Pope Pius V. actively supported the fanatical party in their opposition to the treaty of 1568, by letters of advice and pecuniary aid. On the 5th of July he wrote to the Duke of Nemours, congratulating him on being the first who, in the cities of Lyons and Grenoble, refused to observe the conditions of Longjumeau, “as fatal to the Catholic religion and derogatory to the king’s dignity.” “Would to God,” he continues, “that all the great ones of the kingdom and all governors of provinces would imitate your example.”[419] Meanwhile, great changes had taken place in the royal council. By slow degrees the Italian party had recovered their supremacy, and were advocating the most violent measures. The Moderate party was listened to with impatience. “Even the king no longer dared give his opinion,” says L’Hopital, who felt it a duty to resign his office rather than countenance measures of which he disapproved. He was succeeded for a brief interval by Jean de Morvilliers. In the middle of 1568 the foundations were laid of that formidable League which shook the throne and brought France to the brink of destruction. On the 25th June, “The Associates of the Christian and Royal League of the province of Champagne” met and took a solemn oath “to maintain the Catholic Church in France, and preserve the crown in the house of Valois, so long as it shall govern according to the Catholic and Apostolic religion.”[420] Seventy years later another famous league was signed “for the defense of religion,” which brought a king to the scaffold. Those who admire the Scottish Covenant should not find fault with a Romish league which brought two kings of France to a sudden and bloody end.