In the Archives of Gap there is a letter from the king to the _baillis_, in which he rejoices at the prosperous state of the kingdom and good conduct of the people; testifies the liveliest desire to consolidate union and concord between all his subjects, and recommends them “de tenir la main à l’exécution exacte de son édit de pacification, et de punir ceux qui y contreviendraient” (4th May, 1572). Charles was proud of the treaty of St. Germains, spoke of it as his own treaty and his own peace, artfully insinuating (adds Sully, a prejudiced witness) that he consented to this peace in order to support the princes of the blood against the overweening presumption of the Guises, whom he accused of conspiring with Spain to throw the kingdom into confusion. The Guises certainly had nothing to do with the treaty. They opposed it instead of supporting it; a course they would hardly have adopted had they been aware that it was a trap for the Huguenots. The Cardinal of Lorraine even wished to leave the court, so strongly did he disapprove of the negotiations. Fornier indeed, in his unpublished history of the house of Guise, says that it was the cardinal who proposed “ce grand coup d’état”--the peace and the massacre--and that it was approved of by the king in a council to which the queen-mother, Anjou, the Duke of Guise, and De Retz, “tous gens d’un secret inviolable,” were summoned;[460] but the duke was not in favor at the time, and the statement is entirely unsupported. It is also positive that Anjou greatly disapproved of the negotiations.