of a successor might be made, its
duties would be as efficiently fulfilled. She was, moreover, at that
particular time earnestly occupied with the preparations necessary for
the coronation of her son, and the retirement of Sully could not fail to
involve her in embarrassment and difficulty; she consequently sought to
conciliate the veteran minister, expressed her resentment at the
annoyances of which he complained, declared her perfect satisfaction
with everything that he had done since the recognition of her regency,
and finally entreated him to take time and to reflect calmly upon the
subject before he pressed her to accede to his request.

Sully complied with her wishes, but he did so without the slightest
feeling of exultation. He was convinced that his favour was undermined
and his removal from office already determined, and he accordingly
experienced no sensation of self-gratulation at the expressed reluctance
of the Queen to deprive herself of the oldest and ablest servant of her
late consort. He was, perhaps, proud of being so acknowledged, but he
was also aware that what he had been to the murdered King he could never
hope to become to the Regent, who had already suffered herself to be
governed by greedy sycophants and ambitious favourites.

The most important subject which occupied the Council at the
commencement of the Regency was the question of the expediency or
non-expediency of pursuing the design of the late King relative to the
duchies of Juliers and Cleves. During the time which had elapsed since
the levy of the French troops the several pretenders to the succession
had not been idle, and hostile measures had already been adopted. The
Catholic Princes of Germany were opposed to the claims of the Protestant
party, the Dutch and the Spaniards siding with the former and the
English with the latter; several towns had already been taken by each
faction, and the virulence displayed on both sides threatened the
infraction of the truce with Flanders, if not a universal war throughout
Christendom. Nevertheless, the general voice was against any
interference on the part of France, the ministers being anxious to avoid
an outlay which under the then circumstances of the kingdom they deemed
alike useless and impolitic, while the nobles, fearing to lose the
advantages which each promised himself by confining the attention of the
Queen to the internal economy of the state, came to the same decision.
Sillery alone co