should be proclaimed on the 25th of March, and that the young Duc de
Mayenne[137] should proceed to Spain as Ambassador-Extraordinary to
demand the hand of the Infanta.

At the close of the Council the general topic of discourse was the
extraordinary part played by the two Princes. It is well known that they
were both strongly opposed to the measure which had just been carried,
and their conduct was severally judged according to the particular
feeling of those by whom it was discussed; some asserting that it was
from a fear of the consequences of resistance, and others declaring that
they indulged a hope of profiting largely by so unexpected a neutrality.
The Duc de Montmorency was meanwhile furious at the contempt incurred by
the unmanly bearing of his son-in-law, M. de Conde. "Sir," he said, as
the Prince shortly afterwards approached him, "you neither know how to
resist with courage, or to yield with prudence." [138]

An unforeseen difficulty, however, now presented itself. The Spanish
Cabinet no longer entertained the same apprehensions of the power of
France that it had felt during the preceding year. The supremacy which
it had so reluctantly recognized had ceased to exist, and the arrogance
of Philip grew with this conviction; thus, where he had only a few
months previously condescended to solicit, he now prepared to impose
conditions, and the renewed negotiations were haughtily met by fresh
proposals. Upon the pretext that the Princesses of France brought with
them no right of succession to the crown, he declared his disinclination
to give the hand of the elder Infanta to the young King, upon which
Marie de Medicis replied that she was willing to accept his younger
daughter as the bride of Louis XIII, provided that he, in his turn,
were prepared to receive the Princesse Christine instead of Madame, as
by this arrangement she should be enabled to fulfil the pledge given by
the late King to the Duke of Savoy, that the eldest Daughter of France
should be united to the Prince of Piedmont.

This explicit declaration at once silenced Philip, who was by no means
desirous that Charles Emmanuel, whom he was anxious to crush, should by
so close a connexion with France secure an ally through whose support he
could not fail to protect himself against all aggression; and he
accordingly signified with somewhat less arrogance than before that he
was ready to ratify the original treaty, provided that Anne of Austria
were per