ch a
point that they would lose patience, and to obtain a pretext for attacking
and exterminating them. He reminded her that he had often insisted "that
opinions in matters of religion can be changed neither by fire nor by
force of arms, and that those deem themselves very happy who can lay down
their lives for the service of God and for His glory." He warned her of
those who, unlike the Huguenots, would sacrifice the interests of the
state to their own individual ends of ambition or revenge. In conclusion,
after alluding to a recent sudden death which much resembled a mark of the
divine displeasure upon the murderous assault that had called forth this
letter, he exclaimed: "I do not mean to be so presumptuous as to judge the
dealings of God; but I do mean to say, with the sure testimony of His
word, that all those who violate public faith are punished for it."[553]

[Sidenote: Catharine takes side with the chancellor's enemies.]

That salutary warning had been rung in Catharine's ears more than once,
and was destined to be repeated again and again, with little effect: "All
those who violate public faith are punished for it." L'Hospital had but a
few months before been urging to a course of political integrity, and
pointing out the rock on which all previous plans of pacification had
split. There was but one way to secure the advantages of permanent peace,
and that was an upright observance of the treaties formed with the
Huguenots. But Catharine was slow to learn the lesson. Crooked paths, to
her distorted vision, seemed to be the shortest way to success. Her
Italian education had taught her that deceit was better, under all
circumstances, than plain dealing, and she could not unlearn the
long-cherished theory. Whether L'Hospital's views were originally the
chief motives that influenced her in consenting to the peace of
Longjumeau, or whether she had acquiesced in it as a cover to treacherous
designs, certain it is that she now began to side openly with the
chancellor's enemies, and that the Cardinal of Lorraine regained his old
influence in the council. The fanatical sermons that had been a
premonitory symptom of the previous wars were again heard with complacency
in the court chapel; for, about the month of June, the king appointed as
his preachers four of the most blatant advocates of persecution: Vigor, a
canon of Notre Dame; De Sainte Foy; the gray friar, Hugonis; and Claude de
Sainctes, whose acquaintance the ref