. A funeral procession of theirs had been attacked, and
several persons had been murdered. A massacre had been perpetrated in the
city of Cahors, not far distant from them. In both cases the entire
authority of parliament had been exerted to shield the guilty. The
Huguenots, therefore, resolved to forestall disaster by throwing Toulouse
into the hands of Conde, and succeeded so far as to introduce some
companies of soldiers within the walls and to seize the "hotel de ville."
They had, however, miscalculated their strength. The Roman Catholics were
more numerous, and after repeated conflicts they were able to demand the
surrender of the building in which the Protestants had intrenched
themselves. Destitute alike of provisions and of the means of defence, and
menaced with the burning of their retreat, the latter accepted the
conditions offered, and--a part on the day before Pentecost, a part after
the services of that Sunday, one of the chief festivals of the Reformed
Church--they retired without arms, intending to depart for more hospitable
cities. Scarce, however, had the last detachment left the walls, when the
tocsin was sounded, and their enemies, respecting none of their promises,
involved them in a horrible carnage. It was the opinion of the best
informed that in all three thousand persons perished on both sides during
the riot at Toulouse, of whom by far the greater number were Huguenots.
Even this effusion of blood was not sufficient. The next day Montluc
appeared in the city. And now, encouraged by his support, the Parliament
of Toulouse initiated a system of judicial inquiries which were summary in
their character, and rarely ended save in the condemnation of the accused.
Within three months two hundred persons were publicly executed. The
Protestant leader was quartered. The parliament vindicated its orthodoxy
by the expulsion of twenty-two counsellors suspected of a leaning to the
Reformation; and informers were allured by bribes, as well as frightened
by ecclesiastical menaces, in order that the harvest of confiscation might
be the greater.[111]

Such were the deeds which the Roman Catholics of southern France have up
to our times commemorated by centenary celebrations;[112] such the pious
achievements for which Blaise de Montluc received from Pope Pius the
Fourth the most lavish praise as a zealous defender of the Catholic
faith.[113]

[Sidenote: Foreign alliances sought.]

Meanwhile, about Paris and Orlea