♦Anarchy in Poland.♦ She employed it, according to her wont, in internal dissensions. It is difficult to trace the true origin of the deplorable state of Poland during the next six years; but it may be attributed, in the first instance, to the foolish conduct of the queen, Louise de Nevers. Though a woman of masculine spirit, and exercising a great ascendancy over the uxorious Casimir, she was herself entirely governed by the Jesuits. ♦1661.♦ They persuaded her, and through her the king, to violate that article of the _pacta conventa_ by which he pledged himself not to tamper with the succession to the crown. The person for whom they designed it was her nephew, the young Duc d’Enghien, son of the great Condé. ♦1662-3.♦ The power of French gold soon converted the majority of the senate. But the lesser nobles were not so easily cajoled, and they possessed a secret though powerful supporter in Lubomirski, Grand Marshal and Second General of the crown. To this main grievance was added another, which pressed heavily on the poorer nobles. Large arrears of pay were, as usual,[32] owing to the army, who accordingly formed themselves into a confederation, and demanded the diminution of the immense revenues of the clergy. This brought upon them all the thunders of the Church; and the fearful spectacle was presented of a country divided into hostile camps, in which the senate was at enmity with the diet, the clergy with the army, the larger with the lesser nobility. Sobieski and other patriotic spirits tried to strike at the root of the evil, and furnished funds from their private resources for the payment of arrears. As this did not allay the complaints of the army, the senate opened a negotiation with the malcontents from Sobieski’s “court”[33] at Zolkiew, which was so far successful that the king was able to lead them against Muscovy. ♦Campaign against Muscovy.♦ But the campaign, though not disastrous, was not especially fortunate; and the absence of Lubomirski, who had been kept at home by the king’s suspicions, created general discontent. On his return the king summoned Lubomirski to trial on a charge of high treason. He did not appear, and was condemned to perpetual banishment and the loss of his honours and estates. ♦Sobieski, Grand Marshal and Second General.♦ His office of Grand Marshal was bestowed on Sobieski, and that of Second General on Czarnieçki; but the latter dying shortly after, this post was also conferred on Sobieski. The appointments were most politic, for Sobieski was a great favourite with the army. His duties having kept him constantly on the Cossack frontier, he had not compromised himself with either party.