No. 74.

POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.

St. Germain, March 26th, 1679.

The King is extremely anxious for the success of the affair of the Duke of Mantua. We have heard nothing from M. d'Asfeld, and, therefore, can have no doubt of his being prisoner in the Milanese. The news which you received of his being arrested at La Canonica, was doubtless as true as that of his being released again was the reverse. We shall now see if the firmness of the Duke of Mantua, which has thus far resisted the efforts of the Count Carrossa, and of the Republic of Venice, will continue to the end: we cannot be long without having this point cleared up, if, as you mention in your letter of the 11th, he had set off the night before to go to Casale. Your next letters will, of course, bring us fresh intelligence upon the subject.

POMPONNE.*

From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at

No. 75.

POMPONNE TO PINCHESNE.

Suspicions of the Fidelity of Matthioli.

St. Germain, April 5th, 1679.

I have received your letter of the 18th of March, which shows the bad state in which, according to the Count Matthioli's own accounts, the affair of Mantua is: he is very possibly, as you say, the sole author of all the accidents and impediments in it, which he writes word, in his letter to Giuliani, have happened. Your next letters will give us still clearer intelligence on this subject; but we have many reasons for apprehending that this negociation, which appeared so much advanced, may fail at last, when we were in the immediate expectation of seeing it happily concluded.

POMPONNE.

From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at

No. 76.

CHANOIS TO LOUVOIS.

Reports of Catinat being at Pignerol--Different Rumours respecting the Negociation.

Pignerol, April 5th, 1679.

As I have discovered, Sir, since the last post, that the Marquis d'Herleville (governor of Pignerol) is aware that M. de Richemont is incognito in the citadel of this town, and that, in fact, he knows his real name; I do myself the honour of acquainting you with the circumstance. M. de Saint-André even sends word, that he has been told at Turin, that M. de Catinat is to take him with him to Casale. I do not know how they can have discovered so much, unless it is, that the absence of M. de Catinat has given occasion to some of the Guards to write from Paris, that he is in these parts. These reports also mention the days on

*The Officers of the French Guards, of whom Catinat, at this time, was one.

which he has gone out of the citadel, and the spot where the Abbé d'Estrades came to speak to him the last time from Turin. I have answered nothing when I have heard these things said, except that I knew of no one in the citadel, and nothing upon the subject.

The Marquis of Saint-Maurice told several people that the French Ambassador wished to be very cunning; but that he knew very well that there had been a treaty made between the King and the Duke of Mantua, on the subject of Casale; and that he also knew that during the last ten days it had been absolutely broken off. The retrograde movements of the troops cantoned in the Briançonnois and the valley of Chaumont, on the side of Dauphiny and Provence, seem to confirm the report of the Marquis of Saint-Maurice; but the arrival of the battalion of the regiment of Piedmont in this town two days ago, makes the people of the country, who love to reason upon every thing, suspend their judgments; their reasonings will be of no importance, if the Duke's sentiments are always well disposed, for between this place and Casale there is no fortress, nor any

obstacle which can delay the march of the King's

troops.

I am always with profound respect, &c.

SIR,

DE CHANOIS *

No. 77.

CATINAT TO LOUVOIS.

Pignerol, April 8th, 1679.

The roads being good, and the days as long as they are at present, a body of cavalry can go in less than thirty hours from Pignerol to Casale. There is no fortified place through which we should be obliged to pass, and I am not aware of any difficulty that we could find on the passage, provided we took the country by surprise in our march. I have thought it right to state this to you, Sir, because the possibility of using this degree of diligence may materially assist the mea

* Chanois was a French Commissary at Pignerol. This letter is extracted from the work of M. Roux (Fazillac).

R