but that they ought not to pretend nor expect the execution of it without due precautions for the security of the State aggravating withall that all the suppositions brought in against the Cardinal were seditious lies and calumnies But the Regents exaggeration availed nothing for the delivery of the Princes and the removal of the Cardinal were decreed anew by the Parliament All the three Factions were at this time united against that of Mazarine who was upheld by the sole Authority of the King and Queen and Forces of the Kingdom and being in this streight his only Meditation was how to put in practice the laudable Maxime of temporizing The Court by reason of the general uniting of so many Seditious was necessitated to give way to so many contrivings in which the Dutchess of Chevreuse acted her part to the life stimulated by interest and by the ambition of the aforesaid Marriage for setting that aside she was the Cardinals intimate friend And feigning her self still so told him confidently that if he did withdraw himself for some short time he should by that means appease these first passions of the Duke of Orleans who returning to the Council the Queen would soon win him to her party and in few days he would be recalled again knowing the nature of the French that having obtained their desire they presently grow weary and change their minds The Cardinal suffering himself to be lulled asleep by the harmony of this Syren and not to put to hazard the publick Tranquillity resolved his Departure and went to impart it to the Queen advising her to stand firm in her resolution of keeping the Princes fast while he securing his own person should take away all pretext from the Male-contents to proceed further and leaving her many good Memorials for the service of the King and the State with a Letter from the Regent to the Sieur de Bar who had the custody of the Princes containing a precise Order to obey the Cardinal in every particular he went in all diligence towards Havre de Grace with design that if he could not handsomly secure the detaining of the Princes to cause them at least to acknowledge him the Author of their liberty and by this act to oblige them to a gratitude making the Count de Servient and Monsieur le Tillier partakers and actors in this and other secrets The evening before the 6th of February 1651 he got on Horseback with onely three persons and passed out by the gate of Richlieu without which he found divers Gentlemen to the number of 400 Horse that expected him and with these he went to St. Germaines whence he dispatched a Courrier to the Marquess de Lionne at Havre de Grace to understand the issue of his Negotiations and to Monsieur le Tillier putting him in mind to give way to the Princes delivery till he had adjusted what they had agreed upon amongst themselves which being come to the knowledge of the Marquess de Chasteauneuf he making use of it for his own benefit hoped by rendering himself the principal Author of the Princes liberty to delude the designs of the Cardinal who being advised of the streights to which the Queen was more and more reduced resolved no longer to defer the Princes releasment The 12th of February he hasted away to Havre de Grace where he was received with all demonstration of Honour and entering where the Princes were with much frankness uttered these words Jo porto per ordine della Regina la liberta a V. V. A. A. senza alcuna conditione I bring by the Queens Order your Highnesses liberty without any reserve yet adding S.M. vi prega però d'amar lo Statto il Re la di lei persona Her Majestie prays ye to love the State the King and her Person delivering all this in a posture of Respect and Reverence yet not unbeseeming his Quality and sweet manner of speech The Prince answered in name of them all with a chearful but grave countenance Noi si chiamamo obligati a S. M. della giustitia che ci rende serviremo sempre il Re la Regina We hold our selves obliged to her Majestie for the justice which she renders us we shall always serve the King the Queen and embracing the Cardinal ancora voi Signore and also you Sir The Prince of Conde resolved to dine before he went out wherefore the Princes the Cardinal Gramont Palleau Lionne and Goulas sate down to dinner entertaining one another with mutual familiarity in which was verified the saying of Caesar speaking of the French Humour After dinner the Cardinal had private Conference with the Prince and immediately going out of the Fort they entred into Mareschal de Gramonts Coach the Prince of Conde going in last placed himself in the Boot and hearing the Cardinal to with him a good Voiage did not answer him with the least shew of courtesie making the Coach drive on without saying any thing giving the Cardinal quickly to understand the requital he was to expect for the kind embracements with which he received him on the day of his imprisonment with Protestations of a sincere friendship when at the same instant he made the Marquess of Lionne write the order for his Arrest Upon the News that the Cardinal was gone from Paris the people were presently up in arms running tumultuously to the Palace Royal and suspecting that the King and Queen were also upon departure they placed 2000 men in Guard and the diffidence and impudence of the Frondeurs went so far that they placed Guards even at the Kings bed-fide who ever and anon opening the Curtains observed if he slept and if he were there The Cardinal being departed the Queen sent to invite the Duke of Orleans to the Council who under several pretences refused to come for fear lest the Queen should gain him and send for the Cardinal back who caused his Nieces also to be conducted out of Paris Mazarine's Enemies greatly fearing his return insisted that Orleans should receive a promise from the Queen that he should return no more about which the Parlement framed a most rigorous Decree by which they enjoyned him to depart the Kingdom within 15 days as likewise his Kindred and familiar Friends under a great Mulct to any that should receive them procuring this Order to be confirmed by all the Parlements of France The Cardinal lingered some time at Havre de Grace consulting with his friends to what part he should retire upon which occasion they that coveted his Charge reported that he staid there to make himself Master of that place Wherefore to take away all pretexts of their Exclamations and being daily more convinced of the ill will of the Prince of Condé who spake injuriously of his Person he resolved to depart with many Gentlemen his Friends who together with several Souldiers made up the number of near 100 Horse and travelling with great hardship and incommodity by reason of the sharp season
of Conde it not seeming decent to the Greatness of the King who was Master not to be able to have near him such as he liked best And albeit any other consideration might require that the Cardinal should continue out of the Kingdom the pretensions of the Parlement and the Frondeurs were sufficient that to confound them the contrary should be done by which means the Soveraign Authority independant from all other might shine with greater lustre and not to permit so scandalous an Example that the Servants should impudently give Law to their Master These Reasons were fomented by the first President more then any other being no friend to Chasteauneuf and alienated from the Prince for having no greater passion then that of his service to his King He had a principal part in this resolve sufficiently knowing the need that they had in Court of a prime Minister thoroughly inform'd of all the Affairs of the Kingdom The President was called to Poictiers with the Marquess of Vieville The Parisiens and the Parlement regretted their departure so much the more by how much they knew it prejudicial to their Party that a person of so high estimation had totally given himself up to the Kings Interest and the Cardinals Chasteauneuf for this cause not being able to make good his Maxim he took himself to those Arts which were suggested to him by his many years experience in the Affairs and Interests of the Court. To disturb then Mazarine's return he writ to the Sieur de Fremont Secretary to the Duke of Orleans to dispose his Master to come to Court because by his presence giving countenance and support to them that opposed the Cardinal he should easily prevail to hinder the designs of those that adhered to him But the Coadjutor on the contrary foreseeing that the Duke would be quickly brought about to the Queen and instead of opposing would condescend to her satisfaction he opposed the counsel of Chasteauneuf and with great sagacity diverted the journy of His Royal Highness who had undertaken it if instead of writing to Fremont he had writ to the Count of Chavigny and the Secretary Goulas In that interim the Mareschal de Hoquincourt had rendezvouz'd his Troops about Laon to joyn with the Cardinal who was ready with others under his pay to enter into France wherefore having agreed to meet about Derlans and Espernay upon the Marne in the beginning of January the Mareschal began to move the 18th of December and the Cardinal leaving his Nieces at Sedan advanced likewise toward Espernay with 5000 chosen fighting men and there calling a Council of War it was concluded that the Mareschal with 1000 Horse should secure the Passes on the Rivers Aube and Sene which he accordingly did passing luckily without any opposition by l' Anglure and l' Aube and crossed the Sene at Mery where the Regiments of Horse and Foot under the command of the Sieur de St. Mor joyned with him and receiving intelligence that the Duke of Orleans had sent out four Companies to Pont sur Sonne Hoquincourt charged them routed some Horse which infested the road to Sens and compelled the Sieur de Morandiere Commander of the Dukes men to quit his Post and retire It was thought that the Princes did not do all their endeavour to hinder this return for perceiving that their Affairs were in a most desperate condition the whole Kingdom concurring in favour of the King they knew that nothing could keep them from their last tottering but some new pretext that might give an honest colour to their Cause and retard the Subjects from the assistance which they contributed to their Soveraign And it was suspected that instead of providing to defend the Passes with some competent Forces which they might sooner have gathered together they delayed so long till the Cardinal was far advanced into the Kingdom and it was believed that not onely the Princes that were in Paris promoted this design but that it was also secretly fomented by the Prince of Conde it being known that he had made Gourville and others to sollicit the Cardinal to undertake his return to Court hoping that this would serve him either for a pretext to justifie his proceedings or for an occasion to piece with him because he had rather have to do with Mazarine then with Chasteauneuf The thoughts in the mean time of the Coadjutor were to induce the Duke of Orleans to frame a third Party of Male-contents and Enemies to Mazarine which perhaps might be seconded by the Courtiers that were averse to him and therefore he used all industry to make the plot succeed imagining that the Queen being intimidated by the Duke more firmly adhering to Conde she would be necessitated to keep the Cardinal further off in which case Orleans uniting himself to the Interest of the Court and fortifying himself with the Troops of Lorrain he should totally ruine the Prince But the Count of Chavigny and the rest of Conde's friends kept Orleans firm making him understand that he could not sustain himself but by uniting with the Prince and though they should not fully make sure of him they hoped at least to prevent him by closing with the Court in which case he would hardly be able to uphold himself In the interim the Duke of Nemours coming to Paris confirmed in the name of the Prince of Conde the Treaty with Orleans and the result was for the keeping out of the Cardinal and to make peace with Spain The news being spread in Paris of Orders given out by the King different to his former Declarations it is not to be imagined how the contrary Spirits were enraged yet they could do no more then make a noise so long as the Kings Authority was prevalent in the Kingdom but however the Cardinal was thwarted by the one side yet he was animated by the other for the Parlement of Brittain being sollicited by that of Paris to frame a like Ordinance in favour of the Princes against the Cardinal they ordered quite contrary that all Proceedings against him should be suspended till the Prince returned to his duty and the Spanish Troops were departed the Kingdom The Tumults of the Frondeurs continuing the Parlement decreed to proceed to the sale of the Cardinals goods and not to ratifie the Kings Declaration against the Prince till that against the Cardinal had first taken effect from whence it behoved that he should again quit the Kingdom if they meant that the Parlement should pass the Declaration They had many Consultations great in appearance but weak in substance and some Overtures to the King succeeded them The Court talked in ambiguous terms and amused them still with hopes because Time which ripens all things they hoped would also maturate the bitterness of the turbulent minds The Queen afterward sent to exhort the Duke of Orleans to retire from Paris to remove the umbrage that they had of him but the design succeeded not and increased the distrust
when that unfortunate accident happened of the Gentleman of the Horse to the Mareschal d'Estree the French Embassadour But as the best qualified and ablest men are most envied and most liable to Persecution and Malice so he being watch'd on every side could not advance himself to those Honours which the Malignity and Emulation of others hindered him from Whence the King of France perceiving that this Person for being well affectionated to his Crown was persecuted by the Spaniards and esteeming it a dishonourable thing to keep idle and depress an Understanding so sublime took him near himself with profession of great esteem and with offers of support honour and assistance Many other Princes of Italy proffered him considerable advantages in their Courts Vittorio Amadeo Duke of Savoy a very intelligent Prince particularly invited him with much benignity to his Court. Resolving finally to pass into France he went thither in the beginning of the year 1639. and arrived just at the time when Father Joseph the Capucine died one for his great Parts and Experience in the Affairs of State imployed with great assurance by Cardinal Richlieu in the Intrigues of the Kingdom The King had nominated him to a Cardinalship and his Promotion was with all earnestness sollicited by Mazarine whose Fortune it was not to obtain the Scarlet for Father Joseph seeing that the King named him instead of the other declaring by this the great esteem he had for him in preferring him before any other of his Kingdom qualifying him besides with the Title of his Plenipotentiary at the Treaty of the General Peace which Mazarine valued more then his Recommendation to the Cardinalship Few days after his Arrival in France His Majesty sent him Extraordinary Embassadour into Piemont upon business of Importance and particularly to win to the French fide Prince Thomas and to reunite those Princes to the chief of their House He dexterously atchieved them both though that which concerned the first with Prince Thomas had not then its effect for some impediments which he could not suddenly surmount but he fixed the second in such manner that France thereby received many advantages Returned from Piemont he waited upon Cardinal Richlieu into Languedoc honoured by that great Politician with an entire Confidence and his Zele for the Kings Service was succesful not onely in the Affairs of that Voyage but also in remoter parts for at the same time by his Negotiations he reduced the strong Town of Sedan into the Kings power which was a receptacle of Male-contents He was the man that designed the Attempt of Tortona in the State of Milan and took upon him to provide all things necessary for the gaining of that City and it was he likewise that drew the Prince of Monaco to the French Party Finally on the 16th of December 1641. with universal Applause he was promoted to the purple robe to the particular satisfaction of the King and of Richlieu who was pleased to see him his Companion in the Ecclesiastical Function whom he already presaged his Successor in his Ministery He prepared for his journey to Rome to receive the Hat and to perfect many important Commissions But Richlieu's indisposition of body increasing and the machinations of his enemies growing stronger to justle him out of the Kings favour he thought fit to cause him stop his journey to make use of his help and councel of which he had so good experience very useful in that rugged conjuncture The King perfectly knowing Mazarines abilities in the foreseen failing of Richlieu had oftentimes thoughts to make use of him in direction of the Affairs of the Crown and had also discovered this his intent to some of his Confidents extolling him for the most able he knew to undergo this burden which gave much trouble to Mazarine doubting with himself that such manifestation of his Majestie might give Richlieu some jealousie it being for the most part the humour of Courtiers to look with a scouling brow on those they deem able to sustain the same charge with themselves and therefore he urged anew for leave to go to Rome which was still denied him by the King and opposed by Richlieu himself quite contrary to Mazarines expectation besides Richlieu before his death assured His Majestie that he could not better trust the Management of his weighty Affairs to any then to Mazarine Richlieu dying the King immediately began to make use of Mazarines Advice and Councel with open shew of the value and confidence he had of his ableness and fidelity and to qualifie him higher caused him one day to sit in his Presence an honour that was never bestowed on Cardinal Richlieu in so many years of his Attendance The King desirous he should take notice that the Choice he had made proceeded solely from himself assured him that of his own proper inclination he had chosen him out from amongst so many excellent men of his Kingdom The Cardinal being very wary in his demeanour conformed himself so well to the humour of his Majestie that he did not give him the least doubt of that odious power that he had abhorred in his Predecessor from whence it hapned that he became in a short time disposer of the Kings Will and Trust By how much the more he saw himself advanced in his Princes favour so much the more did he reflect on his tottering Fortune for while the King lay under a languishing condition he began to weigh what a difficult passage it would be from a firme to a wavering Government by the disorders changes and turbulencies commonly hapning in Minorities especially the Queen-Mother being of a Nation so much exposed to the jealousie of that Countrey The first trial the King made under the direction of Mazarine was to render his Armies victorious the next Campania to the intent that the world might not attribute his past Victories totally to the Government of Richlieu Mazarine in this occasion gave great proof of his dexterous abilities by obtaining that the Command of the Army in Flanders might be conferred on the Duke d' Anguien eldest son of the Prince of Conde notwithstanding his Majestie had some aversion against it The Kings sickness increasing with little hope of recovery calling for Mazarine he communicated to him his intent of forming a Councel without the Princes of the blood of which he intended to make him President The Cardinal though astonish'd at so great honour was not at all dazled with the ambition but with great reverence demonstrated to his Majestie the disorders such a form might cause and with convincing reasons framed his answer in favour of the Queen comprehending also the Princes of the blood as for what concerned his own person he beseech'd his Majestie that others might share in that honour which he thought too far exceeding his merit and too probable to excite envy against him being a stranger The King notwithstanding continued resolute in his purpose to limit at least the Regency of the Queen
of the Disturbances of the Kingdom hath been the taking up of Arms the Union of the Princes with the Spaniards the introducing them into His Majesties Fortresses and the ruines and desolations caused by the Souldiers of the Princes and by consequence the peace can never be re-established till the Hostilities be forborn their Arms laid down the Spaniards driven out of the Kingdom and the Leagues made with them intirely broken It is therefore necessary for all these reasons that the Princes do agree upon the time the manner and the security for performance of the Conditions that they seem to have accepted And although His Majesty may in reason insist as well for the conservation of his Dignity as for Interest of State to have all the said Conditions performed by the Princes before he advance a step further on his part yet nevertheless the King persisting in his Declaration gives his Word again upon their continued instances to permit the Cardinal to retire so soon as the Duke of Orleans and the Prince shall agree not in general and obscure Declarations but clearly and in good form as is wont to be practised in occurrences of that importance and in the manner as above-mentioned for putting in execution the Articles included in His Majesties Answer of the 16th of June last past there being no likelihood that onely general Declarations inserted in a Register are of sufficient force to annul the Princes Treaty concluded and ratified with Spain for the performance of which he seemed very much concern'd and from which there is no probability he will depart if the Spaniards continue to make good their promise in sending Souldiers and Money and when he really should have a mind to break off the said Treaty he must necessarily give notice of it to the Spaniards to the end that they forbear to execute their Promise That which the King desires therefore of the Prince is that he agree of the time and manner how to declare to the Ministers of Spain that he intends to be no longer engaged with them And this His Majesty finds himself obliged the more earnestly to insist on knowing by divers Letters intercepted which were shewn and verified to the Deputies that the said Prince after the Declaration made in Parlement hath sollicited the Spanish Generals as he still continues to do that they will enter into France with all their Forces and it is very hard to believe that his intention is to establish Peace in the Kingdom which he gives out to depend on the Cardinals removal making use of the Spanish Forces for the obtaining thereof That nothing can be more for the interest and designes of the Ministers of Spain then to continue the divisions wherefore his Majesties pleasure is that the said Deputies do give notice of all this to the Duke of Orleans and the Prince to the end that they may know the Reasons for which they are obliged to send some one to Court in their name sufficiently impowered to declare more particularly their will for the real effecting every thing contain'd in the Articles and that in the mean time they remain at Court to expect the Answer and to be eye-Witnesses of His Majesties sincerity in condescending to whatever may conduce to settle the Kingdom in quiet the retarding of which can be imputed to none but the Princes if they refuse to agree to what hath been delivered with His Majesties accustomed Clemency which shines forth the more brightly and ought to be the more valu'd considering that he hath the absolute power to give Law to whom he please without condition The Court not well satisfied with the Pricâ—s for sending their â—â—pâ—ties to receive orders and adjust businesses which they had declar'd were agreed upon they used all art and diligence to inform the people that not the Cardinal but the pretension of the Princes was the sole obstacle of the Peace and the principal cause of all the miseries of the poor subjects not omitting by the help of their party and those servants who had stuck to them to keep Intelligence and put in practice all fit means for the establishment of the Royal Authority and for the ruine of the lawless and inconsistent party seeing moreover the little effect the Kings near approach to Paris had produced in all this time the great scarcity of Provisions which more and more incommoded them the Infection in the Royal Camp which destroyed many and the fear lest that the Spanish Army keeping along the Oyse should advance towards Pontoise a very important place at that time By the Council of the Cardinal His Majestie resolved the 16. of July to dislodge from St. Denis and go to Pontoise fix leagues distant the Cardianal continuing still in his Ministry by His Majesties express Command though he continually press'd for leave to depart All the Affairs therefore being regulated as he saw fit they were so well ordered that those good effects ensued which were seen afterwards but the Princes and their Favourers continually quarrelling at the doings of the Court taxing them that they studied only tricks to delude the people and had very little inclination for the Peace which depended on the sending away of the Cardinal they redoubled their detractions with so much heat malice that it is not to be imagined the conceits spread in publick and in private against the Cardinal and other Officers of Court continually slandered with opprobrious language The Court removing from St. Denis left there the Deputies with orders to expect what Answer his Majestie should think fit to return them since they had refused to follow him upon pretence that they had not their Equipage and that it was necessary they should return to Paris to exercise their charge The King lay at Pontoise and the Army in the adjacent places upon the River to watch the motion of the Spaniards who made excursions into those Territories to the great damage of the Inhabitants The News of the Kings and Armies departure from St. Denis being spread abroad it was divulged in Paris according to the nature of same which always makes things appear more then they are that the Deputies were detained prisoners wherefore the Prince of Conde with 400 Horse posted thither to inform himself of the business found there the Deputies at liberty and offered eo conduct them to Paris They excused themselves that they had engaged their word to Monsieur de Saintot to stay at St. Denys till further Order from the King but the Parlement meeting the day following and determining to call them back Oleans Conde and Beaufort went out again with above 2000 persons and bringing them to Paris conducted them to the Parlement with such universal applause as if they had return'd from some glorious conquest albeit the King by express Order had call'd them to Pontoise for Affairs of great concern that hapned unexpectedly after his departure from St. Denis Yet the Male-contents divulged that this was an
to the Parlement and the Court were not sincere while at the same time that he profess'd himself ready for the Peace he protested at Madrid and Brussels that he would always adhere to the Crown of Spain and hold on the War negotiating likewise in England to get assistance to carry on his designes and therefore it concern'd them to take away his Helps and Associates in France without which he would remain only a bare Captain of the King of Spain and be able to do little against a Kingdom more potent then any other when united and obedient to its King In the mean time the Troops of the Princes remain'd encamp'd on the other side the River Sene betwixt Surenne and St. Cloud expecting the supplies which were sent him from Flanders but those fruitful hills being full of Vineyards and the Grapes beginning to ripen the damage which the Souldiers did to the people was very grievous by whose Sollicitation they were drawn out to the end of the Suburbs of St. Victor where in quartering themselves they fell to blows with the Citizens that were upon the Guard at the street end where four or five inhabitants ans◠fifteen or twenty Souldiers were slain which help'd so much the more to augment the discord amongst them But the Cardinal knowing that the safety of the Royal party consisted in reducing the Parisiens to seek their quiet which began to be wish'd for by them The people the Merchants and all persons generally being weary of the calamities they sustain'd and tired out by the continual Guards which without pay and with abandoning their traffick they were constrained to keep he advised the King to stay at Compiegne and not to be prevail'd on by intreaties to return to Paris without unquestion'd security that he should not be detain'd again and this was one of the Maxims especially recommended to the Queen in his absence and which he particularly gave in charge to the Abbot Ondedei He added that the Kings Army ought to go to oppose the troops of Flanders which were marching to assist the Princes and if they were too weak so that enterprize they should remove to Ville neufve S. George on the North-side the Sene four leagues from Paris and fortifying themselvs with good trenches live upon the provisions that from Corbeil Melun and other neighboring places they should get in abundance by means of the River where making a stay the Enemies troops by consequence must lodge themselves thereabouts so that the Souldiers sacking and pillaging the Country and robbing and killing all that should pass that way without coming to a rupture of shewing any such intention Paris would be involv'd in a very troublesome siege and the Princes rendred odious as being reputed the principal occasion of all those disasters and thus carrying on their intelligence with their loyal friends in the City the Parisiens would be brought with greater facility to take fit resolutions to free them from their miseries which could not be done so long as they were deprived of the King This was the greatest stroak the Cardinal could give and it is certain that this Maxim duly observed promoted the ruine of his opposite Party for Paris could not free it self from the hovering ruine without sending away the Prince of Condé whose fall was most certain because staying there with the Army he increased their miseries which stirred up the peoples hatred against him and by retiring himself he lost the support of so rich and powerful a City with so much the more prejudice as that he would be forc'd to retire to his places upon the Mose quit the Realm and throw himself into the arms of the Spaniards Upon the news of the Cardinals departure out of the Kingdom the Ministers of Spain were not a little troubled because they perceived by his removal the Male-contents had no more pretext for what they did Taking their measures therefore to assist but not to strengthen too much the Party of the Princes two things were propos'd One was to advance with their whole Army and forcing the Kings Army from about Paris keep those Citizens faithful and united to the Princes The other to amuse that Party and the people of Paris with great hopes but little effects that by their seeming assistance they might hold firm in their pretensions and redoubling their disobedience and injuries against the Court be finally necessitated to declare against the King so that rendering themselves unworthy of favour and affrighted with the thoughts of chastisement they would endeavour to preserve their Usurped Authority To the first Proposition were opposed the imminent dangers that the Court seeing themselves reduc'd to should be forc'd to grant to the Princes those Points which with much fervency were insisted on by their friends and partakers Neither did the other seem convenient in that present conjuncture for when the Princes and the Parlement should perceive themselves depriv'd of the hopes and promises made them by the Spaniards knowing they were not able to subsist by Paris alone which was wavering even in the beginning of the Union they would be constrain'd to regulate themselves as Necessity should counsel them and accept those conditions that had been already offer'd them upon the Accommodation so that by either of these ways they apprehended they should not much help forward their Designs which they had proposed to themselves upon the continuance of the civil troubles in France Embracing therefore a third counsel they resolved to cause their Troops to advance knowing that if the Parisiens did not continue firm they should at least encourage the Martial and haughty thoughts of the Prince of Condé who making war in France as first Prince of the Bloud and esteemed one of the Valiantest of the Age he could not but much trouble and annoy the contrary Party Wherefore the Spanish and Lorein Troops began to move towards the Sene to the number of 3000 Horse under Prince Ulderick of Wirtemberg 6 other Regiments of Horse conducted by the Chevalier de Guise and 6000 Lorrainers with their Duke who all together formed an Army of about 11000 combatents These thought to put themselves into the Post of Villeneuf S. George but were prevented by the Mareschal Turenne who according to the Instruction of Cardinal Mazarine had already possessed it and intrenched himself there with the Kings Army and cast two Bridges over the River The Spaniards the Lorrainers and the Troops of the Princes quartered round about the Country so that the Souldiers of both Parties scouring the Campania on all sides Paris remained besieg'd by their own friends wherefore the Citizens daily pressed the King to return to Paris who answered he was ready so to do if the Duke of Orleans would cause the Prince of Conde to retire to his Government of Guienne the Duke of Beaufort to his Castle of Anet and the strangers out of the Kingdom The Cardinal de Retz took the advantage of these favourable accidents and with
entred the Town and not the Mantuans But the Marquess of Caracena kept his word punctually with the Duke in all what he had promised in so much that his Highness thinking it convenient for the security of that place to put in a Garrison of German Souldiers he proposed to take in some of those which had served in the Spanish Army after they should be disbanded by the Spaniards and had taken an Oath of Allegiance to him but the Spaniard would not consent to it left there might be some suspicion of deceit in this neither would he suffer any of his to enter into the Town nor would he go himself but in Company of the Duke of Mantua who came thither a few days after The Savoyards not being able to relieve Casale assaulted and took Crescentino and would have obtained their desired intents if those of Montferrat had corresponded with them but they being very faithful to their Prince were assisting towards the Recovery of the Town The Duke of Mantua declared the French Plenipotentiaries that whensoever his Territory of Montferrat should be restored to its former estate and put peaceably into his hands without trouble or injury to the Treaty of Chirasco he would presently renounce the three thousand Crowns a month which the Empress was to give him for the paiment of the Garrison and maintain it at his proper charge without any ones help This his Highness did to take away all jealousie or pretence which the French might have upon this account though this was not his principal motive for it is certain that he had not the least imagination of letting this most noble place go out of his hands again which rendred him conspicuous to all Italy and made him esteemed by both Crowns and this was always the opinion of the Marquess de la Val. But these Declarations of the Dukes and his Agents availed little for things being diversly suggested at the Court of France suspicion had such force that they judged always sinisterly nor could the Kings Ministers of State rest satisfied after the loss of so important a place and which rendred their Authority so considerable to all Italy Most of the other Italian Princes grew jealous also that Casale should at length fall into the hands of the Spaniards and therefore lamented that the French had not provided against it in time which they said they might have done very easily if they had not busied themselves more in persecuting Cardinal Mazarine and overthrowing his Counsels then in taking care for the concerns of the Crown their Jealousies and Suspitions were also much more encreased by the report which went about that the Spaniards after they had driven the French out of Casale were in a close Treaty with the Court of Savoy soothing their chief Ministers with a belief that his Catholick Majesty would restore Vercelli drive the French from Pignerol and the Cittadel of Turin make up the differences with Mantua and perhaps espouse the Infanta to the Duke of Savoy by which insinuations they went about to gain that house and keeping the French beyond the Mountains restore Peace to Italy and their own Authority to its former splendour These Propositions were hearkned to by the Piemontesi who opened their ears with no little attention and the more by reason that they were fearful that whilst his Christian Majesty was involved in Civil Wars and not able to contribute to the defence of Piemont the Spaniards might make some considerable Progress so that if they should defer the remedy to another time it might so happen that they should find neither time nor remedy These Treaties cast a great cloud upon the Affairs of the Court of France The Cardinal particularly considering the Prejudices which the King might receive if the Spaniards after they had setled their Affairs in Italy should employ all their forces in Flanders and Catalonia he endeavored with all industry by the means of the Embassador Servient and the Abbot of Aille to keep the Savoyards in hopes of a speedy and certain care of their Affairs so that Mazarine being in great credit and strict friendship with the house of Savoy his word alone prevailed more then all other means to elude the Artifices of the Ministers of the but because the troubles at home permitted not at that time the effecting of those things which the necessity of affairs required he sought no further at present then to keep Piemont united with the Court by putting them in hopes of restoring into their hands Verva and Villeneufve d' Astinelle and of the Honour of treating their Embassadours for the future equal to those of Kings Besides these Honours the Count de Quincé General of the French Forces in Piemont was sent to them who arrived at Turin in December accompanied with a great number of Officers and Persons of Quality Mazarine who amongst these dangerous storms had saved the Kings Authority from imminent shipwrack made himself known to all the World for one of the most expert and undaunted Pilots that sails in the Ocean of Policy so soon as ever he saw the Whirlwindes of those commotions which had so furiously agitated the whole Kingdom allayed by the Presence of the King in Paris He applied himself with all sollicitousness to search out means proper not only to calm the intestine troubles but to raise up the trampled upon credit and reputation of the Regal Dignity Wherefore he judged it would be easier to render it esteemed and honoured by pardoning then by punishing This being the Cardinals constant Maxime to win upon the generous humour of the French Nation rather by gentle usage then by violence of Arms. He began therefore to treat with those who were most contumacious He was of opinion that the sole love of the King ought to be the Quintessence fit to nourish that Concord amongst subjects which is interrupted by nothing more then by the apprehensions of hatred and revenge He revived new Treaties and Propositions of Peace with the Prince of Conty with the Parlement of Bourdeaux with the Count d' Harcourt the Count d' Ognon and with all the other Princes and great Lords of high spirit He sent also an Intimate of his to negotiate closely with the Prince of Conde to pacifie him and remove him from the Spanish service offering him the Sovereignty of some state out of France but whether the Prince found himself too far engaged with the Catholick King or whether the Nobleness of his minde would not suffer him to be worse then his word without cause or apparent reason or whether he judg'd the dignity offered him inconsistent or moved with other reasons or regards the effect of these Propositions vanish'd The Prince declared that he had no ambition of Sovereignty but was contented with the honour which he had of being first Prince of the blood-Royal that he knew not how to trust him any more who under the pretence of friendship had deceived him nor could
Vincennes which was in his Government whether the Duke came accompanied by many followers with design to murder him the Cardinal Advertized of it forbore to appear to the Treat saved himself in the Louvre where the day following he caused Beaufort to be arrested and sent him with a strong Guard to the said Castle of Vincennes With admirable subtilty he raised a glorious Envy betwixt the Dukes of Orleans and Anguien enticing the former to the Incommodities of Warre as well by the Allurements of Glory as by the diligent furnishing him with all things necessary to make it less irksom to him by this means making use of the Triumphs of the one to moderate the haughtiness of the other which was one of his greatest Artifices to enjoy the benefit of a well-concerted Union Hereupon the Duke of Orleans marched into Flanders at the head of a most puissant Army and after the taking of Graveling Mardike and Dunkirk by all men esteemed impossible he opened a way into the heart of Flanders passed the River Colma and brought in a short time under the French Dominion Lens Bourbourg Merville Bettunes St. Venant Armentieres Bergues Courtray Ypres la Bassee Dixmude Landresy Furnes and other places He put them upon few Undertakings that did not succeed and though he failed in that of Cambray attempted by the Count d' Harcourt yet it cannot be said but that he merited great praise for the most accurate diligence that he shewed they ought to use in those Conjunctures which in all probability would have rendred the defence of that place more difficult then the taking it if his Orders had been put in execution according as he directed He caused to be sent to the Catalonians a considerable assistance with which they got Tortosa Roses and other places and to give that people a fuller assurance of the firm Protection of France he made his brother the Cardinal of Sancta Cicilia Governour of that Province In Italy after the Kings death many enterprizes were begun by his directions and Counsel and many things done to the great benefit of the Crown The Town and Cittadel of Aste were suddenly recovered they gained great advantages in the Siege of Turin in the Enterprize of Pontestura and Vigevano and many other Expeditions prudently undertaken although some were unsuccessful whether for the ill fortune of Prince Thomas of Savoy in the Warre of Italy or for the variable Accidents of War Considering moreover how beneficial the friendship of the Princes of Este would be to the French in their Affairs of Italy and making use of the happy Conjuncture when by the phlegme of some Ministers of Spain those Princes thought themselves not treated according to their merit He bent his thoughts to draw them to the French party beginning luckily with the Acquisition of Cardinal Rinaldo d' Este a Prince in earnest very worthy of that high esteem which he enjoys in the opinion of all the World causing him to be honoured by the King of France with the Protection of that Crown in the Court of Rome and afterward obliging Duke Francesco his brother by giving him the charge of General of the Army of his most Christian Majesty in Lombardy Both these by their generous actions have always upheld the one in Rome the other in the Army the Reputation of the Crown of France to their eternal glory and merit Mazarine well knowing that to attaque the Spaniards in their holds of Italy would touch them to the quick caused to be set out to Sea a very potent Fleet and aiming to gain some Poste on the Shore of Tuscany caused Orbitello to be beleagured by the Army under Prince Thomas of Savoy by Land and by the Navy commanded by the Duke of Bresé by Sea But the Duke of Bresé being slain at the very first by a Cannon-shot and the Prince probably ill served by his Officers the Action succeeded not which otherwise was well designed by the Cardinal intending by the gaining of this place to facilitate the Enterprise which he had plotted against Naples and to hinder the communication betwixt that Kingdom and the State of Milan Likewise in the other attempts made upon the same Kingdom by the Duke of Guise they found no better fortune for the sinister correspondencies of those giddy headed Napolitans with the Crown of France together with the contrariety of their humours that hindred all good operations yet whether they succeeded or not Mazarine gave not over to make his advantage of them as potent diversions for the Enterprizes of Flanders which were of greatest concernes being nearest to the heart of the Kingdom Mazarine desirous to recover the Glory of the French which the ill success in Italy had much eclipsed with an incredible and unexpected resolution that Navy which was supposed incapable to appear in the Mediterranean for a long time was seen to return again the year following more formidable then ever under the Command of the Mareschals de la Milleray and Plessis Pralin with which in a few days they possest themselves of Piombino and Porto Longone in the Isle of Elba half belonging to the King of Spain and half to the Duke of Tuscany by which Victories the Reputation of the French was much recovered the Applauses and Fame of the Victors echoing every where to the great advantage of the Neighboring Princes especially of the Cardinals Barbarini who flying the indignation of Innocent the tenth had sheltered themselves under the Protection of the King of France by the efficacious and powerful Offices of Cardinal Mazarine who by a noble Example of Gratitude upheld that Family which newly fallen from a potent and long Dominion a warning to elective Princes knew not whether to turn themselves for a friendly Sanctuary Thus by the help of Mazarine they saw themselves honoured with the Protection of the most Christian King by which means they were in a short time re-established by the Pope himself and with a strange Metamorphosis embraced again The Comedy of their wandring ending in a strict Union and Alliance by the Marriage of one of the Popes Nieces Daughters to Don Maffeo Barberino to whom Don Carlo Prince of Pellestrina renounced his Titles and Honours himself being promoted to the Scarlet whereby he had a fair pretence to free himself from the engagement wherein he had promised to wed no other then the Countess Martinozzi Mazarines Niece who finding in this as in all other occasions the usual experiment of working good out of evil saw afterward his said Niece more highly matched in the Family of Este and Dutchess of Modona It will not be amiss since we are entred upon the discourse of this Family to give a touch of what Cardinal Mazarine being chief Minister of State did in favour of the Barbarini in the War with the Duke of Parma with whom most of the Princes of Italy were joyned in League for the aversion that they bore to Cardinal Barbarini with whom they
he went to Dorlans a Town in Picardy under the Government of the Sieur de Bar who was one of those that followed him being received with great honour and civility in all those Provinces He stayed there some time to resolve where he might best retire out of the Kingdom The Parisiens renewing their clamours to the Queen constrained her to write to the Cardinal that for the good of the State he would speedily go out of the Kingdom inducing her moreover to make a Declaration that all strangers though naturalized should not for the future be capable of being admitted into the Council of State some insisting that even the French Cardinals should be comprehended and this chiefly to keep off the Coadjutor from being Chief Minister of State to which he aspired together with the Cardinalship who was really more hated then loved being held to be a man very violent and hardy in his resolutions though he was doubtless one of the bravest Persons of France This Declaration was passed in Parliament but by reason of the contrariety of opinions in the particular of the French Cardinals according to the inclination of those Counsellors thought it passed also in this particular it was moderated and had not its full force and was put in execution only against Mazarine who staying still in France expecting his Pass-port from the Spaniard gave new occasion to his adversaries to murmur who induced the Queen again to sollicit his departure out of the Kingdom to which the Cardinal shewed himself most ready though his friends offered him 10000 fighting men to defend him against the persecution of his enemies and even the Spaniards themselves promised him all vigorous assistance with a Pension not inferiour to what he had in France The Cardinal rejected all most generously into whose Heart the French his Enemies with all their injurious dealings could never introduce the least sense of revenge to the damage of France since that the sense of gratitude towards their Majesties and his Cordial affection for those that were Loyal were too prevalent in his Noble Soul He departed therefore speedily from Dorlans from whence he wrote two very handsom Letters which were seen in Print on to the Queen and the other to the Count de Brienne at that time chief Secretary of State full of cordial expressions of his constant fidelity to their Majesties and of prudent counsel for the good of the State the tenour of which Letters moved a tender compassion in the minds of his Friends and inwardly convinced and staggered his Enemies From thence he went to Perone not without some inconvenience where he found his Nieces conducted thither in safety by the Abbot Ondedei He went with them to la Fere and thence to Rhetel from whence Generel Rosa with 300 Horse conducted him to Barleduc Where in sequence of the Honours done him in every place in this his Retirement by an express Courrier he received the most courteous proffers of the Elector of Colen who sent to invite him offering him his whole State to be at his service with all the kind expressions that could possibly be expected from a generous Prince and a true Friend For which having given to that Prince most affectionate thanks he proceeded on to Clermont by the assistance of the Mareschal de la Ferté Seneterre who in that Rencounter gave him many authentick proofs of a loyal and faithful friendship which he made more particularly appear in refusing to put the Town into the hands of two Gentlemen of the Prince of Conde's who had brought him the Kings Order the Mareschal excusing himself by telling them that he had too much cause to believe that that Order was extorted by violence and that therefore he would not give credit to it unless he were commanded by him that intrusted it with him which was as much as to say the Cardinal who understanding this notwithstanding the foresaid reflexions to shew how much a Kings Order ought to be respected prayed the Mareschal to obey it which immediately he did From Clermont he went to Sedan where once more by the importunity of his enemies receiving the Queens Orders to depart quite out of the Kingdom he went to Boullon in the State of Liege convoyed by Don Antonio Pimentelli Major General of the Spanish Army with 500 Horse the Spaniards themselves concurring to demonstrate to the world that they understood the Merits of the Cardinal and the Honours due to the Sacred Purple better then the French From Liege he continued his journey towards Aix la Chapelle and from thence he passed to Brul a place belonging to the Elector of Colen who sent immediately to complement him offering him all manner of courtesie and being Royally received in the Electoral Palace he was first visited by all the Cannons of the Archbishoprick of Colen the principal Gentlemen of the Country and afterward by the Elector himself who came expresly from Bona place of his residence The Cardinal went to return his Visit where he was received with all the Honours that could be done to the greatest Prince and came back to Brul infinitely obliged to the Elector for his civilities Here he fixed his abode and the concourse of all sorts of people that came to see him was such that that place seemed a great Court He was complemented here by Expresses from the King and Queen of Poland from the Queen of Swedeland from the Electors of the Empire and finally from most of the Princes of Europe who sent to offer him their Dominions to the great mortification of his enemies who the more they sought to abase him by their passionate resolutions the more they saw him honoured and extolled by all the world The Princes in the interim arriving at Paris and the Queen with the King remaining in a manner prisoners in the Palace Royal where they were begirt on all sides by the armed Parisiens all the concourse of the Cavaliers was at the Prince of Conde's and of the Ladies at the Dutchess of Longueville's so that there seemed to be no such thing as a King But although the Cardinal was absent in person yet he was virtually present applying himself continually with the greatest artifice to divide the minds of the Frondeurs from the Union of the Princes and the Dutchess of Chevreuse being the person that together with the Coadjutor governed the whole Caball he applied himself to those means that might draw her from the Prince's party or indeed make her their enemy for which he knew no better way then to frustrate the Match betwixt the Prince of Conty and her daughter Taking this business in hand he suggested to his Confidents at Paris such items which being by them punctually observed they made Conty believe that the Princess of Chevreuse was not of that Quality besitting his birth and they intimated to the Prince of Conde that if the Prince his brother should marry it would much prejudice the Revenue of his Family by the
commotions likely suddenly to arise to the destruction of the Peace and the publick good might be avoided and the Duke of Orleans was intreated to joyn some of his with the said Deputies mutually to importune that the Cardinal might be kept at distance By a publick command they did prohibit all Cities Towns and all those who were in Authority on the Frontiers not to receive him nor give him any assistance upon pain of High Treason Though they reaped small benefit from these deliberations because every one laugh'd at it reputing it mere madness and folly to pretend to controle with scribling and papers where the Kings lawful power was predominant back'd with the strength of Arms nevertheless they were so intoxicated with a most sottish pretension of Authority and so instigated by their Passion that they persuaded themselves that an Order of Parlement was sufficient to bring the whole Kingdom under obedience and so passing from one absurdity to anothet to end this year 1651 the 29th of December in virtue of the aforesaid Declarations of the 7th and 9th of February the 11th of March the 2d and 8th of August last past and of those and some other Parlements against the Cardinal he was by the Parlement of Paris declared guilty of High Treason for returning to Sedan contrary to the Prohibition and for putting himself in a posture to return into France ordering moreover to finish the selling his Library and all the Furniture of his House with the Confiscation of all his Ecclesiastical Emoluments depositing 50000 Crowns to be given to him that should kill him or deliver him alive to Justice petitioning His Majesty in such case to give his Grace to the Assassine who if by his misfortune in giving the blow should not escape but be kill'd himself that his Heirs should be capable of the reward making their account that so great a recompence would invite some desperate Villain to take away his Life a thing never heard of and unworthy to be decreed nay not to be propos'd in a Catholick Parlement the bounds of whose Authority extended no further then to judge of Civil and Criminal causes and not in the least to interest themselves in the Affairs of State It was therefore looked upon with detestation that they should proceed to the condemnation of so conspicuous a Statesman so dear to the King and by His Majesty's Council known to be so advantageous to the good of France and adorned with the Dignity of Cardinal All Europe abhorr'd this Action and every good Catholick was scandaliz'd that the Life of a Prince of Holy Church should be expos'd to sale so acceptable to the King by whose express Order onely he acted And many foresaw that the Authors of these execrable doings though Humane Revenge should fail would find in their season no less then those English who condemn'd their King to death the chastisements of Heaven for the little respect that they bore not only to the Cardinal but also to the King and the Holy Church This Decree as far as could be guess'd pass'd not without the secret intelligence of the Count de Chavigny who believed by such means to hinder the Cardinals return supposing that if the Order had but issued out a little before he would not have enter'd again into the Kingdom The Count was the first that tasted Gods judgment dying a while after in despair conscious of betraying the Court and the Prince of Conde his greatest Confident in one and the same time All this was represented to the Court of Rome supposing that the Sacred College would not allow that such an Example should remain in the memory of the present Age much less be transferred to posterity without those remedies and punishments which belong to the Popes Authority But the Romanists considering that if the success should not answer the attempt the reputation and dignity of the Apostolical See would be too far engaged wherefore they passed it over palliating it with dissimulation for Mazarine had his back-friends in Rome as well as in France and the Pope himself was his Enemy These news coming to the Court they rejoyced at the seditious Parisiens and valued little their words and inconsiderable strength and had frequent Consultations about this business and although few pressed the return of Mazarine yet finding the King was resolved to have him near about him according to the Court custom where they flatter more the Fortune then the Person they began with an affected ostentation to shew that they desired as much some of them persuading the Queen to hasten his return constraining their own inclination that they might appear to be his most cordial friends But Prince Thomas being a little before come out of Piemont into France the Mareschal de Plessis Pralin the Sieurs de la Ferté and Seneterre the Count de Servient the Sieur de Lionne and other Noblemen of a clear Fidelity ingenuous Disposition and true Friends deliver'd their minds with affection and sincerity as also the Princess Palatine the Secretary Tillier recalled to Court by the means of the Marquess de Chasteauneuf and of the Mareschal de Villeroy which vexed those at heart who persuaded themselves that they might be useful in that charge and beheld with an evil eye that Mazarine's Affairs proceeded so smoothly on to his re-establishment They that chiefly opposed his return in the Council were the Marquess de Chasteauneuf who exercised the charge of first Minister of State and deliciously relished the Applauses and the Honours which to it paid Tribute as Rivers to the Sea but he vailed his thoughts with the pretext that yet the conjuncture of Affairs was not ripe for his return because the unseasonableness of it would colour the pretences of the Prince of Conde and of the other Male-contents with the face of Justice and would ferment new grievances and revolutions not only in Paris but in other parts of the Kingdom and said it would be better counsel to seek first to remove out of the way the Prince and his Party that he might return with more security The Proposition truly in it self look'd well and if at that time nothing had been innovated about Mazarine's coming back the Prince had been totally ruined the whole Kingdom standing firm for the King but when it was considered that if while the Cardinals return was delay'd the business of the Kingdom and the present state of Affairs should be mitigated and the Prince destroyed the reasons for his return as a necessary Minister would not have so much vigour as when it might be averred that the King had no person about him sufficient to undergo so weighty a Charge For this reason Chasteauneuf's Opinion did not take place and their counsel was imbraced who supported the Cardinals Interest alledging that his presence was of great importance for the better carrying on the Affairs besides the recruit of a Body of old Souldiers levied by him to hasten the depression
the 9th of October in the Assembly held at the Town-house divers were chosen and deputed to go to Court and to intreat His Majesty again to return to Paris but because His Majesty did not admit of publick Messages from an Assembly where the Duke of Beaufort pretended Governour of Paris used to be present contrary to the Kings Prohibition so that by consequence the Assembly was accounted unlawful it was proposed in Parlement and concluded on that the Duke of Beaufort should be desired to renounce his Charge voluntarily that he might not hinder the conclusion of the Peace which was so earnestly sought for by all wherefore Beaufort remitted it into the hands of the Duke of Orleans who had conferred it upon him The whole Body of the Militia of Paris was also resolved for Peace and knowing that the presence of the King was necessary for the consummating of it they made choice at the same time of 250 persons Colonels Officers and other Inhabitants to go and render their due respects to His Majesty and to entreat him that he would honour his good City of Paris with his return These Officers having given notice of this to the Court and desired the accustomed Pasports they were immediately granted and the King himself wrote to them with Orders to come to S. Germans Octob. 14. where he intended to be that night and besides this Letter to all in general he sent one in particular to every Colonel in which he thanked them for the affection and goodwill which they expressed to his service He wrote also to the Communalty and commanded them to call a general Assembly and to restore to their Offices the Prevost of the Merchants and the Sheriffs which had been turned out The Prince of Conde seeing by all these changes that his longer stay at Paris would be to no purpose and that every thing was in readiness to receive the King he resolved to hasten his departure The Duke of Lorrain also took leave of his Brother in Law the Duke of Orleans upon the 11th of October to follow his Army which were on their march not far off but at his going out of S. Martins Gate the Guard stopt him for not having a Pasport from the Communalty and were very near giving him some affront for some of them reproching him for all those evils which had happened to France proposed to have him imprisoned and detained till his Forces were out of the Kingdom and he had given satisfaction for the damage they had done to the Country about but this was not put in execution for the respect they bore to the Duke of Orleans but they gave him a thousand injurious words and the next morning they permitted him to depart upon His Royal Highness command The Prince of Condé went away two days after together with the Duke of Wirtemberg the Duke of Rochefocaut the Prince of Tarante and many other peesons of Quality who resolved to take their Fortunes with him At his going away he said as he passed through the streets That the Parisiens hoped for the return of the Court but that would not end the War He went afterwards towards Rheims a great City and Metropolis of Champagne with intention to lay hold of what he could in that Province that he might the better winter there under the Protection of Stenay and Mauson two places upon the Mose which held for him At his departure from Paris he left a printed Manifesto in which he set forth how much he had done for the publick and in particular for the Parisiens exhorting them not to trust to the Court and to believe that he could by the force of Arms have constrained them to make Peace Conde therefore and all the Officers of the Army having thus abandoned Paris upon the fifteenth following the aforesaid Colonels and Officers went to St. Germains Accompanied with two hundred Citizens more who joyned with them upon the way They had a favourable audience in which they express'd the general desire of all to see these mists cleared up by the splendour of his Royal Presence and assured His Majesty of their inviolable faith and entire Obedience engaging faithfully their word that they would be all in armes upon any occasion ready to spend their lives and fortunes in his Royal service beseeching him not to refuse them this favour but to be touched at their sighs and tears proceeding from their sincere and zealous devotion protesting to him finally that he should finde nothing from them but due observance and a perfect propensity to make good the Character which they bore of His most humble and most faithful subjects The King Answered them with his own mouth that he should be mindful all his life-time of the service they had done him upon this occasion and desired them to be always assured of his affection and that although the disorders stirrâ—â— up by those who were revolted might oblige him to take some other journey yet nevertheless seeing they had so great a desire he was resolved to go with the first occasion to Paris and would signifie to the Prevost of the Merchants and the Sheriffs what he thought necessary to that effect the Deputies gave him thanks and did their obeisance to their Majesties severally who were pleased to receive them with testimonies of extraordinary satisfaction After this they were treated with a Dinner and had leave to depart to Paris with so much joy of the people that seeing them pass through the streets and hearing the News of the Kings sudden return they loaded them with benedictions and deafned them with their continual shoutings of Vive le Roy. The same day that the Colonels went to St. Germains his Majesty before he left Mantes answered the Letters which the Duke d' Anville had delivered him from the Duke of Orleans to desire an Act of Oblivion in better forme then the former the Contents were that the King did not desire any further Declaration from the said Duke it being sufficient if he made his word good which he had so often given to lay down his Arms and send the foreign Troops to the Frontiers thereby to free Paris his Majesty having nothing more to do seeing he had already publish'd a General Amnesty and such an one as the most seditious could not find what more to adde to it for their security and less to pretend that it should be registred at Paris seeing that it was done publickly in the Parliament at Pontorse so that his Majestie having anticipated all that the Duke desired of him without any reservation there remained nothing but that he on his side should perform his Promises And that therefore his Request for Passports was superfluous and from the purpose because it tended to no other end but to gain time till the Spanish Troops commanded by the Duke of Wirtenberg were drawn near Paris to joyn with those at the Prince of Conde and to amuse the people whilst that another
fail to act vigorously in Champagne to ease the Countrey of the enemies Troops where they lay quartered He went to the Army which was reinforced with divers troops took Barleduc and having passed the River of Aisne attached Chasteau-Porcien where the Sieur de Brisson commanded with a strong Garrison of old souldiers which rendred the place very considerable especially it being then the midst of Winter a season improper far Armies to lie in the field This difficulty was surmounted by the affectionate and accurat assistance of the Cardinal so that all labour and hardship seemed light to the souldiery who endured it with as great resolution as they served and followed him with affection In seven dayes he took Chasteau-Porcien had also taken Rhetel and Saint Menhaut if the season had been less sharp and if the Prince of Conde had not opportunely reinforced them with a great number of Souldiers wherfore the Cardinal gave over the thought of them and having put the army into winter quarters made towards Paris being often importuned by their Majesties He was met by the King himself and the Duke of Anjou two leagues out of the City His Majesty received him with extraordinary tenderness and affection took him into his own Coach and coming in at St. Denis Gate conducted him through a great throng of people to the Louvre The Cardinal took up his Lodgings there to be nearer as first Minister of State to His Majesty he was presently visited by the Body of the Town-house and by all the other Orders and Magistrates who declared their acknowledgment for many singular advantages received through his care and that all France was obliged to the conduct of so great a Minister expressing their joy for his happy return Though many thought that how much the more kind they were in outward appearance so much the more corrupted they were in reality there being no greater malice then that which is hid under the mask of dissimulation Yet I who have procured with much accurateness and long experience to instruct my self in the knowledge of â—he nature of those persons of whom I write can say to the glory of France not to have found any Nation less addicted to dissimulation then this which being free and frank of speech thinks little of what is to come and nothing of what is past Whosoever shall consider the contempts and abuses done in Paris to the name of the Cardinal in the month of September 1652. and shall compare them with the honours and welcome he received in the moneth of February 1653. will perceive that the Fine of fifty thousand Crowns which was set upon his head with all the reproches ignominies with which his reputation was wounded were nothing else but the effect of passion which being prudently dissembled by Mazarine served him afterwards to fortifie his right and good intentions and rendred him triumphant over his persecutions making his Ministry still more glorious The same Evening the King caused him to sup with him in the Apartment of the Mareschal de Villeroy and that night was signalized with a great number of Bonefires in the City the next morning as he came from Mass he cast a quantity of money amongst the people as he had done the day before in those places where he passed and after he had received the Visits of the chief of the Court and of other persons of all sorts and conditions he applied himself to the most important Affairs of the Crown On the 3. of February being the same day which he entred Paris he brought with him his three Nieces which were met out of the gate of St. Honoré by the Pincesse of Carignan Louise her daughter by the Mareschall de Guebrian's Lady by the Marchionesse of Ampous and many other ladies of quality These Ladies were lodged also in the Louvre in an apartment by themselves over the Queens Lodgings The King had not conferred any Office or Charge either Ecclesiastical or Secular since his Return although there were many vacant and a great number of Pretenders willing to stay for the Cardinal and give him the honour of confering them He was exactly informed of the deservings of each particular person so that keeping every one in hopes to receive rewards proportionably to their worth he rendred them more ready and zealous to the Kings service The King had passed the Edicts of the new Impositions and dispatched all other things which might sound less grateful in the ears of the people lest that doing them after the Cardinals return they should seem to be suggested by the Minister of State against whom they might renew the pretences of those fault which formerly though wrongfully they had laid to his change so that the Cardinal by His Majesties special favour having the disposal of the Benefices of the Church and divers other offices of the Court and Kingdom he began presently to distribute them to those he judged most deserving and most fit to be employed in His Majesties service detaining a considerable part vacant to keep those that remained at that time excluded in hopes and obedience knowing by experience that the French are as ready to serve when they hope to be recompensed as negligent to performe when they have obtained their desires He conferred the office of Superintendant of the Finances vacant by the death of the Marquis of Vieville upon the a count de Servient Minister of State who had deserved well of the Crown being very cordiall in the Kings service and grown aged in the course of many useful negotiations to whom he joined the Sieur de Fouquet Procurator General who was also made Minister of state a person of great worth for his constant fidelity towards the King whom in all things but particularly in the removall of the Parliament to Pontoise he had served with great zeale so that at this time there was two Super-intendants of the Finances in France as also a Chancellour and a Keeper of the Seal which though it seemed strange yet had been practised at other times and namely under the ministery of Cardinal Richelieu To these Superintendants were joyned four Intendants of the same Finances who were the Sieurs de Paget de Boisleve de Hausset and de Brisaciers besides this he gave good orders for the payment of the Kings revenues to the relief and satisfaction of the Farmers and Cardinal Antonio Barberin coming to Paris at this time the dignity of great Almoner of France was conferred upon him Vacant by the death of Cardinal Richilieu Archbishop of Lions This was done by Mazarin to make his gratitude the more conspicuous and to oblige him he conferred it on more streightly to the Crown esteeming his assistance in Rome necessary for the Interest of France since that Cardinal Francesco his brother had given som jealousie of his intentions having lately done some ill offices in his tart Letters to His Majestie touching the direction of the Government It was discours'd
for the future in the maintenance and support of the Condean Party But the Count d' Ognon's Accommodation with the King of France did not a little startle Don Lewis de Haro and the rest of the Grandees of the Council the foundation they had laid upon the fidelity of this Cavalier who had franckly undertaken the defence of Guienne being taken away and no grounds left for any future resolution by reason of the inconstancy of the French who would promise the highest fidelity one day and the next day leave them in the lurch So that the Kings party increasing hourly in those parts and the Princes growing every day weaker their apprehensions could not but be very great nevertheless in this very Exigence the Court of Spain fail'd not to send their Orders to suggest their Counsels to transmit Men and Money as far as the utmost of their power and ability would extend Not long after the Baron Batteville represented to the Court the difficulty of getting in to the Garonne unless he were reinforc'd with a much stronger Squadron of Ships Twenty thousand Crowns were immediatly dispatch'd to him with new Orders to ship himself upon the aforesaid six Men of war and to put 500 Irish into Bordeaux But affairs changing daily their face it was necessary to change Counsels as often and Batteuille being unable to execute them without further supplies their Commands were received oftner then put in execution After this the Marquess of Lusignan was dispatch'd in great haste from Bordeaux to Madrid where he Arrived in May. The pretence of this Embassy was to complement his Catholick Majestie upon the recovery of the Queen who had had the small Pox with great danger of her life besides the King himself had been ill five or six days of a Feaver But the intrinsick reason was the soliciting for fresh forces in respect the French had made themselves Masters of the Garonne and fortified it so that it would be no easy matter to remove them and by consequence the Kings Army increasing without interruption as it did it must needs follow that Bourdeaux must be lost Lusignan had many fair Promises 200000 Crowns were deliver'd to him and the Dispatches for the Ships from Port de Passage consigned to him Not long after that design being look'd upon as impossible Battiville had new Instructions if it were possible to get into Bourdeaux by the Lake of Arcazon with all imaginable diligence to keep that people in their fidelity and support as much as in him lay the drooping spirits of the Prince of Conty and the rest of the Officers in his Party He had Orders moreover to propose three things to them viz. Whether they would have the Spanish Fleet force its way up the River Garonne and fight them Whether they would have them clap before the Mouth of the River and lie there Or whether they thought it not more convenient for them to cruse along the Coasts of Britain and Normandy and by alarming them in those parts give them a diversion in Guienne Nine hundred more Irish were dispatch'd into Guienne and Letters sent Post to the Arch-Duke and the Ministers in Flanders that they should take the Field with all Expedition that they should supply the Prince of Condy with 200000 Crowns mere for the reinforcement of his Troops to put him into a Condition to march immediatly for France The Spaniard considering that Mazarine being in all likelihood thereby constrained to draw down what force he could make against that Invasion would not be able to pursue his Enterprizes against Guienne but by consequence give them opportunity to make Provisions for the defence of that Province But neither in this could the Spaniard compass his design for the Ship which carried the 300000 Crowns into Flanders to hasten that Affair falling unluckily into the hands of the English they made no scruple to to seize upon it though the King of Spain was at that time in Amity with that Nation and to stop the Ship likewise for some time it being a Dutch bottom Nor was this Miscarriage to be imputed to the negligence of the Ministers but to the uncertainty of humane accidents which many times run counter though managed and contrived by the best Counsels in the World Besides these sums 30000 Pistols more were sent to the Fleet with express Orders to Batteville to try all ways of introducing himself into the Garonne and open a Passage into the Town to which end and no other that sum was intended At the same time the Count de Fiesco and several other persons went also into Spain to represent the necessities of those parts and to sollicit for relief But some are of opinion the chief end of these journeys was to receive Presents and Gratuities which the King of Spain distributed very liberally to all French-men that came to his Court so that many pretended to joyn with him more to be nibling at his money then out of any true service they intended him and it is believ'd that if the money he in this manner distributed among the French-men were fairly computed it would appear sufficient to have conquered a whole Kingdom and yet either by their treachery or inexperience all these vast sums were utterly lost and these great preparations become entirely ineffectual In the mean time the Duke of Vandosme was employ'd in hastening the building of Caesars Fort upon the Garonne as likewise another in the Countrey betwixt the two Seas beginning above Vallier before the house of Alinet who considering of what importance it would be to interrupt the Communication betwixt the several Posts belonging to the Prince and the Town of Bordeaux if he could possess himself of Lermont which was situate exactly upon the mouth of the River and Garrison'd by 500 Irish under the Command of Colonel Dillon On the 26. of May he caused the Tertia's of Moasieur Milleray and Normandy to be drawn out and ship'd in such Galleys and Brigantines as he had ready under the Command of the Chevalier d' Albret his Camp-Master who with others being embark'd they sally'd forth by the favour of the Tyde against the Galliots which lay under that place Being arriv'd there disbarqu't the Count of Comminges the Lieutenant General the two Brothers the Count and Baron of Montesson the Baron of Croix Camp-Master and Sir George Carteret who as they say perswaded the Governour of the place to take up Arms with his whole Party for the King of France They agreed upon the paiment of 7500 Franks to deliver up the Town and it was done accordingly for the Irish Soldiers being much discontented and looking upon themselves as sold to the Spaniards like so many slaves did not hold themselvs oblig'd to them by any faith or duty in the world The rest indeed had followed their Example out of a temple they had taken up that they could not in conscience serve the Spaniard because of the League and Amity at that
time betwixt them and the English to whom they were profest enemies But Marsin foreseeing the danger had provided very politickly against it by confirming the Officers of their Tertia's to put Hostages into his hands The loss of Lermont was a cooling Card to the Bordelots it being of such importance that by the taking of it the Kings Army intercepted the benefit of the River in the dominion of which their loss of security consisted Notwithstanding all these advantages the King desisted not from his Overtures of Peace with the milder sort of his Rebels and that in such manner as gave them more assurance of his Pardon then suspicion of his revenge so that in the Month of May he publish'd another General Amnesty in such terms as demonstrated his inclination to be less vindicative then merciful Upon this Proclamation the Bonrdelots call'd a General Assembly in the Town-Hall where it was consulted Whether it was better to accept of this Act of Oblivion and put an end to their miseries or persist in their Contumacy The sober part was of opinion it was more expedient for subjects to live in obedience to their natural Prince then in the shadow of liberty under a stranger The fear of the Olmiera made every body startle yet in private things were largely debated by some of the Olmiesti but the obstinacy of the Populacy could not be over-ruled by any politick considerations As if they had been all bewitch'd by the Spaniards they were possest with an opinion that they should be set at liberty immediately they perswaded themselves they should have whatever they desir'd they believ'd nothing but what agreed with their own imaginations and concluding they had that sure in their own hands which was but the false reflexion of the Artifice of the Princes they resolv'd That no Amnesty should be propos'd or accepted but such in which the consent and satisfaction of the Prince of Condy should concur for whose sake they had taken Arms and brought the War home to their own doors and if any should be so audacious to deliver his opinion to the contrary as a Traitor to his Countrey he was to be thrown headlong into the River They argued that the Offers made them by the Court was but the effect of their weakness and the product of necessity rather then any Compassion to them and in that mind they suppos'd themselves able to justify their disobedience to the King especially if by their sollicitations in England they could prevail with Cromwell to undertake their defence they doubted not in that case but under his protection they should be able to vindicate their liberty and shake off their Dependance upon their natural Prince But these being the dictates of fury and passion rather then rational deductions it was not long before they found themselves deceived by the vanity of their imaginations The Court of France perceiving therefore all the ways they had taken to sweeten the obstinacy and fierceness of the people to be absolutely ineffectual they gave themselves over to a resolution of acting with all severity and vigor against that Rebellious City Orders were sent to that end that by streightning it on all sides it should be necessitated to return to its duty seeing no other way was like to succeed Above all they were to secure the River against whatever attempt should be made by the Spaniard for if they could cut off the benefit of that from them the City would be desperate in a short time especially if they could keep things in that posture till the Vintage was over for that being in the power of the Kings Army and to be destroyd or intercepted by them as they pleas'd there could be no greater loss nor punishment befal them the Estates of the chiefest Citizens in the Town consisting principally in the plenty and excellence of their Wines which they selling yearly to the English Hollander and other Northern Nations afforded them very considerable profit But because it was necessary likewise to provide for the Frontiers towards Flanders where the Prince of Condy joyn'd with the Spaniards made Extraordinary preparations boasting of what he would do that Campagne by means of the places he held in the Province of Champania and the intelligence he had settled with his friends in Paris towards which City he gave out he would march directly The Cardinal with no less dililigence provided to prevent him making all provisions to oppose him he consider'd that all consisted in the unity of the forces of that Kingdom That his greatest difficulty would be to preserve himself against his enemies at home That if he could not reduce the Prince of Condy to his Allegiance whose mind was elated with high hopes and advantages he expected from Spaine it would be his best way by all possible means to lessen his party and reputation in France so as he might be left as it were a bare Commander of Spaniards who being to recompence him for the losses he received in France and to maintain him in the Quality of first Prince of the blood would be weary of him by degrees and he become a greater burden to that Crown then a Compleat and intire Army Two things therefore were more especially under the Cardinals consideration one to reduce what places he had in his possession in France the other was to debauch his friends away from him in pursuance of this design a General Pardon was publish't to all such as should before a prefix'd time return to their obedience The Count de Tavanes who had been very zealously engaged with the said Prince upon some particular dissatisfaction return'd to his house upon whose example several others of the Princes Adherents fell off likewise In the mean time the Prince of Condy seem'd to be unconcern'd at what past though to speak truth he wanted wherewithal to recompence or repair the losses his friends receiv'd in their own Countrey the supplies he had from Spain being too small for his own private expences much less to remunerate those who had served him He would have complied notwithstanding if the King's Council could have been brought to condescend to his termes which in that case it is possible he would have moderated but as when he had a numerous train of discontented persons attending him it was then of importance to reconcile him so now when he was as it were alone and abandoned by all of them it was not thought necessary to continue their applications forasmuch as in that condition he would be rather a trouble and expence to the Spaniards then of any use and advantage so that according to the Cardinals Judgment there was less danger in remaining abroad then in his return for being a Prince ambitious of honour and reputation he supposed he could hardly comport with the Spaniards who were no less ambitious then himself and that the frankness and liberty of the French would not accommodate with their gravity and reservedness The Prince was of
Boda Governour of the Town with his Tertia of French Foot and march'd himself to observe the motions of the Prince of Condy and the Spaniard who during this Leagure were joyn'd at Hayes d' Auvenes having been retarded in their Campagne both by their want of Horses as abovesaid and also by a Negotiation they had with a Citizen of Arras for the surprize of that City But the same Person held Intelligence likewise with the Cardinal as he had done with the Prince to gain money on both sides This Correspondence was began the Year before and continued till the Prince found himself deluded and cheated at several times of about 2000 Pistols The French having notice that the Spaniard had not yet their Forces united to engage the French Army which was then numerous and flourishing till they were reinforc'd which they most sollicitously endeavor'd by express Order from the Cardinal they advanc'd against the Prince with full resolution to attaque him But he had drawn up his Army betwixt two Woods behind a streight Pass by which means he prevented being fallen upon in a disadvantageous place as it might have hapned had it bin but one half houre longer before he had had the News of the French Army The Mareschals him in so good a posture return'd to their Posts and afterwards march'd towards Vervins passing thorough certain Villages not far from the Abby of Tougny they drew near to Vervens about Proussy and thence coasting by Guise they encamp'd at Riblemont to observe the motion of the enemy who being reinforc'd with the Lorrain Troops and other supplies from Flanders did principally design to make an Inroad into France upon presumption that at their first appearance many would declare for them The French Generals being inferiour in number were oblig'd for that reason to be more wary and circumspect and to have a care how they ran the risk of a Battel which if it went cross would be more dangerous in the consequences then in their present loss The Cardinals design was to protract time and to set the Affairs of the Kingdom to rights by the reduction of Bourdeaux to incapacitate the Prince to raise new troubles by the assistance or intelligence of his friends and to let the Spaniards at length see they were mistaken in the opinion they had conceived of that Juncture to ruine France and the confidence they had repos'd in the reputation and interest of the Prince in his own Countrey thâ—t being the principal mark to which all their Councils were directed it seeming unlikely to the Court of Spain that that Crown of it self with its States and Kingdoms so distant and depopulated should act any thing with advantage against France whilst it was entire and unanimous for this cause they spared no money but were many times lavish and profuse in their distributions to the discontented French who always deceived them with vain hopes and pretences endeavoring still to draw more of them into rebellion that by that means they might be able as it were to compel the French to a solid Peace to which his Catholick Majesty was seriously inclin'd but could not hope to obtain any other way But the effects did not answer Expectation for placing their hopes upon particular persons more sollicitous of their own then of other peoples advantage who propos'd only such things as might render themselves necessary to the Spanish affaires founding their principles upon this Maxime That to draw benefit from Princes they ought to make them expect more then they intended to perform forasmuch as their custom is when they are once delivered to regard them no longer who brought them out of their exigence Things being acted in this manner and hastned by the Spaniard in order to the approaching Campagne the Princes and Generals of the Armies held many Counsels what way they were to proceed The chief of of the Spanish Officers and particularly the Count de Fuensaldagna a person of great judgment propos'd to fall upon some of the most considerable of the King of France's Towns by the benefit of which they might be enabled to pass on and upon a solid foundation maintaine the War afterward in the Enemies Country Some propounded to ship 5 or 6000 men under the Command of the most expert Officers could be chosen and to send them into Guienne to reinforce the Princes Troops in that Province and support the courage of the Bourdelots thereby to sustein the War in those parts which was the strongest diversion could be given to the French Armes To that end it was proposed they should sit down before Bayon and the Princes repair thither with their Troops which would be more feasible in respect that Colonel Baltasser had made himself Master of Tarsas But the hopes that the Reliefe from Spain would be sufficient and having no Orders for dividing their Army in Flanders confuted all those Propositions The Count of Fuenseldagne was of opinion that laying all other things aside they should sit down before Arras whilst their Army was fresh and the Alarmes so hot in other parts of the Kingdom for which reason he look'd upon the Enterprise not so difficult as other people might imagine and that the Prince of Condy might consent he offered to give him Mouson But the Prince insisting upon his Intelligence in Paris prest hard and upon very good reason that drawing all their forces together they should pass the Soma march up to Paris and give their party in that City opportunity to rise while the Court growing jealous of them would be easily perswaded to quit the Town and that in these confusions their Army advancing to Mantes might possess themselves of all the Countrey about Pontoise Saint Lis and other adjacent Towns where recruiting themselves with the discontented party which in probability would throng to him daily they should reap extraordinary advantage and foment the Civil War in France This Proposition was in appearance plausible and so well represented by the Prince that the Council were of the same minde and esteemed that his opinion ought really to be followed as was seemingly desired by those who applauded his Actions with their tongue more then by their deeds But there were two considerable difficulties objected The first was that by the loss of Bellegard and Rhetel the minds of many people were much dejected so that there were but few of the opinion but the King of France would be stronger that Campagne then the Prince of Condy who had lost two such considerable places as it were under his Nose to the great diminution of his credit The other was that the French Army being come into the Field much stronger then was imagin'd it was dangerous to pass so many Rivers and put themselves into the Enemies Countrey without any place of Retreat in case of disaster whilst also the Spanish Army was attended by another though less numerous yet superiour in courage being all French bold and experienc'd besides 4000
Three weeks together the Armies lay facing one another in this posture without any Action at length the Prince of Condy and Spanish Generals despairing of their design'd Inroad into France or of giving them battel or surprizing any Town upon the Somme by reason of the great vigilancy and precaution of the French Generals they grew very confus'd and variable in their Counsels Condy had insinuated into the Spanish Ministers and Captains that upon his entrance into France he should meet with so much welcom and assistance that they should make their way more by the good-will of the people then by the sword But not managing his Interest dexterously and wanting the means the Cardinal had to inveigle and cajole by recompences those who were of a contrary judgment he found himself deluded and those persons who had promis'd him their fidelity in lieu of proving constant to his party let themselves be corrupted by the said Cardinal and served more to endamage and prejudice him then to assist and profit him The generous mind of the Prince being netled in point of reputation which being lessned already by his daily misfortunes would be absolutely lost if with so much preparation and so great forces he should consume unprofitably a whole Campagne which at first did seem to promise so much advantage and glory to Spain and threaten so much ruine and destruction to the Kingdom of France in a full Counsel of War he propos'd the Enterprize of Rocroy making good his opinion both with martial and politick Arguments He acquainted them that he was inform'd the Garrison was very weak by reason the Chevalier Montague Governor of the place upon confidence that he could not be attaqued had sent away the Regiment of the Crown to Rhetel That therefore in 12 dayes time it might be taken That there would be no great difficulty to invest it in respect there were no great Rivers to pass and the Siedge would be very easie since the Town lying betwixt thick woods whosoever were first to gain the Passes might be able to maintain them defend their lines with a very few men That Rocroy would be of very great importance being a Key of the Frontiers of Picardy and though indeed the loss of it would be no great detriment to France yet it was very considerable to the Spaniards for by this place the French made all the adjacent Countrey pay Contribution and a great part of the Province of Luxenbourg These Considerations of the Prince of Condy were excellently good and his opinion credited and receiv'd as an Oracle by all the Commanders But the Spaniards who seldom put their foot into the water till they have first sounded the bottom and who hold Prudence as an inseparable Companion of all their Actions though in appearance they inclined to the Propositions of the Prince by way of Complaisance yet in reality they did not assent in their hearts for it being formerly by agreement betwixt them and the said Prince declar'd that all such Towns as should be taken within the distance of three Leagues from the Frontiers of Flanders should belong absolutely to the Prince they considered that they should expose and consume their Army in the acquisition of a place that would adde nothing to the advantage of their Crown and would be rather instrumental towards the reconciliation of the said Prince with the Court of France then any furtherance towards the General peace of Spain To this they added that if the Siege should happen to prove longer then was propos'd they ran a great hazard of consuming their Men their Money and their patence So that at length their Souldiers failing they should no longer be Masters of the Field in which consisted the hopes of those who relying upon their assistance were contriving new Cabals in France The Count de Fuensaldagne's judgment was to lay siege to Arras seeing they had an Army big enough to undertake it and maintain a line of Circumvallation about it Others were of opinion that encamping still with their Army in the Enemies Countrey they should not only put them to a great burden of the War but might with money and promises encourage and propagate their Intelligence whereby to obtain an advantageous victory which could never be compleat unless they advanc'd into the very bowels of France and divided that powerful and opulent City of Paris from their Union with the King But as this had been endeavored even from the beginning without any effect so was there less hopes now especially since by the pacification of Guienne the interest of the Princes was in a declining condition and the credit of the Cardinal much increased At last the Enterprise of Rocroy was resolv'd on To which effect the Count de Ligneville advanced with 3000 Horse with all speed to block up the Town the 5th of September by break of day and was followed by the whole Army which was so unexpected and not foreseen by the Governour that 100 of his best Souldiers were shut out of the Garrison being gone a scouting according to custom The French Generals did their utmost to put in supplies but the ways being narrow and difficult they could by no means effect it The Spaniards having possest themselves of all the Passes the Prince of Condy took up his quarters at a place call'd l' Vnghero The Count de Fuensadagne in the Champion Country extending his quarters from the Main body to the watch above The space from thence to the Prince of Condy's Post was possess'd by the Lorainers Their Army being Lodg'd in this posture they began immediatly their line of Circumvallation which in 4 days was compleated and on the 11th of September they open'd their Trenches directing their approaches to the Bulwarks of Chene and del Perdu and to the Half-moon or Ravelin betwixt them The Commanders in chief of the Spaniards in this Leagure were the Count de Fuensaldagne General the Count de Garzias Lieutenant-General and the Prince of Ligny in the third place Prince Uldric of Wittembourg was Captain-General of the German Horse The Lorraine Troops were Commanded by the Count de Ligneville The Prince of Condy's by the Marquess de Bouteville the Count de Briole the Count de Duraz and the Prince de Tarante who a while after left the Camp disgusted with the Spaniards because they would not admit him to the Command conferr'd upon him by the Prince Rocroy was well-provided with Victuals Ammunition Cannon Forts and a good wall Their chief want was of men there being in the whole Garrison not above 450 Foot 50 Horse 30 Inhabitants in Armes and about 90 Peasants that had fled thither The foss was full of water and the Plain without the Works spungie and morish but 4 or 5 Foot deep chalkie and firm The French Generals at the first motion of the Enemies Army perceived immediately they could nave no other design but upon Rocroy and because they judged it impossible either to