[104] In 1626, he attempted to form a league ‘en faveur du Palatin,’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 576. Sismondi seems not quite certain as to the sincerity of his proposal; but as to this there can, I think, be little doubt; for it appears from his own memoirs, that even in 1624 he had in view the recovery of the Palatinate. Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 405; and again in 1625, p. 468.
[105] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. p. 173; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 415; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. vi. pp. 12, 600; and at p. 489: ‘Le roi de Suède qui comptoit uniquement sur le cardinal.’
[106] Compare Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. pp. 74, 75, vol. ii. pp. 92, 93, with Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 198; and Howell's Letters, p. 247. The different views which occurred to his fertile mind in consequence of the death of Gustavus, are strikingly summed up in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. vii. pp. 272–277. On his subsequent pecuniary advances, see vol. ix. p. 395.
[107] In 1633, ‘les ambassadeurs de France, d'Angleterre et de Hollande mirent à profit le repos de l'hiver pour resserrer la confédération protestante,’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 221. Compare, in Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy, vol. i. p. 275, the remark made twenty years later by Christina, daughter of Gustavus, on the union with ‘papists.’
[108] This change may be illustrated by comparing the work of Grotius with that of Vattel. These two eminent men are still respected as the most authoritative expounders of international law; but there is this important difference between them, that Vattel wrote more than a century after Grotius, and when the secular principles enforced by Richelieu had penetrated the minds even of common politicians. Therefore, Vattel says (Le Droit des Gens, vol. i. pp. 379, 380): ‘On demande s'il est permis de faire alliance avec une nation qui ne professe pas la même religion? Si les traités faits avec les ennemis de la foi sont valides? Grotius a traité la question assez au long. Cette discussion pouvait être nécessaire dans un temps où la fureur des partis obscurcissait encore des principes qu'elle avait long-temps fait oublier, osons croire qu'elle serait superflue dans notre siècle. La loi naturelle seule régit les traités des nations; la différence de religion y est absolument étrangère.’ See also p. 318, and vol. ii. p. 151. On the other hand, Grotius opposes alliances between nations of different religion, and says, that nothing can justify them except ‘une extrême nécessité…. Car il faut chercher premièrement le règne céleste, c'est à dire penser avant toutes choses à la propagation de l'évangile.’ And he further recommends that princes should follow the advice given on this subject by Foulques, Archbishop of Rheims! Grotius, le Droit de la Guerre et de la Paix, livre ii. chap xv. sec. xi. vol. i. pp. 485, 486, edit. Barbeyrac, Amsterdam, 1724, 4to; a passage the more instructive, because Grotius was a man of great genius and great humanity. On religious wars, as naturally recognized in barbarous times, see the curious and important work, Institutes of Timour, pp. 141, 333, 335.
[109] ‘Le Congrès de Westphalie s'ouvrit le 10 avril 1643.’ Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 156. Its two great divisions at Munster and Osnabruck were formed in March 1644. Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie, vol. iii. p. 110. Richelieu died in December, 1642. Biog. Univ. vol. xxxviii. p. 28.
[110] ‘Les règnes de Charles-Quint et de Henri IV font époque pour certaines parties du droit international; mais le point de départ le plus saillant, c'est la paix de Westphalie.’ Eschbach, Introduc. à l'Etude du Droit, Paris, 1846, p. 92. Compare the remarks on Mably, in Biog. Univ. vol. xxvi. p. 7, and Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiv. p. 179: ‘base au droit public de l'Europe.’
[111] Compare the indignation of the pope at this treaty (Vattel, le Droit des Gens, vol. ii. p. 28), with Ranke's Päpste, vol. ii. p. 576: ‘Das religiöse Element ist zurückgetreten; die politischen Rücksichten beherrschen die Welt:’ a summary of the general state of affairs.
[112] ‘La France obtint par ce traité, en indemnité, la souveraineté des trois évêchés, Metz, Toul et Verdun, ainsi que celle d'Alsace. La satisfaction ou indemnité des autres parties intéressées fut convenue, en grande partie, aux dépens de l'église, et moyennant la sécularisation de plusieurs évêchés et bénéfices ecclésiastiques.’ Koch, Tableau des Révolutions, vol. i. p. 328.
[113] Dr. Vaughan (Protectorate of Cromwell, vol. i. p. civ.) says: ‘It is a leading fact, also, in the history of modern Europe, that, from the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, religion, as the great object of negotiation, began everywhere to give place to questions relating to colonies and commerce.’ Charles Butler observed, that this treaty ‘considerably lessened the influence of religion on politics.’ Butler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 181.