The mortification of Gaspard de Belleville, which was the name of my chief opponent, was rendered complete by the Duke selecting me as the companion of his ride to the palais, where the Parliament was then sitting. But I must speak of the events which occurred to me in Paris by themselves; nor, indeed, should I have mentioned the childish squabble which took place between me and the other pages, had it not been necessary to explain the origin of a good solid hatred which Gaspard de Belleville conceived towards me, and which lasted, undiminished, through life, rendering his own days miserable, and having quite sufficient effect upon my fate to show me that we should never make an enemy when we can make a friend.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
The city of Paris, and the country in general, were then in a pitiable state, owing to every party in the land combining, in the strongest degree that it is possible to imagine, the qualities of knave and fool. The Parliament was playing the fool in Paris, and yet sacrificing the country to the nicest calculations of its own interest. The party of the Duke of Bouillon was playing the fool, and letting slip every opportunity of effecting its own objects, while it was calling a foreign power into the heart of its native country to obtain them. The people were playing the fool in suffering themselves to be led by an ass, the Duke de Beaufort, and by a knave, the Cardinal de Retz, while, at the same time, they took care to enrich themselves by the plunder of the stores and magazines; and last, not least, the Court was playing the fool at St. Germain, treating weakly where it might have acted vigorously, and yet cheating all the other parties with the most consummate art.
The situation of France at the time I entered Paris was, in a few words, as follows:--Louis XIV. was then a mere boy, under the regency of his mother, who, in turn, was under the government of Cardinal Mazarin; and these three personages, together with the Prince of Condé, and a large body of nobility, were then at St. Germain-en-laye, shut out of the city of Paris, which they were besieging without a sufficient body of troops to take even one of the gates. The Parliament, which had begun the war, and the people who had seconded it, remained in the capital, hating Mazarin, and laughing at the Court; but heartily sick of a war which prevented the butter and cream from the country reaching Paris in safety; while a party of clever men and immense rogues, consisting of a number of general officers, with the Dukes of Bouillon, Elbeuf, Beaufort, the Prince de Conti, and the Archbishop de Retz, laboured night and day to keep both people and Parliament in a state of agitation and excitement, in order that each of these worthy and notable leaders might wring from the weakness of a regency every sort of gift, honour, and emolument. For this purpose, open war had been declared against the Court, while, as usual, the King's name was used, and the King's standard displayed on both sides. All the people in the realm seemed mad, and a strange spirit of contradicting their own established characters appeared to have seized upon every one. Acknowledged cowards led armies and rushed into battle, the most faithful turned traitors, the most honest became knaves, the firm were in a continual state of vacillation, the wise showed themselves fools, and the brave ran away. However, as it became evident to the Parisian generals that the Parliament was inclined to separate from the people, and make peace with the Court for itself, before the concessions were granted which they, the generals, demanded for themselves, they determined to do their best, by means of the people within the city and of armies without, to compel the Parliament to be honest to them and dishonest to the Court. Negotiations were immediately opened with the Spanish government of the Low Countries, Spanish ambassadors were received in Paris, the Archduke began his march into France, Turenne, himself, with the common madness of the day, raised the standard of rebellion against his king in aid of his brother the Duke of Bouillon, and the Duc de Longueville promised to advance also with his forces from Rouen to support the Parisians in their struggle.
Such was the situation of things externally when I entered the capital, and became attached to one of the party of general officers. At the same time, it is to be remarked, that deputies from the Parliament were treating for peace at Ruel; and though the date of their powers had expired, they were still continuing their negotiations. A report even was current that they had concluded a treaty with Mazarin; and as I had passed through the town on my way to the house of Monsieur de Villardin, I had found the people collected in large bodies, shouting, "Down with Mazarin! down with the Parliament!"
By the time that we issued forth into the streets to take our way to the building where the great judicial body was assembled, the rumour had become still more general, and the crowds, of course, were increased. Nothing was heard but cries and shouts, and what were then called Mazarinades. Poniards, muskets, pikes, and swords were in all hands; and so very indiscriminate was the use which the people seemed inclined to make of their weapons, that it was only by constantly joining in their shout of "Down with Mazarin!" that we made our way through them in safety. The numbers in the neighbourhood of the palais were still more immense and vociferous; and even the crowd of guards who were keeping the court and the doors of the building seemed not a whit less infuriated than the people. At the same time persons were seen continually coming out from the Parliament, and haranguing the multitude; and those also who went in seldom failed to treat them to a taste of their eloquence ere they entered the gates; the state of insanity to which all this oratory raised the populace may easily be imagined; and at one time I heard a man exclaim from amongst the crowd, that they should hang the deputies over the gates; while one of the town-guard added, that if Monsieur de Villardin, who was just going in, would return and point out to them who were really the Mazarins in the Parliament itself, they would drag them out, and poniard them in the court.
Upon this, the Duke, of course, favoured them with an oration also, and a curious piece of composition it was; consisting of a series of pleasantries upon the Parliament, upon Mazarin, upon himself, upon the Court, and upon everything, mingled with a few apophthegms upon policy, religion, and morals, which all tended to captivate the people, and make them think him wondrous wise, without tending in the least to calm them, or reduce them to order and decency. Now Monsieur de Villardin was not only a polished speaker, and, where his own passions were not concerned, a close reasoner, but he was also really a patriotic, generous, disinterested man; and the fact of his speaking for half an hour, as he did on the present occasion, a tissue of high-sounding, disjointed nonsense, which could only serve to inflame still farther the minds of a mad and excited populace, can only be accounted for upon the grounds of the general insanity which seemed at that time to have seized upon all ranks and classes.
This oration being finished, we entered the Parliament House; and, by the special favour of one of the door-keepers, my new lord was permitted to take me with him into the interior of the building, perhaps anticipating one of those scenes in which the prompt hand and ready perception that had been my principal recommendation in his eyes, might be serviceable to him in more ways than one. We took our way by the great staircase in the right wing, and soon found ourselves in what is called the Salle des pas perdus, which was full of people of all sorts and descriptions; guards, doorkeepers, and officers of the palais; counsellors, statesmen, members of the different chambers, and the mixed crowd of attendants belonging to all those who were thronging to the Parliament on the present momentous occasion. Passing onward, through the small refreshment rooms called Les Buvettes, where no obstacle was presented to my following my master, we were soon in the midst of the hall in which the Parliament were assembled; and such a scene of disgraceful confusion has seldom, perhaps, been witnessed. Half-a-dozen people were upon their feet haranguing at once; and several minutes elapsed before anything could be heard except a confused gabble of tongues, which might have done honour to the top of the tower of Babel.
At length, the Duke d'Elbeuf, whom I had seen before, and who seemed to have the longest breath, the loudest voice, and the most determined pertinacity of the party, obtained the ascendancy; and one by one sitting down, he was left speaking alone.
"Now, Sir President," he continued, turning to a man of dignified appearance, who, habited as a high law officer, occupied one of the principal places of the assembly,--"now, Sir President, since I can make myself heard, I demand distinctly whether you or any of your fellow-deputies have, at your conference with Mazarin and the Court, made any provision whatever for the security and remuneration of the generals and other officers who have sacrificed so much in the cause of the Parliament and the people?"