Paris seem to the
queen, that she begged Conde to dissuade him for the present from carrying
out his purpose. Meantime, Conde and the two Montmorencies--the constable
and his son, the marshal--espoused Coligny's cause as their own, by
publicly declaring (on the fifteenth of May) his entire innocence, and
announcing that any blow aimed at the Chatillons, save by legal process,
they would regard and avenge as aimed at themselves.[283] Taking excuse
from the unsettled relations of the kingdom with England and at home, the
privy council at the same time enjoined both parties to abstain from acts
of hostility, and adjourned the judicial investigation until after arms
had been laid down.[284]

[Sidenote: Petition of the Guises.]

At length, on the twenty-sixth of September--two months after the
reduction of Havre--the Guises renewed their demand with great solemnity.
Charles was at Meulan (on the Seine, a few miles below Paris), when a
procession of mourners entered his presence. It was the family of Guise,
headed by the late duke's widow, his mother, and his children, coming to
sue for vengeance on the murderer. All were clad in the dress that
betokened the deepest sorrow, and the dramatic effect was complete.[285]
They brought a petition couched in decided terms, but making no mention of
the name of Coligny, and signed, not only by themselves, but by three of
the Bourbons--the Cardinal Charles, the Duke of Montpensier, and his
son--and by the Dukes of Longueville and Nemours.[286] Under the
circumstances, the king could not avoid granting their request and
ordering inquisition to be made by the peers in parliament assembled.[287]
But the friends of the absent admiral saw in the proposed investigation
only an attempt on the part of his enemies to effect through the forms of
law the ruin of the most prominent Huguenot of France. It was certain,
they urged, that he could expect no justice at the hands of the presidents
and counsellors of the Parisian parliament. Nor did they find it difficult
to convince Catharine that to permit a public trial would be to reopen
old sores and to risk overturning in a single hour the fabric of peace
which for six months she had been laboring hard to strengthen.[288] The
king was therefore induced to evoke the consideration of the complaint of
the Guises to his own grand council. Here again new difficulties sprang
up. The Duchess of Guise was as suspicious of the council as Coligny of
the parl