The following day the King took up his quarters at Aytré, Monsieur having removed to the Château of Dompierre, to the north-east of La Rochelle, on the road between that town and Niort, and, to the intense mortification of Bassompierre, who had flattered himself that the matter was settled, his first business was to hold a council to discuss the position of Angoulême. The Council summoned the duke before it and called upon him to state his case, when he declared that, having served the King faithfully as lieutenant-general for three months, he would regard it as an affront if he were called upon to resign in favour of the Maréchaux de Bassompierre and de Schomberg, who, while he had been enduring all the toils and hardships of active service, had been passing their time agreeably in Paris; that he could see no reason why he should not be associated with them in the command, unless it were the enmity which the Maréchal de Bassompierre bore him, because he happened to be the half-brother of Mlle. d’Entragues, and that he did not believe that the Maréchal de Schomberg would make any difficulty were it not that he was instigated thereto by his colleague. And he cited various precedents to show that marshals of France had several times served under Princes of the Blood.
Angoulême then withdrew, and the King sent for Bassompierre and Schomberg, who had been waiting in an adjoining room, and Richelieu having read to them the substance of the duke’s speech, invited them to reply. Bassompierre, as the senior of the two marshals, thereupon rose and harangued the Council at great length—his speech occupies several pages of his Mémoires—maintaining that his Majesty had repeatedly assured him that M. Angoulême’s command was to be but a temporary one and that he would be removed so soon as the King joined the army; that it was contrary to all precedent for anyone but marshals of France to command, or to be associated in the command of, an army when the Sovereign was present, and that, though it was certainly true, as M. d’Angoulême had stated, that marshals had served under Princes of the Blood, they had never done so when the King had been with the army. Finally, he declared that rather than acquiesce in so great a degradation of his office, he would prefer to lay down the bâton which the King had given him and return to Paris, “to live the life of a citizen, while awaiting the honour of his Majesty’s commands to serve him in some other capacity.”
It is a singular illustration of the morals of the time to find Bassompierre, in the course of this speech, making the following reference to his former relations with Marie d’Entragues:—
“He [Angoulême] has done very wrong to say that I wish him ill on account of his sister. That would be, on the contrary, a reason why I should wish him well. I seek with too much care the affection of the relatives of the ladies with whom I am in love. I might have wished him ill if he had done to my sister what I have done to his; but he does not practise the same thing on others, from fear of having too many enemies on his hands.”
Schomberg followed in much the same strain as his colleague, after which the two marshals withdrew and went to inspect the Fort d’Orléans, a partially-finished work which Angoulême had erected near the point of Coreilles, to the south-east of La Rochelle. On their return to Aytré the King inquired of Bassompierre what he thought of Fort d’Orléans. The marshal replied that it was “a useless work, situated in the most unsuitable spot that could have been chosen in all Coreilles, three times as large as was necessary, badly constructed, a great expense, and of little profit, built not according to the rules which ought to be observed in constructing a fort intended only to serve during a siege, but as a permanent work, and, in short, defective as a whole and in every part.” The King then told him that he spoke thus out of professional jealousy, and that, if he himself had caused this fort to be constructed, he would find as many reasons to praise it as he now found to condemn it. Bassompierre retorted that he was not so foolish as to condemn a work which the King could go and judge of himself, and that he saw clearly that his Majesty had changed his mind and intended to support the pretensions of M. d’Angoulême. The King replied that he had not changed his mind, but that he would be very pleased if the marshal could accommodate himself to an arrangement which would be for the good of his service.
That night Angoulême sent two of his friends, Louis de Marillac and the Marquis de Vignolles, to Schomberg to endeavour to persuade him to accept the prince as his colleague in the command of the army. If we are to believe Bassompierre, they pointed out to Schomberg that if Bassompierre were to carry out his threat to retire, he would have all the power in the army, since Angoulême pretended only to the rank of lieutenant-general and would never dream of disputing his authority, whereas, if Bassompierre, who was the second marshal of France, a favourite of the King, and very popular with officers and soldiers alike, were to remain, he would occupy a subordinate position; and that, by these insidious arguments, they succeeded in so inflaming the marshal’s ambition that, regardless alike of his honour, the dignity of his office, and the claims of friendship, he consented to what they proposed.
However that may be, next morning Schomberg went to the King and informed him that he was prepared to accept Angoulême as his colleague in the lieutenancy-general of the army, since he was already established in that post, adding that he considered that Bassompierre had been very ill-advised to contest the point so warmly.
An hour or two later, when Bassompierre went to the King’s quarters to accompany him to Le Plomb, some two leagues to the north of La Rochelle, where a fine view of the English fleet and Saint-Martin-de-Ré was obtainable, his Majesty received him very coldly and avoided speaking to him; and he learned that Louis had complained to Monsieur, the Cardinal, and others that his obstinacy was hindering the operations of the army. Before they left Aytré, Du Hallier came up to Bassompierre and told him that he had been sent by the King to persuade him to be reconciled to M. d’Angoulême. This the marshal refused to hear of, and told Du Hallier that it was his intention to retire from the army two days later.
On the way to Le Plomb, Richelieu also spoke to the marshal on the subject, and then Schomberg rode up, and counselled him to yield to the King’s wishes, “like a good courtier.” Upon which Bassompierre angrily declared that “though his King and his master might abandon him, his friends betray him, and his colleague, united to him by the same interest, leave him, he would not abandon or betray himself,” and that he (Schomberg) might, if it pleased him, remain with infamy, but, for himself, he preferred to retire with honour.
On the following day Bassompierre learned that the King had directed Monsieur, the titular general of the Royal army, to inform the two marshals that he had decided that the Duc d’Angoulême was to serve conjointly with them. Bassompierre declared that he absolutely refused to be associated with M. d’Angoulême, and next morning the disgruntled veteran presented himself before the King and addressed his Majesty as follows:—