When the news was told the prince-prelate, it was the pleasantest tidings he had ever received. He breathed again, and yet he was not entirely satisfied: he wanted some prisoners whom he had especially set his heart upon—particularly Levet and Chautemps. But if the husbands had disappeared, their wives might suffer for them. Pierre de la Baume ordered Jaquéma Chautemps to be seized, but Claudine Levet remained at liberty. Claudine was a pious christian woman, firm in faith but of gentle character, and she was spared; but Jaquéma, who it will be remembered was taught by Olivetan, possessed perhaps some of that courageous decision which was found in Calvin's cousin and in Calvin himself. Claudine was the woman of the New Testament; Jaquéma seems rather to remind us of the heroines of the Old. It is to be regretted that we have not the same information about her as about Claudine. At all events she paid for her husband. The delicate woman, the wife of one of the chief persons in the city, accustomed to the comforts of life, used to the company of one of the most original French writers of the day, the tutor to her children, was shut up in a narrow cell, and treated roughly like a conspirator. Ancient and modern times have witnessed more than one instance of conjugal devotion. Many wives, seeing their husbands threatened with a cruel death, have been able to say to them:
. . . . . . Et quel autre que moi
A le droit d'y prétendre et de mourir pour toi?[768]
The Reformation also has furnished many similar examples.
As part of the huguenot leaders were now in prison, the bishop and his confidants deliberated what should be done with them. It was quite out of the question to put them to death publicly in Geneva, like Berthelier. The simplest way would be to behead them secretly in their dungeons; but that would be known immediately, and would create terrible excitement. 'They durst not kill them in the city for fear of the people.'[769] The bishop's councillors proposed to send them out of Geneva in a boat by night, and convey them either to Friburg, which was calling for victims to avenge Wernli's death, or to the castle of Chillon, where Bonivard was shut up, or to Jussy near Mount Voiron, or lastly to the strong castle of Gaillard at the foot of the Salève, 'and there do as they pleased with them.'[770] They decided on the last plan, and orders were given for carrying it out.
Thus everything proceeded to the bishop's satisfaction. As some of the principal huguenots were about to be sent out of Geneva, it became necessary 'to catch other citizens after them and serve them the same,' that is, carry them also out of the city; for the fear of the people continually pursued the bishop. He was planning how to continue the work he had undertaken, when news was brought him which greatly troubled him.
One of his agents, commissioned by him to take note of everything that occurred in the city, came and told him that not only Baudichon de la Maisonneuve had escaped, but that he had gone to Berne to demand help.... What a check! what danger! If the fugitive brings back the Bernese, they will undertake the defence of heresy ... it will triumph. The harder the blow which La Baume desired to strike, the more dangerous would it be if it failed. He was therefore in great alarm and in a great passion also. He ordered his officers to pursue those who had escaped, to take horses so as to catch them up, and to bring them back bound to prison where their friends awaited them. But he did not rest satisfied with sending after the fugitives such persons as were under his own orders, he wanted others to track them down, to catch them in the rear or in front: this induced him to make a very extraordinary demand.
As soon as the syndics had heard of the arrest of some of the most notable of the citizens, they had summoned the council. Astounded at the tyrannical act, and alarmed for the future of the republic, they deliberated what was to be done. Should they abandon their fellow-citizens to the illegal vengeance of the bishop, or should they revolt against their prince? They were plunged into silent stupor when a messenger from the bishop appeared. No doubt he had come to give some explanation, to make an excuse, and perhaps to declare that the bishop would withdraw his fatal decree! No such thing: the council soon learnt that he was charged with an extraordinary message.
=STRANGE REQUEST OF THE BISHOP.=
The episcopal messenger, having made the customary salutations, said: 'My lord has decided to send his officers beyond the frontiers to take certain criminals (this was the term he applied to those noble citizens). Our very reverend prince therefore requires the council to lend him some of the city officers to accompany his own and pursue the fugitives in the territory of Savoy.' This was too much. De la Baume required the magistrates of Geneva to employ in oppressing citizens the power they had received to defend them. Such an audacious proposition disgusted the syndics; they did not hesitate to refuse his demand; desiring, however, to keep on good terms with him to the last, they gave a specious motive for their refusal. 'Pray pardon us,' they answered the bishop, 'if we cannot do it; we should be afraid lest the duke, whose territories our officers would have to enter, should be angry with us for violating the treaties.' This refusal threw him into a great passion. He believed, perhaps not without reason, that the duke of Savoy would overlook the violation of territory, as its object was to catch huguenots. 'Return,' he said to his officer, 'and tell those gentlemen to do justice, and that if they do not, there are fourscore in the city who will help me to do it. Add, that they are to act straightforwardly.' The magistrates remained firm. But the prelate found some little consolation in the cooperation of people better disposed than the syndics of Geneva to subserve his anger.[771]