Under Henri II. the French, led by Montmorency, occupied the town, after a treaty concluded with Maurice of Saxony. The Duke of Guise, appointed Governor, energetically defended Metz, besieged by Emperor Charles-Quint (October 19, 1552). On January 1, 1553, Charles-Quint raised the siege, after having lost 30,000 men. For a long time the kings of France bore the title of “Protector.” Henri III. was the first to call himself “Sovereign Ruler.” The Parliament of Metz, created in 1633, completed the ruin of its municipal independence, and the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) definitely incorporated it with France. It was the capital of the “Three Bishoprics” formed by the union of Metz, Toul and Verdun. Until the Revolution (1789) Metz, while escaping the horrors of war, constantly felt its effects. Troops were continually passing through it, and its barracks became a mustering-ground. Turenne, Villars, the Marquis de Créquy, and Marshal de Villeroy camped within its walls, and it was at Metz that in August, 1744, Louis XV. was taken seriously ill, on which occasion the whole of France prayed and fasted for their “well-beloved” King. In 1790, Metz became the chief town of the new “Département” of Moselle. Two sieges, in 1814 and 1815, were victoriously resisted. 1870 was a black year in the annals of the town—till then known as “_Virgin Metz_.”[A] The battles of Borny (August 14), Rézonville (August 15), St. Privat (August 18), forced _Marshal Bazaine_ to retire under the walls of the town. He resisted feebly, contenting himself with awaiting events, and did not even attempt to cut his way through, which would have saved the honour of the armies under his command. On October 28 he signed the capitulation, and on the following day surrendered with 173,000 men, 60 generals, 6,000 officers, 58 standards, 622 field-guns, 876 siege-guns, 72 machine-guns, 260,000 rifles and huge quantities of stores and munitions. Six months later (May 10, 1871), by the Treaty of Frankfort, Metz and part of the “_département_” of Moselle were ceded to Germany. Metz thus became the capital of German Lorraine. [A] Its coat of arms consists of an escutcheon argent and sable surmounted by a maiden crowned by towers and holding a palm in her left hand. It was, in fact, the proudest claim of Metz, until 1870, that it had never been taken since it had become a fortified city. In 1815 the armies of the “Holy Alliance” were refused permission to march through, when they evacuated French territory, and were obliged to cross the Moselle over a bridge which the people of Metz erected at the very foot of the ramparts, just outside the town. It was from Metz that =La Fayette= set out in 1775 on his immortal expedition to help America win her freedom and independence. In grateful remembrance of that glorious event the “=Knights of Columbus=” recently decided to erect a statue of La Fayette in Metz (_to be inaugurated in 1920_).