The fanatical Romish party were by no means pleased with these tolerant symptoms in the court and government; and finding their power and influence diminishing every day, they began to look about them for foreign help. In their perplexity they naturally turned to the pope and the King of Spain; and there is a story of a petition, emanating from the Cardinal of Lorraine and certain doctors of the Sorbonne, imploring Philip II. to aid the Church of France against the heretics, on the ground that he was the mightiest and most religious of princes. The petition never reached its destination in consequence of its bearer, a priest, being arrested and compelled to give it up. The story is not well authenticated, but there is evidence enough without it to show that the Guises and a part of the French clergy were engaged in a treasonable correspondence. Supported by this correspondence, the King of Spain took a high tone in his letters to the queen-regent, blaming her for holding the colloquy at Poissy, and condemning the mere idea of a national council. He said bluntly that all heretics ought to be punished without respect of persons, and added that if she failed in her duty, he was determined to sacrifice every thing, even his life, to check the progress of the pestilence, which was equally threatening to France and to Spain. The Spanish embassador Chantonnay, whom Anquetil describes as “acting the part of a French minister of state,” scarcely wrote a letter to his royal master in which he did not denounce Catherine’s favor to the Protestants. As it was Philip’s interest to keep France in a disturbed state, he naturally courted the Guise faction, promising them both men and money, but not willing to give either very liberally. Secret as were their manœuvres, they did not escape Catherine’s vigilance, and to prevent any violent outbreak she disarmed the populace of Paris.[257]