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ESSAYS ON LIBERTY

event had been received in foreign countries, the Govern- ment began to waver, and the sanguinary orders were recalled. Schomberg wrote from Gennany that the Protestant allies \vere lost unless they could be satisfied that the I(ing had not decreed the extermination of their brethren. l He was instructed to explain the tumult in the provinces by the animosity bequeathed by the wars of religion. 2 The Bishop of Valence was intriguing in Poland on behalf of Anjou. He wrote that his success had been made very doubtful, and that, if further cruelties were perpetrated, ten millions of gold pieces would not bribe the venal Poles. He advised that a counterfeit edict, at least, should be published. s Charles perceived that he would be compelled to abandon his enterprise, and set about appeasing the resentment of the Protestant Powers. He promised that an inquiry should be instituted, and the proofs of the conspiracy comlTIunicated to foreign Governments. To give a judicial aspect to the proceedings, two prominent Huguenots were ceremoniously hanged. When the new ambassador from Spain praised the long concealment of the plan, Charles became indignant.' It was repeated everywhere that the thing had been arranged with Rome and Spain; and he was especially studious that there should be no symptoms of a private under- standing with either power. 5 1-I e was able to flatter himself that he had at least partially succeeded. If he had not exterminated his Protestant subjects, he had preserved his Protestant aBies. William the Silent continued to solicit his aid; Elizabeth consented to stand godmother to the daughter who was born to him in October; he was allowed to raise Inercenaries in S\vitzerland; and the Polish Protestants agreed to the election of his brother. The promised evidence of the Huguenot conspiracy was forgotten; and the I(ing suppressed the

1 Schomberg to Brulart, Oct. 10, 1572; Capengue, La Réforme, iii. 264. 2 Instructions for Schomberg, Feb. 15, 1573; Noailles, iii. 305. 3 Monluc to Brulart. Nov, 20, 1572; Jan. 20, 1573: to Charles IX" Jan. 22. 1573 ; Noailles, iii. 218, 223, 220, 4 Charles IX, to St. Goard, Jan. 20, 1573 ; Groen, iv. App. 29, r; Letter from Paris in Strype's Life of Pa1'ker, iii, 110; U Tocsain contre les Massacreurs." A 1r:kives Curieuses, vii. 7.