Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/274

Rh C N D E his enforced and hateful marriage. In 1G44 he was sent into Germany to the assistance of Turenne, who was hard pressed by. the able Comte de Mercy. At Fribourg for several days there was continuous fighting, which cost dear to both sides, but especially to the French, whose lives were ruthlessly squandered by their general. The result, however, was equal to a great French victory for, alarmed at the stern discipline displayed by his army, the towns of the Rhine, including Mayence, opened their gates to the duke. The next winter Enghien spent, like every other winter during the war, amid the gaieties of Paris. The summer campaign of 1645 opened with the defeat of Turenne by Mercy, but there followed a series of brilliant victories won by Enghien, who fought in person with untiring energy and careless courage. In the battle of Nordlingen, in which Mercy was killed, his horse was twice shot under him, and he received several serious wounds. The capture of Philipsburg was the most important of his other achievements during this campaign. In 1646 the duke of Orleans took the command, and Enghien volunteered to serve under him ; but after the capture of Mardyke Orleans returned to Paris, leaving Enghien to take Dunkirk. It was in this year that the old prince of Conde&quot; died. The enormous power that fell into the hands of his successor was naturally looked upon with serious alarm by the regent and her minister. Condi s birth and military renown placed him at the head of the French nobility ; but, added to that, the family of which he was chief was both enormously rich and master of no small portion of France. Conde&quot; himself held Burgundy, Berry, and the marches of Lorraine, as well as other less important territory ; his brother Conti held Champagne, his brother- in-law Longueville Normandy. When, therefore, he sought the office of admiral of France, the Government, determined to permit no increase of his already overgrown authority, refused on various pretexts to comply. But Mazarin did not dare to use it, as he had intended, as a dowry for his niece; and compensation was made to the prince by the gift of the post of captain-general, with power to appoint every officer in the army. Still dis satisfied, Conde&quot; now sought permission to raise an army at his own expense, and conquer Franche-Comte&quot; for himself. This could not be allowed ; and Mazarin made an attempt, which for the moment proved successful, at once to find him employment and to tarnish his fame as a general. He was sent to lead the revolted Catalans. Supported in the meanest way, he was unable to achieve anything, and, being forced to raise the siege of Lerida, he returned home in bitter indignation. In 1648, however, he received the command in the important field of the Low Countries ; and at Lens a battle took place, which, commencing with a panic in his own regiment, was retrieved by Conde s cool ness and bravery, and ended in a victory that fully restored his prestige. In September of the same year Conde&quot; was recalled to court, for the regent required his support. She was then engaged in a determined struggle against the Parliament of Paris, which, led by the noble Matthieu Mole, the Pym of France, was, like the contemporary Long Parliament in England, fighting for popular freedom, but hampered, unlike the Long Parliament, both by its too tender reverence for the royal prerogative and by its alliance with De Retz and a section of the nobility, whose sole wish was to make of it a tool to gain the ends of their personal ambition. Influenced by the fact of his royal birth and by his arrogant scorn for the bourgeois, Cond^ lent himself to the court party. With his usual insolence he bullied and Bwore in the Parliament; and finally, after much hesitation, he consented to lead the army which was to reduce Paris. On his side, insufficient as were his forces, the war was carried on with vigour. When an opportunity offered at Charentou, he struck terror into the Parisians by putting 3000 of their picked forces to the sword. But such opportunities were seldom afforded him. The burgher soldiers had too tender a regard for their own safety to expose themselves outside the walls when his troops were in sight ; their most warlike achievement was the sham- fight with the garrison of the Bastille, when both sides used blank cartridge, and the duchess de Longueville with her ladies, seated in the thickest of the fire, ate sweetmeats and smiled on their valour. The prince of Conti, who had been won over by De Retz to accept the office of commander-in-chief of the army of the Parliament, con sidered that he sufficiently fulfilled the duties of his exalted position by riding at the head of his troops through the streets of Paris, and regularly quitting them as they passed out of the gates. Enthusiasm was kept up by the duchess de Longueville s brilliant and crowded receptions. But at length their substantial losses, and a threatening of scarcity of food, made the citizens weary of the war. The Parliament became timid as it watched the events of the contemporary revolution in England. The regent and Mazarin were still more alarmed by tho same terrible warning, as well as by their fears of a Spanish invasion and a declaration in favour of Paris from Turenne, who was advancing thither with his army, A conference was accordingly held at Ruel, and with great difficulty Mazarin and Mol6 brought about peace. Once more the court met at Paris, again given up to selfish ambition, vanity, and intrigues. Conde, most ambitious and vain of all, too vain to stoop even to civility, quickly earned for himself universal dislike. With no other apparent reason than an arbitrary whim, he forced the queen to reinstate as captain of the guard a certain conceited marquis named Jarsay, who had tormented her with his presumptuous love addresses. He prevented the marriage of one of Mazarin s nieces with the duke of Mercceur, refused to meet the cardinal in the council, and treated him with vulgar rudeness. The other nobles he offended by his airs of unapproachable superiority ; he thwarted their attempts to attain the paltry ceremonial dignities such as the high privilege of sitting at the royal receptions or assisting in the royal toilette which were the dearest objects of their ambition ; he kept them waiting hours in his antechamber, and yawned in their faces when they were admitted into his presence. With the Fronde he was tricked into an open quarrel. By the contrivance of Mazarin shots were fired into his empty carriage, and he was per suaded that they had been aimed at his life, and that De Retz and Beaufort, the noble patrons of the Fronde, were responsible for the deed. The prince at once accused them openly before the Parliament, nor would his pride allow him to own his mistake when the utter worthlessness of Mazarin s witnesses was conclusively proved. De Retz, an intriguer superior to Mazarin in boldness and scarcely inferior in duplicity, now secretly joined with the court. Yet, knowing as he did that he was surrounded by powerful enemies, Conde&quot;, secure in his own strength, ventured, by a fresh insult, to goad the resentment of the regent into an uncontrollable desire for vengeance. The young duke of Richelieu was engaged, with the sanction of the queen and of his aunt and guardian, the duchess of Aiguillon, to the profligate Mile de Chevreuse, but was in love with a widow named M ne. de Pous. His alliance was of the highest value, for his uncle, the great minister, had left him several offices of importance, including the governorship of Havre de Grace. Wishing therefore to gain his friendship, Comic* contrived his marriage with the lady he loved, and