CHAP TER VIII
THE FRENCH MARRIAGE
THE remarkable vicissitudes of a mind like Buckingham's become bewildering to follow unless we grasp the initial fact that in all his policy, both at home and abroad, this versatile young minister was for ever pursuing the shadows which haunted his fertile imagination, thereby losing hold of the substance of reality. At this period of his career we find him at the pinnacle of success, the darling of the multitude, the bosom friend of both King and Prince, the popular leader of Parliament, so that it seems difficult to believe that by 1625 the first Parliament of Charles could be denouncing him whole-heartedly, seeing in his continued rule an ever increasing menace to the realm. A wise statesman would have made his popularity the means of steering the nation into channels of prosperity, a crafty politician might perhaps have turned it to his own ends, abandoning immediately any measure whereby it was endangered. Why then, did Buckingham deliberately throw away such a priceless possession? The reason is partly to be sought in the plan upon which his heart was now set, to the exclusion of all else — the marriage of Charles with Henrietta Maria of France. Although there had been no open opposition to the marriage in the last session of Parliament, the general murmurings were clearly against the idea. An alliance with France had no place in the Commons* scheme of things. Yet, wisely conducted, a treaty between the two powers might have resulted to the benefit of Great Britain on the Continent, for Richelieu — so soon to be guiding the destinies of France — though a Cardinal of the Church of Rome, was never averse to lending a little secret aid to a
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