England, Holland, and
Germany, who were instructed to explain to the several monarchs to whom
they were accredited the reasons which had induced Louis XIII to arrest
the Prince de Conde, and to assure them that the measures adopted by the
French Court were not induced, as had been falsely represented, by any
desire to conciliate either Rome or Spain. To this assurance he
subjoined a rapid synopsis of the means employed by the Queen-mother to
ensure the peace of the kingdom, and the efforts made by the Prince to
disturb it; and, finally, he recapitulated the numerous alliances which
had taken place between the royal families of France and Spain during
several centuries as an explanation of the close friendship which
existed between the two countries.[262] Meanwhile considerable
difficulty was experienced in the equipment of the army which had been
raised. The royal treasury was exhausted, and in several provinces the
revolted nobles had possessed themselves of the public monies; financial
edicts were issued which created fresh murmurs among the citizens; the
Princes assumed an attitude of stern and steady defiance; and the year
1616 closed amid apprehension, disaffection, and mistrust.

FOOTNOTES:

[196] Armand Jean du Plessis, afterwards the celebrated Cardinal de
Richelieu, was the third son of Francois du Plessis, Seigneur de
Richelieu, Knight of the Orders of the King, and Grand Provost of
France. He was born in Paris, on the 5th of September 1585; and having
been educated with great care, became an accomplished scholar. At the
age of twenty-two years he was received as a member of the Sorbonne; and
having obtained a dispensation from Paul V for the bishopric of Lucon,
was consecrated at Rome by the Cardinal de Givry, in 1607. On his return
to France he was introduced to the notice of Marie de Medicis by the
Marquise de Guercheville and the Marechal d'Ancre.

[197] Bassompierre, _Mem_. p. 96.

[198] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. p. 334.

[199] Continuation of Mezeray. _Hist. de France_.

[200] _Vie du Duc d'Epernon_, book iii.

[201] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 439, 440. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 98, 99.
D'Estrees, _Mem_. p. 408.

[202] Nicolas Le Jay, Baron de Tilly, etc., Keeper of the Seals, and
First President of the Parliament of Paris. He rendered important
services both to Henri IV and Louis XIII, and acquired great celebrity
as a learned scholar and an upright minister. He died in 1640.