After the retreat of the Duke, Henry again attempted to get possession of Paris: but lie was defeated in all his designs, by the vigilance of the citizens, particularly by the faction of Sixteen, by whom it was now governed. Thus foiled in his grand object, he began to consider his situa tion and prospects in other respects, and he found them by no means favourable. When the Duke of Parma retired, lie left 8000 men for the support of the League. Pope Gregory XI. at the request of the King of Spain, not only declared Henry a relapsed heretic, and ordered all Catho lics to abandon him, under pain of excommunication ; but sent his nephew with troops and money to join the Duke of Savoy, who was already in possession of Provence, and had entered Dauphine. About the same time, the young Duke of Guise made his escape from the castle of Tours, where he had been confined since the assassination of his father. When Henry was informed of all these threaten ing circumstances, he coolly observed, " The more ene mies we have, the more care we must take, and the more honour there will be in beating them." Elizabeth, however, was still a steady and useful friend. She had, indeed, on the first prosperous appearance of Henry's affairs, withdrawn her troops ; but when she saw him again menaced, she sent, in 1591, 3000 men under Sir John Norris, and afterwards 4000 under the Earl of Essex. With these supplies, joined to an army of 35,000 men, Henry entered Normandy, and undertook the siege of Rou en. This town was most obstinately defended ; but at last, when it was reduced to extremities, the Duke of Parma, by order of Philip, again left his government, and advanc ing by rapid marches, obliged the king to raise the siege. Henry on this occasion also offered his antagonist battle ; but the Duke refused it, and began his retreat. Henry pursued him, but the Duke, by wonderful generalship, in spite of the greatest obstacles and difficulties, a second time made good his retreat into the Netherlands.
The subsequent year, the affairs of the king wore a more promising appearance in Provence, from which his gene ral had driven the Duke of Savoy ; and in Languedoc, where the commander of the troops of the League was de feated, with the loss of 2000 men. But it was impossible that the kingdom should long remain in its state of confu sion and civil war ; even the Catholics began to feel the bad consequences of the relaxation of all government. The faction of Sixteen had hanged the first president of the parliament of Paris, for not condemning to death a man obnoxious to them, but against whom no crime was found. The Duke of Mayence, on the other hand, had caused four of the sixteen to be executed. The Duke of Parma, on the part of the King of Spain, pressed the Duke of May ence to call an assembly of the states, in order to deliberate on the election of a king ; and the Catholics of Henry's party intimated to him, that unless he changed his religion, they would no longer support him. The states were accord ingly convoked, and the Duke of Parma, under pretence of supporting their determination, was preparing to enter France with a powerful army, when the death of that ge neral freed Henry from a most formidable enemy. The
states, however, met at Paris on the 26th of January 1593; but it was soon evident, that their deliberations and resolu tions would be under the influence of the Pope's legate. At the meeting, lie produced a bull, requiring the French never to elect Henry, even though he should abjure here sy ; while the Duke of Farin, ambassador from Philip II. demanded the throne for the Infanta of Spain, on condition that she married the young Duke of Guise. In order to induce the Duke of Mayence to agree to this demand, he was offered the duchy of Burgundy, with a large sum of money ; but the Duke, unwilling to become dependent on his nephew, disputed the powers of the ambassador ; and the parliament, roused from its shameful lethargy, passed an arret in conformity to the Salle law ; which, being a fundamental principle of the government, they insisted could not be set aside, even under the pretext of religion.
Henry was now convinced, that even the greatest milita ry successes could not obtain for him the confidence and loyalty of his subjects ; he therefore again declared, that lie was seriously desirous of being instructed in his reli gious faith ; that he was ready to embrace the truth, as soon as he was convinced of his error; and that the incessant war carried on against him, was the sole cause why he did not employ all his thoughts on that important subject. Conferences were therefore appointed to be held between the divines of the two religions, that he might be enabled to take, with more decency, that step which the security of his throne, and the happiness of his subjects, imperious ly demanded. These conferences were held at Sureure ; and, as the real motive for which they were appointed was well known, the account which Sully gives is not improba ble, that the Protestant divines allowed themselves to be foiled, or at least silenced in argument, in order to furnish the king with a better pretext for embracing that religion, which it was so much his interest to profess. While the Catholics contended, that there was no salvation out of the pale of their church, the Protestants acknowledged, that salvation was possible in the Roman church ; and thus an easy triumph, and a strong argument, were conceded to the Catholics. This conference, however, not being sufficient to remove the scruples of the king, he afterwards confer red one or two days with some bishops ; took his resolu tion, and performed the ceremony of abjuration at St Den is, in presence of a multitude of Parisians—the people flocking to witness the ceremony, though the Pope's legate had prohibited all men from assisting at it, under pain of excommunication. A parish priest in the capital preach ed nine sermons against the absolution given to the king; and in various parts of the kingdom the people were rous ed to rebellion, by the remarks of the clergy on that very act which Henry thought would pacify them. The Pro testants behaved differently ; they were convinced that the king could never succeed while he professed their religion, and as they knew he would always support them, they pre ferred his powerful support as a Catholic king, to his weak protection as a Protestant prince.