ector Palatine.
Early in the summer, the King of Navarre, anxious to strengthen himself
by enlisting in his favor the Protestant princes of Germany, had
expressed to them the desire, in which Catharine coincided, that some
theologians--learned and pious men, and inclined to peace--should be
sent from beyond the Rhine to take part in the adjustment of the
religious questions at the Colloquy of Poissy. The Protestant electors,
the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Duke of Wuertemberg, were unable,
however, to agree on the instructions to be given to the envoys. While
the duke, devotedly attached to the doctrines of Luther, was bent upon
strongly recommending the adoption of the Augsburg Confession, the other
princes could not acquiesce in his plan. The landgrave refused to throw
additional difficulties in the way of the reformed churches of France,
just emerging from a period of relentless persecution, and seeking for
the public recognition of the right to worship God, for which so many
martyrs had cheerfully laid down their lives. The Elector of Saxony
distrusted the sincerity of the intentions of the French court. As for
the Count Palatine, he himself had embraced the reformed theology, and
could not be expected to urge the Huguenots to give up their own
well-digested confession for one which they considered far inferior to
it in all respects.[1180] And so it happened that, in consequence of a
diversity of sentiment regarding both doctrine and policy, there was no
general deputation sent to France, and the delegates of the two princes
who complied with the invitation arrived at Paris after the
colloquy--too late to do any harm, if not soon enough to do much good.
They were courteously received by the court. The Wuertembergers, in
particular, were allowed frequent opportunities of explaining the merits
of the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Before their return into
Germany, they were distinctly informed by Navarre that, while he
recommended a closer union between the two branches of the Protestant
Church, his own views accorded with those of the adherents of the
Augsburg Confession; and that his only reason for delaying to subscribe
to it was a fear lest this step might interfere with the execution of
the union he desired to effect.[1181]

[Sidenote: Why the colloquy proved a failure.]

The Colloquy of Poissy had proved, so far as the objects contemplated by
its originators were concerned, a complete failure. Instead