the only adversary he had to face. His advisers were
divided as to the course to be taken with this formidable vassal. Was he
to be dealt with by war or by negotiation? Count de Dampmartin, Marshal
de Rouault, and nearly all the military men earnestly advised war.
"Leave it to us," they said: "we will give the king a good account of
this Duke of Burgundy. Plague upon it! what do these Burgundians mean?
They have called in the English and made alliance with them in order to
give us battle; they have handed over the country to fire and sword; they
have driven the king from his lordship. We have suffered too much; we
must have revenge; down upon them, in the name of the devil, down upon
them. The king makes a sheep of himself and bargains for his wool and
his skin, as if he had not wherewithal to defend himself. 'Sdeath! if
we were in his place, we would rather risk the whole kingdom than let
ourselves be treated in this fashion." But the king did not like to risk
the kingdom; and he had more confidence in negotiation than in war. Two
of his principal advisers, the constable De St. Pol and the cardinal De
la Balue, Bishop of Evreux, were of his opinion, and urged him to the top
of his bent. Of them he especially made use in his more or less secret
relations with the Duke of Burgundy; and he charged them to sound him
with respect to a personal interview between himself and the duke. It
has been very well remarked by M. de Barante, in his _Histoire des Dues
de Bourgogne,_ that "Louis had a great idea of the influence he gained
over people by his wits and his language; he was always convinced that
people never said what ought to be said, and that they did not set to
work the right way." It was a certain way of pleasing him to give him
promise of a success which he would owe to himself alone; and the
constable and the cardinal did not fail to do so. They found the Duke of
Burgundy very little disposed to accept the king's overtures. "By St.
George," said he, "I ask nothing but what is just and reasonable; I
desire the fulfilment of the treaties of Arras and of Conflans to which
the king has sworn. I make no war on him; it is he who is coming to make
it on me; but should he bring all the forces of his kingdom I will not
budge from here or recoil the length of my foot. My predecessors have
seen themselves in worse plight, and have not been dismayed." Neither
the constable De St. Pol nor the cardinal De la Balue sai