France . tarving poor to escape. Paris must not become agraveyard, he said. I do not wish to reign overthe dead. The same moderation had always distin-guished him in the hour of victory. After Coutras hehad treated his prisoners with kindness, and only de-manded the re-enactment of the Edict of 1577. At Ivryhe had urged his men to spare the French nobihty. Henever forgot that his foes were one day to be his the siege cost the fives of some 50,000 persons. Sodesperate was the position that Paris was on the pointof jdelding when the Duke of Parma with his Spanishsoldiers entered Fra
France . tarving poor to escape. Paris must not become agraveyard, he said. I do not wish to reign overthe dead. The same moderation had always distin-guished him in the hour of victory. After Coutras hehad treated his prisoners with kindness, and only de-manded the re-enactment of the Edict of 1577. At Ivryhe had urged his men to spare the French nobihty. Henever forgot that his foes were one day to be his the siege cost the fives of some 50,000 persons. Sodesperate was the position that Paris was on the pointof jdelding when the Duke of Parma with his Spanishsoldiers entered France, and, drawing off Henris army,enabled the place to be revictuaUed. The siege and its refief made two things clear. First, toHenri, that in the face of such intense fanaticism he couldnever reign, as Henri III. had warned him with his dyingbreath, except as a Cathofic ; secondly, to patrioticCathofics, that their resistance must depend upon foreignaid. The more fanatical, indeed, were willing, upon the. PARIS WORTH A MASS 245 death of Charles X. (1590), to entertain the preten-sions of Philip, to set aside the Salic law, the prophylacticof French patriotism, and to recognize the Infanta ofSpain as the Queen of France. On every side, in fact,claimants appeared to the vacant Catholic throne, andon every frontier foreign vultures gathered to devourthe carcass of the expiring kingdom. To a man withthe broad mind and deep patriotism of Henri of Navarre,it became obvious that the only way to save the realmwas for him to turn CathoUc and to secure toleration forthe Protestants. He took that step of supreme poMticalwisdom and courage. On May 16, 1593, he announcedhis intention of abjuring his religion. Paris, he said,in one of those striking phrases which endeared him toa people ever susceptible to an epigram, was wellworth a Mass. And in gaining Paris, which receivedhim with the wildest enthusiasm, he had gained Rheims was in the hands of Guise, he chose to beconsecrat
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