Pope has declared a Prince deprived of his Sâ—ates his Subjects may set up the Standard of Rebellion declare War against him refuse him Obedience and kill him if they can meet with him provided it be with arms in their hand and by the ordinary course of War I cannot comprehend how one â—an be secured of the Fidelity of those who hold such like Maxims For in fine Kings are not infallible and if they happen to do any thing that the Court of Rome judges worthy of Excommunication and Intâ—rdiction they are Kings without Kingdoms and Subjects accoâ—ding to our Clergy of France as well as according to the Divines of Italy But perhaps the Sorbonne which is the Depository of the Frenâ—h Divinity does not receive these Maxims so fatal to the safety of Kiâ—gs Let us see what it has done In the Month of December 1587 because Henry the Third for the security of his Person and of his State made a Treaty with the Rütres or the German Protestants the Sorboâ—ne without staying for the Decisions of Rome made a private determination which said That the Government might be taken from Princes who were not found such as they ought to be as the adminiâ—tration from a suspected Tutor This was known by the King he sent for the Sorbonne some days after and complained of it After the death of the Princes of Guise which happen'd at Blois the Sorbonne did much worse they declared and caused to be published in all parts of Paris That all the People of that Kingdom were Absolved from the Oaths of Fidelity that they had sworn to Henry of Valois hereâ—ofore their King they raâ—ed his name out of the publick Prayers and made known to the People that they might with safe Conscience unitâ— aâ—m and contribute to make War against him as a Tyrant If I would add to that the Story that I know this Gentleman told you concerning the Death of the late King of England we should find that the Sorbonne has â—ver been of the same Opinion This is the truth of it every time that our Kings affairs shall carry them to extremity against the Court of Rome the Clergy of France will suppress their discontents while matters go well for the Court of France but if things turn other ways the Maxims of our Divines against the King will be sure to break out Every sincere person will allow â—haâ— it has never been otherwise than so and that it will be always thus which may be observed in the very least disputes I was willing to read all these passages to you out of The Policy of the Clergy of France because the Author of that excellent piece proves there exceedâ—ng well all that I prâ—mâ—sed to shew you for the close of our Conferences which is that the Papists are truly Guilty of the Conspiracies and Rebellions which Monsieur Maimbourg would falsly fasten upon the Hugonots Of this the Murder of Henry the Third that of Henry the Fourth the violence of the League the several attempts against Queen Elizabeth King Iames and our holy Martyr Charles the Firâ—t not to mention the late Plot that has made such a noise in the World are undeniable proofs But you have seen likewise which ought to awaken the Protestant Princes to a purpose that all these black attempts have not been the fruit of impatience and human frailty under the temptation of some severe persecution but the natural Consequence and effect of the Principles of the Roman Religion as we are assured by those very men who pass for the Oracles of this Religion For you have seen just now out of Authentick pieces that the Pope the Cardinals and all the Divines of Italy who are the Pillars of the Roman Catholike Religion all the Regulars of France who draw after them more then three fourths of the French Papists and the Sorbonne it self when the rod is not over it own publickly that the Pope may Excommunicate Kings when he judges them Hereticks or countenancers of Heriticks to interdict their Kingdoms absolve their subjects from their Allegiance and expose them to the fury of all the World You have also seen that the whole Clergy of France was of this opinion by the mouth of Cardinal Perron so that this pernicious Doctrine is the vowed Faith of the whole Popish Gallican Church as well as of the Court of Rome the great depository of the Roman Religion and all its misteries From whence evidently follows what the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France infers That there is no safety for the Crown nor for the life of Kings whether they be Protestants themselves or only protect such as are whilst they are beset with Papists so that there is not the same reason to tolerate Popery in Protestant Kingdoms as there is to toâ—erate Protestants in Popish Kingdoms Monsieur Maimbourg would make us believe that all this is but a poor shift And to convince us of it he says that we need but to consider these two things First that there are not to be found more detestable Conspiracies then those the Hugonots have made against their Kings c. Secondly that it is by no means thâ— belief of the Roman Catholicks princes that a Pope may depose Princes though they were Heretiâ—ks acquit their subjects from their Allegiance and bestow their Dominions upon those that can first take them But I have evidently shewed you the falsness of the first assertion and for the second it is expresly disproved by those undeniable proofs the Author of The Policy of the Clergy has produced to shew that the Roman Catholicks hold that belief which Monsieur Maimbourg afâ—irms they do not You say Monsieur Maimbourg that it is by no means your belief that a Pope can depose Princes c. At this rate the Pope who is the head of your Church this head for whose infallibility you have so much disputed knows not the belief of your Church for he believes that by the principles of the Church of Rome he has the power which you seem to deny him The Cardinals the Bishops and all the Divines of Italy all your Regulars all your Clergy of France speaking by the mouth of your Cardinal du Perron your Sorbonne it self so renowned for its great number of able men did not know in so important a case what was the belief of your Church For they have all held that it believes the Pope can depose Princes c. At least he should have given some answers to the Authentick Acts and notorious matters of fact which the Author of The Policy of the Clergy had quoted to this purpose To say nothing of all this and to think it enough to say at randome It is by no means our belief that a Pope may depose Princes even though they were Hereticks c. this is to pass the sentence of an unjust judge who rather then fairly to confess his errour makes no conscience of denying
sight of several Proclamations That they ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France by a Secret they have found out to Tax the people at Will and then make one or more responsible for all the rest That they are barbarously cruel upon the least complaint of any thing that falls from them in the height of their misfortunes That they Demolish their best Established Temples upon the least pretence and that besides all this they condemn them to the Galleys if they offer to quit the Realm to serve God according to a good Conscience in any other Countrey with a Fine of a thousand Crowns for the first Fault and Corporal Punishment for the rest upon their Friends that shall any way countenance directly or indirectly their departure out of the Realm I have read the Proclamation and you may read it says our Friend when you please for it lies there upon my Table The strangest thing in it is that they glory of their pretended Conversions in Poitou and elsewhere as if they had been carried on with all the gentleness and Christian temper imaginable when all Europe knows they have used no other but carnal means and since I am provoked to say it the Devil's Weapons the allurement of Riches Promises of worldly Advantages Threats Force and a thousand unheard of Cruelties whereby they have brought the poor People to this hard choice either to turn Papist or perish by Hunger and ill usage And many times we see their Consciences will not suffer them to continue in that Communion they have been thus forced into for they come over by Flocks and the Prisons in France are full of these pretended Relaps But because you know all this already I proceed now says he to the Justification of our poor persecuted Brethren I am very well satisfied that this groundless Accusation as if they were Seditious Firebrands and Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy has given them no prejudice with you If Accusation were enough to render guilty of this Crime Moses and Christ the old and new people of God had certainly lost their Cause The Enemy of Truth has ever made this his Charge against the Innocence of Gods Children Moses was accused for Seducing the people Elias for Troubling Israel Ieremiah That he did not pray for the Prosperity of this people but their mischief the People of God That they designed to revolt from the King of Persia Iesus Christ himself That he perverted the people and forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar and his Apostles That they were common Pests Movers of Sedition and that turned the World upside down You have read Turtullians Apologetick and Arnobius against the Gentiles You see there how the most innocent of the Primitive Christians and the meekest of Men were charged with the same Crime Our Protestants of France have no reason to expect other measure than that of their Saviour and the Saints departed since it is the same Religion they strive for And by the Grace of God we shall with as much ease acquit them of all those Imputations laid to their charge There is certainly no stronger Proof of what the Opinions of a Church are than the publick Declarations her self has made of her Principles by open Professions or Confessions of Faith these are authentick pieces composed with the approbation of the whole Body and published on purpose to declare to the World what in sincerity such a Church believes in matters of Religion The Protestant Church of France has not been wanting in this particular but has composed and published a Confession of Faith that all the World might be sure what really are her thoughts and belief And certainly without the highest injustice we cannot reject what she has thus made Protestation of Then I told our Friend you need not enlarge upon this point for no Man of sense will dispute this Principle with you Let us come to the Question I shall soon dispatch it says he I will read to you the two last Articles of our Protestants Confession of Faith We believe That God will have the World governed by Laws and Policies to the end there may be a restraint upon the inordinate Appetites of Men and for this end that he has appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and all other sorts of Government Hereditary or otherwise and whatever appertains to the dispensation of Justice and that he himself will be acknowledged the Author of it For this cause he has put the Sword inâ—o the Magistrates Hand to punish Faults committed not only against the second Table but likewise against the first We ought therefore for God's sake not only to submit to the Government of Superiors but also to honour them and hold them in such regard as esteeming them his Lieutenants and Officers whom he has constituted to exercise a Lawful and Sacred Trust. We hold it therefore our Duty to obey their Laws and Statutes to pay Tributes Imposts and other Duties and to bear the Yoke of Subjection with a cheerful and good will be they Infidels provided the Sovereign Empire of God be kept entire Thus we detest those that would reject Authority put all things in common and overthrow the course of Justice Here you see the Confession of the Protestants of France where you find they make it a part of their Religion and Faith to believe that it is God who appoints Kingdoms Hereditary and others That we ought to Honour Princes and hold them in all Reverence as the Lieutenants and Officers of God to obey them to pay them Tribute to submit to them with a good will though they happen to be of another Religion than ours and they reject with horror all those that reject the Powers Can any thing be said stronger or with greater exactness Moreover these Protestants of France have a Liturgy a Form of Common-Prayers as well as our Church of England There it is that in the presence of God and speaking to God they do confirm by a publick Act of Worship all that they say of Kings and Potentates in their Confession of Faith After they have said to God We have thy Precept to pray for those whom thou hast set over us Superiors and Governors they add We Beseech thee therefore O heavenly Father for all Kings and Princes thy Servants to whom thou hast committed the dispensation of Iustice and particularly for the King c. If ever we ought to believe Mens words no doubt it is when they speak to God in the Act and fervor of their Devotion If a man be not wicked to the last degree or an Athiest he will then at least speak the thoughts of his Heart And upon such an account it is that the Protestants of France own in conformity to their Confession of Faith That it is God who has set Rulers over them to Govern That all Princes are the Servants of God That the Justice they dispence to men is that of God himself of which God
then either Mezeray or Monsieur Maimbourg who makes here a great deal of noise about a very inconsiderable business Whatever it was the Constable thought fit to have the King conveyed speedily to Paris through By-ways with a strong party which brought him thither the same day without any hazard and all the rest of the Army got thither the next day This is the truth of the business of Meaux which Monsieur Maimbourg calls a terrible Conspiracy of the Prince of Condè against the Sacred Person of his Soveraign Lord the King He has the impudence to call those Wicked Arms which were taken up for no other end but to preserve to France the Noble Blood of the Bourbons which at this day does it so much honor and which a Conspiracy of cruel and unreasonable Adversaries were at the very point of spilling to the last drop that they might afterwards usurp to themselves the right of the Heirs of the House Is it that Monsieur Maimbourg would have had all this Noble House extinct and that the Guises who pretend to come from Charlemain should have possessed the Throne at this day In good truth his King is much beholding to him Thus then it is that he begins to observe what he promises in his Advertisement To serve his gracious Protector with more warmth zeal and freedom than ever You must give me leave says I smiling to give a check here to the carier of your Victory Monsieur Maimbourg is very unjust to attribute to the genius of the Reformed Religion of France the outrages of Subjects Rebellion against their Prince You have beyond dispute shewed the contrary in our former Conference from their Confession of Faith the Prayers in their Liturgy and from what their most Famous Doctors have taught publickly Therefore when our Jesuit for his change of Habit does not hinder but that we have still too much cause to call him by this name charges the Protestant Religion to which unjustly he imputes Heresie with Inspiring Rebellions and Outrages he gives us a cast of his office to put the sham upon us well knowing what the Jâ—suits Religion is really guilty of in this point and to augment the displeasure of his King against the poor Huguenots the most faithful of his Subjects But setting aside this Jesuitical pliableness and malice tell me a little Do you think this action of the Prince of Condè very regular to shew himself before the King in Arms as if he would wrest from him by force that Justice which was denyed him I will allow that his enemies had sworn his ruine and that of all the Protestants of France I cannot question it after all those proofs which you have brought I will allow besides that the Six thousand Suisses which environed the King had never been raised nor kept up but to be the Executioners of this unjust and bloody Design should a Subject endeavor to cut them off even before his Soveraigns eyes who secured them by his Royal Authority Was not this to invade that Soveraign Authority which ought never to be touched by any Subject In a word this attempt of the Prince is it not point blanck contrary to the Maxims of the Protestant Religion of France as you have represented it to me That we ought never to repel force by force when it is our Soveraign that does the wrong I am very glad says our Friend that you have made this Objection it will give me occasion to say somthing that will help to clear all that they reproach the Huguenots with till the Reign of Lewis the Thirteenth 1. All that pretend to be Protestants are not so Monsieur Maimbourg himself is of the same opinion And it is a shameful Injustice to make the Religion answerable for the miscarriages of those that are a disgrace to it and that make it appear by leading a life quite contrary to its maxims and instructions that they are not its followers but its enemies This is the Injustice Monseiur Maimbourg does to the Protestant Religion in every Page of his Libel For example he imputes to it the beastly and barbarous behavior of the Baron des Adrets though he himself acknowleâ—ges he was a man of no Religion far from being what he elsewhere calls a good Huguenot a man truly devoted to the Principles of the Protestant Religion who breathes nothing but piety towards God and love and bounty towards his Neighbor He likewise imputes to it the Exploit of certain seditious Fellows that coyned Silver Money with the Princes stamp and this Inscription in Latin Ludov. XIII Rex Franc. I cannot tell whether what he says of this Coyn be true I have not the Book by me which he quotes De Thou and Mezeray who are otherwise so exact and curious speak not a word of it And considering the hatred that has always been against the Huguenots they would in all probability have kept some of this Coyn very carefully to have stopt their mouths as often as they should reproach the Papists with the several attempts they had made against Kings However it be if the Story be true they that caused such money to be coyned are wicked Wretches and have most insolently transgressed the 39th and 40th Articles of the Confession of Faith made by the Reformed Church of France So that the true French Protestants are so far from owning them for their Brethren that they detest them as utter Enemies to their holy Religion In general all they that have failed in the respect which is due to Potentates having thereby acted contrary to the Principles of the Reformed Religion cannot be reckoned among the true Protestants It is therefore an idle thing to reproach us with the Extravagancies and Enterprises of such men We have nothing to do with them And if the Prince of Condè was no otherwise a Protestant than as Monsieur Maimbourg would maliciously insinuate if under a false pretence of Religion to deceive a simple people that put great confidence in him he concealed a Criminal Revenge and Ambition the honest Huguenots disown him and it would be an unconscionable thing to make them guilty of what this Prince had committed when at the same time he must have declared himself an enemy to their Religion by having violated after such a manner their Confession of Faith in so essential a Point But God forbid we should have so ill an Opinion of this Hero as Monsieur Maimbourg would perswade us to Mezâ—ray himself assures us that the Prince was sincere an enemy to cheats and treacheries and abhorred to do an ill thing He was then doubtless what he desired that men should take him for a true Protestant which is to say a good Christian. 2. But the best Christians have their faults Wherefore there is no man that does not sometimes yield to the temptations offered him And when wâ— know the temptations to be strong as no doubt they are
and you will see that he repeats again his former Ingagements We declare that confirming as much as is or may be needful the Edict of Nantes and other Declarations and Acts given in pursuit of it c. That is to say That by this new Edict he signs once more the Edict of Nantes and for a more authentick confirmation of that important Law he ratifies together with it and seals with his Royal Seal all the Declarations which had already confirmed it If all this is not sufficient to render His Word Sacred and Inviolable there is nothing in the World can do it all things are lawful and it is to no purpose to talk of any Obligation or of any Bond in humane Society They cannot make void or break the Clauses of an Edict so well deserv'd by the Protestants so just and so wise in it self so solemnly establish'd so religiously sworn to and so often and so authentically confirm'd by three Kings without shaking all the Foundations of publick Security without violating in that Act the Law of Nations and silling the World with fatal Principles which by ruining all mutual Faith among men render Divisions in States incurable and consequently immortal Dear Sir said I I am much pleased with what you have inform'd me O how I shall dash them out of countenance who hereafter shall compare the condition of our Papists in England with that of the Protestants in France There is no sort of good usage but what is due to these in their own Country of which they have deserved so well by preserving that Family which now reigns there What have they not a right to hope for under the protection of an Edict so authentick But our Papists in England have they ever deserved a like protection Hath there ever been pass'd any Act of Parliament in favour of them like to this Edict On the contrary have not there been pass'd 1000 against them And not one but upon the provocation of some Sedition or open Rebellion You need but review the Fundamental Laws of the Land now in force against the Pope against the Jesuits Seminary Priests and in general against all the Papists There is decreed justly against them all the contrary that by the Edict of Nantes is promised to the Protestants You are much in the right said our Friend when you use the word justly on this occasion Princes and Protestant Magistrates cannot look upon nor by consequence treat Papists otherwise than as declared anâ— mortal Enemies of thâ—ir Persons and of their States They may disguise themselves as they please 〈◊〉 in truth every Papist is a man who takes the Pope to be the Soveraign Head of the Universal Church and believes that on that very account there is no Prince nor King nor Emperor who is not subject to his Censures even to Excommunication Now who knows not that it is a general Maxim of that Religion that they ought to treat all excommunicated persons as common Pests Upon this all Subjects are dispensed with from their Oaths of Allegiance to their Princes Kingdoms are laid under Interdicts and they are no way obliged to keep faith with Hereticks This is the original and damnable Cause of the many Conspiracies that have been made against the Sacred Lives of our Kings And if you will search our Histories you will find none of the forementioned Acts ever passed but upon some previous provocation given by the Papists Insolence or Rebellions of the Massacres in France and Ireland wherein they of Rome have so triumph'd and of the general consternation into which so lately our Nation was cast They would fain perswade us that these pernicious Maxims are peculiar to the Jesuits and some Monks But a little Treatise called The Disserence between the Church and Court of Rome proves undeniably that it is the judgment of all true Papists I could produce other invincible authority if this point were here to be proved There cannot then be too great caution against such persons whatever they pretend they do not design simply the exercise of that Belief which their Conscience dictates to them they grasp at the Power and aspire at Dominion they design whatever it cost them to have their Church reign once more here in England There is nothing they dare not attempt nothing they are not ready to act that they may compass it They are implacable Enemies who wait but for an opportunity to cut our Throats and we must needs be very senseless and stupid if after so many proofs as they have given us of their desperate malice we should repeal those Laws which tie up their hands You are much in the right I replyed but let us leave them for the present and return to our Protestants of France You have shewed me their Rights now let me understand their Grievances I am willing to do it said he but it is a little late and if you please being somewhat weary with my Journey we will defer it till to morrow I will expect you here in my Chamber at the same hour you came to day I told him with all my heart And as our Conversation ended there I think it not amiss to end my Letter also intending in another to let you know the present condition of those poor People I am your c LETTER II. I Did not fail to wait on my Friend at the appointed hour Sit down said he as soon as he saw me in the Chamber and let us lose no time in needless Ceremony I was just putting my Papers in order by which I would desire you to judge of the Protestants Complaints and the Reasons that have made them leave their Country But since you are here take them as they come to hand The first is a Verbal Process of the extraordinary Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops held in the Province of the Arch-Bishop of Paris in the Months of March and May this 1681. It is a Piece which justifies a Truth that the World will hardly believe Namely That whereas the Protestants by Virtue of the Edict had the Exercise of their Religion almost every where they have it now scarce any where See the proof in the tenth Page of that Verbal Process where one of the Agents General of the Clergy of France alledgeth as so many publick Testimonies of the Piety of their King An almost Infinite Number of Churches demolish'd and the Exercise of the Religion pretended Reformed suppress'd I leave you to imagine what a consternation such a terrible Blow must have put those poor people into not to mention their Grief to see those Holy Places beaten down whose very Stones they took pleasure in instead of having the Heavenly Mannah shower down at the Doors of their Tabernacles at this present they are forc'd to go 30 or 40 miles through the worst of ways in the Winter to hear the Word of God and to have their Children baptized But let us go on to a
second Piece Here is a Declaration hath lain heavy upon them in reference to an infinite number of living Temples who are â—ar otherwise to be lamented for by reason of the rigor they are us'd with than the Temples of Stone that are demolish'd It is of the thirteenth of March 1679. Pray read it It forbids all Popish Clergy-men whatever desire they have to turn Protestants and even all those Protestants who have forsaken their Religion out of Lightness or Infirmity to return to it again upon better knowledge of the truth press'd to it by their Consciences and desiring to give glory to God This dreadful Edict will not suffer that any of them shall satisfie their Consciences in so important an Affair under any less penalty than that of the Amende Honorable perpetual banishment and consiscation of their Goods I beseech you said I what doth the Declaration intend by making Amende Honorable You have reason to ask replyed he it is that you ought not to be ignorant of Know then that for them to make Amende Honorable is to go into some publick place in their Shirt a Torch in their Hand a Rope about their Neck followed by the Hangman in this Equipage which is that of the most infamous Criminals to ask pardon of God the King and Justice for what they have done that is to say on this occasion for having dar'd to repâ—nt of sinning against God for having forsaken a Religion which they believ'd Heretical and Idolatrous and consequently the infallible way to eternal damnation and for being willing thence-forward to profess the Protestant Religion in which only they are perswaded they can be saved This is dear Friend what they inâ—lict upon all Popish Ecclesiasticks to whom God vouchsafes Grace to discern the true Religion and upon all Protestants who having been such Wretches as to forsake it are aâ—terwards so happy as to be convinc'd of their Sin and to repent They call the first Apostates and the other Relaps But Names do not change the nature of things the Misery is that all this is executed with the utmost rigor The Prisons of Poictiers and those of other places are at this present filled with this sort of pretended Relapsed Persons and it is not permitted to any one to relieve them What possibility is there then for such as are in like Circumstances and whose number every day increases to continue in France But the mischief is much increas'd since this Declaration What was particular to Ecclesiasticks and Relapse Protestants is now become universal to all Roman Catholicks I shewed you the Piece yesterday It is that very Edict of Iune 1680 wherein they pretend to confirm the Edict of Nantes A Blessed Confirmation The Edict of Nantes as I have shewed you allows the Liberty of Conscience to all them who were then Protestants and to all such as would be afterwards Inhabitants or others But what doth this new Edict declare Our Will and Pleasure is that our Subjects of what quality condition age or sex soever now making profession of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion may never forsake it to go over to the pretended Reformed Religion for what Cause Reason Pretence or Consideration soever We will that they who shall act contrary to this our Pleasure shall be condemned to make Amende Honorable to perpetual banishment out of our Kingdom and all their Goods to be confiscated We forbid all Ministers of the said pretended Reformed Religion hereafter to receive any Catholick to make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion and we forbid them and the Elders of â—heir Consistories to suâ—fer in their Churches or Assemblies any such under penalty to the Ministers of being deprived for ever of exercising any Function of their Ministry in our Kingdom and of suppression for ever of the Exercise of the said Religion in that place where any one Catholick shall be received to make profession of the said pretended Reformed Religion Lord what a horrible proceeding is this cryed I as soon as my Friend had read it do they call this confirming of Edicts in France what a Violence is this to the Consciences of Ministers and Elders to command them to shut the doors of the Church of Jesus Christ to all their Neighbours who come thither for admission and to have this done by them who are called by God to open the Door to all the World Is not this to force them to violate the most Essential and Sacred Duty of Christian Charity In truth if there were nothing else but this I do not see how they can stay there much longer with a safe Conscience They must swallow worse Potions than these said my Friend you shall see presently quite other Preparations What replyed I have they the heart to use thus cruelly those poor Churches within whose Walls any Roman Catholick changes his Religion Don't doubt it said he they make no conscience at all to exceed their Commission whensoever they are enjoyn'd to execute any penalty I will give you an Example which will amaze you There is a great Town in Poitou called La Motthe where the Protestants have a Church consisting of between three and four thousand Communicants a young Maid of about seventeen years old who from a Protestant had turned Papist had stole her self into the Congregation upon a Communion-day Now you must observe that the Protestant Churches are full on those days For they would believe themselves very much to blame if they lost any Opportunity of partaking at the Lord's Supper Nevertheless without considering how easie it was for that young Maid not to be discovered by the Consistory in such a Crowd and tho those poor people were not at all within the Letter of that rigorous Edict they have made them undergo all the penalty The Exercise of their Religion is wholly suppress'd there and their Minister not allowed to preach in France This is very cruel said I to our Friend and tho it were true that those Ministers and those Elders were guilty upon such an account why should the whole flock be punished Those poor Sheep what have they done That is very usual for those Gentlemen answered he I have a hundred Stories to instance in I cannot forbear telling you one which many of their own Devotees were scandalized at S. Hippolyte is a place in where all the Inhabitants are Protestants except the Curate and it may be two or three poor wretches who are not Natives of the place neither A fancy took the Curate to put a Trick upon the Protestants for this he chose a Sunday and the very moment that they came out of the Church he came and presented himself before them with his Sacrament as they were almost all come out You must know that the Church is on the farther side of a Bridge which must be pass'd over going and coming Several of them were upon the Bridge others had pass'd it and part were yet on the other side when the
set on fire and so they were scorch'd till they said they would renounce their Religion There would be no end if I should relate all that is done This you may be assured of that the People of Israel were never so oppress'd by the Egyptians as the Protestants are by their own Country-men A Copy of the Second Letter To make good my promise of giving you an exact Account of the continuance of the persecution which is rais'd against the Protestants in France I shall acquaint you that they of Poitiers are threat'ned with being made a Garrison this Winter I say they the Protestants For none but they must quarter any of them Monsieur de Marillac gives himself up wholly to the making of Proselytes The Deputies of Poitiers are now here to make complaint of the violences they still labour under They offer by a Petition which they have presented at the cost of their lives if they are found guilty of any Falshood or if they do not make out what they say They set forth that by the Orders of Monsieur Marillac the Protestant are dealt with as declared Enemies that their Goods and their Houses are plundered their persons assaulted that the Soldiers are employed as Executioners of these Outrages That they are quartered upon the Protestants only that besides the excessive expence they put them to they exact money of them with dreadful Oaths and Execrations They knock them down they drag Women by the hair of the Head and Ropes about their Necks they have put them to the torture with Screws by clapping their Fingers into a Vice and so squeezing them by degrees they have bound aged Men eighty years old and beaten them and have misused before their Eyes their Children who came to comfort them They hinder Handicrafts men from working they take from Labourers what they use for their Livelyhood they set their Goods openly to sale and they clap their Swords and Pistols to their Breasts who are not frighted with their other Usages they drag them in Sheets into their Churches they throw Holy Water in their Faces and then say they are Catholicks and shall be proceeded against as Relapsed if they live otherwise It is not permitted to these miserable persons to complain those who would have attempted it have been seised on and the Prisons are full of them They are detained there without any Process being made against them and even without so much as having their Names entred in the Iayl-Books If any Gentleman speak to Monsieur Marillac he answers them that they should meddle with their own Business that otherwise he will lay them fast This is a Taste of what they are doing here A Copy of the Third Letter BEing very busie it shall suffice at this time to send you a Copy of a Letter which I just now received from Saintes concerning the Protestants of this Kingdom Sir J. P. our common Friend writ it me He is now making his Tour of France I intreated treated him to inform himself as well as he could how they treated the poor people in those places he was to pass through that he might give me a full Account This is the Letter dated the last of August Old Style I am now going out of Aulnix where I meet with nothing but Objects of Compassion The Intendant of Rochefort which is Monsieur Du Muins lays all waste there It is the same person concerning whom at the Segnelay's we were told so many pleasant Stories last Winter at S. Germain Do not you remember that they talked much of a certain Picard who owed all his Fortune to his Wife and whom the Marquis de Segnelay treats always as the worst of men That 's the Man he is born to do mischief as much as ever man was and his Employment hath increas'd bis insolence beyond measure To this he hath added to the Protestants grief all the barbarous zeal of Ignorance And if the King would let him do it he would soon act over again the Tragedy of S. Bartholomew About ten days since he went to a great Town in Aunix called Surgeres accompanied with his Provost and about forty Archers He began his Feats with a Proclamation that all the Huguenots should change their Religion and upon their refusal he quartered his Troop upon those poor people he made them to live there at discretion as in an Enemies Country he made their Goods to be thrown into the Streets and their Beds under the Horses Feet By his Order the Vessels of Wine and Brandy were staved and their Horse Heels wash'd with it their Corn was sold or rather given away for a fourth part of what it was worth and the same was done to all the Tradesmens Goods Men Women and Children were put to the Torture were dragged by force to the Popish Churches and so great Cruelty was used towards them that the greatest part not being able longer to indure the extremity of the pain renounced their Religion By the same means they forced them to give it under their hands That they had abjured without constraint and of their own free choice The Goods of those who found means to escape are sentenced to be sold and to be pillaged Proud of so noble an Expedition our good man returns to Rochefort the place of his ordinary abode forbids all the Protâ—sâ—ants who are there pretty numerous to remove any of their Gâ—ods out of the Town under penalty of confiscation of what should be seised and corporal punishment over and above and he commands them all to change their Religion in five days This was done by sound of Trumpet that no one might pretend ignorance The Term expires to morrow After this he marched to Moze it is another great Town in Aunix where there is a very fair Church of the Protestants and a very able Minister there he set out the same Prohibitions and the same Commands that he had at Rochefort Upon this a very worthy person of the place and Elder of the Church named Mr. Jarry addressed to him with a most humble Remonstrance and this cruel and barbarous man made him presently to be clapt up in Irons Aâ—ter this he quartered his Men upon those of the Protestant Religion where he exerciseth the same violence which he did at Surgeres Nevertheless hitherto no one hath made Shipwrack of his Conscience in this place They suffer all this cruel persecution with an admirable constancy God of his Mercy support them to the end All the rest of Aunix is in extreme consternation There are likewise Prohibitions made at Rochelle against the shipping of any Goods In so much that all they who slie away run a great hazard of carrying away their lives only for a prey Adieu I will end mine as Sir J. P. doth his all your Friends Do you intend to conclude there said I to our Friend I have a mind to do so replyed he tho I have a thousand Insolences and Outrages more yet
little of Christianity She was an ambitious Queen who by a wicked Policy would govern at any rate even to the sacrificing Religion it self She did not deal faithfully with the Huguenots when she made the Peace with them Her only design was to deceive them It was she that put the King upon that barbarous resolution which was executed upon that bloody and accursed day of St. Bartholomew He sets out Charles the Ninth as a Son worthy of such a Mother This Prince was of an impetuous humour Cholerick Revengeful and very Cruel which proceeded from his dark Melancholy temper and from his wicked Education He was so good a Proficient in what his Mother taught him who was a Woman the best skilled of any in her time in the Art of Dissimulation and deceiving people that he made it appear he had outdone her in her own Craft What was it he did not do for two years together to deceive the poor Admiral He expressed the greatest value and love for him imaginable Embraced him kissed him called him his Father And yet so soon as ever they advised him to dispatch him out of hand He stood up in the greatest rage and swore by God according to his wicked custom Ay I will have him dispatched nay I will have all the Huguenots destroyed that not a man remain to reproach me hereafter with his death They hung the Body of the Admiral by the heels upon the Gibbet of Mount-Faucon lighting a Fire underneath to make him a more frightful spectacle It was so miserable a sight that Charles the King would needs see his Enemy thus dead which certainly was an act altogether unworthy I will not say of a King but of a man of any Birth to such a degree had this Spirit of hatred revenge and cruelty which he had learn'd of his Mother prevailed upon him As for Henry the Third another mortal Enemy to the Protestants Monsieur Maimbourg sets him out as the falsest and most unnatural of Mankind The Sieur Aubery du Maurier says he tells us in the Preface of his Memoirs that he has heard his Father say that he had it from the mouth of Monsieur de Vellievre that at the same time he shewed large Instructions to oblige him earnestly to intercede for the Life of Mary Queen of Scots he had private ones quite contrary from the hand of Henry the Third to advise Queen Elizabeth to put to death that common Enemy to their Persons and Kingdoms And could there be a stranger cruelty than what he makes this Prince guilty of when as yet he was only Duke d'Anjou The Prince of Condè after he had defended himself a long time most bravely at the Battle of Iarnac was forced at last to yield up himself Two Gentlemen received his Sword with all manner of respect But the Baron of Montesquiou Captain of Monsier's Swiss Guards being come up whil'st this was doing and finding by them that it was the Prince of Condè Kill him kill him says he and with a great Oath discharged his Pistol at his Head and shot him dead at the stump of a Tree where he leant It was an action doubtless no ways to be excused especially in a French Man who ought to have had respect and spared the Royal Blood had it been in the heat of the Battle much more in cold Blood They say this was done by the express command of the Duke d'Anjou He says of the Duke of Montpensier an irreconcilable enemy to the Huguenots that he would give them no Quarter that he always talked of hanging them that all he took prisoners he put to death presently without mercy that he said to that brave and wise la Noüe who came to surrender himself Prisoner of War My Friend you are a Huguenot your Sentence is passed Prepare for death that the day of the Massacre this bigotted Catholick went through the Streets with the Marshal de Tavannes encouraging the People that were but too forward of themselves and provoking them to fall upon every body and spare none He makes the Cardinal of Lorrain that great Champion for Popery to be Author of a sordid and cruel proceeding He says of the Duke of Guise whom the Catholicks looked upon as the invincible Defender of their Faith that indeed he did service to the Religion but that he likewise made it serve his turn and to invest him with that almost Regal Power which in the end prov'd so fatal to him Now a Subject that makes Religion a step to mount him into his Princes Throne and take away his Crown can he be otherwise esteemed than as a prophane and wicked man Speaking of the Ligue which as he says had for the chief Actors Philip the Second Queen Katharine and the Duke of Guise the great supporters of the Pope That it had like to have destroyed Church and State at once and that the greatest part of those that ran headlong in with that heat and passion and chiefly the People the Clergy and the Fryars were but the stales of such as made up this Cabal where Ambition Revenge and Interest took more place than Religion which was used but for a shew to cheat the World At last he represents the Court of Charles the Ninth which had been that of Francis the Second and was afterwards that of Henry the Third as a pack of Miscreants and Atheists The Court says he was at that time very corrupt where there was no difference hardly between a Catholick and a Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to Sermon As for any thing else they agreed well enough for as much as the one and the other at least generally speaking had no Religion at all profane without the fear of God And yet it was from this Court as from a deadly Spring that flowed all the Persecutions which the Protestants suffered under the Reigns of three of their Kings And Monsieur Maimbourg is very pleasant when he makes it up of Huguenots as well as Papists All the World knows that the Huguenots were banished from the Court of Charles the Ninth so that all he says of this Court can light upon none but the Papists who alone were admitted at that time You are in the right says our Friend and it will do well to finish the draught Monsieur Maimbourg has given us of this Court that I read to you what the Bishop of Rhodes writes of it in his History of Henry the Fourth There never was one more vitious and corrupt Wickedness Atheism Magick the most enormous uncleanness the fowlest treacheries perfidiousness poysoning and murder predominated to the highest pitch But I beseech you Sir says he tell me what you would infer from these words of Monsieur Maimbourg that gives such Encomium's to the same Protestants whom he would seem at the same time to cry down with all
his might and makes such heavy Reflections upon those same Roman Catholicks whom he makes the Pillars of his Church and the greatest enemies to the Protestant Relâ—gion I make no doubt replyed I but I draw the same Consequences from hence as â—ou do that Monsieur Maimboâ—rg plainly shews by this that he ought noâ— to be believed when elsewhere he charges so many faults upon thâ— first Protestants of France and imputes all the great Exploits to their enemies the Papists and that the true Protestants or the good Huguenots being so pious and having the fear of God before their eyes for which he commâ—nds them could not be the causes of Disorders though very likely their Adversaries might have been whom the Historian represents as the most wicked ambitious ungodly and cruel of men By this he likewise convinces us that his Book ought not to be regarded and that we ought not to look upon his accusations against that which he calls Calvinism otherwise then as railing and aspersions invented at will to make way for his better reception at Court or some other by end that is not worth enquiring after It is that which prejudices his Book with all Ingenious Persons and renders it unworthy the least consideration Yet since the enemies of the French Protestants make such a noise with it let me intreat you Sir to clear the matters of Fact to me which he produces with so much confidence to raise a jealousie in Princes upon these poor Men as if they were the Authors of those Troubles and Disorders in the last Age which came within a very little of ruining France First he charges their Religion with being a mortal enemy to Monarchy I confess you have made the contrary appear beyond dispute in our former Conference But he lays his Charge upon matters of Fact whereof I have not knowledge enough to clear the Objections One shall hardly see says he more dreadful Conspiracies than those which the Huguenots have made against our Kings For instance that cruel business of Amboise and that of Meaux not to mention their terrible Rebellions which have cost France so much Blood and the unhappy Intelligences they have held with the enemy to withdraw themselves from their Allegiance and set up openly for a Commonwealth as they have done more than once I beg of you to give me all the light you can to deliver Innocence from so black an Aspersion With all my heart says our Friend and besides when I have taken off this reproach I promise to make it as clear as the Sun at Noon-day that they are Father Maimbourgs Catholicks who are guilty of all these desperate Conspiracies against the persons of Kings which he so unjustly and fasly lays to the Protestants His first proof of the dreadful Conspiracies of the Huguenots against that of their Kings is the business of Amboise and Meaux But before I enter into Particulars I set against him an unexceptionable Witness who openly declares That the Huguenots entred not into any Conspiracy against their Kings in either of those places My Witness is one of the same Religion with Monsieur Maimbourg and what is more a Cardinal and one so knowing and of so extraordinary worth that Monsieur Sainte-marthe is not afraid to stile him The Flower of the Colledge of Cardinals the Light of France and the New Star of his Age Sacrati ordinis aureum Florem Ocellum nostrae Galliae sui denique seculi novum Sidus He had over and above this advantage of Monsieur Maimbourg that he lived in the time of the businesses of Amboise and of Meaux He was above twenty years old at the time of the â—irst and he was too exact and too knowing not to have throughly examined the Causes and Motives of two Occurrences that made such a noise all over Europe You shall hear what he says in his eighth Letter of the â—irst Book upon the occasion of an attempt against the Life of Henry the Fourth You had it already but I cannot forbear reading it again to you for it deserves to be writ in Letters of Gold upon the Front of all the French Kings Palaces To a Prince turned Catholick who should have been encouraged and confirmed by all means possible it was to give him great offence and distaste at the Catholicks when they that call themselves the support of the Catholick Religion should go about to have him Assassinated that which if there were any pretence for the Hereticks ought to have procured or done it themselves because he had quitted and forsaken them and they had therefore reason to fear him and yet they attempted no such thing either against him or any of the five Kings his Predecessors whatever Butchery they had made among them These remarkable words And yet they attempted no such thing either against him or any of the five Kings his Predecessors are a manifest confutation of all that Monsieur Maimbourg's Libel sets forth against the Loyalty of the French Protestants from the beginning of the Reformation which was under Francis the first to the Reign of Henry the fourth The businesses of Amboise and of Meaux happened the one under Francis the second the other under Charles the ninth two of the five Kings Predecessors to Henry the fourth of whom Cardinal d'Ossaâ— speaks Assuring us therefore as he does That the Protestants never attempted any thing against the life of these five Kings he positively denies what Monsieur Maimbourg asserts That in 〈◊〉 two affairs the Huguenots had entred into terrible Conspiracies against their Kings Now in the presence of God which of these two ought we rather to give credit to the Cardinal a man of an unspotted Reputation and who was an Eye-witness of these two passages now in dispute or Monsieur Maimbourg who writ his Libel sixscore years after the business of Meaux and whom the Pope himself has turned out of the Jesuites Order for an untoward reason For every body knows it was for being detected of falsehood in his Writings that the Pope put this high Affront upon him But to come to our present purpose and to be short we will stick to the account Monsieur Maimbourg himself gives of that he calls the business of Amboise This is that he says That at a very close meeting at la Fertè sous Ioûare they determined a high point of Conscience by the advice of Divines Canonists and Lawyers who all agreed That during the present State of affairs men might take up Arms to seize in any manner the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother to bring them to Tryal provided a Prince of the Blood who is in this case a lawful Magistrate would head the Party That all this having been allowed of by a general Consent the Prince of Condé resolved to head them upon condition that they attempted nothing against the King and the Royal Family nor against the State That
and against all the Princes of the Blood thereby to possess himself of the Soveraign Power and of the Regality when they should at one blow have destroyed all the Royal Line The premier President Christopher du Thou though in his heart he abhorred so foul an action as that of St. Bartholomew's day and openly disclaimed against it all his life does yet undertake out of a flattery little becoming so great a Magistrate to commend it as the effect of a singular prudence and in his Speech to extol the King who to preserve the Government by suppressing those that would have overthrown it understood so well how to practice that excellent Rule of Lewis the Eleventh who was used to say He that knows not how to dissemble knows nothing of the art of Governing And the better to prove this Plot which gained but little faith then and that no body believes now they proceeded against old Briquemaud Marshal du Camp to the Princes Army against Caragnes Chancellor to the party and against the dead Admiral They were all three hanged the last in Effigy by something made up like him with a tooth-pick in his mouth as he was almost always used to have and the two others in person before the King and the Queen who would needs see the Execution out of the Town-house window They thought by this likewise to perswade the Princes whom they had a mind to draw over from that Party by making them believe That they had engaged with those who were their greatest enemies and the most profligate of all men What do you think says our Friend after he had read all this long story out of Monsieur Maimbourg what do you think of the enemies of the French Protestants and their dealings I assured him I was extreamly surprised and that out of respect to the quality of those that acted I durst not tell him all I thought But I heartily thank Monsieur Maimbourg for letting the World know that this pretended hellish Conspiracy charged upon the Huguenots to take away their good Name after they had taken away their Lives was but a shameful Story raised by a devilish malice to excuse a hellish action and for so freely censuring the meaness of the Premier President Christopher du Thou who was so base to commend that in publick which he abhorred in private and to countenance such a Story against the Dictates of his own Conscience All the World may by this easily discern the Spirit of Popery It is a Spirit of Murder and Lying It causes the shedding Rivers of Blood and it invents Lies to colour its Murders and to commit fresh ones by which Briguemaud and Cavagnes were hanged This is to say much in a few words says our Friend And if Monsieur Maimbourg had been constantly so ingenuous as he is upon this occasion his Book would be no Libel but a true and righteous defence of the Protestants Innocence All those dreadful things which he there alledges against them are the stamp of the same Spirit which vouches a Conspiracy to justifie the Massacre Neither was it harder for him to be assured of that than to satisfie himself that this last report was a meer Story This Story was as he says himself the first means his Church thought fit to use for the conversion of the young King of Navarre who was afterwards Henry the Great and the young Prince of Condè to the Roman Religion They likewise believed says he that this meaning the false rumour of a hellish Conspiracy against all the Royal Line would help towards the Conversion of the Princes by making them believe they were engaged with those that were their greatest enemies and the worst of Men. An excellent way of converting truly And becoming the Christian Religion I will now read to you what account Monsieur Maimbourg gives of Charles the Ninth's proceedings in the accomplishment of this excellent Work after as Christian a manner as it had been begun Whilst they were Massacring the Huguenots in the Louvre and all over Paris the King sent for those Princes into his Closet where after he had in short given them the reason of this bloody Proceeding of which they themselves had seen some part and which was yet in execution he tells them with a stern countenance imperious and threatning according to his custom that being resolved no longer to suffer in his Kingdom so wicked a Religion which teaches its Followers to revolt and even to conspire against the Person of their Sovereign he expected they should presently renounce this cursed Sect and that they should embrace the Faith which was always professed by the most Christian Kings from whom they had the honor to be descended and that if they refused to comply with him in this he would use them just as they had seen them used whose Rebellion and Impiety they had hitherto been directed by To this the King of Navarre answered with all respect that he was no ways obstinate but was ready to submit to instruction and sincerely to embrace the Catholick Religion when he should be convinced of the truth of it which as yet he was ignorant of The Prince of Condè answered That his Majesty whose Subject he was might dispose of his Life and Fortune as he pleased but not of his Religion for which he was accountable to God alone of whom he held it This answer given to a fierce and hasty Master put him into so great a rage that falling into hard words calling him ever and anon Seditious Mad-man Rebel and Son of a Rebel he swore by God that if he did not comply in that little time which he should give him he would have his life Nay more not being able to endure to see that in spight of all their endeavors to convert him this Prince should still continue unmoveable he drew his Sword and vowed he would destroy all the rest of the Huguenots that persisted in their Heresie beginning presently with the Prince of Condè And it was with much ado that the young Queen prevailed with him to lay by his Sword casting herself at his feet to entreat him with hands lifted up and tears in her eyes but to forbear a little while He yielded but at the same time making the Prince be brought before him he cast two or three thundring looks at him without saying any more than these three words to him in a threatning and frightful tone Mass Death or the Bastile and so turning away he dismissed him This wrought so strongly upon the Mind of the poor Prince and so terrified him that he solemnly abjured Calvinism in the presence of his Uncle the Cardinal of Bourbon as had done before him the King of Navarre the Lady Catharine his Sister and the Princess of Condè You see what were the motives that converted the Princes And this detestable Massacre was the introduction of the fourth War upon the Protestants as Mezeray
says As to the Fact our Jesuite Jesuite as he is notwithstanding condemns it Neither has he the Heart to charge the Huguenots with these new troubles The King raised several Armies to extirpate those that had escaped the Massacre They layed the two so much talked of Sieges of Rochel and Sanvane which were raised at the arrival of the Polish Embassadors come to seek for the Duke of Anjou elected King of that Kingdom whither he went Charles the Ninth falls very ill The Prince of Condé flies into Germany and returns again to the Protestant Communion The King dies after a thousand remorses of Conscience upon the account of St. Bartholomew's Massacre For we are told That oftentimes he fancied that he saw a Sea of Blood flowing before his Eyes and that they should hear him from time to time cry out Ah! my poor Subjects what have ye done to me They forced me to it Then though too late he acknowledg'd that it was not the Protestants as the Jesuite Maimbourg so maliciously reports but the Montmorency's and the Guises who had been the real Authors of all the Troubles He had owned says Mezeray That the Houses of Montmorency and Guise were the true causes of the Civil Wars The King of Poland who was afterwards called Henry the Third returns into France and succeeds Charles the Ninth The Protestants apply to him for Peace and at the same time That Atheism and Blasphemy may be exemplarily punished and that the Ordinances against enormous and lewd Whoring which drew down the Wrath of God upon France might be execuâ—â—â— â—ut says Mezeray this untoward reproof made the Huguenots mere haâ—ed at Court than did all their Insurrections and Heresies They had no fruit 〈◊〉 their demands they would not be hearkned to The War was kept up every where The Duke of Alanzon presumptive Heir to the Crown retired from Court and headed the Protestants The King of Navarre likewise withdrew four Months after Their conjunction with the Prince of Condè who had raised a considerable Army obliges the Court at last to agree to Peace which they had so long desired The Edict was prepared and verified the 15th of May 1576. It allowed the Protestants the free exercise of their Religion which from that time forwards was to be called The Pretendded Reformed Religion It allowed them Church-yards and made them capable of all Offices both in the Colledges Hospitals c. forbid farther enquiry after Priests and Fryars that were married declared their Children Legitimate and capable of Succâ—ssion c. expressed a deep resentment of the Slaughters upon St. Bartholomew's day exempted the Children of those that had been killed from the Duty of the Militia if they were Gentlemen and from Taxes if Yeomen repealed all the Acts which had condemned the Admiral Briquemaud Cavagnes Montgommery Montbrun and others of the Religion owned the Prince and D' Amville for his good Subjects Casimir for his Allie and Neighbor and owned all they had done as done for his Service gave to those of the Religion for their better security of Justice the Chambres my parties in each Parliament or Court of Justice c. But all this was only for a new decoy to catch the Huguenots Mezeray observes that so soon as they had got the Duke of Alanzon from them they began afresh to contrive their ruine And then it was that terrible League broke out which under pretence of extirpating the Protestants set the whole Kingdom in a flame All the Historians agree that it was the pernicious cause of all the Wars that were made against the Huguenots during the Reign of Henry the Third and that had like to have laid France waste Wherefore to justifie the innocence of the Protestants during all these troubles we need only observe the measures and designs of the League which was the cause of them I will keep to what Monsieur Maimbourg says He is thus far ingenuous This League says he had like to have overthrown both Church and State The most of those that went into it or rather run headlong and blindfold with so much heat and passion and especially the common people the Clergy and the Fryars were but stales to those that composed the Cabal where Ambition Malice and Self-Interest had more share than Religion which in all probability was brought in for no other end but to châ—at the World These were the King of Spain Queen Catharine and the Duke of Guise who cast up their Accounts together though upon very different reasons yet such as agreed all against the State the Duke to make himself head of a Party which after the expiration of the Valois might advance him to yet a higher pitch the Queen that she might have a pretence to bring in her Grandchild Henry Son to Charles Duke of Lorrain instead of the lawful Successor to the Crown the King of Navarre her Son-in-Law whom she cared not for and the Spaniard to take advantage of the division the League would cause among the French to make them ruine one another and afterwards become their Master This League divided the Catholicks who took Arms one against anther the one to sâ—cure Religion as they said the other to defend the Royal Authority and the Fundamental Law of the Land which they designed to overthrow It obliged the King for prevention of the dangerous Conspiraciâ—s of the Leaguers to come to a difficult extreme and to join his Forces with those of the Huguenot Party to reduce the Catholick Rebels to their Duty It stirred up terrible Commotions all over the Kingdom This cursed League was made in opposition to the Royal Authority under the fair pretence of Religion It had a fowl beginning though contrary to the common apprehension of those who know not how to fift into the bottom of it It s procedure was abominable being neither more nor less but almost a continued attempt against the Government of a King who was at least as good a Catholick as they that headed the League In conclusion that the rise and design of the League extended to the Subversion of the Royal Family I shall not need to give an exact account here of all the steps the Contrivers of this violent Conspiracy took since the holding of the Estates at Blois in the year 1576. Where as the Bishop of Rhodes says The King Henry the Third was forced to declare himself Head of the League whereby from a Soveraign he became head of a Faction and Enemy to a part of his Subjects down to the year 1589. when they caused this unfortunate Prince to be stabbed by Iaques Clement the Fryar It is enough to understand that by the confession of Monsieur Maimbourg himsâ—lf the Duke of Guise and his Complices did not put Henry the Third upon persecuting the Protestants with that heat and violence for any other end but by the
for a pretence to â—ish in troubled Waters But if there happened to be any sincere Protestants who were drawn in by these Hypocrites to take up Arms with them as it is not to be doubted they did it not in pursuit of the Principles of their Religion which is point-blanck against such proceedings but out of too great a fear of Death or something worse through a usual Infirmity of Nature from which the best of Christians are not wholly exempt The first need no defence the second deserve it not and the third sort plead their fear the rather because just as it were easie to prove as well as their repentance As the first are they that held to the true Principles of their Religion it is but reasonble that we should make our judgment of the French Protestants from their behaviour The second as they did but act a part and were Impostors there is no reason their Extravagancies and Rebellions should be charged upon the true Protestants who disown their Fraternity And because the third falled out of weakness it is the duty of a Christian Compassion and the sense of our own Infirmities to forget and forgive their Failures I propose nothing in all this but upon the most authentick Authority that could be wished for upon such an occasion it is a Declaration of Lewis XIII given at Bourdeaux the 10th of November 1615. upon the joyning of the Protestants with the Prince of Condè Many says this King speaking of the Protestants of his Kingdom have taken up Arms against us to assist the Commotion begun by our Cousin the Prince of Condè amongst which there are that use Religion only for a better Pretence to conceal their Ambition and extream thirst of bettering themselves by the disturbance and ruine of the State and the rest have been Cheated and Imposed upon by false suggestions and vain fears that the former sort have put into their heads as if there were no avoiding Persecution but presently to take up Arms with them in their own defence making them believe the better to work upon their easiness That in the private Article upon the Match with Spain it was agreed and covenanted to drive them out of the Kingdom or wholly to destroy them which they being too forward to believe have run into this Engagement out of a conceit that they are forced to it in their own defence which makes their Fault pardonable and worthy rather of Pity than Punishment But these tricks have not prevailed or seduced the wiser and better sort who profess the same Religion purely out of Conscience as expecting to be Saved by it and not to promote a Faction who to a considerable number as well Lords Gentlemen Towns Corporations as other private persons of all qualities condemn and abhor the wickedness and rashness of their attempt and have publickly declared by word of mouth and writing That it ought to be esteemed as neither more nor less than a down-right Rebellion c. We have declared and ordained and do declare and ordain upon Consideration and in favour to the Loyalty which has been observed towards us by an infinite number of our good Subjects of the said Religion amongst which there are of the chiefest and best Quality who deserve a special Proof of our Good-Will That what has been committed by those of the same Religion who have taken up Arms against us or that have in any manner aided or assisted them have likewise the favour of our Edicts and that they share in this Grace as if they had always continued in their Duty c. This same King would by no means have the least Reproach lie upon those Protestants whose Fault he had declared Pardonable though they had joined with the Prince of Condè For when they came to consider ' all things for appeasing these first troubles he owns them for his faithful Subjects and maintains all they had done as done for his Service It is in Article XVII of the Edict of Blois in the Year 1616. and by your leave I will read you the Article That there may be no question of the good intention of our dearest Couâ—in the Prince of Condè and of those that joyned with him we declare That we hold and esteem our said Cousin the Prince of Condè to be our good Kinsman and faithful Subject and Servant as likewise the other Princes Dukâ—s Peers Oâ—ficers of our Crown Lords Gentlemen Towns Communalties and others as well Catholicks as those of the pretended Reformed Religion of what quality or condition soever that have assisted joined and united themselves with him either before or during the Cessation of Arms understanding also thereby the Deputies of the prâ—tended Reformed Religion lately assembled at Nismes and now at our City of Rochel to be our good and Loyal Subjects and Servants And having seen the Declaration addressed to us by our said Cousin the Prince of Condè We believe and look upon what was done by him and the aforenamed to have been done for a good end and purpose and for our Service In all the following troubles the same distinction is to be made The whole Body of Protestants was never engaged in them the greater and more sober part always kept to their Obedience and Duty in despite of all the Injuries that were done them They were contented to encounter God and their â—ing with Tears and Prayers or if they were seen in Arms it was in the Armies and under the Standards of their King whil'st they that were not Protestants but in shew made all the stirs which they unjustly impute to the true Protestants of which if any were drawn in by the insinuation of several disaffected persons and through impatience of the unjust Severities they were treated with against the Engagement of the Edicts to defend themselves by force of Arms their Religion which is from Jesus Christ never allowed it in opposition to their Superiors But after all it was but a small number of the Protestants that gave in to those rough Provocations they then lay under In so doing they departed from the Principles of the Protestant Religion Their own Brethren an inâ—inite number of them have condemned them for it true Christians are pardon'd daily for faults committed upon far more flight motives The King himself that then Reigned has determined That the cause of their taking up Arms which was undoubtedly a very just grievance as well as a sudden terror made their Crime pardonable and rather deserving Pity than Punishment However to lay the fault of particular Men upon the whole Body or the Protestant Religion it self as their Enemies do every day is as if we should charge the whole Church and Romish Religion with the Faults of those Papists who to a very great number followed either the late Prince of Condè in the troubles of the year 1615. or the Queen-Mother Mary de Medicis in those of the year 1620. or the present Prince
whose Name we have exhorted and advised them to condescend to the Conditions offered and given in upon the abovenamed Peace in kindness and for the good of this Kingdom and the satisfaction and aid of Christendom in general For these Reasons we declare and certifie that by the words they had before agreed upon with us for the finishing of the said Treaty and which were produced in the presence and by the command of his most Christian Majesty by the Lord Chancellor in order to the acceptance of the Peace importing That by long Services and a continued Obedience they had reason to expect the Kings favour which they never could procure by any Treaty even of matters esteemed of greatest importance for which in due time they might receive humble addresses with all humility and respect there was a clearer explication on his Majesties part and his Ministers reported to us by the Commissioners for the Peace Persons of great Quality appointed and put in with directions and power from his Majesty and his Ministers the sense and meaning of which is That they mean the Fort Loâ—is before Rochel and thereby to give assurance of the demolishing of it in convenient time and in the mean while for the â—aking off those other matters which rest by the aforesaid Treaty of Peace to the prejudice of the Liberty of the Town of Rochel without which assurance of demolishing and taking off the Garisons the aforesaid Deputies have protested to us that they had never consented to the continuation of the said Fort being directed and resolved to hold the Right of its demolition as they do by the present Declaration in confidence that the King of Great Britain will endeavour by his Mediations together with their most humble intreaties for shortning the time of the said demolition for which we have given them all the words and promises of a King they could wish for after we had laid before them that they ought and might rest satisfied therein In confirmation of which and what else we have above said we have Signed and Sealed this Present with our Names and Coats of Arms and made the same he Countersigned by one of Our Secretaries Given at Paris the Eleventh of February 1626. Signed thus HOLLAND D. CARLETON With the Seals under each of their Names And below By Command of my Lords AVGIER Our King pressed the performance of so Solemn a Promise for demolishing the Fort Louis to little purpose when they neither took notice of his sollicitations nor the obligation to which his Embassadors had tyed him up to see this Treaty of Peace executed You may perceive it by the Duke of Buckingham's Manifesto who at last landed upon the Isle of Rè with an Army to discharge the Royal Word of our Soveraign This is the Manifestò What share the Kings of Great Britain have always taken in the Concerns of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and with how much zeal and care they have laboured for their good is notorious to all Men the experiences of which have been as frequent as the occasions The present King my most honoured Lord and Master comes nothing short of his Predecessors in this Point had not the good and laudable purposes for their good been perverted to their ruine by those that were most concerned in their true accomplishment What advantages has he let slip What course has he not taken by his Alliance with France to enable himself to procure more eâ—fectually and powerfully the restitution of the Churches to their ancient Liberty and Splendor And what could be expected less from so strict an Alliance and so many repeated promises from the Mouth of a great Prince but Effects truly Noble and suitable to his high Quality But so far has his Majesty been after so many Promises and such strict ties of Amity from being able to obtain freedom and security for the Churches and restore France to Peace by reconciling those that breath nothing but entire obedience to their King under the liberty of the Edicts that on the contrary they have made use of the Interest he had in those of the Religion to deceive them thereby not only to disingage him from them but likewise to render him if not hated at least suspected in diverting the means he had appointed for their good to a quite contrary end Witness the English Ships intended not for the extirpation of those of the Religion but on the contrary an absolute Promise made not to employ them against that Party whiâ—h were nevertheless brought before Rochel and employed in the last Sea-fight against them What then could be hoped for from so powerful a Prince as the King my Master so grosly disappointed but a resentment equal in proportion to the injuries received But he forbore beyond all Patience Whilst he had hopes by other means to advantage the Churches he sought not to do it by force of Arms till he had been made the Instrument and Mediator of the last Peace upon very hard terms and such as never had been accepted of without His Majesties Intercession who interposed his Credit and Mediation towards the Churches to accept of it even with threats that he might save the honor of the Most Christian King upon assurance on his side not only of making good but likewise of bettering the terms for which he became Surety on behalf of the Churches But what was the event of all this but an abuse of his Goodness And which His Majesty looked upon as the chief remedy of all their Miseries has it not almost given the last blow to the ruine of the Churches It missed very narrowly by keeping up the Fort before Roâ—â—el the slighting of which was promised by the outrages of the Soldiers and Garisons and of the said Fort and Islands as well upon the Inhabitants of the said Town as upon Strangers who instead of being wholly withdrawn were daily increased and other Forts built and by the stay of the Commissioners in the said Town beyond the time agreed to make Cabals there and by means of the divisions they stirred up among the Inhabitants to set open the Gates to the neighbouring Troops and by other contraventions and breaches of the Peace it missed I say very narrowly that the said Town and with it all the Churches had given up the Ghost And for all this His Majesty yet contained himself and used no other Weapons against so many Affronts and Breaches of Faith but complaints and Intercessions till he had certain advice confirmed by Letters that were intercepted of the great preparations the Most Christian King had made to set down before Rochel And now what could His Majesty have done less than vindicate his Honor by immediately arming Himself against those that had made him Party to their false dealing and given proof of His Integrity and the zeal he has always had for reestabâ—ishing the Churches a Work which will be ever valued by him above all other things
And this was the only end of arming himâ—elf and not any private Interest if any one shall yet question let him but consider the circumstance of the time and the poâ—ture of his Affairs For who can believe that the King my Maâ—ter has any design upon â—rance or making any Conquests there at so improper a time when he has already upon him an Enemy one of the most Powerful Princes in the World And that if he had any such thoughts of so many Men as he has raised which are the same charge to him as if he had them here and which he is always ready to send over if the Churches want them he should only send a handful in comparison of so many as would be needful for so great an undertaking besides the great Succors he sends at the same time into Germany Who would not conclude rather as in truth it is that the Forces here are but Auxiliaries and that they are for no other purpose but to assist the Churches which for so many reasons and upon such important accounts he finds himself obliged before God and Man to aid and protect that if they will say the King my Master was provoked to arm himself upon other considerations as the imbargo and seizure of all the Shipping Goods and Effects of his Subjects at Bourdeaux and other places of this Kingdom to the open breach and overthrow of the Treaties between the two Crowns which are direct in this point and to the irreparable prejudice even the entire ruine of Trade in the disappointment of which the poor people of this Kingdom not being able to put off their Commodities groan not only under the Burden of so many Taxes and Impositions but even of the Necessaries of Life it self that the apprehension the King my Master has of the growth of the Most Christian Kings Power by Sea has put him upon taking Arms to hinder the progress and in conclusion that he was forced to put himself in a Warlike posture through despair of an accommodation The answer to all this must be that whoever will take notice of the Stops Seizures and Prizes that were on the one side and the other shall find that the King my Master and his Subjects have hitherto got most by this Breach and that it has been an advantage to them in some measure In the second place he is so far from being jealous of the growth of this pretended power at Seâ— and seeking to obstruct it that there needs no more whenever the King my Master shall see his time but to give out Letters of Mart to his Subjects to disappoint all these vain and weak attempts without making use of his Royal Power And lastly that we were necessitated to this arming of our selves out of a despair of an accommodation the contrary is most apparent to any one that will consider the applications that have been made at several times as well by their own as by the Ministers of stranger Princes to the King my Master at their instance to treat about an accommodation All which justifies the King my Master who has not been forced to arm upon any private account but only in aid of the Churches for whose safety and freedom he had undertaken And there are that would possess the world that his Majesty has a private design and that he makes use of a pretence of the Religion to form a Party by the help and addition of which with his own forces he thinks to carry on his design to his own purpose But our Religion teaches us otherwise and the goodness of the King my Master in which he comes short of no man living will never suffer him to do it His purpose is to settle the Churches his interest is their good his end to give them satisfaction This being done the beating of Drums and displaying of Colours shall cease and all this noise of War shall be buried in Oblivion as what was never done but upon their account nor set forward but for their sakes Given on Board the Admiral this Wednesday the one and twentieth of Iuly 1927. Signed Buckingham This Declaration shews that our Kings are resolved to love and cheâ—ish the Protestants of France and that our Great Monarch in holding his Arms open to them at this day does but follow the steps of his Princely Father He demonstrates thereby to all his people that he inherites his goodness as well as his Crown and that as this holy Martyr he knows assuredly that these poor persecuted would breath nothing but loyalty in the enjoyment of the Edicts The same Declaration shews undeniably the innocence and justice of our arming upon the occasions whereof we are treating as not having been made but upon the extreamest necessity when there was no other way left to hold France to that promise of which our King was the Garante and to prevent the loâ—s of Rochel which was undone only for committing its concerns to his Majesty Honour sincerity publick faith the Law of Nations the urging Duty of conscience all obliged us to run in to the succour of a Town that had cast it self upon our Monarch and that had full right to shake off the yoke of France since it had been no otherwise given up to the French but upon a condition that was broken which was that they should build no Fort upon its Territory whereby to give cause of suspicion Nevertheless as the Declaration obâ—erves they had not only built one against the Article of the Treaty which made the Treaty void and put Rochel into its full liberty which it had acquired at other times but they had built several which blocked up the Town on every side and destroyed its trade Our arming therefore upon this occasion was just It was justified by the publick faith and the Law of necessity and had no other end but to protect the weak who were oppressed contrary to the â—ngagement of the Treaty which was the supporting of a good cause For Rochel which they wasted after so many manners was then in right to defend it self being no longer subject to the Prince who attaqued it Conditio non impleta liberat fidem say the Civilians A condition not fullfilled takes off all Engagement Rochel had said to the King of France you shall be my King if you build no Fort upon my Territory but not otherwise and the King of France consented or rather swore to a solemne Treaty that he would not be Master of Rochel but upon this condition So that from the moment in which he had broken the condition agreed upon and accepted of he put Rochel into its orignal right The Rochellers are no longer his subjects and therefore if they shut the gates of their Town against him if they defend themselves as well as they can against his invasion if they call in their friends for succour they do it in their own right and it is to do them open wrong it is traducing them
Roman Religion in their Dominions Might he not very justly say to the Huguenots says he speaking to the King of France either see that these Princes allow the free exercise of my Religion with them or do not think to have the free exercise of yours and theirs in France If it be expected that we should consider the Edicts which have been here made in your behalf let them shew then the like favour to the Catholicks Monsieur Maimbourg calls this a powerful argument which overthrows the Huguenots But as to that I remit him to the Author of the Critique General of his History He will there find his dream entertained as it deserves It is sufficient for my purpose to let you see that what the Author of the Policy of the Clergy urges to prove that the Papists upon account of the principles of their Religion are always to be feared in Protestant States is no Poor groundlâ—ss evasion as Monsieur Maimbourg would have us believe And that you may be the better judge of it give me leave to read all that this exellent Author has writ upon the Subject I am confident after you have heard it read you will not less wonder then I do at the confidence of the Jesuite who never appears more positive then where he has least reason So then our friend read to me this following discourse Hugonot Princes cannot allow the same toleration to Catholicks in their States that Catholick Princes can allow to Hugonots because Protestant Princes cannot be assured of the fidelity of their Catholick Subjects by reason they have taken Oaths of fidelity to another Prince whom they look upon as greater than all Kings It is the Pope and this Prince is a sworn â—nemy of the Protestants He obliges the People to believe that a Soveraign turned Heretick has forfeited all the Rights of Soveraignty that they owe him no Obedience that they may with impunity revolt from him that they may fall upon him as an Enemy of the Christian Name even to assassinate him See the Iesuits Morals cap. 3. Book the third And thereupon he cited to me Mariana Carolus Scribanus Ribadinera Tolet Gretser Hereau Amicus Lesâ—ius Valentia Dicatillus and several others that are cited by the Iansenists in the Book of the Jâ—suits Morals and by the Ministers All these Authors said he to me teach conformably to the Divinity of Rome that a Heretick Prince and Excommunicated by the Pope is but a private person against whom Arms may be taken that he may be likewise Assassinated or poysoned He added to this the examples of the many Parricides that have been committed or attempted in pursuance of these Maxims How many times said he would they have Assassinated Queen Elizabeth Prince William of Orange was twice Assassinated and lost his Life the Second time Henry the Third was not he killed by a Iacobin as Excommunicated by the Pope and stript of the Royal Dignity Iohn Chastel did not he attempt the same thing upon Henry the Fourth And did not Ravilliac out of a false Zeal Assassinate him After which he gave me an account of the Gun-powder Plot in England by which in the year 1606. the Catholicks had undertaken to blow up the King and all the Grandees of the Kingdom by a Mine they had made under the Parliament House He told me of the Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorn Chief of that Conspiracy who were put into the number of the Martyrs whether they would or no for the Jesuit Garnet going to Execution some one of his Companions telling him soâ—tly in his Ear that he was going to be a Martyr he answered Nunâ—uâ—m audivi parricidam esse Martyrem I never heard that a Parricide was a Martyr He related to me a hundred scandalous Stories of that nature Amongst others he told me one that extreamly surprized me he read it to me with all its circumstances in a little Book that had been published by an English Minister who calls himself the King of Englands Chaplain Thus it is in short A Divine who had been the Chaplain of King Charles who was beheaded turnd Catholick some time before his Masters Death and the English Jesuits put such confidence in him that they imparted to him a very dreadful thing It was a Consultation allowed of by the Pope about the means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion in England The English Catholicks seeing that the King was a Prisoner in the hands of the Independants formed the Resolution of laying hold on that occasion to dâ—stroy the Protestant and re-establish the Catholick Religion They concluded that the only means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion and of laying aside all the Laws that had been made against it in England was to dispatch the King and destroy Monarchy That they might be authorized and maintained in this great Undertaking they deputed eighteen Father-Jesuits to Rome to demand the Popes advice The matter was agitated in secret Assemblies and it was concluded that it was permitted and just to put the King to Death Those Deputies in their passage through Paris consulted the Sorbonne who without waiting for the Opinion of Rome had judged that that enterprise was just and lawful and upon the return of the Jesuites who had taken the Journey to Rome they communicated to the Sorbonnits the Popes Answer of which several Copies were taken The Deputies who had been at Rome being returned to London confirmed the Catholicks in their Design To compass this point they thrust themselves in amongst the Independants by dissembling their Religion They persuaded those people that the King must be put to Death and it cost that poor Prince his Life some Months after But the Death of King Charles not having had all the Consequences that was hoped and all Europe having cryed out with horrour against the Parricide committed upon the Person of that poor Prince they would have called 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 Hugâ—not 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 sequel of the Divinity of the zealous Catholicks of Spaim Italy and even of France Morâ—over there are several Circumstancâ—s which render the thing apparent For 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 their King to death The
Concordat bore in express terms that the Duke of Guise should have in charge to deface intirely the name of the Family and Race of the Bourbons Henry the Third said he to me could he be suspected of Heresie or an â—ider of Hereticks Never was any man more linked to the Catholick Church than he Yet the House of Guise had sworn his ruin They would have shaved him which they highly threatned him with and they one day writ upon the Chappel of the Battes to the Augustins of Paris these four French Verses The Bones of those who here lye dead Like Cross of Burgundy to thee are shown And make appear thy days are fled And that thou surely lose thy Crown They are of the same sense with those two Latin Verses which were found set upon the Palace Dyal Qui dedit ante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris nunc facienda manu He that gave two has taken one the other Shakes but the Barber still shall give another The Faction of the House of Guise caused this to be done And this poor Prince after a thousand delays and troubles resolved at length to make that execution so famous in our History it is that of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise who were executed at the States of Blois That Prince must needs have seen his ruin approaching and inevitable to come to that since that he well foresaw that this blow would raise him so many storms and give him so much trouble Who knows not that the Faction of Rome and of Spain had a Design of raising the House of Lorrain to the Throne of France for the excluding the House of Bourbon In the year 1587. the Pope sent to the Duke of Guise a Sword engraven with flames telling him by the Duke of Parma that amongst all the Princes of Europe it only belonged to Henry of Lorrain to bear the arms of the Church and to be the Chief thereof Almost all the Kingdom was engaged in that Spirit of revolt The King found no oâ—her support than the King of Navar and of his Hugonotes It was Chastillon the Son of the Admiral de Coligny who saved the King from the hands of the Duke of Mayenne at Tours This Chief of the League cryed to him retire ye white Scarfs retire you Chastillon it is not you we aim at it is the Murderer of your Father And in truth Henry the Third then Duke of Anjou was President in the Council when the Resolution was taken of making the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in which the Admiral Coligny perished But his Son forgetting that injury to save his King answered those Rebels You are Traytors to your Country and when the Service of the Prince and State is concerned I know how to lay aside all revenge and particular interest he added that after the Assassinate committed by the League in the person of Henry the Third Henry the Fourth was ready to see himself abandoned by his most faithful Servants because of the Protestant Religion which he made profession of which appears by a Declaration that this Prince made in the form of an Harangue to the Lords of his Army on the 8 th day of August 1589 in which he says that he had been informed that his Catholick Nobility set a report on foot they could not serve him unless he made profession of the Roman Religion and that they were going to quit his Army Nothing but the firmness and fidelity of the Hugonots upheld this wavering Party He must be said my Gentleman the falsest of men who dissembles the Ardour and Zeal with which those of our Religion maintained that just Cause of the House of Bourbon against the attempts of the League And to prove said he that their interest was not the only cause of their fidelity we must see what they did when Henry the Fourth turned Roman Catholick It cannot be said but that they then strove to have a King of their Religion However there was not one who bated any thing of his Zeal and Fidelity the King was peaceable possessour of the Crown the League was beaten down he was Master in Paris he was reconciled to the Court of Rome when the Edict of Nantes was granted and published Our Hugonots were no longer armed nor in a condition of obtaining any thing by force of arms Since that the Change of Religion had reduced all the Roman Catholicks to him he would have been in a State of resisting their violence It was the sole acknowledgment of the King and of good Frenchmen that obliged all France to give Peace to a Party that had shed their Blood with so much Zeal and Profession for the preserving the Crown and the restoring it to its legitimate Heirs I acknowledge that we did our Duty but are not those to be thanked who do what they ought How is it possible that these things are at present worn out of the memory of men I am certain that if the King was made to read the History of his Grand-father he would preserve some inclinâ—tion for the Children of those who sacrific'd themselves for the glory of his House No man can be ignorant of the necessary dependance that must be between the Roman Catholick Clergy and the Court of Rome This Court is the Head the Clergy is the Body the Ecclesiasticks and Monks are the Members and all these Members move by the Orders of the Head Again I have no Design to chocque the Gentlemen of the Clergy whose persons I respect I do not doubt but that they have good French Hearts But in fine they have their Maxims of Conscience they are of a Religion and they must follow its Principles Now the Principles of their Religion binds them to the Holy see and its preservation preferably to all things moreover Interest deceives the Hearts and Minds of men Their Interest obliges them to take the Popes part who is their Preserver and Protectour and what they do out of interest they perswade themselves that they do it out of Conscience First it may be said of the Monks that all the Houses they have in France are so many Citadels that the Court of Rome has in the Kingdom Those great Societies have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Bishops they depend immediately on the Holy See they have all their Generals of Orders at Rome and those Generals who are Italians and Spaniards are the Soul of the Society they are obliged to follow their Opinions and their Orders the Italian Divinity is the Divinity of the Cloisters Thus the King may reckon that all the Monks look upon him as the Pope's Subject as being lyable to be Excommunicated his Kingdom put under an Ecclesiastical Censure his Subjects dispensed and released from the Oath of Allegiance and his States given by the Pope to another Prince And every time that this happens they will believe themselves obliged out of Conscience to obey the Pope If in