him that the world might know that he was Master The Parisiens the day following had another general Assembly and selected some Deputies to desire their Majesties to remove the Cardinal further off and to return to Paris but it was to no purpose the Court standing firm in their resolution not to sully the Royal Authority endeavouring to gain time and to keep Paris Neutral that they might not supply the contrary Party with Men and Money of which they stood in need enough The Princes and the Parlement on the other side studying to maintain themselves in the Peoples favour did not omit to imploy all their industry to stir up the people against the Kings Ministers and because it was necessary to keep afoot the commerce of Paris to hinder the Kings Army from passing the Sene they made some Levies which joyn'd with some other Troops of the Princes to scower the neighbouring Campania The Army of the Princes possest themselves of the Country of Estampes situated betwixt Orleans and Paris where they found a great quantity of Corn and here they intended to abide and fortifie themselves with hopes by maintaining this Post to keep Paris and Orleans faithful which was the main scope of all While the Kings Army lay quarter'd at Chartres and thereabouts they cast themselves into Estampes with their Lieutenants Generals for the Prince and the Dukes of Nemours and Beaufort were gone to Paris where they staid to make sure of the Frondeurs and their Party a good part of whom desiring the Kings return hearkened willingly to the Treaties that thereupon were had about the entry and reception of His Majesty who if at that instant he had frankly shewn himself he would have been received with all joyfulness and applause and the Princes and their Party chased away since the Citizens were at last weary of these hurly-burlies but nothing was done the King not daring to venture himself on the peoples instability nor willing to let the Cardinal depart as he often pressed to take away all pretext from the Male-contents The Kings Army besieged that of the Princes in Estampes where followed divers skirmishes and amongst the rest a very bloudy one in possessing themselves of the Suburbs The Court fixed at St. Germains and here the first Deputation which was sent was in the name of the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde who dispatched thither the Count de Chavigny the Secretary Goulas and the Duke de Rohan Chabot Chavigny was for the Prince Goulas for Orleans and Chabot for both At first they declared that they would not treat with the Cardinal but this was only a shew for they had secret order to see him and to seek all ways to come to an Agreement with him with a firm resolution to gain him to their particular interests supposing that he to continue in France and in his Ministry would easily condescend to their pretensions They were secretly in the Cardinals Cabinet treated with him and Chavigny a person of great worth propounded to the Cardinal to make an entire Agreement with the Prince by granting him four Demands One was to make the Count d' Ognon Duke and Peer the Count de Marsin a Mareschal of France the Prince of Conty Governour of Provence and the Prince himself Plenipotentiary for the General Peace To the two first the Cardinal did comply because they simply concerned only honourable titles But the Government of Provence and the Plenipotentiary of the Peace he did wholly reject declaring he would never consent that for his particular interest the Kings Authority and Service should be prejudic'd This Deputation was of huge prejudice to the Princes because it was made in a time that the Parliament and the Parisiens were more incensed against the Cardinal and when all the Sovereign Courts had deliberated to require his removal and that the Commonalty of Paris were of the same mind in a time that the Duke of Orleans and the Prince had declared in Parliament that for a general satisfaction they desired nothing but the banishment of the Cardinal so that the people seeing them act against such express Declarations from thence forward they were not a little jealous of their carriage and many that were very well inclined towards them began to be more wary in their proceedings which was afterward one of the principal causes of their fall In the neck of this Deputation the Deputies of the Parliament appear'd at St. Germains with their Remonstrances to their Majesties about giving the Cardinal his Congé against whom the President Nesmond spake with great liberty The King heard them with much civility and afterward told them that he was very well informed of the good intentions of the Parliament and wish'd that they were as well perswaded of his That he would confer with his Privy Council and in three days they should understand his will with such words and general termes concluding nothing the Deputies return'd to Paris The same day those sent from the Chamber of Accounts and Court of Aids had Audience and the Answer was the same he gave the Parliament also the Provost of Merchants the Sheriffs the Attorney-General the City-Notary and others deputed from the Communalty presented themselves before his Majestie representing to him the unhappy state of his Subjects and of the necessity of dismissing the Cardinal the sole cause of all the distasts and differences The Keeper of the Seals answer'd that his Majestie was assured of the good affection of the City of Paris and to satisfie them he intended to return thither so soon as the Passes should be open and this he said to give them a wipe that in the same time they made these Addresses they endeavored to hinder his coming cutting off the Bridges of the Sene and Marne The King therefore not yielding to condescend to such licentious demands the Male-contents took occasion to exclaim against his Council who on the other side complaining of the Subjects Proceedings every thing went more and more into confusion and all the faults which indeed did concern onely a few interessed people and Male-contents were charged upon Mazarine against whom their hatred and fury not abating he was commonly called The root of all evil and The cause of all the miseries of that flourishing Kingdom which would have been more unhappy wanting the protection of the Cardinal and the power of the Princes and of the Parlement increasing if the Kings Authority had been diminished which the more independent and absolute the more profitable to Subjects who are always most miserable where there are most Masters The Parliament Assembled to hear the Answers that the Deputies brought from Court where were present the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde with all the chief of the Faction when the News came that the Royallists were assaulting the Bridge of St. Cloud defended by a little Fort whereupon the Prince of Condé mounting suddenly on Horseback with several Gentlemen and above eight
he ended this Answer with a demand which he made them to try their good intentions and as a business most necessary which was That the Inhabitants would re-establish in their Offices the Governour the Prevost of the Merchants and the Sheriffs who had been turned out Which being done his Majestie would presently send Orders to be observed in the Town-house assuring the six Companies of Merchants of his entire satisfaction good-will and Protection The Princes the Parliament and the whole Faction were very much disturbed at this Message and as they clearly saw that those of Paris had changed their minds and most earnestly sought for Peace which was not a little destructive to their designs they applied themselves with all industry to finde out means to overcome the Kings Army by force of Arms and make themselves Masters of the Field esteeming this the only way to maintain themselves in Paris while it remain'd deprived of that support which on all occasions it might deceive from the Kings troops But to return to Mazarine who arriving at Sedan and from thence Bovillon out of the Kingdom there wanted not persons who interposed for the adjusting at least of the Duke of Orleans with the Court. The Cardinal de Retz and the Marquess of Chasteauneuf promising to themselves that if once his Royal Highness should return to Court he might by degrees regain His Majesties favour and taking his place again in the Council they should not be left behind To this end with the consent of the Duke of Lorrain the Marquess of Saint Lambert was dispatch'd to the Court to begin the Negotiation But the Queen and the Kings Officers who were attent upon the return of Mazarine and their own security could in no wise consent that the Duke of Orleans a Confident of the Prince of Conde's and a Confederate of the Spaniards should meddle in the Government considering that if the Duke of Orleans with his followers and Adherents should insinuate themselves into the Affairs of the Kingdom there would be more danger then ever of diminishing the Kings Authority for the secure support whereof it is requisite that no Officer of State should depend upon any other then the King himself for these by diminishing the credit of others would endeavour to dispose of all things after their own fancies threatning whomsoever should oppose them to turn all things upside down again The Prince of Conde who was engaged with the Duke of Orleans by the Promise of Marriage between his Royal Highness his Daughter and the Duke of Anguien and thought he went hand in hand with him although he was left out of the Treaty might in time also have made his Peace with those advantages himself desired and the Duke of Orleans had promised Mazarine therefore making prudent reflexions upon considerations so nice who though far from the Court yet directed all things was very sensible how inconsiderate advice this must be that exposed the Government to the will and discretion of others which under an absolute Monarch will admit of no Companion These Affairs being thus on foot the Princes and the Parliament stood much upon the Point that the Act of Oblivion granted by the King did not contain a full abolition and pardon of what had been done in the last five years past nor was expressed in those termes which were desired viz. in general and without conditions but served only for the inhabitants of Paris with design that if they were once satisfied not to matter much the Princes and Parliament They urged therefore that the King ought to give full and irrevocable Authority to the Duke of Orleans to forme another without any exceptions to be ratified in the Parliament of Paris where the Counsellors gone to Pontoise ought to appear and this to be done in the Presence of the King himself for this cause the Parliament met often some Letters were writ by the Duke of Orleans the Duke d' Anville and the Marquess of St. Lambert negotiated with the Kings Council and many things were done the particular relation of which would be too tedeous But Cardinal Mazarine knowing how prejudicial this would be to the Kings Authority by his Advice the granting of Pass-ports was absolutely denied to those deputed by the Parliament already declared invalid holding firm to their first resolutions so that Affairs remained in the same posture as at first each party endeavouring to uphold their own opinions The third of October the Parliament in Paris being assembled to hear what News the Marquess of St. Lambert brought from the Court two Watermen were laid hold of who cried aloud God bless the King and Cardinal Mazarine and were seconded by many others they were led to the prison of Conciergery and Order given to draw up their Indictment as also against divers others who cried the same in several streets of Paris giving out that such kind of Fellows were set on by some that gave them money on purpose to move the people to sedition This News being brought to Court and besides that the Parliament continued to proceed against some of those who met at the Assembly in the Palace-Royal the King with the Advice of His Council passed a Decree upon the fifth of October by which he cancell'd and annull'd all the aforesaid pretended proceedings informations and orders published or to be published imposing severe penalties upon the Commissioners or Judges that should proceed any further commanding all the Inhabitants of Paris to execute His Majesties Orders and Commands In the mean time the Kings Army was at Villeneufue St. George much streightned and pressed hard upon by the Troops of the Princes and their Confederates who were superior in number and in danger either to be forced as they lay or set upon in their retreat seeing that for want of provisions and forage many both men and horses died This troubled the Court very much and above all Mazarine who was the cause that the Army put themselves in that place and doubted some sinister event the winning of the day consisting in keeping the Kings Army near Paris by which means those Practices were fomented which were managed by the Cardinals directions in that City in favour of the King The Princes who understood the importance of this business and that if the Kings Army should preserve themselves all their designs were ruined omitted nothing either to overcome them or reduce them by famine and sufferings to the utmost despair but the nearness and delights of Paris together with the sickness which hapned to the Prince of Conde Wirtemberg and many other of the Principal Commanders which may be truly attributed to an effect of the Divine Providence was the break-neck of their party but besides the sickness of these Princes the Dukes of Lorrain and Beaufort and most of the other Chief Officers with a considerable number of the best Souldiers were also in the City as well for the suspicion they had that the Citizens might rise
Julio Mazarin THE HISTORY OF THE MANAGEMENTS OF Cardinal JVLIO MAZARINE Chief Minister of State of the CROWN of FRANCE Written in Italian by Count Galeazzo Gualdo Priorate And Translated according to the Original In the which Are Related the Principal Successes Happened from the Beginning of His Management of Affairs till His Death Tom. I. Part I. LONDON Printed by H. L. and R. B. in the Year 1671. To their most Serene HIGHNESSES the Duke and Dutchess Regent of Modena and Regio c. CArdinal JULIO MAZARINE'S Government of Affairs hath deserved all the Applauses that Fame can give The World hath admired him as the Product of a Phoenix I have writ his History And as he hath been the Splendour of our times I think it proper to bring him to the Feet of your Highnesses of Este who are the most splendid Ornaments of all Italy In the Heroick Actions of so great a Minister your most Serene Highnesses may behold your own proper Glory take therefore as I most humbly supplicate this testimony of my observance with that benignity which is proper to the Greatness of your most Serene Family known for thousands of years to be the true Seminary of Heroes There is no room for Panegyricks in this short Dedication neither ought your Modesty to be wronged by my weak Pen with inferiour Praises to your unexpressible Merits and therefore with a most humble submission asking Pardon for this my boldness I rest Your most Serene Highnesses most humble and most obsequious Servant Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato TO THE Reader THE HISTORY of the Managements of Cardinal Julio Mazarine is a matter most proper and most curious for Posterity The Rules this man went by wil serve for a most profitable Example to whomsoever shall have the Fortune to pass thorough the degrees of the like Sphere Histories do mention many Statesmen with Applause and Veneration and the Managements of the late Cardinal Richlieu are Celebrated with more then humane Attributes as if Nature had given him the preeminence of all her Graces Without doubt Richlieu was a great Politician a great Minister of State and a man may truly say that for Humane Prudence France never had his equal He knew loved and had in so much esteem the vivacity of Mazarine that oftentimes he has been heard to say that this man by his ability and his fortune would surpass not only his Master but the most sublime Wits that have guided States and Monarchies Richlieu was not at all deceived for whoever compares their Actions shall not finde them equal Richlieu was a Frenchman Minister of State to a King in his Majority strengthned by Kindred Friends and Parties Mazarine an Italian Minister to a King in his Minority and to a Regent of an emulous and suspected Nation without Relations and no other friends but his own spritely Wit Richlieu was at the Helm when France was assisted by the Conjunctions of Swedeland Holland the Protestant Princes of Germany the Royal House of Savoy and many others and enjoyed an entire obedience of its subjects When England naturally emulous of the Greatness of France was embroiled by Intestine troubles and when there was a perfect Correspondency with Pope Urban VIII Mazarine governed in a time that Holland was reconciled to Spain that the major part of the Princes of the Empire had deserted the Cause the Swedes abated in their Power the English become formidable by their Victories In the heat of the Revolutions of the Kingdom Persecuted by the Princes of the blood by the major part of the Grandees by the Parliaments and by the People and under the Pontificate of Innocent X. little affecting his Person Richlieu acted with Rigour and with too high Pretensions ending his life in no good opinion with the King his Master disgusted with his vast Aims and left the Warre unquenched Mazarine deported himself with Affability and kindness and exercised Humanity more then Austerity He died in compleat favour with their Majesties who lamented his loss with tears and was he wailed by his very Enemies He gave his King a great Queen for his Wife and with her the Peace so longed for by the Kingdom with so great advantages and so much Reputation that the most Christian King Lewis XIV may rightly be instyled the Great being that France hath never had greater strength in Forces nor a greater King for Valour and all other Eminent Vertues The Reader will pardon the feebleness of my Pen if it hath not sufficiently expressed the merits of so great a man for his Actions having brought forth Effects above the order of Nature would require a Style Supernatural not to say Divine to celebrate them The HISTORY of the Managements of Cardinal MAZARINE Lib. I. HE was born in the Year 1602 at Piscina in Abruzzo the 14th day of July son of Peter Mazarine and Hortensia Buffalini In his Infancy he was instructed in the Rudiments of that tender Age and by little and little in all those Exercises befitting a Gentleman In the Jesuits Colledge at Rome he so cultivated his Understanding that the vivacity of his Wit and the sublimity of his elevated Mind shined forth even to Admiration He compleated his course in Philosophy at the Age of 17. maintaining Conclusions in the most subtile Points to the Wonder of all men His courageous heart began to be inflamed with desire of new things and to see and be informed of the Manners and Qualities of forein Nations for that purpose he accompanied Don Girolamo Colonna now a Cardinal into Spain and together with him studied the Law in the University of Alcalà and in a short time he became perfect in the Spanish Tongue While he was intent upon his Studies it hapned that his father being accused of a certain Homicide was in some trouble and having no other sons for Alexander the younger brother was become a Dominican so that he was obliged to return to assist his father in his troubles where he arrived with all diligence and bestirred himself in his Defence so efficaciously that he was clear'd from his accusations He had no sooner Accomplished the Age of 20 years when as his Heroick Genius excited him to the desire of Armes and being favoured by the House of Colonna he obtained to be chosen Captain Lieutenant of the Colonels Company in the Regiment of the Prince of Palestrina he led his Company to Milan where he came acquainted with Giovanni Francesco Sacchetti Commissary General of the Popes Souldiers sent to take possession of the Valtoline and in the management of divers smaller Affairs he made appear so much Ability that he was soon employed in matters of greater moment performing them to the entire satisfaction of those who employed him and of the parties with whom he Negotiated He made a Relation of the Occurrences in the Valtoline full of such exquisite Observations that Torquato Conti General of the Popes Forces sent them to his Holiness that perused them with
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
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
Catholique Majesty That Baltasser with his Troops might retire to Tartas The Article concerning the Passport into Spain was disputed and at length altered by the Prince of Conty it being agreed on that only notice should be given to the Generals of the Spanish Fleet But with order not to come near Bourdeaux for if they did they should neither be received nor assisted All these Transactions being highly displeasing to Marsin and all such as were enemies to the peace they raised new murmures and divisions in the City and plotted all ways to break or disturb the Treaty They assured the people that there was Corn enough in the Magazines for three Months That the want of provisions and sickness encreasing daily in the Kings Army they could not long subsist nor be able to make the least opposition against the Spanish Fleet which was expected every moment with ample supplies both of Victuals Money and men so that holding out but a few days longer they should obtain a Peace much more advantageous That the Prince of Condy was in Flanders with a powerful Army able to march to Paris without any obstruction by reason of the weaknes of the Kings Forces and the peoples disaffection to the Cardinal Marsin continued to declaim aganst the Propositions of the peace as dishonourable to the name of their Union and to their Promises and oaths so often reiterated not to abandon the Prince of Condy That it was nothing but the effect of a Conspiracy of a few persons corrupted by the flatteries of Mazarine and inveigled with the thoughts of bettering their own fortune by the ruine of the publick interest That their Offers were to be shunn'd as the singing of a Sirene That having offended a Prince to the quick the best Counsel was to see him no more except in a Picture But on the contrary those who understood the Artifices and machinations of seditious persons were of another judgement and declar'd That things were reduc'd now to such an extremity they must fall inevitably into the hands of the Spaniard and live under their yoke and dominion or become miserable sacrifices to the armes and vengeance of their own King That the State could never fall under greater Tyranny then what they then suffered under the Officers of the Princes who had no other aim then to satisfie their insatiable desire of robbing them both of their honour and estates leaving them in a miserable and languishing condition That the City not being to be brought to a worse plight ought to embrace so happy an opportunity of redeeming it self from such imminent dangers whilst the Generals with unexpected Courtesie distributed every where his Majesties grace and favours full of clemency and pity and thought it greater honour to be the instruments of his mercy then revenge That now was the time to wipe off all the unworthy stains of rebellion by making it appear they were rather the effects of a few peoples violence then any universal disgust That Marsin as a stranger was manifestly more solicitous for his own private interest for the Princes and therefore he ran things to Extremity with false and pretended promises of releif which if soberly consider'd was rather to be abhorr'd then receiv'd seeing by prolonging the War all the people must of necessity be precipitated into an eternal and inextricable confusion and their revenues brought to nothing consisting principally in trade with strangers and in the fruits of the field the one absolutely precluded and interrupted and the other like to be destroy'd by the spoiling of their Vintage They further added that the Princes professing the ease of the people to whom they had so many Obligations it was to be suppos'd they would not consent that for the advantage of a few of their party so many innocents should be ruin'd and that themselves being of so high a birth by returning to their obedience they might restore themselves to their pristine Authority and Grandeur in the Kingdom of France where no true Frenchman by reason of their natural antipathy could willingly brook the Spaniards who sought to advantage themselves by these troubles alluring the uncautious by the lustre of their Gold and deluding the people more with false hopes then really assisting them with any formidable and effectual force Finally they concluded that having for their own Sovereign a King given them by God they ought not to doubt of his being endowed with so Noble and Generous a mind as to forget injuries and pardon Offences These Reasons with the Engagement into which most of the Citizens had publikely entred and the fear of falling again under the outrages of the Olmeira in case they should recover their former Authority by the means of foreign force was the cause that the Assembly of the Olmeisti was expresly forbidden and the Captains of the quarters renewed with all diligence and strict Guards placed at the Gates to hinder the entrance of forreign Soldiers They treated also privately with Colonel Baltasser to gain him to their side as a valiant and generous person and one that was capable of doing much mischeif were he united with Marsin with whom by reason of several disgusts past betwixt them he held no very good correspondence Virlade being in the mean time return'd to Begle to accompany the Duke of Candale to Lormont and assist at the General Truce receiv'd an express from the Duke of Vandosme at Mid-night that 33 Sail of Spanish Ships were arriv'd within sight of Blay Whereupon the three days Truce being expir'd the Duke of Candale thought it expedient to give them another indefinite till the conclusion of the peace and the publication of the Amnesty which he did to engage the Citizens in a Treaty before the news of the approach of the Spanish Armada lest they should change their resolutions and concurr with the contrary party It being concluded therefore and establish'd as firm as was possible Virlade was dispatch'd back to Bourdeux to draw the Prince of Conty to a peremptory resolution to declare puplickly for the service of the King where being arriv'd he found the City much altered by the Artifices of Marsin who having been at the Burse to clear himself and Lenet of the machinations wherewith they were charg'd he had in some measure mollifi'd the hearts of those who had been exasperated against him and by the distribution of Money amongst the Plebeians captivated a good part of them particularly those of the Fraternity of Saint John which are so numerous they seldome appear less then 1500 in their procession upon that Saints day so that he caus'd them to fasten peeces of Red Ribbon to their Procession-staffs and to cry up and down the streets and in their very Procession Viva i Principi Long live the Princes Virlada astonish'd at this change rid amongst them with a Trumpet of the Duke of Candales before him snatching from some of them their Red Ribbons giving them white and casting some Moneys amongst
Kingdom according to the Kings Declaration they asked no more nor would they fail to render immediately all duty and obedience to his Majesty That to send Deputies in their names was superfluous since those of the Parlement being there in whom they reposed all confidence they did not intend to do any thing without the privity of the Parlement to which effect they should at all times write their mind to President Nesmond After which it was concluded to return thanks to his Majestie for his favourable Answer for sending away the Cardinal and to supplicate him anew that it might be done speedily That the Princes would be pleased to write to Nesmond or to some other of the Deputies to second this their Declaration that whensoever the Cardinal should be out of the Kingdom they should perform what they had promised and order the said Deputy to receive what Commands the King should deem necessary In this Assembly the Prince was observed to discourse with some sternness as if he were angry Monsieur de Bust proposed to choose new Deputies that might find out the most convenient means to send the Troops farther off and to do their utmost endeavour to procure the Peace and although all things should happen to be agreed on yet nothing to be done till the Cardinal was first departed Upon this the Parlement thought it expedient to order their Deputies at Court to give the King thanks for his Promise of giving Mazarine licence to depart and to sollicit the performance of it and to desire the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde to write to the President Nesmond with assurance as they had declared in the Assembly to lay down their Arms and yield entire obedience to his Majestie so soon as Mazarine should be gone Orleans therefore writ that by the desire of the Court that he and the Prince should send Deputies to the King they could imagine no other thing considering with what delays the Audience of the Deputies was retarded but that it was a device of the Cardinal to elude his Majesties resolution in banishing him the Kingdom and making Peace with his subjects that although the solemn Declarations made and reiterated before the Parlement might suffice yet to make it more clearly appear how sincerely and candidly he had behaved himself in all those Transactions he was resolved to let him know by that Letter that he might assure and faithfully promise to the King that he should punctually make good his said Declaration so soon as ever the Cardinal should withdraw in good earnest and without any other shadow of suspition and should send to render him his humble thanks receive his Orders and Commands having no other Agreements or Conditions to make with his Majestie but only to obey him as he was always ready to do with all respect and submission according to the obligation of his birth The Prince writ also to Nesmond in the same form and charged him to give all assurance of the reality of their intentions Hereupon Nesmond being admitted to the Kings Presence spake in this manner Sir The Assurance that it hath pleased your Majestie to give us for the retirement of Cardinal Mazarine hath fill'd the hearts of your Vassals with hope upon the confidence they have that the words of Kings as the Word of God bring their full effect and can never be but profitable Your Parlement hath given us in charge to testifie to your Majestie with all humbleness and respect their desire and to request the effecting it conformable to their Declaration and to the Decrees that have seconded it supplicating your Majestie to consider that the miseries of France augmenting daily and suffering no delay it will be an effect of your bounty Not to defer the remedy so desired a benefit any longer the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde have given us in charge to confirm to your Majestie their first Declarations and represent on their behalf that they have nothing to propound by employing Deputies submitting themselves to obey your Orders with all obedience so soon as the Cardinal shall have fulfill'd your Majesties Declaration It depends now Sir on your Authority to shorten all these ills yielding to this departure at our supplication We have no more words to express our grief the force of which does stop our utterance The publick disorders the ruine of the State the Power of the Enemies the Misery of the People are sensibly obvious to your Majesties sight and will yet more touch your Majesties heart to whom we protest that we shall always have an eternal obligation for the end of so many mischiefs and for the Peace the Kingdom The King reply'd that he would participate all this to his Council and they should receive his Answer which was delivered them the day following in writing and read by the Count de Brienne in these words That the King had granted the request made him to send away the Cardinal though he clearly saw it was only a pretext to disturb the State if the Princes had accepted the Articles that were to be performed on their part sincerely there would have remained no other stop to the establishment of the quiet of the Realm That if his Majestie had believed that his Answer to the Deputies touching that Affair should have served as an occasion for a new Decree of Parlement he would not have given it in any wise knowng that in the condition the Parlement was then in as well for the absence of a great number of the principal Counsellours as for the violent Authority usurp'd by the Heads of the Rebellion they were deprived of their freedom and reduced to obey other mens wills since by the Decree of the first of July it was resolved not to treat nor determine any thing concerning the publick Affairs till the Courts of Justice and the City were restored to their freedom but instead of providing for their safety when the Assembly was convened in the Town-house to that effect the burnings violences and slaughters had reduced the Tribunals and the City to the extreamest oppression so that his Majestie could no longer regard the determinations made in a Company where the Liberty of Voices was not free The Kings intention in his Answer to the Deputies was to give them opportunity that the Princes might send persons of their own with Authority to receive Orders for putting the Articles by them accepted in execution and to agree upon the time the manner and the security for the performance so that not without Reason His Majesty was surprized to see Subjects pretend to obtain things of their Soveraign that were never practised even among Princes that were equal It was not fit that he should be the first to fulfil on his part what hath been agreed on till the Conditions which comprehend the true cause of these distractions be solemnly promised and cleared as they ought to be It being evident that the principal occasion
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