GASPARD DE COLIGNI 167 They had sided with Coligni and Conde and the other Protestant chiefs in enacting the Edict of Pacification, and had thereby given a check to the power of the Duke of Guise and his confederates. But when their temporary purpose was served, the wise provisions of that edict were set at naught ; the Protestants were again exposed to outrage and slaughter at the hands of their foes, nor could any redress be obtained from the royal tribunals. At length occurred the mas- sacre of Vassri, where the armed followers of the Duke of Guise attacked a de- fenceless body of Protestants, while engaged in the services of their church, and slaughtered several hundreds of them under the eye of Guise, if not by his orders. Reeking from this carnage, the bands of the Lorraines entered Paris, where they were enthusiastically received by the fanatic populace, which was devoted to the Catholic cause. Conde" now left the capital, and summoned the Protestant nobility and gentry to rally round him in defence of their lives and their creed. Coligni long de- layed joining him, and evinced a hesitation and a reluctance to embark in civil war, which emphatically attest the goodness while they in no degree detract from the greatness of his character. His wife, who naturally thought that anx- iety on her account aided in restraining him, exhorted him in words of more than Roman magnanimity to arm in defence of the thousand destined victims, who looked up to him for guidance and protection. Coligni urged on her and on the friends who thronged round him, the fearful risks of the enterprise, and his earnest desire to wait in patience for better times, and rest upon the public faith rather than justify persecution by having recourse to violence. Uncon- vinced and undaunted, the heroine renewed her entreaties to the lingering hero. She told him that such prudence was not wisdom toward God. D'Aubigne pro- fesses to report this remarkable conversation from the lips of those who were present ; and he states that she proceeded to urge on him these words : " God has bestowed on you the genius of a great captain will you refuse the use of it to his children ? You have confessed to the justice of their cause is not the knightly sword you bear pledged to the defence of the oppressed ? Sir, my heart bleeds for our slaughtered brethren and their blood cries out to God and Heaven against you as the murderer of those whom you might have saved." " Since," replied the Admiral, " the reasons which I have this evening alleged against an ineffectual resistance have made so little impression upon your mind, lay your hand upon your heart and answer me this question, Could you, with- out murmuring against Providence and the husband to whom Heaven has united you, receive the news of a general defeat? Are you prepared to endure the op- probrium of your enemies the reproaches of your friends the treachery of partisans the curses of the people confiscation, flight, exile the insolence of the English, the quarrels of the Germans shame, nakedness, hunger and, what is worse, to suffer all this in your children ? Are you prepared to see your hus- band branded as a rebel and dragged to a scaffold ; while your children, disgraced and ruined, are begging their bread at the hands of their enemies ? I give you eight days to reflect upon it, and when you shall be well prepared for such re-
