Of course, all was now anxiety in the city; and, though the generals did everything in their power to keep up the spirits of the Bordelais, assuring them that the breach was not practicable, that internal works should be thrown up during the night to remedy the evil, and that they themselves, with their own followers, and the volunteers from the town, would undertake to make good their defence against all the troops which could be brought to act upon that point,--the people evidently lost heart; tumultuous meetings were held in different parts of the city; and I acknowledge that the only choice left for us appeared to me, either to be given up by the inhabitants as a sort of peace-offering to the Court, or, at least, to die in the breach, defending a town that was no longer defensible.
Such, I believe, was the general opinion also of the principal officers and gentlemen engaged in the cause of the Princes; and it became a very difficult question how to act. Nor were the Bordelais themselves more decided. A number of generous voices were raised against the very idea of delivering up the noblemen, who had trusted them, to their bitter enemies; but the great multitude, which never knows any mean between rashness and timidity, called loudly upon their rulers to make peace with the Court at every sacrifice.
From this unpleasant situation both parties were suddenly and unexpectedly relieved. While the magistrates were in debate in one place, and the generals were in debate in another, and while the people, collected in every street and market-place, were murmuring at their fate, and shouting against those who had brought it upon them, the news suddenly reached us, that a deputation from the Parliament of Paris had arrived at the gates, offering to negotiate a treaty between the defenders of Bordeaux and the besieging force. Every one caught gladly at the idea; a suspension of hostilities was immediately granted, and deputies both from the city and the generals returned with the Parisians to the town of Bourg, at which place the whole Court was assembled. The Queen, timid and vacillating, did not understand or believe how completely the city was in her power. Mazarin, unwilling to bring upon himself the overwhelming odium of destroying such a number of the noblest families in France as were then cooped up in the city, did not press for any hard conditions; and I rather suspect that the Maréchal de Meilleraie, having a great number of friends amongst the besieged, rested satisfied with feeling that he had the city in his power, if he were forced to proceed, without making known the full advantage of his situation to those who might have been inclined to use it ungenerously.
The result, however, was, that the truce was extended to six days, and that during that time negotiations were carried on, which terminated in a treaty of peace, infinitely more favourable than the defenders of Bordeaux could have hoped or expected. It was agreed that full and free pardon should be given to all the inhabitants of the town, into which the Court should enter, unaccompanied by any other troops than an ordinary guard; that the Princess de Condé and her son might retire in safety to Montrond, and that a general pardon should be given to all the other persons concerned directly or indirectly in the resistance offered by the city to the royal forces, upon the sole condition that the leaders should solemnly pledge themselves never to bear arms against the King again.
[CHAPTER XXIII.]
As soon as the treaty had been duly signed, the Princess de Condé, with four of her principal supporters, of whom Monsieur de Villardin was one, set out for Bourg, where they were as kindly received and as hospitably treated by the Court, as if they had never borne arms against the throne. The whole party was splendidly entertained at the lodging of the Cardinal prime minister; and on Monsieur de Villardin's return to Bordeaux, I found that no slight impression had been made on his mind by the gracious and unexpected reception he had met.
The young King himself, he informed me, had condescended to press him to take an active part in his service: and I gathered that the Duke had replied in such a manner, as to leave no doubt that, as soon as the Princes were set at liberty, there would be none more zealous and indefatigable in the royal cause than himself. Determined upon conducting his troops back to Brittany in person, the Duke despatched me with three or four servants across the country to Virmont, for the purpose of giving notice to Father Ferdinand and Mademoiselle de Villardin, that he was safe and well, and would speedily join us in the Orleanois.
Very well comprehending how glad the Duke was to find a fair excuse for taking up his residence in a part of the country which was less painfully associated in his mind than that which he had lately inhabited, I ventured to press him to be the bearer of his own good news to Virmont, and to suffer me to conduct the regiment back to Brittany, which I argued he might very well do, as almost all the other commanders were at once dismissing their men, and suffering them to find their way home as they best might. His ideas of duty, however, were in this respect far more strict than those of the other generals; and, adhering to his determination, he began his march on the following day, while I set out for Virmont.
I had now to travel through a part of the country I had never seen: and a rich and splendid land it was. No armies had passed for several years along the exact track which I took; and as I compared the smiling abundance of everything around me with the scenes of devastation and ruin I had so often seen, new estimations of many things on this earth began to present themselves to my mind, and I got even as far as to admit that--whatever charms a military life might have--it would be a sad and terrible act, to change such prospects of beauty and happiness to scenes of ruin and desolation. The gradual progress of all these slow alterations in my own mind and feelings, working themselves out one after another through life, has been a subject of curious investigation to myself; and as I write for my own amusement, I shall still continue to put them down as they occur to my remembrance.
The first feeling that in my bosom tended most certainly to soften all the rest, was a growing taste for the beauties of nature, of every kind and description; and as I approached Virmont, the warm and luxuriant banks of the Loire struck me with the same pleasurable sensations as I had experienced on seeing the deep shades and tranquil stillness of the Prés Vallée. Crossing the Loire at Gien, I turned to the right, and a little beyond Blénau was directed by the peasantry to the château de Virmont, which was situated in a dry and sandy soil, and surrounded by some rich but rather wild scenery. The house itself was not a very large one, but it possessed various advantages which were not to be found at either Dumont or the Prés Vallée, and, especially in my eyes, was preferable to either of them, from being totally unconnected with the dark and gloomy remembrances that hung like a boding cloud over both the others.