Memorable scenes in French history

Front matter

O. O. OO^V^K^I^O^,

Class,

Book ,.

Preface

The career of conquest, suffering, and glory which France has run in modern times is without a parallel in history. She may never have deserved, and she may not now deserve, the title and dignity of being the greatest of nations. Other communities may have been more powerful, more populous, more ojDulent, and more worthy of admiration and esteem, than she. They may have made greater discoveries in science ; they may have efiected more important reforms in politics and religion ; they may have produced nobler achievements in the fine arts ; they may have given birth to bards who have sung in loftier strains of poetry, and to philosophers who have descended to profounder depths of speculation. But yet, if the career of France were blotted out from the history of our world, it would produce a greater chasm and a more sensible loss, than would be felt by the elimination of the records of any other nation.

Hence it is, that the peculiar interest which French history possesses has led to the production of innumerable pubHcations on the subject ; yet it is probable that no class of descriptive works command the same degree of general interest as those which refer to French history. There is a superior charm connected with the events which have occurred in France during the last two centuries, which seems to be inexhaustible, to be ever fresh iv PREFACE.

and new. The great French nation groaning under the tyranny of an ancient, ilhistrious, but pernicious dynasty ; struggling desperately for the possession of pohtieal hberty — a thing then unknown in Europe ; overwhelmed by the bloody surges of a mighty revolution ; then passing in the vaiu search for peace and security from one transient form of government to another, till at length it lay unresistmgly beneath the giant grasp of the triumphant Corsican ; then crushed by a hostile continent in arms, and cast adrift again on the wide and stormy sea of political adventure ; and once more, after many strange vicissitudes, resting as it now does, in stately and resplendent repose beneath the heir to the name and fortunes of the " Child of Destiny ; " — such are the imposing scenes presented in modern times by the checkered history of France. In the followmg pages I have endeavored to describe some of these Memorable Scenes. I have avoided as much as possible the beaten track generally pursued by writers on these subjects ; and by exploring the recesses of old and musty tomes, not always accessible to the reader, to reproduce some scenes and narrate some events which have long been buried from general observation by the literary • rubbish which surrounded them. I have given prominence to such events and to such epochs in French history as seemed to me to possess the greatest interest and unportance ; yet as to the propriety of the sele(^.tions made, there must necessarily exist, among readers of different tastes, a great diversity of opinion.

S. M. S.

Contents

INTEODTJCTION.

BRIEF SURVEY OF FRENCH HISTORY.

Pagb,

Chapter I. France Under The Administration Of Richelieu

State of France under Henry IV 19

Influence of Richelieu's Administration, 20

Birth of Richelieu, 21

Mary De Medici, 21

Death of Henry IV 22

Mary de Medici becomes Queen Regent, 22

First public appearance of Richelieu, 23

His vigorous Administration, 25

Duke of Buckingham, 27

Siege of La Rochelle, 28

Quarrel of Richelieu and Mary de Medici, 80

Character of Mary De Medici, 81

Sickness of Louis XIII S3

Conspiracy Against Richelieu, 84

Interview between Mary de Medici and Richelieu, 85

Perplexityof the King, 87

Richelieu triumphs over the Cabal, * . . 38

Bassompierre's Imorisonment, 89

VI CONTENTa

Es-pnlsion of Mary de Medici from France 40

Her Miserable Death, 42

Duke of Orleans, 43

The Filles de St. Marie, 46

Birth of Louis XIV. 47

Father Joseph's Death, , 49

Cinq-Mars, 50

His Conspiracy against Eichelieu, 51

Marion De TOrme, 51

Execution of Cinq-Mars, 53

Death of Eichelieu, 54

His peculiar Mental Qualities, ". 55

His Dramatic Failures, S7

Chapter II. Morals And Manners Before The Revolution

Louis XIV. .■ 60

De Choiseul's Ministry, 61

The Jesuits, 62

Their Suppression in 1762, 63

Court of Louis XV. ; 64

Origin of Madame Pompadour, 65

Her Influence and Arts, 66

Her Vindictiveness, 67

1 1 er Death, 68

Origin of Madam Du Barry, 69

Condition of Louis XV 70

Luxury of Madam Du Barry, 71

Death of Louis XV. 72

The state of France, 73

Morals in the Cluirch, 74

Morals of the iS\ition, 75

Birth of Louis XVI 77

His Mental Qualities, • 78

Youth of Louis XVI 79

His Amusements, , 80

His Eigorous Conduct, 81

Marriage with Maria Antoinette 33

Benevolence of Maria Antionette, 84

The Count de Provence, 85

The Count d'Artois 86

I'he Duke de Chartres, 87

His Excesses, 83

<'onsequences to Louis XVI. 99

CONTENTS. Vll

Chapter III. Opening Scenes Of The First Revolution

Page.

Miciitry of Turgot, 92

Ministry of Neeker, 93

Ministry of Calonne, , 94

Louis Summons the States-General 95

Eise of Modern Demagogues, 96

The States-General Elected, 97

Its First Assemblage, , 98

The Procession to Notre Dame, 99

The Opening Sermon, 100

Demands of the Tiers Etat, 102

The Title Adopted, 103

Misplaced Decision of the King, 104

The New Constitution, 105

The Bastille, 106

The Attack on the Bastille, 107

The Garrison Capitulates, 108

Eecall of Neeker, 110

Acts Passed by the Assembly, Ill

Bright Side of the Kevolution, 112

Faults of the Queen, 113

Joseph II. visits Paris, 114

Orgies of the Trianon, 115

Distinguished Impostors, 116

Their Mysterious Tricks, 117

Cardinal De Rohan, 118

The Diamond Necklace, 119

Adroitness of Lamoth, 120

Effect of the Intrigue, 121

Increasing Difficulties, 122

Triumph of Mirabeau, 123

CHAPTER lY.

TERRIBLE POWER OF ROBESPIERRE AND THE JACOBINS.

Else of Eobespierre, 126

His Eesemblance to Demosthenes, 1-7

The Emigrants and Priests, 129

Decrees of the Assembly, 180

Eise of Doumouriez, 131

Insults offered to the Queen, 132

Santerre and his Mob, 133

Jacobin Pantomines, 134

The Babble in the Palace, 135 rill CONTENTS.

Chapter V

LOUIS XVI. AT THE BAR OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

Paqk.

Scene in the Ohainp de Mars, 137

Proposal for the King's Escape, 138

The King Declines it, 139

The Gathering of the Storm, ,. 140

The Marseillais, 141

The Mob Approaches the Palace, 142

Eesolution of the Queen, 143

Louis Repairs to the Assembly, ,. 145

The Destruction of the Palace, , 147

Decree of Dethronement Passed, 148

The Court Abolished, 149

The New Government ,... 150

The Royal Family in the Temple, 151

Habits of the Royal Prisoners, 152

Trial of Louis Proposed, 153

Trial of Louis Decreed, 154

The Royal Family Separated, 155

Louis Appears before his Judges, 156

His Arraignment, 158

His Counsel, 159

Chapter VI. The Downnall Of The Ancient Monarchy

Speech of Robespierre, 162

The Decree of Guilty, 163

Vote upon the King's Punishment, 164

The Decree of Death, 166

Louis Learns his F8,te, 167

Their Intense Grief, 171

Louis receives the Commimion, , 172

CHAPTER Vn.

DEATH OF THE ROYAL MARTYRS, LOUIS XVL AND XVIL

Louis Ascends the Scaffold, ■ 174

HisDeath, 175

Will of Louis XVI 177

Cliarges against the Queen, 179

Death of Maria Antoinette, 180

The Dauphin of France, 182

CONTEiSTTS. IX

PAGa

Binion withdraws from the Temple, , 184

Death of the Princess Elizabeth, , 185

Horrid Condition of the Dauphin, 186

Visit of Laurent, 187

Death of the Dauphin, 190

Mysterious Music, , 191

CHAPTER Vin.

THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE AND THE MOUNTAIN.

Growth of Robespierre's Power, 193

Awful State of France, 194

Revolutionary Scenes, 195

Madam Tallien, 197

Conspiracy Against Ptobespierre, 198

Speech of Tallien, 199'

Robespierre Arrested, 200

Terror in Paris, 202

Robespierre Attempts Suicide, 203

His Execution, 204

Results of the Reign of Terror, 205

State of France, .'. 206

Establishment of the Directory, 208

CHAPTER IX.

NAPOLEON'S EXPEDITION TO EGYPT.

Napoleon's Brilliant Conceptions, 210

The Descent on England 211

Capture of Alexandria, 214

The State of that City, 215

The March in the Desert, 216

The Nile, 217

Battle of the Pyramids, 219

Napoleon's Reign in Cairo, 220

Battle of the Nile, 221

Explosion of the L'Orient, 223

Riotin Cairo, 224

Invasion of Syria, 225

Four Thousand Prisoners Shot, 226

Siege of Acre, 227

Defeat of Napoleon, 228

His Return to France 229

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

MARIA LOUISA, AND THE COURT OF ST. JLOUD.

Pasb.

Napoleon's Series of Victories, 232

Maria Louisa's Opinion of Napoleon, 233

Napoleon's Divorce from Josephine, 234

Josephine's Appearance, 285

Midnight Scene in the Palace, 236

Napoleon's Second Marriage, 287

Novel Scheme of Berthier, 239

Bierthier's Eeward, 241

The Splendor of Napoleon's Court, . 242

Its Heroes and Beauties, 244

Its Artists and Savans, 245

Birth oftheKingof Pvome, 248

Madam De Montesquieu, 251

Death oftheKingof Rome, 258

CHAPTER XI.

EXPEDITION OF NAPOLEON IN RUSSIA.

Magnitude of the Enterprise, 255

Splendid Scenes at Dresden, 256

Passage of the Niemen ■. 227

Napoleon at Vitepsk, 259

His Painful Suspense, 260

Napoleon at Smolensko, , . . 262

Biege of Smolensko, 263

Eetreat of the Eussians, 264

Borodino, 266

Commencement of the Battle, 267

ThePury of the Conflict, 268

The Great Central Eedoubt, 269

The Victory of the French, 270

Immense loss of the Victory, 271

The Field of Battle, 272

Eesolution to Burn Moscow, 273

Napoleon's Entrance into Moscow, , 275

Napoleon's First Night in Moscow, 277

Moscow in Flames, 273

Napoleon's EflForts to Negotiate, 289

The Retreat Begins, 281

Horrors of the Eetreat, 2S4

Napoleon at Smolensko, 285

Napoleon Deserts his Army, 283

Results of the Expedition, 289

Napoleon Eeaohes Paris, 290

Napoleon at Elba -. 291

CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER Xn.

NAPOLEON DURING THE HUNDRED DAY,j.

Page,

The Congress of Vienna, . 293

Napoleon and Madam Walewski, 294

Madam Walewski, 295

Napoleon Embarks for France, 296

The March to Greifoble, 297

Napoleon at Lyons, 299

His Eeceptiou at the Tuilleries, 801

First Proofs of Treachery, 302

European Conspiracy against Napoleon, 303

Sum Total of their Armies, 304

Desperate Nature of the Conflict, 305

Ilis Immense Activity, 307

New Constitution Proclaimed, , 308

Napoleon joins his Army, 811

His Address to the Troops, .312

The Combatants Approach each other, 313

The Battle of Ligny 315

Last Victory of Napoleon, , . 317

The Battle of Quartre-Bras, 818

The Battle of Waterloo, 320

Desperate Heroism of the Combatants, 323

The Charge of the Old Guard, 324

The Imperial Guard Kecoil, 328

Total Defeat of Napoleon, 327

Napoleon Returns to Paris, 828

Movements of the Allies, .... 830

Napoleon at Malmaison, 331

Return of Louis XVIIL to Paris, 832

Final Disposal of Bonaparte, 833

CHAPTER XIII.

EXILE OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.

Appearance of St. Helena, 834

Situation of Longwood, 886

Napoleon's Protest, 837

Apprehensions of Europe's Monarchs, 838

Napoleon's Feelings in Exile, 839

Measures of Sir Hudson Lowe, 840

Napoleon's Hatred of his Jailor, 842

The Modern Mecca, 844

Proposals of Escape, 845

XI 1 CONTENTS.

Page.

Napoleon's Sickness, 846

Napoleon's Will, , 847

He Prepares for Death, 848

He Receives Extreme Unction, 849

He Becomes Delirious, 350

Death of Napoleon, 351

His Eemains Removed to France, , 853

Return of Louis XVIII 853

Louis Pbillipe, •. 854

CHAPTER XIV.

NAPOLEON III. EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH.

Parentage of Napoleon III. . . , 856

Napoleon III. at Arenemberg, 857

He Conspires against Louis Phillipe, 3i8

Afifair of Strasburg, . 859

His Sojourn in New York, 860

His Exile in England, 361

The Prince Imprisoned at Ham, 363

He Resolves to Escape, 864

He is elected a Representative, 865

He is Elected President, 866

His Talents as a Ruler 867

Causes of Coup d'Etat, 368

Necessity of the Measure, 869

Incidents of the Coup d'Etat, 370

Necessary Loss of Life, 871

Submission throughout France, 372

Louis Napoleon's Confederates, 873

Marshal St. Arnaud, 874

Louis Napoleon as Emperor, 877

The Imperial Marriage, . . 878

Qualities of the Empress, ... 879

Alliance between England and Prance, 880

Birth of the Imperial Prince 881

His Probable Destiny, 882

The Peace of Europe, 883

Louis Napoleon's Policy, 384

Conclusion, 885

MEMORABLE SCENES.

, INTRODUCTION.

A BRIEF SUEVBY OF FEBNCH HISTORY.

The triumphant arms of Julius Caesar vanquished the inhabitants of the beautiful and fertile clime of ancient Gaul, about fifty years before the birth of Christ ; and with their subjugation to the Roman yoke they also acquired a degree of civilization and historical importance which they never before possessed, but which, from that remote period until the present, have continued to increase with the progress of ages.

In the year 420 the Franks, a free and warlike race who dwelt in the vicinity of the Rhine and the "Weser, made an irruption into Gaul ; strove to subdue the stUl prevalent power of Rome, and to wrest the scepter of the country from her grasp. This first attempt proved unsuccessful; but in 451 the Franks finally conquered the inhabitants of Gaul, after defeating the formidable armies of Attila, the king of the Huns, at the bloody battle of Chalons. Meroveus, the leader of the victorious Franks, then estabUshed his capital on the spot now occupied by Paris. He fixed his power permanently in the land of the vanquished Gauls ; and he became the founder of an illustrious dynasty of princes, since known La history as that of the Meroviniai kings.

Uuder Clovis tlie Great, the power of Imperial Rome was entirely and permanently banished fi-om the Frank territory. He defeated the Roman general Syagriiis, in 486, at the great battle of Soissons. That monarch also determined to enlarge his territory. His character was warhke and cruel; but he was not undeserving of the praise of a great conqueror. He subdued the inhabitants of Bretagne, the Alemanni on the Rhine, and the Visigoths who mhabited the fertile region which lay between the Pyrennees and the Garonne. Having been successftd in all his ambitious aims, he rested from the anxious toils of war, and became a christian, in accordance with the fashion of those times ; and in fulfillment of the vow which he had made, to worship the God of his wife Clotilda, if in the end he was victorious over aU his foes. He was baptized with great pomp and ceremony by St. Remi, at Rheims, in the year 496. He was there anointed with the miraculous oU, reputed to have been sent down from heaven by means of a dove. From the period of the conversion of Clovis the Great, France became numbered among the catalogue of christian nations.

At the death of Clovis, his royal patrimony was divided between his four sons. Childebert, to whose share fell the kingdoms of Paris, Orleans and Soissons, is considered as the successor of Clovis. Clotaire H., an indolent and voluptuous prince, threw the whole bm^den of empire on the shoulders of his ministers. To these 3fccires du JPalais he intrusted absolute power. The consequence was that, after possessing the substance of authority during several generations, these officers ambitiously aimed, also, at the acquisition of its name and titles. They made themselvea independent of the sovereign ; and seized the kingdoms of Austrasia, of Neustria, and of Burgundy. In these provinces they ruled with the title and prerogatives of independent kings. The most eminent of this line of usurpers was Pepin, His son Charles Martel, increased by his warlike exploits the power and celebrity of his race. His son Pepin Le JBref^ founded the illustrious Caiiovingian dynasty m 751. Under the reign of his successor, the peerless Charlemagne, the empire of the Franks attained its meridian splendor. He was a great conqueror, a wise legislator, and a revered saint. His empire, obtained partly by inheritance, partly by conquest, and partly by treaty, extended from the Ebro to the Elbe and the Danube ; ifromthe Iforthern sea to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic; including France, Germany, part of Spain, Hungary and Bohemia, some provinces of Dalmatia, and Italy, as far as the confines of Naples. Out of the disjointed wrecks of the falling empire of ancient Rome Charlemagne constructed a consoHdated cluster of dominions, equal in magnitude and power to that possessed by Augustus himself.

The vast monarchy of Charlemagne descended to his son, Louis le Debonnaire; but its unwieldy fabric fell to pieces, as soon as it passed into his feeble and trembling grasp. By the treaty of Verdun in 843, the crowns of France, Germany, and Italy were wisely separated from each other; and the youngest son of Louis, Charles the Bald, became the first monarch of the separate and independent king, dom of France.

This second dynasty continued on the throne during a hundred years ; but this was an ignoble period of French history, and its most important incidents consisted ia fierce and bitter struggles wMch took place between the kings, and their turbulent and refractory nobles.

In 987 Hugh Capet ascended the throne, and became the founder of the third, or Capetian dynasty, which has in succeeding ages inherited the possession of an insecure crown. But the evils of the feudal system, which then existed in all their excess in France, distracted the nation for many generations with bloody and destructive wars. The power of some of these petty princes and feudal lords may be inferred from the fact that, in the twelfth century, one of them possessed the sovereignty of sixteen of the present departments of France. Another possessed that of seven, A third held six. The whole south of France belonged to a number of feudal lords ; and throughout the kingdom the audacious power and independence which they arrayed against the supremacy of the sovereign, indicated that the authority of the latter was held by a very insecure tenure.

The influence of the feudal nobility was at length broken by the energetic measures adopted by Louis IX. The introduction of written laws and statutes by that monarch ; the use of letters of nobiUty by Philip 11. ; and the estabhshment of representatives of the people in a deliberative assembly, by Philip lY,, all tended to diminish the supremacy of feudalism throughout the nation.

In 1420 France was invaded by Henry V., king of England. He induced the imbecile Charles VI, to appoint him his heir, and to give him his daughter Catherine in marriage. But Charles himself survived the EngUsh aspirant, and at his own death the ci'own descended to the infant son of Henry V., to the exclusion of the dauphin, who had assumed the title of Charles VII. A bloody civil war was the result of this ambitious rivalry ; but victory was at length won to the standards of the dauphm; the English were banished from the territory of France, except in the fortified cities of Calais and Guienne ; and the name and services of Joan of Arc were rendered immortal in the annals of heroism, patriotism, and virtue.

After the accession of Charles VII,, all the institutions of France, and the measures of the government, tended toward the establishment of the regal power. He first among the monarchs of France, maintained a standing army. He adroitly increased, by purchase and by forfeiture, the extent of the crown lands, imtil they included a not inconsiderable portion of the French territory. He first undertook to impose taxes without the consent of the states-general, or the concurrence of the feudal lords.

Under the stern scepter of Louis XI. despotism in France became more cruel and more absolute than it had ever been before. He became an eminent example of tyranny and deceit.* At the death of Charles VIII. the crown passed from the possession of the Valois branch of the house of Capet ; and by the accession of Louis XII. in 1498, the Orleans division of that illustrious family ascended the throne. With Francis I., in 1515, the second house of the Valois Capetians resumed the sovereignty of France. During this period, one of the darkest in the annals of history, the nation was convulsed and scourged with endless wars, both political and rehgious. France

IS INTRODUCTIOK

was deluged with human blood. The persecutions which the Protestants, or Huguenots, were compelled to endure, have forever stained the history of the nation, with ineffaceable infamy and disgrace.

These cruelties at length culminated on the memorable and bloody eve of St. Bai'tholomew ; when thousands of the best and bravest citizens of France were massacred under the direction of Charles IX. and his sanguinary mother, Catherine de JNIedici.

Henry IV. was the first Bourbon prince who ascended the throne of the Capets. His auspicious reign began in 1589. He put an end to the religious wars which, for so many disastrous years, had desolated France. He projlaimed the celebrated and beneficent edict of Nantes, tvhich guaranteed to the Protestants the full exercise and enjoyment of their rehgion. The period of his reign introduces us to that more memorable era in French history, when greater men and more absorbing incidents appear upon the scene ; and demand a more minute survey of the remarkable qualities which they exhibited, and of the important and permanent results which they produced.

CHAPTER I. FEANCB UNDER THE ADMINTSTRATIOIir OF CARDINAL RICHELIEIJ

The illustrious name of Richelieu is intimately connect* ed with the power and glory of the French monarchy. Before his accession to his high place, France had been degraded fi'om the honorable eminence which she occupied at the death of Henry IV., to poverty, imbecility, and contempt. The vast treasures which that monarch had accumulated, and had left in his coffers at the period of his decease, had been lavishly squandered during the regency of his widow, Mary de Medici. The court and the nation had become impoverished. The fierce contests which raged between the princes of the royal family and the nobles ; the insatiable rapacity of the courtiers ; and the ambitious and jealous caprices of the queen-regent, had thrown France into a lamentable state of prostration and misery. The monarchy possessed no firm basis of power. Endless dissensions distracted the councils of the ministers, unprincipled aspirants after power and wealth crowded all the avenues to the throne, and harassed those who held the feeble reins of government, with plots, intrigues, and cabals. The favorites of the court, and even nobles of high and honorable birth, exhibited the most grasi^ing and unblushing cupidity. They created new oflices and fi-anchises. They levied tolls on the public highways and on private edifices. They devised new taxes and imposts.

20 INFLUENCE OF RICHELIEU'S ADMINISTRATION.

All France, indeed, seemed to have been given up to pillage and plunder; while the multitude of the offenders appeared to secure the immunity of each.

The strong mind of Richelieu discerned the intricate and inveterate nature of those evils. His powerful arm at length fell with a crushing blow on the tottering fabric of the feudal system in France, and swept it away. On the ruins of that system, and interwoven with the ascending and magnificent proportions of the structure of Mngly power which he reared, he also created the leading features and outlines of the gorgeous edifice of modern French civilization. In truth, his intellectual character was as great as his influence was powerftil. He was as inflexible as he was sagacious. He was as persevering as he was daring. He w^s as vindictive and revengeful as he was ambitious. He was as unscrupulous and unprincipled as he was fertile in resources. He remained as undismayed in the midst of dangerous conspiracies and deadly plots against his life and power, as he was comprehensive in his plans of conquest, and zealous for the aggrandizement of his own glory, and the glory of his king, which he cherished with a love second only to that which he entertained for himself. His remarkable career forms a great epoch in French history. It stands forth prominently, as one of the coUossal beacon-lights which remain towering and glittering through the gloom of the past ; and in the wide waste of by-gone ages, no period can be named which looms up with more solemn and impressive grandeur to our view, than his. It was he who made France the most important country in Europe, during the period of his ministry. He rendered the court of Louia

BIRTH AND YOUTH OF RICHELIEU. 21

XIII. the great focus of political power and interest throughout that continent. And when he died, he had prej)ared the way for the gorgeous reign of Louis XIV which succeeded; during which, the splendor of the French monarchy attained its unsurpassed, and even its unequaled, zenith.

Akmaistd du Plessis Richelieu, was born of a noble family, at Paris, in 1585. At an early period his attention was directed toward the army, but afterward to the church, as the most propitious theater of his future career. In pursuance of this latter expectation, he became a student of the Sorbonne, in 1607, where he comjileted the usual com'se of ecclesiastical study. He then entered the priesthood. During this early period of his life he was remarkable for his intelligence, his wit, and his gallantry. Neither his prudence nor his religious profession prevented him from indulging in licentious adventures, to the excessive and shameful degree fashionable at that period, among aU classes in France. But these excesses did not prevent his rapid promotion in the church, for partly through the influence of his family, and partly through his own successful and skillful intrigues, he was consecrated bishop of Lugon, at the earUest period of his age permitted by the requirements of the canon law; and he thus took his place among the ecclesiastical, as weU as among the secular prmces of the realm.

Henry IV. had married Mary de Medici, the daughter of Francis H., grand-duke of Tuscany. This princess was destined to experience the most singular and unparalleled extremes of fortune. She was possessed of great personal beauty, and strong talents for pohtical intrigue. But

£2 DEATH OF HENRY IV.

neither her beauty nor her talents conld bind to her the fickle heart of her husband. She became the mother of two princes, one of whom afterward ascended the throne mider the name of Louis XIII. Fearful of her aspiring nature, her husband had never allowed the ceremony of her coronation to take place. At length, however, during an interval of confidence and good feeling between them, Henry IV. consented to the celebration of that event. Accordingly, on the 13th of May, 1610, Mary de Medici was solemnly crowned queen of France; and on the 14th, Henry fell a victim to the dagger of the assassin Ravaillac! His death was very naturally attributed, by those best acquainted with the court secrets of that dismal and dangerous period, to the vindictive, ambitious and revengeful spii'it of the Itahan queen.

This princess immediately became regent of France, and her power, despotic, whimsical, and pernicious as it was, continued undiminished during the minority of her son. The court and the administration were constantly spht up into desperate and dangerous factions, and France seemed rapidly to be approaching to the verge of ruin. The eyes of the queen-regent were at length opened to the perilous state of the kingdom ; and she ordered and proclauned the assembling of the states-general, for the purpose of aiding the sovereign in the correction and removal of the existing evils. This was the last time that this body was convoked in France, untU it was summoned to meet by the., unfortunate Louis XVI., amid the rolling of the thunder which presaged the approaching storms of the first great revolution. It was in this convocation of the states-general, thus summoned by Mary de Medici, that

FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE OF RICHELIEU. 23

the illustrious Richelieu first appears upon the public political stage of France.

On this occasion Richelieu acted as speaker for the ecclesiastical order. In the assembly, the three orders contended fiercely for their respective interests ; and their jealous conflicts rendered their deliberations utterly useless to the state. The tiers etat contended, among other things, that a decree should be passed, to the effect that kings could in no case be deposed for heresy. They desired that the sovereign should be declared entirely free from the spiritual power. This proposition Richelieu opposed with great eloquence and subtlety. At that period of his career, he was on terms of amity with Mary de Medici, who was a bigoted Catholic. She ruled her son, the dauphin. The priests ruled her. And RicheUeu, being still identified with the ecclesiastical order, ruled the priests. Hence his interests dictated his policy on this, as on all other occasions. The dissensions, however, which divided the three orders, soon became so fierce that Mary de Medici dissolved their assemblage, before their deliberations had produced any results, either favorable or unfavorable to her power.

In 1616 Louis XIII. was married to the Spanish Infanta. This princess is better known m history under the name of Anne of Austria. On the occurrence of this event, the old ministry of the regency, consisting of the president, Jeannon Villeroi, and the chancellor, Silleri, were dismissed. A new administration was formed in place of the harhons^ or dotards, who had been removed ; at the head of which was placed the prince de Conde. Into that ministry Richelieu was also admitted; and thus,

24 RICHELIEU ADMITTED TO THE CABINET.

for the first time, he came directly in contact with the machinery of state. Nor was it long before he made his powerful mind felt in the deliberations of the ministers, and in the measures adopted by the government. It was Conde's purpose to retain the supreme power by weakening that of Mary de Medici with her son. A long and bitter conflict ensued ; durmg which Richelieu apparently took the part of the queen-mother. At first the influence of the latter was triumphant ; Conde was dismissed from his post and imprisoned in the Bastille. Concini, the Italian confidant and. favorite of the queen-mother, assumed his place and his power. But soon, with the vacillation so usual in the history of ministers, and of governments, the tide of regal favor turned, Concini was degraded and assassinated ; and the old ministry, with Yilleroi at their head, returned to the possession of power. The queen-mother was then, for the first time, exiled from the court by the command of her son. She fixed her -residence at Blois ; and Richelieu, who had adopted the resolution to concihate both parties, and thus, at length, to rise upon the strength of both, accompanied her. His object was, that while he seemed to share with Mary de Medici in the ignominy of her banishment, he might act as a spy upon her movements, worm himself mto her councils, and then betray them to the king. He found h favorable field for the execution of this purpose, in the restless and insatiable spirit of intrigue, which was the great characteristic, the bane, and the disgrace of Mary de Medici. It was the shrewd purpose of Richelieu, after hostilities between the royal combatants had reached a certain pomt, to step in as conciliator between them; render