Excerpt from Richelieu, or the Conspiracy: Drama, in Five Acts It has been fairly remarked, by the most impartial historians, that he was no less generous to merit than severe to crime - that, in the various departments of the State, the Army, and the Church, he selected and distinguished the ablest aspirants that the wars which he conducted were, for the most part, essen tial to the preservation of France, and Europe itself, from the formidable encroachments of the Austrian House - that, in spite of those wars, the people were not oppressed with exorbitant imposts - and that he left the kingdom he had governed in a more ourishing and vigorous state than at any former period of the French history, or at the decease of Louis XIV. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."