Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/83

Rh the Duke de Vendôme, the Duke de Beaufort, the Count de Beaupuis, De Thou, the Duke de Bouillon, the Duke de Guise, Madame de Montbazon, and Madame de Chevreuse. We see in these letters that Alexandre de Campion, born in 1610, of a noble family of Normandy, in 1634 entered, at the age of twenty-four, into the service of the young Count de Soissons in the quality of gentleman, followed him in his different campaigns, distinguished himself therein, and gradually shared his confidence with Beauregard, Saint Ibar, and Varicarville—brave officers and men of honor, but restless and somewhat turbulent, who flattered the ambition of their master and urged him on in concert to play a conspicuous rôle in France by overthrowing the Cardinal de Richelieu. Campion informs us that, in the year 1636, the Count de Soissons began to meditate on what he afterwards executed, that he had a perfect understanding with the Duke de Bouillon, and that both exerted themselves to draw the Duke d'Orleans to Sedan, in order to raise there the standard of revolt, and constrain the king to sacrifice his minister. Campion went to Blois in order to secure the Duke d'Orleans and to point out to him the surest means of repairing to Sedan. At the same time, he was negotiating with Richelieu through Father Joseph. The close of the year 1636 and the whole of the year 1637 passed in these intrigues, which failed at last through the fear of trusting the conspirators to embark in the enterprise at the moment of action. The Count de Soissons ended by becoming reconciled with Richelieu through the medium of his brother-in-law, the Duke de Longueville, all the while preserving the intention of separating from the cardinal and of destroying him as soon as he should find a good opportunity. During this peace of short duration, the confidant of the Count de Soissons labored to procure himself partisans by every means. He connected himself with Cinq-Mars, and though the count was secretly engaged to a person whom he loved, and who is not named in the letters, Alexandre de Campion did not scruple