deserve. "He was nevertheless anxious to
conclude, wishing that Montagu should find peace made, and that the
English fleet should see it made without their consent, which would
render the rest of the king's business easier, whether as regarded
England or Spain, or the interior of the kingdom." On the 28th the
treaty, or rather the grace, was accordingly signed, "the king granting
life and property to those of the inhabitants of the town who were then
in it, and the exercise of the religion within La Rochelle." These
articles bore the signature of a brigadier-general, M. de Marillac, the
king not having thought proper to put his name at the bottom of a
convention made with his subjects.

Next day, twelve deputies issued from the town, making a request for
horses to Marshal de Bassompierre, whose quarters were close by, for they
had not strength to walk. They dismounted on approaching the king's
quarters, and the cardinal presented them to his Majesty. "Sir," said
they, "we do acknowledge our crimes and rebellions, and demand mercy;
promising to remain faithful for the future, if your Majesty deigns to
remember the services we were able to render to the king your father."

The king gazed upon these suppliants kneeling at his feet, deputies from
the proud city which had kept him more than a year at her gates;
fleshless, almost fainting, they still bore on their features the traces
of the haughty past. They had kept the lilies of France on their walls,
refusing to the last to give themselves to England. "Better surrender to
a king who could take Rochelle, than to one who couldn't succor her,"
said the mayor, "John Guiton, who was asked if he would not become an
English subject. "I know that you have always been malignants," said the
king at last, "and that you have done all you could to shake off the yoke
of obedience to me; I forgive you, nevertheless, your rebellions, and
will be a good prince to you, if your actions conform to your
protestations." Thereupon he dismissed them, not without giving them a
dinner, and sent victuals into the town; without which, all that remained
would have been dead of hunger within two days.

The fighting men marched out, "the officers and gentlemen wearing their
swords and the soldiery with bare (white) staff in hand," according to
the conventions; as they passed they were regarded with amazement, there
not being more than sixty-four Frenchmen and ninety English: all the rest
ha