The Popular Educator

were only too glad to make an opportunity of trying to assert Louis XIV. was called the “Grand Monarque" much in the their independence, not to say their existence. Mazarin had to same way that our Elizabeth was called "good Queen Bess." keep them in check, though he did so in a way different to that The circumstances attendant upon the reigns of both were adopted by his brother cardinal, and he had at the same time exceptional and grand in their character, and around both to devise means for utilising their forces for the royal use, for sovereigns was assembled such an array of men as, both for concentrating within the focus of the crown the rays which ability and courage, were not to be equalled more than once in were straggling and divided all over France. Then there were a century. Louis shone in a light borrowed from those who foreign nations to be dealt with. The Thirty Years' War was were the ministers of his greatness, and without whose help he over, and had left the nations weak and weary of restlessness, could not have stood for a week. Great and stirring events, and glad at heart to welcome a season of quiet and repose. springing many of them from the brains of his sagest coun- Sweden was exhausted, so were all the lesser states of Gersellors, brought these men into conspicuous notice, and the many; even Austria panted for rest. Yet there was that spirit sheen of glory derived from them was reflected on to the head of restlessness, which is ever the outcome of wars and of great of the king, who was the visible representative of their efforts. national disturbances, to be grappled with, and in the case of Another reason, perhaps, might be adduced to show why Louis Austria it was formidable enough. There was just strength himself was called "the Great." It had been the policy of the enough left in that large though disjointed empire to feel anxious French royal family, ever since Louis XI. tried to “deliver the to display itself in that panacea for national domestic troubles, crown from wardship,” to diminish the power of the lords, a foreign war; and there was the memory of the substantial and to concentrate all real power in the king. Many kings help which France had given to Austria's enemies to suggest, if blundered at the work, others were not able to enter upon it ancient rivalry did not suggest it, the direction that a foreign at all; but in the minority of Louis XIII. Cardinal Richelieu war should take. This spirit Cardinal Mazarin had to meet and adopted the idea as the leading feature of his policy, and to counteract, for it did not suit his purpose, nor that of the carried it out so thoroughly that by the end of his adminis-cause he had in hand, to come to blows in any way or with any tration there was scarcely a family in France of any distinc power where he had not evidently the preponderance. He was tien that had not learned a lesson of bitter experience in unwilling to dissipate, on the chance of gaining success, an statecraft under the teaching of the cardinal-king. Cardinal atom of that power which, with a little more care, a little more Mazarin, the ruler of France during the minority of Louis XIV., husbanding, he knew must one day be crushing. Spain was followed, as will be seen, in the same direction, the result being already showing symptoms of that decadence and weakness that whatever individuality had remained in France was now which were afterwards so fully developed, and which formed so utterly extinct, so that any and all glory that presented itself great a contrast to what she had once been. There was nothing was certain to centre in the person of the king.

seriously to be feared from her. Besides, the French ruler had Let us see what the events were which warranted so proud a ulterior views about Spain which were afterwards carried out by title as that of Grand Monarque, and then see how the light in his pupil, when he was able to announce, having placed his which the king shone proved so intense and intolerable, that, grandson on the Spanish throne, that there were no longer any like the lime-light, which burns to its own destruction, it scorched Pyrenees. him up, and made him a laughing-stock who before had been a Holland was as yet too recent from the deadly struggle out of

which she had come only just alive—the struggle for existence When Louis XIV. ascended his father's throne he was only which she had had with Spain—to be troublesome to France. five years old. A regency was necessary, and one was ap. Prussia as yet was not, save in the germ; and Italy was not pointed, at the head of which was Cardinal Mazarin, the subtlest united, and could not threaten. England alone was very forand least scrupulous politician in Europe. Fearful lest the king midable. Under the guidance of the Lord Protector, Cromwell, should by wisdom find him out, the cardinal took measures to she suddenly emerged from the ranks of the second-rate powers prevent him becoming wise, and kept him purposely in ignorance of Europe, and appeared more powerful than she had been since of even the rudiments of education. Amusements and occupa- the days of Henry V. and Agincourt. To the surprise of the tions which could please a lad without instructing him, young statesmen of Earope, the voice of England was once more heard Louis had in abundance, and a natural liking in him

for things not in tones of entreaty or of diplomacy, but of command; and elegant and splendid was studiously developed and pandered to even those states which refused to recognise her ruler were comin every possible way. Louis was taught to consider that his pelled to recognise

the strength that ruler wielded, and were dominions and all that they contained were created for his own afraid to be disobedient to her word. Spain insulted England, will and pleasure to work on, so that it was no wonder when he and English commanders swept off the sea the remnant of grew up, and had had some experience of the way in which men Spanish naval power which the men of Elizabeth had spared. were governed and policy was managed, that he should be the The Dutch, jealous of the rise of their great commercial rivals, author of the maxim, “L'état c'est moi!” (I am the state !) took occasion to make war, and were but too glad, after a series [pon this maxim, or what was tantamount to it, the young of sanguinary conflicts, to take the first occasion of making man's education was based—the idea that several millions of peace. Most of the nations of Europe had to learn by ex. people lived simply to do his will, and that all the resources of perience that the power they had of late years--since the house those people were his to do as he liked with, being uppermost ; of Stuart came to the throne-affected to despise, was a veritable tho idea that there were duties correlative with this entire de power again, one not to be trifled with, one quite able and votion never being once mooted.

willing to asssert itself and to enforce respect. Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Mazarin had no doubt a difficult task to perform alone of all the rulers had the wisdom to see what the new when he acceded to power. The policy of Richelieu, that of republic and her chief meant; he alone had the foresight to weakening the nobles in order to concentrate power on the endeavour betimes to secure their friendship. Peace with Eng. king (the people as yet were not, or rather, knew not their land was necessary to all his plans ; peace must therefore be

hero.

VOL. IV.

Cardinal Mazarin's one grand idea as regarded home policy was to establish absolute monarchy, and his one grand idea as regarded foreign policy was to humble the house of Austria. So well did he succeed by his arts and statecraft in the former, and so well by the arms of the great Condé and Turenne in the latter, that by the time Louis was old enough, or thought himself so, to steer the ship himself, he was to all intents and purposes an absolute king, independent of parliaments, and of troublesome state councils, and in a position to give the word of The civil wars, called the wars of the Fronde, which had desolated a large portion of France, and had shaken civil society to its foundation, were over in the year 1654, and their effect had been only to increase the

command to any single state in Europe.

power in the king's hand.

Cardinal Mazarin died in 1661, a year after the restoration of our Charles II., and Louis, then in the twenty-third year of his age, at once took upon himself individually the cares of governFor years the people, who had been accustomed to be ruled by a prime minister whom they detested, welcomed the idea of personal government by the king himself most enthusiastically, and were loud in their expressions of admiration for a young king who devoted himself to the real business of government, and set bounds to the power of his ministers, whom he also required to give daily accounts of their stewardship to

ment.

himself. For some little time past he had insisted that instruction should be imparted to him, and Mazarin, seeing that the end of his own reign must be at hand, allowed him to have his way. The slight training which Louis' considerable natural powers thus received was turned to the best account, and those who laughed, and put their tongues in their cheek, and said sneerful things, when they saw the king begin to be engaged in actual business, were confounded and alarmed when they saw him persevere in doing it. The idlers, fools, and nonworkers, finding that their master meant business, gave up their posts, and gave place to better men. The immediate result was that the finances of the country, which had got into dire confusion, were established on a sound basis; the troops, who had become more or less demoralised under a system of administration where there was no visible head, were brought under discipline, and order was restored generally in the affairs of the kingdom. Soon began to be seen the fruits of the labour given by Richelieu and Mazarin; soon appeared, in the foreign as well as the domestic policy of France, the effect of one active will at the head of affairs. Aided by men who would have done honour to any country and any age, in every department of government, Louis shone with brilliant light from the first moment of his ruling for himself. His armies were commanded by men who had covered themselves with military glory, and who were second to none of all the generals in Europe; his finance ministers were the first who attempted to frame their budgets on a scientific basis, and with a due regard to the interests of the people as well as of the government; his lawyers were men of the profoundest erudition, and skilled in all knowledge pertaining to their profession; his clergy were of the most eloquent and influential that had been seen anywhere for a hundred years; and, under the genial influence of a court in which elegance and magnificence were the order of the day, art and literature flourished, and the physical sciences made advances such as had not been made under any other king before. Surrounded thus by all that was splendid in genius and in experience, it is no wonder that Louis XIV. was as a star in Europe. The only power which had erewhile kept France, under Mazarin, in check, was England, and England had passed from the hands of the strong man who made her great into the hands of one who made her contemptible, and who actually stooped to - a pension from France as the price of ins. First, the Spanish branch of the ler the lash of Louis. An insult to the

When Cromwell assumed the dictatorship, Mazarin was not only quick to acknowledge his government, but sent a special embassy over to London to congratulate him, and to express his regret that state affairs should prevent his coming over in person to testify his regard “for the first man of the Everything was conceded by Mazarin to the English demands, and though these occasionally rose higher than rulers in general would stand, compliance was given to them, and so the

the same place was instantly noticed, the Spanish envoy to Paris was dismissed summarily from the country, and Louis's father. in-law, the king of Spain, was offered the alternative of an apology or war. The former was chosen, and the power of Spain was shown to be but weakness. Then the hitherto omnipotent court of Rome was humbled by the wisdom of the French counsels, and all nations, including the German empire, surrounding France were laid under obligations which left it impossible for them to dispute the first place with her. The Netherlands, with the Rhine frontier, had ever been an

object of ambition and envy to the French. They hoped and looked for an occasion of wresting them from the Spanish, and uniting them with the French crown. The occasion presented itself in 1667. Philip IV. of Spain died, and Louis claimed the Spanish crown in right of his wife, Maria. Theresa, who was the daughter of Philip by the sister of Louis XIII. He was not at the moment prepared for a campaign in the Peninsula, but the Spanish Netherlands and Franche Compté he thought he might easily manage. His claim being refused, he put a splendid army in motion, took nominal command of it himself, and proceeded literally to walk over his ground. He had but to appear before the gates of cities, in order to gain admission; and when he had done so, allowing his engineers and artillerists to fortify them, he put strong garrisons within them, and thus became master of all Flanders. Franche Compté and Alsaco followed, and the latter provinces were secured to him by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. From this time till 1678, when the peace of Nimeguen was signed, there was a succession of wars on the north and north-eastern frontiers of France, out of which Louis gained a certain amount of military glory, and upon which he spent a great deal of money. His private expenditure was at the same time enormous; the magnificence and costliness of his palaces, his entertainments, his establishments, exceeding the bounds as yet reached by any Western prince. France was beginning to feel the weight of her splendid king, whose ambition soared and whose extravagance increased as the country became less and less able to support the expense of them. All went well, however, with the French arms. Louis XIV. dictated in Europe; his word was law till the day when the Prince of Orange became William III. of England, and proposed to himself the task of setting limits to the French power, commensurate with those which had been set by Cromwell. To this end William worked unceasingly, so soon as the state of things in his new kingdom allowed of his interfering actively inforeign affairs. Louis refused to recognise him as king, and ostentatiously maintained the fugitive James as king at St. Germains, where he lived upon his bounty. This refusal, coupled with other causes of disturbance, brought about a war in which all the malcontents of the Continent—the Dutch, the Netherlands, the smaller German states which were threatened by France—ranged themselves on the English king's party. A wasting war, which still further reduced the resources of France, and which seriously retarded the general progress of Europe. was carried on, the result being that the allies, though generally beaten by the able French commanders, always showed front again immediately after a defeat, and snatched the benefit of results from the victor's hand. Sometimes actual victory crowned the indomitable efforts of William, and in 1697, after eight years of strife, all sides were glad to consent to the peace of Ryswick, by which William was acknowledged to be the king of England, and by which Spain, France, Holland, England, and Germany were set at one. The terms to which France consented were too restrictive to ensure permanent peace. She only wanted repose, breathing space, time to recruit her exhausted resources: and when in 1702 the king of Spain died, the “Grand Monarque" claimed for his grandson, regardless of the consequences, the Spanish crown, which he had expressly agreed should never be joined with that of France. Then came the War of the Succession. William III. was dead in 1702, but his spirit survived in the ministers and generals who remained. The English government of Queen Anne put itself at the head of the allies, who determined to put a curb on the ambition of the “Grand Monarque.” On the 4th of May, 1702, war was declared, and under the command of generals like John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugene of Savoy, the allied armies entered on some of the most glorious

Indon by the Spanish ambassador at

campaigns that have ever been pursued. The battles of Blen.

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The Popular Educator, 第 3～4 巻、第 13 巻