But his greatest feat of diplomacy was the persuasion of the people of La Rochelle to adopt the new course. It required all the eloquence, all the charm, and all the strategy of a born leader of men to convince the hot-headed and impetuous Rochellois, but he finally succeeded, and the alliance was at last concluded between the Huguenots of religion and the Huguenots of state, the connecting link being the new party of the Politiques.[1622] The Protestants and the Politiques speedily converted theories into practice in the south of France, where their confederation spread over all Languedoc and much of Guyenne. Two towns in each province were appointed as “Confederate towns.” Special parlements pronounced upon all law cases which arose between litigants of either group. Liberty of worship was recognized as sacred right and this _de facto_ government even undertook the trial and condemnation of the authors of the massacre of 1572. We get clear intimations of these new political ideas in the literature of the time. In the last days of Charles IX a political treatise appeared entitled _Du droit des magistrats sur les sujets_, purporting to have been published in Magdeburg, which advanced the thesis that the kingship, although established by God, was a popular institution, and that, if the king were unfaithful to his office, he could be set aside.[1623] The _Franco-Gallia_ of Hotman proclaimed the sovereignty of the people and the dependency of the crown upon its will. The same idea dominates the _Junius Brutus_ of Hubert Languet. Popular sanction, he says, alone makes the king; election is an inalienable right of the people to whom the king is responsible. A pamphlet inspired by the Montmorencys and called _La France-Turquie_ compared Charles IX to the Sultan and accused him of endeavoring to reduce his subjects to eastern servility. An incident that occurred at this time shows how far the idea of limited monarchy obtained among the Huguenots. In the course of one of the negotiations the prince of Condé was asked to sign a paper for his party. His reply was that he and the king of Navarre “had no other authority in that party than that which they had received with the articles of their election,” which did not attribute a monarchical power to them, the party being composed of a great number of the nobility and the third estate, who had given power to them.[1624]