In the meantime it was not possible for any peaceful person,
especially one in my brother's state of health, to leave Paris. The
city was between two armies, if not three. On the one side was that
of the Princes, on the other that of M. le Marechal de Turenne, with
the Court in its rear, and at one time the Duke of Lorraine advanced,
and though he took no one's part, he felled the roads with horrible
marauders trained in the Thirty Year's War. The two armies of Conde
and Turenne skirmished in the suburbs, and it may be imagined what
contradictory reports were always tearing us to pieces. Meantime
Paris was strong enough to keep out either army, and that was the one
thing that the municipality and the Paliarment were resolved to do.
They let single officers of the Prince's army, himself, the Duke of
Beaufort, Nemours, the Court d'Aubepine, and the rest, come in and
out, but they were absolutely determined not to be garrisoned by
forces in direct rebellion to the King. They would not stand a siege
on their behalf, endure their military license, and then the horrors
of an assault. The Duke of Orleans professed to be of the same mind,
but he was a mere nonentity, and merely acted as a drag on his
daughter, who was altogether devoted to the Prince of Conde.
Cardinal de Retz vainly tried to persuade him to take the manly part
of mediation, that would have been possible to him, at the head of
the magistracy and municipality of Paris.
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