Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

mean? Had not Alva and Catherine dug the grave
of Huguenotism? Had not Charles assisted at its
burial? and had not the Pope set up its gravestone?
What right then had the Huguenots to be seen any
more in France? Had Coligny risen from the dead,
with his mountain Huguenots, who had chased
Anjou back to Paris, and compelled Charles to sign
the Peace of St. Germain? Verily it seemed as if it
were so. A yet greater humiliation awaited the
court. When the 24th of August, 1573--the
anniversary of the massacre--came round, the
Huguenots selected the day to meet and draw up
new demands, which they were to present to the
government.
Obtaining an interview with Charles and his
mother, the delegates boldly demanded, in the
name of the whole body of the Protestants, to be
replaced in the position they occupied before St.
Bartholomew's Day, and to have back all the
privileges of the Pacification of 1570. The king
listened in mute stupefaction. Catherine, pale with
anger, made answer with a haughtiness that ill
became her position. "What! " said she, "although
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