THE

YOUTH'S INSTRUCTER

AND

GUARDIAN.

NOVEMBER, 1852.

CARDINAL GIULIO MAZARINI.

(With an Engraving.)

A CARDINAL, be it noted well, is not a Prelate. He must, indeed, be a Priest, or, as we say, "in orders," that he may be qualified to receive ecclesiastical benefices. As Cardinal, he is not a spiritual person, but an Assessor of the Pope in the government of the city of Rome, and church of that city. The Cardinal has no jurisdiction over Priests, for that belongs to their Bishop; nor over Bishops, for they are subject to their Metropolitan; nor over the Clergy in general, for their chief is the Pope. So in England, "Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman" would have no authority over the Romish Clergy in this country, unless he were their Archbishop, or unless he were empowered to act as Legate, and so exercise the power of the Pope himself. A Nuncio, we must also note, is a political or diplomatic agent of the Pope and Court of Rome. His office, as Nuncio, is very similar to that of Ambassador at a Court. Cardinals or Prelates are invested with the dignity of Nuncio, as was Mazarini at the Court of Paris. And this personage is an eminent and very fair example of what Cardinals are, when they move in the high region of diplomatic politics.

He was born in the town of Piscina, in Abruzzo, on the 14th of July, 1602. His parents, Pietro Mazarini and Hortensia Buffalini, sent him, when a boy, to the house of the Abbot Girolamo Colonna, whom he followed to the VOL. XVI. Second Series. X

University of Alcalá, in Spain, there studied civil and canon law, and then, returning to Rome, graduated as Doctor. In the train of Sacchetti, afterwards Cardinal, whom the Pope sent as Nuncio into Lombardy, he entered on the political education which eventually made him the cleverest statesman of his day, and began to carry his knowledge into practice soon afterwards, when attached to the legation of Cardinal Barberini in Milan. The first incident that brought him into general notice seems to have been a successful effort to terminate hostilities between the French and Spaniards at Casale, just after the ratification of the peace of Ratisbon, in the year 1630. The Spanish Imperialists kept possession of that place, notwithstanding the treaty, and the French besieged them; but Mazarini, anxious to signalise himself, galloped up to the trenches, waving his hat, and shouting, "Pace, pace." As he was already a man of consequence in the negotiations between the belligerents, both parties could yield with grace to the combined influences of prudence and enthusiasm; and from that moment he became not only a confidential servant of Rome, but a diplomatist of high rank in the eyes of Europe.

To maintain his dignity in the services he was judged competent to render, he was made Bishop, and rejoiced in the revenues of the diocese of Metz, with those of ten abbacies, besides many other benefices. These sinecures were, of course, gradually accumulated, improving with the advance of his career in France, which country he governed, during the minority of Louis XIV., in the interest of Rome. As for seeing his bishopric or his abbeys, that was not considered necessary. Nor does it appear that he ever assumed an ecclesiastical character, notwithstanding his ordination as Priest, and consecration as Bishop.

When appointed Nuncio in France, he spared no pains to gain the favour of the Cardinal Richelieu, Prime Minister, and of the King, Louis XIII.; and his diligence was completely successful. When the King died, leaving his successor an infant, and a hard struggle followed for power during the minority, Mazarini used the ascendancy he had acquired over the Queen-Mother, to get the administration of affairs, and

the governorship of the infant King put into his hands. In the first arrangements of the Queen and Court, due honour had not been paid him; and artfully expressing his mortification in the shape of a request to be permitted to return to Rome, Queen Anne, unwilling to send away the Nuncio, and giving credit to a declaration of fidelity to her interests, which he had taken care she should hear, soothed him by an offer of the power he desired. In compensation for the gift, he promoted her appointment, by the Parliament, to the Regency of France.

Two objects now occupied his care,-to make the most of his position for the extraction of gold from the pockets of the French by excessive taxation, and to manage the schooling of the child Louis XIV. in such a manner that he might know nothing of the history of the country which it would one day be his duty to govern, and as little as possible of the actual state of its affairs. But the preceptor and the valet de chambre, no lovers of the Cardinal, read the history of Mezeray to the child every night, encouraged his curiosity, and frustrated every contrary effort of Mazarini by filling his mind with such information as they thought would eventually be needed by their Sovereign. Early discovering this, the Governor surrounded his charge with spies, took away his books, and substituted demoralising amusements for education; but young Louis was not suffered to be ignorant of the reason that actuated his master, and the master of his kingdom. He therefore slily called Mazarini "Grand Turk ;" persisted in questioning him in Council, and on every occasion; would not be debarred of knowledge; and by that energy of character which might have made a good King, but really made a terrible oppressor,-of which the revocation of the edict of Nantes is evidence, he rose above the nefarious dishonesty of his guardian. When the spirit of a rapidly-advancing youth could no longer brook such treatment, he demanded provision suitable to his royal station, repelled with a just disdain the artificial poverty that had been resorted to to make him appear despicable to his subjects, and showed the Prince of the Church that his blinding and repressive policy would not any longer be endured.