This last outrage caused the downfall of the Sixteen. Mayenne had long been dissatisfied with the conduct of these turbulent and sanguinary men, and he was heartily glad of this opportunity to punish them, and annihilate their political influence. He could do both with safety, as a great majority of the citizens were shocked and disgusted by the murderous act which had been committed. The duke was then with his army at Soissons, where he was expecting to be joined by the prince of Parma. Leaving his troops under the command of the young duke of Guise, he hastened, with three hundred horse and fifteen hundred foot, to Paris. A few days after his arrival, he consigned four of the criminals to execution, proscribed two who had escaped, prohibited, under pain of death, all secret meetings, and thus put an end for ever to the tyranny of the council. The partisans and agents of Spain murmured in private at these decisive measures, but they were in too feeble a minority to venture upon doing more. Among those who were executed was not Bussi le Clerc; though, as he had been the most conspicuous actor in the murders, he richly deserved death. It was to being governor of the Bastile that he was indebted for his safety. When Mayenne came to Paris, Bussi prudently kept within the walls of the fortress; and, as there were various reasons which made it unadvisable to besiege him, he was allowed to negociate. On condition that he should not be punished for his share in the murder of Brisson, Larcher, and Tardif, and that he should be at liberty to go wheresoever he pleased with his property, he agreed to surrender the Bastile. The first of these articles was faithfully performed; but with respect to the second he was not so lucky, for Mayenne’s soldiers deprived him of the booty which he had made during the civil war. He retired to Brussels, where, during forty years, he earned a scanty subsistence, as an obscure teacher of fencing. The custody of the Bastile was confided, by the duke of Mayenne, to du Bourg, a brave and trusty officer.