ith the
Pope showed that they were intent on nothing less than the utter ruin of
the Huguenots.[769] In November the matter took a more definite shape,
through Marshal Cosse, who appeared in La Rochelle with propositions of
peace. This statesman, otherwise moderate in his counsels, was imbued with
the notion that the Protestants were so discouraged by their late defeat,
that they would gladly accept any terms. But the Huguenots, having
understood that he was empowered merely to offer them liberty of
conscience, without the right to the public worship of God, promptly broke
off the negotiations.[770] A month or two later they were induced to
believe that the court was disposed to larger concessions, or, if not,
that they might at least justify themselves in the eyes of the world by
showing that they were neither unreasonable nor desirous of prolonging the
horrors of war. Two deputies--Jean de la Fin, Sieur de Beauvoir la Nocle,
and Charles de Teligny: the one sent by the Queen of Navarre, the other
sent by Coligny and the princes, who were already far on their journey
through the south of France--came to the king at Angers, and presented the
demands of the Huguenots. These demands certainly did not breathe a spirit
of craven submission. The Huguenots called not only for complete liberty
of conscience, but also for the right to hold their religious assemblies
through the entire kingdom, without prejudice to their dignities or
honors. They stipulated for the annulling of all sentences pronounced
against them; the approval of all that they had done, as done for the
welfare of the realm; the restitution of their dignities and property, and
the giving of good and sufficient securities for the execution of the
edict of pacification.[771] Catharine and her counsellors had undoubtedly
gained some wholesome experience since Cosse's first proposals. They had
already discovered that a single pitched battle had not ruined the
Huguenots; and they now suspected that a number of additional battles
might be required to effect that desirable result. It is not astonishing,
however, that the queen mother was not yet ready to grant terms which
could scarcely have been conceded even on the morrow of an overwhelming
defeat. The articles sent by the king to the Protestant leaders as a
counter-proposal were therefore of a very different character from those
which they had submitted. Charles offered to the Queen of Navarre, the
Princes of Navarre