Life as the greatest of our misfortunes They must have a great stock of Regeneration who can love those they esteem their Enemies yet all means possible are used to perswade us the King is the greatest Enemy we have As to the Consternation they have attain'd their ends 't is general and so great it cannot be greater Yet hitherto the Love we have for our King stands firm against this horrible Consternation because we have yet some hope the King will permit himself to be mov'd by our Prayers and Patience And if disappointed in this we will apply our selves to God for Grace not to do any thing contrary to our duty Par. To tell you the truth they slight you so much now adays they value not at all your Love or your Hatred Hug. Law Ah Sir say not so I know well enough those are the Sentiments they would inspire into his Majesty But to a Prince so sage and so good as ours it cannot be a matter of indifferency to be belov'd by his Subjects Oderint dum metuant Let them hate so they fear me is a word for a Tyrant I am sure the King cannot endure the thought of having in his Kingdom two millions of Subjects who should obey him only out of a slavish fear He is the common Father of his Countrey and I cannot but believe he takes us all for his Children Par. You have no great reason to think so to deal ingenuously with you the King takes you not for very good Subjects and means have been used to make him sensible you are troubled at his Victories and that you fear the success of his Arms and Designs no less than every good Frenchman loves and prays for it Hug. Law 'T is true Sir this is the Character they give of us to the King and endeavour to perswade us to believe to be true for by the usage we have at their hands and the Speeches they give out of us they labour to make us sensible that the Grandeur of the King will be fatal to us and that having humbled all his Enemies he will imploy his Forces for our ruin they would perswade us that our present sufferings are but an effect of former Threats The King say they is become the terror of his Enemies and the delight of his Subjects he fears nothing And having not now any other imployment for his Power will force you headlong into Ruine Ah! Sir if we were so unhappy as we are represented to behold with trouble the Glory of the King it would become them to study to reclaim us by changing their Conduct For what can give more trouble to a good Prince than to think he hath in his Countrey a great number of his Subjects oblig'd to lament his Victories to mourn amidst the publick Joyes and to look upon the Prosperity of the State as fatal and pernicious to their private Concern being assur'd when the State hath not other business it will turn its whole Force against them If we believe one God and one Providence we ought to be perswaded that God is mov'd by the Vows and Prayers of men and that the most unanimous Prayers are the most Efficacious 'T is the Interest of a Prince to use all his Subjects with equal kindness that the Union of their Hearts and Harmony of their Prayers may bring down the Blessings of Heaven on the State But there cannot be a greater Calumny and Falshood than to affirm we are troubled at the Prosperity of the State Hath any one of those of our Religion who have had the Honour to serve the King in his Armies been guilty of Cowardise or Baseness whatever Hath any of them fought with less Zeal appear'd less Brave or done less for the Victory than others in the Army What signs are there we are not pleas'd with the publick Prosperity What Cause have we given for any to think so The truth is they describe us such as they would have us to be and such as they who accuse us would be if they were in our Case But God gives us the Grace to retain true French hearts to rejoyce at the Grandeur of the King and to leave to Providence the success of our private Affairs Par. 'T is true you have cunning enough to put a good Face on your Matters and to colour your Designs with appearances of Loyalty but you have in your hearts a hidden inclination to revolt Hug. Law But is it fit to charge the Innocent with the blackest of Crimes without Proof 'T is said we have a secret disposition to Rebellion How do they prove it What do they mean by it In my Opinion the Design of Rebels is to change the form of Government of a State as the Fanaticks did in England by Cromwell or to call in a stranger into the Countrey and submit to new Dominion I know but these two ends of Rebellion for to make Insurrection for Insurrections sake to raise Tumults for no other end but to make a busle is a Design fit only for Fools and Mad-men Can we be lyable to the least Suspition of the former Have we given by any of our Actions any colour to believe we desire a change of the present form of Government and to see the Monarchy turn'd into a popular State What should we get by it Can we promise our selves greater safety when expos'd to the Authority and Fury of so wild and unreasonable a Beast as the Multitude As to the second what advantage can we expect by changing our Master Are we desirous to be under the Dominion of Spain Do men think we shall gain by the shift Or do they believe we have such Maggots in our Brains as to desire the English may abandon their Isles and come once more and conquer our Continent Or that the Hollanders quitting their Marshes should possess themselves of this Kingdom Nothing but Frenzy can make men capable of Chimaeras as these so that they who charge us with being Enemies to the State have as little sense as Charity in their Censure Par. I perceive by my friends eyes he burns with impatience to propose his Objections out of a Book in his hand Hug. Law What Book is it Pro. 'T is the Letter of a Churchman to a Friend Hug. Law I know it very well without hearing more of it I have read that Libel and easily comprehend what Objections may be rais'd out of it But Sir give us leave before we enter into that great affair to finish what we have begun The Apology you obliged me to make hath put me out of my way for we began with proving that the Enemies of the Reformed are Enemies of the State I have already made it appear by shewing that they disunite the Kings Subjects that they root out of the Kings heart the Fatherly kindness he had for us and endeavour to root out of ours the Love we have for the greatest of our Kings This concerns the Vitals of the
cudgell'd to make them let go their hold Every place eccho'd lamentable Cryes the Women complaining so loud their Voices reach'd Heaven Many of the miserable Fathers were so mov'd at the atrocity of the Action they flung their Children into Wells Others were so desperately enrag'd they kill'd themselves To add more Calamity to this miserable Nation they were deny'd leave to pass into Africk For the King very desirous to bring them to Christianity thought to induce them to it partly by hope of Good partly by fear of Ill so that though he stood engag'd by his word to permit the Jews to embarque he put them off from day to day in hopes time would make them change their Resolution and Religion This was the Reason that though at first there were three Ports in Portugal appointed them to embarqueat they were afterwards prohibited to embarque at any but Lisbon This brought into that City an innumerable multitude of Jews While they were shamm'd in this manner in the business of Embarqueing the day came on which all that should be found in Portugal and would not turn Christians were by the Order to remain Salves The Ports were shut so that a great number remain'd who chose rather to change their Religion sincerely or feignedly than to be all their Life subject to slavery They turn'd Christians and were baptiz'd After which they had their Liberty and their Children restor'd and spent the rest of their days very quietly in Portugal This Action was not agreeable to the Maxims either of Religion or Law For with what justice will you endeavour to force mens spirits to receive Mysteries they slight and have a perfect Aversion for You would fetter mens understandings and rob their Wills of their Liberty 'T is impossible to be done nor does our Saviour approve of it He requires a voluntary Sacrifice and will not accept of forc'd Service It is not his pleasure that Violence should be done to mens understandings but that their Souls may be fairly inclin'd and their Wills won to a love of his Religion To proceed in this manner is to encroach on the right of the holy Spirit and attempt that by humane Power which Grace alone is capable to work in mens Souls which yield at last to his holy Inspirations 'T is only the holy Ghost can illuminate mens Understandings and invite and perswade them into a Confession of the Name of Jesus and into the Communion of Saints when we reject not his Grace with obstinate ingratitude To conclude can any thing be more manifestly opposite to the Spirit of Christianity than to expose so many and so Venerable Mysteries things so truly holy and divine to men under suspition and evidently prophane We never consider how we force those who hate in their Souls the Christian Religion to commit the highest Crimes they possibly can against Jesus Christ It cannot be denyed but these Reflections are sage and judicious 'T is the Light of Reason breaking out of the midst of Darkness 'T is good sence flowing from its proper Spring express'd by the mouth of a Portuguess Bishop living in a Countrey groaning under the Tyranny of a severe Inquisition Can you believe this Portuguess Bishop could have approv'd of the last Declaration that gives way to the seducing of a Child by a Bartholomew Baby and then taking him away out of the Arms of his Mother It makes me groan to think this Declaration may reach to Constantinople I cannot but fear the President may be fatal to the poor Christians in the East and that the Turk will tread the steps of the Council of Conscience at Paris What a Desolation will follow if the Infidel Princes will seize the Children of the Christians Will not Christianity by this means be quickly destroy'd throughout their Dominions The Turk exacts a Tribute of Children from Greece which that poor Nation thinks an intollerable slavery But what will it be if the like be practis'd in all Mahometan Empires and not one Christian Child secure in their Countreys Whereas now when one is taken out of the Family for tribute they remain assur'd of the Possession of the rest Hug. Gent. Among all the Reasons in the Petition against this Declaration none affected me more than that which shews that Children of seven years of Age were never by any Law in any Age of the World made subject to Orders of Courts and Formalities of Justice But if you compare the Declaration against the Relapsed with that which concerns the Children you will meet with Children of seven years old who having been regain'd by their Parents shall be Imprison'd Examin'd on interrogatories Confronted with Witnesses and Condemned to make honourable amends by walking bare-headed and barefoot through the Streets with a burning Link in their hands to the seat of Justice and asking pardon for their Crime 'T is a spectacle all Europe will rejoyce at for the Novelty As for the Reasons in the Petition grounded on his Majesties Word and Arrests which had appointed the choice of Religion to be made at the Age of fourteen they are now silly Arguments True it is they might have pass'd for good in the Golden Age but in ours Men glory in the breach of their Promises and value themselves upon not keeping their words Par. Gentlemen I confess what you speak of is a little severe but you do not consider whom it concerns Hug. Law Sir It concerns not his Majesty as you think We know the Kings intentions are good and that he sees not the Consequences of what they Act in his Name But you will allow us to complain of those who surprize his Piety and of a Clergy who would incroach into their hands the principal management of the State We see clearly their false Zeal will ruine us but it will also reduce the Kingdom to extremitys When Princes frame their Conduct by the Maxims of Monks and Jesuits they ruine their States Witness the Affairs of Hungary The Emperor possess'd by those false Zealots took from the Protestants all their Estates and gave them to the Jesuits He hath banish'd their Ministers demolish'd their Churches and expell'd them the Kingdom Can you choose but admire this excellent policy of the Jesuits At the very doors of the Turk they reduce Christians to such extremity they have no way of safety but to throw themselves into the Arms of Infidels And now that the Grand Seignior is at peace with Muscovy and Poland you will see how he will imploy his Forces and what will be the Consequence of the Counsels of the blessed Fathers of the Society of Jesus They are at this day Masters of Europe they govern all Princes and are absolute in all Courts But it may be observ'd that Europe hath reason to look on this day as the Eve of her Destruction Germany will perhaps be a Prey to the Turk England a Theater of Fury and France with all the puissance of the Genius that governs it may fall
since the Popes call'd themselves the Emperours most humble Servants and said they were but dust and ashes in their presence I see there the Works of Gregory the Great and could let you see in them the Style of the Popes in those days when they writ to the Emperours but I had rather let you see it in the Margin of Father Maimbourgh's History of Lutheranism You will allow me who am a Hugonot the pleasure which is not small to take out of the Margin of a Jesuits Book those words of St. Gregory which the Ministers have so often quoted Hist Luth. lib. 11. Ann. 1530. Ego verò haec Dominis loquens quid sum nisi pulvis vermis ego indignus famulus vester I that take the Liberty to speak thus to my Lords what am I but dust and a Worm your unworthy Servant You will do us a pleasure to read the Text of Fa. Maimbourgh This holy Bishop forbore not to execute what had been commanded him having remain'd satisfy'd with making a most humble Remonstrance to the Emperour his Master in a Letter extreamly submissive This vexes you Sir as it pleases us I confess our joy may be tax'd of some malice but 't is a matter so rare and so singular to hear a profest Jesuit and one under the fourth vow speak thus of a Pope you will pardon us for being pleas'd with it but the days are long since gone when they spoke thus at Rome The Popes have since those days assum'd and exercis'd a Power to Depose Emperours and Kings to declare them Tyrants to raise their Subjects against them when they do any thing the Popes pretend to be contrary to Religion This is a matter so publickly notorious it hath been prov'd a hundred times Now Sir I will dare your Roman Catholicks to charge us with our pretended Rebellions and having maintain'd our Religion by Arms and give me leave to tell you I wonder the prudence of your Churchman and the interest of his Party permitted him to renew the memory of our Wars for Religion for he might have easily foreseen we would not fail to expose to publick view so many horrible Conspiracies those of his Character and Religion every day plot and carry on in those Countreys where the Supremacy of the Pope is not acknowledg'd If we acted a part in the Civil Wars of France they cannot reproach us with having design'd the murder of our Princes and actually assassinated them We have never been charg'd with having design'd and endeavored to blow up with powder a whole State in a moment not only the head but all its principal Members We are now under great Sufferings in France but amidst all our Sufferings we glory that our very Enemies bear witness of our Fidelity and Innocence but the Martyrs of your Church-man those poor Catholicks he laments and bewails that they are cruelly put to death in England under pretence of a pretended Conspiracy are sufficiently convicted to have been tampering with as horrible an Enterprize as any hath been design'd this Age. Par. We have done with that Sir let 's hear no more of it I pray whether the English Catholicks be guilty or not let not us inquire further this Gentleman hath said as much on that Subject as you can do not attack us you will find work enough to defend your selves you think you have said enough but you have not spoken a word of the last Wars you rais'd in the Kingdom the Wars of Montauban of Rochel c. Hug. Law As to the Plot in England you shall not scape so you shall hear a great deal more of it if you please I know all this Gentleman said to you of it he told you what he knew but not all that may be known of it such order is taken to hinder the transportation of authentick Copies of the Tryals of those Criminals into Foreign parts we scarce know any thing of them so that you are not to admire this Gentleman seem'd not throughly instructed But because that formidable Pamphlet you took out of your pocket charges us to have occasion'd a Persecution against the Catholicks in England under pretence of a pretended Conspiracy you must allow us to justify our selves a little more fully and to add to what we have said what is since come to our knowledge but If you please I will first speak a word or two to the last Wars of Religion in France about the beginning of this Age I am for plain dealing I will never call evil good nor good evil I am of their number who cannot approve of these Wars nor make it their business to justify them The places of safety which had been given us were the seeds of this War the King was desirous to have them put into his hands the Hugonots were obstinately bent to retain them It was ill done without doubt they ought to have restor'd them and to have rely'd on the Providence of God and the King's Justice Yet this we have to say for our selves First 'T is not just to charge a whole body of men with that which was done but by a part Perhaps three fourths of all the Protestants of France were for a Submission These doubtless would have carry'd it both for Number and Prudence but they were the weakest of the Party The turbulent Spirits were Masters of all their Forces and Arms. Secondly We say the Religion of great men keeps them not from being ambitious They reign in Confusions and make themselves formidable by raising Troubles they abuse the simplicity of the People and make them pay for the Follies and Crimes of those who abuse them This was one cause of the last Wars we had great men of our perswasion who being in the head of a great Party made themselves formidable at Court for the strong places they were Masters of These men foresaw that by the change of Affairs design'd at Court their Credit and their Pensions would be lost they did all they could to bear up themselves and engag'd in their Quarrel the people whose Zeal is always sufficiently ignorant and ill enough guided Methinks some charity ought to be had for people who have no ill intention but only the misfortune to permit themselves to be seduc'd by mistaking interests of Religion It must be considered also that most of those who took Arms were frightned into it Our Enemies who desir'd nothing more than to see us rise that they might take that occasion to destroy us caus'd Rumors to be spread that there was a design to massacre all the Hugonots that it was agreed by a secret Article in the Treaty of Spain and of the Marriages lately made The pressing so earnestly to have again into the King's hands the places of strength given by his Father to the Protestants heightned our suspicion The horrible Image of the Massacres and Torments of the last Age was fresh in memory many had been Spectators and some had been
I say he hath written like a man of sense and consider'd well what he said And to tell you my mind I look not on this Author as an Author without Mission and without Call as a private Person who of his own head publish'd a Libel against the Hugonots 't was a business design'd That unknown Writer was put on by the same persons that constantly solicit the King to ruine the Hugonots or by the Agents of the Clergy Pro. If I may be allowed to add to the Judgment you have given I could wish that Writer had in some particulars weighed better what he said and dealt more ingenuously For instance where the Hugonots complain That in ten years three hundred of their Churches have been demolished that Author answers This is quickly said but hard to prove Pag. 6. for we aver that there have not been forty of their Churches demolish'd within these ten years If we are call'd to justifie this we cannot do it I know that in the Province of Poitou alone near forty Churches have been demolish'd And if that Paper was written by Order of the Clergy as you conjecture I wish they had taken care not to contradict themselves In the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris in May last where the Bishops at Court had Order to debate the affair of the Regale and the matter in Controversie between the King and the Pope The Agent of the Clergy who open'd the Assembly said in his Harangue that the King had demolish'd an infinite of Churches Infinite according to Mr. Churchman is confin'd in very narrow bounds being reduc'd to forty But I heard a knocking at the door and am much mistaken if it be not by our Gentlemen they are the very Men. The Hugonot Gentlemen I know not Sir what you may think of us who strangers as we are come boldly into a house so considerable as yours without having asked your leave especially since we are come with a set design to quarrel the Master of the House and oppose his sentiments We have reason to fear we shall not be very welcome But there stands a Gentleman by you hath undertaken we shall if we have presum'd too far he is to bear the blame Par. Persons of your Civility are welcome in any place And as to the Declaration of War you have made against me at your entrance I am not afraid of it there is no danger Sir of any blood to be lost in our Quarrel I am of Opinion whoever is vanquish'd will not be troubled at it I apprehend your meaning from the Discourse I have had with this Gentleman who hath given me an account of what pass'd betwixt you and him Pro. My dear Friend I am resolv'd to be even with you to day You have taken a second who is abler than I. And I shall engage you with a man too hard for you both God grant your Defeat be so happy as to dispose both of you to Conversion You shall have no more to do with me you are in good hands take my word for it I will henceforward be only a hearer The Hugonot Lawyer Since the Gentleman accepts the Challenge with so good a Grace he will not be displeas'd if I pray we may go into his Study which doubtless is well furnish'd for I foresee we shall have occasion in our Discourse to have recourse to some Books Par. With all my heart Gentlemen we will go where you please my Study is but indifferent but I believe we shall find there all the Books we shall need They go into the Parisians Study and after a turn or two take their seats and proceed in their Discourse By what I have heard from this Gentleman who hath procur'd me the pleasure of seeing you I conceive Gentlemen you approve not of the Design the King hath to reunite the Religions in his Kingdom and are not pleas'd with the Means he makes use of Hug. Law Sir We have more respect for the King then to presume to judge of his Conduct and condemn it But we cannot but see that those who give his Majesty the Counsels on which the Conduct against us is grounded are the greatest Enemies of the State All the Jealousie of the House of Austria all the Forces of Spain and of Germany will never do France so much mischief as these Politick Bigots Par. You have an ill opinion of our zealous Catholicks Methinks the name you give them is not suitable to them Besides it hath something of Contradiction in it you call them Politick Bigots Devotion is seldom joyn'd with Policy The Politicians of all ages have been always opposite to the Bigot and Devout Hug. Law Really sir they may very well be call'd Bigotted Politicians when their Devotion and Zeal for the Ruine of the poor Protestants is a meer piece of Policy their lives and their manners prove it clearly There are some among 'em to whom we do too great an Honour if we think they believe there is a God I have known some Intendants of the Provinces who had no Religion at Paris but became on the sudden in their several jurisdictions very zealous Persecutors of the Hugonots May there not be found among those of the Councel of Conscience some Persons for whose Piety you Sir would scarce pass your word I mean Bishops that keep Concubines Monks that are become Courtiers and Effeminate and these Complacent directors of Conscience who approve of all Actions so the Protestants be destroy'd the Protestants the light of whose Doctrine is too piercing and clear and exposes too much the vileness of the Actions of their Persecutors reproaches their Conduct and torments them in the very use of their pleasures Is true Devotion consistent with maxims of Morality so loose as those of our greatest Persecutors But so runs the stream thus men make their Court 't is the Mode and all the World follows it Par. I easily believe there are men of the Character you have given But I am perswaded there are of those Saints or Bigots as you call them who are really devout And I am clear of opinion they are not Enemies of the State as you say They conceive unity of Religion the greatest good imaginable and that it would be the Glory of the King to procure this good to France And this I take to be the Principle they build upon and the ground of their Actions Hug. Law I am of Opinion Sir those men may very well be call'd Enemies of the State whose Conduct tends directly to its ruin who inspire into his Majesties Subjects a mutual hatred which obliges them to look on one another as Enemies After that the late King Lewis the 13th of glorious Memory had by the Method he took to appease the late Troubles taken away the fear the Protestants were under that there were designs not only against their Liberties but their Lives it may be affirm'd the hearts of those of either Religion were so perfectly reunited
fell in Discourse of the Conduct of the Court of France as to the Hugonots He exclaim'd against the Policy of the Cabinet and said that for the good of the State it matter'd little what Religion the Subjects were of provided they were Loyal and dutiful to their Soveraign that a like Conduct had turn'd some States belonging to the King his Master into vast Deserts and Solitudes by the expulsion of the Moors who were a remnant of Jews and Mehometans multiplyed and spread over the Provinces of Castille Valentia and Andalusia They had been baptiz'd and to escape the Inquisition made profession of Christianity but privately us'd the Worship of their Ancient Religion Upon some false advice given Philip the second of Spain of a great design the Moors had against the Christians they were expell'd the Countrey They were not permitted to carry any thing away but some Commodities of Spain but were forc'd to leave behind their Gold and their Silver as well as their immoveables This was executed with extreme Rigor There went out of Spain twelve hundred thousand Men and Women the greatest part whereof perished several ways Spain having been well drained of men by sending Colonies into America was so exhausted by this great Evacuation 't is not repeopled to this day And that Countrey which was heretofore one of the fairest of Europe is now a vast and barren Desert and the Spaniards feel at this day the smart of their Barbarity God grant a like misfortune happens not to France and that it make not it self desolate by an expulsion of two millions of her best Inhabitants I cannot think those who endeavour it are much her friends Par. However Sir I am of Opinion the persons you speak of take themselves to be as great lovers of their Countrey as you or any of your Party And if the matter be disputed I very much question whether you will carry the Point Hug. Law I find all I say to you doth but vex without convincing you But you will excuse the Expressions of miserable persons who have not the Liberty to speak in Publick they may be allowed at least to complain in Private and when they can do it without danger Since you are not pleas'd with a Discourse tending to demonstrate that the Enemies of the Reformed of France are Enemies of the State I will trouble you but with a word more on that Subject You cannot but believe that Forraign Allyances are of some importance to France You understand the Politicks so well you cannot be ignorant a State without Allyes is not capable of doing great things This makes Princes labour perpetually to break those Engagements their Neighbours have with their Enemies and to perswade them to espouse their Interests The greatest part of the Allyes of France are Protestants The Swisses the Elector of Brandenburg the King of Swede and heretofore the Hollander who perhaps may again renew his Allyance But can you believe to use the Protestants of France as they are dealt with at present a proper means to engage strictly the Protestant Allyes of the Crown Par. I do not see the King finds any great difficulty in making Allyances with protestant Princes or that they concern themselves much or trouble his Ministers with your pretended Calamities Hug. Law The King is now in so elevated a Condition that all comply with him Yet the private disgusts of his Allyes are still in being though they do not appear They are Seeds that will certainly spring up sooner or later States are not always in a flourishing Condition when Fortune declares against them old grudges break out 'T is not to be imagin'd men can out of Policy wholly devest themselves of love to their Religion and become altogether insensible of the Calamities they suffer whom they call Brethren though the present State of Affairs may oblige them to dissemble 'T is very well known the Allyes I have named have heretofore concern'd themselves in our Calamities though far less than those we now endure 'T is not their Affections but the Times are chang'd The English naturally hate the French and find new reason to hate them in the rigorous Proceedings of the Catholicks of France against the Protestants there who profess the same Religion with the English To prove that strangers are somewhat concern'd for our Calamities I need but read the Letters of his Majesty of England to the Bishop and Mayor of London they are newly published and you will not repent your reading them being Letters worthy the Piety of that Prince and capable to clear him from any unjust suspitions that might have been had of him in respect of his Religion His Majesties Letters to the Bishop of London and the Lord Mayor To the Right Reverend Father in God Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor HENRY Bishop of London CHARLES R. RIght Reverend Father in God Our Right trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor We greet you well Whereas We are given to understand that a great number of Persons and whole Families of Protestants in the Kingdom of France have lately withdrawn themselves from thence to avoid those hardships and extremities which are brought upon them there for the sake of their Religion and have betaken themselves into this Our Kingdom as a place of Refuge where they may enjoy the liberty and security of their Persons and Consciences And whereas most of them if not all having been forced to abandon their native abodes and accommodations in haste and confusion must needs be in a great measure destitute of means for their present subsistence and relief We being touched with a true sence and compassion of their deplorable Condition and looking upon them not only as distressed Strangers but chiefly as persecuted Protestants very desirous to extend Our Royal Favour and Protection towards them not doubting but all Our good and loving Subjects will be also willing and forward on their parts to afford them what helps and comforts they can in this their day of Affliction We do therefore in very especial manner recommend their Case unto your pious Consideration and Care hereby requiring you forthwith to give Directions unto all the Clergy of our City of London and parts adjacent that in their solemn Congregations upon the next Lords day or as soon as may be possible they represent the sad state of these poor People and by the most effectual Arguments of Christian-charity excite their Parishioners to contribute freely towards the supply of their necessities We shall not need to press you in this behalf well knowing your Zeal in so good a work which will be no less pleasing to Vs than We are sure it will be acceptable to Almighty God And Our further Pleasure is that you take care that the Moneys so collected which We expect should be forthwith returned into your hands be distributed in such manner as may best answer those ends for which this Collection is intended And so We bid you heartily farewell
our Ministers in that Point they long for an Occasion to shew their Resentment I cannot imagine upon what account our Ruine can be look'd upon as advantagious to the State I will not trouble you with a repetition of the Reasons we gave the last year to convince the King of our inviolable Fidelity and consequently that he is concern'd to preserve us no less than any other of his Subjects I make no question but you have heard all our Remarks on that Subject Par. Yes Gentlemen I have heard them and think it needless to insist further on that point Time will shew who are in the right you or we Counsels are justified or condemned by the Event Unfortunate Valour is branded for Rashness and fortunate Rashness commended for Valour If the Mischiefs you foretel happen to the State according to your Prediction it will be judg'd you were in the right but if a way be found by fair means and without effusion of Blood to bring you again into the bosom of the Church you will be oblig'd to acknowledg our Conduct not altogether so imprudent as you imagin'd therefore without looking further into the future I will consider only the present and must say I do not see what great cause you have to complain You will find it a hard task to perswade us you are miserably and rigorously dealt with when we see you in full peace enjoy every man his Estate and the fruit of his Labour I will not mince the Matter to you by denying all we can shall be done for destroying your Religion but with exception of your Persons and Estates which shall be spar'd Is not this fair and ought you not to rest satisfi'd Hug. Law Ought we not to rest satisfi'd say you Sure Sir you take us for People whose God is their Belly who believe not a future State but place all their happiness in present enjoyments The Principal is taken from us our Religion and the Liberty of our Consciences and you would have us remain content with the residue And what is that residue you say shall not be meddled with Our Estates and our Persons Are not our Persons meddled with when they exercise a thousand Cruelties and commit infinite Outrages to make us change our Religion when they strip us of all means to live when they reduce us to a necessity of starving or turning by declaring us uncapable of employment and excluding us from all Offices and Professions and from the exercise of all Trades we could get a lively-hood by When Gibbets were set up in every corner to hang us on and Fires kindled for burning us we were allow'd the choice of going to Mass or of dying Are we not reduc'd now to the same choice by their taking from us all means of living Are we not in as bad a Condition as heretofore We must dye or change our Religion 'T is true the death now propos'd is not hanging or burning as formerly but I am not yet resolv'd whether is more eligible to dye in a moment on a Gibbet or pine to death by a long train of Miseries Par. You are not wanting to your selves in setting out to the height the misery of your condition But leaving out the figures and aggravations of your pathetical Descriptions the rest will signifie little Hug. Law Do you call it Figure and Aggravation to be in our condition expecting every day the thunder-bolt of a new Arrest for demolishing our Churches and depriving us of the Liberty of worshipping God Almighty You complain to this day of the Outrages committed upon your Churches and Images in the heat of the Civil War If our Churches were destroy'd by Violences as those we should have the Comfort of being able to preach on the Ruins of them and hope to see them rebuilt when the Kingdom should be at peace But we lose all not only our present Possession but all hopes for the future We are forc'd to grieve at heart for Calamities for which there is no Remedy I say to grieve at heart for 't is Criminal for us to make the most innocent complaint Perish we must and under a Formality and appearance of justice Be our Defence never so good what evidence soever we produce in our favour we are still in the wrong our Possession is unjust and hath no right to ground it They are not satisfi'd with taking away our Estates but they brand us for Usurpers How prodigiously bold is the Libel in your hand to challenge us to shew one Church demolish'd that was a Church at the time limited by the Edict when nothing can be more notorious than that of the great number of places of Religious Exercise lately interdicted perhaps there are not two that can be any way suspected to have been set apart for that use since the Edict of Nants This is clear by the Tables of our Ancient Synods where we find a greater Number by half of places for Religious Worship than we have at this day We had them at the time the Edict was made else how could they appear in Acts of the Synods past at that time By the Edict we are to continue in peaceable Possession of all we then had and what we then had is now taken from us contrary to the express terms of the Edict and all the rights of Possession and Prescription For besides their Arrests ex parte wherein they pretend we have Liberty to make our Defence yet condemn us unheard they extort from his Majestys Declarations that ruine us that reduce us to Extremity and run us into Despair Par. Pray Sir which are those ruining Declarations Hug. Law I need not tell you Sir what they are They are too publick to escape the knowledg of a Person so well acquainted as you are with the World There are Volumes made of them and our good friends of the Clergy cram their Studies with Collections of them They set up the Title of them in Triumph Arrests pass'd against the Hugonots by the Solicitation of the Clergy of France Our late Calamities are so grievous they make us forget the former Do but call to mind the Declarations published against us within twelve months last past and you will see whether our Complaints are but figurative and pathetick Aggravations Par. Those Declarations are not very many Hug. Law They are not quite as many as the weeks in a year but half a dozen more such would quite undo us Have we no cause think you to complain of the Declaration that orders the Judges or others appointed for that purpose to go visit our sick at the point of death to know what Religion they will dye in Par. What harm in that Every man may die of what Religion he please Those that visit you put no force upon you but ask you a Question or two and leave you Hug. Law The fault I find with it is that it opens a gap for all sorts of Seduction and Violence By the
protested she had been surpriz'd and could not live in the Religion they had newly made her embrace Having made this Declaration she was put into a Covent where she found a Well into which she threw her self Such are the natural Consequences of the Declarations procur'd against us Par. If this be true why do you not complain Justice will be done you Hug. L. Justice Sir Of whom shall we demand it Of the Magistrate in whose presence these Outrages are done Of the Soveraign Courts Which take pleasure in making our Yoak the heavier Of the Ministry Who pretend they believe not a word we say Of the King Who will not give us the hearing Par. If this Declaration be executed with Moderation and Equity what cause to complain of it For since you are allow'd to live in quiet and at the end of your Life are ask'd only what Religion you will dye of what can be more clear than that without any intention of Ruining you great care is taken of your Salvation and that it is heartily wish'd for Hug. Law Can you believe Sir that those who have solicited and surpriz'd his Majesty to make this Declaration have done it out of Love to our Souls and Care of our Salvation I make no doubt but use was made of that very pretence to induce the King to it His Majesty being uncapable of a base thought or mean design But I am too fully convinc'd those who first suggested it to the King have very small care of the Salvation of our Souls There are many of them have no care of their own how then should they take care of other mens Others of them have such animosity against us that if they saw us at Hell-gate and had it in their power to thrust us in they would certainly do it But to speak in cold blood Let me perswade you on this occasion to make use of your usual Sagacity How can you imagine those who solicited this Declaration aim'd at the Salvation of mens Souls Why should they think that a man who all his Life long hath been of the Reform'd Religion should desire at his death to turn Roman Catholick If this man had had any such thought it should have been made appear in his Life 'T is far better living than dying in your Religion For that which you call Conversion makes a man capable of Imployment and Office it opens him the way into Dignities and great places to Gain and great Fortune What can be more evident than that a man dispos'd to turn Catholick would for the reason I have intimated not stay till his death but do it in his life-time and as early as he could But a man in his life hath perhaps a care of his reputation or is clogg'd with Interests that oblige him to dissemble but at his death he slights such respects he breaks all such bonds knowing that though he hath lived for others he must die for himself This were a good Argument in a Country where the Roman Catholick Religion is prohibited but in France where it is predominant where it makes use at this time of its advantages with a high hand a man hath all encouragement imaginable with all the freedom he can wish and probable hopes of extraordinary recompence to declare at any time his inclinations to quit our Religion Perhaps those Gentlemen were of opinion that God inspires many people at the hour of their death who should they recover would constantly follow the notions they are then inspir'd with True it is Sir you know we live in an Age of Miracles and extraordinary Inspirations We find them very numerous Most of those who persecute us have great faith for Inspirations In a word if this Declaration extended only to those who in their life have made appear some inclination to alter their Religion it might be thought the desire of their salvation occasioned these visits But these visits are made to all without exception to them who all their life-long have been most firm and resolv'd I would gladly know what new illumination an old firm Hugonot can be suppos'd to have from a plain single question ask'd by a Magistrate in a civil and gentle manner and if none whether there be not some other design in the business Is the asking of such a question look'd upon as a powerful instrument of the Holy Spirit for the conversion of an Heretick Have we any Presidents of Conversion by such means 'T is clear then that the Declaration strictly pursued according to the Letter is not of any use to make a man change his Religion and it is equally clear that they who sollicited that Declaration being men of sense did not in the least design by it the conversion of dying men or the salvation of their Souls Par. I would fain know what other design they could propose to themselves in it Hug. Law 'T is not hard to guess the Clergy hath a design to load us with miseries and to render our Religion odious to us by a multitude of calamities attending it The happiness of Mankind here on Earth consists in the pleasures of Life and Liberty to die quietly they have already found out a thousand ways to render our lives miserable and unpleasant and invent every day new means to continue them so there wanted nothing but a means to trouble us at our death to make our yoke insupportable And they have hit upon 't in this Declaration Besides having very small hopes of converting as they call it Fathers or Mothers or any person at the age of discretion they levell'd their design against Children and Infants To compass this they could not have invented a more effectual means than that they are furnish'd with by this Declaration whereby if they can but make believe a man died a Roman Catholick they make themselves Masters of all the Children he left under age To bring this about it was necessary to open a passage to the Beds of the Dying it was necessary to have liberty of entrance into any house which could not be had without the authority of the Soveraign the Kings goodness permitted him not to grant all they desired and had obtain'd by the Declaration in 1666. since revok'd in part and in part mitigated by that of 1669. which was that the Curates should have liberty to enter any house to perswade the Sick to change their Religion They attempted afresh to revive this Article but disappointed of their ends they rested satisfied with what was granted them which was that the Judges should go into the houses of the Sick to know what Religion they desir'd to die in they thought it sufficient for their purpose if they could by any means get mens doors open after which they would take the liberty to enter whether leave were granted them or not It hath happen'd accordingly for this we see is the course taken which puts the Sick into horrible agonies and their Families into terrible frights
Hug. Gent. I see you are of their opinion who hold they have a design to seize upon our Children Hug. Law Alas Sir can you doubt of it if the Declaration against the dying had not sufficiently convinc'd you if the Arrest that prohibits the Midwives of our Religion to lay any woman if the permission granted to the Midwives of the Roman-Catholick Perswasion to baptize our Infants as soon as they are born had not given you cause enough to support it I believe you will not require clearer demonstration than the late Declaration so much talk'd of by which they are impowr'd to take from us our Children at Seven years old A terrible Declaration to Fathers and Mothers A Declaration will make us take the resolution to throw our selves at the Kings feet to beg of him that he will take away our lives or allow us the liberty of our Conscience and our Children or leave to go naked out of his Kingdom to live dispers'd through all Countries of the world till we pine to death Par. The Declaration orders no more than that at Seven years old Children shall be of age to choose their Religion Is this such a matter to be exclaim'd at The Declaration of the Children shall be receiv'd but no violence offer'd them Hug. Law Is this a matter to be exclaim'd at say you Pray Sir shew me in History one Example of such a Persecution one President of a Grievance of this nature that denies Parents the liberty to instruct their Children in their Religion Was it ever heard of that Children should have power given them to make choice of their Religion at an age they are incapable to distinguish between black and white an age to be perswaded to any thing with a Plum or an Apple an age to which the best Arguments are the finest Rattles to play with No Violence say you shall be offer'd the Children Is it not a violence and wrong to the Parents to have their Children seduc'd and taken away from them What need of Violence to be us'd against Children of that Age which are easily perswaded to any thing The Violence is done to the Parents whose Children shall be taken away from them as soon as seduc'd to declare themselves inclin'd to be Roman Catholicks In a word On what account soever Children shall be forceably taken out of the Bosoms of their Mothers never to return Can you call it a small Matter a slight Business against which there is no cause to exclaim Par. Once more I affirm it the Declaration says not your Children shall be taken from you Hug. Law I confess it does not Yet they who are entrusted with the Execution of it will do it And the Declaration was desir'd and obtain'd for no other end Shall I prophesie to you the issue of this Declaration as I have been your Historian in giving you an account of the Consequences of that which concerns the sick It shall be presently given out there is no Violence design'd Order shall be given by word of mouth to the Magistrates not to permit any to be done The Priests in a while will not at all regard these Prohibitions though perhaps at first they will observe some measures and content themselves it may be with engaging by Oath in Confession all the Women particularly those of mean condition as the Servants in our Families to endeavour all they can to seduce the Children by Promises and private Instructions and all other means useful to that purpose For a Hobby-horse a Child will be made to say he hath a mind to go to Mass Two Witnesses shall be ready to swear it The Child shall presently be taken away never to be seen again by the Parents Yet they must pay an extraordinary rate for the Board and Instruction of the Children taken away Thus will they kill two Birds with one stone take away the Children and ruine the Parents to force them by Poverty to quit their Religion In a short time they will proceed farther they will find a pretence to enter our Houses They will have receiv'd News from very good hands the Children have a great inclination for the Catholick Religion but that their Parents are harsh to them for it They will enter by Authority from the Magistrate and 〈◊〉 out the Parents and Relations Having the Children alone they will say what they please The holy Spirit will inspire them in a moment and dissipate those thick Mists of Calvinism that darkned their tender understandings It will on the sudden make them so clear sighted they will in a moment discover all Catholick Truths and must presently be lock'd up in Cloysters to be educated there till they come to maturity sufficient to resist a Father and Mother and proof to the perswasions of Friends and influence of Relations Par. This I grant is already so obvious that I shall make no scruple to acknowledg it You perhaps may be permitted to dye in your Religion but care shall be taken to bring up your Children better And this is the principal means to be us'd for destroying your Sect. Hug. Law We see it very clearly Sir The Arrest against our Midwives that which orders the Magistrate to visit our sick and this last Declaration have put it out of doubt and you call this Sir 'T is a Proceeding you will be puzzl'd to parallel in the most barbarous Countries and Ages of the World It violates the most sacred and most venerable Laws It ruins the Foundation of Authority by destroying the Paternal which is the most Ancient the most Just the most Venerable and the ground of all other Probably Sir you have seen the Memoires and Petition we presented to the King on this Subject The many injustices of that Declaration are so fully made out by the Petition I mention'd I will forbear enlarging on them here They are Injustices that fly in our Faces Can we be silent where nature speaks Is there a greater cruelty than to rob Parents of their Children 'T is a mutilation that puts us to ineffable Torment 'T is an usage unthought of in the Age of Torture and Massacre And will you say still we have no cause to complain we are not put to extremities You may believe Sir that in taking away our Children they tear our very Bowels And that the Punishments we formerly endur'd are nothing to this The Consequences of it you will see surprizing and horrible The tenderness of Mothers the Sentiments of Religion and the Fury of Anger mixt together are a Compound capable to produce terrible Effects I fear you may see examples of Fury equal to those of the Jewish Women who finding their Children were to be forc'd from them to be baptiz'd destroy'd both the Children and themselves to prevent it 'T is a new kind of Torment will dispeople France more than all the Massacres of the last Age For all those among us who love their Religion will certainly endeavour to save
telling a story which probably I know better than you I have Friends in Poitou who inform me of all and am well acquainted with the Deputies of the Province I believe I know some Circumstances you may be ignorant of Hug. Law I shall most willingly give you the hearing Sir if these Gentlemen will do so too Hug. Gent. First then you are to know that the Publisher of the Gazetts swells extremely the number of these Converts If you account them half or two thirds of what the Gazett speaks you may perhaps account them more numerous than they are But the falseness of the Calculation is not the thing I intend principally to insist on I confess the number of the Revolted is prodigious and that so many Persons have in so short a time chang'd their Religion without Instruction without Preaching without Disputes without knowing why is perhaps a thing not to be parallell'd in any Age. But that you may cease admiring at it I must acquaint you with the whole matter First you are to know that the Province of Poitou is the heaviest charg'd with Taxes of any in the Kingdom and consequently the poorest Nothing can be poorer than the Peasants there I need not tell you that meanness of Condition abases the Spirits and takes away mens Courage it dulls their Wit puts out the very light of their Understanding and makes men degenerate almost into Beasts For ten years last past effectual Orders have been given that the Peasants living at distance from considerable Towns should not be instructed their Churches have been rac'd and their Ministers taken away Ignorance joyn'd with the extreme Misery of their Condition and Slavery hath made them Brutish and capable not only of meanest thoughts but the most base Actions The Intendant Marillac a Person who had not thriven very well in the World applyes himself to the Bigots the Jesuits and their Patriarch Father La Chaise for repairing his broken Fortune This man according to the Orders of those he had sold himself to began at first with the lesser Temptations That is he walk'd through the Province with his Purse in one hand and his Sword in the other But at last the Myrmidons he had pick'd out for his assistants with some pitiful Priests pass'd from Village to Village entring every House beginning with Threats and ending with Promises They told the poor Wretches the King would have but one Religion in his Kingdom that whoever refus'd to turn Catholick should be us'd with the utmost Severity and Rigor But those who would change their Religion should be well paid and live at their ease Accordingly they fall a bargaining with those rascally Wretches some valued themselves higher than others One among the rest held out stoutly several days for ten Groats they offer'd him a Pistol he stood out stifly and would not bate them a Farthing of four Crowns At last they gave him his price This shameful Trade was driven in so scandalous a manner that these Convertors had provided a multitude of Printed Acquittances with Blanks for the Names and the Sums which Blanks were fill'd with the Names of the new Converts and the Sums they receiv'd in order to the giving an account to the Treasurers of the Chamber of Accounts of the Conversion whereof the Sieur Pelision is President These Sums amounted not to much for some of the Converts had not above sevenpence wrapt up in a piece of Paper But for recompence immediately after their Conversion they were discharg'd of Taxes and freed from Quartering Souldiers and all publick Payments On this Rock split a great number of those Wretches who fear'd the sight of the Collectors of Taxes as of so many Devils and look'd upon the Priviledge of exemption from payments as their Soveraign Good and chiefest Felicity You may hear the account the Gazett gives how those Conversions were made I have in my Pocket that of the 25th of April 1681. 'T is in the Article of Poitiers The Sieur Marillac Intendant of this Province applying himself continually with a great deal of Zeal to the work of Conversion arriv'd the 28th of the last month at St. Sauvan with the Sieur Rabreüil Vicar-General to our Bishop He receiv'd there advice of importance concerning those of the Religion and went away the 20th from St. Sauvan to hasten to the place from whence he had the News He receiv'd there the abjuration of an incredible number of Persons Afterwards they return'd to Poitiers and the Bishop much affected with the fruit of this Voyage sent Missionaries into those parts to instruct the New Converts Hug. Law Perhaps Gentlemen you observe not how new this Method of Conversion is I assure my self in all your reading Sir you have scarce met with any such Convertors Our Saviour understood not this way of Conversion For had he known what belongs to it instead of his twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples he would have sent so many Intendants such as the Sieur Marillac All the World would have been Christian To trouble our selves with Preaching to the Peasants that 's filly piece of business Shew them Money in one hand and a Cudgel in the other you make them Saints in a quarter of an hour and shall convert more in a month than St. Paul with his Preaching ever did in twelve Heretofore in those simple Ages of Primitive Christianity men made it their business to instruct before Conversion to make them know and believe before they made Profession and often Catechis'd them several years before they were admitted to the Mysteries of Religion But the Gazettier tells us Monsieur Marillac understands better the Mystery of Conversion he knows how to convert numbers in a trice and afterwards sends Missionaries to instruct them Hug. Gent. Pray Sir Let us not make it a Subject of Mirth those of our Party have no cause to laugh at it but to shed Tears and Tears of Blood Monsieur Marillac hath no been always so careful as the Gazettier tells us I know from good hands those wretched Converts who have been made to abjure their Religion have not been at all instructed A Gentleman of Quality a Roman-Catholick assur'd me the other day with an Oath that being at the Intendants he saw there about two hundred Peasants who were come purposely to complain they knew not what Prayers to make for they had been forbidden to say their old Prayers and not taught any other so that since they had been compell'd to be Catholicks they had no Religion at all The bishop of Poitiers one day in good Company rally'd these Conversions calling those new Catholicks Monsieur Marillac's Converts But this is not all The Intendant Marillac having tasted the sweet of these Conversions and finding Promises and Threats ineffectual to bring about as many as he desir'd resolv'd to make use of more violent Means He and his Agents had quickly scumm'd off out of our Society those base Souls who had no Sentiment of Religion and
afraid to stain the Memory of his Father for if some may be credited he was about to have an information put in against him and to have his bones burnt as an Heretick And that he forbore this proceeding for no other reason than that his Father had been an Heretick he was thereby devested of his Estates and consequently had no right to resign them to his Son Philip indeed appear'd a great Zealot for his Religion But if you will believe the Germans the terrible hatred he had against the Protestants proceeded not so much from his love to the Catholick Church as from his violent resentment against the Lutheran Confederates who oppos'd the Design of Charles the 5th to make him associate of the Empire with Ferdinand his Brother whose Successor in the Empire Philip aspir'd to be But to return to our Subject I say the Germans fought for their Religion and Liberty by Power inherent in the Princes of the Empire who are as much Masters of their States as the Emperor of his Maurice of Saxony effected what Frederick could not He recovered the Liberty of Germany and broke the Yoke under which it groan'd Having thus justifi'd the Protestants of Germany I know of no other but the States of the United Provinces who are charg'd to have chang'd their Religion to set up and maintain a new form of Government Par. Ah! Sir as for them I advise you for your credit not to engage in their defence 'T is so publickly notorious they were Subjects of Spain and that in changing their Religion they chang'd their Master by as plain a Rebellion as ever was in the World I am so much your Friend I would not have you undertake their Cause Hug. Law No Sir I will not undertake it Grotius de antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae 'T is done to my hand Read what the learned Grotius hath writ of the Original and Government of the Provinces of the Low-Countreys Read their Historians read ours You will find these People never were absolutely Subjects of Spain that the Earls of Holland never were their absolute Masters that the Government was mix'd partly Aristocratical partly Monarchick These Historians will tell you the Provinces of the Low-Countries were reform'd long before they took up Arms against the King of Spain that in the first Wars there was an equal if not a greater number of Roman-Catholick than of Protestant Lords and Towns engag'd against the Catholick King That the States chose the Duke of Alanson a Son of France a Roman-Catholick for their Master That before that Election they had submitted themselves to Arch-Duke Matthias a good Roman-Catholick You will see there that the horrible Cruelties of the Duke of Alva fore'd this poor People beyond the bounds of patience That Tyrant boasted he had destroy'd by the hands of the common Executioner eighteen thousand Persons and had made the Confiscations of the Condemn'd amount to eight millions of Gold yearly You may if you please read in Mezeray's Abridgement who is neither Hollander nor Hugonot Ann. 1557. That before the Duke of Alva left Spain they arrested the Marquess of Berguen and Floris de Mentmorency Montigny who were gone from the States of the Low-Countries to make their Remonstrances to King Philip The former dyed of grief or was poison'd the other was Beheaded though both were good Roman-Catholicks By which it appear'd the Councel of Spain had form'd their design against the Liberty of the Low-Countries as much at least as against their new Religion If you have a mind to hear any more of the Low-Country Wars let us read Mezeray in the same place This year said he They make the beginning of the Low-Country Wars which lasted till the Peace of Munster without intermission other than that of the Truce agreed by the mediation of Hen. 4th The fear of the Inquisition was the principal Cause of the War The Inquisition was extremely pernicious and insupportable to the Flemings for besides the two violent rigors it exercis'd against those who had embrac'd the new Opinions it broke off all Commerce c. The very Clergy was no less displeas'd at it for the seven newly erected Bishopricks taken out of the Metropolitan Diocesses of Rhemes Treves and Cologne and the Bishopricks of Liege and Munster because they had appropriated to these new erected Bishopricks the richest Abbies of the Low-Countries and bestow'd them on Prelates at the Devotion of the Councel of Spain So that under pretence of maintaining the ancient Religion the Spaniards labour'd to establish an absolute Dominion in Provinces which owe but a limited Obedience according to their Laws and their Priviledges This Sir was the true source of these Wars wherein not only the Lay-subjects of both Religions but the Roman-Catholick Clergy of the Low-Countries were engag'd against the King of Spain for the preservation of their Liberty Read Strada whom you cannot suspect of partiality in our favour and you will discover through all the Disguisements of that Author that it was not Religion but the Cruelty of the Spanish Government was the sole Cause of the revolt of those Provinces If all this will not satisfie you I will give you leave Sir to brand the memory of our Kings who maintain'd the Rights of these Provinces thought their Cause just and supported them against the enterprizes of a Master who had lost his just Rights of Lawful Soveraignty over them by endeavouring to be their Tyrant Par. I see we shall never agree in this point We were better return to our Civil Wars of France wherein those of your Religion have spilt so much Blood and appear'd always of a Spirit inclin'd to Rebellion Hug. Law If you think we have nothing to say for our selves you are very much mistaken Sir We have so many things to answer we know not what Method to put them in nor how to comprehend them in few words The Wars you would charge us with as a Crime have been Civil Wars of the same nature with others rais'd in the Bowels of a State by the discontent of the People and the jealousie of the great ones to which Religion was but an accidental ingredient This Sir I undertake to prove evidently by History But before I enter on that I beg leave to make some Reflections Is it not a great piece of injustice in those who read the History of the last Age to fix their eyes on those thirty years only which pass'd between the death of Henry the 2d and that of Henry the 3d. without taking notice of the forty years elaps'd during the Raign of Francis the 1st and Henry the 2d If they charge us with having been engag'd in the Civil Wars those thirty years ought they not to commend the patience we had for forty years before Admit it we were afterwards more impatient than we ought however 't is true that for almost half an Age we patiently endur'd unheard of Cruelties without seeking any
which was verified in all the Parliaments The Constable 't is known was the Favourite of Henry the second who lov'd him to that degree that after his misfortune and imprisonment unfortunate as he was yet at his return to Court the King made him lie in his own bed But his Absence was fatal to him and his Family The Duke of Guise render'd himself necessary to the King and as Mezeray says the misfortune of France was the happiness of the Duke of Guise and the fall of the Constable was his Exaltation The Duke of Guise had in all his Enterprizes the success every one knows He recovered Calais from the English he took Thionville he married his Niece the Queen of Scots to the Dauphin who was afterwards Francis the second Fortune abandon'd the Constable and sided with the Duke of Guise Read the words of Mezeray from that very time the jealously between these two Houses tended to the forming two contrary Parties in the Kingdom as will appear This is the first Seed of the Civil War wherein Religion had not any part Thence forward the House of Guise us'd all its power to destroy Montmorency's Party The Duke met with the pretence of Religion luckily by the way Admiral Chatillon and Dandelot his Brother the Constables Nephews were suspected the Spaniards increas'd the Suspition by saying that at the taking of St. Quintin they found Heretical Books amongst Dandelots Baggage Henry the second being a violent Persecuter caused him to be arrested and committed him Prisoner to Blaise de Montluc a Creature of the Duke of Guise this was a matter agreed on by the Guises and the Spaniards with design to weaken the Constable by the loss of his Nephews But they miss'd their aim the Constables favour brought Dandelot clear off and gain'd him his Liberty And the Authority of Henry the second kept the two Parties in an appearance of Peace during the rest of his life which was not long but in the beginning of the Reign of Francis the second the Discord broke out Mezeray will tell you in the beginning of this Reign the cause of the Civil War A Multitude of Princes says he and of puissant Lords is an infallible cause of Civil War when there wants Authority powerful enough to keep them within the bounds of their duty This was the misfortune of France after the death of Henry the second From the time of his death the Factions form'd during his Reign began to appear and to fortify them the more unhappily met with different Parties in Religion a great number of Male-Contents who long'd for change and which is more many Soldiers and Officers of War who having been disbanded were desirous of Employment at any rate Methinks that by this Relation Religion is not the cause of the Troubles but the cause of them were the Factions of Princes and great Lords who meeting with Parties differing in Religion made use of them to serve their designs In the same place that Author makes it appear the two Parties fought not for Religion but for Empire On the one side were the Princes of the Bloud and the Constable On the other the Princes of the House of Guise and between both the Regent who by turns made use of one to beat down and destroy the other that she might Reign The Princes of Guise having got into their hands the Person of Francis the second a weak Prince governed under his Authority in a tyrannical manner The Princes of the Bloud Antony and Lewis de Bourbon who ought to have had the management of Affairs during the Kings Minority could not endure that Strangers should enjoy an Authority and Honour belonging of right and properly to them These Princes were ill us'd Antony of Bourbon King of Navar came to Court but was slighted they did not so much as give him a Lodging and he might have lain on the Pavement had not the Marshal of St Andrew receiv'd him The Princes began with the Pen and caused several Writings to be publish'd to make it appear that the Laws of the State admit neither Women nor Strangers to the Government that during the Minority of the Kings this honour belongs to the Princes of the Bloud That the Guises were not natural French that it was dangerous to commit to them the Government of the State because of their Pretensions on the Kingdom in saying they were descended from Charlemaign At last Lewis of Bounbon Prince of Conde resolv'd upon a dangerous attempt to gain Possession of his Rights which the weakness of his Brother the King of Navarr abandon'd and gave up to the Princes of Guise He design'd to seize the Person of King Francis the second and remove the Guises from Court The Admiral and Dandelot were of the Party and the Prince of Conde was the Head But because the success of the Enterprize was doubtful they would not appear in it La Renaudie was intrusted with the management of this great design which goes under the name of the Conspiracy of Amboise which our Church-man whose Book you have in your hand makes such a noise about there cannot be a greater injustice then to charge our Hugonots with this Affair 'T is certain there were ingag'd in that business as many Roman Catholicks as Hugonots or if the number of Hugonots were greater it was because there were more Male-Contents of their Party the Chancellor de l' Hospital was one I have read in good Authors that La Renaudie was a Roman Catholick yet I will not undertake to justifie it 'T is agreed on all hands that all the Officers who had receiv'd Indignities at Court and been unjustly expell'd thence engag'd themselves in the Enterprise to be reveng'd of the Princes of Guise There was at Court says Mezeray a great number of Persons out of all the Provinces particularly Soldiers and Officers of War demanding Pay or Reward The Cardinal of Lorrain who had the management of the Finances was much troubled with them and apprehended a Conspiracy in their multitude This made him publish an Edict commanding that all those who followed the Court to demand any thing should retire on pain of being hang'd on a Gibbet which was publickly set up for that purpose A great part of those who had serv'd in the Armies disgusted with this Indignity turn'd against the Cardinal Thus you have an account of what persons that Party was compos'd which would have destroyed the Princes of Guise where there appears so sensible and so clear a cause of Revolt 't is not worth our pains to go in search of a hidden one On the one side the Rights of the Princes of the Bloud which they were resolv'd to maintain on the other side the design to be reveng'd of the grossest affront that ever was put on Persons of Quality by setting up a Gibbet to hang them on for no other cause but that they desir'd to be paid for the bloud they had lost are so visibly the
Maxims than a time when they assur'd themselves and were fully perswaded they should find a King of their Religion in the Person of his Royal Highness 'T is true the King of England hath been favourable to them in tolerating them but they were notsatisfy'd with this and having lost all hopes of prevailing with him to turn Roman Catholick they look'd upon his Life as a great Obstacle to their Designs for it made them lose time and they had reason to fear the Protestants in the interim might discover the design so that it was their interest speedily to make away a King who possess'd the place of him from whom they promis'd themselves a full re-establishment of the Roman Catholick Religion in England Recollect the Evidence add to it the Letters and Memoirs that were seiz'd and the Murder of Godfrey and I will justify it a man must have the Forehead of a Jesuit to deny there was a Plot. The Memoirs and Letters are very numerous you may read them in the printed Tryals particularly you will find a great Collection of them printed with Stafford's Tryal But pray Sir remember Coleman's Letter I spoke to you of last year that alone is enough to stop the mouths of those who dare say this Plot is an invention of the Protestants To which Calumny we will constantly oppose as an impenetrable Buckler the words of that Letter acknowledg'd by Coleman to be his We have here a mighty work upon our hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a Pestilent Heresy which has domineer'd over great part of this Northern World a long time Coleman 's Tryal pag. 69. I said not a word t' you of another Letter as plain as this which you may see in Ireland's and Grove's Tryals where you will find words to this effect Every one had notice not to make too much hast to London nor to be there long before the day appointed nor to appear much in the Town before the Congregation was ended for fear of giving cause to suspect the Design This Letter doth not tell us what was the design of this famous Assembly but it lets us see they had some great design in hand and the Plot being discover'd at the same time 't is not hard to guess what it was It hath been prov'd before the House of Commons that upon the first discovery of the Plot one of the Lords accus'd to have had a hand in it writ to another of the same Lords then in Staffordshire that their designs were discover'd and that he should use his best endeavours to conceal all such their Catholick Friends as were concern'd in that affair This Letter was found by a Justice of the Peace in the house of that Lord to whom it was directed upon the search made for Arms in Roman Catholick houses and was produc'd to the Commons in Parliament with all the Witnesses to whom it was shew'd the moment it was found Hug. Law You have reason to wish Gentlemen that my Friend here had not been any better instructed than formerly in these matters but had still continued under his mistake that Oates and Bedlow had not chang'd their Religion but remain'd Roman Catholicks after the Plot discover'd for the pains he hath taken to inform himself have made him acquainted with many particulars which cannot please you since they make it clearly appear there was a Plot. Par. We might have easily known all this already being taken all out of those Tryals printed in several Languages but since you make use of them you will allow me to do so and give me leave to ask you whether the clearing of Wakeman the Queen of England's Physitian be not an evident proof that all your Witnesses are false Witnesses For they are in effect no other Oates and Bedlow charg'd Wakeman to have treated for fifteen thousand pounds for poysoning the King Here are two Witnesses enough to Condemn a Man Here is in question one of the principal Crimes laid to the charge of the pretended Conspirators their design to make away the King yet this man is acquitted by his Judges It necessarily follows your two famous Witnesses were taken for false Witnesses and if they were not to be credited against Wakeman why should they be credited against the rest Hug. Law Do not say Sir that the clearing of Sir George Wakeman is a proof of his innocence or of the falshood of the Evidence say rather that the Chief Justice who sate at that Tryal hath been since impeach'd before the Peers of England in Parliament and had the Parliament continued sitting perhaps that Judge had smarted for it The King was not very well satisfy'd of Wakeman's innocence after his Acquittal For that Poyson Merchant having had the confidence to appear at Court after his enlargement the King caus'd him to be turn'd out with shame Par. There is one thing sticks still very hard with me as to this Plot that of twelve or fifteen Persons who have been executed for the pretended Conspiracy not one confest himself guilty in the least When Men are ready to appear before God the Mask falls off it self the fear of Hell softens the hardness of their hearts You shall not see a Malefactor but discharges his Conscience at his death if some of them were hardned enough to deny to the death yet sure one or other of them would have confess'd something but there hath not been one of them who did not protest to the last he was innocent Consider after what manner dy'd Stafford and Plunket the Primate of Ireland who were Persons of Honour and Quality Hug. Law It surprizes me Sir to hear you make their obstinate Silence an Argument of their innocence every day we see Criminals who to save their Credit and have the pleasure of saying they dye innonocent resist the most violent Tortures Yet you cannot comprehend how Men who have long fortify'd their Courage and prepar'd for an Enterprize the most dangerous that may be have the power to keep till death a Secret on which depends not only their Honour but the preservation of all the Roman Catholicks in England Had they confess'd themselves Guilty they must have named their Complices and in so doing they would have destroy'd an infinite number of People and render'd their Religion abominable in the World by making it appear it inspires into its Votaries such horrible Sentiments and gives Birth to such furious designs These Considerations are of weight and strength sufficient to keep the weakest of Men from revealing a Secret of this importance When the Powder-Plot was discover'd in 1605. not one of the Conspirators confest and nothing had ever been prov'd upon them out of their own mouths had not the Judges had the ingenuity to cause Garnet and Hall to be imprison'd in two Dungeons where they could speak to one another and in the Wall between the Dungeons there was a place they plac'd
two Witnesses in who heard all the Prisoners said and gave so exact an Account of their Discourse that they confest all But would you know the cause they keep their Secrets so well 'T is the horrible Oath they impose on all those who enter into such Conspiracies Read Mezeray where I have left him open The last of January eight of the principal Conspirators were executed at London for High-Treason not one of them accus'd the Priests or the Monks for they were oblig'd to Secrecy by terrible Oaths To satisfy you fully in this particular I will let you see the form of the Oath administred to all those who entred into this last Plot. There is a Copy of it The Oath for the Plot in England I Whose Name is underwritten do in the presence of Almighty God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Blessed Arch-Angel Michael the Blessed St. John the Baptist the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all other the Saints in Heaven and of you my Ghostly Father declare from the bottom of my heart that I believe the Pope the Vicar-General of Iesus Christ to be the sole and only Head of the Church upon Earth and that by vertue of the Keys and the power of binding and looseing given to his Holiness by our Lord Jesus Christ he hath power to Depose all Heretick Kings and Princes to put them out of their Office or kill them And therefore I will from the bottom of my heart defend this Doctrine and the Rights of his Holiness against all sorts of Vsurpers especially against him who pretends to be King of England because he hath falsified his Oath made to the Agents of his Holiness by not keeping his promise to Establish the Holy Roman Catholick Religion in England I Renounce and Disavow all manner of Promise and Submission to the said present King of England and all obedience to his Officers and inferiour Magistrates and I believe that the Protestant Doctrine is Heretical and Damnable and that all those who do not forsake it shall be damned I will assist with all my power the Agents of his Holiness here in England to extirpate and root out the said Protestant Doctrine and to destroy the said pretended King of England and all those his Subjects who will not adhere to the Holy See of Rome and the Religion there profest Moreover I promise and declare that I will keep Secret and not divulge directly or indirectly by word or by writing or other Circumstance whatsoever what you my Spiritual Father or any other engag'd in the advancement of this Holy and Pious Design shall propose and give me in charge and that I will diligently and constantly promote it and that neither hope of Reward nor fear of Punishment shall make me discover any thing relating thereto and that if I be discover'd I will never confess any Circumstance of it All these things I swear by the most Holy Trinity and by the Blessed Body of God which I intend to receive presently and that I will accomplish and inviolably perform them all and I call to Witness all the Angels and Saints of Heaven that such is my true intention In Witness whereof I receive the most holy and Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist Hug. Law Well Sir and what say you of this This comes from good hands from a great house allyed to that of England But had it fallen from the Clouds we might have known it by the Character had it been a forg'd piece it must needs have been made by a Roman Catholick and one deeply vers'd in the Cabal of these blind Zealots for there is not a Protestant and but few Roman Catholicks who understand the style and conduct of this Cabal with so much perfection as he must have done who should invent this form of an Oath And now Sir you may if you can draw from the silence of the Conspirators an Argument against the truth of the Plot. Par. Since you are so much for answering I should be very glad Sir to hear what you have to say to the business of my Lord Howard and the Earl of Shaftsbury This last will be shortly convicted of having suborn'd Witnesses against the Queen of England and the Duke of York to make them Complices in the Plot. May not he who would have suborn'd Witnesses against the Queen and first Prince of the Bloud be rationally presum'd to have suborn'd Witnesses against five or six pitiful Priests Hug. Law We hope Sir the innocence of the Earl of Shaftsbury will save him Perhaps it will be objected he may be more for a Republican Government than may befit the Subject of a Monarchy but we cannot believe him capable of the base actions he is charg'd with If he miscarry he will not be the first innocent person hath perish'd by the malice of false Witnesses Can any thing be clearer than that this Charge against him is a Counter-battery raised by your Catholicks Nothing can be more proper to make men suspect that all hath been said of the Plot is meerly fictitious than to produce men to testify Endeavours have been us'd to suborn them For if Endeavours have been us'd to suborn them why not to suborn others I wonder only this act of the Tragedy began so late 'T is true we may see something of it in Wakeman's Tryal and in Dugdale's Depositions For this Witness tells us he had seen a Letter sent from Paris to St. Omers from St. Omers to London from London to Tixal wherein it was advis'd That the Presbyterians should be accus'd of a Design against the King's Life which would oblige those of the Church of England to joyn with the Catholicks to destroy the Presbyterians Observe now the Event of this Counsel The Earl of Shaftsbury is look'd upon as the head of the Presbyterians the Presbyterians are the great Enemies of the Conspirators and labour with most Zeal the Discovery of the Plot. We must destroy their Credit say you and charge them with the blackest of Crimes and who are the Witnesses made use of against the Earl of Shaftsbury They are all Roman Catholicks Can you think it a hard matter in a business where the safety of a whole Party and of the Roman Religion is at stake to find five or six persons who will Sacrifice themselves to save the honour of their Religion and the Life of their Patriarchs And how do they Sacrifice themselves Their Ghostly Fathers perswade them that to bear false Witness against Shaftsbury the great Enemy of the Roman Church is so far from being an offence to God that they do him very considerable Service in it So that instead of one or two I believe they may find a hundred false Witnesses in this affair and this is the cause honest men are so much in fear for the Life of that Lord. But let us suppose things to be as you would have them let us put the Case that Shaftsbury is the most