Navarre, 100,000 "angelots" and six pieces of cannon and
ammunition.[640] When the ambassador was commissioned to lay before the
queen a remonstrance against this flagrant breach of neutrality, and to
demand an answer, within fifteen days, respecting her intentions,[641]
Elizabeth, in declaring for peace, had the effrontery to assert that the
assistance in cannon and powder (for she denied that any money was left at
La Rochelle) was involuntary, not only with her, but even with the admiral
himself. Having dropped into the harbor to obtain the wine and other
commodities with which his fleet of merchantmen were to be freighted,
Admiral Winter was approached by the governor of the city, who so strongly
pressed him to sell or lend them some pieces of artillery and some powder,
which they could not do without, that, considering that he, as well as the
ships, were in their power, he thought it necessary to comply with a part
of their requests, although it was against his will.[642] Such were the
paltry falsehoods to which Elizabeth's insincere course naturally and
directly led. La Mothe Fenelon was well aware that Admiral Winter, besides
his public commission, had been furnished with a secret order, authorizing
him to assist La Rochelle, signed by Elizabeth's own hand, without which
the wary old seaman absolutely refused to go, doubtless fearing that he
might be sacrificed when it suited his mistress's crooked policy. What the
order contained was no mystery to the French envoy.[643] Neither party in
this solemn farce was deceived, but both wanted peace. Catharine would
have been even more vexed than surprised had Elizabeth confessed the
truth, and so necessitated a resort to open hostilities.[644] As the honor
of the government was satisfied, even by the notoriously false story of
Winter's compulsion, there was no necessity for pressing the question of
its veracity to an inconvenient length.

[Sidenote: Fruitless sieges and plots.]

The cold winter of 1568-1569 passed without signal events, excepting the
great mortality among the soldiers of both camps from an epidemic
disease--consequent upon exposure to the extraordinary severity of the
season--and the fruitless siege of the city of Sancerre by the Roman
Catholics. Five weeks were the troops of Martinengo detained before the
walls of this small place, whose convenient proximity to the upper Loire
rendered it valuable to the Huguenots, not only as a means of facilitating
the