Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 4, 2025
Archduke Albert, through his ambassador in Paris, Peter Pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between Henry and his kinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. He enquired whether the King would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of the Prince.
"The father and aunt have been talking to Pecquius," said Henry very dismally; "but they give me much pain. They are even colder than the season, but my fire thaws them as soon as I approach." "P. S. I am so pining away in my anguish that I am nothing but skin and bones. Nothing gives me pleasure. And the King took to his bed.
All that the Constable and his sister desired was that the Archduchess would receive the Princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. The Constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and Peter Pecquius was much moved.
Subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of state convinced Pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake the constancy of the Archduke, but that they almost all highly disapproved the policy of the King. "If this war goes on, we are all ruined," said the Duke d'Epernon to the Nuncius.
M. de Refuge knows best whether or not Marquis Spinola, Ottavio Visconti, Chancellor Pecquius, and others, were employed in the negotiation by the Archduke. We know very well here that the whole business was conducted by them. The Archduke is willing to give a clean and sincere promise not to re-occupy, and asks the same from the States.
To the last he reported that all the mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke" if the Princess of Conde should come back. Every ambassador in Paris was baffled. Peter Pecquius was as much in the dark as Don Inigo de Cardenas, as Ubaldini or Edmonds.
Upon this Albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the Archduke had ever made such a promise. "To the Marquis de Coeuvres," replied Henry. Pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the King had really said that de Coeuvres had made such a statement. Henry repeated and confirmed the story.
All that the Constable and his sister desired was that the Archduchess would receive the Princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. The Constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and Peter Pecquius was much moved.
Pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, said that "for nothing in the world would his Highness the Archduke descend to a cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour." Villeroy said that the Prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to follow him to the Netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey a husband who forsook country and king.
Upon this Albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the Archduke had ever made such a promise. "To the Marquis de Coeuvres," replied Henry. Pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the King had really said that de Coeuvres had made such a statement. Henry repeated and confirmed the story.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking