spiring against Richelieu? Was it not the party of former times, the party of the League of Austria and of Spain? And was not Madame de Chevreuse by her engagements with the Duke of Lorraine, the Queen of England, the Chevalier de Jars at Rome, and the Count-Duke Olivares at Madrid, made one of the chief powers of this party? When, therefore, it was seen to be in motion, it was very natural to suspect the hand of Madame de Chevreuse in all its movements.
But the eye of Richelieu soon pierced the darkness which enveloped it; he saw clearly into the intrigues of the Grand-Equerry whom he had long suspected, and a treason, the secret of which has remained impenetrable to all investigation for two centuries, threw into his hands the treaty that had been concluded with Spain, through the medium of Fontrailles, in the name of Monsieur, of Cinq-Mars, and of the Duke de Bouillon. Thenceforth the cardinal felt assured of victory. He understood Louis XIII.; he knew that he might, in a burst of his fitful and capricious temper, have complained to his favorite of his minister, and even have wished to be delivered from him, and thus have paved the way to dangerous conversation;[1] but he also knew to what degree he was a king and a Frenchman, and devoted to their common system of policy. He hastened, therefore, to send Chavigny to Narbonne with the authentic proofs of the Spanish treaty.
- ↑ See the Memoires of Monglat, Coll. Petitot, vol. i., p. 375.
sels, and that of Cologne, the preparations of the queen-mother for leaving England, the litters and mules that have been purchased, all that has been written in genuine letters of Madame de Chevreuse, all that we hear from the courts of France, the rumors which are in the armies, the advices which come from the courts of Italy, the hopes of the Spaniards both on the side of Spain and Flanders, the resolution which Monsieur has taken of not coming as he had promised,—waiting, perhaps, for the result of the storm,—all these things oblige him to warn the king, in order that he may take such measures as he may please in respect to these rumors which disturb the public peace."
