Fight also at Dreux there was a General Pardon published to all that should return to their Allegiance to the King. The Pope fondly overjoyed with the Victory at Dreux When the Pope heard of this Victory he was strangely joyed at it conceiving this one Battel would put an end to the Power of the Protestants in France he expecting that effect from Force and Violence which the French hoped for only from a Council But however he thought himself now delivered from a great part of his Cares and made it his business to precipitate the Council tho' he knew the Germans would protest against it whom he did not at all regard and as for the King of France he thought the Joy of the Victory would give him satisfaction enough The Council was as much joyed as any body but especially the Cardinal of Lorraine for his Brother 's good Fortune in this Battel to whom all was ascribed in a Speech made there the 10th of January Coligni entering Berry led his Army to Ceel the second of January a place which the Priests of that Province had chosen to secure the Church Treasures in which now to their great damage they persuaded the Townsmen to defend it being soon taken and all that Plate melted down and the Inhabitants very severely used for their Resistance and several of them hanged the Priests escaping in the Tumult In Beausse the Duke of Guise took Estampes after which he besieged Pluviers with 800 Horse who took the Suburbs the Garison of which sallying out retired to Orleans leaving their Carriages behind them Whilst the Duke of Guise was busie in preparing Necessaries for the Siege of this great City Andelot who had undertaken the Defence of it was as intent in fortifying and storing the City with all things that were necessary There were in it 14 Companies of Germans and 4 of Townsmen and many of the Nobility all well Armed The Queen The Prince of Conde carried to Blois when she had stayed a while at Chartres went with the King to Blois as is said carrying with them the Prince of Conde under a strong Guard from whence she sent him to the Castle of Onzain a strong place in Angoumoise Coligni was in the mean time wholly intent on the appeasing of the Germans fearing they would mutiny for their Pay which he said would be sent in a short time from England so that at last he obliged them to promise they would not desert him The Duke of Guise having quitted Beausse was by this time come to Baugy where there were some Skirmishes of no great consequence between him and the Protestants Some mention was made also of a Peace the Princess of Conde proposing That her Husband and Montmorancy should be set at liberty to that end but there was nothing done in it The Sieur Boucart a Commander under Coligni was coming before Trimoville a Town upon the Loire which was under one Potin commanded it to surrender which being refused he took it by force and put the Inhabitants to the Sword amongst whom were 36 Priests From whence he went to Gien which was preserved out of his hands by three Companies of Spaniards who were sent thither for the approaching Siege of Orleans Coligni in the mean time left Gergeau and went to Orleans to consult with the other Commanders what was best to be done and there it was resolved the Germans should be sent into Normandy to be ready to receive their Pay out of England which their Commanders readily accepted Coligni went with them and Gramont undertook the defence of Orleans Andelot being sick Coligni was all the way plied with Messages from the Queen for a Peace to hinder his Journey The first of February he arrived with 4000 Horse at Trcon and took a view of the place in which the late Battel was fought from thence he went to Eureux He took soon after St. Pere de Melun a rich Monastery and finding great Riches in its Church which had been given by the Sea-men he took its Wealth and which was worse resented destroyed those Images which were most addressed to in Distresses Soon after eight English Ships came to Havre de Grace in which were five English Companies eight Cannon great quantities of Ammunition and Money whereupon he resolved to take the Castle of Caen before he went back to Orleans and the first of March raised a Battery of four Cannon against it and took it in a few days tho' the Duke of Elboeuf was Commander of it who must have been taken too but that Coligni was in hast to relieve Orleans The Duke of Guise began the Siege of Orleans the 7th of February The Siege of Orleans and attack'd the Suburb de Olivet which Andelot had ordered to be deserted but by the negligence of the Germans had like the next day to have proved the loss of the City Guise his Forces getting into it before the Germans and French could withdraw and fire the Houses many of them perished in the Crowd at the passage of the Bridge which led to the City and was then imbarassed with the Goods the Germans had heaped up there But Andelot making a sharp Sally at the Head of a Troop of Gentlemen opened the way and kept off the Enemy it 's said however 800 of the Besieged perished in this Tumult others say not half the number But yet however it was a great loss and much incommoded the City Two days after the other Suburbs were taken The 18th of February the Duke of Guise wrote to the Queen That the Siege was very forward and that in a few days he should send her the joyful News it was taken but the same day towards night as he was riding with some Officers The Duke of Guise wounded by one Poltrot he was shot in the Side by one John Poltrot near his Arm-pit This person was a Gentleman of Engoulesme and brought up as Page in the Family of Francis Boucart Baron d' Aubeterre and having in his Childhood lived in Spain could imitate that Nation to a wonder and was commonly called The Little Spaniard he had long since resolved to be the death of this great Man and had foretold it publickly and was so much the less suspected because he was thought a close dissembling Fellow Being sent by his Master to learn an Account of the Battel of Dreux he found Coligni at the Siege of Ceel who gave him Money to buy a fleet Horse after which he never returned to his Lord and this made Coligni suspected as conscious of the Design From thence he went to the Duke of Guise his Quarters and contracted an Acquaintance with his Servants and this day after a Prayer to God to direct him lying in wait Shot him as he was returning home in the Evening Poltrot fled into the next Wood and they who pursued him could not find him and when he had rode all night and quite tired his Horse
much dispirited and weakned France And the Duke de Montmorancy who from the beginning had a great Aversion for this War which he foresaw would end in the Ruin of France was more intent in levying Soldiers to defend the Borders of the Netherlands than in prosecuting the War against King Philip and Invading his Dominions In the mean time Queen Mary of England Queen Mary joyns with Spain being over-persuaded by King Philip her Husband and disposed to it by the Arts of Dr. Wotton who was then her Embassadour in France and by his Nephew who found the French were well disposed to a Rupture with England if Calice might be the Prince of it she I say entred into the War too and sent an Herald to the French Court with a Declaration to that purpose who deliver'd it the Seventh of June The French King took no less care to raise a War between England and Scotland by way of Diversion Mary the Queen of Scotland being before this sent into France to be married to the Dauphin his Eldest Son. So that he thought he had now a Right to Command that Nation to espouse his Quarrel but the Scotch Nobility thought otherwise and would not Engage in a War against England when they had no interest of their own to do it The Spaniards were all this while intent in providing Men and Arms and the Twenty fifth of July attack'd the Fort of Rocroy in the Borders of Champagne and Hainalt four Leagues from Maribourg to the South but finding there a greater Resistance than they expected they marched away towards Picardy with an Army of Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse The Body of the French Army being but Eighteen thousand Foot and Five thousand Horse and for the most part both Sides Germans so that the French thought it their Interest to coast along by the Enemy and defend their Borders and cover their Towns which was all they could safely do in this inequality of Forces There was then a very small Garrison in St. Quintin The Siege of St. Quintin under the Command of Charles de Teligny Captain of the Troop of Guards belonging to the Dauphin but the Army coming suddenly before it the Sieur de Coligny the President of Picardy put himself into the place with some few Forces and sent to Montmorancy to come up and succour him This was disapproved by those about him as Dangerous and if things succeeded not Dishonourable In the beginning of the Siege Teligny was slain in a Sally by Engaging imprudently beyond his Orders who was a Person of great Courage and Strength Industry and Fidelity and an Experienc'd Commander And Andelot The Battel of St. Quintin who was sent by Coligny to bring Two thousand Foot into the Town was by a mistake of his Guides misled and falling into the Trenches of the Besiegers he was slain and most of his Men cut off and Montmorancy attempting to relieve the same place was beaten also and lost Two thousand five hundren Men and himself was taken Prisoner This Battel had a fatal effect upon France for it made the Life of Henry II ever after Unfortunate and reducing France to the necessity of a dishonourable Peace it became the occasion of the Civil Wars which followed to the great hazard of the Ruin of that Potent Kingdom and may serve as an Example to Princes not to violate their Faith whoever dispense with it Montmorancy was from the beginning averse to this War Montmorancy ruin'd by being taken Prisoner and foretold the ill Consequences of it as he was an old experienc'd wise Commander and a great Lover of his Country so till then he had lived in great Power and enjoyed the Favour of his Prince but now when his good Fortune left him he lost the good Esteem and Regards of all Men which from thence forward were conferred upon the Duke of Guize who employ'd them to the damage of France The News of this Victory fill'd France with Terror and Sorrow and the Netherlands with Joy and Courage The Duke of Nevers and some others of the principal French Commanders however escaped If the Victorious Army had forthwith marched to Paris they might have taken it but King Philip was resolved to hazard nothing but commanded his Army to go on with the Siege of St. Quintin and the King of France leaving Compeigne where he then was and going to Paris so quieted the Minds of the People by his Presence and good Words that things began to settle and the fear in a short time to abate Coligny kept the Townsmen of St. Quintin two days in Ignorance of this Loss and when they came to hear of it though he saw the Town would at last be taken yet he persuaded them to hold it out to the last that so the King might have time to recollect his Forces and be in a condition to oppose the Victorious Enemy Another of the Andelot's got into the Town with about Five hundred Chosen Men and some few Volunteers of the Nobility but when all was done King Philip coming in Person into the Camp and the Siege being carried on with great diligence the Town was taken by Storm the 27th of August The Day of the Battel and Coligny and Andelot became Prisoners too and the latter was wounded At this Siege there was Eight thousand English employed who did great Service but finding themselves ill used after the Town was taken they returned to Calis St. Quintin taken by Storm There were above Four hundred French Soldiers slain in this Town and Three hundred taken Prisoners and more had perished if King Philip who was present had not entred the City and by Proclamation restrain'd the fury of his own Soldiers to whom he granted the Plunder of the Town which was great and took particular care that those who had not been concern'd in the danger of the Storming the Town might have no share in the Plunder of it Soon after this Victory King Philip sent an Express to the late Emperor Charles his Father who was then in his private Retirement in Spain desiring him to send his Advice how to proceed the wise and good Prince return'd him an Answer to this purpose as the Great Thuanus relates it A Letter of Charles V to his Son Philip. Though this Retreat gives me the utmost security yet I received the Account of your Victory with a joyful and a pleased Mind and I congratulate the happy and fortunate Beginnings of my beloved Sons Reign and I render to God Almighty my humblest and devoutest Thanks and Praises who hath not suffer'd the Persidy of his Enemies to go long unpunished but has thus suddenly chastised the Truce-breakers both in Italy and on the Borders of the Netherlands For though my mind foretold me it would come so to pass and I comforted my self with that hope yet I was vex'd that just at that time when I had restored Christendom
The Women of this Town contributed very much to the saving of it not only by working at the Breaches tho' many of them were slain by the Enemies Shot but also by taking mens Cloaths and appearing in Arms among them in the sight of the Enemy so that the Defendants seemed more numerous than indeed they were In the mean time The Duke de Alva takes the Field Alva having brought an Army of 16000 Foot and 2000 Horse consisting of Spaniards Germans and Italians together with a good Train of Artillery brought him by Sea he marched out of Pescara May 10 and drove the French out of Givlia a Sea-port-Town about ten miles east of Civitella whereupon the Duke of Guise having lost above half his Army left Civitella the 15 of May when they had lain before it twenty two Days The Duke of Florence took the Opportunity of this distracted State of Affairs and by pretending he was much inclin'd to joyn with the French and Pope against the Spaniards which would certainly have ruined their Power in Italy forced King Philip to give up the City and State of Siena to him who accordingly took Possession of it July 19. This whole intreague is described at length by Thuanus but I am forced to be very short the nature of this Supplement not admitting such long Digressions Towards the latter end of the Summer Segni taken by the Spaniards Segni a strong City of Compagnia di Roma having made the best Defence it could fell at last into the Hands of the Spaniards who plundred and burnt it and slew the greatest part of the Inhabitants When the Pope heard the deplorable News of the Sack of Segni he fell into a fit of Melancholy and said He desired to be with Christ and would with great Constancy and Satisfaction expect the Crown of Martyrdom As if says Thuanus this had been the Cause of God And that he had not been brought into this great Danger and Trouble by a War which his Relations had involv'd him in with great Rashness and Ambition Those that were about him could not forbear Smiling and knowing very well That as the Pope had begun this War without Cause or Provocation so he might end it when he pleased upon Just and Honourable Terms King Philip and his General the Duke de Alva being both extremely addicted to the See of Rome And therefore taking this Opportunity they persuaded the Pope to send Alexander Placidi a Knight of great esteem to the Duke of Alva to treat about a Peace by whom also the Cardinal of Sanfloriano sent a private Account of the beating the French at S. Quintin which as it sunk the Pope's Interest so it raised the Spanish Upon this the Duke de Alva took up a Resolution to surprize the City of Rome by Night and treat with the Pope within the very Walls of Rome and he came very early in the Morning under the Walls of Rome and found the City in a profound Quiet and altogether unprovided so that in all probability he might have surprized it without the least Resistance but as he took an Oath of the Captains That they should not suffer their Soldiers to plunder or sack the City so it is verily thought upon great Reasons That his Fear the Switz and Germans would have done this whatever he or his Officers could have done or said to prevent it made him stop and by his Presence try if he could affright the Old Pope into a Compliance However Thuanus is of Opinion he truly designed to surprize the City but that his Heart failed him when it came to the Point of Execution At the same time there came Letters from the King of France The Duke of Guise recall'd to recal the Duke of Guise into France where his Presence was absolutely needful and the Pope had his Hostages returned and was left at Liberty to take the best care he could of his own Affairs Yet when the Duke of Guise came to ask the Pope's leave to return upon the account of the great Necessity of his Master's Affairs there was a sharp contest between the Duke and the Pope insomuch that his Holiness told the Duke He had done very little towards the advancing his Masters Interest or the Good of the Church in this Voyage and much less for the Improvement of his own Honour and Reputation In the mean time the Duke de Alva withdrew his Army to the Town of Colonna The Duke of Florence had now obtained what he desired A Peace between King Philip and the Pope by gaining the State of Sienna the Duke of Guise was gone for France the Pope's Forces were sufficiently baffled and his Towns lay at the Mercy of the Enemy his Treasures were spent and the Venetians had absolutely refused to assist him So that the Pope was now forced to come to a Treaty of Peace in good earnest and it was well he had the King of Spain and the Duke de Alva to treat with considering in what State his Affairs were The Peace was however agreed at last upon these Terms I. That the Duke de Alva in the Name of his Master should beg the Pope's Pardon and it should be granted II. That the Pope should renounce the Amity with France III. That the King of Spain should restore to the Pope one hundred Towns and Castles he had taken in this War the same being dismantled first and that they should restore those Estates they had seized to the proper owners IV. That both Parties should remit all Wrongs Injuries and Losses Sustained during the War and Pardon all that had taken Arms on either Side And that Paliano should be put into the Hands of Bernardo Carbone a Kinsman of the Caraffa's to be kept by him for both Parties with a Garrison of eight hundred Men till they should otherwise dispose of it by mutual Consent These Articles were publickly signed at * Caviiâ— Cava the fourteenth of September but there was a private Article signed the same Day That John Caraffa should have such a Recompence for Paliano as should be adjudged an Equivalent by the Senate of Venice who were the Arbitrators in this Treaty The Place meant was Rossano a Populous and Rich City in the Kingdom of Naples which was to be granted to him by the King of Spain with the Title of a Principality which he might transfer to whom he pleased if not an Enemy of the King of Spain's That upon the delivery of this Grant and Place Paliano should be dismantled and Caraffa should yield up all his Right in it to the King of Spain which he also might assign to whom he pleased if he were not Excommunicated or the Pope's sworn Enemy which was added to exclude Mark Anthony Colonna and was easily granted by the Duke de Alva in complyance with the Morose and Inexorable Humour they are Thuanus's Words of the Old Gentleman who would soon die and then the King
before was so much hated began by degrees to grow up and get Strength with the tacit Consent of its greatest Enemies Thus ended the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France About this time Ferrieres Maligni one of the Conspirators of Amboise escaping out of Prison had a Design to surprize Lyons and had formed so great a Party in the Town as might have done it but remitting the execution of his Project to a more convenient time by order of the King of Navarr the thing was discovered and many of his Partizans taken but yet such was the constancy of the Party that though many were tortured yet nothing could be found out to prove the King of Navarr or Prince of Conde concerned in this Attempt Yet were they invited to Court by the King to purge themselves of the Suspicion upon a Promise they should receive no Injury But this they wisely refused as not Reasonable This and several other such alarms procured an Edict That no Prince or other person of what condition soever should provide Money Soldiers Arms or Horses and if any Person did otherwise it should be taken for High-Treason The Cardinal of Bourbon was also imployed to bring the Princes of his Family to Court by passing his Faith to them That nothing should be done against them The three Estates in the interim meeting at Meaux were from thence adjourned to Orleans and the Marshal de Thermes was sent to Poictiers with two hundred Horse to watch the Motions of the King of Navar if he came to the Assembly The Protestants in France having obtained a little respite from the Pressures of the Persecution by the late Edicts The Protestants of France increase wonderfully during the Peace In some places they grow insolent encreased and there were great Assemblies of them in all Parts of the Kingdom especially in Dauphine At Valence which was an University much celebrated for the Study of the Law the fear of the Laws being now removed there succeeded in its stead a lawless Boldness and Petulance so that some of the Young Students forcibly seized the Franciscan's Church for the holding their Assemblies At Montelimard they had also their Publick Sermons and at Romans And which was yet more insufferable they met armed and were very injurious and rude to the Roman Catholick Which as to Valence was soon after revenged with equal Cruelty and perfidy by one Maugiron who was sent for that purpose by the Duke of Guise At Romans about sixty were taken and committed to Prison And at Montelimard the King's Faith was by Maugiron pawned and forfeited again and the Town taken and plundered The number of the Protestants encreased very greatly also in Bretagne and Normandy and they had their Publick Sermons in many Cities in those Provinces which were managed with greater Modesty than those in Dauphine Though the Guises had given many Testimonies of their small regard to their Faith The King of Navarâ— and Prince of Conde promise to come to the Assembly of the States The Archbishop of Vienne dies yet the King of Navarr and Prince of Conde had now passed their Promise to the Cardinal of Bourbon That they would present themselves in the next Convention of the States and that Cardinal had given the King Assurance of it being then at Paris and the King of Navarr was already on the Road. The Archbishop of Vienne falling sick about this time by a Letter signified to the Dutchess of Monpensier his great Confident That he certainly knew That if the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde came to Court they would be committed to Prison and that Bourbon would not be able to make good his Promise to them who was only imployed to deceive his Brothers That Montmorancy was laid at too and one la Sague a Villain had been examined against him and had confessed a Treaty with the Queen of England That so soon as the War in Scotland was ended the Soldiers would be imployed in France Soon after this venerable Prelate died of Grief and Vexation He was a learned and an honest Man not infected with the Leprosie of Flattery year 1560 and therefore not very grateful to the Court And being extremely desirous of a Reformation was suspected to be a Lutheran The eighteenth of October the King entred Orleans The States meet at Orleans attended by a terrible Guard of Soldiers which made that City more like a Garrison than the seat of an Assembly of the States Navarr arrived the thirtieth of the same Month with a small Retinue and unarmed and quickly found how little the Guises did regard their Faith or Promise by the little Respect was shewn to him and his Brother at his Entry and in their first appearance before the King Navarr and Conde secured And Conde was presently committed to Prison declaiming against the breach of Faith made by the King and the Guises and the Credulity of his Brother the Cardinal of Bourbon which had betrayed the whole Family into their Enemies Hands The King of Navarr seemed to have more Liberty but was under the restraint of a Guard deprived of the Attendance of his own Servants and watched by Men who had order to observe his Looks and Motions and his Secretary and all his Letters were seized The thirteenth of November the Prince of Conde was examined by the Chancellor and others in Prison Who told them It belonged not to them to try or examine the Princes of the Blood but to the Parliament of Paris and the Peers of France and the whole Body of the States Bourdin the Attorney General at last told him That if he declined the Judgment of these Delegates he should be taken for convict and Sentence accordingly pronounced against him as guilty of High Treason and the Witness should be examined elsewhere Perceiving by this the head-longhast of the Guises his Lady delivered a Petition to the King for learned Council which was granted him But his Servants were taken from him and he was denied a Conference with his Brother of Navarr and the Cardinal though he desired some of the Kings Ministers might be present These Hardships created him much Compassion in the Minds of Men and they thought he was hardly used which made his Enemies yet more hated They on the other hand despised the Thoughts of Men and bent all their Thoughts how they might destroy the King of Navarr for they thought they were secure of Conde Among other ways they intended to have assassinated him in the King's Chamber of which an account was given him by some of Guise his Creatures Upon which he resolved to draw his Sword and dye fighting if he were thus attacked and desired an old Friend to take care to preserve his Bloody Cloaths and shew them to his Son. When he had thus done he went unsent for into the King's Chamber and taking the King by the Hand so by his Looks prevailed upon him that
and Recalling the Princes of the Blood and Montmorancy to their former Stations The Twenty first of August An Assembly of the Princes of France the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France was Opened at Founain-bleau The Chancellor in his Speech among other things complained That the Hearts of the People of France were incensed against the King and his Principal Ministers but the Cause of it was not known and therefore it was so difficult to find out and apply a fitted Remedy For That the greatest part of the Men of this Kingdom being weary of what is present fearful of what is to come divided by different Religions and desirous of Change are willing to imbroil the Kingdom And therefore their principal Business was to find out the cause of this Discase and apply a fitting Remedy to this Sickly Body Coligni the Admiral who was present the next day Coligni delivers a Petition from the Protestants to the King. presented a Petition to the King which had been given him whilst he was in Normandy by a vast number of his Subjects desiring that the Severity of the Laws against them might be mitigated till their Cause had been duly considered and determined That they might have Publick Places assigned them for the Exercise of their Religion lest their Private Meetings should be suspected by the Government And they invoked God to bear Witness That they had never entertained any disloyal Thought against his Majesty nor would do so But on the contrary they offered up to God most devout Prayers for the Preservation and Peace of his Kingdom The Bishop of Valence a Learned Grave and Experienced Person The Bishop of Valence seconds it confirmed this Opinion shewing the great Corruptions in the Church had given Birth and promoted these Divisions in the Minds of Men which were rather exasperated than extirpated by harsh means and bloody Persecutions Then he shewed the great Use of General Councils for the composing the Differences in the Church And adviseth the King to call a National Council And therefore he said He wondred how the Pope could quiet his Conscience one Hour whilst he saw so many thousand Souls perish which God without doubt would require at his Hands But if said he a General Council cannot be had the King ought to follow the Examples of Charles the Great and S. Lewis his Ancestors and call a National Council of France commanding the Teachers of the Sectaries to be present in it and to enter into Conference with the Divines concerning the Points in Controversie c. That the Sectaries were worthy of Blame for their Rebellion and the Roman Catholicks for having been too Bloody and Cruel in the Prosecution of them which had only served to irritate the Minds of Men and make them enquire more greedily into the Opinions of those they saw suffer so patiently That the ancient Fathers imployed no other Arms against the Arians Macedonians and Nestorians but the Word of God and the Princes then did only banish Hereticks The Archbishop of Vienne represented the great Difficulties that hindred the obtaining a General Council For said he there is none of us who doth not know what great pains Charles V took to procure a General Council and what Arts and Stratagems the Poples imployed to defeat that commendable hope this pious Prince had entertained The Disease is of too acute a Nature to attend long Delays which are very uncertain and therefore the best way was to call a National Council which the King had already promised and the urgent Necessities of the Church would not suffer him to delay any longer Having shewn how this had been constantly practised from the Times of Clovis to Charles the Great and so downward to the times of Charles VIII He concluded That the Necessity being Great they ought to delay no longer nor to regard the Oppositions the Pope would make against this Method For the appeasing the Civil Dissentions of France he advised the calling an Assembly of the three Estates The third day Coligni discoursed of the Petition he had presented and being asked why it was not subscribed He said There was above fifty thousand Men in the Nation ready to subscribe it Concluding That there was nothing more calamitous than for a Prince to fear his Subjects And they to be at the same time afraid of him That the House of God the Church was to be forthwith reformed the Army to be dishanded and an Assembly of the three Estates called as soon as might be The Cardinal of Lorrain was so inraged with Coligni's Speech The Cardinal of Lorrain replies to Coligni that he made a sudden reply to it That the whole scope of ill Men was to deprive the King of his military Guards that they might the more easily oppress him That the late Conspiracy was against the King and not against his Ministers as was pretended That as to what concerned Religion he would submit to Learned Men But then he protested That no Councils should be of that Authority with him as to depart in any thing from the Customs of his Ancestors and especially in the most sacred Mystery of the Lord's Supper And as to an Assembly of the States he submitted that intirely to the King. He concluded The Sectaries were a Seditious Proud sort of Men and that the Gospel and Faith of Christ was made an occasion of Tumults and Seditions by them and therefore they were to be severely prosecuted Yet he was for mitigating the Severity of the Laws towards such as met peaceably without Arms who were to be reduced to their Duty by more gentle Methods more than by Force To which purpose he would freely spend his Life That the Bishops and Curates should by their presence redeem the Time they had lost and the Governours of the Provinces be forced to do their Duties But then since there was nothing under Debate but want of Discipline and Corruption of Manners it seemed very unnecessary that either a General or a National Council should be called The free Confession of this Cardinal is the Opinion of the whole Party and though the name of a General Council makes a great noise yet we very well know how they have treated the ancientest and best Councils when they have in any thing crossed their Humors or Interests and from thence may conclude They will never submit to any that shall not be conformable to their Wills. The twenty sixth of August A Decree passed for an Assembly of the three Estates and the suspension of the Laws against Hereticks A design upon Lyons a Decree was past that an Assembly of the three Estates should meet before the tenth of December in the City of Meaux And that if a General Council could not be had a National Council should be assembled And in the mean time all Severities in matters of Religion should be omitted Thus saith Thuanus my Author the Protestant Religion which