“After my last audience was over, the King led me through divers galleries to the Queen’s apartments, where he left me, and, after I had had a long conversation with her, I was brought back to London by the same Earl of Brischwater.”[69]
It is evident, from Bassompierre’s despatches, that after his audience with Charles I, he was, for the moment, tempted to despair of the success of his mission, believing that the King was so embittered against his wife’s French attendants that he would never consent to their return, and that Buckingham, notwithstanding the desire he professed for an amicable arrangement, was not to be trusted.
“I did not fail,” he writes to Richelieu, “to represent energetically to the King all the points of my commission, and to inform him of the things which I have seen lately, in order to urge him to give satisfaction to the King [Louis XIII]. But I found his mind so opposed to the re-establishment of the officers of the Queen his wife which was demanded of him, that he does not wish to hear of it in any fashion, and that it is waste of time to think of persuading him to it, as you will be able to judge from the letter which I have written to the King, who will acquaint you with his rude behaviour. I am so ill satisfied with him, that were it not that I had received express orders not to break or conclude anything without asking permission to do it, I should have taken leave of him in the same audience. I await the order of the King by the return of this courier, and the honour of your commands.”
And to his brother-in-law, the Comte de Tillières, he writes:—
“Holland and Gorin[70] are honest men; the others, such as Carlisle, Pembroc,[71] and Montgomari, discreet; the duke,[72] flattering and deceitful, who writes me that he is in despair that I have not received the satisfaction that I desire. I shall be extremely anxious to return, and shall do so on the return of this courier, which I beg you to arrange to send back to me promptly; for I languish here without hope of effecting anything.”[73]
However, Bassompierre did not receive orders to return to France, and in the course of the next few days the attitude of Charles I and his Court underwent a welcome change, and every influence was brought to bear upon the Ambassador to induce him to represent to the French Government that the religious and domestic difficulties which had led to the expulsion of the Queen’s attendants had been such as to exonerate, if not to justify, that high-handed action, and to persuade Henrietta Maria to consent to some arrangement satisfactory to all parties concerned. Buckingham called on him several times and brought him to Somerset House for informal discussions. All the great nobles of the Court—Pembroke, Carlisle, Carleton, Holland—whom he visited at “Kinsinthon”—Montgomery, Bridgewater, and Conway, appeared anxious to make amends for the coolness of his first reception by every kind of civility and hospitality. He was permitted to have private audiences of the Queen both at Somerset House and “Houaithall” [Whitehall], and Charles even condescended to discuss his domestic troubles with him in the presence of his consort.
Bassompierre was ready enough to repay the courtesies and confidences which were now lavished upon him by using the influence which the fact that he had been one of her father’s most intimate friends, and had known her since her childhood, gave him over the Queen to bring about an amicable settlement. He recognised that there had been faults as well as grievances on both sides, and, in his private conferences with Henrietta, he pointed out to her that she had committed a very grave error in surrounding herself so closely with her own people and establishing, so to speak, a foreign camp in the midst of the English Court. His task, however, was a far from easy one, and it was complicated by the circumstance that Henrietta was convinced that Buckingham was her personal enemy, and that, jealous lest she should acquire influence with the King, he had made mischief perpetually between them.[74] Eventually, however, by a happy combination of tact, patience, and firmness, he brought her to take a more reasonable view of the situation, though her Majesty’s temper was very uncertain, and more than once, when he flattered himself that differences were satisfactorily adjusted, fresh trouble arose, and he had to begin his work over again. But let us turn to his journal, wherein he has noted the progress of his negotiations from day to day:—
“Friday, the 16th [October].—The King and Queen returned to London. The duke [Buckingham] sent to ask me to come to Somerset [House], where we spent more than two hours debating our affairs.
“Saturday, the 17th.—I went to salute the Queen at Houaithall [Whitehall], and to render her an account of all that I had conferred with the duke about the preceding day.
“Sunday, the 18th.—I was visited by the Secretary Convé [Conway], who came to see me on behalf of the King. Then the Earl of Carlisle and millord Carleton came to see me.