vour to effect a good understanding with Sully, whose personal
importance on this occasion was powerfully increased by the influence of
his son-in-law the Duc de Rohan. The Assembly met for the first time in
May, and continued their sittings until September, at which period their
demands and grievances were despatched to the Court, the dismissal of
Sully being indicated as one of the latter.

This fact alarmed the Council, who moreover could not contemplate
without great apprehension the union and perfect understanding which
had, throughout the whole proceedings, characterized the Protestant
leaders, who had taken their usual oath to uphold each other and the
faith which they professed; and who were, as the ministers well knew,
able to redeem their pledge so effectively should they see fit to exert
their power, that any demonstration on their part could not fail to
convulse the nation from one extremity to the other. After considerable
deliberation it was agreed that the only method by which the impending
evil could be averted was to dissolve the Assembly before it could
proceed from words to acts; and accordingly a pretext for this breach of
faith was at once found in the declaration that the King had permitted
the assembling of the reformed party to enable them to select six
individuals, from among whom he might himself nominate two as general
deputies; while at the same time the documents forwarded to the Court
were returned, with an emphatic refusal to make any reply to their
contents until such time as the required nomination had been made. All
opposition, save what must have assumed a decidedly hostile character,
was of course impossible on the part of the Protestants, whose
indignation, loud as it naturally became for a time, was finally
silenced, even if not extinguished, by the calm and dignified eloquence
of the Comte du Plessis-Mornay, who reminded the Assembly that their
first duty as Christians was obedience to the ruling powers.

"Let us separate," said this prudent and right-minded man, as
exclamations of anger and violence resounded on all sides. "Let each, on
leaving this spot, leave also all animosity behind him. We should only
heighten the evil by spreading it through the provinces. Each has
failed, yet each has done well. Let us now endeavour to obtain by
respectful silence and Christian patience what has been refused to our
remonstrances and requests." [116]

A short time subsequently, the death o