to the most opposite sympathies as well as hatreds, of whom
Catherine de' Medici and Admiral Coligny were disputing the possession.

In the spring of 1572 Coligny might have considered himself the victor in
this struggle; at his instance Charles IX. had written on the 27th of
April to Count Louis of Nassau, leader of the Protestant insurrection in
Hainault, "that he was determined, so far as opportunities and the
arrangements of his affairs permitted him, to employ the powers which God
had put into his hands for the deliverance of the Low Countries from the
oppression under which they were groaning." Fortified by this promise of
the king's, Coligny had raised a body of French Protestants, and had sent
it under the command of La Noue to join the army of Louis of Nassau. The
Reformers had at first had some successes; they had taken Valenciennes
and Mons; but the Duke of Alba restored the fortunes of the King of
Spain; he re-entered Valenciennes and he was besieging Mons. Coligny
sent to the aid of that place a fresh body of French under the orders of
Senlis, one of his comrades in faith and arms. Before setting out,
Senlis saw Charles IX., received from him money together with
encouragement, and, in the corps he led, some Catholics were mixed with
the Protestants. But from the very court of France there came to the
Duke of Alba warnings which put him in a position to surprise the French
corps; and Senlis was beaten and made prisoner on the 10th of July.
"I have in my hands," the Duke of Alba sent word to his king, "a letter
from the King of France which would strike you dumb if you were to see
it; for the moment, it is expedient to say nothing about it." "News of
the defeat of Senlis," says Tavannes, "comes flying to court, and changes
hearts and counsels. Disdain, despite, is engendered in the admiral, who
hurls this defeat upon the heads of those who have prevented the king
from declaring himself; he raises a new levy of three thousand foot, and,
not regarding who he is and where he is, he declares, in the presumption
of his audacity, that he can no longer hold his partisans, and that it
must be one of two wars, Spanish or civil. It is all thunder-storm at
court; everyone remains on the watch at the highest pitch of resolution."
A grand council was assembled. Coligny did not care. He had already, at
the king's request, set forth in a long memorial all the reasons for his
policy of a war with Spain; the king had