Bassompierre arrives in England--His journey to London--He is
visited secretly by the Duke of Buckingham--He visits the duke in
the same manner at York House--Charles I commands him to send Père
de Sancy back to France--Singular history of this
ecclesiastic--Refusal of Bassompierre--His first audience of
Charles I and Henrietta Maria at Hampton Court--Firmness of
Bassompierre on the question of Père de Sancy--He visits the Queen
at Somerset House--His private audience of the King--He reproves
the presumption of Buckingham--Admirable qualities displayed by
Bassompierre in the difficult situation in which he is placed--He
succeeds in effecting a reconciliation between the King and
Queen--His able and eloquent speech before the Council--An
agreement on the question of the Queen’s French attendants is
finally arrived at--Lord Mayor’s Day three centuries
ago--Bassompierre reconciles the Queen with Buckingham--Stormy
scene between Charles I and Henrietta Maria at
Whitehall--Bassompierre speaks his mind to the Queen--Intrigues of
Père de Sancy--Peace is re-established--Magnificent fête at York
House--Departure of Bassompierre from London--He is detained at
Dover by bad weather--England and France on the verge of
war--Buckingham decides to proceed to France on a special mission
and proposes to accompany Bassompierre--Embarrassment of the
latter--He visits the duke at Canterbury and persuades him to defer
his visit--A disastrous Channel passage--Return of Bassompierre to
Paris--Refusal of the Court of France to receive Buckingham--An
English historian’s appreciation of Bassompierre.
On September 27 Bassompierre left Paris and proceeded to Richelieu’s
house at Pontoise, where he dined with the Cardinal and discussed with
him, Marillac, Schomberg, and d’Herbault various matters relating to his
mission. He slept that night at Beauvais and then proceeded slowly
towards Boulogne, stopping to inspect the Swiss troops who were in
garrison in the towns on his route. He reached Boulogne on October 1,
where he found his suite awaiting him, and the governor, the Duc
d’Aumont, gave a banquet in his honour; and on the following day
embarked for England, and, the wind being favourable and the sea calm,
accomplished the dreaded passage in safety and made Dover the same
afternoon.
“I remained there until the morrow--the 3rd--in order to secure
conveyances for my suite. On the next day--the 4th--I slept at
Cantorberi [Canterbury]; the 5th at Sittimborne [Sittingbourne]; on
Tuesday--the 6th--I went on to Rochester, where the King’s great
ships-of-war lie, and came to sleep at Gravesinde [Gravesend]. The
sieur Louis Lucnar, the conductor of Ambassadors,[53] came to meet
me with the Queen’s barge, which she had sent me, and, on
Wednesday--the 7th--I embarked on the Thames and passed by the
warehouse of the East-India Company, and by Grennhuits [Greenwich],
a house of the King,[54] near which the Earl of Dorset, Knight of
the Garter, of the House of Sacfil,[55] came to receive me on the
part of the King, and having conducted me to the King’s barge,
brought me close to the Tower of London, where the King’s carriages
were awaiting me. These took me to my lodging, where the said Earl
of Dorset took leave of me. I was neither lodged nor entertained at
the King’s expense,[56] and they had even made a difficulty about
sending this Earl of Dorset, according to the usual custom, to
receive me. However, this did not prevent me from being well
lodged, furnished, and accommodated.[57] That same evening, after I
had supped, word was brought to the Chevalier de Jars,[58] who had
supped with me, that someone was asking for him. It was the Duke of
Bocquinguem and Montagu, who had come alone to see me without
torch-bearers, and begged him [Jars] to bring them into my chamber
by some private door, which he did, and then came to fetch me. I
was very astonished to see him [Buckingham] there, because I had
understood that he was at Hampton Court with the King; but he had
come from there to see me. He made at first many complaints to me
of France, and then also on the subject of certain persons;[59] to
which I replied the best I could, and then spoke of the grievances
which France had against England. These he excused as well as he
was able, and afterwards promised me all manner of assistance and
friendship, and I also made him ample offers of my service. He
requested me not to say that he had come to see me, because he had
done so unknown to the King, which I did not believe.
“On Thursday--the 8th--the Ambassador Contarini, of Venice, came to
visit me, and at night I went to see the Duke of Buckingham in
secret at his house called Iorchaus,[60] which was extremely fine,
and so richly fitted up that I never saw one to equal it.[61] We
parted very good friends.
“_Friday, the 9th (October)._ In the morning, the sieur Louis
Lucnar [Sir Lewis Lewkenor] came to me, on behalf of the King, to
command me to send back to France Père Sancy, of the Oratory, whom
I had brought with me. This I absolutely refused, saying that he
was my confessor, and that the King had no concern with my suite;
and that, if I were not agreeable to him, I would leave his kingdom
and return to my master. A little while after the Duke of
Bocquinguem and the Earls of Dorset and Salisberi[62] came to dine
with me, and I complained to them about this. After dinner the Earl
of Montgomery[63] Grand Chamberlain, came to visit me and to press
me, on the part of the King, to send away Père Sancy, to whom I
returned the same answer as I had made Lucnar.”
[Illustration: CHARLES I.
After the picture by Van Dyck at Dresden.]
This Père de Sancy, whom Charles I was so anxious to drive from his
dominions, even, as we shall see presently, going the length of
threatening to refuse to receive Bassompierre in private audience until
he had sent him away, was a most extraordinary personage. The younger
son of Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, who had been Colonel-General of the
Swiss and _Surintendant des Finances_[64] under Henri IV, he had taken
Holy Orders and been provided with three fat abbeys and the bishopric of
Lavaur. But, on the death of his elder brother, the Baron de Maule, he
abandoned the cassock for the sword and served in several campaigns in
Italy, Germany, and Flanders. About 1611 he was sent as Ambassador to
Constantinople, where he remained for seven years and amassed a
considerable fortune, by methods which were common enough amongst the
diplomatists of those days, whose official salaries were quite
insufficient to meet the heavy expenditure which such positions
entailed. Part of this fortune Sancy spent in the acquisition of rare
Oriental manuscripts, for he was a man of really remarkable learning,
speaking fluently, it is said, modern Greek, Latin, Spanish, English,
Italian, and German, reading Hebrew texts with ease, and having a wide
acquaintance with mathematics, natural history, and chemistry. However,
in 1618, some unusually scandalous abuse of his official position so
enraged the Turkish Government, that it caused him to be, not only
arrested, but sentenced to a hundred blows with the bastinado. The Court
of France accepted the excuses of the Porte--Sancy himself seems to have
been only too anxious for the matter to be hushed up--and recalled its
Ambassador, who, on his return, resumed the cassock, entered the
Congregation of the Oratoire and attached himself to the fortunes of
Richelieu. In 1625 he was amongst the ecclesiastics who accompanied
Henrietta Maria to England, where he rendered himself particularly
odious to Charles I and his people by his ill-considered zeal. The King
had insisted on his being sent back to France not long after his
arrival, but, notwithstanding this, he now reappeared as chaplain to
Bassompierre’s embassy. This appointment, which could not be regarded as
other than a direct affront to the English Court, had been made, it
would seem, at the instance of Marie de’ Medici, and against the advice
of Bassompierre, who foresaw the embarrassments to which it was bound to
give rise. However, since he had been obliged to bring Sancy to England,
the dignity of his sovereign demanded that he should protect him, even
at the risk of compromising the success of his mission.
After the Lord Chamberlain had taken his departure, Bassompierre
received visits from the Danish Ambassador and the agent of the ex-King
of Bohemia, the unfortunate Frederick V, Elector Palatine. In the
evening Walter Montague supped with him, and the following night he
entertained Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon--which the marshal spells
“Houemelton”--who, the previous year, had commanded the expedition
against the coast of Spain, the failure of which had been mainly due to
the gross incapacity which he had displayed. Edward Cecil was an old
acquaintance of Bassompierre. He had met him for the first time when a
lad in Italy, and again when he visited England with Biron in 1601,
upon which occasion, he tells us, Cecil had shown him much courtesy.
On the 11th Bassompierre had his first audience of the King:
“The Earl of Carlisle came with the King’s coaches to convey me to
Amptoncourt [Hampton Court] to have audience of the King. At
Amptoncourt I was conducted to a room in which a beautiful
collation was spread. The Duke of Bouquinguem came to introduce me
to the audience, and told me that the King desired to know
beforehand what I intended to say to him, and that he did not wish
me to speak about any business to him, otherwise, he would not
grant me an audience. I told him that the King should know what I
had to say to him from my own mouth, and that it was not the custom
to limit an Ambassador in the representations he had to make to the
King to whom he was sent. He swore to me that the only reason which
obliged him [the King] to that, and which made him insist upon it,
was that he could not help putting himself into a passion in
discussing the matters about which I had to speak to him, which
would not be seemly in the Chair of State, in sight of the chief
persons of the Kingdom, both men and women; that the Queen his wife
was close to him, who, incensed at the dismissal of her servants,
might commit some extravagance and weep in the sight of everyone;
that, in short, he would not compromise himself in public, and that
he was resolved to break up this audience and grant me one in
private sooner than treat with me concerning any business before
everyone. He [Buckingham] swore vehemently to me that he was
telling me the truth, and that he had not been able to persuade the
King to see me save on this condition; and he begged of me to
suggest some expedient, whereby I should place him under an
obligation. I (who perceived that I was going to receive this
affront, and that he was asking me to aid him with my counsel, in
order to avoid the one and to insinuate myself more and more into
his good graces by the other) told him that I could not in any
manner whatsoever do anything but what was prescribed to me by the
King my master; but that, since, as my friend, he asked my counsel
as to some expedient, I told him that it depended on the King to
give or to take away, to abridge or to lengthen, my audience in
what manner he would, and that he might, after having permitted me
to make my reverence, and received, with the King’s letters
[_i.e._, his credentials], my first compliments, when I should come
to open to him the occasion of my coming, interrupt me and say:
‘Sir Ambassador, you are come from London, and you have to return
thither; it is late, and this matter requires a longer time than I
could now give you. I shall send for you one of these days at an
earlier hour, and we will confer about it at our leisure in a
private audience. Meantime, I shall content myself with having seen
you and heard news of the King my brother-in-law and the Queen my
mother-in-law; and I will not delay longer the impatience which the
Queen my wife has to hear of them also from you.’ Upon which I
shall take leave of him to go and make my reverence to the Queen.”
Buckingham appeared delighted with the way out of the difficulty which
the resourceful Bassompierre had suggested:--
“After I had said this, the duke embraced me and said: ‘You know
more about these things than we do. I offered you my assistance in
the affairs you are come to negotiate; but now I recall the promise
I gave you, for you can do very well without me.’ And so left me,
laughing, to go and acquaint the King with the expedient I had
proposed, which he accepted and punctually observed.
“The duke returned to introduce me to the audience, and the Earl of
Carlisle walked behind him. I found the King on a stage raised ten
steps, the Queen and he seated in two chairs, who rose at the first
reverence I made on entering. The company was magnificent and the
order exquisite. I made my compliment to the King and handed him my
letters, and, after having said my words of civility, proceeded to
those of business. He interrupted me in the same form as I had
proposed to the duke. I then saw the Queen, to whom I said little,
because she told me that the King had given her permission to go
to London, where she could see me at leisure.[65] Then I withdrew.
“The duke and the principal lords came to conduct me to my coach,
and, as the duke was talking to me expressly to give the Secretary
Convé[66] time to catch me, the said Secretary arrived and told me
that the King informed me that, although he had promised me a
private audience, nevertheless, he would not grant it me until I
should have sent Père Sancy back to France, as he had already
desired me to do three times without effect, at which his Majesty
felt himself offended.”
However, Bassompierre was determined not to give way on the question of
Père Sancy:--
“I replied that, if it had been consistent with my duty or with
propriety to obey him, I should have done so at the first command,
and that I had no other answer to give him than one in conformity
with those which I had already given, with which I thought he ought
to be satisfied; and that his Majesty should content himself with
the respect I paid him, by keeping shut in my house one of my
servants who was neither guilty nor condemned nor accused, who, I
promised him, should neither act, nor speak, nor even show himself
at his Court or in the town of London, but remain in my own house
so long as I should be there, and not leave it except when I did,
which I would do on the morrow, if he ordered me; and that, if he
would not give me an audience, I should send to the King my master
to know what it pleased him should become of me after this
refusal, who would not, in my opinion, allow me to grow old in
England, waiting until the King took a fancy or had leisure to
listen to me.
“These things I said loud enough, and in no wise moved, in order
that all the bystanders might hear me, and I then expressed more
resentment to the duke [Buckingham], whom I requested to speak to
me no more of this matter, upon which my mind was made up, unless
they wished to give me an order to leave London and the island
forthwith, which I should receive with joy. And with that I left
the company with the Earl of Carlisle and Montague, who brought me
back to London and remained to sup with me.”
Bassompierre’s firmness was not without its effect upon the King and
Buckingham, who, realising that he was not to be browbeaten, became much
more conciliatory. The following evening Buckingham and Walter Montague
came to sup with him and he had a long and apparently amicable
conference with the former; while on the 13th, after visiting Henrietta
Maria at her “Palais de Sommerset,” he dined with the Duke at York
House. Finally, on the 14th, Montague came with a message from
Buckingham that, although he had not complied with the King’s wishes in
regard to Père Sancy, his Majesty was graciously pleased to give him
audience the following day.
On the morrow the Earl of Bridgewater arrived with the Royal coaches to
convey the Ambassador and his suite to Hampton Court. Here he was
received by Buckingham, who conducted him into a gallery, where Charles
was awaiting him. The duke then withdrew a little distance, and a long
interview took place between Charles and Bassompierre, in which there
was much heated discussion.
“He [the King] put himself into a great passion,[67] and I,
without failing in the respect I owed him, answered him in such
wise that, by yielding something to him, he conceded a great deal
to me. I witnessed an instance of the great boldness, not to say
impudence, of the Duke of Bocquinguem, which was that, when he saw
us the most heated in argument, he came up suddenly and placed
himself, as a third, between the King and myself, saying: ‘I am
come to make peace between you two (“_Je viens faire le hola entre
vous deux_”).’ Upon which I took off my hat, and so long as he
stayed with us, I would not put it on again, notwithstanding all
the entreaties of the King and of himself to do so. But, so soon as
he withdrew, I replaced it, without the King telling me. When the
audience terminated, and he [Buckingham] could speak to me, he
inquired why I would not cover myself while he was by, and that I
did so readily when he was no longer there. I answered that I had
done it to do him honour, because _he_ was not covered, and that I
should have been, which I would not suffer. For which he was much
pleased with me, and several times mentioned it afterwards in my
praise. But I had also another reason for so doing, which was that
it was no longer an audience, but a private conversation, since he
had interrupted it, by coming in as a third.”[68]
“After my last audience was over, the King led me through divers
galleries to the Queen’s apartments, where he left me, and, after I
had had a long conversation with her, I was brought back to London
by the same Earl of Brischwater.”[69]
It is evident, from Bassompierre’s despatches, that after his audience
with Charles I, he was, for the moment, tempted to despair of the
success of his mission, believing that the King was so embittered
against his wife’s French attendants that he would never consent to
their return, and that Buckingham, notwithstanding the desire he
professed for an amicable arrangement, was not to be trusted.
“I did not fail,” he writes to Richelieu, “to represent
energetically to the King all the points of my commission, and to
inform him of the things which I have seen lately, in order to urge
him to give satisfaction to the King [Louis XIII]. But I found his
mind so opposed to the re-establishment of the officers of the
Queen his wife which was demanded of him, that he does not wish to
hear of it in any fashion, and that it is waste of time to think of
persuading him to it, as you will be able to judge from the letter
which I have written to the King, who will acquaint you with his
rude behaviour. I am so ill satisfied with him, that were it not
that I had received express orders not to break or conclude
anything without asking permission to do it, I should have taken
leave of him in the same audience. I await the order of the King by
the return of this courier, and the honour of your commands.”
And to his brother-in-law, the Comte de Tillières, he writes:--
“Holland and Gorin[70] are honest men; the others, such as
Carlisle, Pembroc,[71] and Montgomari, discreet; the duke,[72]
flattering and deceitful, who writes me that he is in despair that
I have not received the satisfaction that I desire. I shall be
extremely anxious to return, and shall do so on the return of this
courier, which I beg you to arrange to send back to me promptly;
for I languish here without hope of effecting anything.”[73]
However, Bassompierre did not receive orders to return to France, and in
the course of the next few days the attitude of Charles I and his Court
underwent a welcome change, and every influence was brought to bear upon
the Ambassador to induce him to represent to the French Government that
the religious and domestic difficulties which had led to the expulsion
of the Queen’s attendants had been such as to exonerate, if not to
justify, that high-handed action, and to persuade Henrietta Maria to
consent to some arrangement satisfactory to all parties concerned.
Buckingham called on him several times and brought him to Somerset House
for informal discussions. All the great nobles of the Court--Pembroke,
Carlisle, Carleton, Holland--whom he visited at
“Kinsinthon”--Montgomery, Bridgewater, and Conway, appeared anxious to
make amends for the coolness of his first reception by every kind of
civility and hospitality. He was permitted to have private audiences of
the Queen both at Somerset House and “Houaithall” [Whitehall], and
Charles even condescended to discuss his domestic troubles with him in
the presence of his consort.
Bassompierre was ready enough to repay the courtesies and confidences
which were now lavished upon him by using the influence which the fact
that he had been one of her father’s most intimate friends, and had
known her since her childhood, gave him over the Queen to bring about an
amicable settlement. He recognised that there had been faults as well as
grievances on both sides, and, in his private conferences with
Henrietta, he pointed out to her that she had committed a very grave
error in surrounding herself so closely with her own people and
establishing, so to speak, a foreign camp in the midst of the English
Court. His task, however, was a far from easy one, and it was
complicated by the circumstance that Henrietta was convinced that
Buckingham was her personal enemy, and that, jealous lest she should
acquire influence with the King, he had made mischief perpetually
between them.[74] Eventually, however, by a happy combination of tact,
patience, and firmness, he brought her to take a more reasonable view of
the situation, though her Majesty’s temper was very uncertain, and more
than once, when he flattered himself that differences were
satisfactorily adjusted, fresh trouble arose, and he had to begin his
work over again. But let us turn to his journal, wherein he has noted
the progress of his negotiations from day to day:--
“_Friday, the 16th_ [October].--The King and Queen returned to
London. The duke [Buckingham] sent to ask me to come to Somerset
[House], where we spent more than two hours debating our affairs.
“_Saturday, the 17th._--I went to salute the Queen at Houaithall
[Whitehall], and to render her an account of all that I had
conferred with the duke about the preceding day.
“_Sunday, the 18th._--I was visited by the Secretary Convé
[Conway], who came to see me on behalf of the King. Then the Earl
of Carlisle and millord Carleton came to see me.
“_Monday, the 19th._--I went to visit the Queen at Houaithall
[Whitehall].
“_Tuesday, the 20th._--The Viscount Houemelton [Wimbledon] and
Goring came to dine with me. After dinner I was heard at the
Council [Privy Council].
“_Wednesday, the 21st._--I wrote a despatch to the King [of
France]. I went to see the Queen and to confer with the duke at
Somerset [House].
“_Thursday, the 22nd._--The duke and the Earls of Carlisle and
Holland, with Montague, came to dine with me.... Then I went to the
Queen’s, and in the evening to the house of Madame de Strange.[75]
“_Friday, the 23rd._--I went to see the Earl of Carlisle....
“_Saturday, the 24th._--I went to see the Queen. The King came
there, and she quarrelled with him. The King took me into his
chamber, and talked to me for a long while, making many complaints
of the Queen his wife.
“_Sunday, the 25th._--The Earls of Pembroch and Montgomery came to
see me. Then I went to find the duke, whom I brought to the Queen’s
apartments, where he made his peace with her, which I effected
after infinite difficulties. Afterwards the King arrived and was
also reconciled with her. He bestowed many caresses upon her, and
thanked me for having reconciled the duke with his wife. He then
led me into his chamber and showed me his jewels, which are very
beautiful.[76]
“_Monday, the 26th._--After dinner I went to visit the Queen at
Somerset [House], with whom I fell out.[77]
“_Tuesday, the 27th._--The Duke, the Earls of Dorset, Holland and
Carlisle, Montagu, Kere[78] and Gorin came to dine with me. I went
afterwards to see Pembroch and Carleton. In the evening a courier
from France arrived.
“_Wednesday, the 28th._--In the morning I went to Houaithall
[Whitehall] to speak to the duke and the Secretary Convé, because
the King was going to Amptoncourt. After dinner I went to see the
Queen at Somerset [House], with whom I made friends. In the evening
the duke and the Earl of Holland took me to sup with Antonio
Porter,[79] who feasted Don Augustine Fiesque, the Marquis de
Piennes,[80] the Chevalier de Jars and Gobelin.[81] After supper we
had music.
“_Thursday, the 29th._--In the morning I received a visit from the
Earls of Holland and Carlisle....
“_Friday, the 30th._--I went to see the Queen at Somerset [House],
and afterwards the duke at Valinfort.[82]
“_Saturday, the last day of October._--The Ambassador of Denmark
came to see me. Then I went to Madame de Strange’s house.
“_November.--Sunday, first day of November, and of All Saints._--I
made my devotions. Afterwards I went to visit the Duchess of
Lennox[83] and the Secretary Convé [Conway]. On this day a council
was held to deliberate upon my affairs.
“_Monday, the 2nd._--In the morning I went to see the Earl of
Holland. Then the duke having given me a rendezvous in the Queen’s
gallery, we conferred there together for a very long time. After
dinner I returned to see the Queen, in order to render her an
account of my conversation with the duke, at which she was uneasy,
because we had parted on bad terms.
“_Tuesday, the 3rd._--The duke brought his little daughter[84] to
my house as a pledge of reconciliation. He remained there to dine
with Montague, Keri and Porter, and then took me to see the King,
who was going to play tennis; and I went to visit the Queen to tell
her of my reconciliation with the duke.
“_Wednesday, the 4th._--I went to see the Duchess of Lennox. I
wrote to the duke on the subject of my business, and then went to
find the Queen to show her the copy of what I had written. In the
evening the duke sent Montague to sup with me, and to assure me
from him that he would arrange all my business in accordance with
my wishes. I forthwith sent to apprise the Queen of this.”
On the Thursday, Conway arrived to request Bassompierre to come on the
following day to the Council, where he should receive an answer to
proposals which he had made. The next day Buckingham came to dine with
him, and afterwards took him to Whitehall, and left him in a room in the
King’s apartments, with Goring, Montague, and Lewkenor to entertain him,
while he himself went to the Council.
“A little while after he came to seek me, and told me that the
answer the Council proposed to make me was worth nothing [_i.e._, a
mere formality], but that I should not be uneasy about it, but that
I should reply firmly, on the spot, and that afterwards he would
arrange everything in such a way that I should be satisfied. A
little while after Convé [Conway] came to call me into the Council,
where after they had placed a chair for me at the upper end, the
gentlemen of the Council acquainted me, by the mouth of Carleton,
of what they had resolved in reference to the proposition that I
had made to the same Council some days before. They handed me this
answer in writing, and then had it read to me.”[85]
The first part of this document contained a long and elaborated defence
of Charles I’s action in summarily expelling the Queen’s attendants from
the country, by which, the commissioners maintained, neither the letter
nor the spirit of the marriage-treaty had been violated, since “the said
persons had been sent back as offenders, who had by their ill-conduct
disturbed, in the first place, the affairs of the kingdom, and,
secondly, the domestic government of the house of his Majesty and of the
Queen his dearly-loved consort, whereon depended the happiness of their
lives.”
* * * * *
The Bishop of Mende and his priests (to whom the ambassador, M. de
Blainville, had also lent his hand) had endeavoured, by their intrigues,
to create factions and dissensions amongst the subjects of his Majesty,
exciting fear and mistrust in the Protestants, encouraging the Roman
Catholics, and even instigating the disaffected in Parliament against
everything connected with the service of the King and the public
tranquillity of the kingdom.
The Queen’s house they had converted into a rendezvous of Jesuits and
fugitives, and a place of security for the persons, property, and papers
of such as had violated our laws.
By subtle means they discovered what was passing in private between the
King and Queen, and laboured to create in the gentle mind of the Queen a
repugnance to all his Majesty desired or ordered, even to what he did
for the honour of his dignity, and avowedly fomented discords between
their Majesties, as a thing essential to the welfare of their Church.
They had endeavoured by all means to inspire her with a contempt for our
nation and a dislike of our usages, and had made her neglect the English
language, as if she neither had, nor wished to have, any common interest
among us, who desire nothing more than to promote the happiness of her
Majesty.
They introduced, by means of the priests, strange orders and
regulations, unheard of in times past, and disapproved by others of
their profession.
They had subjected the person of the Queen to the rules of a, as it
were, monastic obedience, in order to oblige her to do many base and
servile acts, which were not only unworthy of the majesty of a queen,
but also very dangerous to her health.[86] Witness what had befallen a
person of distinction amongst her attendants, who had died therefrom,
and declared at her death that they were the cause of it.
* * * * *
It is perhaps needful to explain that this poor lady died from the
severities of the discipline inflicted upon herself, and not upon her
royal mistress. The commissioners are not too luminous on this point.
Finally, as the crown of all these delinquencies, came the supposed
pilgrimage to Tyburn, already referred to, which, said the
commissioners, had exhausted the sorely-tried patience of the King and
decided him to rid the country of her Majesty’s French attendants.
The latter part of the document dealt with the non-fulfilment of the
engagements respecting the English Roman Catholics, which was defended
on the ground of expediency, while it was contended that the article
promising liberty of worship had been agreed to by the English
commissioners, and accepted by the French, “simply as a matter of form
to satisfy the Roman Catholic party of France and the Pope.”
The commissioners concluded by observing that “the visit and deportment
of M. de Bassompierre had been very agreeable to his Majesty” and that
the King of France might rest assured that in all matters touching the
conscience of the Queen the treaty should be strictly observed, and that
his Majesty, “from the love he bore to his dear consort,” would show all
the indulgence to the Roman Catholics which the constitution and
security of his State would allow.
Bassompierre requested the Council’s permission to reply forthwith, and,
this being granted, “he did so with great vehemence and better to his
own liking than he had ever spoken in his life.” We can understand his
satisfaction, for it was undoubtedly a very able and eloquent speech,
and gives us a high opinion of his promptitude and address. The turn he
gives to the “Tyburn pilgrimage”--the act which the commissioners
asserted had driven Charles I to extremities--is extremely ingenious. He
admits that the Queen went with her French attendants to Tyburn, but it
was in the course of one of her customary evening walks in the park of
“St. Jemmes” and the “Hipparc,” which adjoins it--a walk such as she had
often taken in the company of the King her husband. But that she had
made it in procession, or that she had approached within fifty paces of
the gallows, or that she had offered up any prayers, public or private,
or that she had fallen on her knees, holding the hours or chaplets in
her hands, he most strenuously denies. For the rest, to have thought a
little of God at sight of the gibbet seems to him a small offence.
“Granted,” says he, “that they prayed for those who died on the gibbet,
they did well, for however wicked the men might have been who died on
it, they were condemned to death, and not to damnation. And never has
one been forbidden to pray to God for such. You tell me that is to blame
the memory of the kings who had them put to death. On the contrary, I
praise the justice of these kings, and implore the compassion of the
King of kings, in order that He may be satisfied with their bodily
death, and that He may pardon through our prayers and intercessions (if
these be sufficient) the souls upon whom neither the justice nor the
pardon of the kings of this world can have any effect. To conclude, I
deny formally that this action has been committed, and offer, at the
same time, to prove that they would have done very well to commit it.”
Bassompierre’s oration lasted an hour, “and when I came out,” says he,
“I went to find the Queen to show her the fine answer which they had
given me, and the substance of what I had replied and protested.”
In the evening Buckingham sent the Ambassador word that all of the
Council who could speak or understand French would call upon him the
following morning, and that he might hope for a favourable conclusion;
“for the King had told him that it was his intention to satisfy the King
his brother and to send him [Bassompierre] away content.”
At seven o’clock next morning, Lord Dorset came to tell him that he
should have satisfaction and that the Council would come soon afterwards
to meet him, adding that “it only depended upon himself that all should
go right.”
“He found me,” says Bassompierre, “in a bad state for discussion,
for either the weather, which was very foggy,[87] or my
constitution, or the long and vehement reply that I had made the
preceding day, had reduced me to such a condition that I had lost
my voice, and, notwithstanding all my efforts, he could scarcely
hear me.”
Buckingham and the rest of the Council arrived soon afterwards, and
Carleton, on behalf of his colleagues, replied to Bassompierre’s speech
of the previous day in a very conciliatory tone, pointing out the
mischief that would result from a rupture between the two countries, and
proposing that they should leave no means untried to come to some
amicable arrangement, which, he knew, was the most earnest desire of the
King.
“Upon this we then got to work,” says Bassompierre, “and we did not
experience much difficulty; for they were very reasonable, and I
moderate in my demands. The greatest difficulty was over the
question of the re-establishment of the priests, but in the end we
came to an agreement upon that. I then entertained them to a
magnificent banquet, and, when they had taken their departure, I
went to visit the Queen to inform her of the good news of our
treaty.”
On the following day Buckingham and Holland came to dine with him, and
he afterwards received a visit from the young Duke of Lennox. Then he
proceeded to Whitehall, where he had a private audience of Charles I,
“in which,” he says, “he confirmed and ratified all that his
commissioners had negotiated and concluded with me, of which he showed
me the draft and made me read it.”[88]
“In the evening, the resident of the King of Bohemia came to
congratulate me and to sup, as did also _largely_ the Ambassador of
Denmark.”[89]
The day which followed Charles I’s ratification of the arrangement
intended to secure his domestic peace was Lord Mayor’s Day, and it will
doubtless be very gratifying to any member of the Corporation of London
who may chance to peruse these pages to learn the respect in which that
civic festival was held three centuries ago:--
“Monday, the 9th, which is the day of the election of the Mayor, I
came in the morning to Somerset [House] to meet the Queen, who had
come there to see him pass along the Thames, in the midst of a
magnificent procession of boats, on his way to Voestminster
[Westminster] to take the oath. Then the Queen dined, and
afterwards placed herself in her coach and placed me at the same
door with her.[90] The Duke of Bocquinguem, by her command,
likewise placed himself in her coach and we went into the street of
Schipsay [Cheapside] to see the pageant pass, which is the grandest
which takes place at the reception of any official in the world.
While waiting for it to pass, the Queen played primero with the
duke, the Earl of Dorset and me. Then the duke took me to dine at
the house of the new Mayor, who that day gave a dinner to more than
eight hundred persons. Afterwards, the duke and the Earls of
Montgomery and Holland, having brought me back to my house, I went
to walk in the Morsfils.”[91]
Notwithstanding that the Queen had done Buckingham the honour to invite
him to witness the Lord Mayor’s procession with her the previous day,
her Majesty and the duke had not entirely made up their differences; for
on the following day we learn that Carlisle came to see Bassompierre “in
order to conclude the reconciliation” which the Ambassador succeeded in
negotiating.
“On the 11th Bassompierre went with Holland and M. Harber, who had been
Ambassador in France”[92] to dine with Lord Wimbledon at the manor from
which he took his title, which the marshal thought a very fine house.
Wimbledon’s sister-in-law, the Countess of Exeter, had come to assist in
doing the honours to the distinguished guests, who were “magnificently
entertained.”
Bassompierre’s belief that the Queen was satisfied with the arrangements
that had been made in regard to her Household received a rude shock a
day or two later, when a more stormy scene took place at Whitehall than
had yet occurred.
“_Thursday, the 12th._--I went to see the Stuart Earl of
Pembroch[93] and the Secretary Convé, and, not finding them,
repaired to the Queen’s apartments, to which the King came. They
fell out with one another, and I afterwards with the Queen on this
matter.”
Bassompierre, out of all patience at seeing Henrietta continue to play
the vixen after her grievances had been redressed, told her his mind
plainly, without caring for her rank:--
“I told her that I should next day take leave of the King and
return to France, leaving the business unfinished, and should
inform the King [Louis XIII] and the Queen her mother that it was
all her fault. When I returned home, Père Sancy, to whom the Queen
had written about our falling out, came to accommodate it, with
such impertinences that I got very angry with him.”
This last sentence constitutes a full justification of Charles’s
persistent demands, when Bassompierre first arrived in England, that
Sancy should be sent back to France. It is evident that, although the
Ambassador had doubtless kept his promise that this meddlesome
ecclesiastic should not approach the Court nor even leave his house, the
latter had all along been in correspondence with the Queen, had
contributed to keep her mind in a most mischievous state of agitation,
and now, just when everything seemed to have been settled
satisfactorily, was pushing her to fresh demands, so unreasonable that
even Bassompierre could not attempt to justify them. There can be no
doubt that Sancy was acting under the instructions of the Queen-Mother
and Bérulle, and had come to England with the express purpose of
establishing secret relations with Henrietta; but it is not a little
surprising to find the English Court so early and so well apprised of
his mission as it appears to have been.
The next day, Friday the 13th, the Queen, to whom Sancy had, of course,
reported the unfavourable reception which his overtures on her behalf
had received, sent for Bassompierre to come to her; but the Ambassador,
who was determined to bring her Majesty to reason, begged to be excused.
His refusal had the desired effect, for on the Saturday “the Earl of
Carlisle came to visit him for the purpose of reconciling him with the
Queen,” and peace was re-established.
On the 15th, to celebrate the amicable termination of Bassompierre’s
mission, Buckingham gave a magnificent _fête_ in the Ambassador’s honour
at York House, which the King and Queen graced with their presence:--
“I went to meet the King at Houaithall [Whitehall], who placed me
in his barge and brought me to the duke at Iorchaus [York House],
who entertained me to the most superb banquet that I ever saw in my
life. The King supped with the Queen and myself at a table which
was served by complete ballets at each course, and there were
divers representations, changes of scenery, tables and music. The
duke attended upon the King at table, the Earl of Carlisle upon the
Queen, and the Earl of Holland upon me. After supper they conducted
the King and us into another room, where the company assembled;
they entered by a turnstile, as in monasteries, without any
confusion. Here took place a superb ballet, which the duke danced,
and afterwards we danced country-dances[94] until four hours after
midnight. Then we were conducted into vaulted apartments,[95] where
there were five different collations.”[96]
On the following day the King, who with the Queen had spent the night at
York House, sent to invite Bassompierre to return there to hear a
concert given by the Queen’s musicians. The concert was followed by a
ball, and the ball by a play, at the conclusion of which the Ambassador,
who had been dancing until the small hours of the morning, must have
experienced considerable difficulty in remaining awake.
During the next fortnight Bassompierre appears to have entertained, or
been entertained by, all the distinguished persons of the Court. At one
dinner-party which he gave his guests were: Buckingham, Carlisle,
Holland, Theophilus Howard, Earl of Suffolk, Carleton, Walter Montague,
Goring, Orazio Gentileschi, the celebrated painter, Thomas Cary, son of
the Earl of Monmouth, and a poet of some note in his time, and
Saint-Antoine, the King’s French equerry, who is depicted by Vandyck
holding his royal master’s helmet in the magnificent picture of Charles
I mounted on a white horse; while after dinner William Cecil, Earl of
Exeter, and Edward Montague, Lord Mandeville, afterwards Earl of
Manchester, joined the party. Seldom can a more interesting company have
been gathered round one table.
On November 29 he began to make his adieux:
“The Earl of Carlisle and Lucnar [Lewkenor] came to fetch me with
the King’s coaches, to bring me to take leave of their Majesties,
who gave me public audience in the great hall of Houaithall
[Whitehall]. I then returned with him [the King] into his
bedchamber, into which he made me enter; and afterwards I went to
sup in the chamber of the Earl of Carlisle, who entertained me
superbly. Lucnar came to bring me from the King a very valuable
present of four diamonds in the form of a lozenge, with a big pearl
at the end. The same evening, the King sent for me to come and hear
an excellent English play.[97]
“_Monday, the 30th._--I went to take leave of the millord Montague,
President of the Council, the Earls of Pembroch and Montgomery, of
the Earl of Exeter, of the countess his wife, of the Countess of
Oxfort, his daughter, and of the millord Carleton. Thence I went to
have a private audience of the Queen.”
The following day was occupied in further farewell visits, and in the
evening--the last which he was to spend in London--the Countess of
Exeter gave in his honour “a magnificent banquet, followed by a ball.”
On December 2 the Ambassador took his departure:
“The Earl of Barcher[98] came to bid me adieu, and afterwards all
the Queen’s Household. The Earl of Suffolk sent me a horse.[99] I
went to take leave of the Queen, who gave me a beautiful diamond.
Next I took leave of the ladies of the bedchamber, and afterwards
of the Earl of Carlisle, who had hurt himself very much in the head
the previous evening.[100] Then I came to the duke’s chamber,
where I remained for a rather long while, awaiting my despatches
and the letters which the King had promised me abolishing the
pursuivants of England.[101] Finally, I took leave of the duke and
the other lords of the Court, and, accompanied only by Lucnar and
the Chevalier de Jars, for I had sent my people on in advance, I
took my place in one of the Queen’s coaches and proceeded to
Gravesinde [Gravesend], where I passed the night. On Thursday, the
3rd, I slept at Sittimbourne, the next night at Cantorberi, and on
Saturday, the 5th, I arrived at Dover, with a retinue of 400
persons who were to cross the sea with me, including seventy
priests[102] whom I had delivered from the prisons of England.”
Bassompierre, it will be remembered, had encountered no difficulty in
crossing the Channel on his way to England; but now there was a very
different tale to tell. No sooner had his retinue embarked than the wind
changed and blew half-a-gale from the South; and for four days it was
impossible for the vessels to leave the harbour. This delay was the more
exasperating, since he had undertaken to defray the travelling expenses
of his whole suite, including the liberated priests, in the fond belief
that they would be able to sail within a few hours of their arrival at
Dover, and every day they lingered on English soil meant several hundred
crowns out of the unfortunate Ambassador’s pocket.
On the 8th, Tuesday, Walter Montague came riding into Dover and informed
Bassompierre that Charles I had decided to send Buckingham on a special
embassy to the Court of France, and that the duke proposed to start
immediately. The reasons which had led to this decision were as
follows:--
In the many conferences which had taken place between Bassompierre and
the English Ministers, other matters besides the re-establishment of the
Queen’s French attendants and the treatment of the English Catholics had
come under discussion. The most important of these was that thorny
question which for centuries has been the cause of so much ill-feeling
whenever this country has been at war--the right of searching neutral
vessels for contraband of war--but which no naval Power in its sound
senses would dream for a moment of abandoning. It was indisputable that,
since the outbreak of hostilities with Spain, a large trade had been
carried on between Spain and Flanders under the French flag; but it was
likewise true that the English cruisers had conducted the blockade of
the Flemish coast with more zeal than discretion, and that an
unreasonably long time had been permitted to elapse between the seizure
of quite innocent French vessels and their release. Thus, in the
previous September, three ships belonging to Rouen, with extremely
valuable cargoes on board, had been seized, and, notwithstanding the
strongest protests from the French Government, were still detained in
our ports.
In the discussions on the maritime question, Bassompierre took up the
same firm yet moderate attitude which he had observed during the
negotiations on that of the marriage-treaty, admitting the
reasonableness of England’s objections to the trade which was being
carried on under the protection of the French flag, but urging that some
understanding should be arrived at by which the perpetual interference
of the English cruisers might be obviated. It is quite probable that a
treaty prescribing the conditions upon which neutral vessels should be
liable to arrest might have been the outcome of these conferences, had
not events occurred to exasperate both nations.
Towards the end of November, news arrived that d’Épernon, now Governor
of Guienne, who detested Richelieu and his policy of peace with England,
had seized a fleet of 200 English and Scottish vessels which were about
to sail from Bordeaux with a full cargo of wine, upon which duty had
already been paid. It was an open act of war; the London merchants
clamoured for letters of marque to defend their vessels and retaliate
upon the French “pirates,” and Charles I issued an Order in Council for
the seizure of all French vessels in English waters. Short of an actual
declaration of war the peace had been broken between the two countries;
but Buckingham, blinded by an extraordinary optimism, still believed
that, if he were to cross over to France with the friendly and
moderate-minded Bassompierre, who, he had learned, was detained at
Dover, the dispute might be satisfactorily arranged; and accordingly
persuaded the King to appoint him Ambassador Extraordinary to the French
Court, and sent Walter Montague to inform the marshal of the mission
which had been entrusted to him.
Bassompierre was greatly astonished and embarrassed by the news that
Montague brought. He was aware that it was the intention of Charles I to
send an ambassador to France, but had never dreamed that Buckingham,
after the very plain hint which he had received the previous year that
his presence at the French Court would not be tolerated, would have the
effrontery to take upon himself the mission. The thought of the
indignation of Louis XIII and Richelieu if he were to return to Paris
accompanied by the presumptuous favourite was a most unpleasant one; and
he therefore begged Montague to inform Buckingham that he advised him
strongly to abandon his intention of coming to France, as he very much
feared that he would not be received, and sent him back in all haste to
London. Then, in order to leave nothing to chance, at two o’clock the
next morning he embarked with his suite for Calais, notwithstanding that
it was still blowing hard.
He was not, however, to escape Buckingham so easily, for the storm
carried them towards Dieppe, and, after beating about the Channel for
some time, in a vain attempt to make the French coast, they were obliged
to return and land near Dover, to which they sadly made their way back.
The bad weather continued for several days, and on the 12th Buckingham,
who had learned that Bassompierre was still detained at Dover, sent
Montague to beg him to meet him at Canterbury, whither he proposed to
come on the following day.
The duke arrived, accompanied by Carlisle, Holland and Goring and the
Chevalier de Jars, and, says Bassompierre, “wished to show me his
splendour by entertaining me in the evening to a magnificent banquet.”
After supper the marshal had a long conference with Buckingham, in which
he endeavoured to persuade him to abandon his proposed visit to France;
but the latter appeared absolutely determined upon it, and was still in
the same mind when they adjourned to bed.
Next morning, however, Bassompierre returned to the charge, and, though
the duke refused to hear of giving up his journey, he at length
consented to postpone it until the marshal had submitted the proposed
embassy to Louis XIII. It was arranged that Balthazar Gerbier should
accompany Bassompierre to Paris and bring back word to his patron
whether the French Court were prepared to receive him. “At dinner,” says
Bassompierre, “he entertained me to as magnificent a banquet as that of
the preceding evening; and then we embraced, never to see one another
again.”
Much relieved at having extricated himself from a very awkward
situation--for had the duke insisted on accompanying him back to France,
Bassompierre would undoubtedly have got into serious trouble--the
marshal returned to Dover, to find that his suite, acting presumably on
his instructions, had taken advantage of a change in the weather and
sailed for Calais. Although it was not until several days later that
the Ambassador himself was able to cross the Channel, it would have been
infinitely cheaper for him had his attendants elected to remain at
Dover, notwithstanding the heavy expense which their maintenance there
entailed:
“They encountered such ill-fortune,” says he, “that they were
unable to reach Calais for five days, and were obliged to cast into
the sea my two fine coaches, in which by mischance there were
clothes to the value of more than 40,000 francs which I had
purchased in England for presents. I lost, further, twenty-nine
horses, who died of thirst during those five days, because no fresh
water had been laid in for this passage, which in fine weather does
not occupy more than three hours.”
On the morning of the 18th, although the sea was still very rough,
Bassompierre embarked once more and about noon arrived safely on the
French shore, after no worse misadventure than a violent attack of
sea-sickness, which prostrated him to such a degree that he was unable
to continue his journey until the following day.
Seldom can anyone have had more cause to anathematise the Channel
passage than the luckless Bassompierre. The maintenance of himself and
his suite at Dover had alone cost him, he tells us, 4,000 crowns; he had
lost 40,000 francs worth of clothes, two fine coaches, which must have
been worth a large sum, and nearly thirty horses, including probably
most of those presented to him by Carlisle and other English nobles, all
of which were, of course, valuable animals. In short, in the fortnight
which had elapsed between his arrival at Dover and his landing at
Calais, he must have lost at the very lowest computation the equivalent
of half-a-million francs in money of to-day.
On the 20th he reached Amiens, whose governor, the Duc de Chaulnes,
ordered the guns of the citadel to fire a salute in his honour, and
entertained him magnificently; and two days later he arrived in Paris.
Here, as he had, of course, foreseen, he found that “the coming of the
Duke of Bocquinguem was not agreeable,” and Louis XIII ordered him to
write to the duke to that effect.
Since certain writers appear inclined to question the ability shown by
Bassompierre in his mission to England, it may be as well to cite here
the opinion of so high an authority on the period as Gardiner:--
“He [Bassompierre] knew the world well, and he had that power of
seizing upon the strong point of his opponent’s case which goes far
to the making of a successful diplomatist. To the young Queen he
gave the best possible advice; told her to make the best of her
situation and warned her against the folly of setting herself
against the current ideas of the country in which she lived and of
the man to whom she was married. In the question of her household
he was at the same time firm and conciliatory. He acknowledged that
Charles had a genuine grievance and that the Queen would never be a
real wife to him as long as she was taught by a circle of
foreigners to regard herself primarily as a foreigner; while, at
the same time, he spoke boldly of the breach of contract which had
been committed. In the end, he gained the confidence both of the
King and of Buckingham, and, with the consent of the King of
France, a new arrangement was agreed to, by which a certain number
of French persons would be admitted to attend upon the Queen,
whilst a great part of her household was to be formed of natives of
England.”
The historian also praises the conduct of Bassompierre in the
discussions on the maritime question.