took part in it; the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde did not respond to the summons they received; the constable rode up with a following of six hundred horse.  The first day was fully taken up by a statement, presented to the assembly by L’Hospital, of the evils that had fallen upon France, and by a declaration on the part of the Guises that they were ready to render an account of their administration and of their actions.  Next day, just as the Bishop of Valence was about to speak, Coligny went up to the king, made two genuflections, stigmatized in energetic terms the Amboise conspiracy and every similar enterprise, and presented two petitions, one intended for the king himself and the other for the queen-mother.  “They were forwarded to me in Normandy,” said he, “by faithful Christians, who make their prayers to God in accordance with the true rules of piety.  They ask for nothing but the liberty of holding their own creed, and that of having temples and celebrating their worship in certain fixed places.  If necessary, this petition would be signed by fifty thousand persons.”  “And I,” said the Duke of Guise brusquely, “would find a million to sign a contrary petition.”  This incident went no further between the two speakers.  A great discussion began as to the reforms desirable in the church, and as to the convocation of a general council, or, in default thereof, a national council.  The Cardinal of Lorraine spoke last, and vehemently attacked the petitions presented by Admiral de Coligny.  “Though couched in moderate and respectful terms,” said he, “this document is, at bottom, insolent and seditious; it is as much as to say that those gentry would be obedient and submissive if the king would be pleased to authorize their mischievous sentiments.  For the rest,” he added, “as it is merely a question of improving morals and putting in force strict discipline, the meeting of a council, whether general or national, appears to me quite unnecessary.  I consent to the holding of the states-general.”

The opinion of the Cardinal of Lorraine was adopted by the king, the queen-mother, and the assemblage.  An edict dated August 26 convoked a meeting of the states-general at Meaux on the 10th of December following.  As to the question of a council, general or national, it was referred to the decision of the pope and the bishops of France.  Meanwhile, it was announced that the punishment of sectaries would, for the present, be suspended, but that the king reserved to himself and his judges the right of severely chastising those who had armed the populace and kindled sedition.  “Thus it was,” adds De Thou, “that the Protestant religion, hitherto so hated, began to be tolerated, and in a manner authorized, by consent of its enemies themselves.” [Histoire Universelle, t. iii. p. 535.]