ed. That is rather a hazardous assertion, for if she indeed
aided in the liberation of the Princes, none of the promises she
made--in all sincerity doubtless--became realised. But, says Bossuet
further, and this time with more precision, "her peculiar
characteristic was to conciliate opposite interests, and, in raising
herself above them, to discover the secret point of junction and knot,
as it were, by which they might be united." She had resolved to win over
the Duke d'Orleans, Madame de Chevreuse, De Retz, and the keeper of the
seals, Chateauneuf. She therefore signed with them four different
treaties. With the Duke d'Orleans she promised the hand of the young
Duke d'Enghien in marriage to one of the Prince's daughters; to Madame
de Chevreuse that of Mademoiselle de Chevreuse to the Prince de Conti;
to De Retz, the cardinal's hat; to Chateauneuf, the post of prime
minister. All consented to favour the princess's designs, and Mazarin,
whom she could not convince, found himself surrounded by enemies whose
union was formidable. That minister made allusion to the dread with
which he was inspired when he remarked some years afterwards to Don
Louis de Haro: "The most turbulent among the men does not give us so
much trouble to keep him in check as the intrigues of a Duchess de
Chevreuse or a Princess Palatine." In vain, according to his wont, did
he again attempt to temporise. Anne de Gonzagua, who was ready to open
fire with all her batteries, sought to terrify him by the perspective of
a menacing future. "She caused him to be informed that he was lost if he
did not determine upon giving the Princes their liberty, assuring him
that if he did not do it promptly he would see, in a few days, the whole
Court and every cabal banded against him, and that all aid would fail
him." Mazarin, obstinate in his determination, and unwilling to believe
that she had so thoroughly played her game as to hold in hand the
threads of so many intrigues, begged her to defer the matter, asked time
for reflection, and conducted himself in such a way in short that the
princess saw clearly that he only wanted to gain time. She therefore
hesitated no longer, but allowed those who were agitating impatiently
around her to commence action.

The party of the Princes had been dubbed by the name of the _New
Fronde_. The old, although it had lost its energy by its union with the
Court, preserved nevertheless its hatred to the prime minister. It was
not in D