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delivered to the Spanish troops, the French retaining possession of the citadel; and the representatives of the different Powers assembled at the Diet of Ratisbon were, if possible, to settle the questions at issue. Should war recommence, the whole of Casale was to be placed in the hands of the French, if relieved before the 1st of November; if not, Spinola was to enter the town, nevertheless under a regular engagement that preserved the rights of Charles of Gonzaga.

The weeks of the armistice passed between preparations for war and negotiations at Ratisbon. The French army, powerfully reinforced, was placed under the command of Schomberg, one of the great Huguenot soldiers of the_monarchy, and was concentrated in the valley of the Po, in readiness to march to the relief of Casale. Death having removed Spinola from the scene-the late public slight of the Spanish minister had hastened the end of that haughty spirit the Marquis of Santa Croce was appointed commanderin-chief of the Spanish forces, while Collalto, still at the head of the Austrians, prepared to co-operate with his colleague. During the interval Mazarin exerted himself in smoothing away the obstacles to peace, and in urging the obvious policy of settling the Italian question separately at Ratisbon. By the 1st of October it had become evident that this latter object would not be attained; and Schomberg notified that if peace were not concluded by the 15th, he would march to the relief of Casale, according to the stipulations of the armistice. He had arrived almost within sight of the fortress at the head of a large and formidable army, when on the 20th he received a copy of a treaty signed at Ratisbon on the 13th, which provided for the pacification of Italy. This arrangement, which, though afterwards disavowed in some essential points by Richelieu, assuredly was for the present binding, secured the Duchies to Charles of Gonzaga, restored Piedmont to the Duke of Savoy, and guaranteed the complete evacuation of the Peninsula by the French and Austrians. On one point of supposed importance to military honour, it was indeterminate. It seemed to imply that the citadel of Casale should in any event be surrendered by the French, for it declared that the Spanish army should take possession of the entire of the town, and should hand it over to Charles of Gonzaga, within fifteen days from the grant of investiture.

This last provision touched to the quick the pride of Schomberg and the French army. Was the great fortress which, so to speak, had been the centre and prize of the war, to be given up by its gallant garrison to the enemies who had

failed to take it, under the eyes of comrades advanced to the rescue? And was it certain that this grand object of Spanish ambition would be ever let go by them who were to become its occupants? Schomberg declared the terms of the armistice not inconsistent with those of the treaty-that, being on the spot, he would relieve Casale, and that he would even risk a battle for a point of national honour and interest. He would desist, however, if Charles of Gonzaga were given immediate possession of Casale, the French and Spanish troops together abandoning the ground they respectively occupied. Collalto and Santa Croce insisted that these propositions were inadmissible, and contrary to the letter of the treaty; and, hastening to the head of their forces, prepared at once for a general engagement. Notwithstanding all that had taken place, it appeared that the plains around Casale would be the theatre of a terrible battle which, involving military and national faith, would make a European war inevitable, and plunge Italy in ruin and bloodshed.

Most fortunately, however, this consummation was averted by the young diplomatist who had toiled with such perseverance and skill in the sacred cause of the peace of his country. As the hostile armies drew towards each other, Mazarin hastened to Casale at once, and flew from camp to camp to endeavour to make the voice of reason heard amidst the din of arms and passion. After efforts which conspicuously displayed his admirable tact and fertility of expedients, and appeals, in which his persuasive eloquence rose often, it is said, to fine pathos, he succeeded in obtaining the assent of the rival commanders to a compromise which satisfied their punctilious jealousies and fell in with their supposed duties. In compliance with the demands of Schomberg, the French were neither to surrender Casale, nor the Spanish to enter into occupation of it; both armies were to evacuate the town, and Charles of Gonzaga to take possession. To gratify, however, the pride of the allies, and to preserve the shadow of the Imperial title, an Austrian High Commissioner was to share some functions of sovereignty with that Prince until the regular grant of investiture. Meantime all hostilities were to cease; the armies of the different Powers were to be separated by a prescribed distance; and all further questions in dispute were to await the decision of the plenipotentiaries.

This arrangement, due to Mazarin wholly, which put a stop to a terrible conflict, and for a time secured to Italy the repose of which she was so much in need, was not effected until

the rival armies were about to close in the shock of battle. We quote M. Cousin's felicitous description:

'The battle had already almost commenced. Toiras had marched out of the citadel with two or three hundred horse and as many foot soldiers to see what service he could render. The Spanish and Imperial army was marshalled in formidable lines that showed like fortresses. Within was seen the Marquis of Santa Croce with the artillery, in the midst of his staff; Galas was at the head of his veteran infantry, and Piccolomini of the German cavalry, on whom had devolved the first onset. Schomberg was in the French centre; on the right wing was Marshal de la Force, on the left Marshal de Marillac. All three were in motion on the front of the army. When within range the soldiers knelt down; prayers were said, and afterwards a few words were addressed to them to arouse their courage. "Never," wrote Richelieu, " was there a finer day. It was as "if the sun had multiplied his light to illustrate with peculiar dis"tinctness every feature of such an important action." It was now about four in the afternoon. The cavalry rode, sword and pistol in hand, the infantry marched with an even step, and with a resolute and cheerful countenance. The Spanish cannon had opened its fire, and was making ravages in our ranks, but without shaking them or causing disquiet. The sentiment of the approach of great danger produced on all sides a solemn silence. Piccolomini, who had moved from his station, to reconnoitre and ascertain if the moment to charge had come, had had a horse shot under him. The forlorn hope and the volunteers who had been told off for the first attack had reached the foot of the Spanish entrenchments. On a sudden a cavalier was seen to ride from those entrenchments at a gallop, to make his way through the volleying shot, and with his cap in one hand and a crucifix in the other, to cry out with a loud voice, "Peace! "Peace!" It was Mazarin, who, approaching Schomberg, informed that general that he had been sent by Santa Croce to assent to the proposition on which that morning they had made an agreement. The French astounded had come to a halt, when two discharges of cannon exasperated our soldiers, and they rushed forward to engage the enemy. Mazarin set off to the Spanish camp, put an end to the firing, and hastening back, implored the generals, in his alarm lest some new accident might occur, to hold a conference upon that instant. They agreed : Santa Croce, with his principal officers, Don Philip Spinola, the Count Serbellone, the Duke of Lerma, the Duke of Nocera and some others, left the Spanish camp; Galas, Piccolomini, and the Imperial commander proceeded from their own lines; and the French marshals having done the same, the conference took place on the field of battle.'

From this time the reputation of Mazarin was established in the councils of Europe. In looking back at the complicated drama in which he played so eminent a part, we agree with M. Cousin that he displayed the very highest diplomatic ability. Some circumstances, indeed, were much in his

favour-the reverence which, even in that age, was felt for an envoy of the Pope by the representatives of the Catholic monarchies, the jealousies and weaknesses of a coalition which paralysed the arm of Spain and Austria, and the series of accidents which prevented Richelieu from carrying out his warlike policy. For these sufficient allowance, perhaps, has not been made in the present volume. Yet Mazarin's splendid and hard-won success was caused in the main by his own genius; by his singular power of influencing men; by his exquisite tact, urbanity, and persuasiveness; by his clear perception in forming his designs, and his admirable energy and skill in pursuing them. It is astonishing that a youthful subordinate, hitherto unknown in the political sphere, should in a few months have gained the respect and confidence of so many great men; should have acted with such acuteness and wisdom, such firmness of purpose, such wonderful ingenuity, in a situation of so difficult a kind; should, in spite of continual obstacles and mischances, have conducted to a triumphant issue negotiations so intricate and arduous. Were this episode all that history could record of the character of Mazarin, it would show that his was one of those minds that re formed to direct the councils of kings, and to leave their traces on the fate of empires. Yet, as we have said, we do not think that Mazarin as a statesman deserves the unqualified and extreme praise which M. Cousin is inclined to give him. If he added noble provinces to France, and crowned the work of his great predecessor, he developed those schemes of French aggression which have hitherto always ended in disaster; and, in aggrandising the monarchy, he stifled some germs of national liberty. Even in the actual condition of France-when the foreign policy of Richelieu and Mazarin is perhaps covertly revived, when the annexation of Savoy and Nice has rewarded the services of France to Italy, and when the Empire, without the dignity, aspires to the position of the Bourbon Monarchy in the days of its supremacy in Europe-a writer of M. Cousin's powers may remember that territorial extension costs an enormous price; that the splendour and the glory of a government are no true test of a people's greatness; and that the acquisition of territory and influence abroad does not, in reality, lighten the burden of internal despotism. We do not question M. Cousin's sincere adherence to those liberal principles, both in France and in Italy, which are not less honourable to him than his philosophy and his eloquence and we trust that no one will attempt to draw from his pages an apology for foreign aggressions or wars adverse to the cause of national independence and public freedom.

ART. III.-Irresponsible Boards. A Speech delivered by Lord HENRY GORDON LENNOX, M.P., in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, 18th March, 1862. Chichester and London: 1862.

IT was not until some time after the passing of the Reform Bill that the nation began to interest itself actively in demanding public institutions for promoting science, art, and education. The contrast between the positive apathy on these subjects which existed half a century ago and the feeling which is now shown both in and out of Parliament will appear very striking when we recall a few of the circumstances of the last fifty years. At the beginning of that period the sole public repository which existed for preserving objects of art and science, the property of the nation and supported by Parliament, was the British Museum. It is only about thirty years since the late Mr. John Wilson Croker and others, when the British Museum was discussed in Parliament, used to jeer at Bloomsbury as a terra incognita, and Charles Buller's wit sparkled in an article describing a voyage to those parts and the manners and customs of the natives. About a hundred visitors a day on an average, in parties of five persons only, were admitted to gape at the unlabelled rarities and curiosities' deposited in Montague House. A very small public, indeed, studied or even regarded them as illustrations of the fine arts, or of science and of human culture and intelligence. The state of things outside the British Museum was analogous. Westminster Abbey was closed except for divine service and to show a closet of wax-work. Admittance to the public monuments in St. Paul's and other churches was irksome to obtain and costly even the Tower of London could not be seen for less than six shillings. The private picture-galleries were most difficult of access, and, for those not belonging to the upper ten thousand, it might be a work of years to get a sight of the Grosvenor or Stafford Collections. No National Gallery existed, and Lord Liverpool's Government refused to accept the pictures offered by Sir Francis Bourgeois, now at Dulwich, even on the condition of merely housing them. The National Portrait Gallery, the South Kensington Museum, and the Geological Museum were not even conceived. Kew Gardens were shabby and neglected, and possessed no Museum. Hampton Court Palace was shown, by a fee to the housekeeper, one day in the week. No public Schools of Art or

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