The presence of the army and the safety of its troops were not the greatest advantages which the Court derived from this extraordinary retreat. The mismanagement of the Duke of Loraine, and the absence of the Prince de Condé from his army, at a moment when his presence was so much required, ruined entirely the already sinking reputation of the faction opposed to the Court. The Parisians, who had long begun to hate it, now added contempt to detestation; and we heard at Mantes that Condé himself had been actually hooted in the streets of the capital, before he quitted it to rejoin his troops. Tremendous autumnal rains had now succeeded: both provisions and forage had by this time been exhausted in the neighbourhood of the Prince's camp; and, after one of the most inglorious campaigns that he ever made, Condé found himself obliged to retreat upon Laon, passing within a few miles of our forces at Senlis. All was now joy and satisfaction for the moment; but, as neither officers nor men had received any pay for a considerable time, it became probable that, should the expectations which they entertained of receiving their arrears from the Court be disappointed, they would speedily drop away and leave the King without the means of defence. Under these circumstances, it became absolutely necessary that the Court should venture to return to the capital; but it was not without long discussions and persuasions that Turenne induced the Queen and her ministers to comply. At the time that this was proposed, Monsieur de Villardin and myself had just reached Mantes; and, for a day or two, all was uncertainty and confusion, different reports spreading through the town every hour--now that we were to set off directly--now that the Queen had positively refused to trust herself in Paris--now that we were to wait for messengers from the capital ere any plan could be finally adopted. At length, however, the order to prepare for the journey was given; and, shortly after, the King, the Queen, the ministers, with a long train of ladies and gentlemen, set out in carriages which had once been splendid, but were so no longer, while guards, officers, attendants, and courtiers on horseback, made up a procession of nearly a mile in length.