with the heads of the Fronde. Thus deprived of supporters, Condé became an easy victim to the arts of Mazarine. It was determined to arrest him, together with his brother Conti, and his brother-in-law Longueville. The promise of a cardinal's hat for Gondi procured for the Court the assistance of the Fronde; the Duke of Orléans consented to the measure, and the three princes, when on the point of leaving a council that had been held at the Palais Royal, were arrested, and quietly conducted to Vincennes (January 18th 1650). It is said that the order for this arrest had been obtained from Condé himself, on pretence that it was to be used against some other person.8

This was the second crisis of the sedition. The old Fronde had expired; its leaders had sold themselves to the Court; but in its place sprang up the New Fronde, called also, from the affected airs of its leaders, the Petits Maîtres. The beautiful Duchess of Longueville was the soul of it, aided by her admirer, Marsillac, afterwards Duke de la Rochefoucauld, and by the Duke of Bouillon. On the arrest of her husband and her brother, the duchess had fled to Holland, and afterwards to Stenai; where she and Bouillon's brother, Turenne, who styled himself the "King's Lieutenant-General for the liberation of the Princes," entered into negociations with the Archduke Leopold. Bouillon himself had retired into Guienne, which province was alienated from the Court because Mazarine maintained as its governor the detested Epernon. In July, Bouillon and his allies publicly received a Spanish envoy at Bordeaux. Condé's wife and infant son had been received in that city with enthusiasm. But on the approach of Mazarine with the royal army, the inhabitants of Guienne, alarmed for their vintage, now approaching maturity, showed signs of submission; after a short siege Bordeaux surrendered, on condition. of an amnesty, in which Bouillon and La Rochefoucauld were included; and the Princess of Condé was permitted to retire. (October 1st 1650).

In the north, the Frondeurs, with their Spanish allies, seemed at first more successful. In the summer Leopold had entered Champagne, penetrated to Ferté Milon, and some of his marauding parties had even reached Dammartin. Turenne tried to persuade the Archduke to march to Vincennes and liberate the princes; but while he was hesitating, Gaston transferred the captives to Marcoussis, whence they were soon after conveyed to Havre. Leopold and Turenne, after a vain attempt to rouse the Parisians, retreated to the Meuse and laid siege to Mouzon. The Cardinal himself,

• Michelet, La Fronde, p. 333.

10

MAZARINE IN EXILE.

[BOOK V. like his master Richelieu, now assumed the character of a general. Uniting with his troops in the north the army of Guienne, he took up his quarters at Rethel, which had been captured by Du Plessis Praslin. Hence he ordered an attack to be made on the Spaniards. In the battle which ensued, these were entirely defeated, many of their principal officers were captured, and even Turenne himself narrowly escaped the same fate (December 15th 1650).

It was a great thing to victory was Du Plessis', His head began to turn.

The Cardinal's elation was unbounded. have defeated Turenne, and though the Mazarine assumed all the credit of it. He forgot that he owed his success to the leaders of the old Fronde, and especially to the Coadjutor; he neglected his promises to that intriguing prelate, though Gondi plainly declared that he must either be a prince of the Church or the head of a faction. Mazarine was also imprudent enough to offend the Parliament; and he compared them with that sitting at London-which indeed was doing them too much honour. The Coadjutor went over to the party of the princes, dragging with him the feeble-minded Orléans, who had himself been insulted by the Queen. Thus was produced a third phase of this singular sedition-the union of the old Fronde with the new.

The Parliament now clamoured for the liberation of the princes. As the Queen hesitated, Gaston bluntly declared that the dismissal of Mazarine was necessary to the restoration of peace; while the Parliament added to their former demand another for the Cardinal's banishment. Mazarine saw his mistake, and endeavoured to rectify it. He hastened to Havre in order to liberate the princes in person, and claim the merit of a spontaneous act. But it was too late; it was plain that he was acting only by constraint. The princes were conducted back in triumph to Paris by a large retinue sent to escort them. On February 25th 1651, their innocence was established by a royal declaration, and they were restored to all their dignities and charges.

Mazarine, meanwhile, who saw that for the present the game was lost, retired into exile; first into Bouillon, and afterwards to Brühl on the Rhine, where the Elector of Cologne offered him an asylum. From this place he corresponded with the Queen, and continued to direct her counsels. The anarchy and confusion that had ensued in France were such as promised him a speedy return. Châteauneuf had ostensibly succeeded to his place; but Orléans and Condé ruled supreme, and ministers were dismissed

• Their correspondence has been published by the Société de l'Histoire de France.

and appointed at their pleasure. The Parliament in its turn wanted to establish a republic of the robe, and passed the most violent resolutions, which the Queen, who was a sort of prisoner at the Palais Royal, was obliged to confirm. Anne's situation, who was subjected on the one side to the dictation of the princes, on the other to the threats of the Parliament, became intolerable, and the Coadjutor availed himself of her distress to push his own He promised to procure the recall of Mazarine on condition of receiving a cardinal's hat; a fact which can scarcely be doubted, though he pretends in his memoirs that he made no such engagement.10

interests.

To relieve herself from some of her embarrassments, the Queen Regent resolved to declare her son of age when he should have completed his thirteenth year on September 6th. This step would release her from the obtrusion of the Duke of Orléans; and at the same time her son would be able to confirm all that Mazarine had done in his name. Already in address, figure, and bearing, the youthful Louis XIV. was admirably fitted to sustain the part of a king; and everybody acknowledged that he was formed to rule a people which loves to see absolute power fitly represented, and surrounded with pomp and splendour. On the day after his birthday, his majority was declared in a solemn Lit de Justice; but he was compelled to promise that Mazarine should never return, and thus to inaugurate his reign with a falsehood.

In the same assembly was also published a Justification of Condé; yet that prince absented himself from the ceremony on the ground that the calumnies of his enemies prevented him from appearing before the King." By his haughtiness and violence he had again completely isolated himself.12 He had separated from the leaders of the Fronde; he had offended both the Court and the Parliament; nay, he had even alienated Turenne, who hastened to reconcile himself with the Queen and Mazarine. Anne had been advised again to arrest Condé; but he got notice of it, and fled to St. Maur. He had now no alternative but to throw himself into the arms of the enemies of his country; and all eyes were turned upon him, in anxious expectation of his movements. At a meeting of his principal adherents held at Chantilli, Condé resolved upon war; and he proceeded at once to his government of Berri, and thence to Bordeaux (Sept. 22nd). Through his agent, Lenet, he had procured the support of the Spanish Government, which, besides promising considerable sums of money, engaged to send 30 vessels and 4000 men to Bordeaux, while 5000 more were 10 Martin, t. xii. p. 377. 11 Ibid. p. 381. 12 Montglat, t. ii. p. 287.

12

CONDÉ HEADS A CIVIL WAR.

[Book V. to join the prince's partisans at Stenai. Eight Spanish ships actually arrived soon afterwards in the Gironde with troops and money; but ultimately Spain, always in want of means, did nothing of importance. The defection of Turenne spoilt Condé's plans, who wanted Turenne to march on Paris from the north, while he himself advanced from the south. The majority of Louis was also unfavourable to Condé: he had now to fight against the King in person, and the King's name was a tower of strength. Louis and his mother were with the royal army, which was commanded by the Count d'Harcourt. The struggle, which we need not enter into, lasted during the month of November. Condé, worsted in every rencounter, offered to treat on the basis of Mazarine's return; but the Cardinal, who saw that that event depended not on the Prince, refused to negociate. He had quitted Brühl towards the end of October, for Hui, in the territory of Liége, whence he had advanced to Dinant. He was in correspondence with the governors of provinces and places in the north of France, who were for the most part his creatures. La Vieuville -the same whom Richelieu had ousted--had again obtained the direction of the finances, and forwarded money to Mazarine; with which he levied soldiers in the electorate of Cologne and bishopric of Liége. After some anxious hesitation, Anne wrote to Mazarine, authorising him to return "for the succour of the King" (Nov. 17th). The Parliament were furious, and unanimously opposed his return. They were now in a singular situation. On the one hand they were obliged to pronounce Condé guilty of high treason; on the other, they were drawing up the most terrible resolutions against the minister who governed the Queen and country. They had to oppose on one side absolute power and ministerial despotism; on the other an oligarchy of princes, united only by selfish views, and utterly regardless of the national interests.

Meanwhile Mazarine pursued his march, and penetrated by Rhetel into Champagne. At this news the Parliament issued a decree, confiscating his estates, and even the income of his prebends. They caused his palace in Paris, together with the library and furniture, to be sold; and out of the proceeds they offered a reward of 150,000 livres to whomsoever should bring him to justice, "alive or dead." Nevertheless, Mazarine continued his advance towards Poitiers, where the Court was then residing. His guards wore his own colours (green). The King went a league out of the town to meet the Cardinal, who, the very next day, assumed the ostensible direction of affairs. Fortune, however, seemed once more to turn. Condé, reinforced by the troops of the

Duke of Orléans, and leaving his brother Conti and the Count de Marsin as his representatives in Guienne, marched against the royal forces under Hocquincourt, and defeated them near Bléneau (April 7th 1652). The royal army would have been annihilated, had not Turenne arrived in time to save it. At this juncture, Charles II. of England, who had fled to France with his brother the Duke of York, endeavoured to bring about an accommodation between the French Court and the princes; but a conference held at St. Germain towards the end of April, led to no result.

Condé having marched upon Paris, the stream of war was diverted towards the capital. During two or three months, Condé and Turenne displayed their generalship by countermarches and manœuvres about Paris, while the Court went from one place to another. At length on July 2nd, Turenne ventured an attack on Condé, who had entrenched himself in the faubourg St. Antoine. The young King, accompanied by Mazarine, had come to the heights of Charonne to view the battle; and Turenne, although from the strength of Condé's position, he would willingly have declined a battle, was neither willing to disappoint Louis, nor to awaken the suspicions of the mistrustful Cardinal. The Prince is said never to have displayed better generalship than on this occasion; yet he was on the point of being overcome, when he was saved by an unexpected incident. The Parliament, which had declared its neutrality, had intrusted the command of the Bastille to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, called in the memoirs of those times La Grande Mademoiselle, the stout-hearted daughter of the Duke of Orléans, who had distinguished herself by the defence of that city against the Royalists. She took, with great valour but little judgment, a distinguished part in these wars; and it was said that her object was to compel the King to marry her, though he was eleven years her junior. While her father shut himself up in the Luxemburg, and would give no orders, Mademoiselle exhorted the citizens to stand by the Prince, and directed on the royal forces the guns of the neutral fortress which she commanded, the first of which she is said to have fired with her own hand.13 Even this circumstance, however, would not have saved Condé, had she not persuaded the citizens to open the gates and admit him and his troops; when Turenne was compelled to retreat. Louis XIV. never forgave the Princess, who had afterwards severely to expiate her conduct.

The result of this victory was that Paris declared in favour of the princes; a provisional government was organised in that 13 Mém. de Conrart, p. 106 sq.; Mém. de Malle. Montpensier, 117 sq.