CHAP. XXXII.] PEACE OF MONTPELLIER. 159 La Rochelle, where the Hugonots, headed by Rohan, were in a state of revolt. Luynes, though utterly unversed in military affairs, was to conduct the enterprise, and at the moment of its commencement received the sword of Constable (April 3rd, 1621). The campaign was at first conducted with some success; but the Royal army was badly led and managed; it failed in the siege of Montauban; and the ultra-Catholic party loudly accused Luynes not only of incompetence, but even of treason. To efface this disaster, the Constable laid siege to Monheur, a little town on the Garonne, which he was sure of taking, and which surrendered December 12th; but two days after, while it was still being plundered and in flames, Luynes died of fever, regretted by nobody, not even by the King. He was not deficient in intelligence, but he had neither heart nor mind for the high station into which he had thrust himself. The favourite, but a few days before so powerful, was completely deserted at his death. Fontenay-Mareuil saw his coffin on the road for interment, on which some valets were playing at picquet, whilst their horses were feeding round about.1 The war with the Hugonots, which we forbear to detail,2 was concluded by the peace of Montpellier, October 19th, 1622. The Hugonots suffered much by this ill-advised revolt; the only strong places which they succeeded in retaining were Montauban and La Rochelle. Rohan, besides other leaders, asked the King's pardon in his camp; but he received 200,000 livres down, besides large promises, and the governments of Nîmes and Uzès. After the death of Luynes, the veteran commander Lesdiguières renounced the Calvinist faith for that of Rome, and was rewarded with the sword of Constable. In September Richelieu received from the King's own hands a Cardinal's hat, which had been procured for him through the influence of Mary de' Medici. The time was now approaching when that prelate, who still remained in the service of the Queen-Mother, was to assume the direction of the French counsels. The existing ministry had become exceedingly unpopular. In May, 1623, the Parliament of Paris sent a deputation to the King at Fontainebleau, to complain that mal-administration was the cause of all the misery of France. The Marquis de la Vieuville, sensible of his own incompetence, cast his eyes on Richelieu, with whose abilities he was well acquainted, and he imagined he might use them for his 1 Mémoires, t. i. p. 525 (Petitot). It is very fully related by Bassompierre, t. ii. 160 CARDINAL RICHELIEU BECOMES MINISTER. [CHAP. XXXII. own service, without intrusting him with the whole secret of affairs. Louis XIII. had a prejudice against the Cardinal, and La Vieuville thought it might be possible to make him the head of an extraordinary council for foreign affairs, without his enjoying the privilege of approaching the King's person. It was one of those schemes often formed by ordinary men for appropriating the brains of one superior to themselves; but in this case, as sometimes happens, La Vieuville had made a wrong estimate of his tool. Richelieu had no objection to be minister, but he was resolved to be prime minister. He feigned the greatest reluctance to accept place, though it had been the object of his ambition through life; he raised all sorts of diffi culties and objections; he pleaded ill-health; he made his acceptance of office a favour and a condescension; and, seeing that he was indispensable, he prescribed his own terms. On the 4th of May, 1624, Richelieu, for the second time, took his seat at the council board, which he was henceforth to retain for life. He was now in his thirty-ninth year. His appearance and address were rather striking and imposing than attractive or calculated to inspire confidence. His complexion was pale, his hair black and flowing; his eyes, though large, were lively and penetrating, and their effect was heightened by strongly marked brows. His forehead was high, his nose aquiline; his well-chiselled mouth was surmounted with a moustachio, whilst a small pointed beard completed the oval of his countenance. His features wore an expression of severity; his walk, though noble, was somewhat brusque; his discourse wonderfully lucid, though without much charm or attraction. Richelieu lost no time in casting La Vieuville, his pseudopatron, from the ministry, whose disgrace was effected in about three months. La Vieuville's manners, as well as his policy, were unpopular. Richelieu, who soon obtained an ascendant over the King, shook his confidence in La Vieuville even while he affected to defend him; he is even thought to have had a hand in some of the numerous pamphlets which were published against that minister; and, when he thought him sufficiently shaken, he shouldered him out. On the 12th of August La Vieuville was arrested at the breaking up of the Council, and committed to the Castle of Amboise, on a charge of malversation. No further steps were taken against him, and when it was thought that he was sufficiently harmless he was suffered to escape. Richelieu's reign— for he it was who governed the destinies of France-may now CHAP. XXXII.] RICHELIEU'S POLICY. 161 be said to have begun, although the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld continued to be the nominal President of the Council.1 2 Richelieu had formed a grand scheme of foreign policy, which may be briefly characterized as a revival of that of Henry IV. and Sully. His Spanish policy had probably never been sincere; and he is said, when quite a youth, to have submitted to the Chancellor Silleri a plan for the abasement of the House of Austria. After his accession to the ministry, hatred and fear of Spain were visible in all his actions. The suspicion that Spain was aiming at a universal monarchy had been increased after Philip III.'s death by the addition to the Spanish arms of a globe surmounted with a cross.3 With these views, Richelieu naturally sided with the enemies of the House of Austria, and courted the Protestants of Germany, England, and Holland, although he persecuted those of France; a contradiction more glaring in the Cardinal, a high churchman, than in Henry IV. and his Hugonot minister. Richelieu's first measures were, the renewal of the Dutch alliance; the conclusion of a treaty with England, fortified by a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and Henrietta, youngest sister of Louis XIII.; and a vigorous interposition in the affair of the Valtellina. Scarcely was Richelieu seated in the ministry when a special embassy arrived from the Dutch Provinces to request help against the House of Austria; and the Cardinal, in spite of the opposition of his colleagues, concluded at Compiègne a treaty with that Republic, June 20th, 1624, by which some commercial and other advantages were secured to France.* The negotiations for the English marriage had begun before Richelieu's accession to office. The romantic journey of the Prince of Wales and Buckingham to Spain early in 1623; the admiration which Charles conceived for the French Princess Henrietta on his way through Paris; the flattering reception of Baby Charles and his dog Steenie, now the two "Mr. Smiths," at the Court of Madrid; the insolence of Buckingham; his offensive gallantries towards the wife of Count Olivarez; and the final breaking off of the Spanish match, if, indeed, it had ever been seriously contemplated by the Court of Spain, are well known to It was not till November, 1629, that Richelieu was officially declared prime minister. Capefigue, t. iv. p. 45, note. Aubery, Hist. du Card. de Richelieu, liv. v. ch. 2. 2 Riche • Mercure Franç. t. x. p. 94. lieu even opposed the King of Spain's vainglorious assumption of titles, and instructed M. de Béthune to move the Pope not to sanction that of Emperor of the Indies. Capefigue, Richelieu, t. iii. p. 324. Dumont, t. v. pt. ii. p. 461. 162 NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE ENGLISH MARRIAGE. [CHAP. XXXII. all readers of English history. In the negotiations with France La Vieuville had led the English ambassadors, Lords Carlisle and Holland, to expect that no difficulty would be experienced on the score of religion; and they were therefore much surprised to find that on this head more rigid conditions were insisted on than had been required by the bigoted Court of Spain; the number of ecclesiastics who were to attend Henrietta into England was increased; and, while by the Spanish contract the children of the marriage were to be educated by their mother in the Catholic faith only till the age of ten, Richelieu prolonged the term tïll their thirteenth year;' an important clause, which incidentally paved the way for the fall of the Stuart dynasty. The marriage contracts were completed in November, 1624. Richelieu brought the Pope to grant a dispensation for the union, partly by threats and partly by the inducement of a secret engagement in favour of the English Catholics. But though Richelieu warmly advocated this marriage, and entertained the same views as the English Cabinet with regard to Germany, he was not yet prepared for open interference in the affairs of that country, but had resolved to confine himself to granting secret subsidies, and conniving at French subjects entering the service of German Protestant Princes. His policy at this moment embraced four principa objects to incite the English to recover the Palatinate for Frederick; to help the Dutch in defending Breda against Spinola; to make an attack upon Genoa, the faithful ally of Spain; and to liberate the Valtellina, now held by the Pope in favour of the Spanish Court. By this last stroke, and by the capture of Genoa, he intended to cut off the communication between Spain and Austria; by the restoration of the Palatine he would disturb the communications between Austria and the Spanish Netherlands; and by assisting the defence of Breda he would find employment for Spinola's arms. But, what was the most difficult part of his policy, he wished to effect all these things without provoking a declaration of war on the part of Spain, and without absolutely renouncing the engagements which France had entered into with the Duke of Bavaria. With regard to the Palatinate, it had been agreed with the English ministers that Count Mansfeld should be employed; he was to raise an army in England, and France was to advance six months' pay. Buckingham seems also to have received a pro 1 Aubery, Richelieu, liv. ii. ch. 2. Cf. Rushworth, pt. i. pp. 88 and 152; Dumont, t. v. pt. ii. p. 476. CHAP. XXXII.] ACCESSION OF POPE URBAN VIII. 163 mise that Mansfeld should be permitted to march through France with his army. Christian IV. of Denmark, who was now beginning to take a part in the affairs of Germany, was also to be subsidized. Mansfeld, when on his way into England, was received at Paris with the most marked distinction, although the King affected that he would not see him; but, when, in the winter of 1624, he appeared before Calais with a fleet containing 12,000 English troops, he was refused permission to land. The Marquis of Effiat, the French ambassador, and Brienne, then employed in England about the marriage, struck with surprise and confusion at this breach of faith on the part of their government, repaired to Buckingham to explain and apologise; and the English minister, who had been completely outwitted, having no formal agreement to appeal to, was forced to content himself with a few excuses, and some vague promises of future help. The English fleet, after some weeks had been wasted in fruitless negotiations for permission to land the troops, sailed off to Zealand, where it met with no better success; and two-thirds of the army were carried off by a contagious disorder arising from the detention. Richelieu's Italian policy was more open and decisive, but yet coloured with such plausible pretences as might prevent Spain from having any casus belli. In October, 1622, the Archduke Leopold had repressed a rising of the Grisons against the treaty imposed on them, and had subdued the greater part of one of the Three Leagues. Venice and the Duke of Savoy were even more vitally interested than France in this state of things; and in February, 1623, an alliance had been concluded between these three powers in order to take the Valtellina from the House of Austria. To avert the blow, Spain had proposed to place the fortresses of the valley in the hands of the Pope, who was in fact acting in concert with that Power, till the question should be decided; and in May the Valtellina was occupied by 2,000 Pontifical troops. At the same time, however, the Austrians continued to keep their hold upon the Grisons; and La Vieuville, who then directed the counsels of France, had tamely submitted to this temporizing policy. Shortly after this transaction Pope Gregory XV. died, July 8th, 1623; and was succeeded by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, a Florentine, who assumed the title of Urban VIII. Barberini, then aged Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII. t. iv. p. 666 (ed. Amst. 1702). 2 Brienne, Mémoires, t. i. p. 392; Richelieu, Mém. liv. xv. and xvi. |