safety was
there for the Huguenots when a counsellor of a celebrated parliament had
lately asserted, in the presence of an assembly of three thousand persons,
"that he had commands from the leading men of the royal council
admonishing the Catholics that they ought to give no credence to any
edicts of the king unless they contained a peculiar mark of authenticity."
And he was induced to believe him right, by noticing the fact that, since
the establishment of peace, no one had obeyed the royal letters. Finally,
in decided but respectful language, he remonstrated against the pernicious
precedent which the court was allowing to become established, when the
express commands of the monarch were set at naught with impunity.[558]

[Sidenote: An oath to be exacted of the Huguenots.]

As the time approached for the blow to be struck that should forever put
an end to the exercise of the reformed faith in France, the conspirators
began to betray their anxiety lest their nefarious designs might be
anticipated and rendered futile by such a measure of defence as that which
the Huguenots had taken on the eve of Michaelmas. They resolved,
therefore, if possible, to bind their victims hand and foot; and no more
convenient method presented itself than that of involving them in
obligations of implicit obedience which would embarrass, if they did not
absolutely preclude, any exercise of their wonderful system of combined
action. About the beginning of August, Charles despatched to all parts of
his dominions the form of an oath which was to be demanded of every
Protestant subject, and the royal officers and magistrates were directed
to make lists of those who signed as well as of those who refused to sign
it.[559] "We protest before God, and swear by His name"--so ran the
oath--"that we recognize King Charles the Ninth as our natural sovereign
and only prince ... and that we will never take up arms save by his
express command, of which he may have notified us by his letters patent
duly verified; and that we will never consent to, nor assist with counsel,
money, food, or anything else whatsoever, those who shall arm themselves
against him or his will. We will make no levy or assessment of money for
any purpose without his express commission; and will never enter into any
secret leagues, intrigues, or plots, nor engage in any underhand practices
or enterprises, but, on the contrary, we promise and swear to notify him
or his officers of all th