of Navar that made France happy with Henry the Great was the first that experienced how little sacred that protection was held which had been so solemnly promised to the Protestants Some great Men to curry-favor with Philip King of Spain by some signal service entred into a Conspiracy with him to seize the Queen Iane d' Albret and her Children in the Town of Pau in Bearn and carry them to the Inquisition in Spain An attempt says Mezeray which escaped punishment for the Qualities sake of those persons which were engaged in it Afterwards they put it into the Kings head to take a Progress through France and in this unhappy Progress it was that the ruine of the Protestants was agreed upon and sworn to contrary to so solemn an Edict The Queen was perpetually importuned by the Pope by all the Catholick Princes and especially by her two Sons-in-law Philip the Second King of Spain and Charles the Third Duke of Lorrain to perswade the King to take up a generous resolution to prohibit the Huguenots the exercise of their Calvinism c. That is to break his Royal word and to demonstrate by so pregnant a proof that the Church of Rome does not think her self obliged to keep Faith with Hereticks and consequently that they whom she holds Hereticks ought never to take her word no not when she expresses her self by the mouths of the greatest Princes of the World and by the most Authentick Records Monsieur Maimbourg without the least scruple or ceremony calls these Breaches of Publick Faith a generous resolution And as ill luck would have it his Predecessors knew but too well how to perswade Catharine de Medicis and Charles the Ninth that so it was The Queen and the King says he who were at least staggered by these Remonstrances being under such a disposition it was no wonder if the Huguenots were not very kindly used during this Progress though nothing was done directly against the Pacification They built another Citadel at Lyons in opposition to the Huguenot party who were yet the strongest in that place and they ordered the slighting of those new Fortifications in the places they held during the War They forbid the exercise of their pretended Religion ten Leagues round such places as the Court should pass though it was allowed by the Edict in certain Towns within that compass which they interpreted to be when the King was not there or within ten Leagues They made a new Edict at Rouseillon the Counte de Tournons house by which they were forbidden upon pain of death to hold any meeting but in the presence of Officers appointed by His Majesty to attend there And the Magisâ—rates had order to force the apostate Fryars and Priests who were turned Huguenots that they might marry to quit their wives upon pain of the Gallies for the men and perpetual Imprisonment for the women Whenever the Catholicks made any complaint against the Huguenots or the Huguenots against the Catholicks these had always more favour shewed them than the other who were generally found in the fault right or wrong The conference the Queen had as she passed by Avignon with the Vice-Legat which gave him wonderful satisfaction pleased them not so well so that they chose rather to be directed by that she had at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva They did believe that a League was made between the two Crowns to drive the Calvinists out of the Dominions of both the Kings and the rather because they knew that the Queen was then contriving an interview between the Pope and the Catholick Princes According to Monsieur Maimbourg it is no ways to act directly against the Edict of Peace to hinder the Exercise of the Protestant Religion in several Towns where it was permitted by the Edict to impose conditions upon Protestant Congregations enough to disturb that peace and repose the Edict had promised them to deprive many of them of that freedom of Conscience the same Edict allowed them Nor to offer all those other Injuries to the Huguenots which Monsieur Maimbourg himself tells us they did though the Edict had given assurance of quite the contrary Mezeray deals more sincerely He ingenuously confesses That they daily retrenched that Liberty which had been allowed them by the Edict in so much that it was in a manner reduced to nothing and that they undermined the Liberty of Conscience they had promised them by several Expositions they put upon the Edict He gives many Instances but one amongst the rest which I am resolved to set down It is this The Count de Candale had contrived a League with his Brother Christopher Bishop of Aire Montluc Gabriel de Chaumont Laytun Descars Mervilles his younger Brother and Gaston Marquess of Trans of the same house of Foix who was the Author of this Advice The Contents of which being published he afterwards made open War against the Huguenots By this means he became guilty of High Treason neither could they excuse the action from being an attempt against the Kings Authority and the Faith of the Edicts But his zeal was not displeasing to the Catholicks besides that regard was to be had to his Quality and to so many Great Men that were engaged in this Affair Which is the reason why the King to stop the Huguenots mouths owns by a Declaration all that this Count and his Complices had done as having had his Order for it This is that which Monsieur Maimbourg calls To do nothing directly against the Edict of Peace It is fit you should know what the same Mezeray relates concerning the Conferences of the Queen at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva one of the greatest Enemies the True Religion ever had She had discourse every night with the Duke d'Alva And the event has shewed since That all these Conferences drove at a secret Alliance between the two Kings utterly to root out the Protestants The Huguenots believed the Duke d'Alva had advised the Queen to invite them to some great Assembly and so to rid herself of them without mercy that he had let fall these words That a Ioal of Salmon was better worth then all the Frogs of a Marsh that from the time of the Assembly of Moulins the Queen had executed this Design had things happened as she expected St. Bartholomews day does not a little confirm this mistrust of the Huguenots But you shall hear what it was made the Prince of Condè take those Resolutions Monsieur Maimbourg so exclaims against The intention of destroying the Huguenots was evident because they daily retrenched them of that liberty which was given them by the Edicts so that they had in a manner brought it to nothing The people fell upon them in those places where they were the weaker party where they were able to maintain their Ground the Governor made use of the Kings Authority to oppress them they dismantled those Towns that had shewed them
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
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
AN APOLOGY FOR THE Protestants of France In Reference to the PERSECUTIONS They are under at this day IN Six LETTERS The First Treats of the Priviledges they have by the Edict of Nantes The Second Gives an Account of some part of the injuries and outrages they do them whereby to force them to change their Religion The Third Proves that their Religion inspires no other principle into them but an unmoveable Loyalty to their Prince The Fourth Iustifies their innocence against the unjust charge of Monsieur Maimbourg The Fifth Defends them in relation to those troubles that fell out in Lewis XIII Reign and the Affair of Rochel The Last Shews that the Papists by the Principles of their Religion are Guilty of all the crimes they wrongfully lay to the Protestants in reference to Kings LONDON Printed for Iohn Holford at the Crown in the Pall-Mall 1683. TO THE READER SEveral accidents have till now hindred the compleating the number of these Letters thô such as make not to our present purpose to relate Only it is fit I should let you know that by the mouth of August last mentioned in the third Letter is to be understood August in the year 1681. But if you would know why I publish these Letters know that the implacable hatred the Persecutours of the French Protestants do pursue these poor people with who have taken Sanctuary under the protection of our good King has made it absolutely necessary For when by all imaginable ways of cruelty they have forced them to a resolution of abandoning their Country and all they have they not only make it the utmost penalty on this side life so much as to attempt a departure but after they are escaped endeavour to prevent their subsisting any where else especially in England Amongst some they are represented as Enemies to our Religion Established thô they desire to be esteemed as Brethren by professing the same Faith and submitting to the same discipline To others they are made appear as a mixt Multitude part Protestant part Papist whereas the strict Examination of their testimonials by the Churches here of their own Nation makes the suggestion impossible But that nothing may be wanting to add affliction to the misery of these poor Fugitives and render them at the same time worse than unprofitable to their Brethren It is suggested to the common people that they come to take the Bread out of their Mouths by over-stocking those populous Manufactures which seem already rather to be overcharged and by surfeiting the Land with people Which Objection if we consider strictly according to interest comes not up to any weight or consideration For many of the Manufactures they bring over are such as we had not before and by consequence of the greatest and most unexceptionable benefit to us Others tho not wholly new yet bring so great improvement to those we had already of the same kind that they do in a manner create a new Manufacture There are likewise that give help to a full Trade that wanted hands before to supply it And now if any are so unfortunate as to bring over such as we are more than fill'd with already I would beg that as men we would consider the common Laws of Humanity and let necessity take place of inconvenience and as Christians to have especial regard to those that are of the Houshold of Faith Now that we should be over-peopled I think there is no danger when no considering man but will allow that our Nation wants more than a Million of people and that no Country is rich but in proportion to its number But be the politick consideration what it will never was there greater objects of Christian Charity and Compassion than these poor people 1. If we look upon the privileges of mankind we shall find them here infringed to the scandal of our being Men not only forced to renounce their thoughts and say the contrary to what at the same time they declare themsevels to believe but having by violence Holy Water cast upon them and dragged at a Horse-tail to Mass they shall be pronounced Roman Catholicks and made to suffer as Relapse if they dare renounce what they never consented to They are neither permitted to live at home nor to go abroad The Holy and Religious Duty as the Papists account it of Confession is prostituted to Oppression and polluted with the intermixture of secular Concerns For the Confessors now in France conjure their Penitents upon pain of Damnation not to conceal any Debt they owe to a Protestant and when revealed immediately they attach it in the Debtors Hands under the same penalty 2. If we consider them as they are Protestants of France never had people greater privileges better settled nor upon juster grounds of which the first Letter will abundantly convince any reasonable person And yet it will appear by the second Letter that no people were ever reduced to a more miserable Estate and lived But that which ought to move an Englishman in all diversities of his passion at once is not only that they are of our Communion but that we are in a manner punished in them For a great inducement to this inhumane Usage not only seems to be but is really owned by Papists to be from the rage they have conceived against us for preventing their bloody and hellish Designs by the exemplary punishment of some Popish Traytors Nay if they durst for shame speak out I am sure they would tell us That since they could not execute their malice upon English Protestants they are resolved to wreak their Revenge upon the French and scourge them for our sakes The three next Letters make good by invincible proofs the innocence of these poor sufferers together with their affection and loyalty to their Soverains And the last shews plainly that the Papists themselves are the real Enemies to all Crowned Heads You will find that I use no Authority for the justification of the French Protestants but what I have taken out of Popish Authours who cannot be suspected of partiality Since the finishing of my last Letter I met with an ingenuous acknowledement of the Gunpowder-Treason-Plot by a Jesuite Who tho he seems to speak with some abhorrence of the Fact and would excuse Garnet and others of his Society does however acknowledge the thing in so Plain a manner as makes all his excuses frivolous You will find the story in a Book Entitled Historia Missionis Anglicanae Soc. Jesu Authore Henrico Moro lib. 7. n. XIX Printed at St. Omers Anno. 1660. THE Present State OF THE PROTESTANTS IN France LETTER I. YOu are not at all mistaken I can now easily satisfie you in what you desire to know concerning the Protestants of France One that is a Friend to us both who is lately come thence hath fully acquainted me with the condition they are in I saw him the day after his arrival and found him ordering his Books and loose Papers which were just
by force the setling of the true Religion but they are to answer to none but God for it This is Sir says our Friend the true sense of the French Protestants in this important Affaiâ— I could make it out by a thousand more witnesses of credit if it were needful And I am well assured that after so many pregnant Testimonies there is no reasonable person can be offended at their Confession of Faith Therefore let us go to your other Objections I would with all my heart said I but that it is so late And besides I would be glad to make my Objections stronger by running over a new Book which the Enemies of the French Protestants make a great noise with in England and put it into the hands of all our people of Quality to prejudice them against these poor Protestants It is the History of Calvinism by Monsieur Maimbourg a Secularised Jesuit If you will take my word let us put it off till this day sevennight Be it so says our Friend and so we parted This shall be also the end of my Letter I am Sir Yours c. The fourth Letter The Protestant Loyalty vindicated against Maimbourg SIR I Failed not to be at our Friends Chamber at the time appointed Well says he so soon as we were sat down What do you say of our Secularized Jesuit and his Book I told him his Book smelt strong of a Libel And as for him he is a man so full of Equivocation that he will hardly ever forget his former profession He would fain have us believe that his design is to make a Satyr against the French Protestants whom he charges at random with many crimes and yet when he comes to cast up his reckoning one would swear he set Pen to paper for no other end but to write in their praise and to let after-ages know That the Huguenots or Calvinists as he is pleased to call them were far honester men and better Christians than their enemies the Papists For what is it he omits for the advantage of those he himself acknowledges to be true Protestants Lewis de Bourbon Prince of Condè had a strength of parts a constancy and greatness of mind worthy his high Quality of Prince of the Blood He had the courage of a Hero and as much Wit as Valour He had a largeness of Soul and of Understanding equal to the greatest men of former ages and ought to be reckoned amongst the chiefest Men of the Royal house of Bourbon had he not spoiled so many rare Qualities which made him one of the most beloved men in the World by unfortunately dying a Huguenot The Lady de Roye his Mother-in-law and Eleonor de Roye his Wife were both very wise Women couragious and of great vertue but both these likewise the most zealous and resolute Huguenots of their time Cardinal Odet the elder of the three Brothers of Coligny was one of the handsomest men in France and who got the greatest love and esteem of any man at Court for his Wit and Learning for his Prudence and Ability in the management of Affairs for his sweet and obliging Deportment and for his magnificence and wonderful generosity He had certainly been one of the greatest and most accomplished Prelates of the Kingdom had he not disgraced his Coat and Character by Heresie in becoming a Calvinist The Chancellor Michael de L'Hospital was a man of extraordinary merit It is not to be denyed but that he was one of the most considerable men of his time in all curious and substantial knowledge and in all the perfections of Moral Virtues But after all this we neither can nor ought to conceal what eclipsed the beauty of so many raâ—e Endowments which was that he openly countenanced Calvinism Iaâ—es du Bosc of Esmendreville second President in the Court of Aids of the Parliament of Roüen a Man of high Birth and great Worth disgraced all his good Qualities by an obstinate adherence to the Huguenot party Francis de la Noüe surnamed Bras de Fer was one of the bravest men of his time as he has evinced by a thousand noble Exploits He was not only equal to the Stoutest but to the wisest and most knowing Commanders of old Iasper de Coligny Admiral of France a Man of Method Wit and Courage quick and watchful bold a good Souldieâ— and great Captain was almost the only person that was a good Huguenot amongst all the people of Quality on his side Now we must know what Monsieur Maimbourgh means by a good Huguenot He explains himself very clearly in that passage where he commends the Queen of Nuvar Mother to Henry the Fourth These are the words She was a Princess that besides the perfections of her Body had so great a Soul so much Courage and Wit that she had deserved the glorious Title of the Heroess of her time had not Heresie which though at first she was hardly brought too yet at last she cleaved to with an unmoveable Resolution been so great a blot in her Scotcheon However we must allow her to have been a good Huguenot living up in all appearance to the greatest Piety and Regularity For as to the other great Persons of this Sect except the Admiral they only carryed the name of Calvinists not very well knowing what they were themselves and to speak truly the Court was then very corrupt where there was little difference between Catholick and Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to a Sermon As to any thing else they agreed vâ—ry well the one with the other for the most part having no Religion at all either in Devotion or the fear of God which this Queen Iean d' Albret bewails in one of her Letters Whence it appears That according to Monsieur Maimbourg to be a good Huguenot is to lead a virtuous Life contrary to that of a debâ—uched Court to be very devout in the fear of God and to grieve for the corruption of the Age. This is the notion he gives us of the true French Protestants whom he calls The good Huguenots He is very far from giving so advantageous a Character to those zealous Catholicks whom he makes the Bulwark of his Church against the pretended Heresie of the Protestants He affects the contemptuous compellation of little King when he speaks of Francis the Second of whom he says in another place That he had conceived so great a prejudice against the Huguenots that he bound himself under a solemn Oath to drive them all out of the Kingdom The Reign of the little King Francis The little King Francis being dead c. At the death of the little King Francis c. And what doth he not say of the Queen Katharine de Medicis the other scourge of the Calvinian Heresie He has represented her as the most wicked of all Women As he says She had Principles that favour'd
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
Divine who knew the story that I have related published it to prove that the Catholicks were guilty of the Crime which the Calvinists were accused of When this story came to light there was a great alarme in the House of the Queen-Mother of the King of England that House being full of Jesuits and even that great Lord who had lead the Jesuits to Rome and had made himself chief of that Conspiracy was one of the principal Officers of the House They immediately demanded Justice of the King by the means of the Queen-Mother for the injury that he who had published this scandalous story had done them The Doctor offered to prove his Accusation and to produce his Witnesses who were still living The great Lord and Officer of the Queens House and the Jesuits seeing the resolution of this Man durst not push him on they only obtain'd from the King by the means of the Queen-Mother that he should be silenced You must avow that there are but few that are innocent who would have been so easie in so terrible an Accusation Besides it is certain that this Consultation of Rome has been seen by several persons If it is false it must have been forged by this Chaplain who was turned Catholick and who shewed it since tho it must be confessed that this is not very likely However as all this is reduceed to a single Witness my Gentleman acknowledged that the proof was not wholly in forme but he stood much upon the late Conspiracy of England which was discovered two years ago by which half the Kingdom was to have had their Throats cut to become Masters of the rest Prov. Be it as it will my Hugonot Gentleman concluded from all this that a Protestant Prince can never be assured of the Fidelity of his Catholick Subjects On the contrary said he the Protestants are subject to their Prince out of Conscience and out of a Principle of their Religion They acknowledge no other Superiour than their King and do not believe that for the cause of Heresie it is permitted either to kill a lawful Prince or to refuse him obedience They oppose against us said he to me the English and Holland Catholicks But what has been promised to those people that has not been performed The United Provinces of the Low Countries are entred into the Union with this Condition of not suffering any other Religion in their States than the Protestant Though England was reformed under Edward the 6 th afterwards under Elizabeth by several Acts of Parliament which are the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom it was ordered that no other Religion should be suffered than that the Anglicane Church made choice of and that they would not suffâ—r the Assemblies of those whom they at present call Nonconformists It was even forbidden to the Priests and Monks to set Foot in England and to make any abode there However they have not kept up to this rigour and every one knows that there is at present above ten thousand Priests and Monks disguised in England and that there has ever been so Wherefore more has been given to the Catholicks than was promised them But in France where we live under favourable Edicts they have promised us what they have not performed It is only against us that they make profession of not performing what they have promised The Edicts of Pacification are in all the Forms that perpetual Laws ought to be they are verified by the Parliaments they are confirmed by a hundred Declarations which followed by Consequence and by a thousand Royal Words In fine they have been laid as irrevocable Laws and as foundations of the Peace of the State We rely upon the good Faith of so many promises and on a sudden we see snatcht from us what we looked upon as our greatest security and which we had possessed for above a hundred years Thus there is neither Title nor Prescription nor Edicts nor Acts nor Declarations which can put us in Safety This is what he told me and I avow to you that this part put me in pain for I am a Slave to my Word and an Idolater of good Faith I look upon it as the only Rampart of Civil Society and I conceive that States and Publick persons are no lâ—ss obliged to keep what they promise than particular men Far. That is true But do not you know that the safety of the people and the publick good is the Soveraign Law Very often we must suffer and even do some Evil for the good of the State Peaces and Treaties are daily broken which have been solemnly sworn because that the publick interest requires it should be so Prov. My Hugonot made himself that difficulty and told me thereupon When War is declared against Neighbours to the prejudice of Treties of Peace and Alliances this is done in the Forms They publish Manifesto's they expose or at least they suppose Grievances and Infractions in the Articles of the Treaty that have been made by those against whom War is declared When a Soveraign revokes the Graces that he had done his Subjects it is ever under pretence that they have rendered themselves unworthy of them But are we accused or can we be accused of having tampered in any Conspiracy of having had Intelligence with the Enemies of the State of having wanted Love Fidelity and Obedience towards our Soveraigns If it be so let us be brought to Tryal let the Criminals be informed against and let the Innocent be distinguished from those that are Guilty We speak boldly thâ—rein because we are certain they can reproach us with nothing and we know that his Majesty himself has very often given Testimony of our Fidelity He knows that we did not enter into any of the Parties that have been made against his Service since he has been upon the Throne During the troubles of his minority it may be said that none but those Cities we were Masters of remained Loyal When the Gates of Orleans were shut upon the King he went to Gien and that City was going to be guilty of the same Crime without the vigour of a Hugonot who made way with his Sword in his hand to the Bridge and let it down himself This action was known and recompenced for the King immediately made him Noble who had done it We had not any part in the disturbances of Bordeaux in those of Britany and Auvergue nor in the Conspiracy of the Chevalier do Roban Not one Hugonot was engaged in these Criminal Cases The King has been pleased to acknowledge it and we look upon the Testimony of so great a King as a great Recompence But our Enemies who continually sollicit him to our ruin ought to be mindful that it would be more civil in them to leave the King the liberty of following his inclinations These would without doubt move him to preserve the effects of his kindness for people who have preserved for him an inviolable Fidelity This is what