[125] Almost all the members of Conde's council favored a call upon the German Protestant princes for prompt support. But "the admiral broke off this plan of theirs, saying that he would prefer to die rather than consent that those of the religion should be the first to bring foreign troops into France." It was, therefore, concluded to send two gentlemen to Germany, to remain there until the conclusion of the war, in order to explain the position of the Huguenots. Hist. eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 23. [126] Mem. de Conde, i. 79, 80. Cf. Baum, ii., App., 177. [127] Hist. eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 14; Mem. de Conde, i. 81-83, and iii. 256; De Thou, iii. 143. [128] "Que sans sa venue a Paris, il fust arrive vers les Pasques, plus de quinze centz chevaulx de tous costez du royaume, pour saccager la ville," etc. Response a la Declaration que faict le Prince de Conde, etc. Mem. de Conde, iii. 242. [129] Mem. de Conde, iii. 388-391; Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 30, 31; Jean de Serres, ii. 63; De Thou, iii. 152. [130] J. de Serres, ii. 112-117; Hist. eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 27-29; Mem. de Conde, iii. 392, 393; De Thou, iii. 153, 154. [131] Jean de Serres, ii. 118-150; Mem. de Conde, iii. 395-416; Hist. eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 32-46; De Thou, iii. 154-157. It is incredible that, as De Thou suggests, this answer should have been penned by Montluc, Bishop of Valence. On the other hand, it bears every mark of having proceeded from the pen of that learned, eloquent, and sprightly writer, Theodore Beza. As a literary production it fully deserves the warm encomium passed upon it by Professor Baum: "It is a masterpiece in respect both to the arrangement and to the treatment of the matter; and, with its truly Demosthenian strength, may, with confidence, be placed by the side of the most eloquent passages to which the French language can point." Baum, Theodor Beza, ii. 642. [132] J. de Serres, ii. 93, etc.; De Thou, iii. 158. See the acts of the third National Synod in Aymon, Tous les Synodes, i. 23-31. The Second National synod had been held at Poitiers, on the tenth of March, 1561. Its acts are in Aymon, i. 13-22. [133] J. de Serres, ii. 170; De Thou, iii. 160; Jehan de la Fosse, 50; Hist. eccles. des egl. ref. ii. 47. [134] De Thou, iii. 160. [135] Journal de Bruslart, Memoires de Conde, i. 87; Claude Haton, i. 284; Hist. eccles. des egl. ref. ii. 48. [136] See the prince's affectionate letter to Antoine, June 13th, Hist. eccles. des egl. ref. ii. 49; De Thou, _ubi supra_; J. de Serres, ii. 156. [137] Mem. de Guise, 495. [138] It was in the presence of seven knights of the order of St. Michael, of the secretaries of state, etc. See Conde's long remonstrance against the judgment of the Parisian parliament, Aug. 8, 1562. Hist. eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 71; Mem. de Conde, iii. 587.