Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-30
Cardinal Due de nlshelleu.

does not take an interest In Cardinal
Richelieu and his confidante, Father
Joseph, "Son Eminence Grise7" The
very name of the great minister OF
Louis XIII. suggests man who DOM
mated a nation and prepared the way
for the power and grandeur of the
reign of Louis XIV. Richefieu's aim
was to make France the greatest
country in Europe and he succeeded
He found the queen mother and re-
gent, Marie di Medici, too weak 70
prevail against the power OF the
mobiles. which had been broken oy
Sully, the prime minister of Henry
", His first object was to restore
again the paramount influence or the
sovereign. The queen mother was
sent into retirement and her favorite
was slain. The king was married to
Anne of Austria, daughter OF Philip
w. of Spain, and the French king
sister became the bride OF the Span
ish sovereign. Then Louis's reign
opened. Throughout It's whole length
he was completely overshadowed by
his minister. Richelieu made the
crown quite independent of the par
lIaments; he restored French influence
in italy, in the Netherlands, In Ger
many and Established 1t in Sweden.
He was as great as a soldier as he
was as statesman and upon occa-
sion took the field in person.
AS has been intimated, the age OF
the Grande Monarque, Louis XIV, Is
the logical conclusion of both the for
eign and home policy of the cardinal.
His enemies were many and power
full, and the obstacles they placed In
his path would have overwhelmed q
snan less fortified with courage and
resources. The mobiles whose power
he was crushing used every agency
against him; the Huguenots, whom
he had defied by capturing their for
tress, La Rochelle, were his bitter
foes; the Catholics who regarded him
solely as an opportunfst, with very
doubtful devotion to the church,
thwarted his plans, and alien coun-
tries. particularly Spain, attempted
ceaselessly to countermine his de-
signs. But, finally, he triumphed over
them all. He continued the policy
of Francis l., of being Protestant
abroad and Catholic at home. When
the Thirty Years War started he
supported 1.-THE Lion of the North, "
Gustavus Adolphus. of Sweden, In his
onslaughts on the Catholics. in order
to strike a blow at Austria ana
Spain. Time and results justified his
policy His triumph was complete.
In his domestic struggle the great
cardinal was not less successful. He
destroyed the right of private war;
he called no states-general; he cur
tailed the privileges of the Hugue-
nots, though he still granted them
liberation; he subordinatedt the parlia-
ment of Paris to the royal Will and
the power of the sovereign was effec-
tually centralized. He crowned his
labors Just before he died. in 1912, by
defeating the conspiracy OF Cinq
Mars.
Such is a brief summary of the
achievements of this French states
man, Let us see what Miss Price has
done to place them before those who
will read her book. 1t may be said
without hesitation that she has pre-
scented to the world. an excellent
biography of the cardinal, but that
Is all. OF the great play of statecratt
of his age, of his skill as q politician
she gives no picture. The placid con-
dition of her mind as she writes Is
reflected in the calm monotony or her
LADY like" style. No enthusiasm
illunines her pages as she RECORDS
the acts of one who was bending a
great nation to his will. Far from
her grasp Is the crown of the philoso-
phic historian who could point out
with unerring precision the meaning
of the progress of events in Franco
which that country would only appre-
ciate itself when 1t had passed from
the eighteenth to the nineteenth CEN
fury. The figures on the canvas are
like those that a playwright sets up
when he Is constructing a scenario.
They have no life, one can see that
they can never be alive. II one would
see these figures in lineaments of
natural portraiture one should read
of them in such a work as that Of
Tallemant -des Reaux. Miss Price
could have found a model in the
memoirs of Cardinal de Retz. There
she would have found the real coun-
terfeit presentment of the Great
Condo; there she would have looked
upon the countenance of that love-
Hest of the patrician beauties OF
France, Duchesse de Chevreuse.
There she would have discovered the
force needed for writer who would
illustrate the age of Due de Riche-
lieu; there she would have found
mastery precision. holiness. irony,
grace and studied negligence of STYLE
n,