There are everywhere petty motives of animosity which not seldom exercise an influence upon affairs: and here also this appears to have been the case. Bellièvre, a small but well-shaped man, still young, and of lively aspiring spirit, had special reasons for dissatisfaction. He was a member of a French family that belonged to the nobility of the long robe, and it was his ambition never to stand in the position of an inferior. He was annoyed that the honour of the tabouret, i.e. the privilege of being allowed to sit in the presence of the Queen, had not been conferred on his wife, although it had been conceded without hesitation to the Duchess of Chevreuse. The efforts and intrigues of this lady were therefore all the more obnoxious to him. He believed that she brought the King offers from the Spaniards which ran counter to those of the French: he pretended to know that she expressed her undisguised joy at losses which had overtaken the French in the field. On the whole it appeared to him that, under her influence and that of the Queen-mother, Queen Henrietta Maria herself had contracted an inclination for the policy of Spain, from which she had hitherto been free, and which gained ground also among her suite; not perhaps with Lord Holland, who continued true to French interests, but with the rest, from whom for that very reason Lord Holland was beginning to detach himself.
Bellièvre expressed his conviction that it would do no good to receive back the Queen-mother into France: he thought that, if she were replaced in exactly the same position which she had enjoyed before, she yet would never part with her advisers. He was of opinion, even with regard to the Queen of England, that it would not be of much use to give ear to her proposals. Certainly if they were declined the ministers A.D. 1639. of the Queen-mother would do everything to sever England from France: but even if her proposals were acceded to, the same men would for that very reason be so much the more completely masters of the English court, and would enforce their wishes on the Queen, and even on the King[143].
In consequence of this Jermyn not only found no opening for his proposals, but met with a bad reception generally. Queen Henrietta Maria made a jest of it, but nevertheless she was irritated. Among her friends she let it be known that she was treated in France as a daughter of the house, that is, without any respect, and with the contempt which had always been shown there towards England; but that some day she would be able to take her revenge. Among her friends Montague, who for love of her had become a Catholic, was regarded as the one who principally confirmed her in her views.
How long had people in France already waited for the day when the Queen of England would acquire influence over her husband! This came to pass for the first time in the course of the disputes with the Scots, after which a certain community of interest sprung up between the Episcopal Church and the English Catholics, both of whom had to expect their ruin from the rise of the Puritans. The Queen was useful to the King from her influence with the Catholics: cases had arisen in which her counsels had proved suited to the occasion: he began to listen to her. But when this period arrived, the Queen was no longer on the side of the French government. She felt affronted and rebuffed by the Cardinal: she thought him capable of allying himself with the Scots against England; and she espoused the cause of her mother with increasing warmth. In March 1639 the French ambassador expresses to his court his fears that the Queen of England, under the influence of the friends of the Queen-mother, A.D. 1639. would do everything which the latter might suggest to her against the interests of France. Many other opponents of Cardinal Richelieu also happened to be in England at that time;—Vieuville whom he had once overthrown, and De la Valette who had retired from France because he had allowed himself to be entangled in a plot against the Cardinal. Bellièvre reports that the latter was almost every day in the company of Madame de Chevreuse; that he had long conferences with the ministers of the Queen-mother, and on those occasions also saw the English Queen; that they all were in uninterrupted communication with the Spanish ambassador[144].
Already long before this time new projects of wide range had been spoken of, which were said to have been set afloat in England by means of the friends of the Queen-mother. At that time a Frenchman named Petit, who possessed property in Lorraine, and was engaged in chemical researches in London, paid a visit to the French ambassador, and told him that they had embraced the design of hazarding an attack upon Brittany: he said that they had selected a place (of which he did not mention the name), which might be captured with little trouble, and maintained without difficulty. Moreover people in France spoke of an impending alteration in the government on the death of the Cardinal, who was very weak and sickly. Vieuville said to the Duchess of Chevreuse that she would be wrong if she did not take care to be on the spot in France at the moment when such a change occurred. People expected everything from the preference Queen Anne felt for her.
These hostile tendencies, which certainly were primarily of a personal character, but which nevertheless penetrated deeply into politics, now fell in with those differences in the conduct of political affairs which allowed no hope of union.
However seriously Charles I on his part might affirm that he would not estrange himself from France, yet Bellièvre nevertheless adhered to the opinion that this was quite A.D. 1639. possible, nay probable. He knew that the Queen, so far as could be seen, was an enemy of France; that many members of the Privy Council were in the pay of Spain and drew pensions from that power; that many others, who had hitherto been prevented by regard for the Queen from speaking against France, were now on the contrary invited to do so by her change of feeling: and that nothing less could be expected than that even the King would allow himself to be hurried into hostility to France.
Under these circumstances people in France were very far from expecting King Charles to come into the French and Swedish alliance in consequence of the Pacification of Berwick. On the contrary this agreement seemed to constitute a danger, as it untied the hands of the King of England. It cannot be doubted that alliances between the Scots and Cardinal Richelieu had already been formed: they were carried on through his almoner Chambres. They may have inspired the Scots with a general feeling of courage, owing to the support which was held out to them in consequence; but they could hardly have had much effect upon the steps which they actually took, if only because the medium of communication was a zealous Catholic. But now Bellièvre advised his employers to espouse the cause of the Scots with a very definite political aim. He considered that the old alliance between France and Scotland ought to be renewed, and the King of England hindered from ever embarking on hostilities against France without the fear arising in his mind that he would have the Scots against him. Bellièvre thought that the negotiations which were being carried on between Charles I and the Scottish Parliament ought to be made use of and directed towards the attainment of this object[145].
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Traité auxiliaire (hitherto, so far as I am aware, unknown). A copy is found in the despatches of Seneterre, Bibl. Nat. at Paris, Harl. 223/21: the revised original draught in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Angleterre 47.