nge by which Charles, from being the
friend of Admiral Coligny, became the accomplice in his murder and in
countless other assassinations throughout France. The admission of his
guilt by one of the principal actors in the tragedy is so frank and
undisguised that we find it difficult to believe that the narrative can
have emanated from his lips. But the freaks of a burdened conscience are
not to be easily accounted for. The most callous or reticent criminal
sometimes is aroused to a recognition of his wickedness, and burns to
communicate to another the fearful secret whose deposit has become
intolerable to himself. And fortunately the confession of the princely
felon does not stand alone. The son of another of the wretches who
persuaded Charles to imbrue his hands in the blood of his subjects has
given us the account which he undoubtedly received from his father shortly
before his death, and we find the two statements to be in substantial
agreement. Tavannes says: "The king notified (of the attempt upon
Coligny's life), is offended, and threatens the Guises, not knowing whence
the blow came. After a while, he is appeased by the queen, assisted by the
sieur de Retz. They make his Majesty angry with the Huguenots--a vice
peculiar to his Majesty, who is of choleric humor. They induce him to
believe that they have discovered an enterprise of the Huguenots directed
against him. He is reminded of the designs of Meaux and of Amboise.
Suddenly gained over, as his mother had promised herself that he would be,
he abandons the Huguenots, and remains sorry, with the rest, that the
wound had not proved mortal."[966]

[Sidenote: Few victims selected at first.]

And now, the assassination of the admiral having received the king's
approval, it only remained to decide upon the number of Protestants who
should be involved with him in a common destruction, and to perfect the
arrangements for the execution of the murderous plot. How many, and who
were the victims whose sacrifice was predetermined? This is a question
which, with our present means of information, we are unable to answer.
Catharine, it is true, used to declare in later times that she
contemplated no general massacre; that she took upon her conscience the
blood of only five or six persons;[967] and, although the unsupported
assertion of so perfidious a woman is certainly not entitled to any great
consideration, we can readily see that the heads of half a dozen leaders
might ha