Serious situation of affairs in Italy--Trouble with _Monsieur_--Richelieu entrusted with the command of the Army in Italy--It is decided to send Bassompierre on a special embassy to Switzerland--The marshal buys the Château of Chaillot--His departure for Switzerland--Mazarin at Lyons--Bassompierre’s reception at Fribourg--He arrives at Soleure and convenes a meeting of the Diet--His discomfiture of the Chancellor of Alsace--Success of his mission--He receives orders from Richelieu to mobilise 6,000 Swiss--The Cardinal as generalissimo--Pinerolo surrenders--Bassompierre joins the King at Lyons--Louis XIII and Mlle. de Hautefort--Successful campaign of Bassompierre in Savoy--His mortification at having to resign his command to the Maréchal de Châtillon--Increasing rancour of the Queen-Mother against Richelieu--Visit of Bassompierre to Paris--An unfortunate coincidence--Louis XIII falls dangerously ill at Lyons--Intrigues around his sick-bed--Perilous situation of Richelieu--Recovery of the King--Arrival of Bassompierre at Lyons--Suspicions of Richelieu concerning the marshal--The latter endeavours to disarm them--Question of Bassompierre’s connection with the anti-Richelieu cabal considered--His secret marriage to the Princesse de Conti. Meantime, the enemies of France had not been idle. Seeing Richelieu engaged in what he imagined would prove a long war in Languedoc, the Emperor, in concert with Spain, resolved to take steps to recover his shaken influence in Italy. Towards the end of May, 1629, German troops entered the Grisons and seized the passages of the Rhine and the town of Coire; while Ferdinand called upon Louis XIII to evacuate the “Imperial fiefs of Italy.” The Swiss, a prey to religious dissensions, made no effort to expel the foreigner from the Grisons; but the Imperialists did not advance until the autumn, the interval being spent in negotiations. However, at the end of September they descended into Lombardy and invaded Mantua, under the orders of the Italian general Colalto; while Spinola, who had been sent with a Spanish force from the Netherlands to secure the triumph of the Catholic powers in Italy and had replaced the feeble Don Gonzalez de Cordoba as Governor of the Milanese, occupied Montferrato and threatened Casale.