sier). The Co-adjutorship of the Archbishopric of Paris, which
the Regent had just granted him, in consideration of his own services
and the virtues of his father, had mollified him, it is true; but his
old accomplices, who had not been so well treated as he, had remained
faithful to their cause, to their designs, to their habitudes. Was De
Retz then sincere when he refused to believe that they had attempted
against Mazarin that which he had seen them undertake, and which he had
himself undertaken against Richelieu? In his blind hatred he throws
everything upon Mazarin: he pretends that he was terrified, or that he
feigned terror. It was the Abbe de la Riviere, he tells us, who, in
order to rid himself of the rivalry of the Count de Montresor in the
Duke d'Orleans' favour, must have persuaded Mazarin that there was a
plot set on foot against him, in which Montresor was mixed up. It was
the Prince de Conde also who must have tried to destroy Beaufort through
fear lest his son, the Duke d'Enghien, might engage with him in some
duel, as he wished to do, to avenge his sister, during the short visit
he made to Paris after taking Thionville.

To the suspicious opinions of de Retz and La Rochefoucauld let us oppose
testimony more disinterested, and before all other the silence of
Montresor,[1] who, whilst protesting that neither he nor his friend the
Count de Bethune had meddled with the conspiracy imputed to the Duke de
Beaufort, says not a single word against the reality of that conspiracy,
which he would not have failed to ridicule had he believed it imaginary.
Madame de Motteville, who was not in the habit of overwhelming the
unfortunate, after having reported with impartiality the different
rumours circulated at Court, relates certain facts which appear to her
authentic, and which are decisive.[2] One of the best informed and most
truthful of contemporary historians expresses not the slightest doubt on
this head. "The _Importants_," says Monglat, "seeing that they could not
drive the Cardinal out of France, resolved to despatch him with their
daggers, and held several councils on this subject at the Hotel de
Vendome." That opinion is confirmed by new and numerous particulars with
which Mazarin's _carnets_ and confidential letters furnish us.

[1] Memoires, Petitot Collection, t. lix.

[2] Memoires, t. i., p. 184.

The person whom Mazarin signalizes in his _carnets_ and letters as the
trusted friend of Beaufort