After some preliminary discussion, five negotiators were appointed--Teligny, Beauvais, La Nocle, Cavaignes, and La Chassetière--by whom the conditions of a treaty were soon arranged and presented for the ratification of the king and the confederate princes. Once more the papal nuncio and the Spanish embassador exerted all their influence to prolong the war, even threatening Charles with their master’s displeasure. But the French king, who had set his mind upon peace, would listen to nothing, and the treaty was signed at St. Germains in August, 1570. It conceded a full amnesty for the past, all prisoners of war were to be released, and all confiscated property restored; the appropriated churches were to be given back to the Catholic priests; no one was to be troubled on account of his religion; and the right of public worship was conceded to the Reformed under certain restrictions. Huguenots were to enjoy equal rights with the Catholics, and be eligible to every office in the State. The right of appeal from the provincial parliaments was extended, and--galling condition!--four cities (La Rochelle, Montauban, Cognac, and La Charité) were to be held for two years by Huguenot garrisons as pledges for the fulfillment of the treaty stipulations. Immediately after the signing of the treaty, the Huguenots disbanded their army; the German auxiliaries were paid off by a levy on the Protestant churches; and the leaders proceeded to La Rochelle, where Joan of Navarre was holding a little court. The royal army was marched to various garrison towns and then partly disbanded. On their route northward, an incident occurred which shows how little regard was felt for human life: nothing hardens the heart more than civil war. When Strozzi had to cross the Loire, he found his march so embarrassed by the number of female camp-followers, who would not obey the proclamations to leave the army, that he threw more than 800 of them into the Loire at Pont de Cé above Angers.[451]