in view of the great debts and burdens
of the people. He warned the king's counsellors lest the people,
accustomed to have its complaints of grievances unattended to, should
begin to lose the hope of relief, and lest the proverbial promptness and
gentleness which the French nation had always shown in meeting the
king's necessities should be so badly met and so frequently offended as
at last to turn into rage and despair.[897]

[Sidenote: Speech of Admiral Coligny.]

Such was "the learned, wise, and Christian harangue," as the chronicler
well styles it, of "an old man eloquent," whom, like another Isocrates,
"the dishonest victory" of his country's real enemies was destined to
"kill with report." The profound impression it made was deepened by the
speech of Admiral Coligny, whose turn it was, on the next day (the
twenty-fourth of August), to announce his sentiments, he declared
himself ready to pledge life and all he held most dear, that the hatred
of the people was in no wise directed against the king, but against his
ministers, whom he loudly blamed for surrounding their master with a
guard, as though he needed this protection against his loyal subjects.
Supporting the proposition of the Archbishop of Vienne for assembling
the States General, the admiral advocated, in addition, the immediate
dismissal of the guard, in order to remove all jealousy between king and
people, and the discontinuance of persecution, until such time as a
council--general or national--might be assembled. Meanwhile, he advised
that the requests of the reformed, whose petitions he had presented, be
granted; that the Protestants be allowed to assemble for the purpose of
praying to God, hearing the preaching of His word, and celebrating the
holy sacraments. If houses of worship were given them in every place,
and the judges were instructed to see to the maintenance of the peace,
he felt confident that the kingdom would at once become quiet and the
subjects be satisfied.[898]

[Sidenote: Rejoinder of the Duke of Guise.]

The Guises spoke on the same day. The duke made a short, but passionate
rejoinder to Coligny, and gave little or no attention to the question
proposed for deliberation. He bitterly retorted to the proposal for the
dismissal of the body-guard, by saying that it had been placed around
the king only since the discovery of the treasonable plot of Amboise,
and he indignantly maintained that a conspiracy against ministers was
only a