These arguments were also warmly advocated by Concini and his wife, the Papal Nuncio, the Spanish Ambassador, the Chancellor Sillery, Villeroy, Jeannin, Arnaud,[61] and the celebrated Pere Cotton,[62] who had fully possessed himself of the confidence of the Queen, and who was admitted to all her private councils.[63] Fortunately, however, Marie hesitated to hazard so extreme a step; and day after day went by without any hostile manifestation on the part of the Prince, who openly declared himself resolved to support her authority.  As her alarm on this subject diminished, the private friends of the Queen turned their attention to other matters of political interest; and according to the testimony of Sully, zealously employed themselves in contravening all the wishes, and disappointing all the views, of Henri IV.  “There can be no difficulty,” he says with a bitterness which shows how deeply he felt his own exclusion, “in deciding upon the subject of their deliberations.  The union of the crowns of France and Spain, the abolition of ancient alliances with foreign powers, the abolition of all the edicts of pacification, the destruction of the Protestants, the exclusion of those of the reformed religion from places of trust, the disgrace of all who will not submit to the yoke of the new favourites, the dissipation of the treasures amassed by the late King, in order to secure the services of the greedy and the ambitious, and to load with wealth and power such as are destined to rise to the highest dignities in the realm—­that is to say, a thousand projects as pernicious to the King and to the state as they were advantageous to our most mortal enemies,—­such were the great objects of the deliberations of these new counsellors.” [64]

Be this as it may, it is certain that as regarded the Prince de Conde, the Queen was better served by accident than she would have been by the dangerous advice of her friends.  The wise precaution which she had taken of arming the citizens of Paris, and of placing them under the command of individuals chosen by herself, and who had taken an oath of fidelity to her service in the Hotel de Ville, secured the loyalty of the populace; while the jealousy of the Guises, who, even while professing the most ardent attachment to M. de Conde, were gradually becoming cooler in his cause and quarrelling among themselves, gave no encouragement to an attempt at revolt on his part, even should he have been inclined to hazard it.

The Duc de Bouillon alone laboured incessantly to undermine the power of the Regent; and he at length suggested to the Prince that in order to counterbalance the authority of the Court, and to maintain his own rightful dignity, he would do well to return to his original religion, and to place himself at the head of the Protestants, who would form a very important and powerful party.  M. de Conde, however, declined to follow this advice, protesting that he had no desire to involve the kingdom in intestine commotion, and