10. Memorandum, by which it appears that he had an interview, on the 26th of April, near Moncalvo, with the Governor of Casale; that he told him he must return once again to Mantua, or to Venice, because he had written him word that he would come to him on Ascension-day; that the aforesaid Governor was content with the expedients that he had proposed to him for the purpose of delivering the place to the King, by means of which his honour appeared to him to be saved; that for this purpose, at the return of the Sieur de Lestang, it was necessary there should be an interview between him, the Sieur de Lestang, the Governor, and some man on the part of the King, to execute this affair, and to agree upon means that should make it infallible; that he would deliver up the gate of the Citadel which goes into the country, to which Panissa, who is the Governor of it, would offer no opposition; that the Count Vialardo, Governor of the Castle, is entirely devoted to the Spaniards; that the Governor of Casale requests that this affair may be quickly concluded, fearing always lest he should be removed; that he (Lestang) will make known to the aforesaid Governor what he shall have done, when he is with the Duke of Mantua, through the Father Viveti, a Jacobin living at Padua; that he will continue to write to all the Courts that the affair of Casale has failed, and that it will not be completed.

11. A small piece of paper, about as large as a card, upon which he has written four or five reasons, to be inserted in the manifesto, when the troops of the King shall be introduced into Casale. Also a statement that all that has been done has been in virtue of the Duke’s orders, grounded upon a treaty, signed and ratified by him; but that he (the Duke) now wished to make another with the Spaniards, contrary to the promise he had given, and that he has even received money to that effect.[278]

[277] He had succeeded the Abbé d’Estrades as French Ambassador at Venice.

[278] From the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).

No. 87.
CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.

First Examination of Matthioli.

Pignerol, May 10th, 1679.

I have delivered to the Abbé d’Estrades, by the hands of his relation, the Abbé de Montesquiou, all the letters and papers of the Sieur de Lestang, which consisted in many letters, of which I have kept a list, containing shortly the subject of each letter. These letters only show his journeys backwards and forwards; there are some of them in which he is advised to take care of himself; one, among others, is from the Ministers of Mantua, informing him of the joy of the Duke at his prosperous return from France, and of his having sent a boat to Placentia for him, in order that he may come to him more securely and more conveniently. He had many other papers, among which I have seen nothing of consequence, except a Spanish cypher, which he confesses to have come from the Count de Melgar.[279]

I made him relate before me to the Abbé de Montesquiou, all that he had done since his return from France, without interrupting him; having, nevertheless, let him know, before I permitted him to speak, that we were perfectly well-informed of his villainy, in order to see what colour he would give to his bad conduct. He says, that on his return from France, he went to Turin, where, from gratitude to that court, which had done him the honour of making use of him in many affairs, he thought himself obliged, on account of civility, to see the President Turki;[280] that it was true, in talking of news and of the state of affairs at present, he allowed him to discover that something new was about to take place in Italy; and that the aforesaid President, in the course of the conversation he had with him, gave him to understand that he had no doubt there had been a treaty made respecting Casale. It is thus that the Sieur de Lestang relates what he did at Turin, in order to excuse his treachery there, of which you, Sir, are already perfectly well-informed, as well as of the money he received for it. This was the first discovery that had been made of this affair, which hitherto had been conducted so secretly.