of the cabal; while Jeannin and Villeroy could oppose nothing save
words; with Sully, however, the case was widely different; he was not
only finance minister, but also keeper of the royal treasury, and his
fearless and sturdy nature was so well understood and appreciated, that
none who knew him doubted for an instant that should the Regent
persevere in her generosity in opposition to his advice, he would not
hesitate to adopt the most extreme measures to limit her power in the
disposal of the public funds.

Sully, meanwhile, like a generous adversary, had not only endeavoured to
restrain the liberality of the Queen, but had even ventured to
expostulate with many of the applicants upon the ruinous extravagance of
their demands; a proceeding which was resented by several of the great
nobles, and by none more deeply than the Prince de Condé, who was upheld
in his pretensions by his adherents, all of whom alleged that as the
royal treasury was daily suffering diminution, and must soon become
entirely exhausted, he had a right to claim, as first Prince of the
Blood, the largest portion of its contents after their Majesties. They
also reminded him of the offices and honours of which he had been
despoiled by the late King, when he would not consent to retain them as
the price of his disgrace; and, finally, they bade him not to lose sight
of the fact that liberal as the Queen-Regent might have appeared on his
return to France, he did not yet possess the revenues necessary to
maintain his dignity as the first subject in the realm. M. de Condé was
haughty and ambitious, and he consequently lent a willing ear to these
representations; nor was it long ere he became equally convinced that
his power was balanced by that of Sully; that a Bourbon was measured
with a Béthune; a Prince of the Blood with a _parvenu_ minister; and
that such must continue to be the case so long as he permitted money to
be poised against influence.