law was
framed in the interest of the Roman Catholics, and in their interest
alone. The Duke of Guise openly exulted. He exclaimed in the hearing of
many, "that his sword would never rest in its scabbard when the
execution of this decision was in question."[1049] The disappointment of
the Protestants was not less extreme. At court, Admiral Coligny did not
hesitate to declare that its provisions could never be executed.[1050]
The farther they were removed from St. Germain, the more loudly the
Huguenots murmured, the greater was their indisposition to submit to the
harsh conditions imposed upon them. In Guyenne and Gascony, and in
Languedoc, where whole towns were to be found containing scarcely one
avowed partisan of the papacy, the discontent was open and threatening.
How long did the bigots of Paris intend to keep their eyes closed and
refuse to recognize the altered aspect of affairs? Until what future day
was the simplest of rights--the right of the social and public worship
of God--to be proscribed? Must the inhabitants of entire districts
continue, month after month, and year after year, to stand in the eye of
the law as culprits, with the halter around their necks, and beg mercy
of a despised priesthood and a dissolute court, for the crime of
assembling in the open field, in the school-houses, or even in the
parish churches, where their fathers had worshipped before them, to
listen to the preaching of God's word?

[Sidenote: Iconoclasm at Montauban.]

With the rising excitement the power of the ministers to control the
ardor of their flocks steadily declined. How could the people be
moderate, or even prudent, when their rights were so thoroughly ignored?
The events of Montauban during August and the succeeding months, may
serve to illustrate the growing impatience of the laity. Until now, as
we have seen, the earnest warnings of their pastors had generally been
successful in restraining the Huguenots from touching the symbols of a
hated system so temptingly exhibited before their eyes. But, a few weeks
after the unofficial intelligence of the enactment of the edict of July
had reached the city, the work of destruction commenced. On the night of
the fourteenth of August the Church of St. Jacques received the first
bands of iconoclasts. The pictures and images were torn down or hurled
from their niches and destroyed; but the chalices, the silver crosses,
and other precious articles, were left untouched. The object