Henrietta Maria

by Henrietta Haynes

France had not been unmindful of the difficulties of the King of England, or of the troubles which threatened the Queen; but great caution was used, and Gressy, who had shown too openly his partiality for the royal cause, was replaced by Sabran, who knew better how to trim between the two parties. It is probable that at the beginning of the struggle Mazarin desired the victory of the King, and it is said that up to 1644 the French Government gave as much as 300,000 crowns in money and munitions to aid him.[316] A letter of Goring,[317] Henrietta's agent in France, dated at the beginning of that year, which unfortunately fell into the hands of her enemies, spoke of the dispatch of a considerable quantity of arms, and gave a cheerful account of the kind words of the Queen-Regent and of Mazarin. Charles himself thought that a little French money and a little French influence would settle everything. His enemies were manifestly cast down, not only by the death of Richelieu, but by the accounts which reached London of the kind reception which had been given to the Queen. But, nevertheless, Henrietta was to find disappointment here as elsewhere. France was in no condition to give such help as would have sufficed for her needs. The country was overtaxed, and though the new reign was brightened by the éclat of the victory of Recroy, at which the young Duke of Enghien, afterwards the great Condé, won his reputation, yet the war with Spain was a terrible burden. Moreover, in spite of the assertions of the Queen-Regent and her advisers that it was the means and not the will that was lacking, there is little doubt that the French Government was beginning to see in the English troubles a state of affairs highly satisfactory to itself. Besides, Mazarin certainly inherited from Richelieu a distrust of Charles and Henrietta. The Queen was specially distrusted. The English Catholics had not quite forgotten her French birth, but it was believed in France that they had inclined her to Spain, an opinion which was strengthened by the fact that up to the time of her leaving England two of her principal advisers were the Digbys, father and son,[318] who were well known to be pro-Spanish in their sympathies. Mazarin was quite aware of Henrietta's influence over her husband, and he hoped that her removal from his side would help to turn Charles' eyes from Spain.

And there were other and more personal reasons for Mazarin's distrust of the Queen of England. Henrietta, who was always too prone to believe that good diplomacy consisted in cultivating relations with all parties at once, allowed her ambassador Goring to meddle in the intrigues which grew up round Mazarin as they had round Richelieu, a fact of which the Cardinal, who had inherited a perfect system of espionage, was quite aware. By the time Henrietta reached France the power of the Importants was broken, and Madame de Chevreuse had again left the Court. The exiled Queen desired greatly to see her old friend, and without pausing to consider how imprudent was the appearance of any connection between herself and that factious lady, she asked her sister-in-law's permission to have an interview with the Duchess, permission which with all courtesy was refused, at the instance of Mazarin. The Cardinal, moreover, caused the Queen of England to be warned against others of her old friends, among whom may be mentioned M. de Chateauneuf, who had indeed escaped public disgrace, but who was known to be as inimical to Mazarin as ever he had been to Richelieu.[319]

Thus it came about that, in spite of the kind words and occasional assistance of the Queen-Regent and of Cardinal Mazarin,[320] Henrietta was less successful than she had hoped to be, and could by no means persuade Mazarin to an open breach with the Parliamentary party, whose strength he was beginning to appreciate. "I have not found the means of engaging France as forwardly in your interest as I expected," she wrote sadly to Charles. In 1645 she was informed that all the French Government could do for her was to permit her to make levies in the country (and she was so poor that it was thought she would not take advantage of the permission), and to make an appeal to the clergy of France on behalf of the necessities of the King of England.

Of this last grace Henrietta availed herself eagerly; but of all the many injudicious acts which she committed at this period of her life, this appeal to the clergy of a race and of a faith alien to those of her subjects was one of the most injudicious. The outburst of anti-Catholic rage which she had witnessed in England ought to have taught her prudence; but hers was not a mind to learn by experience. Moreover, she seems from the outbreak of the war to have looked upon the Puritans as irreconcilables who could only be subdued by force, and whom it was useless to attempt to propitiate. She thought also, and most erroneously, that they were but a small minority of the nation.

The Queen had recovered her spirits. Not only had Mazarin, in spite of his official refusals, sent her secretly a sum of money sufficient to raise her ever-ready hopes, but she expected great things from a growing friendship with Emery, the Deputy Treasurer and one of the richest men in France. To complete her satisfaction the clergy showed great sympathy with her, and sent her, on their first assembling, a sum of money as an earnest of more to come[321]; which money was immediately laid out in raising levies for England.

The assembly of the French clergy, which was presided over by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Lyons, the brother of the great Richelieu, met in May, 1645, but it was not until the February of the following year that the case of the Queen of England was seriously considered. Henrietta's advocate on this occasion was probably the best that could have been chosen. The Bishop of Angoulême during his sojourn in England had resisted in a really praiseworthy manner those foreign influences which had corrupted some of his fellow-countrymen who resided there, and he was perhaps regarded in Paris with greater favour than any other of the Queen's servants. He was, moreover, a speaker and preacher of repute, and the oration which he delivered before the Fathers of the Church was not only a fine piece of oratory, but was skilfully constructed to work as much as possible upon the feelings of his audience.[322]

He dwelt upon the miserable condition of the Catholic Church in England, which, before these troubles, had begun, after a century of persecution, to raise its head under the protection of the Queen. He asserted (what was true) that were the King forced to make terms with his foes, the Catholics would be the scapegoat. He drew lurid word-pictures of the terrible consequences to the Church throughout Europe should the impious rebels succeed in their object of setting up a Puritan republic in England. Then he turned to the even more powerful argument of self-interest. The Huguenots, he said, who were beaten down but not destroyed, were looking across the Channel to the Puritans of England, whose real design was the destruction of the Catholic Church as well in France as in their own land. To help forward this project of the Evil One large sums of money were being dispatched by the French Protestants to aid the armies of rebellion in England.[323]

"Res tua tunc agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,"

cried the good Bishop, hoping, not without reason, to arouse the fears of his audience; for it was only twenty years since the fall of Rochelle, and the revival of the power of the Huguenots, which it had required the strong hand of Richelieu to repress, was an ever-present terror to the French Catholics. But Du Perron was not content with such arguments. He was able to make a statement which he hoped would tell much in favour of the cause he was advocating. He declared that the King of England had promised in writing to his wife that if he were restored by Catholic help he would repeal every law against the Catholics on the statute book,[324] and the Bishop added that he was at liberty to make this statement, as its purport was already known to the Puritans through the interception of the King's letter. That Charles made this promise there is no reason to doubt; that had cause arisen he would have broken it, as he broke others, is in the highest degree probable.[325] Perhaps the French bishops knew the man with whom they had to deal, perhaps they were instructed by Mazarin, whom they were too well trained not to consult. Be this as it may, the results of the eloquence of the Bishop of Angoulême were disappointing, even though he enforced his arguments by descriptions of the piteous condition of Henrietta and of her children, "the grandsons, the nephews, and the cousins of three of our Kings." The clergy of France did not feel able to offer to the Queen of England more than a few thousand crowns, "a somme fitter to buy hangings for a chamber than prosecute a war,"[326] as a newswriter of the day said.

But disappointed as the Queen was, she quickly turned to other hopes and schemes.