the Queen; all
the rest were shipped off to France. There they filled the court and
the country with their complaints. Those about the Queen-mother
assumed an air as if the most sacred agreements had been infringed,
and any measure of retaliation was thought justifiable.

Marshal Bassompierre indeed set out once more for England in order to
bring about a reconciliation. Though ill received at first, he
nevertheless won his way by his splendid appearance and by clever talk
and moderation. In a preliminary agreement leave was given to the
Queen to receive back a number of priests and some French ladies;[464]
and Buckingham prepared to go to France to remove the obstacles still
remaining. But meanwhile the feeling of estrangement at the French
court had become still stronger. The agreement was not approved: and
the court would not hear of a visit from Buckingham, as it was thought
that he would be sure to use the opportunity afforded by his presence
to stir up the Huguenots. Richelieu thought that the dispute with
England had been provoked by his enemies in order to break up the
friendly relations which he had established. But nevertheless he too
did not wish to see Buckingham in France, for he feared that the
English minister might side outright with his opponents.

Personal considerations of many kinds co-operated in producing this
result, but it was not due mainly to their influence. The religious
sympathies and hatreds at work had incalculable effects. While the
opposition between the two religions again awoke in all its strength,
and a struggle for life and death was being fought out between them in
Germany, an alliance could not well be maintained between two courts
which professed opposite religious views. The current of the general
tendencies of affairs has a power by which the best considered
political combinations are swept into the background.

The paramount importance of religious movements not only prevented a
combination between France and England, but also brought both Catholic
powers into closer agreement with one another, as soon as their
immediate differences had been in some measure adjusted. Father
Berulle had promoted the marriage of a French princess with the King
of England in the hope of converting him; but now that he became
conscious of his mistake, he lent his pen to a project for a common
attack to be made by the Catholic powers upon England. The domestic
dissensions in that country, which a