Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/151

1920 It is impossible to discuss some of these questions till we have the text of the debates in print. Miss Relf's study shows their importance, as well as being in itself a very scholarly and useful contribution to the constitutional history of the Stuart period.

's object in this volume is to give a critical account of the life of Turenne from the year 1660 to his death in 1675. In 1660 Turenne was almost fifty years of age and, next to Mazarin, might be termed the foremost public man of France. His brief treason during the Fronde had been effaced by memorable subsequent services. He had ensured the victory of the Crown over the rebels and of France over Spain. He might have been created constable if he would have renounced the protestant faith, and, since he would not do that, he was made marshal-general of the camps and armies of the king, a sonorous appellation which seems to have conferred some vague precedence over the other marshals of France. At this date, therefore, Turenne may be said to have reached the culmination of his career. There is yet another reason why M. Picavet has chosen to begin his study at the year 1660. In 1660 Mazarin was a dying man; young Louis XIV was about to begin his real reign. The aristocratic turmoil which had allowed so much scope to ambition was to be followed by a strict personal government. Turenne might well find difficulty in adapting himself to these new conditions. He was the son of a sovereign prince, a fact which he never forgot; he was a protestant, a circumstance which could not fail to prejudice Louis; his military talents and achievements might lead him to expect more than a despot jealous of power might choose to concede. Thus the last fifteen years of Turenne's life form a period distinct from all the rest.

M. Picavet has made a conscientious study of his subject, working in much material unused before. His book is not exactly biographical; still less is it a military history. He begins with tracing Turenne's personal ambitions; his hopes of guiding public affairs under the young king; his enmity to Fouquet and satisfaction at Fouquet's overthrow; his disappointment in finding that Louis meant to rule in person and to admit to his inmost counsels, not princes or warriors, but mere officials whose consequence was solely due to the fact that they were the instruments of the sovereign. He shows how Turenne, perhaps with a pang, adapted himself to the conditions of the new age and was rewarded with as much of the king's confidence as Louis's system would allow. M. Picavet traces Turenne's share in the reorganization of the army. He describes at length the considerable part played by Turenne in foreign relations; a part for which he was peculiarly adapted by his descent from the house of Nassau, his protestant creed, and his long familiarity with European, more especially German and Dutch politics, and with so many foreign princes and nobles.

In the war of devolution and in the Dutch war Turenne necessarily held great commands. But here M. Picavet confines himself to tracing his relations with the king, with the ministers, especially Louvois, and