256 KAMBLES Or A NATURALIST. 



general in civil and criminal matters ; but this func- 

 tionary could levy no tax, and his prerogatives were 

 limited to the nomination of the mayor and to the 

 presidency of the Rochellais tribunals. The military 

 governor, who was also nominated by the king, could 

 not issue any orders to the town militia, nor cause a 

 single soldier to enter into La Rochelle without the 

 permission of the mayor and the eschevins. It is 

 evident, therefore, that in regard to these privileges, 

 La Rochelle was a true republic, as free, and, in 

 reality, as independent of the crown, as the great 

 fiefs themselves. 



By means of these institutions and the remarkable 

 men who were placed at its head, La Rochelle soon 

 assumed very considerable importance. At once 

 commercial and warlike, it was able, when the occa- 

 sion demanded it, to convert its trading-vessels into 

 ships of war, while its sailors were as speedily con- 

 verted into soldiers, who, from the time of du Gues- 

 clin to the days of the Duke de Guise, merited the 

 epithet of ruses soudards and braves gens. Thus 

 too, in the middle ages, it repeatedly played. a very 

 important political part. It made an honourable 

 peace with the king of Arragon, repulsed the English, 

 to whom the city had been surrendered by the treaty 

 of Bretigny, and afforded aid to du Guesclin. Again 

 we see it resisting the English and the Bourguignons 

 during the insanity of Charles VI., while it furnished 

 Charles VII. with the fleet by which he was enabled 

 to reconquer Bordeaux. During this long period 

 the spirit which animated La Rochelle continued 

 unchanged, and may be expressed in these words 



