There was no trace left of that political leaven which formerly animated the old Huguenots, and made Duke Henry de Rohan say, "You are all republicans; I would rather have to do with a pack of wolves than an assembly of parsons." "The king is hood winked," the Protestants declared; and all their efforts were to get at him and tell his Majesty of their sufferings.

The army remained open to them, though without hope of promotion; and the gentlemen showed alacrity in serving the king.
"What a position is ours!" they would say; if we make any resistance, we are treated as rebels; if we are obedient, they pretend we are converted, and they hoodwink the king by means of our very submission." [Illustration: The Torture of the Huguenots---552] The misfortunes were redoubling.

From Poitou the persecution had extended through all the provinces.

Superintendent Foucauld obtained the conversion in mass of the province of Bearn.

He egged on the soldiers to torture the inhabitants of the houses they were quartered in, commanding them to keep awake all those who would not give in to other tortures.
The dragoons relieved one another so as not to succumb themselves to the punishment they were making others undergo.