s over to England, where you will find many of your
friends." La Noue did not hesitate; he became, under the authority of
the mayor Jacques Henri, the military head of La Rochelle, whither
Charles IX. had sent him to make peace. The king authorized him to
accept this singular position. La Noue conducted himself so honorably in
it, and everybody was so convinced of his good faith as well as bravery,
that for three months he commanded inside La Rochelle, and superintended
the preparations for defence, all the while trying to make the chances of
peace prevail. At the end of February, 1573, he recognized the
impossibility of his double commission, and he went away from La
Rochelle, leaving the place in better condition than that in which he had
found it, without either king or Rochellese considering that they had any
right to complain of him.

Biron first and then the Duke of Anjou in person took the command of the
siege. They brought up, it is said, forty thousand men and sixty pieces
of artillery. The Rochellese, for defensive strength, had but twenty-two
companies of refugees or inhabitants, making in all thirty-one hundred
men. The siege lasted from the 26th of February to the 13th of June,
1573; six assaults were made on the place; in the last, the ladders had
been set at night against the wall of what was called Gospel bastion; the
Duke of Guise, at the head of the assailants, had escaladed the breach,
but there he discovered a new ditch and a new rampart erected inside;
and, confronted by these unforeseen obstacles, the men recoiled and fell
back. La Rochelle was saved. Charles IX. was more and more desirous of
peace; his brother, the Duke of Anjou, had just been elected King of
Poland; Charles IX. was anxious for him to leave France and go to take
possession of his new kingdom. Thanks to these complications, the peace
of La Rochelle was signed on the 6th of July, 1573. Liberty of creed and
worship was recognized in the three towns of La Rochelle, Montauban, and
Nimes. They were not obliged to receive any royal garrison, on condition
of giving hostages to be kept by the king for two years. Liberty of
worship throughout the extent of their jurisdiction continued to be
recognized in the case of lords high-justiciary. Everywhere else the
Reformers had promises of not being persecuted for their creed, under the
obligation of never holding an assembly of more than ten persons at a
time. These were the most fa