174

RICHELIEU OBTAINS THE ADMIRALTY.

[CHAP. XXXII. and sagacious minister was a believer in judicial astrology; and it is said that he did not decide upon Gaston's marriage till he had caused that Prince's horoscope to be drawn.' Of the conspirators, one, the Count of Chalais, was beheaded, others were imprisoned, some were pardoned. Ornano died in confinement, September 2nd, and thus escaped a trial. Anne of Austria herself was summoned before her offended consort in full council, when, with a bitter smile, Louis reproached her with wanting another husband. Anne never forgot nor forgave this disagreeable scene, which she imputed entirely to the contrivance of Richelieu.2

The most important result of this conspiracy was, that it enabled Richelieu to make some salutary reforms. During the investigations respecting it the Court had proceeded to Nantes, and while he was at that city Louis published two important edicts. By one of these the office of Admiral of Brittany, which had been held by the Duke of Vendôme, as Governor of that province, was suppressed; by the other, it was ordered that all castles, fortresses, and strong places throughout the Kingdom, not on the frontiers, or otherwise necessary to its defence, should be razed (July 31st, 1626). This last measure, part of Richelieu's plan to weaken the nobility, was hailed with joy throughout France. It was the last blow dealt to anarchy and feudal tyranny. In carrying it out, all useless devastation was avoided. Everything capable of resisting cannon was demolished; but the old town walls of the middle ages, as well as the donjons of the nobles, were preserved. A little after, the two great offices of Constable and Admiral of France were suppressed; the Duke of Lesdiguières, the last Constable, having died in September, 1626, no fresh appointment was made. In the following month the Duke of Montmorenci was bought out of the Admiralty; when Richelieu, without the title or office of Admiral, was appointed head and general superintendent of the French marine, navigation, and commerce.3 Buckingham laughed at the Cardinal's assumption of this post, and called him "a freshwater Admiral;"'* but Richelieu was soon to show that he was competent not only to the commercial, but also to the military cares which it involved. He endeavoured to direct the national genius of France to coloniza

Vie du Père Josef in the Archives Curieuses (t. iv. p. 191, 2de sér.). Richelieu's belief in astrology peeps out in too many places of his writings to render the story improbable.

2 Mém. de Mad. de Motteville (Petitot, t. xxxvi. p. 353); Richelieu, Mém, liv. xvii.

3 Mercure Franç. t. xiii. p. 359.

4

Montglat, t. i. p. 41.

CHAP. XXXII.] RUPTURE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 175 tion and commerce, in emulation of Spain, England, and Holland; and he planned the creation of a formidable navy to protect the trade, which he intended to call into existence. The Company of Morbihan, to trade with the two Indies, was established, and it is no fault of Richelieu's if these projects did not meet with the success which he anticipated.

While these things were going on in France, the aspect of affairs between the French and English Courts was daily growing more threatening. After the peace of Monçon, the English ambassadors quitted Paris; and upon their arrival in London, Blainville also departed for France. The misunderstanding between Charles I. and his Queen, fomented by the bigoted and intriguing priests by whom she was surrounded, as well as by Buckingham's ill humour with the French Court, grew daily worse. Henrietta was accused of making a procession with her priests to Tyburn, where, in the early time of the Reformation, some Catholics had suffered martyrdom, but which was now the place of execution for common malefactors, and of there offering up her prayers for the souls of the martyrs; and it was resolved to punish an act which seemed not only degrading to her Majesty, but also an open and deliberate insult to the English nation, by the dismissal of those who had counselled it; and accordingly, in spite of the Queen's tears and entreaties, not only were her priests, but even her French domestics, sent back into France. The meddling and offensive behaviour of the French priests and others who had accompanied Queen Henrietta, and especially of the Sieur de Bérulle and the Bishop of Mende, is admitted by Richelieu himself, as well as by Bassompierre, who was sent as special ambassador to London on the occasion of this quarrel; and as France was not then in a condition to cope with England on the sea, the Cardinal was willing to compromise the matter by a transaction. After some

negotiation, it was arranged that the Queen should be allowed to have twelve priests, besides a bishop for her almoner; and to select some French officers for her service, as well as two French. ladies and two French maids for her chamber. The Cardinal, however, was but ill content with this treaty, especially as the English continued to seize French vessels under the very nose of Bassompierre; and though Richelieu was not in a condition to declare open war, he secretly joined Spain in an enterprise which Philip IV. and his ministers were contemplating against England. Richelieu, Mémoires, liv. xx. (Petitot, t. xxv. pp. 63 and 75); Bassompierre, Mém. 87 899.

t. iii.

p.

176

BUCKINGHAM'S EXPEDITION TO RE. [CHAP. XXXII.

In the spring of 1627 a treaty was concluded between France and Spain, by which Richelieu agreed to contribute ten ships to be employed in any descent upon Great Britain which might be attempted before June, 1628. But this treaty had no result. England took the initiative by interdicting all commerce with France (April 28th, 1627); and during three months the English harbours resounded with the din of hostile preparation. The destination of the English fleet was not known, but was suspected to be La Rochelle. Soubise and a French abbé, a creature of the Duke of Orleans, were in England inciting the Court to suc cour and protect the Hugonots; an agent had been despatched to the Duke of Rohan, to engage him to raise that party in the south of France; and Montague had been sent to the Duke of Lorraine and Duke of Savoy, whose discontent, it was thought, might incite them to take up arms against France.

Towards the end of June Buckingham left Portsmouth with fleet of eighty vessels, ten of which belonged to the royal navy, having on board an army of 6,000 or 7,000 men; and on the 20th of July he cast anchor off the Isle of Ré, which lies at the mouth of the inlet, or channel, leading up to La Rochelle. On the fol lowing day he published a manifesto detailing the grounds for this invasion: the principal of which were, the neglect of the French government to raze the fort of St. Louis, which, by the treaty of Montpellier, they had agreed to do; and their having constructed new forts in the Isle of Ré to overawe the Rochellois in contravention of a treaty which England had guaranteed.2

Richelieu's answer to this manifesto must be allowed, on the face of it, to be successful. He showed that the English Court, so far from having publicly manifested any sympathy for the Hugonots, had not even mentioned them in the marriage treaty, although France had stipulated for the relief of the English Catholics; and he triumphantly alluded to the fact, that Louis XIII. had employed the vessels of England against the Hugonots with the entire consent of the English Court. He denied that England had intervened in the treaty which the King of France had compelled his rebellious subjects to accept: and it must be admitted that such intervention had not been recognized in any public manner; though it cannot be doubted that Sir D. Carlton

CHAP. XXXII.]

DEFEAT OF BUCKINGHAM.

177 and Lord Holland had been very instrumental in bringing about the peace, and had led the Rochellois to suppose that England was to guarantee it. This seems to have been the public impression even in France; though it would appear that the only foundation for the supposed guarantee was some words addressed by the French chancellor to the Hugonot deputies when they were suing for peace: the meaning assigned to which words Richelieu disavowed. It is certain that the name of England appears not in the treaty; and Richelieu even asserts, in his answer to Buckingham's manifesto, that, to prevent any pretence of interference on the part of England, the English ambassadors were repeatedly told that, though their good offices with the Hugonots would be accepted, their intervention could not be allowed.2 The other main prop of Buckingham's manifesto, the non-demolition of Fort Louis, also breaks down; for though its destruction had been agreed upon by the peace of Montpellier, yet its maintenance had been expressly stipulated by the subsequent treaty of 1626. The general charge of an ultimate intention to reduce La Rochelle, the Cardinal affected not to deny; and he met it with the allegation that the French King had a right to make himself master of one of his own towns; and that if he intended to attack La Rochelle, it was no business of the English.

Thus Buckingham was completely outwitted by the able Cardinal; though it cannot be denied that, at bottom, he had some very just grounds of complaint. He was in the situation of a dupe who has been overreached, yet is without the means of proving his case; and the consciousness of this made him all the more angry. To his failure as a diplomatist he was now to add an equally signal one as a general. No sooner had the fleet anchored than Buckingham despatched Sir William Beecher, his secretary, accompanied by Soubise, to La Rochelle, to incite the inhabitants to arms; who replied, that they must first consult with the rest of their party. Buckingham, nevertheless, on the evening of the 22nd July, proceeded to land his troops at the Point of Samblanceau, which operation, being covered by the guns of the fleet at point-blank range, was effected without much. loss. But he now committed some fatal mistakes. Instead of at once seizing the fort of St. Martin, he lost four days in reconnoitring the country;, and when he at length marched against that place, which had meanwhile been provisioned, he left the fort of La Prée behind him, by means of which succours were 1 Mém. de Brienne, t. i. p. 423. 2 Mercure Franç. t. xiii. p. 825.

178

SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE.

[CHAP. XXXII.

thrown into the island. These Richelieu provided by extraord nary exertions, advancing large sums from his own funds, and even pledging his plate and jewels; and he personally hastened the march of his troops. It is unnecessary to pursue all the details of this paltry and inglorious campaign. Suffice it to say that, after Buckingham had thrown away his advantages and his time, Marshal Schomberg succeeded in landing a large French force in Ré in the night of November 1st. Buckingham found himself compelled to raise the siege of St. Martin, November 5th. after a general assault, which was repulsed; and the English were followed in their retreat to the ships by the French, whe inflicted on them considerable loss. Every horse in the English army was captured, including that of Buckingham; besides fortysix colours and arms for 3,000 men. The troops, however, were safely embarked, and, after waiting for a wind, the fleet sailed for England, November 17th.

This unfortunate expedition was the immediate cause of the fall of La Rochelle. Richelieu had brought the King, with the French army, into Poitou; and no sooner had the English evacuated Ré, than he urged Louis vigorously to prosecute the siege of La Rochelle. The inhabitants of that place, as we have said, had not at first joined Buckingham, and on the 10th of August they even admitted into the town some of the roya troops, sent principally to ascertain the state of the fortifications. But on the 20th the Duke of Angoulême having begun to construct a fort within a quarter of a league of the city, the Rochellois opened fire on his troops, and followed up this step by a declaration of war. In October Louis took up his head-quarters at Estré, a village not far from La Rochelle. Little could be done while the English held possession of Ré; but no sooner were they gone than Richelieu resolved to execute that scheme for the reduction of the Hugonot stronghold which he had brooded over so many years. We shall not minutely enter into the details of the siege, though it displays in the strongest light both the mora. courage and the military talents of the great Cardinal. The dike across the inlet, by which all succour from the sea was cut of. and the Rochellois thus finally reduced through hunger, was planned by Richelieu, and built under his inspection. Indeed the whole glory of the enterprise belongs to the Cardinal; for Louis XIII., wearied with the tedium of a blockade, which afforded little excitement, left the army in February (1628) t) hunt at Versailles, appointing Richelieu Lieutenant-General