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
to his Brother the Bishop of Lombes At the same time another Frier called Lande by the means of a Gentlewoman named Laure attempted to gain Colonel Marché who hearkned to the sollicitations of the Friars brother and communicated his design to the said Widow which was to make use of an hundred light horse which he commanded in the City to deliver up a Gate to the Duke of Candale desiring this Window to write him the design and to instruct him the most proper means to execute it This Plot was also communicated to the Jurate Robert But in the end Colonel Marché himself discovered it to Marsin and after a few days Lande revealed it to the Prince of Conty whereupon the Gentlewoman was imprisoned and examined a long while in the Presence of Lande and maintained to his face that he was the Author of all this accusing him of infidelity and treacherousness whereupon he was laid hold on and banished from the Olmiera and the Widow sent back to her Countrey-house In the mean-while the City of Monsegur wherein the Regiment of the Marquess of Monpouillon lay in Garrison was surrendred to the Royallists and the Officers pretending that two thousand Pistols were due to them put themselves into His Majesties service imprisoned the Commissary and took from him a good summe of money which he had levied on the people thereabouts but they sent him free afterwards with some Officers belonging to Marsin who at the same time with the Princes Troops besieged St. Ferme a small Town near by This was a Prelude to the fall of the Princes party being forsaken by their best Troops in a time when they had most need of them not contented to take pains continually for so small profit the hopes of those rewards daily declining which the Princes promised them to soften the labours and sufferances of those of their party Divers other Accidents hapned which rendred this party still more infirm which having no other foundation then the imagination of becoming more happy by the change of fortune in stead of meeting with their desired relief they encountred the most unexpected misfortunes A certain Engineer called Larsigne was imprisoned and 3500 Pistols taken from him set him in the Pillory and banished under pretence that he wrote to Paris the News of what hapned in Bourdeaux They arrested a vessel also and confiscated twenty five thousand Crowns which belonged to Dutch Merchants for corn sold in that City and were carrying to Rochelle declaring it to be counterband goods with these and the like proceedings the foreign Merchants and the better sort of Citizens themselves were sensibly touched and exasperated seeing that without shame or conscience they exempted none from barbarous and unjust punishments The Duke of Vandosme appeared with his Fleet in the Garonne at the beginning of February and presently began to build a Fort in the Isle of Cazaux situated in the middle of the River and therefore of great consequence and which gave no small trouble to the inhabitants of Bourdeaux amongst whom there being many that were affected to the Kings party it behoved the rest to be vigilant against surprises and stratagemms which were easie to be put in practice in such Conjunctures The Curate of St. Peters having exhorted his Parishioners in a publick Sermon to shake off the yoke of their servitude and to withdraw themselves from under the Authothority unlawfully usurped by that wicked counsel of the Olmiere he was taken and put in prison but the people of that parish who were very affectionate to him beginning to rise they were forced to let him go and escape away for fear some greater mischief might follow for those who are admitted to preach the Word of God have great power over the people when they denounce to them peace and quietness for the same cause were banished also the Curates of St. Simon and St. Remi with the Prior and Guardian of the Capucines and the Dominicans divers Counsellors of the Parliament and some Citizens who were contented rather to undergo any persecution then to follow a Faction directly contrary to the service of the King so that the Parliament being at that time by the Advice of Mazarine removed to Agen that at Bourdeaux was so weakned that there remained no more then nine Counsellors and some of them so confused and fearful that they knew not what to resolve on The Parliament at Agen beginning to assemble on the third of March the Sieur de la Lane Second President presided at the opening of the Parliament in the Presence of the Duke of Candale and the Bishop of Agen the Sieur de Pontac President of the Treasurers of France came thither with divers other well-affected persons But in Bourdeaux the suspitions of some new Conspiracy being revived all possible diligence was used to interrupt it and to maintain the Princes Concerns in their vigour Proclamation was made that all strangers who were found in the City without employ should presently depart All Inne-keepers Taverners and those who let lodgings were prohibited to receive any one without express order and billet from the Magistrate appointed for that purpose Meetings were forbidden and going about in the night after such an houre and every where they kept vigilant Guards to watch all surprizes especially because the Neighboring Towns and Provinces were every day more and more incumbred with Souldiers and people of the Kings party And because that by the taking of Sarlaet Sallagnac Terrason and other walled Towns of Perigord by the Princes Troops the Souldiery over-ran all the Countrey to the great damage of that Province The Marquess of Pompodor Lieutenant of the Province of Limosin gathering together some of the Kings Troops and divers Gentlemen encountred the enemies near to the Village St. Robert in the County of Agen defeated and destroyed them and so delivered the Countrey from the continual molestation of these Souldiers who were the more licentious by reason they wanted their pay and were dissatisfied with the Princes themselves whom they served The Town of Montignac maintaining it self in its due obedience to the King did incommodate all they could the Princes forces who lost the Castle of Surin and other places which either rendred voluntarily or were gained by the force of Armes whereby those of their party being reduced to streight termes the greater part of them were perswaded by others example to return to their due obedience To these favourable events in Guienne seconded by other prosperous successes of the Kings party was added the engagement upon the 28. of February in the Narrow Seas between the English and Hollanders each party glorying to have had the advantage but seeing there was no great difference in the loss of Vessels the Victory remained undecided so that the English being busied in this new Warre they were not in a posture to embrace those resolutions which if they had been free they might have taken to encourage the seditious in Bourdeaux and
were generally dis-satisfied The Warre being kindled the Fire seemed unextinguishable not only because it chiefly arose as the common report went from private passion and particular envy and the flames daily encreasing from those puffs of anger the discontents grew still higher which according to the Contingencies of Warre administred new matter of rancour But also on the Popes Account that he being the Common Father should with a constant resentment pretend a just title to disturb the quiet of Italy by armes when all Christendom groaning so long time under the weight of innumerable miseries thought they might expect from his Piety a paternal and serious application to compose the inveterate motions of War and not to excite new ones On the other side the interessed Confederates longing to abate the temporal power of the Ecclesiastical Princedom and to give a wholesom Admonishment to those that being destin'd by God to enjoy it for a season are oftentimes unmindful of returning again to their private condition were resolved to maintain with all perseverance the reputation of their Armes For this cause the mediation or the Spaniards and the Emperor for a pacification proved a long time ineffectual the King of France not omitting to interpose his his Authority for the service of her to whose Assistance his Ancestors had so often passed the Mountains dispatched by the Counsel and dictates of Mazarine the Marquess of Lionne to the Confederate Princes to whom he delivered his Message with such vigour and reputation that by his prudent Negotiations he ripened that fruit which Cardinal Bichi who was ordered by the King to manage the Treaty afterward had the good fortune to gather by the Conclusion of the Peace as acceptable and advantageous to the Barberines as afterward the memory of that War proved prejudicial to them The Cardinal likewise got no small reputation by composing the differences between the Kings of Swedeland and Denmark who were entring into a most cruel War He shewed himself also very constant in overcoming all the difficulties which hapned upon the Marriage of the Princess Maria Gonzago with Uladislao King of Poland brought to an end by his great Prudence While the Affairs of France went thus prosperously on and that all Europe had their eyes fixed on the greatness and power of that Crown admiring the Ascendant Fortune of the most Christian King with the same Reflexions wherewith heretofore were admired that of the most victorious Emperour Charles the Fifth on a sudden she saw her self overwhelmed by those Civil broils which have always been the most powerful mischiefs to depress her The first ground from whence these turbulent Revolutions arose was from the Treasurer Emery who was the Person that disposed the minds of the Parlementarians of Paris to Commotions by troubling them in their places hereby to raise money not without the opinion of many that he did this with an intent to overthrow the Cardinal who vigorously opposed such his dangerous Undertakings knowing the nature of the French to be most extremely violent for their particular benefit For this cause therefore the Parlement of Paris having declared against the Kings Government the Queen thought to destroy this growing Hydra by punishing three of her Heads giving order for the Imprisonment of the Counsellour Brussel and the Presidents Blamenil and Charton though Mazarine did greatly impugn it well perceiving that it was not yet time to stir the Humours when there was no likelihood to dissipate them and it succeeded just so as he foresaw for the People having taken Arms and chained the streets compell'd the Court to set free the prisoners and to turn out Emery to the great prejudice of the Royal Authority and to the emboldening of the Seditious to undertake new Villanies The Cardinal on this occasion maintained but it did not help him that by the rule of good Government they ought constantly to adhere to their resolutions once taken although they were not assumed with their due precautions it being always hurtful to Princes to recede from that which they have once pretended to be observed by their Subjects From the like beginnings the Alterations plotted by the restless minds of those who hoped to advance their private Fortunes greatly increased These disorders were fomented by the Coadjutor of Paris allured by the hopes of Mazarines ruine to enter into his place of Chief Minister being a person of an high spirit and very intelligent in the Affairs and by the Count de Chavigny likewise exasperated seeing himself by the Queens aversion to him not in that full Credit and Authority which he had in the Consultations in the time of Richlieu's Government So that all things being in a confusion and impossible to provide against the disorders without That flourishing and potent Kingdom at the height of its greatest glory became a Scene of most lamentable miseries losing in one Campania the fruits of many others purchased with so much sweat with so much bloud and with so great expence of money The Cardinal sought nevertheless to hinder what he could the growth of these disorders and knowing how dangerous it would be to France if England should declare for Spain as it was by all Arts endeavoured by the Spanish Agents he knew so wisely to manage the business that he frustrated the Enemy's design and preserved the friendship of the English though ever emulous and no well-willers to the French The Events that after these commotions rent in pieces the Regency and all France were infinite and deplorable for although Mazarine with all sweetness and gentleness did endeavour to smooth their minds by temporizing till the Kings Majority but the more he endeavoured by these means to appease the Animosities of the Seditious the more they were hardened in their insolence and by open violence opposed the Orders of the Regent whereupon by his advice the Queen resolved to remove from Paris with the King which she did on Twelveth-night 1649. For this cause the City was in a great commotion and the Court in a state to recover its due regard but hereupon their Animosities against the Cardinal grew higher suspecting him to be as indeed he was the Author of this Retreat whence the fury of the People and Parlement breaking out against him he was by the later order'd to depart within eight days The Court stoutly supporting the Cardinal resolved to block up Paris with the Army as it was forthwith done by the Prince of Conde who though he had his Brother his Sister and his Brother in Law on the Parlements side yet held himself always united with the Regent and Mazarine who failed not in the mean while accurately to watch how to compose the differences In this occasion Cardinal Mazarine made manifest the height of his Intellectuals the excellency of his Skill his Wit and his Craft joyning himself now with the one now with the other Party and finally crushing them both remained Conquerour in the field and obtained the
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
thousand Parisiens made them retire and from thence marching towards St. Denis where were 200 Swisses of the Kings Guards in Garrison and assailing those old and rotten walls they made themselves Masters of it taking those souldiers prisoners which were led to Paris in triumph But this City was soon recover'd by the Kings Forces commanded by the Sieur de Renville Colonel of Horse after which a Neutrality was granted to the Town of St. Denis upon condition that the Princes should also leave free the Passes of St. Cloud Neully Charenton and St. Maur. After these divers successes the Parliament assembled again and having heard the Relation made by the President Nesmond they determined to send him back to St. Germains to receive the Kings Answer which he had promised in three days But it being to the advantage of the Court to gain time Mazarine with great subtilty prolong'd the Resolutions keeping still the Treaties on foot not to put the people in despair and necessitate them when they should have no more hopes to declare for the Princes and for that cause the Duke d' Anville made divers journeys from Court to Paris on the Kings behalf managing dexterously the Treaty with the Princes who pressed more and more the Cardinals departure The Prince of Conde who by a particular gift of Nature was no less endowed with a most prudent faculty of discerning then with a marvellous and unparallel'd valor in Arms observing the instability of his Party grounded on uncertain and wavering designs he inclined to an agreement in any manner even without the removal of the Cardinal from the Ministry considering it better to treat with him who was of a sweet and gentle nature then others of a violent Genius as the Cardinal de Retz was reputed to be But the good intention of the Prince was diverted by his Kindred and Friends who declared that in such case they would forsake him and lastly by the Duke of Orleans sollicited thereunto by the Cardinal de Retz who was accused that for his private advantage he equally desired the ruine of the Prince and of Mazarine so that His Royal Highness vigorously opposed it and was cause that this Overture took no effect From S. Germain the Court removed to Melun for this City being upon the Sene and nearer to Estampes they might from hence with more ease send Supplies and Recruits to the Kings Camp stopping in the same time the Provisions which are wont to be brought down the River from those fertile Fields to Paris and here the King gave Order to Mareschal Turenne to endeavour what er'e came on 't to expugn Estampes and defeat the Army of the Princes who defending themselves bravely there followed many hot Skirmishes with no small slaughter of Souldiers and considerable Captains on either side wherefore the Princes perceiving that their Army would subsist a long time in Estampes sollicited the Spaniards that the Army of Duke Charles of Lorrain might advance to their succour The Ministers of Spain chearfully assenting to uphold the Party of the Princes and keep afoot the Civil War in France presently set themselves about it The Duke of Lorrain was wont every year to make a bargain with the Spaniards for the next Campania by which they obliged him for a certain summe of money to serve them with his Troops This year therefore 1652 they engaged him to pass into France to succour the Princes In pursuance of which accord he marched with his Army of 4000 Foot and about 5000 Horse with some Pieces of Artillery thorough Champagne towards the Sene to raise the Siege of Estampes leaving his Forces at Lagny he went to Paris where he was received with all the Honours wont to be given to a Prince of whom they stood in need At this news the Cardinal began to set his Wits at work and to give necessary Orders for securing the most important places He sought to gain Duke Charles by the mediation of the Dutchess of Chevreuse his Ally and of the same House She being a Lady of great sense and full of Intrigues making use of the natural jealousie wont to be betwixt the Princes of the Bloud and the Dukes of Lorrain and especially betwixt Conde and them who was much esteemed amongst the Spaniards she gave the Duke to understand that it would not turn to his benefit to assist them The Duke was convinc'd by her Reasons and inclin'd to imbrace her counsel so he could find a sufficient pretext to disingage himself from the Spaniards to whom he had promised to succour Estampes Mazarine sent the Marquess de Chasteauneuf to negotiate secretly with the Duke and they agreed together that to disingage his word and to keep himself from the blame he might incur he should raise the Siege of Estampes and the morning following that Turenne should retire from thence the Duke promis'd to retreat to the Frontier of the Kingdom to make a shew that it was not by compact but by reason of the State of the Kings Army that obliged him to take this course to which purpose they should furnish him with all necessary provisions The Princes knew him by his Conduct and by the difficulty he made in passing the Sene that he had intelligence with the Court wherefore they went to find him at his Camp and oblige him to pass the River but he represented to them that they ought to rest satisfied if so be he raised the Siege of Estampes and having some hopes that the Court would take the same resolution it was not necessary to engage himself further The Prince of Conde gave him to understand it was a small matter to cause the Siege to be raised if he did not give them the opportunity to put their Troops in safety because they could no longer subsist in a ruinated place so that after many Discourses the Duke permitted himself to be engaged before he was aware to give in writing a Declaration to the Princes by which he obliged himself to stay yet some days in the same Post upon the River Sene that in the mean while the Princes might withdraw their Troops from Estampes and come nearer Paris The Kings Army being retired from the Siege of Estampes and the Court seeing he failed in performing the private Treaty concluded with Chasteauneuf the Mareschal de Turenne by advice of Mazarine moved his Camp with expedition toward Corbeil with design to fight the Lorrainers before they should pass the River to joyn with the Princes Forces and they faced the Enemy so opportunely that being surprised and astonished doubting they should be engaged in fight they presently retired taking the advantage of the high Hills of Ville nieufve and S. George and putting themselves under covert of a little River that dischargeth it self into the Sene. The Kings Party advancing towards Corbeil took several prisoners which obliged Duke Charles to desire the Sieur de Beaulieu who was present with him to procure the fulfilling of the
in the mind to obey the Kings Orders The Princes without answering any thing retired judging their Party not strong enough to make them determine on the Union which they desired and coming out of the Parquet so is the Tribunal or place rail'd in where the Lords sit called to accompany the Duke and the Prince the Mareschal was presented by an impertinent fellow with a posie of straw with which sawciness being much incens'd turning himself briskly told him that if it were not for the respect he bore to his Royal Highness he would cause him presently to be thrown out at the window and hang'd upon a Gibbet The Princes going out said that place was full of Mazarines who had a mind to prolong and gain time which occasion'd so great a commotion that the Souldiers of the Princes and the seditious people fell to discharge against the windows and doors Some Officers of the Princes to give countenance to this business had appointed several Musquettiers with their Leaders who having attempted in vain to raise a tumult in some other parts of the City came at last to this place mingling themselves with the people One of the people that stood upon the steps of the Cross in the midst of the place happened in this time to be kill'd by a shot whether by chance or on purpose which much more increas'd their rage and fury every one beginning to cry the Mazarines had made that shot and therefore they ought to kill them all menacing those that were within the Town-house and in this hurly-burly many were heard to cry Union Union and away with the Mazarines and all running with the straw in their Hats like so many possess'd with Furies they began to commit the accustomed insolencies that the indiscretion and bestiality of the rabble are wont to inspire The City-Companies that guarded the Town-house fled presently away which emboldning the seditious more and more they ran to fetch wood from the next boats and set fire to the great Gate endeavouring to get in to commit all the insolencies that blind passion could prompt them to In this danger the Mareschal and divers others undauntedly resolved rather to perish gloriously then to submit and save their lives weakly and dishonorably wherefore they prepared for a generous defence The Mareschal ordered them to make a Barricade of great Pieces of Timber above stairs at the entrance of the great Hall that looks into the Court which was defendde and maintain'd bravely by the Mareschals Guards He gave order likewise to spare their powder till night and in the mean time they should defend themselves with the stones of the pavement but at the same instant the great Gate being burnt and fallen down the seditious assaulted the Barricade where Blancart Commissary of the Princes Army received a mortal wound of which he died a little after with him some other Souldiers of the Princes were also slain While this pass'd the Prince of Conde was at the Palace of Orleans where having notice that the business went contrary to his intention which was to put them in fear but not to carry it on to extremity he intended to transport himself presently upon the place and making them by his Presence to cease the assault oblige those within to acknowledge their lives and safety from him But the Duke to whom it seemed not perhaps convenient that the Prince should hazard his person amongst that mad rabble or whether he thought it not expedient he should gain the good-will of the Citizens by that generous action and himself to bear all the hatred detain'd him by force and in no wise would not permit him to go out of his house so that to his great discontent he was constrain'd to remain quiet Many in this while seeing the imminent danger and excited by fear desiring to get out of the Palace attempted to make their way thorow the thickest of the people several of them were kill'd but some had the good fortune to save themselves without hurt The Duke of Beaufort and the Marquess de la Bollay who were in a house near by issuing out call'd aloud to some of the Assembly by their names saying he came to bring Peace and free them from the danger they were in The Mareschal believing this to be only a trick to get out those of the Princes Party and leave the rest to the discretion of the peoples fury sent to ask him if there was safety and with a constant and stout mind declar'd that they would all have their lives or all perish together The Assault lasted from five a Clock in the Evening till ten at night at which time the Mareschal going to the Barricade found it abandon'd and his Guards retired upon the false report spread that he had made his escape The people thereupon entred sack'd every thing and stript all they met who were glad to part with their cloaths to save their lives The Mareschal not knowing how to get out without being discover'd took the opportunity to put himself among the people and so passed into the next Chamber He had given the Order of the Holy Ghost to one of his Pages to keep and chang'd Hats with him and having on a Coat of a dark colour stood in the midst of them that blaspheming and raging with madness sought him every where and by the Address of a friend of his that call'd him by another name he got safe out At last Madamoiselle being moved to pity for so great a Massacre with her wonted generosity though it was three houres within night went to the Town-house and took along with her the Duke of Beaufort where she quieted the tumult and caused those of the Assembly to pass out safe and unhurt to her great commendation The Confusions and Cruelties committed in this Action served only to put the Prince of Conde in the ill opinion of the Parisiens whence as the second of July was the day of Triumph and height of his glory in that City so the fourth following was the impulsive cause of his fall being the Parisiens could never be got to contribute any money nor to come to an open rupture with the Court complaining generally of the Princes who to abate the ill esteem and to disguise as much as they could the part they had which was very considerable in this deliberation they imprisoned two Complices of the sedition who were also executed The 6th of the same month the Assembly was called again to the Town-house but few went and for all the entreaties the Duke of Orleans made sending thither even his own Swisse Guards none appeared but some few dependents of the Princes The Prevost of Merchands sent to declare that he should come no more to the Councils nor publick Assemblies till the Kings Authority was re-established wherefore Orleans substituted the Counsellor Brussel in that Charge making him take his Oath in forme and the Mareschal de l' Hospital being no more to exercise
artificial reach of the Court to weary them out by delays in stead of giving consolation in good earnest and to protract time by which Mazarine hoped to be able at last to gain the Parisiens by force of sufferings accustomed to enjoy peaceably their rich Traffick and to make extraordinarily advantage of those commodities that they send to all the parts of the world To take order for all these things the King with advice of his Council the 18th of July after a long rehearsal of all things past and of the principal causes of those ill events decreed that Information should be taken of the horrible and scandalous attempt upon the Town-house the 14th of the present moneth seeking and finding out the circumstances and dependencies also by way of Monitory and to proceed against the Authors and Complices of the Massacres and Violences committed according to the Statutes and rigour of the Laws and in the mean time annull'd and revoked the pretended Election of the Counsellour Brussel into the place of Provost of Merchands whom His Majesty expresly prohibited to act in that Function upon pain of Death and he and all his posterity to be accountable for the disorders happened or that should happen since his pretended administration He declared moreover all the Resolves made from the first of July as well in the Parlement as in the Town-house touching the publick affairs null and invalid till the Governour and the Provost of Merchands and the other Magistrates that were constrained to absent themselves were restored and that sufficient Provision were made for securing of the due Administration of Justice and safety of the City according to the tenure of that Decree The King expresly prohibited all the other Cities of the Kingdom and all his Subjects and Servants not to take any cognizance of any Orders or Decrees from Paris so long as it remain'd under the Tyrannical power of Rebels And to the end that the Money destin'd for the publick Uses of the City should not remain at the Enemies disposal to make use of it for the Warre and to pay the Spanish troops that they had call'd in His Majestie ordered it to be brought to the place where he should establish his abode to be put into Hands of the Pay-Masters of the publick Rents who were commanded to repair to Court with all the other Consuls and Sheriffs of the Cities within the term of three days after the publication of the Decree in the usual manner The Princes the Parlement and the Frondeurs were greatly disturb'd at this departure believing that the Court did but mock at their licentious and extravagant Pretences The Count de Servient had signified to the Deputies in His Majesties Name that if the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde not willing to nominate Commissioners of their own should rather desire to make use of the Parlements Deputies that the King was content and would adjust the Propositions with them contain'd in the foresaid Answer promising to send away the Cardinal and that before the Articles should be performed on their part provided they could come to an Agreement with their Deputies or with those of the Parlement when they should be impowered but the Princes in stead of accepting this offer and staying the Deputies at St. Denis to expect there the Kings Answer or to go and find him at Pontoise as he had ordered they were conducted as hath been said to Paris where continuing their Complaints of their being slighted by the Court they stood firm to have the Cardinal expell'd before any thing else was done flattering themselves in their own opinions and esteeming every thing easie arising from an overweening sufficiency The Parlement ambitious to usurp a greater Authority then what became them fell at last upon the resolution to chuse the Duke of Orleans Lieutenant General of the Crown and the Prince of Conde General of the Army under Orleans and supplicated His Royal Highness to take upon him this Quality under pretence of freeing the King from the hands of the Cardinal who had snatcht him from his people and kept him in constraint But this determination profitted them little as well because it was not imbraced by the other Parlements of the Kingdom but rather refused and reprehended as also because Orleans being of a disposition absolutely contrary to violent courses would not imbroil himself in that attempt but especially because he and the Cardinal de Retz the Contriver of all the Plots promised to themselves that without their ruining the Court Mazarine would be gone of himself The Cardinal de Retz put this into the Dukes head for fear that the Court being too much depressed the Prince of Conde his irreconcilable Enemy should rise too high Retz thus endeavouring to arrive at the Ministry first with the expulsion of Mazarine and afterward with the ruine of the Prince through the re-uniting the Queen with the Duke of Orleans was supposed the onely and true cause of the total downfall of that Party and afterward of his own imprisonment The Parlement moreover decreed that should go in the sale of the Moveables and other things belonging to the Cardinal The fond was likewise laid for the 50000 crowns the price of the Cardinals Head upon a years tax on Cattel But whether it was lukewarmness or the policy of those who endeavoured with like arts to bring to an advantageous conclusion the secret Treaties still managed in the Princes name by Monsieur de Goucourt with the assistance of the Duke of Bovillon who insisted earnestly for bringing the Prince of Conde and the Cardinal to an Agreement excluding Orleans or for what other secret respects the money was never deposited and many other things were passed by by reason of the concerns of the parties that interven'd The day following Orleans went to the Parlement and after many Complements declared that he would accept the charge of Lieutenant-General of the Crown so long as the King should be retained by the Cardinal but desired to have a Council about him establish'd by the Parlement The Chambers return'd Answer that they referr'd themselves to what his Royal Highness should determine He went in the same manner to the Chamber of Accounts where he declared the same thing and made the same request to have some of their Members in his Council and here again he had the like Answer that all was left to his own choice in pursuance whereof he took into his new Council of State the major part of the Male-contents and the first Consultation that was held was the third of August But these Proceedings so prejudicial to the Crown were carried on with as much coldness as they were embraced with eagerness And although in appearance these Decrees of the Parlement and Actions of the Princes looked like some great matter of importance in reality they were only shadows which in a short time vanished of themselves for by the cunning contrivances of Mazarine by little
thereby have notably prejudiced the Crown of France which certainly might have been reduced to great streights if on the one side being assaulted by the powerful forces of the King of Spain and shaken by intestine troubles it had been also on the other side set upon by the English but the propitious fate of France subordinate to the benigne Will of God who disposeth of all things according to the Rule of his divine Providence preserved in these disasters that most Christian Kingdom from the dangerous Enterprizes of that Nation which differing in Religion and manners would have found a fit opportunity of putting France into a very great disorder but they governing themselves by violent means took resolutions very much different from what was suspected so that confounding themselves they gave occasion to the Royal Authority to recover its strength letting the disobedient want forces and those who sought by their Factions and Cabals to disturb and overturn all This was the Warre against the Hollanders to the promoting of which Cardinal Mazarine did so much contribute by his secret Managements and Arts considering the damages the English might do the French without such a diversion Not to interrupt by a digression the thread of our discourse we shall only touch upon the principal motives of this War After the Parliament of England had made themselves Masters of that Kingdom and with their victorious Arms also overcome the Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland they endeavour'd to keep themselves armed and to exercise themselves with foreign wars now that the Civil were at an end Having learnt this good Maxime of State to keep open in their own body the necessary Preservative of a Cautery whereby to purge out the boyling and malignity of the peccant humours It hapned then that wanting lawful cause to break with France and held back by divers Reasons of State no less then by the Arts of Mazarine who made appear his marvellous parts in dealing so dexterously with a Nation so ill affected to the French they betook themselves to a War with Holland which having a glorious reputation at Sea seemed not a little to obscure the ancient splendour of the redouted and irresistible power of the English Besides the natural emulation of bordering Nations the secret and artificial encouragement of the Neighboring Kingdoms did promote these thoughts who observing with an ill eye two powerful Republicks on each hand they could not but suspect those sudden Growths of States well furnished with Sea-forces The English took their pretext from the Herring-Fishing which the Hollanders used with great gain every year in the Orcades in the North of Scotland They pretended that the Hollanders had usurped this Fishing-trade by the negligence of their King to the great detriment of the publick and therfore not to be tolerated by a Nation that for so many Ages held the principal dominion of the Ocean On the contrary the States of the United Provinces maintain'd that by long possession and ancient custom their right was sufficiently lawful and establish'd with just reason especially it being never known that the English pass'd into those seas to fish This was the motive for which both parties beginning to arme the one to pretend custom the other an exemption from paying custom and to preserve their right they came at length to an open breach to the great prejudice of both their interests for their chiefest subsistence consisting in Trade and Navigation which being interrupted they found the War reciprocally destructive and pernicious but especially to Holland which being confined to a narrow Compass of ground with an infinite of people their greatest wealth depends upon the Sea To these Reasons derived from State-interest and particular profit were added other causes also touching Punctilio's of Reputation the English pretending they had been affronted by the Hollanders in divers occasions and principally in the Massacre of their Embassador Doctor Dorislaws at the Hague killed by the English of the Kings party and by the Adherents of the Prince of Orange To this they joyned other Grievances concerning the death of several of their Nation slain at Amboina where they had setled themselves the Hollanders being jealous of the Commerce of the Indies from which they drew great emoluments The Quarrel began upon the meeting of some English Vessels with some Hollanders about the complement of striking sale The Hollanders sent over Adrian Paw Extraordinary Embassador famous for the Treaty of Munster managed by him with the Spaniards but he in stead of bringing things to a good end rather exasperated the minds of the English so that the business going on to be decided by arms much against the wishes of those of Amsterdam especially who desired to withdraw themselves from the dependence on the House of Orange The States of Holland were much perplexed but nevertheless by their fresh and multiplied Victories obtain'd against the power of Spain having rais'd their fame to that height that they were generally feared and esteemed and having made so advantageous a Peace with the Catholick King they resolved not to prejudice their reputation by yielding to the threats and pretensions of England and therefore made little account of giving satisfaction to that Parlement but providing for the War they set out a numerous Fleet so that every one preparing for Hostility many Merchants were taken and lost on both sides and at length the Fleets meeting of above one hundred Ships a piece there followed divers Battels and Sea-fights with reciprocal damage so that each pretending to the Victory no certain decision could be made on 't the losses and victories consisting in the number of Vessels that were destroyâ—d on either side which never hindred them from returning to Sea again ready for a new Engagement But the Hollanders were very sensible of the loss of their Admiral Trump a Person of great value and of great experience in Maritine Affairs and much troubled that several Vessels had not perform'd their duty by reason they had not the Standard of the Prince of Orange to whom a great part of the Fleet shewed themselves much affected to the particular disgust of those of Amsterdam jealous and no good friends to that House The Court of France taking the opportunity of these differences applied themselves to secure Guienne and Bourdeaux a City above all others disposed to Rebellion for the reduction of which Mazarine made all necessary preparations and therefore besides the sending of the French Fleet into the Garonne and the advancing of forces from all parts into that Province he gave himself to make Overtures of reconciliation with divers persons to see if it were possible to terminate that War rather by fair means then by Arms which being among their own people and subjects wheresoever the Victory fell it would turn to loss The designes of the Cardinal went on prosperously as shall be related hereafter not only in these parts but in others also in the mean time he did not
they should make in France also with the assistance of his forces He complain'd of these things very earnestly urging that Condy might be obliged at least to deliver him one of the Towns in his Possession belonging to Lorrain or otherwise that he might equally participate of the Conquests that should be made with the help of his Army Declaring openly that if they would not consent to one of these Proposition neither would he assist them with his Troops in any Enterprize to be undertaken for the sole profit of the Prince of Condy. Upon these suspicions and jealousies the Spaniard began to think of a remedy for so manifest a danger both present and to come that which imported most was to oppose the French and to pacifie the Elector of Colen with whom it was not convenient at that time to have any dispute Hereupon it was propos'd to the Duke That with his own Troops the Prince of Condy's and some of the Spanish he should make head against the French and the Electors forces the Prince of Condy being unable for that expedition as being sick at that time at Rocroy but the Duke refus'd it nor would so much as stir out of Brussels he was desir'd at least to consign them his Troops but he denied that also which increased their jealousie more and more and gave them greater cause to suspect him It was already three years that the Count of Fuensaldagne had received private Orders from the Court of Spain to secure the Person of Duke when he should see a fit time to effect it but as the success of an Affair which drew so many consequences after it was uncertain and the Count not being able to promise himself whether this Act would be approved or disapproved by the Counsel of Spain when it was done though the King of Spain had every day new Reasons to confirm his resolution without seeking further pretences He address'd himself to the prime Minister to be excus'd from that Commission but could not be dispensed withal On the contrary his Orders were renewed to take the time he should judge most convenient without participating with the Arch-Duke giving him withal the Letter that his Majesty had writ him concerning that Affair and perswaded him to give order about it The Election of the time gave no small trouble to the Count in respect the Dukes comportment rendred the execution of his Orders every day more necessary To secure his Person and not lose his Troops was very difficult For the better execution of his design the Count with great dexterity had gain'd certain of the Dukes chief Officers but without the least discovery of his Plot he made sure of several who promised to stand by him in whatever he attempted The late occasion the Duke gave was of very great importance for the furtherance of this Affair for hereby they should not only pacifie the Elector but satisfie the Emperour who was already informed of all the Dukes Negotiations and had need of the Electors of Colen and Bavaria inseparable in respect of their Parentage and common interest On the one side the securing of the Dukes Person seemed to Fuensaldagne not very difficult he being in Brussels and at a distance from his Army but on the other he saw infinite discouragements for the French Army being within three leagues of Brussels and the Dukes troops united with the Prince of Condy's he knew not though the said Princes had been perpetual enemies how Condy might resent this resolution apprehending perhaps the same fortune himself The Dukes Troops were so near the French they might joyne with them in very few houres the Spanish Army were dispers'd in their Winter-quarters The Count consider'd likewise that the Duke was in good correspondence with the inhabitants of Brussels and that there were many Lorrainers in the town that the Arch-Duke perhaps would not have him taken in the manner as was to be wished for though he had but little friendship for the Duke and was entirely for the interest of the House of Austria yet he was a Prince of so tender a Conscience that he imparted every thing that gave him the least trouble to the Jesuits who being always intent upon the greatness and conservation of their Society would not concern themselves in any thing that might prove a stop or impediment to their common advantage All these Reasons both on the one side and the other kept the Count for three days together in great perplexity of thoughts thinking within himself without daring to communicate it with any one whether he had best conceal his Orders from the Arch-Duke or discover them to him but seeing that danger does always increase with delay he resolv'd to draw the Spanish Army together under pretence of opposing the Enemy and to secure anew the Dukes Troops by Regalio's and Presents of which the said Count was always very liberal He determin'd afterward to impart all to the Arch-Duke to shew him his Orders he had from the King and to present him his Majesties Letter His Imperial Highness concurr'd immediately and the execution of it was disposed in the ensuing manner First they drew 300 Horse about Brussels under another pretence and it was resolved that the Count de Garcies Camp-Master General should go with some particular persons to find out the Duke and conduct him to the Arch-Duke under colour that he must speak with him immediately about urgent Affairs Garcies went and found the Duke with a Father Confessor of the converted Courtizans in their little Church and acquainted him that the Arch-Duke desir'd to speak with him presently about some matters of great consequence that concern'd the interest of the Crown and that he stay'd for him at the Palace The Duke answered Parmi esser l' hora un poco tarda domuttina saro à servirlo I suppose it is too late now I shall wait on him in the morning The Count replied Tengo ordine de condur V.A. alla Corte prima che si faccia notte My Orders are to attend your Highness to the Court before it be night To which the Duke answer'd V. S. vada che la Seguiro If you please to go Sir I shall follow you Being arrived at the broad place before the Palace where the Courtiers use to walk the Count said to him V. A. prenda il cammino verso quell ' altro appartamento tenendo io ordine dal Re mio fignore d' arrestarla Your Highness please to walk towards that other Appartment for I have Orders from the King my Master to Arrest you The Duke stopt immediately and desired to be conducted to the Arch-Duke but was denied leading him hastily to the quarters prepared for him where he was honourably served and guarded by the principal Officers of the Army Assoon as he was entred the Palace the Count de Fuensaldagne sent word to the Burgo-Master to put the inhabitants in Armes and place Guards in all the streets that lead