were his measures, that the inhabitants of that city shut their gates against him, and refused to admit allies of whose coming they were not previously informed23. They were but a part of the Protestant body, they observed, and must consult their brethren before they could take such a step. This blunder was followed by another. Instead of attacking Oleron, a fertile island and defenceless, Buckingham made a descent on the isle of Ree, which was well garrisoned and fortified. All his military operations shewed equal incapacity and inexperience. He left behind him the small fort of Prie, which covered the landing place; he allowed Thorias, the governor, to amuse him with a deceitful negociation, till St. Martin, the principal fort was provided for a siege; he attacked it before he made any breach, and rashly threw away the lives of his soldiers; and he so negligently guarded the sea, that a French army stole over in small divisions, and obliged him to retreat to his ships. He was himself the last man that embarked; and having lost two-thirds of his land forces, he returned to England, totally discredited both as an admiral and a general, bringing home with him no reputation but that of personal courage2 e 29.

This ill concerted and equally ill-conducted enterprize proved fatal to Rochelle, and to the power of the French Protestants. Cardinal Richelieu, under pretence of guarding the coast against the English, sent a body of troops into the neighbourhood, and ordered quarters to be marked out for twenty-five thousand men. The siege of Rochelle was regularly formed and conducted with vigour by the king, and even by the cardinal in person. Neither the duke of Rohan nor his brother Soubise were in the place; yet the citizens, animated by civil and religious zeal, and abundantly provided with military stores, determined to defend themselves to the last extremity. Under the command of Guiton, their mayor, a man of experience and fortitude, they made an obstinate re

28. Rushworth, vol. i.

VOL. III.

29. Clarendon. Rushworth

sistance,

sistance, and baffled all attempts to reduce the city by force." But the bold genius of Richelieu, which led him to plan the greatest undertakings, also suggested means, equally great and extraordinary, for their execution. Finding it impossible to take Rochelle, while the communication remained open by sea, he attempted to shut the harbour by stakes, and by a boom. Both these methods, however, proving ineffectual, he recollected what Alexander had performed in the siege of Tyre, and projected and finished a mole of a mile's length, across a gulf, into which the sea rolled with an impetuosity that seemed to bid defiance to all the works of man. The place being now blockaded on all sides, and every A. D. 1628. attempt for its relief failing, the inhabitants were obliged to surrender after suffering all the miseries of war and famine, during a siege of almost twelve months. They were deprived of their extensive privileges, and their fortifications were destroyed; but they were allowed to retain possession of their goods, and permitted the free exercise of their religion3o.

Cardinal Richelieu did not stop in the middle of his career. He marched immediately toward the other provinces, where the Protestants possessed many cautionary towns, and were still formidable by their numbers. The duke of Rohan defended himself with vigour in Languedoc; but seeing no hopes of being able to continue the struggle, England, his only natural ally, having already concluded a peace with France and Spain, he had at last recourse to negociation, and obtained very favourable conditions, both for himself and his party. The protestants were left in possession of their estates, of the free exercise of their religion, and of all the privileges granted by the edict of Nantes; but they were deprived of their fortifications or cautionary towns, as dangerous to the peace of the state31.

A. D. 1629.

Mem. du Duc de Roban

31. lbid.

From

From this æra we may date the aggrandizement of the French monarchy, in latter times, as well as the absolute dominion of the prince. That authority which Lewis XI. had acquired over the great, and which was preserved by his immediate successors, had been lost during the religious wars; which raised up, in the Hugonots, a new power, that almost divided the strength of the kingdom, and at once exposed it to foreign enemies and domestic factions. But no sooner was this formidable body humbled, and every order of the state, and every sect, reduced to pay submission to the lawful authority of the sovereign, than France began to take the lead in the affairs of Europe, and her independent nobles to sink into the condition of servants of the court.

Richelieu's system, however, though so far advanced, was not yet complete. But the whole was still in contemplation: nor did he ever lose sight of one circumstance that could forward its progress. No sooner had he subdued the Protestants in France than he resolved to support them in Germany, that he might be enabled, by their means, more effectually to set bounds to the ambition of the house of Austria. And never was the power of that house more formidable, or more dangerous to the liberties of Europe.

Ferdinand II. whom we have seen triumphant over the Palatine and the Evangelical Union, continued to carry every thing before him in Germany. The king of Denmark, and the league in Lower Saxony, were unable to withstand his armies, under Tilly and Walstein. After repeated defeats and losses, the Danish monarch was ob liged to sue for peace; and the emperor found himself, at length possed of absolute authority32.

But fortunately for mankind, Ferdinand's ambition undid itself, and saved Europe, as well as the empire, from that despotism with which both were threatened. Not satisfied with an uncontrolled sway over Germany, he attempted to revive the imperial jurisdiction in Italy. Vincent II. duke

32. Barre, tom. ix. Annal. de l'Emp. tom. ii.

of

of Mantua and Montferrat, having died without issue, Charles de Gonzaga, duke of Nevers, his kinsman, claimed the succession, in virtue of a matrimonial contract, as well as the vicinity of blood. But Cæsar de Gonzaga, duke of Guastalla, had already received, from the emperor, the eventual investiture of those ancient fiefs. The duke of Savoy, a third pretender, would have supplanted the two former, and the king of Spain hoped to exclude all three, under pretence of supporting the latter. Ferdinand's desire of aggrandizing the house of Austria was well known, as well as his scheme of extending the imperial jurisdiction: and both were now made more evident. He put the disputed territories in sequestration, till the cause should be decided at Vienna; and while the Spaniards and the duke of Savoy ravaged Montferrat, a German army took and pillaged the city of Mantua33.

Ferdinand now thought the time was come for realizing that idea which he had long revolved, of reducing the electoral princes to the condition of grandees of Spain, and the bishops to the state of imperial chaplains. Sensible, however, of the danger of alarming both religions at once, he resolved to begin with the Protestants; and accordingly issued an edict, ordering them to restore, without loss of time, all the benefices and church lands, which they had held since the peace of Passau34.

But it was easier to issue such an edict than to carry it into execution; and Ferdinand, though possessed of an army of an hundred and fifty thousand men, under two of the ablest generals in Europe, found reason to repent of his temerity. France gave the first check to his ambition. Cardinal Richelieu had early interested himself in the affairs of Mantua. Lewis in person, had forced the famous pass of Susa, during the siege of Modena. And peace was no sooner concluded with the Hugonots than the cardinal crossed the Alps, 34. Barre, ubi sup.

33. Niger. Disquisit. de Mant. Ducat. Barchelius, p. 185. Puffend. Comment. Reb. Suet. lib. i.

at

at the head of twenty thousand men, gained several advantages over the Spaniards and imperialists, chased the duke of Savoy from his dominions, and obliged the emperor to A. D. 1630. grant the investiture of Mantua and Montferrat to the duke of Nevers35. The duke of Savoy during these transactions, died of chagrin; and Spinola, who had failed. to reduce Cazal, is supposed to have perished of the same distemper. The accommodation between France and the empire, which terminated this war, was partly negociated by Julio Mazarine, who now first appeared on the theatre of the world as a priest and politician, having formerly been a captain of horse 36.

Meanwhile the elector of Saxony, and other princes of the Augsburg Confession, remonstrated against the edict of Restitution: they maintained that the emperor had no right to command such restitution, which ought to be made the subject of deliberation in a general diet. A diet was accordingly held at Ratisbon ; and the greater part of the Catholic princes exhorted the emperor to quiet the Protestants, by granting them, for a term of forty years, the enjoyment of such benefices as they had possessed since the treaty of Passau. But this advice being vigorously opposed by the ecclesiastical electors, who made use of arguments more agreeable to the views of Ferdinand, he continued obstinate in his purpose; and the Protestants, in order to save themselves from that robbery with which they were threatened, and which was already begun in many places, secretly formed an alliance with Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden37.-But before I introduce this extraordinary man, we must take a retrospective view of the northern kingdoms, which had hitherto no connection with the general system of Europe, and had scarce offered any thing interesting since the death of Gustavus Vasa,

35. Auberi. Hist. du Card, Rich. Mazarini.

36. Id. ibid. Gualdo, Vita di 37, Puffend. ubi sup. Barre. tom. ix.