The designs of the Cardinal against the House of Aus tria were now ripe for execution. The Emperor and the Protestant princes of Germany were at war ; the famous Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden embraced their cause ; and Richelieu, regarding this as an excellent opportunity of humbling Austria, agreed to pay Gustavus an annual sub sidy of 1,200,000 livrcs; in consideration of which, the King of Sweden was to maintain in Germany an army of 36,000 men ; to observe a strict neutrality towards the Duke of Bavaria, and all the Princes of the Catholic League, provided they did not join the Emperor ; and to respect the rights of the Roman Catholic church, wherever he should find it established. Thus Richelieu avoided giving alarm or offence to the Catholics, while he furnish ed the princes of that persuasion with a sufficient reason for not joining the Emperor, since thus they would be ex posed to the hostility of Sweden.
While the war was carrying on in Germany, the Car dinal was employed in France in crushing the conspiracies which were formed against him, at the instigation of the Duke of Orleans and the Queen mother. His vigilance and activity were so great, that his enemies had no chance against him. Mary de Medicis was banished the kingdom; her son Gaston was obliged to beg his life ; the Marshals Morillac and Montmorency were brought to the block ; and the most arbitrary sentences were daily passed, in a court erected for the trial of his enemies.
Hitherto France had not engaged in open hostilities with Austria, though, if she had, it is probable the design of Richelieu, of humbling that power, would have been more successful than it proved to be ; but jealous of tavus, or the necessity of keeping a large force in France to awe the discontented, prevented him from acting in an open and decided manner, till the death of the Swedish monarch rendered his efforts unavailing. It is also known that Oxenstein, the minister of Gustavus, was unwilling at first to give the French any footing in Germany. After the unfortunate battle of Nordlingcn, however, Oxenstein put Louis in possession of Philipsburgh and Alsace, on condition that France should take an active part in the war against the Emperor. Richelieu also concluded an alliance with the United Provinces, in the hope of gaining part of the Low Countries ; and he denounced war against Spain. A treaty was at the same time entered into with the Duke of Savoy, in order to strengthen the French interest in Italy.
In a short time, the activity of Richelieu had prepared five armies for active service. The first and largest was sent into the Low Countries, under the command of the Marshals de Chatillon and 13reg; the second, under the command of the Duke de la Force, entered Lorraine ; the the third, under the Marshal de Crequi, entered Milan ; the fourth was led into the Valtcline by the Duke of Ro han ; and the fifth, under the Duke of Saxe Weimar, act ed on the Rhine. But these immense armies performed
scarcely any thing corresponding to their magnitude, or to the hopes and designs of Richelieu : indeed, they were too great for the finances of France to support. The Cardi nal's household alone, which was more splendid than the King's, swallowed up four millions a year. There was no resource but in the wretched expedient of money-edicts ; and these were accurnalated so rapidly, and to such a de gree, that at one sitting, the parliament were obliged to register 42 of them, without examining, or even reading them. The consequences were such as might be antici pated ; the armies in Flanders and Germany mouldered away for want of provisions. The first campaign was everywhere unsuccessful, except in the Valteline, where the Duke of Hoban maintained himself with a few troops, against the Germans and Spaniards, while the Marshal de Crequi, though assisted by the Dukes of Savoy and Parma, could make no progress in Italy. Richelieu, in order to raise so many armies, was obliged to expose France, on the side of Picardy, to the incursions of the allies. The Spanish army, commanded by Prince Thomas of Savoy and the celebrated Piccolomini, entered this province—passed the Somme—made themselves masters of Corbie—and spread terror into the capital. Richelieu, under these ca lamities, remained cool and unshaken, and put forth all his vigour and activity. His own guards were dismissed ; the horses and domestics of the wealthy, and the personal ser vices of the poor, were put in requisition ; and, in a short time, 50,000 men were assembled for the defence of Paris. The command of these was divided between the Duke of Orleans and the Count de Soissons, who compelled the enemy to repass the Somme, and retook Corbie. In the mean time, the Spaniards ravaged Burgundy, and invaded Guienne, but they reaped no advantage from these suc cesses.
Still, however, France had suffered considerably by the war in which she had engaged ; and as Richelieu was known to be the adviser of it, his unpopularity in creased. The Duke of Orleans and the Count de Sois sons, as soon as they had freed their country from the Spaniards, formed a plot to assassinate him in the King's apartment ; and the blow would have been struck, had not the resolution of the Duke forsook him at the very mo ment when the conspirators expected the signal for the as sassination. Scarcely, however, had the Cardinal thus nar rowly escaped, when he was exposed to danger from a quarter where he least dreaded it. Father Caupin, a Jesuit, confessor to the King, employed the influence and opportunities which his character gave him, to exasperate the mind of Louis, by representing the Cardinal as the op pressor of the Queen-mother, the tyrant of the kingdom, and, above all, the support of heretics : but this scheme was soon discovered, and ended in the banishment of the Confessor.