MY Maisters , such is your birth that nere enough you approach vnto the affayres of Estate whereby to attribute the right or wrong where it apperteyneth , and therefore wee shall neede no long speech to open your eyes . You haue euen in full peace perceiued the originall of the broyles of the League contrary to the quiet of this Realm : you know my patience , notwithstanding they tooke me for their contrary and made me the subiect and pretence of their weapons . You haue seene the Leaguers pronounced Rebelles by the King , and for such prosecuted in all Courts of Parliaments : your selues haue you sene commaunded , armed and fighting against them by the Kings expresse will vnder the authoritie of the Princes of his bloud with the Peeres and principall Officers of his Crowne . I doubt not therfore but vnto you it seemeth straunge to beholde , as in a moment , this alteration : to see your selues armed against the bloud of France : commanded by straungers whom you fought against as perturbers , and which is worse , against those who three daies before were for the seruice of the King and Realme sent for , and commaunded as you , ranged vnder the same auncients and of like will as your selues : But withall you can iudge that the first precepts proceeded of the Kings proper motion , and those that haue followed , of the violence of the perturbers . For what haue these of the League since done , euen betweene both , whereby to lose the qualitie of Rebelles guiltie of Treazon , perturbers of the peace , which by so many decrees haue to them bene attributed ? either what offence haue those of the Religion committed , by liuing vnder the benefite of the Edicts , whome his Maiestie indifferently summoned to his seruice , who also equally opposed them selues against the common flame , that now they should at the appetite of the sayd perturbers bee expelled the Realme and on euery side pursued to the death ? If it be for matter of Religion , was there not expresse Edicts therfore ? Were not the same newly reiterated ? Can that which is permitted by the lawes of the Realme be accompted an offence ? May it be prosecuted with any paine ? If it be ( as in troth it is ) for contrarying the purposes of the League , are not your selues accessaries to that offence ? bee not you subiect to the same payne ? doe you then seeke your owne ouerthrowe ? For what offence are they burdened with except that they are and wil be no other but Frenchmen ? Now I come to my selfe , whether you will iudge of me by my self , or by comparison with those of the League : well I knowe that you can not lay the fault vpon me : yea , I knowe that euen in your consciences you doe attribute it to my enemies : They meddle with talke of my Religion , you that know the preeminence of the bloud of France , that can well say that you owe no duetie but to the same , shall it bee sayde that I must giue accoumpt to the straunger ? Is it not enough for mee to satisfie the King and all Fraunce ? Hath any one complained that I haue violently entreated him for his Religion ? What more could I doe either with reason or Christianlike , them to craue a good Counsaile ? They are also offended with the gouernment of the estate , and haue endeuoured to prouide for the succession thereof : They haue procured the Pope to decide the same at Roome : you therefore that hould the chiefe roume in this Realme , if necessitie had so required , could you be so carelesse as to suffer straungers to preuent you in that office ? Haue you no regarde to your posteritie ? Could you ouersleepe this duetie ? For in all these broyles what haue appeared but Lorrain ? But in troth either to reforme or transforme the estate according to their desires they needed not your helpe : to passe ouer the Estate into a forraine hand was a worke fit for straungers onely to enterprize : to expell France out of France , the processe could not be determined in France , she was to much suspected in such a cause and therefore it must be decided in Italie . They haue directly opposed them selues against mee : I haue offered the combat : I haue stooped beneath my selfe : I haue not disdained to fight with them : I haue done it ( God is my witnesse ) for the preseruing of the people from destruction , and the sparing of your bloud : Of yours , I say , which is principally shed in these miseries . If they had any thing to say against mee , had not this bene most honorable for them ? If in heart they sought the wealth and benefite of this Estate , did not I set them in a fayre way ? There haue bene such found as haue hazarded their liues for the safegarde of their Countrey , what iudgement then may you giue of those who for sauing themselues out of daunger can be content to see the ouerthrow of a whole estate ?

You professe your selues to be men of honor , what wrong then doe they to their honors who will not accept of so good a way ? or what iniurie doe you to your owne in accompanying them against me ? You that would make a conscience in assisting a fauorite against one of your neighbours . Thincke not my Maisters that I feare them , I know what strength may doe against me : sooner shall they bee wearie of assaulting me then I of defending my selfe : many a yere haue I borne their brunt when they were much stronger and my selfe farre weaker then now . You haue experience and iudgement , the passed may resolue you of that that is to come . Truely I bewaile your bloud shed and spilled in vaine which ought to be spared for the preseruation of France : I doe lament that that should be employed against me which ye should keepe for me being that which God hath made me in this Realme , for the ioyning vnder the authoritie and good successe of the King , France to France , where now it serueth to driue it out of France : I doe also moane it that it shall neither be payed or mourned for almost of any : for the King , being forced in his will doth not holde himselfe serued of those that force him , on the other side those that doe force him wil neuer con you thanke for this seruice , as knowing that it is the Kings name and not theirs that you doe serue . My maisters , GOD graunt you well to consider hereof . The French Princes are chiefe of the Nobilitie I loue you all , I feele my selfe wast and weaken in your bloud , a straunger can haue no feeling thereof . The straunger beareth no interest in this losse . I might complaine of some , I had rather bewaile them , and am readie to embrace you al : My greatest griefe is that those whom in minde I doe distinguish , whom also I knowe to haue bene circumuented , I cannot make any difference of in the hazard of armes : But God knoweth my hart : Their bloud be vpon the authors of these miseries . For my part , my Maisters , I doe and incessantly will beseech him that it may please him to open the way whereby his name may be serued & honored , the King obeyed , the State quieted , and all orders and degrees of this Realme reduced to their pristinate dignitie , prosperitie and eminentie Amen .

MY Maisters , I neede not many words to open vnto you the equitie of my cause . Call to mind that when these broyles began wee liued in peace and daylie went forward better and better . Remember also that notwithstanding the same tended directly against mee , yet for eight moneths space I stirred not , my patience passed all bounds : neither forget that I sawe those armies that had bene meetest for me , ioyned to my enemies and comming against me before I was resolued to defend my selfe . And I sweare vnto you my Maisters , that the horror of a ciuill warre and the sensible apprehension of the miserie and calamities that it bringeth foorth euen benumbed mee and tooke away my sences to my owne domage , had I not perceiued that my ouer long patience redounded to the daunger and destruction of this Realme by giuing the perturbers leisure violently to haue fulfilled their pleasures . In case Religion was the matter , I submitted my self to a Counsaile : if complaints concerning the estate , to an assembly of the Estates : yea , I wished to drawe vpon my owne person the whole perrill of France for sauing it out of miserie , voluntarily yeelding my selfe equall with those whom nature hath made my inferiours , wheras they of their owne interest haue made a common calamitie , and of their priuate quarelles a publicke confusion . I might complaine that my iust offers were not accepted : But to you I do complaine , and yet for you , not for my selfe : I lament these extremities whereby the extreme iniurie to me done hath brought me to that passe that I may not defend my selfe without the detriment of the innocent people . I bewaile my owne condition , that for the warranting of my life you must feele harme and paine , you , for whose relief and wealth I was readie to shed my bloud , if my enemies had not coueted rather to redeeme themselues from the combat , whereto I chalenged them , by a paricide against this Estate and by an uniuersall combustion . But herein I take comfort , that your selues can consider the nature of euilles to bee such as cannot bee healed but by some euilles , the cause whereof you are not to attribute to the Surgeon whose purpose is to heale , but rather to him that made the wound , and so consequently in this wound all the griefes ensuing : That in a short space God will graunt me the grace after so many labours to fee this Estate purged of those that doe molest it , also to see you enioye so certaine and assured quiet as in small time may cause vs to forget all passed trauailes . Iudge by the effects , I beseech you , of the entents of men to make you reioyce in these troubles . These men would put you in hope that they reforme the abuses of the Treasorie , that they would deminish taxes and subsidies , that they would reduce all thinges to the tyme of 〈…〉 already ( if they might haue bene beleeued ) would haue beene surnamed fathers of the people . What is come of it ? Their warre hauing strangely deuoured on euery side , haue bene determined by a peace wherein they haue had respect onely to their perticuler profite , without any mention of you : and which is worse , their peace is as sodenly couerted to a warre against those that remained quiet , whereby the King is forced to double the Impostes , the people exhibited in pray to the man of warre , and France ( without the helpe of God ) bound to bee murdered of her selfe . For what other is that Edict that is wrested out , but a necessitie layd vpon the King to destroye his people , and with his owne hand to make away himself ? At the least if they ment not to relieue the people , why were they not content to abuze them ? or what had they done that they must be ouerthrowne ? They couer these mischiefes with zeale to the Church : The heate of this zeale ought to haue appeared in charitie , & charitie in the vnion of both Religions . What charitie , which endeuourd onely to roote out ? What heate of zeale , which hath fiered all the Countrey , and hath set a whole estate in combustion ? In the meane tyme vnder pretence that the Clergie hath payed some portion aforehand for the encouraging the Soldiour to begin the wars , ye see them on the way . The people must couer it with some two hundred thousand Crownes or therabout , which shall binde them hereafter to millions : and to bee briefe , some of the Cleargie to the great griefe of the King , yea and of their owne members haue for their owne perticuler passions concluded vpon the bargaine and aduaunced the earnest peny , then must the poore people fulfill and furnish the rest whatsoeuer it cost him that cannot doe withall , who onely must beare the losse and can hope for no fruit , beare the whole burden , and endure all the calamitie that may come thereof . My Maisters , this doe I repeate vnto you : I am a Christian Prince borne : I haue sought out and propounded the most Christian meanes to make vp this Estate & reunite the Church . I am a Frenchman borne , I beare part of your calamities , I haue sought all meanes to exempt you from ciuill miseries , I will neuer spare my life to abridge you of them : I knowe that for the most part you are subiect to this violence , I confesse your willes to be thralled , I will not impute to you your actions , you are Frenchmen , I had rather impute vnto you your willes : I desire of you all , who according to your vocations are more subiect to beare the mischief , then to doe it , only your vowes , wishes and praiers . Pray vnto God , my Maisters , that by his iudgements he will distinguish those that seeke the felicitie or mishap of this estate , all publicke prosperitie or calamitie . For my part I take him to witnesse that I desire only the welth of this Realme & of you al : I take him for my Iudge whether ambition or particuler passion hath vrged or any whit stirred vp my weapons .

MY Maisters , gladly doe I write vnto you as accoumpting you the mirror or abstract of this Realme , and yet not to enforme you of the equitie of my cause which I knowe is sufficiently knowne vnto you : but contrariwise to take you to witnesse : euen you who through the multitude of your good eyes are able to behold and penetrate déepest into al that haue passed in this Estate . Ye wot what iudgement the King hath giuen of the authors of these miseries , what in your eares he hath declared and pronounced them to be : He required your assistance against them as against publicke enemies , and that at such time as his will was perfect and free , before violence had wonne any thing at his hands . Whatsoeuer alteration hath since fallen out I know you will impute , not to his wil , but vnto force . And in deede I am not ignorant that sone after being required to furnish the expenses of this warre you could well aunswer that these troubles were neuer begon by your aduice , and that they that had begon them were to beare the charges , and not you : which was such an aunswer as you neuer make in matter concerning the seruice of the King or wealth of the Realme . For in such respect neuer were subiects more liberall then you ? But vndoubtedly when you perceiue that your money goeth not to the reparations , as aforetime you haue bene perswaded , but to the destruction of the Realm : when you clerely see that they request not your Iewelles to supply the raunsome of King Frances or his children , or of a King Iohn , but rather to extinguish the bloud and posteritie of France , and to reduce your King to bondage and prison . I know very well that the King hath liked of you therfore , and all good Frenchmen are therein bound vnto you , and especially my selfe in respect of the degree wherein God hath ordeyned me in this Realme and for being ( sith it hath so pleased him ) of the houshold children . Iudge what neede you had of this warre : you knowe that this Estate daylie waxed capable more and more of peace . If any thing were to be altered in matter of Religion , there needed no more ( without any innouation ) but the summons of a good Counsaile : If in the gouernment of the Estate , the King would not haue refused the ouerture of an assembly of the Estates . And for preuenting these mischiefes , you knowe that by expresse declaration I haue submitted my selfe euen by a combat to determine whatsoeuer these perturbers could perticulerly pretend against me . Those therefore that refuse such good meanes are authors of the warre , and of an vnnecessarie and therefore an vniust warre . I who haue desired the same and voluntarily therto submitted my selfe doe finde my selfe discharged of whatsoeuer calamities may ensue , for from lawfull meanes they haue taken pleasure to driue me into extreme extremities , wherby the armes that I haue taken in hand are naturall and necessarie and so most iust . To bee briefe , compare my obedience with their rebellion , my patience with their rash hastinesse , my modest dealings with their immodest passions , and with all this , waye with your selues what they are in this Realme and what I am , so will you conclude that they do me so extreme iniurie that there is no Gentleman in this Realme but would enforce himself , and to whome it were not lawfull to haue reuenge . I speake this in trueth and doe conceiue the consequences hereof , I see the innocent must beare it , but still haue in your mindes that my enemies are those that haue bene declared enemies to the King & the Realme , that they haue troubled the quiet peace , called in straungers , procured the rooting out of the houshold seruaunts , borrowed the enemies and employed their meanes , not to my destruction onely , but to the confusion of the whole Estate . Then wil you , my Maisters , impute to their offences all such inconueniences as a iust defence may bring in : you will con them small thanckes for the ensuing calamities , like as you confesse them authors and causers of the first : for my selfe I shall be sorie for my owne mishap that I shall not be able to put away the vniuersall mischiefe without some mischiefes . At the least I shall reioyce in my owne integritie who would haue redemed them euen with my life , which euermore I shall accoumpt wel bestowed in the preseruation of this Estate and of you all . Now , my Maisters , to conclude , I will say vnto you , that of you I doe and still will attende whatsoeuer maye and ought to be looked for of true Frenchmen , and of the rule and example of the French nation , and of me likewise expect whatsoeuer may or ought of a French and Christian Prince be expected concerning the vnion of the Church , the King my Soueraignes seruice , the welth of the Realme , the reliefe of the people , and the contentation of all good men . I beseech God , my Maisters , to take pitie and compassion of this Realme , and to graunt vnto vs all god counsaile to his glorie and our benefite .