On December 2 the Ambassador took his departure:
“The Earl of Barcher[98] came to bid me adieu, and afterwards all the Queen’s Household. The Earl of Suffolk sent me a horse.[99] I went to take leave of the Queen, who gave me a beautiful diamond. Next I took leave of the ladies of the bedchamber, and afterwards of the Earl of Carlisle, who had hurt himself very much in the head the previous evening.[100] Then I came to the duke’s chamber, where I remained for a rather long while, awaiting my despatches and the letters which the King had promised me abolishing the pursuivants of England.[101] Finally, I took leave of the duke and the other lords of the Court, and, accompanied only by Lucnar and the Chevalier de Jars, for I had sent my people on in advance, I took my place in one of the Queen’s coaches and proceeded to Gravesinde [Gravesend], where I passed the night. On Thursday, the 3rd, I slept at Sittimbourne, the next night at Cantorberi, and on Saturday, the 5th, I arrived at Dover, with a retinue of 400 persons who were to cross the sea with me, including seventy priests[102] whom I had delivered from the prisons of England.”
Bassompierre, it will be remembered, had encountered no difficulty in crossing the Channel on his way to England; but now there was a very different tale to tell. No sooner had his retinue embarked than the wind changed and blew half-a-gale from the South; and for four days it was impossible for the vessels to leave the harbour. This delay was the more exasperating, since he had undertaken to defray the travelling expenses of his whole suite, including the liberated priests, in the fond belief that they would be able to sail within a few hours of their arrival at Dover, and every day they lingered on English soil meant several hundred crowns out of the unfortunate Ambassador’s pocket.
On the 8th, Tuesday, Walter Montague came riding into Dover and informed Bassompierre that Charles I had decided to send Buckingham on a special embassy to the Court of France, and that the duke proposed to start immediately. The reasons which had led to this decision were as follows:—
In the many conferences which had taken place between Bassompierre and the English Ministers, other matters besides the re-establishment of the Queen’s French attendants and the treatment of the English Catholics had come under discussion. The most important of these was that thorny question which for centuries has been the cause of so much ill-feeling whenever this country has been at war—the right of searching neutral vessels for contraband of war—but which no naval Power in its sound senses would dream for a moment of abandoning. It was indisputable that, since the outbreak of hostilities with Spain, a large trade had been carried on between Spain and Flanders under the French flag; but it was likewise true that the English cruisers had conducted the blockade of the Flemish coast with more zeal than discretion, and that an unreasonably long time had been permitted to elapse between the seizure of quite innocent French vessels and their release. Thus, in the previous September, three ships belonging to Rouen, with extremely valuable cargoes on board, had been seized, and, notwithstanding the strongest protests from the French Government, were still detained in our ports.
In the discussions on the maritime question, Bassompierre took up the same firm yet moderate attitude which he had observed during the negotiations on that of the marriage-treaty, admitting the reasonableness of England’s objections to the trade which was being carried on under the protection of the French flag, but urging that some understanding should be arrived at by which the perpetual interference of the English cruisers might be obviated. It is quite probable that a treaty prescribing the conditions upon which neutral vessels should be liable to arrest might have been the outcome of these conferences, had not events occurred to exasperate both nations.
Towards the end of November, news arrived that d’Épernon, now Governor of Guienne, who detested Richelieu and his policy of peace with England, had seized a fleet of 200 English and Scottish vessels which were about to sail from Bordeaux with a full cargo of wine, upon which duty had already been paid. It was an open act of war; the London merchants clamoured for letters of marque to defend their vessels and retaliate upon the French “pirates,” and Charles I issued an Order in Council for the seizure of all French vessels in English waters. Short of an actual declaration of war the peace had been broken between the two countries; but Buckingham, blinded by an extraordinary optimism, still believed that, if he were to cross over to France with the friendly and moderate-minded Bassompierre, who, he had learned, was detained at Dover, the dispute might be satisfactorily arranged; and accordingly persuaded the King to appoint him Ambassador Extraordinary to the French Court, and sent Walter Montague to inform the marshal of the mission which had been entrusted to him.
Bassompierre was greatly astonished and embarrassed by the news that Montague brought. He was aware that it was the intention of Charles I to send an ambassador to France, but had never dreamed that Buckingham, after the very plain hint which he had received the previous year that his presence at the French Court would not be tolerated, would have the effrontery to take upon himself the mission. The thought of the indignation of Louis XIII and Richelieu if he were to return to Paris accompanied by the presumptuous favourite was a most unpleasant one; and he therefore begged Montague to inform Buckingham that he advised him strongly to abandon his intention of coming to France, as he very much feared that he would not be received, and sent him back in all haste to London. Then, in order to leave nothing to chance, at two o’clock the next morning he embarked with his suite for Calais, notwithstanding that it was still blowing hard.
He was not, however, to escape Buckingham so easily, for the storm carried them towards Dieppe, and, after beating about the Channel for some time, in a vain attempt to make the French coast, they were obliged to return and land near Dover, to which they sadly made their way back. The bad weather continued for several days, and on the 12th Buckingham, who had learned that Bassompierre was still detained at Dover, sent Montague to beg him to meet him at Canterbury, whither he proposed to come on the following day.
The duke arrived, accompanied by Carlisle, Holland and Goring and the Chevalier de Jars, and, says Bassompierre, “wished to show me his splendour by entertaining me in the evening to a magnificent banquet.” After supper the marshal had a long conference with Buckingham, in which he endeavoured to persuade him to abandon his proposed visit to France; but the latter appeared absolutely determined upon it, and was still in the same mind when they adjourned to bed.