ecclesiastic to proceed. Emboldened by this attention,
Caussin did not scruple to declare that the Cardinal had usurped an
amount of power which tended to degrade the royal authority; that the
subjects of France were reduced to misery by the exorbitant taxation to
which they were subjected; and that the interests of religion itself
were threatened by Richelieu, who was affording help to the Swedes and
the Protestants of Germany.

"Shake off this yoke, Sire," concluded the Jesuit; "exert your royal
prerogative, and dismiss the Cardinal-Duke from office. Be the sovereign
of your own nation, and the master of your own actions. You will have a
more tranquil conscience, and a more prosperous reign."

"You are perhaps right, Father," replied the King with emotion; "but you
must give me time for reflection."

Caussin obeyed, auguring well of his mission; but his self-gratulation
was premature, for he had scarcely left the closet of his penitent when
he was succeeded by the Cardinal, who, perceiving the agitation of the
King, experienced little difficulty in extorting from him the subject of
the conversation in which he had just been engaged; and a few moments
sufficed to restore alike the complacency of Louis and his confidence in
his minister.

There is sufficient evidence to prove that the French King never
bestowed his regard upon Richelieu; as a boy he had evinced towards him
an undisguised aversion which he never overcame, but he had learnt to
fear him; the feeble mind of the monarch had bowed before the strong
intellect of the minister; the sovereign could not contend against the
statesman; the crown of France rested upon the brows of the one, but her
destinies were poised in the hand of the other; and the strength of
Richelieu grew out of the weakness of his master.

As a natural consequence of his imprudence Caussin was shortly
afterwards arrested, and banished to Brittany; and the Cardinal no
sooner ascertained the complicity of Monod than, despite the reluctance
of the Duchess of Savoy to abandon a man who had hazarded his life in
her cause, he was, in his turn, condemned to expiate his error by a
rigorous captivity.[219]

The unhoped-for pregnancy of Anne of Austria at this period once more
revived the hopes of Marie de Medicis, who trusted that on such an
occasion a general amnesty would necessarily supervene. She deceived
herself, however; for although Richelieu professed the greatest desire
to see her once