The canons kept their word. As soon as they had made the necessary arrangements for their departure, they mounted their mules or got into their carriages, and set off. The Genevans, standing at the doors of their houses and in groups in the streets, watched these Roman dignitaries thus abandoning their homes, some with downcast heads, others with angry looks, who moved along sad and silent, and went out by the Savoy gate with hearts full of resentment against a city which they denounced as ungrateful and rebellious. Out of thirty-two, only seven or eight remained.[742] The citizens, assembling in various places, were agitated with very different thoughts. The huguenots said to themselves that these high and reverend clerks, true cardinals, who supported the papacy much better than the bishop, would no longer be there to prevent the new generation from throwing off the shackles of the middle ages; that this unexpected exodus marked a great revolution; and that the old times were departing, and the Reformation beginning. On the other hand, the creatures of Rome felt a bitter pang, and flames of vengeance were kindled in their hearts. Lastly, those citizens who were both good Genevans and good catholics, were seized with fear and melancholy. 'No more canons, erelong perhaps no more bishop!... Will Geneva, without its canons and bishops, be Geneva still?' But the great voice, which drowned all the rest, was that of the partisans of progress, of liberty, of independence, and of reform, who desired to see political liberty developed among the community, and the Church directed by the Word of God and not by the bulls of the pope. Among them were Maison-Neuve, Bonivard, Porral, Bernard, Chautemps, and others. These men, the pioneers of modern times, felt little respect and no regret for the canons. They said to one another that these noble and lazy lords were pleased with Geneva so long as they could luxuriously enjoy the pleasures of life there; but that when the hour of combat came, they fled like cowards from the field of battle. The canons did fly in fact; they arrived at Annecy, where they settled. As for Geneva, they were never to enter it again.
[731] 'Pro summa ducatorum auri largorum duorum millia.'—Galiffe fils, Besançon Hugues, p. 454; Pièces Justificatives, No. 4.
[732] Spon, Hist. de Genève, i. p. 407, note.
[733] Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 468. Journal de Balard, p. 112. Gautier MS. Mém. d'Archéologie, iv. p. 161.
[734] In his journal recently published, Balard, one of the most respected and most catholic magistrates of the time, describes this plot at full length, pp. 117, 118. See also Bonivard, Police de Genève, p. 396.
[735] Journal de Balard, p. 118. Bonivard, Police de Genève, p. 396.
[736] 'On regratia Dieu.'—Journal de Balard, p. 117. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 467.
[737] Journal de Balard, p. 119. Registres du Conseil, ad locum.
[738] Registres du Conseil des 13 et 14 juillet 1527. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 467. Galiffe, Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève, ii. pp. 421, 517. Journal de Balard, p. 119.
[739] Registres du Conseil du 15 juillet 1527. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 471. Journal de Balard, p. 119.