. This offensive command was no sooner
obeyed than the Keeper of the Seals severely reprimanded them for their
disloyalty and disobedience; and before time was afforded for a reply,
the King demanded that the official register should be delivered up to
him, which was no sooner done than he passionately tore out the leaf
upon which the decree had been inscribed, and substituted that of his
own Council, by which the Court of Parliament was forbidden all
deliberation on declarations of state, at the risk of the suspension of
its Councillors, and even of greater penalties, should such be deemed
advisable.[155]

This proceeding so much incensed the Duc d'Orleans that he in his turn
forwarded a declaration to the Parliament, in which he affirmed that he
had quitted the kingdom in consequence of the persecution of the
Cardinal de Richelieu, whom he accused of an attempt upon his own life,
and upon that of the Queen-mother; which was, as he affirmed, to have
been succeeded by a third against the sovereign, in order that the
minister might ultimately make himself master of the state; and Monsieur
had scarcely taken this step when Marie de Medicis adopted the same
policy. The Parliament had in past times warmly seconded her interests;
and she still hoped that it would afford her its protection. In the
appeal which she made, she dilated in the first place upon her own
wrongs; and complained that, without having in anywise intrigued against
either the sovereign or the nation, she was kept a close prisoner at
Compiegne; while she, moreover, followed up this representation by
accusing Richelieu of all the anarchy which existed in the kingdom, and
by demanding to be permitted to appear publicly as his accuser.

The appeal was, however, vain. The Parliament, indignant at the insult
which had been offered to them, and alarmed at the violence exhibited by
Louis in the affair of Monsieur, would not even consent to open her
despatch, but sent it with the seal still unbroken to the King;[156]
and thus the unfortunate Princess found herself compelled to abandon a
hope by which she had hitherto been sustained. She then sought to
interest the people in her favour; and for this purpose she did not
scruple to exaggerate the sufferings to which she was subjected by a
captivity which she represented as infinitely more rigorous than it
was in fact.

Her example was imitated alike by the Duc d'Orleans and the
Cardinal-Minister; and ere long the w