De pieux fainéants y laissant en leur lieu,
A des chantres gagés, le soin de louer Dieu.
How did it happen that Geneva was at this time coupled with Zurich? It is because that city, though not yet won over to the Reformation, was predestined to be so: a solitary example, probably, of a state exposed to great dangers, not so much on account of what it is, as on account of what it will be. The beginnings of the evangelical faith to be found there were so very small, that they would not have sufficed to draw upon it the anathemas of the bishop and the armies of the duke; but the election of God was brooding over it; God prepared it, tried it, and delivered it, because of the great things for which he destined it. The adversaries of the Gospel seemed to have a secret presentiment of this; and they desired therefore to destroy by the same blow the city of Zwingle and that which was to be the city of Calvin.
=DEFEAT AT CAPPEL: TRIUMPH OF ROME.=
All the citizens were afoot. Some armed with arquebuses mounted guard; others marched out with their mattocks to level the suburbs. At this moment a messenger arrived from Switzerland announcing the defeat at Cappel: Zurich had succumbed.... At first the huguenots could not believe the mournful news; they made the messenger repeat it; but it was soon confirmed from various quarters, and the friends of independence and of the Reformation bent their heads in sorrow. The arm in which they had trusted was rudely broken. The protestant party throughout Switzerland was disheartened, while the Roman party rejoiced. It was told at Geneva that the mass had been restored at Bremgarten, Rapperschwyl, and Soleure, and in all the free bailiwicks, and that the monks were returning in triumph to their deserted cells. Was it possible for the Reformation to plant its banners on the shores of Lake Leman, at the very moment when it was expelled from those places where it seemed to have been so firmly established?
The Genevan catholics anticipated their triumph. The death of the Swiss reformer was (they thought) the end of the Reformation; they had only to strike the final blow. Their secret meetings became more numerous; detestable plots were concocted. The heroes of the old episcopal party, resuming their arrogant look, walked boldly in the streets of Geneva, some rattling their swords, others sweeping the ground with their long robes. If they chanced to meet any suspected persons, they made contemptuous gestures at them, picked quarrels with them, insulted, and even struck them, and the outrages remained unpunished.[877] The Friburgers, in particular, thought everything was lawful against the evangelicals,[878] and desiring to subdue Geneva, emulous of the Waldstettes at the Albis, they marched through the streets in small bands, and whenever they discovered any huguenot, they surrounded him, carried him off, and threw him into prison without trial.[879] In this way the partisans of the bishop expected to restore him to his episcopal throne. Pierre de la Baume was getting ready to ascend it again.
The huguenots, astonished at the perpetration of such outrages in the presence of the Swiss, and even by the Swiss, applied once more to the Bernese, but in vain. The latter were unwilling to countenance a struggle in Geneva which they were checking in other quarters. 'Let there be no petulance, no violence,' they said; 'we have the orders of the senate.' But, as the Genevans were not disposed to remain quiet, the envoys of Berne assumed a grave countenance, and, putting on a magisterial haughtiness, dismissed their unseasonable visitors. The Genevans withdrew murmuring: 'What scandalous neglect and cowardice!' they said; 'Messieurs of Berne think a great deal more of this world than of the world to come.'—'The senate of Berne,' repeated Farel, 'would not put up with the slightest insult to one of their ambassadors, and yet they make light of serious insults offered to the Gospel of Christ.'[880]
=APPROACH OF THE DUKE AND HIS ARMY.=
The defeat of Zurich redoubled the energy of Duke Charles. Desirous of adorning his brows with laurels similar to those of the victors at Cappel, he gave orders for a general attack. The troops of Vaud and Savoy surrounded Geneva, and cut off the supplies; the boats were seized on both shores of the lake, and the duke arrived at Gex, three leagues from the city, with a strong force of cavalry to superintend the assault. Under these gloomy auspices the year 1532 began in Geneva. The danger appeared such that, at seven in the evening of the 2nd of January, all the heads of families assembled and resolved to keep night and day under arms, to wall up the gates, and to die rather than renounce the Swiss alliance and their dearest liberties. A greater misfortune was about to befall them.[881]
On the 7th of January, five days after this courageous resolution, three Bernese deputies, De Diesbach, De Watteville, and Nägueli, appeared before the council. Sadness was depicted on their faces, and everything betokened that they were the bearers of a distressful message. 'We are come from Gex, where the duke is lying,' they said. 'He consents to treat with you, if you will first renounce the alliance with the cantons. Remember, he is a mighty prince, and able to do you much harm. You have not yet paid for the last army we sent you; we cannot set another on foot. We conjure you to come to some arrangement with his highness.'