Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/163

Rh that they should profit by the victory of Rocroy, and bring France to the banks of the Rhine. The first proposition, without doubt, came from the young conqueror, but to Mazarin belongs the credit of comprehending it, sustaining it, and securing its ultimate triumph. If never had prime minister been served by such a general, never either had general been served by such a prime minister; and thanks to both, on the 11th of August, while messieurs, the Importants, were employing their talents in offering a base affront to the noble sister of the hero who had just saved France and was now on the point of extending its territories—while they were displaying their eloquence in the salons or whetting their daggers in dark cabals, Thionville, then one of the chief strongholds of the Empire, surrendered after an obstinate defence, thus enabling our armies to march to the assistance of Guébriant, cover Alsatia, cross the Rhine, and go to cope with Mercy. The regency of Anne of Austria was opening under the most brilliant auspices. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the minister to whom the queen owed so much, instead of obtruding himself on her and pretending to a right to rule her, was at her feet, lavishing attentions, respect, and affection on her such as she never before had known. Far from perceiving any resemblance to the imperious and moody Richelieu, she could recall with pleasure the words of Louis XIII. when he presented Mazarin to her for the first time in 1639 or 1640, "He will please you, Madame, because he resembles Buckingham." But he was a Buckingham of a very different stamp. She could not but have shuddered when Mazarin placed before her eyes all the proofs of the odious conspiracy that had been formed against him. There must have been full explanations between them. More than ever he must have urged her to throw off the mask, to sacrifice the circumspection which she had studied to preserve to what was now become a manifest