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87 - Story of Old France by H. A. Guerber · Story of Old France

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  Speaker 1: Section eighty six of the Story of Old France. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Marc Desanzo. The Story of
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  Speaker 1: Old France by H. A. Gerber, Section eighty six. Louis
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  Speaker 1: the Fourteenth's early campaigns. The garden party given by the
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  Speaker 1: dishonest Fouquet was not the only great outdoor entertainment of
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  Speaker 1: the time. About a year after, the court held a
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  Speaker 1: fine pageant called Carousel on the square before the Louver,
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  Speaker 1: which ever since has been known by that name. On
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  Speaker 1: this occasion, a quadrille on horseback was danced by the courtiers,
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  Speaker 1: all dressed in the utmost magnificence to represent characters in
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  Speaker 1: myth and allegory. Even the King and Queen appeared and
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  Speaker 1: fancy costume, and Louis, having elected to personate the Sun,
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  Speaker 1: wore two million, five hundred thousand dollars worth of diamonds,
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  Speaker 1: which flashed and glittered, so that they won for him
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  Speaker 1: the title of King's Son Lerois Soles, by which he
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  Speaker 1: was generally known thereafter. This brilliant social event is the
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  Speaker 1: subject of a painting which now adorns the Picture Gallery
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  Speaker 1: of Versailles. Being young, the king greatly enjoyed stir and activity,
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  Speaker 1: and anxious to shine in every field, was not at
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  Speaker 1: all sorry when a pretext arose for a war with
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  Speaker 1: Spain sixteen sixty seven. You remember, do you not, that
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  Speaker 1: Louis had married a Spanish princess. Her father had now
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  Speaker 1: just died, leaving all his lands to her little step brother.
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  Speaker 1: But Louis the fourteenth claimed that while this child undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: had a right to the crown of Spain, he had
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  Speaker 1: none whatsoever to the Spanish Netherlands now Belgium, which by
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  Speaker 1: Flemish law, should devolve instead upon the children of the
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  Speaker 1: first wife. As the Spaniards were not ready to agree
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  Speaker 1: to this, war resulted, and Louis went off to join
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  Speaker 1: his army, which in a few weeks time conquered Flanders
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  Speaker 1: and Franche Contil So little fighting was done. However, in
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  Speaker 1: this campaign that it was playfully said, quote, Louis might
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  Speaker 1: have sent his valet to take possession of the country
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  Speaker 1: in his name and saved himself the trouble of going
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  Speaker 1: in person end quote. But if Louis did not have
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  Speaker 1: a chance to distinguish himself in battle. He received as
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  Speaker 1: many compliments as if he had done wonderful things, and
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  Speaker 1: greatly enjoyed his novel experiences. The War of the Devolution
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  Speaker 1: of Flanders, which was little more than a military promenade,
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  Speaker 1: was concluded by the Treaty of Ay la Chapelle, which
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  Speaker 1: added a piece of land to France in the north.
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  Speaker 1: It soon led, however, to another conflict with Holland sixteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy two to sixteen seventy eight, which was waged partly
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  Speaker 1: because Louis his vanity was sorely wounded by the fund
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  Speaker 1: the Dutch made of his recent campaign, and partly because
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  Speaker 1: the Dutch navy kept interfering with the commerce of France.
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  Speaker 1: Once more, King's son set out at the head of
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  Speaker 1: his army, splendidly organized by his war minister Louvois, severely
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  Speaker 1: drilled by Martenet and others. Whence a strict disciplinarian is
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  Speaker 1: still often termed a martinet, and magnificently generaled by the
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  Speaker 1: great Condet, Turenne and others. A tremendous fuss was made
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  Speaker 1: at court when news came that the French army had
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  Speaker 1: forded the Rhine and had driven away the troops guarding
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  Speaker 1: the passage. Poems were written about it, and great speeches
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  Speaker 1: made for stay at homes. Fancied that the king and
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  Speaker 1: his army had breasted the waves at the risk of
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  Speaker 1: their lives, whereas in fact the French had merely forded
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  Speaker 1: a shallow part of the stream, almost unopposed by the enemy. Town.
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  Speaker 1: After town was captured, the Hollanders, unprepared for an invasion,
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  Speaker 1: then tried to compy and their great statesmen, the Devitt Brothers,
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  Speaker 1: corresponded actively with Louvois on this subject. In fact, had
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  Speaker 1: not the Hollanders suddenly overthrown the existing government, torn the
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  Speaker 1: Devitts to pieces, and placed William of Orange at the
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  Speaker 1: head of affairs, these negotiations might have resulted favorably. This.
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  Speaker 1: William of Orange, however, was an excellent and uncompromising leader.
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  Speaker 1: When he saw that the French had nearly reached Amsterdam,
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  Speaker 1: he did not hesitate to have the dikes broken and
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  Speaker 1: flood the country. This move checked the advance of the
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  Speaker 1: French and gave William ample time to secure the alliance
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  Speaker 1: of both Spain and Germany to continue the war. When
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  Speaker 1: the German princes began to threaten the northeastern frontier of France.
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  Speaker 1: Louis changed his plans and for the second time conquered
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  Speaker 1: Franche Contil. In later campaigns, Conde won the Battle of
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  Speaker 1: Senneff sixteen seventy four over the Prince of Orange, and Turennes,
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  Speaker 1: who had done war unders in many smaller engagements, was
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  Speaker 1: killed at Zasbach sixteen seventy five. The cannon ball which
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  Speaker 1: killed Turenn carried off, at the same time the arm
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  Speaker 1: of one of his officers. When this man's son was
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  Speaker 1: trying to comfort him, he quickly replied, you should not
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  Speaker 1: weep for me, but for the death of this great man.
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  Speaker 1: You may love your father, but neither you nor the
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  Speaker 1: country will ever find such a general again. As for
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  Speaker 1: the soldiers, when they heard Tearenn was dead, they all wailed,
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  Speaker 1: our father is dead, we are lost. The general, whom
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  Speaker 1: they thus almost worshiped, was buried first at Saint Denis
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  Speaker 1: among the French kings, and then in a chapel of
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  Speaker 1: the Envalide, where his tomb is second in interest only
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  Speaker 1: to that of Napoleon. It may interest you to read
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  Speaker 1: a few anecdotes about the brave general who was one
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  Speaker 1: of the great French heroes. For instance, Turenn was noted
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  Speaker 1: for always keeping his promises. Once, when heldup by highwaymen,
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  Speaker 1: he begged them not to take a ring he wore,
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  Speaker 1: offering to give them more than it was worth if
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  Speaker 1: they would only call at his house for the money.
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  Speaker 1: When he was freed on these terms, some one suggested
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  Speaker 1: that he should use this opportunity to have the thieves arrested,
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  Speaker 1: but Terenn indignantly refused, saying, the promise of an honest
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  Speaker 1: man is inviolable. He should never fail to keep his word,
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  Speaker 1: even if he did give it to rascals. Another time,
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  Speaker 1: when dressed in white, Yenne was vigorously clapped on the
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  Speaker 1: shoulder by a valet who mistook him for the cook.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly perceiving his error, the offender fell down on his knees, gasping,
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  Speaker 1: my lord, I thought you were George. But instead of
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  Speaker 1: the angry dismissal he expected, he heard only the calm rejoinder, Well,
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  Speaker 1: even had I been George, you need not have hit
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  Speaker 1: so hard. While Trenne knew the sense of fear, he
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  Speaker 1: never yielded to it. Once, when about to mount his horse,
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  Speaker 1: he perceived that his knees were shaping violently, and remarked
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  Speaker 1: with a queer smile. If my knees only knew where
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  Speaker 1: I AM going to take them, they would shake even harder.
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  Speaker 1: Besides physical courage, Turenne possessed what is much rarer, true
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  Speaker 1: moral courage. Thus he staunchly refused to fight a duel
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  Speaker 1: simply because it was against the law. When his opponent
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  Speaker 1: taunted him with cowardice, Turenne proposed that they should undertake
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  Speaker 1: in common some perilous adventure for the country's good, saying proudly,
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  Speaker 1: let us see which of us will best carry it out.
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  Speaker 1: In one battle, Turenn noticed that his staff seemed mortified
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  Speaker 1: because they could not help ducking when a cannon ball
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  Speaker 1: whistled over their heads. Always genial and sympathetic, he tactfully cried, boys,
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  Speaker 1: you are right. Such visitors well deserve a courtesy. Before
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  Speaker 1: this war ended, the French admiral Duquaine won several naval
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  Speaker 1: battles in the Mediterranean, but received neither praise nor reward
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  Speaker 1: for this triumph, simply because he was a Huguenot, a
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  Speaker 1: sect not in favor at court. In protesting against such
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  Speaker 1: unfair treatment, Duquesne was heard to mutter, it is true
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  Speaker 1: that I am a Protestant, but I thought that my
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  Speaker 1: services were Catholic. The Treaty of Nimvigen sixteen seventy eight,
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  Speaker 1: which ended the war with Holland, extended the boundaries of
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  Speaker 1: France on the north and on the west. It also
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  Speaker 1: marked the highest point of the reign of Louis the fourteenth,
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  Speaker 1: whom his people thereafter proudly termed Louis the Great and
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  Speaker 1: the Great monarch le red Monarch. It was in commemoration
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  Speaker 1: of his military feats in this campaign that Louis the
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth erected two permanent triumphal arches, Port Saint Denis and
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  Speaker 1: Porte Saint Martin in Paris, where they still stand the
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  Speaker 1: admiration of all who behold them. End of Section eighty six.