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THE Duke of Savoy was the wolf. When he heard of the bishop's flight, his vexation was greater than can be imagined. He had told the Bernese: 'I shall have Monsieur of Geneva at my will,'754 and now the wily prelate had escaped him a second time. At first Charles III. lost all self-control. 'I will go,' he said, 'and drag him across the Alps with a rope round his neck!' After which he wrote to him: 'I will make you the poorest priest in Savoy;' and, proceeding to gratify his rage, he seized upon the abbeys of Suza and Pignerol, which belonged to La Baume. Gradually his anger cooled down; the duke's counsellors, knowing the bishop's irresolute and timid character, said to their master: 'He is of such a changeable disposition755 that it will be easy to bring him over again to the side of Savoy.' The prince yielded to their advice, and sent Ducis, governor of the Château de l'Ile, to try to win him back. It appeared to the ducal counsellors that Pierre de la Baume, having fled from Geneva, could never return thither, and would have no wish to do so; and that the time had come when a negotiation, favourable in other respects to the prelate, might put the duke in possession of a city which he desired by every means to close against heresy and liberty.

=THE DUKE TRIES TO WIN THE BISHOP.=

The bishop, at that moment very dejected, was touched by the duke's advances; he sent an agent to the prince, and peace seemed on the point of being concluded. But Charles had uttered a word that sounded ill in the prelate's ears. 'The duke wishes me to subscribe myself his subject,' he wrote to Hugues. 'I think I know why.... It is that he may afterwards lay hands on me.' Nevertheless, the duke appeared to restrain himself. 'I will give back all your benefices,' he told the bishop, 'if you contrive to annul the alliance between Geneva and Switzerland.' La Baume consented to everything in order to recover his abbeys, whose confiscation made a large gap in his revenues. He did not care much about living at Geneva, but he wished to be at his ease in Burgundy. At this moment, as the duke and the Genevans left him at peace, he was luxuriously enjoying his repose. Instead of being always in the presence of huguenots and mamelukes, he walked calmly in his garden 'among his pinks and gilly-flowers.'756 He ordered some beautiful fur robes, lined with black satin, for the winter; he kept a good table, and said: 'I am much better supplied with good wine here than we are at Geneva.'757

The bishop having fled from his bishopric like a hireling,—the prince having run away from his principality like a conspirator,—the citizens resolved to take measures for preserving order in the State, and to make the constitution at once stronger and more independent. The general council delegated to the three councils of Twenty-five, Sixty, and Two-Hundred the duty of carrying on the necessary business, except in such important affairs as required the convocation of the people. A secret council was also appointed, composed of the four syndics and of six of the most decided huguenots. A distinguished historian says that the Genevan constitution was then made democratic;758 another historian affirms, on the contrary, that the power of the people was weakened.759 We are of a different opinion from both. In proportion as Geneva threw off foreign usurpation, it would strengthen its internal constitution. Undoubtedly, this little nation desired to be free, and the Reformation was to preserve its liberties; there is a democracy in the Reform. Philosophy, which is satisfied with a small number of disciples, has never formed more than an intellectual aristocracy; but evangelical christianity, which appeals to all classes, and particularly to the lowly, develops the understanding, awakens the conscience, and sanctifies the hearts of those who receive it, in this way spreading light, order, and peace all around, and forming a true democracy on earth, very different from that which does without Christ and without God. But Geneva, at that time surrounded by implacable enemies, required, as necessary to its existence, not only liberty, but order, power, and consequently authority.

=THE DUCAL ARMS FALL AT GENEVA.=

The bishop had hardly disappeared from Geneva when the insignia of ducal power disappeared also. Eight years before this, Charles III. had caused the white cross of Savoy, carved in marble, to be placed on the Château de l'Ile, 'at which the friends of liberty were much grieved.'—'I have placed my arms in the middle of the city as a mark of sovereignty,' he had said haughtily, 'and have had them carved in hard stone. Let the people efface them if they dare!' On the morning of the 6th of August (five days after the bishop's flight), some people who were passing near the castle perceived to their great astonishment that the ducal arms had disappeared.... A crowd soon gathered to the spot, and a lively discussion arose. Who did it? was the general question. 'Oh!' replied some, 'the stone has accidentally fallen into the river;' but although the water was clear, no one could see it. 'It was you,' said the duke's partisans to the huguenots, 'and you have hidden it somewhere.' Bonivard, who stood thoughtful in the midst of the crowd, said at last: 'I know the culprit.'—'Who is it? who is it?' 'St. Peter,' he replied. 'As patron of Geneva, he is unwilling that a secular prince should have any ensign of authority in his city!' This incident, the authors of which were never known, made a great impression, and the most serious persons exclaimed: 'Truly, it is a visible sign, announcing to us a secret and mysterious decision of the Most High. What the hand of God hath thrown down, let not hand of man set up again!'760

The Genevans wanted neither duke nor bishop; they went farther still, and being harassed by the court of Rome, they were going to show that they did not care for the pope. They had hardly done talking of La Baume's flight and of the Savoy escutcheon, when they were told strange news. A report was circulated that an excommunication and interdict had been pronounced against them, at the request of the mamelukes. This greatly excited such citizens as were still attached to the Roman worship. 'What!' said they; 'the priests will be suspended from their functions, the people deprived of the benefit of the sacraments, divine worship, and consecrated burial ... innocent and guilty will be involved in one common misery.'... But the energy of the huguenots, whom long combats had hardened like steel, was not to be weakened by this new attack. The most determined of them resolved to turn against Rome the measure plotted against Geneva. The council, being resolved to prevent the excommunication from being placarded in the streets,761 ordered 'a strict watch to be kept at the bridge of Arve, about St. Victor and St. Leger, and that the gates should be shut early and opened late.' This was not enough. Five days later (the 29th of December, 1527), the people, lawfully assembled, caused the Golden Bull to be read aloud before them, which ordered that, with the exception of the emperor and the bishop, there should be no authority in Geneva. Then a daring proposition was made to the general council, namely, 'that no metropolitan letters, and further still no apostolical letters (that is to say, no decrees emanating from the pope's courts), should be executed by any priest or any citizen.'—'Agreed, agreed!' shouted everybody. It would seem that the vote was almost unanimous. In this way the bishop on the banks of the Tiber found men prepared to resist him on the obscure banks of the Leman.

This vote alarmed a few timid persons of a traditional tendency. Advocates of the status quo entreated the progressionists to restrain themselves; but the latter had no wish to do so. They answered that the Reformation was triumphing among the Swiss; that Zwingle, Œcolampadius, and Haller were preaching with daily increasing success at Zurich, Basle, and Berne. They added that on the 7th of January, 1528, the famous discussion had begun in the last-named city, and that the Holy Scriptures had gained the victory; that the altars and images had been thrown down 'with the consent of the people;' that a spiritual worship had been substituted in their place, and that all, including children fourteen years old, had sworn to observe 'the Lutheran law.' The huguenots thought that if excommunication came to them from Rome, absolution would come to them from Berne—or rather from heaven.

=FUNERAL PROCESSION OF POPERY.=

The more light-hearted among them went further than this. For ages the Roman Church had accustomed its followers to unite masquerades with the most sacred recollections. In some cantons there had been great rejoicings over the abolition of the mass. Such a fire could not be kindled in Switzerland without scattering a few sparks over Geneva. Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve, a great enemy to superstition, an active and even turbulent man, and daring enough to attempt anything, resolved to organise a funeral procession of the papacy. He would attack Rome with the weapons that the Roman carnival supplied him, and would arrange a great procession. Whilst serious men were reading the epistle from heaven (the Gospel), which absolved them from the excommunication of its pretended vicar, the young and thoughtless were in great excitement; they dressed themselves in their houses in the strangest manner; they disguised themselves, some as priests, some as canons, and others as monks; they came out, met together, drew up in line, and soon began to march through the streets of the city. There were white friars, grey friars, and black friars, fat canons, and thin curates. One was begging, another chanting; here was one scourging himself, there another strutting solemnly along; here a man carrying a hair shirt, there a man with a bottle. Some indulged in acts of outrageous buffoonery; others, the more completely to imitate the monks, went so far as to take liberties with the women who were looking on, and when some fat friar thus made any burlesque gesture, there was loud applause, and the crowd exclaimed: 'That is not the worst they do.' In truth the reality was more culpable than the burlesque. When they saw this tumultuous procession and heard the doleful chanting, mingled with noisy roars of laughter, every one said that popery was dying, and singing its De profundis, its burial anthem.

The priests took the jest in very bad part, and the procession was hardly over before they hurried, flushed with anger, to complain to the syndics of 'the enmity raised against them by Baudichon and others.' The syndics referred their complaint to the episcopal council, and the latter severely reprimanded the offenders. But Maison-Neuve and his friends withdrew, fully convinced that the priests were in the wrong, and that the victory would ultimately be on their side.762

=BONIVARD AT THE PRIORY.=

They were beginning in Geneva to estimate a papal excommunication at its proper value. No one knew more on this subject than Bonivard, and he instructed his best friends on this difficult text. Among the number was François Favre, a man of ardent character, prompt wit, and rather worldly manners, but a good citizen and determined huguenot. Favre was one day, on a famous occasion, to be at the head of Bonivard's liberators. He went sometimes to the priory, where he often met Robert Vandel, a man of less decision than his two friends. Vandel, who still kept on good terms with the bishop, was at heart one of the most independent of men, and Bonivard had made him governor of the domain of St. Victor.

These Genevans and others continued the conversations that Bonivard had formerly had with Berthelier in the same room and at the same table. They spoke of Berne, of Geneva, of Switzerland, of the Reformation, and of excommunication. Bonivard found erelong a special opportunity of enlightening his two friends on the acts of the Romish priesthood.

=BONIVARD ON EXCOMMUNICATION.=

There was no one in Geneva whom the papal party detested more than him. The ultramontanists could understand why lawyers and citizens opposed the clergy; but a prior!... His enemies, therefore, formed the project of seizing the estates of St. Victor, and of expelling Bonivard from the monastery. The huguenots, on hearing of this, ardently espoused his cause, and the council gave him, for his protection (20th of January, 1528) six arquebuses and four pounds of gunpowder. These were hardly monastic weapons; but the impetuous Favre hastened to offer him his heart and his arm; and, to say the truth, Bonivard in case of need could have made very good use of an arquebuse. He had recourse, however, to other defenders; he resolved to go and plead his cause before the League. But this was not without danger, for the duke's agents might seize him on the road, as he afterwards had the misfortune to know. Favre, ever ready to go where there was any risk to be run, offered to accompany him to Berne. Vandel had to go as governor of St. Victor: they set off. Arriving at a village in the Pays de Vaud, the three huguenots dismounted and took a stroll while their horses were resting. Bonivard, as he was riding along, had noticed some large placards on the doors of the churches, and being curious to know what they were about, he went up to them, and immediately called his friends; 'Come here,' he said; 'here are some curious things—letters of excommunication.' He was beginning to read them, when one of his companions cried out: 'Stop! for as soon as you have read them, you will thereby be excommunicate!' The worthy huguenot imagined that the best plan was to know nothing about such anathemas, and then to act as if the excommunication did not exist—which could not be done if they were read. Bonivard, a man of great good sense, profited by the opportunity to explain to his friends what these earthly excommunications were worth. 'If you have done what is wrong,' he told them, 'God himself excommunicates you; but if you have acted rightly, the excommunication of priests can do you no harm. There is only one tribunal which has power over the conscience, and that is heaven. The pope and the devil hurt only those who are afraid of them. Do therefore what is right, and fear nothing. The bolts which they may hurl at you will be spent in the air.' Then he added with a smile: 'If the pope or the metropolitan of Vienne excommunicate you, pope Berthold of Berne will give you absolution.'763 Bonivard's words were repeated in Geneva, and the papal excommunications lost credit every day.

This became alarming: the episcopal officers informed the bishop; but the latter, who was enjoying himself in his Burgundian benefices, put aside everything that might disturb his meals and his repose. It was not the same with the duke and his ministers. That prince was not content with coveting the prelate's temporal power; looking upon La Baume as already dispossessed of his rights, he made himself bishop, nay almost pope, in his place. The cabinet of Turin thought that if the principles of civil liberty once combined with those of religious liberty, Geneva would attempt to reform Savoy by means of conversations, letters, books, and missionaries. Charles III. therefore sent a message to the council, which was read in the Two-Hundred on the 7th of February. 'I hear,' said the prince, 'that the Lutheran sect is making way among you.... Make haste to prevent the ravages of that pestilence, and, to that intent, send on the 17th two men empowered by you to hear some very important things concerning my authority in matters of faith.'

What would the Genevans answer? If a bishop is made prince, why should not a prince be made bishop? The confusion of the two provinces is a source of continual disturbance. Christianity cannot tolerate either Cæsars who are popes, or popes who are Cæsars; and yet ambition is always endeavouring to unite these two irreconcilable powers. The duke did not presume to abolish definitively the episcopal power and confer it on himself; but he wished to take advantage of the bishop's flight to acquire an influence which he would be able to retain when the episcopal authority was restored. He spoke, therefore, like a Roman pontiff ... of his authority in matters of faith.

'Really,' said the council, 'we have had enough and too much even of one pope, and we do not care to have two—one at Rome and the other at our very gates.' The citizens were so irritated at Charles's singular claim, that they did not return an answer in the usual form. 'We will not write to the duke,' said the syndics; 'we will delegate no one to him, seeing that we are not his subjects; but we will simply tell the bearer of his letter that we are going on very well, and that the duke, having no authority to correct us, ought to mind his own business.' Such is the minute recorded in the council register for this day. As for La Baume, the poor prelate, who did not trouble himself much either about pope or Lutheranism, wrote the same day to the Genevans, that he permitted them 'to eat milk-food during the coming Lent.' This culinary permission was quite in his way, and it was the most important missive from the bishop at that time.764

=THE DUKE REPRIMANDS THE CANONS.=

When the episcopal council heard of the syndics' answer, they were in great commotion. They thought it rude and unbecoming, and trembled lest Charles should confound them with these arrogant burgesses. They therefore sent M. de Veigy, one of the most eminent canons, to the duke, in order to pacify him. The reverend father set off, and while on the road, he feared at one moment Charles's anger, and at another enjoyed in anticipation the courtesies which the ducal court could not fail to show him. But he had scarcely been presented to the duke, and made a profound bow, when Bishop de Belley, standing at the left of his highness, and commissioned to be the interpreter of his sentiments, addressed him abruptly, and, calling him traitor and huguenot, insulted him just as De la Thoy might have done. But this abuse was nothing in comparison with Charles's anger: unable to restrain himself, he burst out, and, giving utterance to the terrible schemes he had formed against Geneva, declared he would reduce that impracticable city to ashes, and ended by saying: 'If you do not come out of it, you will be burnt in it with all the rest.' The poor canon endeavoured to pacify his highness: 'Ah, my lord,' he said, 'I shall not remain there: all the canons now in the city are about to leave it!' And yet De Veigy was fond of Geneva, and thought that to reside in Annecy would be terribly dull. Accordingly, on his return to the city, he forgot his terror and his promises, whereupon he received this short message from Charles III.: 'Ordered, under pain of death, to quit Geneva in six days.'—'He left on the 3rd of March, and with great regret,' adds Balard.765 Charles wished to put the canons in a place of safety, before he burnt the city.

754 'Que qui en volisse contredire' (whatever any one may do to oppose it), he added.—Journal de Balard, p. 124.

755 'Il est d'un esprit si changeant.'—Hist. de Genève, MS. of the 17th century. Bibliothèque de Berne, Hist. Helvét. v. p. 12.

756 Letter from La Baume to Hugues. Galiffe, Matériaux.

757 Galiffe, Matériaux, ii. pp. 424-475. Mém. d'Archéologie, ii. pp. 14, 15.

758 Mignet, Réforme à Genève, p. 34.

759 James Fazy, Hist. de la République de Genève, p. 158.

760 Journal de Balard, p. 127. Roset MS. Chronol. liv. ii. ch. xx. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 448. Gautier MS.

761 Registres du Conseil des 24 et 29 décembre 1527. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. pp. 473, 474. Gautier MS. Journal de Balard.

762 Registres du Conseil des 15 et 17 janvier 1528. Journal de Balard, p. 146. Gautier MS.

763 'Hominum anathemata a Bertholdo papa facile solvenda.'—Spanheim, Geneva Restituta, p. 35.

764 Registres du Conseil du 7 février 1528. Journal de Balard, p. 147.

765 Registres du Conseil du 7 février et du 3 mars 1528. Journal de Balard, pp. 147-149.