We should not feel surprised, if when reflecting upon the prodigious resources that France has of late years displayed, the question should be asked, how it was possible that the affairs of Charles VII. . could become so desperate, especially as he had only the infant Henry VI. as a competitor? To this query, a very brief detail of the situation of both parties shall be our answer; and that will also serve to throw some light on the events that subsequently occurred.

Charles, it is true, was in possession of a part of the provinces of Orleans and Touraine,* the territory situated to the south of the Loire as well as Dauphiny; but Provence, Roussillon, and the counties of Foix and Navarre, had their distinct sovereigns. Guienne and Gascony belonged to the English. In the provinces subject to Charles there were many fortresses which had become the property of those adventurers of whom we have previously spoken, and the safeguard of which devolved to him who could afford to pay them the best. Numerous dependents of the Burgundian faction,†

* The province of Anjou belonged to the king of Sicily; that of Maine to his brother Charles of Anjou: the county of Etampes was the property of Jean of Burgundy, count of Nevers, son of the third male heir of Philip le Hardi, and cousin-german of Philip le Bon.

† Such also was the case with the duke of Savoy. Charles, on

such as the prince of Orange, had vassals of some importance in their territories; and all that had been exacted on the part of Brittany, was the maintenance of a species of neutrality.*

The English, independent of Guienne and Gascony, had conquered all the northern provinces; † to the east, their ally reigned over Burgundy and Franche Compté, and to the north the Low Countries were at his disposal; thus it is clearly demonstrated that the enemies of Charles, as respects territory, had the balance greatly in their favour.

The posture of affairs was the same in regard to the riches of their territory. The commerce of

the contrary, had been deprived, two years before, of the assistance of his most powerful supporter, Louis III., count of Provence, duke of Anjou, and king of Sicily. This prince, who had marched nearly all his forces to Naples, in 1420, did not return to France until 1429, after the expedition to Orleans had taken place, and during the coronation of Charles VII.-See Monstrelet, vol. i. folio 294; Villaret, xiv. page 114 and 412.

* The duke of Brittany had certainly entered into an alliance with Charles VII. in 1421; but he only furnished a very mediocre supply after the ratification of the treaty, because he asserted that Charles had failed in fulfilling the stipulations.-See Morrice, History of Brittany, vol. i. page 486.

+Among these provinces, Normandy, in regard to the resources which it furnished, was considered, even under Louis XI., as equivalent to one-third of the whole monarchy.-See Villaret, xvii. page 170.

Belgium had long ranked as the most flourishing throughout Western Europe; the traffic of the cities belonging to Charles, with the exception of Lyons, might be considered as nothing. And, without taking the above city into the scale, he did not possess a single place that boasted great population, or was at all to be compared, in that respect, with Lille, Rouen, Bordeaux, Paris,* &c. Nearly the whole length of the coast was in possession of the allies; Charles having but one or two ports, through the medium of which he could receive succours, and he was bereft of a fleet to intercept such reinforcements as arrived from England.

In a military point of view, the opponents of the

The possession of the capital alone placed a great preponderance in the hands of the allies, because its population and its riches procured them continual resources, both in men and in money. Besides, the vast efforts uniformly made, during the lapse of thirty years, by the Armagnacs, the Burgundians, the English and the French, to occupy Paris, afford so many incontestible proofs of the vast importance attached to that city. See also Journal de Paris, page 170.

De la possession de cette ville, says the duke of Bedford, despend ceste seignourie.

During the period of the war carried on, for Le bien Public, as it was termed, in the year 1465, Louis XI. used to remark, that, "if he could enter the first, (into Paris,) he would save himself with his crown upon his head; but that if the enemy entered the first, he should find himself in danger." See Villaret, xvii. page 82.

French king were not less powerful. Charles had no army, properly speaking, but merely some straggling bands and militia forces that were with difficulty collected together, and never amounted to any great effective body, being also without order, and void of discipline; added to this, upon receiving the least check, and above all, when pay and pillage were wanting, they returned without opposition to their respective homes; so that it was scarcely possible to enter upon a campaign, until the Scotch had supplied their auxiliary troops.*

* James I., king of Scotland, was captured on board a vessel, in 1407, and detained against the law of nations, (for a truce then existed,) being conveyed to England, and there kept a prisoner until the year 1423; but the regency of his kingdom was not less zealous in espousing the cause of France. It was certainly the interest of Scotland to prevent France from becoming subject to England; besides, Charles loaded the Scotchmen with honours and benefits. These assertions are fully confirmed by referring to the treasury of Charters, (Melanges, vol. ix. Art. Scotland,) where are found: 1st. Two confirmations of ancient treaties between Scotland and France, dated from Perth and Stirling, the 6th January, 1407, and the 6th October, 1428 (ibid. Nos. 19 and 20, page 392).—2d. Two procurations for their renewal, dated from St. Jean, the 12th July, 1428 (ibid. Nos. 22 and 23). -3d. A treaty concluded at Chinon, the 10th November, 1428, whereby Charles VII., in the event of his recovering his kingdom, through the means of James I., solemnly bound himself to give that prince the duchy of Berri and the county of Evreaux (ibid.

The English, on the contrary, possessed a numerous and well disciplined army; desertion was of little detriment to their cause, since the sea served as a barrier to prevent deserters from regaining their country. If Charles had to boast some captains of tried valour and experience, the English were by no means deficient in that respect; and what tended still more to give advantage to the latter, were those distinguished and able generals intrusted with the command of the army, the duke of Bedford, the earls of Salisbury, Suffolk, Somerset, Warwick, Arundel, and the lord Talbot; while Charles had only Santrailles, La Hire, and the bastard Dunois, to oppose them.

It will be obvious from the statement made of the situation of France, and particularly of the southern provinces, that what is esteemed the very nerve of governments, did not exist to establish the equilibrium in favour of Charles VII. Some imposts badly collected, a portion of which was retained by those exacting payment; together with the precarious benefit derived from raising and depreciating the value of money, were the only

No. 27, page 393). Finally, Dutillet, in his Rec. des Traités, pages 358, 359, 361, and 362, inserts a number of treaties, acts, gifts, &c. that passed between the same monarchs from 1422 until 1428.