nothing of the kind, having had thoughts of peace before
receiving news from the general assembly. Since that time everybody
knows that I have had arms in my hands only from sheer necessity, in
order to defend our properties, our lives, and the freedom of our
consciences. I seek my repose in heaven, and God will give me grace to
always find that of my conscience on earth. They say that in this war
you have, not made a bad thing of it. This gives me some assurance that
you will leave our poor Uvennes at peace, seeing that there are more hard
knocks than pistoles to be got there." The Prince of Conde avenged
himself for this stinging reply by taking possession, in Brittany, of all
the Duke of Rohan's property, which had been confiscated, and of which
the king had made him a present. There were more pistoles to be picked
up on the duke's estates than in the Cevennes.

The king was in Italy, and the Reformers hoped that his affairs would
detain him there a long while; but "God, who had disposed it otherwise,
breathed upon all those projects," and the arms of Louis XIII. were
everywhere victorious; peace was concluded with Piedmont and England,
without the latter treaty making any mention of the Huguenots. The king
then turned his eyes towards Languedoc, and, summoning to him the Dukes
of Montmorency and Schomberg, he laid siege to Privas. The cardinal soon
joined him there, and it was on the day of his arrival that the treaty
with England was proclaimed by heralds beneath the walls. The besieged
thus learned that their powerful ally had abandoned them without reserve;
at the first assault the inhabitants fled into the country, the garrison
retired within the forts, and the king's-soldiers, penetrating into the
deserted streets, were able, without resistance, to deliver up the town
to pillage and flames. When the affrighted inhabitants came back by
little and little within their walls, they found the houses confiscated
to the benefit of the king, who invited a new population to inhabit
Privas.

Town after town, "fortified Huguenot-wise," surrendered, opening to the
royal armies the passage to the Uvennes. The Duke of Rohan, who had at
first taken position at Nimes, repaired to Anduze for the defence of the
mountains, the real fortress of the Reformation in Languedoc. Alais
itself had just opened its gates. Rohan saw that he could no longer
impose the duty of resistance upon a people weary of suffering, "easily