Refusal of the Protestants of Béarn to restore the property of the Catholic Church--Louis XIII and Luynes resolve on rigorous measures and set out for the South--Visit of Bassompierre to La Rochelle--He joins the King at Bordeaux--Arrest and execution of d’Arsilemont--The Parlement of Pau declines to register the Royal edict and Louis XIII determines to march into Béarn--Bassompierre charged with the transport of the army across the Garonne, which is accomplished in twenty-four hours--Béarn and Lower Navarre are united to the Crown of France--Coldness of the King towards Bassompierre--Bassompierre learns that this is due to the ill offices of Luynes, who regards him as a rival in the royal favour--He is informed that Luynes is “unable to suffer him to remain at Court”--Bassompierre decides to come to terms with the favourite, and it is arranged that he shall quit the Court so soon as some honourable office can be found for him--The Valtellina question--Bassompierre appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain--Birth of a son to Luynes. No sooner had peace been signed than Louis XIII, urged on by Luynes, who was above all things anxious to conciliate the High Catholic party, determined to deal with the recalcitrant Protestants of Béarn. The re-establishment of the Catholic religion in Béarn had been one of the conditions on which Clement VIII had consented to grant absolution to Henri IV; but that monarch had only half kept his word, and had limited himself to nominating bishops to the sees of Lescar and Oleron, and paying them their salaries; re-establishing the Mass in a good many places, and admitting Catholics to charges and dignities. The two new bishops demanded the restoration of the ecclesiastical property formerly attached to their offices;[135] but the Government turned a deaf ear to their appeals, and it was not until Luynes rose to power that they had a chance of being listened to. Besides his desire to gain the support of the _dévots_, Luynes saw in the affair of Béarn an opportunity of ridding himself of the possible rivalry of the young Marquis de Montpouillan with the King, as Montpouillan’s father, the Marquis de la Force,[136] was governor of Béarn and chief of the Protestants of that country. He thereupon pressed Louis XIII to carry out the engagements which Henri IV had sought to evade, and, by a decree of the Council of June 25, 1617, the King ordered the restitution of Church property in Béarn. The Estates of Béarn, supported by La Force, remonstrated vigorously; but in September the King confirmed his decision of June.