Book Description

Excerpt from Mazarin As a foreign politician and diplomatist Mazarin has had few equals among French statesmen, and he deserve full credit for his great diplomatic triumphs. The Peace of Westphalia, the League of the 'rhine, the English Alliance, the Peace of the Pyrenees, and the Treaty of Oliva form a brilliant list of successes unequalled in the life of any French minister. So fully engrossed was he in the complicated struggle with the Emperor and Spain, that be neglected the internal affairs of France and underrated the strength of the Opposition headed by the parlement of Paris. He paid dearly for that mis calculation, though it is questionable if, under the existing circumstances, success abroad was at that time compatible or possible with administrative reforms at home and a policy of severity towards the nobles. Be that as it may, no sooner had the storm in Paris broken out than Mazarin addressed himself with vigour to the task of V repressing internal disorder. After a long and weary period, from 1648 to 1653, he succeeded, and the monarchy was once more supreme in France. The last eight years of his life were then devoted to recovering for France that position in Europe which during the Fronde troubles she had temporarily lost. In 1661 he died, having completed Richelieu's internal policy, and leaving that statesman's administrative system in full working order. The destruction of the Hapsburg schemes had also been effected, and on his death Mazarin left France in a stronger position then she had enjoyed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.