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600

Designs upon the Italian coast

[1642-8 lay siege once more to Lerida. After a month even he was forced to acknowledge that the difficulties of climate and locality were insurmountable, and the siege was abandoned. He was recalled, and Mazarin's brother Michel, now a Cardinal, was nominated to succeed him. But after long delays he did no more than visit Barcelona, and speedily returned to Rome. Schomberg, who took his place, was fortunate enough to carry Tortosa by assault, and to force its citadel to open its gates (July 13, 1648). Events in France then put an end to French efforts in this region. Catalonia had been chiefly valued as a possible exchange for the Spanish Netherlands. Had such a bargain been possible, the Catalans would have been unhesitatingly left to their fate. But this project, if ever seriously entertained by Spain, was frustrated by the opposition of the Dutch; and the waste of men and treasure thus found no adequate compensation.

In Italy alone the power of Spain remained substantially unshaken. France kept her hand upon Savoy, but the futility of attacks upon the Milanese had long since been demonstrated. The war of Parma (1642-4) divided the possible friends of France and weakened those Italian Powers which still retained a formal independence. When France had succeeded in bringing this war to a conclusion, she suffered another blow in the election of Giambattista Pamfili to the papal chair as Innocent X (1644). He was not only well-disposed to Spain, but a personal enemy of Mazarin, as was soon seen when he refused to make the Minister's brother a Cardinal, though his suit was warmly pressed.

The chief hope of France in this direction lay in the disaffection of Naples and Sicily, overtaxed in a cause which was not their own. Here the naval power which Richelieu had created might be used to full advantage. This Mazarin saw, but he failed to find fit instruments to execute his policy, and perhaps to formulate that policy with clearness and precision. He made his first advance against the Spanish presidi on the coast of Tuscany and in Elba, the maritime outposts which linked Naples with the dependent Republic of Genoa and so with the Milanese. The neutrality of the Grand Duke of Tuscany was secured. The fleet was entrusted to Admiral de Brézé, a bold and skilful seaman (1646). Prince Thomas of Savoy was to command on land, part of the troops being drawn from Piedmont and shipped at Savona. The enterprise was mismanaged. Telamone and SanStefano were seized; but, instead of Porto-Ercole, Orbitello was then attacked, an inaccessible fort girt with malarial swamps. The Spanish fleet came up and was beaten off by Brézé; but, to the great loss of France, the gallant Admiral himself was killed by a cannon-shot (June 14, 1646).

His lieutenant, Du Daugnon, pretending that his fleet required repairs, hurried off to Provence, where he left his ships and made for Brouage. This important command was vacant by Brézé's death. Du

1646-8]

Rebellion in Naples

601

Daugnon seized and held it in defiance of the Government; and, owing to the rivalries of Condé and Vendôme, the post of Admiral remained unfilled. Meanwhile the Spaniards entered Porto-Ercole, whence they directed attacks against the besiegers. Other reinforcements came by land through papal territory. Prince Thomas was forced to raise the siege and return to Piedmont by land.

The design, but for the malarious climate of the Tuscan Maremma, was not unpromising. It failed, owing to the death of Brézé, the treachery of Du Daugnon, and the incompetence of Prince Thomas. Mazarin resolved to try again. In September a fresh expedition set forth under La Meilleraye, and at Oneglia took up troops from Piedmont commanded by du Plessis Praslin. Piombino was seized and Porto-Longone on the island of Elba was captured after a brief siege. A firm base was thus acquired for operations in the kingdom of Naples, should such appear desirable.

Mazarin was reckoning on disorder in Naples and Sicily. He was looking for a King to replace King Philip; and Thomas of Savoy had perhaps been chosen to lead the first expedition as the fittest person for such a post. Condé himself was sounded but refused. Fontenay Mareuil was sent to Rome to learn what could be learnt and to encourage a Neapolitan revolt. When the rebellion (described in a subsequent chapter) occurred, its course was uniformly unpropitious for Mazarin. It was a popular rebellion, whose leaders had no solid authority, and were not supported outside Naples. The nobles, even the middle class, were hostile. No Government was established with which the French King could treat. The intervention of the Duke of Guise was ill-judged and unwelcome. The French fleet appeared before Naples, but could not act in concert with Guise; its own operations were hesitating and indecisive; and it finally returned to Provence. without attempting any serious action. The rebellion collapsed, and the places seized on Elba and in Tuscany were left isolated and insecure. Mazarin had seen what sea-power might do against Spain in Italy, but he failed to realise his vision. These failures seriously shook his prestige; and the enterprise against Milan which he undertook in conjunction with Savoy and Modena during the winter 1647-8 was equally unsuccessful.

Mazarin's authority was shaken; but, before the ground actually crumbled beneath his feet, he was able to achieve one capital effort of statesmanship. He was a born negotiator; indeed his enemies. averred that he was apt to negotiate when action was required. More than once his diplomatic action influenced the course of the great German War. When hostilities between Denmark and Sweden had for a time diverted one of the chief members of the coalition to easier fields of conquest, Mazarin was instrumental in bringing about the Peace of Brömsebro (1645).

War between Poland and Sweden was another danger which

602

Negotiations in Westphalia

[1643-8

he averted; and he secured French influence in Poland by arranging the marriage of Mary di Gonzaga with her King. He stirred up Rakoczy of Transylvania against Austria. He concluded at Copenhagen (1645) a separate treaty with Denmark which secured free passage for French commerce through the Danish straits. But the Peace of Westphalia was the great triumph of his diplomacy.

The preliminaries of a double Congress had been arranged in 1641; but no actual conference took place until 1644. The French envoys, d'Avaux and Servien, were dispatched in October, 1643; but their first mission was to the Hague, where they renewed the alliance with the United Provinces and bound the States General once more to conclude no separate peace (1644). Preliminaries were slowly advanced, and meanwhile the efforts of Mazarin were directed to securing the support of the Imperial towns of Germany. He represented France as the champion of German liberties against the encroachments of the Emperor. He worked at the same time upon the German Princes, and, following Richelieu's tradition, especially upon the Elector of Bavaria. After negotiations had definitely begun, the Duke of Longueville was sent, in order that a person of greater dignity and position might supplement the trained ability of Servien and d'Avaux and keep their jealousies in check. Nothing could be more complicated than the conflict of forces and On the side of France, satisfaction for the Swedes, the restoration of the Palatinate to its rightful lords, the demands of the United Provinces, the obligations incurred towards Catalonia and Portugal, the protection and support of the lesser German States-all these had to be borne in mind simultaneously with the claims of France to territorial extension in Elsass, the Sundgau, Breisach, Philippsburg, and in Flanders. On the other hand, the efforts of Spain were directed against peace; and, through her influence, at the end of 1646 the United Provinces were detached from the common cause; and in 1647 the Emperor seemed inclined to suspend negotiations. The secession of the Dutch, however, while making peace with Spain almost impossible, rendered the remaining problems more manageable; and, after the Elector of Bavaria had a second time been brought to his knees, after the battle of Lens had crippled for the moment the influence of Spain, Mazarin, whose position at home was becoming more and more precarious, made his last effort; and in October, 1648, peace was concluded between Sweden and France on the one hand and the Emperor on the other. Longueville had returned to Paris, and d'Avaux had been recalled; and thus Servien, who was in Mazarin's complete confidence, was left alone to conduct the final negotiations. The Austrian rights and possessions in Elsass and the Sundgau, with Breisach and Philippsburg, were ceded to France. The three bishoprics of Toul, Metz, and Verdun were abandoned in all sovereignty to France, who had held them by the right of the strongest since the time of Henry II. The French were to surrender the

1648-9]

The Peace of Westphalia

603

forest towns of Säckingen, Waldshut, Laufenburg, and Rheinfelden, and to pay an indemnity of three million livres to Archduke Ferdinand Charles. The terms secured for the allies of France have been detailed elsewhere. The Emperor abandoned the cause of the Duke of Lorraine, whose territories remained in French occupation. Duke Charles was forced to throw in his lot with Spain, while the Empire was debarred from affording any further assistance to the Spanish Power. The recognition of the right of the several Estates of the Germanic body to conclude separate treaties with foreign Powers left France at liberty to ally herself with any of the German Powers, or with any combination of them. The King of France was thus established as patron of Germanic liberties, which meant in effect of German particularism. The war of 1870 was needed to efface completely the consequences of this treaty.

Peace was indeed necessary for France, where discontent was rapidly coming to a head. The Spanish statesmen encouraged the rising insubordination, by which they hoped to profit, now that their account with Holland had been closed. Hence they declined the terms of Mazarin and did their best to break his treaty with the Empire. A Spanish garrison still held Frankenthal in the Palatinate; the Spanish Habsburgs had claims upon Elsass. That fortress and those claims they refused to surrender; and thus the Austrian House in compensation had to forgo the indemnity promised for Elsass, and to leave the cities of the Black Forest in the hands of France. Hard as these additional concessions were, to continue the war was even harder; in spite of the efforts of Spain, the Peace of Westphalia was ratified in February, 1649.

Mazarin was the heir of Richelieu, of his policy, of his system, of his debits and his credits. That policy had led to war by sea and by land, to north, south, east, and west. That system had mortgaged the future to meet the present needs. The strain of six more years of war had not improved the financial situation. At Richelieu's death the revenue for three years had been anticipated. It does not appear that the position was materially worse in 1648 than it had been in 1642. But every source of revenue had been pledged; the traitants or contractors had amassed enormous wealth; and each draft that the Government made upon the public revenue necessitated a new and a ruinous bargain with the great financiers. Against the territorial gains secured by the Treaty of Westphalia, we must place an impoverished nation, an empty treasury, the domination of usury, the paralysis of law, a precarious tyranny. Debts and assets alike Mazarin had inherited; he had not improved, he had not sensibly impaired, his heritage. But, unlike Richelieu, he was unable to avoid the reckoning. The conflict, which began in 1648, was only a symptom of the deepseated disorders of the State.

604

The Fronde.-The Parlements

[1641-3

Mazarin's opponents were desultory and irresolute, and, from their resemblance to the schoolboys who slung stones in the moats of Paris and ran away when the authorities appeared, received their name of Frondeurs. The Fronde, which paralysed the Government of France for five years, was the outcome of many forces, political, constitutional, social, and personal. In essence it was a revolt against the lawless despotism established by Richelieu. But the French kingdom, the French people, were not so organised as to offer much hope of reform by way of revolution. Of all French institutions the monarchy alone had the vitality required for the reconstruction of society. That was to be the task of Louis XIV and Colbert; they laid the foundations on which the Constituent Assembly and Napoleon built. Yet constitutional aspirations existed, and were stimulated perhaps by the example of rights successfully asserted beyond the Channel. The English Parliament was forced to use, to test, and to develop its powers. It had proved capable of successful warfare and of government. France also had her Parlement of Paris, her provincial Parlements, similar indeed in name alone to the two Houses of the English people, and representing but one narrow class, but invested with powers which were capable of considerable extension, possessed of a high and venerable tradition, the recognised exponents of the law, the would-be arbiters between King and people. Besides the Parlements, there were other "sovereign" bodies, the Cour des Aides, the Chambre des Comptes, the Grand Conseil, with definite though inferior functions, indispensable to the lawful action of the Government.

Richelieu had set himself to confine the Parlements to the adjudication of causes between party and party. In 1641 he had caused a declaration to be registered at a lit de justice, expressly forbidding the Parlement to take cognisance of any matter touching the State, its administration, or its government; edicts on such matters were to be registered and published without comment; and financial edicts could only be the subject of respectful representations; they could not be rejected or amended. But at the very beginning of the new reign the aid of the Parlement had been needed to ratify the reversal of the dispositions for the Regency made by the late King. The edict of 1641 had been treated as a dead letter. Richelieu had coerced the Parlement by exiling or imprisoning obnoxious councillors, and by depriving the contumacious of their offices. Mazarin, always averse from strong measures, had endeavoured to reach his ends by conciliation and accommodation. The magistrates had ceased to fear; disorder and discontent produced a cumulative effect; until at length the Parlement was moved to attack the whole problem of government and to raise the most vital issues.

Since 1643 sedition had been growing. In that year revolts against oppressive taxation broke out in Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, Rouergue. In the following year there were risings in Alençon, in Dauphiné,

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