1648.] BATTLE OF LENS. 51 een thousand soldiers under his command, seeing the conqueror of Rocroy before him, determined to remain within his lines. General Beck, who commanded under him, and who had already made trial of Condé's ardor and impetuosity, flattered himself that he should again see him despise the advantage of the ground, and attack his enemy at all risks. But Condé, far from entertaining so rash a design, thought only of drawing the enemy from their position. He found no other means than to leave his own with feigned disorder. At the dawn of the following day, therefore, the 20th of August, he began his march, conducting the rearguard himself, and from time to time casting an impatient glance towards Lens, from whence he hoped to see the Archduke move on. The Prince's manœuvre had all the effect which he anticipated. General Beck thinking to profit by this retreat, came out of his lines, advanced into the plain, and darted upon the French with his Lorraine cavalry. He was soon supported by Leopold and the mass of the Spanish army. He then commenced the celebrated battle of Lens, one of the most glorious which the reign of Louis XIV. could boast. At first the enemy appeared to have the advantage, but everything soon yielded to the genius of Condé. The Spanish troops were not only defeated, but nearly destroyed; the number of their killed was estimated at four thousand, and their prisoners at six thousand: the rest dispersed, and the Archduke found himself almost without an army. All the baggage, all the artillery, and nearly all the General officers fell into the Prince's hands. Amongst these latter was seen the brave General Beck, pierced with several wounds, and nearly broken-hearted at the distress of a defeat. He was conveyed to Arras, but death, which he ardently prayed for, soon released him from his regrets and his sufferings.* Condé ran great risks in this battle, exposing himself everywhere without any regard to his life. Two of his pages were killed by his side. But a danger far more strange and singular awaited him after his victory, when the Prince and the Maréchal * "He did nothing but swear during his imprisonment, until he died of his wounds, without consenting to receive civilities from anybody, not even from the Prince of Condé, so violently enraged was he at the loss of this battle." (Memoirs of Montglat, vol. ii., p. 279.) de Grammont both pursuing the enemy-one on the right wing, the other at the head of the left-joined one another beyond the defile of Lens. "Still sword in hand the Prince came to the Marshal to embrace and congratulate him upon what he had done, but their two horses commenced a most furious fight with each other, having previously been as gentle as mules, and they nearly eat up one another, so that they made their masters run risks even greater than those they had gone through during the conflict !'"* On the very day of the victory Condé despatched the Duke de Châtillon to announce it to the Court. The first words of the young King were, "Ah! how sorry the Parliament will be at this news!" which clearly shows the kind of education he was receiving. Anne of Austria, more composed, had perhaps the same feelings, but avoided such expressions. According to the Cardinal de Retz::—“ Châtillon told me a quarter of an hour after he had left the Palais Royal, that Cardinal Mazarin expressed much less joy at the victory, than grief that a part of the Spanish army had escaped. You must remark, if you please, that he was speaking to a man entirely devoted to Monsieur le Prince, and that he was talking of one of the greatest exploits that have ever been effected in war. I cannot help telling you that the battle being nearly lost, Monsieur le Prince retrieved and gained it by one single glance of that eagle eye which you know him to possess an eagle eye which sees through everything in war, and is never dazzled there!"+ After such a victory as that of Lens, the invasion, and perhaps the conquest of Flanders might have been anticipated; but the troubles in the capital, of which we shall have to speak in the next chapter, so entirely engrossed the Queen's attention, that she sent orders to the Prince to terminate quickly the campaign against the foreign enemy. Condé therefore limited himself to the siege of the little town of Furnes, which he took without any difficulty, but where a shot fired from the garrison gave him a severe contusion in the thigh. * Memoirs of Maréchal de Grammont, vol. ii., p. 292, ed. 1716. † Memoirs of Motteville, vol. ii., p. 238. Memoirs of Retz, vol. i., p. 154, ed 1817. 1648.] COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRONDE. 53 CHAPTER III. Dissensions between the Court and the Parliament of Paris.-Arrest of Blancmesnil and Broussel.-Insurrection of the People.-The Queen Regent yields.--Condé arrives from Flanders.-His Conferences with the Coadjutor, afterwards Cardinal de Retz.-The Queen Regent removes Louis XIV. from Paris.-The War of the Fronde.-Conduct of Condé in the Blockade of Paris.-Defection of Turenne.-Peace signed at Ruel. TILL now we have seen Condé the brave defender of his country, the faithful subject of his King. The scene is now about to change to foreign hostilities will now be added civil wars, and we shall often have occasion to represent our hero misled by his impetuosity, and the victim of his own passions rather than of his enemies. Let us show the justice of his first motives, and acknowledge the force of the circumstances to which at last he yielded; but do not let us attempt, like the crowd of panegyrists, to question eternal principles in the hope of veiling the errors of a single man. For some time irritation had been growing between the Court of the Palais Royal and the Parliament of Paris. It may be said that reason was almost entirely on the side of the latter. The taxes rendered necessary by war, and sometimes by prodigality, had been raised by the Royal Intendants in the provinces with all kinds of fraud, which doubled their weight, and with a harshness which caused them to be felt more severely. The rights of the magistracy were ill understood and little respected by a Spanish Queen and an Italian Minister. On the other hand, the example of revolt which England was then giving had fermented in everybody's head. The young men especially, and the common people, asked only to go forward—no matter where, no matter with whom. But the chiefs of the Parliament, full of real patriotism, were far from taking for their models the English members of parliament, who at that moment were sending their King to trial; and they repelled, as the greatest insult, even all comparison with them. When one reflects on the course, equally firm and moderate, which the Parliament of Paris always continued to pursue when one contemplates that long and illustrious train of upright magistrates, from the Chancellor de l'Hôpital to Lamoignon de Malesherbes-sometimes opposed to the King, and sometimes supporting the King-but ever, ever according to their duty, and at the post of danger-how base must be the mind which could deny them its admiration and respect! There were, however, some other chiefs not included in the magistracy, who, less pure in their principles, sought to turn the public agitation to their own advantage. Foremost amongst these was the Duke de Beaufort. On the 1st of June in this year he had found means to gain over one of his guards at the Donjon of Vincennes, and to let himself down by a rope into one of the ditches, whilst fifty men on horseback, his friends or dependants, awaited him on the other side, and assisted him in climbing out. Since that time he sometimes remained carefully hidden, and sometimes appeared in public with a strong escort, but was always watching a good opportunity to put himself at the head of the common people of Paris, of whom he was the idol. Another popular chief, much more formidable for his talents, was Paul de Gondy, then Coadjutor of the Archbishop of Paris, and since more generally known under the name of Cardinal de Retz. He was born in 1613: the younger son of a family ancient in Italy, and illustrious in France. Forced against his inclination into Holy Orders, he had brought to them both the virtues and vices of the military profession-loose morals, frank manners, undaunted courage, and a devouring thirst for revolts and wars. One day, amidst the troubles which we shall have to describe, the people seeing a dagger peep from under his gown, could not help exclaiming, "There is the breviary of our Archbishop!" In truth, however, it might be alleged of him that he had taken a cut-throat for his model rather than a soldier. What can one say of a priest who thought it necessary to defend himself, as though from the charge of weakness, because he had not carried into execution a project which he had previously formed, of as 1648.] THE QUEEN AND CARDINAL MAZARIN. 55 sassinating Cardinal Richelieu ?* How reconcile such depravity of judgment with so much genius, and with that admirable power of language which was remarked in his life, and which may still even now be admired in his Memoirs-a work whose style, ever lofty yet adorned, often recalls the ancient writers, in whose study the author had been reared? At the time of which we are speaking, Gondy, foreseeing the troubles, and hoping to play the first part in them, neglected no opportunity of establishing his influence amongst the people. He affected great piety, and thus attached the religious party to himself. He distributed immense sums to help the poor. The ladies of gallantry whose lover he was, became his political agents. An old and devout aunt, without being the least aware of it, was also made useful to the same ends: she went from place to place distributing alms amongst the cominon people; and the good lady never failed to add, "Pray to God for my nephew; it is he whom He has thought fit to make His instrument for this good deed!"+ During this general fermentation amongst the people, the Queen on her part became more and more soured: "I am weary," exclaimed she," of saying every day, We shall see what they will do to-morrow!‡... Monsieur le Cardinal is a great deal too good," she continued; "he will spoil everything by always wishing to spare his enemies." Mazarin, with more wisdom, used to answer her, "You are brave, like a recruit who does not know the danger!" The Minister, however, was seriously alarmned at the celebrated Decree of Union, by which it was ordered that the four Upper companies should assemble in the Chamber of St. Louis and deliberate for the good of the State. But another Decree, which suppressed the Royal Intendants, touched the Court, according to Gondy's expression, "in the very apple of the eye." The Queen tried alternately to intimidate the Parliament by her threats and to bend it by her entreaties. The Duke of Orleans, sent by her Majesty, employed all his eloquence, but in vain. A Court of Justice, held by the young King in person, prohibited * Memoirs, vol. i., p. 34, ed. 1817. † De Retz, vol. i., p. 51, ed. 1817. Memoirs of Motteville, vol. ii., p. 159, ed. 1723. |