eir
doctrines were conformable to the Holy Scriptures and to the traditions
of the primitive church, and to take charge of the two petitions which
they had drawn up and addressed to his Majesty and the queen mother.
They were without signatures; for these could not be affixed without the
royal permission previously granted the reformed to assemble together.
But, with that permission, he could obtain the names of fifty thousand
persons in Normandy alone. In answer to Coligny's prayer that the king
would take his action in good part, Francis assured him that his past
fidelity was a sufficient pledge of his present zeal; and commanded
L'Aubespine, secretary of state, to read the papers which the admiral
had just placed in his hands.

[Sidenote: The petitions are read.]

[Sidenote: They ask for liberty of worship.]

The petitions,[889] addressed, one to the king, the other to the queen
mother, purported to come from "the faithful Christians scattered in
various parts of the kingdom." They set forth the severity of the
persecutions the Huguenots had undergone, and were yet undergoing, for
attempting to live according to the purity of God's word, and their
supreme desire to have their doctrine subjected to examination, that it
might be seen to be neither seditious nor heretical. The suppliants
begged for an intermission of the cruel measures which had stained all
France with blood. They professed an unswerving allegiance, as in duty
bound, to the king whom God had called to the throne. And of that king
they prayed that the occasion of so many calumnies, invented against
them by reason of the secret and nocturnal meetings to which they had
been driven by the prohibition of open assemblies, might be removed; and
that, with the permission to meet publicly for the celebration of divine
rites, houses for worship might also be granted to them.[890]

It was a perilous step for the admiral to take. By his advocacy of
toleration he incurred liability to the extreme penalties that had been
inflicted upon others for utterances much less courageous. But the very
boldness of the movement secured his safety where more timid counsels
might have brought him ruin. Besides, it was not safe to attack so
gallant a warrior, and the nephew of the powerful constable. Yet the
audible murmurs of the opposite party announced their ill-will.

[Sidenote: Speech of Montluc, Bishop of Valence.]

[Sidenote: The remedy prescribed.]

The fearlessness