Arnay le Duc is only sixty leagues from Paris, toward which Coligny was advancing with a speed which the defeated and encumbered army of Marshal Cossé could not overtake, even if he were anxious (which is doubtful) to do so. A fresh body of auxiliaries was on its way from Germany to reinforce Prince Henry; La Noue had not only saved Rochelle, but recovered the greater part of Poitou; and the admiral had reached Chatillon-sur-Loing, his patrimonial seat.[449] This was enough to alarm the court and turn their thoughts to peace. After the battle at La Roche-Abeille there had been an attempt at arrangement, and also after Moncontour, but in both cases the language of the king and council was very discouraging. At this juncture, however, the Moderate party had recovered their ascendancy in the cabinet: “Five out of the eight were atheists or Huguenots,” says the Spanish embassador.[450] Yielding to their influence, the king and his mother were inclined to be conciliatory, and to grant any reasonable terms; for the treasury was empty, and the Swiss auxiliaries were threatening to return home unless their arrears were paid. Nor were the Huguenots much better off. Their army had received no pay for some time, their arms and equipments were worn out, and they were far from their resources. La Noue tells us that the prospect of a cessation of hostilities was not popular with the extreme party on either side: the Catholics declaring it to be “an unworthy deed to make peace with heretics, who deserved grievous punishment; the Huguenots deeming it to be nothing but treason.” Coligny himself appears to have held back at first, thinking probably that no good could come from the negotiations; but his feelings on the matter may be gathered from the faithful La Noue, who reports that after the peace was signed he exclaimed: “I would rather die than fall into the like confusions again, and see so many mischiefs committed before my face.”