The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-03 00:00:00

MEMOIRS OF THE MARQUIS DE

POMPONNE.

A letter from Paris says :—The memoirs of the
Marquis de Pomponne, Minister of Foreign Affairs
under Louis XIV., have been lately published in
Paris. They were written by himself, and are given
to the world from an unpublished manuscript in the
library of the Legislative Corps. They are put in
order and furnished with an introduction by M. J.
Madival. The Marquis de Pomponne, a man of
much ability, had successively filled the offices of
Intendant of the Royal Armies at Naples and
in Catalonia. He was Ambassador in Sweden and
in Holland, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs
from 1671 to 1679. He was driven into retirement
by the influence of Colbert and Louvois, but was re-
instated in his post some years later, and retained
it until hi 3 death in 1699. He was nephew of the
celebrated Jansenist, Antoine Arnauld, and took a
considerable part in the affairs of Rome. After
the first audience which Portland had with Louis
XIV. at Versailles, Pomponne was associated with
Torcy in the difficult task of sounding the English
Envoy on William's intentions respecting the
Spanish succession.

In looking over the volume one cannot help being
struck by the analogy which appears between the
principal questions treated in it and those which
now occupy, and have for some time occupied, pub-
lic attention.

For instance, we find Switzerland protesting in
1793 against the conquest of Franche Comte,effected
by Spain during a winter of uncommon severity,
and the Catholic cantons, not content with pro-
testing, but taking up arms in favour of Spain.
The rapid successes of Louis XIV. disconcerted
these hostile projects, and material opposition was
silenced by commercial concessions. The conduct
of the Helvetic Confederation was somewhat simi.
lar during the recent annexation of Savoy.
As Savoy is mentioned, I may observe that in
1860 the royal house of that name was com-
pletely bound over to the Court of Versailles,
which commanded it on the two slopes of the
Alps—on one side by Dauphine, and on the other'
by Pignerol ; and the Dukes of Savoy acted as
the vanguard of France, and watched from Turin
the mane3uvres of Austria in Italy.
On the Danube Louis XIV. openly supported the
periodical insurrections of Hungary against the
Emperor. His relations were frequent and close
with the malcontents, and in 1677 he sent them a
small army recruited in Poland, and commanded by
a French general and French officers. These
troops, mustering from 7,000 to 8,000 men, joined
the insurgents, beat the imperialists, advanced their
standards to the walls of Vienna, and effected a
useful diversion during the invasion of the Low
Countries. The diplomatic complications existing
in our day in Europe are numerous. It may be that
the Emperor Napoleon 111. seeks rather to diminish
than to extend them ; it may be that his intentions
are good, and that he has no wish to urge the
Magyars to open revolt ; but it is impossible not to
see that the old policy of France may be revived
with a chance of success, and that in the event of a
general conflagration in Europe that policy would
have a formidable auxiliary in Hungary.
Not for a day during his long wars did Louis
XIV. lose sight of the Rhine, which he undertook
to make the frontier of his States. He desired to
solve in his favour the problem of natural frontiers,
and to satisfy the traditional tendency of France
to claim the inheritance of old Gaul. In his chapter
on England the Marquis de Pomponne describes by
what caresses, by what courtesies, and by what
sacrifices the great King sought to lull the vigilance
of England, which was the great, the only obstacle
to his designs. Such a project may have slight
analogy with what passes now, inasmuch as the
creation of the kingdom of Belgium gives to France
security for the northern frontier ; but this part of
Pomponne's memoirs is not the less interesting.
Finally, the chapter on Denmark relates the
origin of the complicated and almost inexplicable
question of the Dano-German duchies ; and those
on Rome, Bavaria, Poland, &c., also possess much
historical interest.

How annexations used then to be brought about
may be seen in the chapter on Mantua respecting
th• Count Mathioli, whose romantic career excited
so much curiosity in the 17th century. Mathioli,
who expiated in the dungeons of Pignerol the crime
of having outwitted Louis XIV., and who passed
among his contemporaries for the Man with the
Iron Mask, had been secretly conducted to Ver-
sailles and presented to Louis at midnight, in the
corridor leading to the apartment of Madame de
Montespan. Mathioli announced himself as autho-
rised by the Duke of Mantua to negotiate the cession
of the fortress of.Casale, and a treaty to that effect
was actually signed by the pretended envoy. The
Duke, the moment he heard of the fact, promptly
denounced Mathioli as an impostor. Louis XIV.
persisted, however, in considering his mission as in
due and proper form, and at once took possession of
the fortress. The details of this singular adventure,
which ended so unfortunately for the negotiator,
are curious.