Never had France stood more in need of such guidance than at the moment when Richelieu assumed the direction of affairs. At home, there was for the moment peace, though it was to prove but of brief duration; but abroad the position of affairs had become so threatening that even the dullest minds had begun to be alarmed. Spain and Austria, in closest harmony of religious and political aims, were trampling on the liberties of Europe; Germany seemed prostrate at the Emperor’s feet; Spain dominated all Italy, with the exception of Venice and Savoy. All the provinces which owed allegiance to the two Powers had been knit together; the subjugation of the Palatinate and the Lower Rhine secured their connection with the Netherlands and menaced the very existence of the Dutch; the Valtellina forts commanded the road between the Spaniards in the Milanese and the Austrians on the Danube and in the Tyrol.

Richelieu at once resolved to assail the Austro-Spanish power at both critical points. In the North, he did not interfere in arms, but by subsidies and skilful negotiations he organised a Northern League, under the leadership of Christian IV of Denmark, and arrested the progress of the Spaniards in the United Provinces. In the Valtellina, however, he had recourse to more vigorous measures.

The Spaniards had ended by handing over the forts which had remained in their possession to the Papal troops, but though the period during which the Pope[25] was to hold them in deposit had long expired and he had received all the guarantees he could desire for the security of the Catholic religion, the Holy Father could not bring himself to hand over the Valtellina to the heretic Grisons. The Spaniards, on their side, believed themselves more assured of the Valtellina in the hands of Urban VIII than in their own, and imagined that a cardinal would never venture to make war on the Pope. They did not yet know Richelieu.

In November, Coeuvres, who had persuaded the Protestant Cantons to arm for the recovery of the Valtellina, transformed himself from an ambassador into a general and marched into the Grisons, at the head of a small army of French and Swiss. The districts held by the Austrians at once rose in revolt; the Grisons declared themselves freed from the treaty which had been imposed on them, and the Imperialists hastily withdrew. Having secured the Tyrolese passes, Coeuvres descended from the Engadine by Poschiavo and entered the Valtellina. The entry of some Spanish troops into Chiavenna served to cover the attack directed against the soldiers of the Pope, and in a few weeks Chiavenna and all the forts of the Valtellina had capitulated, although the French general had no siege-artillery with which to reduce them. The Pope’s soldiers and their standards were respectfully sent back to his Holiness.

Loud was the outcry, not only at Rome and Madrid, but even amongst the High Catholic party in France, against the “State Cardinal” who was trampling the Church beneath his feet.[26] The Pope made less noise than his partisans; he recognised that a new power had arisen in France, and he had no desire to suffer worse things at the hands of this redoubtable Minister. He contented himself by sending his nephew, Cardinal Francisco Barberini,[27] as Legate to France to lodge a formal protest and endeavour to accommodate the affair, and hastened to despatch the dispensation for the marriage of Henriette-Marie, which had been long awaited. Richelieu had caused a gentle hint to be conveyed to the Holy Father that, if his consent were any longer withheld, it might be necessary to celebrate the marriage without it.

Richelieu did not rest content with the recovery of the Valtellina. He concerted with the Duke of Savoy a movement which, if successful, would shake the Spanish power in Northern Italy to its foundations. A quarrel between Charles Emmanuel and Genoa was to form the pretext for an invasion of the territory of that republic; the Duke would attack, and France would furnish an auxiliary army. Genoa was, not only the ally, but the banker of Spain, and its capture would bring about a financial panic in that country, and, at the same time, interrupt her maritime communications with the Milanese.

At the beginning of 1625 all was in readiness; Charles Emmanuel had mobilised his army; a considerable force under the command of LesdiguiÈres was being collected on the frontier; and the Dutch had promised to send a squadron to the Mediterranean to assist in the blockade of Genoa. Suddenly, to the astonishment and indignation of Richelieu, and, indeed, of all patriotic Frenchmen, came the news of a fresh Huguenot insurrection. The Rochellois, angry and alarmed that their repeated demands for the destruction of Fort Saint-Louis, the bugbear of their town, had had no effect, had imagined the moment favourable to secure by a recourse to arms what they despaired of obtaining by any other means. They had appealed to Rohan and Soubise, and the two brothers had been so blind to the interests both of their country and their faith as to agree to co-operate with them. On January 17, Soubise, in command of a number of vessels fitted out by the Rochellois, seized the Île de RÉ, and captured in the harbour of Blavet, on the Breton coast, seven royal vessels which lay there, after which he laid siege to the fort which commanded the place.

On the news of Soubise’s proceedings, the Duc de VendÔme, governor of Brittany, had raised all the noblesse of the province and what infantry he could muster to oppose him; but a report reached the King that VendÔme was actually in league with Soubise and the Rochellois, and that they had attacked Blavet at his instigation, and with the intention of handing it over to him. Upon this Louis XIII despatched Bassompierre to Brittany, with full powers to take what action he considered necessary against VendÔme, in the event of this information being correct. The marshal left Paris on January 28 and proceeded to Angers, where he gave orders that a regiment which was in garrison there should follow him to Brittany so soon as possible, with four pieces of cannon. He then went to Nantes, where he arranged with the governor to furnish him with as many men as he could raise. On arriving at Hennebon, however, he learned that Soubise had abandoned the siege of the fort at Blavet and sailed away, carrying off with him six of the seven ships which he had seized; the other he had been obliged to abandon, together with one of his own ships, which had been damaged by collision with a jetty at the entrance to the harbour.

The following day he proceeded to Blavet, where he found VendÔme with the force which he had raised to oppose Soubise. The prince was greatly distressed to learn that he was suspected of being in collusion with the rebels, and wished to know whether Bassompierre intended to request the Parlement of Rennes to hold an inquiry into his conduct. But the marshal, having satisfied himself that, though “CÉsar Monsieur,” as he was called, was not a person in whom much confidence could be reposed, he was, on this occasion at any rate, innocent of the charge which had been brought against him, assured him that he had no such intention. About the middle of February he returned to Paris to render an account of his journey to the King, and to assure him of the innocence of his half-brother, at which his Majesty was doubtless much relieved. However, before many months had passed, Louis XIII was obliged to place his restless relative under lock and key.

After his descent upon Blavet, Soubise seized the Île d’OlÉron, and by the spring, thanks to the exertions of Rohan, the Huguenots in Upper Languedoc, Quercy, and the CÉvennes were in revolt. It is true that even in these districts many stood aloof and refused to embarrass the Government at a time when it was engaged in hostilities with the most implacable enemies of their faith; but the insurrection was sufficiently formidable to cause great uneasiness, and to necessitate the retention at home of troops which might otherwise have been employed beyond the Alps. In these circumstances, it was impossible for Richelieu to push the war in Liguria with the vigour which he had intended. “It was then,” writes Bassompierre, “that the Cardinal de Richelieu said wisely to the King that, so long as there was a party established within his realm, it would never be possible to undertake anything outside it; and that he ought to think of exterminating it before meditating other designs.” On April 9 the Duke of Savoy defeated the Genoese and Spaniards before Voltaggio, and a fortnight later the Constable took Gavi. But, acting doubtless in accordance with the orders of the French Government, LesdiguiÈres declined to undertake the siege of Genoa without a fleet, and Charles Emmanuel pressed him in vain.

The death of James I, which occurred on March 27, 1625, did not delay the marriage of his son—now Charles I—and Henriette-Marie, which was celebrated in Notre-Dame on May 11, the Duc de Chevreuse acting as proxy for the King. On the 24th Buckingham arrived unexpectedly to escort the bride to England, and caused, Bassompierre tells us, a great sensation, “both by his person, which was very handsome, and by his jewels and apparel and his great liberality.”

Buckingham tried to persuade Richelieu to sign the League of the North and couple the restoration of the Palatinate with the Valtellina question; but the Cardinal was disinclined to surrender France’s liberty of action, besides which, the presumptuous and frivolous favourite did not inspire him with any confidence.

Bassompierre was one of the nobles appointed to escort the new Queen of England to Boulogne, where she embarked on June 22. But, unfortunately, he preserves a discreet silence concerning certain incidents which occurred en route, as it would be interesting to have his version of the romance of “M. de Bocquinguem” and Anne of Austria, which so profoundly irritated Louis XIII against his consort and laid the foundations of that ill-will which for a time prevailed between England and France.

In September the islands of RÉ and OlÉron were retaken, and the fleet of the Rochellois defeated by Montmorency, who commanded the King’s ships. But in Liguria things were going badly for France. The Swiss had allowed more than 20,000 Austrians to pass into Italy to the assistance of the Spanish and Genoese, who had carried the war into Piedmont and laid siege to Verrua, while the Valtellina was also threatened. Reinforcements were urgently demanded, and one morning, while the Privy Council was sitting, Louis XIII sent for Bassompierre, offered him the command of the new army which he proposed to despatch into Italy, and asked what troops he would require. The marshal “spoke as well as God wished to inspire him on this matter,” and answered that if his Majesty would permit him to choose 6,000 foot and 800 horse from the Army of Champagne, he would send at once into Switzerland to raise 4,000 men, who would join him at Geneva, and that with these forces he would engage, not only to force the enemy to raise the siege of Verrue, but to capture some places in the Milanese.

To this Louis XIII agreed, and gave instructions to Michel de Marillac, Chief of the Finances, to furnish the marshal with the funds he required. But Marillac, not only did not execute this order, but sent in all haste that same evening a courier to warn his brother who, with the Duc d’AngoulÊme, commanded the army of Champagne, that it was intended to break up their army and send the greater part of it into Italy. These two nobles, who had no desire to be deprived of their command, promptly had recourse to the bogey of a German invasion, and wrote to the King that they had the most positive information that the Imperialists were about to enter France at two points, from Lorraine and the Palatinate; that, in consequence, M. d’AngoulÊme was about to throw himself into Metz, which he would preserve for the King or die; while M. de Marillac had gone to Verdun, with the intention of defending it to his last gasp; but, as they feared that the forces at their disposal might be insufficient to withstand the invaders, they must entreat his Majesty to send them four regiments of foot and 500 horse with all possible despatch.

Such troops as could be spared were accordingly entrusted to the Comte de Vignolles, whom Bassompierre says did not arrive at Verrua until the siege of that town had been raised, but this is incorrect.[28]

On the evening of the King’s birthday—September 27—the Court being then at Fontainebleau, the Spanish Ambassador, the Marquis de Mirabello, approached Bassompierre and invited him to come and watch the fireworks with him. So soon as they were alone, the Ambassador, speaking in Spanish, told the marshal that it seemed to him greatly to be regretted that Louis XIII had not authorised him [Bassompierre] to negotiate a settlement of the Valtellina question, as he had done in 1621. “You would undoubtedly have accomplished it,” said he, “and, if you are willing, you will accomplish it yet; and this I promise.” “Monsieur,” replied Bassompierre coldly, “I am not fortunate in the making of treaties. You see that that of Madrid, which was of my making, has already cost the contracting parties twenty millions of gold to break it or maintain it. And, besides, it is not pleasant to treat with people or for people who do not keep their promises, should it not please them to do so.” Mirabello, however, was proof against this rebuff, and persisted that he and the marshal would soon be able to arrange terms of peace satisfactory to all parties concerned, provided that Louis XIII would furnish Bassompierre with the same powers with which the Catholic King had already entrusted him. The marshal thereupon told him that he would “esteem himself very happy to contribute to the best of his ability to so good and holy an affair,” and that he would speak to the King on the matter and inform his Excellency of the result.

It was not, however, to the King to whom Bassompierre first addressed himself, but to Marie de’ Medici and Richelieu, who, when the fireworks were over, had retired into the Queen-Mother’s cabinet. For it was these two, in close alliance for the time being, who now directed all things, and to venture to approach Louis XIII on a matter of State, save by their gracious permission, would have been the height of imprudence. The Queen-Mother and the Cardinal approved of Mirabello’s proposition, and told Bassompierre to go and inform the King, warning him, however, not to allow his Majesty, whose amour-propre was easily wounded, to suspect that he had spoken to them. The next morning the matter was submitted by Louis XIII to the Council, and it was decided that the marshal should be given full authority to treat with the Ambassador of Spain; but Bassompierre asked that Schomberg should be associated with him, and his request was granted.

Some days later the first conference took place at Saint-Germain, whither the Court had removed. It lasted more than four hours, and when it terminated they were “not without great hope of concluding a great, good and stable pacification between the two kings.” Mirabello returned to Saint-Germain the following day, and the negotiations progressed so smoothly that there was every appearance that the next session would see their task accomplished. But next morning the Ambassador sent to excuse himself on the ground that his wife had been taken ill, and for two days they heard nothing further from him. Meantime, a courier arrived from Du Fargis, the French Ambassador at Madrid, with the news that Philip IV, although it had been his intention to negotiate peace through his Ambassador, had revoked the powers with which he had entrusted him, without giving any reason for this sudden change. The Council thereupon decided that Bassompierre should go to Paris, and, on the pretext of inquiring after the health of the Ambassador’s wife, endeavour to ascertain the reason for Mirabello’s singular conduct. This the marshal did, when the Ambassador complained of the want of confidence which the French Government had shown him, by negotiating with him when they had instructed Du Fargis to treat with the Court of Madrid. Bassompierre reported what Mirabello had said to the Council, who all expressed great astonishment, since Du Fargis had been given no power to treat with the Spanish Government. However, the explanation of this apparent mystery was to be forthcoming a little later.

Meanwhile, disquieting reports were arriving from the French agents in Switzerland, who represented that the Cantons were falling away from their old attachment to France, as was proved by the fact that they had granted a passage to the German troops who had been sent to the assistance of the Spaniards, and by other ominous incidents. It was greatly to be feared, they wrote, that, unless immediate steps were taken to counteract the persistent intrigues of the House of Austria and the Papacy in Switzerland, and to reassure the Swiss in regard to the discharge of France’s financial obligations towards them, the old alliance would be practically destroyed. And they suggested that the MarÉchal de Bassompierre, who, as the much-beloved Colonel-General of the Swiss troops in the French service, would be sure of a cordial welcome, who spoke both French and German with equal fluency, and who had already given proof of his diplomatic capabilities, should be sent on a special embassy to the Cantons, when it was quite possible he might be able to re-restablish everything. This proposal was warmly supported by the Venetians and the Duke of Savoy, who undertook to instruct their representatives in Switzerland to second all his negotiations; and though Bassompierre would not appear to have been at all anxious to undertake the mission, which would entail his absence from the winter gaieties of the Court and Paris, “the King insisted, and he yielded out of pure obedience.”

On November 18, taking with him 200,000 crowns “to facilitate his negotiation,” he left Paris with an imposing suite, and travelled by way of Sens, Dijon, and BesanÇon to Basle, where he arrived on December 8. At Basle he was received with great honour; cannon fired salutes, several thousand soldiers or armed burghers marched in front of him or lined the streets, and so soon as he reached the house where he was to lodge, the Senate came in a body to salute him and “to make him a present of fish, wine, and oats, the most ample that could be made to anyone”; after which a score of them sat down to supper with him.

On the following morning Bassompierre proceeded to the Town Hall, where the Senators were assembled, and delivered the first of the many harangues which he was to make during his stay in Switzerland. He then returned to his house, to which shortly afterwards all the Senate came to deliver the reply which they had drawn up, and to bring him another present of fish and wine, which they assisted him to consume. After dinner they took him to see the Arsenal, the natural history collection of the celebrated Swiss doctor Felix Plater, and the other sights of their town.

On the 10th, after having again entertained the Senate to dinner, he took his departure and proceeded by way of Liestall and Balstall to Soleure, where he was received with the same honours as at Basle.

At Soleure he had several conferences with the French Ambassador, the Comte de Miron, and received deputations from various towns and Cantons, whom he entertained very sumptuously.

A few days before Christmas he sent despatches to the Cantons convening a General Diet at Soleure for January 7, which, however, at the request of the Protestant Cantons, was postponed until the 12th. In the interval Bassompierre and Miron lost no opportunity of ingratiating themselves with the Swiss, and gave several banquets and balls.

A day or two before the Diet opened, the Papal Nuncio Scapi, Bishop of Campagna, arrived at Soleure. Bassompierre had invited him to be present, although he was aware that he would do everything in his power to prevent the Catholic Cantons from coming to a resolution favourable to France. But he was a pompous, irascible and bigoted ecclesiastic, who was unlikely to make a favourable impression on the deputies, and, anyway, the marshal would be afforded an opportunity of confuting his arguments.

The Diet assembled on the 12th, and its first business was to pass a resolution that the deputies should go in a body, preceded by their beadles, to salute the MarÉchal de Bassompierre. This, Bassompierre tells us, was an honour which had never been paid to anyone before. The following day the deputies sent six of their number to escort the Ambassadors of the King of France to the Diet, where Bassompierre laid his proposals before them and addressed them at considerable length.

On the 14th the Nuncio had an audience of the Catholic deputies, in which he made a very bitter harangue against France, in the hope of putting a spoke in Bassompierre’s wheel. The marshal, however, had taken the precaution to invite the Catholic deputies to dine with him, and the good cheer he provided would seem to have gone far to neutralise the effect of the Nuncio’s eloquence. In the evening he entertained the representatives of the Protestant Cantons to supper, and sent them away equally well pleased.

Next day the Diet waited upon Bassompierre and informed him that they had decided to follow the advice which he had given them, namely, to demand the restoration of the Valtellina to the Grisons and “to refuse to whomsoever declined to acquiesce in this aid succour or passage through their country.” The marshal thanked the deputies very heartily, and, after they had taken their departure, could not resist the temptation of paying a visit to the Nuncio, who, having already been informed of the resolution of the Diet, was in a very bad temper and “quarrelled with him two or three times.”

On the 16th the marshal sent to demand audience of the Catholic deputies, as he desired to have an opportunity of refuting the statements which Scapi had made to them two days before, “for the honour and interest of the King his master.” The Catholic deputies did him “the peculiar and unusual honour” of coming to his house to hear what he had to say to them, when he addressed them at great length and wiped the floor, so to speak, with the unfortunate Nuncio. This speech seems to have had a very good effect, for in the evening the Diet sent a deputation to inform him that they were prepared to offer a levy of 15,000 men to the King of France.

Two days later the Nuncio, thoroughly discomfited, took his departure “in great anger,” and Bassompierre celebrated his victory by giving a sumptuous banquet to all the deputies of the Diet, during which “the gentlemen of Soleure came to perform a war-dance before his house.” After the banquet, a deputation from the Diet interviewed him on the vexed question of the debts which the Very Christian King owed the Swiss, upon which their spokesman, the avoyer, or chief magistrate, of Berne, waxed very eloquent. However, as this gentleman and his colleagues were all pretty mellow, Bassompierre succeeded in satisfying them perhaps more easily than he would have otherwise done, and the day concluded most harmoniously with a ballet, a ball, and “a very splendid collation” at the house of the French Ambassador.

On the 21st the Diet dispersed, in high good-humour, since Bassompierre had not only defrayed all the expenses of the deputies on a very liberal scale, but liquidated a part of France’s debt to the Cantons, and a year’s arrears of all private pensions.

A few days later Bassompierre paid a visit to Berne, into which he made a magnificent entry, and, after being shown all the sights of the town, was entertained to a most splendid banquet at the HÔtel de Ville. “Three hundred persons sat down to table,” he says, “and we remained there all day.”

On leaving Berne, the marshal returned to Soleure, where he remained until the end of February, for there was much business still to be transacted and many deputations to be received. On the 22nd of the month he received a despatch from Louis XIII directing him to leave Switzerland and proceed to Nancy on a mission to the new Duke of Lorraine, Charles IV, that eccentric prince who was to cause France so much trouble in years to come. On the following day, therefore, he took leave of his many friends at Soleure and crossed the Jura to Basle, where he was again received with great honours; and on the 25th arrived at Mulhausen.

If we are to believe an anonymous poet of the time, the success of Bassompierre’s mission to Switzerland was largely due to the hospitality which he dispensed with so lavish a hand:

But if good cheer played a not unimportant part in facilitating his negotiations, it is evident, from the despatches and speeches of the marshal which are to be found in the account of his embassy which he has left us,[29] that he had handled a difficult situation with rare skill and tact. His speeches, admirably arranged, forceful, and at times even eloquent, and brightened by amusing quips and sallies, make very interesting reading, and his ready courtesy and imperturbable good-humour served to surmount what might otherwise have proved serious obstacles.