Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

We, who have long been deeply convinced of our own disagreeableness, were nowise shocked at this, but to those happy islanders, who think themselves no less segregated from the rest of the world by an universal superiority, than by the salt waves, this will be unpalatable. May be, we are not ennuyeux now. Let us hope it.

All these things seem to have been extremely agreeable to Mary of Medicis, whose acharnement against the whole nation, and Buckingham in particular, was most violent. In reply to the letter first quoted, the Bishop of Mende says, "I am not surprised that you found more courtesy and satisfaction among the Spaniards and the Swiss than in the island upon which the tempest has cast you. I have always found the English as unreasonable as the Swiss, but less faithful to their honour than the Spaniards.' No doubt, the bishop thought it very unreasonable to turn him out of his place. His own language justifies the accusation of the English commissioners, that " they (the priests) tried, by every means, to inspire her (the queen) with a contempt of our nation and a disgust at our usages."

[ocr errors]

The extempore reply of Bassompierre to the charges of the Commissioners, gives us a high opinion of his promptitude and address. The turn he gives to the praying at Tyburn-the act which the Commissioners say drove the king to extremity—is extremely ingenious. " Granting," says he, "that they did pray for those who died on that gibbet, they did well; for, however wicked might be the men who died on it, they were condemned to death, and not to damnation." He speaks of it as an incident occurring in the course of a walk in the Parc de St. Gemmes and Hipparc, which our readers shall translate for themselves. He, very dexterously, turns the alleged coldness of the queen against the king, and ascribes it to his cruelty to his Catholic subjects. This negotiation terminated, happily, by the abatement of some pretensions on each side, and he returned, piously thanking God he was out of England.

We now come to one of the most interesting and important events of French history,—the siege of La Rochelle. Were nothing more known of it, however, than what is furnished by these memoirs, it would have little interest for any but military men. It is impossible to be more circumstantially dull. We shall, probably, be indebted hereafter to a humbler actor in the same extraordinary scene, for many of those details which have invested this siege with so romantic a character. Bassompierre asserts, that he saw a copy of that famous letter, from the king of England to the Rochellois, in which he declared, "that he would risk his three kingdoms to save them; and that, in a few days, he could send such a fleet as would effec

tually relieve the town. This animated them, and made the people resolve to endure every extremity, rather than surrender.” How this promise was fulfilled, is but too well known for the honour of England. The magnificent appearance of the fleet was lamentably contrasted with its operations.

On the 23rd of October, 1628, after a most obstinate defence of more than a year, the Rochellois sent a deputation, to entreat Cardinal Richelieu to obtain tolerable terms for them.

"He promised that he would, and told them that the king was gone on an excursion, for a week, and that, at his return, he would 4 speak to him about it. Upon which, one of the deputies cried out, How, sir, a week? There is not food in La Rochelle for three days.' Then the cardinal spoke to them seriously, and pointed out to them the state to which they had reduced themselves; but that, nevertheless, he would endeavour to incline the king to shew them mercy."

The year 1629 begins with a singular exhibition of the character of Louis. He had resolved to send his brother Gaston, Duke of Orleans, at the head of a powerful army, into Italy, to prosecute the war in the Milanese with vigour.

6

"But after the king had given him this command," says Bassompierre, "he fancied that the glory which his brother would acquire in this expedition, would be to the injury of his own; such power has jealousy among near relations; and his head, or, more properly, his heart, was so full of that idea, that he could not rest.' Having disclosed this uneasiness to Richelieu, he replied, that he saw but one way of getting over the difficulty, which was, that he should go himself; and that, if he resolved on this step, he must set out in a week at farthest. To this, the king cordially assented, and, at the same time, turned round and called me from the other end of the room. As I drew near, he said, "And here is a man who will go with me, and serve me well.' I asked him where. 'Into Italy,' said he, whither I am going, in a week, to raise the siege of Cazal. Get ready to go, and to serve me as lieutenant general, under my brother, if he chooses to go.' Monsieur was not much pleased at this resolution; nevertheless, he affected to be so; and the evening before the king set out (he knew that I was not very well off for money,) he asked me for some cyder, as I had been accustomed to give him some very good, which my friends sent me from Normandy, knowing that I like it. I sent him a dozen bottles, and, in the evening, when I went to him for the watchword, he said, 'Bestein, you gave me twelve bottles of cyder, and now, I give you twelve thousand crowns; go to Effiat, he will pay you.' I said, Sire, I have the whole lot at home; if you please, I will sell it you at the same price.' He, however, was satisfied with the dozen bottles, and I with his liberality."

[ocr errors]

There are several recitals of engagements, in which the

French shewed their accustomed valour. He says, that having, in the ardour of pursuit, followed the enemy within range of the guns of the citadel of Suza, they were exposed to a heavy cannonading.

"I saw a thing," says he, " which delighted me, greatly, with the French nobility, more than sixty of whom were with us. A cannonade struck close at our feet, and covered us with earth. My long acquaintance with cannonnades had rendered me more aware than they were that, as soon as the ball had struck, there is no more danger; so that I was at liberty to cast my eyes on the countenance of each of them successively, to observe what effect this had upon them. I did not perceive. any one of them give the slightest sign of surprise, nor even appear to take the least notice of it."

Then follows a curious discussion, on a point of more importance than the happiness or prosperity of millions, namely, whether, or not, the ambassadors, who had just arrived from Genoa, should be received covered. These are the matters which then occupied the attention of statesmen. Bassompierre was for granting the invaluable privilege of the hat; but the king thought his dignity would be compromised, by extending it beyond the republics of Venice and Florence. The pope's nuncio came, on the part of his holiness, to ask Bassompierre's good offices. "I told him," says he, "that his majesty was obstinate, when he had once taken a thing into his head, and easily irritated' against those who differed from him." same day, at the council, Louis expressly asked his advice, adding, with singular good sense, "I ask it, but I shall not follow it, for I know it will be in favour of their being covered." Upon this, Bassompierre, very prudently, declined giving any.

The

"And I,' said the king, in a violent passion,-'I will force you to give it me, since you are one of my council, and take the wages of a counsellor.' The cardinal, who sat below me, said, ‘Give it, in God's name, and do not contest any longer.' Then I said to the king, 'Sire, since your majesty positively insists on my giving my opinion, it is, that your rights, and those of your crown, would be utterly destroyed, if, by this act, you renounced the sovereignty which you claim over them, and that you ought to receive them bareheaded, as your subjects, and not as republicans.' The king flew into a violent rage, and told me, that I was laughing at him, and that he would teach me that he was my king, and my master; and other things of the same kind. I did not open my mouth, again, nor utter a single word. The cardinal pacified him, and made him follow the general opinion, which was, that the Genoese ambassador should be covered at the audience. In the evening, we went to the king's concert; he did not say a word to the others, for fear of speaking to me, and did nothing but find fault."

Two days after, the king was penitent, and, by way of making his peace, sent Bassompierre nine cases of Italian sweetmeats.

The state of subjection in which Richelieu held the most powerful of the nobles of France, is curiously illustrated by the way in which he made the once haughty and omnipotent Ďuke d'Espernon humble himself to do him homage. The cardinal was travelling.

"M. de Espernon sent the Count de Maillé to me, to beg me to ask the cardinal at what place he might meet him in the road, to pay his respects to him, having heard that he was setting out, the next day, for the court, and that he, at his age, was fatigued by the journey he had performed that day, which had prevented his going to Montauban.—I delivered this message to the cardinal, who took it extremely ill, and imagined that M. d'Espernon's pride would not stoop to come to see him in his Government of Guyenne, over which the king has given the cardinal absolute power. He was exceedingly angry, and told me to send the duke word that he would not see him in the fields, nor out of Guyenne; and that, although he had intended to go by Auvergne, he would go by Bourdeaux, for the sole and express purpose of making himself recognized and obeyed, according to his powers; and that he would put things on such a footing there, that M. d'Espernon's power would be very much lessened. I softened these expressions, in my answer to the Count de Maillé, and wrote to M. d'Espernon, to beg him to go to Montauban, that he might not draw upon himself the resentment of this all-powerful man. In three hours the Count de Maillé returned, to tell me that M. d'Espernon would come the next day, to pay his respects to the cardinal, at Montauban, since he (the cardinal) did not set out before dinner, as he had been informed."

:

This appeased the mighty master of France. Bassompierre seems to have formed a pretty correct estimate of the danger of offending him he lived to know its full extent. At the end of the year (1629), one of those clouds passed over the head of Richelieu, which only tended to make his succeeding triumphs more brilliant. One of the great uses of the memoirs of men who have conducted the affairs of nations is, to shew how often measures, big with consequences to millions, have had their source in the gratification of some childish personal resentment. Bassompierre affords a curious exemplification of this, in his own conduct during his second mission into Switzerland, in 1630.

"That day, the Chancellor of Alsace, ambassador from the whole house of Austria, arrived at Soleure, without sending to me to announce his coming, or paying his respects to me in any way whatever, contrary to the usual custom of ambassadors. I determined, therefore,

to prevail on the assembly to refuse him an audience. M. de Léon tried every means he could to dissuade me from this design, and told me that I could not succeed in it, and that we should have to bear the mortification and shame of the failure; nevertheless, trusting to my great influence in Switzerland, and my industry in treating with these people, I persisted in the affair, and set to work."

He recounts the political pretexts of which he availed himself, and the springs he set in motion, to punish this neglect of his person and dignity. He succeeded so well, that, after considerable deliberations, the assembly of the Cantons refused the chancellor an audience, and "he returned extremely dissatisfied, declaring that the Swiss were objects of indignation to the whole house of Austria;" so that Bassompierre revenged his outraged dignity, at the risk of drawing down upon the people by whom he was so cordially received, and so highly favoured, the vengeance of the most powerful family in Europe.

We, occasionally, catch a glimpse of persons who were afterwards to figure on the stage, then filled by more prominent actors. Two men, whose names occur in these pages, the one, incidentally, as the bearer of a message to Richelieu, the other, coupled with expressions of supreme disdain, as a contemptible parvenu, were destined to occupy the minds of men when Bassompierre, and the mighty of his day, were no more. Julio Mazarini, and the Ecuyer de St. Simon, appear without any presage of their future glory.

We are now fast approaching the melancholy and unlooked-for termination of the brilliant career of our hero. The true causes of his downfall are to be found in that celebrated intrigue against the Cardinal Richelieu, which he unexpectedly and triumphantly defeated, on the well-known Journée des Dupes. It is evident, that he suspected Bassompierre of some share in the conspiracy against him; and this suspicion, however groundless, sufficed to hurl him from the high situation we have seen him occupy, to one which the meanest individual in France might have pitied. "I learned afterwards," says he,-"and may God punish me if I had, before, any but the most general knowledge of the fact, that, sometimes, the queen and the cardinal were at variance,-sometimes on perfectly good terms. I knew, afterwards, that the king frequently complained to the queen, his mother, of the cardinal, and that she openly declared to him, that she would break with him, and free herself from his tutelage-these were her wordsand that the king had, from time to time, begged her to delay, which she had done." At the conclusion of a scene of this sort, in which the subjugated monarch had been entreating his mother not to break the chains he detested, but to which he clung for support, "the cardinal arrived, and finding the door

« НазадПродовжити »