His friends refuse to regard him as dead and console themselves with a vague hope that he is still alive.
I trust that no delay or difficulty will arise with regard to the Queen’s journey; still, if it had not been finally settled otherwise, I am not sure that the route by the Netherlands would not be the most convenient. In any case, that road will always be open to her, should the others be blocked. But your Majesty will decide what is best.
The Portuguese ambassador has arrived and called yesterday on the Queen. The King was indisposed, but is now better.
Paris, June 13, 1575.[70]
[LETTER XXI.]
The Duke of Lorraine and Vaudemont are, they say, expected here in the course of two or three days.
The tedious and difficult negotiations about peace have kept Paris in suspense for a long time. The following appears to be the result: the deputies from the insurgents have not been able to carry all their points, and the King, on his part, has not succeeded in inducing them to accept his terms. They have therefore agreed upon a compromise, the clauses of which are to be referred to Condé, Damville, and the confederate towns: should they accept them, peace will be declared; in the other case, war will be resumed. But it will be much easier to declare war than to carry it on, as France is terribly reduced, and the King himself is in the greatest straits for want of money.
The religious question, which in the Netherlands is the only obstacle to peace, has not been considered here as a matter of paramount importance, and the King has made no difficulty about granting liberty of conscience; there were other points which were more difficult for him to digest—to wit, that the rebels should have possession of two cities in each province, in addition to those which they now hold, as places of refuge in time of trouble. They demand also that members of their party should be admitted into the Parliaments, and that the King should pay the wages of the German reiters who have taken service with them; and, again, that the States-General be convened. If this last should be granted, the Queen Mother will be in great danger of losing her authority. There are some other points, which your Majesty will learn from the enclosed paper.
Never did France so hunger after peace; never was the country so unanimous in desiring it. On other occasions it has been sometimes the Order of the Clergy and sometimes the Order of the People, which has been averse to a pacification; now all exclaim with one voice that war means ruin. But the peace, I suspect, will not last long,[71] since it has been obtained by compulsion, and granted by necessity.