While the people were rejoicing after their fashion, the wise men of the council resolved to show their gratitude to God in another manner. The councils issued a general pardon. Then an indulgence and concord were proclaimed, and all bound themselves to live in harmony. They went further: they desired to repair the injustice of the old régime. ‘Bonivard,’ said some, ‘has been unjustly deprived of his priory of St. Victor because of his patriotism.’--‘What would you have us do?’ they answered; ‘the pope has given the benefice to another.’--‘I should not make it a serious matter of conscience to disobey the pope,’ said Bonivard slily.--‘And as for us,’ said the syndics, ‘we do not care much about him.’ In later years the magistrates of Geneva gave the most palpable proofs of this declaration; for the moment, they confined themselves to resettling the ex-prior in the house of which the pope had robbed him. Another more important reparation had still to be effected. In this solemn hour, when the cause of liberty was triumphing, amid the joyful shouts of a whole people, two names were pronounced with sighs and even with tears: ‘Berthelier! Lévrier!’ said the noblest of the citizens. ‘We have reached the goal, but it was they who traced out the road with their blood.’ An enfranchised people ought not to be ungrateful to their liberators. By a singular coincidence the anniversary of Berthelier’s death revived more keenly the memory of that disastrous event. On the 23rd of August a hundred citizens appeared before the council: ‘Seven years ago this very day,’ they said, ‘Philibert Berthelier was beheaded in the cause of the republic; we pray that his memory be honoured, and that, for such end, a solemn procession shall march to the ringing of bells from the church of St. Pierre to that of Our Lady of Grace, where the hero’s head was buried.’ That was not without danger: Our Lady’s was on the Savoy frontier, and his Highness’s soldiers might easily have disturbed the ceremony. The council preferred ordering a solemn service in memory of Berthelier, Lévrier, and others who died for the republic. The Genevans, acknowledging the great blessings with which the hand of God had enriched them, wished to repair all wrongs, honour all self-sacrifice, and walk with a firm step in the paths of justice and of liberty. It was by such sacrifices that they meant to celebrate their deliverance.[413]