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]