The Duc de Sully is celebrated as the companion, minister, and historian
of Henry IV., the most popular of French monarchs. Eminent among his
contemporaries both as a soldier and as a financier, it is his especial
glory that he laboured to promote the welfare of the industrious
classes, when other statesmen regarded them but as the fount from which
royal extravagance was to be supplied.
Maximilian, son of François de Bethune, Baron de Rosny, and of Charlotte
Dauvet, daughter of a President of the Chamber of Accounts at Paris, was
born at Rosny in the year 1559. His family was ancient, illustrious, and
once wealthy, but his paternal grandfather had almost ruined it by his
extravagance, his maternal grandfather disinherited him because he
embraced the reformed religion; and with a slight annual allowance young
Rosny had to seek his own fortune in the extravagant profession of arms.
By a sage economy and order he, however, supported himself, and escaped
the dependence and dishonour consequent on extravagance in a poor man.
When thirteen years of age he was presented by his father to the young
Prince of Navarre, who was only seven years older than himself, and who
at once conceived that affection for him which was destined to cease
only with his own life.
On the memorable day of St. Bartholomew, Rosny was in Paris, engaged in
the prosecution of his studies. A known member of the Protestant Church,
his life was in jeopardy: his servant and his tutor fell victims to the
rage of the Papists, and he himself, obliged to quit his chambers for a
safer hiding-place, and exposed to imminent dangers in traversing the
streets, owed his deliverance more than once to a union of courage and
coolness not very common in a youth of thirteen. After this event he, as
well as his patron and friend Henry of Navarre, conformed for a time to
the observances of the Roman Catholic religion; but in 1576, when Henry
escaped from the thraldom in which he had been held, abjured Catholicism
and placed himself at the head of a Protestant army, Rosny was the
companion of his flight, and first began to carry arms in his service.
His noble birth, and the favour of his master, would at once have
secured him military rank, but Rosny preferred to serve as a simple
volunteer, in order, as he said, to learn the art of war by its
elements.
At the surprise of Réde, at the siege of Villefranche, at the taking of
Eause and Cahors, at the battle of Marmande, and in all the dangerous
affairs in which Henry engaged, Rosny was always at his side. His good
services, and the affection borne him by his master, did not, however,
prevent a quarrel, which, it must be said, was provoked by his own
imprudence and aggravated by his own pride. In spite of the commands of
the Prince of Navarre, who had wisely prohibited the practice of
referring private quarrels to the arbitrement of the sword, Rosny acted
as second in a duel, in which one of the principals was desperately
wounded. The Prince’s anger at the breach of discipline was exasperated
by a strong personal regard for the wounded man. He sent for Sully,
rebuked him in harsh terms, and said that he deserved to lose his head
for what he had done. The pride of the young soldier was touched; he
replied that he was neither vassal nor subject of Navarre, and would
henceforth seek the service of a more grateful master. The Prince
rejoined in severe terms and turned his back on him; and Rosny was
quitting the court, when the Queen, who knew his value, interfered, and
reconciled him with her son.
Not long after he quitted Henry’s service, alleging that he had pledged
his word to accompany the Duc d’Alençon, afterwards Duc d’Anjou, brother
of Henry III., in his contest for the sovereignty of Flanders; where, in
case of success, he was to be put in possession of the estates which had
belonged to his maternal grandfather. In this campaign he gained neither
honour nor profit, and soon returned to his original master. Henry
received him with open arms, and, as if to prove that absence had not
affected his confidence and esteem, sent him a few days after on an
important mission to Paris.
In the troubled times which followed, Rosny was unshaken in devotion to
the cause which he had espoused. He accompanied Henry, when that prince,
with only nineteen followers, threw himself, as a last resource, into La
Rochelle. He undertook an embassy from that city to Henry III., then
almost as much persecuted by the League as the King of Navarre himself.
In his Memoirs he has left a striking description of the degraded
condition of that sovereign, who had entirely abandoned himself to
favourites and menials of the court. “His Majesty was in his cabinet; he
had his sword by his side, a hood thrown over his shoulders, a little
bonnet on his head, and a basket full of little dogs hung round his neck
by a broad riband.” He listened to Rosny with vacant stupidity, neither
moving his feet, his hands, nor his head. When he spoke, he complained
of the audacity and insults of the League—said that nothing would go
well in France until the King of Navarre went to mass—but agreed,
finally, that Rosny might treat with the envoys of the Protestant
Cantons of Switzerland, in his name as well as the King of Navarre’s,
for the raising of twenty thousand Swiss troops, to be employed between
the two sovereigns.
Henry, through his imprudence, lost all the advantages which his
faithful servant’s treaty with the Swiss might have secured to him; but
neither disgusted nor dispirited by this folly, Rosny persevered in his
attachment to a cause which seemed altogether desperate to most others.
He was at the siege of Fontenay, and at the brilliant victory of
Coutras, for which the King of Navarre was materially indebted to the
artillery under Rosny’s command. His next great undertaking was to
effect an entire reconciliation between his master and the King of
France. Having succeeded in this, the eyes of all France thenceforward
rested upon him as the only man who could re-establish the distracted
kingdom. Such was the enthusiasm of many of the French at the time, that
they called him “Le Dieu Rosny.”
The desired reconciliation had not long been made when Henry III. was
assassinated by a fanatic monk, and the King of Navarre laid claim to
the vacant throne. But much remained to be done ere he could tranquilly
seat himself upon it. His religion was an insurmountable obstacle to the
mass of the nation, and the League was all-powerful in many parts of
France and held possession of Paris.
Rosny fought with his accustomed valour at the battles of Arques and
Ivry. At the latter he well nigh lost his life: he received five wounds,
had two horses killed under him, and fell at last among a heap of slain.
The manner in which he retired from this field, with four prisoners of
the highest distinction and the standard of the enemy’s
commander-in-chief, is one of the most romantic incidents to be found in
authentic history.
After the victory of Ivry, Rosny did not receive the rewards he merited,
and he remained for some time at his estate under pretence of ill
health, but secretly disinclined to return to the service of one who had
shown little real gratitude for his long and faithful adherence. No
sooner, however, did he learn that Henry was about to undertake the
siege of Paris, than he left his retreat and hastened again to his
master’s side. His wounds were still uncured: he appeared before the
King leaning on crutches and with an arm in a sling. Touched by his
devotedness and his melancholy state, Henry loaded him with caresses,
and insisted that he should not expose himself for the present but
remain near his person to assist him with his counsels.
When Henry first meditated his recantation of the Protestant faith, he
consulted Rosny on this all-important subject. The honest soldier after
reviewing the state of the parties opposed to the King, and holding out
the hope that they would disagree among themselves and fall to pieces,
said, “With regard to your change of religion, it cannot be otherwise
than advantageous to you, seeing that your enemies have no other pretext
for their hostility, but, sire, it is between you and your conscience to
decide on this important article[4].” Shortly after this conversation
the death of the Duke of Parma relieved Henry from one of his most
formidable enemies; but the implacable Leaguers, now becoming meanly
desperate, laid plots against his life, and, it is said, even sent
assassins to Mantes, where the King was residing. Henry thought to
provide for his personal safety by continually surrounding himself by a
corps of faithful English soldiers who were in his service; but Rosny,
knowing the craft and audacity of fanaticism, and warned of the danger
which menaced the competitor for the crown by the untimely fate of its
last wearer, was kept in a state of continual alarm. At last, sinking
his attachment to the reformed religion in his attachment to his King
and his friend, he supplicated, on his knees, that he would conform to
the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. And this the King did almost
immediately after. Rosny continued a Protestant. Many of the cities of
France now submitted to Henry, but Rouen, one of the most important of
the number, was only gained over by the skilful negotiations of Rosny,
who shortly after treated, and with equal success, with the Duke de
Bouillon, the Duke de Guise, and other formidable enemies of the King.
In return for these valuable services, he was admitted into the Councils
of War and Finance, where his honesty and the favour of his master soon
roused the corrupt and jealous members of those departments of
government against him. So great, indeed, were his annoyances that in
the absence of Henry he withdrew again to his estates, and was only
induced to return to his post by a personal visit from his sovereign.
Footnote 4:
Mémoires de Sully.
The King, who was now strong enough to attack the Spaniards in their
dominions in the Low Countries, laid siege to Arras: but through the bad
conduct of those who administered the finances of the state, he not only
found himself unprovided with all that was necessary to prosecute his
undertaking with success, but was left in a state of entire and even
personal destitution. In these difficulties he called Rosny to his
assistance, and placed him at the head of the finances. Under the new
minister’s able and honest management, affairs soon changed their
aspect: the treasury was replenished, while at the same time the people
found their burdens lightened by economy. Rosny had prepared himself for
this office, in the discharge of which he became a true benefactor of
France, by a profound study of accounts and of the revenues and
resources of the country; and when the post was given to him, for a
considerable time he laboured night and day to detect the impolicy and
the peculation of those who preceded him, and to re-establish the
finances of the country.
In 1601 Rosny visited England, under pretence of travelling for his
amusement, but in reality to ascertain the political views, and to
secure the friendship of Elizabeth. On the Queen’s death, a formal
embassy to James I. was contemplated, but a dangerous illness which the
King suffered at Fontainebleau delayed this measure. Henry, who thought
he was dying, sent for the long-tried Rosny to his bed-side, and in his
presence he desired the Queen to retain his faithful minister, as the
welfare of herself, her family, and of the nation were dear to her. The
King, however, recovered, and in the month of June, 1603, Rosny, with a
numerous suite, departed on his mission. After a residence of several
weeks in England, he succeeded in concluding an advantageous treaty with
James I.
The following year he composed a treatise on religious tolerance, which
he at one time hoped might reconcile the animosities of the Catholics
and Protestants. If he failed in this, he left an example, rare at that
time, of an enlightened and liberal spirit. Shortly after he wrote a
memorial indicating the means by which the commerce and finances of
France might be still further improved. At that time the political
sciences could scarcely be said to exist; and it is not to be supposed
that the minister’s views were at all times just and enlarged. They
show, at all events, that he looked to the industry of the people as the
source of national wealth; and to their welfare as one, at least, of the
objects of government. “Tillage and pasturage,” it was a favourite
saying of his, “are the two paps by which France is nourished—the real
treasures of Peru.” To manufactures he was less favourable, and his
obstinacy on this head retarded many of Henry’s schemes for the
encouragement of national industry. His real glory as a minister is to
be sought in the exactness which he introduced into the management of
the finances; and in the vigour with which he repressed peculation in
his subordinates, and gave the whole weight of his influence to check
the needless expenditure of a profligate court, to curtail those feudal
claims which bore hardest on the vassals, and to oppose all privileges
and monopolies, commonly bestowed upon courtiers in those days, which
cramp the prosperity of a nation, to put a comparatively trifling sum
into the pocket of a single person. One day the Duchesse de Verneuil,
one of Henry’s favourites, remonstrated with him for his severity in
this respect, alleging that the King had a good right to make presents
to his mistresses and nobility. His answer should be generally known.
“This were well, Madam, if the King took the money from his own purse;
but it is against reason to take it from the shopkeepers, artisans, and
agricultural labourers, since it is they who support the King and all of
us, and they would be well content with a single master, without having
so many cousins, relations, and mistresses to maintain.” His enemies
insinuated that in the service of the state he had not neglected his own
interest; and it is certain that he acquired immense wealth. Cardinal
Richelieu, however, no friend to him, contents himself with the
insinuation that if the last years of his administration were less
austere than the first, it could not, at least, be said that they were
profitable to himself without being very profitable to the state also.
To his other offices he added those of Grand Master of the Ordnance, and
Surveyor-General of Public Works. The artillery had always been a
favourite branch of the service with him; and he was esteemed one of the
best generals of the age for the attack or defence of fortified places.
As Master of the Ordnance he mainly contributed to the success of the
war with the Duke of Savoy. The army was well paid and provided, the
artillery always at its place at the proper time, and a general reform
was felt throughout the service. In peace he was not less active in
superintending the construction and repair of fortifications; and in
those still more valuable labours which tend to facilitate intercourse,
and provide for the internal wants of a nation. One of his chief works
was a canal to join the Seine and Loire. There were few good engineers
in those times, and Rosny, with his usual industry and earnestness, went
himself to the spot and superintended the commencement of the work he
had projected.
In 1606, after many brief quarrels between him and his master, caused
chiefly by the intrigues of Henry’s mistresses and worthless courtiers,
Rosny was created Duc de Sully and a Peer of France.
The licentiousness of the King, and the power he allowed his mistresses
to obtain over him, had continually thwarted Sully and undone much of
the good they had together proposed and executed. The minister’s
remonstrances were frequent, bold, and at times even violent; indeed,
his whole life had been distinguished by an honest bluntness; but the
propensities of the amorous monarch were incurable, and his faithful
servant had the mortification of seeing him disgrace the last years of
his life by an infatuation for the Princess of Condé. Henry had already
determined on a war with his old enemies the Spaniards, when the flight
of this lady with her husband, who took refuge in the states of the
house of Austria, induced him to hurry on his preparations to attack
both the Emperor and the King of Spain. Sully, at this time, had amassed
forty millions of livres in the treasury of the state, and he engaged
moreover to increase this sum to sixty or to seventy millions without
laying on any new taxes. He had also provided the most numerous and
magnificent corps of artillery that had ever been seen in Europe. But in
the midst of these grand preparations Henry’s mind was agitated by his
insane passion for the Princess of Condé, and oppressed by a
presentiment of his fate. He was indeed told on every hand that plots
were laid against his life; his romantic courage forsook him, he became
absent and suspicious, and at last distrusted even his faithful
minister.
Sully now no longer saw his master except at short intervals, and lived,
retired from the court, at the Arsenal, his official residence as Grand
Master of the Artillery.
The naturally confident and noble nature of Henry, and his old
attachment for the sharer in all his fortunes, triumphed however over
his weaknesses and illusions, and he determined to pay Sully a visit and
to excuse himself for his late coldness. With these amiable intentions
the King left his palace, and was on his way to the Arsenal in an open
carriage, when he was stabbed to the heart by the fanatic Ravaillac.
On the death of Henry IV. Sully would have continued his valuable
services under the Queen-widow, Mary de’ Medici, who was appointed
Regent, but that Princess resigning herself and the government of the
state to intriguing Italians, headed by the unpopular Concini, the
honest and indignant minister quitted office and the court for ever, and
retired to his estates.
The life Sully led in his retreat was most rational and dignified.
Unmoved by the ingratitude of the court, of which he was continually
receiving fresh proofs, he continued to love the country he had so long
governed; and though a zealous Protestant to the last, he would never
join in the intrigues of the Hugonots, which he dreaded might renew the
horrors of civil war. To find occupation for his active mind he dictated
his Memoirs to four secretaries, whom, for many years, he retained in
his service, and who, in the ‘Economies Royales,’ better known under the
title of ‘Mémoires de Sully,’ preserved not only the most interesting
details of the life of their noble master and of Henry IV., but the
fullest account of the history and policy, manners and customs, of the
age in which Sully lived. Neither the occupations of war nor of
politics, in which he had been absorbed for thirty-four years, had
eradicated his original taste for polite literature; and in his
retirement he composed many pieces not only in prose but in verse. One
of his poetical compositions, which is a parallel between Henry IV. and
Julius Cæsar, was translated into Latin and much admired throughout
Europe.
After having lived thirty years in this retirement, the great Sully
expired at his Château of Villebonne, in the eighty-second year of his
age, on the 22d December, 1641—the same year in which Lord Strafford,
the minister of Charles I., was beheaded in London, and in which the
grave closed over the widow of Henry IV., Mary de’ Medici, who died at
Cologne in obscurity and great poverty.
It is to be regretted that no author has yet produced a life of Sully
worthy of the subject. The ‘Economies Royales’ is the great storehouse
of information, but its prolixity and singularity of style render it
little attractive to the general reader. The following works, however,
may be consulted:—’Les Vies des Hommes Illustres de la France,’ by M.
D’Auvigny, and the memoir in the ‘Biographie Universelle.’
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
_Engraved by J. Posselwhite._