These party questions were momentarily silenced by the necessity of getting rid of the foreign garrison which still occupied Havre. The Huguenots, as well as the Catholics, were pleased at the opportunity of showing their prowess against “the natural enemy of France.” The former, aware of the great blunder they had committed in the treaty of Hampton Court, were eager to drive out the English, who did not feel the slightest inclination to depart. Queen Elizabeth’s policy may have been national, but it was very shabby and prejudicial to the Huguenot cause. “We are resolutely determined to keep Newhaven [Havre], except they will resolve to restore us Calais,” wrote Cecil on Christmas Day, 1562.[352] When he heard that peace had been made at Orleans “without consideration of us,” he added: “If it be so, I know the worst, which is, by stout and stiff dealing, to make our own bargain.”[353] And yet, after these big words, the English government did nothing, though the governor of Havre (the Earl of Warwick) urgently demanded supplies and reinforcements, which did not sail until the place had capitulated. With sanctimonious resignation Sir E. Warner wrote to Cecil: “The loss of Newhaven so suddenly and in such sort, as it seemeth, I am sorry for to the bottom of my heart. But against God’s ordinance no man can stand.” The garrison had suffered terribly from the plague, which they brought with them to England, where it is computed to have killed 20,000 persons in London and the out-parishes. Condé, who had fought valiantly at Havre, hoped that his services to the monarchy would be repaid by promotion to the office of Lieutenant-General of France, vacant by the death of his elder brother, Anthony of Navarre. Catherine had held this out as a lure without the remotest intention of keeping her promise. She probably found that the throne would be weakened by being kept longer in tutelage, and therefore, with L’Hopital’s concurrence, anticipated the young king’s majority by twelve months, ordering it to be declared as soon as he entered his fourteenth year, and thus obviated the necessity of appointing a new lieutenant-general. The ceremony took place at Rouen, it being feared that the Parliament of Paris, in which Condé had friends, would refuse to register the edict of majority. On the 17th August, 1563, Charles went down to the courts of law in great state, and after announcing the close of his minority, he declared that he would not permit the repetition of such acts of insubordination as he had witnessed during the recent hostilities, and that he desired the Edict of Pacification should be kept in all its provisions.