that poor Prince they would have drawn in again all the Copies that had been made of the Consultation of the Pope and of that of Sorbonne but this English Chaplain who had turned Catholick would not restore his and he has communicated it since the return of the Family of the Stuarts to the Crown of England to several persons who are still alive and were Eye-witnesses of what I have now told you Par. I never heard this before But the English Calvinists not producing any authentick pieces to prove this accusation it may be looked upon as a Calumny Prov. My Hugonot Gentleman would not answer for it for he is very just However he added that what rendred it very probable is that this Conduct is a sequal of the Divinity of the zealous Catholicks of Spain Italy and even of France Moreover there are several Circumstances which render the thing apparent By example he that lately published this story had already once published it in the year 1662 to answer a little Book that insulted over the English Calvinists in that they had put to death their King The Divine who knew the story that I have related published it to prove that the Catholicks were guilty of the Crime which the Calvinists were accused of When this story came to light there was a great emotion in the House of the Queen-Mother of the King of England that House being full of Jesuits and even that great Lord who had lead the Jesuits to Rome and had made himself chief of that Conspiracy was one of the principal Officers of the House They immediately demanded Justice of the King by the means of the Queen-Mother for the outrage that he who had published this scandalous story had done them The Doctor offered to prove his Accusation and to produce his Witnesses who were still living The great Lord and Officer of the Queens House and the Jesuits seeing the resolution of this Man durst not push him on they only obtain'd from the King by the means of the Queen-Mother that he should be silenced You must avow that there are but few that are innocent who would have been so easie in so terrible an Accusation Besides it is certain that this Consultation of Rome has been seen by several persons If it is false it must have been forged by this Chaplain who was turned Catholick and who shewed it since now it must be confessed that this is not very likely However as all this is reduced to a single Witness my Gentleman acknowledged that the proof was not wholly in the forms but he stood much upon the late Conspiracy of England which was discovered two years ago by which half the Kingdom was to have had their Throats cut for the becoming Masters of the rest Par. You had a fine opportunity to stop him there for you know very well that our Catholicks maintain that it is a perfect Calumny invented by the Calvinists for the having an occasion to persecute the Catholicks The Jesuits of St. Omer have they not made appear that their Witnesses Oates and Bedlow are false Witnesses Prov. I did not fail to make him that reply but I avow to you that my Conscience did not permit me to rely much upon that Answer for to tell you the truth I am very much perswaded that it is false I know that the mistaken zeal and fury that the false Religion inspires are capable of a great many things I easily conceive that it might come into the head of forty of fifty false Zealots to lay a train for the ruine of the Party they would destroy but I shall never perswade my self that a whole Kingdom should enter into such a Conspiracy and that a Parliament composed of five or six hundred persons assembled from all the parts of a great State can enter unanimously into the Infernal Spirit of supposing such a Crime against Millions of Innocents for the having a pretext to persecute them And my old Hugonot who is full of fire and has a great deal of good sense took me up immediately with much vigour saying Is it possible that such a man as you can say such a thing Ah! leave such stories to the Jesuits of St. Omers they are accused it is not strange that they defend themselves and the action is so black and so detestable that they cannot do less than disavow it If it had had a happy success they would have been proud of it at present now they are discovered they deny it If there needs no more than denying to be justified never any one would be guilty They justifie themselves after a pretty manner they send about Certificates and Attestations to prove the Contradictions they impute to Oates which are things very hard to make and obtain In a severe Morality as is that of the Jesuits it is a great point for the persons who are instructed in their Schools to give false Certificates for the saving the Honour of all the Society of the Jesuits and even of all the Roman Church Though we had not the Tryals of Hill Green Berry Coleman Ireland Grove and Pickering which justifie the truth of that Conspiracy is it credible that there can be such wicked Judges as to condemn to death so many innocent persons If they had only had a design of dispatching those seven persons they had clandestine way to compass it But they must have renounced good Sense as well as Conscience to try openly and in the face of all Europe people whose innocence appearing to the eyes of all the Earth would have covered with shame and infamy those who should have condemned them If it be only a pretended quarrel against the Catholicks for the having a pretext to ruine them why are they not ruined All that has been spread abroad on this side the Sea are Fables It has not cost the life of one person besides these Wretches The Roman Catholicks have been for some time obliged to remove from London a very great punishment indeed for so detestable a Conspiracy I am certain that if such a Conspiracy of the Protestants has been discovered in France against the Catholicks which God forbid there would not be at this time one only Hugonot in the Kingdom and the People could not have been hindred from Massacring those who should have escaped from the rigours of the Justice The Murder committed in the person of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey the first Justice who took the Depositions and Particulars of the Conspiracy is so speaking and strong a proof that it alone is capable of confounding those who would charge the Protestants with the horrible Crime of having invented all that Tragedy for the aspersing the Roman Church What had that poor Justice done to merit the being assassinated Is it not clear that those Gentlemen who so well know how to make use of the Ponyard and the Knife had a mind to terrifie all the Judges and hinder them from pursuing an Inquest which should
Provinces taken so many Cities made so many Sieges and won so many Battels nothing can be more worthy of him and more capable of rendering the memory of his Reign Glorious than the re-uniting the Religions in France He has hearkned to it and will forget nothing for the accomplishment of this Design The King does not naturally love to vex his people and if he was left to act according to his inclinations things would not be carried on so violently but he is pushed on and is not left at quiet Prov. It is not however believed that violent means shall be employed that is to say Sword Fire and Banishment Par. If some Bigots were listened to nothing should be spared But the general vein of the Kingdom does not go so The King does not love violence Besides how weak soever a Party may be when it is pusht to extremity it is capable of giving a desperate blow It was not observed that this Conduct succeeded in the last age And in fine the King whose principle aim is to make himself formidable to his Neighbours does not design to depopulate his Countries And doubtless they would be considerably depopulated if the Hugonots were destroyed by the Sword or chased away by Banishment Prov. It is well known that the Kings Prospects are very opposite to those for he has made several Ordonnances to hinder his Subjects from leaving the Kingdom It is likely that the Hugonots have a very great share in them they are not allowed to go seek reâ—ose elsewhere They must stay and be exposed to the ills that are designed them and that they may at length change being wearied with so many Fatigues or invited by such hopes Par. It is so it is not to be dissembled See here then the manner by which it is pretended to compass the great Design of re-uniting them to the Church It has been observed by experience that there are two things that give root to Heresie in a State The first is the great Liberty that the Hereticks have of preaching their Doctrines The Second is the Conveniency of Life when they are suffered to live in a profound Peace and enjoy Charges Employes and all the other Dignities and Priviledges which the other Subjects enjoy Prov. It is certain when a man is born of a Religion and that he finds therein all the Repose Riches Pleasure and Honour that he could wish he has no great mind to change it how little zealous soever he may be Par. That 's true and therefore during fifty Years there was not so many Conversions seen as within these five Years The Edicts given in favour of the Hugonots by Henry the 4th and confirmed by his Successour Lewis the 13th granted them great Liberties In the Cities where they were most numerous they possessed one part of the Magistratures they had Chambers of the Edict in the Parliaments and likewise divided Chambers in the Provinces where they were most numerous They avoqued all their Causes to these Chambers that the zealous Catholick might not do them injustice They exercised all manner of honourable and gainful Professions with the same liberty as the Catholicks They were Counsellors and Attorneys at Law Physicians gathered in a Body of the Faculty They were received into Arts they carried on Trade they likewise entred into the Kings affairs as well as others In War no distinction was made between them and the Catholicks Nothing was considered but Merrit and Fidelity and Service and Courage They were received into all the Military Dignities and had Pensions They were Collonels Brigadeers Major-Generals Lieutenant-Generals and even Marshals of France commanding Armies in Chief On the other part as for what concerned the exercise of their Religion they very freely enjoyed what had been granted them They had places appointed from the time of the Edict for their Sermons Every Gentleman having High Justices was as a little Soveraign in his House He might assemble by the sound of the Bell all the Religionaries thereabouts he made a Parish in his House and no body disturbed him The Bishops were used to suffer those people in their Diocesses They had even engagements with the Principals of this Party The Hugonot Lord made no scruple of visiting my Lord the Prelate and the Prelate on the other part lookt with a good Eye upon the Hugonot Gentleman Thus they lived in a very great Peace But it was visibly perceived that the Heresie took deep root by the favour of that repose as ill Herbs are increased by the gentleness of the Spring Prov. The State the Kingdom had been in for a long time had without doubt contributed to the tranquility the Hugonots enjoyed A War of thirty Years with Spain a long Minority Civil Broiles and Forreign Affairs had hindered the thoughts of them Par. That is certain For after all our Kings who bear with justice the name of most Christian and Eldest Sons of the Church have never lost the design of destroying Hereticks But their Prudence has obliged them to suspend the use of the means they designed to make use of for that end Prov. As for Henry the 4th I do not think this can be said of him He had treated with them with sincerity He was of opinion he had received great services from them he had been a long time of their Religion He only quitted it that he might quite dissipate the League which covered it self with the Cloak of Catholicity And we very well know that this remnant of Inclination that he had preserved for them cost him his Life After his Death during the minority of Lewis the 13th and the Ministry of the Marquess d' Ancre the Affairs of Court and State were in such disorder that there were few thoughts of extirpating the Hugonots It is true that Cardinal Richlieu took from them their Cities of Surety but it was rather out of a Politick prudence than any zeal of Religion He saw that it was a State in a State and that those Cities were retreats for Rebels and the Discontented but in the bottom he sought not their ruin His engagements were too small with the Court of Rome and was too able a Politician to ruin a Party of whose Fidelity he might always be assured It may likewise be said with more assurance that Cardinal Mazarin never thought of extirpating Heresie The Good man though an Italian and a Neighbour of the Church had no great zeal for it Riches were his only Divinity It is very well expressed in one of his Epitaphs Si Coelum rapitur habet He never sought any other way to go to Heaven thâ—n that of Rapine Especially he never thought of this way to Heaven which is called the Conversion of Hereticks Besides his Ministry was attended with so many Traverses and he was so hard put to it to defend himself against so many Enemies that it cannot be imagined he had ever any other Prospects than such as tended to the establishment
and in the Canonique Books of the Old and New Testaments that our Subjects may not be filled with new Heresies According to this Article the Lieutenant-General of Xaintes has ordered that the Ministers of his Province should be obliged to make Oath before him and upon refusal he has forbidden them all Function of their Ministry to the very visiting the Sick To which several have imprudently submitted for it was very easie for them to have gone on and not have obeyed because it belongs only to the King and his Intendants of Justice to silence Ministers Prov. But why do the Hugonot Ministers make a difficulty of taking the Oath Par. Because that under pretext of the Oath that they should have taken of preaching nothing contrary to the Word of God they might have been hindred from preaching against the Catholick Religion You know very well that the points which separate Us from the Hugonots are in the Word of God and all our Doctors prove them by Scripture as well as by the Fathers and by Reason Besides by this means a Declaration was revived that is not favourable to them which was extinguished above an Age ago and which was likewise never executed In reviving one Article of it all the others were revived and likewise by renewing this Declaration they would have a right of recalling also all the others which were much more favourable to them They still add that it doth not belong to a little particular Judge to aggravate their Yoke that they live under the Priviledge of the Kings Edicts and that the King is their only Master in things that concern Religion But I must acquaint you with what has been imagined against them in Brittany which is well worth that of â—aintonge A Curate bethought himself to give out a 〈…〉 pain of Excommunication for the â—â—â—…ging his Parishioners to reveal all 〈◊〉 who had spoken irreverently of the Catholick Religion There was a prodigious number of Witnesses either false or true found who deposed against the Hugonots of those parts Insomuch that they were all obliged to fly to avoid Imprisonment I believe the place is called Quiatin it is a Lordship which belongs to the Family of the Moussays Prov. This Affair of Britany as well as that of Xaintonge brings into my mind another of Dauphine which has this in Common with those as to make appear that generally all that is done against those people comes from the same principle that we have already enough remarked that nothing is spared even to believe that it is a work grateful to God to impute to them false Crimes for the casting them into certain ruin But perhaps you know the Story as well as I it is what passed some years since in the pursuit of the Recollects of Nions have you not heard of it Par. Being one day by chance at the late Chancellour N's House I heard them talk of a Bell that the Religious would have taken from the Hugonots of that place and I also remember that they made so much noise with their Bell that the Counsel was stun'd But I know nothing more of it Prov. What I am going to relate to you has made much more noise than the Bell of Nions It came into those good Fathers Heads that the Minister of Vinsobres a small neighbouring Village of their Convent kept secret Correspondence with the English They so well represented this idle imagination to the Kings Attorney General of that Province that he immediately declared himself his Accuser The whole Parliament of Grenoble sell into this Snare one of the most able Counsellors of their Body was deputed Commissioner to inform incessantly upon the Places The Grand Provost took the Field with him followed by all the Company of Serjeants the Sieur B thus is the Ministers Name choosing rather to be a Bird of the Forrest than the Cage frighted at their March fled as soon as he had notice of it His Evasion fortified the suspicions that were given them of him They fanâ—â—â—â—l the Syndio of the Consistory might likewise be of the Party and that the Minister had done nothing without his Participation He was the Cock of the Parish and a man likewise very well to pass who at all adventures could pay the Fidlers His person was sâ—â—zâ—d without other form of Process He was conducted with Irons upon his Hands and Legs into the Conciergery of the Palace The people cryed every where against him all along the way He was to have been shâ—â—…ed alive at least and they sâ—â—…ck'd 〈◊〉 all parts to Grenoble to see the Execution but in fine Parturiunt Montes exit 〈◊〉 Mus. Par. How Did it all go into smoke Prov. Even so After they had examined the business there was found nothing in it and those that had been concerned were the Publick laughter The truth is that the Parliament in some manner to save their honour detained this Syndie two whole years in Prison but that time being expired he was released without being condemned or absolved The Door was opened to him one day when he least expected it And all the Fruit that was gathered from this 〈◊〉 Process was that this good man turned Catholick during his detention Par. This is pushing the zeal of Religion very far and becoming strangely ridiculous What likelihood is there that in Dauphine which is the farthest Province of France from England they should undertake to keep Intelligence with England while that in Guyenne and in Normandy which are its Neighbours they had no thoughts of it Neither can I conceive how that a Minister of a Village can be bold enough to undertake and able enough to carry on an Affair of that importance But were not these Recollects punished for their false Accusation Prov. They had no great thanks for having occasioned this Sally but what is to be done with people of the Frocks Their Excuse was their good intentions and they were freed with a small Reprimand that the Chief President de la Berchere made them who is certainly a Magistrate of the greatest Integrity and one of the best Servants the King has in France Par. And what became of the Minister was not he Condemned out of Contumacy Prov Very far from that he was suffered to take away his Goods an account of which had been taken and would have returned to his Village if that Tempest had not drove him into a good Port in Swizzerland He possesses a Post incomparably better than that of Vinsobres and these Reverend Fathers have procured him Riches and Repose without thinking on it Within these two years another Minister of the same Province has done as much The Religious of St. Anthony of Vienois persecuted him he retired into Holland where he was very well received Par. Is it not the Minister of who was seen rouling a long time at St. Germains and Verseilles after the Courts Taile I have heard it confusedly said that he was accused of Treason and detained