CHAPTER XXXVII

Arrival of the English fleet under the Earl of Denbigh--Its composition--Daring feat of an English pinnace--Retirement of the fleet--Probable explanation of this fiasco--Indignation of Charles I, who orders Denbigh to return to La Rochelle, but this is found to be impossible--The Rochellois approach Bassompierre with a request for a conference to arrange terms of surrender--The arrival of a letter from Charles I promising to send another fleet to their succour causes the negotiations to be broken off--La Rochelle in the grip of famine--Refusal of Louis XIII to allow the old men, women and children to pass through the Royal lines: their miserable fate--Movements in favour of surrender among the citizens suppressed by the Mayor Guiton--Terrible sufferings of La Rochelle--Bassompierre spares the life of a Huguenot soldier who had intended to kill him--Difficulties experienced by Charles I and Buckingham in fitting out a new expedition--Assassination of Buckingham--The vanguard of the English fleet, under the command of the Earl of Lindsey, appears off La Rochelle--Narrow escape of Richelieu and Bassompierre--The King takes up his quarters with Bassompierre at Laleu--Arrival of the rest of the English fleet--Feeble efforts of the English to force their way into the harbour--The Rochellois, reduced to the last extremity, sue for peace--Bassompierre conducts deputies from the town to Richelieu--Surrender of La Rochelle--Bassompierre returns with the King to Paris.....pp. 542-562