naked forc'd them to seek a lively-hood in forraign Regions and live on the Alms of people unknown endeavour to rob them of their sole support the reputation of their Innocence by perswading the World they are men of Rebellious Principles Enemies to Government particularly Monarchy This of all their Sufferings is the only one they are impatient of and could not submit to without a Defence My Lord The Sufferings of the French Protestants the injustice of their Persecution the ill consequences that may attend it and the clearing of their Loyalty are the principal Subjects of the following Discourses The three first particulars are peculiar to those of the Reformed Religion in France The last so far concerns the whole Protestant Party of Europe as the common Enemy charges them all with Principles of Rebellion The Author though he apply himself chiefly to vindicate the Reformed of France hath not forgot to add somewhat in justification of other Protestants and by a just Translation of the Crime laid the Guilt of Rebellious Principles and Practises at the doors of their Enemies The sight of misery especially undeserv'd melts a generous soul into pity and compassion but of all the Sufferings our nature is subject to those undergone for Conscience and Religion are the most glorious and best deserve Commiseration when out of sence of Duty to the Soveraign of the World for an inward and innocent satisfaction of mind and hopes of pleasure purely spiritual invisible and fature men slight all the pleasures of sence and with true Magnanimity not only contemn worldly advantages but chearfully endure the smartest Afflictions and Tortures Criminals have that benefit of the Laws they offend they are allow'd to plead for themselves An Innocent Sufferer hath right to Compassion and Favour especially a Sufferer on the account of Religion and who on that account hath been forc'd to seek in strange Countries the right deny'd him in his own Such My Lord are these Protestant Exiles who barr'd access to the French King their Lord fled for refuge to the Throne of our most Gracious Prince who in Commiseration to the distressed Protestants hath made his Kingdoms a general Sanctuary where they who could not have justice quiet or security at home find safety protection and favour with the benefit of Laws and kind influences of a Government infinitely more Gentle than those they were born under My Lord 'T is the Glory of the Mighty to protect the Innocent Nothing makes power look so venerable and divine as imploying it aright The highest pleasure and best fruit of greatness is the conscience to have used it well That excellent Prince who esteemed the day lost wherein he had not obliged some of his Inferiors was the Darling of Mankind His memory is blest to this day when others who mov'd in the same Sphear but made ill use of their greatness are mentioned with abhorrence Persons of eminent dignity and power draw the eyes of inferiour mankind as those Luminous bodies that move in the upper Regions which all look at but with aspects different as the Apprehensions they have of them Those they conceive of a malignant nature they look on with horrour but those they apprehend benign and good they behold with pleasure and delight with hope and confidence with respect and veneration My Lord Allow me the liberty to tell your Lordship that among the Stars of the greater magnitude in our Horizon the Distressed Protestants fix their Eyes on you as one of no less Propitious than Powerful Influence Their envious Enemies have endeavoured to blast their Reputation and by Calumny and unjust aspersions to rob them of the benefit of that justice they might pretend to at home and to represent them unworthy any favour abroad This oblig'd them to a Vindication of themselves in their own Language But that being not universally understood in this Kingdom where they are so neerly concern'd to stand right in the opinion of the most loyal and best Reformed Church of the World I thought it not altogether unuseful to them to have their Defence publish'd in English for general satisfaction The same malice that assaulted their Innocence by unjust Aspersions will be too apt to cavil at their Vindication and cry down their defence The Justice of their Cause without the assistance of a powerful patronage may be too weak to protect them And for The last Efforts of Afflicted Innocence The just Vindication of Persecuted Protestants what Patronage more suitable what Protection more agreeable than His whose noble Extraction and generous Temper naturally incline to pity the miserable to protect the Innocent and succour the injur'd Whose integrity and soundness in the Protestant Religion have render'd him eminent for piety vertue and worth and whose ample fortune dignity and honour no less justly than signally distinguish him from other Men And for that this Character belongs peculiarly to your Lordship be pleas'd to excuse the liberty I take to beg these Discourses may appear in English under your Lordships Auspicious Name and that you will believe nothing but the lustre of your great Qualities and the glory of your Name appearing so proper to protect and grace a Tract of this nature and the opinion of your goodness and condescension to vouchsafe it that honour could have inspir'd me with this presumption For which I humbly beg pardon who am My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most Devoted Servant W. Vaughan TO THE PROTESTANT ENGLISH READER Suave mari magno jactantibus aequora ventis Eterrâ magnum alterius spectare Laborem Sed tua res agitur Paries ubi proximus ardet Reader I Presume you sensible of your happiness in being born and bred a Member of a Protestant Church wherein Piety is consistent with sound reasoning and a Man may be Religious without forfeiting his Senses or renouncing his Judgment I doubt not but you esteem it a Blessing to be subject to a Government the best constituted of any and Laws so equally tender of the Prerogative of the Soveraign and Priviledge of the Subject as best conduces to the common welfare of both and you must be unworthy the Name I address'd you by if you do not value it as the greatest Blessing on Earth that the Church and State are under the Protection and Government of a most Gracious and Excellent Prince But that which the Subject of the following Discourses prompts me particularly to mind you of is the immediate source of our envy'd felicity that our Prince is not only most gracious most wise and most just but that he is a sincerely Protestant Prince A favour of Heaven to which we principally owe the preservation of our Rights sacred and civil the exercise of our Religion and benefit of our Laws The miserable condition of the Protestants in France who sigh forth their just but fruitless Complaints in the following sheets are an Evidence too clear and too sad That Edicts and Arrests Priviledges and Immunities
into a condition I dread to imagine for if they Arm the hand of our Soveraign against us and perswade him to spill the Blood of his Subjects the State must be weakned by having drawn from it the most faithful and truest French Blood in its Veins Par. I am a Catholick but none of those who are for Monks and Clergymens intermedling in Civil Affairs Their business is to pray to God for the prosperity of the Kingdom 't is certain that matters are but very little mended since these good men wriggled themselves so deeply into Courts Hug. Law But do you not admire Sir the boldness of the Jesuits and the use they make of it at Court by the man they have there at his Majesties Elbow They were banish'd France by Arrest of the Parliament of Paris being clearly convinc'd they had by the hands of John Chatell attempted to murder Henry the 4th This Prince fearing a stab from them call'd them in again by an Edict in January 1604. One Clause of the Edict was They should be oblig'd to keep one of their Society a French man Born and sufficiently Authoriz'd to attend the King to serve him for a Preacher and to be answerable for the Actions of the Society that is That there should always be a Jesuit attending at Court as an evidence that all those of his Society were look'd upon as disturbers of the publick Peace as Murderers of Kings and Enemies of the State one of whose Chiefs the Court would have always in its Power that he might be responsible for the attempts of his Fellows and remain as an Hostage to receive such Punishments as the Criminal enterprizes of his Society should deserve This is the natural Character which from Father Cotton to Father Le Chaise ought to be given according to the intention of the Edict of all the Jesuits that follow the Court. A Character that ought to make them asham'd and keep them continually humble Instead of which they are become Masters of the Consciences of our Kings the Tyrants of the Church and we may say of all France This gave occasion to Monsieur de Mezeray to make this judicious Remark That this Condition annex'd to the Edict Tom. 6. Hen. 4. An. 1604. instead of branding them as they imagin'd who got it inserted procur'd them the greatest Honour they could desire Philip of Macedon was awak'd every Morning by a Page who told him Remember you are a man I wish our cruel Enemy were awak'd every Morning with these words Remember you are here to be answerable for the Doctrine and Actions of those who teach that Kings may be assassinated when disobedient to the Pope and inspir'd these detestable Sentiments into John Chatel and Clement and Ravaillac and William Parry Robert Catesby Thomas Percy and other Murtherers of our Kings the Kings of England and the Princes of Orange in the last Age and this Par. I see you are no Friend of that good Father and it must be confess'd he is not much yours Hug. Law We find by experience he is not much our Friend And the more unhappy we he hath as much Credit with the King as Hatred for our Party It seems the King cannot refuse him any thing Was any thing ever seen more terrible than the Arrest he had obtain'd whereby our Ministers and Elders were prohibited on pain of Corporal Punishment to go into any House by night or by day on any occasion but to visit the sick By this Arrest as soon as a man was an Elder he was excluded from the Company of all those of his Religion His Majesty look'd on this as so strange a surprize that he thought fit by another Arrest to explain this and declare it was not his intention to hinder the Ministers and Elders to visit their Flocks I will give you another instance how this man abuses his Credit The King upon the Complaint of his Subjects of the Religion of divers Violences burning of Churches and other Outrages done them pass'd an Arrest in May 1681. Prohibiting any Violence by Word or Action to be done to the Reformed A poor Minister of Poitou in one of his Sermons gave God thanks for having inspir'd the King with this Equity and Clemency Father Le Chaise had news of it by Letter and presently obtain'd another Arrest which orders those to be inform'd against who in their Interpretations of this Arrest should say That the Exhortations made in the Kings name to the People to change their Religion are not according to his intention You are to observe Sir that the Exhortations made in the Kings Name in Poitou are no other than strange Menaces and extraordinary Outrages And to prevent their being stopp'd by his Majesties Arrest the Sieur de Marillac and Father le Chaise thought fit to annul it by another Arrest which will give way to all the Exorbitances his Majesty design'd to hinder by this Par. It hath been observ'd there hath been for some months past an extraordinary Emotion amongst you What 's the Reason of it Hug. Law The Reason Sir 'T is because we see things hurryed on faster than we imagin'd To tell you the truth we have been long sensible of a Design laid to ruine us but fancy'd they would not have gone so roundly to work with us We lull'd our selves asleep in hopes the Affairs of the State might occasion a change in ours But ever since last Summer we look'd upon our selves to be very near Destruction The suppressing our Colledges and Academies convinces us effectually we have not long to continue in the Kingdom for if the King were willing we should stay he would allow us our Ministers and permit us to enjoy places necessary for Instruction Hug. Gent. Now you mind me of it have you seen the Arrest against the Academy of Sedan if you have you cannot but think them out of their Wits who draw those Arrests making one of the wisest Princes of the World speak so ridiculously They make the King say he had granted the Hugonots of Sedan an Academy for instruction of their Children and that they had abus'd his Grant by receiving strangers into their Academy Have you ever seen an Academy strangers were deny'd access to I admir'd at the confidence of these Penners of Arrests in publishing falsities so gross I was wishing to see the Edict of Reunion of the Principality of Sedan to the Crown I find it repeated there five or six times that the King Confirm'd to them their Academy with all Rights and Priviledges they enjoy'd under their Princes Is not the King Master of it Is not his Pleasure reason enough Why then are such notorious falshoods impos'd on the World Hug. Law I was more astonish'd at the Declaration that gives all Hugonots who will turn Catholicks three years respit for payment of their Debts It will be easily granted they have not in this been very tender of the Honour of the King or of their
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
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
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
State it attacks the Principles by which it subsists For the bond of Love between the King and his Subjects is that which unites all the parts of this great and vast Body But 't is fit I represent to you those horrible Calamities these Enemies of France would plunge the Kingdom in They would bring back again the last Age and revive the Reigns of Henry the 2d and Charles the 9th In a word they would set up new Gibbets and kindle new Fires against the Reformed Can France expect a great Mischief Par. Y' are much mistaken Sir there 's no such intention Some Zealots may desire such a thing but the King hath not any such Design Hug. Law I believe you Sir We know the Goodness and Clemency of the King and that he naturally hates all Violence We see every day the Prudence of his Ministers But men are led where they never had intention to go they are mov'd by degrees to revoke all the Edicts of Pacification If Matters be carryed on with that Violence they have been for some years and especially within few months past the Business will be quickly at an end they will shortly perswade the King three fourths of the Hugonots of his Kingdom are converted They will tell him the residue is nothing or not worth the thinking of And so prevail with him to suppress the Edicts Thus shall near two millions of Souls remain debarr'd the exercise of their Religion 'T is a violent State in which Consciences cannot stay long The Ministers shall be forbidden to Preach on pain of death Yet they will Preach as before in the like case in Caves and Woods and Cellars and Darkness And instead of preaching in a few places they will preach in every place It cannot be but they will be discover'd exercising a Religion prohibited by the State and incur the Penalties to be inflicted by the late Edicts And according to the Severity of those Penalties they will be Imprison'd Banish'd Hang'd Consider how much it will grate the good nature of the King to see himself oblig'd to permit his Subjects to be put to a thousand Tortures for no other reason but having a desire to serve God I foresee Matters may be carryed yet farther Among two or three hundred thousand Persons able to bear Arms remaining still of that Religion 't is impossible but there is a great number of Fools impatient and desperate In plurality of Voyces Fools are always too hard for the Wise who are often oblig'd to permit themselves to be carryed away with the stream of the major Vote Such heady and impatient People instead of Submitting will Mutiny make Parties take up Arms. And then will the King be forc'd to draw Rivers of Blood out of the hearts of his Subjects Par. Ay Ay Sir there is great cause to fear you you are in a powerful and formidable Condition Where are your Chiefs where your strong Towns Where your Money Where your Forraign Allyances You have nothing to support you but the indulgence of our Kings Hug. Law Pardon me if I tell you you do not apprehend me my design is not to put you in fear but move you to pity I do not say but the King may with all the ease imaginable dissipate the Forces of any Faction that should rebel against him I am fully convinc'd of it not only by your Reasons but some stronger Arguments You say the Reformed have neither Chiefs nor Towns nor Money Have you forgot that saying of the Poet Furor arma ministrat Fury never wants Weapons they who have no Towns may take some Those who want Money may Rob and Plunder Despair can effect what Valour and Courage never durst undertake A State that has lying close in its Bowels two millions of Male-contents though but Women and Children and the dregs of Mankind is in danger of suffering terrible Revolutions After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Hugonots had none to head them Dandelot was dead the Admiral assassinated all the Flower of their Nobility murther'd and the Princes of the Blood Prisoners yet they never spoke bigger never insisted on higher Terms than then But I expect not any benefit to the Reformed from such Revolutions because God never blesses the designs of defending a Religion by Arms of Rebelling against our Prince and making War under pretences of Piety The furies of Civil War being absolutely inconsistent with Charity Such heady and impatient people by taking Arms will act against the Principles of Religion and I aver it particularly against the Principles of the Reformed They are to expect no other success but to be massacred by the People and the Arms of their Soveraign They would occasion as heretofore millions of Innocents to perish with them The King would certainly master them but would be griev'd to see his Countreys drown'd with the Blood of his Subjects What greater misfortune than this to a Prince so good-natur'd as ours Besides a State busied in reducing rebellious Subjects is in a manner abandon'd to strangers who fill and tear it in pieces with Factions foment Divisions take advantage of Disorders and draw Blood from all parts of it while it self opens the Veins on every side Those Gentlemen who constantly solicit the King to Rigor against us are certainly weary of the prosperity of the State they have no mind to see France any longer the most flourishing Kingdom of Europe They would bring back that Age wherein the Realm divided against it self call'd in the Duke of Parma the Flemings and Spaniards to enrich themselves with the pillages of the Towns and desolation of the Provinces Par. I see Gentlemen the alarm you have taken hath stirr'd your fancy and put you in a heat You go on too far and too fast there is a design to Ruine you 't is confest but 't is by undermining you by degrees Those very men you call Enemies of the State have no mind to see the effusion of your Blood Hug. Law Were those men guilty of no other mischief but a design to deprive the King of such a multitude of faithful Subjects they very well deserved to be call'd Enemies of the State I hope those of the Reformed Religion will never permit themselves to run into the Extremities I spoke of But they will do all they can to go seek in other Countreys the peace and the quiet they are denyed in their own I have told you already their Consternation is great and universal And all the considerable persons of our body seek only a Gate to go out at and a means to remove out of his Majesties sight the Objects that displease him Par. I cannot think they would be much troubled at your departure out of the Kingdom Hug. Law Whether they would be troubled I know not but I very well know they would have cause enough to be troubled The Count de los Balbazes during his stay at Paris being in company of several Ministers of forraign Princes they
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
themselves by retiring out of the Kingdom though it were sure they should perish in the Attempt Good God! What a spectacle will it be to see the Children violently taken away from their Parents What Cannibal heart can be hard enough to endure the sight of Mothers bath'd in Tears cover'd with their own Blood scratching their Faces tearing their Hair beating their Breasts Sighing and Groaning and making hideous outcryes after those who rob them of their Children calling them Hangmen Robbers Villains and other opprobrious Names dictated by extremity of Fury raging in the tender Soul of a Mother Par. I cannot deny but the Catholicks themselves were surpriz'd at this Declaration and that it hath in it something repugnant to the Laws of Nature But great designs how just soever cannot be executed without using some unjust means The wisest Politicians are often oblig'd to do some ill that the may attain a greater good The King hath a mind to have all his Subjects reunited in one Religion The design is excellent but cannot be compass'd without use of violent means Hug. Law Pray Sir tell me Had not the Christian Emperors a design to have their Subjects all of a Religion Did not they wish Paganism destroy'd This sure was as excellent a design as the ruining of Calvinism But did they take the like Course to attain the design Before and in the Reign of Theodosius the Great the Empire had embrac'd Christianity almost an Age. The Provinces the Cities the Armies Rome it self was full of Christians Yet the Senate of Rome was almost all Pagan and by the Mouth of Symmachus pleaded before the Emperor to disswade him from demolishing the Altar of Victory that stood at the Gate of the Senate-house Yet these Senators were not turn'd out nor did any lose his Office for being a Pagan Symmachus as zealous as he was for Paganism received from Theodosius the honour of the Consulship the highest Office of the Empire We do not read that the Children of Pagans were taken from them in those days or had Liberty given them at seven years old to turn Christians against the will of their Parents The Piety of the Theodosij and the Constantines never mov'd them to act in favour of the true Religion such a violence against nature They did not in that Age understand it lawful to do ill that good might come of it The Impiety and Fury of the Persecutors of the Church never suggested such a thought The Councellors of that Apostate Emperor who went so dextrously about destroying the Christian Religion were but bunglers to our Clergymen of the Councel of Conscience who surprize in a manner so ruinous to us the greatest Prince of the World Julian destroy'd the Schools of the Christians and shut up their Churches but it never entred his thoughts to take away their Children at seven years old to be brought up in Paganism Every rational man holds it a Maxim that Religion is not to be impos'd by Command but taught by perswasion You have read the Book of Father Nicolai the Jacopin intituled De Baptismi antiquo usu Dissertatio duplex In the second Dissertation he tells us some Schoolmen hold that Jews and Infidels may be compell'd to be baptiz'd But 't is hellish Divinity a Maxim of Executioners and Inquisitors These sottish Divines ground their Doctrine on some Examples as that of Chilperic who commanded the Jews to get themselves baptiz'd and imprison'd one of them to compel him thereto as Gregory of Tours reports Aimoyn writes that Dagobert oblig'd them to it upon pain of Banishment The Capitulars of Charlemain tell us that Prince punish'd with death the Saxons who refus'd to turn Christians But Father Nicolai makes it appear Conc. Tolet. 4. Can. 57. de Judaeis Ann. Christi 633. these were particular actions never approv'd by the Church He quotes the Councel of Toledo which disapprov'd the Violence us'd by Sisebut in Spain against the Jews in obliging them to be baptiz'd on pain of Whipping and Banishment He shews further that the Penalties ordain'd against Jews and Infidels were not so much to force them to turn Christians as to punish them for Crimes otherwise committed At last he proves there is not in the Primitive Church any president for this Practise of compelling Jews or Infidels into Christianity Much less may you find an Example of the new kind of Cruelty exercis'd against us If you meet with some Ordinances that command Infidels to turn Christians yet you will never find any Christian Prince made a Law for taking from Jews and Infidels their Children and hindring them to be instructed in their Religion Hug. Gent. Yet Sir if I mistake not I have read in the Memoires and Petition you mention'd that a King of Portugal call'd Emmanuel order'd all Male Children of Jews under fourteen years of Age to be taken from them and instructed in the Christian Religion Hug. Law 'T is true but you are to observe the Example is single that it is modern being a President but of the last Age when the Church was very corrupt and that it proceeds from the infernal source of the Spanish and Portuguess Inquisitions In a word he that reports it though a Bishop had not the power to forbear saying it was a Jewish Course and unjust in the Execution that it had not any foundation of Law or of Religion though it seem'd to proceed from a good intention and had an appearance of Piety 'T is Ozorius Bishop of Algarves who wrote a great Volume in twelve Books of the Life of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal The Story is so pat and the Reflexions of this Bishop so proper for the present Conjuncture I cannot forbear reading to you a Translation I made yesterday of the whole passage though somewhat long This Historian having repeated at large the reasons of those who were for permitting the Jews to live peaceably in Portugal Ozorius lib. 1. rerum Emmanualis Anno. 1497. and the contrary Arguments goes on thus Emmanuel approving the latter Opinion order'd all Jews and Moors who would not embrace Christianity to quit the Kingdom and appointed a day after which those who should be found within the Realm should be made Slaves c. The day drew near The Jews with great diligence prepar'd for Embarquing Emmanuel troubled to see so many thousands persist obstinate to Damnation that he might at least be instrumental for the Salvation of their Children bethought himself of a Course good in the Intention but unjust in the Execution He order'd all the Jews Children of fourteen years and under to be taken from their Parents and secur'd at a distance to be brought up in the Christian Religion This could not be done without terrible agitation and trouble of mens minds 'T was a horrible spectacle to see Children forc'd out of the Bosoms of their Mother and wrench'd out of their Fathers Arms in which they were lock'd The Parents were ill us'd and
left in Thoüars and generally the Inhabitants of the Towns as well as the Countrey declare aloud nothing but an absolute impossibility of getting out shall stay them in the Kingdom But such is their Cruelty the Ports are guarded with all strictness imaginable If any one embark and they know it presently they romage the Vessel take him and imprison him I have with me an Original Writing of those poor Fugitives who were lately taken and imprison'd which I will read to you WE whose Names are under-written Prisoners as well in the Prisons Royal of the City of Rochell as in the Tower of the Lantern not only in our own Names but the Names of those of us who cannot write being in all three and thirty Persons professing the Reformed Religion do hereby certifie that having been forc'd some weeks since to leave the Province of Poitou the place of our Nativity our Houses and all our Goods by the unheard of Cruelties and Outrages exercis'd by Order of the Intendant Marillac against all those of the said Religion who will not abandon it and turn Roman-Catholicks we retir'd destitute of all conveniences and necessaries for subsistence into the said City of Rochell in hopes to find there some relief in our distress and an easie passage into England Being arriv'd at Rochell with great pains and toil several of us having Wives and sucking Children after some days stay in the said City we treated with one Mesnier a Merchant of the same City who hir'd a Vessel of purpose to transport us into England and actually took on Board the said Vessel ever since the 20th of the last month above one hundred and fifty Persons of us who remain'd in the said Vessel two days ready to set Sayl. Which coming to the knowledge of the Judge and Attorney-General of the Admiralty they sent Guards aboard the Vessel riding within Musket shot of the Harbor Which Guards forc'd us all ashore having first plunder'd some of us of our Cloaths and made some of us Prisoners whom after their Confession taken they enlarg'd without entring their names in the Goalers Book Since which we continued at Rochell aforesaid as well for recovering the Money we had paid Mesiner for our passage which he absenting himself we could not obtain as for finding out some sure means to transport our selves into England our intention being not to return home where neither our Persons nor our Consciences can be in safety all things being there in ruin and desolation But accompanyed every where by our misfortune we were so unhappy that the Civil Magistrates and Lieutenant Criminal of the said City who could not endure us made diligent search for us in all their Houses who had had the Charity to harbour us and having found us they put us into Prison where we continue since All-Saints day and had been starv'd to death but for the Charitable relief of several good People who sent us Victuals to save us from perishing with hunger having two days lain on the Boards some of us half naked having been taken out of Bed and not allow'd time to put on all our Cloaths The said search having been made between the hours of nine and ten in the Evening when some of us were in Bed whom they forc'd to get up and go to Prison where we continue as Criminals What they will do with us we know not nor are we conscious to our selves of any Crime unless it be that we make not profession of the Roman-Catholick Religion for which we think they intend to trouble us Because every day and almost every hour we are vex'd and tormented with the visits of the King'd Advocate of this City and several Monks who make us the fairest and richest promises imaginable if we will change our Religion And on the contrary threaten us terribly if we persist in our Profession And though we are hoarse with telling them we will by the grace of God persevere in our Religion and that we will dye rather than forsake it yet they leave us not but torment us incessantly Therefore we conjure all good Christians not to forsake us in the miserable Condition we are in but that they will endeavour our enlargement as well as continue their Charity for our subsistence We pray God that he will every day pour on them greater measures of his choicest Blessings and we intreat them not to forget us in their Prayers and that they will joyn their Complaints to ours and lay them at his Majesties feet that we may obtain from his Clemency such Order as is requisite for our Liberty Dated at the Tower of the Lantern in the City of Rochell where we are Prisoners Nov. 4th 1681. Tousot M. Moussault aged sixty years Daniel Pivet Jean Coussemean Francis Bourcean Lewis Bomilet John Mentauban Peter Guery James Piron Peter Moinault J. Michau James Haullice John Gouriault Reyneere I confess this proceeding appears horrible to me and that it puts me in mind of what Ozorius told us of the Condition of those miserable Jews who had the Ports of Portugal shut against them and were constrain'd to remain slaves in that Countrey In the Age of Massacres every one was at liberty to go out of the Kingdom If this Course of retaining these persecuted Wretches be continued there is cause to fear they will break out at length into some desperate Action that they will burn their Houses and set fire on the Towns The Resolution I confess is violent and furious but Wretches in Extremity bid adieu to their Reason What think you in your Conscience is not this an open Persecution and equal in Cruelty to that of past Ages What difference will you make between the Raign of Charles the 9th and Lewis the 14th the greatest of our Kings Par. If Matters be thus why do you not complain 'T is very well known the King loves not Violence He will certainly do you Justice Hug. Law How Sir are you ignorant that we complain but cannot be heard Do not you know well enough that the Province of Poitou had Deputies here who represented to the World the lamentable Condition of the poor Hugonots there In a word Have you not seen the Petition they presented to the King I have it here and will read it to you To the King SIR YOur Subjects of the Religion P.R. of Poitou most humbly shew to your Majesty that they are in extreme desolation by the unheard of Violences exercis'd against them for their Religion by Order of the Sieur Marillac Intendant of the Province They have formerly exhibited their Complaints to your Majesty who was graciously pleased to declare it was not your intention any force should be us'd to deprive them of the Liberty of Conscience granted them by your Edicts But their Grievances and great Sufferings having since been infinitely augmented they are constrain'd to come again to cast themselves at your Majesties feet to implore your justice having begg'd leave to inform
their Swords and Pistols to the Throat of one Chasseriau and said they would kill him if he would not change his Religion and say his Prayers Chasseriau having kneel'd and said his Prayers the Officers call'd him a thousand names and beat him outragiously because he would not change his Religion In the Burrough of Marennes several Persons are every day imprison'd without the least formality of Justice The Goods of Fougeron Captain of a Ship were taken away in the same manner Soleil was beaten and imprison'd because he would not abjure And all the Inhabitants of those places are threatned all manner of Violence shall be us'd to force them to go to Mass These Outrages Sir and those committed in the Isles of Oleron la Tremblade and Soubize force your Seamen and others of the Religion P. R. to leave the Kingdom Your Petitioners demand Justice of your Majesty and have so much the greater hopes of your Clemency because they have been always most obedient to your Orders and made appear on all occasion a constant Zeal and Fidelity to your Service for which they are still ready to sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes All the favour they beg is the Liberty of their Conscience That your Majesty will be pleas'd to put a stop to the Violences done them And that they may live in your Kingdom according to your Edicts and Declarations And your Petitioners shall continue their Vows and Prayers for your Majesties Sacred Person and the prosperity of your Raign A Petition presented to the Parliament of Guienne by the Inhabitants of the Isels of Santonge in the Government of Brouage THe Inhabitants of the Isles of Santonge in the Government of Broüage making profession of the Religion P. R. humbly praying shew that although according to his Majesties Edicts and Declarations and an Arrest of Councel of the 19th of May last they ought to live in full Liberty as well s others the Kings Subjects Yet so it is that the Sieur de Carnavalet Governor of Broüage aforesaid accompany'd with part of the Captains of his Garrison and many Souldiers exercise horrible Violences against your Petitioners plundering their Houses giving them blows without number with the But ends of their Muskettoons and Pistols dragging them by the Hair burning their Beards to force them to change their Religion By reason whereof your Petitioners are oblig'd to have recourse to the Justice and Authority of this Court that Commissioners may be sent and deputed out of the body of the Court to inquire into the truth of the Premisses and to direct the whole proceeding therein to the end a stop may be put to these inhumanities so contrary to the King's Will and the publick Tranquility it being impossible to find upon the place Officers who will pass any Act against a Governor In Consideration whereof may it please this Court favourably to grant that your Petitioners Complaints may be recorded and that such of your Lordships as you shall think fit be sent and deputed to go upon the places to inform themselves of the truth of the Premises and direct the proceeding to be had for suppressing the said inhumanities and in the mean time to take your Petitioners into the safeguard and protection of the King and this Court And you will do well Sign'd Chaille pursuant to my Procuration Bonnin pursuant to my Procuration J. Pavillon pursuant to my Procuration Sign'd Lartiguet Procurator Subscribed thus WE whose Names are under-written having not been able to obtain a day for hearing the said Petition nor to have it ssignified to the Court have personally carryed a true Copy thereof to the Attorney General who took and receiv'd it in presence of Monsieur Dalon Advocate General At Reole Septemb. 8th 1681. Sign'd Bon nin J. Pavillon Chaille Can you believe Sir If these things were Fables men could have the impudence to present them to the King and his Ministers and his Soveraign Courts Par. But what was the effect of all these Petitions Hug. Law The Effect Sir 'T was this Order was given to the Deputies of Poitou to go out of Paris in four and twenty hours and not to return The Intendant writ from the Province that all we informed at Court were Fables He sent Horsemen with Pistol in hand to force those who had chang'd their Religion to give it under their Hands they had done it voluntarily and unconstrain'd This second Violence more cruel than the first secures him against all The Court is inform'd of these Subscriptions and call our Deputies Rascals and false Informers Not but that the Court very well understands how Matters are carryed They know very well that the Intendants Guards and Retinue are not Preachers able enough to Convert such Multitudes by their Discourses Miracles are ceas'd And the King hath too clear a sense to think such numerous Conversions are made Naturally and without Violence Whence should this new illumination come I pray Or why should it be peculiar to the Province of Poitou Yet at Court they pretend not to believe a word we say to the end they may give permission to all Practices against us yet be able to say if any Violence be acted 't is without Order of the Court Since September last they have labour'd more than ever to Publish it is not the Kings pleasure any Violence should be us'd His Majesty hath had the goodness to say as much to several of his Governors and Intendants In the mean time 't is certain that in the Provinces of Santonge and Poitou the Violences and Outrages you have heard are not only continued but increas'd The Sieur Marillac finding himself authoriz'd by the connivence of the Court hath tripled his Fury I will tell you a very true story which will teach you what to believe of the mitigation so much talk'd of Four Souldiers Quarter'd in one House having sack'd and consum'd all the Goods in it and committed all Violences imaginable to make the Master of the House change his Religion took his two Daughters both grown and handsom they lock them up with themselves in a Rom and threaten if they resuse to turn Catholicks they must suffer the greatest Extremities and to be as good as their words they put them into a posture to receive the worst Outrage that can be done to a civil Woman To prevent which they chang'd their Religion I know very well his Majesty would be so far from Countenancing such an Action that he would abhor it if he knew it Neither do I believe Monsieur Marillac so mad as to Command such Brutality But this lets you see what a loose hand is held over the Insolence of the Souldiers to what point they extend the Permission granted them to act what Violence they please provided they oblige the Hugonots to change their Religion In a word you may judge from hence what you are to believe of the Mitigation they tell you of Ask me not again Sir as you did awhile
whence proceeds that terrible fright we are observ'd to be in for some time past We see coming towards us that Scourge which now Afflicts Santonge and Poitou We understand well enough they will not open a Persecution in all places at once this would make too great a noise But when they have laid these two Provinces desolate they will pass into another They scatter and lay wast all our Congregations in one end of the Kingdom and in the other tell us we shall be dealt with better far than we imagine that we are to blame to take the Alarm and ought not to think of leaving the Kingdom That is that we are a File of Wretched men mark'd out for death while those at the one end of the File are Hang'd or Shot to death those at the other end are spoken fair to and made drink to amuse them that they run not away but may when the rest are dispatch'd be Hang'd as the others They began with this poor Province of Poitou because it is bounded on one side by the Sea and on the other side borders on all the Provinces of France so that the wretched Inhabitants have no way to escape out of the Kingdom And it is certain those who will permit themselves to be surpriz'd and neglect the opportunity of getting into a place of safety will one day dearly pay for their Imprudence and Security Hug. Gent. Your Reflections have interrupted me in the Course of my story I have many things more to acquaint you with which will give you further Light into the Character of this Persecutor who Ravages Poitou He spreads and causes it to be spread abroad every where with inconceivable boldness that 't is the King's intention there shall be but one Religion in his Kingdom If any one chance to say any thing to the contrary what Religion soever he is of he is punish'd for 't It happen'd that three Roman-Catholicks said the King had not declar'd himself as fully in this particular as 't was reported he had they were all three Imprison'd for it A Man of the Religion having taken an occasion to raâ—ly these Conversions made for Money and having said the King was too wise to be at great expence to carry on an Action so base as that of Bribing People out of their Religion was Imprison'd and Condemn'd to go bare-head and bare-foot with a lighted Torch in his hand through the Street follow'd by the Executioner to the Court of Justice to beg Pardon for his fault But I have one thing more to tell you by which you may better know what a Person he is I am speaking of He went to Dinner at the Marquess of Verac's a Gentleman of note in the Province While they were at Dinner the Intendant gave Order the Inhabitants of the place should assemble at the Cross After Dinner he took his Coach got up on the streps of the Cross and said to the Peasants assembled Children you are to know 't is the King's intention there shall be henceforth but one Religion in France Turn Catholicks Whoever does so shall have cause upon all occasions to praise the King's Bounty Those who refuse shall experience his Severity To prove what I say see here your Lord the Marquess of Verac come along with me to change his Religion Whereupon the Marquess who is a very honest man and a very good Protestant stepping up immediately to the same Cross said to the Peasants Children The Intendant does but jest with you The King has no design to revoke his Edicts And it is not true that I am come along with him or have any design to change my Religion Hug. Law This is surprizing and sufficient of it self to make out the Character of the Man I cannot tell Sir what you think of these Conversions of Poitou But as for me I confess that assuming the Sentiments of a reasonable Catholick I could not forbear being of the Opinion of Ozorjus Bishop of the Algarues That nothing is more opposite to the Spirit of Christianity than a Conduct of this Nature that exposes so many Mysteries and holy things to men suspected and evidently prophane Can you choose but tremble Sir to think that at this day in Poitou thousands of those who are forc'd to go to Mass and prostrate themselves before that which you call Our Lord detest and look upon that as an Idol which they pretend to adore When they are sick they bring them the holy Oyl and make them take the Sacrament after your manner They obey with their bodies the Violence us'd but they think very Prophanely of those things you esteem so Holy 'T is in your Opinion an enormous Crime these Wretches commit yet 't is your Zealous Catholicks are the Cause of these horrible Prophanations of your Mysteries When Violence is us'd to force men to Lock up in the bottom of their Hearts their sentiments of Religion it produces the effect of that Violent and inconsiderate Zeal of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal who compell'd the Jews to turn Christians as I told you The Jews profess'd themselves Christians but continued Jews in their Hearts Their Children inherited their Dissimulation and Religion Hence it is that half those Portuguese who to avoid the Inquisition are Christians in Portugal no sooner set foot in Holland but they are Jews Those Hugonots who have been forc'd to turn Roman-Catholicks will inspire into their Children their Religion and the disquiet of their Spirit These Sentiments will be transmitted from Generation to Generation as a Seed of Rebellion that will always incline this People to shake off the Yoke impos'd on their Conscience as Soon as they have opportunity So that by the Course now taken instead of gaining Servants to God you raise Enemies to the State And I had reason to say that by the Method now us'd for Conversion you will make you a Church of Rogues and Villains of Atheistical and Prophane Rascals destitute both of Religion and Honour Conversion at this day is a Cloak to cover Debauches and the most abominable Enormities Let the most infamous of men profess himself a Catholick he is presently become a right honest man That Church which claims the title of Holy as proper to it self opens her Gates to Bankrupts and Cheats and exhorts men to become Bankrupts by turning Roman-Catholicks which is a sure Means of Pardon and Oblivion for all Sins and in a word a Salve for all Sores a Remedy for all Evils Hug. Gent. Give me leave to tell you a little story not impertinent to the Purpose which I had the other day from an Officer You know 't is now every ones business to make Converts 'T is the imployment of Gentlemen and Officers of War as well as of the Bigots A Souldier of the Garrison of Friburg having committed a considerable Robbery was imprison'd for it He had wit enough to know it would go very hard with him unless he could find Favour The
causes of this Conspiracy that 't is ridiculous to make Religion the only ground of it The chief of all the Male-Contents was Lewis of Bourbon Prince of Conde And though he appear'd not in the Enterprize and several of the Conspirators deny'd to the Death his being privy to it yet 't is certain he was Mezeray tells us That the Prince of Conde going to Court met at Orlians the Lord Cipierr who told him the Plot was discovered And that nevertheless the Prince continued his Journey By this it appears the Prince knew of the Plot. A little before the same Author tells us the Conspirators had chosen him for their Head but not to bear any part in the action which was to be carryed on by La Renaude under his Authority The Princes of Guise were fully convin'd of it for they no sooner got the Prince of Conde in their power but they caused him to be proceeded against and Senten'd to be Beheaded Par. We will suppose Sir that you can prove the Conspiracy of Amboise was a Conspiracy of all the Male-Contents that a Prince of the Bloud was the Head of them and that your Hugonots were not more deeply concern'd in it than others what 's that to the purpose Is a Criminal less guilty for having Accomplices Is it allowable on any pretence whatever to enter into so Criminal a Conspiracy against your King Hug. Law Against our King Ah Sir you will never be able to prove that All our Historians bear these pretended Conspirators Witness they had no design against the King or the Regent but only against the Princes of Guise Read if you please what Mezeray says They resolv'd to present their Petition to the King and to seize the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain and exhibit Articles against them This was their design But who adds Mezeray could have secur'd the Princes of Guise from being kill'd upon the spot or that the Male-Contents would not have made themselves Masters of the Persons of the Queen Mother and the King 'T is certain it was laid to their Charge they would have attempted both It was laid indeed to their Charge but not prov'd of twelve hundred Persons who perish'd on this occasion there was not one they could get to confess this though use was made of most violent Tortures to force them to it Monsieur de Thou gives them this Testimony Thuan. Hist Lib. 24. Not one of the Conspirators was convicted of any attempt against the King or the Queen but only against Strangers who govern'd all at Court in a tyrannical manner that is the Princes of the House of Guise Can you think it Sir so great a Crime for the Princes of the Bloud and the Chief Officers of the Crown to endeavour to gain their natural places and lawful Authority by taking forceably an Infant King and weak when Major out of the hands of Tyrants who were going to hang up his Majesties good Servants to establish the Inquisition in France and to burn the true hearted French at the Stake The Prince of Conde and the Admiral were in my opinion Names that carryed Grandeur and Authority enough in them to oppose very lawfully the Tyrants of France Your Church-man in his Book tacks the Enterprize of Meaux to that of Amboise as if they were both of one nature We are not now says he in the time of the Enterprizes of Amboise and Meaux The man hath forgot both the Author and the end of the Enterprize of Meaux The Head of it was the same Prince of Conde the end was to remove from about the King the same Tyrants who under the name of Councellors made Charles the ninth commit Violences which exceeded those in former Reigns and to violate Edicts and Treaties he had by solemn Oaths obliged himself to observe and made use of the seeming Peace granted to the Party of the Princes for hatching the most horrible and blackest Treasons that ever have been heard of After the first Civil War the Peace was made by the Edict of the 18th of March 1563. this Peace serv'd only as a Cloak for a Cruel War made with more safety against the Reformed after they had been disarm'd The Reformed made their Complaints to the Prince of Conde and the Admiral But these two great great Men answer'd Mezeray 1567. says Mezeray That they must endure any thing rather than take up Arms again That second troubles would render them the horrour of all France and make them the Object of the Kings hatred This was their Resolution but when a Principal Person at Court had given them express advice it was resolv'd the Prince and the Admiral should be taken the former to be kept perpetual petual Prisoner the other to lose his head on a Scaffold by the advice of Dandelot the boldest of the three they resolv'd not only to defend themselves but to attack their Enemies with open force And in order thereto to remove the Cardinal from the Kings Person This Sir was the design of the Enterprize of Meaux and I have told you the Motives of it I would advise those who for this Enterprize would charge the Prince of Conde with Rebellion that they would think well of it The Hero who at this day bears the same name whose veins are fill'd with that Illustrious Bloud is an Evidence sufficient to convince the World we may retain our Love to our Countrey and Fidelity to our King without loving those who abuse the Infancy of our Kings by making them Arm against the Liberty and Lives of the Princes of their Bloud If the Prince of Conde opened this second War by the Enterprize of Meaux it was because he had not any other way to save his Liberty and his Life Par. The Enterprize of Meaux hath made you pass from the Conspiracy of Amboise to the second Civil War without touching on the first which is the principal and you promis'd to justify Hug. Law Well Sir I will if you please return to my Task The first War was not a War of the Hugonots alone but it was a War of Antony and Lewis of Bourbon The two Brothers Antony and Lewis of Bourbon says Mezeray came not to the Assembly of Melun for two months before Antony retir'd into Gascoign and his Brother went thither to him Being then in more safety they provided for their Affairs and projected means to make themselves able to dislodge the Guises The Design took wind they were drawn to Court and their Persons secur'd a strong Guard was plac'd on the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde imprison'd his Process was made and by a terrible Arrest fram'd by the Guises he was Condemn'd to lose his Head Was there ever so strange and unworthy a proceeding that Strangers should Condemn to Death the second Prince of the Bloud And can it be thought strange that a generous Prince should seek means to be reveng'd for so horrible an affront He
Sufferers in those horrible Tragedies The fear of seeing like days again drove them out of their Wits and hurried them into a design to prevent Calamities that appear'd otherwise inevitable This is a truth to which the late King of glorious memory bears witness in his Declaration of the 10th of Nov. 1615. And that great Prince found in that Source of the War a reason to excuse it When he says The poor people having too lightly believ'd there were designes against their Lives had precipitated themselves into this Enterprize thinking themselves forc'd into it for their just and lawful defence Besides if you consider with what Spirit our Protestants were animated in the last Wars you will find some cause to excuse them perhaps there was in their Conduct somewhat of the spirit of that Governour who writ to Tiberias The Empire is yours my Government is mine That is they were jealous of their Liberties and Priviledges to that degree they would not have them infring'd in the least but you cannot with justice charge them to have been animated with a Spirit of Contempt or hatred or revolt against their Soveraign All their design was to Cantonize themselves to preserve their Religion this only excepted they were always ready to sacrifice all for the Grandeur of their King and the good of the State This is acknowledg'd more than once by the Roman Catholick Historians After all these Troubles ended about threescore years since cannot be at this day a lawfull Cause for revoking the Edicts of Pacification because our Kings have defac'd the memory of those Troubles by so many Declarations and have confirmed by their Royal words frequently and solemnly given us the favours they had granted us Good God! where is that integrity what 's become of that sincerity and good faith men ought to practice Will they never call to mind that there is in Heaven a God faithful to his promises who threatens vengeance on those who violate Treaties and Alliances Par. Gentlemen I cannot endure you should make such a noise about pretended breaches of words Is not a King always Master of his Arrests and Declarations Is any thing more ordinary than to see that revok'd at one time which hath been establish'd at another Is a Prince charg'd to have dealt falsly or deceitfully when he charges or revokes some Laws he had made Hug. Law Let me intreat you Sir not to permit your self to be misled and impos'd upon by that sorry argument so often brought against us Consider I pray there is a great deal of difference between Sumptuary Laws or Regulations of Proceedings in Suits Criminal or Civil and Treaties bonâ fide made with Subjects and People who are or enter under the Dominion of a Prince A Soveraign may revoke Sumptuary Laws and alter the forms of Proceedings which have been heretofore but are not now useful to the State because they are not Treaties he made not these Laws irrevocable he was not engag'd he did not promise any he would not revoke them but in the Edicts of Pacification our Kings treated with Men in the presence of God they engag'd themselves to allow them some Liberties and preserve them They promis'd this solemnly without reserving a Power of Revocation It cannot be deny'd but the Councel of France is universally blam'd for looking upon all Treaties made with those who are or enter under the King's Dominion as Toys to play with and deceive the simple and false Dice to cheat those who mean honestly and act fairly For those many years the United Provinces have had in their subjection Bolduc and Mastricht Cities wherein the Roman Catholicks have all manner of Liberty and the Burgesses great Priviledges they have not fail'd to observe to a tittle the Treaties and Capitulations agreed on I heard read the other day the Record of what was transacted upon the voluntary surrender of Sedan to the King There cannot be a thing fairer than the Priviledges the King grants to the Town and the Religion then predominant there Nothing more solemn than the manner of their mutual engagement by an Oath of Fidelity on the Subjects part and on the part of the Soveraign by the Liberties he allows them but the memory of all this is vanish'd When we mention these Treaties at Court all the answer we have is The King's mind is alter'd This Conduct which is observ'd in matters of State as well as of Religion does France a greater injury than can be imagin d it renders the French Government intolerable at a time when France would have it appear the most easy The People of Flanders and the Franche Comte lately conquered retain to this day an affection for Spain and groan under a Yoke which is not at present very heavy 't is because they know the Priviledges and Liberties they enjoy shall not last long there is more danger than you think of in this manner of proceeding for the World never wants some Factious Spirits who mind not that other mens sins cannot justify or excuse them in theirs they forget that the faults of Princes against their Subjects do not authorize Subjects to rebel against their Princes they frequently say to one another We are not obliged to keep our words with him that breaks his with us Fregit fidem frangatur eidem You see you have carry'd us a great way from the place we were at but you will think it fit Sir that we return thither again and speak now of the Conspiracy in England Par. You are strangely in love with that Subject Let me lead you where I will you are still for returning thither And what shall you get by it All you can say is overthrown in one word It is constantly deny'd there is one word of truth in all that story Hug. Law 'T is for that very reason Sir we return so often to that Subject Can you think it fit we should patiently endure our selves to be charg'd to have invented by the most Diabolical malice that ever was conceiv'd a Romance a Fable such as you suppose the History of this Conspiracy to be out of a form'd design and of set purpose to destroy the Honour the Estates and the Lives of Millions of innocent Persons What proof have we ever given that we are capable of so horrible a Treason I know very well you will object the same to us and ask what colour there is to believe that you Catholicks could have conspir'd to massacre Millions of Innocents And that 't is as probable the Protestants have invented this Plot to destroy the Catholicks as that the Catholicks have entred into a Conspiracy to destroy the Protestants But Sir the presumptions are far stronger if not altogether for us 'T is not to be found in History we ever plotted infernal Devices like this to destroy our Countreymen or charg'd them with such black Crimes to ruin them On the contrary the History and memory of Men yet living inform us 't is ordinary