As soon as the king had heard what the count had to offer, his majesty sent for me, and it was warmly debated whether a passport should be granted or not. Those who were against the peace (as Signor John James di Trivulce and others, who thought themselves great favourers of the interest of the Duke of Orleans,) were for fighting by all means; but they were, most of them, churchmen, and not like to be in the battle, and they pretended to have certain intelligence that the enemy must suddenly raise the siege, or be starved to death. Others objected (and I was of that number) that we should be starved first; that the enemy were in their own country, and their power too great to be so easily destroyed; and that such counsel proceeded from persons who had a mind to engage us in their quarrels, and set us fighting purely to gratify their own revenge and ambition. Yet, for all this, the passport was granted and sent, signifying, that the next day at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Prince of Orange, the Marshal de Gié, the Lord de Piennes, and myself, with our retinue, should be between Borgo and Cameri, near a certain tower, in which they had a guard, and that there we should be ready to enter into a conference. At the appointed hour, we went to the place under a strong guard. The Marquis of Mantua and a Venetian who had the command of their Estradiots[448], came to us, and in very civil language told us, that for their part they were desirous of peace. For better convenience of treating, it was agreed, that the next day some of their deputies should come into our camp, and that the day after some of ours should go into theirs, which was done. The next morning there came to us Signor Francisco Bernardino Visconti on behalf of the Duke of Milan, and a secretary from the Marquis of Mantua. On our side, besides the persons above mentioned, we had added to us the Cardinal of St. Malo, and we began to treat. They demanded Novara, in which the Duke of Orleans was besieged; and we insisted upon having Genoa, saying, it was feudatory to the king, and that the Duke of Milan had confiscated it. They excused themselves as to that, assuring us that their master had done nothing against the king except in his own defence; that the Duke of Orleans had taken Novara from them by force, and begun the war with our king’s forces; and that therefore they thought their masters would be hardly persuaded to agree to these demands, but in any thing else would be ready to comply. Our conferences lasted two days, after which they returned to their camp, whither the Marshal de Gié, the Lord de Piennes, and myself, were sent after them to press for the restitution of Genoa. We would have been content that Novara should have been surrendered to the forces of the King of the Romans, which were commanded by Signor George di Pietraplanta[449], the Lord Frederic Capellare, and another called Monsieur Hans; for we found it could not be relieved without a