Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/599

A.D. 1435.] the old proverb of bringing a horse to water was seen in its full force. Each duke expected that the other should make the first visit. Bedford stood upon his being the son, brother, and uncle to a king, and Philip upon the greatness of his own independent dominions. Neither would condescend to make the first move, and they parted with only increased bitterness. Bedford, in this case, permitted his pride to sway him from his usual prudence, and, though he did not live long, it was long enough to cause him deeply to repent his folly.

The Duke of Burgundy was now quite prepared to reconcile himself to Charles. A point of honour only stood in the way, and diplomacy is never at a loss to get rid of such little obstacles. By the treaty of Troyes he was solemnly sworn never to make peace with Charles without consent of the English. To surmount this difficulty either by establishing an actual peace between the three parties, or by so far putting the English in the wrong as to justify in the eyes of the world a peace without it, it was suggested by his brothers-in-law, Richemont and Bourbon, to endeavour to get up a congress under the mediation of the Pope, as the common friend and father of all Christian princes. Eugenius IV. set himself with alacrity to effect this desirable but difficult work, and prevailed so far as to have a grand congress summoned to meet at Arras, in August, 1435.

To give effect to this assembly, care was taken to render it the most illustrious convocation of princes and diplomatists which Europe had yet seen. The Pontiff sent as his representative the Cardinal of Santa Croce; the Council of Basil, then sitting, also delegated the Cardinal of Cyprus. The Duke of Burgundy, one of the most powerful, and by far the most magnificent prince of the age, came attended by all the nobility of his states. Beaufort, Cardinal of Winchester, represented his relative, the King of England, attended by twenty-sis nobles, half English and half French. Charles VII. appointed as his plenipotentiaries the Duke of Bourbon and the Constable Richemont, who were attended by twenty-nine peers and ministers. Besides these there came envoys from Norway, Denmark, Poland, and Sicily, from many of the German and Italian states, and from the cities of Flanders, and of the Hanseatic League.

If the object was to exhibit the hauteur and unreasonableness of England rather than that of showing the enormous difficulties in the way, the stratagem fully succeeded. All Europe, almost, was brought together with much cost and with much parade to note the result, and the feeling would, of consequence, be proportionate. This brilliant gathering of princes and delegates opened their proceedings by a series of fêtes, tournaments, and galas; but even in these the good understanding between the French and Burgundians was so undisguised as to augur no favourable termination of the affairs which brought the congress together. The conference was opened in the Abbey of St. Vaast by the Cardinal of Santa Croce, with the usual lamentations over the horrors of war, and eulogies on the blessings of peace. But when the propositions on both sides came to be laid before the assembly they were found to be wide as the poles asunder. The French plenipotentiaries offered to code Guienne and Normandy to the English, but subject to all the conditions of homage and vassalage. The English, who were not disposed to abate a jot their demands of independent possession of all the lands they now hold in France, were so indignant at what they considered the arrogance of this proposal, that they abruptly refused to submit any counter-proposition of their own, but rose and left the assembly. On this there was a general outcry against the intolerable pride and unreasonableness of the English. The fact was, that the two cardinals, who came openly as mediators, wore in reality the decided partisans of France and Burgundy. Every means was now used to represent the conduct of the English in the most odious light, and a draft of a treaty ready prepared between Burgundy and France was openly produced, considered, and signed on the 21st of September. The English had already left Arras on the 6th.

No sooner was the ratification of this treaty made known, than universal rejoicings took place all over France and Burgundy. On the other hand, the English loaded the Duke of Burgundy with the bitterest reproaches, as a perjured violator of the treaty of Troyes. In London the indignation of the people was so intense that they fell on the Flemings, a numerous body of traders there, because they were subjects of Philip, and cruelly abused and murdered some of them. When Philip sent, pro formâ, a herald to London to announce this treaty, and to apologise for his abandonment of that of Troyes, the council received him with great marks of indignity, and, in studied insult, assigned him his lodgings at a shoemaker's. These violent proceedings were as unworthy of a great country as they were propitious to the cause of Burgundy. His breach of a solemn treaty was notorious; these outrages went to justify him. He had felt the odium of his own movement so much as to obtain from the cardinals, in full assembly of the congress, a solemn absolution from all his oaths to the English. So notorious had been the repeated perjuries of almost all concerned in that new alliance, that the Lord of Lannoy, when it came to his turn to swear, exclaimed, "This is the sixth peace to which I have sworn since the commencement of the war. The others are all broken; but as for this, whatever others do, I declare before God I will observe it."

Charles, on his part, had been compelled not only to implore Philip's forgiveness of the murder of his father, but to surrender to Burgundy all the towns of Picardy lying between the Somme and the Low Countries, with other territories, to be held for life without fealty or homage. The sacrifices of honour and domain had been enough between the parties to lay the foundation for future heart-burnings, had the English but acted with tolerable policy; but their violent conduct tended to draw off a too scrutinising glance from the new allies, and to cement their union. To add to the mischief, Bedford died at Rouen immediately after receiving the news of this disastrous treaty. Bedford had, in the main, been an able and prudent manager of the English affairs in Franco, but he had not been a successful one. Circumstances had fought against him. The distractions of the council at home, and the consequent diminution of his resources, had crippled him. The strange apparition of the Maid of Orleans had set at defiance all human counsels. His horrible execution of that innocent and most meritorious