for the country's good, but hinting that, if no redress was given, they
might be forced to look for foreign aid. Indeed this was no empty
threat, for Lewis had already been in communication with the Protestant
leaders both in France and in the Rhinelands, as to the terms on which
they would furnish armed assistance; and Orange was probably not
altogether in ignorance of the fact. The regent was angry at the tone of
the delegates, whom she received on July 26, but in her present
impotence thought it best to dissemble. She promised to give
consideration to the petition, and summoned a meeting of the Knights of
the Golden Fleece to meet at Brussels on August 18, when she would
decide upon her answer. But, when that date arrived, other and more
pressing reasons than the advice of counsellors compelled her to yield
to the confederates a large part of their demands. On August 23 she
agreed, in return for help in the restoration of order, to concede
liberty of preaching, so long as those who assembled did not bear arms
and did not interfere with the Catholic places of worship and religious
services. Further an indemnity was promised to all who had signed the
Compromise.

The reasons which influenced her were, first the receipt, on August 12,
of the conciliatory letter from the king, to which reference has already
been made, in which he consented to a certain measure of toleration; and
secondly a sudden outburst of iconoclastic fury on the part of the
Calvinistic sectaries, which had spread with great rapidity through many
parts of the land. On August 14, at St Omer, Ypres, Courtray,
Valenciennes and Tournay, fanatical mobs entered the churches destroying
and wrecking, desecrating the altars, images, vestments and works of
art, and carrying away the sacred vessels and all that was valuable. On
August 16 and 17 the cathedral of Antwerp was entered by infuriated and
sacrilegious bands armed with axes and hammers, who made havoc and ruin