The deputies began to arrive on March 2, and the representatives of each canton came in turn to pay their respects to Bassompierre; while on the 4th, when the session opened, the whole Diet, preceded by its mace-bearers, came in solemn procession to salute him.
That day Bassompierre learned that “the Chancellor of Alsace, Ambassador of the whole House of Austria, had arrived at Soleure, without sending to him to announce his coming or visiting him, contrary to the recognised custom of ambassadors.” The marshal, highly indignant at this breach of diplomatic amenities, at once resolved to induce the Diet to refuse the Chancellor—who had, of course, come to Soleure in the hope of putting a spoke in Bassompierre’s wheel—a hearing.
“M. de Léon tried every means he could to dissuade me, telling me that I should not succeed, and that we should have to bear the mortification of failure. Nevertheless, trusting to my great influence in Switzerland, and to my industry in treating with these people, I persisted in my design and set to work.”
The marshal recounts at considerable length the various expedients to which he had recourse, and the springs he set in motion, for the purpose of avenging his outraged dignity. It will, however, suffice to say that he succeeded, and that, after long deliberations, the Diet refused to grant an audience to the Chancellor, “who returned very dissatisfied, declaring that the Swiss would be objects of indignation to the whole House of Austria.”
By dint of persuasive speeches and lavish hospitality, Bassompierre experienced no difficulty in inducing the Diet to accord him permission to raise whatever troops he might require for the service of France, and on the 11th he was able to write to the Cardinal that his mission had been entirely successful. Then he took to his bed and sent for a surgeon to bleed him, as “he found himself somewhat unwell, on account of the debauches in which he had indulged during the Diet.”
During the next fortnight Bassompierre was occupied in arranging for the levy which the Diet had authorised, so that the troops might be ready to take the field so soon as they were required. On March 27 a courier arrived from the Cardinal with the news that the armistice between France and Savoy was at an end, and that Richelieu had entered Piedmont and was going to lay siege to Pinerolo. The Cardinal ordered Bassompierre to mobilise 6,000 Swiss immediately, and informed him that he had written requesting the King to send him other troops and a patent as general for the conquest of Savoy.
Richelieu had moved his army through Savoy, crossed the Alps and advanced to the frontier of Montferrato, when he learned, through intercepted letters, that Charles Emmanuel was playing him false. He at once turned about, called upon the Duke to fulfil his engagements, and, the answer he received being unsatisfactory, marched against him. The weather was frightful, and the soldiers, chilled to the bone by the icy blast as they stumbled through the snow, “consigned to all the devils the cardinal-generalissimo,” who rode at their head mounted on a splendid charger, wearing a cuirass of blue steel, a hat with a nodding plume on his head, a sword by his side, and pistols at his saddle-bow. But they pushed on and presently reached Rivoli, which the Duke of Savoy had hastily evacuated, where they found warmth and shelter and an abundance of good wine, in which, forgetting their recent hardships, they drank to the health of the “great cardinal.”
Charles Emmanuel had fallen back to Turin, and flattered himself that, with the aid of Spinola and Colalto, he would be able to give battle to the French on advantageous terms beneath the walls of his capital. But Richelieu, instead of advancing on Turin, turned back towards the Alps and on March 20 invested Pinerolo, which Henri III had so imprudently restored to Savoy at the beginning of his reign. The town surrendered on the 23rd, and the citadel a week later, and France thus secured an invaluable base for future operations. The first attack on the citadel cost the life of Bassompierre’s old companion-in-arms Cominges-Guitaut, a very brave man and most capable officer, who was sincerely regretted by the marshal.
Bassompierre remained at Soleure until April 20, when he left for Geneva, where the troops which he had raised were to assemble. On May 4 he received a despatch from Louis XIII, informing him that he intended to make the conquest of Savoy in person and directing him to join him at Lyons to receive his orders. He was to send the Swiss to Grenoble, whither the King intended to proceed so soon as possible.
Louis XIII had left Fontainebleau towards the end of February, and had remained for some weeks at Troyes, as it was thought not improbable that the Imperialists, who were in strong force in Alsace and on the borders of Lorraine, might attempt an invasion of Champagne. Here, on April 18, he was joined by his brother, whom he had not seen since Gaston had taken himself off to Lorraine in the previous autumn.[131] The King received him very cordially, and, on the advice of Richelieu, appointed him “Lieutenant-General representing the King’s person in the Army of Champagne, as well as in Paris and in the northern provinces.” It was hoped in this way to satisfy the amour-propre of this troublesome prince, who was perpetually complaining that he was excluded from that share in public affairs to which his rank entitled him, and to make it to his interest to conduct himself well in future. The real commander of the army of Champagne was, however, the Maréchal de Marillac.