FRANCE. 
702 
The fiiTt care of the French king, on his return to his 
dominions, was to acknowledge his gratitude to Hen¬ 
ry VIII. of England ; his next object was to difavow 
the article by which Burgundy was to be ceded. In the 
prefence of Lannoy and Alenjon, the ambafladors of 
Charles, the deputies from that duchy repref'ented that 
no king could alienate their country from the crown ; and 
Francis, affecting to he convinced by their arguments, 
offered, in lieu of Burgundy, to pay the emperor two 
millions of crowns. T his propofal was rejetted ; and 
Francis prepared to extort an acquiescence by force of 
arms. He had already negociated a confederacy which 
promifed to let bounds to the ambition of the emperor. 
The pope, the Venetians, and the duke of Milan, 
alarmed at the growing power of Charles, readily ac¬ 
ceded to it. The king of England was declared protestor 
of this negotiation, which was dignified by the name of 
trie holy league ; and pope Clement abfolved Francis from 
the oath which had been preffed upon him while a pri- 
1 ’oner at Madrid. 
. Sforza, duke of Milan, w r as at this time clofely be- 
fieged in the caftle of his capital; and before the duke 
d’Urbino, the genera! of the confederates, could advance 
to his relief, he was compelled to furrender to the arms 
of Bouibon, who was left in full poffellion of the duchy, 
the inveftiture of which the emperor had promifed to 
grant him ; but the Milanefe was exhaufted by the in- 
celFant wars to which it had been fubjeCt; and Bourbon, 
to fatisfy the murmurs of his difcontented foidiers, took 
the daring refolution of marching to Rome. The great- 
nefs of his abilities was difplayed in the execution of this 
defign ; in the depth of winter he began his march with 
an army of twenty-five thoufand men, without money, 
without magazines, and without artillery ; in the face of 
a fuperior enemy he traverfed mountains and rivers, and 
braved the inclemency of the fevered feafon. He at 
length encamped under the walls of the devoted city; 
but in the moment of victory he fell by a random (hot, 
and expired with the courage which had characterized 
his life ; yet his victorious army, the command of which 
devolved on Philibert prince of Orange, entered and pil¬ 
laged the ancient mi(lrefs of the world, A. D. 1527. 
Clement, who had retired to the caftle of .St. Angelo, 
was forced to capitulate, and remained a prifoner in the 
hands of the emperor ; Rome itfelf, abandoned to the 
rapacity and violence of the conquerors, became for nine 
months a theatre of univerfal defolation, every hour 
ftained by fome atrocious aCt of cruelty, loft, and rapine. 
Francis I. no longer hefitated ; he alfembled at once a 
powerful army, and appointed to the command of it the 
marefchal Lautrec. All Europe beheld with aftonifli- 
inent and horror the cruel treatment of the fucceflor of 
St. Peter by a Chviftian emperor. The Italian dates re¬ 
ceived Lautrec with open arms; he inftantly occupied 
Alexandria, and reduced all the country on that fide of 
the Tefino. Pavia was taken by affault, and the whole 
Milanefe mud have been redored to the dominion $f 
France, had not Lautrec been fearful of exciting the jea- 
loufy of the confederates. Me therefore direfled his 
march towards Rome : by the terror of his approach lie 
obtained the enlargement of Clement VII. and pointed 
towards Naples the fubfequent operations of the war. 
Animated by the rapid progrefs of .the confederacy, 
Francis and Henry by their heralds formally denounced 
war againft the emperor Charles. The defiance of the 
king of England was received with decent firmnefs ; but 
againd the king of France Charles vented his indigna¬ 
tion by every opprobrious expredion ; and declared he 
confidered him as a dranger to the honour and integrity 
of a gentleman. To this infnlt Francis returned the he 
in form, and challenged his rival to dngle combat; Charles 
readily accepted the challenge ; the difficulties refpecfing 
the order of combat prevented them from actually meet¬ 
ing ; but the example of two Rich illudrious perlonages 
bad a confiderable influence on the manners of Europe, 
and fanCtioned the practice of duels in private and per* 
fonal quarrels. 
Meantime Lautrec, with unweared activity, purfued 
the imperial generals, who with the remnant of their 
licentious army were driven out of Rome. Naples, on 
his approach, had thrown off the yoke of Cltarles ; and 
only Gaieta and the capital remained in the hands of the 
Spaniards; Andrew Doria, a citizen of Genoa, the ableft 
feaman of his age, and the high admiral of France, had 
triumphed over the fuperior fleet of the emperor; and 
every tiling feenied to promife Lautrec a certain and 
fpeedy conquefl. But this flattering profpeCt was blafted 
by the imprudence of Francis hinifelf; he had negleCted 
to make the proper remittances for the fupport -of the 
Italian army : and he was prevailed on, by the fatal coun- 
fels of his minifters, to difguft his admiral Doria ; that 
officer, though in the fervice off France, maintained the 
fpirit of independence, and preferred his complaints with 
freedom and boldnefs. He was peculiarly animated with 
a patriotic zeal for the honour and intereft of his own 
country; and he oppofed with menaces the defign of the 
French to reftore the harbour of Savona, an adjacent 
town which the Genoefe had long regarded with iealoufy. 
Francis, irritated by his expreflions, commanded him to 
be arretted ; Doria, apprized of his danger, retired with 
his gailies to a place ofitfafety ; entered into a negociation 
with the emperor Charles, who granted him whatever 
terms he required ; and he failed back to Naples, not to 
block up the harbour of that city, but to afford it pro¬ 
tection and deliverance. 
By the arrival of Doria, the communication with the 
fea was again opened, and plenty reftored to Naples; the 
French in their turn began to fuffer from the want of pro- 
vifions; they were inceflantly liarafled by the imperialifts 
commanded by the prince of Orange. The ravages of 
famine were fncceeded by tliofe of pefrilence; and the 
unfortunate Lautrec, after long ftrnggling with the diffi¬ 
culties of his fituation, expired the victim of difeafe and 
difappointment. On his death the command devolved 
on the marquis of Saluzzo, an officer unequal to the 
truft ; with the remnant of the troops lie effected a re¬ 
treat to Averfa, where he was compelled to capitulate by 
the prince of Orange ; Naples was again evacuated by 
the French ; and the emperor once more acquired the 
fuperiority in Italy. The lofs of Genoa followed the 
ruin of the army in Naples. The French garrifon in that 
city was reduced by defertion to an inconfiderable num¬ 
ber ; and Doria, impatient to deliver his country from 
the yoke of foreigners, failed into the harbour, and was 
received by the acclamations of his fellow-citizens; the 
French fora moment fufpended their fate by retiring into 
the citadel ; but they were quickly obliged to furrender; 
while Doria, inftead of ufurping the Sovereign power, 
reftored the freedom of the republic, eftabliflied the go¬ 
vernment nearly the fame as it fubfifts to this-day, and 
obtained from the gratitude of pofterity the honourable 
appellations of the father of his country, and the rejlorer of 
its liberty. 
In the Milanefe the French were totally defeated by 
Antonio de Leyva, already renowned for his defence of 
Pavia ; and Francis, difeouraged and exhaufted by fo 
many unfuccefsfiil enterprifes, began ferioufly to think 
of peace. The emperor alfo, alarmed at the progrefs of 
the T11 rkifli arms, and the murmurs of his 'Subjects in 
Spain, eagerly liftened to his propofals. The negocia¬ 
tion was conducted in the city of Cambray, A.D. 1528, 
by Margaret of Aufiria the emperor’s aunt, and Louifa 
the mother of Francis. The terms were injurious, and 
almofit ignominious, to France ; her monarch, impatient 
to refeue his fons from captivity, facrificed every objeCt 
for which lie had commenced the war. The emperor 
Charles, for the prefent indeed, was not to demand the 
reftitmion of Burgundy, but to referve his pretentions in 
full force ; while Francis, for the ranfotn of his fons, 
agreed to pay two millions of crowns, and to reftore Rich 
towns 
