Paris, April 1, 1575.
LETTER XVII.
Finding that Count Nogarola was on the point of returning to Vienna, I felt I must send a letter to your Majesty, although the Queen’s business is still on hand, and I am expecting every day to have it settled. I shall reserve my account of this matter, and send it by Peter the courier. Peter arrived here on the 15th of last month, and gave me a letter from your Majesty. On learning your Majesty’s instructions, I demanded an audience of the King, but he was so much engaged in the negotiations for peace that he was unable to see [59]me, and referred me to the Queen Mother and the young Queen. By the King’s orders, I went first to the Queen Mother. On my laying before her your Majesty’s request, and delivering your letter, she, as usual, spoke of the great regard she entertained towards your Majesty, mentioning the deep obligation under which she had been laid by your Majesty’s attentions to her son the King. She inquired after your Majesty’s health, asked where your Majesty was, and whether you would shortly pay a visit to Frankfort. I made suitable answers, and then began to ask for her support in the Queen’s business.
Whilst we were thus engaged, the young Queen (Louise de Vaudemont) entered the room, and I took the opportunity of offering her your Majesty’s congratulations (on her marriage). She sent her most humble thanks to your Majesty, and made offer of her services to the Queen with many expressions of regard.
After this the Queens gave me leave to go, and two days later I had an interview with the King. When I had laid before him your Majesty’s message, he replied that he on his part would always be glad to be informed of your Majesty’s views. He had married, he said, in order to promote the interests of his subjects and gratify their wishes. One of his inducements, he added, for allying himself with the House of Lorraine was its connection with your Majesty.[62] For the rest, he placed his services heartily at your Majesty’s disposal, and concluded by asking me to let him know when I intended sending back the courier, as he wished him to take his answer to your Majesty’s letter. When I mentioned the Queen’s business, he begged me to have patience a little longer, till the negotiations which were now going on should be concluded. He would then place the matter in the hands of his Council, and would himself do everything in his power for the Queen.
The peace negotiations which the King alluded to have occupied his attention for some time past, and I hardly yet know what the result will be.
Everyone is anxious for peace, specially the King, but the terms offered by the insurgents are very hard, as your Majesty will see from the paper I enclose.
The extravagant nature of their demands will, in my opinion, make it difficult for the King to grant them. The delegates will shortly be sent back to their friends with the King’s answer, and are to return with their reply on St. John’s Day (June 24). Meanwhile there seems to be a good prospect of peace; everyone is anxious for it, and so everyone assumes that it is certain.
Well, I am afraid it will be easier to make peace than to keep it, and also I am apprehensive that peace for the French means trouble for their neighbours, for nothing would so calm the atmosphere in another quarter (the Netherlands) as a tremendous storm in France.