Part 20 (1/2)
”Do you think so, sire?”
”No doubt he is, since his son Richard has succeeded him, and has abdicated”
”Yes, that is it exactly Richard inherited after the death of his father, and England at the abdication of Richard The treaty formed part of the inheritance, whether in the hands of M Richard or in the hands of England The treaty is, then, still as good, as valid as ever Why should you evade it, sire? What is changed? Charles wants to-day ere not willing to grant hiainst You are the ally of England, sire, and not of Charles II It was doubtless wrong, fron a treaty with ayour father's brother-in-law, and to contract an alliance with a parliament which they call yonder the Rue, but it was not unskillful from a political point of view, since, thanks to that treaty, I saved your n hich the Fronde--you re his head--”which the Fronde ht have fatally coe our plan noithout warning our allies, would be at once unskillful and dishonest We should ression on our side; we should ainst us; and we should have the appearance of fearing it whilst provoking it, for a perranted to five hundred men, to two hundred men, to fifty men, to ten men, is still a permission One Frenchman, that is the nation; one uniform, that is the army Suppose, sire, for example, that you should have ith Holland, which, sooner or later, will certainly happen; or with Spain, which will perhaps ensue if your ), ”and there are a thousand causes that e fail,--well, would you approve of England's sending to the United Provinces or to Spain a regientlemen? Would you think that they kept within the limits of their treaty of alliance?”
Louis listened; it seeood faith, and he the author of so many political tricks, called Mazarinades ”And yet,” said the king, ”without entleland, if such should be their good pleasure”
”You should coainst their presence as enemies in a allied country”
”But coenius, try if you cannot find aourselves”
”And that is exactly what I aland were to act exactly according to my wishes, she could not act better than she does; if I directed the policy of England from this place, I should not direct it otherwise Governed as she is governed, England is an eternal nest of contention for all Europe
Holland protects Charles II, let Holland do so; they will quarrel, they will fight Let them destroy each other's navies, we can construct ours with the wrecks of their vessels; e shall save our money to buy nails”
”Oh, how paltry andme, monsieur le cardinal!”
”Yes, but nevertheless it is true, sire; you must confess that Sill further Suppose I ad your word, and evading the treaty--such a thing as soreat interest is to be promoted by it, or when the treaty is found to be too troublesoe--will cross the Straits and will fight; France will be conquered”
”Why so?”
”Ma foi! we have a pretty general to fight under--this Charles II!
Worcester gave us proofs of that”
”But he will no longer have to deal with Cromwell, monsieur”
”But he will have to deal with Monk, who is quite as dangerous The brave brewer of e are speaking, was a visionary; he hadwhich he ran over like an over-filled cask; and frohts, and by the saht was to be made out
Cromwell has thus allowed us more than ten times to penetrate into his very soul, when one would have conceived that soul to be enveloped in triple brass, as Horace had it But Monk! Oh, sire, God defend you fro to transact politically with Monk It is he who has given ray hairs I have Monk is no fanatic; unfortunately he is a politician; he does not overflow, he keeps close together For ten years he has had his eyes fixed upon one object, and nobody has yet been able to ascertain what Every htcap Therefore, on the day when this plan, slowly and solitarily ripened, shall break forth, it will break forth with all the conditions of success which always accompany an unforeseen event That is Monk, sire, of whom, perhaps, you have never even heard--of whom, perhaps, you did not even know the name, before your brother, Charles II, who knohat he is, pronounced it before you He is a ainst which intelligence and ardor are blunted Sire, I had ardor when I was young; I alas intelligent I may safely boast of it, because I am reproached with it I have done very ith these two qualities, since, from the son of a fisher of France; and in that position your e I have rendered some service to the throne of your majesty Well, sire, if I had met with Monk on my way, instead of Monsieur de Beaufort, Monsieur de Retz, or Monsieur le Prince--well, we should have been ruined If you engage yourself rashly, sire, you will fall into the talons of this politic soldier The casque of Monk, sire, is an iron coffer, and no one has the key of it Therefore, near hi but a velvet cap”
”What do you think Monk wishes to do, then?”
”Eh! sire, if I knew that, I would not tell you to er than he; but with hiuess!--you understand uessed, I should stop at an idea, and, in spite of myself, should pursue that idea Since that man has been in power yonder, I am like one of the damned in Dante whose neck Satan has twisted, and alk forward looking around behind theht of London To guess, with that devil of a man, is to deceive one's self and to deceive one's self is to ruin one's self God keep uess what he ai what he does, and that is well enough Now I believe--you observe theof the word I believe?--I believe, with respect to Monk, ties one to nothing--I believe that he has a strong inclination to succeed Cromwell Your Charles II has already caused proposals to be made to hi these tento the' Thatdevotion to the Rump Parliament; of this devotion, I am not the dupe Monk has no wish to be assassinated,--an assassination would stop him in the middle of his operations; and his work must be accomplished;--so I believe--but do not believe what I believe, sire: for as I say I believe fro on friendly ter it You are asked for swords, but they are to fight against Monk God preserve you froainst Monk, sire; for Monk would beat us, and I should never consolebeaten by Monk I should say to myself, Monk has foreseen that victory ten years For God's sake, sire, out of friendshi+p for you, if not out of consideration for hiive hiive hiet the treaty--that fa Your ive him a chateau”
”How is that?”
”Yes, yes; yourCharles, and to compel him to leave France even It was on this account we forced hiain Sire, I hope you will give your brother to understand that he cannot remain with us; that it is impossible he should be allowed to coh,ht; your entleht; for you are prime minister, and you have, in the eyes of France, the responsibility of peace and war But that you should pretend to prevent randson of Henry IV, to erman, to the coinslet off so cheaply, and who had, besides, only fought so earnestly to arrive at that,--”sire, I shall always bend before the will of , then, keep near hiland; let Mazarin know it, but let not the ht, o away in despair”
”But convinced, and that is all I desire, sire,” replied Mazarin