Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 128.djvu/763

Rh his return to Rome he took the degree of doctor of laws.

But in 1624 we find him a captain in the pontifical army stationed in the Valtelline, and employed in several political negotiations, his skill and address in the conduct of which won him the favour of Pope Urban.


 * He was [says his biographer, Bendetti] a veritable Proteus, speaking Spanish with the Spaniards, French with the French, and agreeable to all by his politeness and engaging manners; he seemed gifted with ubiquity; he was everywhere, according to the need of the service, at Turin, Venice, Milan, in the Valtelline.

But always observant, always studying the situation, always, as it were, instinctively divining the proper course; under the patronage of the powerful Cardinal Barberini, he played an important part in Italian politics.

In 1629 he was attached to the legation sent by Rome to mediate between France and Spain. The conference took place at Lyons, and it was here that he came to the turning-point of his career, his introduction to Cardinal Richelieu. "I have just been speaking to the greatest statesman I have ever seen!" Such was the great minister's emphatic declaration after his first interview with Giulio Mazarin. These words were probably a sincere tribute to an intellect whose subtle power he could peculiarly appreciate; but at the same time they expressed the satisfaction of the speaker in having found a valuable instrument for future use. There seems to have been an immediate rapprochement between these two men, who had some thing in common. Mazarin saw in Richelieu a patron who beyond all others could advance his fortunes, and by skilful flattery, to which no man was ever more susceptible than the cardinal, at once won his favour; while Richelieu discovered in the young diplomatist a clever unscrupulous adventurer, whose services might prove of incalculable value to him.

From that time Mazarin's French sympathies were gradually manifested. The treaty between France and Savoy (1630), which detached the latter from Spain, was the first result of these proclivities; after this he cajoled the Spaniards into restoring Pignerol on conditions, not fulfilled, of corresponding value on the other side. Upon his return to Rome he was accused of having betrayed the cause of Spain; but Cardinal Barberini defended him from all attacks, and Richelieu wrote the pontiff a letter teeming with his praises, and soliciting that he should be appointed nuncio to the court of France. This recommendation was not complied with until 1634, although he was named vice-legate of Avignon two years prievously. His mission was to demand the re-instalment of the Duc de Lorraine in his possessions. Soon after his arrival in Paris he was attacked by a severe illness; Richelieu overwhelmed him with benefits and attentions, installed him in his own château at Ruel, solicited for him a cardinal's hat, and sent him as his own representative to the baptism of the dauphin. The hat was refused, and Spain, which could not be blind to this diplomatic comedy, was so loud in her complaints that the pope determined upon his recall.

Although his family now held a distinguished position in Rome — he himself had been created Monsignore — his mother being dead, his father had re-married into the noble house of Ursins, and his sisters had formed alliances almost equally distinguished — he resolved to renounce the service of the papal court, return to France, and place himself at the disposal of Richelieu. It was doubtless a prearranged affair; at all events, he was quite certain of being received with open arms; and it so happened that the cardinal's alter ego, Père Joseph, died about this time, thus leaving the field entirely clear for the new favourite. In 1639 he was naturalized a French citizen, "on account of the praiseworthy and important services he had rendered in divers negotiations." From that time he was employed in various diplomatic affairs, and in 1642 was created cardinal, the hat being placed upon his head by the king's own hands.

In the last month of that year died the great Richelieu. On his death-bed he strongly commended his protégé to the king; his commendation was not neglected — a circumstance as much owing to Mazarin's having already secured the royal favour as to respect for the dead servant's request, — he was at once admitted to the council; and as a further honour was selected to stand godfather to the dauphin, whose christening took place about this period.

The sinking state of Louis' health, and the extreme youth of his successor, turned all men's thoughts toward the inevitable regency, which lay between the queen and the Duc d'Orléans: the respective