No one can doubt that devotion to the ancient religious faith was the moving power in these organizations, and there is also no doubt that the great nobles sought to use them to their own advantage; the restoration of ancient provincial liberties is a mere euphemism for restoration of ancient feudal privileges; nevertheless, it is also beyond question that many of the nobles, and cer-
tainly the Guises, were sincere in their disapproval and condemnation of heretics and secessionists. It also clearly appears from an analysis of these articles of confederation that, between the States-
General, obviously regarded as the supreme source of authority, and the revivified feudal barons, the power of the King would be greatly curtailed. The King, reasonably enough, was alarmed, and, turning the matter over in his mind, conceived what he thought a very clever idea. He would oust the Duс de Guise from the position of head of the League, and become its chief himself.
So he wrote to the governors of the provinces commending the League, but changed the covenant so as to preserve intact the prerogatives of the Crown and put his will, in place of that of the
States-General, as the source of law and authority. He thought he had jockeyed the Guises, and that by means of the League he could raise an army reckoning up its numbers in the rosy light of hope and then with that large army he would crush the Huguenots, and the Politiques, and set the throne high above the dangers that had threatened it for years, and then he would be free to enjoy life with his minions. He was like the milkmaid with her pot au Icdt. The milk was spilled.
I need not narrate the meeting of the States-General in 1576.The Huguenots stayed away, and a majority of the Third Estate demanded that Protestant worship be suppressed, and all the ministers banished. That was not conciliatory. Fighting began again, the Huguenots had the worst of it, and had to accept a marked diminution of privileges (La paix de Bergerac, Sept. 17, 1577). And the King, thinking himself in a position of strength, and jealous of the House of Guise, ordered all leagues of every kind to be dissolved. He said "he had made a resolution not to permit any worship but that of the Roman Catholic Church, as he had sworn at his coronation, solemnly, before the body of Jesus Christ when he took Communion, and before the King of Navarre, and all the peers and people; and he was going to declare that he had granted the late Edict of Pacification (the Paix de Monsieur), only in order to bring his brother Alenfon back, and chase the foreign mercenaries out of the Kingdom, in the hope that such action would bring some repose to the Kingdom, but always with the intention of restoring the Catholic religion as soon as he could as the only one, as it had been in the time of the Kings his predecessors. And he wished everybody to understand that he would not allow any more any worship contrary to his coronation
oath; he felt that any promise that he might make contrary to that oath was of no obligation."
The Estates approved the King's plan for one religion only, but refused to raise any moneys to accomplish the plan. Help came from the other side. Politiques and Huguenots fell apart, Alen$on became reconciled to his brother and resumed his position as heir presumptive, the Marechal Damville, head of the Politiques, also was won over; Henry of Navarre tried to be half Protestant, half Catholic; and the fighting which had begun again went against the rebels.