登陆注册
5246300000568

第568章 CHAPTER XI(46)

If the cities of the Palatinate could not be retained, they might be destroyed. If the soil of the Palatinate was not to furnish supplies to the French, it might be so wasted that it would at least furnish no supplies to the Germans. The ironhearted statesman submitted his plan, probably with much management and with some disguise, to Lewis; and Lewis, in an evil hour for his fame, assented. Duras received orders to turn one of the fairest regions of Europe into a wilderness. Fifteen years earlier Turenne had ravaged part of that fine country. But the ravages committed by Turenne, though they have left a deep stain on his glory, were mere sport in comparison with the horrors of this second devastation. The French commander announced to near half a million of human beings that he granted them three days of grace, and that, within that time, they must shift for themselves. Soon the roads and fields, which then lay deep in snow, were blackened by innumerable multitudes of men, women, and children flying from their homes. Many died of cold and hunger: but enough survived to fill the streets of all the cities of Europe with lean and squalid beggars, who had once been thriving farmers and shopkeepers. Meanwhile the work of destruction began. The flames went up from every marketplace, every hamlet, every parish church, every country seat, within the devoted provinces. The fields where the corn had been sown were ploughed up. The orchards were hewn down. No promise of a harvest was left on the fertile plains near what had once been Frankenthal. Not a vine, not an almond tree, was to be seen on the slopes of the sunny hills round what had once been Heidelberg. No respect was shown to palaces, to temples, to monasteries, to infirmaries, to beautiful works of art, to monuments of the illustrious dead. The farfamed castle of the Elector Palatine was turned into a heap of ruins. The adjoining hospital was sacked. The provisions, the medicines, the pallets on which the sick lay were destroyed. The very stones of which Mannheim had been built were flung into the Rhine. The magnificent Cathedral of Spires perished, and with it the marble sepulchres of eight Caesars. The coffins were broken open. The ashes were scattered to the winds.106 Treves, with its fair bridge, its Roman amphitheatre, its venerable churches, convents, and colleges, was doomed to the same fate. But, before this last crime had been perpetrated, Lewis was recalled to a better mind by the execrations of all the neighbouring nations, by the silence and confusion of his flatterers, and by the expostulations of his wife. He had been more than two years secretly married to Frances de Maintenon, the governess of his natural children. It would be hard to name any woman who, with so little romance in her temper, has had so much in her life. Her early years had been passed in poverty and obscurity. Her first husband had supported himself by writing burlesque farces and poems. When she attracted the notice of her sovereign, she could no longer boast of youth or beauty: but she possessed in an extraordinary degree those more lasting charms, which men of sense, whose passions age has tamed, and whose life is a life of business and care, prize most highly in a female companion. Her character was such as has been well compared to that soft green on which the eye, wearied by warm tints and glaring lights, reposes with pleasure. A just understanding; an inexhaustible yet never redundant flow of rational, gentle, and sprightly conversation; a temper of which the serenity was never for a moment ruffled, a tact which surpassed the tact of her sex as much as the tact of her sex surpasses the tact of ours; such were the qualities which made the widow of a buffoon first the confidential friend, and then the spouse, of the proudest and most powerful of European kings. It was said that Lewis had been with difficulty prevented by the arguments and vehement entreaties of Louvois from declaring her Queen of France. It is certain that she regarded Louvois as her enemy. Her hatred of him, cooperating perhaps with better feelings, induced her to plead the cause of the unhappy people of the Rhine. She appealed to those sentiments of compassion which, though weakened by many corrupting influences, were not altogether extinct in her husband's mind, and to those sentiments of religion which had too often impelled him to cruelty, but which, on the present occasion, were on the side of humanity. He relented: and Treves was spared.107 In truth he could hardly fail to perceive that he had committed a great error. The devastation of the Palatinate, while it had not in any sensible degree lessened the power of his enemies, had inflamed their animosity, and had furnished them with inexhaustible matter for invective. The cry of vengeance rose on every side. Whatever scruple either branch of the House of Austria might have felt about coalescing with Protestants was completely removed. Lewis accused the Emperor and the Catholic King of having betrayed the cause of the Church; of having allied themselves with an usurper who was the avowed champion of the great schism; of having been accessary to the foul wrong done to a lawful sovereign who was guilty of no crime but zeal for the true religion. James sent to Vienna and Madrid piteous letters, in which he recounted his misfortunes, and implored the assistance of his brother kings, his brothers also in the faith, against the unnatural children and the rebellious subjects who had driven him into exile. But there was little difficulty in framing a plausible answer both to the reproaches of Lewis and to the supplications of James. Leopold and Charles declared that they had not, even for purposes of just selfdefence, leagued themselves with heretics, till their enemy had, for purposes of unjust aggression, leagued himself with Mahometans. Nor was this the worst. The French King, not content with assisting the Moslem against the Christians, was himself treating Christians with a barbarity which would have shocked the very Moslem. His infidel allies, to do them justice, had not perpetrated on the Danube such outrages against the edifices and the members of the Holy Catholic Church as he who called himself the eldest son of that Church was perpetrating on the Rhine. On these grounds, the princes to whom James had appealed replied by appealing, with many professions of good will and compassion, to himself. He was surely too just to blame them for thinking that it was their first duty to defend their own people against such outrages as had turned the Palatinate into a desert, or for calling in the aid of Protestants against an enemy who had not scrupled to call in the aid of the Turks.108During the winter and the earlier part of the spring, the powers hostile to France were gathering their strength for a great effort, and were in constant communication with one another. As the season for military operations approached, the solemn appeals of injured nations to the God of battles came forth in rapid succession. The manifesto of the Germanic body appeared in February; that of the States General in March; that of the House of Brandenburg in April; and that of Spain in May.109Here, as soon as the ceremony of the coronation was over, the House of Commons determined to take into consideration the late proceedings of the French king.110 In the debate, that hatred of the powerful, unscrupulous and imperious Lewis, which had, during twenty years of vassalage, festered in the hearts of Englishmen, broke violently forth. He was called the most Christian Turk, the most Christian ravager of Christendom, the most Christian barbarian who had perpetrated on Christians outrages of which his infidel allies would have been ashamed.111 A committee, consisting chiefly of ardent Whigs, was appointed to prepare an address. John Hampden, the most ardent Whig among them, was put into the chair; and he produced a composition too long, too rhetorical, and too vituperative to suit the lips of the Speaker or the ears of the King. Invectives against Lewis might perhaps, in the temper in which the House then was, have passed without censure, if they had not been accompanied by severe reflections on the character and administration of Charles the Second, whose memory, in spite of all his faults, was affectionately cherished by the Tories. There were some very intelligible allusions to Charles's dealings with the Court of Versailles, and to the foreign woman whom that Court had sent to lie like a snake in his bosom. The House was with good reason dissatisfied. The address was recommitted, and, having been made more concise, and less declamatory and acrimonious, was approved and presented.112William's attention was called to the wrongs which France had done to him and to his kingdom; and he was assured that, whenever he should resort to arms for the redress of those wrongs, he should be heartily supported by his people. He thanked the Commons warmly. Ambition, he said, should never induce him to draw the sword: but he had no choice: France had already attacked England; and it was necessary to exercise the right of selfdefence. A few days later war was proclaimed.113Of the grounds of quarrel alleged by the Commons in their address, and by the King in his manifesto, the most serious was the interference of Lewis in the affairs of Ireland. In that country great events had, during several months, followed one another in rapid succession. Of those events it is now time to relate the history, a history dark with crime and sorrow, yet full of interest and instruction.

同类推荐
  • 痘疹心法要诀

    痘疹心法要诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 蒙鞑备录

    蒙鞑备录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝五岳真符

    太上洞玄灵宝五岳真符

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 薛文清公从政录

    薛文清公从政录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 庄渠遗书

    庄渠遗书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 娱乐圈之老祖驾到

    娱乐圈之老祖驾到

    一玄门老祖一觉睡了近千年,居然被几个盗墓贼给吵醒了。醒来一看,外面日新月异,科技不断发展,但世间灵气几乎消亡,玄门式微,眼看着就要一蹶不振,这让老祖怎么能忍?画符篆,炼法器,振兴玄门势在必行。可是为什么在振兴玄门的道路中,总有个道貌岸然的衣冠禽兽,跟个牛皮糖似的甩不掉。二玄门震惊了!为何那个当红女演员袖手一挥,就是一张顶级符篆,随手一抛,又是一堆逆天法器,还有还有……连传说中的阵法也不在话下。更震惊的是,为啥他们泰山北斗的玄门大师见到这人恭恭敬敬的像个小辈,气都不敢多出一口。娱乐圈轰动了!惊现逆天颜值,万年美少女,窜红速度堪比火箭发射,偏偏还让人找不到缺点。有颜就算了,演技也是演啥像啥,最了不起的就是背景强大,传说中的谢家大佬更是寸步不离,像个痴汉。以前谢大佬最常见的一句话:“女人,有多远滚多远。”后来就变成了,“音音,我滚过来了,求养。”三谢则说:“我的女人,谁敢动?”然后用一生守护她。月流音说:“我的男人,我保护。”然后许了他一世。阅读小指南1:sc,1v12:女主金手指强大,因为就是她自己。3:傲然逆天老祖vs高冷痴汉谢大佬
  • 腹黑王爷的娃娃妃

    腹黑王爷的娃娃妃

    一生一世一双人,本以为青梅竹马的师兄会是她一生的良人。可谁知,郎骑竹马来,用青梅换取千金前途。被欺骗背叛,她决然转身离开。高高至上的王爷对她这个孤女体贴备至,渐渐暖了她那颗早已千疮百孔的心。师兄却在这时找到她说他所做的一切都是为了她。徘徊的心该如何抉择,谁才会是她最终的归宿。本文架空,1对1,偶尔有点小虐,会有阴谋之类的,腹黑,宠溺无限,结局一定会是HE。新书《一宠成瘾:萌妻养娇娇》上架,有存稿,坑品有保证,求支持求推荐!
  • 驸马传奇之阵法无敌秦怀玉

    驸马传奇之阵法无敌秦怀玉

    大唐战神秦叔宝之子当朝驸马秦怀玉,可惜天生是阴阳绝脉不适合练武,但是自从有一天秦怀玉遇到了仙人吕洞宾一切都改变了------这小子掌握了十星级仙阵,他上天入地到处乱管闲事揍龙王,联合精灵族,救公主,妖魔森林试炼,再回到长安大显神威,最后带着人马直接对战师叔祖通天教主步下的“诛仙阵”,谁胜谁负尽在《驸马传奇》!
  • 那年岁月匆匆过

    那年岁月匆匆过

    113,一个令九四班羡慕的一个宿舍,里面住了十个风格各异的女孩。有争吵,有猜忌,有矛盾,但更多的是欢乐还有彼此的陪伴。原本毫无关系的她们,因各种机缘巧合,聚在了一起,在初中度过了紧张而又刺激的最后一年……
  • The Lady of the Lake

    The Lady of the Lake

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 青春,那一抹茶色

    青春,那一抹茶色

    小说采用第一人称的形式,讲述了发生在信口市五个年轻人(苏慕贤、谷雪琳、欧阳筱筱、蓝绮、麻袋)之间的一段故事经历,有关他们之间的友谊和情感的故事,其中三个人(苏慕贤、蓝绮、麻袋)为刚刚毕业不久的大学生,另外两个人(谷雪琳、欧阳筱筱)为在校的学生,这是一部关于青春、关于成长的小说。
  • 武界2106

    武界2106

    百年前,武帝陈星,遭友人暗算,命丧宿敌李鸿雁之手百年后,少年陈星,有名震天下之志,奈何资质平平;他偶入险境,险些死去,却见百年前陈星命丧,二人神魂交叠,合二为一。“我圆你平步青云之志,你报我百年难消之大仇”这里是2106年,人类失去大地,苟且于浮空的岛屿之上。这是年轻武者成长的故事,也是一代强者重归巅峰的故事。
  • 带着全战到异界

    带着全战到异界

    少年莫名其妙的带着全面战争系统来到了一片混乱的异世界。此时恰逢蛮族大举南下入侵,曾经的帝国败退南疆。北境在诸多势力的争夺下终日不得安宁。可怜而又幸运的少年哟待你成就霸业之日就是你回归故乡之时???????????????????????????????????????????????——某无良主神如是说虽然这个提议很诱人,但我拒绝我将在异界建立一个属于我的强盛王朝!——罗马帝国皇帝、尤利亚王朝开创者盖乌斯.尤利乌斯.恺撒如是喊道这是一个少年带着罗马全面战争在异界的故事,从卡米卢斯时代的罗马军团逐步到大名鼎鼎的马略改革军团,全都将出现在这里。(PS:里面还会加一些罗马2全面战争的兵种) 新书:《帝国崛起全面战争》发布,请大家去支持支持~
  • 网凝眉

    网凝眉

    阿难守着电脑,犹如渔人守着江湖,银屏是海,鼠标是网,一网又一网,朝夕无所获,那个叫阿门的人,一天一天却不再来……一个网络迷失、寻找、等待的故事。故事里,我们穿越红尘,经过网络,再回到红尘,我们记住了什么?穿越网络,经过红尘,再回到网络,我们又遗忘了什么?阿弥陀佛……
  • 坠落霓星河

    坠落霓星河

    夏氏发生巨变,一家被人烧死在家中,嫌疑人直指夏氏总裁的弟弟。死里求生存活下来的人费劲心思想要报仇,他们能得手吗?命运作祟,生存者会善罢甘休吗?复仇向甜宠文,坚持1v1,甜腻的文风。本喵写不惯虐文啊!