Both parties were tired of the struggle. The Court did not wish for eternal war: the princes and their followers saw that, the Spanish marriages once carried through, their wisest line of action was to make a good bargain for themselves while posing as disappointed patriots. The treaty of Loudun satisfied them for the time. Several of the King’s older Ministers were sacrificed, notably Chancellor Sillery. The Maréchal d’Ancre had to give up his command in Picardy, with the strong city of Amiens, to the Duc de Longueville, but was consoled with the military government of Normandy. A general amnesty was published: President Le Jay was set at liberty, and the Comte d’Auvergne was freed from his long confinement in the Bastille; the rights already granted to the Huguenots were confirmed; Condé’s war expenses were paid, amounting to 1,500,000 _livres_. Decidedly a good bargain; the best he had ever made. “This time, it is true,” says M. Henri Martin, “Condé’s soldiers had well earned their money: they had pillaged, burnt, ravaged France with great zeal, from the banks of the Somme to those of the Garonne.” The other princes were also magnificently paid: their rebellion cost the country, “according to Richelieu, more than twenty millions”; and in the matter of places and governments, they had what they chose to demand. In addition, Condé claimed the right of signing the decrees of the Royal Council. The Duc de Villeroy, a clever old politician, advised the Queen to grant this also. It was better, he said, to bind Monsieur le Prince to the Court than to let him fortify himself in the provinces. “Do not fear,” he said, “to put a pen in a man’s hand while you are holding his arm.” So ended the demonstration against the Spanish marriages. Marie de Médicis gained her point: the princes found effectual consolation; and the poor people of France, as usual, paid the bill. The salt tax, which had been reduced, was raised to its former level, and new river tolls were established.