probably have succeeded. Unhappily for themselves, they made no attempt. “On Tuesday, the 29th, our soldiers who had invested the Fort of Toulon cried out to the besieged that Saint-André had been hanged, which threw them into despair. The King sent me to show him to them, and they were content to surrender at discretion. But, at the same time, our soldiers, without orders, came from all parts to the assault, and took the fort, killing all whom they encountered. Some fifty of those who were made prisoners were hanged and two hundred others were sent to the galleys. The fort was also set on fire. Some two hundred escaped, but were met by the Swiss who were escorting the cannon to Vivas, by whom some of them were killed.”[126] The Protestants of the Vivarais, terrified by the fate of Privas, laid down their arms. Alais offered some resistance, but Rohan’s attempt to throw reinforcements into the town failed, and, after a siege of a week, it capitulated. Rohan felt that his cause was lost, and endeavoured to negotiate a peace for the whole party. But, though Richelieu authorised the convocation of a General Assembly at Anduze, it was only to impose his conditions. He refused to treat with the Protestants as though they were a hostile state, as had hitherto been the custom. Peace--_la Paix de Grâce_, as it was called--was concluded at Alais on June 29. A general amnesty was granted, and the Edict of Nantes re-established; but the fortifications of all the towns which had risen in rebellion were to be razed to the ground. The King and the Cardinal visited Nîmes, Uzès and Montpellier, where they were well received; but Montauban refused to accept the peace, except on condition of preserving its fortifications. Richelieu despatched the Sieur de Guron, a gentleman with a very persuasive tongue, to try and induce the inhabitants to reconsider their determination, and Bassompierre, with the greater part of the Royal army, after him, with orders to resort to force and lay siege to the town should persuasion fail. The marshal arrived before Montauban on August 10, and, learning that Guron’s eloquence had so far been without effect, began to make preparations to invest the place. But, on the following morning, Guron came to inform him that, as the result of a great oration which he had delivered before the council of the town the previous day, it had been decided to ratify the peace. A few days later all was satisfactorily arranged; and on the 20th the Cardinal--for Louis XIII was now on his way back to Paris--made a triumphal entry into Montauban, escorted by 600 gentlemen, with Bassompierre riding before him, as he would have done before the King.