e of Navarre, of Conde, Coligny, D'Andelot and La
Rochefoucauld, and a guarantee was given by them. As a reprisal the
measure was just, and as a warlike expedient nothing could be more
prudent; for, while it speedily filled the coffers of the Huguenot army,
it cut off one great source of the revenues of the court, which had been
authorized both by the Pope and by the clergy itself to lay these
possessions under contribution.[621]

Already the temper of the Protestant leaders had been sounded by an
unaccredited agent of Catharine de' Medici, who found Conde at Mirebeau,
and entreated him to make those advances toward a peace which would
comport better with his dignity as a subject than with that of Charles as
a king. But the prince, who saw in the mission of an irresponsible
mediator only a new attempt to impede the action of the confederates, had
dismissed him, after declaring, in the presence of a large number of his
nobles, that he had been compelled to resort to arms in order to provide
for his own defence. The war was, therefore, directed not against the
king, but against those capital enemies of the crown and of the realm, the
Cardinal of Lorraine and his associates. All knew his own vehement desire
for peace, of which his late excessive compliance was a sufficient proof;
but, since the king was surrounded by his enemies, he intended, with
God's favor, to come and present his petitions to his Majesty in
person.[622]

[Sidenote: William of Orange attempts to aid the Huguenots.]

Abroad the Huguenots had not been idle in endeavoring to secure the
support of advantageous alliances. So early as in the month of August,
after the disastrous defeat of Louis of Nassau, at Jemmingen, the Prince
of Orange had contemplated the formation of a league for common defence
with the Prince of Conde and Admiral Coligny. A draft of such an agreement
has been preserved; but it is unsigned, and may be regarded rather as
indicative of the friendly disposition of the French and Dutch patriots
than as a compact that was ever formally adopted.[623] That same autumn
William of Orange had undertaken an expedition intended to free the
Netherlands from the tyranny of Alva. He had been met with consummate
skill. The duke refused to fight, but hung remorselessly on his skirts.
The inhabitants of Brabant extended no welcome to their liberator. The
prince's mercenaries, vexed at their reception, annoyed by the masterly
tactics of their enemy, and