of this Edict had no effect did think that they ought to employ some extraordinary ones Accordingly they writ a Letter immediately to the Duke of Savoy desiring him that he might be pleased to maintain his Subjects of the Valleys in the Privileges which were granted them by his Predecessors and finding that this Prince made no great haste to send them an Answer but that on the contrary he was in a readiness to execute his Edict by force they resolved in a Diet at Baden in the month of February 1686. to dispatch him two Ambassadors in order to endeavour to obtain by their Representations what they could not obtain by their Letters The persons that were pitch'd upon were Caspar de Muratt and Bernard de Muratt Councellors of State the first of Zurich and the other of Bern that had both all the necessary qualities to acquit themselves worthily in this Employ in regard of their Vertue and Piety as well as their Prudence and Capacity These Ambassadors were charged to employ their utmost endeavours to oblige the Duke of Savoy to revoke the Edict he had published against the Churches of the Valleys and because there was some reason of fear that His Royal Highness might persist in his design to execute it in all its Points the Evangelical Cantons after having well considered the condition of those that composed those Churches as also the Alliance and Forces of that Prince that was resolved entirely to extirpate them in case they refused to submit to his Will thought that in case their Ambassadors could by no means obtain the revoking of that Edict it would be expedient that they should employ themselves to procure those miserable wretches the liberty to retreat into some other Country to sell their Goods and to carry along with them what they should be able to save out of their shattered Fortunes The Lords that were of this Assembly were too wise and too judicious to think upon other means than these They saw at one hand the little number of those that were able to carry Arms in the Valleys for they were at the most but 2500 Men for the most part ill Arm'd that had no Head that were ill provided with Ammunition and Provisions that had no hopes of Succours from any place and that those that were their Commanders in the years 1655 and 1664. were not alive But on the other hand when they did consider the Forces of that Prince who was resolved to abolish their Religion they found that they far exceeded those of His Subjects that were of a contrary Persuasion for the Duke of Savoy had enjoy'd a very long Peace he had a great number of good Troops brave Captains and experienc'd Generals He had nothing to fear either from his Neighbours or any other Prince of Europe And so much the more because the Troops of the Duke of Savoy were joyn'd by the Forces of the French King so dreadful at that time that his very Name made most Princes of Europe tremble instead that formerly the Subjects of this Monarch fought jointly with those of the Vallies to secure them from the Oppression of their Sovereign and that notwithstanding the Succours they had from other hands they were driven out of their Vallies and were not able to defend themselves against the only Forces of their Prince Moreover they considered that if by an unlook'd-for Success the Inhabitants of the Vallies should gain some Advantage over their Enemies that at last they would be forced to give way to the great Number of their Enemies whose Losses might be easily redressed by some fresh Troops but that on the contrary the Vaudois would have no means to make Recruits instead of those that would be lost in their several Fights to which they would be exposed Besides that having to deal with the French King who is the proudest Prince in the World and who at that time was not troubled with any Enemy he would rather have armed against them all the Inhabitants of his Kingdom than to have run the hazard of desisting from an Enterprize which he lookt upon as one of the most Glorious he ever undertook and which he thought should acquire him an eminent place amongst the greatest Saints in Paradice And whereas they had before their Eyes those Hugonots of France that were shelter'd in their Territories they did compare their Condition with that of their Brethren in Piemont and they found that considering the great Extremity these last were reduced to if they could get Liberty to leave their Country they would be much happier than the other that were forced not only to leave their Houses Goods and Native Country but that could not buy their Exile but with the hazard of their Lives and Liberties In fine they thought they could do nothing more advantagious for the Piemontese than to obtain what they had themselves desired in the Age past as well as in this when they were troubled about the Exercise of their Religion for in those times they humbly Petition'd their Prince to grant them leave to Retreat into some other Countries The Ambassadors having received their Instructions went for Piemont and presently after their arrival at Turin being introduced to His Royal Highness's Audience they did represent to him That whereas the Intercession of the Protestant Cantons their Lords in favour of His Royal Highness's Subjects of the Valleys making Profession of the Reformed Religion had always been agreeable to him and produced such an Effect as they could have wish'd for their Sovereign Lords having with great Grief understood that His Royal Highness had form'd a Design to deprive his said Subjects of their Liberty of Conscience and of the Exercise of their Religion which they had enjoy'd during several Ages had been moved by a Christian Charity by a strict Union which they are join'd with to those of their Communion and by a Confidence of His Royal Highness's Clemency and Justice to intercede in their Letters of Recommendation in favour of their Brethren in the Valleys But having received no Answer they had charged them with this Embassy in order to demonstrate the great Consideration they have for His Royal Highness and at the same time to shew how sensibly they were touch'd by the last Edict which he had published against His poor Subjects of the Vallies and had given them order to assure him of their strict Adherency to his Interest and to desire him afterwards instantly that he would be pleased to maintain the Inhabitants of the Valleys in a perpetual and peaceful Enjoyment of the Exercise of their Religion and in that Liberty of Conscience which was granted them by his Predecessors upon the Interceding and Recommendation of several Protestant Princes and States and particularly of their Sovereign Lords and that the reason which gave them some hopes to obtain what they desired was that His Subjects had done nothing that could render them unworthy of the Favour and Affection of their
another The Lord be the abundant Rewarder of your Excellencies Charities and we are with all manner of Respect My Lords Your Excellencies most humble most obedient and most obliged Servants The Deputies of Boby St. John and Angrogne Deputies of Boby John Aghitto Daniel Graffe Estiennor Danno Deputies of St. John Michael Parisa John Muschon Deputies of Angrogne John Duffa Piezze Duffa Lewis Odin Angrogne Apr. 9. 1686. Most High Mighty and Soveraign Lords WE throw our selves in all humility to your Excellenties Feet to shew you our most sensible and inexpressible displeasure that the great part of our People are not capable to consider with a Christian prudence the Favour your Excellencies endeavour to procure them by a free Retreat out of this Country with Body and Goods and to embrace it with a holy Joy as a Present from Heaven and a Grace which they have sighed for at other times this makes our Hearts bleed and so much the more that your Excellencies Letter which you have been pleased to write to them should have immediately disposed them to an Affair of this nature yet we dare still most humbly beseech your Excellencies to have the goodness to pass a love on all these Considerations as knowing very well that one has to do with the Rabble it is very hard to compass them and to make them all sensible of the reason and the state of Things but by the length of time and principally when it is aboue abandoning there so old and so dear preserved native Soyl there are nevertheless a great many and the most principal of them that resign themselves intirely to your Excellencies Counsel Charity and Prudence and that will never oppose what you will find most expedient for the Glory of God and their welfare and preservation The Ministers also are all of the same Opinion and we are all willing punctually to observe the Counsel your Excellencies will be pleased to give us And we most humbly beseech you to pitty us and our Families to draw us out of a Misfortune which in all appearance is unavoidable this is the Favour we hope from your Excellencies and pray the Lord to bless your Lordships with all manner of prosperity and we are with all possible respect and submission most High Mighty and Soveraign Lord Your Excellencies most humble and most obedient Servants Sidrac Bastie Guillaume Mallanot Angrogne Apr. 9. 1686. I. We have been informed for certain by a good hand that his Royal Highness will not grant us a Retreat with our Goods but that he pretends to detain them for the Charges he has been at already II. That he absolutely pretends that the Ministers and Forreigners should be delivered into his hands III. That we should lay down our Arms and that we should deliver them up to the Governour IV. That the Troops are to enter into the Valleys to demolish the Churches and to obstruct all Divine Exercise V. In fine we have been informed that the Council would by no means suffer that the French Troops should march against us The Ambassadors had no sooner read these Letters but they sent back the Deputy with another Letter of which were made two Copies one of them was directed to those of St. Boby and St. John and the other to those of Angrogne and La Tour. In this Letter there was remonstrated to them the vanity and little solidness of their Reasons they made use of not to accept the Favours was offer'd them It was agreed with them That the Laws obliging our native Country were very hard but they were told at the same time that the other Law that obliges us to abandon the Eternal God and to renounce the true Religion is still much harder that we ought to think our selves happy of being able to choose between such miserable Extremities that it was a Happiness which was refused in France to Persons of the highest kank and of eminent Merits that were detained by force in their Country and forced to abandon themselves to Idolatry That the Affairs of this World were subject to perpetual Revolutions that Kings and Princes are often obliged to abandon their Crowns and to leave their Seate to their Enemies and that therefore particular Persons ought to undergo without murmuring this Common Law and to resign themselves with submission to the Orders of Providence who puts by her chastising the state of her Children to a tryal to divert their Hearts from the World and to move them to search with so much more eagerness their heavenly Country that they had reason to believe that the Arm of God that had supported them in the Wars past was not shortned but they were to consider that at that time God had raised some of their Neighbours who did support with their Goods with their Troops and their Officers that then they had none but Friends about them instead of that now at present they were surrounded every where with Enemies that at that time they had a great many amongst them capable to bear Arms that they were united together but that at present they were deprived of all those advantages that their Soveraign alone was able to extirpate them intirely and that yet these were not the only Troops they were to fight against that those of France were ready to fall upon them and that suppose they were happy enough to get some advantage over them at the first Attack yet at the last they would not fail to be opprest by the great number of those that would succeed those that were vanquished that besides their division amongst themselves would be very prejudicial to them that their refusing to accept their Soveraign's offer would oblige all the Protestant Princes to abandon them because they had rather rashly take up Arms than to follow the Counsel was given to them that they ought not to flatter themselves with hopes of some miraculous deliverance as was that which God granted to the Hebrews by routing the whole Army of Senacherib that in the Age we live in God makes no Miracles in favour of his Church as in the time of the Israelites that the holy Scripture teaches us that to throw our selves into Dangers out of which we fore-see it will be impossible to escape is to tempt God who abandons those that run headlong into it that Christian Prudence the Charity they owed to their Wives and Children and love of their own Persons did oblige them to follow the Example of the other Inhabitants of the Valleys that their Prince looking on them as Criminals would confiscate their Goods and would make them undergo the most ignominious punishments if they persisted in their resolutions That since Divine Providence had bless'd with success the Cares of those that interceeded for them it was visible that she was willing to disingage them from this difficult passage that having obtained some mitigation in the execution of the Edict they ought to take hold of it that it was not the fault
those that entertain you with these vain imaginations do abuse you and that you cannot be assisted from any side You ought to consider that you will be left by all Men and by some of the very Inhabitants of your Country and that therefore you will soon be destroyed either by the Sword or by Famine and that those that may escape the fury of their Enemies will finish their Lives either by being burnt at the Stake upon the Rack or the Gallows We conjure you that you would be prevailed with by so powerful considerations and to agree with the sentiments of the Commonalty that are resolved to desire of their Prince a permission to retreat out of his Territories being perswaded that the Divine Providence will conduct you to some places where you will perhaps find more advantageous establishments then those you leave behind you and where those that are poor will not be in want of charitable persons that will provide them with all necessaries In expectation that God will inspire you with good resolutions and that you will give to your Deputy such a Procuration as those of the other Commonalties have given we recommend you to his Mercy and his Divine Protection resting Gentlemen your very Affectionate to render you Service Turin 5th of April Expecting the return of this Deputy the Ambassadors thought fit to acquaint the Marquess of St. Thomas with the disposition of the Inhabitants of the Vallies and to endeavour to prevent the evils their Division might draw upon them as well from his Royal Highness as some of their Enemies in his Privy Counsel Then they went to pay this Minister a Visit and told him that the Deputies were arrived that five of them were ready to make in the name of their Commonalties the Submission his Royal Highness desired of them but that some others who not knowing what they were to expect from the goodness of his Royal Highness were not yet resolved to do it that in the mean time they were admonished by Letter to follow the sentiments of these that had a desire to submit themselves to his Royal Highness and that in a short time their Resolutions would be known He was afterwards desired to intercede in favour of this poor People with his Royal Highness and to beseech him to have some indulgence for them That whereas they were prepossessed with some distrust he would be pleased to clear their Doubts so that their Submission might be made by an unanimous accord to the satisfaction of the Prince and his Subjects The Marquess of St. Thomas seemed to be surprized with the obstinacy of the People of the Valleys nevertheless he gave some hopes that he would imploy himself by his Royal Highness to prevent that their delay to give him the satisfaction he expected should not be prejudicial to them and that at last the Prince did not resolve to follow the Counsel of those that were continually perswading him to rigour In the mean time whereas the Court seemed to be impatient to see the end of this Affair the Ambassadours writ a Letter to the Marquess of St. Thomas to give him to understand that they had made a project of a Petition of the Inhabitants of the Valleys which they were ready to deliver if it could be signed by the Deputies but whereas one of them was absent they desired him to put off all things till his return The day after this Letter had been delivered to the Marquess of St. Thomas the Ambassadours went to him to know the effect which it had produced and whereas he was very eager to oblige the five Deputies who were then at Turin to sign the Petition which he had found in a good form it was declared to him that the Subscription could not be made in the absence of him that was sent into the Valleys that being joyned by interest they could not separate themselves one from another and that in fine it was agreed that the Petition should be signed by all the Deputies at one time But whereas the Marquess of St. Thomas had some secret Orders to hasten a Subscription of those Deputies that were then at Court he seemed not to be satisfied with the reasons that were given him for the refusing what he desired and the next day after he sent one of his Servants to desire the Ambassadours to prevail with the Deputies to give him that satisfaction he desired But the Ambassadours writ him a Letter by which they gave him to understand that it was not just to separate in the Subscription those that were ingaged in the same Cause that in case some did sign without the others such proceedings could not but have troublesome consequences and that therefore they did conjure him to expect one day longer the return of the sixth Deputy and to prevaile with his Royal Highness to grant this little delay upon their request The Marquess having received this Letter told the Secretary of the Ambassy that was the Deliverer of it That his Royal Highness was extreamly tired with these delays and that he was much afraid he should take some resolutions that would carry things to a fatal extremity and that therefore it was necessary to oblige the Deputies to sign immediately their Petition and to carry it to him in order to be presented to his Royal Highness The Deputies fearing to offend so powerful a Minister in case they refused to appear before him did resolve to go to his House but what instance soever he could make to perswade them to sign the Petition and for all he did assure them that it should be done without prejudice to those of Boby yet they persisted in their first design excusing themselves by reason of being ingaged to expect a return of the Deputy that was gone into the Valleys by the incertitude of the success of his Negotiation by the shortness of time for his return and in fine by the danger such a proceeding might draw upon them The dispositions of these Deputies and of those of the Inhabitants of the Valleys that were resolved to take up Arms gave great disturbance to his Royal Highness and that which augmented his displeasure was the news he received that they had killed two French Men belonging to the Cittadel of Pignerol The Ambassador of France that was much offended with his Royal Highness's delay to execute his Edict did not fail to take hold on this accident in order to dispose the Prince to revenge himself of this crime that was committed by his Subjects in despite of his Authority and to perswade him to keep no longer any measures with those people whom he was pleas'd to stile Rebels In the mean while that their Enemies were busie to their destruction their Deputies were at Turine in a miserable condition and not knowing what resolution to take they desired the Ambassadors advice how they should behave themselves in this great extremity The Ambassadors being in hopes that the Deputy who was