The Life of Marie de Medicis — Volume 3 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 413 pages of information about The Life of Marie de Medicis — Volume 3.

The Life of Marie de Medicis — Volume 3 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 413 pages of information about The Life of Marie de Medicis — Volume 3.
enthusiasm which his misfortunes had previously excited.  He sacrificed his friends without a pang, save in so far as their fall involved his own success; he was ever as ready to submit as he had been to revolt, when his personal interests demanded the concession; and thus, satisfied that in every case he was wholly governed by a principle of self-preservation, all save those whose individual fortunes were hinged upon his own fell from him without hesitation and without remorse.

Convinced that by the capture of the Duc de Montmorency he was rendered powerless, the weak and selfish Prince, as we have said, sought only to protect himself from the effects of his revolt; and, accordingly, when he became aware that he could no longer contend, he expressed an earnest desire to effect a reconciliation with his royal brother; although, still infatuated by vanity, he proposed conditions as exaggerated as though his position enabled him to enforce them in the event of their rejection.  It was, however, an easy task for the negotiators to convince him that he overestimated his power, and to induce him in a few days to make concessions as dishonourable as they were humiliating.  Not only did he consent to discontinue all intercourse with the Courts of Spain and Lorraine, but also to forsake the interests of the unhappy Queen-mother, who had fondly hoped to find in him a protector and an avenger, and to abandon to the justice of the King all those of his adherents who had incurred the royal displeasure, with the sole exception of his personal household; in whose joint names M. de Puylaurens pledged himself to reveal “all the particulars of such of their past transactions as might prove injurious to the state or to the interests of the sovereign, and to those who had the honour of being in his service.”

Even Richelieu himself could demand no more; and, accordingly, upon these degrading terms, Monsieur received a written assurance from the King that thenceforward he would receive him once more into favour, re-establish him in his possessions, and permit him to reside upon that one of his estates which should be selected by the royal pleasure, together with the members of his household who were included in the amnesty.  This treaty was signed on the 29th of September, and the residence assigned to Gaston was Champigny, a chateau which had originally belonged to the ducal family of Montpensier.

Justice must, however, be rendered to the Duc d’Orleans in so far that before he could be induced to put his hand to this degrading document he made a vigorous effort to procure the pardon of the Marechal de Montmorency; but the attempt was frustrated by Richelieu, who, feeling that the Prince was in the toils, would admit of no such concession.

The agents of the Cardinal were instructed to assure Monsieur that he had no hope of escape for himself save in an entire submission to the will of the sovereign; and this argument proved, as he was aware that it would do, all powerful with the individual to whom it was addressed; while he was, moreover, assured that his own pertinacity upon this point could only tend to injure the interests of Montmorency, which might be safely confided to the clemency of his royal master, and that his personal submission and obedience must exercise the most favourable influence upon the fortunes of both.

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The Life of Marie de Medicis — Volume 3 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.