Mazarin

“ Mazarin soon established himself in the favor of Anne of Austria by his double talent as a laborious and indefatigable statesman and as a finished courtier. He took all the cares of government upon himself, while he never hesitated to yield her all the honors of success. He employed wonderful skill and assiduity in instructing without ever wounding her. His great art was to persuade her that he only wished for power in order to serve her better; that, a foreigner, without family and without friends, he depended entirely on her and wished to draw his support from her alone. ”

“ Mazarin pretended not to understand the double meaning of his own sentence, but continued to compassionate the fate of Concino Concini.
"Well then, your eminence," said the queen, becoming impatient, "what is your answer?"
"Madame," cried Mazarin, more and more moved, "will your majesty permit me to give you counsel?"
"Speak, sir," replied the queen; "the counsels of so prudent a man as yourself ought certainly to be available."
"Madame, believe me, the king ought to defend himself to the last." ”

“ Mazarin sank into a chair with the deepest melancholy painted on his countenance.
"It is likely," he replied, "That we shall soon be obliged to separate, unless you love me well enough to follow me to Italy."
"Why," cried the queen; "How is that?"
"Because, as they say in the opera of `Thisbe,' `The whole world conspires to break our bonds.'"
"You jest, sir!" answered the queen, endeavoring to assume something of her former dignity.
"Alas! I do not, madame," rejoined Mazarin. "Mark well what I say. The whole world conspires to break our bonds. ”

“ THE CASTLE OF VINCENNES.
[Pg 81]
Return of Mazarin.
In the mean time, Mazarin had placed himself at the head of the royal troops in one of the provinces, where he gained several unimportant victories over the bands of the Fronde. These successes were trumpeted abroad as great achievements, so as to invest the cardinal with the renown of a great conqueror. Mazarin was well aware of the influence of military glory upon the populace in Paris. The king also began to feel the need of his dominant mind. He was invited to return to Paris. ”

“ Cardinal Mazarin, now at the point of death, renewed his counsel to the young king never to let will thwart his, but ever to bear the sceptre in his hand—in his own hand alone. So Mazarin, dealing his parting thrust of revenge on the queen-regent, died in the castle of Vincennes, unregretted by any, tolerated of later years, but despised by all. Someone made his epitaph, whose concluding lines were to the effect that having cheated and deceived through life, he ended with cheating the devil himself, since, when he came to fetch away his soul, he found he had not one. ”

“ Those were not new reflections, but they had acquired a force which acted directly upon the currents established by Mazarin; and just at the moment when the people awoke to their meaning, the Queen's clairvoyant counsellor removed the last scruple from the public conscience by voluntarily returning to his exile (19th August) .
Then came the general break-up. Every man of any importance in Paris raised his voice; deputies were sent to ask the King to recall Mazarin. ”

“ Mazarin shook his head.
"Ah!" he said; "some ministers are fortunate and find out all that they wish to know."
"My lord," replied Guitant, "such ministers do not weigh men in the same balance; they get their information on war from warriors; on intrigues, from intriguers. Consult some politician of the period of which you speak, and if you pay well for it you will certainly get to know all you want."
"Eh, pardieu!" said Mazarin, with a grimace which he always made when spoken to about money. "They will be paid, if there is no way of getting out of it." ”

“ Mazarin is a man of very different appearance. He is dark in complexion, handsome in a way, supple, and, I should say, crafty; an Italian rather than a Frenchman. Such a man will meet with difficulties far greater than those which assailed Richelieu. ”

“ Now open his memoirs and you will see there all the details which fill the Garnets of Mazarin confirmed point by point. Nothing is wanting; every thing is in accordance with them; they correspond marvellously. It seems in truth as if Mazarin, in writing his notes, must have had before his eyes the memoirs of Henri de Campion, or as if Henri de Campion had copied verbatim from the Carnets of Mazarin—so well does he both complete and recapitulate them. ”

“ His cries, however, by degrees, became fainter; and when Anne of Austria left the apartment, they ceased altogether.
"Monsieur le cardinal," said the king, "have you any recommendations to make me?"
"Sire," replied Mazarin, "you are already wisdom itself, prudence personified; of your generosity I shall not venture to speak; that which you have just done exceeds all that the most generous men of antiquity or of modern times have ever done." ”

“ Mazarin and others, the creatures of and successors to Richelieu, were less arrogant, less ambitious, and less resolute than their master. They were willing to acquire power by allying themselves to the adverse party. Mazarin, in particular, felt that, on the death of Louis XIII., he should not possess influence enough to cope with the persons who, by rank, were destined to the regency; and he perceived, at once, that it was his best policy to become the friend, instead of the rival, of the queen and the duke of Orleans. Anne of Austria saw safety in encouraging him in this conduct. ”

“ Mazarin was patient, but he had often considered Anne of Austria adverse to reason when the King was in question. The Cardinal was master of the Queen, but he was not, he never had been, he never could be, master of the Queen-mother.
In his extremity he resorted to his usual means,—intrigue; but he found that his power had waned. There were people who might have helped him, and who would have helped him in former times, but they had ceased to fear him; they demanded pay and refused to work without it. Mazarin was too normally natural a man to act against nature ”

“ There is nothing so convincing as a firm conviction. It has its own effect upon the most incredulous; and far from being incredulous, Mazarin was superstitious. He went away thoughtful and anxious and returned to his own room, where he summoned Bernouin and desired him to fetch thither in the morning the special guard he had placed over Monsieur de Beaufort and to awaken him whenever he should arrive.
The guard had, in fact, touched the cardinal in the tenderest point. ”

“ Anne of Austria was about to reply, when Mazarin stopped her.
“The truth, madame,” said he—“in the name of Heaven, the truth! Do not flatter a dying man with a hope that may prove vain.” There he stopped, a look from Colbert telling him he was on the wrong track.
“I know,” said Anne of Austria, taking the cardinal’s hand, “I know that you have generously made, not a little donation, as you modestly call it, but a magnificent gift. I know how painful it would be to you if the king—”
Mazarin listened, dying as he was, as ten living men could not have listened. ”

“ But whilst they were indulging in extravagant joy at the Palais Royal, to increase the hilarity of the queen, Mazarin, a man of sense, and whose fear, moreover, gave him foresight, lost no time in making idle and dangerous jokes; he went out after the coadjutor, settled his account, locked up his gold, and had confidential workmen to contrive hiding places in his walls.
On his return home the coadjutor was informed that a young man hail come in after his departure and was waiting for him; he started with delight when, on demanding the name of this young man, he learned that it was Louvieres. ”

“ Nothing is impossible."
"On paper."
"In execution. We have money?"
"A little," said Mazarin, trembling, lest Anne should ask to draw upon his purse.
"Troops?"
"Five or six thousand men."
"Courage?"
"Plenty."
"Then the thing is easy. Oh! do think of it, Giulio! Paris, this odious Paris, waking up one morning without queen or king, surrounded, besieged, famished - having for its sole resource its stupid parliament and their coadjutor with crooked limbs!"
"Charming! charming!" said Mazarin. "I can imagine the effect, I do not see the means." ”

“ If I had had a single ornament left, I should have bought wood this winter to make a fire for my daughter and myself."
"Oh, madame," said Mazarin, "your majesty knows not what you ask. On the day when foreign succor follows in the train of a king to replace him on his throne, it is an avowal that he no longer possesses the help and love of his own subjects."
"To the point, sir," said the queen, "to the point, and answer me, yes or no; if the king persists in remaining in England will you send him succor? If he comes to France will you accord him hospitality? What do you intend to do? Speak." ”

“ Mazarin was a keen physiognomist; and as he read the utter bewilderment written on the Chevalier's face, his own grew somewhat puzzled.
"Monseigneur, as our Lady is witness, I have never, to my knowledge, set eyes upon Madame de Brissac, though it is true that at one time it was my father's wish that I should wed Mademoiselle de Montbazon."
"Monsieur, when a man wears such fashionable clothes as you wear, he naturally fixes the memory, becomes conspicuous. Do not forget the grey cloak, Monsieur le Chevalier." ”

“ There was a sudden gleam of joy in the officer's eyes, which vanished immediately, for he knew nothing of Mazarin's purpose.
"Order, my lord," he said; "I am ready to obey your eminence."
"Monsieur d'Artagnan," continued the cardinal, "You performed sundry superb exploits in the last reign."
"Your eminence is too good to remember such trifles in my favor. It is true I fought with tolerable success."
"I don't speak of your warlike exploits, monsieur," said Mazarin; "although they gained you much reputation, they were surpassed by others." ”

“ He defeats the upper caste; but he guarantees no rights to the lower caste; therefore he gives France no barrier against that old flood of evils—save his own hand, and when death removes that, chaos comes again.
Mazarin now grapples with them. They give him a fearful trial. They throw France into civil war. They pretend zeal for liberty, and form an anarchic alliance with the poor old stupid Parliament of Paris. They make Mazarin miserable. They throw filth upon him, then light him up with their fireworks of wit, and set the world laughing at him. Then they drive him out of France ”

“ To the wounds of the tired spirit whose peace the scorching splendour of the great Cardinal had withered the calm presence of the lesser Cardinal was balm. Mazarin employed his leisure as he saw fit; how he employed it the world knew later. He was seldom seen either in the palace or out of it. When Louis XIII. died and the people, little and great, thronged the [243] streets and the highways and flocked to Parliament to witness the establishment of the Regent, Mazarin was not in evidence. ”

“ It was not so much hatred of Mazarin that inspired the civil war with which France was rent during the childhood of Louis XIV. as inarticulate hatred of Richelieu's statecraft. The Fronde was the dernière espérance of a proud and turbulent nobility bent on reducing their King to the condition of a Venetian doge. This revolt against the throne ended with the complete triumph of Mazarin—a triumph embellished by the passion with which he inspired the haughty, treacherous [18] Anne of Austria. There are men who on finding themselves in his shoes would have given free rein to ambition and desire. ”

“ The marriage took place at once, and the king entered Paris in triumph in 1660. Mazarin died in the next year; but so strong was the feeling that the kings of France could only rule through a first minister that it was generally expected that Mazarin would soon have a successor. The king, however, at once announced his intention of being his own first minister; and from this resolution he never swerved. Whatever great qualities he may have lacked he certainly possessed industry and patience in the highest degree. ”

“ The Cardinal also obtained a victory in the field against Turenne, who had entered the service of Spain and fired upon the fleur-de-lis. But with this momentary success of Mazarin’s cause rose his pretensions and demands; and the Fronde, alarmed at his recovered authority, changed its tactics as its Protean genius De Retz frequently did his clothes—his cassock for a plumed hat and military cloak. It demanded the trial or liberation of the prisoners it had helped to send to Vincennes, without delay, and Mazarin removed them for safe custody to Havre. ”

“ The king remained impassible. Philip, younger and more frivolous, could not repress a smile, which flattered Mazarin as an applause of his pleasantry.
"It is plain," said the king, "there is a miracle; but God, who does so much for kings, monsieur le comte, nevertheless employs the hand of man to bring about the triumph of His designs. To what men does Charles II. principally owe his re-establishment?"
"Why," interrupted Mazarin, without any regard for the king's pride--"does not your majesty know that it is to M. Monk?" ”

“ If the faithful maid of honor had been less discreet, she might have added: especially when the sovereign is a woman, and in love.
Mazarin had said: [6] "The plots against me will never cease so long as my enemies see near her Majesty a powerful party declared against me, and capable of gaining the mind of the queen if any defeat should happen to me." The overthrow of this party was demanded by Mazarin and granted by Anne of Austria, and the most energetic measures were immediately resolved on. ”

“ Mazarin was much less inclined to favor the Duke de Vendôme, as he then had a dangerous rival with the queen in his younger son, the Duke de Beaufort, who was youthful, brave, possessing every appearance of loyalty and chivalry, and affecting a passionate devotion for Anne of Austria which was not at all displeasing to her. ”