The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, 1613-15 | Page 5

delicate, and at a crisis so grave. The man who had
been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his
integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing,
intellectual Duplessis-Mornay, the rude, aggressive, and
straightforward Sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting Bouillon,
and the smooth, silent, and tortuous Villeroy--men between whom
there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had
material in him to render valuable services at this particular epoch.
Everything depended on patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the
distracting, almost inextricable, maze which had been created by

personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented
and the one to which he was accredited. "I ascribe it all to God," he said,
in his testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in His
goodness has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious,
respectful, and serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in
contenting some, not to discontent others." He recommended his
children accordingly to endeavour "to succeed in life by making
themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible."
This is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for
business than that of the arch intriguer Francis Aerssens. And he had
arrived at the Hague under trying circumstances. Unknown to the
foreign world he was now entering, save through the disparaging
rumours concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful
personages arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under
such a storm at the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and
friendly aid of the Princess-Dowager, Louise de Coligny. "I had need
of her protection and recommendation as much as of life," said du
Maurier; "and she gave them in such excess as to annihilate an infinity
of calumnies which envy had excited against me on every side." He had
also a most difficult and delicate matter to arrange at the very moment
of his arrival.
For Aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous
division in the politics of the Republic, but to force a rupture between
the French government and the States. He had carried matters before
the assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get
rid of him without public scandal. He made a parade of the official
letters from the Queen-Regent and her ministers, in which he was
spoken of in terms of conventional compliment. He did not know, and
Barneveld wished, if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing,
that both Queen and ministers, so soon as informed that there was a
chance of coming back to them, had written letters breathing great
repugnance to him and intimating that he would not be received. Other
high personages of state had written to express their resentment at his
duplicity, perpetual mischief-making, and machinations against the
peace of the kingdom, and stating the impossibility of his resuming the
embassy at Paris. And at last the queen wrote to the States-General to
say that, having heard their intention to send him back to a post "from

which he had taken leave formally and officially," she wished to
prevent such a step. "We should see M. Aerssens less willingly than
comports with our friendship for you and good neighbourhood. Any
other you could send would be most welcome, as M. du Maurier will
explain to you more amply."
And to du Maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "Rather than suffer the
return of the said Aerssens, you will declare that for causes which
regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot
and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here,
and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of My Lords the
States to do anything in this that would so much displease us."
And on the same day Villeroy privately wrote to the Ambassador, "If,
in spite of all this, Aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be
received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most
dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the
minority of the King."
Meantime Aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in
everybody's face from the Duc de Bouillon insisting on the necessity of
his return! The fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his
removal, for the Duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign.
Unless the States meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil
war about to break out in France, they could hardly send a minister to
the government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion.
It had, however, become impossible to remove him without an
explosion. Barneveld, who, said du Maurier, "knew the man to his
finger nails," had been