On the 18th of July, at ten o'clock at night, the widow of Henri IV, attended only by Madame du Fargis, who had secretly reached Compiegne in order to bear her company during her flight, and by M. de la Mazure the lieutenant of her guard, stepped into a carriage which had been prepared for her, rapidly crossed the ferry, and took the road to La Capelle; but before she could reach her destined haven, she was met by M. de Vardes, who, with every demonstration of regret, informed her that her design having by some extraordinary chance been suspected by Richelieu, the Marquis his father, who was devoted to the minister, had been hurriedly ordered to return to La Capelle, where he had arrived on the previous evening; had shown himself to the garrison and magistrates; and had commanded his son to leave the town upon the instant.

Agitated as she was, the Queen-mother did not fail even at that moment, and, as some historians state, most justly, to suspect that she had been betrayed either by the fears or the venality of the very individual before her; but hastily offering her acknowledgments for his timely warning, she repressed her resentment, and gave instant directions to her attendants to proceed with all speed to Avesnes in Hainault. So well was she obeyed that on the first day of her journey she travelled a distance of twenty leagues, disregarding the entreaties of Madame du Fargis, who represented to her the necessity of some temporary repose; and persisting in her purpose so resolutely that on the 20th of July she reached her destination, and placed herself beyond the reach of her pursuers, who had, however, so languidly performed their duty that it was openly declared that they had rather been despatched by Richelieu to drive her from the kingdom than to compel her to remain within it.

On her arrival at Avesnes the royal fugitive was received with all imaginable honour by the Marquis de Crevecoeur, the Governor of the fortress; the troops were under arms; and she was escorted by the dignitaries of the city to the Hotel-de-Ville, where she took up her temporary residence. The Baron de Guepe was instantly despatched to Brussels to announce her arrival to the Archd.u.c.h.ess; and the Prince d'Epinoy, the Governor of the county, waited upon her Majesty, to entreat that she would remove to Mons, where Isabella was preparing to welcome her. During her sojourn at Avesnes, Marie despatched three letters to Paris, in which she respectively informed the King, the Parliament, and the munic.i.p.ality of her reasons for leaving the country.

"Perceiving," she wrote in that which she addressed to her son, "that my health was failing from day to day, and that it was the Cardinal's intention to cause me to die between four walls, I considered that in order to save my life and my reputation, I ought to accept the offer which was made to me by the Marquis de Vardes, to receive me in La Capelle, a town of which he is the Governor, and where you possess absolute power. I therefore determined to go there. When I was within three leagues of La Capelle the Marquis de Vardes informed me that I could not enter that place, because he had given it into the hands of his father. I leave you to imagine what was my affliction when I saw myself so deceived, and pursued by a body of cavalry in order to hasten me more speedily out of your kingdom. G.o.d has granted that the artifices of the Cardinal should be discovered. The very individuals who negotiated the affair have confessed that it was a plot of the Cardinal's, in order to compel me to leave the country; an extreme measure which I dreaded above all things, and which he pa.s.sionately desired." [157]

In reply to this letter Louis XIII wrote thus: "You will allow me, if you please, Madame, to say that the act which you have just committed, together with what has occurred for some time past, clearly discovers to me the nature of your intentions, and that which I may in future expect from them. The respect which I bear towards you prevents me from being more explicit." [158]

The other letters of the Queen-mother, although calculated to excite upon their publication a general hatred of the Cardinal, availed her personal cause as little as that which she had addressed to the monarch.

Her flight was blamed by all cla.s.ses throughout the country; and not the slightest movement was made in her favour either by the Parliament or the people. Richelieu was triumphant. He had at length succeeded in throwing suspicion upon her movements, and in compelling her to share the odium which he had hitherto borne alone; and although she saw herself the honoured guest of the Princes with whom she had taken refuge, the unfortunate Marie de Medicis soon became bitterly conscious that she had lost her former hold on the affections of that France over which she had once so proudly ruled. It is true that with the populace the ill-fated Princess yet retained her popularity, but she owed a great portion of this still-lingering affection to the general aversion of the ma.s.ses towards the Cardinal; and while they mourned and even wept over her wrongs, they made no effort to enforce her justification.

On the invitation of the Prince d'Epinoy, Marie de Medicis, after a short sojourn at Avesnes, proceeded to Mons, where she was welcomed with salvos of artillery, and found all the citizens under arms in honour of her arrival; and it was in the midst of the rejoicing consequent upon her entry into that city, that she received the cold and stern reply of Louis, of which we have quoted a portion above, and to which she hastened to respond by a second letter, wherein she bitterly complained of the harshness with which she had been treated; and refused to return to France until the Cardinal should have been put upon his trial for "his crimes and projects against the state." The letter thus concludes: "I am your subject and your mother; do me justice as a King, love me as a son. I entreat this of you with clasped hands."

The reception of the self-exiled Queen by the Archd.u.c.h.ess Isabella, whose n.o.ble and generous qualities have been extolled by all the contemporary historians, was as warm and as sincere as though she had welcomed a sister. The two Princesses wept together over the trials and sufferings of the ill-fated Marie; nor was the sympathy of the Archd.u.c.h.ess confined to mere words. Every attention which the most fastidious delicacy could suggest was paid to the wants and wishes of the royal fugitive; and after a few days spent in the most perfect harmony in the capital of Hainault, the Court removed to the summer palace of Marimont, whence they ultimately proceeded to Brussels, where the French Queen made her entry with great pomp, and was enthusiastically received by all cla.s.ses of the population.

From Brussels the ill.u.s.trious ladies visited Antwerp, on the occasion of the annual _kermesse_, or fair, where the inhabitants vied with each other in doing honour to their distinguished guests. Six thousand citizens, magnificently apparelled, were under arms during their stay; and from the galleries of the quaint and picturesque old houses hung draperies of damask, tapestry, and velvet, which blended their rich tints with those of the banners that waved above the summits of the public buildings, and from the masts of the shipping in the harbour.

Little could the unfortunate Marie de Medicis antic.i.p.ate, when she thus saw herself surrounded by the most unequivocal exhibition of respect and deference ever displayed towards greatness in misfortune, that she should but a few short years subsequently enter the city in which she was now feasted and flattered, a penniless wanderer, only to be driven out in terror and sickness, to seek a new shelter, and to die in abject despair!

Ever sanguine, the Queen-mother even yet hoped for a propitious change of fortune. She would not believe that Richelieu could ultimately triumph over the natural affection of a son, evil as her experience had hitherto proved; and when Isabella, in order to comply with the necessary observances of courtesy, wrote to a.s.sure Louis XIII that so far from intending any disrespect towards him by the reception which she had given to his mother, she begged him rather to regard it as a demonstration of her deference for himself; and at the same time offered to a.s.sist by every means in her power in effecting a reconciliation between them, Marie de Medicis deceived herself into the belief that such a proposition coming from such a source would never be rejected; while it is probable that had Louis been left to follow the promptings of his own nature, which was rather weak than wicked, her antic.i.p.ations might at this period have been realized; but the inevitable Richelieu was constantly beside him, to insinuate the foulest suspicions, and to keep alive his easily-excited distrust of the motives of the Queen-mother.

The despatches of Isabella were, moreover, entrusted to the Abbe Carondelet, Deacon of the Cathedral of Cambrai, who, as the Cardinal was well aware, considered himself aggrieved by the refusal to which he had been subjected on his application for the bishopric of Namur; and who would in consequence, as he did not fail to infer, be readily prevailed upon to abandon the interests of the fugitive Queen. The event proved the justice of his previsions. Carondelet was not proof against the extraordinary honours which he received at the French Court, nor the splendid presents of the King and his minister; and the man to whose zeal and eloquence Isabella had confidently entrusted the cause of her royal guest was, after the lapse of a few short days, heart and soul the creature of Richelieu.[159]

The Cardinal found little difficulty in persuading the monarch that Marie de Medicis must have had a full and perfect understanding with the Spanish Cabinet before she would have ventured to seek an asylum within their territories; an a.s.sertion which was so faintly combated by the treacherous envoy of the Archd.u.c.h.ess, that thenceforward the protestations of the Queen-mother were totally disregarded, and the triumph of Richelieu was complete. In consequence of this conviction, Louis XIII published, in the month of August, a declaration which was most injurious alike towards Marie de Medicis and Gaston d'Orleans.

Among other accusations, it a.s.serted that "the evil counsellors of his brother had driven him, contrary to the duty imposed by his birth, and the respect which he owed to the person of his sovereign, to address to him letters full of calumnies and impostures against the Government; that he had accused, against all truth and reason, his very dear and well-beloved cousin the Cardinal de Richelieu of infidelity and enterprise against the person of his Majesty, that of the Queen-mother, and his own; that for some time past the Queen-mother had also suffered herself to be guided by bad advice; and that on his having entreated of her to a.s.sist him by her counsels as she had formerly done, she had replied that she was weary of public business; by which he had discovered that she was resolved to second the designs of the Due d'Orleans, and had consequently determined to separate from her, and to request her to remove to Moulins, to which request she had refused to accede; that having subsequently left Compiegne, she had taken refuge with the Spaniards, and was unceasingly disseminating doc.u.ments tending to the subversion of the royal authority and of the kingdom itself; that for all these reasons, confirming his previous declarations, he declared guilty of _lese-majeste_ and disturbers of the public peace all those who should be proved to have aided the Queen-mother and the Duc d'Orleans in resisting his authority, and of having induced them to leave the kingdom, as well as those who had followed and still remained with them; and that it was his will that proceedings should be taken against them by the seizure of their property, and the abolition of all their public offices, appointments, and revenues."

By this arbitrary act not only were the adherents of Marie de Medicis and Gaston d'Orleans deprived of their property, but their own revenues were confiscated to the Crown, and they at once found themselves without pecuniary resources.[160] The calculations of Richelieu had been able, for the faction of the fugitives was instantly weakened by so unexpected an act of severity. Crippled in means, they could no longer recompense the devotion of those individuals who had followed their fortunes, many of whom had done so from a hope of future aggrandizement, and who immediately retired without even an attempt at apology, in order to secure themselves from ruin. When the unfortunate Queen would have sacrificed her jewels to liquidate the claims which pressed the most heavily upon her, she found the measure impossible, lest the King should redemand them as the property of the Crown; and she consequently soon saw herself reduced to the undignified expedient of subsisting upon the generosity of the powers from whom she had sought protection.

While Louis was, to use the words of Mezeray, thus "dishonouring his mother and his brother," and depriving them of the very means of subsistence, he was overwhelming the Cardinal de Richelieu alike with honours and with riches. The estate whence he derived his name was erected into a duchy-peerage, and he was thenceforward distinguished by the t.i.tle of the Cardinal-Duke; while the government of Brittany having become vacant by the death of the Marechal de Themines, it was also conferred upon the omnipotent minister.[161]

At this period, indeed, it appeared as if Richelieu had overcome all obstacles to his personal greatness; and although the crown of France was worn by the son of Henri IV, the foot of the Cardinal was on the neck of the nation. That he was envied and hated is most true, but he was still more feared than either. No one could dispute his genius; while all alike uttered "curses not loud but deep" upon his tyranny and ambition.

The King had long become a mere puppet in his hands, leaving all state affairs to his guidance, while he himself pa.s.sed his time in hunting, polishing muskets, writing military memoirs, or wandering from one palace to another in search of amus.e.m.e.nt. Perpetually surrounded by favourites, he valued them only as they contributed to his selfish gratification, and abandoned them without a murmur so soon as they incurred the displeasure of the Cardinal, to whom in his turn he clung from a sense of helplessness rather than from any real feeling of regard.

Bitterly, indeed, had Marie de Medicis deluded herself when she imagined that anything was to be hoped from the affection of Louis XIII, who was utterly incapable of such a sentiment; but who, in all the relations of life, whether as son, as husband, as friend, or as sovereign, was ever the slave of his own self-love.

On her arrival at Brussels, the Queen-mother had despatched M. de la Mazure to inform the Duc d'Orleans of her flight from France, and of the gracious reception which she had met from the Archd.u.c.h.ess Isabella; a.s.suring him at the same time that having been apprised of his intention to espouse the Princesse Marguerite, she not only gave her free consent to the alliance, but was of opinion that it should be completed without delay.

The Oratorian Chanteloupe[162], in whom she reposed the most unlimited confidence, had followed Monsieur to Lorraine, and was empowered to declare in her name to the Duke Charles that the contemplated marriage met with her entire approval, upon certain conditions which were immediately accepted, although it was considered expedient to defer their execution until Gaston should, with the aid of his ally, have placed himself at the head of a powerful army, which was to march upon the French frontier in order to compel the King to withdraw his opposition.

The marriage portion of the Princess had been fixed at a hundred thousand pistoles, the greater portion of which sum was expended in levying troops for the proposed campaign; and in less than six weeks an army of ten or twelve thousand foot-soldiers and five thousand horse was raised; while Gaston, full of the most extravagant hopes, prepared to commence his expedition.

Meanwhile commissaries had been appointed by Richelieu to proceed with the trial of the adherents of the Queen-mother and the Duc d'Orleans, and the first victims of his virulence were two physicians and astrologers accused of having, at the request of the royal exiles, drawn the horoscope of the King, and predicted the period of his death. These unfortunate men were condemned to the galleys for life. The Duc de Roannois, the Marquis de la Vieuville, and the Comtesse du Fargis were executed in effigy; while the property of the Comte de Moret, the Comtesse his mother, the Ducs de Roannois, d'Elboeuf, and de Bellegarde, the Marquises de Boissy, de la Vieuville, and de Sourdeac, and the President Le Coigneux, was confiscated to the Crown.

The government of Picardy was transferred from the Duc d'Elboeuf to the Duc de Chevreuse, and that of Burgundy from the Duc de Bellegarde to the Prince de Conde; and thus the faction of the mal contents found itself crippled alike in pecuniary resources and in moral power.

Towards the close of the year, intelligence of the designs of the Duc d'Orleans having reached Paris, the King proceeded to Lorraine, in order to arrest his movements; and despatched a messenger to Charles, demanding to be informed of his motive for raising so strong an army; and also if it were true that Monsieur contemplated a marriage with the Princesse Marguerite, as he had been informed. In reply, the Lorraine Prince a.s.sured the royal envoy that the troops had been levied with a view to a.s.sist the Emperor against the King of Sweden; and that the rumour which had spread in the French capital of an intended alliance between his august guest and the Princess his sister was altogether erroneous. No credence was, however, vouchsafed to this explanation, the Cardinal already possessing sufficient evidence to the contrary; and being, moreover, quite as anxious to deprive the Emperor of all extraneous help as he was to circ.u.mvent the projects of Monsieur. A second express was consequently forwarded a few days subsequently, summoning Charles de Lorraine immediately to march his army beyond the Rhine; and threatening in the event of his disobedience that the King would forthwith attend the nuptials of his brother at the head of the best troops in his kingdom.

This intimation sufficed to convince the Lorraine Prince that his only safety was to be found in compliance, all the hopes which Gaston had indulged of succour from France having failed him; and it was accordingly resolved that the little army should proceed at once to Germany under the command of Charles himself. Montsigot, the private secretary of Monsieur, was at that period at Brussels, whither he had been sent to inform the Queen-mother and the Archd.u.c.h.ess Isabella of the progress of affairs in Lorraine, and to solicit a.s.sistance in the projected irruption into France which had been concerted with the Spanish Cabinet. His application proved successful, and on different occasions the Prince received from the sovereigns of the Low Countries upwards of five hundred thousand florins. The threat of the King, however, rendered a change of measures imperative; Puylaurens,[163] one of the favourites of the Prince, was despatched in all haste to acquaint the Court of Brussels with the failure of the contemplated campaign, and to concert measures for a similar attempt during the ensuing year with the ministers of Philip and Isabella; as well as to secure a retreat for Monsieur in Flanders, should he find himself compelled to quit the duchy of Lorraine.[164]

At the same time Marie de Medicis despatched the Chevalier de Valencay to Madrid, with orders to explain to Philip of Spain the precise nature of her position, and to solicit his interference in her behalf; but after long deliberation the Spanish ministers induced his Majesty not to compromise himself with France by affording any direct a.s.sistance to the Queen-mother, and to excuse himself upon the plea of the numerous wars in which he was engaged, especially that against the Dutch which had been fomented by the French Cabinet, and which had for some time cruelly hara.s.sed his kingdom. He, however, a.s.sured the royal exile of his deep sympathy, and of his intention to urge upon the Infanta Isabella the expediency of alleviating to the utmost extent of her power the sufferings of her august guest.

Philip and his Cabinet could afford to be lavish of their words, but they did not dare to brave the French cannon on the Pyrenees.[165] At the close of the year Charles de Lorraine led back his decimated army from Germany; and the marriage of Gaston with the Princesse Marguerite shortly afterwards took place. There was, however, nothing regal in the ceremony, the presence of Louis XIII at Metz rendering the contracting parties apprehensive that should their intention transpire, they would be troubled by a host of unwelcome guests. Thus the Cardinal de Lorraine, Bishop of Toul, and brother to the reigning Duke, dispensed with the publication of the banns, and permitted the ceremony to take place in one of the convents of Nancy, where a monk of Citeaux performed the service at seven o'clock in the evening; the only witnesses being the Duc de Vaudemont, the father of the bride, the Abbesse de Remiremont by whom she had been brought up, Madame de la Neuvillette her governess, and the Comte de Moret.[166]

It is a.s.serted that the old Duc de Vaudemont was so apprehensive of the unhappy results of a marriage contracted under such circ.u.mstances, that on receiving the congratulations of those around him, he replied calmly: "Should my daughter not be one day eligible to become Queen of France, she will at least make a fitting Abbess of Remiremont." [167]

While Gaston d'Orleans was engrossed by his personal affairs, his unhappy mother was engaged in making a fresh appeal to the justice and affection of the King. Powerless and penniless in a foreign land, she pined for a reconciliation with her son, and a return to her adopted country. But the hatred and jealousy of Richelieu were still unappeased.

He had already robbed her of her revenues, caused an inventory of her furniture, pictures, and equipages to be made, as though she were already dead; imprisoned or banished the members of her household; and had bribed the pens of a number of miserable hirelings to deluge France with libellous pamphlets to her dishonour. There was no indignity to which she had not been subjected through his influence; and on this last occasion she was fated to discover that even the poor gratification of justifying herself to her son and sovereign was to be henceforth denied to her; as at the instigation of the Cardinal, instead of vouchsafing any reply to the long and affecting letter which she had addressed to him, Louis coldly informed the bearer of the despatch that should the Queen again permit herself to write disparagingly of his prime minister, he would arrest and imprison her messenger.

A short time subsequently, having learnt that the King had once more offended the Parliament, Marie de Medicis. who had received information that Richelieu was desirous of declaring war against Spain, and who was naturally anxious to prevent hostilities between her son and the husband of her daughter, resolved once more to forward a letter to the Parliament, and to entreat of them to remonstrate with the King against so lamentable a design. Yielding to a natural impulse she bitterly inveighed in her despatch against the Cardinal-Duke, who, in order to further his own aggrandizement, was about, should he succeed, to plunge the nation into bloodshed, and to sever the dearest ties of kindred.

This letter was communicated to Richelieu, whose exasperation exceeded all bounds; and it is consequently almost needless to add that it only served to embitter the position of the persecuted exile.

On the 26th of December Charles de Lorraine, anxious to appease the anger of the French King, proceeded to Metz, where he was well received by Richelieu, who trusted, through his influence, to secure the neutrality of the Duke of Bavaria. He, however, warned the Prince that Louis would never consent to the marriage of Monsieur with the Princesse Marguerite, nor permit him to make his duchy a place of refuge for the French malcontents; and, finally, despite the banquets and festivals which were celebrated in his honour, Charles became convinced that unless he complied with the conditions of a treaty which was proposed to him, he would not be allowed to return to his own territories.

Under this well-grounded impression the unfortunate young Prince had no other alternative than to submit to the humiliation inflicted on him, and on the 31st of December he signed a doc.u.ment by which he abjured for the future every alliance save that with France; accorded a free pa.s.sage to the French armies through his duchy at all times; and pledged himself not to harbour any individuals hostile to Louis, particularly the Queen-mother or Monsieur; and, as a pledge of his promised obedience, he delivered up his fortress of Marsal. Such was the result of his trust in the clemency of the French King and his minister; but, far from having been gained over to their cause, the Duc de Lorraine returned to Nancy with a deep and abiding wrath at the indignity which had been forced upon him; and an equally firm resolve to break through the compulsory treaty on the first favourable opportunity.[168]

FOOTNOTES:

[144] Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 23-25. Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 159, 160.

Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. vol. iii. p. 281. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. ii. pp.

23, 24.

[145] Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 31, 32. Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. vol. iii. p.

282.

[146] Le Va.s.sor, vol. vi. pp. 628-632. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. ii. p. 24.

Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 384.

[147] Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 34, 35.

[148] Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 384-388. Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 32-34.

[149] Motteville, _Mem_. vol. i. pp. 375-377.

[150] Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 35-37. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. ii. pp. 25, 26.

[151] Capefigue, vol. v. pp. 37, 38.

[152] Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 388, 389.

[153] Brienne, _Mem_. vol. ii. pp. 26-28

[154] Capefigue, vol. v. p. 40

[155] Decrees of the Parliament.