The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called the Iron Mask. Dover George Agar Ellis
treaty contained also some other articles of minor importance.
Matthioli himself had the honour of being received in a secret audience by Lewis,37 who made him a present of a valuable ring.37 He also received a sum of money for himself,37 and a promise of a much larger gratification38 after the ratification of the treaty. He was also promised that his son should be made one of the King’s Pages; and that his brother, who was in the Church, should receive a good benefice.39 He was then sent back to Italy, with a detailed instruction from Louvois,40 upon the manner of executing the articles of the treaty.
The French Government was thus far so entirely satisfied of the sincerity and good faith of Matthioli, and so convinced of the speedy admission of the French troops into Casale, that they immediately upon his departure took decided measures in furtherance of their plan.41 Thus the Marquis de Boufflers,42 Colonel-General of the Dragoons, was sent to take the command of the forces, which were assembling near the frontier of Italy, at Briançon, in Dauphiny. Catinat,43 Brigadier of Infantry, afterwards the celebrated Marshal of that name, who was to serve under the command of Boufflers, had orders to conceal himself in the fortress of Pignerol,44 and to adopt a feigned name, that of Richemont;45 while the Baron d’Asfeld,46 Colonel of Dragoons, was despatched to Venice, upon a mission for exchanging the ratifications of the treaty; for which purpose he was to unite with M. de Pinchesne, the Chargé d’Affaires there, during the absence of an ambassador.47
Though these measures were taken with the greatest secrecy, it was impossible but that the report of the assembling of the French forces so near the territories of the Duke of Savoy,48 should reach the ears of the Spaniards, and excite their suspicions; as well as those of the Venetians, and of the other Italian states. Accordingly, we find that remonstrances were several times made by the ambassadors of the Emperor49 and King of Spain50 at Venice, to the Duke of Mantua, upon the rumour of his intention of delivering the capital of the Montferrat to Lewis. Ferdinand Charles denied that this was the case;51 but was not believed.
As, therefore, the ferment and discontent in the north of Italy increased, the agents of the French Government were naturally anxious that the treaty should be ratified and executed as soon as possible; for which purpose, the Duke of Mantua had promised to meet the Baron d’Asfeld at Casale, during the month of February, 1679. In proportion, however, as the French became more impatient for the conclusion of the affair, the Count Matthioli found fresh excuses for delaying it. At one moment his own ill health detained him at Padua, and prevented his coming to Venice to confer with Messrs. de Pinchesne and d’Asfeld; at another, the Duke of Mantua could not raise a sufficient sum of money to enable him to transport his court to Casale; at another, it was necessary to have time to persuade Don Vincent Gonzaga52 to accompany the Duke to Casale, as it was not considered safe to leave him at Mantua; and again, the Duke of Mantua was obliged to stay at Venice, having promised to hold a carrousel there.53
In spite of all these difficulties, it was, however, finally arranged, that the Baron d’Asfeld and Matthioli should meet, on the 9th of March, at Incréa, a village ten miles from Casale, in order to make the exchange of the ratifications; that the Duke of Mantua himself, should go to Casale on the 15th of the same month; and should put the troops of Lewis into possession of the place on the 18th; on which day, being the ninth after the ratification, it was decided they could without fail be there.54
The various excuses made by Matthioli, for the non-execution of his agreement, all more or less frivolous, appear first to have given to the French Government a suspicion of his fidelity. Whether the reception of Matthioli at the French court had not been such as he expected, though it would appear to have been most gracious; or whether, which is more probable, the sum of money there given to him did not content him; – or whether, which is also probable, the Spaniards having got some knowledge of the transaction, had offered him a still larger bribe, it is impossible for us, at this distance of time, exactly to decide; but it appears evident, that, from the time of his return from Paris, his conduct with regard to the negociation became entirely changed; and he was as anxious to procrastinate, as he had formerly been to advance it. It was, therefore, natural for the French diplomatists to conclude, supported as this opinion also was by various circumstantial evidence, that he had been bought by the other side – a circumstance of no extraordinary occurrence in the career of a needy Italian adventurer.
His weak and timid master followed implicitly his counsels; but appears to have been himself in the intention of acting fairly and faithfully by the French Government. The first intimation that is given in the correspondence of the suspicions, with regard to the conduct of Matthioli, occurs in a letter from Pomponne55 to Matthioli himself, dated February 21st, 1679, in which he says that Lewis “is unwilling to doubt that the promise which has been so solemnly made56 him will not be kept;” an expression which certainly seems to imply, that some doubt did exist in the mind of Lewis and of his ministers upon the subject.
The next is an elaborate and skilful letter of Estrades to Matthioli, written on the 24th of March, 1679,57 from Turin, where he was then awaiting the execution of the treaty, in which he mingles promises and threats to encourage him to perform his stipulations; and shows sufficiently his suspicions to the object of them, to frighten him; at the same time leaving open the hope of forgiveness in case of future good conduct.
By the subsequent letters58 of Pomponne to Pinchesne, it appears, that the treachery of Matthioli soon became more apparent. Indeed, Estrades, during his stay at Turin, obtained the most indubitable evidence of the fact; for the Duchess of Savoy59 showed to him the copies of all the documents relative to the negociation respecting Casale, which Matthioli had given to the President Turki, one of her ministers who was in the interests of Spain, when he passed through Turin on his return from Paris.60 From Turki, as it subsequently appeared, Matthioli had received a sum of money for his information.61
Meanwhile Asfeld was arrested by the orders of the Count de Melgar, the Spanish Governor of the Milanese, as he was on his way to the rendezvous at Incréa; and Matthioli was the first person who acquainted the French agents with this misfortune,62 as well as with the fact that the Duke of Mantua had been obliged to conclude a treaty with the Venetians, in a directly contrary sense to the one he had first entered into with France;63 “having probably been,” as Pomponne remarks, in a letter to Pinchesne,64 “himself the sole author of the accidents and impediments he acquaints us with.”
Upon the arrival of the intelligence at Paris, of the arrest of Asfeld, the French ministers, though their suspicions of Matthioli were now changed into certainties, being still anxious, if possible, to get possession of Casale, empowered Catinat to supply his place, and to conclude the ratification of the treaty. Intelligence of this change was conveyed to Matthioli in a letter65 from Pomponne, of the date of March 14th, 1679.
Catinat
Delort, quoting from the same authority.
Delort.
Francis Michael Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, son of the Chancellor Le Tellier, Secretary of State for the War department, from 1666, to the time of his death, in 1691, which occurring suddenly, and just as he was on the point of being disgraced, gave occasion to a report that he was poisoned: for which, however, it appears there was no foundation. He was of a haughty and cruel disposition, and was the minister who planned and ordered the inhuman ravages of the Palatinate, which have so indelibly disgraced the reign of his master.
Delort.
Lewis Francis, Marquis and afterwards Duc de Boufflers, Marshal of France in 1693. Died in 1711. One of the best of Lewis the Fourteenth’s generals.
Nicholas de Catinat, Marshal of France in 1698. “He united,” says Voltaire, “philosophy to great military talents. The last day he commanded in Italy, he gave for the watch-word, ‘Paris and St. Gratien,’ the name of his country house. He died there in the retirement of a real sage, (having refused the blue ribbon) in 1712.”
Upon reference to the Mémoires de Catinat, published in 1819, this event is found to be thus adverted to: – “In 1679, Catinat was charged with some negociations with the Duke of Mantua; but the affair failed of success, in consequence of the treachery of the Secretary of that prince. Catinat, according to the King’s orders, was anxious to punish the traitor. He remained at Pignerol some days, and having engaged him in a hunting party, had him arrested.” It also appears from these Memoirs, that both Catinat and Boufflers were again despatched to Italy on the same errand, in 1681, when Casale was really given up to Lewis; and on this occasion, Louvois, in his instruction to Boufflers, mentions Matthioli by name, as the person whose treachery had prevented the success of the former negociation.
I am not sure whether I am correct in imagining that this was the Marshal d’Asfeld, who distinguished himself at the battle of Almanza, and died at great old age, in 1743.
Victor Amadeus II., at this time a minor, and under the Regency of his mother, Mary Jane de Nemours. In 1713, he became King of Sicily, which kingdom he was compelled to exchange for that of Sardinia, in 1720; abdicated the throne in favour of his son, in 1730; and died in 1732. This prince possessed in an eminent degree, the attributes of his race – valour and skill in military matters, and faithlessness in his treaties and engagements with his brother sovereigns.
Leopold I. succeeded Ferdinand III. in 1657, died in 1705.
Charles II. the last King of Spain of the House of Austria. – Died in 1700.
See ante, note, page 18.
Appendix, No. 66.
Appendix, No. 68.
Appendix, No. 67.
Namely, of the delivery of Casale.
Appendix, No. 72.
Mary Jane Baptista of Savoy, daughter of Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours and Aumale, (who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Beaufort). Married May 11th, 1665, to Charles Emmanuel II., Duke of Savoy; Regent of the territories of her son during his minority. Died March 15th, 1724.
Appendix, No. 92.
Appendix, No. 70.
Delort.
Appendix, No. 75.
Appendix, No. 71.