the fpeaker for all of them, began by faying diredlly, that the king of England was really in the interefl: of the States. And turning to me, he afked me, whether this was not what I dehred, and the real delign of my commiffion ? I concealed what I did but too plainly perceive, from this blunt hafty procedure of the fecretary ; and inftead of giving him a direâ: anfwer, 1 addreffed myfelf to the deputies, and told them, tliat two great kings defigning to interefl: themfelves in their affairs, they ought therefore juflly to reprefent the ffate of them, that from a- full and perfedl knowledge of their ncceffity, the fuccours which they wanteds 2i6 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XV. 1603. wanted might be afcertained. Barnevelt, as ufual, drew a pidlure of the miferies to which Spain had reduced them ; and thefe he defcribed in as lively and affedting a manner as he pofTibly could. But to come more immediately to the bufinels, he faid, it was neceflary that the Spa- niards (hould be driven entirely out of Flanders j and that the States were in hopes of being able to fucceed in this in the fpace of a year, by means which he deduced in the following manner : That the whole force of the United-Provinces amounted to about twelve or fifteen thoufand infantry, not including the garrifons, and three thoufand cavalry, befides fifty fhips adlually in a condition to ferve, with artil- lery and ammunition in proportion ; that therefore nothing more was neceflary, than for the two kings to double thefe forces, by furniihing ■an equal number of each as above mentioned. I Vf AS npprehenfive thefe propofitions would not be received very favourably ; and that I might not appear to authorife the deputies in demands which were really too great, I told Barnevelt, that he (hould have been more careful only to afli what could be granted. I then aiked Cecil, in a manner fomewhat peremptory, to acquaint me what were the real intentions of his mafter, in regard to what was here pro- pofed to him. Cecil replied, that his Britannic majefly would have been plad to have maintained himfelf in a folid and fmcere peace with all his neighbours ; that, as far as could be judged from the ftate of France, and from mere appearances, his moll chriiHan majefty was probably of the fame fentiments. Neverthelefs, that from the remonftrances which I had made to the king of England, this prince was determined to purfue the medium between his own defires and thofe of the States, that is, he would confent privately to afiift the United-Provinces : that perhaps a time might come when more could be done for them, but that at prefent they muft expeél nothing farther. .- The deputies not doubting but this refolution was really fixed with- drew to confer among themfelves upon what had been faid by Cecil, who in the mean time continuing his difcourfe, faid, that indeed the king of England was very willing to afilft the States, but that he had no defire to ruin himfelf for them. He avoided entering upon any particulars, in regard to the nature of thefe pretended fuccours, that he might not be afterwards anfwerable for any promifes or pofitive engage- ments ; but he faid, that in cafe Spain fhould carry her refentment fo far as perfonally to attack the two kings, protediors of the liberty of Flanders, in order to make all things equal on both fides, France mufl contribute Book XV. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 217 contribute eight thonfand infantry and two thoufand cavalry, and England one half of that number ; and the fame rule might be ob- ferved in regard to the fquadrons which it would be neceffary to have upon the coaft of Spain, and in the Indies i and he farther declared, that England had no fund to defray the expences of thefe forces, ex- cept the money owing from France, which was to be paid in two vears; but that the king of England would willingly facrifice it for the fervice of the common caufe. I WAS extremely diffatisfied at the Englifh fecretary's thus endea- vouring to avoid coming to any pofitive agreement, bypurpofely evad- ing the ftate of the queftion, and by raifing only anticipated difficul- ties ; but I concealed my indignation as well as I could, and replied, that this vvas not a fubjeâ: to be talked of in fo vague a manner ; that it was above all things neceflary, without an equivocation, abfolutely to determine wha-t fhould be done in favour of the United-Provinces, and for the relief of Oftend ; that, after this, whether the council of his Britifh majefty might be inclined to a war, or whether it might be forced into one by Spain, there would be many other confiderable matters to difcufs, in regard to the following fuppofitions ; firft, that this crown fhould attack only one of the two kings, or fhould attack them both -, fecondly, that the two kings fhould declare themfelves the aggreflbrs ; and laftly, that they fliould endeavour to make con- quefts upon the Spaniards in the Low- Countries. :r.i il'' :>3"J .;'.'. To make Cecil yet niore fenfible that he fcarce entered at all into the affair, I reprefented to him, that, in cafe of the rupture with Spain, which he mentioned, to render the fuperiority in favour of the two kings, that of France, befides twenty thoufand men which he would have in Flanders, would alfo be indifpenfably obliged to have the fame number upon the frontiers ofGuienne, Languedoc, Pro- vence, Dauphiny, and Breffe, not to mention the fquadrons of gallies which he muft alfo have to fecure the Mediterranean ; that it was neceffary even now to determine thefe matters, and to prevent being expofed to a thoufand perplexing difcuffions, fufficient to deftrov the harmony between the allied princes. Thkn replying more particularly to what Cecil had faid, I told him, I could not conceive for what reafons he was for cafting upon the king of France the whole or greatcfl: part of the expence of a war, in which Henry would be only .equally concerned with the king of England j ' Vot.IL Ff that 2i8 M E M O I R s O F s U L L y. Book XV, that if by fuch means the Britifli council fought to diftrefs Henry, it but ill underftood its interefts, nor confidered that, though an equality of expences fhould be ftipulated, France would certainly have other ■expences to defray, perhaps even greater than thefe; fuch were thofe for the defence of her coafts and frontiers, which, by diverting part of the enemy's forces, would not be lefs ferviceable to England than to France. I added, that, for all thefe reafons, I thought the Eng- lifh council took a very improper time to demand the payment of the fum lent to France; that Henry was fo far from expecfling any fuch matter, that he had given me no orders about it ; that I only knew, from the place which I filled in the council of finances, that his inten- tion was to difcharge it by annual payments, as had been agreed with, the late queen ; and that within the current year he propofed to pay two hundred thoufand livres ; but again, that the Britifh council took, a very wrong method to obtain the payment of this debt, by fliewing, from their unreafonable difficulties and fufpicions, that their fole view was more and more to exhauft France; which condudl was very ma-r lignant, and abfolutely oppofite to that of Henry, who, in all his ac- tions, manifefted nothing but honefty and good faith, and laboured only for the public good. What I faid made not the imprefllon upon my hearers which I defired j on the contrary, the Englifli took fire, and protefted, if any thing farther was infilled on, they would abandon the States entirely. Cecil more efpecially, in this conference, completed his making him- felf known to me for what he really was ; he made ufe only of double expreflions, vague propofals, and falfe meanings, being perfedtly fenfi- ble that reafon was not on his fide. The moderation and fincerity which loppofed to his ill defigning fubtilties, forced him into contradic- tions, which, when by a fingle word I made him feel the ridiculoufnels of what he faid, put him into confufion. Sometimes thinking tointi^ midate me, he magnified the forces of England ; fometimes he en- deavoured to fhew the advantages to England of the pretended offers of Spain ; he watched opportunities to wreft any words which might drop from me of the deputies to his advantage, and even malicioully fuppofed that we had faid things which we never thought of; he pro- ceeded fo far, as to endeavour to raife difcord between me and the de- puties, by calling upon me the refufal of openly affilling the States : he, and iiis collègues by his direâion, demanded that France Ihould immediately pay to England, in part of what (he owed, forty or fifty thoufand pounds fterling ; and he lold the deputies, that thefe fums fliould Book XV. M Ë M O I R S O F S U L L Y. fhould be employed for the relief of their moft preffing necefiîties, and, upon my refufal, they all faid it could be imputed only to me, becaufe, faid they, all the money in France was in my difpofal. If all the merit of thofe we ufually call able politicians confifts in thus endeavouring to enfnare the open and undefigning, and to make thefe bear the blame of their wickednefs, while they at the fame time enjoy all the benefits of it, a politician is then truly a very defpicable thing. What piqued me the moll was to fee that thefe minifters, who were here only to fet forth the intentions of the king, impudently fubftituted their own inftead of them ; for I knew well, and was firmly perfuad- ed, from the manner in which this prince had talked to them in my prefence, that he had given them quite contrary commands. The deputies, who had returned, and were prefent during this, again retired, greatly diiTatisfied no doubt, and in more perplexity than before ; whereupon Cecil again changed his battery : he faid, that fince the king of France could not enter into a war but in conjun6lion with England, the latter could not do it, unlefs her ex- pences therein w^ere defrayed by France and the States ; which nei- ther of them being really able to do, the befl: conduft therefore which the two kings could purfue, would be to continue to live in friend- fhip, but without intermeddling with any foreign difputes whatfo- ever. This, probably, \vas what the fecretary really propofed ; and, notwithfianding the length and frequency of his difcourfes, was all he had ever uttered with fincerity. As I did not think proper to make any reply to this, the Englifh, Relieving perhaps that they had gained their point with me, faid, they would relate to the king every thing which had paffed in the con- ference, and would demand an audience from him for me, wherein all things {hould be expeditioufly fettled on this footing, and this au- dience would probably be my laft, and that wherein I ihould take my leave, becaufe, after this, nothing more would remain to be done. If I kept filence upon this occafion, moft certainly it was not becaufe I acquiefced in what they faid ; on the contrary, the manner in which they had again expofed themfelves, and as it were confefled them- felves to be liars and impoftors, had infpired me with the utmoft con- tempt for them ; but I judged, that expoftulation or pallion would be fo far from making them quit a refolution which they had concerted to- gether, that perhaps it might rather tend to promote a rupture, where- as, as matters were at prefent fituated, friendfliip at leaft fubfifted be- F f 2 tween 210 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book. XV. 1603. twcen the two kings, and as this friendfliip might be more ftrongly cemented by a double marriage (which was pubhcly talked of) fome more favourable opportunity might probably hereafter occur. How- ever, I did not abfolutely defpair of the fuccefs of my commiiîîon> becaufe I thought I perceived the king had no concern inthe defigns which his counfellors thus endeavoured to put in execution. To come at a certainty in refpeil to this, was what I propofed in my third audience, for I do not confider as fuch my reception on Sun- day. Cecil had demanded it for me from the king, and this prince fent Erlkine to tell me, that it fhould be on the day after the con- ference here related, and that I fiiould bring but few of my retinue with me, becaufe he wanted to difcourfe with me in particular; and this was further confirmed to me by a Scotch lord, who was extremely intimate with my friend the earl of Mar. The lords, Hume and Sea- ford about noon came to accompany me from London, and, upon my landing at Greenwich, I was received by the earl of Derby, who conduced me into the king's apartment. I had with me only four gentlemen and two fecretaries. The king of England took me by the hand, and, commanding that no one fhould follow him, he led me through his cabinet into his gallery, the door of which he alfo fecured. He embraced me twice, with expreffions that fhewed how greatly he was fatisfied with the king of France and me, and how fenfible he was of his mofl chriflian majefly's having fent him the man who, of all his kingdom, was moft neceflary to him ; he infifted, that making ufe of the prefent opportunity, I fhould fpeak to him without any referve. This mo- ment therefore feemed favourable to me, to complain to him of his ,'--iâ33ilw • and, after the ufual complimentary thanks, I accordingly '°,Ê zï^-i >:r;i at it was much more advantageous to me in all refpeâsto vrn " ' with him than his counfellors, who, after having very ill exe- cuted his orders in the laft conference, had alfo, without doubt, given him a falfe account of what had paffed between them and me and the Flemifh deputies ; and I promifed, if he would give me leave, to give him a fincere and juft relation of every thing. The king approving my propofal, I acquainted him with all that had paffed between us the preceding evening ; I infifl:ed more efpecially upon the demand to difcharge the debt owing to England, and on the afperfion upon his moft chriflian majefty and me, with which it had been Book XV. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 221 been accompanied ; I added, that if after having filled my letters to Hen- 1 60-^ . ry only with elogies on the generofity, the prudence, and the perfeél friendfhip of the prince to. whom I had the honour of fpeaking, and this becaufe he himfelf had authorifed me to do it, both by his words and adlions, I fiiould be obliged, on a fudden, to write to lii'm in a quite contrary ftyle, without having any reafon to alledge for it, other than difficulties entirely frivolous, the king my mafter could not but think I had afted the part of a flattering, and perhaps an unfaithful minifter, to the interefts with which he had entrufled me ; and it would befides, bie confidered as the effedl of a determined friendfliip with Spain, from whence, perhaps, a rupture might enfue between the two kings, whofe interefl as well as inclination required their continuing in a confiant ftate of union. I thought I ought not to hefitate upon inform- ing the king of England, that there were feveral of thofe whom he ad- mitted into his council who were neither well difpofed in themfelves, nor well affeâed to his perfon ; that, without naming them to him, he ought to confider as fuch all thofe who appeared fo little felicitous for his glory, and the honour of his crown, as to advife him, under the name of an ally, to render himfelf the flave of Spain ; that he would do well to be, in fome degree, dithdent of fuch perfons whofe charac- ters he was not perfedlly well acquainted with, and to be guided rather by his own wifdom, than the reprefentations of his minifters. It was no difficult matter to infpire the king of England with a diffi- dence of his minilfers, for he was naturally but too much inclined to it. The change which I perceived in his countenance when he heard my lafl: words, hisgefture, and fome expreffions thatefcaped him, con- vinced me my obfervation was Juft ; I even thought I plainly perceived, that either from an effe6c of this diffidence, or from the •:. '-'" ^ laviffied on him, this prince was at lafl in the moft favoural ■[■'. ' '' tion I could wifli him ; I therefore embraced this opportunity to .. duce in our converfation fome general hints of a projeft, by whici., with the affiftance of his Britannic majefty, the tranquility of all Eu- rope might be fecured. Having faid this, I remained filent, as though I had been apprehenlive of fatiguing him by too long a difcourfe : but I knew the curiofity of James would be excited by the little I had faid ; accordingly he replied, that my difcourfe had not appeared tedious to him, but that it would be proper to know what o'clock it was. He went out, and afked feme of his courtiers whom he found at the end of the gallery, and they telling him that it was not three o'clock, " Well, Sir, faid the- king to me, returning, I will break off the party "for ?2-2 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XV. 1 603. " for the chace which I had made for this day, that I may hear you ' " to the end, and this employment will, I am pcrfuaded, be of more " fervice to me than the" other." The reafon that induced mc to hazard a ftcp of fuch confequence, as that of communicating to king James the great defigns upon Spain and all Europe, which had been concerted between Henry and Eli- zabeth, was, that being perlliaded this prince was already of himfelf inclined to the alliance with France, he only wanted to be determined in this refolution from fome great and noble motive ; and becaufe, on the other fide, his minillers conflantly brought him back to their man- ner of thinking, apparently becaufe he could not fupport himfelf againft them, from a peri'uafion that they oppofcd hisfentiments only through ignorance of them. However, this did not prevent my taking the following precaution, which I judged to be very ncceffary. I THEREFORE refumcd the difcourfe, and told him, that, without 'doubt he had fometimes thought, and with good reafon, that a man in poflelTion of the places and honours with which I was known to be inverted, never quitted his port but for a very urgent occafion j that •this was my cafe ; that though my commiilîon was only to require an union between France and England, yet neverthclefs, from the opi- nion I had conceived, which fame had not been filent in reporting, of his genius and abilities, I had refolved, before I quitted the kingdom, to difcourfc with his Britannic majefty on fomcthing infinitely more confiderable ; but that what I had to acquaint him with was of fuch a nature, that I could not reveal it to him without expofing myfelf to ruin, unlefs he would engage by the moft folemn oath to keep it a fecret. James, who liftened to me with a profound attention, hefitated however at taking the oath which I required ; and, to render it un- neceflary, he endeavoured himfelf to difcover what it was of fo intereit- ing a nature which I had to communicate to him. But finding my anfwers to the different quertions which he fucceflively afked me gave him not the leafl light into the affair, he fatisfied me at lafl by the mod facred and folemn of all oaths, I mean that of the holy facrament. Though I had now nothing to fear from his indifcretion, vet, how- ever, I carefully weighed all my words ; and beginning with an arti- cle, in which I knew the king of England was moll interelted, I mean religion, I told him, that however I might appear to him engaged in worldly honours and affairs, and how indifferent foever he might perhaps Book XV. MEMOIRS OF S U L L T. perhaps have fuppofed me to be in matters of religion, yet it was no lefs certain that I was attached to mine, even fo much as to prefer it to my family, fortune, country, and even king; that I had negledled nothing which might incline the king my mafler to eftablifh it in France upon folid foundations, being under great apprehenfions left it might one day be overwhelmed by fo powerful a fadtion, as that of an union of the Pope, the Emperor, Spain, the arch-dukes, the catholic princes of Germany, and fo many other ftates and communities intereft- ed in its fuppreffion ; that my fuccefs hitherto had been tolerable; but that perhaps I was indebted for it only to jundlures purely political, which had engaged Henry in a party oppofite to the houfe of Auftria. That becaufe thefe circumftances might change, or becaufe I, who was the only perfon that would ufe any endeavours to make Henry continue firm in this political plan, might lofe my place and his favour, I did not fee how the king of France could refift a party, which both- his religion, and the example of others, would call upon him to em- brace. That this confideration had long infpired me with the thoughts of finding a perfon for the execution of this defign, who by his rank, and power would be more proper than me to accomplifli it, and fix Henry in his fentiments. That having found all that I had fought for in the prince to whom I had the honour of fpeaking, my choice had not been difficult to fix. In a word, that it depended only upon him- felf to immortalize his memory, and become the arbitrator of the fate of Europe, by a defign to which he would always appear to have put- the finifhing hand, though he might not be more concerned in the ex^ ecution than his moft Chriftian majefty. There remained only to explain to him the nature of this defign, of which at firft I gave nothing farther than a general idea, under the notion of a projeâ: for an afl"ociation of all the princes and ftates in Europe, whofe intereft it was to diminiflithe power of the houfe of Auftria, the foundation of which fliould be an ofi^eniive and defenfive alliance between France, England, and Holland, cemented by the- clofeft union of the two royal houles of Bourbon and Stuart. I re- prefented this aflbciation in a light which {hewed it might be very eafily formed. There was not the leaft difficulty in regard to Denmark, Sweden, in a word, all the proteftant princes and ftates; and it might be rendered fufficiently advantageous to engage in it the catholic princes alfo : for example, the turbulent and ambitious difpofition of the duke of Savoy might be foothed with hopes of obtaining the title of king; and the princes of Germany, with promifes to diftribute among them, thofe. 224: M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XV. 1 603 . thofe parts of it which the houfe of Anftria poffefTed, as Bohemia, Au- ■ ftria, Hungary, Moravia, Silefia, &c. and to re-eftablifli their antient privileges : even the Popehimfelf might be gained, by granting him the property of thofe countries of which he only poffeffed the feoda- lity. In regard to the king of France, though I endeavoured to per- fuade James that he had hitherto had no concern in this projedt, which I pretended was entirely of my own forming; I, however, faid, that when I fliould have communicated it to him, I could fafely engage he would have no thoughts, either of retaining any conquefts which mif^ht be made, or of being recompenfed for them ; though, accord- ing to all appearances, the greateft part of the burthen would fall upon him, as well in the expences necellary for the carrying on the enter- prife, as his own perfonal fervices. I imagined it was moll proper to give the affair this turn in regard to Henry, that he might not be un- der too ablblute an obligation. The king of England immediately ftarted fome objedlions, upon the difficulty of uniting fo many different princes fo differently dilpofed ; the fame nearly which Henry had made when we had lafi difcourfed upon it at Montglat, upon his return from Metz: though from the flight Iketch which I had given him of the defign, he, however, ap- peared highly to approve it, and expreffed a defire of being more cir- cumftantlally informed of it. In conformity with which cieiire, the following is the fubftance of what I faid to his Britannic majelly. Europe is divided into two fadions, which are notfo juftly diflin- guiflied by their different religions, becaufe the catholics and proteftants are confounded together in almofl all places, as they are by their poli- tical intereftsj the firftis compofed of the Pope, the Emperor, Spain, Spanilh Flanders, part of the princes and towns of Germany and Switzerland, Savoy, the catholic fiâtes of Italy, whijch are Florence, Ferrara, Mantua, Modena, Parma, Genoa, Lucca, &c. Herein like- wife mufl be comprifed, the catholics difperfed in other parts of Eu- rope, at the head of which may be placed the turbulent order of Je- fuits, whofe views, no doubt, are to fubjedl every thing to the Spanifh monarchy. The fécond includes the kings of France, England, Scot- land, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden; the repubhc of Venice, the United-Provinces, and the other part of the princes and towns of Ger- many and Switzerland : I do net take in Poland, Pruflia, Livonia, Mufcovy, and Tranfilvania, though thefe countries are fubjed: to the chriftian religion, becaufe the wars in which they are almofl continu- ally Book XV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ally engaged with the Turks and Tartars, render them in fome man- ner foreign in regard to thofc of the weftern part of Europe. Were the power to be eftimated in proportion to the pomp of titles, the extent of territories, and the number of inhabitants, it ap- pears, on the (lighteft glance, not very favourable to the fécond of thefc factions, and the fuperiority would apparently be determined in favour of the tirft : neverthelefs, nothing is more erroneous than fuch an opi- nion, which may thus be proved; Spain, which muft here be named firft of her fadlion (though from rank and dignity fhe is only the third) becaufe flie is in reality the foul of it ; Spain, I fay, including her dominions in the Eaft and Weil-Indies, does indeed poiïefs an extent of territory as large as Turky and Perfia together. But if it be true (and that it is i'o cannot be doubted) that the new world, in recompence of its gold and other riches, deprives Spain both of her fliips and inhabitants, this immenfe extent of territory, inftead of being ferviceable, is burdenfome. And if we confider the other powers of this party, we fhall every where find reafon to diminish our ordinary ideas. The pope feems firmly attached to Spain ; and, furrounded as he is on all fides by this formidable power, and having no reafon to expecfl fuccours from any of the other catholic princes, it is, no doubt, his interefl: to be fo. But as he doe?, in facft, confider his fituation as but little different from real fervitude; and as he is not ignorant that Spain and the jefuits only make a vain appearance of fupporting his authority, it mav, doubt- leCs, be concluded, he only wants an opportunity to free himfelf from the Spanilh yoke, and that he would readily embrace a party which ihould offer to render him their fervice, without the running any great riik ; and Spain has in reality this opinion of him. In regard to the emperor, he has nothing in common with Spain except his name, which feems only to ferve to increafe the jealoufies and quarrels which fo frequert'v arife between thefe two branches of Auflrian power : befides, what is his power ? it confifts merely in his title. Hungary, Bohemia, Auftria, and other neighbouring countries, are little better than empty names. Expofed as he is, on one fide, to incurfions of the formidable armies of the grand fignior ; liable, on the other fide, to fee the territories under his dominion tear themfelves in pieces, by the multiplicity and diverfity of the religions which they contain ; under continual apprehenfions alfo, left the eleftoral princes Vol. II. ^ ë fiioul'^ MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XV. fliould rife and make an attempt to regain their ancient privileges. In- deed the prefent emperor, all things juftly confidered, might perhaps be claffed among the moft inconfiderable of the European powers : befides, this Auftrian branch appears to me fo deftitute of good fub- jedls, that if it hath not foon a prince, either brave or wife enough to unite the different members of which Germany is compofed, it will have every thing to fear from the princes of its circles, whofe only aim it is, to get their liberty, in religion and eledion, reftored to them. I do not except even the eleftor of Saxony, though he appears the moft fincerely attached to the emperor, as to him of whom he holds his principality, becaufe it is evident his religion muft, fooner or later, fet him at variance with his benefaftor. But fuppofmg the emperor to receive all the returns of gratitude which he can expedl from this ele6tor, this will amount to nothing, or but very little, fo long as he fhall be under apprehenfions from the branch of John-Frederic,, whom he has deprived of this eledlorate. Thus, from a thorough examination of all particulars, it appears», that almoft all the powers on which Spain feems to depend for aid, are either but little attached to her, or capable of doing her little fervice. No one is ignorant, that the general view of the princes and cities both of Germany and Switzerland is to deliver themfelves from the dominion of the emperor, and even to aggrandife themfelves at his expence. Nor has he any greater dependence on the ecclefiaftical princes, than on the others. A foreign emperor is what they moft wifh, provided he is not a proteftant. Nothing could give the arch-dukes a greater pleafure, as much Spaniards as they are, than a regulation, by which they fliould, in Flanders, become fovereigns independent of Spain, weary at length of being only her fervants. It is the fear of France alone that binds the duke of Savoy to the Spaniards; for he naturally hates them, and has never forgiven the king of Spain, for doing fo much lefs for the daughter which he beftowed upon him, than for her younger fifter. As to Italy, it need only be obferved, that it will be obliged to acquiefce in the will of the ftronger party. It is therefore certain, that the fécond of th^ faisions here defcribed has nothing to fear, provided it underftands its own interefts well enough to continue in a conftant ftate of union. Now it is alfo cer- tain, that in this fcheme thefe fo natural motives to difunion do not occur; and that all of them, even that caufed by the difference of re- ligion, which in fome fort is the only one, ought to give place to the hatred Book XV. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. hatred againfl: Spain, which is the great and common motive by which thefe powers are animated. Where is the prince, in the leaft jealous of his glorv, who would refufe to enter into an aflbciation flrengthen- ed by four fuch powerful kings as thofe of France, England, Sweden, and Denmark, clofely united ? It was a faying of Elizabeth's, that nothing could refift thefe four powers, in ftricl alliance with each other. These truths being fuppofed, it only remains to examine, by what methods the houfe of Auftria may be reduced to the monarchy of Spain, and to poffefs that dominion only. Thefe methods confift either in ar- tifice or force, and I have two means for each of thefe. The firit of the fecret means is, to divefl: the houfe of Auftria of the Indies ; Spain havingnomorerightto prohibitan intercourfe with thefe countries to the reft of the Europeans, than fhe has to deflroy their natural in- habitants ; and all the nations of Europe having alfo a liberty to make eftablifliments in the new difcovered countries as foon as they hxve palled the line, this enterprize would therefore be eafily executed, only by equipping three fleets, each containing eight thoufand men, all provided and viâ:ualled for fix months; England to furnifh the ihips, Flanders the artillery and ammunition, and France, ks the moft pow- erful, the money and foldiers. There would be no occafion for any other agreement, than that the conquered countries fhould be equallydivided. During this, the fécond of thefe means fliould be fecretly prepared, upon occafion of the fuccefiion to Cleves, and the death of the Emperor W'hich cannot be far diftant, in fuch manner, that under favour of the opportunities which thefe two incidents might furnifli, reafons might be found to divell the houfe of Auftria of the empire, and her other dependencies in Germany, and therein to reflore the antient free manner of eledtion. The firft of the two open and declared means is, in conjundion to take up arms, and drive the Spaniards entirely out of Flanders, in order to ere6l this ftate into a free and independent repub- lic, bearing only the title of a member of the empire ; and this, when the forces of the allies are confidered, will not be found difficult. The United Provinces, comprehending in them Liege, Juliers, and Cleves, form a triangle ; the firft fide of which, from Calais to Embden, is entirely towards the fea : the fécond is bounded by France, viz. by Picardy, as far as the Somme; and by the country of Mefiln, as far as Mezieres : the third extends from Metz, by Triers, Cologn, and G g 2 Metz, MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book X\^. Metz, as far as Dufleldorp. It is only neceiïary to fecure thefe three fides in fuch manner that they rnay be inaccelTible to Spain, which may be done without difficulty, England taking upon her the firfl, France the fécond, the eleftors and the other interelled princes the third. All the towns which fliould happen to be upon this line, ex- cept perhaps Thionville, which might require to be forced, would, upon a menace to be put under contribution, immediately fubmit. The fécond of the two laft means, is for the league above mention- ed generally and in concert to declare war againft Spain and the whole houfe of Auftria. What is moft eflential to obferve in regard to this war, is, that France and England fliould renounce all pretences to any fliare of theconquefl:, and relinquiHi them to thofe powers who were not of themfelves capable of giving umbrage to the others. Thus Franche-Comté, Alface, and Tirol, naturally fall to the Switzers. The duke of Savoy ought to have Lombardy, to be ered:ed, with his other dominions, into a kingdom ; the kingdom of Naples falls to the pope, as being moft convenient to him ; Sicily to the Venetians, with what may be convenient for them in lilria and Friuli. Thus it appears, the mofl folid foundation of this confederacy would arife from all the parties being gainers by it. The reft of Italy, fubjedl to its petty princes, might perhaps be fufFered to continue under its prefent form of government, provided that all thefe little ftates were altogether confidered as compofing only one body or republic, of which they fhould be fo many members. This is a pretty juft account of the manner in which I acquainted his Britannic majefty with the defign to which I endeavoured to gain his approbation. I farther added whatever I thought might tend to obviate his doubts, and confirm him in favour of it. I confefied that I was not myfelf able to elucidate the defign; that I was not furprifed that his majefty had at firft perceived great difficulties in it ; that Henry would, no doubt, find many in it alfo, but that they only pro- ceeded from my own weaknefs, and the impoffibility of fhewing clearly what to be perfedly explained required much time and long difcourfes ; that I was convinced in my own mind, the defign was not only poffible, but that alfo the fuccefs of it was infallible ; that if any thing was found defedtive in the fcheme as I had conceived it, it might eafily be rcftified by the genius and abilities of four great kings, and fome of the beft generals in Europe, to whom the execution of it would be entrufted. I Book XV. M E M O I R S O F. S U L L Y. I THEN returned to the alliance between the two kings of France and England, and I told his Britannic majefty, that this alliance being the chief and necelTary foundation of the confederacy which I had pro- pofed to him, this muft therefore ncceflarily begin it, without paying any regard to the difcourfes of prejudiced perfons, or being afFedted by fuch frivolous confiderations as thofe of the debts of France and Flan- ders to England. I affured him that England had nothing to fear from France, for that Henry's great preparations of arms and ammunition, and his amafllng fuch vaft fums, were only defigned hereafter to enable him of himfelf toaccomplifli the greateil part of this important defign; at leaft, that I could flatter myfelf with fuccefs in engaging him in it, from motives of glory and the public fervice, which operated fo power- fully upon the mind of this prince. I touched James in his moft fenfible part, his ambition to immortalize his memory, and his defire of being brought into comparifon with Henry, and of fharing his praifes. My earneftnefs to fucceed gave fuch force and clearnefs to my ex- preflions, that this prince, entering into my full meaning, embraced me with a kind of tranfport proceeding from his friendiliip for me, and a fenfe of the wrong meafures which hitherto endeavours had been ufed to make him purfue. " No, fir, faid he, do not fear that I fhall ever ** fail in what we have together agreed upon." He protefled with the lame ardour, that he would not on any confideration have re- mained ignorant of what I had told him ; that he would never contra- di6l the good opinion which the king of France and I had conceived of him J that he really was what I thought him ; that his reflections upon what I had faid would yet farther confirm him in the fentiments with which I had infpired him ; that he would even now engage to fign the plan of alliance which I had prefented to him on Sunday, and wherein he had himfelf made Ibme inconfiderable alterations; that I fhould alfo fign it in the name of the king of France, unlefs I rather chofe to carry it with me unfigned, to fliew it to his moll Chriftian majefty, in which cafe he gave me his royal word, that upon my bringing or fending it back at the end cf a month or fix weeks, ap- proved and figned by Henry, he would immediately, and without the leafl difficulty, join to it his own fignature. He concluded, by obligingly afluring me, that for the future he would do nothing but in concert with the king of France. He made me promife the fame fecrecy in regard to all perfons, except the king my mafiier, which I had been fo free as to require of him ; and this he extended fo far, as to for- bid- 229 230 M E M O I R s F s U L L Y, Book XV, 1603. bid me ever putting upon paper certain things, which upon this occafion he revealed to me, and which I therefore lupprefs. Our conferencehad begun about one o'clock, and continued upwards of four hours. The king called in admiral Howard, theearls of Northum- berland, Southampton, Mar, kwd-Mouiitjoy, and Cecil, and declared to them, that having deliberately confidered my reafons, he was refolved to enter into a clofe alliance with France againfl Spain. He reproached Cecil in very ftrong terms, for having, both in his words and adtions, adied contrary to his commands; which explanation the fecretary re- ceived very aukwardly. " Cecil, faid this prince to him, I command " you, without any reply or objeâion, in conformity to this my de- " lign, to prepare the neceffary writings, according to which, I v/ill " then give the dexter *, and all aflurances to the ambafladors of mef- *' fleurs the States." This was the firft time he had diftinguifhed them by this title. Then turning to me and taking me by the hand, he faid, " Well, Mr. ambafTador, are you now perfectly fatislied with " me ?" Î REPLIED by a profound reverence, and by making his majefty the fame proteftations of fidelity and attachment as if it had been to my own king, and I defired he would let me confirm it to him by kilTing his hand. He embraced me, and demanded my friendfliip with an air of goodncfs and confidence which very much difpleafed feveral of his counfellors that were prefent. Upon my departure, he gave orders to the earl of Northumberland to accompany me to the Thames, and to Sid- ney to efcort me to London. * This cxprellion fignifies an oath, or promife of alliance, made by prefenting the jright hand. MEMOIRS MEMOIRS O F SULLY. BOOK XVI. AL L that now remained to be done, was to put the finlfhing 1603. hand to the feveral particulars agreed on between the king of England and me, and fignified by this prince to his minifters, and to form them into a treaty, or rather into a project of a treaty, between the two kings : for indeed a peace, whofe final and principal effedl was to proceed from the acceptation of his moft Chriilian ma-!- jefty, into whofe hands it was firft to be tranfmitted, could be called by no other name. And, upon this occafion, I was perfedly fenfible of the injury my negotiation received from the unhappy precaution which neceffity had obliged Henry and me to take in the council of France, not to propofe any thing to the king of England but as of myfelf. James, being more entirely perfuaded than I could have wiflied him, that I had adted only from the fuggeftions of my own defires, and for the fecurity of the proteltant religion againft all events which might happen, had never, from the fecrets which I had revealed to him, confidered me as the inftrument of the king my mafler ; .and looked upon it as doing a great deal, to engage himfelf firft, upon very promifing appearances, indeed, that the king of France would concur with MEMOIRS OF SULLY. BookXVL with him even with greater readinefs. But how great is the diffe- rence between fuch a general engagement, hable to many various in- terpretations, and a treaty, wherein, by virtue of a full power from the king, I might, with all the care and exadtnefs poffible, have in- ferted every particular in that clear and diftindl manner, from whence the bonds of all political treaties acquire their ftrength and duration. I fliould not fo confidently aflert, that, upon this occafion, inftead of the mere formula, I had reafon to expeg James himfelf from conceiving any jealoufy of my intention. The precaution which I ufed for this purpofe was to aflc his permiffion, to acknowledge, by fome fmall gratuities, the fervices I had received in his court. At Dover I received a letter from Henry, wherein he acquainted me, that he had arrived at Villers-Coterets the 9th of July, at which place he impatiently waited for me : he pafled fome days Here, during which the queen made a journey to Lieffe. I did not take any reft at Dover, and ordered all things to be in readinefs to embark the next day. The weather was fo bad in the night, that the Englifh vice- admiral very ferioufly advifed me to alter my refolution. The leaft delay appeared no lefs infupportable to all my retinue than to myfelf, efpecially to thofe city fparks who find themfelves out of their element, when they are off the pavement of Paris : they all prefled me with fuch eagernefs immediately to quu Dove^, and Henry's letter flattered me with fo favourable a reception, that I confented to fail as foon as we could. Repentance foon followed our precipitation ; we met with fo violent a tempeft, that we were in the utmoft danger; we were the whole day in cioffing the chr.nnel, and fo extremely fea-fick, that though we were three hundred of us, had a veiTel with only twenty ■men attacked us, we muft have furrendered. xA. SECOND letter which I received from Henry at Boulogne, ren- dered it neceflary for me not to lofe a moment. At this place I quit- ted thofe who had accompanied me, after having thanked them for the honour they had done me, and left them to go wherever they thought proper. FIis majefty had taken care to order poft-horfes to be in readinefs in all the proper places upon the road, in cafe my health would permit me to make ufe of them. I therefore took poft at Abbeville, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived the next day at eight in the morning at Villers-Coterets. ■ I WOULD -40 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y, Book XVI, I WOULD not take any repofe till I had firft received the honour of faluting his majefty. I found him in that walk of the park which leads to the foreft, where he propofed to take an airing on fome horfes that were to be brought there to him ; Bellievre, Villeroi, De Mailles, and Sillery, were walking with him, and in one of the walks adjacent were the count de Soiflbns, Roquelaure, and Frontenac. Imme- diately upon his perceiving me, though at a diftance, he faid, as De Maiffes afterwards informed me, " There's the man I have fo much " wiflied to fee, he is at laft arrived ; my coufin the count of Soiflbns ♦' muft be called, that he may be prefent at the brief relation he will ** give us of what he has feen, heard, faid, and done, of which he •' has wrote me nothing; let my horfes be fent back, I fliall not nov/ " go into the foreft," His majefl;y would not fuffer rne to kneel to kifs his hand, but em- braced me twice very clofely. His firft words were, that he was per- fedly fatisfied with my fervices ; that he had not thought my letters tedious, and that he fliould take pleafure in hearing what I had not related in them. I replied, that this relation would be fomewhat long, and could not well be made, but as opportunity (liould prefent, to difcourfe on fo many different matters, I began with the perfon of the king of England, which I defcribed to him nearly the fame as I have already in thefe Memoirs : I did not omit either the admiration which this prince exprefled for his majefty, or the delight he took on being compared with him, nor his defire to render himfelf worthy of the comparifon. I related the proofs which he had given me of his at- tachment to France, of his contempt for the chimeras with which Spain had endeavoured to infpire him, and how far he was from efpoufing the party of the revolted French calvinifts. King James was fenfible from his own fituation, how very unfit this laft procedure would have been, having fo great a number of feditious in his own dominions, that I was very much deceived, if they did not one day caufe him much trouble. I added, that if I had myfelf been difpofed to give ear to them, the chiefs of this fadlion had given me fair oppor- tunities to enter with them into very ferions enterprifes : I mentioned the affair of the loft difpatch, and fpoke my fentiments of it with free- dom. I then returned to the king of England, and acquainted his majefty with what he was ignorant of in regard to my laft audience, and, together with the form of the treaty figned by us both, I prefented to him the two letters from his Britannic majefty, and another letter wrote Book XVI, M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 241 wrote to his majefty, fince my departure from London, by the count 1603. of Beaumont, which I had received upon the road. îlenry ordered Villeroi to read all tliofe letters to him. Beaumont in his letter acquainted the king, that the queen of England, with her children, was inftantly expeâed in London, from whence (he would go direâly to Windfor to refide there with the king; that many were apprehenfive her arrival would caufe difturbance in affairs, and might infpire the fadious with courage; that happily there was no able man among them; that the Spanifh ambaffador was atlaft arrived in England, and, with another from the duke of Brunfwic, was faid to be aâually at Gravefend, from whence they were immediately to proceed to London, his Britannic majelly having fent Ihips to protedl the Spanifl:! ambaflador in his paffage againft thole of the States; that count d'Aremberg depended fo entirely upon the alterations which this amballador would make in affiiirs, that being informed of his arrival, he was gone before him to Windfor, there to wait his coming : nor did Beaumont diffemble his own fears of the effedts which it might have on a prince fufceptible of new impreffions, not fo much from what he would gain from the magnificent offers of Spain, as from his own natural timidity, his weaknefs, and even fcruples, left, in fupport- ing the United-Provinces, he fhould countenance a parcel of rebels. Beaumont wrote tljus from the communication which had been made to him of a plan for an agreement between Spain and the States, defigned and drawn up in Germany, of which he even gave the pur- port in this letter; but he feemcd perfuaded the deputies of the Low- Countries would never confent to it, though the emperor iliould be guarantee of it, becaufe they thought it neither ftrong enough to oblige Spain to obferve it, nor even fufficiently impartial, to hope from it a perieft peace with that crown ; befides, they had a general fufpicion of all propofitions wherein France and England were not concerned. He obferved, that thefe deputies were likewife upon the point of returning home, with a refolution to animate their republic to a vigorous defence, from the certainty my convention with his Bri- tannic majefty had given them, that they Ihould not be abandoned by the two kings, and from the permiffion which James had given them to raife foldiers in Scotland, to be commanded by my lord Buccleugh, whom they had accepted as colonel of thefe recruits : finally, Beau- mont concluded his letter, by faying, that, in order to be ftill more perfectly informed of every thing that paffed, and to remind the king Vol, IL li of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVL of England of his promifes, if neceflary, he was going himfelf to Wind-) for. I take no notice of thofe paffages in this letter, wherein Beau- mont gave the higheft praifes to my condudl and my negotiation. Vjlleroi having finiflied reading the plan fo,r a treaty, "Well, " coufin, faid Henry, addrefling himfelf to the count of Soiflbns, " what do you think of all this ? give me your opinion of it freely." J readily imagined what reply he would make, and the count did not deceive me. " Since you require it of me, faid he, I muft fay, " that I think the marquis of Rofny has very great credit with the " king of England ; and that he is in a marvelous good intelligence *' with the Englifli, at leafl if his relation, and all which you have •' been informed of, is true ; for which reafon he ought to have " brought much more advantageous conditions, and a treaty in a bet- " ter form than that which he has prefented to you, which is really *' nothing more than a mere projedtof hopes and fair words, without " any certainty that they will ever be executed." " What you have " faid is truly very fine and good, replied Henry : nothing is fo eafy " as to difcover faults in the adlions of others." His majefty ftill con- tinued to fpeak, as if to make my apology, and altogether my elogy. He faid, I was the only perfon in France who, with fo limited a power, could have performed what I had; that my credential letters were not even demanded of me at the court of London, which beha- viour was not to be paralleled ; that he had forefeen and expedled the difficulties with which I had struggled, and that he had not hoped I could have fo eafily conquered them ; that he was perfeâly fatisfied, and that he only repented his not having given me Carte-blanche. " Rofny, faid he, in his condudl has given me an example, which con- " firms to me the truth of a Latin proverb, though I do not know " whether I fpeak it right, " Mitte fapientem, & nihil dicas :" ** and I am certain, that, if his prefence fliould again become necef- ** fary on the other fide, he will always be ready to return, and ferve *' me with the fame ability and addrefs which he has here fliewn." I fupprefs a great part of what, upon this occafion, the gener- ous foul of Henry infpired him with for my defence : what gave me the mofi: fenfible fatisfadion, and which I confidered as infinitely fu- perior to all the praifes he beflowed upon me, was his adding, that he had nothing to fear from thus praifing me to my face, becaufe ha knew that thofe praifes, inflead of making me vain and lefs diligent, would only increafe my defire of ading flill better. Thefe words filenced the count of SoiiTons.^ 'ô' Book XVI. MEMOIRSOFSULLY, 243 I THEN anfwered feveral queftions which the king afked me, touch- j gg- ino- the nature and power of the three kingdoms of Great-Britain, on the charadler of the EngHfh, and what they thought of their new kine. After this, the converfation turned on the affair of Combaut. Henry, after I had given him a circumftantial relation of it, affiired me that he approved of my condu(5l therein, confidering it as equally dangerous either to favour, or pretend ignorance of the efcape of the criminal, to endeavour to excufe him, or openly to vindicate him. I acquainted his majefty with the charafter of young Servin *, fuch as I have already given. The king having twice afkcd whether dinner was ready, went in to fit down to table, having firft direded Villeroi to provide me my dinner, and ordered me to go and take my repofe till the dext day, as being what I mull: very much v.ant, after having rode poft, and that fucceeded by a pretty long walk. He ordered my good friends Frontenac and Parfait, to ferve me from his kitchen, till my own equipage and attendants were arrived ; " And to-morrow " morning, faid he, we will renew our difcourfe." 'Ù' In the afternoon, the king took the airing in the forefl:, which he had intended in the morning ; in the evening at fupper, he fent me two excellent melons and four partridges; at the fame time acquainting me, that I fhould come to him early the next morning, before any of his counfellors were with him; which I accordingly did. Though it was very carly,he was drelTed, and had breakfafted, when I entered his apartment, and was diverting himfelf with looking at a game of ten- nis then playing in the little court of the caftle, which was generally ufed for this diverfion. " Rofny, faid he, we will take a walk while " the frefhnefs of the morning continues ; I have fome queftions to " afk you, and fome matters to difcufs, on which I have been think- *' ing the whole night. I arofe at four o'clock, thefe things having " prcffed my thoughts fo ftrongly, that I have not been able to llcep." He took me by the hand, and we walked into the park, where we continued near two hours alone. Bellievre, Villeroi, and Sillery, having joined \is, the king continued walking another hour with us four. Our mornings were generally fpent in the fame manner, dur- ing the three following days which his majefty palled at Villers-Co- terets. In thefe converfations, I gave him an exadt and particular * L'Etoile makes mention of him. " It is furprifin^, fays he, how it could happen, ** that the plague Ihould find means to attack fo great a plague as he." I i 2 account 244 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book: XVI. 1603. account of all the mofl fecret and important matters with which he ftill remained to be acquainted- I RECEIVED feveral letters from Beaumont, the contents of which may ferve as a fupplement to the affairs of England, which I have already related. The arrival of the qtieerï at London did not occa- fion all that diforder which had been apprehended ; the diicontented found her not to be what they had conceived. It fecmcd as though her fudden change of lituation and country had made as fudden a change in her inclinations and manners;; from an effedl of the ele- gancies of England, or from thofe of the royal dignity, fhe became difpofed to pleafures and amufements, and feemed wholly engaged in. them and nothing elfe ; flie fo entirely negle(fled or forgot the Spa^- ni(h politics, as gave reafon to believe fhe had, in reality, only pre- tended to be attached to them through the neceffity of eventual con- juncîlures, Kintore, who had accompanied her, openly continued his profeffion of attachment to France. Some ladies, in whom this piin- cefs repofed the greateft confidence, pofitively affured Beaumont fhe was not fo perfed; a Spaniard as was believed. Beaumont contrived to get himfelf prefented to her, and made my excufes to her for not having been able to flay till her arrival, nor wait upon her myfelf with the letters from their majefties. During all this the Spanifh ambaffador, whofe arrival in England had been fo pofitively afierted, was not yet come. Count d'Aremberg, who was fo far deceived in his expedlation as to go and wait his arrival at Windfor, found himfelf at laft obliged to demand without him his audience of the king, who granted it. I am ignorant of what palled in it : I only know that he demanded a fécond, for which the king made him I'uffer a thoufand delays, which however can only be at- tributed to this prince's difiafl:e of bullnefs, and his paffion for the chace, which feemed to make him forget all other affairs ; for at this very time, his condudl and difcourfe was fo far from giving the Spa- nilii partifans any caufe to defpair, that, on the contrary, he appeared chfpofed again to fall into his former irrefolution. Beaumont did not know to what to attribute this change, whether to his natural difpofi- tion, or to the infinuations of Cecil, who ufed all the means he poffibly could to make him fail in the obfervance of his promifes. Happily many new incidents concurred to iupport this prince againft all temp- tation-s of this kind; and the Spaniards were fo imprudent in their condudl, as to be themfelves tl>e principal caufes of it. No Book XVI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 24^ No fooner was the Spanifli ambafl'ador arrived in London (for he 1603. did at laft arrive there) than both court and city, and all affairs were mit into a violent ferment, the effecfls of various cabals, intrigues, mif- trufts, and fufpicions. Hefoon multiplied the number of his creatures, by his extraordinary liberalities to all thofe whom he confidered as neceflary to be gained. He endeavoured to tamper with the Scotch troops, and engage them in theSpanifh fervice, as the States had done in theirs : this would have been a decifive ftroke, which Holland could not evade any otherwife than with the affiftance of her protec- tors, by retaining thefe troops in her own fervice. All thefe proceed- ings of the Spaniard, being purfued with a fpirit of pride aud inde- pendence, were fo much the more difagreeable to James, as his natu- ral weaknefs produced in him a repugnance to oppofe them by an exertion of his authority. He would have given the world to be freed from his perplexity, by the departure of the ambaflador. A whifper was likewife current concerning a confpiracy of the Englidi catholics * againft James's perfon. Beaumont conftantly treated this infinaation as a calumny ; and indeed, whoever is acquainted with the true ftate of this body in England at this time, will, in its weaknefs and the meannefs of its fentiments, difcover an unanfwerable argu- ment to difprove it. But a more certain and undoubted confpiracy was that of fome Englifli lords, who formed the defign of ftabbing the king. Their chiefs, for the defign was proved, and it was believed they had under- taken it at the inftigation of Spain and the arch-dukes, were lord Cobham, Raleigh, Gray, Markham, and feveral others of the princi- pal fervants, and even the intimate confidants, of the late queen, tho' they had appeared among the moft forward to do homage to her fuc- cefibr. Neverthelefs Cecil was not named in the cabal; the affair was public, and was the fubjedt of much difcourfe. A religious difpute, which arofe in the conference between the proteftants and puritans, increafed the diforder. The converfation of the court turned entirely upon the difputes and quarrels which happened between particular perfons. The earl of Northumberland flruck colonel Vere in the face, in prefence of the whole court, and was confined at Lambeth by the king's order, who was juftly incenfed at fo difrefpecflful and outrage- ous an infult. The earl of Southampton and lord Grey gave each * It produced a proclamation, whereby king James baniflicd tlie jefuits out of his dominions. Mem. d'Etat de Villeroi, vol. III. p. 217. Other MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVI. other the lie in the queen's prefence, and ufed feveral other atrocious expreflions ; but they were reconciled to the king by afking pardon of the queen for their imprudence, and to each other by an interven- tion of the royal authority, commanding them to forbear any atls of violence. After which, without any other fatisfaftion, they converfed together as friends : from whence one would be apt to imagine they were of opinion, that the king's name and authority preferve the ho- nour of thofe who cannot vindicate it for themfelves. When from the accounts which Beaumont gave me In his letters, of all thefe public and private differences, I found the affair was in the moft favourable fituation I could defire it, I embraced the opportunity to put the fin ifliing hand to the work which I had begun at London : I did myfelf the honour of writing to his Britannic majefly ; I in- formed him, that the king of France had with pleafure ratified tlie- plan concerted between his majefty and me, and that he had fent the count of Beaumont the neceffary power to reduce it into luch a form as his majefty fliould judge proper ; I repeated the proteftations of obedience and attachment, which I had before made him; I affured him, that by this I was fo far from offending the king my mailer, that, on the contrary, I ferved and obeyed him. I WROTE at the fame time to Beaumont, and informed him of what had happened to me upon my return into France, of my con- verfations with the king, and his inclination to fend me again at a pro- per time into England. With this letter I alfo fent Beaumont the treaty , finned by his majefty, and gave him likewife the necelfary inllruftions for maintaining the good intelligence which this treaty eftablifned be- tween the two crowns : this would in fome meafure depend on that which fliould fubfift between the ambaffador of France at London, and that of England at Paris. This latter had taken offence at the fuperfcription of a letter, wherein a title had been given him which v/as either improper, or fuch as he did not like. 1 took the blame of this upon myfelf, and repaired it as well as I could. Beaumont having received the treaty, acquainted the king of Eng- land therewith, who referred him diredly to Cecil. He was allonifhed to find this fecretary on afudden become tradable, give his approba- tion of it with great readinels, and without making the leaff difficulty j on the contrary, he was lavifli in his praifes of his moft chriftian ma- jefly and me: all things confpired to promote itj the treaty was there- fore Book XVI. MEMOIRS OF S IT L L Y. • fore received, figned, and accompliflied, in the mod authentic and iblemn manner. Dauval being arrived in France from Beaumont with an account of this good news, I m de my acknowledgements to his Bri- tannic majefty-in a fécond letter : and to employ all forts of counter- batteries againft the Spaniards, who fet no bounds to their prefents, we imitated them in this refpedl, and even gave penfions to all the moft diliinguiflied perfons in the court of king James ; the heft and moft beautiful horl'cs were induftrioufly procured wherever they could be found, and they were fent, together with magnificent furniture, as prefents to this prince. Thus was Spain dlfappointed in thofe great hopes flie had conceived to our prejudice, from the accellion of the king of Scotland to the throne of England, and which probably were the motives for her making thofe great armaments which (lie did this year. On the 27th of May, a fquadron of twelve SpaniOi galleys, manned with three thou- fand foldiers, and completely equipped, were beaten by only four Dutch veffels ; which was the fécond lofs of this kind that Spain had lately fuffered : Frederic Spinola, who commanded this fquadron, was killed in the engagement. Spain, to retrieve thefe misfortunes, made fuch preparations on every fide for war, as fpread a terror amongfi: all her neighbours J fhe made herfelf miftrefs of the IVIediterranean, by the galleys that Charles Doria commanded there ; and veflels in the mean time were building in the port of Lifbon, for the embarkation of twenty thouiand foldiers. This work was purfued with fuch indefati- gable labour, that it was not remitted even on Sundays and holidays. Every one talked his own way about the occafion of fuch formida- ble preparations : ibme faid, that they were defigned againft Flanders, particularly Oftend ; others, that they were deftined for the conqueft of Barbary, hecaufe the kingof Cufco having promifed the council of Madrid to aflift that crown in the reduction of the important city of Algiers, they provided a fupply of men and money, which that prince kept to himfelf, without being at much trouble about the performance of his word. Many perfons were perfuaded that Spain had a defign upon France itfelf : the firft notice his majefty received of it, was at the fame time that he was advifed to be attentive to the caftle of If, and to the iflands on the coaft of Marfeilles. I was then in England ; his majefty wrote me an account of it, but did not feem to give much cre- dit to thofe informations, although he was not ignorant that the duke of Savoy was very folicitous to do him this bad office; but he knew ■ likewise-- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVI. likewife that Spain thought this advice of the duke's very interefted ; and the pope gave him repeated airurances of the contrary, which there was great room to think proceeded indireéUy from the council of Spain, who had reafbns for not provoking this prince too far. In reality, all this was unravelled by taking into confideration, what was carrying on with king James, by a double négociation of France and Spain at the fame time ; and his majefty took the part which pru- dence direâed, which was, to give new orders for the ftriel obferva- tion ofdifcipline in Languedoc, Provence, andDauphiné. Monfieur Le- Grand, who had lately obtained that the artillery of the city of Beaune Should not be taken away, was fent into his government of Burgundy, ■ ' with orders to adl in concert with Lefdiguieres, and to throw himfelf into Geneva, if the duke of Savoy feemed to have any intention of mak- ing a new attempt upon this city, although the council of France at the fame time earneftly advifed this little republic to liften to the me- diation oiîered by fome Svvifs cantons, to terminate by an advantageous agreement that kind of tedious and long war which had fo long fub- fifled between them and Savoy. However, the tranfportation of arms from France into Spain, or Spanhh Flanders, was prohibited ; and Bar- Emeric Go- rault caufed four thoufand five hundred pikes of Bifcay to he feized at bier de Bar- Saint- John-de-Luz, which a French merchant of Dieppe had em- barked for the Low Countries, notwithflanding this order. The long ftay which was made by Doria on the coaft of Genoa with the galley-s before rr>entioned, was another myftery that could not be found out. He had failed for the coa/i of Villa-Francha, as if with a defign to take the three fons of the duke of Savoy on board, who ap- peared to be waiting at Nice only tor an opportunity of being conveyed to Spain ; their father, it was laid, fent them there to be educated, and to be raifed to the firft dignities of the Hate *, the government of Milan, and the viceroyfliip of Naples and Sicily, bemg thofe he moft eagerly panted after, probably becaufe he ilat-tered himfelf, that thofe titles would afford him an opportunity to fnatch fome part of thole territories for himfelf. But every one was deceived ; Doria paf- fed by without landing or flopping at Villa-Francha : neverthelefs, there were perlons who continued to believe that it had been his deftgn, but that his refentment for Savoy's not paying him thofe honours, nor * The facojjd of tbefe princes was made viceroy of Portugal, and the third arch- bifhop of Toledo and cardinal. efteeming rault. Book XVI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. efteeming him fo highly as he thought he deferved, had prevented his execution ofiti others maintained that it was agreed upon between the duke of Savoy and him, that he fhould a(fl in this manner, to give the duke a pretence for flaying longer at Nice, where, faid thefe con- iedlurers, he only waited for an opportunity to make an attempt upon Provence ; and others again thought they had difcovered the reafon of his departure, to be an order which they fuppofed he had received from Spain to go and join his fquadron to the great naval army of the Spa- niards : or pofTibly the council of Madrid had nothing elfe in view, but to accuflom her neighbours to preparations and motions, for which they could not guefs the caufe. However that may be, this did not pre- vent the voyage of the children of Savoy into Spain ; after a delay of fome time longer at Nice, they pafled on the twentieth of June within view of Marfeilles, without faluting the caftle of If; their convoy confifted of nine galleys, four of Malta, three of the Pope's, and two of Savoy. In the mean time, fome other Spaniili troops were upon their march from Italy to Flanders. His majefty was the more attentive to their mo- tions, becaufe he was informed that Hébert, who had left France and retired to Milan, continued his former intrigues with the count of Fuentes : the fecret was difcovered by a letter that Hébert wrote to his brother, who was a treafurer of France in Languedoc. Thefe troops, as I was informed by his majefty's letters to me at London, quitted Savoy, and paifed the bridge of Grefm on the firft of July j they confined often Neapolitan companies, commanded by Don Inigo de Borgia, and only Don Sancho de Lune remained in this canton with a fmall body of troops, with a view no doubt to haften the treaty depending between Savoy and Geneva, which was concluded accord- ingly on the 1 5th of the fame month. The remainder of the Spanifli troops that were drawn from Italy, confifted of four thoufand Mila- nois, commanded by the count de Saint George, who took the fame rout. Notwithstanding thefe fupplies, by which the archdukes re- ceived a great accefîîon of flrength, yet Henry was ftill of opinion, that the Spaniards would not complete their enterprife upon Oftend this year ; they themfelves feemed to think that time alone could effeâ: it, their forces being confiderably diminifhed. The thoufand horfe that attended the duke of Aumale were reduced by defertion to lefs than five hundred, and thofe that remained were fo great an expence' to their own commanders, that they cxpe<5ted to be foon obliged to Vol. II. Kk difband ME MOIRS OF SULLY, Book XVL difband them. Such was the fituation of the United-Provinces during this year, wherein they gained likewiie another advantage over their enemies ; a fmall number of Dutch veflels who were going to load fpices, meeting with fourteen Portuguefe galleys belonging to Goa, gave them chace,took five, in which they found great riches, and dif- perfed the re/1:. Europe, during the courfe of this year, had not more tranquillity in the eart than the well. Mahomet the third, to fecure himfelf as he thought in the throne, cut the throats of twenty of his brothers. Buried in the receffes of the feraglio, he did not perceive that his mo- ther, to whom he entirely abandoned the government, abufed his au- thority : and was firfl informed of it by the Janizaries, who came one day in a body, and in a manner that fhewed they would neither brook, a denial nor delay, demanded the head of the two Capi Agas, who di- reéled the council of the fultana-mother, and the banifhment of this fultana herfelf, which he was obliged to comply with immediately. He afterwards put his own fon, and the fultana his wife to death, and was himfelf feized with the plague, of which he died. But it is now time to refume the affairs of the kingdom. His majefty having returned from Villers-Cotercts to Fontainebleau, I left him in this laft place, and came to Paris, to attend my ufual employ- ments : thefe were to make the receivers-general of the diitricfts, and other perfons in office, bring in exadl accounts; to cafhier thofe who were convidled of any mifdemeanour, as it happened to Palot a receiver in Languedoc and Guienne; to make a provifion of fums neceffary to keep the old allies of the crown, and to acquire new ones, and the maintenance of thofe that refided in foreign courts for this pur- pofe; and laftly, by the mere force of frugality and economy, to enrich the treafury, by difcharging all the debts his majefty had contradled during the league, and the other engagements of the ftate, at the head of which his majefty generally placed the penfions he allowed the Swifs cantons, and was always very folicitous to know if they were difcharged : the fewer allies we had in Italy, the more neceftary the king thought it to footh and manage them. He made a prefent of a fuit of armour, which he had one day worn in battle, to the Ve- netian refidents at Paris ; that republic earneftly requefted it of him, and fet fo high a value upon this prefent, that they hung up the fuit of armour, with a kind of ceremony, in a place where it was publicly ex- pofed to view, and ferved for a monument to pofterity, of their venera- tion, of a prince who was fo juftly famous for his military virtues. As Boûfc XVI. M E M O I R S O F S U L L V. ^51 As the new economy, which I had introduced into every branch of i6oî. the revenue, cut off the greateft part of thofe profits which the cour- < tiers and other perfons about the king drew from different places, and leffened the prefents his majefty made them from his own purfe, they fell upon methods to fupply this vacuity ; to which the prince, de- lighted with an opportunity of fatisfying them, confented fomuch the more willingly as it coft him nothing : this was to prevail on his ma* jefty to pafs innumerable ediifls, granting certain privileges and tolls upon particular parts of trade, to be enjoyed by them, exclufively of all others. When this trick was once found, there was nothing that promifed profit, which did not get into the brain of one or other among thofe who thought they had a right to fome favour from the king i intereft gave every man invention, and the kingdom immedia- tely fwarmed with thofe petty monopolies, which, though fingly of little confequence, yet altogether were very detrimental to the public» and particularly to commerce, in which the leafl obftrudtion produces mifchief. I thought it my duty to make frequent and earneft re- monftrances to the king on this iubjedlj and therefore made no fcru- ple to expofe myfelf to the anger of the count of Soiffons, with whom, as I have already faid, I could never live three months together with- out a quarrel. The count of Soiffons prefented a petition to the king at Fontaine- bleau, in which he propofed that a grant fliould be made him of fif- teen-pence upon every bale of goods exported : a defign that muft certainly have been fuggefted to him by fome of his friends, for he could never have thought of it himfelf ; nor did he know all the con- fequences of it, at leaft he affured the king that this toll would not bring in more than thirty thoufand livres a year; and fo well per- fuaded him of the truth of what he had afferted, that his majefty, who thought himfelf obliged to beftow a gratuity of this value upon him, and being likewife vanquifhed by repeated importunities, granted his requeft, without giving me, who was then at Paris, any notice of it. Henry, that he might be troubled with no farther fo- licitatlons about it, caufed an edidt to be expediafed for the count, which he figned, and the feal was placed to it; but fome remains of a Icruple with regard to trade, the importance of which he was fully fenfible of, made him, in granting this favour, referve a verbal condi- tion, that it fhould not exceed fifty thoufand livres, prefs too hard up- on the people, nor be too great a burthen upon trade. K k 2 That 252 MEMOIRSOPSULLY. Book XVL lôcî. That evening the king refledting upon what he had granted, began to have fome fufpicion that he was impofed upon : he wrote to me inftantly, and propofed the thing to me as an indifferent quefrion» without telHng me what had paffed, or naming any perfon. I knew not what to think of fuch a demand, but fet myfelf to work, and, taking to my affiftance the accounts of the cuftoms and domain, and entries of provifions, I found that the annual amount of this tax would not be lefs than three hundred thoufand crowns -, and I could not but think it flill of more importance, when I refledledon the trade of hemp and linen, which it feemed likely to ruin in Brittany, Normandy, and great part of Picardy ; I therefore went immediately to Fontainebleau, to make my report to his majefty. The king confeffed to me all that had happened, with many marks of aflonifhment that his confidence had been thus abufed. The true remedy had been to have caufed the edidl to be brought back, and have entirely fuppreffed it, as being ob- tained by a falfe pretence : but that I might not be embroiled with the count of Soiffons, who could not be long ignorant that it was I who had opened his majefty's eyes, it was agreed upon between us tcv have recourfe to another method, v/hich was to hinder the parliament from regiftering the edidt. All that was neceffary for this purpofe, was to fend no letter with it, either under the king's hand or mine > this was an agreement that had long been made between the king and the fovereign courts; and without this formality, whatever other orders were produced, the parliament knew what they had to do, ancî would not regifler any thing. I was certain however, and I told his majefty fo, that this expedient would not preferveme from the refent- ment of the count, and of the marchionefs of Verneuil, who I dif- covered was concerned in this bufinefs ; but I refolved to hold firm againft the count, provided his majefty would be proof likewife to the folicitations of his miftrefs, which he promifed me, and added, that he would openly fupport me. Two or three days after my return to Paris, the count of Soiffons came to my houfe, and paid me many compliments, having, as he faid, occafion for a Maximilian de Bethune at full length : he thought by (hewing me great kindnefs, and condefcending to be familiar with me, he fliould eafily obtain my fignature, without being obliged to telL me for what purpofe he demanded it. I anfwered coldly, pretending to be quite ignorant of the matter, that I never figned any thing with- out knowing what it was : the count then found that he muft have recourfe Book XVr. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. recourfe to other means ; he acquainted me with what his majefty had lately done for him, and faid,. that as he was not ignorant of the private agreement between the king, the fovercign courts, and me, the fignature which he demanded was a letter to the parliament of jBrittany, and the court of aids at Rouen. At this declaration, I afflimed an air ftill more ferious, and pre- tended to be greatly fiirprifed that the king had given me no intima- tion of the aftair, nor communicated it to the council, to whom refo- lutions of fuch confequence were always made known j and from thence took occafion to tell the count, that an edidl of this nature, which bore fo hard upon the public intereft, deferving to be excepted from the general rule, I could not take the danger upon myfelf j that therefore he muft addrefs himfelf direâly to his majefty, or bring me at leaft an order figned by him, which would ferve to juftify me againft the reproaches I could not fail to draw upon myfelf fome time or other for my compliance. The count replied, with much bitternefs, that I only made ufe of this extreme caution to ruin his delign, and to break with him entirely ,- but finding thefe words could not alter my refolu- tion, he went away grumbling. I heard him mutter fomething be- tween his fhut teeth concerning our former quarrels ; and he went to difcharge his choler at the houfe of the marchionefs de Verneuil. This lady, although as much enraged with me as the count of Soiflbns, was yet come to make mc a vifit, jufl: as I was leaving my clofet to go to his majefty, who had returned to the Louvre. She could not have cholen a worfe time ; the too eafy king had juft fuffer- ed a fcore of edidts, all in the Ipirit of the firft, to-be extorted from him, and, to fay the truth, of but little confequence. I fet out with a full refolution to make a new attempt upon the king in favour of the peo- ple, who would be prevented by thefe extortions from paying the land- tax. The marchionefs ailcing what paper it was I had in my hand, " This is a pretty bufinefs, madam," anfwered I in a paflion, yet afFeft- ing to be much more angry than I really was, " you are not the laft *' among thofe that are concerned in it;" in effedt, her name made the fixth article. I then opened the memorial, and read to her all the names, with the titles of the edicfls. " And what do you intend to " do with this ?" faid fiie. " I intend, anfwered I, to make fome *' remonilrances to the king upon it." " Truly," replied flie, no longer able to contain her fpleen, " he will have little to do to take ** your advice, and offend fo many great people. And on whom, pravi *' would £54 M E M O I R S F S U L L Y. Book XVI. 60^. *' vvouîd you have the king confer favours, if not on thofe w^ho are " mentioned in this writing, his confins, friends, and miflrefs ?" " What you fay, madam, replied I, would be reafonable enough, if *' his majefty took the money all out of his own purfe; but to make " a new levy upon the merchants, artifts, labourers, and countrymen, " it will never do j it is by them that the king and all of us are fup- •< ported, and 'tis enough that they provide for amafter, without hav- *.< ingfo many coufins, friends, and miftrefles to maintain." Madam de Vemeuil loft none of my words, flie dwelt parti- cularly upon the laft ; and, in the rage with which flie was tranf- ported, made ufe of them to form a thoufand wicked flanders. She riew immediately to the count of Soiffons, and told him, that I had faid the king had but too many relations, and that it would be happy for him, and his pecple, if he could get rid of them. The count, mad with rage, went the next morning, and demanded a conference with the king ; after a long enumeration of his fervices, he told him, that I had fo outrageoufly injured his honour, that he muft abfolutely have my life, unlefs his majefly would himfelf do him juf- tice. Henry, feeing him in fuch violent emotion, afked him, with great compofure, what I had done or faid, and whether the affront he had received was direftly from me, or had been related to him by another perfon. The count not caring to enter into any expla- nation, replied, that if we were both together in his majefty's pre- fence, not all the refpedt he ought to have for a perfon who was dear to him fhould hinder him from doing himfelf juftice; and added, that what he had faid was true, and he ought to be believed on his word, for he was not accuflomed to lie. " If that was the cafe, *' coufin," faid the king, in a voice fuch as muft naturally put him into confufion, " you would not be like one in your family ; for we " always produce your elder brother, in particular, as remarkable for " this : but fince it was a report made to you, tell me who made it, ■^' and what he faid, and then I fhall know what I ought to do, and " and will endeavour to fatisfy you, if you are to be fatisfied with ** reafon." The count replied, that he had taken an oath not to name the perfon from whom he received his informations, but that he was as well convinced of his veracity as his own. " So then, coulln, an- " fwered the king, you excufe yourfelf from anfwering my queftion, •* on account of an oath you have taken to the contrary ; and I like- " wife will take an oath to believe no more of your complaint, than ** what monfieur de Rofny himfelf fliall acknowledge to me ; fotl " have Book XVI. M E M I R S O F § Û L L V. i^^ « have as good an opinion of his veracity, as you can poffibly have of iôôt.. ** thofe who tell you thefe fine tales." The count of Soiffons, when he went out of the king's prefence, difcovered fuch an excefs of fury againfl me, that his majefty thought it neceflary to give me notice of it ; which he did by Zamet and La Varenne, whom, at the fame time, he ordered fo aik me, if I had not by fome vvord or action given offence to the count. I anfwered, that e\'er {mce the viilt I had received from the count at the arfenal, which was above fifteen days ago, I had never fpokc to him, or any of his people j that the marchionefs de Verneuil indeed had been at my houfe, but neither (he rwr I had mentioned the count. " Oh !" faid the king, when thefe words were repeated to him, " we need not doubt any ** longer from whence this mifchief proceeds, fince Madam de Ver- ** neuil is named ; for fhe is fo full of malice, and has fuch a ready " invention, that to the lead word of monfieur de Rofny's fhe would " add a hundred, nay a thoufand ; but for all that, this affair mufl " not be negledled." The rage in which his majefty had feen the count, gave him reafon to apprehend that he would take fome violent refolution againft ûie ; he therefore fent La Varenne to tell me, that I iliould never ftir out of my houfe without being well attended, and that he dcfired I would fpare nothing for my fecurity ; adding, with great goodnefs, that all the expence I could be at in guarding myfelf, would be far below what it would coft him if he fliould lofe me *. I CANNOT quit the article of this new creation of edi(5ts, without taking notice of an arret of council, much more antient, by which a tax of anchorage was ordered to be levied on all the foreign veffels that anchored in our ports. This at the bottom was no more than what was paid by our veffels in foreign ports j neverthelefs it was with regret, and only by his majefty's exprefs orders, that I carried it into execution, * L'Etoile's Journal treats at large of " no confideration for any thing, fays fa- this difFcrence, which the king put an end " ther Chalons, but the king's fervice ; to, by obliging the count of Soiflbns to be " nor could any refpedl for perfons of the contented with a letter of fatisfadlion which " greateft quality, princes, or even the M. de Rofny wrote to him : and accord- " queen herfelf, prevail on him to make ing to Matthieu, Heny IV. made the " the leaft concellion, where he thought count de Soiflbns and the marquis de Rof- " the king's interefl or glory came in ny come into his apartment, and reconciled " queftion : this got him many enemies, them, ibid. 592. De Thou alfo fpeaks " .ind was the caufe that, after the king's «fit, b. cxxix. The fleddincfs of M. de " death, the queen took the management Rofny has procured him great commun- " of affairs OLit of his bauds." Hill, de dations from our hiftorians, *' H« had Fr. vol. III. p. 255. looking 2s6 M E M G I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XVI. 1603. looking upon it to be one of thofe exadlions which was moft likely to deprefs the vigour of our trade. The parliaments of Rouen and Rennes made great oppoluion to the regiftering them, and the maréchal d'Or- nano beftirred himfelf greatly, having money owing him from the ftate, which had been charged upon that part for his reimburfement. The eftablifhment of commiffioner-examiners, lieutenants-particu- liers, affeffeurs-criminels, and other officers of judice, met with no lefs difficulty from the fame court of Rouen, which more than any other oppofed thefe new edidts ; the laft were made with an intention to fatisfy and fend back the colonels and captains of companies, who had waited at Paris a long time for their pay, in confequence of thefe new regulations : probably it was the meeting with fuch obftacles as thefe to his defigns, that had long made Henry folicitous to fupprefs the chamber of requefls in all his parliaments. He had laboured very earneflly to effeft this, and adually began with that of the parliament of Touloufe this year, which continued to be fupprefled notwithftand- ing all the objedlions that were made to it by his own council, in which all the debates ran contrary to him. The quarrel between the count of SoIlTons and me, made a great noife ; but the king, to fliew me that it had produced no alteration in his friendship, fent me notice by Beringhen fome days afterwards, that he intended to pafs by Rofny, in the journey he was upon the point of making to Normandy, and that he expea' there appointed fe- cretary to cardinal Lewis d'Eftc, protec- tor of the affairs of France at Rome. Hé was then fent by his majefty to Florence; and at laft went ambaffador to Rome, Ve- nice, &c. The bifhopric of Rennes was conferred on him in 1596 ; and in 1600, that of Bayeux : M. de Rofny obtained Henry IV 'spermiflion for him to rcfign the laft. He intended to pafs the reft of his days at Rome ; and aÂually died there on the 13th of March, 1604, a month after the death of the dutchefs of Bar, aged fixty- cight years. The laft letter he wrote was to M. Villeroi, fix days before his death. See the other particulars of his life jii Amelot de la Houffaye, prefixed to the edi- tion of this cardinal's letters publiflied by him : he has carefully avoided taking the part of the cardinal in the little differences which happened betwixt him and the duke of Sully ; and he afferts, I don't know on what grounds, that the reafon why that minirter would not write to him, was, be- caufe he could not prevail on himfelf to oive him the title of Monfeigneur. Note .on the 329ih letter. for MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVII. for the divine writings in which they are contained, the Apoftles Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer *. As to his political errors, though in D'Offat they may well be im- puted to views too narrow and confined, yet they are not the lefs pal- pable. At a time when the ambitious projecfls of the houfe of Auftria were in a manner ported up throughout all Europe, he expofed France to the danger of being the firft vidim of them, by breaking off for ever with all her allies that were to fupport her againft this proud and infolcnt monarchy. And what is ftill more furprifing, this deftrudive policy communicated itfelf, as if by contagion, to the greateft part of thofe who were employed in the adminiftration of public affairs : and what is yet more to be lamented, it gained ground upon the wifeft as well as the fmalleft party -j- . It was this policy that in the month of April this year expofed Vil- leroi to one of the greateft mortifications that could happen to a man in a public employment. The king, when he fet out to Fontaine- bleau, where it was his cuftom to keep his Eafter, during which there was a ceffation of all bufinefs in the council, took leave of his coun- * This reafon of our author's is a very weak one ; for every one knows that the profeflbrs of the new religion do not ac- knowledge the authority of the holy fathers, the councils, or any other fources of tradi- tion or faith. t This fyftem of politics has not been produtftive of the mifchiefs M. de Sully ap- prehended it would occafion : on the con- trary, the event of it has been as favourable as it poflibly could ha\ e been. It is never- thelefs true, and will in fome degree be a juftification of our author's manner of rea- foning on this occafion, that if the execu- tion of thefe defigns, of which the deftruc- tion of the proteftant religion in France was the principal, had fallen into the hands of any other than cardinal de Richelieu, the fuccefs of it would not only have been doubtful ; but if an attempt of fo great confequenee as this had by ar.y means mil- carried, France would, in all probability, have been rcplunged into the frightful fitu- ation Vue was in during the reign of the children of Henry II. Cardinal de Richelieu did not, however, in every refpeét follow the plan attributed to D'Oflat, Villeroi, &c. fince during his whole life he was engaged in war with Spain. The perfev, Du-Por- the perfon of whom we are now fpsaking, before he entered into his fervice, had been fecretary to the count de La-Rochepot, when he was fcnt ambaflador from France to Spain. L'Hote had wit, but of that fort that ftrongly inclines the owner to artifice and intrigue. During his flay in Spain he contrafled an intimacy with the Spanifli fecretaries of llate, Don Juan Idiaques, Franchefes, and Prada, to whom he betrayed the fecrets of the ambaflador his mafter. When La-Rochepot returned to France, L'Hote finding himfelf without any employment, folicited Villeroi, whofe godfon he was, for a place in his office, aud was by him entrufted to decypher his difpatches j which was very agreeable to L'Hote, as it afforded him an opportu- nity of carrying on his firll trade with fecurity. Barrault *, who fucceeded the count de La-Rochepot in Spain, perceived, a fliort time after, that the fecrets of his prince were known to that court; and in vain tortured his imagination to difcover from whence this misfortune proceeded. Not being able to fix upon any particular perfon, he entreated his majefty, in a fhort letter addrefled to himfelf; to look upon ail the clerks in his fecretaries offices, efpe- ecially thofe belonging to Villeroi, as fufpedled perfons. This trea- chery extended its influence to all our other ambaifadors to the feveral courts of Europe, who were extremely aflonifhed, and complained to the king, as Barrault had done, that the contents of their difpatches were known at thefe courts as foon as they received them from France, and very often before. * Emeric Gobier de Barrault. It is re- foot on his throat, and, in the moft out- lated of this ambaflador, that being one rageous terms, oblige him to ask quarter, day at a comedy in Spain, in which the he got upon the flage, and in fight of the battle of Pavia was reprefented, and feeing whole houfe, ran the ailor through the a Spanifli adtor throw him down who per- body with his fword. Ainelot's notes on formed the charai^er of Francis 1. fet his D'ÛlTat. But ?8 M E M O I R S O F S U L L y. Book XVIL 1604. But neither Barrault nor they could penetrate any farther into the affair, till Barrault was one day accofted by a Frenchman of Bourdeaux, a refugee in Spain, whofe name was John de Leyré, but better known by that of Rafis, which he had borne when he was in the fervice of the league, having been one * of the moil aâive of the incendiaries, and on that account not being able to- get himfelf comprehended in the pardon, was obliged to fly into Spain, where his fervices, which confifted in revealing fome advices he ft ill received from his affociates in France, were rewarded by a good penfion that was allowed him by that court, and which was continued to him, till the council of Spain having procured by other means more certain intelligence than any they could get from Rafis, he foon perceived, by the contempt he was treated with at Madrid, and the difcontinuance of his penfion, that his credit was funk all of a fudden; and changing his battery that in- ftant, he applied himfelf with the utmoft diligence to find out who was the traitor in France that had enriched himfelf with his fpoils, not doubting but that if he fliould fucceed, this dilcovery would purchafe his recal to his own country, which he had always in his view, and probably procure him greater advantages than thofe he loft in Spain. Men educated in the arts of facftion, and the myftery of intrigue, have talents for thefe fort of difcoveries peculiar to themfelves. Rafis got acquainted with another Frenchman, named John Bias, who had fettled in Spain, and it was from him that he learned in what manner L'Hote had abufed the confidence of his firft mafter. Rafis, ftruck with this hint, fixed, as by inftinft, on this man j and having procured from other perfons information that he was adually one of Villeroi's fecretaries, at that diftance his fagacity alone difcovered to him what fo many others upon the very fpot were ignorant of. His fufpicions being changed into a certainty, he went to Barrault, and offered to point out the traitor of whom he complained, but that care muft be taken to prevent his having any fufpicion that he was dif- covered, on condition, that if his informations were found to be true, the king would give him a free pardon in form, and a decent penfion. Barrault thought the affair of fuch importance, that he made no fcruple to promife both. Rafis likewife exadted a promife from Barrault, and this with a view to his own fafety, that he (hould proceed flowly and * L'Etoile fays, he had been one of the fixteen. cautioufly Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. cautioufly in the affair ; and that when he wrote to France upon the propofals that had -been made to him, he fhould addrefs himlelf to none but the king. But Barrault underftood this laft requeft as an excefs of unneceffary caution, which did not exclude him from ac- quainting his majefty's chief minifters with the affair: and it was Villeroi himfelf that he informed of Rafis's offer and propofals. Ville- roi, who did not imagine that the traitor was in his own office, fent the difpatches immediately to the king : but L'Hote being with his mafter when this packet from Barrault was opened, drove diredtly at his purpofe ; and reflefting upon the importance of the advice, adled in the very manner that Rafis had with fo much reafon been appre- henfive he would do ; for he wrote inftantly to his correfpondents in Spain, defiring them to take all the neceffary meafures, and that without delav, to prevent Rafis from difcovering more. This was the bell: riictnod he could think of to fecure himfelf, and to prevent any bad confequences ; and it would probably have fucceeded, had the perfon concerned been any other than Rafis. This man, when he received his pardon, which his majeffy fènt him, together with his anfwer to his propofals, obferved that it was not fîgned by Lomenie, to whom the king would naturally have referred it, if it had not been off^ered him by another train of conveyance ; and concluding from thence that it had pafled Villeroi's office, he went directly to the ambaflador, and complained that he had deceived him ; and now thinking it no longer neceffary to conceal any thing, he told him his reafons for preinng him to write only to the king, and to Vil- leroi lefs than any other perfon : he gave him, in a few words, all the informations he had promifed him concerning L'Hote's intrigues j that done, he told Barrault, that to avoid, if it was ffill pofllble, the danger •with which he was threatened at Madrid, he had nothing left for it but to endeavour to gain the French territories with the utmoft: expe- dition. And accordingly he mounted his horfe that moment; and it was happy for him that he did fo, for the next morning his houfe was ihvefted by archers, who were fent after him with orders to make all pofllble hafte, that they might come up with him before he reached the frontie- : but Rafis, by good fortune, or rather by his own extreme diligence, efcaped with Defcartes, Barrault's fecretary, whom this am- baffador permitted to accompany him, to prefent him in France, They never refted till they found themfelves atBayonne, from whence con- tinuing their route without delay, they came to Paris, and hearing the king was at Fontainebleau, fet out diredly for that place. Vol. il P p Ox SCO MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIL 1604. On the road they met Villeroi, who was going from Fontainebleau to his houfe at Juvify ; and believing they ought not to conceal any thing from him, intreated him to have his clerk arrefted by way of fecurityj and that they might have the fole honour of the affair, of- fered to return themfelves to Paris to arreft him. Villeroi neither ap- proved of their propofal, nor the offer they made him of their perfons ; which, it muft be confeffed, was an inÛance of great imprudence i but he, doubtlefs, imagined, that it was not poffible for L'Hote to efcape. He told the two couriers, that his clerk was to come to him the next day, and that it would be then time enough for theai to fscure him ; it being likewife his opinion, that his majefty ought firft to be fpoke to about it ; and that they rifked nothing by this de- lay, provided they kept a profound filence. Surprifed and dilTatisfied. as they were at this proceeding, it was their bufinefs to obey -, and they delivered the packets they were charged with, to him, to be. given to his majefty, which he did the next day. The king had not yet received thefe packets on Eafter-day when I came to Fontainebleau, nor by confequence knew of the two couriers' arrival, or the name of him that betrayed him; the only certain in- telligence he had was, the warning that had been given him to hold, all the clerks of Villeroi fufpefted. As I did not reach Fontainebleau till it was very late, and was greatly fatigued with my journey, I did not wait on his majefty till the next morning. I found him up and dreffed, though it was fcarcely fun-rife. Barrault's informations hai given him great uneafinefs. This prince took my hand, and leading me into the gallery that joined to his apartment, conferred with me there a long time upon the news he had juft received from his ambaf- fador. The difpatches from London that had been loft coming into his mind, and all that I had faid when I imputed this misfortune to Villeroi's people, which at that time he took for an effed; of jealoufy and hatred, now appeared to him fo well founded, that he acknow- ledged to me he began to give credit to it, and to conceive very unfa- vourable thoughts of Villeroi. Ashe did not expeél that Defcartes, and Rafis would arrive fo foon, he ordered me to fift this matter to the. bottom, and ufe my utmoft endeavours to find out the truth. His majefty and I had been three days employed in endeavouring, to make difcoveries, when Villeroi arrived with the packets before- mentioned. I was walking with the king in the long gallery of the garden Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. garden of Pines, and preparing to take leave oHiim for my return to Paris, at the very moment that Villeroi came up to us. His counte- nance exprelTed all that grief the confcioufnefs of having fuch news The '^allcrv to inform his majefty of muft neceflarily infpire; and I may venture of Ulyfi'ci.' to fay, that for a man who had fome caufe to with to humble a rival, or at lead to rejoice in his humiliation, I fympathifed truly with him in his afflidion. While he read the papers, his majefty often looked at me, and prefTed my hand feveral times. He did not give him time to read them out, but interrupting him at the name of L'Hctc, " And where is this L'Hote, your clerk ?" faid his majefty, with fome emotion, " have you not cauled him to be feized ?" " I believe, fire," replied Villeroi, in great confternation, " that he is at my houfe, but ** he is not yet arrefted." " How !" returned Henry in a rage, " you " believe he is in your houfe, and yet you have not ordered him to be " feized ! Pardieu ! this is great negligence indeed ; how could you " trifle thus when you knew his treachery ? this bufinefs muft be at- " tended to immediately : go back with all poflible hafte, and feize " him yourfelf." Villeroi departed in the utmoft grief and confufion ; and I did not delay a moment my return to Paris ; when the next day I receiv- ed a letter from his majefty, who charged Defcartes to tell me irom him all that had paffed. Since I find myi'clf engaged to relate this af- fair, that I may avoid the reproach of having fupported fuch accounts of it as have been given by the enemies of Villeroi, in what remains to be faid I Ihall follow the detail he himfelf gives of it, in the apo- logy for his condudl, which he thought it neceflary to * make pub- lic. After having recounted, in a manner advantageous for himfelf, all that had parted from the moment wherein he fpoke to the two couriers, to the time that he went to the king at Fontainebleau, he proceeds in the following manner. That at his return to his houfe, he found the biftiop of Chartres and fome other perfons of diftindion, who waited for him, and de- tained him a long time in his clofet, the fubje6l of their conference being the fettling fome points relating to the approaching ceremony of * See the original of this apology in minifter, it being ftriiSlly conformable to Villeroi's Memoirs of ftate, pag. 522, it the accounts given of it by M. De Thoir, beats date the 3d of May. There can be the Ciirono). Septen. Matthieu, and all no doubt of its containing a faithful rela- other hiftorians of credit of tliat time. tion of the fcntiments and adions of this the 2^2 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XVIL 1604. the order of the Garter. When Defcartes came to his apartmertt, ta acquaint him that L'Hote, with Defnots, were juft arrived from Paris, his refpedl for his cornpany hindered him from interrupting them. L'Hote, on his firfl: entering the houle, was faluted with the news of the arrival of the two couriers from Spain, yet preferved prefence of mind enough to appear but httlé concerned at it ; and pretending that he was hungry, and would go and eat a morfel in the kitchen, only pafled through it, telling the maitre d'hotel that he would go to a pub- lic houfe and refrelh himfelf, and get his boots taken off, that he might be in a condition to appear before his mafter. Villeroi, after his company went away, afked where L'Hote was ; and being inform- ed that he was in the offices, as every body believed he was, he thought he could not do better than fend a fervant to tell the maitre d'hotel, that he fhould amufe L'Hote with fome difcourfe, and not lofe fight of him ; he himfelf, in the mean time, went to Lomenie, to defire that he would lend him Du-Broc, lieutenant du prévôt, who he intended fhould arreft him. He brought back Lomenie with him, and they placed themfelves at a window that looked into the court- where the whole tranfadiion was to pafs. But thefe precautions were too late, L'Hote had already efcaped. Those who judge favourably enough of Villeroi to take the whole recital upon his word, will at leaft probably exclaim here againft the. dilatory manner in which this fecretary of ftate executed thofe orders; he had juft received from the king's own mouth, and in a tone as ab- folute as it was preffing : he would be ftill more culpable, if a thou- fand circumftances of L'Hote's efcape, made public by Defcartes and Rafis, which were not mentioned in his apology, were true : however, it would be certainly great injuftice to believe every thing that on this occafion was faid againft Villeroi * ; his enemies had too good an op- portunity afforded them to rail, not to take advantage of it; the prote- flants, eiJDecially, painted him in the blackeft colours, not able to deny themfelves the pleafure of being revenged on him, who had contributed more than any other to the king's change of religion. But, on the other fide, it is not fit to hold him clear of any blame, as thofe that are devoted to him do, who infift, that his whole condudl in this affair * De Thou remarks, that M. de Ville- his misfortune, book cxxxii. P. Matthieu roi did not abfolutely efcape fufpicion ; but likevvife afferts, that Henry IV. was too at the fame time he fays, that Henry IV. well acquainted with the fidelity of this mi- far from fufiering iiimfelf to be influenced iiifter to conceive the leaft fufpicion againft by it, endeavoured to comfort him imde.'- him, vol. II. b. iii. p. 637. was Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. wns juftifiable. All my friends did not fcruple to fay publicly, that, if fuch an accident had happened in my family, I fhould have been much more feverely reilefted upon. The foreign ambafladors refiding in France, and even the Pope's nuncio, came to my houfe at Paris, and declared to me, that if, after fuch a difcovery, their difpatches mud; ftill pafs through Villeroi's hands, their mafters would not venture to men- tion any thing of confequence in them. As to the traitor, all that could he done was to fend fome archers after him, who purfued him fo clofely, that when he came to the fide of the river Marne, with a Spaniard who accompanied him, and at a fmall diftance from a ferry-boat, he could not hope to reach it before they came up with him, and favv no other way to avoid their purfuit, than to throw himfelf into the river, thinking to fwim over it ; but he was drowned in the attempt. The Spaniard chofe rather to be taken ; and he was brought back to Paris, with the body of L'Hote, which was drawn out ot the water. Villeroi feemed truly afflidled that they had not been able to feize his clerk alive : indeed he had reafon to re- gret it ; it was the only means he had left to flop the mouth of (lander. He was the firil: to propofe to me, in a letter he wrote to me about this affair, to have the carcafe * treated with the utmoft ignominy, and to punifh the Spaniard in an exemplary manner. All this could not appeafe the king. He knew not, for a long time after this adventure, in what light to behold Villeroi; and was three days in doubt whether it was not fit to banifli him from his pre- fence. But Villeroi threw himfelf at his majefty's feet, with fo many marks of a profound forrow, flied tears in fuch abundance, and made * The furgcons who examined his corps, yet could not avoid acknowledging, that were unanimoully of opinion, if we may Henry IV. did not treat M. de Villeroi give credit to L'Etoile, that he had not with the more coldnefs on this account? been drowned ; and, as there was no more " taking the trouble, fays he, of going appearance of his having been ftabbed or " even to his houfe, to comfort him in his ftrangled, they concluded he had been " forrow, not difcovering the leafi: figns of fmothercd, and afterwards thrown into the " diffidence of him by reafon of what had river. The Septennaire takes no notice of " part, bat feeming rather to put more this examination by the furgeons, but gives " trull: in him than before. It was thcrc- an ample detail of the particulars of L'Hote's " fore faid at court, that it was happy for flight, and the manner i'l which he was " him he had fo good a mafler, fincc, in found, which totally deftroys tiie validity " affairs of ftate of fo much confequence, of the account given by L'Etoile, who " kings and princes ufualiy cxpeft maflers upon other occafions, has given fufficient " fhould be anfwerable for the acls of their proofs of his diflike to M. de Villeroi, and " ferrants." Anno 1604, p- 24. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVII • lach deep proteftatlons of his innocence, that Henry could not help believing him (though the world would never be periuaded, but that he 0!)ly feigned to believe him) and with that goodnefs, fo natural to him, granted the pardon he fo vehemently implored. Matters were in this flate, when I returned to Fontainebleau, to inform his majefty what I was indifpenfably obliged to do, of the re- prefentations made me by the foreign ambafiadors. It was refolved, that the cypher made ufe of by our ambsffadors fhould be changed ; and the king now thought only of taking advantage of this incident, to make Villeroi more exaél (I repeat the king's own words) more cautious in the choice of his clerks, and lefs haughty than he had formerly been. His majefty concerted with me in a letter, which he thought likely to produce this efFeél, becaufe I was to make it public : this letter was brought to me at Paris by Perroton from the king, as if to acquaint me with the indulgences he had thought fit to fliew Vil- leroi. The contents were, that his majefty could not refufe a pardon to the tears and entreaties of this fecretary ; that I ought no longer to diftruft him, fince he did not; and that, in his prefent condition, cha- rity required, that I flaould write to him a letter to give him comfort, and an aflurance of my friendfliip; and this he entreated me to do. 1 SECONDED tlie good intentions of his majefty without any reluc- tance, and, I may even fay, with more fincerity than he required of me, except that I could not prevail upon myfelf to write to Villeroi, that I held him entirely difculpated. This I thought would appear a ridiculous piece of flattery : I faid enough to afford him the means of perfuading the public, by my letter, that I was convinced he was in- nocent of the capital crime of which he was accufed. I gave him the hint of the declaration he publifhed fome days afterwards, and repre- fented to him, that he ought to endeavour to fliut the mouths of the proteftants, to whofe cenfure he had laid himfelf open ; and that the only method he could ufe for that purpofe, was to relax a little of that violence he had (hewn againft them, by fceking to infpire the ca- tholics with more benevolent fentiments of them; and laftly, to appear publicly the promoter of that regulation I had fo often propofed to him to ertablifh a perfedl concord between thefe two bodies. If in this letter I added, that his abfolute juftification in the king's opinion de- pended upon his future behaviour, and if as to what had paffed I pro- duced the example of maréchal Biron, it was only in obedience to the king's commands, who was willing to appear indulgent, but not weak. Villi Roi, BooicXVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 295 ViLLEROi, in his anfwer to my letter, thanked me for the advice 1604. I had given him, which he allured me he would exaftly follow, and for my good offices, which he protefted he would never forget. He confefTed, that he ought not to have fo blindly confided in a youn^ man like L'Hote, and was candid enough to acknowledge, that al- though his confcience did not reproach him with the guilt of any crime againfl: the king, yet the error he had fallen into was fufficient to cafl: a ftain upon his reputation, which all the faithful fervices he was refolved to continue to render his majefty, during the remainder of his life, would never wipe off. In his defence he only laid, that the great obligations L'Hote had received from him were what made it fo diffi- cult for him to believe he could fail in his duty. Villeroi feldom wrote to me without renewing the mention of his fault, his misfortune, and his innocence, and almoll: always the obligations he thought he owed to me on this occafion. It appeared, that Barrault did not give credit to the injurious re- ports that were fpread of Villeroi by his enemies, fmce he wrote to him,, a (hort time afterwards, and gave him an account of a converfa- tion between himfelf and Prada, of which L'Hote was the fubjedt. Rafis had reafon to be fatisfied with the recompence that was made. himi befides the fum of fifteen hundred and fixty livres, which he re- ceived from Barrault when he left Spain, a gratuity of a thoufand crowns was bellowed on him, and all the conditions agreed to by the amballador were fulfilled. This did not hurt Barrault himfelf, being paid in the laft quarter of his penfion. Defcartes reprefented to the king, that a, man could not live in Spain but at great expence ; and that, notwithllanding all my letters, his mailer had not been able to^ get any thing from that quarter. The paper upon religion, that has been mentioned before, confiHed of fome articles, which, if received by the catholics and protellants,. appeared to me capable of uniting the two religions, by deftroying that deteftable prejudice which makes them load each other with the harHi accufations of herefy and treafon, impiety and idolatry. This paper I had drawn up with the confent and approbation of his mnjelly; and. I Ihewed it to him feveral times, in the prefence of the bifliop of Ev- reux, Bellievrc, Villeroi, Sillery, and father Cotton. If 296 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIL 1 604. If the proteflants do not believe all the catholics profefs, it cannot at ■ leaft be denied, that we believe nothing which they do not likewife j and that what we believe contains all that is effential to the chriftian re- ligion, the Ten Commandments, the Apoftles Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, being the great and general foundation * of our common faith. Here then let us ftop, and conhder the reft as fo many dubious points, about which men may be left at full liberty to have different opi- nions. We are perfuaded, that it is not only ufelefs, but criminal, to fearch into the fecrets of the Almighty ; but, we not only fearch into his fecrets, but fet up ourfelves as judges of them, when we charge one another as criminal for having different opinions, and different de- grees of knowledge, with relation to fpeculative truth, though know- ledge, in all its different degrees, is received from God. Let us leave to him alone the knowledge of his fecrets, as well as the difpenfations of his providence : let us allow to the fovereign magiftrate, what the public good requires, the power of puni(hing thole who violate the laws of charitv in any fociety ; for it belongs not to any human judi- cature to punifh errors only cognizable by God. Let us confider this in another view ; if our unhappinefs be fuch, that the error is on our lide, can the catholics imagine that they (hall bring us into their noti- ons by abufe and perfecution ? Compaffion and tendernefs are the only means that do any fervice to religion, and the only means that religion didlates : the zeal which is fo much boafted, is only rage or obftinacy, difguifed under a reputable appellation. This was the ground-work of my paper : nothing can be more plain or more true-, but the power which men allow truth to have over them is very fmall ; and what is generally called reafon in religion, if examined well, is, in moft men, nothing more than their own paffion. If to reconcile the two religions is morally impoffible, it may, with equal certainty, be faid to be politically impoffible, fince it cannot be done without the concurrence of the Pope, which cannot be expected, fince it was not obtained in the pontificate of Clement VIII. who, of all the Popes that have for a long time fat in the fee of Rome, was moft free from party prejudices, aud had more of that gentlenefs and com- paffion which the gcfpel prefcribes to all its followers. * I do not think it neceflary, to lofe any c ian, we may, without injuftice, deny his time in giving a ferious anfwer to thefe ar- qualifications as a profound divine. What guments of our author. After having al- he fays here may be called treating religion lowed him the charader of an able politi- politically. The Book XVII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 297 The holy father was at this time fo old and infirm, that his death 1604. was hourly expecfled. The king thought it neceflary to fend the car- dinals de Joyeufe, and de Sourdis to Rome, to manage the interefls of the nation in the approaching conclave. His majefty, hy the advice of cardinal Joyeufe, gave de Sourdis nine tlioufand livres for his equipage, and the expence of his journey, with a penfion of two thoufand four hundred crowns a year, during the time that he ftaid at Rome upon his affairs. One of the laft adions of Clement the eighth was the promotion of eighteen cardinals at one time, which made it generally believed that this Pope, finding himfelf near his end, was defirous of giving his nephew cardinal Aldobrandin a laft proof of his affedlion, that, ac- cording to all appearances, would place him upon the pontifical throne, by the great number of dependants on his family which were introduced into the conclave, or, at leaft, that the papal dignity fhould be con- ferred on one under whom this cardinal might expecfl to govern. Two of thefe hats were to be given to France : and the choice of the two men whom the king was to name to his holinefs for this dignity, was the occafion of a ftrong intrigue at court, between the bifliop of Evreux and Séraphin Olivary * on one fide, and meflîeurs de Villars, archbifliop of Vienne, and de Marquemont on the other. The two laft were fupported by the intereft of Bellievre, Villeroi, Sillery, and all their friends; and I thought myfelf obliged to range myfelf on the fide of Du-Perron, and Olivary, the one being my biftiop and particular friend, and the other remarkably diftinguiflaed for his eminent piety. Notwithftanding all the intrigues of the oppofite party, Du-Perron and Olivary were preferred; and the former, by my advice, wrote a letter of thanks to Villeroi, as if he had really folicited his advancement : fuch is the cuftom of courts. The preffing affairs that had obliged his majefty to leave Chantilly, and at the beginning of fpring, was the clearing and figning the com- mon computations for the expence of his buildings, his hunting, his privy purfe, as likewife of the fortifications, artillery, and roads. When the day was fixed for the tranfaéling this bufinefs, his majefty, to fliun that crowd of petitioners who waited only for an opportunity of feeing «s together, fent the younger Lomenie to tell me that I need not come * Séraphin Olivary Cazailla, an Italian .Marquemont, archbifhop of Lyons : he by defcent, but born at Lyons, patriarch of afterwards was made a cardinal, and am- Alexandria. Jerom de Villars. Denis de baflador from France to Rome. Vol. II. Q^q to 298 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XVIL 1 604. to the Louvre, becaufe he would be himfelf the next day at the arfenal i and accordingly he came lb early in the morning, that many of the officers, concerned in the affairs that were to be fettled, all of whom I had fent for, were not yet come. The number of thefe was far from being inconfiderable, governors of fortrefles, engineers, intendants, and comptrollers of the buildings, the feveral perfons belonging to the board of ordnance, overfeers of bridges and caufeys, and others. Henry had fomething of confequence to impart to me ; I judged fo by that deep melancholy which, notwithflanding his endeavours to difguife, appeared in his countenance and language, and alfo becaufe he led me into the great gallery of arms, the place where he gene- rally communicated his fecrets to me : and here the reader may ex- pedt to find one of thofe remarkable converfations that he has already met with in thefe Memoirs. Our difcourfe did not begin with the chief caufes of his uneafinefs : the heart, involved in its own vexation, has need, in the firft inftant, of the help of other objedls to be difentangled, efpecially if with this vexation be mingled fomething of confufion. Therefore the dukes of Bouillon and Tremouille, with the reil of that cabal, were the fubjedl he firft led to ; thefe perfons having lately through malice united themfelves with the prince of Condé, the marchionefs of Verneuil, and the family of d'Entragues ; and thofe from whom his majefty had received this information, offered to prove the truth of it by their own letters, and other undeniable teflimonies. Having defired this prince to allow me a whole day to confider what advice it was moft proper to give him on occafion of this new in- trigue, he changed the difcourfe to his excurfion to Chantilly, his hunting; and afterwards he gave me an account of his loffes at play, the money he laid out in prefents to his miftrefies, and other fuper- fluous expences, which were to have their place in the expence of the current year, as well as the money applied to the manufadlures and other buildings, which altogether made up fo confiderable a fum, that Henry, who fecretly reproached himfelf for thefe extravagancies, could think of no better expedient to prevent the confufion he expedled my remontrances would give him, than to add, before I had time to reply, that I might alfo place there a gratuity of fix thoul^md crowns, which he now granted me. This precaution could not hin- der me ffom giving evident marks of my aftoniiliment and grief at the increafe Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. increo.fe of fuch trifling expences, Ilenry again endeavoured to avoid coming to any explanation with me, by faying, that, after fpending fo great a part of his life in continual labours and fatigue, he had a riglit -to allow himfelf now feme indulgence in his pleafures. I anfwered the king with my accuftomed fincerity and firmnefs, that what he faid was indeed very reafonable and juft, if, inftead of thofe great projedts he had communicated to me, and which by his orders I had imparted to the king of England, he had refolved to pafs the reft of his life in the enervating pleafures of luxury ; but that if he ftill retained any thoughts of purfuing his former fchemes, he would deceive himfelf greatly if he fuppofed them compatible with fuch expenfive amufements, and there- fore he muft determine his choice upon the one or the other. I flopped at thefe Vv'ords J Henry having filently liftened to me while I was fpeaking, like a man who was full of anxiety, and wholly abforbed in thought. But the prefentdifpofition of the heart, whatever that may be, always governs our firft emotions, and in him that moment pro- duced nothing but vexation and rage : yet he contented himfelf with telling me, that he perceived I had entertained very unfavourable thoughts of him, and commanded me, without troubling him any more, to carry the fums he had mentioned to account. Still, however, I was not difcouraged. I knew the heart of this prince as well as my own ; I had always found him fenfible to glory, and open to conviélion, and I could not believe him changed in fo fhort a time : inftead therefore of having recourfe to the ordinary pal- liatives, after telling him, that I faw plainly the freedom I had for- merly ufed in my reprefentations was now become difpleafing to him, I again renewed the former fubjedt, and talked to him of the meafures he had already taken in Germany and Italy, to prepare the way for thofe glorious adlions he one day intended to perform, and the fucceis the perfons he had employed there for that purpofe had already found. I repeated, that it was ufelefs to take all this trouble, if the money that fhould be deftined for thofe great enterprifes, was fquandered away on unneceffary expences. I convinced him, by a very exad: calculation, that he could not engage in the execution of thefe defigns, without having before hand forty-five millions entire, that is, the re- venue of two years, which it required the ftriâeft economy to keep to- gether; and that Vvith this fum the war could not be fupported more than three years, without anticipating the royal revenues, or burthen- ing the people with extraordinary taxes. This the following calcula- tion makes evident. Q^q 2 The joo MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVH. 1604. The maintainance of aa army of fifty thoufand foot, which is the leaft that could be employed on this occafion, will coft nine hundred thoufand livres a month, and nine millions a year, allowing only ten months to the year; fix thoufand horfe, which is the number anfwer- able to fuch a body of infantry, will require three hundred and forty thoufand livres a month, that is three millions four hundred thoufand livres a year ; a train of artillery of forty pieces of cannon, cannot well be fupplied at a lefs expence than a hundred and fifty thoufand livres a month, and fifteen hundred thoufand a year. Thefe three ar- ticles alone make up fourteen millions each year; and by confequence near forty-two millions, will be required for the three years together, on a fuppofition that the war will continue fo long. The expence of making levies, of hiring carriages, of viâual, and other things abfo- lutely neceflary at the beginning of the war, cannot be eftimated at lels than a hundred and fifty thoufand livres ; the wafte of that victual,, with other unforefeen expences in ammunition, muft amount likewife to the fame fum. The remainder of the forty-five millions, it may ea-- fily be imagined, will be confumed in extraordinary, expences, too te- dious to infert here. The king flill anfwered, that, before every thing could be in readi- - nefs for the execution of thefe fchemes, fo many obftacles would arife as to render all his endeavours ufelefs : but while he fpoke in this manner, I perceived that his anger was already wholly extinguifhed, and that he approved of all I had faid to him. This he immediately after confefiTed, and, at the fame time, declared, with a fincerity truly commendable in an abfolute prince, that the obilacles he had raifed, and the fevere things he had faid to me, proceeded only from the anxiety of a heart oppreflTed with a more cruel afflidlion than that he had at firft complained of when he mentioned the traitorous cabal, and that his peace was wholly ruined by the behaviour of the queen, and the marchionefs of Verneuil. Thefe words, unhappily but too finccre, changed the fubjedt of our converfation. Henry's pafiion for mademoifelle d'Entragues was one of thofe unhappy difeafes of the mind, that, like a flow poifon, preyed upon the principles of life; for the heart, attacked in its moft fenfible part, feels, indeed, the whole force of its misfortune, but, by a cruel fata- lity, has neither the power, nor the inclination to be freed from it. This prince fuffered all the infolence, the caprices, and ine- qualities Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. qualities * of temper, that a proud and ambitious woman is capable of (hewing. The marchionefs of Verneuil had wit enough to dif- cover the power flie had over the king; and this power (lie never exerted but to torment him. She talked to him continually of her fcru- ples,and regretted the facility with which (he had yielded to his defires; icruples which he refented with fo much the more reafon, as he was not ignorant that fhe forgot them entirely with perfons of inferior rank. They now feldom met but to quarrel : Henry paid a high price for favours which were not endeared by that tender fympathy which forms the happinefs of lovers, and which, to complete his misfortune, occafioned almoft continual uneafinefs between him and the queen his wife. This princefs, on her fide, who had from nature a temper too ur?- complying, and from her country a ftrong propenfity to jealoufy, not being able to make her rival feel all the effecfts of her hatred, revenged herfelf upon her hufband : and thus was this unhappy prince expofed to the fury of two women, who agreed in nothing but in feparately con- fpiring to deltroy his quiet. Whatever endeavours were ufed to pro- duce a reconciliation between the king and his wife, were rendered ineffe(ftual almolT: at the fame moment : the queen began immediately to require a facrifice that Henry could not make her; and his refufal, . though foftened with the grant of every other wifli, affedted her fo fenfibly, that (he forgot all his compliances, and laboured herfelf to continue the caufe of her own unealinefs, by depriving him, together with the privileges of a hufband of all that tendernefs and regard that conciliates affedion and fixes inclination. She was foon informed, that the king had given madenioifellc d'Entragues a promife of marriage, the original of which, as I have * He reproaches her on this account, in " coon, can I fubmit to them : befides, . fome of his letters, which have been pre- " thofe who love fincerely as I do,, expect ferved amongft the manufcripts in the king's " to be flattered, not fcolded, Sec. " You library, and are of his own hand-writing. " have promifed me," fays he in another He writes to his lady in thefe terms : " I letter, " to behave with more prudence, " perceive from your letter, that neither " but you muft be fenfible, the flyle of " your eyes, nor your underftanding are " your other letter could not but give me *' extremely clear, fmce you have taken " offence," &c. Amongft other original " what I wrote to you in a quite differ- letters of Henry the Great, in poire/fion of " ent fenfe from what I intended. An end the prefent duke of Sully, there is one from " mufl be put to thefe pcrtneffes, if you this prince to his miftrcf?. See thecolicc- " propofe to keep the entire poffefTion of tion of the letters of Henry the Great, "my love J for neither as a king or a Gaf- lately publifhcd. formerly S02 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Eook XVn. 1 604, formerly mentioned, had been torn by me, but another had been drawn up by the king ; and llie never ceafed tormenting him till he had pro- mifed to get from his miftrefs this paper, which all the ecclefiaftics whom fhe confulted aflured her was of no force. Henry, merely to oblige her, at length refolved to defire the marchionefs to reftore it j and he demanded it of her in a manner that fliewed he would not be refufed. He had juft left her when he came to the arfenal : the ef- fort he had made upon himfelf to take this dtp, the little advantage he had drawn from it, and the oftenfive language with which his mif- treft> had accompanied her refufal, had all together produced that deep affliction in which I faw him. The marchionefs of Verneuil, upon the firfi: intimation that it was expedled fhe lliould refign the promife of marriage, threw herfelf in- to the moft violent tranfport of rage imaginable, and told the king, infolently, that he might feek it elfewhere. Henry, that he might finifh at once all the harfli things he had to fay to her, began to re- proach her with her connedtions with the count d'Auvergne her bro- ther, and with the malcontents of the kingdom. She would not con- -defcend to clear herfelf of this imputed crime, but affuming in her turn the language of reproach, {lie told him, that it was not pofTible to live any longer with him ; that as he grew old he grew jealous and fufpicious, and that (he would with joy break off a correfpondence for which fhe had been too ill rewarded to find any thing agreeable in it, and which rendered her, flie faid, the objedl of the public hatred. She carried her infolence fo far, as to fpeakof the queen in terms fo contemp- tuous, that if we may believe Henry, he was upon the point of ftriking her J and that he might not be forced to commit fuch an outrage to de- cency, he was obliged to quit her abruptly, but full of rage and vexa- tion, which he v\'as at no pains to conceal, fwearing that he would make her reflore the promife that had raifed this ftorm. After giving me this account of the behaviour of his miflrefs, the remembrance of which renewed all his rage, he was forced to grant (and without his confefîîon I fliould have much fufpedled it) that he fliould with difficulty bring himfelf to a refolution of keeping the oath he had made in the firfl fallies of his fury : and as it is ufual with lovers, who never have fo ftrong an inclination to praife the objefl of their paffion, as after they have faid all the injurious things pofîîble of them, Henry fell again upon the good qualities of his miftrefs, when out of thofe capricious humours, and when thofe fudden gufts of paf- fion Book XVII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. fion had fubfided. He praifed, with a tranlport of deHght, the charms of her converfation, her fprightly wit, her repartees lb poignant, yt^î i'o full of delicacy and fpirit ; and here indeed he had ibme foundation for his praifes. The queen's temper and manners were fo different, that the contraft made him ftill more fenfible of thofe charms in his miftrefs. "I find nothing of all this at home, faid he tome. I receive " neither fociety, amufement, nor content from my wife ; her conver- " fation is unpleafing, her temper harOi, (he never accommodates her- " felf to my humour, nor fliares in any of my cares ; when I enter " her apartment, and offer to approach her with tendernefs, or begin •* to talk familiarly with her, fhe receives me with fo cold and forbid- " ding an air, that I quit her in difguft, and am obliged to feek con- " folation elfewhere. When mycoulin Guife is at the Louvre, I have " recourfe to her converfation to banifli my uneafinefs ; yet (he often " tells me plain truths, but it is with fo good a grace that I cannot be ♦' offended, and am forced to laugh with her." Such was the difpo- fition of this prince ; and probably the queen had only herfelf to blame, that flie had not been able to draw him out of the fnares of her rival, or to difengage him from every other intrigue of gallantry : at leafl:, he appeared to me to be abfolutely fincere, and to have the beft in- tentions imaginable, when he prelied me, at the conclufion of this dif- courfe, to ufe my utmoft endeavours to prevail upon the queen his wife, to alter her behaviour, and accommodate herfelf more to his humour. I WAS about to anfvver, for this fubjeâ: feemed not yet half dif- cuffed, when we were interrupted by meffieurs De-Vic, de Trigny, de Pilles, de Fortria, and others, who entered that moment, and told his majeffy, that the perfons whom he had ordered to attend him had waited more than an hour, and that it was fo late it would be impof- fible to do all the bufinefs that morning. The king, after recommend- ing fecrecy to me, followed them into the hall, and gave the rell of that day, and the two following, wholly to the affairs that had brought him to the arfenal. The office of furveyor of the highways In Guienne was given, at my folicitation to Biçofe, who was then in his fervice. A N. deBicofe commiffioner was named to go and pull down the fort of Craon. Many o"" Vifioufe : other new difpofftions were made, which I fliall not mention here, tiurof the^" finances. The king did not fail to take the firff opportunity to renew the converfation that had been fo unfeafonably interrupted : he had a re- conciliation with the queen fo much at heart, that he wrote me billet after billet, enjoining me to undertake the talk he had propofed to me. I was MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVU. I was fenfible I ran great hazards'by obeying him : a too free and too ardent zeal on thefe occafions with perfons of this rank often expofes the mediator to the refentment of one of the parties, and fometimes to that of both; befides, to fpeak candidly, this employment was lefs fuitable to me than to any other perfon, thefe little broils being ex- tremely difagreeable to my temper. I THEREFORE rcfolved to omit no perfuafions which I thought ca- -pable to make Henry himfelf take the only reafonable meafures that 'Were left him. I brought arguments, exhortations, examples, to ■prove that it depended upon himfelf to regain his quiet, and fix it up- -on folid foundations; and all that was neceflary for this purpofe, was to exert the mafter and the king, oblige the queen to keep her ill hu- mours toherfelf and forbear her reproaches, and, above all, her com- plaints in public, which produced nothing but indecent reflections : and as to thofe who by their malicious informations embittered the mind of this princefs, to punifli them feverely for the flightefl: word they dared to utter againfl him. I reprefented to this prince, that to fecure his own peace and the happinefs of his life, required only that he fliould exert a very fmall part of that courage and ftrength of mind he had fliewn on occafions of a very different nature ; that his reputa- tion fuffered from that tender fault in his conftitution, almoft incom- prehenfible in fo great a prince. I told him, that a fovereign, with- out incurring the imputation of tyranny, and by the fole privilege of his high office, might exadl from his fubjeéls and family, as well for his own perfon as his ftate, that obedience fo neceflary to preferve a jufl: fubordination and fecure refpeél; and that it was abfolutely fit and jull, that he fliould chaftife fuch perfons who made it their bufl- nefs to defliroy his domeftic quiet. To thefe arguments I added the ftrongefl; entreaties; I conjured Henry with lifted hands, and eyes fwimming in tears, to employ his authority on this occafion : the condition I faw him in filled me with the deepefl: concern. It is certain that this prince had no other part left him to tafce ; and I could never comprehend why he appeared fo flrongly averfe to it. He remembered the advice I had given him at Blois, which being fo different from that I prefled him now to follow, gave him a kind of advantage over me : he feemed to be pleafed with having an op- portunity to tell me, that I perhaps was the true caufe of all that had fince happened. But there was nothing folid in this objedion, if well examined ; and when I difluaded his majefty from having recourfe to meafures Book XVII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 305 meafures which might have produced dangerous confequences (this I 1604. cannot fpeak more clearly without betraying the fecret I then vowed to keep) I had no intention to exclude him from taking fuch gentle and eafy methods, as would be juflifiable in the father of a family to fecure the tranquility of his houfe. And Henry was reduced to the neceffity of owning, that if I were well acquainted with his difpoli- tion, I would be convinced it was abfolutely out of his power to adl with rigour towards perfons with whom he was accuflomed to live in familiarity, and above all to his wife. I H AD nothing left but to tell him, that then he muft banifh his millrefs, and give his wife all the fatisfadlion {he could require. But he prevented me, by faying, that he was ready, if it murt: be fo, to remove all caufe of complaint from the queen, provided he could be aflured, that after making her fo great a facrifice, he fhould find her fuch as he wiihed : but that he forefaw he fhould be plagued all the remainder of his life, becaufe this princefs was weak and obflinate enough to believe, that by ading in the manner fhe did, flie fol- lowed the didlates of reafon ; when, in effedl, flie was only governed by her paffions. Henry, to convince me of the juftnefs of this fear, entered into a long enumeration of the queen's faults, in which he but repeated to me what he had faid before, upon the delight (he took in contradifting and teazing him ; he only added, that (he had difcovered the moft violent hatred to all his natural children, although born before fhe came into France, which it was not probable flie would ever remit; he dwelt upon the little fenfibility flie had fliewn to his tendernefs and regard for her, or gratitude for the extreme at- tention with which he prevented all the occafions flie might have for money, although he was not ignorant that flie never received any but to fquander upon Leonora and her husband, and fome others, who were continually filling her ears with malicious flories, and giv- ing her bad advice : he took me to witnefs, that never queen of France had received fo many and fuch coniiderable grants ; and it is certain, that I had been the firfl: to favour and folicit for them by my wife, and this I did with a view to peace, which is often purchafed by thefe means, and always by the king's orders. By the rage this prince exprefTcd againfl: Conchini and his wife, whom heconfidered as the creatures of Spain, and fpies of the duke of Florence, no one, doubtlefs, would have chofen to be in the place of thefe two Italians ; but this rage had no other confequences than making him condemn Vol. II. R r himfelf MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIL himfelf for not following the advice I was free enough to give him when the queen came into France, which was, to forbid all her Ita- lian attendants to pafs the Alps with her. This long converfation concluded with the fame requeft as the pre- cedin'j- one had done, that I fliould attempt, by the gentleft methods I could think of, to perfuade the queen to more condefcenfion to her hufband's will, without giving her caufe to fufpedt that I adled by his orders. Henry ufed every argument which he thought likely to have any force with me to engage me to undertake this tafk, telling me he did not doubt my fuccefs, having, on an occafion fimilar to this, pre- vailed upon the queen to write a letter to him, when no one elfe could.. MEMOIRS MEMOIRS O F SULLY. BOOK xvin. AT the very time that the king gave me this commiflion to the 1604. queen, chance offered me a very favourable opportunity to exe- cute it. The mod common method of making grants to this princefs, was either to create edidls in her favour, as thofe w^hich I have l'uH: mentioned, or by granting to her the money paid upon contracts and bargains which fucceeded through her intereft and protedion. Thefe edidls and contrails always pafled through my hands before they took effeâ: ; and it was my bufinefs to name, examine, and authorife the perfons concerned. The queen was offered four and twenty thoufand livres, to procure the grant of an edi6l concerning the otiicers of the excife in Languedoc. She fent d'Argouges * to fhew me the edift, and acquaint me with the propofal. I told d'Argouges, that his majefly might indeed, without doing the public any injuflice, grant the favour the queen required, but that I did not think fhe took a good opportunity to obtain it ; the * Florent d'Argouges, treafitrer of the the time of his death, a counfellor of ftate, queen's houfhoid : his fon was firft prefi- and of the privy council, dent of tJie parliament of Brittany, and at R r 2 king 3o5 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XVIIL 1604. king appearing to me fo difcontented with feme late proceedings of ^ — „-. —/ this princefs, that I was afraid he would not have this complaifance for her, unlefs fhe firft endeavoured to remove his difpleafure; and I took the liberty to offer her my advice and fer vices on this occafion, if ■flie thought I could be of any ufe to her. The queen, tempted by a fum fo confiderable, accepted my offer, and promifcd every thing, believing that, by writing a fubmifîîve letter to the king, as fhe had done before, fhe fliould certainly fucceed : accordingly fhe wrote a letter, and fent forme to fliew it me, appearing willing to alter what- ever I judged improper in it. Never had any flep (he had taken cofl her fo much. She had fo great an averfion for the marchionefs of Verneuil, that flie would hardly deign to pronounce her name: but if any circumflance occurred to introduce the mention of her, her geftures, her emotions, her very filence itfelf, expreffed, in the moft lively manner, what fhe would not fay. As it was abfolutely neceffary to accuftom her to hear her ri- val fpoken of, I put her upon this fubjecft without referve ; and then flie confoled herfelf with giving the marchionefs the moft fevere epithets her imagination could furnifli her with ; (lie faid fhe never could re- folve to look favourably upon a woman who had dared to bring her- felf in comparifon with her, and inculcated the fame infolence and want of refpedl for her in her children, who embroiled the flate by countenancing the malecontents, while the king, blinded by hispaffion, took no care to reftrain her. I BEGAN by fympathifing with her in her griefs -, but fhewing her how much the caufe of them was increafed by her behaviour to the king, I made her fo fully fenfible of her fault, that flie wrote another letter in the terms I didlated to her, and fent it to the king, who had left her at Fontainebleau, and was then at Paris. While he was under the imprefîion of the joy this letter gave him, he returned her an an- fwer fo tender and polite, as it might naturally be expelled would pro- duce one from the queen in the fame ftrain : but unfortunately, jufl before this letter was delivered to her, her emiiTaries had informed her, that the king was gone as ufual to the marchionefs de Verneuil, and infinuated that he was diverting himfelf with his miftrefs at her credu- lity. She now forgot all that fhe had promifed, faid the king had de- ceived her J and, inflead of writing, told the meffenger who brought her his majefly's letter, with a cold and contemptuous air, that fhe need not write, fince fhe expected to fee the king the next day, as he had pro- mifed Book XVIH. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. mifed her. The king was piqued, as it was natural he fliould be, at this behaviour, and could not be filent : thofe that heard what he faid in the firft emotions of his anger, were not perfons who he could expedl would be fecret as I was, to whom he wrote diredlly. All that was faid on both fides was reported to each of them, and matters were now in a worfe flate than before. I WAS now engaged in a new affair, that of fettling the debate ; but at mofllcould expedl only an interval of peace, which would continue no longer than others had done, while his majefty could not prevail upon himfelf to take the only effedual methods that remained^ Thefe propofals I again made him, when he fent La-Varenne for me one day, to find, if poffible, fome remedy for his continual difquiets, which became every day more infupportable. I found him in the Orangerie of theTuilleries, which afhower of rain had obliged him to enter; and as he was repeatedly preffing me to tell him what he fhould do, and, upon my refufal, abfolutely commanded me to give him my advice, *' Then oblige four or five perfons, faid I to him, to pafs the fea, and " as many others the Alps." The king anfwered, that half of my counfel he could follow without any difficulty, fince nothing hindered him from exercifing fome feverity upon thofe feditious perfons who were confpiring againft him in his court, but that it was not the fame with the Italians; becaufe that he not only had every thing to appre- hend from that vindicative people, but likewife by removing her favou- rites, he fliould give fuch offence to the queen, as would render her for ever implacable. The king, after refledling a little upon the propofal I had mads him, fell upon a very fingular expedient, which was, to get this princefs herfelf to confent to what I had advifed. He flopped there, as if the thing had really been poflible, and infiffed upon my ufing all my endeavours to work this miracle, promifing me, that if I fucceeded, he would, from that momçnt, renounce all his gallan- tries. After the king had given me this new commiffion, he left me, as he faid, to meditate upon it, and continued his walk alone in the garden, the rain having ceafed during our converfation. I DID not begin with the queen, by afking immediately a facrifice which I faw fhe was not difpofed to make; I believed, that if ever a favourable opportunity offered to prevail upon her, it would be when there was a perfedl agreement between their majeflies ; and this I la- boured with fo much affiduity to produce, that at length I reconciled them more thoroughly than they had ever been before; they agreed to MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIIL to forget all the part, and for the future to be deaf to all malicious informers. This calm lafted three weeks, and during that time the court was full of joy, and different amufemcnts were thought of every day: but fome new ftratagems of the marchionefs de Verneuil's hav- ing produced their ordinary effedl, thefe good refolutions vaniflied ao-ain, and it became neceflary, as a laft refource, to attempt the ex- pedient propofed by the king. It may eafily be imagined, in what manner the queen received a propofal to fend away, in fome fort difgracefuUy, thofe perfons of her houfliold whom (he loved the moft. I expeéted fhe would refufe me, and I had no hopes but from my obftinacy in returning often to the charge : but this princefs continued inflexible ; and, to fay the truth, Henry, on his fide, fo ill performed the promife he had given me, to reward this facrifice by that of renouncing all other attachments but to his wife, that flie drew from thence her beft arguments for not yielding to mine. What I had forefeen, really happened ; the queen, inftigated by thofe whom I diredtly attacked, began to feek a quarrel even with me, and complained that I had not kept my word with her, as if it had been in my power to feparate Henry from his miflrefs. But I did not fail to obferve to her, that fhe performed her promife no bet- ter; and by that appearance of coldnefs and diflike, which, after fo many relapfes, the king looked upon as infurmountable, (he was her- felf the caufe of that evil (he imputed to me. I propofed Madam de Guife to her as an example fhe (hould follow, if (he ever hoped to fix the king's affedion folely upon herfelf. She afterwards complained publicly, that I did not pay all the refpeâ I ought to have done to her letters : this I was acquainted with by the wife of Conchini, who was lefs unreafonable and imprudent, than any other of her favou- rites, by whom flie was abfolutely governed. To this complaint I anfwered, that it was indeed true I did not always pay regard to let- ters which I faw written by the hand of any of her fecretaries, be- caufe they were either diftated without her knowledge, by unjuft fo- licitors uho abufed her name, or written with a view to draw her re- fentment upon me if I refufed to comply with them; but as for thofe written with her own hand, I defied any one to accufe me with hav- ing negleéled toanfwer them with the utmofl: deference and refped. To fay the truth, it was abfolutely necefiary that I iliould continually call to remembrance, as I did, the duty I owed to the wife of my king, that Book XVIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. that I might not be carried by her unreafonable importunties to any failure of refpedl or obedience ; for indeed there was no end of her de- mands : the expences of her houfliold alone coft the king every year three hundred and forty-five thoufand livres ; all the gratuities, contracts, and edidls^ that were made in her favour were not fufficient to fupply her other expences; (lie one day, in a fit of ill humour, pawned her rings and jewels, or rather thofe that belonged to the queens of France, and there was a neceflity for drawing money from the exchequer to redeem them ; the ediél of exempts was pafTed in every parifli for her advantage ; fome receivers of Rouerque and Quercy being be- hind-hand in their payments, the money was applied to her ufes; fhe took upon herfelf to pay the nuptial expences of Santi, her Italian gardener, and afked me for fix hundred livres for that purpofe : this was indeed but a trifiing fum, but by fuch trifles as thefe one may judge of this princefs's difpofition with regard to œconomy. What could I do in this perplexing fituation, fince the inconvenience was equal, whether I granted all, or refufed all, but to refufe whatever was really an encroachment upon juftice, and a detriment to the public good, and in fuch demands as mull: indifpenfably be granted, and efpe- cially edi(5ls, to prevent any opprefllon in levying the money ? As to their majefties perfonal quarrels, it muft be confeffed, that in the king's condu6t there were unaccountable weaknefTes, and in the queen's in- excufable irregularities. From the little fuccefs I had met with ever fince I had firll inter- pofed in thefe domeflic debates, I at length was fully convinced, that in thefe affairs fuch only as were intereited fliould undertake to me- diate between the parties , I therefore quietly flipped my neck out of the collar, and willingly left the field open to Sillery, whom the king likewife made ufe of on this occafion. He fometimes found that Sil- lery managed the two ladies better than I, which I had no difficulty to believe: this employment required complaifance and dilhnuilation ; I could neither flatter the fentiments of others nor dilguife my own ; and without this there was nothing to hope for, and every thing to fear : and there the refentment of a wife and a miftrefs both was to be dreaded, which made the danger fo much the greater. By ^shat has been related, my firfi: obfervation has been fully made out; and the fécond, I may fay, was no lefs verified by the event, fince, if I had not been extremely cautious, I fliould have certainly been the victim of ■ the lover and the miftrefs, and upon the following occafion. 312 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XVJll. 1604.. ■^^ ^^^ ^'''^^ when the mifunderftanding between Henry and the marchionefs of Verneuil increafed every day, I was defired by the king to make her very fevere reproaches in his name. Inftead of relenting, or confefling her fault, fhe affiimed fo haughty an air, and anfwered with fo little refpedl, that this once I began to hope the affair would not end but in an open rupture, which was what I moft ardently v/ifhed for : flie not only refufed to give his majefty the fatisfaftion he demanded of her, but appeared fo fully determined to break off all commerce with the king, that (he even went fo far, as to folicit me in the mod earneft manner imaginable, to prevail upon the king to confent to this refolution, as being equally neceffary to the future happinefs of them both ; and defired, that as foon as I went home I would write a letter to the king, which had been concerted between us, in which fhe ex- preffed herfclf in terms ftrong enough to make me conclude fhe adled fmcerely. However, the knowledge I had of this woman's charadter was fufficient to give me apprehenfions that flie would difavow all that I fhould write to the king, and pretend that I had endeavoured, by underhand practices, to widen the breach between her and this prince ; a condudl which, indulgent as he was, he would have never been able to pardon j for in affairs of love he carried his fenfibility and delicacy very far. I therefore took the precaution to fend this letter to the marchionefs before it was given to the king, and at the fame time de- fired Ihe would read and examine it with attention, that fhe might be convinced I had faid nothing more in this letter (which was very long) than fhe had di6lated to me; and entreated her to let me know, whe- ther I had not fcrupuloufly obferved the purport of her words. I re- commended it in a particular manner to the bearer, to bring me back no verbal meffage, but to oblige this lady to write what Ihe thought neceffary to be altered in the letter, and all that fhe would have me add to it. She had already relaxed much from the feverity of her firfl refolu- tion ; my meffenger perceived it, by her cavilling at the terms, and appearing diffatisfied, though {lie did not give the leaft hint that the letter (hould be fuppreffed. My fervant finding that flie returned the "letter, after all this vague declamation, without any pofitive anfwer, remembered the orders I had given him, and told her, that having a very indifferent memory, he entreated that fhe would write down what fhe had juft faid to him, that he might not incur any blame from his mafter for his having forgot, or imperfedly reported, any of her words. She Book XVIII. IVI E M O I R S OF SULLY. She underftood his meaning, but had gone too far to recede ; flie therefore took the pen, and wrote to me, that (he approved of the whole letter, except one expreflion, which was fufficient, {he faid, to put the king into a violent palfion. I had told the king in this letter, that the marchionefs entreated him flill to allow her the honour of feeing him fometimes, but to have no private correfpondence with ;her : the laft words flie foftened by adding, " that might be preju" '*' dicial to him," v/hich made no great difference. 1 CAREFULLY dcpofited the marchionefs's letter, and fent mine to the king, not without having fome hopes, that pride and affronted love, if not reafon, would prevail upon him to concur in the refolutioa Jiis miftrefs had taken, and that he would at length ceafe to be the flave of a woman. In effect, he read my letter twice over with all the in- dignation and rage which might naturally be expected. "How! faid " he, does flie defire our correfpondence may be broke off? I defire it " more ardently than flie does ; flie firall be taken in her own fnares." The king uttered tliefe words in a low voice, but my meffenger heard them. He afked for paper and pens, and wrote a billet to me that in- ilant, in which he promifed, that on the Monday following the mar- chionefs of Verneuil fliould receive a letter from his hand, which fliould prove that he ftill knew how to command his paffions. This billet of theking's was dated the i6th of April, but that of Monday never came ; but on his arrival at Paris, he f.ew immedia- tely to his miflrefs's houfe, flattering himfelf that he fliould at leafb overwhelm her with confufion, and force from hqr a thoufand pain- ful regrets. Far from it, it was himfelf that played this part ; he dif- avowed all that his agents had done, he condemned himfelf; in a word, he threw himfelf upon the mercy of her who had jufl treated him with the utmofl contempt. Then it was that I thought myfelf happy to be poffefled of a letter from the marchioneis that could reftrain his refentment ao:ainfl me. She however imagined, that this letter could not hinder me from appearing, through her reprefentations, as an in- cendiary and flanderer. I would not take upon me to anfwer for Henry's good opinion of me that moment; the letter I fliewcd him when he came to the arfenal undeceived him, but it could not open his eyes upon the arts of his unworthy miftrefs ; he told me at part- ing, that he would chide her feverely. I did not believe him ; and indeed how could I after what had jufl happened ? Vol. n. S s After 314 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XVIII: 1604. After the reconciliation between the king and the queen, which was made, as has been feen, at the expence of the marchionefs of Verneuil ; this woman, who for the firll: time thought herfelf really- abandoned, undertook to ruin this peace, and unhappily but too well accomplifhed herpurpofe. It is wonderful to think how many fprings file put in motion to awaken the king's love for her, and excite his jealoufy ; even religion was profaned to ferve her purpofe ; fhe would be a nun, and devote herfelf to perpetual confinement ; flie openly joined the party of the malecontents, ihe fought out all the young women to whom Henry had difcovered any attachment, and prevailed upon them to forge fuch promifes of marriage as that he had given to her ; fhe made fo infolent an ufe of that, as to pretend to derive from it a chimerical right to get the queen's marriage annulled ; and, what , is hardly to be credited, found ecclefiaftics who countenanced her in thefe extravagancies, and who were hardy enough topublifb the banns of marriage, which fhe boafted flie would oblige the king to contrad: with her. At the fame time a great number of letters and memoirs were diftributed among the public, in which the ridiculous pretenfions of this woman were fupported *, Henry would have given any reward for a difcovery of the authors of thefe writings, his whole court were employed to find them out, and myfelf among the refl=. I SHOULD never come to an end if I undertook to relate all the circumflances of this affair, which, trifling as the greater part of them are, brought a good deal of trouble upon fome that had a fhare in it : but I am weary of difplaying thofe little weakneffes in a prince, who, on other occafions, has afforded me fo many opportunities of admiring the heroic firmnefs of his mind. This ftorm, which was occafioned by a mere love-quarrel, ended, as ufual with Henry, in an increafe of tendernefs for his unworthy miflrefs, which carried the mifunder- ftanding between him and the queen to greater heights than ever -j-. * See the cardinal D'Oflat's complaints never fo great as at that time. on this occafion againft the courts of Spain f " The duke of Sully has often told and Savoy, ^nd in particular againft a ca- " me (fays the author of L'Hiftoire de la puchin, called father Hillary, of Grenoble, " Mere et du Fils) that he never knevir who carried on a cabal at Rome in favour " them a week together without quar- of the marchionefs de Verneuil's party. " relling. He alfo told me, that once the Letters of the 22d February, and 15th Oc- " queen was fo far tranfported with paillon, tober, 1601, and of the ift of April 1602. " that being near the king, and haftily lift- The liberty of publifhing fatirical libels was " ing up her arm, he was fo apprehenfive It :Book XVIir. M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. 315 It was fixed, that by a moft unaccountable contradidion in the nature 1604. of things, this prince fhould, throughout his whole Hfe, feek his plea- sures and gratifications at the expence of his quiet and his health. Thefe two motives made me ftill interefl: myfelf in thefe unpleafing affairs; for I could not, without the moil: fenfible affliftion, fee the health of a prince fo dear to me declining every day. He had not in- deed any illnefs this year that immediately threatened his life, but he never gave fo much employment to the phyficians. La Riviere and Du-Laurens ; he was obliged to ufe bleeding often, and obferved a ftridt regimen, to prevent the bad effeds of a blood heavy and inflamed, which brought frequent indifpofitions upon him : rage, grief, and im- patience, threw him into fuch an agitation, that one day, being vio- lently offended at fome late proceeding of the marchioneis de Verneuil, ■the arm in which he had been bled the evening before, opened again, as he was fitting down to dinner. The queen accompanied him this year in his journey to Monceaux, whither he went to drink the waters ■of Pougues and Spa *, with the greater conveniency. Nothing would have been wanting to complete the unhappinefsof thefe dortieftic quarrels, if queen Margaret had borne a part in them : this was the only misfortune that Henry efcaped ; and certainly this princefs merited the higheft encomiums for the fweetnefs of her tem- per, her refignation, and, above all, for her difintereflednefs, in a fitua- tion that afforded her many arguments to urge a compliance with all fhe could defire; her demands were few, and for things not only ne- ceffary in themfelves, but fuch as flie had an inconteftable right to, the fulfilling fuch engagements as had been made with her, and fome ex- emptions for her borough of UlTon ; her chief folicitation was on account of fucceeding to the poffeflions of her mother queen Catherine : that princefs, by her contraft of marriage with Henry II. was entitled to leave her effedls, after the death of her fons, to her daughters, prefer- able to the natural children of her hulband. Although this difpofition was abfolutely equitable, yet Charles of Valois, count of Auvergne -f-, " flie was going to do fomething further, + By virtue of a deed of gift, which " that he caught hold of her with lefs re- Henry III. had made to him of thefe eftates. " fpe£t than he wifhcJ to have done, and In 1606 the pariiament confirmed the will " fo roughlv, that (he afterwards com- of Catherine of Medicis, and adjudged theic " plained^he had flruck her, &c." Vol. I. eftates to Margaret of Valois. Brantôme, p. 8. in vol. VII. of his Memoirs, p. 38, gives * The Spa-waters are in the bifhopric an enumeration of thefe eftates, conliitin j «f Liege. of the earldoms of Auvergne, Lauragais, S s 2 pre- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIÎL pretended a claim, to the prejudice of Margaret. She had not the prin- cipal writings that proved the legality of hers : but the king interp. fed his authority to make it be given her, and that .(he (hould obtain the juftice that was due to her. Margaret, during her whole life, main- tained the fime reftitude of condud: ; and from her behaviour it could never be difcovered that fhe had once been the wife of the king. I ftiould not confine my praifes to what I have already faid of her, were- I not apprehenfive of being accufed of partiality ; fince the interefl: which this princefs had always the goodnefs to take in my fortune is well known ; her letters to me were fuch as one would write to a fin- cere and unalterable friend, " You are always (thus fhe exprelfes herfelf ** in one of them) my refource, and, after God, myfurell reliance." But let us now pafs to other cares and uneafineffes that the king- fufFered this year from a traitorous cabal, in which the marchionefs de Verneuil will again have a place. Without repeating inceflantly the names of the dukes of Bouillon, La-Tremouille, and de Rohan, the count d'Auvergne, d'Entragues, his wife, Du-Pleflis, and the reft, it maybe eafily imagined that thefe are the perfons I mean. The fame fpirit of fedition, by which they had adled in the intrigues they had fet on foot with theproteftant party in the fynod of Gap, flill direâied their enterprifes, and fuggefled to them innumerable ftratagems, either to raife an infurreétion among the king's fubjedls, or make him new enemies abroad. It is fcarce credible how many fianderous lies were propagated of his majefty, how far they extended their influence, and how many plots were formed againft the government by the au- thority of thefe leaders. The king, when he fent me to Paris, by d'Efcures, fome advices he had juft received at Saint-Germain-en-laye, began in this manner: That although I had not already too favourable an opinion of this whole body, yet I lliould with difficulty believe what he had to write to me concerning it. Indeed I am obliged to confefs, that the pro- ceedings of the French proteftants were fuch, as left them no reafon to complain of any but themfelves, if they one day met with a fevere punilhment for them. They boafted almofl: openly, that they would Leverous, Douzenac, Choufiac, Gorregcs, more than two hundred thoufand crowns, . Hondocourt, ^'c. the yearly revenue of or ducats, " which, fays he, would be worth which, according to his account, amount- " now more than four hundred thoufand ;"" ed to an hundred and twenty thoufand together with a great quantity of furniture, livres ; befides that princefs's portion of plate, precious Itones, jewels, &c. oblige Book XVIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ©blige his majefty, not only to receive the duke of Bouillon in his king- dom, but alfo to invert: him with honours and offices worthy of a chief of the religion. Da-P!ellis, ti e foul that animated this body, fuggefted only fuch thoughts j La TremouilJe had prepared his creatures lor un- dertaking all things, by perfuading them, that they would very fliortly behold a furprifing revolution in France; the duke of Rohan, in the mean time, took upon himfelf to fpread this report in foreign countries, and in England efpecially, by a trufty emiffary named Durand, who ufed his utmofl: endeavours to draw off his Britannic majefty from Henry's party. This man, who at London afTumed the title of M. de Haute-Fontaine, fiievved himfelf fo faithful and officious a fcrvant, that the king, as well as every one elfe, was perfuaded that he had ex- ceeded his commiffion ; for it was affirmed, that he had treated on conditions for the eftabli(hment of his mailer in England, where he wantea to get him naturalized : if this delign was not Durand's alone, it could only be fuggeded by the duchefs dowager of Rohan. It is allb certain, that the duke of Rohan ordered Durand to prefent the king of England, in his name, with a horfe of great price, which, in the prefent conjunfture, it was not juftifiable for him to do, without Hen- ry's conlent. But it v/as more neceffiiry to enter into a flrlft examination of the count of Auvergne's conduit, than any of the others; few perfons were ignorant of his connexion with Spain. He was then in Auvergne, where he was not idle, either with relpect to the common caufe, or his own particular one; he had made ulb of the promife of marriage, given by Henry to * the marchionefs de Verneuil his filler, to lerve * The hiftorians give no clear account doublet, that no one difcovered it ; and, of the purport of tl;e treaty entered into by finding himfelf treated as a ftate criminal, the count of Auvergne with the Spanifh he, by degrees, eat both the treaty, and council ; but Amtlot de La HouiTaye will the ratification of it by the court of Spain help us out on this occafion ; and he is the annexed to it, up in the foups and other more vvorthy of credit, a's he alTures us, vicluaLs, which were brought to his table. that the count of Auvergne, and the mar- The king of Spain thereby promifed to affifl chionefs of Verntuil, vntrufted the origi- the count of Auvergne with troops and nal of this treaty to his grandfather on the money, to place his nephew Henry of mother's fide, their near rtlaiion and inii- Boutbon on the throne, who was the fon mate fiicnd, called Antony-Eugene Che- c.f Kenry IV. by the marchionefs of Ver- villard, paymafter-general of the gendar- neuil, and who, in that writing, is flyled mcry of France. He further informs us, dauphin of France, aud lawful heir to the that Chevillard, being involved in the dif- crown. Art. Entragues-Balfac, Toucher, grace of the count of Auvergne, and fcnt Amelot de la Houlikye further afUires us, to the Bailile, he kept the original of the in the note on the cardinal D'OlTat's let- treaty io well concealed in the fldrt of his ters above mentioned, that two capuchins. J 18 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XVIM. 1604. his defigns, and joined to it, a claim of his own yet more ridiculous than this writing : but in Spain he found perfons credulous enough to confider them both in a ferious light: it is certain, that he had ac- quired great credit and ftrong influence there i we fliall foon fee to what it conduced him. The methods his majefly made ufe of to render- all thefe intrigues ineffecîlual, were to apply himfelf with his accuftomed attention and affiduity to the affairs both within and without his kingdom, and to fill the intendances and other public offices with fuch men only as were diflinguiflied for their merit, their probity, and zeal for his fervice. Bou- cault was an example of this, who, from an advocate only, was made pre- fident of the court of aids in Montpelier, in reward for having ufefully ferved his majefty in Languedoc. Henry likewife commanded me to affemble the chancellor, Villeroi, and Sillery, who with me compofed a kind of council, to confider of this matter. By his orders, I ftill kept up a correfpondence by letters with the principal proteftants, which I own was of little fervice to his majefty : his chief dépendance, and with reafon, was upon the journey he propofed to make this year to Provence and Languedoc, while I on my fide was to vifit Poitou, and the weftern part of France. 'I GREATLY approved of this defign when Henry communicated it to me; and we employed ourfelves together a long time in making preparations for thefe two journeys ; the neceffity for going to take poffeflion of my government ferved me for a pretence for mine; the king wanted no excufe for his : on the contrary, it was fit he fhould not appear ignorant oi' the occafion that made his prefence neceffary in the fouthern provinces of his kingdom, and openly avow' his ex- pectations of the good effedts it would produce. On fome pretence or other, I was to vifit, either in my route, or by going a little about, Or- leans, Touraine, Anjou, Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, andGuienne; and his majefty was likewife to take Berry, Bourbonnois, Lyonnois, called father Hillary of Grenoble, and fa- fome writing or difpofition of his father ther Arcliangelo, the one at Paris, and the Charles IX. by virtue whereof he rnight other at Rome, had the guidance of this pretend to claim the crown in his own confpiracy. right. See alfo, on this fubjeét, the Me- M. de Sully feems to infmuate, as if moirs of the life of the preildent De Ttiou, fomething further had been intended in fa- and in particular his Hiftory, anno 1605. vour of the count of Auvergne himfelf: Vitt. Siri's Mem. recond. vol. 1. p. 297. perhaps he had fome defign of fetting up and Book XVIîI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. and Dauphiné, in his way *, fo that between us we were to go through almoft all France. We fettled the time of our departure, our flay, and even the place of our meeting, which was to be at Touloufe ; and I looked upon his majefty's jonrney to be fo certain, that I thought of nothing but of coming immediately to Paris (for all this was refolved on at Fontainebleau) to fettle the affairs of the government, that our journey might not fuffer any delay, it being refolved that we fliould fet out fome time in the prefent month of June at farthefl. Such perfons as had bufinefs depending in the king's council, prefTed the conclufion of it with the utmoft afliduity, as foon as the king's intention was made public : and the counfellors rejoiced at this eagernefs, bccaufe, that great part of them being to attend the king in his journey, they did not chufe to leave the bufinefs they had begun, to be finiihed by the new council appointed by his majefly duringhis abfence. This fcheme, fo well concerted, was never carried into execution, - with refpeâ: to the king's part in it. As foon as his majefty's intended journey was declared to the courtiers, all was prefently in an uproar; and it caufed, as ufual, much commotion at court. There was not one to whom this defign did not give great uneafinefs, and who did not ufe his utmoft endeavours to diiTuade him from it ; fome, fuch as the miniflers and great officers that were about his perfon, to fpare the ex- pences of fo tedious a journey, and the gay delicate youth of the court to avoid the fatigue and other inconveniencies ufual in fuch expedi- tions ; fo that, when his majefty propofed the affair in form to his counfellors of ftate, whom he fent for exprefsly to Fontainebleau, and the principal lords of his cnurt, affembled for that purpofe, they op- pofed it with innumerable obflacles, without ever reaching the true one. They alledged the uncertainty of the fieges of Oflend and Sluys j the fear of a league between England and Spain ; the treaty of com- merce depending between France and that crown; the affair of the count d'Auvergne and the marchionefs de Verneuilj the mifunderfland- ing that had rifen lately between the republic of Grifons, and the count de Fuentes, concerning the Valtoline, in which France was indiipenfa- bly obliged to intereft herlelf, on account of the Venetians and the Swifs. All thofc affairs I have already mentioned, or fliall do imme- * See the original of a letter written by of July 1604, with an iiKlorfemcnt thereon, Henry IV. to M. dc Rofny, on the fubjed as moit of his letters have, in the hand-writ- of this journey to Poitou, dated the 20th ing of this minifter. Henry IVth's letters, diatelv i 320 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. EookXVIIL 1 604. diately : in a word, they found fo many inconveniencies likely to accrue from this journey, and knew fo well how to aggravate them, that the king was prevailed upon to alter his refolution. They even fuggefted reafons to his majefty, to make him change his opinion as to the necellity of mine. The affairs that then lay be- fore the council began to appear to him of fuch importance, that, to prevent lofing fight of them for fo long a time, he, for this once, de- fired me to confine my endeavours to what I could do, without going farther than Poitou, and remit, to another opportunity my defign of vifitlng the maritime coafts. I do not pretend to deny, that part of the arguments they made ufe of, to difTuade the king from his journey, had fome weight : however, I believe I have mentioned the moft impor- tant of them ; and I ftill perfifi:sd in my firft opinion, of the great ad- vantage it would be to the flate. One man, whom the news of his majefly's intended journey did not a little perplex, and whofe name probably the reader will not ex- pedl to find here, was Lefdiguieres i and a report being then current, that the count of Soiffons was fhortly to be put in pofleflion of thofe cautionary pkces given toLefdiguieres, it was natural for him to believe that he was perionally concerned in the refolution his majefly had taken. His correfpondence with the duke of Bouillon was juftcome to light J Morges, who had given fecret advice of it from Dauphiné, brought proofs of it when he came to Paris, which were confirmed by Du-Bourg. I SET out from Paris in the month of June, and took the {liortefl: road to Poitou, accompanied by lèverai perfons of quality of that pro- vince, who, upon the report of my journey, ranged themfelves about me, fome of them v/ith no other intention, but to pay me thofe ho- nours which they thought due to their governor : but others, among whom, I may, without fcruple, put * Richelieu and Pont-courlai, at- tended me in my expedition with no other view, but to get more cer- tain intelligence of my defigns, either from my own mouth, or by tampering with my people, to learn all that (hould be done or faid in my family, that they might afterwards give the chiefs of the proteftant party notice of all, and prepare them to oppofe fuch meafures, as they imagined I might be ordered to take againll thim in favour of the ca- * Francis du Pleffis de Richelieu, father of cardinal de Richelieu, and Francis de VigneroJ de Pont-courlai. tholics i Book XVIIÎ. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 321 tholics ; in a word, to take advantage of every little inadvertence, if it 1604. fhould happen that any did efcape me, to render me criminal, or raif'e fufpicions in the king's mind to my prejudice. But in this, my enemies did not fucceed, however they might in fome other of their defigns ; the correfpondence his majefty did me the honour to keep regularly with me, when I was at any diftance from him, flill continued as ufual; and I had even more frequent opportunities of entering into his confi- dence, and knowing to what degree he interefted himfelf in the fafety of my perfon. He often, with great goodnefs, bid me remember, that I was in a country where, whatever appearance the inhabitants might affume, it was certain they wifhed me no good, and that I ought to be continually on niy guard againft them. It was but too true, that the king's enemies and mine, had taken meafures before hand to render all my endeavours fruitlefs, and to ani- mate the populace againil me : that which appeared moft likely to pro- duce this effeil, was to fpread a report, that the defign which brought me to Poitou, was to force the proprietors * of the falt-pits to yield up their property, and to purchafe them for the king. Thofe in whom I difcovered the greateft malevolence towards me, were fuch from whom it was leail to be expeâed, my brethren the proteflants : but I mean the principal ones only ; yet thefe affected to pay me outwardly all imaginable honours; and, although they refufed to let me into the fecret of their debates, yet it was always upon fuch plaufible pretences, that I had room to feign myfelf entirely Satisfied. They were appre- henfive of Parabere, who was more particularly attached to me than any of the others, though they well knew his ardent zeal for his reli- gion, becaufe he was naturally frank and open in his temper, and had intentions far more equitable : they therefore commiffioned d'Aubigne and Confcant to watch him narrowly, and never to quit him while he continued about me. But this malignancy, with refped: to me, ex- tended no farther than to a fmall number of perfons ; or if it did, they concealed it with great care. I was received with the moft diftinguiih- ing marks of refpeét in every place where I made any ftay ; and in thofe that I only pafled through, they came to meet me, harrangued me, and efcorted me with ceremony on my way. The ecclefiaftics fecmed moft eager to lliew me refpedl ; and I never heard the leaft * Perefixe makes no doubt, but Henry the gabelle or fait duty, which, he afferts, IV. really had formed this defign, and this prince was fully determined to abolifti, greatly commends him for it, as being the as well as the taille, p. 369. only certain method to free his people from Vol. II. T t exprefiîon J ,2-2 M E M O r R S O F S U L L T. Book XVIII. ■I 604- expreirion that fuggefted a doubt of my religion : the inhabitants of Poitiers, who have the reputation of being naturally rude and un- fociable, gave me, by their polite and refjpedful behaviour, a very different notion of their charader. I WAS ftill more furprifed at the conduft of the Rochellers : this imperious city, that ufually makes it her boaft to have only the king himfelf for governor, and under him that haughty and important mayor, who is generally eleftcd out of three perfons propofed by them to his majefty, might have laid great ftrefs upon thofe mighty preroga- tives with fo much the more reafon, in refpedt to me, as their city was not properly within thelimits of mygovernment; however,theygave me as honourable a reception as they could have done toa governor chofen by themfelves. I entered the city with a train of twelve hundred horfe: fuch an efcort gave me thelefs room to be apprehenfive of thofe attempts his majelfy warned me to be careful of; the Rochellers opened their gates- to this train, without any diftinélion of perfons or religions ; they were all lodged within the wails, and mod of them in the houfes of the citi- zens. At a public dinner, which was given on my account, and to which I was invited with great ceremony, they drank the king's health, and faid, that, if his majefty had done them the honour to prefent him- felf before their gates, though followed with thirty thoufand men, they would have opened them to him; and that, if their gates were not Vv'ide enough to admit them, they would have thrown down three hundred feet of their walls. I faw nothing but refpedl and fubmiffion, and heard nothing but praifes of this prince ; they likewife afiured me, with the moft flattering eucomiums, that, if I had brought a train much larger with me, they would have adted in the fame manner. The dinner I have mentioned confifted of feventeen tables, the îeafl of which had fixteen covers ; and the next day they gave me a collation as magnificent as the dinner had been ; they added to it, the reprefentation of a naval fight between Con-eilles, and Chef-de-Baye,. in which twenty French velfels attacked a like number of Spanifli vef- fels. The vanquiflied Spaniards were brought bound hand and foot, before a pidiure of the king, expofed to public view ; and they were prefented to me as to his lieutenant-general : nothing was wanting to render this fliew complete ; dreffes, arms, pavilions, and efcutcheons, all were chofen with the utmort propriety. I repaid this good recep- tion, by granting the Rochellers, in the name of the king, whofe elogium 1 pronounced publicly, the deliverance of their prifoners : excepting EooK XVIII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 525 excepting thefe, and the fieur de Luffan, I puniflied feverely all that 1604. had infringed the treaties of commerce. His majefty was fatisfied " v ' with having obliged the city of Rochelle to ailc him for this favour, which he well knew how to make them pay for. At Poitiers, I learned fome circumflances v/hich perfuaded me, the count of Au- vergne was much more culpable than I had hitherto believed. The king had allov/ed me fo little time to regulate the affairs of this province, that I was obliged to defer vifiting the Upper and Lower Poitou till another opportunity. I could only obtain permif- fion from his majefty to go to Saint-John d'Angely, and to Brougage, by reprefenting to him the neceffity there was for undertaking this journey to undeceive the people of that diftrid:, who fufpedted that the king had an intention to deprive them of their falt-pits. I fet out from Rochelle, to go to thefe two places, and was received by mef- fieurs de Rohan and de Saint-Luc full better than I expeéled. I ufed my utmoft endeavours to recal Rohan to his duty and allegiance ; I mentioned his intrigues in England, and exhorted him to recal Du- rand from thence : he appeared greatly aftoniilied at this difcourfe, complained of the calumnies his enemies fpread abroad of him; dif- avowed the agency of Durand; and, to convince me of his lincerity, acknowledged circumftances unaiked, as the horfe prefented by him to king James, but affured me, he had obtained his majefty 's permif- fion for it, which he could eafily bring to his remembrance. From Saint-Jean I refumed the road to Paris through Thouars, where I was defirous of having a conference with the duke de La- Tremouille, I did not expetfl fo polite a reception from him as I really received, fenfible that he muft be greatly mortified to fee me poffefs a government, and receive honours, to which he had afpired with fuch extreme ardency, as to folicit them publicly. Our con- verfation often turned on the many caufes of complaint the proteftant party had given the king ; and even in the prefence of Parabere, Saint- Germain-de-Clan, Beffes, La-Valliere, Conftant, d'Aubigné (thefe were hardly ever abfent) Preaux La-Ferriere, and La-Sauftaye ; they all exclaimed loudly upon the injuftice that had been done them by the king, protefting their fidelity and attachment to his majefty ; and the better to impofe upon me, accompanied their affurances with fo much civility to myfelf, and fuch grofs fiatteries, that they fell into the other extreme of a too glaring affedation. T t 2 In J24 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XVîlî. 1604. '^^ ^^^ midll: of all this art and difguife, I did notceafe to penetrate- t,_ - -i into their defigns, by turning the difcourfe, in their prefence, upon the ftate of affairs in Spain and England. They betrayed themfelves then: in fpite of their endeavours to the contrary; and it was no longer nof- fible for me to doubt, that all this little court of people attached to the dukes of Rohan and de La-Tremouii!e were, in reality, fuch as they were reprefented to his majefty : but what I difcovered at the (^me time, and the intelligence which the poft I poffeffed in that province,, afforded me an opportunity of procuring, gave me, in the fequel, the utmoft certainty that thefe gentlemen had no power with the reft of the proteftant party ; they were no longer, as formerly, thofe abfolute leaders that, with a fingle word, drew all their fuffrages ; but, on the. contrary, they were fliunned as men -infeâed with the plague, when they came to deliberate in the aflemblies. This they had brought upon themfelves by their own imprudence, in putting the party upon- fuch dangerous and ridiculous enterprifes, as had at length undeceiv- ed the mofb credulous amongft them ; and the higheft idea that could' • bemaow given of them was, that they formed a party in the niidft of the party itfelf, and only fupported themfelves by a vain exertion of authority, of which they but poflefled the fliadow. I DID not negledl to make all the advantage I could of fucH favour- able difpafitions, and entirely undeceived the people with regard to the injurious reports that had been fpread among them concerning the falt- pits, the excife, and other monopolies, which had been made ufe of to excite them to fedition. They now began to have a more perfedt knowledge of their king; their notions of his tyranny and their flavery were wholly effaced. I made the proteftants comprehend how ground- lefs their fufpicions were, that Henry had ever defigned to exclude them from any of the offices and dignities in the flate, fince it had al- ways been his chief maxim to keep the balance even between the two religions ; I convinced them likewife, how much they had been blinded by prejudice, with refpedt to Clement the eighth, who was fo far from endeavouring to extirpate the proteftants, that he had, on all' occafions, llrongly oppofed making war againft them. My aftions completed the work thefe affiarances had begun ; I dif- tributed penfions among thofe of the party who had advifed peace, and- ferved the king faithfully ; and, to convince them abfolutely that they- were not deceived, with regard to the equitable intentions of their fo- vereign. EooK XVIir. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. vereign, I fliewed them the paper that contained all the reformations he propofed to make in the fiate, the lame that I have formerly men- tioned, with which they were fully fatisfied. By thefe means I Co weakened the duke de La-Tremouille's party, that he could never afterwards add to it fix perfons of any confequence. The duke of Bouillon was fo greatly affeded with the knowledge that he had lofl all the remaining intereft he had hitherto preferved in this diftricft ef France, that he determined to pafs the reft of his days in that kind- of exile which kept him quiet in the court of the eleélor Palatine in fpite of himfelf. Saint-Germain, who was not unacquainted with zny oi the duke's fecrets, wrote an account of this delign to La-Saufiaye, of whom he thought himfelf abfolutely fecure ; but La-Sauffaye gave me Saint-Germain's letter, which I fhewed to his majefty. Having thus performed all that the prefent conjundture,' and th& fliortnefs of the time permitted me, I obeyed the king's repeated com- mands (which every one of his letters brought me) to return as foon as poftîble, and followed in a few days my laft letter, which I wrote to his majefty from Thouars on the i6th of July. Before I went away I viiited the duke de La-Tremouille for the laft time ; he was indifpofed when I came to Thouars, and I left him at the point of d^ath when I fet out from thence ; he died * without being prevailed upon to promife that he would come to court, and his death deprived the malecontents of one leader^ I ARRIVED at Paris on the 2 2d of July, where I found a billet from his majefty, dated the i8th, in which he defired me to fend into every part of Normandy, Britanny, and Poitou, whither I had a defign to go myfelf, two perfons on whofe fidelity and underftanding I could re- ly, and to come myfelf to him at Monceaux, where he waited for me, having given over drinking the waters. I was fenfible, by the kind and obliging reception this prince gave me, that I had been fortunate enough to give him fatisfaâion -f as to the bufinel's that had occafioned my journey j and I now related to him, during the courfe of three days, all that I had omitted in my letters to him or to Villeroi. * Claude dc La-Tremouille, duke of vol. II. b. iii. p. 663. Thouars, died of the gout, being only f De Thou fays, this journey of M. de thirty-four years of age. See his elogium Rofny freed Henry IV. from great difquiet» in de Thou, book xxxi. and Matthieu, took xxxi. ïtSi MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIII. It has been reported, that the duke of Epernon behaved at that time in fuch a manner in Guienne, as to give his majefty more caufe than ever to fufped; him ; that I ahb diftrufted his fidelity, and on this occafion did him all the bad offices that could proceed from a mortal enemy. This report, with regard to myfelf, I here declare to be ab- folutely falfe ; and I believe what was faid to the diladvantage of d'Eper- non to be fo likevvife ; and that the unfavourable fentiments they at-» tributed to his majefty of this duke, has no better foundation. One would imagine, that the opinion Henry entertained of him was fuffi- ciently clear, by the letter this prince wrote to the duke on the fubjedt of the difpute between Du-Pleffis and the bifliop of Evreux, in which he treated him as a friend, a title he never gave to thofe whom he did not think worthy of it. And here I may add a circumftance of which I am abfolutely certain, and fpeak from my own knowledge. His majefty, after the time here meant, granted d'Epernon athoufand things unafked, and often prelfed me to vifit him, and give him other inftancesof kindnefs, even before I had received the fame compliment from him. If Henry heard any thing to theduke'sdifadvantage during his ftay in Guienne, it is what I am wholly ignorant of; this only I know, that his majefty was eafily freed from any remains of fuipicion, after the letters that d'Epernon fent to him and to me by Perronne, in which there were fuch evident marks of fincerity and confcious innocence con- firmed by the offer he made to attend his majefty upon the very firft order he fhould receive, that he might put his perfon in his power, to anfwer for the loyalty of his intentions, that there was nothing left to reply. No one is ignorant of what paffed between the king and the duke of Epernon during the life, and even after the death of Henry III. and that this prince had difcovered fome refentment towards him j but this was at an end ; forgetfulnefs of injuries is a virtue very rare among princes, ad is thought yet rarer than it is. Sufficient regard has not been ftiewn to the proofs which Henry has given more than once of that true greatnefs of mind which is capable of pardoning ; and all that he did for the duke of Epernon may be confidered as an inftance of his clemency. For myfelf, I was fo far from being an enemy to d'Epernon, at the time I have been fpeaking of, that I can bring a thoufand inftances to prove we had been in a perfedl good intelligence with each other : but it Book XVIIT. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 327 it is fit I fliOLild be believed upon my bare word, as I have hitherto 1604. fhewn mylelf equally incapable of difguifing my fenliiiients, whether u ^- v — — ^ of friendlliip, or hatred, or accufing the innocent, or jurtifying a trai- tor. D'Epernon had the misfortune to fall off" his horfe in Guienne, by which he broke his thigh and his thumb, and bruifed himfelf like- wife in the flioulder and elbow; which obliged him to keep his bed forty days, and lie during all that time upon his back. I wrote to him a letter of condolance upon this accident; and he thanked me with the fame afFedion which he ufually exprefled in all his letters, for he then treated me rs a friend; and I was likewife his confidant in all that regarded the king*. Another of my friends, but one who had never been otherwife, from whom I this year received letters equally polite, friendly, and unreferved, was Bellegarde; they are dated from Dijon ; he was then in his government of Burgundy. But it is time to return to the count of Auvergne. It now depended wholly upon the king to deprive this rebellious fubjed: of all means of confpiring againft the ftate : the unfeafonable clemency with which he had been treated by his majefty at the time that maréchal Biron fuffered a juft fentence, was the caufe of his re- lapfe; as the tendernefs his majefty had fhewn for this whole family, on account of the marchionefs de Verneuil, had firft encouraged him in his revolt. It would not probably have been difficult to find fuch another opportunity as his majefty had fuffered to efcape him, when he received notice of the new intrigues which the count was carrying on in Spain, and that fuller difcoveries concerning thofe intrigues might be expedled from the fcizure of Morgan *, his chief agent, who was juft then arrefted ; but the king was contented with fuffering D'Efcures to go, by my orders, to Auvergne, where the count then was, to dif- eover the plot, and by gentle methods perfuade him to come and throw himfelf at his majefty's feet. In effect, d'Auvergne was convinced that this was the wifcft and the only part he had to take ; the feizing of Morgan had wholly dif- eoncerted him, and the meafures he had taken had been too imprudent to leave him a hope that his defigns could be concealed, or that they were in fuffic-ient forwardnefs to enable him to throw off the mafl<. 3 he feared that by flying hefhould expofe the count and countefs d'En- * See the originals of thefc letters in the of Epernon. old Memoirs ; they feem a little to contra- f Thomas Morgan, an Englifliman. See àm one another in what relates to the duke De Thou, ibid. tragues- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XVIIL tragues and his whole family» to a fliameful treatment ; he therefore yielded to d'Efcure's arguments, and promifed to go with him to court, and reveal to the king his clofet fecrets, and even to fhew a letter from his fifter, which he faid was of the utmoft confequence, provided that his majefty would grant him the pardon he had promifed. The ori- ginal of this letter from the marchionefs de Verneuil was not produced till the following year, and it was not very certain what credit fliould be given to it, becaufe the brother and filler fometimes appeared to be on friendly terms, and often in fuch high diiguft that they could not bear each other's fight. That which appears moil: worthy ofobfcr- vation in this letter is, that in it (he exhorts her brother to a fecure retreat in a foreign country, and appears herfelf determined to do the like. That tTie count d'Auvergne was not very fincere in the promife he made d'Efcures, appears by his fending Yverné to Spain, at the very time that he fet out himfelffor Paris. The bifliop of Montpellier difco- vered this intrigue, and fent the king notice of it : but this prince was willing a fécond time to lifi:en to his fine promifes. He only ordered, that the parliament fliould finifli Morgan's trial, that the crime being made public might give more weight to the pardon he was refolved to grant to the whole family of Auvergne, which was comprehended in it. All that this prince gained by the profecution was, to get that famous promife * of marriage he had in vainfolicited his miftrefs to return, re- flored to him by d'Entragues ; which was done in the prefence of the count of SoifTons, the duke of Montpenfier, the chancellor, Sillery, La-Guêle, Jeannin, Gevres, and Villeroi, that this reftitution might not be afterwards eluded by any reftriftion or difavowal ; and an aft was made, importing, that this was the true and only writing given by his majefly on that fuhjea; ; and the declaration of d'Entragues confirming this, was joined to the paper. This conduâ: of Henry was not calculated to make the count of Auvergne lefs ralli and enterprifing j and, in effeét, he renewed his former intrigues almofl: before his majefty's eyes : his whole care was to deceive the king, who for a long time was impofed upon by his * Henry IV. in order to get back this pro- France to the count of Entragues, who mife, was obliged to pay the m rchionelsde had never been in any military action. De Verneuil, twenty thouiand crowns down. Thou, book cxxxii. and to promife the baton of a maréchal of appearances Book XVIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. appearances of fincerity : but at length the whole myftery was difco- vered by fome letters written and received by d'Auvergne, which fell into the hands of Lonienie, and by him carried inimediately to the king. This prince was then convinced of the full extent of his crimes j but this convidlion came too late, for the count, either by his own penetration, or that he received notice of what had happen- ed, had time to leave the court before the refolution that had been taken to arreft him could be executed, determined within himfelf never to return to it again after the danger he had fo lately efcaped, and even to leave France altogether, upon the leuft information that any thing was refolved on againfh him. The king acquainted me with the perplexity he was in through his own fault. D'Efcures was fent again to Auvergne : he went a third time, but to no purpofe : the methods that had formerly fucceeded were now ineffeélual. D'Auvergne always knew how to elude his re- turn to court, to which he was earneftly preiled, but with fuch ap- pearance of indifference and unconcern, that it was not pofllble to draw from his refufal a convidlion of his crime, as it was expeâed they fliould do. He made the faireft promifes imaginable, and always ap- peared difpofed to fet out. There was a neceflity at length for mak- ing ufe of the only method yet unattemnted, which was to fecure his perfon ; but this did not feem eafy to effedt. I CAST my eyes upon a man who feemed to me likely enough to {ucceed in fuch an attempt, and this was the trenfurer Murat ; his perfon al hatred to the count d'Auvergne, his knowledge of the coun- try, the convenience he could have of flaying a long time upon the fpot without giving caufe of fufpicion, his refolution in any arduous enterprize, and his zeal for the fervice of his majefty, all promilcd a happy and honourable end of this commiffion. I propofed him to the king when his majefty mentioned the affair to me, and upon his approbation I fent for Murat j to whom at firft I adled with all the referve and precaution that a matter of fuch confequence required. When I found that infteadof bringing arguments for being difpenf- ed with for fuch a fervice, he himfelf prevented my'offers, I ex- plained myfelf clearly, and perceived that the propofal was far from being difpleafing to him : he only required a commiffion for it under tlie great feal, which was granted, and kept very fecret. As we had not yet loft all hope that d'Efcures might be able to draw the count to court, and in that cafe Murat would have nothing to do, when I gave him his inftruétions I enjoined him not to adt but in concert with Vol.. II. Uu d'Efcures, o MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XVIIÎ, 1604. li'Efcures, and to conceal from everyone the part that was to be- " given him in this bufinefs, if he found there was no longer any occa- làon for him. D'EscuRES fet out for Auvergne on the 17th of Auguft (this was the third or fourth time of his going) and Murat followed him a few days afterwards, provided with blank letters for the cities and officers des prefideaux, which were to be filled up at the places themfelves. In the mean time fome letters from d'Auvergne came to hand, in v^hich he exprefled fo much fear and fliame, that the king rightly judged he would never be prevailed on to appear at court, and there- fore thought it bell: for d'Efcures to avoid preffing him to take that flep, left he fhould increafe his apprehenlions, Murat had now orders to adt fingly; and d'Efcures, on his fide, to ufe his utmoft endeavours to procure certain intelligence of all d'Auvergne's praftices- in Spain, and, if poffible, to intercept the treaty which it was thought he had already made with the council of Madrid. All this d'Efcures execute ed with fuch dexterity, that he prevented the count, artful and pene- trating as he was, from fufpedling any of thofe meafures the council was now purfuing. A LITTLE aiFair between a brother of Murat's and the count 0/ Auvergne gave this trufty agent a pretence for going to the count.; which having fettled between them, the count, of himielf, entered into- a converfation with him concerning the ftate of his affairs at court, which gave Murat an opportunity of feeming to regulate the advice he offered him upon v/hat he himfelf had faid. D'Auvergne founded violent fufpicions upon the rnfinuations that were given him, that the king expeîled he fliould (hew himfelf at court j and upon d'Efcures's endeavouring to perfuade him to go, yet pretending not to know that it was the king's defire, he therefore afiured Murat that he would not go; and that rather than expofe himfelf to the fury of his enemies, he would fubmit himfelf to a voluntary exile in a foreign country : he mentioned the fate of maréchal Biron, which feemed to give him great apprehenfions ; and faid, that having formerly had the misfortune to offend his king, he could not refolve to appear before him till he had effaced the memory of his fault by new fervices, and till the pardon his majefty had granted him was confirmed. At length he gave Murat to underfland, that his reafon for not being willing to truft the inten- tions of the court, arole from the informations he had received of the danger he was threatened with if he appeared there, this notice having been fen t to him from fome of the courtiers themfelves, perlons of the. BookXVîII. m E m O I R s O F s U L L y. • v^I jj> ' the firfl: diftindlion, who were well acquainted with the affair, and dc- 1 604. ferved to be relied on. MuRAT finding himfelf thus made a confidant of, anfvvered with great feeming iimplicity, that fince the count had confefTed his error to the king, he faw no inconvenience attending his return to court; that the pardon he had obtained made a wide difference between his cafe and that of maréchal Biron ; and that nothing but a relapfe into the fame error could authorize his fcruples, fince Henry had never yet broke his word with any one ; therefore his befl: counfellors would be his own confcience. D'Efcures likewife laboured with equal folicitudc to re-afTure him with regard to the king, and to give him a diftruilot thofe perfons that fent him the informations he had mentioned. To all this the count only replied, that when his life was in quc- ftion he would not run any hazard ; that neither the king, the queen, or the princes of the blood, were his friends, and the mafter of the horfe was his mortal enemy ; that the filence of his friends on this oc- cafion was one proof of his ruin being determined ; that noone folicited for him to the king; that he now never received any letters from Vil- leroi, Sillery, or me, becaufe v.-e were not willing to reproach ourfelves with having been the inftruments of his fate ; that the conftable no longer correfponded with him, for fear of rendering himfelf fufpedled : but it was with the marchionefs de Verneuil he appeared to be mofl dilcontented ; he knew his fifter, he faid, to make her peace with the king at his expence, was capable of charging him with falfe crimes, if ihe could not with real ones ; and concluded with new prutefta- tions, that nothing fliould draw him from his retreat. As he did not fufped that d'Efcures and Murat were come with an intention to per- fuade him to go, he told them, that he fuppofed Vitry would arrive in a few days, and expeél to gain him with fair words, but that he would lofe his labour. The retreat he was refolved not to be prevailed upon to leave was Vic, a poor houfe, without any conveniences, but lituated in the midft of a wood, where d'Auvergne pafîed whole days, under pretence of hunting. Although there had been no other proofs of his crimes, his fears, his continual alarms, the agitation of his thoughts, the wildnefs of his look and air, and the diforder of his whole perfon, v/ouldhave been a fufîicient teftimony againft him : nothing could be more mi- ferable than the life he now led ; and the terror and anxiety that U u 2 preyed 332 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XVIIÎ. 1604. preyed upon his heart, revenged, by anticipating his punifhment, both the king and the ftate. He was afraid to llay in his houfe, yet durfh not truft himfelf at any confiderable diftance from it ; he was never {een in the neighbouring towns ; he had left off viflting his friends, nor durfî: even confide in his miftrefs, a certain lady, named madame de Chateau-gay ; he no longer vifited her at her houfe, but when he chofe to fee her they met in an obfcure village, or in the midil of the fields, always in the night, and never twice together in the fame place. His fervants, v/hom he ported on eminences in the neighbouring places, were ordered to give him notice when they i'aw any one appear,, by blowing a horn ; and fometimes he made ufe of dogs for his guard. With thefe precautions he defied all his enemies, and infolently,. as well as imprudently, boafted, that he fhould always be able to de- ceive and efcape them ; neverthelefs, his refolutions were always va- rying, he never continued two moments in the fame mind. And this man, fo wife, fo fagacious, penetrated fo little into the intentions of thofe that came to deftroy him, that he made them his friends, took. them for his counfellors, and was many times upon the point of aban- doning himfelf to their difcretion. But prudence is a quality feldom found with a bad confcience ; had d'Auvergne pofi^efled ever fo little of it, he would have known, that there was no fafety for him but in an immediate flight to Spain ; and this, probably, was the only fcheme that never entered into his head. At the very moment that, to d'Efcures and Murat he appeared determined not to expofe himfelf to the danger of going to court, he talked to them in a ftrain quite dif- ferent. He once fent to them to come and meet him at a place three leagues diflant from his own houfe ; though this fummons gave them at firll; fome uneafinefs, not knowing what his intentions might be, yet they went and found that he had fent for them only to tell them he was now refolved to go and prefent himfelf to the king. His ma- jefty, to whom they fent immediate notice of this refolution, and who gave the more credit to it on account of a falfe report that was added to it, wrote to me on the 19th of November, that d'Auvergne was at Moret, ready to fet out for Paris. In this it was not d'Efcures and Murat that were deceived by the count, but the count by his owri inconftancy ; for he was the firft to retain them with him, when they appeared willing to go back, and to refer them for his laft anfwer to the return of Fougeu, from whom he expected to draw a great deal of intelligence ; to which the two agents fecmed to confent, purely- through complaifance to him. This Book XVIII. MEMOIRSOÏ'SULLY. 333 This whole account I take from Murat's letters. I received at the 1604. fame time, a letter from the count d'Auvergne himfelf. He com- plained to the two agents, that he never had any anfwer to four let- ters, which, he laid, he had wrote to me. I received, indeed, four from him, but altogether; and the writing fu like, although of diffe- rent dates, that I perceived immediately what credit I ought to give to them. It was probable, that d'Auvergne did not think of me at firft, or believed that it would not be proper to make any application to me; but that afterwards, fuppofing this method was likely enough to make his peace, for he often mentioned me to the two agents, he had recourfe to it, with the well known artifice of antedating his let- ters, to prove to me that this had always been his defign. If the count had any intention to draw a promife from me, which, on this occafion, he might make ufe of as a fecurity, he deceived him- felf greatly: I fent him an anfwer indeed, but as if I had nothing more nor better to fay to him, than what I had faid before to maréchal Biron in the fame circumftances, I treated him like a ftate criminal, without augmenting his fufpicions ; the letter I wrote to Auvergne, in a word, was but a copy of that which I had written to maréchal Bi- ron ; and he could not be ignorant that it was fo, fince I acknow- ledged it plainly. It is by this counterftroke, which is doubtlefs of new invention, that I gave d'Auvergne to underftand, he ought nei- ther to attribute to the king, fuch fentiments of him as he really did not entertain, negleâ: the advice I had often given him, relating to his condudl, nor lay aftrefs upon actions and reports, that had no founda- tion but in his own unquiet confcience. This was all that I wrote to Auvergne ; and after his conviftion, this proceeding appeared fo can- did, and fo free from all artifice, that he praifed it greatly. Descures and Murat at length found the opportunity they had fo long waited for. M. de Vendome's regiment of light horfe being to be reviewed, they imparted a fcheme that they had concerted to D'Erre, who commanded it; and the general officers of this body be- ing all ready, it was effedted in the following manner: D'Erre went to the count, and told him, that he being colonel general of the light cavalry, he ought certainly to be prefcnt at this review. D'Auvergne apprehended no danger, becaufe he was not only mounted upon a horfe, which, as he faid, outftripped the wind ; and, indeed, he was accuftomed to make him gallop ten leagues without intermiflîon ; but he was M E M O î R S OF SULLY. Book XVIIL was refolved not to enter any narrow place, or to difmount during the whole time. Accordingly he came to the review. Nereflan advanced to falute him, followed only by four footmen, in appearance ; but, in reality, four flout and refolute foldiers, whom they had difguifed in liveries. At the inflant that Nereftan was paying his compliments, two of thefe foldiers feized the reins of the count's bridle, and the two ethers, at the fame time, laid hold of his legs and pulled him off his horfe, throwing themfelves upon him fo fuddenly, that he had neither time to lay his hand upon his piftols, nor draw his fword, and ll:ill lefs to fly. He was immediately conduced under a good guard, to Paris, and fhut up in the Baflile *, D'ExNTRAGUES was arrcflcd at the fame time that the count d'Au- vergne was ; and the marchionefs de Verneuil was, in fome fort, af- fociated with the two criminals, fince the king confented that fhe fiiould be confined in her houfef-, where ihe continued under the guard of the chevalier Du Guet. It was this aifociation that faved the livet of the father-in-law and the brother. At firit they had not dared to hope forfomuch lenity; nor could the public expedl it, after fuch frequent re- lapfes,efpecially as they found that preparations were making for trying them with the utmoft feverity. The count of Auvergne gave the king an exadl account of his correfpondencies, as well within as without the kingdom ; and he was obliged to give up that promife of affocia- tion made by him and the dukes of Bouillon and Biron, which has been mentioned before, and till now could never be forced from him. " * The countefs of Auvergne, as meek " and humble as the marchionefs was " haughty and imperious, having thrown " herfelf at the king's feet, with all the *•' marks of the deepell forrow, to beg his " pardon for her husband, his niajefl:)', " with great courtefy, raifed her up and " faluted her, faying thus to her, I feel the " utmoft companion for your mifery and " your tears, but if I fhould grant your " requeft, this my wife (taking the queen " by the hand) muft be declared a whore, " my fon a baftard, and my kingdom fall *' a prey to others. The fame lady hav- " ing obtained the king's permiffion to " fend one to fee her hufband, and to en- " quire of him what fhe could do for his " fervice, he fent her word, only to let " him have fome good cheefe and muftard. " and not to trouble herfelf about any thing " further." Journal of the reign of Hen- ry IV. " The count of Auvergne," fays Ame- lot in the place before quoted, " had fo en- " tire a dépendance on the fidelity of An- " thony (tliat is, the paymaftcrChevillard) " that, in three examinations he under- " went, he faid, with as much intrepidity as " if he had been entirely innocent, in this " refpeft, Gentlemen, jlmv me one fmgle " line of my writing, to prove I ever entered " into any treaty zvith the king of Spain, or " hii ambaffachr, and I will write the fen- " tcnce of my death under it, and condemn " my f elf to he quartered alive" t In the houfe of one Audicourt, in Saint Paul's-ftreet. Messages Book XVni. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 335 Messages at the fame time began to be carried between Henry 1604. and the marchionefs de Verneuil, not on the fame account; for I am l ,- > perfuaded, the reader does not expedt to fee any great feverity ufed towards her. The king could not refolve to leave her a fingle mo- ment in doubtof her pardon ; with difficulty it was that he endeavour- ed to fave appearances, by fending different meffengers to tell the marchionefs, that (he fliould purchafe this pardon, by an abfolute fub- miffion to fuch conditions as he fliould prefcribe to her. La-Varenne, Sigogne, the whole court was employed in thefe mellages, which, by the manner in which they were delivered, were indeed the real ad- vances of a lover, who ftared, notwithftanding his anger, that he fliould raife too (Irong an obllacle to his reconciliation with the ob- jedl of his paffion. The marchionefs difcovered and well knew how to make her advantage of this weaknels. I likcwife ferved Henry for an interpreter upon this occafion, although I plainly perceived that he would not come off with honour : but he infifted upon my interpofing, and I obeyed him, with an intention to make the coiï- clufion of this affair as honourable as I could for him. The firft order his majefly gave me, was to go to the marchionefs de Verneuil, and hear what fhe had to fay concerning the crimes (he was accufed of, to draw from her a confeffion of them, and make her fenfible of her ingratitude. I cannot fay that my commiffion went far- ther, unlefs one takes in feveral bitter reproaches, and fome advice which proved to be ufelefs, concerning the manner in which flie ought to have behaved to a prince who had laid fuch great obligations upcn her. I did not fee her the firft time I went to her houfe ; ihe ordered me to be told, that a defluxion which was fallen upon her face, hin- dered her from, receiving any vifits. I fent a gentleman to her, to know at what hour I fliould attend her ; but, before my meflenger was re- turned, a fervant, whom (lie had fent in the mean time, came to tell me, that fhe would lee me at two o'clock in the afternoon. I FOUND a woman whom difgrace could not humble, whofe info- lence detedlion could not abate*, and who, inftead of endeavouring to * " She faid, fhe gave hcrfelf no con- " upon the whole, flie only clcfired three " cern about dying, but that, on the con- " things of his majeity ; a pardon for her' " trary, fhe wifhed for death ; but, if the " father, a rope for her brother, and juf- " king fhould put hef to death, it would " tice for hetfelf." Journal of the reign " always be faid he had killed his wife, for of Henry IV. " On fearching her cabi- ^* that ihe was his queen before the other : " nets, adds the liune author, and mak- excufe^- 336 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XVIÎÎ. 1604. excufe herfelf, or to implore a pardon, talked in the ftyle of one who had fufFered wrongs, not given them, and pretended to demand con- ditions for herfelf; (he complained, fhe raved againft the king, made new demands, wrapped herielf up in referve, and afFedled the de- votee. I was not a perfon on whom thefe arts were to be played off; I neither flattered her pride, npr foothed her refentment ; I began with the greatell: of her crimes, and reproached her with having joined herfelf to the enemies of the ftate; I told her that flie would have reafon to think herfelf happy, if her punifhment was confined to a permiffion to banifli herfelf out of the kingdom, to end her days in any country but Spain ; and that this favour would not be granted her, till Ihe had fubmitted to be examined as a criminal, and afked the king's pardon for her difobedience. I PROCEEDED in the next place, to her infolent behaviour towards the queen. I made her fenfible, that to offend, as flie had done, a princefs, who was her queen and miftrefs *, by a thoufand injurious re- flexions, vvas to attack the king himfelf, and expofe her own perfon to a fevere punifliment : I reproached her with her ridiculous affeâation of equalling herfelf to the queen, and her children to the children of France ; with her haughty and infolent behaviour ; and efpecially her malignity in fowing difcord between their majefties : and added, that flae would be compelled to throw herfelf at the queen's feet, to im- plore her pardon for all the faults (he had committed againft her. Nor did I fpare her upon her pretended devotion to which /lie had recourfe, not fcrupling, at the fame time, to violate her principal du- ties to the king, the queen, and the ftate. I told her plainly, that this fhewof regularity was mere grimace and affed:ation, which I proved by entering into a detail of her whole life, to let her fee that I was well informed of her amours. I even mentioned them all particularly, to deprive her of her ufual excufe, that they exifted only in the jealous imagination of the king; and thence drew anew fubjeélof fhame and confufion for her with regard to this prince, whom flie fo grofly abufed. I fliewed her what (he would have done if her inclination for a reli- gious life had been a real return towards God ; and aflured her, that " ing an inventory of all her papers, many * " She fometimes faid, that, if juflice " love letters (the implements of her trade) " were done her, (he ought to be in the " were found amongfi: them, fome of " place of that clumfy tradsfwoman." " which were from Sigognc, whkh occa- Perefixe. fioned his difgrace." h IS Book XVIir. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. ^i^^ his majefty would never have oppofed her retreat into a convent, if 1604. he had perceived in her behaviour any figns of true devotion. I GAVE her, at length, all forts of good counfels, which indeed fhe did not defire, nor was difpofed to follow. She ought, at leaft, to have appeared willing to do fo ; but flie contented herfelf with anfwering coldly, after hearing me the whole time with great indifference, that fhe thanked me, and would confider of what I had faid. When I afked her what caufes of complaint fhe had received that had thus car- ried her to violate her duty to the king, her anfwer was, that if the king had afked her this queftion, he would have been to blame, fmce he knew them better than any other perfon ; and if it came from my- felf, I was no lefs fo, lince I had no means of fatisfying it. Continuing flill to queflion her, I afked what it was that fhe re- quefled of his majefty ? She anfwered, that although flie knew well the king's inclinations would not be conformable to hers on this article, vet fhe flill perfifted to demand permillion for herfelf, her father, mo- ther, brother, and her children, to go and fettle themfelves fome- where out of France : and added, in naming her brother, that he fuffered only on account of his affeâion for her. I could hardly per- fuade myfelf this refolution was fincere. I contrived it fo as to make her repeat it feveral times, and fhe never varied from it in the fmalleft article. It was natural enough that the rage and grief fhe conceived at the imprilbnment of her family, and the treatment flie herfelf fuffered, lliould make her form fuch a defign ; and the conditions flie annexed to it abfolutely convinced me that fhe was in earnefl. Upon my obliging her to explain herfelf farther as to this intended retreat nut of the kingdom, flie faid, that flie would not go among foreigners to ftarve ; the queen fhould not have the fatisfaftion to know that flîe dragged on a miferable life in poverty and exile. She therefore infifled that an eftatc in lands fliould be given her of a hundred thoufand francs at leafl, which was but a trifle, after all fhe might have lawfully expedted from the king. Thefe words, which fhe pronounced with great bitternefs, doubtlefs related to the promife of marriage given her by Henry, the lofs of which had affedled her flrongly : and fhe en- deavoured, but in vain, to conceal her rage from me. I HAD never formed to myfelf any great expeftations from an in- terview with the marchionefs of Verneuil ; but I could not help laying Vol. II. X X fome MEMOIRS OF SULLT. Book XVIII. fonie flrefs upon her repeated requeft, to be allowed to fettle out of the kingdom ; the more I refleded on it, the more I was con- vinced that it was the only method by which this whole intrigue * could be unravelled j and all which now remained to be done, was to prevail upon Henry to confent to this propofal of the marchionefs, by which he would remove from his eyes an objedl that drew him into continual weakneiTes, and purchafe the future peace and tranquility of his family. Money was all that was required of him to procure thefe advantages : ought the effort then to be fo painful ? I was de- termined to ufe my utmoil endeavours to accomplifti it. I WENT to his majefty; and, after giving him an account of the fuccefs of my commiffion-, propofed to him the expedient that pre- fented itfelf to free him from all his uneafinefs. I was not furprifed to find, that it did not appear fo happy to him as it had done to me ; but I was armed with flrong arguments of every kind to fupport it : what did I not fay to this prince ? what perfualion did I not ufe ? Policy, in- tereft, quiet, reafon, each of thefe motives I dwelt upon, andexhaufted all ; I brought to his remembrance his own unfavourable opinion of this woman and her family ; I repeated circumftances fo much the more likely to re-kindle his anger, as they had already often produced that effed: ; the harfli epithets he had given the countefs d'Entragues and her daughters ; the intrigues fo well known and fo inconteftable, that had given caufe for them ; the fum of money granted by his order, to pay for an imaginary facrifice in the firil favour, which he confelfed, at the fame time, was no longer in the power of his miftrefs to beftow ; * M. de Sully had made Henry IV.^lofe " thoufand crowns, but very difRcult to a ftvourable opportunity of getting hand- " find out the means to raife them, the fomely rid of his miflrefs, if we may believe " chancellor, without taking notice of BalTompierre's Memoirs, where the thing " what he faid, went on ; Sire, I am of is thus related, vol. I. p. 90. " The king " opinion, that you fhould take two hun- ♦' afked, whether he Ihould give Madam " dred thoufand good crowns, and if that " de Verneuil any thing to enable her to " is not fufficient, three hundred thoufand, " marry a prince, who, flie told him, was " or, in fliort, any other fum that may be *' willing to have her, provided (he had a " fufficient, and give them to this fair lady " hundred thoufand crowns more than Ihe " to get her a husband ; this, I repeat it, is " then was worth. M. de Belliévre faid, " my advice. The king repented after- " Sire, I am of opinion it will be well " wards, he did not follov/ this advice." " worth your while to give that lady a But fuppofmg this pretended match to he *' hundred thoufand crowns, if (he can fomething more than a mere artifice of the " find a good match by that means : to lady's, I believe it mifcarried through Hen- " which M. de Sully aiifwering, that it ry IVth's fault rather than the duke of " was an eafy matter to talk of a hundred Sully's. the Book XVIIL MEMOIRS OF SULLY. the untimely birth of the infant by a ftorm, and other anecdotes of the fame nature, capable of difgufling a delicate lover. Never before had I made a difcourfe fo pathetic, nor, in my own opinion, fo con- vincing : all my tendernels for the honour of this prince was alarmed by the fhame I faw ready to overwhelm him ; I entreated, I implored, everypowerofperfuafion I exerted ; I was not difcouraged by an ineffe- dtual attempt : again I returned to the charge; my zeal became per- fecution; and fometimes carried me out of myfelf, as it did in a con- verfation we had in the garden, belonging to the Conciergerie at Fon- tainebleau, where we fpoke fo loud, as to be heard by Baftien and Brunault. Nothing was ever more fingular or incomprehenfible ; a prince, ■whofe great qualities might ferve as a model for other monarchs to form themfelves upon, reduces us to the necefTity of either throwing a veil over one part of that heroic mind, or of confefling that it difhonours the other. I take, without hefitation, this laft path, while I lament the force of human frailty, for I hold myfelf under an obligation to do it ; and fhould think I had laboured but by halves for the inilrudion of mankind in general, and of princes in particular, if I threw any part of this piéture into fhade. I therefore open to them the recefTes of that heart, where lb much greatnefs was blended with fo much weaknefs, that, by the contraft, each may become more confpicuous ; and that they may be upon their guard againft that dan- gerous paffion, fo capable of infpiring fliameful affecSlions, and of taint- ing their fouls with vices abhorred before ; mean artifices, cowardly fears, jealoufy, rancour, rage, and even perjury and lies. Yes, I repeat it again, perjury and lies ; Henry, that man on every other occafion fo upright, fo open, fo fincere, became acquainted with all thefe vices, ■when he abandoned himfelf to love. I often found that he deceived me by falfe confidances, when he was under no obligation to enter into true ones ; that he feigned returns to reafon, and refolutions which his heart rejeded ; in a word, that he pretended to be afliamed of his fetters, when he fecretly vowed never to break them. It was but too true, that he was infedled with that jealoufy his mif- trefs publicly reproached him with. This was eafy to be perceived by the efforts he made to fupplant rivals, whom he was too weak to defpife, and too timid to puniih. " Aut Ca^far, aut nihil," fays he, in one of his letters to me. What a flrange contraft of caprices and ex- travagances ! He was convinced that the marchionefs of Verneuil X X 2 had 3^0 M EMOIRS OF SULLY, Book XVIIL 1604. had recourfe to the afFedlation of devotion to conceal her libertinifm ; <— — V— — ' and this convidtion pierced his heart with a thoufand cruel and infup- portable wounds ; but he felt, no lefs forcibly, the delight which the deûre of triumphing over a real devotion gives to a depraved heart. One of thofe caprices which moil; furprifed me, and perfuaded me that it was abfolutely impoflible to cure this unhappy prince, wasj that at thofe very times when he appeared moft cool and indifferent in all he faid of his miftrefs, yet the letters he wrote to be fliewn to her, exprefled quite contrary fentiments. I have made the fame obfervation of the marchionefs, but with lefs furprife. It mufi; be therefore, thai thefe lovers, amidft the wildeft tranfports of their anger,could not hinder themfelves from ftill depending a little upon the latent tendernefs of each other; and that their tendernefs ftill fubfifted without their perceiv ing it themfelves : or that the king, ingenious in finding out methods to debafe himfelf, had a long time before furniflied his miftrefs with arms againft him, which he would not oblige her to make ufe of, by driving her to extremities : or laftly, and this is the leall: unfavourable judgment that can be formed of this prince, that fome private tranf' aftions had pafled between them, which Henry, through regret or fhame, could not refolve to. impart to me,, or to any one whatever. I HAVE thrown together all that relates to the prefent fubjetfl, al* though part of the fadls, as has been feen, fuch as the feizing of the count d'Auvergne, and the procefs carried on againft his family, did not happen till towards the end of the year, that I might not be obliged to interrupt the narration fo frequently *. I ftiall refume it at the ■* I here fubjoin an anecdote of Vittorio danger to come to fee her at Maleflierbes, Siri's, relating to the amours of Henry IV. which place is but 'hree leagues diftant and the confplracy of the count of Au- from that palace : and truly, Henry imme- vergne. This writer afferts, Mem. recond, diately fcnt mefTage after mefTage to ma- vol. I. p. 297, that one ohje£tof this con- demoifelle d'Entragues, by fome of hfs fpiracy was to feizc the king's perfon, by courtiers difguifed in the habit of peafants. laying an ambufcade for him, and then put- Her anfwer to which was, that fhe was fo ting him to death; and that d'Entragues, clofely watched, that there was not the who had undertaken the execution of this lead: probability of her being able to fee the projeft, intended to make ufe of the paf- king. At lafi: he could n >l forbear going fion he had difcovered the kLng to have there in perfon, accompanied by maréchal newly conceived for hii fécond daughter, Baflbmpierre ; and not daring to go into who is reprefented as much handfomer than the houfe for fear of being difcovered, he her fifter, to draw him into the fnare. He was obliged to content himfelf with fpeak- therefore fent his wife to fetch her away ing to her at the window of a lower room : from Fontainebleau, making no queftion he wrote to her every day, and fcnt her but the king would expofe himfelf to any verfes of gallantry, which he got the beft beginning Book XVIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. !4i beginning of the following year, that we may fee the event, after I 1604. have given, in this, an account of fome. other matters very ditEbrent ' s- — from thofe. I have been treating. poets of the court to compofe for him. At laft they agreed to meet one another on a day appoimcd, at a certain place, in a mea- dow named by the king, v/here they might be at full liberty, and where he promifed to come in difguife. D'Entragues feemed to be entirely ignorant of all this contri- vance : but either having mentioned to his daughter, or accidentally given her fome reafon to fufptcl his defign, whether fhe really loved the king, or was appre- henfive of the confequences, fhe broke off the appointment, and took other precau- tions againft the danger to which Henry IV. was going to expofe hicnfelf on her account. The king, wearii.d out by fo many obfta- cles to his wifhes, renewed i is amour with the marchionefs of \'crncuil ; and, if we may believe Siri, often was expofed to the fame dangers with her : one day in particu- lar, as he was going in difguife from Fon- tainebleau to vifit her at Verneuil, he fo narrowly avoided filling into the hands of fifteen or fixteen of D'Entragues' relations, who were upon the watch for him in the fields, in order to aniiilinate him, tiiat his efcaping them may be confidered as a par- ticular inflancc of his good fortune. But, as thefe circumftances are not taken notice of in any memoirs of credit of thofe times, they feem to be only fome of thofe flrokes, with which a foreigner, on the authority of popular report, may think he has a right to enliven his fubjed:. Mademoifelle d'Entragues, of whom we have been fpcaking, fecms to be her of ETenry the IVth's miftrellès, whom he has celebrated under the name of Lifa : and there are ftill iome original pieces of poetry in being which he feiit hcrj amongfè others a fonnet, of which I fhall only repeat ■ the four firfl: verfes : ye neffals par où commencer, A louer votre grande beauté \ Car il n'ejl rien, ni na été, ^/e vous ne puijjès effacer, l^c. What tongue can tell, what words exprefs, The beauties of thy charming face : Since all we've feen, and all we fee. Appears but as a foile to thee, &c. What follows is in the fame flrain. Though there is a remark at the head of this fcnnet, of the hand-writing of Henry IV. that it was made by Collin, a poet whofe pen that prince often was pleafed to make ufe of in works of this kind, thefe compofitions are neither too corredt, nor too poetical, to prevent our believing Henry himfelf mijht be the author of them, or at leaft in fonis degree concerned in them. U E M O I R S E M O I R O F U L L Y. BOOK XIX. ^ ^' , ^ K ^ H E king, from the year 1602, looking out fora fafe and i convenient place where he might lay up his revenues, and the -^ money which he fet apart for the execution of his defigns, fixed upon the Baftile, where he ordered cherts to be made, and all other neceflary conveniences : for this article he was obliged to publifli a regulation that might bring this new difpofition of money into me-» thod, to prevent the confufion of different offices, and to hinder the receivers from being entangled with the chamber of accounts : the regulation was thus. "b No money was to be carried to the Baftile but that which remained clear in the king's hands; all charges, both ordinary and extraordinary, being firft taken out of the revenues of the quarter in which they fell. The money was put into the hands of the treafurer in office, in the pre- fenceof the fuperintendant of the finances, and thecomptroller-general, who at that time was John de Vienne ; the comptroller and I had each of us a key, and the treafurer had likewife a third ; when his year of of- fice was over he received a certificate, figned by me and Vienne, of the fums that had been put in the king's chefts during his adminiftration ; this he put into the hands of his fucceflbr, and received from him an acquittance, which he was at liberty to Ihew as his difcharge. The new Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. new .treafurer had a right to know whether the certificate was exaâ", by inlpeiSting the money contained in the treafury j upon this acquit- tance, the treafurer was authorifed to draw up his account, which the chamber of accounts was obhged topafs without further examination. • His majefty was of opinion, that he ought early to pubHdi his in- tentions and juftify his condudl, both with refpeft to that accumulation of riches, and to the changes which had been already made, and which were flill to be made in the finances. This was done in a council ex- traordinarily aflembled for this purpofe. The chancellor received from the king, and publifhed, the lift of thofe who were to compofe the council, confifting of deputies of the fovereign courts of Paris, named by his majefty, the principal members of his council, and the chief adminiftrators of juftice, the revenues, and police. They met on the appointed day in the great clofet of the Louvre, which is at the end of the guard-room, joining that of the king's chamber. When they were all alTembled the king came in, and having ordered the whole aflTembly to be feated, he explained to them the motives of his condudl, in a difcourfe of which this is the fuhftance : The civil wars, he told them, had reduced the revenues of the kingdom to fuch a ftate, that the annual income was fcarce fufficient to clear the annual debt ; and it was neceflary therefore to improve the ftate of affairs, not only by enquiries and profccutions, which had already fo far benefited the na- tion, that it was cleared of pirt of the debt, but likewife to form new funds, that if there fhould either happen a war of confequence, or a troublefome minority, the king might neither be obliged to become bankrupt, nor to let public affairs fink into their former confufion, to fupport the expences which could not otherways be raifed for this pur- pofe ; that the beft ufe was to be made of peaceable times, in which there was nothing of that kind to be dreaded; that the means necef- fary to this, which however fliould be praftifcd, without doing any mifchief by precipitation, were the extinction of revenues granted by the ftate on feveral pretences, the reimburfement of offices, and the refumption of crown-lands that had been given away. His majefty was refolved to begin by examining the feveral grants of revenues ; and this was to be entered upon this very year : upon this head he let fall an exprelTion to prepare their minds for the juft feverity of this procedure, by fiying, that in the firft place he ftiould endeavour to make a rigorous difcrimination between thofe that had really paid in money the principal of the arrears, which they were now MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Boofc XIX. now receiving back from the king's revenues, and thofe v/ho had made falfe claims upon the king. Henry added, that he reckoned fo much upon the ceconomy with which he intended to manage his revenues for the time to come, that he confidered a defign which required the amaffing of large fums in the trealury, as by no means inconfiftent with his purpofe of eafing the people by leflening the taxes, which he fhould always keep before his eyes. He exhorted the alTembly to affift fuch juft and upright intentions, and direâed that they fliould twice a day, during eight days, deliberate maturely upon this proportion, and at the end of that time, fliould lay before him the refult of their deliberation. He promifed to follow any good fcheme that fliould be offered, with the fame fincerity which he had difcovered in im- parting his own ; and not to forget thofe who fliould give proofs on this occafion of their regard for the public. Assemblies of this kind are, in my opirtion, not to be condemned, tven when they are only called to keep up a form which may be of no great ufe, lince they ferve, it may be faid, no other purpofes than to notify to the minifters, with lefs appearance of abfolute power, the decrees of the prince already fixed in a fccret council. This very af- fembly did not efcape this refledtion ; the propofal of the king, tho' in itfelf unqueflionably juft and beneficial to the community, did not meet with the more approbati. n for its ufefulnefs. I know not what will be faid on this occafionby the aflertors of the authority of the people, but I for my part am of opinion, and multitudes of in- ftances like this fufficiently prove it to be juft, that the defigns of a good and wife king muft not be at all times, and in every fituation, the fame with thofe of the people. The confiderations which re- gulate popular opinions are feldom free from intereft or paffion, and never, or almoft never, reach farther than the prefent. Thofe who judge beft are themfelves deceived by their own fenfe of intereft, and feem, one by one, to have determined, though they will not confefs, and perhaps do not know it, to procure their own fatisfadion, with" out any care about the future. This corruption arifes from the defire natural to man, of prefent happinefs ; and unhappily it falls out in government as in policy, that there may be juft reafons for deferring this completion of felicity for ten, twenty, or fifty years, and fometimes for a longer time. What means can be contrived to make this delay not offenfive to the common people, and even to thofe who, tho' they have more knowledge, have the Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. the fame p^Tions with the vulgar. The cafe is otherwife with a wife and good king, or with a minifter who reprefents him, and performs the aiits of government. His indinations, it is true, ought to be diredled to the good of the fubjeds, but he always knows, that by catching too foon at happÏTîefs, it is almofl always miffed, and that there is no pro- portion between the real evils into which men are plunged by fuch miftaken precipitations, and the vexations merely ideal and imaginary, which are complained of by thofe that think they want fomething. Happy is the public when it is governed by fuch principles of policy, as put it in the way to tranquility ; all regard to fhort-lived and tranfitory advantage is cafi afide in confideration of general good, and a wife king is not lefs a father of thofe fubjeds who fliall live at the diftance of three or four generations, than of thofe who live in his own time; and con- fiders the falfe tendernefs which he might have fliewn to his own time, at the expence of fucceeding ages, as the partiality of a father in favour of fome of his children, which is to end in the ruin of his family. The fcheme, which Henry had formed for the intereft of his king- dom, making it neceffary that he fhould take all meafures to encreafe his revenues, inftead of making all thofe,defalcations about which fome who pretended great zeal for his fervice were continually talking to him, he required my private advice. The advance which I had made in the knowledge of the finances enabled me to difcover fome fources of large profit which would very little burthen the people; of thefe I put nine into a memorial which I prefented to his majefty as follows : 1. The contradlors who in late times managed the chief farms of the revenue, had, under pretence of feveral employments which they reprefented as neceffary, mifapplied the money which they had re- ceived, and made thofe fums pafs in their accounts, to the ruin of the exchequer, which was reprefented as having received them, though not a penny came to it. By this article alone the crown was robbed of feveral millions. Of thefe accounts and details I therefore demand- ed an exaél revifal, that I might lay hold on the contradtors, who had not been able fo completely to conceal themfelves under the different names by which they carried on their robberies, but that I fliould be able to trace them. 2. The clergy of France had, by the mouths of the cardinals, arch- bifhops, and biûiops, accufed Caftille, their receiver-general, of having detained their money. The petition which had been prefented to me. Vol. II. Y y was 346 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XIX. 1604. was accompaniedwithanaccountof thearticlesofaccufationfopofitively and clearly ftated, that nothing remained but that the king fhould re- claim the immenfe fum which the receiver appeared to have embezzled. 3. All the managers of the finances, and the people of bufineis, particularly the treafurers of France, who had contributed much to the ruin of the finances, might be aflbciated with Caftille, by the erec- tion of a chamber of juftice ; which muft produce great advantages^ if private intrigues and fecret artifices could be kept out, by which- thefe enquiries are often defeated. 4. The abufes in the alienation of the king's lands were fo grofs,, that many of thofe who had them in their hands held them by mere ufurpation, without any title ; and the others had them at a price fo fcandaloufly low, that they were repaid by the income of the very firft year at fix per cent, which was the intereft then current. Of this I made his majefty fully fenfible, who would not fuffer thefe alienations to be exadlly verified, that he might be drawn to confent to the re- fumption of all thofe poifefiions, or to fome meafures for obliging the pofiTeflbrs to pay the true price. 5. In the other ofiices and employments there was the fame cor- ruption to be removed by the fame means; the perfons in pofleffioa were to be obliged to fupply the déficiences' of their firft payment ia proportion to their falaries, or to give back their employments for the fame fum for which they had purchafed them. 6. The debts due to the Swifs Cantons were, by a bad regulation, fo far from being lefi"ened, that they had been always encreafing.^ t had already made fuch an alteration in that part of our affairs, that by the feafonable payment of one million, I had obtained an acquittance of eight; half of it reckoned to the principal and half to the arrears; and by taking the fame method with the reft, the public was foon cleared of that debt. 7. As it was eafy for the king to recover the poffeflion of the crown lands that were alienated, fo it was of great advantage to him to alie- nate I know not how many little parts of them, confifting in ground- rents, and particular claims, of which the expences for repairs, leafes and receiving, fometimes under pretence of profecutions, fometimes of drawbacks, and improvements, were rifen, by the connivance of the treafurers îîooK XIX. MEMOIRSOFSULlV. 347 treafurers of the finances, who alone made their advantage of them, 1604. to fuch a prodigious heighth, that according to a calculation which I >> made, by reckoning ten years, one with another, a fifth part mufli have been added, before a fingle penny could come to the king. This was the chief fource of plunder to the officers of the revenue. By alie- nating all thefe parts at the rate for money fettled by the lafl edidt, the king would be more than doubly a gainer, becaufe he might buy with the money, which this rate would bring in, thofe parts of this re- venue which were mortgaged at ten per cent. 8. The profit was yet greater with refpedl to therefiimption of the royal revenues that had been alienated ; lome of the contractors had oftered me to purchafe them back to the king for forty millions, with- out obliging him to repay any part of the fum, provided he would let them take their choice of the part to be purchafed, and allow them to enjoy them for a certain number of years, after which they would reftore them to the crown clear of all debts and incumbrance. The king, inftead of accepting their propofal, had nothing to do but to get himfelf the money which they would have gotten by the bargain. 9. France had in her hand the infallible means of drawing to her- felf all the commerce of the Ocean and Mediterranean, and to fee them, without any great expence, in the middle of her provinces : all this would coft her nothing but the labour of cutting a canal from the Seine to the Loire, from the Loire to the Saone, and from the Saone to the Meufe* ; and the firil: glance of this projeft prefents us with * Before the duke of Sully came into they are yet far from being impoflible. the miiiillry, it had never been thought of The joining rivers, and making roads, in France to derive any advantage from which render the communication either of the rivers ; to which, neverthelefs, it mufl different provinces, or different parts of the be owned, the kingdom is indebted for its iame province, more eafv and commodious, wealth and commerce. He began with the arc perh.Tps the two moft important objefts canal of Briare, but was not able to pro- to which a wife government can apply its ceed farther. Perhaps nothing will contri- attention in time of peace ; and by employ- bute fo much to render the reign of Lewis ing the foldiery, who are at fuch times ufe- the Great immortal, as that wonderful ca- lefs, or that prodigious number of beggars, nal for joining the two feas : the great be- who are always fo, in performing works of hefits rcfulting to the nation from thefe this nature, they will be executed at a mo- undertakings, fo happily executed, palling derate expence. Idlenefs, which generally over the example Holland affords us, points makes beggars and vagabonds turn thieves out to us what remains to be farther done, and robbers, at the fame time will be ba- and at the fame time proves, that however nifhed from the nation, and commerce in- difEcult attempts of this nature may appear, troduced into every, part of it. Y V 2 moro M; E M O I R s OF SULLY. Book XIX. more than two millions a year, which we fliould get from Spain alone, and which would be real and folid wealth, as all that is which-, is produced by commerce. I ENTERED into a long feries of particulars, when I gave in my re- port to the king J and I accompanied it with a paper, in which I- cleared up the reality of fome of the revenues which were not com- prifed in thefe articles. The prince, who certainly expefted a very different fcheme, and whofe natural livelinefs of temper kept him from attending to my difcourfe fo clofely as was neceffary, railed at firll a thoufand difficulties to all my defigns ; he faid, that indeed the fchemes were great, but fome of them were wild and unfettled ; others of no- great profit ; fome difficult to be executed, and fome hard to be made confiflent with each other. All this was becaufe he did not under- ftand them. I knew well enough what his majefty was wanting, and what propoflil would have fuited his inclination : an augmentation of the cuftoms, creation of new offices, or a further alienation of his Grown lands : if I would have fbewn him a fcheme which I had my- felf drawn up upon thefe means of raifmg money, I might have brought fourfcore millions of ready coin into his coffers ; befides fixty millions more, by letting a leafe of five millions a year, to which Ihad raifed fix of his farms above their former value. But I eafily brought the king to allow, that though thefe methods were eafily praticable, they, were at the fame time very burthenfome to the people ; that we ought not to have recourfe to them but in the moft preffing exigencies, and that the leifure of a time of peace fhould be employed in carrying on meafures that required more time and application. Such were the nine fchemes that I had laid before him, of which I affured him, that although he feemed to rate them at fo little, yet if they were ildlfully managed and brought on one after another, they would in time make him richer than he was by two hundred millions. The king fell into my opinion, and we determined to begin by the re-eftablifhment of the public revenue, when I had (liewn, by good i It is neceflary there fhould be fome prin- whole machine. Much trouble might be cipal center for the riches of a nation ; but faved in ftudying the nature of thofe lecret neverthelefs other cities Ihould not fall a fprings which give motion to the moft mi- facrifice to the capital ; which being in the nute branches of commerce, were due at- body politic, what the heart is in the hu- tention given to that fimple and obvious man body, conftantly receiving tlie blood, principle, of only fupplying the country and as conftantly propelling it, even to the people with the means of living ia eafe and . moft extreme parts,, they cannot be depriv- plenty. cd of it without bringing a languor on the extrads Book XIX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. ^^^ extratSls and authentic papers out of the chamber of accounts, the 1604. court of aids, and other offices, that this regulation would, without the leaft injuftice, bring fix millions into the royal treaibry. He en- gaged in this afterwards fo warmly, that he (lie wed the higheft impa- tience to begin, and never writ me a letter in which he did not men- ,tion it. To fucceed in this, I thought it neceflary that a new council or office fliould be ercdled ; to this an oppofition was made by the chamber of accounts, but no regard was had to their arguments. This council was compofed of Chateau-neuf, Calignon, and Jeannin, the prefidents De Thou and Tambonneau alternately, and of Rebours ; a treafurer, and a regilter, who were Le-Gras, and Regnouard ; and I was the chief of it, and prefent at it as often as my other bufinefs would give me leave ; but whether I was there or not every thing went forward according to a fcheme which I had drawn as the rule * of their operations. All our proceedings would be tedious to relate, it is fufficient to fay, that I had made a clear and exadl diftindbion be- tween the grants made at different times and from different funds; fome had been bought for the payment of the third part of their price in ready money, fome for half, others for the whole fum ; there were fome that had coft their poffeffors very little, fome were obtained by mere fraud, and others honeitly procured ; thefe laft were never touched otherwife than to fettle them more fecurely according to their original condition ; as for the reft, according to the degree of fraud and injuftice with which they had been procured, we either ftruck them entirely off, or ordered the full purchafe to be paid j there were fome, of which the poffeffors were obliged to pay back the arrears, which they had fo unjufllygot into their poffeffion ; and others, who, for having embezzled the arrears, were obliged to dedudl them from the principal, which it was fo much eafier to pay off. The public gained another advantage, by fuppreffing a number of receivers of the revenue, who were an ulelefs burthen upon it, and of whom I left only one remaining. The enquiry which I had fchemed out againft monopolizers and officers of the revenue was afterwards carried on by the ereâion of a chamber of iuftice ; but as the corrupt man.igement of folicitation and interceffion was not cut off, nothing was produced, but the common confequence, the chief criminals efcaped, and thofe who were lefs con- fideiable lijffered all the feverity of the law : fome remedy was found * A more particular detail is given of thefe regulations in the old Memoirs ; thofe concerned in the revenue may there have an opportunity of confulting them, for ; MEMOIRS QF SULLY. Book XîX» for this abufe, at leafl in the time immediately following my enquiry j for Itook great care, that when any man was found guilty of corrup-i tion he fhould be immediately puni(hed. Exadt information vva§ given of thofe that were committed at Rouen. Mankind now began to give to all thefe ftrokes of art the name that they deferved ; and thofe unlawful gains which had i^o long impoverillied France, and en- riched the officers of the revenue, were treated, without cctemony, aâ robbery and rapine ; and honefty began to Iliew her head in a fane- tuary where flie had never refided before. The treafurers of France having this year prefented their accounts full of blanks for nonpayment, I could think of no better method to cure them of a practice which I very much fufpefted of diflionefty, than to aflign them thefe pretended blanks for the payrOient of their next year's wages. The removal of Drouart, whofe place was given to Montauban, and foiiie other flrokes of the fame kind, taught the chief of thefe men of bufinefs to do their duty, and to do it well. By a decree paffed againfl: one Le-Roi, they were forbidden, under a pe* nalty of an hundred thoufand livres, to take any foreigner as a partner in the king's farms. This decree was declared in the name of Charley Du-Han, farmer-general of the five great farms, to the chief perfons interefted in the revenue, and the other farms of the king at Paris, and the other principal cities in the kingdom. 1 COMPLAINED to the king of an invafion made by the parliament of Touloufe on his authority, by forbidding any corn to be carried out of the province of Languedoc I was informed of this by thz treafurers of the province, becaufe it threatened the ruin of the foreign cuftoms, the farmers of which demanded a very confiderable abate- ment : it likewife reduced both the galleys and thegarrilbns into ditfi- culties, as they were generally vidtualled from that part of the kingdom. The four hundred thoufand livres raifed by augmenting the taille, kito which half of the tax of a penny in the fliilling had been changed, continued ftill to be paid ; as likewife the other half, laid upon mer-, çhandifes : tho' the edid: by which thefe taxes were eftabliihed was fettled but for two years. The officers of the revenue made reprefen- tations to the king upon this account : they complained of the low va- lue to which certain farms were fallen which depended upon com- merce with Spain, by the prohibition of that trade, as well as by the multiplicity of edids daily iffued by the council, and which they re- prefented Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. prefented as more dangerous to the public, than the taille itfelf. I allow, for my part, that their complaints were juft, and had myfelf remonftrated to the king long before them. He had written two let- ters upon this fubjeft, one to the council, in which he ihewed them, that the prefent ftate of affairs, and particularly the armament of Spain, did not allow him to make any abatement in his revenues fcr the prefent year ; and the other to me, to prevail upon the council to come into his opinion. I GAVE him what affiftance was in my power, as grand mafler of the ordnance. The arfenal was at that time flored with an hundred pieces of cannon ; there were in the galleries, fmall arms for fifteen thoufand foot, and three thoufand horle ; and in the Temple and at, the Baftile, were two millions of pounds of powder, and a hundred' thoufand bullets. I remember, that one day as Henry was walking with me in the arfenal, he feemed alarmed at the number and power of the enemies that threatened him : but I fhewed him the formidable ftore, by which hé would be able to bring them all to terms. He then demanded a lift of his arms, ammunition, and artillery, with a' fummary account of his ready money, and what could be added to it, in the year 160- and 1606. He entered into my cabinet, and made my fecretaries write thefe minutes, that he might have them always ih his pocket. The regulation and difcipline of the foldiers was' afi article of go- vernment mofi; necelTary to be confidered in order to its reformation. It is hard to conceive, that, in a nation which from its firft eftablifliment has been engaged in war, and has indeed purfued no other trade than that of arms, no care fliould have been hitherto taken to form and methodife them. Whatever related to the foldiery of France, was offenlive and difgufting. The foot foldiers were enlifled by vio- lence, and made to march by a cudgel ; their pay was uniuftly Vv'ith- held, they heard of nothing but a prifon, and had nothing before their eyes but a gibbet. This treatment drove them into all me- thods of defertioii, Vv-hich was prevented only by the prevots, who kept them in their camp like men beheged : the officers themfelvcs being ill paid, had fome kind of right to violence and plunder. Henry would often fay, and he fpoke acco ding to his own experience, that the public could never be well fcrved, till the troops were put into ■ another ftate. The MEMOIRS G F SULLY. Book XIX. The fîrft point, on which this new regulation muft depend, was exadnefs of payments, which the king began by fettUng it i'o, that, for the future, it could neither be delayed, nor the money appointed for it applied to any other ufe. This regulation was followed by another equally juft and equally proper to reconcile the mind to the trade of arms : by this there was a provifion made for the relief of foldiers, when, by wounds or ficknefs contrafted in the fervice, they were unable to live either by war or labour : things were managed fo, that, in this flate of mifery, they wanted nothing, either for their maintenance, or their cure *. The liberty with which I have cxprefTed myfelf concerning the king's faults gives me a right to praife him for his good qualities. He was born with the virtues and method of ceconomy, and therefore pradifed them without any conftraint : particular details of bufinefs were to him merely an amufement. Princes who engage perfonally in the adminiftration of government, fall commonly into one of thefe two inconveniences ; either they are incapable of fubmitting to moderate views, or they cannot raife them to any heighth. The mind of Henry adapted itfelf with the fame eafe to things fmall or great, of which his letters give fufficient evidence, and a way that was then ufed of applying to him immediately, fometimes for mere trifles, fhew it ftill more plainly. There had been long due two hundred and fifty crowns to a wine merchant of Gifors, who had formerly furniflîed the houfhold with wine. His maiefly fent me to pay him, and to recompence him * By the king's edi<5l, dated the 7th of hofpital of Mars, or the Invalids, a menu- July 1 605 (for poiTibly this affair could not ment alone fufficient to immortalize his me- be concluded till the year after) his ma- mory. This houfe of chriftian charity was jefty granted to the gentlemen, officers, before this only an hofpital, without any and foldiers difabled in his fervice, the royal revenue belonging to it, built by Henry III. houfe of chriftian charity, built with the for maimed foldiers; it flood in the fub- money arifing from the furplus of the ac- urbs of faint Marcellus, in the ftreet called counts of hofpitals, alm-houfes, and fpitals rue de l'Ourfine, and was ready to fall for lepers, &c. and from the penfions of down. Two years after, Henry IV. alfo lay-monks, and the oblats -f : the fuperin- caufed the hofpital of Saint Lewis to be tendance of it belonged to the high confia- built ; for this purpafe, he granted to the ble of France. This eftabliftiment has fince Hôtel Dieu, ten fous on every minot J of been chan-ed, or rather totally abolifhed, fait, within the diftriâ of Paris, during fif- by what Lewis the great fubftituted in its teen years, and five fous for ever, ftead, in building and endowing the royal f Lay-Monks or oblats, were foldiers difabled in the king's fervice, who had the maintenance of a monk alTigned to them on the revenues of an abbey, as a reward for their fervice. X A minot oi fait contains four French bufhels, and is fomething lefs than an EngUfh bu(hel. for Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ^553 for the delay, " my confcience, fays he, obliges me to pity that poor 1 604. " man." I have, perhaps, told too many of thefe kind of ftories ; ' but my book would make quite another kind of a figure, if Iprefent- ed to the public all the letters which the king wrote to me. As to thofe other ideas that had a higher objed:, eithe' of intcreft, of glory, or public happinefs, the king never loft fight of ihem, either in his vexations or his plcafiu-es : that he m'ght know whether my idcaj agreed with his, he made many enquiries ; and concluded at laft, that I flîould give him an enumeration of all thofe things, by which I thought the glory of a powerful kingdom might be deftoyed or ful- lied. I thought therewas no better way of complying with his in- tention, than that of prefenting him a fketch, v/ritten with fuch fim- plicity, and with fuch few ufelefs ornaments of ftyle, that he might at once glance it over: it contained an enumeration, without proof or expofition, of thofe abufes which commonly find their way into pub- lic affairs. I here lay it before my readers, to whom it may fervc as a compendium of the principles, which they have feen, and muft ex- pea: to fee, diffufed through thefe Memoirs. The caufes of the ruin or decline of monarchies are exorbitant fub- iidies, monopolies, chiefly thofe relating to corn ; negledl of merchan- dife, trade, agriculture, arts, and manufadtories ; the great number of public employments, the fees, and exceilive authority of men in of- fice ; the coft, the delavj and the injufticc of tribunals; idlenefs, luxury, and all that is connedled with it, debauchery and corruption of manners, confufion of ranks, changes of the value of money, unjuft and imprudent wars, the defpotic power of fovereigns, their blind ad- herence to particular perfons, their prejudice in favour of particular conditions or profelHons ; the greedinefs of minifters and favourites, the degradations of perfons of quality j contempt and negledl of men of letters ; the connivance at bad cuftoms, and infraction of good laws ; an obftinate adherence to cuftoms, either mifcliievous or in- different i and the multiplicity of edidls and ufelefs regulations. If I was to chufe among all the forms of government, of which this monarchy has furnifhed examples, Ifliould propofe Clovis, Char- lemagne, Philip the auguft, and Charles* the fagej and I fhould wiOi * It would perhaps have been ftill bet- the duke of Sully, we fliall find the one ter, to have alfo rejected the three firft of a6tcd on the principles of a Roman, the thefe, and kept only to Charles V. On oiher on tho'e of a true Spartan: the maxr examining the characters of Henry IV. and ims here laid down difcover a mixture of Vol. II. Z z that MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIX. that the eye might never fall lb low, as upon the reign of Charles VIII. and our times ; and if I was to eftablifli a fingle principle of government, it fhould be this, " That good laws and good manners " produce each other." Bat fuch is our unhappinefs, that wc never perceive this valuable connexion, till corruptions and abufes have been carried together to the higlieft points ; fo that among men, the prin- ciple of good arifes always from the extremity of evil. The regulations, for the augmentation and fecuring of commerce^ appearing to Henry to be of the firil: importance to the public, he laid out the greateft part of his care upon them. The projeâ: of the canal for joining the Seine to the Loire * being ratified, I removed myfelf to thofe parts, that there might be no miftake in the preparations that were previous to the execution ; whether in taking heights, or levelling the ground, or laying hold of any advantages that might occur. I fpent but little time in this journey, for the king recalled me as foon almoft as I was gone. In the like manner I regulated feveral affairs of commerce in the journey I made to Poitou, as has been already related. both thefe principles. I have obferved be- fore, what correcSlives were necefiary. to modify the too auftere temper of the duke of Sully : I fliall here take the fame liberty with the too warlike difpofition of Henry IV. A military fpirit is undoubtedly ne- cefiary to defend a ftate ; it ought there- fore to be nourifhcd with the utmoft care ; but it fhould notwithftanding be kept in the fame ftate we do a maftifF, for the de- fence of our houfe, that is, chained up, and very feldom indulged with the liberty of puri'uing its own courfe, left it fhould turn upon its mafters and tear them to pieces. The reputation alone of courage produces almoft the fame efFecl as the exertion- of it can. It may be laid down as a principle, that there are no means but what are pre- ferable to war, if the fame end can be ob- tained by them. * This is the canal of Briare, which from that litile town runs to Montargis, about ten leagues diftant from it. It was to have been continued to Moret ; but this part of the defign was left unexecuted, and the canal itfelf was negleifted, after more than three hundred thoufand crowns had been laid out upon it, through the malice of thofe who envied M. de Rofny, or, ac- cording to Mezerai, through the change that happened in the miniftry. This work was far advanced at that time ; it has fince beeYi refumed, and at length finiflied. M. De Thou beftows great commendation on M. de Sully, for being the inventor of this defign, b. cxxxii. A further proof of this may be drawn from the fdver and copper plates, or a kind of medals found in 1737, when they were at work on the fluices in this canal, and which it was certainly wrong to take from thence. The count of Bu- ron, one of the parties intercfted in this ca- nal, fent the copper ones to the prefent duke of Sully, which are now in the duke's cabinet of medals, but kept the filver ones on account of their value. One of thefe copper medals is charged with the duke of Sully's arms, and another bears this in- fcription : " 1607. Aiaximilian de Bethune, under the reign of Henry IV. by the hands of Meffire Peter Ozon, at this time mayoc and governor of Montargis-le-Frsnc." The duke of Sully has alfo lately recovered part of the memorials and other writings rela- ting to this canal. Op Book XIX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 355 Of thefe affairs, the moil: important and mofi: perplexing, was an 1604. unforefeen quarrel which happened this year with Spain, concerning the mutual traffic carried on between the two nations. The king of Spain had, in the preceding year, laid a duty of thirty per cent, upon all French goods imported to Spain or Flanders ; as likewife upon all goods exported from thefe two liâtes into France; a heavy impofition, which was at once an infult upon our n tion, and tended to revolt the minds of his own fubjedts. The king returned it by exprefsly prohi- biting all commerce with the fubjefts of Spain, and the arch-duchies, and by a duty ilill larger upon all the Spanifh goods landed at Calais : but this prohibition could not prevent the fraudulent carriage of our provifions to the enemy's country. The French merchants, notvvith- flanding the new monopoly, ftill found there were fuch great profits to be made on our grain and other goods, from the fcarcity of them in Spain, that they expoled themfelves, for thofe profits, to all the rigour of the law ; and, on that account, there was a kind of fedition raifed in the city of Marfeille, of which the prefident Du-Vair fent imme- diate notice to the court. The merchants of this city lofl all pa- tience, when they found themfelves obliged to fit idle and inadtive, while the Italians came and carried away tneir provifions, and depriv- ed them of their ufual profits. This permiffion, which was granted by his majeiiy to the Itahans, was, in my opinion, ill judged. The Engliflh were pleafed at this new incident; and fo far were they from endeavouring to accommodate the affair, that they fecretly fcrove to make it worfe, becaufe they carried on the lame trade fraudulently, which the Itahans were authorifed to do. It was difcovered, that eight or nine Englifh veiTels had taken in their loadings of grain at Clone, and went from thence to Saint Sebaftian, to difembark them : this, doubtlels, was the refource the Spaniards depended upon, other- ways their prohibition v/ould have fallen heavy upon themfelves, which Henry, from the beginning, had flattered himfelf would hap- pen : and it was the hope, that Spain would futfer more from it than we, joined to his folicitude to maintain the honour of his crown, that it might not be faid his enemies could difpofe of its commerce, which made him flill require a ftridl obfervation of the prohibition he had pubh(hed. He commanded me to fend a perfon of probity and under- ftanding, to vifit all that part of the country, from the mouth of the Loire to the Garonne, and all along the borders of thefe two rivers, to fee that this ordonnance was pundually obeyed; and he was empowered Z z 2 ' to MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIX. to punilli all that fliould be found to have afted contrary to it ; thofe being generally the places where iuch illegal praftices were carried on. I gave this commiffion to La-Font, who executed it fo well, that his- majefty kept him afterwards about his own perfon. Henrv, at the fame time, ordered his ambaffador in England, to complain to king James, of the praâiices of his fubjedls ; and to give him to underftand, that, if he made peace with Spain, with a view to appropriate tohimfelf the trade we carried on with that kingdom, he would take fuch meafures that France flîould not fuffer alone, but that England fliould lofe more by it than her. This was tacitly to defire, that he would offer his mediation to compofe the difference between the two crowns ; for Henry thought it probable, that the king of Eng- land might be tempted by the apparent advantage of fuch an accefîlon to the trade of his kingdom, as to make peace with Spain ; and he was now fenfible, though too late, of the injury he had done himfelf, and that the arguments his council had made ufe of were all falfe : this threw him into great perplexity. Villeroi and Sillery were appointed by his majefly, to attend this affair with the utmoft affiduity ; and I likewife was ordered to confer about it with the conftable, the chan— cellor, the commandeur de Chaftes, and vice-admiral De Vic. We found many difficulties to flruggle with on both tides. Trade muft neceffarily fufler great injury, if the prohibition remained in force ; and if repealed, great fliame muft refledt upon the crown.. Henry could not refolvc to do any thing that, in his opinion, feemed to acknowledge his fears of Spain, which had not condefcended to take any flep that led towards an accommodation with him; and all that could be hoped for from his moft chriflian majefly was, that, although he fuffered the prohibition to remain in force, he would wink at the infringement of it by the merchants, that he might be at liberty to repeat it again if they too openly abufed this indulgence, to the prejudice of the royal authority: as for me, the wound that was given to trade, was the only thing almoft that I confidered ; there- fore, on this account, England and Spain were equal to me ; and I reprefented to his majefty, that the damage wemufl inevitably fuftain, made it neceflaiy that he fhould ufe no more feverity with the one than the other. The king of England did not refufe his mediation in this difference; he even offered to engage for the faithful performance of the promifes both Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. both parties Should make on this occafion : but he afFedledto aâ: as an arbitrator between the two crowns ; and the king, offended with his vanity, would not accept of his mediation, but in the quality of a com- mon friend. The pope likewifc began to intcrefl: himfelf greatly in the difpute, being apprehenfive that a more dangerous rupture might enfue between France and Spain. He wrote to cardinal Bufalo, his nuncio in France, to ufe his utmofl; endeavours to prevent it; and this cardinal, a (hort time afterwards, found a favourable opportunity to obey him. The count of Beaumont, who ftill continued to be our ambaflador at the court of London, had often mentioned the late difpute concern- ing our trade, in the prefence of -the counts de Villa-mediana and d'Aremberg, the one ambalTador from the king of Spain, the other from the archdukes ; and had even drawn up a kind of an agreement with their concurrence, together with that of the prefident Richardot, and Lewis Vroreylzen, which had been communicated to the conftable of Caftile, who was likewifc at London : but his fudden departure, to- gether with fome other difficulties that came in the way, hindered this matter from proceeding fo far as to get the preliminary of this agree- ment figned. The conilable of Caftile paffed through Paris, and had an interview there with cardinal Bufalo, who prelied him fo earncftly, and upon fo many motives concerning this aft'air, that he obtained a promife from him that it fliould be referred to the examination of fome commilTioners, whom he named for the king his mafter : the council of France appointed fome on their fide. But this method of proceed- ing was not likely to bring the affair to a conclufion, which, bv being fubmitted to fo many arbitrators, was protradled to an infnfferable length. Bufaio prevailed upon Don Baltaf^r Stuniga, the Spanifh ambalfador in France, and upon Alexander Rovidius, a fenator of Mi- lan, who were intcrefled in a caufefor one of the parties, to refer every thing relating to it to him ; this done, that the bufinefs might on the fide of the other party be wholly coniigned to one perfon, he delîred the king to give me a power equal to his, and without any adjunct : from that time, the affair was thought to be in great forwardnefs. I went to vifit the cardinal, and animated his zeal by a new incitement, telling him, that we were up^n the point of declaring war, and that his ma- jelly was buiieci in making great preparations for it. In a few days I prevailed upon hiai to agree to the articles I had drav/n up, by which the freedom of trade was fecured : thefe articles were almofl the fame with thofc that had been propofed and difcuifed at London. Tup: 35^ MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIX, 1 604, The fubftance of this treaty, for fuch it becarrre afterwards, although every thing had been agreed on only between cardinal Bufalo and my- felf, was, that the ediét of thirty per cent, and that for the fufpenfion of trade between the two crowns of France and Spain, fliould be and continue repealed ; this was the great point. But the two princes hav- ing both endeavoured to juftify their condudl by many reciprocal complaints againft each other, which likewilb related to the trade of their kingdoms j many other articles were added, that tended to re- move thefe grievances. It was fpecified, that his mod: Chriftian majefty fliould publifh an ediâ, forbidding all his iubjeâs either to export or authorife the ex- portation of any Dutch goods into Spain, or any flate under the domi- nion of that crown, by lending veffels, waggons, or any other fort of carriages j that the real French goods fliould be ftamped with the feal of the city which furniflied them, and fliould be inferted in a re- gifter : this was done with a view to obviate the inconveniences which might arife from a refemblance in the goods, which otherwife fliould be liable to confifcation ; but they were not upon a bare fufpicion of fraud to flop or retard the exportation of thefe goods ; that all the Dutch, who were taken in French veflels, fliould be feized ; that the French fliould not carry Spanifli goods into any part of the Low Coun- ties, but thofe that fliould be fpecified in the bills ; and that to pre- vent any breach of faith, they fliould enter into an obligation in writ- ing before the Spanifli magillrate of the place from whence they fet out, to pay the thirty percent, which obligation fliould be returned to them upon their bringing back, within a year, a certificate from the magiflirate of the place where they difembaiked, either in France, or in any part of Flanders where trade was permitted ; that the king of France fliould order all Spanifli goods to be feized, which were brought by his fubjects in Spain, to be carried into any of the prohibited places, half of which fliould be given to the informer, the thirty per cent, de- duded : that the French magiftrate, who fliould be convidted of having given falfe certificates of difcharge, fliould beprofecuted andpuniflied; and that the two kings fliould mutually engage to leave the places of pafllige free. The article of the imports, which ever fince the peace of Vervins, were laid upon goods earned from Spain to Flanders, or from Flanders to Spain through Calais, and when they entered this port, having been already lettled in the prefence of this cardinal, nothing re- mained to be added to it. It was ftipulated, that forty days after the date Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 359^ date of this treaty, it fliould be publiflied in the refpedive dates on 1604. the fame day : it was dated the 12th of Odtober, and figned at firft only by cardinal Bufalo and me*. Although I was very fure that Henry would approve of this trea- ty, as he had been firft confulted upon every article in it, yet I was apprehenfive of the cavils of Sillery and the other commiffioners, from whom the cognizance of this affair had been taken : the expedient I made ufe of therefore was, to fend Arnaud the elder with the articles to Sillery, with a civil rcqueft that he would give me his opinion of them. Sillery, without looking into them, anfwered quick, that the affair was in very good hands, and that the perfon who had trani'aded it alone might aifo conclude it alone. This anfwer would not fatisfy me ; I fent Arnaud back again to tell him, that it appeared to me ne- cellary that the treaty (liould be figned by him and the other commif- fioners firft named, and that I entreated he would come to my houfe and fign it ; but that if he refufed, I could not difpenfe with myfelf from fending the treaty to his majefty by Arnaud ; letting him know at the fame time, that the difficulty he made in figning it would delay the conclufion for two days : and this was no more than the truth. Sillery, being afraid that if any accident ftiould happen during this in- terval that might prevent this agreement on trade from taking effeét, he fliould be anfwerable for it, went to cardinal Bufalo's houfe and- figned the treaty, as did alfo Villeroi. The king, when he received a copy of thefe articles, confirmed by thefe free fignatures, beftowed great praifes on the cardinal nuncio, and made him a prefent of a crofs of diamonds; he recommended him to the pope, in a letter which was conceived in terms very advantageous for him, and honoured him with the diftindtion of eating at his table. His majefty would not publifli the treaty of commerce till the ratifi- cation of it arrived from Spain, but he fecretly permitted the expor- tation of grain, which was what the people ardently defired. About this time another treaty was concluded at London between England and Spain, in which France could not avoid interefting her- * Seethe treaty itfelf ill the Chronologie fign it, but only meflieurs de Rofny and Septennaire. The king gives the marquis de Sillery ; Don Balthazar de Cuniga, for de Rofny no other titles in it but that of the king of Spain ; and the fenator Rovi- great mafter and captain-general of the; oid- dius. Matthieu, vol. IL b. iii. p. 655. nance of France. Cardinal Bufalo did not felf MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIX, felf greatly, after what had pafled the preceding year between her and England. To be thoroughly informed of this treaty, it is neceffary to reprefent the affairs, both political and military, in Spain and Flandersy with Vv'hich thofe of England have in this refpedl an unavoidable con- nexion. The fiege of Oflend continued ftill to be carried on with the fame obftinacy by the Spaniards : in the mean time, the prince of Orange, at the beginning of the campaign, attacked the ifle of Cadfan, which he made himfelf mafter of on the loth of May, and afterwards of all the neighbouring forts, defigning to open himfelf a way from thence to the frontier of Calais ; and at length laid flege to Sluys. From Bruges the king received advices, that the arch-duke, who beheld this attempt with grief, was gone to af- femble fifteen or fixteen thoufand men, with whom he hoped to fuc- cour this place, by forming Ardembourg, which covered it ; but that Maurice had fo well intrenched himfelf there, that it was not believed he could be forced out, provided he had a fufficient number of men to guard his intrenchments : the Flemifli general took likewifc the precaution to carry his trenches as far as Ardembourg, that if he Ihould be obliged to draw off his troops from the operations of the fiege, he might he in a condition to reduce the place by famine, if he could not by force. Sluys furrendered on the loth of Auguft.- The Spaniards, animated by the vigorous refifrance of their ene- mies, and a fenk of the prodigious loffes they had fuffered before Oftend, thought their honour IHII more concerned after this fuccefs of the prince of Orange, to prevent their being foiled in an enterprife which had lafted fo long. De- Vic informed his majefty by D'Auval, who was returned from England, that he had caufed three mines to be blown up before Oftend, but without fuccefs : however, it is cer- tain, that Ortend was reduced to the laft extremity j the Spaniards boafted that they would take it before the end of July; and that they fliould Hill have time to go and deliver Sluys with all their forces re-unitcd. No one gave credit to this boafi:, efpecially when Perfi le riche, captain of the regiment of Nereftan, who came lately from that place, faid pofitively at Paris, that it would flill hold out fix weeks or two months. In effedl, Sluys furrendered before Oftend, for the Flemifh defended themfelves with a courage that has few examples : they were feconded by a reinforcement of eleven companies, which made Book XIX. MEMOIRS OV SULLY. made up between a thoufand and twelve hundred n:ien, all frefli, which had been juft fent them by the States, under the condudt of general Marquette. They fell upon an expedient to make an inner intrench- ment, which might enable them, when reduced to a necelhty of ca- pitulation, to obtain more advantageous terms, by holding out there ; and they found means, prefled as they were, to throw in ammunition and money. This was a new and furprifing fpedacle for all Europe, that a little ftate which forms but a fcarce perceptible point in the map, fhould dare to raife her head from the midft of her marfhes, and brave, dur- ing fo long a time, the formidable power of Spain. It is wonderful to think where they found forces or funds to pay them, for it was com- puted that this war coft the States twenty thoufand florins a day ; the perplexities to which they were often reduced were not indeed known ; they hardly any longer knew to whom they fiiould have recourfe, and were obliged to apply to every one for relief. The duke of Bouillon having promifed them a fum of money, they fent captain Sarroques to receive it ; but he came back without any thing, but the regret of having put his maflers to the expence of four or five thoufand florins, which their compliments to the princefs of Orange coft them. Henry was their ufual refource ; fometimes they requefted an hun- dred thoufand crowns j at other times, two hundred thoufand weight of powder, for they confumed great quantities of it : there was no end of their demands. Buzenval, whom his majefty ordered to refide in thofe cantons, to give him an account of all that paflfed, was of great ufe to them in fupporting their folicitations with the king, who at length was the only power that continued to be their friend, whea rU the others had abandoned them. The Dutch exprelled great fond- nefs for Buzenval, and kept him with them as it were by force when he was recalled home. And who indeed was there whom they did not footh, and endeavour to engage in their interefts ? They would have made me a very confiderable prefent; but Buzenval, whom they acquainted with their defign, afihred them I would not accept of it : and they contented themfelves with offering me, by Aërfens, fome curious pieces of fhell-work, and fome coach-horfes of their country for my wife. Henry fhewed a readinefs to oblige them, which could not proceed from felf-interefl:ed motives, and which, v^ith that people, ought to have given him the merit of one of the founders of tneir li- berty. They muft be ungrateful in the higheft degree, if they ever • Vol. II. A a a abandon «— V — —J 362 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XIX. 1604. abandon a crown to which they owe luch great obligations *. Henry wrote to me this year, when I was in Poitou, that Buzenval had made him new requefls in favour of the States, which probably it was not prudent to giant; but that he could not refolve to abandon them, whatever reports might be raifed in England, or whatever threats Spain might throw out againfi: him. It is eafy to judge what the prefent war mufl: have cort: Spain, which was in effeft the aîiailant, by what I have juft related of the United-Provinces, who kept themfelves merely upon the defenfive,and did not ftir from their own doors; and of the refentment that Spain preferved againft us. The council of Madrid, enraged at the lolTes they fuftainedby a war that had almoft drained their treafury, which, however, they concealed with the utmoft care, often threatened never to forgive the treatment they received from the French. Henry af- fected to be ignorant of thefe threats, and he acfted wifely : the coun- cil, by this impotent anger, fliewed its own weaknefs ; and it was well known in France, that his catholic majefly's revenues were exhaufled. 4 OsTEND-f- was taken at length on the 22d of September, and Henry had the confolation to fee, that for five or fix hundred thoufand crowns, which this expedition had coft him every year fince it firfl began, he had confiderably advanced the ruin of his enemies the Spaniards. It might reafonably be expeded, that the treaty I had negotiated with England the preceding year would have produced greater things. Spain was convinced that flie rt:iould lofe Flanders entirely, if flie did not find means to make fome change in thofe difpofitions in which I had left the king of Great Britain. After my departure, therefore, from London, {lie renewed her intrigues and folicitations to obtain at leafi: a neutrality in what concerned the United-Provinces, if fhe could not bring his Britannic majefty over to her party. The Spaniards, at firfl, thought they ought to make very high demands ; and afterwards their offers alfo were as high to procure a grant of part of thofe de- mands. Their fir'l propofals were rejedted without being examined; but thefe were followed by another, which gave them hopes that they ihould prevail upon the Englifli to abandon the Dutch, knowing they * Grotius fpeaks of it almoft in the f See the furrender of Oflend and Sluys, fame words, in his book, intituled, The and the other aftions of this campaign, in annals and hiftory of the troubles in the DeThou, the Septen. Matthieu, Siri, and Netherlands. other hillorians, ann. 1604. had Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. had nothing Co much at heart ; this was to make the Indian trade free to both nations. But this offer proved ineffeftual, becaufe Spain, forefeeing that there would be ftill a neceffity of abating fomething in her demands, added a condition that deftroyed its force, and required, that England fhould enter into a league offeniive and defenfive with her. The king of England's council having many ftrong reafons for reje(5ling this alliance, made no fcruple to confers, that it was the in- tereft of their crown to fupport Holland, inftead cf openly taking part with her enemies. It was now abfolutely believed, that the Spaniards had nothing to hope for from England : Beaumont was the only one who was of a contrary opinion, and foretold, that notwithflanding all thefe apparent obftacles they would come to an agreement, which in effeél they did. The Spaniards, fome time afterwards, returned to the charge, ftill lef- fening their demands according to their fubtile maxims of policy, and commiffioners were appointed on both fides; thedifputes ran fohigh, that they were many times upon the point of breaking off the confe- rence. The affair imperceptibly turned into a negotiation more peaceable ; the EngliOi commiffioners reduced the Spanifli ones not only to exprefs no refentment againfl France, but they were the firll to fay, that fhe ought not in any manner to be excluded. They never mentioned the two kings without joining the third to them ; and even treated the States with refpsct and coafideration, appearing inclined to come to an agreement with them at all events. All this was done to conceal from his Britannic majelly whatever was contrary in the real defign of this negotiation to the firfl, and to remove all his fcru- ples. To this battery they joined the afiiftance of little anonymous wri- tings, in which the authors endeavoured to prove, that peace was equally advantageous for the three kings. In one of thefe papers, which was fuppofed to be written by an Englifliman, becaufe the power of the king of England was greatly exaggerated, who, fays the author, can fublifl independent of any other ftate, though none can without him : as if the Spaniards were not capable of fo high a flight of flattery to fecure the fuccefs of their defigns : in one of thefe papers, I fay, it was malicioufly infinuated, that this peace was de- iired with equal ardour by the three kings ; but that their moft chrif- tian and Britannic majefties fecretly wiflied, at the fame time, that it would give them a claim to thepofleffion of Inlanders. A a a 2 However, 364 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XIX. 1604. However, they could come to no agreement during thefpace of a year ; and it was not till the 21 ft of June this year that the nego- tiation was likely to fucceed ; but it went on rapidly at the begia- ning of July, and was fo far advanced, that no one in England doubt- ed of its being concluded, as foon as the conftable of Caftile arrived, who was upon the point of going to London in the quality of ambaf- fador extraordinary from his catholic majefty, and furniflied with full powers to conclude the peace : the fame opinion prevailed in Paris j and it was even believed there, that not only England but the United- Provinces, had fecretly made conditions of agreement with Spain j and that the States, by the interpofition and arbitration of his Britan- nic majefty, had put an end to the difputes on occafion of the cautio- nary towns, the navigation of the Indies, the liberty of trading with- out paying the thirty per cent, and others. But why, if this was fo, did we not fee the fiege raifed, and other hoftilities ceafe on both fides ? This report, however, was abfolutely falfe, at leaft with regard to the imaginary agreement and arbitration. The States perceived but too foon, and even while the conferences were fjbfifting, that they had nothing more to expedl from his Britannic majefty. This prince became weary at length of ftruggling fo long with his inclinations; he affedled to be the common friend of all Europe. He had lately given the name of Great-Britain to his united kingdoms, and had made a folemn entry into London, where a conference was held by his orders to reconcile the church-party and the puritans ; for his pa- cific notions extended to all things : he did not refledt, that by this con- duel he was going to exclude from the benefit of a peace thofe very perfons that had moft need of it, who were the Dutch, whom he left to the mercy of their enemies. The Englilh already began to abufe every one of that nation whom they found trading in their ports : and when the Dutch alledged, as ufual, that the Englilli ought not to concern themfelves with a certain kind of traffic upon their coafts, they replied, that they had permiffion to do it from the king of Spain their fovereign. Nothing fo irritated the Dutch as fpeeches of that nature; and if the inhabitants of Flufliing had been fuftered, it is believed they would have murdered all the Englifti they had amongft them : but the fatal confequences of fuch a proceeding being repre- fented to them, they rcftrained their rage. Tee Book XIX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 365 The States had expeded a quite different treatment, when, at the 1604. beginning of the conferences between the commilTioners, his Britannic majefty inlilled that they lliould be admitted, and their agent, the fieur Le Caron, heard there. Le Caron acknowledged, that at fir(l he had good reafon to be fatisfied with the Enghfh comniiffioners : upon the Spaniards introducing the fubjed: of the Dutch cautionary towns, which they paOlonately dcfired fnould be put into their hands, the KngUlh told them, that they could do no othervvife than furrender thefe towns to the council of the United-Provinces, when the money lent upon them was repaid : and when the Spaniards retorted, with fome refent- ment, that the reftitution of them ought to be made to thofe whohad given them as hoflages, the Englilh counfcllors only anfwered, that if the States refufed to pay the money that was lent, they would make the fame propofai to the Spaniards. They were likewife favourable enough to the Dutch in the article concerning trade, which held them a long time in difpute j the Spaniards infifted, that Holland fhould open to them the trade of the Flemiih coaft, and particularly that of Antwerp, which ihe had, as it were, locked up, by building feveral forts upon the Scheld, and among others that of Ilîbt : but the Englifh fooa cooled in thefe favourable intentions for their neighbours. Buzenval, whole letters furnifhed me with great part of what I have related con- cerning thefe conferences, judged thus of the event, that the Englifh knew well what would be the confequences of this new plan of politics which they had embraced ; but that great jealoufy of us, and a little folly, had fuggefted all that had been done on this occafion. Matters were In this ftate, when the king of England thought proper to inform his mofl: chrillian m.ajefty, by his ambaflador at the court of France, of his intention to conclude a treaty with Spain, the Englifh ambaffador prefenting the memorial to the king at the fame time. His Britannic majefty, in this memorial, perfifted ftill in the ftrange opinion, that this treaty was not inconfiftent with that of the preceding year. James had attempted to perfuade Beaumont to believe the fame, and promifed Henry that he would defer the conclufion of it till the difputes which then fubfiftcd between the two crowns of France and Spain concerning trade were terminated. ThecommifTion- ers, however, did not fcruple to fign the * treaty between Spain and * This treaty is noway difFcrent from doni,who are all named, except the Un'ftd- a true treaty cf peace ; the kings of Spain Provinces alone : it is (et out at large in and England engage their aJli..s in it, that the Septen. an. 1604. Matthieu, 650, &c. isj all the Itates and princes of Chriileji- Enc^l.ind MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XrX, England, and referred Beaumont to the arrival of the conftable of Ca- ftilc, to fettle the affair of the trade bv:t\veen this nation and Spain. The conftable was applied to when he pafl'ed through Paris in his way to London ; but he prevented, by obflacles which he raifed on purpofc, the concluding upon any thing with cardinal Bufalo, who had already begun to intereft himfclf in the affair. But what was ffill more fur- prifing, thefe commiflioners, without giving Beaumont any fatisfacflion on that head, had the aflurance to demand the impoft on the port of Calais to be taken off. Beaumont, who knew it was his majelty's in- tention to continue it, even after the affair of thirty per cent, was concluded, which had no relation to that, evaded the propolal, by making one of the fame nature to them. TuE conftable of Cartile paffcd through France again the latter end of September, in his return to Spain, carrying with him the treaty con- cluded, and arrived at Paris ju(t as the treaty of commerce was con- cluded there likcwife.[ He demanded pcrmiflion, the next day, to pay his refpeâs to the king, to whom he prcfented himfclf with an air and countenance full of fatisfacStion ; he made him a lludied compli- ment, which for that reafon was perhaps the lefs finccre ; taking for his fubjed: the two agreements lately made, he endeavoured to pcrfuade this prince, that I-^rance and Spain being the two moll powerful mo- narchiesof Chriflendom, a ftridt union between them was thcncceffary and infallible means of accomplirtiing every enterprize they Ihould un- dertake in concert ; he laid great flrefs upon the alliance which had at all times been between France and Caftile ; he dwelt upon the advan- tages of this affociation, which would give the fame friends and ene- mies to the two crowns, and upon the means of rendering it indiffo- luble; which was, he faid, to be wholly free from all partiality; to divefl themfelves of all jealoufyof authority, and pre-eminence j to ex- plain and determine, in an amicable manner, their prctenfions upon certain cantons and cities of Europe; he did not forget to infinuatc to his majefly, that the proteflants were enemies which policy required fliould be humbled: he concluded his fpetch with reprefenting to the king, the advantages that a double marriage between the children of the two kings muft neceffarily produce ; a marriage which feemed (he faid) by the circumflances of the times, to be already determined in heaven. lie artfully affured tiie king;, that he had no authority from his mafter for what he had faid on this fubjcd, but entreated him to acquaint him with his fentiments on it ; becaufc, though they were only overtures made by himfelf, yet if they had the good fortune to be Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF S U L I. V. 367 be approved by his majelly, he Hunjlil \vitl\ the greater (.■oiirulciice pro- 1 604. pofc them afterwards to the kiiv; his inalU r. I WAS not prefent at this dilloiirfe, hut the king cMiue to the aile- nal on purpofe to give me an aotount of it. He lloppeil, attfr rela- ting the Spaniard's propcifals, tclhng me he dellred to know what an- swer I (hould have made to them, hctore he repeated that wliii h lie had given himk If. I rephtd, vvitli tlie fame gaiety, that 1 et>uld tell him immediately, but tliat 1 would defer latistying him till the iu-\t day, that I mi!;ht take time to conlider oC it, and prevent hin\ Iron» acculing me of precipitation, as he oltcn liid when my opinion had not the good tortunc to pleiilc him. His m;>jilly lonlentrd to it, liniling, and gave me a little tap on the cheek, as was his cullom when he was in good humour. I WKNT the next day to the Louvre, to acquit mylîUOf my promife, and found the king walking upon the terrace of the Capuchins ; I told him, tliat if he ilill remembered a lentencc which I had once applied to the Spaniards, and which he thought divei tiiij; ( (ioii|',h, •' that *' they preferred works* to faitli," he would not be lon|; at a lois to know what anfwcr I would have made to their aMd);iir.idor ; that after fo many breaches of faitli, fij many pcrjinic, and \ iolations ol truth, with which Spain had dilhononreil herlell in the hi'ht ol all lùuope, the confbible of Callile's difcourfe would have Iccmed to uic to be a new ftratagem of the king of S|>ain, to break oil' the allmncc between his majefty and the United-Provinces, and the otln r protellant powers his friend<;, that lie might find a (lill more fivourablc opportiuiity ol invading his kingdom than iiis father had done. Tliis bcmg a fa/hich were to come to the king, on their binding themfelves to keep the bridge always in repair. Thefe reâors of the bridge enjoyed a long time thefe revenues and rights, but took no care to perform the obligations they had entered into. At length this firft fund was diflipated and loft, no one knew how ; during which time the officers of his holinefs made feveral different attempts to get poffeffion of the bridge audits rights; and the bcft v/ay to effed; this, in their opinion, was to make a volun- tary offer of being at all the expence of the neccffiry repairs : they fe- veral times attempted to begin the work ; but although his majefty's council did not adl with all the fpirit they ought to have done upon this ftep of ufurpation, the candidates, however, were always contra- didted, and their demands rejedled. From all thefe proofs, his ma- jefty's claim was afcertained. I CAUSED a definitive arret to be iffued, which decided this difference. By this arret, theRhone and its ifles,itsports, tolls, rights, anddependen- cies, particularly the bridge of Avignon, were declared to belong folely to the king, by the regal rights of the demefne, and the patrimony of the crown. In confequence of this arret, his majefty ordered the re- pairs of the bridge to be begun, and meafures to be taken to recover the firft Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. firfl funds, that hnd been mifapplied and loft : and thus was this af- fair ended, in which the duke ol Savoy was almoll as much concern- ed as the pope. His majefty alfo made an acquifition of the earldom of Saint-Paul, one of the appanages of the count of Soiflbns. This prince being plung- ed in debts, determined to fell this earldom to fatisfy his creditors, who were very prefling for payment : he thought, no doubt, that, after the birth of a fon, which his wife had lately brought, he ought not to live any longer in a diffipation of his fortunes: he received, with his ufual affei^ation of gravity and ftoicifm, the compliments his majefty fent him upon the birth of his fon ; and afterwards fent Guiilouaire to the king, with the offer of his earldom of Saint-Paul. Henry, in this acquifition, firft confidered his inclinations, and afterwards the incon- venience of doing homage for it, if it paffed into the hands of any fo- reign prince; he therefore heard the count's propofal favourably, and till th-v could agree upon the price, advanced him a confiderable fum of money to free him from the importunity of his creditors. His majefty, who had not yet mentioned this affair to me, wrote to the count of Soiffons, and delired him to apply to Caumartin and I, to whom he intended to entruft the management of this purchafe ; and wrote to me alfo, to know my opinion of it. I approved of it entirely, and ufed my utmoft endeavours to ferve the count of Soiffons ; but I found it neceffary to give great attention to the form in which the purchafe was to be made. The affair being protraded to fome length, I fet out on my journey to Poitou : Henry, in the mean time, liftening only to his impatience, and being perfuaded that there was no danger to be hazarded by bringing the affair to a fpeedy conclufion, referred it to meffieurs de Bellievre, Villeroi, Sillery, and Maiffe, who fettled all matters with the count of Soiffons by a bargain of exchange. At my return the king acquainted me v/ith what was done ; and feeing me greatly aftonillied at his precipitation, enquired the caufe, reproach- ing me at the fame time with the little inclination I difcovered for making fo fine an acquifition to the crown, which had, from my an- ceftors, fallen into the pofieffion of the count of Soiffons : it was for this very reafon that I knew more of the matter than any other perfon, and I excufed myfelf in the following manner to his majefty. From the time that this earldom had been poffeflcd by the counts of its name, it had been the fubjed of many debates, whether it Vol. II. C c c fliould MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XIX. fliould be held of the county of Boulogne, or the county of Artois ; that is to fay, of France or Spain, This difpute being of the number of thofe v/hich it is not eafy to decide, it was agreed to in the lafl: treaties made by Francis I. and Henry II. with the kings of Spain, that till the queftion could be decided, the lords of Saint-Paul fliould be at liberty to hold it of either of thofe counties which they fliould prefer. The fuc- ceedine counts of Saint-Paul chofe to do homag-e for it to the county of Artois ; and, by this preference, gave Spain a claim which might furnifli a fufficient pretence for re-kindling the war, as foon as the king of France, the poffeflbr of this fief, fliould declare, that he would hold it for the future of the count of Boulogne, who was himfelf, for he could not without a kind of diflionour do otherwife. It would have been a melancholy thing, to fee the war re-kindled for a trifle of this nature ; and fliameful to avoid it, by fubmitting to do homage to a crown which owed it to France. The king was convinced by my arguments ; and the remedy was, to break the firfl: contract, and fign a fécond in the name of a third perfon, and his majefliy was not to de- clare himfelf till he could do it without any injury to his dignity. This affair was concluded at Fontainebleau, where the king made a long flay this year. He lent for the Dauphin and the reft of the chil- dren from Saint-Germain. It was his firfl defign, that the Dauphin ihould notpafs through Paris in this journey ; but he altered it upon fome reprefentations which I made him. The children of France, with madam de Monglat their governnefs, pafTed through Paris in their way to Saint-Cloud, and came to Fontainebleau by Savigny. One of his majefly's natural fons, who was called Alexander, and had the title of Monfieur, was received into the order of Malta, in compliance with the king's inclinations*. He gave orders, during his flay at Fontainebleau, for his buildings to be begun. The expences of this year were not lefTened but increafed, by the addition of thofe funis laid out on the buildings deflined for the new manufadlures. My part was to obey, and I did it in filence, but with deep regret. I remem- ber only, that feeing at the fame time a great number of religious or- ders 'f- efliablilhed in France by the pope's commiflion, I quoted to * This ceremony was performed in the him to the grand prior, promifing that the church of the Temple, in the prefence of prince fliould ratify them when he fhould the legate and ambafladors. The young be fixteen years of age. De Thou, book prince not being able to pronounce the cxxxii. words of the vows, Henry IV. haftily de- f Politicians havs always made a great fcended from his throne aiid made them for outcry againft the too great increafe of his Book XIX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. his majefly the examples of Charlemagne for the firftand the Romans for the fécond. Mahomet III. dying of the plague, Achmet his fon, who fuc- ceeded him at fourteen years of age, was obliged to appeafe the mur- murs of the people againi} the bad government, by banilhing his grandmother, \\ho was the caufe of it. Sinan Bafha, the counlcllor of this princefs, was cited to give an account of his condudl; but, inftead of obeying this order, he fled. Pepfia, being then at war with this crown, took advantage of thefe diforders to feize certain towns. The fieur de Salignac was then our ambaffador at the Porte. religious orders, and the excefTive number of monks in this kinifdom. If our kings and our minifters of the greateft abilities have not follov.ed this maxim, it was not owing to their not allowing the force of thefe reafons, but to their thinking it their duty to give religion the preierence to po- litics ; fince, if it be true, that m nks are ufelefs to the ftate, it is equally inconteda- ble, that religion would fufferby their fup- preiTion. " The man tnuft therefore be " either wicked or blind," favs cardinal de Richelieu, whofe evidence on this fubjefl is lefs liable to fufpicion than M. de Sully's, " who does not fee and acknowledge, that *' ihe religious orders are not only ufeful " but even necefTary ; as, on the other " hand, nothing but too indifcreet a zeal " can prevent one from perceivina;, that an " excefs of th.m is not only inconvenient, " but may be even increafed to fuch a de- " gree as to become deflruélive. What is " done for the fcrvice of the ftate is done " for the fervice of God, who is the bafis " and foundation of it : to reform the reli- " gious houfes already eftabliflied, and to " ftop the too great increafe of new foun- " dations, are two things pleafing to God, " who defires regularity and order in all " things." Political Teftanient, part I. chap. ii. §. 8. C CC 2 M E M 01 R S MEMOIRS O F S U L L BOOK XX. i6oC 'TP^ ^ ^ procefs carried on in the parliament, againfl the counts of 9 Auvergne and Entragues, and the marchionefs of Verneuil, -*- terminated in an arret iflued the beginning of this year, by which the two counts were condemned to lofe their heads, and the marchionefs to be fhut up, during the reft of her life, in a cloifter. I received the firft news of it from the king, who fent for me to ac- quaint me with the fentence ; and, afterwards drawing me afide to the balcony of the firft gallery in the Louvre, allced me what impreflion I thought this treatment would make on the mind of h',s miftrefs. I aflced his majefty, in my turn, whether in propofing this queftion, he wifhed that I fhould tell him my fentiments freely. " Yes, yes," re- plied Henry, *' do not be appreheniive that I fhall be offended ; I have " been long accuftomed to your freedoms." I then told him, that he himfelf could anfwer this queftion better than any other perfon ; for if he gave the marchionefs reafon to believe that he was wholly cured of his paflion, and animated with a juft indignation againft her, he would fee her have recourfe to fubmiffion, to prayers and tears to move him j but if, on the contrary, he fufFered her to fufpeél that he had afted only under the impreflion of a mere Icve quarrel, ihe would not recede from her former infolence of behaviour, I AFTER- Book XX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. -,Si :>' I AFTERWARDS frankly confcfled to Henry, that whichfoever of 1605. thefe two parts fliould be taken by Madam de Verneuil, I was per- ' — "»~ ■ fuaded the confequence would be ftill the fame, for many reafons, among which, his natural clemency and his confideration for the chil- dren he had by his miftrefs, did not fecm to be the leaft. " I would have *' you vifit her, faid this prince to me ; I want to know what fhe will " fay to you, and if fhe will not employ you as an interceffor for her " to me." I entreated his majefty, with the utmofl earneftnefs, to difpenfe with me both from the vifit and the interceffjon : I was truly weary of adling a part which had never produced any eitc6l ; and I was unwilling to lofe entirely the good opinion of the queen, to whom, notwithifandJng I had always fupported herintereft againfl her rival, I had been reprefented as an artful incendiary, and the venal fpy and flatterer of Henry. I had proofs, that fuch inllnuations had been given the queen more than a month flnce j I told the king fo, and named three perfbns to him who had been the authors of them j and repre- fented to him, that there wanted only this flep, which he required me to take, to deprive me hereafter of all means of ferving him with this princefs, on occafions which he was fenfible recurred but too frequently. Henry contefled this point with me a long while, but I prevailed at length, and left to another thole infallible means of making court to a prince, but for which I ever had the flrongeft diflike ; and if I flill took any part in the affair, it was only to prevent the conclulion of it from being as fliameful for Henry as 1 forefaw it was likely to be. This prince did not want courtiers conformable to his tafte; and here the grofs fervility of a court was fully difplayed. As foon as it was perceived that Henry could neither difengage himfelf from his mif- trefs, nor rule the queen, this crowd of voluntary Haves to the paflion? of the fovereign, accommodated their adlions, words, and even the air of their countenances, to this difpofition : no one dared to contradict either the queen or the marchionefs, and only feigned to do fo, when the nature of their commiflîon required it ; they but half ferved his anger, that they might always have their juflification ready for both fides. Sigogne had been fent to me, by his majcfly, with a very fevere order concerning the marchionefs, conceived in the flrongeft terms : he did not fcruple to fupprefs one half of it ; and, what is indeed aflonifhing, Henry difcovercd that he did fo, told me of it, and yet continued to make ufc of him. If this prince carried weakncfs to an extravagant length, his courtiers puflied their flattery flill farther ; it was 382 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XX. 1 60 '. was never better known to v/hat degree of ingenuity, and at the fame time of fervilitv, meannefs, and wickednefs^ it could attain. No one was deceived as to the manner in which Henry treated the marchionefs of Verneuil j but it was matter of general furprife, to find that the lenity fhewn her extended to the two other criminals, whom the public voice had already condemned to the fame punifliment which maréchal Biron had luftered : the count d'Auvergne's fentence*was commuted into a perpetual imprifonment in the Baftile, where for once he had leifure to grow weary -f- of confinement : that of the lady's f;\ther, into a banifhment to his own eftates : and as for her, flie had a full pardon '^, and even didated the conditions herfelf. The affair between the king and the marchionefs could not be termi- nated in this manner, v/ithout creating new quarrels between this prince and the queen, to whom this late inflance of tendernefs and confider- ation in the king her hufband for his faithlefs miftrefs afforded futfi- cient matter for rage and exclamation : it was abfolutely neceffary fhe fhould be appeafed, and Henry was obliged to have recourfe to me on this occafion. No labour, no fatigue was equal to this ; every moment there were new exprefiions to explain, new aâions to juilify, new in- terefts to conciliate ; it was the bufinefs of the night as well as the day, to compofe thefe differences: no fooner did a calm appear, than a dorm * " The king changed thb punifliment, mademoifelle de Nargonne ; and, as this " fays Bafl'ompierre, to an imprifonment lady did not die till 17 13, aged ninety-two *' for life, partly in confideration of Ma- years, it made a kind of chronological pa- •' dam d'Angoulême, who mofl: earneftly radox, that a daughter-in-law ftiould die " begged it of him, but more for a rea- an hundred and forty years after her father- " fon he gives us, which is, that the late in-law. " king Henry III. his predecelTor, had, on J " The king, fays Perefixe, permitted " his death -bed, recommended only the " the marchionefs to retire to Verneuil, " count of Auvergne, and M. Le Grand " and feven months having paffed without " to his favour ; and he would therefore " the attorney-general's finding any evi- " not have it faid, that he put a man " dence againll her, by the king's order " to death, who had been fo affeftionately " flie was declared guiltlefs of the crime " recommended to him, by the perfon " whereof {he was accufed. He alfo, fays " from whom he had received the king- " the Mercure François, difpenfed with " dom." Vol. I. p. 165. But neither M. " her perfonal attendance on the parliament de Sully, nor Henry IV. himfelf, when " to get her letters of pardon regiftered, converfing with his minifter on this lubjeiS, " which were allowed by the parliament makes theleaft mention of this motive. " on the 6th of September." See the parti- t He came out of his prifon in the next culars of this procefs in M. De Thou, ann. reign. He was feventy-onc years of age, 1605. Siri, ibid, p, 29g, and other hif- when, in 1644, he took for his fécond wife torians. arofe Book XX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 383 arofe immediately after, which brought every thing back to its former 1605. flate. At my return from theLimofin, at the end of the year, I found more unhappinefs at Fontainebleau than there had ever been before : what could be done, in an evil fo irremediable, than to deplore it in filence ; and this was the method I purfued. I colledled all the letters the king had written to me upon this fubjed:, and fuffered none to re- main in the hands of my fecretaries, from whom I concealed, for the future, what the king imparted to me in confidence, whatever inftances they might make me. One of thefe letters of moft confequence, I fnatchedfrom a fecretary of mine, who had begun to read it in a little fummer-houfe, where I fenthim to fearch for fome papers. I adl upon the fame plan at prefent with the public, to whom I do not commu- nicate all thefe little quarrels, which they would find a needlefs repetition of difputes, reproaches, jealoufies, and violent defigns, of which the reader is, I believe, already fufficiently weary. From the difpofition the count of Auvergne was known to be of, it was believed he would not be very eafy under his confinement in the Baftile, nor d'Entragues relifh the inadive life he was compelled to in fpite of himfelf. It was difcovered, fix months afterwards, that the count had concerted with his father-in-law, who apparently found the fecret of getting intelligence even in his prifon, the means of efcaping from the Baftile. It was a rope-maker, who gave information of this defign, and fupported his evidence with fo many proofs, that, upon his report, the grand prcvot, fearching the wood of Maleflierbes,, found the cords, pullies, and other engines, with which the projec- ted efcape was to be effedted ; for which d'Entragues was afterwards arrefled, and obliged to go through an examination at his own houfe. He alledged, that he was not obliged to anfwer the grand prevot ; there was a neceflity therefore for forcing him to it by a fpecial com- miflion, which his majefly fent for that purpofc, from the province where he then was. In the mean time, d'Entragues compofed a kind of cafe, written and figned by his own hand, to julHfy his proceedings, and expeded that this would acquit him. This piece, for its artful turn, and the fpe- cious manner in which he glofled over his condudl, was well worthy of its author : yet, with all his fubtilty of reafoning, he could not clear himfelf of the principal charge, nor explain to his advantage, the mean- ing of the cords and machines found in the woods of Maleflierbes. He defended himfelf much worfe when, notwith(tanding this paper, he found 5 '< 1604. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX. found himfelf obliQ;ed to so throug^h an examination : he maintained» with great obilinacy, that no bad intention could be proved againft him, by the difcovery of thofe cords and pulHes. The grand prevot omitted no part of his duty upon this occalïon ; he took care to k°cp all the domeftics of d'Entragues feparate, that they might have no op- portunity to coniult either v/ith their mailer, or with one another. But notwithilranding the rage Henry appeared to be in, yet, through the whole procedure againrt the criminal, fomething lo favourable v/as per- ceived, that he had no great reafon to be apprehenfive, altho' the rope- maker furnirtied all the proofs that were neceffary to convidt him, and heavily accufed among others a man named Giez : yet they cbofe to believe the accufed perfon, upon his bare word, that hev/as abfolutelv ignorant of everything: and he was not fo much as imprifoned. I was at my government while this affair was in agitation, but fent or- ders from thence to my lieutenant in the Baftile, to confine the count of Auvergne more cloiely than ever j which was all that this plot pro- duced. I PROCEED now to the conclufion of another affair, which was be- gun and almofl finiflied during t'le preceding year : this was the entire refloration of the jefuits. Thefe fathers, whatever inftances ofkind- nefs they received from the king, thought nothing was granted while the pillar *, railed upon the foundation of Chatel's houfe, flill re- mained. His majefty, perfecuted with prayers and entreaties upon * This pyramid, about twenty feet high, and tolerably well built, ftood op- pofite to the palace, there being only the ftreet betwixt them ; over the pedeflal, on each of its four fides, was a plate of black marble, having the arret of the parliament (beforementioned, in fpeaking of the pro- cefs againft John Chatel)engraven on them, with fome infcriptions, conceived in terms the moft injurious to the jefuits. We do not think it neceffary to recite thefe in- fcriptions, which are preferved in the me- moirs of the league, vol. VI. D'Aubigné, vol. III. b. iv. chap. 4. The royal MSS. vol. 9033, where the French tranflation of them made at that time may alfo be feen, as well as in divers other writings. M. de Thou's works, and the Mercure François, which may alfo be confulted touching the demolition of this pyramid, anno 1605, agree with M. de Sully, that it became a kind of juftice, to deface thefe infcriptions, when the jefuits were reftored, the two arrets being contradictory to one another : but they alfo obferve, that the deftruftion of it occafioned a violent out- cry, it being thrown down at noonday, in the month of May, by the lieutenant-civil, fent for that purpofe by the king, and a fountain was built in its place : " The order " for it," fays Matthieu, vol. 11. b. iii. p. 683, " was directed to M. de Sully, as " furveyor-general. The moft valuable " of the ftatues belonging to it were car- " ried to the grottos of Saint-Germ.iin." The enemies of the jefuits gratified their revenge, by publiftiing numberlefs pam- phlets, both in verfe and profe, containing the moft virulent reflections on every thing that pafled on this occafion, which the rea- this Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. this article, confented at laft that it fhould be referred to his council. I thought, and feveral others were of the fame opinion, that the fo- ciety had no reafon to complain of ill treatment, if the council came to no other refoliition about it, than to erafe the infcription upon this pillar, which was indeed too fevere : but they knew fo well how to gain over the greateft part of thofe who compofcd the council to their fide, that they obtained an arret fuch as they defired. I CANNOT admit, that my condudt, on this occafion, could merit the whole weight of the jefuits indignation : however, my ruin ap- peared to thefe fathers, and to the three efpecially who pi lyed the greateft game at the court, to be of fuch confequence to religion, the common caufe, and their own particular intereils, that it was refolved to effedt it if poffible. With the three jefuits, a like number of the principal lords of the court aflociated themfelves, whom I QrâW name no more. All that was now neceflary, was to recall to their minds the former notions of the league, of which the name indeed, but not the fpirit nor the policy, was baniflied the court : they found no diffi - culty toincreafe their party confiderably, in a very fliorttime, with all the voluptuaries of the court, whofe foft and effeminate lives it was owned I had cenfured with more imprudence than injuftice. The je-' fuits by making themfelves ufeful to their aftbciates, drew great ad- vantages from them; fo that, in a little time, a great number of col- leges were founded in many of the chief cities in the kingdom, and endowed with very coniiderable revenues. They did not, however, fucceed every where with equal facility : the people of Troyes, Rheims, and Langres, did noc receive the offers they made them of their fervices very favourably. They were obliged , therefore to have recourfe to letters from hismajefty: the fathers Cot- ton and Gauthier were employed to aik them of the king, in whom der ought not to exped to find here. Prompt- the utmoft eagernefs ; but Henry IV. fent ed by their mahce, they laid a gteat flrcfs for the plate, about three months only be- oji a circumftaiice happening merely from fore he was aiTaflinated. Moil of the in- chance, or perhaps having no foundation fcriptions with which the pyramid was de- al all in truth, which was, that, in taking corated, and the deftrudtion of which down the four figures, reprefenting the meflleurs De Thou, De Serres, Mezerai, cardinal virtues, which flood on the fcnir and fome other- hiftoriaiis have fo much corners of the pyramid over the infcriptions, lamenred, were compofcd by Jofeph Scali- they began with that of juftice. The priiu ger, too good a proteftantjnot to be an in- of this pyramid, which till that time had vcterate enemy to the jefuits fociety. Même been fold by John Le Clerc, by the king's chronol. Sc dogmat. vol. I. p. 3"'* licence, was afterwards fought after with Vol. n. D d d fo 386 MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XX. 1 605. fo many petitions, one after the other, fometimes occafioned a little re- fledlion. He told them, that he was very willing to gratify all "their defires, but that he feared they would, at laft, endanger the royal au- thority : he brought Poitiers * for an example, where, notwithftand- ing the mandates they had obtained from him, yet they had laboured, for two years inefFedlually, to procure a fettlementin that city, thoug-hi at the f\me time, it had folicited that a royal college might be found- ed there. Father Cotton replied, that nothing could be inferred from the behaviour of the inhabitants of Poitiers, which could affect the other cities, becaufe they would not be fo unfortunate as to be oppo- fed by perfons fo powerful, fo refpeéled in the province, nor even fo much favoured by his majefly, as their enemies of Poitiers were. The king had not here anyoccafion for all that penetration on which he fometimes valued himfelf, which enabled him to difcover by the geftures only, and the turn of the countenance, of thofe who fpoke to him, all thatpafled in their hearts -f-. He anfwered the father, that he perfedtly underftood what he had elle to fay, but that it was a mere ca- * What the anthor here fays of the diffi- culty thejefuits found to gain a reception in Poitiers, is the more furprifing, as the Septenary reckons this city by name, amongft the number of thofe who defired to have the jefuits with them, fol. 438. Matthieu counts twenty of thefe cities, and Poitiers as one of them ; " becaufe, fays " he, their colleges, and their manner of " inftruiting their feholars, were better " than any others." Vol. II, b. iii. p. 606 and 686. If I did not fee that the bifhop and treafurers of France were named here, I fhould conclude, that what M. de Sully calls the city, and the greateft part of the citizens, meant only the Calvinifis, who perhaps in faâ were the greatefi: part. The bifliop of this city, who was particularly intimate with that minifter, as appears from both their letters, mentioned in thefe Memoirs, as well as a great number of the inhabitants of it, even catholics, might, perhaps from motives of policy, cppofe the eftablifliment of thejefuits, being perfuaded they fhould by that means, make their court to the governor of the province, though hedid not openly require it of them: on principles like thefe, men frequently aft and form their conduft in life, to the difgrace and at the expence of the religion they profefs. This notion, not entirely without foundation, may, in fome degree, point out to us what may be faid in defence, or at lead injuftification, of father Cotton,, touching the difference between M. de Sully and him,which the author here begins to relate. It may alfo be applied to the complaints thefe Memoirs, a little lower, put into the mouth of the people at Poi- tiers, that thejefuits, having at laft been admitted there, the college in that city, from being a good one, as it was before, immediately became good for nothing ; and that the fuccefs thofe fathers met with pro- ceeded entirely from the ditFerence they occafioned between the two parties. Thefe two or three articles have a natural relation to each other ; and one may alfo add to them, the oppofition the city of Metz made againft receiving thejefuits, which will al- fo be mentioned below. t Matthieu has obfervcd the fame thing of Henry IV. " He could form a judg- " ment, fays he, of a man's adtions and " words, from his look and manner." Vol. II. b. iv. p. 807. lumny. Book XX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. lumny, for which he had no other foundation, than fome reports that had been made him; for that having fpoke to me himfeif of this matter before, I was fo far from difcovering fuch intentions as were attributed to me, that I had afTured him I would raife no obsta- cles to their attempts ; and that I would give them my affiftance. " Ah ! fire, replied the father, God keep me from offending in any " manner thofe you love, and by whom you think yourfelf fo faith- *' fully ferved ; I will love them and ferve them myfelf : but if your ** majefty has any inclination to be convinced of the truth by incon- " tefiible proofs, nothing is more eafy than to produce fuch as fhall *' leave no doubt of the certainty of what I have had the honour to " tell you." The king afked, with ftill greater earneftnefs, if he was fure he could prove what he had advanced ? The father again con- firmed it. " Well," faid Henry, leaving him, " I will confider of this matter." And he fent forme that inflant. As foon as I came to the Tuilleries, Henry took me by the hand and led me into the orangerie, where, as we walked, he afked me, as if without any defign, how the affair went on at Poitiers, concerning the jefuits founding a college there. I replied, that I was wholly igno- rant of their proceedings, having refolved not to concern myfelf with them, for thofe confiderations I had mentioned to his majefty. "Think •' well what you fay, replied this prince, for they would perfuade me " that it is you alone who prevent their eftablifhment in that city." I allured him, with an oath, that I had never, directly nor indirectly, oppofed their fettling there, nor even expreffed the leaft diflike to it. " Well, laid the king, fmce it is lb, take no notice of this matter to " anyone." On his entrance again into the Louvre, he took father Cotton afide : " Who has told you thefe idle tales, of M. de Rofny ?" faid he, " they are abfolutely falfe, as I indeed fufpetfted they were." " They will not be found fo," replied the father ; and for a proof of his afiertion, told him, that I had written lèverai letters to the billiop of Poitiers, the treafurers of France in that city, to Saint-Marthe, and others, with whom I could do any thing ; exprelly ordering them to oppofe the fettling of the jefuits there. He added, that he had ieen thefe letters himfeif; and that they were in the hands of a nian of ftri(ft honour, who had allowed him to read them. " Can you *' fliew me thefe letters ?" faid the king. " Yes, fire, replied the " jefuit, whenever your majefty pleafes." The king, who till now had fufpended his belief, could not for this once hinder himfeif from being inliuenced to my prejudice. " I will talk to you to-morrow~, D d d 2 faid S8 - M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. ' Book XX. 1605. " faid he to the father, and give you all the neceflary orders upon this " affair." I CAME the next morning to the Tuilleries at eight o'clock, the king having fent me orders to attend him vc ry early : he talked to mc of the ufualdifpatches and the prefent affairs j then taking me again in- to the orangerie, I gusfled immediately, by the very turn of his coun- tenance, part of what he was going to fay to me. " You know, faid' *' he, how much I love you, but you likewife know how much I love " truth and hate all inllncerity ; you have ufed it with me; and altho' " I never conceal any of my fecrets from you, you have dilTembled' " with me, in the anfwer you gave me to the quefUon I afked you con- " cerning the jefuits. I am not offended at your condudt in that af- " fair : as they never difcovered any great friendfliip for you, it could " not therefore be expeâed that you fliould become their advocate ; " but I am grieved to find that you are capable of diffimulation, you " who profefs to be a lover of truth and fmcerity." My aflonifhment was fo great that I liftened to the king in a pro-- found filence ; at length, recovering myfelf, " Sire, faid I, this is one " of the blackefl impoftures that ever was invented; the only favour " I implore is, that you will infift upon a free explanation of this " matter. If the jefuits can prove their accufation to be true, infli(ft' " what punifliment you pleafe upon me, I fliall never complain ; but " if it is found to befalfe, fuffer me, fire, I moft humbly implore you, " to do myfelf public juftice, that I may prevent fuch defigns from " being undertaken againfl: me for the future; for if there is a necef- " fity for my being continually employed in defending my conduct, it *' will be no longer poffible for me to attend to ftate affairs, the number " and weight of which are already more than I can well bear." " What ! interrupted the king, have you not written any thing againft " the jefuits, and prevented their founding a college at Poitiers ? Think " a little, and refrefli your memory, that you may not engage to " maintain any thing of which the contrary may be proved againft " you." " No, fire, I replied, I fwear by my God and all my hopes of " falvation, that what I fay is true." " What malignant minds are ** thefe," purfued the king, moved with a juft indignation, " which " can never ceafe to envy virtue, or be weary of their fruitlefs attempts " to ruin thofe who are faithful to my fervice ; leave this affair to " me, continued he, I will fearch it to the bottom, and difcover, if *' poffible, both its fource and its authors." He Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 389 He left me at thefe words to go and hear mafs at the convent of 160c. the Capuchins, where he knew he fhould find father Cotton ; and, calhng him, renewed the difcoiirfe of the preceding days, and alTced for the letters which he faid he had fcen. " Thofe letters, fire, faid " the father, arc in the hands of a perfon of honour, and I will anfwer ** for the truth of what that perfon faid, as well as that the letters he ** fhewed me are genuine." " It is enough, returned the king, but *' go and bring them to me that I may fee them j I know his hand- " writing and his fignature as well as rny own, having received more " than two thoufand letters from him in my life." The father, per- plexed by fo unfeafonable an order, endeavoured to elude it, by ap- pealing to his maiefty's knowledge of his veracity, and his averlion to all kinds of falihood. " I am willing to believe you, faid this prince *' to him; but I would alfo have others believe you, by fhewing them " thefe letters; therefore do not fail, purfued he in a fevere tone, to " bring them to me, for I am determined to fee them, that I may ** convidl of malice and fraud thofe who are really guilty. Go, and •* return again immediately, Thkre was no reply to be made to an order fo pofitive; the father retired with a low reverence ; but the king expeded him in vain all the remainder of that day: he apologized for it the next morning, on account of the abfence of the perfon who was poffèffèd of thefe letters. But there was a neceflity to find another excufe for returning without them, which would cofl: the father much more. He told the king, that this nobleman's valet de chambre had unfortunately thrown thole letters into the fire with other papers. But for want of the letters, he brought a thoufand new afiurances of the truth of what he had advanced. The king, however, was not difpofed to pay himfelf with that fort of coin : " How 1" faid he, interrupting him, in a rage, " have they burned thefe letters ? this is not to be believed." And perceiving that father Cotton, who was fenfible this affair would not reft as it was, equivocated in his anfwers, and feemed defirous that nothing more fliould be faid of it, he quitted him in difguft. " Rofiiy," faid he, approaching and taking me afide, " your letters have been «' burnt." I CAME again to his majefty, to propofe an expedient to him which . I thought would entirely filence my accufer; this was, to prevail upon the king to write ^to the bifhop of Poitiers, and the ofiicers of that city, 590 M EMOI.RS OF SULLY. Book XX. 1605. city, to produce all the letters they had received from me; and to write to them myfelf in the cleareft manner upon the fiibje MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX. 1605. that my enemies had then actually given me the fevereft blow they had ever aimed againfl: me, and brought me, in reahty, within an inch of my ruin, or at leaft of my difmiffion from my employments, to the laft of which I think I fhould have readily fubmitted. Libels, letters, informations, malicious infmuations, atrocious calumnies, all that envy could fiiggefl moft injurious and mod: horrid, had been pradlifed, and ftill continued to be pradlifed every day againfl me, all which I fliall particularité hereafter : for the prefent it is fufficient to fay, that the poifon had been fo fubtilly applied, that the king, al- though he had long been aware of the malice of my enemies, had not been able to avoid being tainted with it, and it had reached even to his heart. I SHALL not here ufe the ordinary ftyle of thofe who have fullered fuch trials, when they exclaim with fo much vehemence, againfl: the ingratitude and injuftice they have met with from princes; I always fufped: that fuch outcries proceed cither from great vanity, or great ig- norance of the human heart. To make calumny againfl: the abfent fuccefsful, nothing more is requifite than to find the means of open- ing the mind to fufpicion, and to thofe, who, having every thing to govern and diredt, have likewife every thing toforefee and to fear, in- numerable arguments will occur to keep alive and jufl:ify this fufpicion. How many appearances of fidelity are there fo well difguifed, that truth itfelf could hardly alTume any other face, efpecially before kings, from whom one would imagine fhe delights to conceal herfelf? But are there not many miniflers likewife, who from being loyal and affec- tionate, have become traitors to their fovereigns ? To all thefe confi* derations, Henry, on his fide, added a too curious and too aftive re- iearch into all pofTible contingencies, wherein, for the prefent or the future any danger to the flate might be apprehended ; and I, on mine too little folicitude to lefTen his fufpicion, which was not fo much the effedt of indifference, as the mark of a confcience clear and irreproach- able : it is not furprifing therefore, that the artifices of my enemies had made fo deep an imprefTion on the mind of Henry. However, I have ahvays, after this, laid it down for a maxim, that any fovereign who imagines fuch a conduct neceffary to fupport his interefts and au- thority, takes the diredl method to ruin both, by lefTening himlelf that refpeâ: and deference which he ought to oblige his fubjefts to fliew to thofe to whom he has confided thofe interefls, and by whom that honour is maintained. When Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 39f; When the three men, whom the king had employed in the affair of 1605. Grillon, had acquainted him with what I had faid, which had occa- fioned thofe tranfports of rage againft me, Villeroi, Sillery, La Va- renne, and father Cotton, came very feafonably for him to difcharge this heavy burthen upon. I had no reafon to think, that this accidental meeting was a favourable effcdtof the influence of my ftars ; for he re- peated my words to tliem, and his own fentiments upon them, with the moft violent emotions of rage. ♦' How !" faid he to them, perceiving that they made him no anfv\ er, " you are filent, you fay not a word ; •• but by heaven, purfued he, all this looks ill ; for fince fire and wa- *' ter mingle fo well together (it was d'Epernon and me whom he " meant) there muft be higher defigns, at leaft on one fide, than I ♦' could ever have imagined ; but I fhall take care to prevent them." It was abfolutely in the power of thofe four perfons, to whom the king addreffed this difcourfe, to prevent thefe fufpicions from going fo far ; one word only would have fufiiced : but they took care not to fay that word, but, on the contrary, upon the king's faying, that while I continued faithful in my allegiance, and the performance of my duty, I was the moft ufeful fervant he had, and that he fliould never ceafe to lament the lofs of me, they, to add fuel to the fire, under a feigned folicitude to alleviate his majefty's difquiet, began to praife, with tîie utmoft ardour, my great abilities in the management of affairs, the unwearied application I was capable of, and the aftive turn of my mind. From hence they inferred the great need which all the mem- bers of the date had of me, and the dependence which that neceffa- rily introduced; they exaggerated the high credit I had acquired among foreigners, and with what eafe I could put every thing in mo- tion, without flirring out of my clofet ; praifes which I neither merit- ed in their good nor bad fenfe. Certainly envy can affume every dif- guife, fince it can oblige men, not only to praife thofe whom they moft abhor, but in their praifes outdo flattery itfelf. The four confidants had reafon to applaud themfelves for this laft flroke of policy, when they found they had not allayed the king's anger againfl: me, but only to mix with it the firongeft emotions of jealoufy, diftruft, and apprehenfion: that this was the fiate of his mind they were well affured, when he told them, that, if I refigned myfelf up to the ambitious defire of becoming head of a party, my credit was fo great, and my friends fo numerous, that I was able to do the ftate more harm, than admiral Coligny had ever been able to do. My ene- mies MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX. niies now thought there was nothing more neceffary to be done, but to fiïffer thole black fufpicions to work in his mind, and wait the ef- fe£t; accordingly they took leave of the prince, after having thus in- ftilled the poifon into his heart. Henry, in this ftate of mind, was no longer capable either of fecrecy or art ; he fpoke of me publicly as of a rebel, and the whole court was immediately filled with the noife of my difgrace, and the expedlation of my approaching ruin. I HAD likewife many friends there, who had, a long time before matters came to this point, informed me of all that was pra<5lifing againft me by my enemies, and of what was faid by the king. I am not fure, whether it would not have been more prudent to atft upon this occafion as I had already done on many others of the fame nature, in which Henry of himfelf returned from his fufpicions and difgufts, to his ufual manner of thinking with regard to me. It is a mortifying thing for innocence to be perpetually employed in fupporting itfelfby proofs, and exaggerate its merit by praifes : a man who thinks he ought to owe his elevation to virtue alone, feels an honefl: fliame at being obliged to fecure that elevation by methods lefs worthy ; yet it is evident, on many occafions, that if virtue is not afiifted by chance and induftry, her own flrength is not fufficient to proteâ: her from the ha- tred, and even from the contempt of the public. So many repeated advices as I received, determined me at length to v. rite a letter to the king. His majefty had not yet fixed, for any confiderable time, in any of his palaces, but had coniumed the months of January and February in journeys toSaint-Germain (where his children were) and Monceaux, flaying but a fhort time at each place; and, on the 13th of March, the day on which my letter was dated, was at Chantilly. I fhall not tranfcribe this letter here, as I have no crime to efface, nor no parti- cular action to juflify ; it contained only general afl'urances of inno- cence, and arguments fimple indeed and unfludied, but which, on that very account, ought to have had the more weight. I OBSERVED to his majcfly, that, during twenty-two of the thirty- three years which I had been in his fervice, the favours I had received from him had been but very fmall, altho' I had been at confiderable expences; yet fince that confideration, the lownefs of my fortunes, and the profpeft of a decent eflablifliment elfewhere, which might have given fome excufe for my abandoning him, could not prevail upon me to do fo; it was not credible I Ihould do fo now, w^en I faw myfelf fo generoully rewarded, when my fortune could only encreafe, and when Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. when fo many favours, which I every year received from my king in a manner wholly obliging, attached me no lefs to his perfon,than my offices and employments. It was not probable therefore, I faid, that I /hould hazard the being deprived of one half of thefe advantages, by the hand which had heaped them on me, and of the refl: by the reverfes of fortune: that I defied all my enemies to charge me with the aclual commiffion of any crimes of which I could not clear mvfelf, in two' words, whenever his majefty informed me of it; that all thofe accufa- tions were no more than mere pofiibilities, upon which he was too wife and too juft to condemn any perfon, under whatever colour of fuppofition, probability, imputation, calumny, or even of praife, they might be prefented to him : but fetting all this afide, I entreated him riot to conclude me guilty, but upon folid proofs; that I fliould wait without fear the efforts of my enemies, and fubmit, without repug- nance, to all the rigour of the law, and all the effeds of his anger, if the fmallefl crime could be proved againft me; being moft certain that if, in the great number of employments with which I was in- verted, he could charge me with the commiffion of any fault, it would not be where my honour or duty was concerned, but an effedt of my ignorance or incapacity ; in which cafe I was ready, at his leafl: com- mand, to refign all my offices into his hands, chufing rather the ob- fcurity of a private life with his favour, than the fplendor of the highell dignities with his hatred. I WAS convinced, by the anfwer which his majefty fent me, that the informations I had received were not falfe ; he addrefîed me in it with the title of coufin inftead of friend : though rtiort, it was not written with his own hand; a kind of circumfpedion and refervâ, which was not ufual with him, ran through it, and not one word of confolation found a place : the king only obferved to me coldly, and in few words, that it was my bufinefs to fuffer the world to talk of me as it pleafed, and continue to ferve him well. I pretended, how- ever, to be fatisfied with this letter, and, after having done all that was neceflary upon this occafion, confcious of my own innocence, I was perfuaded that eagernefs and precipitation did not become me ; I therefore waited till his majefty was willing to enter into a difcuffion of the affair with me, and continued to ad: as ufual. The king, after flaying at Chantilly fix or feven days, quitted it to return to Paris, where his prefcnce was neceflary : he began to have a fondnefs for the former, from whence alio he wrote to me, that he was Vox. II. Fff much MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX. much better in health (as I fhouM perceive by his countenance as loon as I iaw him) that he eat and ilept well there, never rifing before fe- ven o'clock, tho' he went to bed at ten or eleven. I expedled, at leaft, that he would mention my letter to me when he returned to Paris, but I was miftaken ; he took not the rmalleft notice of it, although he flayed there eight days, and four mornings fucceffively conferred with me on many different affairs as we walked in the Tuilleries : Villeroi and Sillery indeed were prefent. After giving, us all the neceflary or- ders, hefet out for Fontainebleau, ftill keeping up the fame referve iu' all the letters he wrote me from thence, during the remainder of this month, as well upon general as private affairs.' It was here, as I obferved a little before, that they fupplied all which was yet wanting to make his majefty refolve my ruin ; and, as he ftaid there during the whole months of April and May, they had time futîîcient to effed their purpofe, and brought him to the point we have already feen. Calumny is like fire, which, the fiercer it burns,, is extinguifhed the fooner, if no more fuel be added to it ; and it is not fo eafy to fupport it as fome have imagined, efpecially with princes who aft on principle. If their imaginations be quick and lively, and their temper precipitate like Henry's, the paflions once inflamed will, at firft, carry them very far from their purpofe, but never fo far but that they may be brought back by reafon : and from difpofitions like thefe, one will have violent fits of anger to fuftain ; but to make amends, there is neither obftinate prejudice, imperfedl reconciliations, nor ftudied artifices to apprehend. It was this reafon which induced me to wait, with more patience than I fhould otherways have done, for the iffue of an affair fo complicated and perplexed ; and without altering my behaviour, either while I was at Paris, or in thofe fliort excurfions I made from time to time to Fontainebleau, I appeared al- ways the fame. My friends were not able to comprehend how I could enjoy a tranquillity which they were not capable of themfelves, although fo fully perfuaded of my innocence, that all of them would have willingly become fureties for my conduét : they expreffed great furprife at his majefty's behaviour to me, and could not keep filence at court, and probably in fecret taxed the prince with injuftice. All the kind offices of fincere and affedlionate relations I received from the family of Lorrain upon thisoccafion. At length my wiflies and expeftations were anfwered : the king finding that my enemies could brin» no proofs of what they had ad- vanced Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY, vanced againft me, he began to fear he had been a little too hafly j my paft lervices role to his remembrance ; my prefent conduft, and the purport of my letter, dwelt upon his thoughts : he was ftruck with all this, and regretted that he had fuffered any expreffions of anger to efcape him, being convinced that nothing was more juft and reafon- able than the requeft I had made him, that he would not condemn me without proofs of my guilt. One day when I was at Fontainebleau, he fent La Varenne, D'Efcures, and Befinghen, to me, on pretence of Ibme bufinefs, fuppofing I fhould tell them in confidence my difficul- ties and perplexity : however, I confined myfelf wholly to the bufinefs they came about, and avoided mentioning any other fubjedl. Villeroi and Sillery were fent to me afterwards for the fame purpofe, which I was convinced of as foon as I found that they had nothing to fay to me, but on an affair of fo little confequence, that it was not worthy the trouble they gave themfelves; this was about adifpatch fromAncel*, who managed the affairs of France at Vienna. I behaved to thefegentle- men as Ihad done to theothers : they had orders to make advances, and draw from me, at any price whatever, a confeffion of my fentiments upon the treatment I received from his majefly. The reader will iudge if they acquitted themfelves faithfully of their commiffion, and like true mediators : they turned the converfation, from bufinefs, to the danger and difficulty of ferving princes, and the mortification minifters are frequently expofed to, and the uneafinefs which flander mufl give to a man of honour : they afterwards gave me to underftand morer plainly, that a minifter was not defended from thefe inconvenienciey under the reigning king. I SAW clearly enough, that thefe two gentlemen, by talking in this manner, executed indeed the orders they had received, but with fo much additional art on their fide, as made it evident they were very folicitous to find fome occafion of realifing my fuppofed crime, when they made their report to his majeftiy. To adopt their fentiments had been infolence, and filence might have been confiirued into obftinacy and pride : I therefore replied, with great compofure, that I did not doubt but that there were princes in the world fuch as they reprefented, but that his majefty was too jufl: and too good, to treat, in that man- ner, fuch fervants whofe behaviour had been irreproachable, as, for example, I believed my own to be ; that I was fo well perfuaded of this tyuth, that, although I fliould hear the contrary from his own mouth, * William Anccl, mafter of the houfhold, refident at Vienna. F f f 2 yet MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX, yet I fliould ftill think his tongue but ill explained the meaning of his heart. Thefe v/ords were iufficient to difconcert thefe malicious com- miffioners ; but they had recourfe to other artifices to force fromme fome expreffion of complaint or anger ; and finding that they were not able to effe6t their purpofe, they returned to tell his majefty not what I had faid, but that I had faid nothing at all; and that, contrary to my ufual cuflom, I was fo wrapt up in referve, that I had not deigned to utter a fingle word. From hence it was eafy to judge what thefe two gentlemen would have faid, if I had given them the leaft opportu- nity of entrapping me. During the remainder of this day, I faw only fuch mefTengers as thofe ; but was fully determined not to open myfelf on this fubjed:, to the king himfelf, unlefs he led to it firft : and that he might fee no alteration in my conduâ:, I prepared to fet out the next morning for Paris, as the evening before I had told him I would. I WAITED on his majefty as ufual, to receive his orders before I went away; I found him in his clofet, furrounded by the courtiers who were come to his levee, and getting himfelf booted to go to the chace. At my entrance, he arofe half up from his chair, one of his boots being already on, and pulling off his hat to me, bid me good- morrow, ceremonioufly calling me monfieur : all which difcovered a mind either grieved or perplexed. His ufual ftyle to me was. My friend Rofny, or Grand mafter : but that confufion of mind he appeared to labour under, when, without feeming to know what he did, he ftruck the little ivory cylinders which he had in his hand one againft the other, convinced me that I was not miftaken, when I concluded there was neither anger nordifguft in this behaviour. I had likewife made him a much more profound bow than ufual, which, as he afterwards told me, moved hini fo much, that it was with difficulty he could re- flrain himfelf from falling that inftant upon my neck. He con- tinued mufing fome moments longer, and then told Beringhen that it was not a good day for the chace, and that he would be unbooted. Beringhen, furprifed at this fudden change of his intentions, replied, a little imprudently, that it was a very fine day. " It is not a fine day," replied Henry, with fome emotion ; " I will not ride this morning, " take off my boots." That done, the king entered into a converfation, diredling himfelf fometimes to one, fometimes to another, and chufing fuch fubjects as he thought would afford me an opportunity of fpeak- ing : but obferving I was ftill filent, he took Bellegarde by the hand ; " M. Le Grand, faid he, let us walk, I would talk with you a little, ** that you may fet out to-day on your journey to Burgundy." They had Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. had feme private bufmefs together, which related chiefly to fome idle tales and quarrels of women. When they came to the door of the little ftair-cafe which leads to the queen's garden, the king called L'Oferai, and, as he afterwards told me, bid him obferve whether I followed him ; and if I turned another way, not to fail to inform him immediately of it. I ftaid in the fame place during the whole time that his majefty was talking to M. Le Grand, in the walk that leads to the gardenof theConciergerie; butlob- ferved that he often turned his eyes upon me. After Bellegarde had ta- ken leave of the king, I advanced, and delired to know if his majefty had any orders for me. " And where are you going ?" faid he. " To " Paris, fire, replied I, upon the bulinefs you fpoke to me of two davs " lince." " Well, go then replied the king, I ftill recommend to " you the care of my affairs, and defire that you fhould continue to *' love me." I bowed low ; he embraced me as ufual, and I took the road to my own houfe; but fcarce was I got to the diftance of three hundred paces, when looking back I faw La-Varenne running after me, crying, Monlieur, the king would fpeak with you. His majefty, feeing me return, flruck into the road which leads to the Kennel, and calling to me while I was yet at a diftance, " Come hither, faid he : *' have you nothing to fay to me ?" " No, fire, I replied, not at pre- " fent." " Well then, I have fomething to fay to you," anfwered he with precipitation ; and taking my hand, led me into the grove of white mulberry-trees, and ordered two Swifs centinels, who did not under- ftand French, to be placed at the entrance of the canals which fur- rounded the grove. The king began by embracing me twice in a moft affedionate man- ner, which the courtiers eafily perceived, for we were within view, and they carefully Vv'atched all our geftures j then calling me friend, and re- fuming his former familiarity with me, he told me with a look and accent which went to my heart, that the coldnefs and referve with which we had for a month paft behaved towards each other, muft needs be very painful to two perfons who, for three and thirty years, had been accuftomed to the moft unlimited confidence ; and that it was time to deprive thofe who were the caufe of it of an occafion of triumph, which flattered too much their hatred of me, and the envy with which they beheld his and his kingdom's increafing profperity. The heart of this good prince opening as he fpoke to me, he ad- ded, that, earneftly defiring wc Ihould both forget what had happened, he thought it neceflâry to leave mc ignorant of nothing that had pafied on 4o6 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XX. 1605. on his fide, either with refped to the informations which had been <^. -v — .- ; given him againfl: me, the efFefts they had produced in his mind, and îaflly, the words and adlions by which he had made thofe unfavour- able imprefllons pubhc. He intreated, commanded, and made me promife to follow the example he was going to give me, to difcover to him all the different emotions with which I had been agitated, and my fentiments both of the treatment I had received from him, and of the affair itfelf, with the fame unreferved freedom he fhould ufe to- wards me; " That before we leave this place, faid he, our minds may " be wholly freed from doubts and fufpicion, and both perfeélly fa- " tisfied with each other; therefore as I fhall open my whole heart " freely to you, I muft intreat you will not difguife yours from me." I gave him my word of honour that I would mofl: faithfully obey this injunction. The king then began firft, by naming all thofe perfons who had endeavoured to injure me with him on that occafion, as well in effeéts as words, among which there were fo me of all ranks and ages, and many who had ferved his majefty as long as myfelf ; thefe I believe I may divide into feven claffes ; in the firft I fliall place the princes of the blood, and great officers of the crown ; in the fécond, the king's miftrefles, with their children, and fuch as either through the ties of blood or friendfliip fupported their interefts and ferved their paffions, among thefe were Cœuvres, Frefnes, Forget, Puget, Placin, Vallon, and many more; the marchionefs of Verneuil was at the head of all. The rage which animated thefe two claffes againft me was excited by my having retrenched their gratuities : the third was compofed of the par- tifans of Spain, and the remains of the- old leaguers, whofe politics and principles of government could not agree with the king's or with mine; and this clafs was increafed by many members of the council, Villeroi, Sillery, Frefnes, Forget, and others, who a£led in concert with the jefuits : in the fourth I comprehend all the petit-maitres, court-fa- vourites,' and idle infignificant perfons, who load Paris with an ufelefs weight; thefe were aduated by their refentment againfl me, for pre- venting his majefty from beftowing fuch favours on them astheyexpedl- "ed, and for the oppofition ofmy manner of living and conduél to theirs; the number of thefe is too great, and themfelves too contemptible, to fully the paper with their names: the fifth was made up of the fedi- tious and malecontents of France, whom the flourishing condition of the kingdom, the wife oeconomy of Henry, and the preparations he was making, which rendered him too powerful, incited to confpire my ruin: Book XX, M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 407 ruin : the financiers and other men of bufincls made up the fixth, and 1605. they indeed had no reafon to be much my friends. The feventh and lafl clafs was compofed of another kind of court- flatterers, fomewhat inferior to thofe I have already mentioned ; thefe were ever ready to give advice, and fought to make their court to the prince by continually furnilliinghim with newprojcdls for railing mo- ney ; men for the mofl part formerly in place, and to whom nothing moreof their once fliining fortune remained, than the deteftable fcience of impoverifliing the people; which for their own intereft, and by an elFedt of a long habitude in guilt, they endeavoured to teach his ma- jefty J but finding that this trade was become much lefs profitable to them, fince his majerty had confided to me the fole management of his finances, they praélifed another art which difcovered difpofitions nearly the fame ; this was, to invent flanders, drefs up detraction like truth, and be the venal inftruments of thofe, who either durft not or would not appear themfelves in the fatirical libels which filled the court ; it was by them that thefe contemptible pieces were compofed, fpread abroad, and the truth of them maintained and propagated ; the dangerous talent of raillery, and lively fallies of wit, opened them a way to the company and familiarity of Henry, who loved an eafy and fpirited converfation. Although he was perhaps upon his guard againfl: the malignant ftrokes at me, yet he could not at length avoid being touched by them. Some of thofe whom at firll he had defpifed or banilhed from his prefence, found means afterwards to make them- felves be heard. In this lift would be found none but names fo ob- fcure, that they do not deferve to be raked from the duft, fuch as Ju- vigny, Parafis, Le Maine, Beaufort, Berfot, Longuet, Chalangc, Ver- fenai, Santeny, &c. if Sancy, who merits the firft place among them, had not completed his own diflionour by this vile trade, which helped to retard his ruin, when his folly and exxefs had left him no other re- fource. He was obliged to fell his jewels, and offered them to the king, who, becaufe he was not willing they (liould go out of the-' kingdom, ordered me to purchafe them *. * M. dc Sancy has had the misfortune whimfies, &c. It would be doing him in- to fee himfch" treated in the moft cruel jufticc, to read thefe accufations and in- manner in all thewritingsof the Calvinifls jurious reflections, without having before ' of that time, without having in any degree one, at the fame time, the apology of his deferved it from them, otherwife than by conduii, written by himfclf; which may having abjured their religion. Joieph Sea- be feen in Villeroi's IMemoirs, vol. III. liger fpeaks of hib» as a fanadc, full of pag. 127. Hethercin, among other things , The 573 M E xM O I R S OF S U L' L Y. Book XX, 1605. The king, after recounting the names of the authors, gave me a detail of their artifices. All that the wit of man could devife, when animated hy an eager defire to deftroy, was praftifed by them ; where -^ ever the king turned hisflepSjhe fawnothing but informations, letters, libels, billets, and other papers of the fame kind ; not to mention the political memorials with which they prefented him, under flievv of zeal for the ftate, and ai^edion for his perfon : thefe papers he found under his table, under thecarpet of his chamber, and under his pillow; they caufed them to be prefented to him by perfons unknown, they were given into his own hand in the form of petitions, and crammed into his fleeves and pockets. I was there painted in the moft hateful colours, and the moft injurious epithets were not fpared, except when by the refinement of thofe treacherous praifes which I have already mentioned, they exaggerated tohismajefty my unwearied induflry, my great abilities, the depth of my judgment, my manners, once rude and forbidding, now, as they faid, became gracious and obliging to all. Henry, with great fincerity, owned to me, that he was fo impofed upoa by thefe artifices, that he had almoft entirely loft the good opinion he had once conceived of me j and that thefe wretches had contrived to fill him with fuch a defire of knowing all their intentions, that at the very time when he feemed fo weary of that infinite number of libels and informations, as to throw them afide without taking any notice of them ; yet afterwards he could not refift the inclination he felt to col- ledt them together, and caufe them to be read to him. It muft necefi'arily be, that this prince was prejudiced in a ftrange manner, fince he could not perceive that thefe writings were often no lefs injurious to himfelf than to me : as for example, when he read, that I made him mercenary and unjuft to thofe that fervedhim faith- fully, to whom, under pretended compenfation for old debts, he re* fufed what they had a lawful claim to; they likewife imputed vveak- nefs and timidity to him, in writing to me on all thefe occahons, which certainly was not greatly to his honour, whether in him they made it an excufe for his avarice, or a mark of his dépendance. It was by thefe infinuations they began at firft ; and while they went no farther, the king, who found only new occafions to praife my adminiftration, was not prejudiced againft me ; but to put thefe critics to-filence, he proves, in contradiction to what M. de Sully the king's fervice, he was obliged to fe'l his charges him with in this place, that by rea- jewels to the value of an hundred and fifty fon of the expences he had been put to in thoufand crowns. only Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. only required fummariesof the ftate debts which I had difcharged, to fliew them ; and as for me, when I had an opportunity I feverelv re- proved thofe perfons for their too free cenfures, while under aValfe pretence of being denied juflice, they fuffered expreflions to efcape them in tlîeir rage, with which his majefty had good reafon to be of- fended. But they foon left thefe flight accufations for others of greater confequence. Henry, to excufe the credulity with which he had believed thefe flanders, w^ould have me judge myfelf of the libels in which they ■were contained. But as it would have been a tedious task to' read them all, he fixed upon one -{-which Juvigny had fliewn him tveJve days before, and which had been made public, becaufe in this all the different calumnies which were fcattered throughout many other libels had been colledled, which made it as complete as a work of that kind could be : there was indeed fome little intricacy in it, but it was writ, however, with a fufficient force of flyle and judgment to perfuade his majefty that it proceeded from fome other hand than Juvigny, whofe powers it greatly exceeded. The king, taking this paper out of his pocket, told me, that by reading it I might pofTibly help him to find out the author, whofe name he would be glad to know. I received it from his majefty's hands, and read it from beginning to end in his prefence. The reader, if he pleafes, may here fee the fubflance of it, for it is not my intent to conceal any part of it. The author, whoever he was, began (and indeed no writing had ever more need of fuch a precaution) by endeavouring to clear himfelf of all fufpicion of envy or prejudice : the great qualities of Llenry, the happinels which France enjoyed under his reign, the advantageous fi- tuation of his affairs, made a fécond preamble, very proper to captivate the good-will of this prince, and ftill more to lead naturally to the accufation he was to make againft me, of having infolently boafttd, that this happinefs was my fole work ; and from thence, with great art, introduced this reflexion, that it was but too common for miniilers of fuch abilities, and favourites with fo much power, to engage in de- i This book was intituled, A political " and bold for thofe times, when all truths difcourfc, (hewing the king in what refpects " were not allowed to be fpoke ; it never- his majefty is ill ferved. " It was privately " thelefs did not contain any thing againft " handed about at Paris, fays l'Etoile, in " the king or hisfervice, but many things " MS. the ftylc of it was fomewhat free " againft M, de Rofny." Vol. il G g g figns 4IO -MEMOIRSOFSULLY. Book XX» 1 605. figns pernicious to the fovereign and the ftate. A crowd of examples — ' eloquently diiplayed, finiûîed this part of the pidure. From thence the author proceeded, not to examine my adions, which alone could afford a juft proof of his affertions, but to criticife my manners ; and in the gracious reception I had lately given to all. perfons in general who came to my houfe, found an unanswerable proof of thofe pernicious defigns ; and added, that the number of perlbns, from the princes of the blood, down to the moftinconiiderable of the people, which by this (tudied civility I had gained over to my interefts, was almoft incredible. He attempted to enumerate this crowd of par- tifans, which could not indeed but be very confiderable, iince all that this accufation was founded upon, was that complaifance axid po- litenefs of behaviour which in France it is the cuftom to treat every one with: the prince of Conti and the duke of Montpenfier were at the top of the lift; then the whole family of Lorrain ; feveral French lords came next: my reconciliation with the duke of Epernon, be- caufe followed by a lincere and reciprocal friendlhip, was mifrepre- fented under the name of an union formed by a boundlefs ambition. Meffieurs de Montbazon, de Ventadour, de Fervaques, d'Ornano, de Saint-Geran, de Praflin, de Grammont, d'Aubeterre, de Montigny, de Schomberg, and others, were likewife mentioned as perfons whom I attached to my intereft by the diftindion with which I treated them, the fervices I was perpetually doing them, and the diftribution I made amongft them of partof hismajefty's treafurcs, which I was fo fparing of to all others. All this not being fufficient to give probability to thofe views the author attributed to me, he added to it the correfpondences I carried on without the kingdom. He mentioned an expreffion which fell from the king of England, and which might well be confidered as a mere compliment, " That the king of France was happy in having •* me," and made it an argument to prove, that I had violated the faith I owed to my prince ; that not only his Britarnic majefty, but likewife the States-general of the United Provinces, the dukes of Wir- temberg and Deux-Ponts, the landgrave of HefTe, the prince of An- halt, the marquiffes of Anfpach, Dourlach, and Baden, were ready to take my part blindly, and engage openly in my defence : the flighteft fervice which any of them received from me, was conftrued into a criminal intrigue. All the proteftant bodies, whether French or foreigners, as well as the Helvetian fenate, being gained by the regu- larity BûoK XX'. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 4H larity of their payments, and by largefles from me, were fald to be 1605. abfolutely devoted to my intérêts. After having thus made the firft efTay with accufations which car- ried in them fome little appearance of probabihty, the author became more hardy, and impudently hazarded others, the falfity of which appeared at the firft view. According to him, I did not content my- felf any longer with my correfpondences in foreign countries alone, but by fending his majefty's money into England, the Low Countries, Germany, and Swiilerland, I was laying up for myfelf immenfe funis, in order to retire there one day, and, as opportunities offered, make levies ofSwifs, German horfe, and Lanfquenets, to fupport the proteftant religion, and, after the example of admiral Coligny, give up France to be preyed upon by thefe troops. The author, who doubt- lefs was fenfible that a minute detail of circumftances was generally confidered as a mark of truth and fincerity, particularifed this event as if he was already a witnefs of it ; he alledged, that by purchafing arms, iron, lead, brafs, bullets, and other warlike ftores, for his ma- jefty's magazines, I had alfo private magazines of my own, in each of the ftongeft proteftant cities, where I depofited thofe ftores in my own name. Certainly thefe people would have had reafon to congratulate themfelves upon the fuccefs of thefe arts, if by this accufation they could have prevailed upon the king to difcontinue his preparations. This admirable piece concluded with an exhortation to his majefty, to confide no longer to one perfon the management of his revenue, the ufe of his authority, and the adminiftration of his affairs; but to aflbciate with me fome perfons who might keep a vigilant eye over my condudt. While I was reading this memorial Henry obferved me with great attention, but finding that I read it as I would have done any indiffe- rent paper in which I was not the leaft concerned, without faying a fingle word, without betraying the leaft emotion, or even any change of colour; " Well, what do you think of it ?" faid he. " What is your " opinion of it, fire ? replied I, you that have read it more than once^ *' and kept it fo long in your hands; for my part, I am not fo much ** furprifed at thefe Ibrt of writings, which in eftect are nothing but ** the trifîing production of foolifli and wicked men, as to find that fo " great a king, polfelTed of fo much wifdom, courage, and goodnefs, " and who has known me for fo many years, would have patience to " read them himfelf, and hear ma read them throughout in iiis pre- G g g 2 ♦' fence, 412 M E M O I R s O F s U L L Y. Book XX. 1605. " fence, without at leaft fliewing by his anger the violence he did " himielf in hftening to fuch calumnies, and without ordering the " authors to be fought for, to punifh them feverely." After having thus fpoken, I confidered that the moft effeftual way to reftore peace to the king's mind, and revive in him all his former fentiments of me, was to give a diredl and particular anfwer to each of the accuiations which my enemies brought againft me j and this I had given him my word I would do, I confined myfelf therefore to Ju- vigny's libel, which I had flill in my hands, that I might give a fepa- rate anfwer to each article. The reft of my enemies, who durft not at- tack me openly, for fear of being obliged to produce their proofs, merited only contempt : and it was with this obfervation that I began my anfwer. To the prefumptuous and injurious difcourfes of his ma- iefty's government, which they attributed to me, loppofed thofe words I had fo often in my mouth, in which I pointed out the king as a mo- del for thofe princes who would be good and great to form themfelves by. The examples they produced of minifters who became traitors, and favourites ungrateful, could not affeâ: the fidelity of a man who, like me, had laboured to perfed: thofe great and amiable qualities he had derived from his illuftrious anceftors. I defied them to produce a fingle perfon, whether a friend or kinfman, to whom I had given any gratuity without a fufficient reafon, and a particular order from his majefty. Againft the traitorous defigns they imputed to me, of fomenting the civil wars, I appealed to Henry's knowledge of the afi-e(ftion I bore to my country, the attachment I ever had to his perfon, ray folicitude for my own honour and reputation, and the oppofition I had given on every occafion to the ill defigns of the proteftants, which had drawn. the whole weight of their refentment upon me. Besides, what advantage could I promife myfelf from thefe chi-- merical fchemes, which I did not at prefent pofi"efs in the greateft and ; moft honourable ftation to which any fubjeél could afpire ? what could be my aim ? To place the crown on my own head j my enemies them- felves did not accufe me of fach a frantic ambition ; to carry it out of the royal family, altho' it were in my power to difpofe of it, on whom could I fix my choice, but the prince to whom I had, during thirty years, confecrated all my labours and my fervices, and for whofe in- tereft I had ftied my blood, and devoted my life ? Why, if I was the traitor they infinuated, did I ftill bend my whole cares to the increafe of his glory, by thofe noble defigns which if I did not fuggeft, I was at Book XX. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 413 at leaft the fole confidant and promoter of? If I had views prejudicial 1605. to his crown, or dangerous to his perfon, why did I fo earncftly feek to engage him in all thofe alliances with England, and the other powers of Europe ? Was not this afting direétly againft myfelf ? Is it by pur- fuing fuch meafures as thefe, that ambitious and deligning fubjeftual attempts but increafed their fliame and rage; and had I been of a difpofition to enjoy fuch victories, this laft, being not lefs complete than the other, would have afforded me fufficient matter for triumph : it was likewife at Fontainebleau, that the king and I came to an expla- retired to Angouléme, and made gre.it " him to the hatred of many, againfl whom complaiiits of the injuftice he pretended the " he was very able to protett him, in order king had done him on this occafion, yet " to keep him under apprehenfions of what infifted that M. de Crequy fhould wait on " might be the efFeits of his failing in his him as his colonel, at the diftance of a " duty." This paiTage in our Memoirs hundred leagues from Paris, to take the feems, at firft fight, to ofFer fomething in oaths before him, get his conimiflion al- favour of this conjecture : the opinion of lowed by him, and receive his orders for thofe neverthelefs, who think there was no being invefted in his poft. The duke of artifice in the fufpicions Henry IV. con- Epernon made him dance attendance after ccived againfl: the duke of Sully, appears to him for fcvcral days, and fuffered him to me better founded ; but whether his fufpi- ■wait a whole day at the door of his cham- cions wore feigned or real, I alfo think, as ber. Hiftory of the duke of Epernon, many other perfons of fenfe do, that they p. 212. ought to be reckoned among that prince's * " The king," fays le Grain, b. vii. defects. According to the firft fuppofition, «' advanced the duke of Sully in fuch a a low cunning unbecoming the charadter of «« manner, that he always referved a fufH- fo great a king is apparent ; and acconling «c cient authority over him; and who to the fécond, a piece of injuftice, for which J knows but it might perhaps be a pruden- the firft movements of a hafly paffion ^e tial mcalurc in the king thus to e.xpofe would be no c.xcufc, there being a kind of nation MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX. nation of this fécond difference ; and tiie morning afterwards the king fent for me very early. As foon as I entered his chamber he took my hand, and led me towards a crofs-barred v/indow which looked into the queen's garden, having fomewhat to impart to me in private; but as we paffed, he faid aloud, in the prefence of the whole court, " You " cannot conceive, my friend, how eafily and happily I flept this <' night, after having opened my heart to you, and had all my doubts " cleared up." He then alked me, if I did not feel the fame calm fa- tisfadtion -, I replied that I did, and that he fhould always find in me the fame fidelity and affedion. In the midft of a favour fo often interrupted by little jealoufies and heats, what convinced me that the heart of Henry always leaned towards me was, that however diflatisfied my enemies might fometimes by their infinuations make him vvith me, yet it never interrupted the courfe of thofe benefits with which it was his conftant cuftom to load me and my family. I had proofs of his beneficence with refpe<51: to my eldeffc daughter, amidll: thofe very ftorms I have mentioned *. I had en- gaged my word to Fervaques, to give her to the young Laval, whom his majerty, as I have formerly obferved, ordered me to prefer to the duke of Rohan ; and the affair was upon the point of being concluded. One day, about the beginning of this year, when I was walking with the king upon the terrace belonging to the Capuchins, he again intro- duced this fubjeft, and told me his reafons for defiring me to rejecft the duke of Rohan, which were, that the marriage of this lord with my agreement between this prince and his mi- " fays Amelot, who have feen Tancred nifter, that the firft fliould overlook, in the " (the name of this pretended heir to the charafter of the other, that firmnefs and " houfe of Rohan) have affured me, that inflexibility of temper, incapable of a bafe " he had the topping of the Rohan family, fubmiffion and flattery, in confideration of " which is a fmall tuft of hair on the fore- a fidelity eftablifhed on fuch numberlefs " head, and that the features of his face proofs. This is a fufficient evidence, that " were remarkably like thofe of his fup- the performance of the moft important fer- " pofed father." To this anecdote we vices will not difpenfe a man from a flexi- may add another, by which it is pretended bility to, and compliance with, the humour that the duke of Rohan had a mind to pur- of princes, even the moft perfect. chafe the kingdom of Cyprus of the Grand * Margaret de Bethune. This lady, to Signior for this child : it was alfo faid, that be revenged on her only daughter, who, his father and mother had kept him con- againft her will, had married Henry de cealed only that they might marry their Chabot, in the year 16451, fet up a boy daughter to the count of SoilTons, and af- about fifteen years old, as being really her terwards to the duke of Weimar. See fon by the duke of Rohan who died feven thefe curious fables in Amelot de La-Houf- years before. " Many perfons of credit, fjye, article Bethune, &c. and art. Chypre. daughter Book XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 417 daughter had been propofed by the princefs Catharine to the duchefsof 1605. Rohan, and accepted by my wife, without acquainting him with it ; and hkewife becaufe mcnfieur and madame de Fervaques had fo earneftly ibhcited his intereft in favour of Laval, that he had promifed them to give him to me for a fon-in-law, rather than the duke of Rohan, who was not fo rich indeed, but had the honour to be fo nearly related to him, that, if he died without children, as the princefs his filler had. done, the duke of Rohan would fucceed to his kingdom of Navarre, and the other eftates of the families of Albert Foix, and Armagnac : he then added, that, for other reafons which he would acquaint me with, he had again altered his opinion, and that it was his intention I fhould break with the family of Fervaques as decently as I could. Having already prepared them for this change of iny refolution, he defired me to withdraw the contradls and articles which had been agreed upon between us, in fuch a manner, that the breaking off the match fliould appear entirely my own acft, and that they might not have any room to fay they had refufed an alliance with me. He added, that he would himfelf bring the duke of Rohan to pay his compliments, with the duchefs his mother, and expeded that I would receive him as one who was to be my fon-in-law within three days, having already fettled every thing relating to the marriage himfelf; that he would have the contradl drawn up in his prefence, and would fign it as the kinfman of both parties. I THANKED his majcfty for the intereft he took in my family, and the honour he conferred upon me. The affair was managed as he had direded ; the king gave the bridegroom ten thoufand crowns for the wedding cloaths and expences, and the like fum to my daughter. The year before, I had married mademoifelleDu-Marais, my wife's daughter by her firflhufband, to La-Boulaye, the fon of him whom Henry had loved fo much : flie had no reafon to expedt any other gratuity from his majefty, than that which is generally given to all the queen's maids of honour, under the title of a prefent for the nuptial robe, and had been fettled at two thoufand crowns : the king raifed it to five thoufand in favourof my daughter-in-law; but that it might not be made a pre- cedent for others, he ordered me to carry it to account. It was ufual with his majefty, after he had -cleared the accounts of his expences in fortifications and buildings, to fay to me, in the pre- fence of the officers employed in thoTe works, who attended to know his pleafure concerning farther improvements in them, " Well, you Vol. II. Hhh "fee MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XX: " fee my fortifications and buildings are refolved upon, what have you " done to your houfes ?" To which, when I replied, as I.feldom fail- ed to do, that I could do nothing to them for want of money ; he would anfwer, " Well, fliew me your plans, that I may know what " you would do if you had money." And after examining them, and telling me what he thought it would be necelTary to alter, he added, that he would give me twenty thoufand livres to enable me to make thofe alterations he pointed out to me. However, I fometimes requeued favours of him which he refufed to grant, and I fhall not have the vanity to conceal it : he would not give the poil which had formerly been the baron de Lux's to my bro- ther, or to La-Curée, for either of whom I requefted it ; telling me, that for Bethune, he defigned a pofl in Brittany, which would fuit him better ; and that as for La-Curée, he did not think that employ- ment compatible with the pofl of lieutenant of a company of light- horfe, and the government of Chinon, which he already pofTelfed.. The truth was, he chofe to give it to Ragny, who could do him greater fervice in the province. I afked two other favours of him in the fame letter, the one for my nephew de Melun, and the other for La-Boulaye : he told me, that La-Boulaye had not yet, by his fer- vices, merited fuch an inflance of his bounty, but he granted the other, which was the abbey of Moreilles in Poitou, lately become vacant. I received another refufal from him, if it may be called fo, in which my fon-in-law the duke of Rohan was concerned : the oc- cafion of it was this. The duke of Rohan wasgovernor of Saint- John d'Angely, of which place Des Ageaux was the king's lieutenant: it was not the governor, to whom in juflice it belonged, that named this lieutenant, but his majefly, who thought it neceffary, for the good of his fervice, to de- prive the governor of this privilege, that the lieutenant, who, in trou- blefome times, had hitherto always played an important part in af- fairs, might in fome degree be independent of the governor, and in a condition to render his power ineffeâual, if he Ihould not ufe it to the king's fatisfadlion, and for the advantage of the ftate. The lieu- tenant therefore was, in reality, poflefled of the whole authority, and the governor had only an empty title. The ^uke of Rohan, who earncftly wiflied to have this prerogative rellored to the governor, en- treated me to folicit the king for that purpofe, a favourable opportu- nity offering itfelf by the ficknefs of Des Ageaux, who, it was thought, v/ould ^BooK XX. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. would never recover. Whatever inclination I had to do my fon-in- law this fervice, I durft not make the propofal to the king diredlly, the requcft having too much conformity with that ftatc of depen- dence into which my enemies had inlinuated I fought to place all the * proteflant cities : nothing more would have been wanting to renew all his fufpicions. I refolved therefore to found him firft upon the fuhjeft, which I did very artfully, taking occafion, upon the news of Des Ageaux's ficknefs, to ask his majefty whom he had thought of to fupply his place if he died : it was by letters that I made this at- tempt ; but I would go no further till I had received his majefty 's anfwer. The king, in his anfwer, told me, that he did not intend to renounce his right of naming the lieutenant of Saint- John, becaufeit would not always be the duke of Rohan, nor my fon-in-law, who would be governor of that place. I mentioned Poufou, the mayor of that city, to him, whom he continued in that office upon the charac- ter I gave of him. Des Ageaux recovering of his ficknefs, no farther fteps were taken in the affair. Before I quit this article of marriage, I fliall take notice of what happened at court, with regard to mademoifelle de Melun my niece, whom they thought likewife of marrying at that time, as her fortune was extremely large, the marchionefs de Roubais my aunt having made her her fole heir. The family of D'Eflreés caft their eyes on her for a wife to De Cœuvres -f ; they thought themfelves fure of the king's intereft; and the affair was propofed to him by M. de Vendôme himlelf, to whom the king promifed that he would fpeak to me of it before he left Chantilly. He recolledled the affair when he was at Louvre-en-Parifis, where they went to dine, and wrote to me con- cerning it in terms which fhewed how earneflly he defired the mar- riage might be concluded. I WROTE to the young lady's relations, who were all Flemings ; but the anfwer they gave me being fuch as I neither ought nor could repeat to my fovereign, I fent him none at all j and when at his * It is faid in the Hift. de la mere & du one doubt of the t^uih of this hSt, befides fils, vol. I. p. 15, that Henry IV. refufed M. de Sully's filence in relation to it, the the duke of Sully the government of Saint- facility with which that prince granted him iViaixant, which the queen herfelf, at the the government of the whole province duke's requeft, defired of the king for him, muft he fufficient. faying, Prudence would not permit the f Francis-Hannibal D'Eftrées, marquis making a Calvinift mafler of that place, of Cœuvres, duke and peer and maréchal fmall as it was. If any thing could make of France. H h h 2 return MEMOIRS OF SULLV. Book XX. return he afked me the reafon, I only told him, that mademoifelle de Melun's relations did not approve of the propofed alliance. The king fuppofing that it was mylelf who anfwered for them, and that I had not wrote to them about the affair, I was obliged to fhew him the let- ters Ï had received from the marchionefs de Roubais, the prince and princefs de Ligne, the princefs d'Epinoy, the countefs de Barlemonti and the counts de Fontenay» and de Buquoy, who had all written to me upon the fame fubjedt. Henry, in thefe letters, finding, what I would not tell him, that notwithftanding the honours he had conferred on the houfe of D'Eftrées, they thought it beneath their alliance *i " I fee," faid this prince with fome refentment, " that fince we have *' to do with all thefe proud Flemifh fools, we muft think no more of " it." Accordingly the affair went no farther, his majefly being re- folved not to meddle in it any more. * The houfe of D'Eftrées is undoubtedly one of the moft ancient noble families of Picardy. Confult our genealogifts. MEMOIRS MEMOIRS O F SULLY. BOOK XXI. TH E uneafinefs I fuffered from the king's relapfe into doubts and fufpicions of my conduct, encroached upon part of that time I ufed to devote entirely to the adminiftration of the fi- nances ; but it never lelTened my attention to the duties of my feveral employments. I laboured this year to prove the alienations and ufur- pations that had been made upon the crown lands, and to clear ex- actly all the penfions upon the tailles, gabelles, décimes, aides, and other parts of the revenue ; as well as all the debts contrafted either by the king, or by the cities, counties, and communities. Upon cal- culating thefe fums, I found that the alienations, penfions, and debts, from the time they were firft fettled and contradled to the prefent year, had coft the kingdom above an hundred and fifty millions *. * " Nothing lefs than the infurmount- " crown, &c. He always feconded the *' able courage of the duke of Sully was " king in the glorious defigns of cafing his *' fufficient to retrieve the diforders of the " people." Political Effay on Commerce, *' revenue, by dilincumbering the mort- ch. lo. M. Claudius de L'Ifle fpeaks of " gaged crown lands from a charge of an him in the fame manner, and with the " hundred millions, by paying off fomc, greatefl: encomiums, in the Abridgment of *' and IcfTening others of the debts of the his Univerfal Hiitory, vol. V. p. 50X. It "MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXI. It is ftill more extraordinary, that all the money ariiing from thofe taxes with which the ftate was overburdened, and in appearance no advantages gained by them, had for the moft part been either ufurped by thofe perfons who were at firft employed in the verification of them, or divided, fold, and alienated by them to others. The king would not believe this ; but I made it plain, by means of two papers which fell into my hands ; the firft was, a lift of thofe perfons who had been concerned in the farm of the fait, during the leafe of Champigny and Noel de Here : the number amounted to twenty, from Paris, the court, and even the council, and each had from fifty thoufand livres to one hundred and fifty thoufand crowns a-piece, the whole amounting to nine millions feven hundred thirty-eight thoufand livres : the other pa- per, dated Odlober 27, 1585, is an agreement between the fuperin- tendant D'O and thofe who farmed the fait, for a fifth part : D'O pre- vailed upon Antony Fafchon, a notary, to be fecurity far that whole fum to the farmers before mentioned. By the fame pradices his majefty was defrauded of almoft all the revenue arifing from the aids and parties cafuelles. Gondy had prevailed with Incarville, and the other members of the council with whom he ihared, to have that money afllgned to him, for the payment of fome debts which he pretended were due to him from the king. Difticult as it was to find out thefe frauds and connivances, I made fuch ftridt enquiries, that I difcovered three millions that were to come to the trea- fury. As it was merely with a view to relieve the people, that I thus from time to time ftripped the ufurpers of money that did not belong to them, in proportion to my difcoveries, I made very confiderable abatements in the king's name upon the taille, that perpetual fource of abufes and vexations of all kinds, as well in the affeflment as coUeftion : it is greatly to be wifhed, though hardly to be hoped for, that one day or other the fund of this part of the king's revenue may be wholly changed *. * Thefe abufes and vexations are fo fla- our days, which feemed to promife a more grant and apparent, that our kings and happy fuccefs, though hitherto its progrefs their minifters have frequently attempted has not been very rapid : I will take the li- te find fome remedy for them by entirely berty of explaining the nature of it here, changing the form of this branch of the re- An unhappy prejudice prevails in this renue of France ; but the difficulties the kingdom, and I believe in all monarchical author fpeaks of have always intervened, governments, which we cannot be too fo- and rendered their endeavours fruitlefs. licitous to deftroy; for the minds ot the However, one attempt has been made in people being thereby kept in a perpetual I PLACE Book XXI. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 423 I PLACE the gabelle after the taille. I never thought anything 1605-. more capricious and tyrannical, than to oblige a private man to buy u— v — up more fait than he is willing or able to ufe, and then hinder him to fell the overplus. I once exprefied my fentiments of this praftice {late ofdiftruft of every thing undertaken by their fovereign, from this diffidence alone great part of the fame mifchievous efFedts arife, which an abfolute difobedieace could produce. The prejudice I mean is, that the good of the people is never the motive of the adtions of Icings ; but that, on the con- trary, no changes arc made in their fitua- tion, but fuch as tend to render them more miferable. It is impoflible but fo confiderable a change as is propofed to be made in the taille, muft, from its own nature, be fubjeft toereat difficulties. Now I apprehend it will no"t be fufficient that thefe difficulties have been overcome in the minds of the few who have formed and perfeâed this fcheme, but they muft alfo be cleared up to thofe whom it is necefl'ary to employ in the execution of it ; for the manner of" executing a work of this nature is in no degree analagous to that in which a building may be eredted : the latter being effected by the mere me- chanical co-operation of the hands of the workmen with the defign of thearchitedl ; whereas, to carry on and complete the for- mer, it is abfolutely neceiTary that the na- ture of it {hould be as clearly conceived by thofe who are to put it in execution, as by thofe who formed the plan. But two things ftand in oppofition to this, which it will become neceflary to remove, the one by the means of information, the other by punifhment ; thefe arc, the want of know- ledge, and the want of diligence in the iub- altern officers; the latter making them dif- obcy the orders of their fuperiors, and the former, though their intention be ever fo good, occafioning them to execute every thing wrong. This reafon alone would be fufficient to prove, that what relates to the general re- ceipt of the taille proportionelle, ought not to be entrufted to the alVellbrs and other officers of the intendants of the finances ; I dare not fay to the intendants themfelves, and thofe adling in immediate fubordination to them, who are generally taken by them at random, out of the offices of the police, or the revenue ; and who having other bu- finefs of their own, cannot fpare the time neceffary for the other : but as artificers are fent for from the metropolis, when any work is to be performed exceeding the ca- pacity of common workmen ; fo the coun- cil ought to chufe and appoint, for the ma- nagement of the general receipts, commif- fioners of integrity and capacity, fufficient- !v authorifed, and perfedtly inftrudled in the nature of their bufinefs, and who fliould be allowed all the time and expences that arc rcquifite. If they are too much hur- ried, part of the remarks neceflary for them to make on the different particulars of the bufinefs of the provinces will efcape their obfervation ; and if their falaries are ill paid, or not to be received by them without dif- ficulties, neceffity may induce them to be- tray their truft. This important work cer- tainly demands all poffible attention. When one confiders how powerful an influence the bonds of parentage, friend- {hip, fociety, or even mere neighbourhood, have on mankind ; how ftrongly they are afFedted by different interefts, as well per- fonal as focial ; the fear of difpleafing, the defire of obliging, the ambition of being honoured and careiTed by their countrymen, the dépendance on a fiiperior, who, accord- ing to his caprice, can make his dependant fenfible of his fuperiority, by depriving him of his office, or by unjult reprimands ; and the innumerable other motives which tic up a man's hands in the midil of his family and countrymen ; a thoufand reafons will appear againfl: employing the ordinary offi- cers in the bufinefs of the new taille. This^ aflertion is tonfiimcd bv the icftimony of freely MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXL freely to the king, who defired me to give him a circumftantial me- moir upon it ; as for example, the prime coft of the fait at the falt-pits, of the expences till it was fold, of its diftribution into gra- naries, and other queftions relating to it : his majefty did not tell mc what ufe he intended to make of this memoir. I drew it up with the utmoft expedition, and as near the truth as I was able ; for on account of the reafons I there gave, it was hardly poffible to fix the true value of things. However, this memorial produced no confequences, every thing remained in the fame ftate as before ; which fliews how difficult it is to reform abufes, which the ignorance, precipitancy, and fhort- .fightednefs of thofe antients who are propofed to us as infallible guides, have introduced into the firft regulations, even when other imports, far more reafonable, fuch as the tithes and entries, feem both to point out the way, and make it eafy.* federal perfons, who having with great ap- plication confidered what were the defigns of the council, in conftituting this kind of operation, and afterwards kept a watchful eye on the manner in which it daily appears to be executed by the officers in their fe- veral diftricls, have with great concern found, that, out of fifty of thefe officers, there is perhaps not one whofe manner of executing his bufinefs does not render the new method more odious than the old. Thefe motives and thefe difficulties, a perfed knowledge of M. de Vauban's plan, the frriall difficulty there was in eftablifhing it when trial was made of it, the happinefs thofe few parifhes flill continue to enjoy which have found the means of preferving it amongft them, the experience every day furnifhes that the dixième (which in its own nature is but a fpecies of the dixme) has every poffible advantage over the taille and other impofitions ; all thefe, I fay, muft convince every judicious man, that it will be found abfolutely neceflary to recur to the eflablifhment of the royal dixme, as being of all methods the moft fmiple, the lead expenfive, and the leaft burdenfome to the people ; and that when it was pro- pofed by this able and virtuous patiiot, it was not received with all the regard it merited. The maxim, that enabling the .people to live at their eafe will endanger their revolting, is as falfe as it is cruel. It mofl: certainly is alfo the intereft of the people, if well underftood, that the king (hould be perfeftly acquainted with the true value of what they poirefs, and confequent- ly the real flrength of his kingdom ; that, without regard to exemptions or any un- juft privileges, all his majefty 's fubjeflrs fhould be equally taxed ; and that com- merce and induftry fliould meet with all poffible encouragement. As to any further reflexions which may be made on this mat- ter, we will refer to that excellent work itfelf, compofed by M. Vauban, and inti- tuled, Dixme Royale, &c. * It is well known what is the net pro- duce to the king of the gabelle, or fait du- ty, after all expences paid ; and it is not, confequently, difficult to difcover, to what thofe expences amount on each minot of fait. Why fhould not the king at once take the price of each minot of fait on the firft fale, and at the fait pits themfelves ? Why fhould not the fame be done in the cafe of the aids ? This queftion, fimple as it is, has been asked long ago. The cardinal of Richelieu, in this refpeft, following the opinion of his predeceflbr in the miniflry, Teft. Politique, part II. ch. ix. § 7. Pere- fixe, the author of the EfTay on Commerce, ch. V. and many other able politicians after him, unanimoufly pronounce fentence a- gainft an import like this, not only bur- denfome from the manner in which it is The Book XXI. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 425 The debts contraded by the provinces, town-houfes, and corpo- T605.. rations, were not lels troublcibme to the king than his own : I was continually foliciting him to call on me to review and fettle them, in the fame manner as I had done the others ; I prevailed at lafl, and his majefty left me the choice of what meafures I thought mofl likely to attain this end. The commiffioners I named for this purpofe were feledled from among thofe perfons, whom I knew to be moft faithful, and capable of the greateft application to bufmefs, in the fovereign courts, among the mafters of requefts, the treafurers of France, and other officers ; but as this work could not go on fo expeditioufly as the former, I fhall defer giving an account of it till I come to relate the elFeéts it produced. And here a reflexion occurs to me, not more common than juft, which is, that regularity and oeconomy muft certainly have infinite re- fources ; for notwithflanding the ordinary expences of the ftate, and the extraordinary ones his majefty was at in his kingdom ; notwith- ftanding that three or four millions were fent every year out of the kingdom to be diftributed in foreign countries ; notwithftanding the ru- inous and exhaufted condition in which the king at his acceffion to the throne, found France, his finances, and his treafury, and many more ditficulties almoft infurmountable ; yet the government had al- ready an appearance of opulence and ftrength, which baniihed all re- membrance of its former indigence. Could it be poffible for any perfon to imagine ten years before, that in 1605, the king would find himfelf as rich as he really was ; if they refledted, that the fums which were demanded of him when he was acknowledged peaceable pofTeflbr of the crown, and thofe that were owing from his exchequer, with all the intereft and arrears, did not amount to lefs than three hundred and thirty millions ; and that all v^'hich could be paid of this enormous fum, fuch as the mere debts, fhould really be done ; and fuch meafures taken with regard to the penfions and affignments, that they {l:iould be regu- levied, but becoming ftill moreunjuft, from thus fpeaks of it, adds, that he had found, the unequal manner in which it is aflefl'ed. from the moft knowing amongft the fuper- It is true, they perceive great difficulties in intendants of the finances, that the produce altering it ; but this alteration being once of the duty on fait, if levied at the pits, made, one of the principal fources of the would be equal to what the king of Spain cafe, and at the fame time of the opu- receives from the Indies. See alfo on this lence of the nation would be opened fubjedt the Dixime Royale of M, de V'su- thereby. The cardinal de Richelieu, who ban. Vol. II. Hi larly MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXI. larly paid, without exhaufting the treafury or incurring the leafl: in- convenience ? Yet all this was adlually efFeded. And probably the reader has not yet found any thing in thefe Memoirs fo interefting as the following account in grofs, of the particular fums which made up the whole. There was due to queen Elizabeth at the time of herdemife, for ready money lent to Henry in his neceffities, advanced by her to the German troops and the armyfent into Bretagne, as well as for all the other fums, to which the maintenance of thofe fupplies that Henry was fur- nifhed with by the Englifli, amounted ; confifting of men, veffels, and provifions, for the ficge of Dieppe, and that of Rouen, and during the war with the league ; the fum of kven millions three hundred and fe- venty-eight thouland and eight hundred livres : To the Swifs Cantons, for their fervices and their penfions, comprehendingtheintereftdueupon them; thirty-five millions eight hundred twenty-three thoufand four hundred and feventy-fevenlivres and fix fols: To the States-General, for money lent, for pay due to their troops, and for the furnifliing veffels, powder, provifion, ammunition, &c. during the league likewife; nine millions two hundred feventy-five thoufand four hundred livres : To feveral French noblemen, colonels, and other officers, for fervice, pay, penfions, falaries, &c. during the civil wars ; fix millions five hundred and forty- feven thoufand livres : To the farmers of every part of the revenue ; to princes, cities, corporations, and private perfons ; compre- hending the falaries, appointments, and penfions of the officers of the king's houfhold, of thepolice, andthefinances,.and the civil magiftrates, by fettled accounts, twenty-eight millions four hundred and fifty thou- fand three hundred and fixty livres : To feveral private perfons, accord- ing to their bills, refcriptions, receipts of the treafury, warrants, acquit- tals, patents, &c. almoft all in the reign of Henry III. twelve millions two hundred and thirty-fix thoufand livres : Mortgages of the crown lands, compofitions of penfions, where the principal being exorbitant was moderated by the creditors themfelves, or deduéted by his majefi:y ; one hundred and fifty millions : Treaties made at the abolition of the league, which have been calculated already, thirty-three millions one hundred and fifty thoufand nine hundred and twenty-four livres *. * There is a mifcomputation of about as in ths fum total 5 but this is of fmall - million, in the old Memoirs, as well in moment, the account of the contrats of the league, It Book XXI. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 4?.; It is certain, as I have already obferved, that upon the examination 1605. of thefe diffent demands upon the exchequer, many that were found to be unjuft were totally annulled ; others were compounded for with the creditors, and others were got clear of by feveral expedients, fuch as thofe upon the taxes, and the crown lands ; but it may be eafily imagined, that there remained a very conliderable number of debts to be difcharged : and here I mufl anticipate my ftory, for the fake of ob- ferving that good examples are not always efficacious. After Henry's death, thofe that were placed at the head of affairs, began their admi- niftration by deftroying part of that oeconomy, and abolirtiing many of thofe regulations, which he had ellablifhed: this condu' 'if", i-L- 1-1 1 J 1 1 J -ir lions called recelons every thmg that related to the troops, and returned myitii to by virtue of Paris, to fettle the affairs of the council with all poffible expedition, the king's and to name the members of the chamber Des grand jours, whom it commiflion rr r 1 r n o j or letters pa- was neceliary to lend away hrit. ^^,,(5 At court, and in the council, it was fuppofed this journey would terminate in the fame manner as that to Provence had done the year before. The orders which were given for fo fudden a departure, in a feafon ftill farther advanced, furnillied the indolent and fenfual cour- tiers with a thoufand new arguments againft it; but when they faw that Henry was inflexible, they prepared to follow him, often curling the man whom they fuppofed had given him the advice : but it threw the duke of Bouillon's partifans into the utmoil confternation, who had not, as may be eallly imagined, ufed any endeavours to divert the ftorm. La-Chapelle-Biron *, and Giverfac, who were moft faithfully devoted to him, as having received the moft Spanilh gold, intreated the fieur de Fouflac -f- to go to court, and affure his majefty that they were ready to give him any teftimony of their obedience which he ftiould re- quire : it was the people of Turenne only who made any fliew of re- fiftance; Rignac :{: and Baffignac threw themfelves into that place, provided it with ammunition, and lodged all the artillery in it upon the plat-forms. Thefe advices were fent his majefty by Foullac and Bau- meville, who difpatched the fenechal de Brive with them ; but all this was executed with Co much terror and difmay, that the king, who had given d'Epernon and Roifty || orders to advance thither before him with their troops, did not think it neceflary to ftrengthen them with the re- giment of guards, as he had at firft intended. * Charles de Charbonnières, fieur of I Peter de Rignac ; Gideon dc Balîîgnac La-Chapelle-Biron ; Mark de Cuignsc, or Vrflignac. lieur of Giverfac. 1| John-James deMefmes, lord of Roifly. . t Raimund de Sognac, fieur de Fouflac. Vol. II. Qj] q Fous- 482 MEMOrRSOFSULLY, Book XXIF. 1 605. Fouss AC gave alfo feme other informations, conformable to what had been faid by Rodelle, concerning the flate of the revolt in the provin- ces of Limofin, Perigord, and Quercy ; and by him it was difcovered, that the true caufe why a great many gentlemen did notcome and throw themfelves at his majefly's feet, as they had intended, was that I'Aubag- nac had been fent from Sedan, to diffuade them from taking that ftep ; and that many of them had alfo lately received confiderable fums of Spanifli money, which had been diftributed among them by Guienne, The duke of Bouillon, in whofe name this money was given, recom- mended it to them, at the fame time, not to be difcouraged or alarmed' at the preparations which were making againft them, fmce he engaged his word to make things take another turn before Oftober ; and that his friends (thofe were his terms) fhould fee him fooner than they hoped, and his enemies fooner than they defired: thefe founding words efFedlually im.pofed upon them. Fouffac, however, aflured the king, that there had not come more than ten or twelve thoufand crowns from Spain ; but Bouillon, always fupplying the want of money with confi- dence, had given them to underftand, that this fmall fum was fent to them to be diftributedamongft their fubaltern friends, and that other fums far more confiderable were referved for them : they were fimple enough to believe him, and after this no longer talked of foliciting for a par- don. The king ordered two hundred crowns to be given to Fouffac for the expences of his journey, and fent him back to continue on the ipot. He left Paris himfelf on the 15th or i6th of September*, efcorted by the regiment of guards, and the fquadron I have already mentioned, and began his march towards Orleans, while I took the rout before agreed on. He had not got farther than Hallier, before he faw the good effedls of his journey : two gentlemen of Quercy named Cauffe and Brigantin, came to meet him at this place to implore a pardon for themfelves, and a hundred and twenty other gentlemen ; and that they might in fome degree meriirit, they offered to difcover, in a court of juflice, all that they knew of Bouillon's proceedings, and maintain the truth of their depofition with the points of their fwords, and at the ex- pence of their blood. Thefe two deputies revealed likewife all the ♦ In regard to this journey of Henry IV. the original of a letter wrote by Henry IV. to the Limofin, fee de Thou, b. 24. to M. de Rofny. Lettres de Henry le the Mercure François, anno. 1605, and Grand, plots Book XXH. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. plots which had been carried on by Rignac and Baffignac, in the duke of Bouillon's favour ; among others that of feizing Ville-neuve in A-^e- nois, for which Bouillon had not the leafl: plaufible pretence. It being at this place that his niajefty had firft received notice of the attempts made by d'Entragues, to deliver the count of Auvergne from his con- finement in the Baftile, as I have related in order; he defired me to meet him at Orleans, which he expeded to reach the next day, being Saturday September the 24th, advifing me to fend the artillery in the mean time to Argenton, through which place he propofed to pafs, Thefe orders, however, were not executed, it being impolTible for me to go to Orleans : his majefty approved of my reafons ; and I gave him in writing the advice he demanded of me, which was conform- able to thofe meafures I had always folicited him to purfue with re- gard to d'Entragues. Henry arrived at Orleans on the appointed day, and left that city on Monday the 26th of September: he avoided the road thro' Berry and Sologne, on account ol- the fcarcity of provilions in that barren country, and the difeafes which he was told prevailed there ; he there- fore marched towards Blois, and from thence to Montrichard, again appointing a rendezvous with me at Loches, expreflîng an earneft de- fire to confer with me perfonally upon the prefent flate of aifairs. Hi- therto he had not received any marks of fubmiffion from the duke of Bouillon; on the contrary, the refinance of Rignac and Baflignac in Turenne, and Sincerai was confirmed. From Metz he had advices, that Bouillon would have afliftance from another quarter ; the elec- tor palatine, it was faid, had, upon the report of the king's expedi- tion, fent for his colonels and captains, and the governor of Luxem- burg was making preparations and affembling forces. D'Epernon in- cefTantly prefied the king to advance, and demanded, with fome kind of difpleafure, officers and provilions for the recruits, which he faid he had raifed with great difficulty. His majefly referred this bufinefs to me, defiring that I would give proper diredlions thereupon to D'Ef- cures, or the other officers and inhabitants of thofe places ; and with regard to Bouillon, he held himfelf prepared for refinance, although hitherto he faw no appearance of it. In effecfV, this prince had fcarce reached Blois, before he received a courier from the duke of Bouillon, who brought him a letter dated from Sedan, September the 20th, in which, after making his ufual protefta- tions of grief for having offended his majefly, and of his intentions to Qjj q 2 repair ^84 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII. 1605. repair his fault at the price of his blood, he declared, that he ha'i never entertained the leaft thought of difobeying his orders, or refifting his perlbn ; that he had given an abfolute command to his lieutenants to receive him in all his towns and caftles, a needlels order, he added, fince tliere was not one perfon belonging to him who did not look upon his majefty as his fovereign mafter; that he defired nothing more ardently than to have brought him the keys himfelf, and, with the utmoH: hu- mility, implore to be again received into his favour. The king ap- peared fatisfied with this procedure of Bouillon : however, he repre- lented to him, that he ought to have fent Rignac and Baffignac, againfl whom fuch heavy crimes were ailedged, to have juftified their condu6t perfonally. Blanchard was the maji whom Henry was moft defirous of feeing, as there was no perfon in the world who had a greater (hare of Bouillon's confidence, he being his Ifeward, or was better acquainted with the fteps of the whole party ; but he did not appear : Henry there- fore thoughtheought not todifcontinue his march, at leaft till became to Limoges, that he might fee how far the duke of Bouillon's lieute- nants would carry their obedience. However, Blanchard arrived at Blois before his majefty left that city ; and what added to the king's fatisfadtion, he came voluntarily, and with an intention to obtain his pardon, by making a faithful confefTion of all he knew. In effe6t Blanchard unfolded the whole myftery of the plot ; he acknowledged, that, feconding with all his power the bad intentions of the duke his mafter, he had been always obliged to have recourfe to the mean artifice of exaggerating fadls, enlarging views, and making promifes a thoufand times greater than he well knew could ever be per- formed : fo that the execution of their defigns had always been as re- mote, as they had affedled to fay it was near. Blanchard's depofition appeared to his majefty to be of fuch confequence, that he ordered him to give it him in writing: and now he began to be convinced of the juftnefs of my opinion, which he had fo long oppofed, namely, that the duke of Bouillon's party made all this noife, only becaufe they could do nothing more. Notwithftanding this, Henry would neither ftop nor lay down his arms, till his will was complied with without any reftridiion. He remembered to have heard it faid among the proteftants, that the places the duke of Bouillon pofielTed did not belong to him, but to the whole party, having been given as cautionary towns, and held as fuch by officers of the reformed religion : he feared therefore that he might make ufe of this pretence to keep them, and thought it the fecureft way not to difband his troops, till Villepion, whom he had ap- Book XXII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. appointed to take poiTeffion of Turenne in his name, had been receiv- ed into tliat capital of Bouillon's. I had written to La-Caillaudicre that he might difband the cavalry ; his majefiy made inc revoke this order, and in the beginning of Ocftober, left Blois and proceeded to Tours, having again altered his defign of marching though Montri- chard and Loches. The conveniency of the river and caûle of Pleffis, determined the queen, who had attended his majefty to Blois, to go as far as Tours with him. The king, when he informed me of this alteration in his march, fent me word that, as foon as this princefs had left him to re- turn to Paris, he would continue his rout through La-Have as far as Chatelleraut, where I had appointed to meet him. In proportion as his majefty advanced, all ditficulties fell before him : Villepion was received without the leaft difturbance into Turenne : and before Henrv reached Limoges, all the other towns depending on the duke' of Bouillon, were yielded in the fame manner to the officers his ma- jefty fent thither to reprefent his perfon. All this was conformable to the duke's example, who continued to declare loudly, that he had no hand in the commotions of the province, and that he had been accufed through mere calumny. Baffignac diftinguifhed himfelf by his obfti- nacy ; for, cutting his beard, and difguifing himfelf, he fled through Geneva to Sedan. Nothing more remaining to be done by arms, the chamber des grand jours began the exercife of its office : the king would not ftay for the conclufion; he was weary of Limoges, after a ftay of eight days there, - and rode poft to Paris. Lie left me in this prqvince, inverted with his authority, as well in criminal matters as for diibanding the troops, which kept me ten days after him. We went back to the fource of the rebellion, by endeavouring to difcover the firft authors of it ; and fo fuccefsful were our inquiries, and the effeâs of them, that all re- mained peaceable for the future. It was thought fufficient to behead ten or twelve of the moft acftiveofthe rebels, among whom, thofe of greateft note, were the two Luquifles, gentlemen of Languedoc, who have .been already mentioned^ and * Meirargues, a kinfman of the * Lewis d'Alagon, or rather Lagonia, ber; his body was quartered, and fixed baron of Meirargues, was arrefted at Paris, over the principal gates of the city, and his in the monaftery of Saint-Germain, toge- head was carried to Marfeilles, where it- ther with the Spanifti ambaflador's fecre- was faftened on the head of a pike over the tary, and beheaded on the 19th of Decern- chief gate. The king ordered the Spanifh Joyeufe's 3; 486 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII- lôo^*. Joyeufe's ; the firfl for having undertaken to deliver up Narbonne to the Spaniards, and the latter Marfeilles. I have no reafon to doubt» but, that after thefe examples of rigour, the hatred of the proteftants againft me was wound up to its utmoft pitch. I cannot but complain of this unjuft prejudice, which however did not extend to all : Theo- dore Beza was my friend, and his approbation alone was fufficient to comfort me for the caufelefs malice of a thoufand others. This venerable old man, who exercifed the fundlion of a minifler at Geneva, was feized with an illnefs towards the latter end of this year, in the eighty-feventh year of his age; his diflemper, which before the eclipfe* of the fun which has rendered this year memorable, wasbutveiy flight, grew fatal from that moment, and a few days after put a period to his life : he preferved, till the lafl: moment, the full force and vigour of his mind, in a body weakened by infirmities and exhaull:ed by age ; he ordered his attendants to lift him out of his bed ; and then, with the utmoll fervour, he offered up his prayers to God, and in the moft earneft and pathetic manner, exhorted all thofe who were prefent to a perform^ance of the duties of religion and holinefs; after which, he was again laid in bed, where he expired without pain, nature being quite worn out in him: he did not forget me in his lafl: moments j and thinking that he owed me fome acknowledgement for the vifitlpaid him at Geneva, and the fervice I did him, when I prefented him to his majefly at the head of the other deputies from his city, he de- fined Deodati to prefent a book to me in his name, intituled, " The " treafure of piety ;" this was the New Teftament, tranflated by him, fecretary to be fet at liberty, without wait- as dark as poflible : Le Grain fays, that ing for the determination of the queftion, during an hour and an half, one could not, at that time ftrongly debated, whether it is without difficulty, read or write without right to give up to the courfe of juflice, a candle. L'Etoile was freer than M. de an ambafl'ador, refident, or any other fo- Sully from the popular prejudice, in regard reign minifter, who violates the law of na- to eclipfes . " Many ftrange maladies of tions. MSS. Royaux, 8477. See alfo the " different kinds, fays he, raged in Paris difcuflion of this queftion, and Henry IV's " at that time ; and, together with the difcourfe on this occafion to the Spanilh " eclipfe, which happened on the 2d of ambafl'ador. Mem. de Nevers, vol. IL " this month, eclipfed many perfons who p. 858. Matthieu, vol. IL book iii. p. 68g. " have never been feen fince : dyfenteries, and other hiftorians. " efpecially, were very dangerous and mor- t This eclipfe happened on the 2d of " tal to thofe who happened to be attacked Odlober, according to M. de Thou, and " by them, and more in other places than on the 3d, according to the Mercure fVanc. " at Paris ; few of them efcaping." Anno at one o'clock in the afternoon; it conti- 1605. The fame author fays, that Beza nued two hours, and forhalfanhouritwas died the day after the eclipfe. v^ith Book XXII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 487 with notes, which, together with the other verfions, both antient and i(c. modern, formed a complete work: this he infcribed to me, and in the epiftle dedicatory gave free fcope to the favourable fentiments he en- tertained of me. Deodati punilually performed his lail: commands, and in the month of November fent me the book, with a letter, from whence thefe circumftances are taken. I SHALL conclude my relation of his majefty's journey with that of a quarrel which happened between me and the count of SoilTons, fol- lowed by another with the duke d'Epernon. The count having taken ofFence at fomething which the king had done or faid to him when he left Paris, thought proper to revenge himfelf upon me. I had, as has been obferved before, left my train of artillery, to take the diredt road to Limoges, that I might meet his majefty at Châtelleraut. The count of Soilfons ordered his harbinger to go to the quarter-mafters, who were then employed in marking out the king's lodgment, and afk them which was referved for me, and to take pofTeffion of it for him, in fpite of all oppofition. This was not fo eafy to be done as faid. A great number of gentlemen of the province, who knew the rights of a governor as well as myfelf, being prefent when the count's harbinger was preparing to execute his orders, they prevented him, without even acquainting me with what they had done. The count did not fail to complain to the king of this indignity, which he faid his honour was concerned to refent; and, as an aggravation, added, that I had caufed his harbinger to be beaten. The king, who knew his humour, gave him but little fatisfa(ftion j but the count made fo much noife, and aflerted the fad: fo politively, that Henry fent D'Efcures to me to know the truth. All I knew of the matter, which I told him, was, that upon receiving information of what was doing, I went to the place deftined for my quarters, where I found above fifty Poitevin gentlemen, who all together ex- claiming againft the unjuftifiable procedure of the count's harbinger, had made ufe of threats to prevent his going farther. The count of Soiflbns {till infifted, that it was a defigned infult upon him, and de- manded juftice of the king. He found none to take his part: and Henry, by all the arguments he could think of, endeavoured to convince him that his complaint was groundlefs : he told him, that all gover- nors have a right in their provinces to take place of every one but the king ; and that I, as grand mafter, had the additional right of claiming the next quarters to the king, when he marched in the body of the army ; . 488 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII. 1605. army ; therefore it could be no encroachment to have only part of thofe ' quarters, when the whole is at the difpofal of the grand mafter : no one pretending any right, or fixing on any part of it for himfelf, with- out my permiffion ; and for this reafon the quarter-mafter had put to mine the accuftomed mark which fecures his to the king ; thele are the words, " For the king :" the count of Soiffons' harbinger there- fore ought through refpeft to have abftained from his attempt. NoNEofthefe reafons having any weight with the count tDf Soif- fons, there was a necelTity that Henry fhould think of fome expe- dient to fatisfy us both ; and this expedient was, that when I came, as ufual, to pay my refpeds to the king, I lliould make my compli- ments likewiie to the count, and offer him, through mere politenefs, my quarters; which tlie count, returning my civility, fliould refule : this was accordingly done, but it was on my part onlyj for the count, making ufe of a mean artifice, from whence he afterwards de- rived a flill meaner occafion for boaft, fufFered me to make all thefe advances, without any return on his fide, and took pofleflion of my quarters, becaule I could not decently unlay what I had laid. But this joy, and the railleries which enhanced it, lafled no longer than till the next day. As he was pafTing through the flreet where Î lodged, followed only by two gentlemen (for he was going to hunt along with his majefty) he found the ftreet filled with gentlemen, to the number of two hun- dred, who were waiting till I came out to mount my horfe, and who, as foon at they faw him at a diflance, crouded together, as if for di- verfion, fb clofe, that they left no paflage for the count ; and his equerry, not being able to open him one, was obliged to cry out, " Make way, gentlemen, make vi^ay for monfieur the count:" but they, railing their voices all together, talked fo loud, and fb confufed- ly, that the equerry could not make himfelf heard ; fbme of them mut- tering at the fame time, that it was never known that a governor of a province was difpoffefTed of his lodgings in a place where he reprefentcd the king's perlbn. The count was obliged to wait a quarter of an hour before he could get room to pafs. And for a farther aggravation of his misfortune, not one of thefe gentlemen faluted him. Thit- was a new fubjeét for complaint to the king. His majeily told him, he was lorry for wliat had happened, but could do nothing for him, fince he muft not expeét that, in complaifance to him, he would make en- quiries among four or five hundred gentlemen for the peribns who of- fended ^ooK^XXn. MEMOIRS OP SULLY. c'yfFended him, when he could point out no particular man ; they at the fame time fuppofing they had fome right to take this revenge up- on him, for an inliilt injurious to them all. The count of Soiflbns found no one to take part in his refentment but the duke of Epernon, who was himfelf then violently enraged againft me on the following occafion : the Rochellers hearing that his majefly would pafs near their city in his march, fent a deputation to him of their chiefeft citizens, as a mark of their gratitude and re- fpeft. I was the perfon to whom they applied ; therefore the king ordered me to conduél them to audience, which he gave them in the prefence of the whole court : they told his majefty they were come to intreat he would honour them with his prefence in their city, fincehe was fo near it; afTuring him, that although he was at the head of an army of catholics, he fliould not be received with lefs refpeél and fub- miflion, than when he came formerly at the head of the proteftant troops ; and that if their gates were not wide enough to admit him and his train, they would throw down three hundred fathoms of their wall, fincc his repeated bounties had enabled them to rebuild it. They then prefented the keys to him, with fuch fmcere expreffions of joy and atfedion, that the king was melted even to tears, embraced them thrice, and afterwards, entering into a familiar converfation with them on the times paft, alTured them, that in him they might always depend upon finding a protector of their liberty, and a zealous prefer- ver of their privileges. As I was going away at the conclu fion of this ceremony, I met the duke of Epernon, who coming to wait upon the king, afked me what was doing ? and I, without refledling upon his queflion, cnfwered it diredly : but I was furprifed to fee, that at the recital I made him, his countenance was overfpread with rage and difdain ; and, a moment after, to hear him afk me, haughtily, whether I af- fumed any right in the government of Rochelle ? and by what claim I took upon myfelf to prefent the deputies from that city to the king ? -I never thought it any meannefs to give my friends fatisfaâion, in cafes wherein my condudl might appear doubtful to them ; I there- fore told him, that it was in the quality of an antient friend of that city, and by his majefty's command, that I had prefented the deputies to him. He replied, with the fame emotion as at firll, that Rochelle being comprehended in his patent for governor, the king, the Rochel- lers, and 1, had equally injured him. I could not help telling him. Vol. n. R r r that MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXII. that the Rochellers would look upon his pretenfions as very Angular, hut that it was from them, or rather from the king, that he was to deiire an explanation, and not from me, fince I had only adted by his majefty's orders, and without any intention to encroach upon the rights of other perfons. Saying this, I quitted him coolly, and he went to Henry to tell him the caufe of his difguft : he returned more diflatisfied than he went, and all the refource he had was to mingle his grievances and complaint» with thofc of the count. The malicious things they faidofme on this occafion, which I had convincing proofs of, was the caufe that I af- terwards took D'Ornano's part in a quarrel which happened between him and d'Epernon, during the king's ftay at Limoges. This increafed d'Epernon's rage, and a third difguft: which he received from me com- pleted our eflrangement from each other : he demanded affignments for the payment of the ammunition bread, furniûied by the cities and large towns for the foldiers he had levied. I thought it my duty to ac- quaint the king before I complied with this requeft, who, knowing as well as myfelf that this money would remain in d'Epernon's purfe, in- ftead of being delivered to thofe to whom it belonged, gave me orders to refufe him. This was the rock upon which our reconciliation, our mutual promifes of friendfliip, and thofe connexions which had been capable of giving umbrage to the king, were all fplit and deft:royed. At my return from Limoges, I went to give his majeft:y an account of the ufe I had made of that authority he had confided in me : we had now a longer converfation together, than at my return from Chatelle- raut, and upon the very fame fubjedt, policy and the quarrels at court. I found him this time alfo at Fontainebleau, whither he had come to pafs the month of Odtober and part of November; the queen was there alfo : the king and fhe met as they entered the court, fhe in her litter, and he on horfeback, for he had rode poft. He loft: La-Ri- viere, his firft: phyftcian there, whom he greatly regretted : he gave his poft to Du-Laurens *, who was already firft phyfician to the queen; and looked out for another for that princefs. I did not ftay long at * Andrew Du-Laurens was the fourth treated to procure Du-Laurens's office for principal phyfician, whofe death Henry IV. Turquet, one of the phyficians in ordi- had feen fince his acceflion to the crown ; nary to the king, who was a proteftant, and as he alfo died four years afterwards, anfwered, " I have taken an oath never to Petit a phyfician of Gien, who fucceeded " recommend either a phyfician or a cook him, was the fifth. M. de Sujly being in- " to the king." Fon- Book XXII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 491 Fontainebleau; a thoufand different affairs called me to Paris, where 1605. Henry had confideration enough to leave me a long time, without commanding my attendance on him. I HAVE yet mentioned but fome part of thofe affairs queen Mar- garet had to communicate to me, in our interview at Cercote. As flie propofed to quit her caflle at Uflbn and refide in Paris, (he was delirous of having my advice upon this occalion, and to know if fhe fliould be well received at court ; whither it was neceffary fhe fhould go, to prove that fhe did nothing without his majefty's confent. I aflured her, tliat their majefties w^ould receive her with the utmoft refpedl: ; for I was well acquainted with their fentiments in regard to her, A bare afîurance would not fatisfy her ; fhe infifled upon my engaging my word as a fe- carity, which I did without any hefitation ; and fhe, on her fide, pro- mifed to be governed wholly by my advice. After thefe mutual en- gagements, we feparated ; I took the road to Chatelleraut, and Marga- ret that of the caille of Madrid, where flie intended to lodge. Henry, befides the inclination he had to oblige this princefs, who well deferved that he fhould contribute to her fatisfadtion, had another reaibnfor consenting that fhe fliould leave Uffon*. He was extremely de- firous of having this old caftle in his own pofîefîion, as its fituation, in a very fufpedied country, might make it one day a convenient retreat for the rebels, as the caflle of Carlat had been. The king propofed to throw down this caflle if it fhould be judged not worth preferving ; for this purpofe, he ordered me to fend a faithful and intelligent com- miffary to the caflle of Uffon as foon as queen Margaret had left it, and to give him an exadl information of the condition it was in at prefent, but that he fhould not difcover with what intention he went. However, La-Varenne, coming foon after from queen Marga- ret, declared to Henry, that it would give her great trouble, if the caflle of Uffon was demolished fo foon after her departure ; upon which the king wrote to me to defer fending the commiffary thither till he had feen that princefs. This fécond order would have come too late, if happily the perfon whom I had refolved to employ, and who was one * She had lived there near twenty years, marquis de Caniilac carried her off from On her leaving Agen, from whence (he this caftle, and (hut her up in the caftle of made her efcape difguifed in the habit of an Uffon, which place pleafed her fo much ordinary citizen, riding behind Lignerac, that ihe fixed her abode there, though the flie went to live at Carlat, a caftle belong- was left at liberty to quit it whenever ftvc ing to a gentleman called Martas. The thought proper. R r r 2 of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXL';. of the beft engineers in the whole body of the artillery, had not been indifpofed, which obliged him to put off his journey for fome days. The arrival of queen Margaret, and the kind reception Henry pre- pared to give her, occafioned fome of thofe idle flanders which the foolifh populace are fo fond of propagating. The wifeft way being to feem ignorant of them, the king made no alterations in thofe honours he was refolved to pay her. As foon as flie came to Paris, he feat Mi de Vendôme and Roquelaure, to pay his compliments to her, till he could vifit her in perfon, for he was then at Monceaux : the queen alfo fent Châteauvieux in her name to this princefs. On the 26th of July, Henry went' in perfon to vifit her, to Bois de Boulogne*, where fhe then was, having only paffed through Paris, His majefty went * From thence fhe went to live in the palace of Sens near the Ave-Mary ; fhe afterwards hired a palace in the fuburb of Saint-Germain oppofite to the Louvre, where fhe continued till her death. This princefs has been fo much abufed in the li- bels of that time, that one might be in- duced to accufe M. de Sully of partiality, in the praife he every where beftows on her in his memoirs,. if his teftimony were not confirmed by our beft hiftorians. The au- thor of L'Hiftoire de la mere Si du fils, on their authority, fpeaks of her in the follow- ing manner. " Her degradation in point " of rank, was fo amply made up by her " goodnefs and the royal virtues fhe pof- *' fefTed, as to render her flill greatly re- " fpedled.Likeatrueheirefsoftheilluftrious *' houfe of Valois, fhe never beftowed a " gift on any one, without making an *' apology for givmg fo little ; ihe was the " refuge of men of letters, loved to hear " them talk, her table was conftantly fur- " rounded with them, and fhe learned fo •' much from converfing with them, that " fhe fpoke better than any woman of her " time, and wrote more correâly than moft " perfons of her fex are capable of doing. ♦' In fhort, as charity is the queen of all " virtues, this great princefs crowned hers *' by giving alms, which fhe did with fo " liberal a hand to all v/ho ftood in need of *' them, that there was not a religious *' houfe in Paris which, did not feel the " efFeils of her bounty, nor one poor per- " fon who had recourfe to her that did not " meet with relief; thereforeGod out of " his mercy repaid her with ufury, for that " which fhe fhewed to his people, giving " her grace to make a truly chriftian end." &c. vol. I. p. 326. This is furely fufficient to compenfate for a fmall number of levities and human weaknefTes, which are the ut:- moft of what this princefs could ever be charged with. If any one is defirous of feeing further what has been written for or againft her on this head, let him read ■ mefiieurs De Thou, Dupleix, Mezerai, father Daniel, father Hilarion de Cofèe's elogium of illuftrious ladies, BafTompierre, M. Bayle's dictionary under the wcrd UfTon, and an infinity of other writers. She died on the 27th of March 1615, at her palace in the Fàuxbourg-Saint-Ger>- main, which has fmce been demolifhed-j fhe was interred in the church of the re- formed Aiiguftins, fmce called the Little Auguflins, which had been founded by her. " She was greatly regretted," fays the Me- moirs of the Regency of Mary de Medicis, " being a princefs abounding in goodnefs " of heart, eagerly fond of the welfare " and repofe of the ftate, who did no harm " to any one befides herfelf. " Thefe few words, I apprehend, are fufficient to give us , the perfeft idea we ought to form of her charader, and fufficiently agree with what M, de- Sully fays of her^ at. Book XXII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 49S at feven o'clock in the evening, and returned at ten. This interview 1605. pailed with equal latisfadtion on both fides. The king fpoke of the caille of Ullon to this princefs : flie confented to what he propofed ; and, in that whole affair, he never did any thing without firll know- ing whether it would be agreeable to her. On the 28th of the fame month (he came to Paris, to pay her refpedls to the queen, who came to the Louvre to receive her : (he afterwards, on the 4th of Auguft, went to Saint-Germain to fee the Dauphin, and ftaid there four or five days with their majcflies. Henry had no greater pleafure than die company of his children, as his frequent journeys to Saint-Ger- main fufficiently proved. Queen Margaret returned to Bois de Bou- lougne on the 1 1 th of the fame month, greatly afFeéted with their majefties obliging behaviour to her. By the orders which {he gave to her officers who remained at UfTon, Barenton, who was fent thither by his majefty, found no oppofition, and was put in immediate poffeflîon of the caftle. He drew up a me- morial of the flate in which he found it, and brought it to the king, who, perfifting in his refolution of difmantling this caftle, ordered me to fend an engineer or commifiary of artillery there as foon as pofllble for that purpofe. I was -commifTioned to thank queen Margaret in his name, for the chearfulnefs with which flie had made this facrifice, and to pay her the full value of all the ftores and ammunition which were found at UiTon, which Margaret had deflined for the payment of the garrifon /lie maintained there ; if that princefs did not rather chufe to give, her foldiers thefe flores and provifions themfelves. I SHALL conclude the memoirs of the prefent year with .an article, which I am already certain will have the approbation of all juft and fenfihle perfons; and for which I am alfo as fecure of their acknow- ledgments. In all the principal cities of the kingdom, efpecially thofe "which have arfenals and academies, there are alfo fchools for the young nobility, , in which are taught all kinds of fports and exercifes, as well military, as thofe defigned merely to form a graceful carriage, and give ftrength and adlivity to the limbs : and thefe exercifes are no where more carefully cultivated than at Paris, where the fpacious courts of the arfenal, deftined to this ufe, are full almofl: every hour in the day. I was always of the fame opinion as Henry concerning thefe exercifes: he often afferted, that they were the moft folid founda- tion, not only of difcipline and other military virtues, but alfo of thofe noble- 494 M E' M O ï R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII. 1605. noble fentiments, and that elevation of mind, which give one nation the pre-eminence over every other. I ufed to be prefent at them my- felf, when I could fleal a moment from bufinefs, as well through the tafte I had for fuch amufements, as becaufe I thought my prefencc would excite a laudable emulation amongfl: the youth. One afternoon, in carnival time, when thefe fports were mofl: fre- quent, I left my clofet to (hew myfelf to this affembly of young men, and came very feafonably to prevent theconfequences of two quarrels, which, from that miftaken notion of honour to which France has made herfelf a flave, were likely to have been very fatal. Thefe quar- rels had taken their rife from a trifle, as it generally happens with the greatefl: part of thofe which have been followed by the moft bloody cataflrophes J but the king (I am grieved to fay it) took fo little care to enforce the obfervation of the edidts publifhed by fome of his pre- deceflbrs, againil: that barbarous cuflom of duelling, that every day, and for the flighteft occafions, fome blood was fhed. I THOUGHT it my duty to endeavour to convince thefe young men who crouded about me, of the error they were in with regard to true valour; " It is, faid I to them, in fields of war, and in adtions *• which have the fervice of our country in view, that courage is per- *' mitted to be fhown ; that which arms us againft our friends, or " countrymen, in contempt of all laws, as well divine as human, is *' but a brutal iiercenefs, madnefs, and real pufillanimity." I perceiv- ed, that the moral I endeavoured to inculcate appeared very ftrange to thefe young men, who were carried away by the heat of blood and ardour of youth : one of them, who, it was apparent, fought to give himfelf confequcnce with his fellows, replied, that princes having at all times permitted, nay authorifed duels, they had paiTed into a cuf- tom, which holds the place of a law. I CONTENTED myfelf for the prefent with making the youth fenfible that he fupported his argument upon falfe and erroneous principles, and with preventing the challenge from proceeding any further; but as foon as I retired, I gave free courfe to my reflexions upon the An- gularity of an abufe, unknown to the moft polifhed, and at the fame time braveft people. Thefe reflexions, when thrown upon paper, compofed a kind of memorial, which I thought it my duty to prefent to the king. Duels, Book XXII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 49r Duels, it is true, are of long landing in France, and indeed in Eu- 1 605. rope, but in that part only that has been overwhelmed by barbarians, froin whofe time this hateful cuftom takes its date, and appears there-, fore to be derived from them ; and if hiftories of times more remote, fuch as that of the emperor Otho the firft, and that of the divorce of Lothario, gives fome inftances of fingle combat, they may be oppofed by prohibitions of equal antiquity, ilTued out by the power of the church, as that of the council of Valentia in 855', or by temporal au- thority. We have in France a very ancient edid:, which forbids them in all civil caufes, and in criminal caufes limits them to five cafes ; high treafon, rape, houfe-burning, murder, and nightly thefts. Saint Lewis * afterwards took away all reflricftion ; and when Philip the I Vth, his grandfon, feemed to reftore them, 1303, in charges of ftate crimes, rapes, and houfe-burning, to which he reduced them, he was incited only by a motive at once deferving praife and cenfure ; the hope of abolilhing infenfibly this cuftom of bloodOied, which had gathered llirength in his time, by confining it to thefe rare cafes fet down in a pofitive law : to make this more evident, he forbad all manner of per- fons to allow them, by receiving what was called pledges of battle, and declared that right referved to himfelf alone. To fhew, by explaining the difference between the ancient duels and thofe of our time, what a number of namelefs abufes have crept into a practice, which itfelf was from its firfi: original a corruption, it will be fufficient to lay down the circumftances and formalities which were obferved in thofe times. In the firft: place, no body, however offended, might take vengeance in his own right; and as it is now pradlifed in the firft emotion of ca- price and paffion, and much lefs in mere bravado, which, in my opi- nion, is of all things the moft contrary to the laws of fociety. They had their judges, before whom he that thought himfelf injured in his honour, was to give an account of the wrong fuffered, and demand permiffion to prove, in the way of arms, that he did not lay upon his * On the fubjedt of thefe edifts of Saint fingle combats, &c. in i6c8; John Sa- Lewis and Philip the fair, as alfo of the varon fieur of Villars, in his Treatife origin, manner, and whatever has relation againft duels, with the edict of Philip the to fingle combats, confult the writers who fair, in 1610; Brantôme, in the tenth vo- trçatof.it; fuch as Paul da Montboucher lume of his Memoirs, intitlcd Touching lîeur ofia Rivaudiere, in hisTreatifeon the Duels; D'Audiguier, Du-Piex, Ruauld, ceremonies and la^ws of challenges and Bafnage, 5cc. and many other Italians. enemy 4^96 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII. 1605. enemy a falfe accufation. It was then confidered as fliameful to defire \_ ,- ' blood for blood. The judge, who was commonly the lord of the place,, made the perfon accufed, appear likewife before him; and ne- ver allowed the decifion of battle, which was demanded by throwing a glove, or fome other pledge upon the ground, but when he could get no other proof either of guilt or innocence. The pledges were received, and the judge deferred the decifion of the quarrel to the end of two months, during the firft of which the rwo enemies were delivered each of them to common friends, upon fecurity for their forthcoming : their friends endeavoured by all forts of means to difcover the perfon criminal, and to give him a fenfe of the in- juftice of maintaining a falQiood, from which he could expedl nothing "but the lofs of his reputation, of his life, and of his foul; for they were perfuaded, with the utmoft degree of certainty, that heaven always gave the vidlory to the right caufe ; and therefore a duel, in their opinion, was an aftion of which the event could be determined by no human power. When the two months were expired, the two rivals were put into a clofe prifon, and committed to the ecclefiaftics, who employed every motive to make them change their defign. If, after all this, they ftill perfifted, a day was at lafl fixed. to end their quarrel. When the day was come, the two champions were brought farting in the morning before the fame judge, who obliged both of them to declare upon oath that they faid the truth, after which they fufFered them to eat; they were then armed in his prefence, the kind of arms being likewife fettled: four féconds, chofen with the fame ceremonies, faw them undrefled, and anointed all over the body with oil, and faw their beards and haircut clofe. They were then conduded into an in- clofed ground, and guarded by armed men, having been made to re- peat, for the laft time, their affertions and accufations, to fee if they perfiiled in them without alterations. They were not even then futfer^ed to advance to the combat : that moment their féconds joined them at the two ends of the field for another ceremony, which of itfelf was enough to make their weapons drop from their hands, at.leaftif there had been any frienddiip between them. Their féconds made them kneel down in this place facing each other; they made them join hands, •with the fingers of one put between the fingers of the other ; they de- manded juftice from one another, and were conjured on each fide not to fupport a falfity ; they folemnly promifed to aâ: upon terms of ho- nour, and not to aim at the vidory by fraud and inchantment. The féconds Book XXII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. ^econds examined their arms piece by piece, to fee that nothing was want- 1 605. jfig, and then conduced them to the two ends of the lifts, where they "«— -m — i made them fay their prayers and make their confeffion ; then asking each of them whether he had any meffage to fend to his adverfary, they fuffered them to fall to, which they did at the fignal of the he- rald, who cried from without the lifls, " Let the brave combatants «' go." After this, it is true, they fought without mercy, and the vanquidied, dead or alive, incurred all the infamy of the crime and the punifbment; he was dragged upon a hurdle in his ftiirt, and af- terwards hanged or burnt, while the other returned honoured and triumphant, with a decree that attefted him to have gained his fuit, and allotted him all manner of fatisfadtion. There is throughout all this ceremony fomething wild and ridicu- lous ; but, however, the voice of reafon, authority, and prudence, is ftill heard, though its didtates are utterly miftaken ; whereas there is nothing but monftrous unreafonablenefs in the praâice of thofe fmart youths, who withdraw flily into a field to (hed the blood of one an- other, with hands impelled by no better inftindl than that which in- ftigates a beaft of prey. If men went to fight with the fame coolnefa and deliberation as in former times, can it be imagined that there would be the hundredth part of the duels that now happen ? But men have thought it neceflary to difmifs confideration from that ac- tion, which is ferions above all others : fome rulh blindly into this danger, others pleafe themfelves with being born for the deftrudlion of their fellow-creatures ; others revive the hateful trade of the gla- diators, and are indeed more dreadful and contemptible than the men that bore that name were heretofore. The forms of duels which were obferved in Germany, differ not effentially from thofe of France, which I have defcribed : they were likevvife received in Spain and England ; only he who yielded to his adverfary upon a fingle wound was reputed infamous ; he could not afterwards either cut his beard, bear any office, wear a weapon, or mcunt a horfe. On the contrary, he who died in a couragious de- fence was buried honourably. Another Angularity, which muft have kept duels from being common in Germany, was, that there were on- ly three places where they could be fought, Witzbourg in Franconia, Ufpach, and Hall in Swabia. Vol. II. Sfi I 497 4.9S M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXII. 1605. I COULD not wait for his majefty's return to Paris, to communicate to him the memorial of which I have now mentioned the contents j to inform him of the acciden's to which this practice gave occafion j and to defire him to put a ftop to an evil which was every day fpread- ing hy his indulgence. I intreated him to attend to the counfel which I had prefumed to give him, to renew the edid;s againll: duels, to ag- gravate the punilliment conliderably, and execute it feverely ; and to forbid all men to profecute any word of injury or offence otherwife than by courfe of law ; but to manage fo, that the juftice obtained might be fpeedy and fatisfadtory; to make the complainant eafy, and the aggreffor penitent; and lalUy, to have this new order fixed up, at the beginning of every year, in the courts of the Louvre, the palace, the arfenal, and in other places that were mod frequented *. It is cer- tain, as I reprefented to his majelly, that a reputation for perfonal va- lour, fuch as this prince had eftabliflied, was able to give to an edi(ft concerning duels, twice the authority that it could derive from mere royal plealure; but the pleafure of the mafler of kings, a power far fuperior, did not allow to the reign of Henry the Great, the extirpa- tion of this abufe. It may be faid, without pretending to juflify this prince, that his eafinefs with refpecîl to duels proceeded from a habit contracted by his long wars, by which he faw bloodflied without emotion ; and that he was likewife not much lefs indifferent about his own blood. He had always fome notion that the lafl: moment was inevitably predetermined : this opinion he difguifed to himfelf, under the chriftian notion of re- fignation to God. There was fent me from Rome, about that time, an account of a confpiracy againft the ffate, and an attempt upon the life of the king, which I thought I ought to difclofe to him, though it feemed to me worthy to be defpifed, as indeed he defpil'ed it. He told me, on that occafion, that he was convinced of its being bed: for his happinefs to pay no manner of regard to intelligence like this -f, and that otherwife his life would be worfe than death ; that the calculators * If we attentively read what cardinal thefe Memoirs where duels are fpoken of. de Richelieu has faid on this fubje£l, in his f " Let him alone," faid this prince to Political Teftament, part I. chap. iii. § 2- thofe who perfuadcd him to punifh a man the title whereof is. Of the meam to prevent who had been engaged in a confpiracy duels; we muft own, that great miniller againft him, "he is a wicked wretch whom feems to have drawn all his refleiSlions on " God will punifh, without my interfer- this matter from this and other parts of " iag." Matthieu, vol.1, b. 2. p. 359. ef Book XXII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. of nativities had threatened him, feme, that he fhould die by the fword ; and others by a coach : but that none of them had ever mentioned poi- fon, which feemed to him the eafieft way to difpatch him, becaufe he eat a great deal of fruit of all kinds that were offered him, without hav- ing them tafted ; therefore, upon the whole, he gave himfelf up to the Lord of his life and of his death. It was not poffible but fpeaking in this manner, Henry reckoned a little, without perceivingit, upon thegood fortunethathad accompanied him as well in the dangers that particularly threatened his perfon *, as thofe which regarded his kingdom and happinefs. Of eight perfons from whom he had mod to fear in this latter refpeét, he remarked that fome favourable planet had freed him from fix of themoftconfiderable; that one was dead in the hangman's hand, and two others of ficknefs ; the fourth was acflually in prifon ; the fifth was gone into volun- tary banifhment ; the fixth was reduced to flatter him whom formerly he endeavoured to deftroy. For the other fort of good fortune, we have {ctn examples throughout this hiflory: but, alas ! thisgood fortune was not complete ; but an unhappy moment for France, as well as for the prince, has wholly blotted out that idea of profperity. 499 * Henry IV. efcaped one, on Monday the igth of December; of which M. de Perefixe gives the following relation. " The " fame day on which Mairargues was ex- " ecuted, an unfortunate madman made " an attempt on the facred perfon of the *' king, rufhing on him with a poignard " in his hand, as he returned from hunt- " ing over the Pont-neuf. His majefty's *' footmen running up obliged him to quit " his hold, and were going to beat his " brains out on the fpot, had not the king *' forbid them, and ordered him to be im- " prifoned in Fort-L'Eveque. His name " was John De-Lifle, a native of Vineux " near Sen) is. He was immediately after- " wards examined by the prefident Jean- " nin, who could not get any rational an- " fwer from him ; for he was entirely out " of his fenfes : he fancied himfelf to be " king of all the world, and faid Henry IV. " had ufurped the kingdom of France from " him, and he was therefore going to " chaftifehim for his temerity : whereupon " the king thinking him fufficiently pu- " nifhed by his madnefs, commanded he " fhould only be kept in prifon, where he " died foon after." Hiftory of Henry the Great, part 3. S {{ M E M G I R S M E M O I R S O F SULLY. BOOK xxin. 1 606. ^TT^ H E king and queen being at Paris on the firfl: day of this year, ■ I went to the Louvre in the morning, to pay my refpeâs to -*- them, and offer the ufual prefents. I did not find the king in his own chamber; L'Oferai and Armagnac told me, that he was in bed with the queen, and that, probably, both were ftill afleep, becaufe the queen's indifpofition had kept them awake almoft the whole night. I pafled on to the queen's apartment, to enquire of La-Renouillere and Catherine Selvage the ftate of their majefties health ; and knocked at the door as foftly as poflible, that I might not wake them. I found that the courtiers were already admitted ; for feveral voices, which I knew tobethofeof Roquelaure, Frontenac, and Beringhen, afked all at once, •' Who is there?" and when I anfwered, I heard them fay to the king, " Sire, it is the grand mafter:" " Comein, Rofny, faidhis majeftytome, " you will think me lazy, till you know what has kept us fo late in bed : " my wife, who believes £he is in her eighth month, having had fome *' pains as {he was going to bed, I was apprehenfive that ihe would ** have a dangerous labour; but towards the middle of the night they *' proved to be only the effe*îls of the cholic ; and (he growing eafy we " fell afleep, and neither of us waked till fix o'clock this morning; but *' on her part, with groans, fighs, and tears, for which flie has afligned *' ima^ Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. *' imaginary caufes : I will tell you what they are when fome of thefe " people have left the room, for you will not fail to fpeak yourfenti- " ments freely, and I believe ycur advice will not be unufeful on this " occafion, any more than on many others of the fame kind. But, in •* the mean time, let us fee what you have brought us for our new- *' year's-gifts, for I perceive you have three of your fecretaries with '* you, each loaded with a velvet bag." " I remember, fire, replied I, «' that when I laft faw the queen and your majefly together, you were " both in very good humour, and believing that I fliould find you *' flill fo, and in expedlation of another fon, I have brought you a ** great many new-year's-gifts, which, from the pleafure they will be *♦ received with by thoië perfons among whom I ihall diftribute them *♦ in your name, will afford you great fatisfaâion ; and I could wi{h this ** might be done in the prefence of your majeftyand the queen." "Tho' ** fhe fays nothing to you, replied the king, and plays the dormoufe, as <* ufual, yet I know flie is not afleep ; but flie is offended both with " you and I : we will talk of this when only you, Renouillere, Be- <' ringhen, and Catherine are prefent, for they know fomething of the " matter — but let us fee your gifts." " Thefe prefents, faid I to «' his majelly, do not exprefs the ftate of a grand mafter of the ord- •' nance, nor are worthy of the treafurer of a rich and powerful mo- " narch j but, fmall as they are, they will neverthelefs give more joy " to thofe on whom they are beftowed, and will produce you more " acknowledgments, fame, and praifes, than the exceffive gifts you " lavifli upon perfons who I am well affured thank you only by com- ** plaints full of ingratitude." " I underfland you by half a word, *' replied Henry, as you fometimes lliew you do me ; but let us fee •* your prefents, and talk no more of what you have heard." I THEN ordered my three fecretaries to approach. " Sire, faid I, " here is Arnaud the elder, who carries in this bag, which holds the " papers of the council, three purfes of gold medals." I lliewed them to the king, and explained the motto, which expreffed the affedtion of the people for his majefty. " One of thefe purfes, fire, continued I, *• is for yourfelf, the other for the queen, and the third for the dau- •• phinj that is to fay, for Mamanga *, if her majefly does not keep *♦ it herfelf, as (he always does. In this bag likewife are eight purfes * Madam de Montglat, whom the young and madam Elizabeth of France, to ma- prince called fo. In the g 1 38th vol. of the dam de Montglat, there is one from the king's MSS. which is entirely filled with young dauphin to his fifter, in wh:ch he original letters of Henry IV. the queen, tells her, he kifl'es Mamanga's hands. " of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book' XXIII. of filver medals, ftruck In the fame manner, two for your majefty, two for the queen, and four for Renouillere, Catherine Selvage, and fuch other ladies of the queen's chamber as you fliall pleafe to *' give them to. Arnaud the younger has in his bag five and twenty " purfes of filver medals, to be dillributed by the Dauphin, madam " de Montglat, madam de Drou, and mademoifelle de Piolant among " the niirfes, and other women attendants on your children, and *• among the queen's maids. And in the third bag, which Le- " Gendre carries, there are thirty little bags, of a hundred crowns each, *' in demy-franks, all new, and fo large that they look like whole " ones ; thefe are for prefents to the queen's maids, and the women " of her chamber, and thofe belonging to the children of France, ac- " cording to your orders. I have left two large bags in my coach, to *' the care of my fervants, full of douzains, all new likewife, and ** each bag worth a hundred crowns, which make twelve thoufand " fous ; thefe are to be divided among the poor invalids who are upon " the keys of the river near the Louvre, which I am told are almoft " full. I have fent thither twelve of the moft charitable men in the " city to range them in order, and diftribute the prefents. You cannot *' imagine how much thefe trifling new-year's-gifts, in little pieces " new coined, will pleafe thefe poor men, and the queen's maids and women of her chamber : they all declare, that they do not regard '* thefe gifts for the value, but as being inftances of your regard for " them; efpecially the queen's maids, who fay, that what is given " them to purchafe cloaths they muft lay out as direcfled, but thefe " hundred crowns they may lay out in what trifles they pleafe, which " is more to their tafle." " But Rofny, faid his majefly to me, will " you give them their new-year's-gifts without making them kifs you " for them ?" " Truly, fire, replied I, fince you once commanded *' them to kifs me, I am under no neceflity of ufing prayers and in- " treaties, they come very willingly; and madam de Drou, who is " fo devout, only laughs at it." " Ah ! Rofny," continued Henry, with the fame gaiety, " fince it is fo, pray tell me truly, who kifles *' you mort willingly? ahd which of them do you think the hand- " fomeil ?" " Faith, fire, returned I, I cannot tell you, I have no " leifure to think of gallantry, and I believe they take as little notice " of my beauty as I of theirs : I kifs them as we do relics when we *• prefent our offerings." The king could not help laughing aloud; and addreffing himfelf to thofe who were prefent, " What do you think, faid " he, of this prodigal financier, who makes fuch rich prefents out of " his mafter's pocket for a kifs ?" After diverting himfelf a few mo- ments that nothing might be forgot or miftaken. I prevented the objeftions which I fuppofed be would make, that his majefly did not appear to have any part in the propofals we made him, by giving him my word of honour, and even offering to become furety, if necefTary, that his majefty would ratify whatever fliould be agreed on betwixt us j adding, that I was willing to be branded with the names of bafe, per- fidious, and dilhonourable, if every article was not performed. I con- cluded with earneftly intreating him not to fuff'er matters to come to an extremity. This letter, which exadly agreed with that written by the princefs of Orange, was dated the. i ft of March. The duke of Bouillon anfwered by a letter, dated the 4th of the fame month : he told me, that he had received a letter from me, as likevvife one from the princefs of Orange ; that he had heard what Du- Maurier had to fay, and had read his paper attentively, but that he had reafon to complain he.fhould be obliged to purcbafe the king's favour by a meannefs which would render him unworthy of it ; that what was promifed him was only by a writing, which could be known but to a fmall number of perfons, while all France would be witnefs of his humiliation, and the little regard the king would afterwards have for him ; that his friends whom he had confulted, and who were not fo inconfiderable for their number as has been reported, were all of his opinion ; that his majefty was very far from having thofe favour- able thou-^hts of him which he had been made to hope for, , fince he diftrufted his fidelity fo much, as not to allow him to keep a place of fo little ftrength as Sedan. And here he added, but with more confi- dence, and in contradidion to what he had juft faid, that he was well informed. BûoK XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. informed therewere perfons who attempted to impofe upon his ma jefty, by promifing to make him mafter of Sedan in lefs than a month' and without the lofs of one fingle man. Bouillon, no doubt, applaud- ed himfelf here on the ingenious way he had found to give me the lye in fpeaking to myfelf. The whole letter was in this ftrain of complaints without foundation, and proteftations of innocence, equally vague and uncertain. He took care to avoid making any confefhon cr promife; and all that he faid to the purpofe, after this idle preface, was, that if he had given the king any caufe to be offended with him, rather than aggravate his fault by denying, he was ready to make a frank confefTion of it, and to fubmit to any reparation his majefty fhould require, provided it was not expelled the return of his favour and confidence fliould cofl him his poor inconfiderable city, which he was ready in an authentic manner to declare, that he held only from his goocjnefs : but that if the king perfifted in his refol'ition to deprive him of it, he fliould be forced to believe, that though his words ex- prelTed kindnefs, yet his adions teftified hatred. Bouillon's letter to the princefs of Orange was conceived almoft in the fame terms ; and what Du-Maurier related from himfelf having nothing more fatisfadlory in it, the king began to confider the duke of Bouillon as wholly untradlable. I thought it neceflary, however, to anfwer his letter : I told him that his majefly was difpleafed at the manner in which he had refufed the offers he had made him by me ; that he had thought his letters full of diftruft, doubts, and of expreffions very difrefpedtful to him ; befides his affedlation of not anfwering pre- cifely to what was propofed to him. I added, that I was truly grieved my advice fliould have no other effedt but to imbitter his mind, as it had happened formerly, when I wrote to him upon the imprifonment of maréchal Biron; but that the time would come, and perhaps it was already near, when he would be fenlible that the counfel I had given him was in the prefent conjuncture the beft that could be offered ; and I warned him, for the lafl time, to think ferioufly of it, and ear- neftly entreated him to take fuch a refolution as would bemofhfor his true interefl, fince nothing (whatever he might think to the contrary) would give me more fatisfaftion. o In the mean time I had found means to get a plan of Sedan drawn, both of the upright and the ground-plot. The king came to the arfe- nal to look at it, and brought with him the count of Soiffons, the duke of Epernon, the marechals Briffac, Fervaques, Bellegarde, and U u u 2 Ro- Si6 M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXUL 1606. Roquelaure, Don John de Medicis, De-Vic, Montluet, La-Nouë, C— (, ' Boeffe, Nereftan, D'Efcures, Eiard, and Châtillon, who had drawn the plan, but whom I had exprefsly ordered not to give his opinion before ib many witneffes. The fituation of the place, its flrength, and the form of the attack, were fubjedls for endlefs debate among fo many perfons : Montluet, La-Nouë, and Erard, maintained with great obfti- nacy, that it was impregnable, and could only be reduced by famine. All this while I fcarce made any anfwer, t4iough they generally ad- drefTed themfelves to me, and often demanded my thoughts of thofe terrible foffes, all cut in the rock, for lb they alledged they were. The aflembly feparating without taking any refolution, I waited upon his majefty the next day ; and after telling him my reafon for keeping filence the day before, which was, that among fo many per- fons fecrecy is but ill kept, I made him lenfible, that none of thofe diligent obfervers had attended to any of the defefts in the fortification 3 among which were, the valley of the fountain, that of Ginmenes, the foffes, which in fome places were not defended by the natural rock, but flanked with earth brought thither for the purpofe ; and the two approaches by the river fide, one above and the other below, fo fpacious, that I afiîired his majefty I would lodge, and that with very little dan- ger, all the troops within two hundred paces of the city, and even un- der the counterfcarp of the artificial ditches, becaufe that the turning of the valleys would cover them from the difcharge of the fmall arms, while the befieged would not be able to lliew themfelves upon their parapets, nor fcarcely in any other place, without being perceived from the eminences in the field, which fo abfolutely command the whole body of the fortification, that we might have a full view of the infide of the lodgments, from before, behind, and of each fide : and I gave his majefty my word, that within the eighth day after the batteries were raifed, I would put him in pofieffion of Sedan. This once the king believed me, and in the joy that tranfported him he flew to impart it to meflieurs de Medicis, de La-Force, De- Vic, de Nereftan, and Boëfle, whofe difcretion he was well affured of, and who greatly praifed my caution. After this, Henry no longer he- fitated whether he fhould attack Sedan, but prepared to fet out as foon as poffible, at the head of a body of cavalry, and fome companies of the regiment of guards j while I, in the mean time, afifembled the reft of the troops in a body, and fent away the artillery before ; taking care that the country people and citizens ftiould receive no infult, or fuffer the Book XXIII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 517 the leaft inconvenience, by the quartering of fo great a number of 1606. foldiers. The defign of falling upon the duke of Bouillon couU not fail to raife murmurs among the proteftants ; and it is probable, that the duke depended upon a general infurredtion in his favour. If this was the eafe, he was deceived in his expectations; to which, I confefs, I con- tributed. I took occafion, from a letter that Parabere wrote to me upon this fubjedl, to give in my anfwer a kind of manifefto, which might juftify to the proteftants the king's proceedings, and flievv that the duke of Bouillon fuffered only through his own fault. It was for this reafon that I took much more pains in the compolition of this letter, and extended it to greater length, than I fliould have done if Parabere only had been to fee it; fori fufpected, and with reafon, that it would be made public. I BE&AN with enumerating the chief favours which Bouillon had received from his majefty, who had preferred him to the prince of Condé himfelf, made him maréchal of France, firft gentleman of the bed-chamber, and raifed, before any other of the proteftants, to all honours and dignities, rewarded with penfions and appointments much larger than what were given to the others^ his penfions, falaries, &c. amounting to one hundred and twenty thoufand livres a year; befides ■which, his majefty had married him as advantageoufly as he could hav» done his own fon or brother ; favoured him in the fuccefllon of Li- meuil, and, after the death of the duchefs his wife, fupported him with all his power : this particular I was myfelf an ocular witnefs of, and I fpoke of it as fuch. Thefe ad:s of kindnefs, and thefe repeated bene- fits, I contrafted with the ingratitude with which Bouillon had behaved to Henry; his fecret pradtices,his feditious condudl at the fiege of Ami-r ens, his retiring from court when maréchal Biron was arrefted, and his leaving the kingdom, which was attended with circumftances more than futBcient to condemn him. I took Parabere to witnefs that not- wiihftanding all this, himfelf, Conftant, and I, had been greatly in- ftrumental in foliciting thofe favours which his majefty had fince been ftill willing to beftow upon him : I obferved to him, that Bouillon had infome fort confelled himfelf guilty of high treafon, by his requefting a. full and general pardon ; and when his majefty appeared ready to grant it, eluded all by a fubterfuge which was in itfelf a crime ; for he, tho' a fubjedl and domeftic of the king, from whom alone he held the principality of Sedan, refufed to hold it upon the fame conditions of pro-- MEMOIRS OF SU.LLY. Book XXIII. protedion which the late duke of Bouillon had accepted from Francis II. of whom he was neither a fubjedl nor domellic. I AFTERWARDS enumerated all the conciliatory methods which feme of his chief friends had fent Du-Maurier to propofe to him, with fuli alîlirance that his majefty would confent to them, namely, that it fliould bç propofed to the king, that Sedan fhould be confidered as one of the cautionary cities given to the proteftants j that the duke fhould fell it to the king; or if not, that La-Noué fliould be made governor of it, the Ibvereignty, and even property, remaining to the duke : but that while' the king offered him more than he had reafon to expedl, he would liflen to nothing, and, by his ill-timed obftinacy, obliged us to draw our fwords againft each other, and to reduce the church of Sedan to the extremity it would be lliortly in : that his majefi;y was lb greatly affeéled at this misfortune, that he had refolved, and even faithfully promifed the deputies from the church, to make no change, or intro- duce any innovation in the religion of Sedan, although he fliould take it by ftorm. I concluded with earneftly intreating Parabere to do mc juflice in public, as to the purity of my intentions, and my grief at beholding one, who profefTed the fame religion as myfelf, running fo blindly upon his deil:r«<^ion, Henry thought it neceiTary to ufe the fame precaution with the proteftant party. Bouillon having made, by La-Nouë, fome propoials not fit to be received, the king publilhed and anfwcred them by a writing which was diftributed among the duke's friends, tho' at the hazard of confirming both him and them in their belief, that his ma- jefty was defirous of ending this afïair by gentle means ; and they ac- cordingly gave out, that the king now defpaired more than ever of the fuccefs of his enterprife; to which Bouillon added (as being reported to him by La-Viéville, D'Arfon, and Du-Maurier, who were deputed to him at different times) that it was I who thus raflily engaged his majefly, againft his inclinations, in a war ; and that I one day boaffed to this prince, I would take Sedan in three months, by attacking it on the fide of Fer a-Cheval. This lafi: report indeed was true, and made the kingbegin to refleâ: upon the pretended fidelity of thofe he had admitted into his councils ; for when thofe words efcaped me there were none prefent but the king, Don John, and Erard. Bouillon accordingly confidered and treated me as one of his mofl dangerous enemies, who en- deavoured to fupprefs every favourable thought which arol'e in the mind of his majefty for him. It was the king's part to anfwer this reproach, and Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. and he did it ia the manner I willied ; and as for thofe other reports, which were ftill more inlblent, he reiblved to force Bouillon foon to change his ftyle. His majefty left Fontainebleau the latter end of March, carrying with him the queen, who would go part of the journey *, notwith- ftanding the badnefs of the roads ; and took his rout by Rheims, Rhe- tcl, Mezieres, Doncheri, and Mouffon. As I did not fee his majefty again till the whole affair was concluded, I fliall take the relation I give of it from the letters he wrote to me, and thofe which by his orders were continually fent me by Villeroi and La-Varenne. Bouillon kept up his firfi: arrogance as long as he could : he boaft- ed to Du-Maurier, that as foon as he founded a trumpet he would drive the forces of France from his gates. The king, while he pur- fued Bouillon with arms, was defirous alfo that preparations Ihould be made for his trial, which he commanded me to pufli on vigoroufly before I fet out to join him. The duke tampered lb fuccefsfully with four of his majelty's gunners, that they fuffered themfelves to be pre- vailed on to defert him, making ufe of the horfes he fent them to La Fére in Tartenois for that purpofe ; a crime which well deferved an exemplary punifliment. Although the duchefs of Bouillon did not leave Sedan, yet he managed with fuch art, that thofe whom his ma- jefty employed to bring him an account of every thing that was doing there, reported that (he had retired to Germany, to avoid the incon- veniences (he might be expofed to in a belieged city. He was heard to boaft likewife, that by ftan.ping his foot upon the ground, he would bring four thoufand men into Sedan ; and would have had it believed that he had the abfolute difpofal of feventeen companies of horfe and fome regiments of foot, which were in Luxembourg j and that he fliould procure a powerful fupply from the Swifs Cantons, The moft: circumiiantial advices we received were, that before the 20th of April he expected to be reinforced by five or fix hundred foldiers, which he had caufed to be levied in Gafcony and in the neighbourhood of Li- meuil, and ordered them to embark at Bourdeaux. A nephew of Rignac, and a man named Prépondié, raifed them, under colour of * The queen only made this journey, tageous conditions that were poffible for according to De Thou, the Merc. Franc, the duke of Bouillon, who had engaged her and the mofl authentic memoirs of that in his intereft. time, in order to obtain the moft advau- being 520 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL 1 606. being recruits for the war in Fliinders : his majeily had received notice of this from Pucharnaut, vvhile he was fcill at Paris. These advices, upon a nearer examination, were found to have greatly exaggerated the truth : it was known that Germany did not offer to ftir in the duke of Bouillon's caufe ; the king was well affured by Bongars, that the arch-dukes teftified more fear of our armament for themfelves, than inclination to declare againfl: us ; Spain thought the occafion too flight to break the peace with France j and England had not the fmalleft confideration for Bouillon : three or four hundred Swifs adventurers were all he could depend upon, and this number was likely to be lefTened, fmce our levies againll him were carried on in thofe cantons without any oppofition. Montglat had not yet feen the eledor Palatine, but he wrote from Strafburg, that this prince fliared in Bouillon's fears, and the Landgrave fent letters to France to notify his intentions to us. As for the duke himfelf, every one knew that he had not more than twelve hundred foldié'rs in Sedan ; and we were afterwards more parti- cularly informed, that he had, in reality, but (even or eight hundred, citizens and adventurers together, part of whom alfo feemed to have an inclination to leave the place before the approach of the king's ar- my. It was reported that Bouillon himfelf had retired into Germany, efcorted for fome leagues by his garrifon, and had been feen in Bafcognc by fome foldiers who knew him, and to whom he fpoke. Some par- ticulars, with regard to the orders he had given in Sedan for the caftle and town, gave room to believe that he did not defign to return : but this news, which the governor of Ville-Franche came exprefs to relate to the king, was found to be falfe ; the duke of Nevers, who was bet- ter informed, wrote the king word, that the duke of Bouillon had in- deed marched out of the town, at the head of three or four hundred men, but it was to meet a German prince, with whom he returned to Sedan the night after. Although the feveral informations given his majefty by his agents did not exadlly agree in every circumflance, yet k was known from very good authority, that Bouillon was not far from his city. This German count,, whom it was faid he had brought into Sedan to undergo a fiege there, was the third of the counts of Solme : the eldeft was grand mafter to the eledor Palatine ; we have feen the fécond with the fieur Du-PlefTon : as for this, his knowledge and ex- perience were not fpoken of very advaiitageouily. The Book XXIII. MEMOIRSOFSULLY. 521 The king was indifpofed at Nanteuil, with a cold which did not 1606. hinder him from hunting, as foon as be began to fpit : he wrote me word from this place on the 27Lh of March, that he had miffed of his flag, but to make amends for that, he had taken two wolves, which he looked upon as a favourable augury; at Frefne he found four compa- nies of the regiment of guards, already recruited with feveii hundred men, whom he permitted to ftay there, till the ill: of April, to raife all the recruits they wanted. It was eafy to perceive the heart of Henry expand itfelf, and a martial ardour appear in his countenance, at his refuming his firfl glorious occupation. He went two leagues from Frefne to dine, and from thence to attend the fervice called the ténè- bres at Rheims. Here he continued till the Wednefday following, when he was joined by the duke of Mercoeur, and all the nobility of the country. There alfo he faw Du-Maurier, who came from Sedan, commiffioned by the duke of Bouillon to tell him, that he confented to receive a perfon there, in the king's name, provided that he was in- verted with no authority, and that his garrifon Ihould remain there, commanded by his own officer ; that he was ready likewife to receive his majefty into Sedan with what train he ihould think proper, and all whom he chofe to depute to him, but that he perlifted in his refolution to be fole mafter of his own city; and rather than refign it, he would be contented to lofe his eftates, his children, and his life : but in pro- portion as the danger came nearer, the duke's pride abated. The king, without returning any anfwer to this propofal, fent the duke of Nevers* to Mouffon, to affcmble what cavalry was come thi- ther, and hinder thofe fuppofed troops of the duke of Bouillon from entering Sedan : the whole number amounted but to three hundred men, Swifs and Germans included ; and there was no appearance that any more Ibpplies would be fent him, his majefty being then in a con- dition to prevent them. The king difcovered great impatience to ad- vance towards this city, but he had yet only his regiment of guards with him ; the recruits of light-horfe arrived in good order, but the remainder of the troops were not to join him till the fourth of April. The king did me the honour to write to me twice from Rheims, on the 24th and 26th of March, preffing me to come thither to him with my fon ; he propofcd to fet out on the 27th for Rhetel, and to be at Mouf- fon on the 30th, which was the day he prefcribed for the rendezvous * Charles de Gonzague de Cleves, duke of Nevers. Vol. II. X X X of MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Boox XXIIL of the regiment of guards, although the roads were rendered almoft impayable by the rains. His majefty wrote to me aUb to fend him fome officers and horfes, with a convoy of pick-axes, fliovels, and mattocks, and fome pieces of cannon of a moderate fize, to strengthen his lodgment. Nevertheless very little dependence was to be had upon all thefe appearances, as notwithlfanding the preparations for war, fo many per- fons were labouring to conclude the affair by way of negotiation ; and in effedl, the party that was for peace, in a ihort time prevailed. His- majefty, however, was but ill fàtisfîed with the laft propofals which Du- Maurier had brought from Bouillon, and which, by the king's order, were communicated to the keeper of the great-feal and to me. His majefty was yet more offended with the memorial, in which it feemed as if the duke wanted to treat with Henry as his equal. D'Arfon, of his own accord, went to Bouillon after Du-Maurier had prefented thiS' impertinent memorial to the king ; but Bouillon, after this facrilice ta his vanity, comprehended that it was at lafl: time to change his lan- guage, which all of a fudden he foftened very much; in confequence of which, he deputed Nétancourt* to intreat his majefty to fend Villeroi. to confer and treat with him; to which the king confented,on condi- tion that the conference was held atTorcy, in the dominions of France. The laft a(fl of extravagance of this man, who certainly deferved worfe than what adlually befel him, was to fend back Aériens, who, witlv Henry's leave, had been with him, and to declare by him, that he difclaimed Nétancourt, and that he could do without Villeroi. Henry mufl have had fome pow-crful reafons, though unknown to me, which made him depute, as he did after all this, Villeroi and Din- teville -j-, in order to throw the whole blame of the mifcarriage of the accommodation upon Bouillon. With them it appears that Bouilloa flicwed neither ill-humour, nor adifmclinationto treat. Villeroi him- felf wrote me word what paffed between them, and fubjoined to his letter a long memorial, which he wrote the fame evening being the 30th of March, after he had returned to Donchery. If I was to be- lieve Villeroi (for we fliall immediately fee the realbns I had to doubt his lincerity) he found Bouillon fo dark and irrefolute, that he could * John de Nétancourt, count of Vau- Champagne, died in 1642. becourt, counfellorof ftate,camp-marechal, f Joachim de Dintcville, governor of lieutenant-general of the city and bifhop- Champagne, ric of Verdun, governor of Chalons in not Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. not anfwer for any thing till another interview, nay until Bouillon had not only concluded and ligned the treaty, but alfo begun to execute it : now how fliall we be able to reconcile this with what follows immediately after, when he fays, that it feems as if the duke of Bouillon was com- ing to reafon, but by fuppofing that he could not heip throwing out fome dark hints of his knowledge of the treaty being much nearer a conclufion than he cared to tell me. He further acquainted me, that a fécond conference was to be held the next morning at Donchery, which would oblige the king to fpend another day in that place. As a proof that Villeroi did not communicate to me the whole of this affair, La-Varenne, who wrote to me at the fame time, informed me, that Bouillon had prefented himfelf at the conference with the air of a man who afked quarter; for which condudl, fays he, he had very good reafon, as after having made his utmoft efforts, after having exhaufted his fmall territory by levies on all lides, he could raife no more than fifteen hundred raw men, none of whom had ever feen an engagement, with a few French and German foot foldiers, and only twenty-five Swifs, all the reft of his troops being in a moft wretched condition, except fome Flemings from Frankendal and the neighbouring country. Therefore, if in this extremity the duchefs of Bouillon had not yet left Sedan, there was no reafon to doubt but that her husband had refolved to accept of any conditions whatever, fo that the treaty might be looked upon as in a manner concluded, it being only to fave his charadler from the re- proach of fo hafty a capitulation, that the duke had demanded, as a favour, a refpite till the next morning. All was accordingly concluded in this fécond conference. Villeroi was, in appearance, very eager to acquaint me with the news, fince he wrote to me immediately after, as he had done the day before : how- ever, he took care to conceal part of what had paffed, as we fhall foon fee. In this fécond letter, ho.vever, he promifed to fend me the treaty itfelf, as foon as it was fairly tranfcribed and figned, which was to be done the next morning : but in the mean time he fpecified the prin- cipal articles; the treaty was intitled " Articles of the proteftion of •• Sedan, and Roucourt," and dated April the 2d, 1606, and to remain in force four years. By this treaty, the duke of Bouillon confented that the king fhould place a governor in the caftlc, with a company of fifty men ; and that the inhabitants of Sedan Ihould take the oath of fidelity to the king, which Bouillon alfo engaged to do himfelf. Villeroi filled up the reft of his letter with the praifes which he faid his majefty publicly beftowed on my vigilance, and tlie advice I had X x X 2 given MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL given on this occafion; yet furely this was unnecefTary, for all my en- deavours and all my counfels produced nothing : therefore, I was not to be dazzled by Villeroi's flattery, nor could I alter my opinion of his proceedings. I HAD no reafon to doubt, that his majefly fincerely defired to give me fome part in the conclufion of this affair, after the alTurances I had received from him, and the letters he wrote to me for no other purpofe but to prefs me to come, that nothing might be dene without me. I do not pretend to know Villeroi's reafons for thinking fo differently from his majefty in this refpeél; perhaps he was afraid I fliould de- prive him of the hpnour of this treaty, or probably he thought Bouil- lon might, by my interpofition, obtain terms more advantageous ; in- which cafe, our friendfliip would unite us againft his policy, which was to keep the moft confiderable proteftants at variance with each other. This, however, was certain, that he preffed the conclufion of the affair fo much the more eagerly, as his majefty appeared folicitous for my being prefent, and repeated his invitations to me to come j and to effedl this purpofe^ did not fcruple to make ufe of a little artifice. Henry having given him the letters before-mentioned to be difpatched. to me, he committed them to the care of a fervant, whom he order- ed to ride flowly to Amiens, Saint-Qmntin, and Rheims, that I might not receive them till I had got another letter from his majefty, vv'hich he wrote to me eight days afterwards, and was brought to me by a courier fent exprefsly with it. My aftonifliment may be eafily ima- gined, when by thefe laft difpatches, I found that his majefty was under great uneafinefs on my account, fearing that I was indifpofed, fince he had received no anfwers to letters he had wrote to me eight days before, which was the caufe that every thing had been concluded without me. In this letter, which was dated Saturday, April the ift, Henry defired me to delay no longer, but leave my heavy baggage at Chalons, and meet him on Monday following at Cazine, whither he went to fee the queen. Having received thefe two letters both in one day, I fawlhad not a moment to lofe, if I would meet his majefty at the place appointed. I found, by the reception he gave me, that, after a little reflexion, he would eafily pardon the fault Villeroi had committed with regard to me*. This prince treated me with more than ufual kindnefs and * De Thou, in the account he gives of but a fmall degree of inch'nation to the duke this expedition of Sedan, b. cxxxvi. Ihews of Sully, but a grcût one to the duke of relpedt. Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. refpeft, fuppofing perhaps^ that I refented his not waiting for me. "You ** are welcome, faid he to me aloud, I have provided a fupper and a ** bed for you ; you fliall have good accommodations." •' Can you *' guefs," faid he afterwards in a low voice, and leaning towards me, " why I have made fuch hafle ; it was becaufe I knew that, as foon *' as you arrived, you would be for viewing every thing, and throwing " yourfelf into the m"û dangerous places, fo that I was apprehenfive *' of fome accident happening to you ; and I would rather Sedan was *' never taken, than hazard fuch a misfortune, for I have need of you ** for affairs of much more confequence." After this, any reflexions I Should make upon this agreement, and the whole conduree days my love will loft, and in three given. lie; Book XXIIÎ. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. lie ; who, on their fide, oppofed them by very firm decrees*. Frefiie- Canage, our ambaflador at Venice, had given me notice of it in the month of Oélober. Thefe decrees, joined to the imprifonment of the two ecclefiaftics by an arret of the lenate, the interdict fulminat- ed by the pope upon their refulal to revoke thofe decrees, and to do him jullice with regard to their imprifonment; and laftly, the pfote- ftation lately made by the republic againft this excommunication, had brought matters to extremity on both fides. To fpeak candidly my fentiments of the affair, I thought the pro- ceedings of both parties much the fame, equally violent and impru- dent. I have ever had a real refpedt for Paul V. and have profefled to honour him greatly ; nor do I think what I am going to fay has any thing in it contrary to thefe fentiments. We live not now in thofe times when the popes exercifed that fpiritual authority from which they thought, and with reafon, their greatefl: advantages were derived, and exercifed it in fuch a manner, as gave them, in reality, a fovereign power over the princes and liâtes in Chriflendom. At prêtent, their ufurpa- tion of temporal authority is clearly known and diflinguiflied, and is ftrongly contefted with them. I may almoft venture to fay, that they are difabled with regard to their fpiritual power : at leaft it is cer- tain, that the proteftants deprived them of two thirds of it at once; an example fo recent, and foeafy to imitate, that it was certainly very injudicious in the Roman court, to expofe the republic of Venice to fuch a temptation, furrounded as it is by provinces who have fhook off the yoke of the apoftolical fee, and who would receive them with * By one of the decrees, of the loth of in particular in the writings on this famous January, 1603, it is forbidden to build any difpute. Thejefuits, the capuchins, and church without leave from the government; a fmall number of other monks, were all and by a fécond, of the 26th of March, 1 605, that paid any obedience to the interdiiSion, eccleiiaftics, and perfons holding in mort- and thereby got themfelves drove out of the main, are reftrained from making any ac- Venetian territories : the excommunication quifition without fpecial authority. I {hall was treated with contempt by all the other not enter into a difcufllon of thefe points orders in the republic, and divine fervice of law, there being an infinity of treatifes continued to be performed as before. It wrote at that time on each fide of the que- is reported, that the vicar-general to the {lion; the chief are thofe which came from bifhop of Padua, faying to the governor, the pen of cardinal Baroiiius, in favour of that he would aft on this occafion as the the pope ; and of friar Paul Sarpi, a monk Holy Ghoft fhould infpire him ; the gover- of the order of the Servites, on behalf of nor made anlwer, that the Holy Ghoft the Venetians. All thefe may be feen in had already infpired the council of ten, to M. De Thou, the Merc. Franc. Mat- order all thofe to be hanged who fhould re- ihieu, an. 1606. and other hiitorians ; and fufe to obey the order of the fenate. Vol. n. Y y y open SS^' MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIII. 1606. open arms as foon as they had dene the like : thefe I fpeak of were c— ■,-• J the Lutherans, the proteftants of Germany, Switzerland, Bohemia, Hungary, Auftria, and Tranfilvania ; to whom may be added, the fchif- matic Greeks and Turks. Rome ought to refledt upon the ravage made in her empire, by three or four monks only; and that this misfortune happened through the ill-timed pride of Leo X. and Clement VIL too like what Paul V. difcovered in the prefent conjunélure. The Venetians, it is probable, run greater risks than the pope, by making him their enemy. All thefe difcuffions, which at firft the con- tending parties pretended to regulate and guide by the judgment or award of confcience, terminate, iboner or later, in being fupported by arms; when, as it always happens, arguments, far from being relifh- ed, give rife to proceedings more and more violent. And there was nothing which this republic ought fo carefully to avoid as war, fince fhe may be convinced, that if the emperor and the king of Spain do not profecute their claims upon her dominions, which they fcarce ever conceal, it is certainly becaufe they have not pretences in readinefs, or want opportunities. It is the part of the Venetian policy, therefore, to aim continually at maintaining the republic and all Italy in theftate they are at prefent : for them no change can be advantageous, and any revolution fatal. I have often examined this matter in my converfations with the cardinals do Joyeufeand Du-Perron, and laboured with more candor than is generally fliewn by a zealous Huguenot, to find out means to prevent the new religion from getting a footing either in Italy or Spain, provided that they, on their lide, would promife, that the pope, who was the head of Italy, fl:iould fpare himfelf the trouble of taking any intereft in that part of Europe with which he had no connexion ; for it has been always my opinion, that the true fyflerrj of politics, that which may give and preferve tranquillity to Europe,^ depends upon fixing her in this equilibrium*. Could they have thought in this manner at Rome and at Venice, every one there would have confpired to flifle the prefent quarrel m its birth; and for this afeafonable and mild difcuffion had been fufficient: thofe affairs in appearance the moft intricate and perplexed, are ftill * It is eafy to diftinguifh in this difcourfe, bounds of truth. I ftiall not make any as well as in all others where matters of re- further obfervation on it, as I apprehend ligion come in queftion, how M. de Sully's the reader muft before this time be accuf- belief induces him to fpeak with too much tomed to it, and not affected by it. vehemence, and carries him beyond the capable Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULY. capable of being happily tempered by proper management, and this more than many others : v/e ought to conlider them without any re- gard to the conlequences, with which it is wrong to alarm one's felf, for we ought never to be alarmed with what is merely pofiible; but they had defignedly increaled the difficulties, by propofing things which always rendered the prudence of the ableft mediators inefFec- tual. The malicious infinuations of thofe perfons who fought to take advantage of this difunion, had alfo fome fliare in heightening it. If there is a perfon in the world who, amidft the emotions of ange r is capable of liftening to the voice of reafon, I fhould advife him then to dillruft the difcourfe of thofe perfons who, when thus agitated, offer to affilf his vengeance : it is on fuch an occafion, that hatred and envy lay their moft dangerous fnares. Canaye, when he confclted me upon what, as ambaflador from phiiip Ca- France, it was tit for him to do, in the prefent poflure of affairs, thought nayc, lord of it neceffary, for my better information, to fend me a long memorial of ^''^^"X" the grievances complained of, and arguments ufed by both parties. I made no great ufe of this paper ; for to examine their reafons, and pro- nounce upon each, would not have been lerving them effecftually : I therefore told Canaye plainly in rny anfwer, that, without having any regard to the foundation of the quarrel, the Venetians had no other part to take but to refer themfelves to arbitrators, who might perform the office of a common friend to both, by pacifying their refentment, not judging with rigour. I named the king of France, as being, in my opi- nion, the only one who was likely to produce this effeâj and recom- mended to them to make ufe of the nuncio Barberini, whofe wifdom and integrity I was well affured of, to make a report of all to his ma- jefty. They followed my advice, but not till paffion had afferted its ufual dominion. However, during the reft of the year, it was confined to writings, wherein invedlive was carried to great excefs ; but happily, the contending parties were the two powers in Europe who were flowcft in declaring war, which was what each relied on. We fliall fee in the following year the event of this quarrel. It was of fome ufe to the nuncio Barberini to obtain for him a cardinal's hat, which the pope fent him upon making a promotion of cardinals, out of the ufual order of time. His majcfly, to whom he was chiefly obliged for this dignity, congratulated him upon it. Bar- berini often declared, that he had a good friend about the king in me; cardinal Du-Perron thought likewife, that my intereft had been of Y y y 2 fome MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL fome ufe to him, with regard to the archbifliopric of Sens, and the pofi: of great almoner ; both which were beftowed upon him by his majefty : he made his acknowledgments to me for this fervice, and intreated me to procure him, during his ablence, the enjoyment of all the privileges of his office. The citizens of Metz received a fervice of ftill greater importance from me, on occafion of th::; difpute they had about that time with the jefuits; thefe fathers had two years before made an attempt to procure a fettlement in Metz, the inhabitants of which avoided the blow by an application to his majefty, which I fupported. The jefuits returning to the charge, I again encouraged the people, fending them an account by Saint-Germain and Des-Bordes, and afterwards byLa-Nouë, of the king's opinion of the matter. But at the beginning of this year their fears were again awakened, by the jefuits raifing new batteries ftronger than before, obliging the clergy, and all the catholic burghers, to unite with them ; they had likewife fecured the duke of Epernon's vote, who was governor of Metz, and arrived there on the 15th of April, to put the laft hand to the work ; at leaft this was what the people apprehend- ed, and that the governor adled in this affair only by the king's orders. Alarmed at his arrival, they fent me a letter the next day, which was followed by another, dated April 25, and delivered to me by the lieur Braconnier, who was ftridtly charged to urge all the reafons that had induced me to undertake their defence, which they were afaid I fliould forget: they likewife deputed two of their countrymen, one afterthe other, to court, to attend this affair ; not, faid thofe proteftants, that they were apprehenlive the jefuits would turn them from their faith, but becaufe they were perfuaded the fociety, by its intrigues, would caufe fome revolution at Metz J the confequences of which, in a city fo lately re-united to the crown, might be fatal. It was by this motive, that I endeavoured to gain over his majefty, who likewife knew the importance of this city to his great defigns. I filled the inhabitants with joy when I fent them word by their laft deputy, that the king had granted their requeft, and would fuffer no innovation to be made in their city; which I affured them of, in the king's name. They made me greater acknowledgments in a third let- ter, dated the loth of July; but I could perceive they were not quite freed from their fears, their adverfaries boafting, they faid, that it was in their power to alter the king's determination. In Book XXIII. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 533 In efFeâ:, the jefijits received every day fuch ftriking proofs of the 1606. king's favour and proted:ion, as might well authorize the fears of the people of Metz: this very year Henry made them a prefent of one hundred thoufand crowns for their college of La-Fléche alone, and condefcended to regulate the dilpofal of it himfelf, in the following manner : one hundred and fixty thoufand livres for building the col- lege, twenty-one thoufand for the purchafe of the ground, feventy-five thoufand in lieu of church-lands, which were feized upon, in order to ereâ: a perpetual revenue for this houfe ; for as thefe lands were pof- fefled by perfons who were not ecclefiaftics, it was allowable to com- pel them to fell, (and that ftep was here aélually taken) a pecuniary equivalent being granted them ; twelve thoufand fora dwelling-houfe for the fathers, three thou land to purchafe books for them, as much for the decorations of their church, fix thoufand for their lubfiftence for the prefent year (for Henry forgot nothing) and fifteen thoufand, which had been lent them by Varenne after they came to La-Fléche, which this prince kept an account of. The paper was dated Odober 16, and figned by the king. But here follows another much more extraordinary. A counfellor of parli iment, named Gillot *, had in the year 1603 lent a book to father Cotton, which he could not get again, though he had feveral times afked the father for it ; at length he fent a fervant to demand it, wiih orders not to leave him till it was returned : the counfellor getting his book by thefe means, happened, in opening it, to find a flieet of paper between the leaves, which had apparently been forgot by the je- fuit, and was writteii all over, as he fuppofed, with his own hand: this paper feemed to him to be worth my notice ; he brought it to me, and after obliging me to prornife that I would not name him in the affair, he left the paper in my hands, to make what ufe of it I thought pro- per. After convincing myfelf that it was the hand-writing of father Cotton, which it was eafy to do, with the affiftance of fome letters he knew 1 had received from him, we accordingly compared them, and found them exaâly the fame : the following is a tranllation of it, for it was in Latin, and contained along lift of queftions which the jf.fuit defigned to ask the devil, when he exorcifed a certain perfon who was poffefled, and who made much noife at that time-f-: the reader will •James Gillot, counfellor-clerk in the + Her name was Adriana de Frefne, ftie great chamber of the parliament of Paris. was born in the village of Gerbigny, near find 534 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXHI. 1606. find quftions of every kind in it, thofe merely of curiofity, fome tri- fling, and even ridiculous, and others upon fubjeds which it is not fit for me to examine into : the writing begins thus. ♦' By the merits of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apoflles ; of Saint *' Prifca, the virgin martyr; of Saint Mofes and Ammon, martyred " foldiers ; of Saint Antenogenus, martyr and theologian ; of Saint •• Volufien, bifhop of Tours; of Saint Leobard the monk, and of " Saint Liberata the virgin." After this follow the queftions which the exorclft defigns to afk the demon ; they are without method or connexion, the author hav- ing, no doubt, juil thrown them on paper as they occurred to his mind ; and fome are exprefled in fuch a manner, as makes it impof- fible to ofuefs what he would be at. *' All that God permits me to know (obferve that it is father Cot- " ton that fpeaks) with regard to the king and queen; with regard to " thofewho live at court; with regard to public and private admoni- tions; with regard to the news of life, and the right way ; with re- gard to thofe who converfe with princes; with regard to Laval, di- vine fervice, the knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew tongues, vows, the ceremonies of confecration, and cafes of confcience, the conver- fion of fouls, and canonization : and if it may be permitted me to infifl Amiens ; afterwards fhe fettled at Paris, in Saint Anthony's-ftreet : fhe drew to the convent of Saint VicSor, where flie was exorcifed, almofl as great a concourfe of people, as Martha Broffier had done to Saint Genevieve. De Thou, who did not iufter this piece of hiftory to pafs unno- ticed, fpeaking of father Cotton as one of her principal exorcifts, according to his cuftom, treats that father's curiofity on this occafion with great leverity : he further ob- ferves, that Henry IV. earneilly defired the duke of Sully to prevent this writing from becoming public ; and that the contrary, either through imprudence, or by Ibnie other means, having happened, he pretend- ed to treat the thing as a matter of no mo- ment before his court; although inwardly he was much difpleafed with father Cotton. De Thou, book cxxxii. Mention is alfo made of this writino; of father Cotton by L' Etoile's Journal ; " which became, fa) s he, the ordinary " iubjeâ of conierlation in ail company." The author of father Cotton's life, after having given a detail of every thing in the hiftory of Adriana de Fiefncy, which has any relation to him, book ii. pag. 90. thus coivcludes : '' It appeared father Cotton ' had never fpoken to the perfon who ' was charged with having pu liflied the ' vvriting ; he was a counlellor of the par- ' liament, and' it was faid that he found it ' in a book wJuch father Cotton had bor- •• rowed of him: bcfides, the perlons skilled ' in the comparifon of hajids, to whom this ' paper, which was pretended to be the ori- ' gina! of all the relf:,wasfhewn, an, or come to him at Fontainebleau. At La-Rochelle new quarrels arofe between the proteftants, and the Roman catholic clergy of that city, upon the extent and exercifc of thofe privileges, which the latter were to enjoy there. Both par- ties made reciprocal complaints of each other ; the ecclefiaftics, that their adverfaries often attempted to do themfelves juftice by force of arms, which was always forbidden ; the proteftants, that the clergy conftantly fupprefled the arrets of council, to authorife their encroach-^ ments -, and both defired a decifive arret. The king, conceiving that an arret would increafe their animofity, infifted on my undertaking the office of mediator upon this occafion. I began by fhewing them fe- parately, what were their real interefts ; and, after I had affured my- lelf of their obedience, didated to them the following articles of ac-^ commodation, which will explain the caufes of their difputes. That the proteftants fliould not prohibit the ecclefiaftics from vifit- ing the hofpitals and prifons, or from hearing confefllons, provided all this was done without any pomp, efpecially that of carrying the facra- ment to thofe places : that the clergy had no right to affift at burials and public ceremonies, to carry the crofs there, or attend criminals to the place of puniftiment : that the ecclefiaftics fliould receive no bad treatment either in word or deed, when they pafi!*ed through the ftreets in the habit of their order : that the proteftants (hould not make any oppofition Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Gppofition to the building of their church there; nor to the commif- lioners appointed by them to mark out the place, provided this place Was neither inconvenient, nor fufpedted by the city; in either of which cafes they fhould affign them another, or leave this point to be decided by the king and his council. I regulated likewife fome other articles relating to the police : that the catholics fliould be contented with the fhare they had in the public pofts and offices to which they fliould be raifed by a plurality of votes, and the ufual methods; but with re- fpetl to mechanic trades and corporations, as there was no reafon why they flîould be excluded from them, the proteftants, by driving away their youth from the ffiops of the catholics, had fet an example of violence to thofe cities where the catholic party was the ftrongeft. In the mean time, at Paris, great preparations were making for the ceremony of the baptifm of the Dauphin, and the two princefles of France*. The duchefs of Mantua, who was to have the principal part in this folemnity, fet out from Italy with a train of two hundred horfe, and two hundred and fifty attendants. She arrived at Nancy on the beginning of June, and from thence her train and thofe belong- ing to the duke of Lorrain, fent to know of his majeity if, at the end of eight days, which flie propofed to flay at Nancy, flie might continue her journey. This requiring fome confideration, Henry wrote to me, for i was then at Sully, to come to Paris on the fourth or fifth of June ; adding, that he would come thither himfelf the latter end of May, and till I arrived make fome fliort excurfions to Saint-Germain to fee his children, and likewife that he thought it neceffary to fend fome perfon to Nancy with his orders. A kind of debate arofe upon the manner in which the duchefs of Mantua fliould be received, which was at length decided in the queen's favour, who alledged, that this princefs coming into France only to oblige the king, and do honour to an extraordinary ceremony, too great refpeft could ns3t be paid her. Accordingly nothing was omitted ; ihe had the precedence not only of all foreign princes, but alfo of the princes of the blood, at which the latter were fo difgufted, that they refufed to allitl at any ceremony where flie was prefent, alledging, that it was a very extraordinary thing for princes of the moft auguft houfe in Europe, to be preceded by a duke of late date, defcended from a citizen of Mantua, who, after killing Bonnacolfy his lord, procured the adminiftration of Mantua, to be con- * Eleonora de Medicis. eldeft daughter of Francis de Medicis, grand duke of Tuf- cany, and wife of Vincent de Gonz^ue duke of Mantua. Z Z Z 2 fided MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIII. £ded to him, and afterwards ufurped the fovereignty of it. But not- withftanding all that could be urged, the king would not make the fmalleft conccfTion on this point, confidering only in the duchefs of Mantua, the title of an ally to the royal family, and eldeft fifter of the queen. The duke of Bouillon fought to take fome advantage of this exam- ple, but he was not regarded ; he had been appointed to carry the re- galia in the ceremony, and would have taken place of the dukes, claim- ing this privilege as duke of Bouillon and prince of Sedan, and ap- pealing to the examples of fome of the princes of Sedan to whom he had fucceeded. He was told, in anfwer to thefe pretenlions, that the difference between them and him was, that they were really defcended' from fovercign princes, a quality which in effeâ: gave them the firft rank, while he was only defcended from a private gentleman*. On the 2oth of July, the duchefs of Mantua arrived at Villers-Co- terets, where ùie found the king, who waited for her. From thence they were to go by Monceaux to Paris, where I was employed in caufing fcafFolds to be built in the church of Notre-Dame in the palace, and in the fquare of the manufactures, and in making all the other pre- parations, when we were informed that a contagious difeafe had broke out in that vaft city -f- ; for which reafon the king, after confulting the duchefs, refolved that the ceremony of the baptifms fhould be per- formed at Fontainebleau, The tournaments and all the fhews and di- verlions, which were to have been exhibited at Paris, were fet afide by this new plan, which took in only the ufual expences for the baptifm of the children of France, and the robes of his majefly and the royal family. The nuncio waited upon the king at Fontainebleau, as did alfo queen Margaret. The chapels of the caftle being too fmall for fuch a. ceremony, and that of the monaftery unfinifhed, I propofed that the floor of the latter fhould be fpread and the walls hung with tapeftry, or that they fliould make ufe of the great faloon | for that purpofe. * To fhew how little reafon the duke of tion, and contradifted by all other hifto- Sully has to fpealc in this manner of a houfe rians. fo illuftrious as that of Bouillon, we need % It was performed in the court called ©nly have rccouri'e to the genealogifts in ge- Cour du Donjon, which had been prepared neral. for the purpofe. The cardinal de Joyeufe, t " The plague, or rather the king's the pope's legate, reprefented Paul V. ay " thriftynefs, fays L'Etoile malicioufly, god-father, with the duchefs of Mantua as " deprived the city of Paris of this ho- god-mother to the dauphin. The eldeft' *' nour;" an afiertion without any founda- Madame of Franc* was called Elizabeth^ The Book XXin. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. 541 The king himfelf took the trouble to examine the palace of Fleury, and caufed it to be prepared for the reception of the dauphin when the ceremony was ended; for the contagion in Paris, inflead of ceaf- ing had fpread itfelf into fome of the neighbouring places ; nor was Fontainebleau entirely free from it. Henry* wrote me word, the lat- ter end of September, that of lix perfons who had been feized with the diftemper, only one had recovered, but that there were no more taken ill He withdrew the regiment of guards from Melan, where he had been told fome families were infedted with the diftemper. It was about this time, that their majeflies, croffing the river of Neuilly in a ferry-boat -|~, were in danger of being drowned, which was the caufe that a bridge was afterwards built there. 1606. after the name of the archduchefs her god- mother, wife of the archduke Albert, and grand-daughter of Henry II. reprefented by madam d'AngcuIeme wichout a god-father ; and the youngeft Madame of France had for god-father the duke of Lorraine in per- fon, and for god-mother the ^:rand duchefs of Tufcany, whofe proxy was Drince John de Medicis ; fhe wùs called Chriftina. See in the Merc. Fran, anno 1606, and in P. Matthieu, vol. II. b. iii. the defcription of the manner of performing this ceremony, and the magnificence and rejoicings which preceded and followed it. See alfo vol. 9361 and 9364 of the Royal MSS. * It is obferved, in the journal of Henry IV. that no more than ufual died in Paris this year, which are therein computed at eight in a day ; whence the author con- cludes, that people gave way to a ground- lefs panic. t " On Friday the 9th of June, fays ** the fame journal, as the king and queen " were croffing the water in the ferry- " boat at Neuilly, on their return from " Saint-Germain-cn-Laye, the duke of " Vendôme being with them, they were " all three in great danger of being " drowned, efpecially the queen, who was " obliged to drink a great deal m.ore than " was agreeable to her ; and had not one " of her footmen and a gentleman called " La-Châtaigneraie, who caught hold of " her hair, defperately thrown themfelves " into the water to pull her out, fhe would " inevitably have loft her life. This ac- " cident cured the king of a violent tooth-- " ach ; and, after having efcaped the dan- " ger, he diverted himfelf with it, faying, " he had never met with fo good a remedy " for that diforder before ; and that they " had eat too much fait meat at dinner, " therefore they had a mind to make them " drink after it." This accident happened, according to the Merc. Fran, becaufe as they were going into the boat, which probably had no rail work round it, the two fore-horfes, draw- ing towards one fide, fell over-board, and by their weight dragged the coach, in which were the king, the queen, the duke of Vendôme, the princefs of Conti, and the duke of Montpenfier, whom the rain had prevented from alighting with them. " The " gentlemen who were on horfeback, fays " that hillorian, threw themfelves into the " water, without having time to take off " either their cloaths or fwords, and haf- " tened towards the place where they had " feen the king, who, being faved from " the danger, notwithftanding all the en- " treaty that could be made to the con- " trary, returned into the water to affift in " getting out the queen and the duke ot " Vendôme. As foon as the queen had re- " covered a little breath, fhe gave a figh, " and asked where the king was. She teili- " fied her gratitude to La-Chàtaigneraie, " v^hom fhe had obferved to be particu- " larly inilrumental in faving her, by a " prefent of jewels, and a yearly penfion." ^nno 1606, De Thou, b. cxxxvi. 542 M E M O î R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXIII. 1606. I STAID longer this time at Sully than ufual. The king, who was Informed that I continued indilpofed at Briecomte-robert, wrote to mc on the 29th of Auguft, and defired to know the ftate of my health. This prince made me captain-lieutenant of the company of gendar- mes, which was formed in the queen's name, and, at my entreaty, granted a full pardon to La-Saminiere. Thefe favours alone gave him a right to require and expedt every thing from me : he was much af- flidled to find, that the marriage of the fon of Noailles with the daugh- ter of Roquelaure, inftead of uniting thofe two families, proved only a fource of dillord between them. Henry fo often and fo earneftly prefTed me to attempt to reconcile them, that I ufed my utmoft en- deavours for that purpofe. It is the part of a good prince, to keep all who are about his perfon united ; and of a wife one, to efîed: this union rather by the interpofition of others than by his ov/n. I WAS likewife well rewarded for my labours in the finances; the contracSlors giving his majefty an hundred and fifty thoufand livres, and the continuance of the leafe of the fait for fix years produced him likewife a gratuity of fixty thoufand crowns. The king difpofed of thefe two hundred and ten thoufand livres in the following man- ner : eighty thoufand livres were fet apart for the purchafe of Moret, and thirty-fix thoufand for fome occafions of his majefty ; the queen had twelve thoufand, the duke of Nemours thirty, Verfenai eighteen, and myfelf thirty thoufand. I likewife received, during the courfe of the year, twice this fum in different gratuities. To execute the edidts, the court of aids fent every year a deputa- tion of counfellors into thofe diftriiSs where the excife was levied up- on fait, in order to make a diftribution and regulation thereon ; to lay fines upon thofe whom they found exercifing the trade of felling fait without licence. Nor was this the only reafon for fending thofe com- miffioners; for the lieutenant-general of Blois fent me word, that two of the commifljoners that were appointed to levy the excife upon fait, and the bther taxes for the different officers of the difi:riâ:, were guil- ty of many crimes in the difcharge of their employment. To which I anfwercd, that he was in the wrong to make a complaint without ipecifying any particulars j but that, however, I had lent him a regu- lation with regard to thofe two points, in order for him to fiiew to the commiffioners ; which if they difobeycd, I promifed to give him ample fatisfadtion. The Book XXIIf. M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. 54j The import of the regulation was, that the excife upon fait fhould 1606. not for the future be augmented merely upon the diftriâ:s, but that the particular parilhes fhould be fpecified in proportion to the number of chimnies, at the fame time eafing the poorer parirties of an equal fum. With regard to the contraband traders in fait, it was my opinion, that there was a diltincîlion to be made between them j for as thofe who fold the contraband fait could not be puniflied too feverely, fo thofe who only purchafed it from the unlicenfed traders, merely becaufc they got it cheaper than the other fait, deferved to be treated with more lenity, efpecially when they were not taken in the fadl. As to the tax upon the officers of the finances, there are two kinds of it, one upon all the officers in general, into which the king had thought proper to confent that enquiries Hiould be commenced againft themj and the other upon the eledls in particular, founded upon the re-eftablifhment of their rights, taxations, and exemptions, of feveral kinds. It was eflablifhed by the regulation, that the firftof thefe taxes fhould not be exadled for the future but by mutual confent; fo that they who ihould declare before the officer that gave them notice of it, and afterwards before the judge or notary of the place, that they did not intend to take advantage of the king's abolition, fliould not be compelled to pay it ; but in that cafe they were fubjed: to a criminal profecution, if they were difcovered to have failed in the execution of their truft. The fécond tax was the fame ; thofe elefts who liked better to give up the privilege of their office, were difcharged from it ; but they were obliged to repay whatever they might have received under that title, contrary to the edidls and eftabliffiments of the king and the fiâtes. The commiffioners fent to Rouen gave it as their opinion, that it was but reafonable to ftrike eleven thoufand crowns off the account of the taxes of the province of Normandy, becaufe the treafurers of France • were to write to me upon this head, and had prepared to fend deputies ■ to the king, in order to obtain his approbation of this retrenchment. I anfwered them, that there was no need for their taking this ftep, for that I would undertake to perfuade his majefly thereto, who w'as already fufficiently inclined of himfelf to give them much greater marks of his affeiSion, if the flate of his affairs, and the donations he was obliged to make to a number of infatiable courtiers, had permitted hinl. I further promifed, that I would join with them, in order to eafe the pro- MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL provinces of a much greater fum than this, from which the poor could obtain but a very fmall relief. I perceived the reafonablenefs of the promife I had made them, when I faw a fum of two hundred forty- fix thoufand three hundred and eighty-one livres joined to the taille of Provence, though it had nothing to do with it. This fum confiiled of the following articles: Thirty-three thoufand livres for the bridges and caufeways of the whole province, which ex- tended both to Rouen and Caïen: Thirty-feven thoufand five hun- dred livres for the fuppreffion of the edidt on linen-cloth in thofe two diftridls: Twenty-two thoufand five hundred livres for the maintain- ance of the bridge of Rouen, raifed by an affelTment on thofe two dif- trifts ; although on this account lèverai fums were levied upon Paris and other cities : Fifteen thoufand livres for the bridges of Mantes and Saint-Cloud : Thirty thoufand livres for the canal of communi- cation between the Seine and the Loire : And eight thoufand three hundred and eighty-one livres for the grand prevoii of the province. I repeat it again, that all thefe different colleilions were foreign to the taille. And it was not reafonable, that perfons who received no ad- vantage from the public repairs, fhould be obliged to furnifti money for them. For fome years pafl they had confiderably augmented thefe fums, v/hich, in appearance, were defigned for that ufe; but which, in reality, remained in the purfes of fome individuals, with- out one penny being returned to the king. I OBLIGED the receiver of Angouleme to be anfwerable for fome money which he alledged was not now in his hands : had that been true, he was not the lefs liable to pay it, becaufe it could not have been legally demanded of him without letters patents from the king. Al- though it might happen that fome things efcaped me, yet Henry let nothing pafs unnoticed ; he had been informed that fome powder had been embezzled, and he defired me to have thofe who were guilty of that mifdemeanor profecuted for it ; it being abfolutely neceffary for the fecurity of the ftores in the magazines, that fuch pradlices fliould "be punifhed, as being a matter of great confequence with refpedl to all the magazines in general. He difcovered that there was carrying on in my abfence a commiflion for recovery of the fums omitted to be re- ceived, and of falfe feizures : he wrote immediately to the chancellor, that the affair fliould be fuperfeded, becaufe, as I muft certainly have been acquainted with it before I went away, I fhould have taken fome mealures Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY, 545 tneafures about it, if I had thought it would have been brought into 1606. queftion. His expences this year were as great as ufual, I don't mean in pre- fents of jewels fuitable to fo opulent a prince, for in thefe Henry did not fhew himfelf a prodigal ; as for example, defigning to make a pre- fent of a jewel to an Italian lady, he was dcfirous that it fliould not be mean ; but at the fame time, that the price might not exceed a thoufand or twelve hundred crowns : and he wrote to me to look out for a ring for him, with the diamond cut in the form of a heart ; or in any other, rather than to be cut table-fafliion, becaufe the expence would be lefs and the fliew greater : but his perfbnal expences, and thofe at play efpecially, always made up a very confiderable article. I often received meffages, like that of the 1 ith of December : Henry having loft all his money at play, fent me word in a billet, of which Lomenie's nephew was the bearer, that Morand muft bring him that eveningtwothoufandpiftoles. Ihad thenexceffive large accounts to fettle with Parfait, for the extraordinary expences of his houfliold. On the4th of Odlober he fent me orders to pay eighty-five thoufand five hundred and four livres to mademoifelle Du-Beuil, for which that billet was to ferve for a receipt. He had remitted to Zamet, as payment of the re- mainder of an account he was indebted to him for the year 1602, the tax of two fols, fix deniers, upon three bulhels of fait ; but as this tax did not now fubfift, I was obliged to pay Zamet, this year, thirty-feven thoufand four hundred and ninety-two livres, to which that old ac- count amounted ; and to pay him befides, thirty-four thoufand two hundred and twenty livres, which he had fincelent to his majelly, or difburfed for him. He made La-Varenne a prefent of a thoufand crowns. Villeroi, by his orders, wrote to my ion, that I muft pay a debt which this prince owed to Balbani, who was confined in Fort- l'Evêque j and that I muft endeavour to procure his releafe. Among other expences, which did Henry more honour, I take in thofe for repairing the gates of Saint-Bernard, and the Temple, and the fountains before the fefiions-houfe, and the crofsdu Tiroir, His ma* jefty had written to thePrevot des Marchands, that he defired this work might be finiftied before Midfummer. The council, I know not for what reafon, gave an arret afterwards which rendered this order inef- fectual, by applying the money defigned for thefe fountains to paving the ftreets of Paris, contrary to their firft intentions, when, in the con- tra6l with the paviors, it was ordered, that the fum neceffary for this Vol. II. A a a a purpofe MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL purpofe {hould be levied upon the inhabitants of the city, according to the number of feet the pavement before each door confifted of; his majefty, however, infifted upon knowing why thefe works were delayed, and upon what account the council had committed this error. This prince had often defired me to give him general accounts, which fhould contain a detail of every thing relating to my three prin- cipal offices, of fuperintendant of the finances, grand mafter of the ord- nance, and fuperintendant of the buildings and fortifications. I took an opportunity, when he was at the Louvre, and when I thought he had but little bufinefs upon his hands, to carry him thefe papers : but although it was very early in the morning when I left the arfenal, yet when I came to the Louvre I found that his majefly was already gone out ; I therefore fent all my papers back to the arfenal, exxept a very fliort abftradt, which I intended to fliew him, and went to madame de Guife, to wait his return, (lie having often intreated me to dine witli her. It was to make a party for the chace, that Henry had rifen fo early that morning, and he was refolved to dine upon the partridges he fhould take in hawking : he ufed to fay, that he never thought them fo tender and good, as when they were taken in this manner ; and efpecially when he could fnatch them himfelf from the hawks. Towards the middle of the day Henry returned, extremely well fatisfied with his morning's diverfion, and in a gaiety of humour, which his good flats of health, and the happy fituation of his affairs, contributed greatly to increafe : he entered the great hall, holding his partridges in his hand, and cried aloud to Coquet (who waited there for his return, and was talking to Parfait at one end of the hall) " Coquet, Coquet, you mufl: " not complain of Roquelaure, Thermes, Frontenac, Arambure, and " I, for want of a dinner, for we have brought fomething to treat you ** with ; but go immediately and order them to be dreffed ; give them " their fliare, but let eight be referved for my wife and I ; Bonneval " here fhall carry them to her from me, and fliall tell her, that I am " going to drink her health ; but take care and keep thofe birds that are " leaft bit by the hawks for me ; there are three very fat, which I " took from them myfelf, and which they have fcarce touched." As Henry was diftributing his partridges, La-Clielle came in, and with him Parfait, bringing in a large bafon, gilt with gold, and co- vered with a napkin : " Sire, cried he twice, embrace my knees, for I have Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. '* have brought you a great many, and very fins ones." " See how " rejoiced Parfait is, laid the king, this will make him fatter by an *' inch upon the ribs; I find he has brought me fome good melons; *' I am glad of it, for I am refolved to eat my fill of them to-day ; " they never hurt me when they are good, and when I eat them " while I am very hungry, and before meat, as the phyficians diredt. " I will give each of you a melon before you have your partridges, *' when I have firft chofen out fome for my wife and myfelf, and for ** another perfon to whom I have promifed fome." The king then going to his own apartment, gave a couple of melons to two boys who were at the door, whifpering fomething in their ear at the fame time : and as he came out of his long clofet to go to his aviary, perceiving Fourcy, Beringhen, and La-Font, the latter bringing fomething co- vered up in his hand, •' La-Font, faid Henry to him, are you bring- *' ing me a ragout for my dinner ?" " Yes, fire, replied Beringhen, " but thefe are raw meats, fit only to feaft the eyes with." " That " is not what I want, replied his majefty, for I am excefllvely hun- " gry, and would rather have my dinner than any other thing : but, *' La-Font, what is it you have wrapped up fo ?" " Sire, faid Fourcy, " he has got patterns of feveral forts of flufïs, carpets, and tapeftry, *' which your beft manufadurers have undertaken to make." •' Oh ! " replied Henry, they will afford us fome amufement after dinner; I " will fliew them to my wife, and to another perfon, whofe opinion " and mine do not always agree, efpecially when we are talking of ** what he calls baubles and trifles : I believe, Fourcy, added he, you *' guefs whom I mean ; I fliould be glad to have him prefent with *' my wife when you Oiew us thefe fluffs, it will bring fomething to " my remembrance which I want to communicate to them when they " are together, that I may have their opinions ; he often tells me," purfued his majefty, ftill fpeaking of me, but without naming me, " that he never thinks any thing fine or good, that cofts double its " real value ; and that I fliould be of the fame opinion with regard to " all goods extremely dear : I know what he hints at, and why he " talks in this manner, although I pretend to be ignorant; but we " muft fuffer him to talk, for he is not a man of few words. Fourcy, " go for him immediately ; or that he may be here the fooner, icnd *' ont of my coaches for him, or your own." The coachman meeting one of my footmen, whom I had (cnt to the Louvre to enquire if his majefty was returned, he came to the duchefs of Guife's, where I had juft; dined : I furprifed his majefty when I A a a a 2 came 548 MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIL 1606. came in, for he did not expecfl to fee me (6 fooji. " You have made great hafte," faid this prince to me when I entered the room, where- he was ftill at table, " you could not poffibly have come direftly from ** the arfenal." When I told him where I had dined ; " That whole " family being related to you, faid he, and loving you fo much as *' they do, for which I am very glad, I am perfuaded that while " they follow your counfels, as they lay they are determined to do, *' they will never do any injury either to my perfon or ftate." " Sire, ** returned I, your majefty fays this in a manner fo unreferved, that I *' fee you are in a good humour, and better fatisfied with me than you " have been thefe fifteen days." "What! you ftill remember that then,, *' interrupted Henry, I alTure you I do not j you know that our lit- «' tie refentments ought never to laft more than a day : I am very fure ** that yours would not hinder you from undertaking, the very next *' day, to do fomething for my advantage in my finances. I have not," continued Henry, with great gaiety, " found myfelf fo light and fo *' eafy thefe three months as this day ; I mounted my horfe without *' help ; I have had great pleafure in the chace this morning ; my *' hawks have flown, and my greyhounds have run fo well, that the " former have taken a great number of young partridges, and the «' latter three large hares j one of the beft of my hawks, which I '* thought lofl, has been found and brought back to me : I have a •* very good appetite, have eat fome excellent melons, and they have •' ferved me up fome quails, the fatteft and tendered I have ever *' eat. By letters from Provence," continued the king, to fhew me that every thing confpired to his happinefs, " I am informed, that the " feditions in Marfcilles are entirely quelled ; and from feveral other •* provinces I have news, that there never has been fo fruitful a feafon, <' and that my people will grow rich, if I permit them to export *« corn. Saint-Antoine writes me word, that the prince of Wales is *' always talking of me, and of the friendfliip which he promifed you *' he would ever preferve for me. From Italy I am informed, that '* affairs there are in fuch a fituation, that I fhall have the honour of ** reconciling the pope and the Venetians. Bongars writes me word " from Germany, that the new king of Sweden is upon better terms *' with his fubjedts ; and that the landgrave of Hefle acquires every *' day new friends and allies. Buzenval has written to Villeroi, that " both the Spaniards and Flemings are brought fo low, that they •' will foon be obliged to liflen to propofals for a peace, or a truce, " of which I muft neceffarily be the mediator and protedtor : and " thus begin to render myfelf the arbitrator of all the differences ** among Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. " among the princes of Chriftendom. And for an increafe of fatif- *• faftion, faid this prince gaily, behold me here at table, furrounded " with all thefe perfons you lee" (for he had with him Du-Laurens, Du-Perron the younger, Gutron, Des-Yvetaux, Chaumont, and the fathers Cotton and Gonthier) " of whofe affefbion for me I am well " afTured, and who, as you know, are capable of entertaining me with " ufeful as well as agreeable converfation ; which fhall not, however, *' hinder me from talking of bufmefs as foon as I have dined, for then " I will liften to every body, and will fatisfy all, if reafon and juftice *« can do it." I FOUND, by fome other things his majefty faid, that the company had turned theconverfation upon him in particular, and had alike praifedhim for his great qualities, and congratulated him upon his good fortune. " It will be difficult, I faid, to find better judges then they were." " However, faid Henr)% I did not fufFer all they faid to pafs without " contradidion." And he confelTed, that all their praifes of him could not deftroy his confcioufnefs that he had many faults ; and as to their compliments upon his good fortune, he told them, that if they had been with him from the time his father died, they would have been fenlible that part of thofe compliments might have been fpared, for that his miferable moments had far furpafled his happy ones. This led Henry to a reflexion he ufed often to make, that he hud not yet fufFered lb much by his declared enemies, as by the ingratitude and defertion of many, who, he faid, were either his friends, allies, or fub- jedls. The young Du-Perron, who in thefe laft words found ample matter for his eloquence to difplay itfelf, began to treat this fubje<5t like a theologician or preacher, and even a myftic; " You have deli- " vered your fentiments," faid I when he concluded, " in fo lofty a *' ftyle, that nothing can be added to your difcourfe." I then main- tained to him, as well as to all the company, agreeable to what his majefty had juft faid, or rather to what I had myfelf been a witnefs of, that this prince had enjoyed lefs tranquillity during the peace, than he did in all the troubles and alarms of war. " Rofny, faid the kino- " to me, if you will put a few words upon this fubjei5t on paper, f " will lliew it to fome incredulous perfons." I replied, that it re- quired fome time to do that, and likewife might not be received fa- vourably by every one. To this I added fome other plain truths up- on religion and policy : and the mifery with which France was threat- ened if Ihe fliould lofe her king; which I believe was fl:ill lefs pleaf- ing to the courtiers, than what I had faid before. Thi* 55© M E M O I R S O F S U L L Y. Book XXIIÎ. 1606. This converfatlon, which from being gay and lively had taken a very ferious turn, was interrupted by the queen, who had left her cham- ber, and was going to her clofet. The king, rifmg from table, went to meet her, faying, " Well, my dear, were not the melons, partridges, " and quails I fent you very good ? if your appetite has been as keen " as mine, you have dined extremely well i 1 never eat fo much as I " have done to-day, or was ever in a better humour ; ask Rofny, he " will tell you the occafion of it, and will acquaint you with the news *' I have received, and the converfation we have had." The queen, who was likewife more than ufually chearful, replied, that to contri- bute, on her fide, to divert his majefty, Ihe had been making prepara- tions for a ballet and an interlude of her own invention ; the ballet was to reprefent the felicity of the golden age; and the interlude, theamufe- ments of the four feafons of the year. " I do not fay, added fhe, that " I have not had a little alTiftance, for Duret and La-Clavelle have " been with me the whole morning, while you were at the chace." " How charmed am I to fee you in this humour, my dear, faid Henry ** to her; I befeech you let us always live together in this manner." Fourcy was then ordered to fhew the patterns for the fluffs and tape- ftry. The king defused the queen to tell him her opinion of them ; and turning tome, "I know what yours is already, faid he ; but " now let us fee your abftrads of accounts ?" Of thefe there were three, the fame number with the general ac- counts : this is a fimple fketch of this undertaking; in the hrft, which regarded the fuperintendancy of the buildings and fortifications, the king found what was contained in the general account ; ift, a memo- rial of all the fortifications made in the frontiers fince the direction was in my hands; 2d, of all the buildings and royal houfes; 3d, of all the moveables, hangings, gold and filver plate, which I had colledied for him. The fécond compendium, which related to the finances, was an index to the memoirs ; i ft, of the changes and improvements which I had made in all the different parts of the king's finances and reve- nues; 2d, of all the gold and filver money actually in the treafury; 3d, of the improvements which I had ftill to make, and of the fums which I hoped to add to the former. The third compendium, which related to the office of the grand mafter, fliewed the particulars of the general account; ift, of pieces of fix different bores, repofited in my arfenal; and of all that related to the cannons; 2d, of the number of bullets, with the means of keeping all the train of artillery, and Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. and employing them in good order ; 3d, of the quantity of three forts of gunpowder commonly ufed ; 4th, of the quantity of arms, tools, and inllruments of the train of artillery ; 5th, of the number of fol- diers, as well gentlemen as volunteers, whom the king could fet on foot, reckoned according to the divifion of the kingdom. That the reader may the better underftand what has been faid x little higher, with refpedt to Spain and the United Provinces, it is ne- ceiîary to fee what paffed this year in Flanders *. The Spaniards, to whom the army deftined for the expedition of Sedan had given great umbrage, finding that they had nothing to apprehend from that quar- ter, the marquis Spinola fet out from Genoa on the 6th of May, that he might arrive in Flanders on the 19th. The fiege of Rhinberg, which the Spaniards undertook this year, was the only confiderabls adlion performed this campaign : at firft: the befieged defended them- felves with their ufual vigour, and made feveral failles, by which two Spanifh colonels loft their lives ; the name of one of them was Thores, and the other commanded the new terfe -f-, which came from Savoy,. This bold defence made the event of the fiege appear very doubtful,- at beft it was thought that it would be protraded a long time ; Spinola- was of this opinion, and the king fuppofed that Rhinberg would noc Surrender before the 20th of Odlober : however, they capitulated the beginning of this month. If the courier was to be credited, whoj the next day after the rcdudion of this city, was fent by Spinola to carry the news to Madrid, and who pafi"ed through Paris in his way, the befieged had not more than fix tons of powder leftj but, it muft be confefled, that the D-utch did not, upon this occafion, exert the valour they had done in the preceding years ; they were then indeed dif- pirited and weary of the war. The garriibn, which was left by the fenate to its own conduit, were fatisfied with obtaining, that they iliould be permitted to march out with all marks of honour, fuch as carrying away their cannon, &c. They threw all the blame of their furrender upon the prince of Orange, who they faid would neither fuccour the place, nor give any difturbance to the Spanifii army. This reproach was not wholly without caufe ; prince Maurice's reputation fuifered greatly from the inadtion he lived in during this ûsgQ and the whole campaign. * Confuk De Thou, the Merc. Franc, in two or three pLices of Sully's Memoirs, anno 1606. and Siri, ibid, on this fubjeiSt. fignifies a batallion, or feveral companies t The word terfe, which is made ule of of foot, forming one corps, In^ Brulard, MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book X>:III. Lntdeed the condudl of the United Provinces cannot be wondered at, if we conlider that they were reduced to fuch extremities, that it was not poffible for them to carry on the war much longer. All the lord of' letters from Buzenval and Berny confirmed this truth; and public re- Berny. port did not exaggerate things in this refpedt. It was no lefs certain, that Spain was no longer in a condition to take advantage of their weaknefs. The fieges of Oftend and Sluys, had opened two wounds which they had never been able to clofe. In Flanders a peace was pub- lickly talked of; and thofe who till then had fliown themfelves moll againfl it, were, to their own aftonifliment, infenfibly brought to ap- prove of it. They now left off foliciting with ardour the afliftance of France; or to have tliat reliance upon our promifes as they had for- merly. I am perfuaded, that the ftill recent remembrance of all the obligations they lay under to his majefty, was one of the chief caufes of a delay of a peace or a truce, which, but for that conlideration would have been concluded this year. A mifunderftanding between the prince of Orange and Barnevelt, which divided the council of the States into two parties, contributed alfo to this delay; the former would not hear of a peace, and the latter cried out againil: a war. This oppofi- tion was the caufe likewife that the council of France could take no refolutions with refpedt to the affairs of Flanders, fmce it was not poffir ble to ferve one party without injuring the other. Buzenval returned to Paris the beginning of December, charged with a great number of propofals. His majelly not well knowing what to refolve upon, fent him to the arfenal, where I was confined to my chamber, to confer with me upon them. I confefs I was no lefs perplexed than the king; I faw plainly that, if there was any re- folution to be taken, with refpedl to the peace between Spain and the United Provinces, this was the time for it: but in what manner (hould we aft, or how fécond the defigns of a people without ftrength, without union amongfl themfelves, and fo deftitute of advice, that, as it was plain, not being able to agree upon the choice of the deputies to be lent to his majefty, our own agent to them was obliged to take this com- milTion upon himfelf : (hall we prevail upon thefe provinces to fubmit to the French domination, and fo make their quarrel our own ? But is not this to engage raftily in a war with the whole houfe of Auftria, the event of which would be fo much the more doubtful, as the countries neceflary to be polTefled were at the greater diftance from our own; as we had yet no preparations made for entering the territories of our ene- mies. Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. mies, or vefTels to invade them by fca, but thofe belonging to the States : fhall we be contented with receiving a certain number of towns, either as a fecurity, or in perpetual poffeffion, to indemnify us for what mo- ney and flores we had advanced, as Buzenval offered in their name ? This propofal has all the inconveniencies of the firfl, without any of its dvantages ; we fhould befides have numerous garrifons to maintain, becaufe thefe towns would be doubtlefs upon the frontiers, where the Flemmings would behold us with almofl as bad an eye as the Spaniards themfelves, of which we have a very recent example, in their beha- viour to the Englilh in the like circumflance. In whatever manner we difguife any refolution which neceffarily leads to a war with Spain, it will as infallibly bring England upon us, as foon as we feem dehrous of getting a footing, and making an eftablifhment in the Low Countries; but that we might have nothing to fear either from the one or the other, it was neceffary that our firfl attempt fhould be to make our- felves, by one flroke, maflers of the fea againft the Spaniards, and in a cafe of abfblute neceffity, againft the Englifli likewife. I believe I could then have engaged my head, that, having nothing more to attack or defend but on the fide of the Meufe, Spain would have entirely loft the Low Countries. But what great expences, and what prodigious efforts muft neceffarily be made, ere this could be accomplifhed ? I am flill perfuaded that we might, without giving umbrage to our neigh- bours, and without fuffering any greater inconvenience from Spain, than complaints and murmurs, have ftill continued fecretly to fxvour the States, as we did at prefent : but befides that the fums we advanced for them, muft be increafed in proportion as their power and ftrength diminiflied, all the advantage we could hope for from it, would be merely to retard the peace for fome years. In the prefent flate of things, there was no other alternative, but an accommodation between Spain and the United Provinces, or a war between us and Spain : with refpedl to this accommodation, there were ftill two parts for us to take, either to fuffer it to be made without our interpolition, or to appear to be the mediators of it ; the fécond was the moft reafonable, and this was in the end embraced : but at the time of which I am fpeaking, the king was very far from approving this flroke of policy ; and, in one fenfe, it was that which met with mofl oppofition. These were almofl all the refledions I made to the king, who defired to know my opinion of Buzenval's deputation. I put them in writing, becaufe I was not able to wait upon his majefty : it was not my fault, if this paper was not entirely fatisfactory We left it to time to bring Vol. II. B b b b matters 554- i6o6. MEMOIRS OF SULLY. Book XXIIÎ. matters to a conclufion, but they continued in the fame doubtful flate till the following year. The United Provinces made fome fmall pre- fents by Aërfens to the king and queen,, for which his majefty fent them his thanks, and made a prefent, by the queen, to Acrfens's wife^ of four hundred crowns in jewels. Aërfens, by his mafter's orders, prefented the king with a relation of a voyage which the Dutch had lately made to the Eafl-Indies. I HAVE nothing more to fay of Germany than that the duke of Wirtemberg found the good effefts of the king's protedion : Mont- glat was his majefty's agent in that country; for as for Bongars, who was there alfo, and who had written a letter from Metz to me, which Henry read, becaufe it was open, this prince would not permit him. to flay in that city, nor in any other place, h^ faid, where he might preach his do6lriae. All England was thrown into a confternation, by the difcovery of a plot *, carried on by the jefuits Garnet and Oldecorne, with feveral * A detail of this confpiracy would lead us into a relation of too great length, and has but little connexion with thefe Me- moirs. According to De Thou and the Merc. Franc, it had its beginning in fonie of the latter years of queen Elizabeth's reign J fee thofe hiftorians, arm. 1605 and 1606. Ten or twelve Englifli, and two je- fuits, Henry Garnet and Edward Oldecorne, loft their lives on that account : all the crime of the two laft appears only to have been their knowing of the confpiracy and not difcovering it. " The king, fays *' L'Etoile, thought proper to fay to fa- " ther Cotton, when he fpoke to him of " it, I will not believe this of you Jefuits, *' or caft any refleâion on your order in *' general ; there is, however, one jjerfon *' at Rome with his holinefs, who I know *' was not unacquainted with this wicked " plot and confpiracy." anno 1605. Father Oldecorne folemnly declared before his death (on the 17th of April, 1606) that he never knew or ap- proved of this gunpowder plot. Me- zerai fays, that this father had maintained, that the attempt was good and cominend- abk ; but on wh^ grouiid3 he, whu makes Hall and Oldecorne two different perfons,, though thefe are only two names of the fame man, fays this, 1 know not. Father Garnet was executed the third of May. The judges took great pains to prevail on him- to own that he had come to the know- ledge of it by other means than under the feal of confeffion, which they knew was inviolable amongft catholics. Father Gar- net, according to the account of the ca- tholics, had To little concern in this plot, of which Larrey makes him the author and chief promoter, that he made ufe of all poffible means, even almoft the difco- very of it, to prevent it, inceiTantly ex- horting the catholics to have patience. He had befides got farther Parfons, and father Aquaviva, general of the Jefuits, to write» that the taking any violent refolution fhould^ above all things, be avoided, tTie confe- quences of which muft inevitably be fa- tal to religion. Memoirs fo? the general hiftory of Europe, vol. I. p. 74. Mat- thieu, in like manner, exculpates father Garnet, vol II. b. iii. p. 715. See alfo the book compofed by father Daniel Bar- toJi, an Italian jefuit, intituled, Dell' IJio- ria dilla Campagnia di Gksù d' Inghilterra. Other Book XXIII. MEMOIRS OF SULLT. other Engliflimen, agalnfl: the king's perfon ; the confpirators having refolved to blow up his majefty and the chief lords of the kingdom, ^vhen they were all affembled in the parliament- houfe, under which they had lodged barrels, and prepared trains of gunpowder. This evidence is fufficient to confute thofe, Oldecorne were conviâed of being partiel who, like Bayle (Rep. des Lett. March, in the plot. This father Parfons, or Robert 1687.) have afTerted, that, according to Perfonio, was a jefuit of great merit and all hiftorLins, father Garnet and father knowledge. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 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