prejudicial to us Even at Madrid the business is known for they have not failed to write it from Flanders and Paris with intention to break the project of the Alliance which is in hand to hinder the execution of the Peace When I shall have the honour to see you I will shew you Papers which will discover to you far more than what I have wrote If you remedy not this without delay the affair will every day grow worse and become incurable I ought moreover to complain that you take great care to send to Rochelle what I write to you Judge I pray you if this be obliging to me and advantagious for you and if this be a means to contribute to the cure of the Person to whom you write As to the News I have to give you I remit my self to Mr. Tellier and moreover you will do me right if you believe I shall omit nothing here which may tend to your service notwithstanding the troubles I am in and the great difficulties I see must be surmounted LETTER VII To Monsieur le Tellier Civility of Don Lewis Manner of the Cardinal 's receiving him To Monsieur le Tellier From St. John de Luz July the 30th I Have retain'd this Currier in expectation of the answer of Mr. de Lionne and Mr. de Pimentel to the end I may inform you of what they bring from Don Lewis de Haro relating to our enterview Be pleased then to let the King and Queen know that nothing could be added to the Civility which Don Lewis shewed me He has moreover writ me a very obliging Letter and signified to me that if my Distemper continued he would come and see me as far as Bayonne and farther that he was content to visit me first in France passing cross the River which separates the two Kingdoms but this being a thing which was not thought proper at Madrid he desired me not to take it amiss if he tarried for the King his Master's answer to the Letter she wrote him assuring me beforehand that this answer which he should not fail to receive to Morrow Night would not be contrary to that he gave me concerning his coming first to see me being content I should receive his visit in bed seeing my indisposition would not let me do otherwise I believe I shall receive him at a Castle not far hence called Vrtebia * Where was the enterview in 1463. of Lewis XI King of France Hen. IV. King of Castile and which I may return him at Hiron or at Fontarabia The Mareschal de Gramont will go to meet him with a great Train at his entrance into the Kingdom Orders will be given at the same time to make two Bridges on the River of Andaye which shall lead to a little Island which is in the midst distant about 500 Paces from the place where the exchange of the two Queens * Ann of Spain Wife of Lewis XIII and Elizabeth of France Wife of Philip Prince of Spain The exchange was made Nov. 9. 1615. was made and though this Island be a neutral Place and in a manner nothing yet it 's agreed that without prejudice to the King 's rights he will raise some Buildings there and receive me there with all possible honour contesting about no advantages which I may pretend I could not well approve openly of his sending into Spain for this but Don Antonio Pimentel silenc'd me in saying that if this gave me any disturbance Don Lewis would come this very day to see me without waiting the answer from Madrid But seeing these Gentlemen do not hasten and experience shewing me they do nothing by hazard I therefore believe it my duty to entreat the King and Queen that I may make an halt three or four days at Poictiers under pretence of resting my Train to the end I may inform them of what passes in our first Conference in which I believe it will be no hard matter to discover the intentions of Don Lewis before their Majesties continue their journey to Bourdeaux I beseech you therefore to acquaint them with it though I wholly refer my self to what they shall judge fitting LETTER VIII To Monsieur le Tellier Preparatives for the Conferences Buildings of Bridges and Chambers To Monsieur le Tellier From St. John de Luz the 5th of August 1659. I Have already inform'd you that we have in a manner agreed that Don Lewis should give me the first visit and that afterwards I would return his at Hiron or Fontarabia and that he will build a great House in an Isle which separates the two Kingdoms where the Conferences will be held but having seen that this Affair would hold long he pretending not to enter on business in the two first visits which I have Collected from some words which Don Antonio Pimentel has utter'd That Don Lewis might be sick when I gave him a visit and that moreover the world might find fault that the Conserences should be held in a place which might be respected as Don Lewis's House because 't was he that built it though in a neutral place All these Reasons I say and especially that of abridging the Negotiation as much as may be made me advise yesterday morning with all our Gentlemen and resolve to tell Don Antonio Pimentel that I thank Don Lewis for his civility in offering to make me the first visit and that being responsible as we are to all Christendom for the moments we tarried to enjoy the effects of the peace I therefore judg'd it expedient to retrench the first visits and without any more delay we cause Bridges to be made to pass each of us on his side into the Isle where might be equal Lodgings built and a Chamber at the head of the Isle in an equal distance from the two Lodgings in which there may be two doors one on his side and the other on mine by which we may enter taking both of us our places in the seats which shall be prepared from each party in the midst of the Chamber which we shall take care to build and furnish each of us half whereby we shall avoid the inconveniencies which Don Lewis apprehends if my Train and his could commodiously land because there might be Orders given to transport only a certain number of the most qualified persons into the Island and of whose behaviour there would be no danger There being no difficulty in the execution of what 's above mentioned Pimentel having on his part spoke conformably thereunto and being set out yesterday in all haste to carry the whole matter to Don Lewis so I have set forth this morning at break of day the Sieurs de Chouppes and de Sevigny with five or six able Persons and about forty Carpenters to work incessantly at the Bridge and Building which must be made in concert with the Officers of Don Lewis and I have moreover sent for this effect twenty Waggons laden with Timber and
that the King of Spain can obtain no advantage of 'em but by the Treachery of some of the Portuguises themselves which they have publish'd to be the cause of the raising the Siege of Bajador and not the fear of the Army which came to attack their Lines And it must be acknowledg'd that herein he has good reason and speaks as one that has a perfect knowledge of their humour which may cast 'em into some wretched disaster for I do not perceive they seem to be concern'd to defend themselves or to make an accommodation So that for want of foresight the King and Queen of Portugal run a great risk of falling into great perplexities and losing their Crown and Persons without bringing any Remedy We afterwards discoursed of England and agreed on what could be wisht on both sides which is to say if the War continued between his Catholick Majesty and England we should observe a perfect neutrality without giving any assistance either during the present Reign or under another which might continue the War with Spain and that on their side if England should come to have a War with us they should do the same in relation to us I thought of getting clear out of this Conference without a word of Monsieur the Prince but I found my self much mistaken for Don Lewis having made me the usual declaration that this point shou'd in no sort retard the execution of the Peace and I having answered him it would delay it seeing he spoke to me continually about it to the great prejudice of Christendom whose quiet ought not to be deferred one moment for the more or less satisfaction of a particular Person who deserved punishment for having been guilty of the most horrid Rebellion was ever seen he began by repeating to me the things he so often had mention'd to me to wit the great advantages which the King drew from this Peace He insisted mightily on the renunciation of Alsatia which the King his Master made without any recompence tho' it be certain that this Province and Brisac cannot be lawfully acquired by France but by the King of Spain's renunciation to whom this should return in case of failure of the Line of the Arch Duke of Inspruck wherein it is certain he has reason and that he looks with astonishment on all the great advantages which France gains there being no instance of any Peace she has made in which she has so greatly profited whether in reputation or number of Places and extent of Country which on all sides enlarges her Frontiers In fine the conclusion of his discourse was That though on account of all these Reasons the King his Master might expect some relaxations in favour of Monsieur the Prince yet he had order to declare to me that his Catholick Majesty would think himself obliged to the King regarding it as an effect of his generosity and that himself in particular would be so too and do all things to shew me his acknowledgments if I would use my endeavours for this I told him That as I could not always repeat the same things every time he held me the same discourses I would only add That these kind of generosities are commonly exercised between private Persons but that great Kings what Friendship soever they might have never steer'd by these motives in things which regarded their reputation and the good of their Kingdoms and that as I would never pretend to the liberty of asking of the King of Spain any thing which should be against his interest and honour so I could not but find it strange that his Excellency far from dealing thus should insist still on the same arguments though I had without vanity be it spoken entirely overthrown ' em He afterwards desired me not to take it ill if he proposed to me an Expedient he had thought on which was that his Catholick Majesty to oblige the King to give a place of surety to Monsieur the Prince as Havre de Grace might be should give Olivenza to the Duke of Braganza besides his re-establishment in his Lands and Honours and the Office of Constable of Castile I told him I belived he jeer'd me and that we should make no great progress if we spent our time in such kind of projects that Monsieur the Prince would be more considerable with Havre de Grace than he was heretofore with all the Places and Governments he had and that the King of Portugal would receive for a recompence of two Kingdoms he was now possest of his Estate and a place which was in the heart of Spain forty Leagues off of Lisbon and Portugal which is to say that instead of surety this which was offered him was a Trap for him and that did I not believe he offered me these Proposals to move laughter I should have great reason to be scandaliz'd at his thinking me a man fit to put such discourses on He fell to laughing in effect and replied to me he saw well I was informed what kind of place Olivenza was and that I had reason to say that if his Master recovered Portugal this place and that of Elvas should be raised as having been fortified by the Duke of Braganza only to make head against the Countries under his Catholick Majesty's Obedience However he omitted not for all this to use other discourses touching Monsieur the Prince and perceiving I grew a little hot in my answers Well then said he we will conclude the Peace we will do it sincerely Monsieur the Prince shall cast himself at his most Christian Majesty's feet and present him his Son whom he shall leave with his Majesty and he will go to Venice or Holland where he may live on the Money my Master will give him in payment of what he owes him and this will not be over well I answered him that Monsieur the Prince accepting the favours the King offered him by the Peace neither he nor his Family would want the Spanish Money for subsistance and that as to the rest he need not be at the pains to cast himself at the King's feet nor bring his Son thither unless he determined before hand to submit to what he was obliged by the Treaty of Paris seeing without the King could not receive him nor let him enjoy the Priviledges granted him by this Treaty So that the Tryal he made to see whether the Prince might not do thus served only to disabuse him and put him out of hopes of it After this I thought 't was fit to conclude although the Conference lasted not so long as half the time of the others and I made the bad weather and rotten ways a pretence for this But as I arose he prayed me to give him the liberty of sending Monsieur Pimentel to me by whom he hoped to propose to me some Expedient as well in relation to Monsieur the Prince as what remained to be adjusted which would be to my satisfaction I told him I should be very glad
carriage very complaisant and in fine such a one as is necessary to beget a good opinion of him I added That by this particular knowledge which I had of Monsieur the Prince I might tell him in the first place That his Excellency would find himself much wearied were he to endure all the Importunities of Monsieur the Prince when he should be near him and that in truth he would little value my Friendship should it not presently produce to him in some sort or other the Advantages he sollicites and that I was sure his Excellency knew this as well as I. It was then he replied to me Would you have a Prince of his Merit return into France without Reputation without any Places Offices or Governments How will you have him live I briskly answer'd him As Five Hundred other Princes of the Blood who without attempting any thing against the King and the State have yet never had any Government or Offices That most of the Princes of the Blood only desiring them to do mischief there is therefore great reason not to give 'em them For their security and the receiving marks of respect from all Frenchmen they need only to live well and serve the King faithfully as they are hereunto obliged more than any other Subjects Here he offered me a Thousand Flatteries and said to me Seeing you are not willing we should give Mounsteur the Prince Places in Soveraignty can I not at least obtain from the King to give him some State as the Two Calabrias or the Kingdom of Sardaignia I told him I scarce believ'd him in earnest and that he dexterously made me these Offers to shew the Prince's Followers the desire the King his Master had to do great things for him knowing well 't would cost him nothing in the end there being no likelihood that the King would consent that the Prince should having this Establishment return into France To which I yet added That if Monsieur the Prince taken with the Present of a Kingdom would receive it from the King of Spain I would consent to it He replied to me That in this case Monsieur the Duke D'Anguienne might return into France to keep there the place of his Father and enjoy whatever the King should consent to restore to Monsieur the Prince But I replied to him That herein the Father and Son were the same and that such a kind of division would be on a thousand accounts prejudicial to the Crown of France and I concluded that his Excellency must resolve to give some considerable Sum of Money to Monsieur the Prince with which he might buy a considerable Estate in Land which would remain to him and his Heirs for ever and would be more advantagious than Places which he must lose when he dyed But he likes not this saying That if they gave him Money 't would be a Gratification and not a Recompence for the Services he had done and what he had lost in France In the heat of the Discourse he was so transported as to say That his Master would have no Allies after the Promises he had made to Monsieur the Prince should he abandon him and suffer him to be stript of whatever might render him and had heretofore rendred him considerable to France I answerd him Three things The First That Subjects who revolt against their King and put themselves under the protection of another should never be term'd Allies because this term is only applicable to Soveraign Princes who are at liberty to Ally themselves and to do whatever they thought good The Second That we have great Interest to use all our endeavours to treat these Allies in such a manner as might not be easie for the Crown of Spain to have any of them for the future The Third That the King 's earnest desire for Peace made him lay aside all those regards to Portugal which Spain affected to have for the Prince The conclusion of my Discourse was That we should once for all end this Astair that whatever respected the Interests of Monsieur the Prince had been wholly concluded at Paris and had it not been so I had never taken such a long Journey That what remained behind was to agree about the Gratification which the King of Spain should give the Prince to which the King would be obliged to consent provided it was not prejudicial to his Majesty and contrary to what had been stipulated by the Article of the Treaty concerning this matter Don Lewis ended the Conference in saying to me That he would think again on the Quality and Form of this Gratification which he still call'd a Recompence and that he hoped we might agree upon it the first time we should see one another which was referred to Saturday I shall not enter on a particular relation of what past on divers other Points because those which we agreed on were not of great consequence and there was nothing concluded on others Neither will I tell you that he omits no occasion to speak of the King in the most obliging terms imaginable and expresses himself always on the Match as if already concluded and in the last place he told me that the Infanta's Person would be well liked of in France and that the Beauty of her Mind was no whit inferiour to that of her Body We resolv'd a-fresh that to abridge the time Mr. de Lionne and the Secretary Coloma should set to the drawing up the necessary Form to those things of which we were agreed and even go over again certain points on which they should agree together as being not of the greatest consequence But being inform'd by a Letter which Monsieur de Lionne wrote me this Morning that not only he advances nothing with Don Pedro Coloma but that he could do nothing with Don Lewis whom he had seen Yesterday I thereupon sent him word I could no longer bear with these delays and that he would tell Don Lewis I wish'd we had our Conference in which I should perceive by his Conduct what success we might expect from this Affair And having instructed Monsieur de Lionne in the things I thought needful for him to insinuate to Don Pedro Coloma that by this Channel they might come to Don Lewis he has very well executed it to the telling him I was afraid Monsieur the Prince would prove fatal to Christendom and be the cause of not making that Peace at Madrid which was determined and agreed on at Paris I believe it 's fit their Majesties should know my opinion in this matter which is That Don Lewis of his own humour and by the hopes of obtaining something to the advantage of Monsieur the Prince will drive out the time as long as he can according to the sollicitation of Lainet and other Adherents of this Prince In the Second place I believe that Lainet by his manner of acting has gotten some ascendant over the Spirit of Don Lewis seeing he has not the power to determine
himself on this Subject and tho' he be never so well perswaded by my Reasons when he leaves the Conferences yet communicating them to Lainet he furnishes him with Supplies and makes him believe I shall be obliged to yield to them Yet with all this as I am oblig'd to try all means to put forward Don Lewis and press him to a speedy determination and that I know the present constitution of Affairs obliges the Crown of Spain to seek its Advantages in the Peace Yet I believe I may on good grounds say that all this will end well but it would be an Imprudence to be positive in things so liable to Accidents LETTER XV. To Monsieur le Tellier Fourth Conference Of the King's Marriage Of Renunciations Don Lewis speaks again for the Prince of Conde Sharp Answer of the Cardinal who seems indifferent whether the Match be made or not Cunning Proposition of the Cardinal to sound the intention of the Spaniards in relation to Monsieur the Prince To Monsieur le Tellier From St. John de Luz Aug. 23 1659. YEsterdays Conference was a little sharp I got from it with an entire satisfaction in as much as the Stroaks which I gave some of which being bold enough have shewn me the bottom of Don Lewis his Heart and confirm'd me in the Judgment which I have made That the end of this Negotiation will be good and produce nothing but what shall be advantageous to the Service and Honour of the King The First Point which came into discourse was that of the Marriage there was no great difficulty to agree in what was said on this Point Monsieur de Lionne and the Secretary Coloma being ordered to draw up the Articles and Letters which the two Kings were to write to the Pope for a Dispensation and all other particulars which should be necessary for the more speedy finishing of this Affair I made him a long Discourse on the Renunciations telling him that as the King was going to be most obliged to promote and sustain the Interest of the Serenissima Infanta so I could not forbear proposing her to be considered by the King her Father in this occasion and tho' my Allegations could produce no effect yet I fail'd not to strengthen them with Reasons apparent enough the principal of which was the ready disposition of the King to the Peace yielding several Points on the belief he should espouse the Serenissima Infanta without her being required in Spain to make any Renunciation no one being able to imagine that the only consideration of this Marriage could oblige the King to yield on essential Points in the Treaty of Peace as he had done seeing that without exceeding the bounds of Modesty I may say that if the Infanta be the greatest Match in Europe the King is likewise the same And as to the Emperour his Dignity is transitory and it 's certain he would esteem himself the happiest Prince in the World could he strip himself of his Quality and Countries to invest himself with the Kingdom of France or Spain He answer'd me That what I said was true but were I inform'd of the Offers which the Emperour had made to obtain the Infanta and the great Advantages the King his Master might reap from this Alliance whereas having preserred that of the King he has thereby given his Nephew the most sensible displeasure imaginable there being nothing able to appease him I should be of the same opinion with him That the King prefers the making a cordial Friendship with the King of France before all other considerations whatever and to add to the Affection of Uncle the Tenderness of a Father Their Majesties know and you likewise that in this point he has told us the real Truth and that when he spake of the Offers the Emperour made the King of Spain he means the Emperour would have broke with France and carried himself in all things as the Catholick King would have had him had he granted him the Infanta as she had been promis'd to him For the Renunciations he told me he well saw that I had spoken to him about them that I might say the King rendred this Office to the Serenissima Infanta before he was her Spouse but that he did not doubt but I was well assured Don Lewis could not make in Spain the proposal of such a thing and that he would tell me as a secret that in the King of Spain's Council there was not the least thought of the Alliance without the Renunciation excepting what he and another had all the Council being averse to the Marriage it self believing that notwithstanding these Renunciations if his Master should come to lose his two Children as was greatly to be apprehended being so young the Eldest being not above Twenty Months France would lay claim to the Succession I am well perswaded of all this from very convincing Reasons and moreover I very well remember what the Queen has several times told me when the King her Brother had but one Son but I have been more pleased to hear the same thing from the mouth of the chief Minister of Spain and that all the Council of Spain have spoken conformably thereto After this he return'd to the charge on the Interests of Monsieur the Prince repeating to me all the Reasons he had mentioned to me in his favour in the preceding Conferences adding thereto what ever Lainet and the Adherents of the Prince had lately suggested to him and he reproach'd me more vehemently than ever in that his earnest entreaties could not prevail with me to intercede with the King in favour of a Prince who desired nothing more passionately than to merit by his most humble Services and Submissions the good will of the King and Queen and my Friendship in particular by giving me real marks of his and that if he could but receive some reasonable satisfaction whereby he might return into France without disgrace all things would pass as Heart could wish and in fine we should have another Golden Age. He enlarged himself much on all the Examples there were of the Clemency of the Kings of France in regard to those who had wandred from their Duty as Monsieur the Prince had done and he insisted chiefly on what the King had done in reference to Monsieur the Prince of Conty and the Mareschals of Turenne Hoquincourt and Foucaut and that in fine it was common enough in France to commit the like Crimes and not only to obtain Pardon for them but also draw Advantages from 'em And it was no hard matter for me to observe that he had studied well the Lesson which Lainet had given him on this subject seeing he repeated it word for word I confess this last Clause of his discourse greatly moved me it seeming to me that the Spaniards endeavour as much as in them lies to establish this Maxim That Rebellion is not a Crime in France but rather a means to raise ones Fortune But
I replied to him That the Prince of Conty and the Mareschal of Turenne had implor'd the King's Clemency and were returned to their Duty with the greatest Submission without pretending any thing and without any other condition than that of being re-establish'd in the honour of his Favour that as to Hoquincourt and Foucaut the King had done what the exigency of his Service requires and that I well saw that Spain could have wish'd any thing else to the end the first delivering them Peronne Monsieur the Prince might have the liberty of ranging as far as the Gates of Paris and that the other * Besides the Mareschal's Staff he had Fifty Thousand Louis Dor's given him in ready Money holding firm in Brouage and the Isle of Oleron it should be impossible for us to end the Civil War to recover all the places of the Kingdom which she had made us to lose and to reduce Guienne and other Provinces as had been done That as to the rest it was true the French were more prone than the Spaniards to fail in their Duty but that the Kings far from encouraging them by too much Mildness to hold always this ill Conduct had always used them with the greatest Rigour when the welfare of their Service had not oblig'd them to do otherwise that herein they varied not in France from the manner was used in Spain seeing when they could not remedy Rebellions and Insurrections which happened they had Patience as is apparent in relation to the Portuguise and Catalonians who have been always sought to and offer'd not only a Pardon but moreover new Priviledges and great Recompences to those of the Country who had most Credit In fine I hereunto added the Example of the Hollanders who having maintained their Rebellion to the end had at length been acknowledged by the King of Spain for Free and Independent States and their Embassadours treated as those of Soveraigns And I concluded That if more Rebellions and Revoltings were seen in France than in Spain this mishap was somewhat lessned by the facility wherewith the French return'd to their Duty which could not be said of the Subjects of the King of Spain who having once thrown off the Yoke never return'd to their obedience again but by force as appear'd sufficiently by the Example of the Hollanders who are peaceable Possessors of several Provinces which were the Patrimony of the King of Spain not an Age past That all the Revolts which had hapned in France had not yet caus'd the King to lose a Thumb's breadth of Land who on the contrary by the apparent Blessing of God had extended on all hands the limits of his Kingdom maugre the Union of so many Princes and Parliaments who had conspir'd the Ruine of the State So that the proneness of the French in failing in their Duty was corrected by the facility of their Return whereas if the Subjects of Spain do more rarely forget themselves yet when they do it they as seldom return I well perceiv'd this Discourse rack'd Don Lewis and I told him I was troubled he had oblig'd me to it but the Honour of France and that of the King required it In fine shewing some emotion he spake to me again in more earnest terms of the satisfaction of Monsieur the Prince telling me his Master's Honour was therein engaged so that he could not excuse himself from doing something considerable for him without exposing himself to a perpetual blemish and therefore he pray'd me once for all to tell him clearly what he might expect in this point seeing this being adjusted all the rest would be easily accorded in one single Conference It was here that I judg'd it conducing to the good success of this Negotiation for the Service and Dignity of the King and to know the bottom of Don Lewis's Heart to transport my self by Address in raising a little my Voice I told him then Sir you speak with a great deal of liberty and freedom on the subject of Monsieur the Prince which you regard as the principal decision of this whole Affair For my part I must declare to you that having suffer'd more patiently than I ought Four Conferences to be taken up in contesting a thing already adjusted in the Treaty of Peace Signed at Paris and ratified without therein changing a word That the King will do nothing beyond what I have declared to you and that even when his Majesty would permit me to make a longer stay on this Frontier and we should have an Hundred more Conserences you will obtain nothing more of me because his Majesty will never consent that the King of Spain should give the Prince a Recompence which may serve as a Monument to Posterity of his Rebellion and of pernicious Example to Persons of his Rank to engage themselves in the service of Spain against the King and their Country to gain like Recompences He would have interrupted me here but entreating him to let me to go on I continued to say to him That Monsieur the Prince must resolve as I have several times affirm'd to become wholly a Frenchman or wholly a Spaniard That the King would never suffer he should receive from his Catholick-Majesty other gratification than that I already mentioned That it not being reasonable Christendom should longer remain plung'd in the Abyss of Miseries wherein a long War had thrown it for the Interests more or less of a particular Person to whom for the sake of the Peace the King had parted with a thousand times more Favours than he ought and the success of the Affairs of this Kingdom permitted Besides Justice required the King should use towards the Prince the same manner as the King of Spain would use in relation to Portugal otherwise I well saw with a sensible displeasure that the consideration of Monsieur the Prince which had already hindred Three Years before the conclusion of the Peace at Madrid to the prejudice of all Christendom of which they must give an account to God who had been the cause might moreover occasion the rupture of a Peace Concluded Signed and Ratified and that if the Emissaries of Monsieur the Prince and some other Persons were able to perswade Don Lewis that holding out on this point I would yield my self in the end it being impossible for me to resolve to return without the work of the Peace receiving its perfection lest I incur the hatred of the People I therefore declared to him that tho' it were true I should be greatly grieved in not succeeding in an Affair so much desired of all the World yet I should return with this consolation That no body could with the least shew of Reason impute to me the fault of the rupture of the Peace for the conclusion of which I had so happily laboured at Paris That I believed the King might expect from the Divine Goodness in the continuation of the War the same Advantages and it may be greater than those had
to go and cast my self at his Feet to supplicate him and that however I protested to him he could not do me a greater pleasure than not to take me at my word and to end this affair as is mention'd in the Treaty of Paris in converting into Silver the Prince's Gratification as I have already above denoted I forgot to tell you that I had made him before this Proposition That if he would give to the King of Portugal the Kingdom of Sardaignia which he had offered to Monsieur the Prince I would signifie as much to his Majesty and use my utmost endeavours to make him relish this Proposition with which the King of Portugal might be satisfied and I pleasantly enlarged my self hereupon to put him from insisting any more in hopes of succeeding in the behalf of Monsieur the Prince I told him Sir here 's the best Expedient in the World to satisfie this King and to give an opportunity to the King my Master to shew to the World that he obtains for his Ally a handsom Retreat as likewise to end the War on all hands seeing the King of Portugal embracing this Expedient the Catholick King without drawing his Sword may put himself in possession of several Kingdoms the least of which is more considerable than that of Sardaignia But this Proposition served only the more to perplex him without his being able to offer any solid reason to oppose it Neither indeed can there be any for it would be far more advantagious to his Catholick Majesty to recover Portugal without striking a stroke in yielding Sardaignia to this King than to give as a pure gift this Province to Monsieur the Prince And forasmuch as the principal end of the Relation I here make you is to inform the King and if I may express my self so to instruct his Majesty in whatever there is most important for his Service and most conducing to the interests of his Crown so I will not omit as far as my little leisure will give me leave to make known to the King all the accidents which happen in several occasions in our Conferences And therefore I will tell you that Don Lewis having taken again this last time occasion to exagerate the extraordinary advantages received from this Peace by the means of which his Majesty assured his Conquests and extended their limits on all sides I told him that the King would willingly renounce all this if his Catholick Majesty would only deliver him Navarre in exchange which all the World knows belongs to him by so good a Title that there 's not a Frenchman who from the first use of his Reason is not perswaded the King has no less right to this Kingdom than to the City of Paris He ask'd me if I knew what Navarre was seeing 't was no greater than Rousillon Accept then the Proposal I made you said I to him assureing you that if you take me at my word the King will make it good but I suppose you will do nothing herein but had rather keep this little Country wherein there is not above Two or Three Places for you well know that the King my Master had once Pampelune his Catholick Majesty would be forced to dislodge from Madrid He told me in another Rencounter that the effects of War are uncertain that the Affairs of the Allies of France proceeded not so well in Germany as we could wish that they were near seeing in England such changes as would give Spain as many advantages as France had during the time of Cromwell that there was nothing to be expected from the Commotions in Naples and supposing the Peace was not made there might a great many things happen in Portugal which would give the King his Master an opportunity to draw this Thorn out of his Foot and to employ elsewhere the Forces he had hitherto been constrain'd to use on that side I answer'd him in two Words Do you know why It is because all is asleep and that you do not see several things break forth on all sides which will give you just reason to apprehend the progress of France for the future more than you have done hitherto it is because the King expecting whether the Peace will be made has ordered me to supersede all Negotiations which may make him enter into new engagements with Swedeland England and Portugal although we be continually sollicited from all sides with such offers as would affect any other Prince who can be less sensible than him of the Miseries which so long a War has brought on Christendom And I concluded That perhaps we had shut our Ears to more plausible Propositions and which might better succeed in the Kingdom of Naples than all those which had been made to us heretofore and that I prayed to God with all my Heart that the execution of the Peace might oblige me to lye still otherwise I could easily shew France to be in a more likely condition than ever to make her self seared We pass'd afterwards to entertaining our selves very friendly on the conveniencies which the two Crowns would find from the Peace and I told him that I could not comprehend how those who had heretofore held our Places and our selves too had not always laboured with all our powers to unite our Masters seeing this Union rais'd equally the power of both without giving them the least jealousie that I could assure him the greatest part of the Princes of Europe would not have a Peace and that those whose Interest it was to see it concluded seared nothing more than to behold a strict friendship made between the two Kings because both one and the other grounded their advantage in the continuation of the War or at least in the fomentation of Jealousies and Mistrusts between the two Crowns that the Conduct and Intentions of these Princes seemed to me to learn us what we should do and that it was strange we being able to give Laws to all of 'em we should put our selves into a condition to receive it from them and that in stead of obliging them to make their court to our Masters by jealousies one of another they should court 'em themselves to the great prejudice of their dignity But after all said I to him again what reason can the two Kings have to make War so obstinately against one another and with so great damage to their States and Subjects seeing it is certain that neither the Revolutions which can happen thence nor the progress which the Arms of the one can make over the other in diverse times will ever be capable of ruining so well one that the two Powers become entirely one single Body He testified he liked very well my discourse and having repeated it he told me there was no replying to what I said but I will tell you in your Ear to the end only their Majesties may know it that it troubles me to see him so indifferent for the executing of any great Enterprise
than ever without considering that you are going to Espouse the Greatest and most Virtuous Princess in the World that she has had an inclination for you from the Cradle that there is nothing so advantagious in the present Conjuncture for the Prosperity of your Affairs that she is well shaped and that the Beauty of her Mind comes not short of that of her Body It is hereupon if I were near you I would conjure you to tell me if there be not sufficient to satisfie you in the possession of this Princess who without doubt will adore you for all the excellent Qualities you possess but that another Passion which you so carefully cultivate is to you instead of a great defect For one may truly say that the Person you dote on comes not near the Beauty either of Mind or Body of the Princess who is to be your Spouse Besides that she is infinitely above her in Quality and Birth Were I with you I could not forbear remembring you of what you have said your self in several rencounters on the occasion of the Marriage of the Marquess of Richlieu that there is nothing more shameful and odious than a disagreeable Marriage I should never be weary in reminding you with the respect I owe you that the thoughts you have and which the person in question pretends you will not easily get rid off are very contrary to those you have had in relation to Richlieu and that by the decision you have given on this Subject you your self shall be judg'd in the presence of the Queen when you say that the thought of Espousing this person had for a principal motive the testifying to the World that being not able sufficiently to recompence my Services you would do it by this means for there is no body but would attribute so strange a resolution to an amorous transport rather than to my Services But when it should be true that this only motive induced you thereunto would it be just that I should so far forget my self as to consent that for my particular Interest and for the raising of my Reputation I should suffer you to lose yours In truth my Ambition puts me not on doing any Action which may redound to my Glory and I ought the rather to be thus affected in that besides my Duty your particular Favours oblige me hereunto In fine I apprehend my Return for assuredly I cannot entertain you to your likeing nor forbear telling you with great heat what I now write to you and other things more earnest on this Head I find my self then much perplex'd about what will become of me and much more in giving the last stroak in reference to your Marriage for methinks I promise what is not and that I contribute to the establishment of a thing which will make an innocent person miserable who deserves your Affection and your self likewise because you will be so It is time to render your self and to declare your will without disguisement for it is better a thousand times to break all off and to continue the War without any concern for the Miseries of Christendom and the prejudice which your Countries will receive than to make this Marriage for your misfortune and consequently that of the whole Kingdom And though I continue to labour to forward the business this shall not hinder me from executing what you will please to command me hereupon Yet I confess I shall do it with regret and with a sensible displeasure if I do not see at the same time that you do what is necessary to find contentment in the Marriage in hand Then will I do what God shall inspire me for your good that I may not fail in any thing which may depend on me to contribute to the satisfaction which I wish you in this Marriage which cannot be any thing else but what I wrote you from Cadillac very precisely after having well examined and resolved on what I signified to you And the better to make you know that the passion which you have hinders you from relishing the pleasure which you should feel in Espousing so great handsom and compleat a Princess I will add that you were wholly resolved or to speak better wisht at Lyons to Espouse the Princess Marguerite of Savoy whose beauty and quality are not comparable to the Infanta's and you may remember if you please that you were angry at what the Queen and others said to disgust you Here is whatever the passion fidelity and the zeal which I have for your service and happiness constrain me to represent with the liberty which I owe as an old Servant who breaths after nothing but your Glory and who has more interest and obligation than any other not only to tell you the truth but likewise to sacrifice his life for so good a Master As to what remains I protest to you that nothing is capable to hinder me from dying with sadness should I see a person who is so nearly related to me to cause you more mischief and damage than I have rendred you services from the first day I began to serve you I will likewise tell you that I have great affairs in hand as you know but that there is certainly none of so great importance as this and which requires more earnestly an end And therefore if need were I would lay aside all others and only labour at this I conjure you to read this Letter with attention and to do me the Honour to denote to me your intentions without any reserve to the end I may take the resolutions which I shall judge most proper and necessary for your service LETTER XXIV To the Queen Of Monsieur the Prince They would in Spain put off the Marriage till March. Reasons for this Of the King's Passion The same day I Have made a very good and pertinent use of the Letter which I entreated the Confident and you to write to me to shew Don Lewis especially that part where you say you could wish he knew as well the Prince's humour as you and I do for then the Conferences would be ended and Christendom enjoy the blessed effects of the so long desired Peace For he told me that the Queen retained he saw still her ill opinion of this Prince and I could easily perceive your Letters and those of Monsieur le Tellier made a great impression on his spirit I write to you by this Footman and will do it to Morrow Morning by Bartet by whom I intend to inform the Confident and you of whatever past in Yesterday's Conference Yet I must profess to you I am overcharged and greatly fear I shall not be able to go through so much business I am obliged particularly to tell you that it seems to me from what I have gathered from Don Lewis's discourses that they are very willing at Madrid to refer the Conclusion of the Marriage to the Month of March Every body is agreed that the King of Spain will
intentions and to propose to me some expedient which he believ'd I might like of And though it seems to me that if he had any agreeable proposal to make he would have made it himself yet to judge of his intention we must tarry till the arrival of Pimentel who has written to Des Meaux that he will be here to night without fail and I shall not omit to make known immediately to their Majesties the subject of our Conversation by the dispatch which the Sieur Bartet shall carry who may set out to morrow night However you will find here the relation of what past in the curious Conference which I wrote you shall receive by the said Bartet I would not have a bad judgment made of the boldness with which I make Propositions to Don Lewis and offer him certain things pretending to be very earnest he should accept of them for though I know very well if he should we should be prejudiced thereby yet I am sure we run no risk knowing well by the information I have of their interests that it is impossible for them to close with them so that without hazarding any thing I draw by this dealing more advantage than you can well imagine and I hope 't will appear so evidently in what remains to be adjusted I consider sometimes that if there were an Embassador in my place he could not give such bold strokes as I do because fearing he should be taken at his word in offering certain things he will likewise dread the being disowned and recalled with disgrace So that I see it a great advantage to Kings when they employ such Persons in great affairs who being fully assured of their good will negotiate boldly and hesitate not to propose a thousand Expedients to get their ends LETTER XXIX To Monsieur le Tellier Particulars of the sixth Conference Of the signing the Treaty of Marriage The Spaniards cannot be ready so soon for the Ceremonies of Marriage Of the Train the two Kings will bring along with them Of the demand of the Infanta by the Mareschal de Gramont Of the Dowry King's Conquests Of the valuation of the Dowry Earnestness of Don Lewis for Monsieur the Prince and Cardinal's replies Of the King of England's Ministers visit Lockart Embassador from the Common-Wealth of England Pleasant adventure hapning to the Abbot Siri with Don Christoval and their discourse To Monsieur le Tellier From St. John de Luz August the 30th 1659. TO inform their Majesties of several particulars which have past in the last Conference which may serve to discover to them what has been said on the points which have been discust and contested I must enter on a particular account of what I could yesterday give you only in general But the curiosity which they may have having I think been satisfied in what was essential by the Letter I wrote to you returning from the said Conference I will begin by telling you that being agreed in the Articles which respected the Marriage which I proposed my self to sign when it should be time in Don Lewis's Apartment to the end it might appear as it is reasonable that this Ceremony had been performed in Spain in the same manner as the Duke of Mayenne did it at Madrid when he went thither to make the demand of the Queen Don Lewis thankt me for the thoughts I had though to speak the truth 't was a thing about which the Secretary of State had already made some proposal to Monsieur de Lionne There may arisâ— some difficulty on the Signing of the Witnesses which are ever chosen on both sides of the greatest Quality but I have considered to remedy this we may do as is done in the Treaties of Peace which is to say make two Writings the one signed by the Spaniards which we shall keep the French signing the other It 's certain Don Lewis expects some Currier from Madrid to be instructed in the impossibilities there are to consummate the Marriage in the time prefix'd for he took a great deal of care to reckon up to me whatever must precede the departure of the Infanta But I perceive the real reason was that their Liveries and other necessary preparations for such an Action could not be finished so soon telling me that what was gotten ready in Fifteen days at Paris could not be so in Two Months at Madrid That the Treasurer had wrote to him he had orders from his Catholick Majesty to spare no cost to hasten things and had already paid out Two Hundred Thousand Crowns for the Liveries of his Majesties Houshold and the Livery of his Guards which consist of Three Companies of an Hundred Gentlemen each one of Spaniards another of Burgundians and the other of Germans I have learnt since that this is the real cause of this delay Don Antonio Pimentel having freely told me as much by the order of Don Lewis who came the other day to visit me here He told me among other things that should the King of Spain give a Million of Gold more he could not thereby hasten the preparations Four Days that the great Lords who must necessarily accompany him by reason of their Offices were forced to send to Naples and Milan to get their Cloaths and Liveries made Don Lewis speaking to me of this attendance of Persons of Quality on both sides gave me to understand the Two Kings would do well to bring along with them only such a number as would be absolutely necessary whereby they might shorten their Journey and lessen the expence of their Subjects who had been at great charge already by the War I upheld his Discourse saying That the King had already thank'd most of the Persons of the highest Rank in his Kingdom who had offered themselves to wait on him with all the Splendour usual on the like occasions so that his Majesty would bring scarcely any one along with him beyond what is necessary for his actual Service He much approved of this Overture and I believe it will not be his fault if his Master does not do the same and I suppose I have very well palliated the truth of what passes in your Court which is empty enough of persons of Quality for this occasion seeing the Princes Dukes and Peers and other Officers of the Crown excuse themselves from this Journey from the reasons you know I told afterwards Don Lewis that according to the Overture he had made neither the Catholick King nor the Infanta would be much concerned if in the necessity there was of gaining time in this conjuncture a Person was not sent of the same Quality as the Duke of Mayenne nor with the Splendour he shew'd in this occasion seeing the Person on whom his Majesty might cast his Eye might ride Post that I had dispatch'd a Currier to the King to propose to him the Mareschal de Grammont who besides his Birth was Duke and Peer and an Officer of the Crown spake Spanish and who in
his returning to the charge on the point of Monsieur the Prince but having repeated to me the Declaration he had made me in the two preceeding he began by professing he was much perplexed in this Affair not only for the reasons he had with great prolixity deduced to me heretofore but like wise because this Prince had ordered his Agents who are here to solicit nothing but to approve entirely whatever Don Lewis would do touching his interests So that he found himself at present his Plenipotentiary but at the same time incapacitated to procure him any advantage He agreed with me that this was a cunning piece of dexterity for the Prince to do thus in a desperate case to try whether this way of proceeding might procure him any advantage which he could not hope for by any other means And continuing his discourse he insisted more than ever he had done That I would like Monsieur the Prince should come here and that seeing our selves together we might be good Friends which is what he most passionately desired that he Don Lewis greatly wisht the same as likewise to see this Prince the most faithful and zealous Servant the King can have That he believ'd as this was for the advantage of Monsieur the Prince so it was no less conducing to his Majesties Service and my credit He afterwards much insisted on the sincerity with which this Prince would faithfully and punctually execute whatever he had promised in relation to the King and my Person in particular and on the just apprehension of being undone if he dealt otherwise seeing he would not have only the King's power to fear but moreover the resentment of his Catholick Majesty the Infanta and of him Don Lewis who would become his greatest Enemies should he fail in the least particluar he had promised To which I replied That being assured of his good intentions and the freedom with which he spake to me I had all the grateful sense which I ought but that it was fit his Excellency should know something might so happen in France That not only the Prince of Conde would have a mind to stir but that he would do it without mattering the complaints which the King of Spain and his Excellency might make against him provided he therein found his advantage seeing it had been seen by experience as this Prince knew perhaps better than another that the Cabals Commotions and Revolutions of France had never deeper roots nor produced greater effects to the prejudice of its Kings than when it did not appear they had any relation to Spain because the French generally speaking were very prone to engage themselves in the Commotions exited by the great ones of the Kingdom for particular interests but regard with horror whatever tends to the making them enter into a Confederacy with Strangers and especially Spaniards from whence his Excellency might easily perceive whether there is reason to believe that Monsieur the Prince could be withheld by the fear of his Catholick Majesty and his Excellency in case he had a mind to do mischief and an opportunity offered He afterwards urged me to tell him whether 't was not possible for some security to be granted to the Prince as he knew had been given in France in several occasions to Persons of less quality than he I answered there was no Example of this usage to any body except the Protestants to whom the good of the State and other considerations required the giving some places which have since been drawn out of their hands that his security had been provided for by what had been inserted in his favour in the Treaty signed at Paris and that it was his own fault he had not a greater seeing that returning with a Resolution to live well and to serve faithfully the King not only he had nothing to apprehend but might expect favours from his bounty and generosity of which he had less reason to doubt than any body having had more experience of this than any Subject besides Don Lewis prest me afresh to obtain of the King that Monsieur the Prince might come hither saying for this he would owe me the greatest respect and hereby all would be ended to the Prince's satisfaction I answered it depended on him to give it himself in fifteen days time and I should have the honour of presenting him my self to the King and Queen and that he had nothingelse to do but to accept of the favours which the King and Queen offered him by the Treaty and this answer was the cause he spake to me no more about it but it was I who pursued the matter making him dextrously value the Overture I had made him to use my endeavours with the King to give some recompence in France to Monsieur the Prince if he gave himself his helping hand thereto in casting himself at the King's Feet and remitting to his Majesty the places which the Catholick King should give him which I did with the address I have already mention'd to you informing him that my proposing this Expedient had no other motive but the drawing his Excellency out of the perplexity he seemed to be in though I well knew I should have a great deal of trouble to make the King relish it because Monsieur the Prince would owe all the obligation of the favours I might procure him from the King to his Catholick Majesty his most Christian Majesty chusing rather generously to bestow some on him in another time when he shall deserve them than to grant him 'em at present as a Recompence for what he should yield to his Majesty I farther added That if he liked to sâ—nd me Caillet I would make him value the firmness with which his Excellency acted in favour of Monsieur the Prince and that I might moreover engage him to make me Propositions more positive than those he had made me going and coming from his Master on the remitting to the King the Places which his Catholick Majesty should give him But he told me he would have no body meddle in this Affair but himself and he seemed to me more tortured at my having reduced him to the point of making me necessarily know that he had no intention of giving such like Recompence to the Prince or that he had done it for an ill end that is to say to render him always dependent on the King of Spain and to put him into a condition to make one day use of such an Establishment to the great damage and disservice of this Crown And I press'd him in this occasion more than I had done in any before telling him That if the Prince and his Agents could discover the Overture I had made him they would not let him rest a day till they had prevail'd with him to take me at my word for otherwise they would not have stuck to have taken it for granted that his Excellency never had the thought really to oblige Monsieur the Prince seeing if he
of it desiring nothing more than to embrace all those which might put an end to this Negotiation without prejudicing the Honour or Service of the King But I must confess to you I was strangely surprised when I found by the discourse Pimentel held me that instead of offering me Proposals on the Overture I had made to use my endeavours with the King to obtain some new favour for Monsieur the Prince if he laid at his Majesties feet the Places should be given him by his Catholick Majesty he repeated to me the same things Don Lewis had mentioned to me to excite the King's Generosity and to oblige me to contribute what in me lay thereto and let slip before me that Don Lewis had promised to make him the happiest man in Spain if he could prevail with me on this point I replied to all this that I had reason to be angry with Don Lewis in thinking me capable to give at the stances of a Person whom he sent me what I had refused at his and as to the rest I took Monsieur Pimentel to be too honest a man to design the raising his own Fortune on the ruine of my Reputation After this I pretended to be in a passion at Don Lewis's Proceedings and to apprehend he had concealed Ends in these delays he brought in setling matters which might have been adjusted in one only Conference adding I did not doubt but if I imparted this manner of proceeding to the King his Majesty would command my return it being apparent this delay greatly prejudiced his Affairs For besides his losing several advantages which he might reasonably expect in this Campaign he is likewise obliged on the belief the Peace will be soon proclaimed to hold his Allies in Suspence who press him on all hands to make particular Treaties with them In fine to avoid the prolixity wherein I should fall were I to give a particular account of what past with Pimentel I shall content my self with assuring their Majesties that I sent him away as well satisfied with my reasons as I could be my self and in a disposition of apprehending greatly the Resolutions I might take thereupon and being not yet satisfied with whatever I had said to him I wrote to Monsieur de Lionne who was at Andaye to the end that communicating my Note to the Sieur Pimentel he might the more easily remember to represent the same things to Don Lewis and in a manner as earnest as I had explained my self in of which charge I do not doubt but he will well acquit himself hoping that in the first Conference Don Lewis will yield to the putting an end to this affair The business ended not here for continuing to speak to me still on Monsieur the Prince he told me he could safely call God to witness that he had no other motive in this pursuit than to see all Parties so well satisfied that there might never happen the least alteration in the Peace which was about concluding and that as my particular friend he would entrust me with a scruple which came into his head which was that he greatly apprehended lest the Infanta who on one hand had a great deal of wit and on the other a great deal of tenderness for the King her Father having heard talk of nothing else for several years but the great services Monsieur the Prince had rendred him that he had been the cause by the diversions made in France of the taking of Barcelona and the reduction of all Catalonia and other Advantages which Spain had obtained whether in taking Places from us and especially Cambray the preservation of which they believe they wholly owe to him that he apprehended I say That coming into France with all these things in her mind she should prevail in all occasions relating to the Prince's Service in procuring him the King's favour and all the marks of it he could desire which perhaps might not produce a good effect whether in relation to the Publick or what might particularly concern me I replied to him with a smiling Countenance that I found my self greatly obliged to him for his good intentions and the Friendship he shewed me in opening to me his heart on so nice an affair but I entreated him not to be much troubled at whatever might happen hereupon because that though I no ways doubted of the inclinations of the Serenissima Infanta towards Monsieur the Prince whom she loved as a faithful Servant of her Father and the Spanish Monarchy not knowing at present other interests than those of the King her Father yet I assured my self that being the King's Wife she would prefer the Interests and Service of the King her Husband and his Children before any other consideration and look with an ill Eye on Monsieur the Prince as believing him capable of falling again into the same faults to the prejudice of a Kingdom of which she would be the Queen and though I had well observ'd that his Excellency had contented himself with speaking of the inclination of the Infanta for Monsieur the Prince without mentioning any thing of the aversion she had for me who have done a great deal more against the House of Spain than Monsieur the Prince had done for it I ever doubted of the Hatred of the Infanta to me without any great trouble considering from the same reason that becoming Queen of France she would honour with her good will a Person who has served the King and Kingdom with all the Fidelity and Industry possible and who would continue to do it to his last breath So that marrying the King Monsieur the Prince and I should change places in her affections where she would give me that he possesses at present and to him mine I am now to tell you to the end their Majesties may know it that I have learnt from Pimentel that the Horses which Don Lewis would give to the King which according to the relation of those who have seen them are the stateliest in the World will not be presented in his name but in the name of the Catholick King who has ordered him to put them into my hands to take care they be sent to his Majesty So that we must think of returning a Present to the King of Spain which I will remit to Don Lewis by the King's order to the end he may carry it to the King his Master I have already wrote to Paris what I judge fit and in due time will send the Memorial of things of which I think the Present should consist and though 't is usual to give things wherein there is more Art than Riches yet I will endeavour so to order it that here may be both We must also make a considerable Present to Don Lewis as well for that he will sign the Articles of Marriage as that it will be he that will Espouse the Infanta in Virtue of the King's Power and sign the Treaty likewise of Peace A Present