this court, in order that you may be able to let me know whatever
you shall judge necessary; and that whatsoever remains to be done,
for the termination of what has been already resolved, may be the
more easy of execution, from the proximity of the places at which we
respectively are. You cannot doubt its being with this view, that
the wish has been expressed for my coming here; and I have been
the more glad to come, because I hoped that I should not be long
without seeing the effect of the engagements which you have entered
into with the king. If I was not aware of your probity and of your
zeal for the interests of His Majesty, and for the advantage of
the Prince to whom you are attached, I should have been dreadfully
uneasy at the delay of our affair, which ought without fail, and
at the latest, to have been concluded at the commencement of this
month. But though we are already at the 24th, and that all you can
desire on our part is entirely ready, I cannot persuade myself that
the intentions of his Highness and your own are other than they
always were. You have been so well aware, how much this affair
would be useful to him at present, and glorious for the future, and
you have made him so well comprehend this, that I cannot have any
suspicions on this head; neither can I, when I represent to myself
the very considerable interest you have in completing an affair
of this importance, of which the conclusion will be considered so
great a merit on your part in the eyes of the most generous and
the greatest King in the world, who has testified to you himself
the good-will he bears you for it; who has praised the address
with which you have conducted the negociation; who has begun by
giving you several marks of his esteem and liberality; and who has
promised you besides such great advantages as would be sufficient
to establish all your family, and to make you happy for the rest
of your days. As his word has always been inviolable, you no doubt
rely upon it implicitly: you must be aware, also, how dangerous
it would be to deceive him, and that, after all the steps he has
taken, and the measures he has agreed upon, you would expose his
Highness, and yourself, to very great misfortunes, if his Majesty
had reason to think that bad faith had been made use of towards him,
after a treaty concluded in all the proper forms with himself, and
founded upon a full power; the inexecution of which would only serve
to ruin a Prince, who abandons himself to your councils, and who
would be infallibly stripped by the Spaniards, who would be willing
once for all to deliver themselves from the alarms which they have
received from the reports spread about on all sides respecting
this affair. I have already told you, Sir, that I believe you as
well-intentioned as ever, and that it is not for the purpose of
exciting you to return to these good sentiments, or to strengthen
them, that I speak to you in this manner; but only lest a longer
delay should diminish the good opinion entertained of you, and lest
umbrage should be taken that an affair in which secrecy was so
important, has been made public, although the King, and those who
have the honour to serve him, have kept the secret so well that it
cannot have been got at through them. I hope, nevertheless, that we
shall soon be satisfied; and that I shall have the pleasure to see
you worthily recompensed for your zeal: I assure you, Sir, that your
interest, more than my own, though I have much in this affair, makes
me desirous of it.
THE ABBÉ D’ESTRADES.[261]
[261] From the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).
No. 73.
LOUVOIS TO SAINT-MARS.
St. Germain, March 26th, 1679.
I have received your letter of the 21st of this month. You will
have seen by my former ones, that the King approves of the officers
of the citadel of Pignerol visiting your prisoners, and passing
the mornings and afternoons with them when they desire it, in the
presence of one of your own officers.[262] I can only now repeat the
same thing to you, and tell you, that with regard to the governor,
the officers, and the inhabitants of the town, you may act in the
same manner by them, when you shall judge fit: not, however, until
after the affair, for which the Sieur de Richemont is at Pignerol,
shall have succeeded or failed.
I address to you a packet for the Abbé d’Estrades, which you will
send him, if you please, by one of your officers, with a direction
in your hand-writing; and when he shall have despatched to you his
answer, you will send it to me by the return of the same courier,
whom, in the meanwhile, you will keep concealed in the prison.
DE LOUVOIS.[263]
[262] Saint-Mars only commanded in that part of the citadel of
Pignerol which was appropriated to the use of a State-prison.
[263] From the Archives of France.
No. 74.
POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.
St. Germain, March 26th, 1679.
The King is extremely anxious for the success of the affair of
the Duke of Mantua. We have heard nothing from M. d’Asfeld, and,
therefore, can have no doubt of his being prisoner in the Milanese.
The news which you received of his being arrested at La Canonica,
was doubtless as true as that of his being released again was the
reverse. We shall now see if the firmness of the Duke of Mantua,
which has thus far resisted the efforts of the Count Carrossa, and
of the Republic of Venice, will continue to the end: we cannot
be long without having this point cleared up, if, as you mention
in your letter of the 11th, he had set off the night before to
go to Casale. Your next letters will, of course, bring us fresh
intelligence upon the subject.
POMPONNE.[264]
[264] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at
Paris.
No. 75.
POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.
Suspicions of the Fidelity of Matthioli.
St. Germain, April 5th, 1679.
I have received your letter of the 18th of March, which shows the
bad state in which, according to the Count Matthioli’s own accounts,
the affair of Mantua is: he is very possibly, as you say, the sole
author of all the accidents and impediments in it, which he writes
word, in his letter to Giuliani, have happened. Your next letters
will give us still clearer intelligence on this subject; but we have
many reasons for apprehending that this negociation, which appeared
so much advanced, may fail at last, when we were in the immediate
expectation of seeing it happily concluded. * * *
POMPONNE.[265]
[265] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at
Paris.
No. 76.
CHANOIS TO LOUVOIS.
Reports of Catinat being at Pignerol.--Different Rumours
respecting the Negociation.
Pignerol, April 5th, 1679.
As I have discovered, Sir, since the last post, that the Marquis
d’Herleville (governor of Pignerol) is aware that M. de Richemont
is incognito in the citadel of this town, and that, in fact, he
knows his real name; I do myself the honour of acquainting you with
the circumstance. M. de Saint-André even sends word, that he has
been told at Turin that M. de Catinat is to take him with him to
Casale. I do not know how they can have discovered so much, unless
it is, that the absence of M. de Catinat has given occasion to some
of the Guards[266] to write from Paris, that he is in these parts.
These reports also mention the days on which he has gone out of the
citadel, and the spot where the Abbé d’Estrades came to speak to him
the last time from Turin. I have answered nothing when I have heard
these things said, except that I knew of no one in the citadel, and
nothing upon the subject.
The Marquis of Saint-Maurice told several people that the French
Ambassador wished to be very cunning; but that _he_ knew very well
that there had been a treaty made between the King and the Duke
of Mantua, on the subject of Casale; and that he also knew that
during the last ten days it had been absolutely broken off. The
retrograde movements of the troops cantoned in the Briançonnois
and the valley of Chaumont, on the side of Dauphiny and Provence,
seem to confirm the report of the Marquis of Saint-Maurice; but the
arrival of the battalion of the regiment of Piedmont in this town
two days ago, makes the people of the country, who love to reason
upon every thing, suspend their judgments; their reasonings will be
of no importance, if the Duke’s sentiments are always well-disposed,
for between this place and Casale there is no fortress, nor any
obstacle which can delay the march of the King’s troops.
I am always with profound respect, &c.
DE CHANOIS.[267]
[266] The Officers of the French Guards, of whom Catinat, at
this time, was one.
[267] Chanois was a French Commissary at Pignerol. This letter
is extracted from the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).
No. 77.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.
Pignerol, April 8th, 1679.
SIR,
The roads being good, and the days as long as they are at present,
a body of cavalry can go in less than thirty hours from Pignerol
to Casale. There is no fortified place through which we should be
obliged to pass, and I am not aware of any difficulty that we could
find on the passage, provided we took the country by surprise in our
march. I have thought it right to state this to you, Sir, because
the possibility of using this degree of diligence may materially
assist the measures you may wish to take. The Duke of Mantua has
never been at Casale, which seems to me an obstacle to the finding
good excuses for his going there, at a time when his conduct is so
much watched and suspected. But we could do very well without him,
if he is always well-intentioned, and if he is the master of a good
part of his garrison. The Governor is of Mantua, and therefore his
actual subject; which is perhaps a favourable circumstance.
I am, &c.
CATINAT.[268]
[268] From the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).
No. 78.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.
Rumours of Catinat’s being at Pignerol.--Civilities of
Saint-Mars to him.
April 15th, 1679.
SIR,
M. d’Herleville must have received some letters from Paris by the
last post, which have given him the suspicion that I might be here;
at least, he has put some leading questions on the subject to M.
de Chanois: he is not a man without curiosity, and he thought by
these means to gain certain intelligence. As I have been now a long
while absent, and there has been no doubt at Paris of some design
in agitation in these parts, on account of the troops which have
been sent here, it is probable that some reasoner of the regiment of
Guards, or some other person, may have given him this idea.
I did myself the honour to send you word, Sir, of all that passed
in my journey to Incréa. I have received letters from the Abbé
d’Estrades, in which he informs me that the troops have retired a
little, in order to get into quarters where they can subsist more
conveniently; and also of the accounts he has received respecting
the delay in the execution of the affair you are acquainted with.
I am treated here with so much attention and civility, that a long
residence, while waiting for intelligence, ought not to give me
any impatience, nor can I complain of any, except that which is
caused by my anxiety and zeal to see the conclusion of an affair
which His Majesty is anxious about, and for the conduct of which
you, Sir, have thought proper to honour me with your confidence. I
should have some uneasiness at being for so long a time a burden
and an inconvenience to M. de Saint-Mars; but he executes with so
much pleasure the orders which he receives from you, that all the
care he takes of me does not distress me. I receive it all as a very
evident mark of the kindness with which you, Sir, write to him on
my subject, for which I am infinitely obliged to you; as well as
for the honour you do me in permitting me to remain, with all the
respect that is due to you,
Your very humble and very obedient Servant,
DE RICHEMONT.[269]
[269] In his correspondence with Louvois, Catinat sometimes
signs with his real name, and sometimes with his assumed one of
Richemont. This letter is extracted from the work of M. Roux
(Fazillac).
No. 79.
POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.
Continued Suspicions of Matthioli.
St. Germain, April 18th, 1679.
THE account you gave me in your letter of the 25th of last month of
the conversation you had had with the Count Matthioli, could not be
more exact. It is still very difficult to discover what is the real
case with this affair, and whether the good faith that was to be
desired in it has been kept to. Try to discover this adroitly, but
without showing any suspicions; and be careful to inform me of every
thing that shall come to your knowledge upon the subject.
This is all I have to reply to your letter. The rest does not
require any particular answer.
POMPONNE.[270]
[270] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at
Paris.
No. 80.
LOUVOIS TO SAINT-MARS.
St. Germain, April 18th, 1679.
I HAVE received your letter of the 8th of this month. The period of
time during which M. de Richemont will have to remain in the place
where he is at present being uncertain, I advise you to let him walk
with your prisoners, even if it should only be in the dungeon. You
may even permit him to pay them visits, and to converse with them,
which will assist in enabling him to pass the time of his stay,
which, whether it will be long or short, I cannot at present tell
you.
* * * * * *
DE LOUVOIS.[271]
[271] From the Archives of France.
No. 81.
POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.
Confirmation of the Suspicions respecting Matthioli’s want
of Fidelity.
St. Germain, April 19th, 1679.
THE account you have given in your letter of the first of this
month, of your interview with the Count Matthioli, of the assurances
he gave you of his good intentions, and of the journey he was
preparing to make to the Abbé d’Estrades, does not prevent his being
suspected with great reason of want of fidelity. Do not, however,
let him discover, in case you see him again, the knowledge we have
upon this subject, but tell him always that we cannot doubt but that
the Duke of Mantua will execute the promises he has so solemnly
given through him. In truth, this Prince ought not to be allowed
to believe, that it is permitted to him to fail in a treaty he has
made with His Majesty; and if the occasion presents itself, make it
appear to him that you can have no doubt of the promises which have
been made to the King being kept, and of the engagements which have
been once entered into with him being executed. Take care to inform
us exactly, as you have already done, of all that shall take place
in this affair, and of the manner in which it shall continue to be
regarded at Venice.
I am, &c.
POMPONNE.[272]
[272] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at
Paris.
No. 82.
LOUVOIS TO SAINT-MARS.
Order to receive Matthioli as a Prisoner.
Saint Germain, April 27th, 1679.
THE King has sent orders to the Abbé d’Estrades, to try and arrest a
man, with whose conduct His Majesty has reason to be dissatisfied;
of which he has commanded me to acquaint you, in order that you
may not object to receiving him, when he shall be sent to you, and
that you may guard him in a manner, that not only he may not have
communication with any one, but that also he may have cause to
repent of his bad conduct; and that it may not be discovered that
you have a new prisoner.
DE LOUVOIS.[273]
[273] From the Archives of France.
No. 83.
POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.
Further confirmation of the Treachery of Matthioli.
St. Germain, May 3d, 1679.
THE letter you wrote me on the 15th of last month, has confirmed to
the King the treachery of the Count Matthioli, which already was but
too much suspected. There never was so signal a piece of perfidy.
We must hope that the sentiments of his master will not be of the
same kind, and that he will not wish to break the promises he has
given to his Majesty. Meanwhile we hear that this Count has arrived
at Turin, where he thinks, without doubt, to impose again upon the
Abbé d’Estrades. It is important always not to show that you are
acquainted with his conduct.
POMPONNE.[274]
[274] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at
Paris.
No. 84.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.
Arrest of Matthioli.
Pignerol, May 3d, 1679.
I ARRESTED Matthioli yesterday, three miles from hence, upon the
King’s territories, during an interview which the Abbé d’Estrades
had ingeniously contrived between him, Matthioli, and myself, to
facilitate the scheme. For the purpose of arresting him, I only made
use of the Chevalier de Saint-Martin and de Villebois, two officers
of M. de Saint-Mars, and of four men of his company: it was effected
without any violence, and no one knows the name of the rascal, not
even the officers who assisted in his arrest: he is in the chamber
which the individual named Dubreuil occupied, where he will be
treated civilly, according to the request of the Abbé d’Estrades,
until the wishes of the King, with regard to him, are known. I do
not write any thing to you, Sir, respecting the certain conviction
we have acquired of the villanies of this man, the Abbé d’Estrades
having already given his Majesty all the information possible upon
this subject. In the interview we had together before his arrest,
we talked of various things, and among others of the place in which
he had placed the essential and original papers respecting the
affair in question, which consist in a letter of the Duke of Mantua
to the King, the full powers he himself had for negociating, the
treaty of his Majesty, executed by M. de Pomponne, the ratification
of the aforesaid treaty signed by the Duke of Mantua, and a letter
of the Duke of Mantua to the Governor of Casale, ordering him to
receive the troops of the King in conformity with the treaty. All
these papers are in a box at Bologna, in the hands of his wife, who
is retired into the convent of the Nuns of Saint Lewis. The Abbé
d’Estrades is of opinion that no time should be lost in obtaining
these papers. As I only brought this man here yesterday very late,
and that the post goes early this morning, I have not as yet had
any conversation with him, for the purpose of obtaining his papers;
but two hours hence I will go to his room, and I do not doubt the
menaces I shall make to him, which his criminal conduct will render
more terrific to him, will oblige him to do all that I wish. I
have chosen M. de Blainvilliers, a choice approved of also by M.
de Saint-Mars, to go to Bologna, considering him as very capable
to conduct himself well in such a business. I will try to give him
a route by which he will avoid passing over the territories of the
King of Spain. I will give an account to you, Sir, the next post, of
all that I shall have done on this subject with Matthioli, to whom
I have given here the name of Lestang, no one here knowing who he
really is.
I am, &c.
RICHEMONT.[275]
[275] From the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).
No. 85.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.
Intelligence respecting Matthioli’s Papers.
Pignerol, May 6th, 1679.
SIR,
Since I did myself the honour of writing to you, I have taken down
shortly in writing all the information I have been able to draw
from the Sieur de Lestang. By making him perceive, and roughly
too, the misery to which his bad conduct exposed him, I induced
him to seek for the means of avoiding it, by doing readily and
frankly all that was desired of him. I have not said any thing to
him which could make him discover the means by which we have been
so certainly informed of his treachery; but I have spoken to him in
such a manner on that subject, that he cannot doubt that we know
it, and are convinced of it. He is a rascal; but I believe him to
be honest in his desire of delivering up the papers, either from
the fear which his present condition causes him, or with the view
of rendering a service to the King, which may be agreeable to him,
and may make him forget what is past. The original papers are at
Padua, concealed in a hole in the wall of a room, which is in his
father’s lodging, and which he says is known to him alone. These
papers are the treaty made by M. de Pomponne, signed by him and by
Matthioli, signed below by the Duke of Mantua, a blank being left
for the insertion of the ratification, when the exchange should
be made for that of the King; a blank paper signed by the Duke of
Mantua, intended for a letter to the Governor of Casale, to order
him to receive the troops of the King; the full power given to M.
de Pomponne to treat with him respecting Casale; and a list of
the troops destined to the execution of this affair. If we once
have possession of these papers, the affair is concluded as far
as regards negociation; but this is a fact that we need only make
known when we think proper. As I am aware of what importance it is
to have possession of these original papers, I have acquainted the
Abbé d’Estrades with the expedients I thought might be made use of
for this purpose, in order that I may be assisted by his advice. I
do not detail them at present to you, Sir, because I expect to-day
the Sieur Giuliani, whom the Abbé d’Estrades is to send to me,
together with the Abbé de Montesquiou, his relation, for the purpose
of the former’s being confronted with the Sieur de Lestang. As this
interview will probably suggest to me more certain means of getting
possession of these papers, I will not, as yet, acquaint you, Sir,
with those that I had proposed to myself. There are, besides, other
papers at Bologna, which are only letters and papers we have, as it
seems to me, little need of; knowing, as we do, by the list of those
which are at Padua, that it is these alone which particularly regard
the affair in question. I will do myself the honour to send you
word, Sir, by the next post, what shall have been the issue of the
interview between the Sieur de Lestang and Giuliani.
The Abbé d’Estrades, by his care and address, has found means to
send to Pignerol the servant of the Sieur de Lestang, with his goods
and all his papers. I have made an inventory of the latter; they
consist in tables of cyphers, and letters, which I have docketted,
and extracted the substance of; they are of no importance. I will
send to you, Sir, by the next post, a copy of what I have extracted,
and a short summary of what I have been able to learn from the
Sieur de Lestang in the conversations that I have had with him;
respecting which he tells me he has already sent information to the
King, or to the Abbé d’Estrades, which has diminished the impatience
I should otherwise have had of acquainting you, Sir, with them. M.
de Saint-Mars treats the Sieur de Lestang very kindly in all that
regards cleanliness and food; but very rigorously in preventing him
from holding intercourse with any one
I am, with all respect, &c.
C.[276]
[276] Catinat. This letter is extracted from the work of M.
Roux (Fazillac)
No. 86.
Inventory sent by Catinat to Louvois, of the Papers which
Matthioli had about his person.
1. A Memorandum of what he had to do at Turin, at the place where he
expected to receive letters from Carbonini.
2. A little note of the papers of consequence he has at Padua, among
which are those which the King is desirous of having, and which the
Sieur Giuliani is gone to take possession of.
3. A note of the road he was to take in his way to Casale.
4. Another note, which states that he has sent four blank papers,
signed by the Duke of Mantua, to the governor of Casale; also the
dates of the departure from Venice of M. d’Asfeld, and of the day,
on which he, the Sieur de Lestang, and the Sieur d’Asfeld were to
meet at Incréa.
5. A memorandum, to make him recollect the name of a man living at
Placentia, to whom he owes five hundred livres.
6. A little memorandum, of the places where he had bought some
small barrels of good wine, which he intended to make a present of
to M. de Varengeville,[277] the new ambassador at Venice; and of
his intention to write to the Governor of Navarre the news of what
should happen in the affairs regarding Casale.
7. A note, stating that the Marquis de Rebouf can give intelligence
to the King of what passes at Genoa; and his reasons to the Marquis
de Cavetto for the pretensions to Savona.
8. Another, stating that the Duke of Mantua had taken poison on the
22d of February, at Venice, which was suspected to have been given
him by an individual, named George Hacquet, a man about his person,
and the minister of his pleasures.
9. Another memorandum, by which it appears that the Duke of Mantua
received, on the 14th of January, 2,500 pistoles from his mother;
and on the 10th of February, 3,000 pistoles from the Abbé Frederic,
the resident of the Emperor at Venice; also containing an account
of the communication which he, the Sieur de Lestang, has with the
Governor of Casale.
10. Memorandum, by which it appears that he had an interview, on the
26th of April, near Moncalvo, with the Governor of Casale; that he
told him he must return once again to Mantua, or to Venice, because
he had written him word that he would come to him on Ascension-day;
that the aforesaid Governor was content with the expedients that
he had proposed to him for the purpose of delivering the place to
the King, by means of which his honour appeared to him to be saved;
that for this purpose, at the return of the Sieur de Lestang, it
was necessary there should be an interview between him, the Sieur
de Lestang, the Governor, and some man on the part of the King, to
execute this affair, and to agree upon means that should make it
infallible; that he would deliver up the gate of the Citadel which
goes into the country, to which Panissa, who is the Governor of it,
would offer no opposition; that the Count Vialardo, Governor of the
Castle, is entirely devoted to the Spaniards; that the Governor of
Casale requests that this affair may be quickly concluded, fearing
always lest he should be removed; that he (Lestang) will make known
to the aforesaid Governor what he shall have done, when he is with
the Duke of Mantua, through the Father Viveti, a Jacobin living at
Padua; that he will continue to write to all the Courts that the
affair of Casale has failed, and that it will not be completed.
11. A small piece of paper, about as large as a card, upon which he
has written four or five reasons, to be inserted in the manifesto,
when the troops of the King shall be introduced into Casale. Also
a statement that all that has been done has been in virtue of the
Duke’s orders, grounded upon a treaty, signed and ratified by
him; but that he (the Duke) now wished to make another with the
Spaniards, contrary to the promise he had given, and that he has
even received money to that effect.[278]
[277] He had succeeded the Abbé d’Estrades as French Ambassador
at Venice.
[278] From the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).
No. 87.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.
First Examination of Matthioli.
Pignerol, May 10th, 1679.