o wonder that they stand ready to start on the
first intimation of danger.[501] When they see that they have no longer
anything to fear, they will certainly return to their accustomed
occupations."[502]

[Sidenote: Edict of Pacification, Longjumeau, March 23, 1568.]

L'Hospital was right. The Huguenots wanted nothing but security of person
and conscience--the latter even more than the former. And they were ready
to lay down their arms so soon as the court could bring itself to concede
the restoration of the Edict of Amboise, without the restrictive
ordinances and interpretations which had shorn it of most of its value. On
this basis negotiations now recommenced. The more prudent Huguenots
suggested that the party ought to receive at the king's hands some of the
cities in their possession, to be held as pledges for the execution of the
articles of the compact. But Charles and his counsellors resented the
proposal as insulting to the dignity of the crown,[503] and the Huguenots,
not yet fully appreciating the fickleness or treachery of the court, did
not press the demand--a fatal weakness, soon to be atoned for by the
speedy renewal of the war on the part of the Roman Catholics.[504] After
brief consultation the terms of peace were agreed upon, and were
incorporated in the royal edict of the twenty-third of March, 1568, known,
from the name of the place where it was signed, as the "Edict of
Longjumeau." The cardinal provisions were few: they re-established the
supremacy of the Edict of Amboise, expressly repealing all the
interpretations that infringed upon it; and permitted the nobles, who
under that law had been allowed to have religious exercises in their
castles, to admit strangers as well as their own vassals to the services
of the reformed worship. Conde and his followers were, at the same time,
recognized as good and faithful servants of the crown, and a general
amnesty was pronounced covering all acts of hostility, levy of troops,
coining of money, and similar offences. On the other hand, the Huguenots
bound themselves to disband and lay down their arms, to surrender the
places they held, to renounce foreign alliances, and to eschew in future
all meetings other than those religious gatherings permitted under the
last peace. The new edict was not a final and irrevocable law, but was
granted "until, by God's grace, all the king's subjects should be reunited
in the profession of one and the same religion."[505]

[S