'Item, in respect to what relates to the king having (at the solicitations of the count de Hainault, whose soul may God pardon!) from a love of peace, granted to the duke of Burgundy and those who had served him, many handsome gifts, but which the duke made light of,-- 'The duke replies, that from his anxiety to preserve peace and union in France, which he has ever felt and feels from the bottom of his heart, he waited on my lord the dauphin lately deceased, and my lord of Hainault, to whose souls may God shew mercy! and after much conversation relative to a peace, the duke of Burgundy offered them a schedule of his terms for the conclusion thereof, with all who may be desirous of partaking of it, with the exception of king Louis of Sicily, lately deceased, on account of disputes that existed between them: with this proposal, the dauphin and the count de Hainault were perfectly satisfied. For the accomplishment of which, they were to meet at Compiegne, as every dispatch would be necessary, the sooner to put an end to the miseries of war. However, those traitors who surround the king, by their intrigues, protracted the business for three months, or thereabout, without coming to any final decision. 'The count de Hainault at length went to Paris, and, by means of the queen, procured from these traitors a sort of agreement to the offers of peace, with which he was satisfied; but during these negotiations, he privately learnt, that it was intended to arrest him and the queen, and imprison them, that they might manage the dauphin as they should please; and this information caused the count de Hainault to quit Paris precipitately and return to Compiegne, where soon after the dauphin was carried off from this life in a most wicked and damnable manner, which has been before related in different letters patent from the duke of Burgundy. 'After the dauphin's decease, the count de Hainault returned to his own county, whither was addressed the answer of the king's ministers to the proposals for peace, which much displeased him: he said, that since the death of the dauphin, they had changed their minds, and totally altered and perverted what had before been agreed upon. This answer he sent to the duke of Burgundy, who, having maturely considered it with his council, found it was highly derogatory to the honour and welfare of the king and his realm, as well as to himself the duke of Burgundy, and paid no regard to it. Instigated, however, by such conduct, he dispatched into several parts of the kingdom a manifesto, declaratory of the ruin of the country were the present ministers continued in power, and his firm resolution to do every thing to prevent it, by driving them from about the person of the king.