horse and rode forward in the direction of Paris to see whether Count Charles were coming back or not. It was not long before he saw a troop of forty or fifty horse moving towards him. They were the Burgundian prince and an escort of the king's own guard. Charles dismissed the escort and came up to the marshal, saying, "Don't say a word; I acknowledge my folly; but I saw it too late; I was already close to the works." "Every body can see that I was not there," said the marshal; "if I had been, it would never have happened. You know, your highness that I am only on loan to you, as long as your father lives." Charles made no reply and returned to his own camp, where all congratulated him and rendered homage to the king's honorable conduct.

Negotiations for peace were opened forthwith. There was no difficulty about them. Louis was ready to make sacrifices as soon as he recognized the necessity for them, being quite determined, however, in his heart to recall them as soon as fortune came back to him. Two distinct treaties were concluded: one at Conflans on the 5th of October, 1465, between Louis and the count of Charolais; and the other at St. Maur on the 29th of October, between Louis and the other princes of the League. By one or the other of the treaties the king granted nearly every demand that had been made upon him; to the count of Charolais he gave up all the towns of importance in Picardy; to the duke of Berry he gave the duchy of Normandy, with entire sovereignty; and the other princes, independently of the different territories that had been con- . ceded to them, all received large sums in ready money. The conditions of peace had already been agreed to when the Burgundians went so far as to summon, into the bargain, the strong place of Beauvais. Louis quietly complained to Charles, "If you wanted this town," said he, you should have asked me for it, and I would have given it to you; but peace is made, and it ought to be observed." Charles openly disavowed the deed. When peace was proclaimed, on the 30th of October, the king went to Vincennes to receive the homage of his brother Charles for the duchy of Normandy, and that of the count of Charolais for the lands of Picardy. The count asked the king to give up to him "for that day the castle of Vincennes for the security of all." Louis made no objection; and the gate and apartments of the castle were guarded by the count's own people. But the Parisians, whose favor Louis had won, were alarmed on his account. Twenty-two thousand

men of city militia marched towards the outskirts of Vincennes and obliged the king to return and sleep at Paris. He went almost alone to the grand review which the count of Charolais held of his army before giving the word for marching away, passed from rank to rank speaking graciously to his late enemies. The king and the count, on separating, embraced one anothor, the count saying in a loud voice, "Gentlemen, you and I are at the command of the king my sovereign lord, who is here present, to serve him whensoever there shall be need." When the treaties of Conflans and St. Maur were put before the parliament to be registered, the parliament at first refused, and the exchequer-chamber followed suit; but the king insisted in the name of necessity, and the registration took place, subject to a declaration on the part of the parliament that it was forced to obey. Louis, at bottom, was not sorry for this resistance, and himself made a secret protest against the treaties he had just signed.

At the outset of the negotiations it had been agreed that thirty-six notables, twelve prelates, twelve knights, and twelve members of the council, should assemble to inquire into the errors committed in the government of the kingdon, and to apply remedies. They were to meet on the 15th of December, and to have terminated their labors in two months at the least, and in three months and ten days at the most. The king promised on his word to abide firmly and stably by what they should decree. But this commission was nearly a year behind time in assembling, and even when it was assembled, its labors were so slow and so futile that the count De Dampmartin was quite justified in writing to the count of Charolais, become by his father's death duke of Burgundy, "The League of common weal has become nothing but, the League of common woe.”

Scarcely were the treaties signed and the princes returned each to his own dominions when a quarrel arose between the duke of Brittany, and the new duke of Normandy. Louis, who was watching for dissensions between his enemies, went at once to see the duke of Brittany, and made with him a private convention for mutual security. Then, having his movements free, he suddenly entered Normandy to retake possession of it as a province which notwithstanding the cession of it just made to his brother, the king of France could not dispense with. Evreux, Gisors, Gournay, Louviers, and even Rouen fell, without much resistance, again into his power. The duke of Berry made a vigorous appeal for support to his

late ally, the duke of Burgundy, in order to remain master of the new duchy which had been conferred upon him under the late treaties. The count of Charolais was at that time taking up little by little the government of the Burgundian dominions in the name of his father, the aged Duke Philip, who was ill and near his end; but, by pleading his own engagements, and especially his ever renewed struggle with his Flemish subjects, the Liegese, the count escaped from the necessity of satisfying the duke of Berry.

In order to be safe in the direction of Burgundy as well as that of Brittany, Louis had entered into negotiations with Edward IV., king of England, and had made him offers, perhaps even promises, which seemed to trench upon the rights ceded by the treaty of Conflans to the duke of Burgundy as to certain districts of Picardy. The count of Charolais was informed of it; and in his impetuous wrath he wrote to King Louis, dubbing him simply Sir, instead of giving him, according to the usage between vassal and suzerain, the title of My most dread lord, "May it please you to wit that some time ago I was apprised of a matter at which I cannot be too much astounded. It is with great sorrow that I name it to you, when I remember the fair expressions I have all through this year had from you, both in writing and by word of mouth. It is certain that parley has been held between your people and those of the king of England, that you have thought proper to assign to them the district of Caux and the city of Rouen; that you have promised to obtain for them Abbeville and the countship of Ponthieu, and that you have concluded with them certain alliances against me and my country, whilst making them large offers to my prejudice. Of what is yours, sir, you may dispose according to your pleasure; but it seems to me that you might do better than wish to take from my hands what is mine in order to give it to the English or to any other foreign nation. I pray you therefore, sir, if such overtures have been made by your people, to be pleased not to consent thereto in any way, but to put a stop to the whole, to the end that I may remain your most humble servant, as I desire to be."

Louis returned no answer to this letter. He contented himself with sending to the commission of thirty-six notables, then in session at Étampes for the purpose of considering the reform of the kingdom, a request to represent to the count of Charolais the impropriety of such language, and to appeal for the punishment of the persons who had suggested it to him. The count