I will not weary your Majesty with a full description of the state of France, but content myself with a sketch.
Ever since the commencement of the civil wars which are distracting the country, there has been a terrible change for the worse. So complete is the alteration, that those who knew France before would not recognise her again. Everywhere are to be seen shattered buildings, fallen churches, and towns in ruins; while the traveller gazes horror-stricken on spots which have but lately been the scenes of murderous deeds and inhuman cruelties. The fields are left untilled: the farmer’s stock and tools have been carried off by the soldier as his booty, he is plundered alike by Frenchman and by foreigner. Commerce is crippled; the towns lately thronged with merchants and customers are now mourning their desolation in the midst of closed shops and silent manufactories. Meanwhile, the inhabitants, ground down by ceaseless exactions, are crying out at the immense sums which are being squandered for nought, or applied to purposes for which they were never intended. They demand a reckoning in tones which breathe a spirit of rebellion. Men of experience, members of the oldest families in France, are in many cases regarded with suspicion, and either not allowed to come to Court, or left to vegetate at home. Besides the two parties into which Frenchmen are divided by their religious differences, there are also feuds and quarrels which affect every grade of society.
In the first place, the feeling against the Italians who are in the French service is very strong; the high promotion they have received and the important duties with which they have been intrusted, arouse the jealousy of men who consider them ignorant of French business, and hold that they have neither merit, services, nor birth to justify their appointment. Birague, as Chancellor, holds one of the highest offices in the kingdom; Comte de Retz[40] is a Maréchal; Strozzi is in command of the infantry of France; Guadagni is Seneschal of Lyons; and in the same way other Italians occupy most important posts, while Frenchmen murmur.
Again, Italians farm nearly all the taxes, and exact their dues so rigidly as to drive the natives, who are unaccustomed to such extortion, to the very verge of rebellion; there will be another Saint Bartholomew[41] if they do not take care, and they will be the victims.
The feuds which separate the leading families of France are more bitter than those described in ancient tragedy; this is the state of feeling which exists between the Houses of Guise, Vendôme and Bourbon, not to mention that of Montmorency, which, through its alliances and connections, has a considerable party of its own.
The Bourbons are the strongest; the Guises have most influence at Court, but this is an advantage which they may lose any day by the death of the King, and then their fall is inevitable.
By his nearest relations the King is feared rather than loved, for, knowing the designs they entertained before the death of his brother (Charles IX.), they have no confidence in his mercy and forgiveness, though he professes to have pardoned them, and think that his vengeance is only deferred for a time. On the other hand, the King must see clearly from the flight of Condé what the feelings of his own family are towards him.
The district in which the rebellion on religious grounds has struck its deepest roots begins at Rochelle and reaches to the Rhone, comprising the whole of Guienne and Languedoc: it includes Saintonge, Poitou, the Limousin, Perigord, Gascony, the country round Narbonne, &c., &c. Nor is this all; across the Rhone, in Dauphiny itself, Montbrun has seized places, as, for instance, Livron, which is now besieged by the Royalists.
In making the statement that the rebels are powerful in Languedoc and Guienne, I must not be understood to say that the principal cities of those provinces do not obey the King; my meaning is that the insurgents occupy posts of vantage throughout the country, which enable them to render both life and property insecure; there is no peace or quiet for those who are loyal to the King. To drive them from their fortresses would be a most difficult task, for they have formidable positions and strong fortifications, garrisoned by veteran soldiers, who have made up their minds to die rather than trust the King’s word. Such, undoubtedly, is their determination, for though peace, which is the only cure for these ills, has lately been freely mentioned, and certain men were at Avignon from Condé and his party, still, up to the present moment, no arrangement has been concluded. True, the King is ready to pledge his word that, if his towns are restored to him, no one shall be troubled on account of his religion; but the memory of Saint Bartholomew[42] is a fatal obstacle: they will place no confidence in his promise, and believe that it is only a stratagem to destroy the survivors of that night.
Such acts of treachery, it would seem, never answer in the long run, whatever the advantage at the time may be!