yet reeking, and while the havoc throughout France was at its height,
"I have been obliged to permit the said Guises to rush upon the said
Admiral,--which they have done, the said Admiral having been killed and
all his adherents. A very great number of those belonging to the new
religion have also been massacred and cut to pieces. It is probable that
the fire thus kindled will spread through all the cities of my kingdom,
and that all those of the said religion will be made sure of." Not
often, certainly, in history, has a Christian king spoken thus calmly
of butchering his subjects while the work was proceeding all around
him. It is to be observed, moreover, that the usual excuse for such
enormities, religious fanaticism, can not be even suggested on this
occasion. Catharine, in times past had favored Huguenots as much as
Catholics, while Charles had been, up to the very moment of the crime,
in strict alliance with the heretics of both France and Flanders, and
furthering the schemes of Orange and Nassau. Nay, even at this very
moment, and in this very letter in which he gave the news of the
massacre, he charged his envoy still to maintain the closest but most
secret intelligence with the Prince of Orange; taking great care that
the Duke of Alva should not discover these relations. His motives were,
of course, to prevent the Prince from abandoning his designs, and from
coming to make a disturbance in France. The King, now that the deed was
done, was most anxious to reap all the fruits of his crime. "Now, M. de
Mondoucet, it is necessary in such affairs," he continued, "to have an
eye to every possible contingency. I know that this news will be most
agreeable to the Duke of Alva, for it is most favorable to his designs.
At the same time, I don't desire that he alone should gather the fruit.
I don't choose that he should, according to his excellent custom, conduct
his affairs in such wise as to throw the Prince of Orange upon my hands,
besides sending back to France Genlis and the other prisoners, as well
as the French now shut up in Mons."