Arrival of the English fleet under the Earl of Denbigh--Its
composition--Daring feat of an English pinnace--Retirement of the
fleet--Probable explanation of this fiasco--Indignation of Charles
I, who orders Denbigh to return to La Rochelle, but this is found
to be impossible--The Rochellois approach Bassompierre with a
request for a conference to arrange terms of surrender--The arrival
of a letter from Charles I promising to send another fleet to their
succour causes the negotiations to be broken off--La Rochelle in
the grip of famine--Refusal of Louis XIII to allow the old men,
women and children to pass through the Royal lines: their miserable
fate--Movements in favour of surrender among the citizens
suppressed by the Mayor Guiton--Terrible sufferings of La
Rochelle--Bassompierre spares the life of a Huguenot soldier who
had intended to kill him--Difficulties experienced by Charles I and
Buckingham in fitting out a new expedition--Assassination of
Buckingham--The vanguard of the English fleet, under the command of
the Earl of Lindsey, appear off La Rochelle--Narrow escape of
Richelieu and Bassompierre--The King takes up his quarters with
Bassompierre at Laleu--Arrival of the rest of the English
fleet--Feeble efforts of the English to force their way into the
harbour--The Rochellois, reduced to the last extremity, sue for
peace--Bassompierre conducts deputies from the town to
Richelieu--Surrender of La Rochelle--Bassompierre returns with the
King to Paris.
Bassompierre, who early in April had had an exceedingly narrow escape of
his life, a cannon-shot from the town having killed three soldiers to
whom he was speaking and covered him with earth, was busily employed
during the days which followed the King’s return to the army in erecting
a formidable battery on the Chef de Baie, a promontory at the
north-western extremity of the canal, opposite Coreilles, for the
arrival of the English fleet was now daily expected.
To the profound mortification of Charles I, who considered the
deliverance of La Rochelle a matter of personal honour, the difficulty
of obtaining both money and men had delayed the fitting out of the
expedition until the spring was well advanced; but at the end of April
it sailed from Portsmouth, under the command of the Earl of Denbigh,
Buckingham’s brother-in-law, and on May 11 appeared off the Île de Ré.
“On Thursday the 11th,” writes Bassompierre, “M. de Mailsais (the
new Archbishop of Bordeaux),[113] and several others, being come to
dine with me, I brought them at noon to the battery of Chef de
Baie, at which time the English fleet appeared off Baleines.[114]
It was perceived by a sentinel who had been posted for that purpose
in the belfry of Ars, in the Île de Ré, and Toiras, on being
informed, sent in all haste to give the signal from the Fort de la
Prée which he had arranged with me: three cannon-shots and a thick
smoke. I caught sight of it also at the same moment, from the
battery of the Chef de Baie, where I stood with the gentlemen of
whom I have spoken, and ordered the signal to be given to warn our
armies on sea and land, which was three cannon-shots from the said
battery, and sent to warn the Cardinal (who had come to lodge on my
side of the town, at a château called La Saussaye, half a league
from La Fons). Then our naval armament, under the command of the
Commandeur de Valençai, set sail, and advanced towards the
promontory of Saint-Blanceau. At two o’clock in the afternoon, the
advance-guard of the English appeared near Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The
King was forthwith warned of it by the Cardinal, who came to
Coreilles with him to witness the approach of the naval army of the
enemy. The Cardinal went to lodge at Aytré, in order to look to
matters on that side. The whole fleet, which was advancing in three
lines, was composed of fifty-two vessels, to wit, four of the
King’s great ships-of-war, seven other vessels of five hundred tons
burden, and forty-one little vessels of one hundred tons and less,
both fire-ships and ships laden with provisions, so far as one
could conjecture. But what made us quite confident that they would
be unable to effect anything, and that our fleet would be
incomparably stronger than theirs, was that neither the King’s
ships-of-war nor the other great vessels would find sufficient
depth of water to enter the canal.
“About seven o’clock in the evening the English fleet approached to
anchor at Chef de Baie. But, to prevent them, I ordered the battery
to fire fifty cannon-shot upon the vessels of the advance-guard, of
which three struck the hulls of the vessels and killed a few men,
and the others pierced their sails. This caused them to stand out
to sea towards the Straits of Antioche,[115] where they cast
anchor.”
The English appear to have imagined that they had only to show
themselves to enter the harbour, as they had been informed that the
French had only a few ships and that the mole was but little advanced.
They were astonished to behold the approach barred by twenty-nine
vessels and a swarm of boats and armed shallops. The flanks of this
fleet were protected by the batteries which bristled on the two
promontories of Chef de Baie and Coreilles and on both sides of the
canal. Even supposing that they were able to force this formidable
barrier, they would find themselves confronted by the mole, now almost
completed, which was fortified by four batteries, one at each extremity,
and one on either side of a narrow opening left for the passage of the
tides. A little fort, built in the canal, covered this opening on the
side of the sea, and this fort was covered, in its turn, by twenty-four
vessels lashed together in the shape of a half-moon. On the other side
of the mole, a second floating stockade of armed boats prevented the
Rochellois from communicating with their allies.
It may be questioned, as Gardiner very justly observes, whether Drake or
Nelson, followed by crews as high-spirited and as energetic as
themselves, would have made an attack successfully. But Denbigh’s fleet
was for the most part manned by pressed men, carried off against their
will from their ordinary occupations to a service of danger, in which
the reward was but scanty pay, or, most probably, no pay at all. Many of
them were soldiers converted into sailors from sheer necessity. Such men
could have had but little stomach for the business in hand, nor was
Denbigh the kind of commander to inspire those under him with a more
daring spirit.
Denbigh would appear to have founded some hope on the superiority of his
ships-of-war over any which the French could oppose to them; but he was
assured by the Rochellois _émigrés_ who were with him that these great
vessels would undoubtedly run aground in the shallow waters of the
canal. He therefore decided to wait until the next spring tide made the
attack easier for his fire-ships; but, in any case, it would have been
impossible for him to have attempted anything of importance for nearly a
week, as during that time, Bassompierre tells us, the wind was blowing
hard off the coast.
More than one attempt, however, was made by small vessels to run the
blockade under cover of darkness; and during the night of the 14th-15th,
Bassompierre learned that an English pinnace had passed through the
opening in the mole. He sent at once to warn the vessels which lay
between the mole and the inner harbour; but the pinnace succeeded in
evading them and reached the town in safety. It was a most daring feat
and worthy of the best traditions of the Navy.
On the 15th there was an alarm that the English fleet was getting under
way, and Richelieu sent the Swiss Guards and Vaubecourt’s regiment to
reinforce Bassompierre at Chef de Baie. However, nothing happened.
On the following day the English sent a fire-ship against the French
fleet, but the boats succeeded in towing it to the shore of the canal.
It was thought probable that the enemy might attempt an attack that
night, and the King came to spend it in Bassompierre’s quarters, the
marshal sleeping in his coach.
On the 18th Louis XIII dined and held his Council at Bassompierre’s
quarters, and then went with him to Chef de Baie to watch the enemy’s
fleet in the Straits of Antioche. He then started to return to Aytré,
accompanied by the marshal; but, after they had proceeded some little
distance, happening to glance back, they observed great activity aboard
the English ships: anchors were being weighed, sailors were going aloft
hoisting sails, and it was evident that a general movement was about to
take place.
Bassompierre returned in all haste to Chef de Baie, and the French on
land and sea began hurriedly preparing to meet the expected attack.
Presently, the great ships-of-war stood in towards the canal, until they
had got within range, when they tacked, discharged their broadsides into
the French vessels, and then stood out to sea, as did the whole fleet.
The French watched them with astonishment, scarcely daring to believe
that they really intended to leave the beleaguered city to its fate
without any serious attempt to force their way into the harbour; but
they held on their course, running rapidly before the wind, and ere long
the last of their sails disappeared below the horizon. “Then,” says
Bassompierre, “we returned to our quarters to make good cheer without
fear of the enemy and with good hope of the speedy reduction of La
Rochelle.”
It is very difficult to decide who was to blame for this fiasco, for the
evidence is exceedingly conflicting. The English officers, when they
came home, threw all the blame on the Rochellois refugees who
accompanied them, while the Rochellois bitterly retorted the accusation.
The explanation given by Gardiner, who is always scrupulously fair in
his criticism of naval and military operations, is as follows:--
“On the morning of the 8th [the 18th according to French
chronology] a fresh apprehension seized on the commander [Denbigh].
The wind was blowing from Rochelle, and if he could not set fire to
the ships of the enemy, the French might possibly set fire to his.
He therefore gave the order to weigh anchor, that the fleet might
retire to a little distance. When the minds of men are in a state
of despondency, the slightest retrograde movement is fatal. The
Rochellois weighed anchor as they were told, but they understood
the expedition had been abandoned and made all sail for England.
Thus deserted, the whole fleet followed their example.”
When the news that the expedition which he had only succeeded in sending
out after so many difficulties and delays was on its way home, Charles
I, who, only a day or two before, had sent orders to Denbigh to hold on
at La Rochelle so long as possible and to send for reinforcements if he
required them, was furiously indignant. He at once despatched Lord
Fielding, Denbigh’s son, to Portsmouth to press into the King’s service
every vessel he found there, and to direct his father to return at all
hazards to La Rochelle and to await the reinforcements and supplies
which would be sent him. But it was impossible for Denbigh to carry out
these orders. His ships were full of sick men and very short of
provisions, while some of them were urgently in need of repairs, and to
send them to sea again before these were effected would, if bad weather
came on, entail the loss of them and their crews. Besides this, three of
his merchant-vessels laden with corn for La Rochelle had been snapped up
by Dunkirk privateers within sight of the English coast, and they and
their freights would have to be replaced. The King reluctantly
acknowledged the force of Denbigh’s representations and sent orders to
him to refit, while all the available maritime force of the country was
being got ready to accompany him.
The retreat of the English produced a profound impression both in France
and abroad. The clergy, assembled at Fontenai, in Poitou, voted a
subsidy of three millions to aid the King to finish his work. The Comte
de Soissons, who had contemplated raising the standard of revolt in
Dauphiné and joining Rohan, sued for pardon and came to the Royal camp
to make his peace with the King; while the Duc de la Trémoille, the
greatest noble of Poitou, hastened to abjure the Protestant faith, and
was received into the Catholic Church by Richelieu, who promptly
rewarded his “conversion” by the command of the light cavalry. It
appears to have been the almost general belief that the surrender of La
Rochelle was near at hand, a belief which was strengthened when, a week
after the departure of the English fleet, the Rochellois made an
unsuccessful attempt to send their “_bouches inutiles_” through the
lines of the besiegers, thus admitting that the town was already
beginning to feel the pinch of hunger.
But those who counted on the early surrender of La Rochelle understood
but little the grim tenacity of that people, so well personified by the
inflexible seaman whom it had chosen as its chief. The mayor Guiton,
ably seconded by the old Duchesse de Rohan and the eloquent minister
Salbert, exhorted their fellow-citizens to endure all things for the
sake of their faith and to choose death rather than dishonour.
Nevertheless, so great was the despondency which followed the departure
of the English that these zealots were unable to prevent negotiations
being opened with the Royal army, though it is probable that they had no
intention of allowing them to be carried through. Anyway, on May 31, a
drummer from the town came to Bassompierre’s quarters; informed him that
the citizens were debating the question of surrender, and requested that
he would send someone to arrange for a conference. Bassompierre
despatched the Comte, afterwards the Maréchal, de Grancey to La
Rochelle, and sent to inform the King and the Cardinal, who expressed
their approval; and on the following day commissioners were appointed on
both sides. On the morrow, however, the negotiations were abruptly
broken off by the Rochellois:
“_Friday, the 2nd_ [June].--The Rochellois received a letter from
the King of England by which he promised them to hazard his three
kingdoms for their salvation, and that in a few days he would send
such a fleet as would render them effectual aid. This encouraged
the zealots to make the people resolve to suffer the last
extremities rather than surrender. They instructed Grancey to
inform me of this and sent me a copy of the letter.”
Alas for the unhappy Rochellois! Distracted by troubles at home and at
his wits’ end for money, many weeks were to pass before Charles was to
be in a position to redeem his promise, and long before that time the
last extremities had come upon the people whom he and his favourite had
so wantonly incited to revolt.
During the ensuing weeks an occasional attempt was made to revictual La
Rochelle on the land side, but without success, and by the end of June
the town was in the grip of famine. Half the population was already
subsisting on vegetables, roots, and shell-fish, but soon these
resources failed, and they were obliged to have recourse to all the
deplorable expedients which hunger can impose on the revolted senses.
Soon there was not a cat or dog in the town, and when these had
disappeared, parchments, skins and leather were cut into shreds, soaked
in water, boiled, and eaten, with a little syrup to season the dish.
Some endeavoured to support life on bran and chopped straw; others
declared war on rats and mice.
Several attempts were made to send the old men, women, and children out
of the town; but Louis XIII, who had none of his father’s kindly heart,
which had led him to have compassion on the fugitives at the time of the
siege of Paris, gave orders for them to be driven back. Those who
persisted in trying to pass through the Royal lines were taken and
hanged. Guiton, more inflexible even than the King, ended by refusing to
open the gates to the poor creatures whom he had expelled, and numbers
of them perished miserably between the besieging army and the walls of
the town.
About the middle of July, a rising in favour of peace broke out amongst
the least zealous inhabitants. It was, however, speedily put down by the
fanatical party, and Guiton caused several of the leaders to be
executed. Early in August, however, a more regular attempt was made in
the council of the town itself. Several of the magistrates of the
Présidial inclined to submission, and one of them declared that they
ought to surrender, provided that the King would leave them their walls
and their religious liberty, pointing out that if the English fleet had
been unable to effect anything when the canal was only partially closed,
it could not reasonably be expected to be more successful now that the
mole was completed. Guiton did not make use of the poniard which still
lay on the council-table against the speaker, but he struck him with his
fist. Another councillor then struck the mayor, and this unseemly brawl
terminated by the Council ordering the arrest of Guiton. The latter
however, raised the people against the moderate party, and the two
councillors who had offended him had to go into hiding to escape being
torn to pieces by the mob, who had been persuaded that there was no
mercy to hope for from the King, and that, if they opened their gates,
the men would be massacred and the women abandoned to the soldiers.
Day after day, from the top of the ramparts, the famished citizens
scanned the sea in the hope of catching sight of the approaching sails
of the English fleet; day after day their hopes mocked them. The
deputies of La Rochelle in England addressed to Charles I the most
touching remonstrances in the name of their perishing city, but the King
could do nothing until the necessary subsidies for the equipment of
another expedition had been voted by Parliament, and even when these had
been obtained, as the price of his surrender on the question of the
Petition of Right, fresh obstacles arose to delay the departure of the
fleet. And, meanwhile, the condition of La Rochelle was growing daily
more terrible.
The markets were deserted, the shops closed, numbers of houses were
unoccupied, every member of the families who had once occupied them
having perished. Dead bodies were constantly found in the streets--the
bodies of those who had wandered hither and thither in a vain search for
food, and at last had lain down and died, too weak to crawl back to
their homes. And there they often remained for days, since it was
difficult for the authorities to procure men with enough strength left
to carry them away and bury them.
Amid all the horrors of the famine there were numerous instances of
heroic self-devotion. For a week a father kept his child alive by
nourishing it with his own blood, and many preferred death to sharing
what little food they could get with those whom they loved. The
preachers went about amongst the people, exhorting them to faith in
Heaven, and the old Duchesse de Rohan ably seconded their efforts. As
for Guiton, he was as inflexible as ever; nothing could bend that iron
will. “One of his friends,” writes Pontis, “pointed out to him a person
of their acquaintance who was dying of hunger. ‘Are you astonished at
that?’ he answered coldly. ‘It is what you and I will assuredly have to
come to!’ And when another observed to him that the whole town was
famishing to death, he replied with the same coldness: ‘If one man
remains to close the gates, it is enough!’”
The garrison, for whom the scanty supplies of the town had been
husbanded to the utmost, fared better than the citizens; but by the
middle of August it was found necessary to reduce their rations to what
barely sufficed to enable even the strongest to carry out their duties.
Many of the soldiers, who were not sustained by the same religious zeal
as the Rochellois, attempted to surrender to the enemy; but, for the
reasons which had caused the refugees to be driven back, orders were
issued that their surrender was not to be accepted.
“_On Monday the 14th_ [August],” writes Bassompierre, “fifty
soldiers of the town came out towards Fort Sainte-Marie and asked
to speak to me. They wished to surrender and to bring two hundred
others with two captains; but I refused them.”
And on the following day:--
“A number of soldiers from La Rochelle came again to demand to be
allowed to leave; but it was in vain.”
A few days later a single soldier presented himself at Bassompierre’s
quarters and asked to speak to him in private. The marshal granted his
request, but took the precaution to have him searched first. It was well
that he did so, for a loaded pistol was found under the man’s doublet.
“I sent him back,” says Bassompierre, “being unwilling to do him any
harm.” Which act of forbearance does him great credit, though it is open
to question whether the poor, starving wretch would not have much
preferred to be hanged.
The following night some of the garrison, rendered desperate by their
sufferings, endeavoured to make their way through Bassompierre’s lines
and killed one of his sentries. They were all shot down.
Although the money required for the expedition to La Rochelle had been
obtained, the preparations for its departure were still far from
complete, for the Navy was in a deplorable condition, the ships badly in
need of repairs, the men without discipline, the officers without
enthusiasm. Towards the middle of August, Charles I went down to
Southwick, a country-house near Portsmouth, to supervise personally the
fitting out of the fleet, leaving Buckingham, who was to take command of
the expedition, in London to hasten the despatch of the supplies that
were needed. No man in England believed any more in the duke or his
undertakings, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that he could
get his officers to carry out his orders. “I find nothing,” he wrote to
Conway, “of more difficulty and uncertainty than the preparations for
the service of Rochelle. Every man says he has all things ready, and yet
all remain as it were at a stand.”
On August 17 Buckingham went down to Portsmouth to consult the King
concerning certain proposals to bring about peace between England and
France which he had just received from the Venetian Ambassador,
Contarini. Both he and Charles had now begun to realise their folly in
engaging in a war with France while they had so many troubles at home,
and while their hapless allies in Germany and Denmark, to whom they were
powerless to render any effective aid, were justly imputing to them
their misfortunes. They appear to have thought less of fighting, for
they could not disguise from themselves that the difficulty of relieving
La Rochelle must by this time be almost insuperable, than of obtaining
for the Rochellois, by a great display of force, tolerable terms.
Buckingham, however, was never again to see the shores of France, as on
the morning of August 23 he was assassinated by Felton.
The duke’s death did not alter the situation, but it, of course, delayed
the departure of the fleet, and it was not until more than a fortnight
later that it at last sailed, under the command of the Earl of Lindsey,
who had succeeded to Buckingham’s office of Lord High Admiral. It was an
infinitely more powerful fleet than that which Denbigh had commanded,
and consisted of some 120 vessels of various sizes, including fire-ships
and vessels loaded with bombs to blow up the stockades.
In the afternoon of the 28th the sentinel in the belfry of
Saint-Martin-de-Ré signalled to Bassompierre the approach of the
English, and towards night the advance-guard cast anchor in a bay off
the Île de Loix.
On the following morning the English ships got under way and approached
the canal, but the wind changed and they returned to their stations. The
Cardinal, who had come to Chef de Baie, offered to take Bassompierre
back to the marshal’s quarters in his coach. On the way they both had a
narrow escape, a cannon-shot from the town ploughing up the ground close
to the coach and filling it with earth.
In the afternoon Louis XIII sent to inform Bassompierre that he proposed
to do him the honour of taking up his quarters with him at Laleu, adding
that he was to make what arrangements for his reception he thought fit
and was to put himself to as little inconvenience as possible. His
Majesty arrived, accompanied by his whole entourage, and more than
twelve hundred gentlemen, to say nothing of his Household troops:
Musketeers, Light Horse, Gensdarmes and Gardes du Corps, for all of whom
Bassompierre had to find accommodation. However, he rose to the occasion
and “received and entertained the company in such fashion that everyone
marvelled.” The King remained five weeks at Laleu, and as he was
graciously pleased to regard himself as the guest of the marshal, the
latter had, of course, to defray the expenses of his stay, which
amounted to 800 crowns a day.
Another squadron of the English fleet arrived that evening, and two
more, including sixteen powerful ships-of-war, on the following day.
During the afternoon some of the King’s ships stood in towards Chef de
Baie and exchanged shots with Bassompierre’s batteries, after which they
all came to anchor in the Straits of Antioche.
On October 1 the remainder of the English fleet came in, but contrary
winds prevented any forward movement during that and the following day.
But towards morning on the 3rd the wind changed, and Bassompierre
judged, from the boats passing continually to and fro between the
vessels, that an attack was preparing. He was right, for, so soon as
morning broke, the English ships got under way and stood in towards the
canal.
The marshal at once ordered the drums to beat to quarters and sent to
warn the King and the Cardinal. They both hastened to Chef de Baie,
where Louis announced his intention of remaining, while the Cardinal
went to take up his station on the mole.
Favoured by wind and tide, the English fleet approached in three
divisions. It was an imposing spectacle. The French fleet, under the
orders of Valençay, filled the canal. The mole, which since the
departure of Denbigh’s expedition had been completed and strengthened by
the erection of a double row of gigantic _chevaux de frise_, the two
floating stockades, the forts, the cliffs, the banks of the canal,
bristled with guns and soldiers. Thousands of volunteers from all parts
of France had flocked to La Rochelle to take part in the long-expected
combat and filled the ships and the boats. Standing on the mole, in the
centre of the great scene, the Cardinal calmly contemplated the coming
of the enemy; while on the ramparts of the beleaguered town the famished
citizens awaited in silence the issue of the battle which was to decide
their fate.
Alas for the unhappy Rochellois! The sufferings which they had endured
with such heroic fortitude were all in vain. The officers and crews of
Lindsey’s fleet were no more ready to follow him into danger than those
of Denbigh’s had been to follow their commander in the spring. The
masters of the armed merchantmen, which formed the advance-guard,
complained that they were being deliberately sacrificed to save the
King’s ships, which had been ordered to follow in support. The King’s
ships drew too much water to come to close quarters, and the admiral
could only order them to stand in as far as possible without running
aground. They took good care that there should be no possibility of
that.
The merchantmen approached just within range of the French fleet and
the batteries on the promontories, discharged a broadside, went about,
discharged another broadside and then fell back, while the King’s ships
advanced and did the same. This performance was repeated three times,
while the guns of the French fleet and of the batteries at Chef de Baie
and Coreilles[116] blazed away at them. The noise was terrific, but the
range was too long for much damage to be suffered by either side,[117]
and, after the action--if such it can be called--had lasted a couple of
hours, the tide turned, and the English ships returned to their
anchorage. No attempt had been made to close with and board any of the
French vessels, though Lindsey’s despatches show that he believed that
this operation was perfectly feasible.
At daybreak on the 4th the English renewed the attack, but with no more
effect than on the previous day. In vain orders were sent to the
captains to stand in closer to the French fleet and send in fire-ships
against it. A few fire-ships were sent drifting in, but without any
attempt to direct their course; and the French boats, braving the fire
of the enemy’s guns, advanced to meet them, towed them aside, and ran
them ashore beneath the cliffs of Chef de Baie, where they could do no
harm. Not a French ship was set on fire. Not a man on either side
killed. A more futile affair could not be imagined.
After the English ships had returned to their anchorage, the Rochellois
_émigrés_ who were with them sent to demand a parley, and Bassompierre
despatched Lisle-Rouet to bring two of them ashore, whom he took in his
coach to Richelieu’s quarters. The deputies asked that they might be
allowed to enter La Rochelle, in order to see for themselves the state
which the town was in, and make a report to their friends; but their
request was refused. That night Bassompierre had the satisfaction of
laying his hands on a famous spy from La Rochelle named Tavart, who had
already been arrested twice before, but on each occasion had contrived
to effect his escape, in consequence of which the Grand Provost, La
Trousse, who had been responsible for his safe custody, had been
disgraced. The marshal, however, took care that this bold fellow should
not be allowed a third chance, and caused him to be hanged the next
morning. He deserved a better fate.
On the 5th _Monsieur_ returned to the army, accompanied by a suite of
thirty gentlemen, and took up his quarters temporarily with
Bassompierre, who was called upon to defray the expenses of the prince
and his entourage. The siege of La Rochelle threatened to prove almost
as costly an affair for the unfortunate marshal as his embassy to
England.
In the course of the day it came on to blow hard and the English fleet
had an unpleasant time of it. On the following morning, as the gale
showed no sign of abating, they weighed, and retired to the safer
anchorage of the Île d’Aix. Despite the pitiable results of his attacks
on the 3rd and 4th, Lindsey could not make up his mind to relinquish
hope, and had decided to wait a few days, when the spring tide would
enable him to bring his larger ships nearer to the mole. Time, however,
pressed. A message reached the fleet that La Rochelle was now reduced to
the last extremity and could hold out at furthest but a few days longer;
and as the prospect of being able to relieve the town was, at best,
exceedingly dubious, it was decided to send Walter Montague, who had
accompanied the expedition, to interview Richelieu, on the pretext of
arranging for an exchange of prisoners.
Montague came to see the Cardinal on the 14th; he returned on the
following day, and again on the 16th, when Richelieu and Bassompierre
took him to see the mole and the other defence works. “He expressed his
astonishment at our work,” says the marshal, “and declared to us that it
was impossible to force the canal.”
The Cardinal told the English envoy that the King could not tolerate the
mediation of a foreign prince between him and his revolted subjects; but
a truce of a fortnight was granted, in order to allow Lindsey to
communicate with his Government, with a view to bringing about peace
between England and France, in which La Rochelle would be included. In
the interval, however, the town surrendered.
On the 22nd the Huguenot refugees in the English fleet sent a request to
Bassompierre for a safe-conduct, as they desired to see the Cardinal.
This was granted, and on the following day six of them landed and were
driven in the marshal’s coach to the Cardinal’s quarters at La Saussaye;
while Bassompierre himself went to the Fort of La Fons to meet the
deputies from La Rochelle, who were also demanding to see Richelieu. At
the Cardinal’s request, he brought them to La Saussaye, where they were
conducted into a gallery to await his Eminence’s pleasure.
“Then the Cardinal, with whom were M. de Schomberg, M. de
Bouthillier[118] and myself, ordered those who had come from the
sea to be admitted and gave them audience. They told him in
substance that they begged him to permit them to see those of La
Rochelle, and that they felt sure that after they had spoken to
them they would return to their duty. Those of La Rochelle were
next admitted, and demanded permission to communicate with their
fellow-citizens who were in the English fleet, and said that
afterwards they would surrender the town into the King’s hands,
begging the Cardinal very humbly to secure for them tolerable
conditions. Upon that the Cardinal answered that, if they would
promise not to speak to them, he would show them the deputies from
the fleet. This they promised, and the Cardinal went into his
gallery and told the deputies from the ship that, if they would
assure him that they would not speak to the Rochellois, he would
let them see them at once. This being agreed, he brought them into
his chamber, where the Rochellois had remained with us. They
saluted one another with an astonishment which it was amusing to
see, after which he made them [the deputies from the fleet] return
to the gallery. Then they [the deputies from La Rochelle] offered
to return to their obedience to the King, and besought the Cardinal
to procure his pardon for them. This he promised them, telling them
that the King had gone on an excursion for a week, but that, when
he returned, he would speak to him about it. Upon which one of the
deputies cried: ‘How, Monseigneur, a week? There is not food in La
Rochelle for three days!’ Then the Cardinal spoke to them gravely,
and pointed out to them the state to which they had reduced
themselves, adding that, nevertheless, he would endeavour to
incline the King to show them some mercy; and forthwith he caused
the articles of the capitulation to be drawn up for them to carry
back to La Rochelle; and they said that assuredly they would accept
them. And so they went back again, and those from the ships
likewise, who had permission to speak to their fellow-citizens, and
they begged to be included in the amnesty with them. And to this
the Cardinal consented, under the good pleasure of the King.”
The capitulation, drawn up in the form of letters of pardon, was signed
on the 28th. The refugees who were in the English fleet, or who had
remained in England, received their pardon also, on condition that they
returned to France within three months.
On the following day a deputation from the town came to make their
submission to the King. The _maréchaux de camp_, Marillac and Le
Hallier, met the deputies at the Porte Neuve of La Rochelle and
conducted them to the entrance to the Royal lines, where Bassompierre
was awaiting them. The marshal then conducted them to Laleu and
presented them to the Cardinal, who, in his turn, presented them to the
King, “to whom, throwing themselves on their knees, they made very
humble submission. The King then spoke a few words to them, and the
Keeper of the Seals at greater length, and finally the King pardoned
them.”
On the 30th the town was occupied by the French and Swiss Guards. The
sights they beheld were heartrending. The houses, the streets, the
squares were encumbered with dead bodies which the living had not had
the strength to bury; and as the troops passed along they were assailed
by a crowd of living spectres, who, ravenous with hunger, snatched at
the ammunition-bread suspended from the soldiers’ bandoliers. Nearly
15,000 people--that is to say, about half the population of La
Rochelle--had perished; in all the town there were not 150 men capable
of bearing arms.
The Cardinal made his entry the same day into the conquered town,
preceded by a great convoy of provisions. Although ill and weak with
fever, he had decided to make his entry on horseback, like a victorious
general. Guiton, the man who had defied him for so many months, came, in
his capacity as mayor, to receive him, escorted by six archers. The
Cardinal sternly ordered him to dismiss his escort, as the office of
Mayor of La Rochelle was henceforth abolished. Then he inquired of
Guiton what he thought of the Kings of France and England. “I think,”
was the reply, “that it is better to have for master the King who has
taken La Rochelle than the King who was unable to defend it.”[119]
On November 1 Richelieu, transformed from the general into the priest,
celebrated Mass in the Church of Sainte-Marguerite, assisted by his
faithful lieutenant, Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux. Then he went to
take the keys of the town to Louis XIII, who made his entry late in the
day, the Cardinal riding “all alone before the King, as though to show
to all that he was the second person in France.”
Some days later a royal declaration was issued, the preamble of which
announced that the King had conquered by the aid of the Divine
Providence, and by the “counsel, prudence, vigilance and toil” of the
Cardinal. The mayoralty and all the other municipal offices of La
Rochelle were abolished, the privileges of its citizens suppressed, and
all its fortifications, save the three towers of La Lanterne, La Chaine
and Saint-Nicholas and the ramparts facing the sea, were to be razed to
the ground. The Pope was to be petitioned to make the town into a
bishopric.
On the whole, however, it is impossible to deny that La Rochelle was
treated with remarkable leniency. The town, it is true, lost its
independence, which was, indeed, incompatible with the sovereignty of
the King, but there was no vengeance taken, no victims sacrificed, no
wanton mockery or insult offered to the vanquished. The lives and
property of the inhabitants were spared, and their liberty of worship
secured to them.
* * * * *
After the fall of La Rochelle, the Cardinal sent for Bassompierre and
proposed to him that he should continue in command of the division of
the army now serving under him, lead it to the Rhône, and there await
orders to march into Italy to the relief of Casale. But the marshal
begged his Eminence to excuse him, pointing out that though, in ordinary
circumstances, he would be only too happy to have such a command, he had
disbursed during the siege, largely in entertaining the King and other
illustrious persons, no less a sum than 120,000 crowns, and that, in
consequence, it was absolutely imperative that he should proceed to
Paris, “for the purpose of putting his affairs in order.” The Cardinal
accepted his excuses, and on November 18 Bassompierre set out with the
King for Paris, into which Louis XIII made a triumphal entry, to
celebrate his victory over the last great French town which was ever to
stand up against the Monarchy, until in 1789 Paris rose and swept that
ancient institution away.