The color given to the next two years of the reign of Charles IX. depends much upon the view we take of the Peace of St. Germains. Was the court sincere, or only playing a part to entice the Huguenots into a trap, and so get rid of them at one blow? This is the opinion of many, and particularly of Davila, who says positively that the peace was a snare.[452] But he is occasionally too subtle: he belongs to that class of historians who think that kings and statesmen regulate their policy by grand schemes of far-sighted calculation, instead of living, as it were, from hand to mouth. The _imprévu_, to use an apt French word, plays a much more important part in human affairs than some historians are willing to believe. The Treaty of St. Germains--and we have Walsingham’s express testimony to that effect[453]--was the work of the Politicians, all good Catholics, like Cossé, Damville, and Montmorency. Walsingham adds that the king had sharply rebuked the mutinous Parisians, and told them that he meant to have the treaty “duly observed.” He farther explains why Charles should have desired peace: “His own disposition, necessity, pleasure, misliking with certain of his council and favoring of others.” Walsingham already saw the small cloud rising that would soon overshadow France: “Monsieur (Anjou) can hardly digest to live in the degree of a subject, having already the reputation of a king.”[454] Languet’s testimony is equally decisive as to the pacific disposition of Charles IX.[455] Contarini speaks doubtfully about the treaty, although he says “peace was the aim and desire of the king and queen.”[456] Indeed it was not Catherine’s policy to crush the Huguenots utterly: she needed them as a counterpoise to the Guises, who, though at this time rather out of favor at court, were, perhaps, all the more popular among the fanatic masses. It must be farther borne in mind that, at this turning-point of Catherine’s policy, not only the pope was not consulted, but the court, in making peace, acted in direct opposition to his representations. In January, Pius V. strongly advised a continuance of the war,[457] and when he heard of the treaty of St. Germains, he wrote to the Cardinals of Lorraine and Bourbon, expressing his “fears that God would inflict a judgment on the king and all who counseled and took part in the infamous negotiations. We can not refrain from tears as we think how deplorable the peace is to all good men; how full of danger, and what a source of bitter regret.”