and that even the pope suffered Jews to settle in his states. “God alone,” they said, “can command the consciences of men; and be assured, Sire, that those are your best subjects and your best friends who urge you to the observance of all you have promised in your edicts of peace.” Charles thanked them for their kind expressions, and said that it was his ardent desire to maintain peace between all his subjects, as the sole means of prosperity to his kingdom. He then dismissed the embassadors in the most courteous manner, embracing them and loading them with presents. Charles used similar language in his address to the Parliament of Paris in March, 1571. “I thank God,” he said “that the troubles are over, and hope above all things to establish peace so surely, that my subjects will never fall again into the calamities from which they have been rescued. I will set to work earnestly, and trust that you will support me.”[471] Such an appeal was quite necessary, for the conciliatory Edict of St. Germains--a mere repetition of the articles of the treaty--had not always been scrupulously carried out. This depended in great measure upon the views the provincial governors took of the edict; some rendering it almost nugatory by the way in which they interpreted it, others giving it the most liberal construction. Thus in the regulations published at Gap (10th February, 1571), Montmorency-Damville, relying upon the Thirteenth Article of the treaty, forbade the Reformers to assemble to the number of more than ten at the funeral of one of their co-religionists. And yet this was considered a pacificatory order. He also assigned the town of Chorges, four leagues north of Gap, as the authorized place of worship for the Upper Alps. It was a long distance for the Reformers to go every Sunday; but these were times of religious fervor, and as the Huguenots walked along, singing their hymns, they forgot the fatigues of the way.[472] In many places, the clergy in their pulpits pandered to the worst passions of their ignorant flocks. The king and the queen-mother were denounced as traitors--one was a Judas, the other a Jezebel--because they did not order the “rascally heretics” to be slaughtered. The fires of Sodom and Gomorrah were invoked upon the heads of the Huguenots. “Arise, Joshua, and smite Makkeddah with the edge of the sword.” Joshua was Anjou, and Makkeddah Rochelle. These ravings did not fall to the ground.[473] On Sunday, the 4th March, 1571, as the Protestants of Rouen were going to divine worship outside the city walls, they were attacked and beaten, and fifteen were killed. Still greater atrocities had been perpetrated at Orange in the preceding month, the murders continuing for three days, during which the popular fury spared neither women nor children. Such things naturally tended to make the Huguenot chiefs suspicious, and to perpetuate the division of the people into two hostile camps.