using the side of his brethren, and to
persuade the city of La Rochelle to rest content with the guarantees
offered by the edict of 1573, and remain neutral in the coming conflict,
Catharine and her advisers signally failed. The royal envoys--Biron,
Strozzi and Pinart--were, indeed, courteously treated by La Noue,
Frontenay, and Mirambeau, who repeatedly came out to meet them at the
village of Ernandes. But the Huguenots, in reply to their reiterated
request, declined absolutely to abate a single important point in their
demands. They would not hear the suggestion that by the Edict of Boulogne,
in 1573, previous ordinances had been repealed, but persisted in assuming
that Charles had always intended that the edict of 1570 should remain in
force, and, in proof of this, they alleged one of the king's own
declarations after the massacre. They insisted that the privileges
accorded to the three privileged cities of La Rochelle, Montauban, and
Nismes, should be extended to the Protestant nobility throughout the
kingdom; and when Biron and his companions reluctantly consented that the
right to have baptism and marriage celebrated in their houses be conceded
to all Protestant noblemen who enjoyed the right of "haute justice," and
who had always remained constant in their religious opinions, La Noue
protested against the restriction to baptism and marriage. "We desire to
worship God freely," he said, "and you give only a part of what we need
for the exercise of our religion. What you offer is a snare to catch us
again and expose us to greater peril than we were ever in before. But we
would much rather die with arms in our hands than be involved again in
such disasters."

In vain did the royalists assure them that the king was ready to grant the
Protestants complete liberty of conscience and protection against their
enemies, but could not give them what they demanded. In vain did they
repeat in substance the famous exclamation of Catharine de' Medici, and
say, among other arguments: "You could make no greater demands if the king
had nothing ready, and you had a large and powerful army, with all the
advantages you could desire; whereas, we know full well that you are
feeble in every direction, and that the king has great forces, as you
yourselves must be aware." The Huguenots had the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew's Day on their tongues continually,[1368] and could not be fed
with fair promises. They required securities. First, Charle