Concordat bore in express terms that the Duke of Guise should have in charge to deface intirely the name of the Family and Race of the Bourbons Henry the Third said he to me could he be suspected of Heresie or an â—ider of Hereticks Never was any man more linked to the Catholick Church than he Yet the House of Guise had sworn his ruin They would have shaved him which they highly threatned him with and they one day writ upon the Chappel of the Battes to the Augustins of Paris these four French Verses The Bones of those who here lye dead Like Cross of Burgundy to thee are shown And make appear thy days are fled And that thou surely lose thy Crown They are of the same sense with those two Latin Verses which were found set upon the Palace Dyal Qui dedit ante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris nunc facienda manu He that gave two has taken one the other Shakes but the Barber still shall give another The Faction of the House of Guise caused this to be done And this poor Prince after a thousand delays and troubles resolved at length to make that execution so famous in our History it is that of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise who were executed at the States of Blois That Prince must needs have seen his ruin approaching and inevitable to come to that since that he well foresaw that this blow would raise him so many storms and give him so much trouble Who knows not that the Faction of Rome and of Spain had a Design of raising the House of Lorrain to the Throne of France for the excluding the House of Bourbon In the year 1587. the Pope sent to the Duke of Guise a Sword engraven with flames telling him by the Duke of Parma that amongst all the Princes of Europe it only belonged to Henry of Lorrain to bear the arms of the Church and to be the Chief thereof Almost all the Kingdom was engaged in that Spirit of revolt The King found no oâ—her support than the King of Navar and of his Hugonotes It was Chastillon the Son of the Admiral de Coligny who saved the King from the hands of the Duke of Mayenne at Tours This Chief of the League cryed to him retire ye white Scarfs retire you Chastillon it is not you we aim at it is the Murderer of your Father And in truth Henry the Third then Duke of Anjou was President in the Council when the Resolution was taken of making the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in which the Admiral Coligny perished But his Son forgetting that injury to save his King answered those Rebels You are Traytors to your Country and when the Service of the Prince and State is concerned I know how to lay aside all revenge and particular interest he added that after the Assassinate committed by the League in the person of Henry the Third Henry the Fourth was ready to see himself abandoned by his most faithful Servants because of the Protestant Religion which he made profession of which appears by a Declaration that this Prince made in the form of an Harangue to the Lords of his Army on the 8 th day of August 1589 in which he says that he had been informed that his Catholick Nobility set a report on foot they could not serve him unless he made profession of the Roman Religion and that they were going to quit his Army Nothing but the firmness and fidelity of the Hugonots upheld this wavering Party He must be said my Gentleman the falsest of men who dissembles the Ardour and Zeal with which those of our Religion maintained that just Cause of the House of Bourbon against the attempts of the League And to prove said he that their interest was not the only cause of their fidelity we must see what they did when Henry the Fourth turned Roman Catholick It cannot be said but that they then strove to have a King of their Religion However there was not one who bated any thing of his Zeal and Fidelity the King was peaceable possessour of the Crown the League was beaten down he was Master in Paris he was reconciled to the Court of Rome when the Edict of Nantes was granted and published Our Hugonots were no longer armed nor in a condition of obtaining any thing by force of arms Since that the Change of Religion had reduced all the Roman Catholicks to him he would have been in a State of resisting their violence It was the sole acknowledgment of the King and of good Frenchmen that obliged all France to give Peace to a Party that had shed their Blood with so much Zeal and Profession for the preserving the Crown and the restoring it to its legitimate Heirs I acknowledge that we did our Duty but are not those to be thanked who do what they ought How is it possible that these things are at present worn out of the memory of men I am certain that if the King was made to read the History of his Grand-father he would preserve some inclinâ—tion for the Children of those who sacrific'd themselves for the glory of his House No man can be ignorant of the necessary dependance that must be between the Roman Catholick Clergy and the Court of Rome This Court is the Head the Clergy is the Body the Ecclesiasticks and Monks are the Members and all these Members move by the Orders of the Head Again I have no Design to chocque the Gentlemen of the Clergy whose persons I respect I do not doubt but that they have good French Hearts But in fine they have their Maxims of Conscience they are of a Religion and they must follow its Principles Now the Principles of their Religion binds them to the Holy see and its preservation preferably to all things moreover Interest deceives the Hearts and Minds of men Their Interest obliges them to take the Popes part who is their Preserver and Protectour and what they do out of interest they perswade themselves that they do it out of Conscience First it may be said of the Monks that all the Houses they have in France are so many Citadels that the Court of Rome has in the Kingdom Those great Societies have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Bishops they depend immediately on the Holy See they have all their Generals of Orders at Rome and those Generals who are Italians and Spaniards are the Soul of the Society they are obliged to follow their Opinions and their Orders the Italian Divinity is the Divinity of the Cloisters Thus the King may reckon that all the Monks look upon him as the Pope's Subject as being lyable to be Excommunicated his Kingdom put under an Ecclesiastical Censure his Subjects dispensed and released from the Oath of Allegiance and his States given by the Pope to another Prince And every time that this happens they will believe themselves obliged out of Conscience to obey the Pope If in
the Tyrant so as to make the whole Kingdom despâ—rate and then they had put all the Princes of the Blood from having any thing to do with the Government the Children of the houâ—e whose chiefest Interest it was to preserve King and State 3. This Illustrious Prince of Condè whom Mezeray represents to us of so sweet a temper and great a courage sincere and loyal an enemy to all tricks and cheats and detesting to do an ill thing and who for this reason cannot be suspected in this matter had got the Informations to be drawn by men of known unblemished reputation concerning the behavior of the Guises by which Information he had made it appear that they were guilty not only of many Oppressions Violences but had moreover a design to extinguish the Royal Line that they might possess themselves of the Crown having already got into their hands the Justice the Money the Garrisons the Souldiers and the hearts of the common people 4. Indeed the Guises declared publickly that Provence and Anjou belonged to them and it was a thing commonly known that they set men to work who were versed in History to find out their Genealogy in the Line of Charles the Great on purpose to challenge their right of Succession against the Descendants of Hugh Capet of which Francis the Second then Reigning was one as is likewise Lewis the Fourteenth who now Reigns It was because the Protestants opposed this design and that the business of Amboise as well as other contests which they had afterwards with the Guise Faction down to the Reign of Henry the Fourth were to no other end but to preserve the Crown to the posterity of Hugh Capet it was I say for this cause that the Protestants were called Huguenots from the name of Hugh Mezeray observes very well that this was always esteemed by them to be the original of this Appellation But they says he took this name for an honor giving it another sense as if they had been the Preservers of the Line of Hugh Capet whom they said the Guises intended to destroy that they might restore the Crown to the Posterity of Charlemayn of whose Issue they boast themselves to be A great man of the Popish Religion has made it appear that this is the only probable Etimology of the Name So that far from the Protestants of France taking it as a reproach they ought to be proud of it as a lasting Work of their inviolable Loyalty to their Kings and their glorious oppositions they made against the attempts of the Guises who aimed at the Crown 5. Besides that we have the Word of such a Prince as the most Renowned Prince of Condè who asserted it more than once in great Assemblies the whole Conduct of the Duke of Guise makes it evident what detestable Design this ambitious Family had When he had got Francis the Second into his hands He took upon him says Mezeray to equal himself with the Princes of the Blood and to give orders in the Military Affairs and the Cardinal his Brother to direct the Treasury whereas the ancient Laws of the Realm as the same Historian has very well observed Ordain That the Blood Royal shall have the preference before 〈◊〉 in matters of Government They had in a short time made a way for themselves to the Soveraign Power as Mezeray adds speaking of the Duke and the Cardinal and possessed themselves of all Charges and Places of Trust the Garrisons and the Treasury so ordering it that all this passed either through their own hands or through those of their Creatures When the King of Navar came to Court his Purvoyer could find no room for him in the Castle and the Duke of Guise who had taken up the next Apartment to the King told him plainly That it should cost the Life of him and ten thousand of his Friends before he would quit it as much as to say he would have the Preference before the first Prince of the Blood and in truth he did trample upon him The event shewed plainly afterwards that the Prince of Condè and his Friends understood very well that the Guises aimed at the Crown The Duke procured full power to summon all the Princes great Lords Captains and others of all Conditions to give them his Orders what they were to do to raise men immediately as many as he should think fit and generally to provide and order all things either in Ammunition or repairs of Fortifications in as ample manners as the King himself could do So that he wanted nothing but the name of King And Mezeray is forced to acknowledge that since the Mayors of the Palace there had never been such an Encroachment made by any French Man upon the Crown He takes notice moreover of the bitter Resentments the French had of an Edict so injurious to their King When the Queen-Mother intreated him to go strait to the Court which was then at Monceaux and not pass through Paris he took no notice of her Request but made his Entry in the Capital City of France by the Gate of St. Dennis in the midst of the Peoples Acclamations the Provost of the Merchants going before him All Ceremonies says Mezeray which ought to be paid to the King alone The Dukes death and the incessant opposition of the Protestants hindred him from going farther But his Son who succeeded him in his Ambition and in all his Designs made it appear upon the first occasion how far the Treacherous Intentions of this Family went He shuts up his King in the Louvre on purpose to lay him aside You have the Story of it in Mezeray's Chronological Abridgement under the year 1588. He put himself in the head of that powerful Faction which as the Bishop of Rhodes assures us designed to take away the Succession of the Royal Family The same Bishops tells us That this new Duke of Guise had thoughts of making himself King and that he endeavored it several ways 6. The Prince of Condè who was so well assured that the Duke of Guise Father to this Man had so foul a design did questionless look upon him with another eye then Maimbourg do's who would make us believe that he was in a very high degree Master of all the excellent Qualities which can contribute to make a great Prince without any fault that might Ecclipse the splendor of so glorious Perfections and that he was a truly Christian Hero At this rate a profound Dissimulation and horrid bloody Treason are to be reckoned as nothing The Prince of Condè profers to justifie his Innocence against his Accusers by Combat assuring himself to make them confess that it was they themselves who had conspired the overthrow of the Government and Blood Royal. This Defiance was chiefly intended to the Duke of Guise But this Duke would not take it to himself but deeply dissembling
directed by the Laws and Customs of the Country Had the business succeeded it had been easie for the Prince and his Friends to have excused to the King this indecent Violence and justified by the event of the sincerity of their Intentions in the same manner as by the event it proved that when Charles the Seventh whil'st he was Dauphin took up Arms it was neither against the King his Father nor against the Kingdom which was the Example that was brought to resolve the scruples of some of the Prince's Friends who were afraid of the odious Reflections which might be made upon the attempt at Meaux how necessary or innocent soever it might be in it self And Monsieur de Thou who gives us an account of this particular tells us likewise that the design the Prince and his Friends had in arming themselves was to drive from the Helm the Enemies of the publick Peace to undeceive the young King and to settle all things quiet in his Kingdom But I ought to read you the whole Passage since it is in my hand Objiciebatur Cardinalem semper Regi ejusdem c. It was objected that the Cardinal always beset the King and that the Swisses were continually about him whom if they should attack in these Circumstances they would not seem to assault the Cardinal and the Swisses but the King himself This must no doubt draw the utmost envy of all men upon them but the King whose favour they should seek would never forgive them To this d' Andelot who was almost always for the warmest Counsel answered That the intention of the Protestants would be judged by the event as formerly Charles the Seventh when he was yet but Dauphin made it appear to all the World by the conclusion of the War that he fought neither against his Father nor his King Nor indeed could any one imagine that a Body made up of French should conspire their Kings ruine For though we have an account of the Conspiracies of some single persons an universal revolt was never yet heard of But if fortune should favour their first attempts there would be an end of a fatal War which being crush'd at the beginning the enemies of our common repose might be removed from the Government and the King of whom being better informed of things a confirmation of the Edicts might be obtained and a firm peace setled in the Kingdom Here is enough to convince all the World of the Insolence and Malice of Monsieur Maimbourg in treating the renowned Grandfather of the present Prince of Condè so rudely in an attempt which as it had nothing in it contrary either to the Principles of Christian Religion or good Politicks was doubtless every way glorious and deserves the highest commendations The Prince appeared in this a true Hero He comes to the succor of his King and Country and all the honest part of the Kingdom and with five or six hundred men he attempts to cut off the six thousand Swisses who were to be the Tools and Bulwork of a Forain Tyranny He had not failed of success had not the contrivances of the Queen who then favored the enemies of the State disappointed him of the Conquest But God was not yet pleased to give repose to France The King retreats from Meaux to Paris against the advice of the wisest of his Councel And the Prince to hinder the utter ruine of a Party that was the only check to the wicked designs of the House of Lorrain found himself obliged to raise a small Army to give Battle at St. Dennis to besiege and to take several Towns But the deep respect he had for his King made him and all his party lay down their Arms at a time when he was just ready to take the Town of Chartres and to have reduced all the enemies of the State So soon as ever they proposed any safety for his Person and for the security of his faithful Protestants who were the only true Supports of the Crown against the ambition of the Guises he immediately quitted all his Advantages and accepted of the Peace which was offered him This was the substance of the Articles says Mezeray That they should fully and peaceably enjoy the Edict of Ianuary without any Qualification or Restriction whatever That they should be put and maintained under the Kings protection as to their Estates Honor and Priviledges That the King would esteem the Prince for his good Kinsman and his loyal Subject and Servant and all those that followed him for good and loyal Subjects You see now what this business of Meaux was with the Consequences of it that Monsieur Maimbourg has made such ado about so as to make it pass with the affair of Amboise for horrible Conspiracies which the Huguenots have contrived against the Kings of France To hinder the Princes of the House of Guise from usurping the Crown of the French Kings and taking it from Lewis the Fourteenth in the person of his Predecessors and destroying the whole Race of the Bourbons must pass according to this man for contriving horrible Conspiracies against the Kings of France Thus It is that he courts his Hero and complements the present Prince of Condè But what does he mean said I to our Friend when he says moreover Not to speak of their cruel Rebellions that have cost France so much blood and the mischievous intelligences they have held with the enemy to rid themselves of the Monarchy and with open face set up a Commonwealth as they have done more than once Our Friend answered me That since he distinguishes this from the pretended Conspiracies of Amboise and Meaux he must by the Rebellions and Plots he Imputes to these Protestants needs mean the other Troubles that happened after these two first to the Reign of Henry the Great and those that were revived in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis the 13th Indeed he accuses them upon this account that contrary to the Treaty they had made the Protestants refused to surrender to the King Sancerre Montauban Milhaud Cahors Albi and Castres but especially Rochel the Rebellion of which Town says he openly maintained by the Heads of the Huguenot party who were resolved to make it their chief place of strength was the true ground of the breach because it would not admit the Garrison which the King would have put in there but received several of the chief Leaders of the Huguenots went on with the Fortifications and gave the Court reason to believe that the Prince and the Admiral were preparing for a War Upon which it was resolved to surprise them and carry them away The Marshal de Tavannes a great Friend to the House of Guise and Confident of Queen Catharine undertook to do the thing whil'st the Prince was at his house called Noyers in Bourgoyne But the matter being discovered just as it was to be executed the Prince made his escape to
not small They had testified an inviolable Loyalty to him in all his Troubles They had spent freely their Lives and Fortunes to defend his Rights and his Life against the Princes of Lorrain who made so many Attempts to keep him from the Throne of his Ancestors and to usurp his place Had it not been for their Valour and their Loyalty the Crown had gone into the hands of Strangers and since we must speak out had it not been for them the Blood of the Bourbons would not this day have been possessed of the Throne The Edict of Nantes then was the Effect and the Recompence of the Great Obligations which King Henry the Fourth had to his Loyal Protestants and not as is slanderously reported the fruit of any violence gained by force and granted against the hair But farther the Law of Nature and common policy might challenge such an Edict for them as well as Gratitude It is true that Soveraign Magistrates are appointed by God to preserve the publick peace and by consequence to cut off or prevent as much as in them lies whatever may disturb it It is true also that new Establishments in matters of Religion may cause great troubles in a State and that there are Religions which have Maxims so pernicious that when Magistrates are of a different opinion or but so much as tolerate such a one their Lives and their Kingdoms are never in safety But Henry the Fourth found the Protestant Religion wholly establish'd in the Kingdom when he came to the Crown Besides he who had so long profess'd it knew perfectly well that it had none of those dreadful Maxims which makes Princes and States jealous that on the contrary in it Loyalty and Obedience of Subjects to Soveraigns of what Religion and what humor soever was to them an Article of Faith and an obligation of Conscience He knew that Protestants by their Religion were peaceable men who sought but to serve God according to his Word and were always ready to spend the last drop of their blood for the service and the honor of their King But he knew also that the zeal of the Romish Clergy always animated the Popish Common People against them and that they would be sure to fall upon them unless he took them into his protection The Law of Nature then did not permit him to abandon to the rage of the multitude so many innocent persons and common policy warned him to preserve so many faithful Subjects for the State so capable of supporting it on occasion as he had so freshly experienc'd It being certain that had it not been for them the Pope and the Ligue had ruin'd the whole Kingdom But it was not possible either to defend them from the fury of the People or to preserve them for the service of the State if he had granted in favour of them any thing less than the Edict of Nantes so that this Edict in truth was to be ascribed to common Equity and Prudence no less than Gratitude But said I to my Friend do you believe that the Grandson of Henry the Fourth is bound to make good what his Grandfather did I do not doubt it at all answered he otherwise there would be nothing secure or certain in Civil Society and wo be to all Governments if there be no Foundation of publick Trust. 1. For if ever Law deserv'd to be regarded by the Successors of a Prince it is this It was establish'd by a Hero who had recovered the Crown for his posterity by his Sword and this Establishment was not made but after mature and long deliberations in the calm of a prosound Peace obtained and cemented by many and signal Victories That Hero hath declar'd expresly in the Preface of the Edict that he establish'd it in the nature of an irrevocable and perpetual Law willing that it should be firm and inviolable as he also saith himself in the 90th Article Accordingly he made all the Formalities to be observed in its establishment which are necessary for the passing of a fundamental Law in a State For he made the observation of it under the quality of an irrevocable Law to be sworn to by all the Governors and Lieutenant-Generals of his Provinces by the Bailiffs Mayors and other ordinary Judges and principal Inhabitants of the Cities of each Religion by the Majors Sheriffs Consuls and Jurates by the Parliaments Chambers of Accounts Court of Aids with order to have it publish'd and registred in all the said Courts This is expresly set down in the 92d and 93d Articles Was there ever any thing more authentick 2. The same Reasons which caused the Establishment remain still and plead for its continuance 1. The Family of Bourbon preserved in the Throne 2. The Law of Nature and common Policy 3. The two Successors of Henry the Fourth look'd not upon themselves as unconcern'd in this Edict Their Word and their Royal Authority are engaged for its observation no less than the Word and Royal Authority of its Illustrious Author Lewis the Thirteenth confirm'd it as soon as he came to the Crown by his Declaration of the 22d of May 1610 ordering that the Edict of Nantes should be observed in every Point and Article These are the very words Read them said he shewing me a Book in Folio called The Great Conference of the Royal Ordinances and Edicts I read there in the first Book Title 6 of the second Part of the Volume not only the Article he mention'd but also the citation of nine several Declarations publish'd at several times by the same King on the same subject Lewis the Fourteenth who now Reigns says our Friend hath likewise assured all Europe by his authentick Edicts and Declarations that he would maintain the Edict of Nantes according to the desire of his Grandfather who had made it an irrevocable Law He himself acknowledges and confirms it himself anew by his Edict of Iune 1680 where he forbids Papists to change their Religion There it is pray take the pains to read it Lewis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre to all persons to whom these Presents come Greeting The late Henry the Fourth our Grandfather of Glorious Memory granted by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April 1598 to all his Subjects of the Religion pretended Reformed who then lived in his Kingdom or who afterwards should come and settle in it Liberty of professing their Religion and at the same time provided whatsoever he judged necessary for affording those of the said Religion pretended Reformed means of living in our Kingdom in the Exercise of their Religion without being molested in it by our Catholick Subjects which the late King our most Honored Lord and Father and we since have authorised and confirmed on other Occasions by divers Declarations and Acts. But this Prince is not content to tell what he hath formerly done in confirmation of the Edict of Nantes read some Lines a little lower
strange Acts have no respect for Henry the Great and his Edicts at least they ought to be more tender of the Glory of their own Illustrious Prince and not to expose him as they do to be ranked with that Emperor against whom the Holy Fathers have cryed so loudly Is it possible they can be ignorant that this method oâ— extinguishing the Protestant Religion is exactly the same that Iulian took to extinguish the Christian Religion I do not think said our Friend that they can be ignorant of a truth so well known especially since one of their eminent Writers hath publish'd the History of the Life of S. Basil the Great and of S. Gregory Nazianzen There they might have read in more than one place that it was likewise one of the Secrets of that Emperor to ruine the Christians by keeping them from all Improvement in Learning and to prohibit their Colleges and Schools and which the Father 's judg'd to be most subtle policy But their zeal transports them above the most odious Comparisons They stick not to give occasion for them every moment I will shew you an Example which will astonish you I have here light upon the Paper They are now come to take the measures of that barbarous and inhumane King who us'd Midwives of his own Religion to destroy the Race of the people of God in Egypt For by that Declaration of the 28th of February 1680 It is ordered that the Wives of Protestants shall not be brought to bed but by Midwives or Chyrurgeons who are Papists This they make to be observ'd with the utmost rigor so far that they put a poor woman in prison for being present at the Labour of her Sister whose delivery was so quick and fortunate that there was neither time nor need to call a Midwife That you may in few words understand of what consequence this is to our poor Brethren I need but acquaint you that the King of France in his Edict of the Month of Iune 1680 where he forbids Papists to change their Religion acknowledges himself what experience doth but too plainly justifie namely that the Roman Catholicks have always had an aversion not only against the Protestant Religion but against all those that profess it and an aversion which hath been improv'd by the publication of Edicts Declarations and Acts. That is to say that whatever pretence the Roman Catholicks make to the contrary they have always been and still are Enemies of the Protestants and that the Protestants ought to look to be treated by the Catholicks as Enemies After this what can they judge of the Design and Consequences of a Declaration which puts the Lives of their Wives and Children into those very hands which the King who makes the Declaration acknowledges to be hands of Enemies But farther the Declaration it self discovers that one of its intentions was to make the Children of Protestants to be baptized by Midwives or by Popish Chyrurgions And what mischief do they not open a way for by that The Protestants will hold that Baptism void which hath been administred by such hands they will not fail to make it be administred anew by their Pastors This shall pass for a capital Crime in the Pastors and Fathers and they shall be punished as sacrilegious persons who trample on the Religion in Authority the Religion of the King for the most odious Representations are still made use of Nay said I by this they will likewise claim a right from the Baptism's being administred by Papists to make themselves Masters of the education of their Children You are in the right said he and that Article ought not to be forgotten It is just will they say that they should be brought up in the Church which hath consecrated them to God by Baptism at least that they should be bred up there till they are of age to chuse for themselves and when they are of age they will say then that it is just they should as well as others be liable to the same Edict which forbids Catholicks to change their Religion Is not this enough already to make one forsake such a Kingdom A Christian for less than this would surely flie to the utmost Parts of the World But to proceed Here is that terrible Decree which fills up the measure as to what concerns the poor Children It comes to my hand very seasonably It is the Declaration of the 17th of Iune last This ordains that all the Children of Protestants shall be admitted to abjure the Religion of their Fathers and become Papists as soon as they shall be seven years old It declares that after such an Abjuration it shall be at the choice of the Children either to return home to their Fathers and there to be maintain'd or to oblige their Fathers and Mothers to pay for their Board and Maintenance where ever they please to live It adds extreme Penalties to be laid on them who breed up their Children in foreign parts before they are sixteen years old But I pray read over the whole Edict Upon that I took the Deâ—â—aration from our Friends hand read it and returning it to him again could not forbear declaring that I did not now wonder any more that the Protestants of France were in so great a Consternation They are much in the right said I Discretion and Conscience oblige them to depart out of a Country in which there is no security for the salvation of their dear Children They are of too great a value to be so hazarded What is more easie for them who have all the power than to induce such young Children to change their Religion There is no need for this to shew them all the Kingdoms of the World and their Glory A Baby a Picture a little Cake will do the business or if there want somewhat more a Rod will not fail to complete this worthy Converâ—ion In the mean while what a condition are their wretched Fathers in besides the most inexpressible grief of seeing what is most dear to them in the world seduc'd out of the Service and House of God they shall likewise have this addition of Anguish of having their own Children for their Persecutors For knowing as I do the Spirit of that Religion I doubt not but they will all prove rebellious and unnatural and renounce all that love and natural respect which is due to them whom they owe their Lives to They 'll give Law to their Parents they will oblige them to make them great Allowances which they will dispose of as they list and if their Fathers pay them not precisely at the time appointed I am sure no rigors shall be forgotten in the prosecution No certainly said our Friend and I could give you an hundred Instances if there were need Even before this merciless Declaration was made the Goods of Parents were seis'd upon exposed to sale to pay for the maintenance of their Children who had been inveigled from them and
been made Papists If they dealt with them so then before the Declaration what will they not do when they see themselves supported and armed with Royal Authority But there is no need I should insist farther on the dreadful Consequences of this Declaration It hath been lately Printed in our Language and Notes made upon it wherein nothing hath been forgotten The Book is written impartially tho I can scarce believe what is express'd in the Title Page that it was written in French however some Gallicisms are put in to make you believe it but the Protestants of that Nation are not us'd to such bold Exprâ—ssions upon such kind of Subjects and I doubt much whether they could do it If they have reason to fear for the birth and for the tender years of their Children they have no less for themselves Here is a proof of it It is the Declaration of the 19th of November 1680 By which it is ordained That whenever they are sick they shall suffer themselves to be visited by the Papist Magistrates Thus having made their lives burdensome to them they take a thousand ways to torment them in their Beds as soon as any Disease hath seised them It is not henceforth permitted to them either to be sick or die in peace Under colour of this Declaration they are persecuted and all means are tryed to shake their Faith under the pretence of being ask'd what Religion they will die in First a Judge presents himself with the awe of his presence accompanied by one of the King's Sollicitors and two Papist Witnesses They begin their Work by driving all Protestants who are with the sick man out of his Chamber Father Mother Wife Husband Children none are excepted After that they do with the sick person as they list they draw up a Verbal Process or such as they like Lies with them are but pious Frauds Whatsoever the sick man answers he hath still abjur'd if these Gentlemen please to make a conversion of it and there is no possibility of disproving it The Verbal Process is drawn up in good Form If the sick man recovers and refuses to go to Mass immediately he is subject to all the penalties of a Relapse If he dies and chances to be the Father of a Family they take away all his Children to breed them up in the Popish Religion and his Estate to preserve it as they pretend for the Children of a Catholick Father Can any one who hath any care of his own salvation or any affection for his Children live expos'd to such dreadful Inconveniences if God offers any means to avoid them I am afraid I tire you with the Recital of so many Calamities Fear not that answered I I am resolv'd to know all You do not consider what you say replyed he I should need whole weeks to tell you all Imagine all the Suprises all the indirect practices all the base tricks of Insinuation and little quirks of Law are put in ure together with all manner of violence to accomplish the Work Neither do those Enemies of the Protestants always neglect the Oracles of the Scripture It says I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the Flock shall be scattered These Gentlemen then that they may the more easily scatter the Sheep smite every where the Shepherd and constrain them to fly They imprison one for having by the Word of God confirm'd some of his Flock whom the Popish Doctors would pervert another for being converted to the Protestant Religion in his youth long before any Law was made against pretended Apostates They hire forlorn Wretches to go to the Sermons of the Protestant Ministers and to depose before a Magistrate that the Ministers said that the Church of Rome was idolatrous or that the Faithful are persecuted that they spake ill of the Virgin Mary or of the King Upon this without being heard and tho it be offered to be made out by the Deposition of an infinity almost of persons of credit that the testimonies of these two or three Wretches are absolutely false Orders are issued out for the seising the Bodies of the Ministers They are clap'd in Jayl as soon as taken they are condemn'd to pay excessive Fines they force them to make the Amende Honorable they banish them the Kingdom The Intendant of Rochefort suppress'd one there upon the most extravagant Deposition that was ever taken The Deponent having been at the Sermon of that Minister said That there was nothing to be found fault with in his words but that he perceiv'd his thoughts were not innocent If there are any amongst them so happy as to consound so the false Witnesses that the Judges are asham'd to use all those rigors none of the Charges of Imprisonment or of the Suit are ever recovered against any one A Minister who may have sixty or seventy pounds a year and seven or eight in Family to maintain must be condemn'd with all his innocence to pay all these great costs I could upon this Head tell you a hundred Stories but that it would be too tedious I have met both at Paris and in other Provinces many of these persecuted Ministers who acquainted me with their Adventures Germany Holland and Switzerland are full of them and I am told there are some of them here in England Their absence from their Flocks is but too good a proof how hot the persecution is against them And so let 's go on You may remember that the Edict of Nantes judg'd it necessary for the preservation of the Estates and Credit of the protestants and for the safety of their Lives to erect Tribunals where supreme Justice might be administred by Judges of the one and of the other Religion But all these Tribunals are suppress'd namely the Chambers of the Edict of Paris and of Rouen It is some years since the Chambres Miparties were suppress'd by the Delaration of Iuly 1679 so that here is their Fortunes their Credit their Lives all at the mercy of their sworn Enemies For you have not forgot that the King of France acknowledges in one of his Declarations that the Papists have always hated the persons of the Protestants Judge then if it be safe for them to stay longer in such a Kingdom But there is no method proper to ruine them which is not made use of that if one fails another may be sure to take Synods and Conferences are absolutely necessary for the Admission of their Ministers for the Correction of Scandals for the preservation of Peace in their Congregations for the subsistence of their Colleges and for the support and exercise of their Discipline At first they kept them with all sort of Liberty Under Lewis the Thirteenth they thought fit to forbid them to hold any Synod unless some Protestant Commissary who was to be named by the Court were present This was observed till the year 1679 when a Declaration was publish'd requiring that there should be a Papist Commissary in their Synods
sight of several Proclamations That they ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France by a Secret they have found out to Tax the people at Will and then make one or more responsible for all the rest That they are barbarously cruel upon the least complaint of any thing that falls from them in the height of their misfortunes That they Demolish their best Established Temples upon the least pretence and that besides all this they condemn them to the Galleys if they offer to quit the Realm to serve God according to a good Conscience in any other Countrey with a Fine of a thousand Crowns for the first Fault and Corporal Punishment for the rest upon their Friends that shall any way countenance directly or indirectly their departure out of the Realm I have read the Proclamation and you may read it says our Friend when you please for it lies there upon my Table The strangest thing in it is that they glory of their pretended Conversions in Poitou and elsewhere as if they had been carried on with all the gentleness and Christian temper imaginable when all Europe knows they have used no other but carnal means and since I am provoked to say it the Devil's Weapons the allurement of Riches Promises of worldly Advantages Threats Force and a thousand unheard of Cruelties whereby they have brought the poor People to this hard choice either to turn Papist or perish by Hunger and ill usage And many times we see their Consciences will not suffer them to continue in that Communion they have been thus forced into for they come over by Flocks and the Prisons in France are full of these pretended Relaps But because you know all this already I proceed now says he to the Justification of our poor persecuted Brethren I am very well satisfied that this groundless Accusation as if they were Seditious Firebrands and Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy has given them no prejudice with you If Accusation were enough to render guilty of this Crime Moses and Christ the old and new people of God had certainly lost their Cause The Enemy of Truth has ever made this his Charge against the Innocence of Gods Children Moses was accused for Seducing the people Elias for Troubling Israel Ieremiah That he did not pray for the Prosperity of this people but their mischief the People of God That they designed to revolt from the King of Persia Iesus Christ himself That he perverted the people and forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar and his Apostles That they were common Pests Movers of Sedition and that turned the World upside down You have read Turtullians Apologetick and Arnobius against the Gentiles You see there how the most innocent of the Primitive Christians and the meekest of Men were charged with the same Crime Our Protestants of France have no reason to expect other measure than that of their Saviour and the Saints departed since it is the same Religion they strive for And by the Grace of God we shall with as much ease acquit them of all those Imputations laid to their charge There is certainly no stronger Proof of what the Opinions of a Church are than the publick Declarations her self has made of her Principles by open Professions or Confessions of Faith these are authentick pieces composed with the approbation of the whole Body and published on purpose to declare to the World what in sincerity such a Church believes in matters of Religion The Protestant Church of France has not been wanting in this particular but has composed and published a Confession of Faith that all the World might be sure what really are her thoughts and belief And certainly without the highest injustice we cannot reject what she has thus made Protestation of Then I told our Friend you need not enlarge upon this point for no Man of sense will dispute this Principle with you Let us come to the Question I shall soon dispatch it says he I will read to you the two last Articles of our Protestants Confession of Faith We believe That God will have the World governed by Laws and Policies to the end there may be a restraint upon the inordinate Appetites of Men and for this end that he has appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and all other sorts of Government Hereditary or otherwise and whatever appertains to the dispensation of Justice and that he himself will be acknowledged the Author of it For this cause he has put the Sword inâ—o the Magistrates Hand to punish Faults committed not only against the second Table but likewise against the first We ought therefore for God's sake not only to submit to the Government of Superiors but also to honour them and hold them in such regard as esteeming them his Lieutenants and Officers whom he has constituted to exercise a Lawful and Sacred Trust. We hold it therefore our Duty to obey their Laws and Statutes to pay Tributes Imposts and other Duties and to bear the Yoke of Subjection with a cheerful and good will be they Infidels provided the Sovereign Empire of God be kept entire Thus we detest those that would reject Authority put all things in common and overthrow the course of Justice Here you see the Confession of the Protestants of France where you find they make it a part of their Religion and Faith to believe that it is God who appoints Kingdoms Hereditary and others That we ought to Honour Princes and hold them in all Reverence as the Lieutenants and Officers of God to obey them to pay them Tribute to submit to them with a good will though they happen to be of another Religion than ours and they reject with horror all those that reject the Powers Can any thing be said stronger or with greater exactness Moreover these Protestants of France have a Liturgy a Form of Common-Prayers as well as our Church of England There it is that in the presence of God and speaking to God they do confirm by a publick Act of Worship all that they say of Kings and Potentates in their Confession of Faith After they have said to God We have thy Precept to pray for those whom thou hast set over us Superiors and Governors they add We Beseech thee therefore O heavenly Father for all Kings and Princes thy Servants to whom thou hast committed the dispensation of Iustice and particularly for the King c. If ever we ought to believe Mens words no doubt it is when they speak to God in the Act and fervor of their Devotion If a man be not wicked to the last degree or an Athiest he will then at least speak the thoughts of his Heart And upon such an account it is that the Protestants of France own in conformity to their Confession of Faith That it is God who has set Rulers over them to Govern That all Princes are the Servants of God That the Justice they dispence to men is that of God himself of which God
has committed to them the Administration or Rule And upon that score it is they pray to God for their own King and for all other Princes That he would give them his holy Spirit and all Graces requisite to well Governing Is this the stile of a seditious People Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy Since therefore the Confession of Faith and form of Common-Prayer speaks the mind of the whole Body of the French Protestants it will be needless to quote the Sermons and Writings of their particular Ministers yet because I observe to my great grief there are many here cry down the incomparable Calvin as if in this point of obedience to Monarchs he were not very sound I must needs read to you what he has said upon that subject in his excellent Institution It is in his fourth Book Chap. 20. where after he has shewed Sect. 22 23 of this Chapter the Duty of Subjects towards Princes and Magistrates which he makes consist in having a profound Reverence for them to observe their Commands with a perfect submission to pay such Taxes and Rates as they put upon them to offer up Prayers and Thansgivings to God for their Prosperity and when he has there proved by Scripture That we cannot resist the Magistrate without resisting God who is prepared to defend them he considers Sect. 24. That there are many who fancy we owe not this respect and obedience but to good Princes and so may despise the wicked and shake off the yoke of Tyrants This Maxim he confutes as a most pernicious error in the following Sections of which I shall here give you a taste The Word of God obliges us to submit not only to the authority of Princes that use us well but in general to the Dominion of all those after whatever fashion that exercise Sovereign Power though they perform nothing less than the Duty of a Prince For however the Lord assures us that Magistrates are the Bounty of his Grace set up for the conservation of Men and that therefore he sets them bounds within which they ought to keep yet he declares at the same time that whatever they prove they hold their Power of him that they who seek the publick good in their Sovereign Administration are the lively Images of his Goodness that they which rule with violence and oppression were raised by him to the Throne for a Scourge to a sinful people but that the one and the other are equally invested with that Sacredness of Majesty which he has stamped upon the Forehead of all lawful Authorities I shall insist upon this point which the Spirit of the Multitude does not so easily conceive to wit that this admirable and Divine Authority that the Lord by his Word confers upon the Ministers of his Justice remains no lâ—ss with a Man that is never so wicked or unworthy of all honour if once he be raised to the Sovereign Power so that his Subjects ought no less to Reverence him in regard of Allegiance due to Sovereigns than if he were a good King First I would have it carefully observed the special Providence of God in bestowing Crowns and setting up Kings of which we are so often told in Scripture It is God says Daniel that removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And speaking elsewhere to Nebuchadnezzâ—r Thou shalt be says he to him wet with the Dew of Heaven till thou know that the most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will We know well enough what a kind of King this Nâ—buchadnezzar was who took Ierusalem He was an Usurper and an accomplished Villain Nevertheless the Lord assures us in Ezekiel that he had given him Egypt as a Reward for the Service he had done him in the mischief he did to Tyre And Daniel says to the same King The God of Heaven has given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory and wheresoever thâ— Children of Men dwell the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Heaven has he given into thine hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all He says also to Belshazzar this King's Son The most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour and for the Majesty that he gave him all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him Whenever we find God has set up any man to be King let us call to mind the heavenly Oracles which appoint us to Honour and Fear the King and then we shall not fail to bear Respect even in the persons of Tyrants to this mighty Character wherewith God has been pleased to honour them Samuel telling the People of Israel what they were to suffer from their Kings uses these words This will be the manner or Right of the King that shall Reign over you He will take your Sons and will appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horse-men and some shall run before his Chariots And he will take your Daughters to be Confectionaries and to be Cooks and to be Bakers And he will take your Fields and your Vineyards and your Olive-yards even the best of them and give them to his Servants And he will take the tenth of your Seed and of your Vineyards and give to his Officers and to his Servants And he will take your Men-servants and your Maid-servants and your goodliest Young-men and your Asses and put them to his Work He will take the tenth of your Sheep and ye shall be his Servants Doubtless Kings have no Right to deal thus those that the Law so carefully directs to Moderation and Temperance But Samuel calls this the Right of the King over the People because the People are under an indispensable Obligation to submit and are not allowed to resist as if the Prophet had explain'd himself after this manner The mismanagement of Kings shall come to this height and you shall have no right to oppose it your part must be to take their Commands and to obey them Calvin after this produces a long passage out of Ieremiah where great punishments are denounced against all those that would not submit to the Government of Nebuchâ—dnezzar who originally was but an Usurper as wel as a Tyrant And he concludes that we ought to reject these seditious thoughts That a King ought to be handled as he deserves and that there is no reason we should behave our selves as Subjects towards him if he carries not himself like a King towards us After which he most substantially answers the Objections which unquiet Spirits are used to make against this Doctrine And now I leave it to reasonable Men to judge whether it be not the greatest Injustice to this excellent Person to declare to the World That he was an Enemy to Kings They that followed him have after his example all taken the same side upon this subject No doubt you have read what their great Salmasius has writ in defence
And this was the only end of arming himâ—elf and not any private Interest if any one shall yet question let him but consider the circumstance of the time and the poâ—ture of his Affairs For who can believe that the King my Maâ—ter has any design upon â—rance or making any Conquests there at so improper a time when he has already upon him an Enemy one of the most Powerful Princes in the World And that if he had any such thoughts of so many Men as he has raised which are the same charge to him as if he had them here and which he is always ready to send over if the Churches want them he should only send a handful in comparison of so many as would be needful for so great an undertaking besides the great Succors he sends at the same time into Germany Who would not conclude rather as in truth it is that the Forces here are but Auxiliaries and that they are for no other purpose but to assist the Churches which for so many reasons and upon such important accounts he finds himself obliged before God and Man to aid and protect that if they will say the King my Master was provoked to arm himself upon other considerations as the imbargo and seizure of all the Shipping Goods and Effects of his Subjects at Bourdeaux and other places of this Kingdom to the open breach and overthrow of the Treaties between the two Crowns which are direct in this point and to the irreparable prejudice even the entire ruine of Trade in the disappointment of which the poor people of this Kingdom not being able to put off their Commodities groan not only under the Burden of so many Taxes and Impositions but even of the Necessaries of Life it self that the apprehension the King my Master has of the growth of the Most Christian Kings Power by Sea has put him upon taking Arms to hinder the progress and in conclusion that he was forced to put himself in a Warlike posture through despair of an accommodation The answer to all this must be that whoever will take notice of the Stops Seizures and Prizes that were on the one side and the other shall find that the King my Master and his Subjects have hitherto got most by this Breach and that it has been an advantage to them in some measure In the second place he is so far from being jealous of the growth of this pretended power at Seâ— and seeking to obstruct it that there needs no more whenever the King my Master shall see his time but to give out Letters of Mart to his Subjects to disappoint all these vain and weak attempts without making use of his Royal Power And lastly that we were necessitated to this arming of our selves out of a despair of an accommodation the contrary is most apparent to any one that will consider the applications that have been made at several times as well by their own as by the Ministers of stranger Princes to the King my Master at their instance to treat about an accommodation All which justifies the King my Master who has not been forced to arm upon any private account but only in aid of the Churches for whose safety and freedom he had undertaken And there are that would possess the world that his Majesty has a private design and that he makes use of a pretence of the Religion to form a Party by the help and addition of which with his own forces he thinks to carry on his design to his own purpose But our Religion teaches us otherwise and the goodness of the King my Master in which he comes short of no man living will never suffer him to do it His purpose is to settle the Churches his interest is their good his end to give them satisfaction This being done the beating of Drums and displaying of Colours shall cease and all this noise of War shall be buried in Oblivion as what was never done but upon their account nor set forward but for their sakes Given on Board the Admiral this Wednesday the one and twentieth of Iuly 1927. Signed Buckingham This Declaration shews that our Kings are resolved to love and cheâ—ish the Protestants of France and that our Great Monarch in holding his Arms open to them at this day does but follow the steps of his Princely Father He demonstrates thereby to all his people that he inherites his goodness as well as his Crown and that as this holy Martyr he knows assuredly that these poor persecuted would breath nothing but loyalty in the enjoyment of the Edicts The same Declaration shews undeniably the innocence and justice of our arming upon the occasions whereof we are treating as not having been made but upon the extreamest necessity when there was no other way left to hold France to that promise of which our King was the Garante and to prevent the loâ—s of Rochel which was undone only for committing its concerns to his Majesty Honour sincerity publick faith the Law of Nations the urging Duty of conscience all obliged us to run in to the succour of a Town that had cast it self upon our Monarch and that had full right to shake off the yoke of France since it had been no otherwise given up to the French but upon a condition that was broken which was that they should build no Fort upon its Territory whereby to give cause of suspicion Nevertheless as the Declaration obâ—erves they had not only built one against the Article of the Treaty which made the Treaty void and put Rochel into its full liberty which it had acquired at other times but they had built several which blocked up the Town on every side and destroyed its trade Our arming therefore upon this occasion was just It was justified by the publick faith and the Law of necessity and had no other end but to protect the weak who were oppressed contrary to the â—ngagement of the Treaty which was the supporting of a good cause For Rochel which they wasted after so many manners was then in right to defend it self being no longer subject to the Prince who attaqued it Conditio non impleta liberat fidem say the Civilians A condition not fullfilled takes off all Engagement Rochel had said to the King of France you shall be my King if you build no Fort upon my Territory but not otherwise and the King of France consented or rather swore to a solemne Treaty that he would not be Master of Rochel but upon this condition So that from the moment in which he had broken the condition agreed upon and accepted of he put Rochel into its orignal right The Rochellers are no longer his subjects and therefore if they shut the gates of their Town against him if they defend themselves as well as they can against his invasion if they call in their friends for succour they do it in their own right and it is to do them open wrong it is traducing them
to charge them with Rebellion upon this account Are men Rebells when they defend themselves against the invasions of a Prince that is not their King This is so evident said I here to our friend that you need say no more I must confess the French Protestants are set right in my opinion They are not guilty of the Wars which infested France from the Reign of Francis the Second to that of Henry the Fourth They lived in perfect good understanding with their Countrymen during the Reign of this great Prince The Wars under Lewis the Thirteenth cannot justly be imputed to them because the greater and sounder part of them were not engaged because the real promoters of difference were Protestanâ—s only in name because if any true Protestants did go in it was upon motives and mistakes which in the opinion even of their King made their fault pardonable and because the standing out of Rochel must by no means pass for a Rebellion So that indisputably it is the effect of a dark and devilish malice in Monsieur Maimbourg and his Brethren to cry them down at such a rate as incendiaries and seditious by which they would render them suspected to the Magistrates and people where they go to be out of the reach of that cruel persecution that wasâ—s them I cannot recover my sâ—lf out of the astonishment that so wise a Prince as theirs is should desire to lose such subjects by driving them into despair All Europe sayes our friend is of the same mind They say plainly that the King of France cuts off the hand which saved his Crown and of which he or his son may stand in need some time or other to defend themselves against the Ligues of the Roman Clergy It is more then fifty years that they whom they persecute have given the highest testimony of their loyalty and zeal for the service of their Kings But what is yet more surprizing they make use of their loyalty for an occasion of persecuting them more severely For I know it from the first hand in the Memorial which was Presented to their King by a certain Abbot some years since to invite him to root them out and to open to him the way they lay down plainly their loyalty which sayes this Memorial they make an Article of faith and a point of conscience to satisfie him that there was no danger from them whatever injury or rigour they used towards them I have seen this Memorial of which there was means found to get a copy the Abbot who was the bearer having forgot the Rule and charge that he was under to be secret But I can assure you the French Court were not a little pleased with this motion since it doth only follow the Memorial step by step in all the tricks and outrages that have been practiced upon the Protestants against the security of the Edicts To be short that which will compleat your amazement is that this Great Lewis the Fourteenth whom the whole World has in admiration was disposed quite another way as appears not only by his Letter to the Elector of Brandenburg which I have already communicated to you and is but a private transaction but by a solemne Declaration which I must needs read to you before we part The King's Declaration by which he confirms the Edicts of Pacification LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navar to all that shall see these present Letters Greeting The late King our most honoured Lord and Father whom God rest being convinced that one of the most necessary things to preserve the Peace of the Kingdom was to maintain his subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion in the full and entire enjoyment of the Edicâ—â— made in their favour and to have the free exercise of their Religion took special care by all prudent means to hinder that they should not be molested in the fruition of the Liberties Prerogatives and Privileges granted to them by the said Edicts having to this end immediately upon his coming to the Crown by Letters Patents of the 22. of May 1610. and after he came of Age by his Declaration of the 20. of November 1615. declared it to be his will that the Edicts should be observed thereby to incourage his subjects so much the more to keep within their Duty And after the pattern of so great a Prince and in imitation of his bounty we intend to do the like having upon the same grounds and considerations by our Declaration of the Eight of July 1643. willed and ordained that our said subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion enjoy all the Concessions Priviledges and Advantages especially the free and full exercise of their said Religion in pursuance of the Edicts Declarations and Ordinances made in their favour upon this account And for as much as our said subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion have given us certain proofs of their affection and loyalty particularly in the present Affairs of which we are abundantly satisfied Be it known that We for these reasons and at the most humble request which has been made us from our said Subjects professing the said pretended Reformed Religion and after having it debated in our presence at Council We by the advice of the same and upon our certain knowledge and Royal Authority have said declared and ordained say declare and ordain will and it is our pleasure That our said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion be maintained and protected as indeed we do maintain and protect them in the full and entire enjoymâ—nt of the Edict of Nantes other Edicts Declarations Acts Ordinances Articles and Briefs set out in their favour Registred in Parliament and Edict Chambers especially in the free and publick exercise of the said Religion in all places where these Orders have allowed it all Letters and Acts as well of our Council as of Soverain Courts or other Iudicatories to the contrary notwithstanding Willing that the transgressors of our said Edicts be punished and chastised as disturbers of our publicke peace So we give in command to our well beloved and faithfull the persons holding our Courts of Parliament Edict Chambers Bayliffs Seneschalls their Deputies and other our Officers whom it shall concern in their respective places that they cause these Presents to be Registred read and Published where it shall be requisite and keep observe and retain according to their forme and Tenure And forasmuch as there may be need of these Presents in divers places We will that the same credit shall be given to Copies duly collated by one of our well beloved and faithfull Counsellors and Secretaries as to the present Original For such is our pleasure In witness whereof we have caused our Seal to be set to these Presents Given at St Germains en Laye 20. of May in the year of Grace 1652. and of our Reign the Tenth Signed LOUIS and a little below by the King PHELIPEAUX And Sealed with the Broad Seal Can we
Curate appear'd all of them who could possibly got away and hid themselves but neither the place nor the great haste of the Curate would permit all of them to do so He went up directly to one of the Company whom he had born an ill will to for some time he bids him kneel and the other answering that his Conscience would not suffer him to do it he gave him a Cuff on the Ear. He that was struck grumbled and so did two or three who were about him The Curate went on his way threatning hard Next day there were Informations made on both sides the Curate in his not complaining of any person but him he had struck and two or three others who had grumbled at it The Friends of the Curate perceiving that he had done the wrong propos'd an Accommodation It was by misfortune consented to Prosecution ceased on each side and it was believed that there was an end of that business there was not a word spoken of it in above a year But the Intendant of Languedoc revived it last Winter when they thought of nothing less and of a matter particular to two or three made it a general Concern of the whole Congregation He cites them before the Presidial of Nismes to whom he joyn'd himself He condemns them to demolish their Church in a Months time Those poor people go and cast themselves at the feet of the Court but to no purpose The King's Council hears and confirms this strange Order of the Intendant and the Church is rac'd to the ground The Council which gave this Sentence was the first in which the Dauphine was present The Report of such an Order being spred among the Courtiers and all being amaz'd that heard it a certain person took the liberty to tell the Dauphin that for the first time he had been at the Council he had assisted to a great Injustice What say you to that said a Duke and Peer to the Dauphin who had made no reply to the former I say answered the Dauphin that he may be much in the right I told our Friend I had enough of this You must not be weary said he this is but the beginning of sorrows Let 's go on to the rest Here is said he a Little Book which comes just now to my hand in it are stitch'd up together three Acts concerning Schools The first is of the ninth of November 1670. It forbids all Protestant Schoolmasters to teach any thing in their Schools but to read and write and Arithmetick The second which is of the 4th of December 1671 ordains that the Protestants shall have but one only School in any place where they have the publick Exercise of their Religion and but one Master in that School The third is of the ninth of Iuly this present 1681. Look upon them said he and give me your opinion It seems said I that the first contains nothing which the Protestants may complain of at least if that which I read there be true namely that by the Edict of Nantes it is expresly ordain'd That in the Schools of those of the pretended Reformed Religion there shall not any thing be taught but to read write and cast account For according to this the Edict of 1670 is entirely conformable to that other Edict which is the Law You are in the right said I but they who fram'd the Act have deceived you and have made no scruple to ground it upon a matter of fact entirely false For the Article which speaks of Schools doth not mention the least word of that restriction which the Act assures us to be there expressed namely of teaching only to read write and cast account See the Article length it is the 37th particular Those of the said Religion may not keep publick Schools unless in Cities and places where the publick Exercise of their Religion is allowed and the Provisions which have heretofore been granted them for the erection or maintenance of Colleges shall be authenticated where occasion shall require and have their full and entire effect Where is that express Order It is expresly ordered to teach only to read write and cast account upon which the Act is grounded Is it possible said I that they should have no sense of the horrid shame which must arise upon conviction of forgery in a matter of fact of this nature They never stick at so small a matter as that said he in the design they have of rooting out the Protestants Those who are in France dare not open their mouths to discover such kind of Falsities and Strangers whom they carry â—air with will not so far concern themselves as ever to suspect there should be falshood in a matter of fact so easie to be made out and which they make to be so positively afâ—irm'd by so great a King So that they do not fear at all the shame you speak of After all they are but pious Frauds at which they of the Popes Communion never blush And what say you continued be to that other Act which reduces all Schools to one in each City and Town where the Protestants have the publick Exercise of their Religion and that which requires that there should be only one Master in that School I replyed that it was an excellent way to restore Ignorance the Mother of the Roman Faith and Devotion In truth says he the care of one Master cannot go far Besides there is a Protestant Church which alone hath two thousand Children of age to be taught Those poor people have done all they could to obtain of the Council that at least there might be two Schools in each place one for Boys and the other for Girls But it was to little purpose that they pleaded good manners for it which such a mixture of both Sexes visibly was offensive to They were deaf to all their Prayers and to all their Remonstrances But this is not all yet In the Execution of this rigorous Act they have taken away â—rom them that little which was left them For the Judges of the places will not suffer that any Schoolmaster teach unless they have first of all approved of him and receiv'd him in all their Forms As therefore their approbation is a matter full of invincible Diâ—â—iculties above all when they are to give it to a man of merit and who may do good it is come to pass by means of these two Acts that all the little Schools of the Protestants are shut up From the little Schools they have proceeded to Colleges You see by the Act of the last of Iuly which suppresses for ever that of Sedan They have taken away also the College of Châtillon sur Loin So that hereafter the Protestants in France are to lie under worse than Egyptian Darkness I leave you now to judge whether they are to blame to seek for light in some Goshen In truth said I this is very hard But if they who inspire into the King such