While the magistracy of Geneva held back from catholicism, the partisans of the pope in the surrounding country were preparing to support it. An alarming rumor had been circulating in the city for some days; and the vicar and the reformer had scarcely withdrawn, when several members of the Council expressed their fears. ‘The bishop, in concert with the duke, has formed the design of invading us,’ they said. ‘At a banquet, at which two hundred persons were present, a formidable conspiracy was planned against our liberties. Wherever you go, you hear nothing but threats against the city. Many of our fellow-citizens have gone out to join the enemy, and are preparing to attack us, with the gentry of the neighborhood.’ Captain-General Philippe was ordered ‘to be on the look-out,’ and many placed their hands and their lives at his disposal. It was true that Pierre de la Baume, having formed a new plot, had come to an understanding with the Genevese episcopals and the lords of Friburg; and quitting, not without reluctance, his delightful residence at Arbois, he had gone to Chambéry to concert measures with the duke. A Romish camarilla stimulated the two princes. The most fervid of the mamelukes, and of the lords of Savoy and of Vaud, had arranged a meeting for a hunting match at the foot of the Voirons, and there arrangements had been made for ‘hunting down’ the heresy of Geneva. ‘Every one there is running after this new word,’ they told the duke. ‘There is but one means of safety left, and that is, to destroy the city and the heretics by making war upon them, and then restoring the prelate by force.’ Forthwith the plan was arranged ‘of the most dangerous treason that had yet been aimed at Geneva.’ The duke hoped to become master of the city, and to re-establish the papal power in it. He had no doubt that catholicity, far from being jealous of his conquest, would be eager to applaud it. To insure success, he determined to ask the help of France, and to that end applied to the Cardinal de Tournon. It was proposed that Pierre de la Baume should resign his see to one of the duke’s sons, the young Count of Bresse, and a handsome compensation was offered him. Maisonneuve, the captain of the Lutherans, a man so generally dreaded, being then in prison at Lyons, it was desirable to take advantage of his absence, and the last day of July was fixed for the execution of the enterprise.[597]