informed them, Louis XIII had himself
asserted that since her Majesty had failed to content herself with the
exalted position which she had at one time filled in France, it was not
to be anticipated that she would rest satisfied with that which, should
she return, she must hereafter occupy; but would once more become a
rallying point for all the malcontents who were formerly her
adherents.[223]

Thus prompted, the members of the council readily came to the conclusion
"that the King could not with safety decide upon the proposition of the
Queen-mother until the establishment of a solid peace had placed the
intentions of that Princess beyond suspicion, being aware of her
intelligence with the enemies of his kingdom; and that, from the same
motive, as well as from the apprehension that she might be induced to
make an ill use of her revenues, they were of opinion that they should
only be restored to her on the condition that she should fix her future
residence at Florence." [224]

This was, as we have already shown, the invariable expedient of
Richelieu, who was aware that the prospect of the Queen-mother's return
to France was not more repugnant to himself than the idea of retiring in
disgrace and dishonour to her birthplace had ever been to his unhappy
victim; and the proposal was accordingly repeated at every opportunity,
because the minister was aware that it would never be accepted; while it
afforded, from its apparent liberality, a pretext for casting the whole
odium of her prolonged exile upon Marie de Medicis herself.

In order to carry out the vast schemes of his ambition, the Cardinal
had, at this period, reduced the monarch to a mere cypher in his own
kingdom; but he could not, nevertheless, blind himself to the fact that
Louis XIII, who was weak rather than wicked, had frequent scruples of
conscience, and that during those moments of reflection and remorse he
was easily influenced by those about him; while, whenever this occurred,
he evinced a disposition to revolt against the ministerial authority
which alarmed the Cardinal, and compelled him to be constantly upon his
guard. After having throughout fifteen years successfully struggled
against the spread of Calvinism, and that remnant of feudal anarchy
which still lingered in France; humbled the House of Austria, his most
dreaded rival; and, in order to aggrandize the state he served, sowed
the seeds of revolution in every other European nation, and thus
com