The Life of Henry the Fourth, King of France and Navarre (Volume 3) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1847. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... his second daughter in Flanders. The President Jeannin thus explains the views of his master, and produces a suspicion of duplicity which the mind is unwilling to receive: "It is for the best to make a truce, with a declaration of sovereignty; for, if the Spaniards should not conclude the alliance and separation which they have proposed, the United Provinces will still remain separate from Spain, his Majesty giving a hand; and we will not, nevertheless, cease from seeking that which is desired, as efficaciously as if this declaration of liberty had not been inserted." Are we to suppose then, that Henry IV. had only in view to aid the separation of the United Provinces from Spain for the purpose of transferring them to a branch of his own family? Well might the States be suspicious of a negotiation where such proposals were listened to, and such views entertained, by the ally on whose friendship they had the best grounds for reliance. Very shortly after the King's decision was announced to Don Pedro, Henry seems to have ceased all personal communication with him on political subjects; and the envoy complains in his letters to the Court of Madrid, that the French King related their conversations to every one who chose to listen. It is probable that this ostentation of publicity was by no means accidental, and had for its cause the unfair use which Spain had made of the first private interviews between the King and the ambassador. Doubtless, it was by no means agreeable to Don Pedro to have the conversations between himself and Henry made public to the whole Court of France, if they were of the very sharp and pungent qualities described by contemporaries. Although the sallies of both the King and himself, as they appear in histoi'ians, far past the limits ...