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The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Vicomte De Bragelonne 36 at Prostate Health
insulted, but he did not yet know how to actwith him to whom every one yielded, even his mother. At lasthe made an effort."But," said he, "my lord cardinal, it is not five hundredmen, it is only two hundred.""Well, but you see I guessed what he wanted.""I never denied that you had a penetrating eye, and that waswhy I thought you would not refuse my brother Charles athing so simple and so easy to grant him as what I ask ofyou in his name, my lord cardinal, or rather in my own.""Sire," said Mazarin, "I have studied policy thirty years;first, under the auspices of M. le Cardinal de Richelieu;and then alone. This policy has not always been over-honest,it must be allowed, but it has never been unskillful. Nowthat which is proposed to your majesty is dishonest andunskillful at the same time.""Dishonest, monsieur!""Sire, you entered into a treaty with Cromwell.""Yes, and in that very treaty Cromwell signed his name abovemine.""Why did you sign yours so low down, sire? Cromwell found agood place, and he took it; that was his custom. I return,then, to M. Cromwell. You have a treaty with him, that is tosay, with England, since when you signed that treaty M.Cromwell was England.""M. Cromwell is dead.""Do you think so, sire?""No doubt he is, since his son Richard has succeeded him,and has abdicated.""Yes, that is it exactly. Richard inherited after the deathof his father, and England at the abdication of Richard. Thetreaty formed part of the inheritance, whether in the handsof M. Richard or in the hands of England. The treaty is,then, still as good, as valid as ever. Why should you evadeit, sire? What is changed? Charles wants to-day what we werenot willing to grant him ten years ago; but that wasforeseen and provided against. You are the ally of England,sire, and not of Charles II. It was doubtless wrong, from afamily point of view, to sign a treaty with a man who hadcut off the head of the king your fathers brother-in-law,and to contract an alliance with a parliament which theycall yonder the Rump Parliament; it was unbecoming, Iacknowledge, but it was not unskillful from a politicalpoint of view, since, thanks to that treaty, I saved yourmajesty, then a minor, the trouble and danger of a foreignwar, which the Fronde -- you remember the Fronde sire?" --the young king hung his head -- "which the Fronde might havefatally complicated. And thus I prove to your majesty thatto change our plan now; without warning our allies, would beat once unskillful and dishonest. We should make war withthe aggression on our side, we should make it, deserving tohave it made against us, and we should have the appearanceof fearing it whilst provoking it, for a permission grantedto five hundred men, to two hundred men, to fifty men, toten men, is still a permission. One Frenchman, that is thenation; one uniform, that is the army. Suppose, sire, forexample, that, sooner or later, you should have war withHolland, which, sooner or later, will certainly happen; orwith Spain, which will perhaps ensue if your marriage fails"(Mazarin stole a furtive glance at the king), "and there area thousand causes that might yet make your marriage fail, --well, would you approve of Englands sending to the UnitedProvinces or to Spain a regiment, a company, a squadroneven, of English gentlemen? Would you think that they keptwithin the limits of their treaty of alliance?"Louis listened; it seemed so strange to him that Mazarinshould invoke good faith, and he the author of so manypolitical tricks, called Mazarinades. "And yet," said theking, "without any manifest authorization, I cannot preventgentlemen of my states from passing over into England, ifsuch should be their good pleasure.""You should compel them to return, sire, or at least protestagainst their presence as enemies in an allied country.""But come, my lord cardinal, you who are so profound agenius, try if you cannot find means to assist this poorking, without compromising ourselves.""And that is exactly what I am not willing to do, my dearsire," said Mazarin. "If England were to act exactlyaccording to my wishes, she could not act better than shedoes; if I directed the policy of England from this place, Ishould not direct it otherwise.
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