being done, but more discontented with each other than before." This quarrel, ridiculous as it may appear, seems to have decided the fate of France. Philip had been led to enter into the treaty of Troyes, in order to revenge his father's death on the Dauphin, by depriving him of his patrimony; but nothing could be more contrary to his own interest than that France and England should be governed by the same king. His own. power was nearly equal to that of the King of France, but was quite unable to cope with France and England united; and had such a union come to pass, he must have been contented, instead of ruling as he did as an independent prince, to become merely an obedient vassal. Now, that length of time had cooled down his desire of vengeance, and his quarrel with the regent had disgusted him with his English alliance, he was very willing to listen to the proposals which were made him by King Charles. It was represented to him that although King Charles, then the Dauphin, had indeed been present on the bridge of Montéreau when the duke's father was murdered, yet that he knew nothing of the intentions of TanneguyChastel and the others who had done the deed, nor was he consenting to it; and that his youth, his inability to judge for himself, the ascendancy gained over him by his ministers, and indeed his inability to resent the deed, were all good excuses why he had continued to employ those who had perpetrated it. The more to gratify the pride of Philip, the king now banished from his court and presence Tanneguy-Chastel, and all those concerned in that assassination, and offered to make any other atonement that could be required of him. To all this the entreaties of the Count de Richemont and the Duke of Bourbon, who had married the Duke of Burgundy's two sisters, were added, and at length he determined to unite himself to the royal family of France, from which his own was descended. For this purpose a meeting was appointed at Arras, where deputies from the Pope and the council, (or assembly of clergy,) then sitting at Basle, attended to lend their assistance in the settlement of all disputes. The Duke of Burgundy came thither in person; the Duke of Bourbon, the Count of Richemont, and other persons of high rank, appeared as ambassadors from France, and the Cardinal of Winchester, the Archbishop of York, and others, attended on the part of England. The conferences were held in the Abbey of St. Vaast, and began by discussing the claims of the two |