ntire length of France, they
suffered and struggled each for the other: they had the same aim, the
same faith, the same hope. They wrote incessantly to communicate their
thoughts and projects, and thus sought to diminish in imagination the
enormous distance which is between Stenay and Bordeaux.

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I.

THE PRINCESS PALATINE.

THE arrest of the Princes had singularly complicated events on the
political stage. It had displaced all interests, and, instead of
re-uniting parties and consolidating them, it had the effect of
increasing their number. No fewer than five might be counted,
represented by as many principal leaders, around which were grouped
every species of interest and every shade of ambition.

In the first place there was the party of Mazarin, alone against all the
rest. This party had for support the ability of its chief, the
invincible predilection, the unshakeable firmness of Anne of Austria,
and the name of the King. Herein lay its whole strength, but that
strength was immense. It was that which ensured the obedience of the
enlightened and conscientious men who had great influence over the army
and the magistrature. These men adhered to the Prime Minister through a
sentiment of honour, and in consequence of their monarchical principles.
Amidst the disruption of parties, they recognised no other legitimate
authority than that of the Queen Regent; but they desired as strongly,
perhaps, as those of the opposite parties, that Mazarin should be got
rid of. That odious foreigner exposed them all to the public animosity
which pursued himself. Anne of Austria frequently employed the artifices
of her sex to avert their opposition in council, and calm their
discontent.

The party of the Princes, which the success of the enemies of France,
during their captivity, rendered from day to day more popular and
interesting, was composed of all the young nobility. Of its apparent
chiefs, the one alone capable of directing it was the Duke de Bouillon.
But to lead a party it is necessary to identify oneself with it, and
devote oneself to it wholly; and the Duke de Bouillon had views
peculiar, foreign, and even adverse to the interests of his party; and
before such interest he placed that of the maintenance, or rather
elevation, of his own house. The Duchess de Longueville, the Princess de
Conde, La Rochefoucauld, and Turenne had neither sufficient finesse nor
skill in intrigue to be able to