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Updated: September 15, 2025
Philip waited in vain for the return of the squadron; left to its own devices, it nevertheless held out; the fortifications seemed to be impregnable; the siege-works proceeded slowly; the soldiers were disgusted, and began to indulge to excess in the wine of Spain. "No one who gets drunk shall have the honor of mounting the breach," said Richelieu's general order.
It was not, however, by easy steps that Richelieu's disciple and successor obtained a firm grasp of that plenary power which the master mind of the former had consolidated and long wielded so grandly and terribly. The Queen herself at the commencement of the Regency had not yet renounced her former friendships.
As all classes had grievances, all were represented in this general undoing of the last minister's great work. But as no two classes desired the same thing, the miserable war, without genius and without system, miserably failed. The royal cause triumphed; and Richelieu's political structure was not even shaken. Mazarin stood inflexibly by the work of his great predecessor.
New France, at the breaking out of such a war, had something to dread from New England, so much further advanced in colonization. Cardinal Richelieu's plan of Canadian settlement was roughly interfered with, by the capture of his first emigrant ships by Sir David Kerk, who afterwards proceeded to Tadousac, burned the village, and proceeded to Quebec to summon Champlain to surrender.
My uncle and I quitted France, the France that persecutes and harasses us, that desires the destruction of our family and the forcible union of our territory with her own. The late Queen, of illustrious and glorious memory, disapproved of Richelieu's injustice towards us. Under the ministry of the Cardinal, his successor, she often, in noble fashion, held out to us a helping hand.
De Luynes, enriched by the confiscated wealth of the Concini, now became supreme at Paris only to demonstrate a pitiful incapacity. The nobles had risen and were rallying round Marie; the Protestants were defying the state; but Luynes was impotent, and soon went to a dishonoured grave, leaving chaos behind him. Richelieu's star was now in the ascendant.
When their deputies waited upon him, to desire a short time for deliberation, he answered, "Not a moment the duke de Richelieu's orders are peremptory, and admit of no delay." He accordingly ordered the cannon to advance; the wall was scaled, and the gates would have been forced open, had not the magistrates, at the earnest importunity of the people, resolved to comply with his demand.
But Mazarin, the inheritor, not only of Richelieu's power, but also of his principles and his projects, followed out with renewed zeal the plans of his predecessor, though the French subject was destined to pay dearly enough for the political greatness of his country.
The third person of the family who gave him uneasiness was Mademoiselle de Valois, whom he suspected of being Richelieu's mistress, but without ever being able to obtain certain proof although he had put his police on the watch, and had himself more than once paid her visits at hours when he thought it most probable he should meet him.
In Languedoc, even during Montmorency's insurrection, the Parliament remained faithful to the king and submissive to the cardinal, whilst the states declared in favor of the revolt: in Brittany, the Parliament thwarted Richelieu's efforts in favor of trade, which had been enthusiastically welcomed by the states.
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