him on his return to the seat of war; for although in his
despatches Richelieu had affected to attach an immense importance to the
conquest of Pignerol, he was aware that the honour of the French nation
must be compromised should her armies be thus checked at the very
commencement of the expedition, and he consequently urged the King at
once to possess himself of the Duchy of Savoy; an undertaking which
presented so little difficulty that its success was certain. In vain did
Marie de Medicis represent the injury which Louis must, by such an
enterprise, inflict upon his sister; the project flattered the vanity of
the King, and accordingly on the 14th of May the vanguard of the French
army entered the Duchy, and before the middle of the ensuing month the
whole of Savoy, with the exception of Montmelian, was in the possession
of his troops. This puny triumph was, however, counterbalanced and
outweighed by the disasters at Casal and Mantua, the former of which,
from the failure of provisions and reinforcements, fell into the hands
of Spinola; while the latter, after having had twenty-five thousand of
its inhabitants carried off by the plague, was ultimately lost through
treason, and delivered over to pillage by the Imperialist generals.

From Savoy the Cardinal endeavoured to induce Louis to advance into the
district of Maurienne, but from this project he was strongly dissuaded
by the Queen-mother, who had, during the campaign in Savoy, remained at
Lyons with Anne of Austria, Marillac the Keeper of the Seals, and other
discontented nobles who were opposed to the war in Italy, and were
anxious for peace at any price. Negotiations to that effect were,
moreover, pending; and Urban VIII had offered himself as arbitrator
through the medium of Jules Mazarin,[133] a young man of twenty-eight
years of age, whom he had appointed internuncio for that purpose. The
talent and energy displayed by the Papal envoy in a position of so much
difficulty enchanted Richelieu, who at once recognized in the juvenile
diplomatist a congenial spirit, and he determined to attach him to the
interests of France. But even while he did full justice to the
precocious ability of Mazarin, the minister nevertheless bitterly
complained that the violent measures adopted by the Queen-mother and her
party rendered the prospect of a peace impossible; and that they
attached too great an importance to the pending negotiations, and
overacted their uneasiness on the s