not fit that the Protestant Princes should have no satisfaction for the Money they had advanced towards carrying on the War in which they had spent four times as much as the Roman Catholicks To the King of Spain they would have Catalonia Luxemburg Heinant and part of Flanders to be restored To the Duke of Lorrain his Dukedom To the Emperor Philipsburg and Friburg To the Prince Palatine the Palatinate To the Empire many Places upon and on this side the Rhine all this put together made up a Kingdom of Restitutions England as well as the States of Holland sued for nothing and so it was but reasonable they should procure the Protestant Religion some advantage since this was the only concern they had in the present Case It seemed to us they could oppose nothing to all this but their usual Answer viz. The impossibility of making the best of all these good Reasons in the present Juncture of Affairs To this we were sain to submit But you will see however by what we have said that we did not omit any thing necessary to perswade the Plenipotentiaries into a necessity of Negociating our Restauration When we perceived it could not go that way we were forced to have recourse to a bare Intercession and endeavoured that it should be at least powerful urgent unanimous and drawn after such a manner as might be best able to answer our End In short after many Conferences among these Gentlemen upon the Matter they agreed to Word their Intercession after the Form you may have already seen and may see here as follows Memoirs of the Embassadors and Plenipotentiaries of the Protestant Princes in behalf of the Reformed Churches in France WE the Confederates of the Protestant Religion Considering the Calamities many of the Subjects of his Most Christian Majesty professing the same Religion with us have suffer'd and still do suffer upon the account only of serving God according to the Dictates of their Conscience A Liberty the said distressed Subjects might reasonably hope for by the Law of God by the Precepts of Charity and especially by the Laws of France confirmed by his Most Christian Majesty and which they are to enjoy as good and faithful Subjects who have constantly kept themselves within the bounds of their Duty and Allegiance to their Sovereigns The said Allies moved by these Motives of Justice and Compassion are so much the more concerned for these Afflicted People by how much the more that the Miseries they suffer continuing still since the Peace has been re-establish'd might be imputed to the hatred of his Most Christian Majesty against all the Protestants in general a Consideration which would mightily disquiet the Princes of that Religion who hope by the Peace to live in Amity and keep a good Correspendence with his Most Christian Majesty and therefore it concerns them also to know what will become of so many of the said Subjects of France who have forsaken their Native Country and fled into the Dominions of the said Protestant Confederates for shelter to the end that they may incourage them after the Peace to return home if they can do it with freedom and a good Conscience Therefore the Embassadors and Plenipotentiaries of the said Allies of the Protestant Religion having full Power to Treat about a General Peace think themselves obliged to recommend earnestly in the Name of their respective Sovereigns and Masters to their Excellencies the Embassadors of his Most Christian Majesty having also entreated his Excellency the Mediator to contribute his good Offices thereto that that Ease which this Distressed People have a long time most passionately desired be granted them and they may be re-establish'd in their Rights Immunities and Priviledges in Point of Religion in order to enjoy a full Liberty of Conscience and that those who are either in Prisons or otherwise detained be released and set at Liberty that so the said Afflicted Protestants may reap their share of the Peace which Europe is in all probability shortly to enjoy Delivered into the Hands of his Excellency the Mediator September 18. 1697. Concordare Vidi LELIENROOT It cannot be denied but these Memoirs are very Good Judicious Wise Respectful and yet very pressing as much as the Juncture of time could permit The first thing the Ministers of the Protestant Princes did was to declare That they did not look on themselves as two distinct Bodies but that they espoused the Interests of the Reformed in France as of their own Brethren They represented to the French King very nicely but yet with great plainness how much it concerned him not to reject the joint Intercession of the Protestant Princes That this great Concern of his was to give them good grounds to trust him for the future To make Peace with such powerful States as England Holland the Elector of Brandenburg the Princes of the Mighty House of Brunswick and so many Princes and Towns of Germany professing the Protestant Religion and at the same time to refuse them a thing so reasonable was to renounce all the Maxims of the best Policy and leave in Men's Minds immortal seeds of a War which will break out at the first opportunity Those who truly love the Protestant Religion will no doubt remember it and those who have no great kindness for it will not be sorry to have a Pretence ready of being angry at and revenged for those many Affronts they have received from the French Court. It was a piece of great Prudence and Wisdom of the Protestant Confederates to mention the Laws of the Kingdom of France confirmed by his Most Christian Majesty by Virtue whereof the Reformed are to enjoy all the Priviledges granted them as good and faithful Subjects who constantly kept themselves within the bounds of their Duty and Allegiance to their Sovereign This Clause fully answers the Objection the French had very often made unto them What authority had they to pretend that the Protestant Religion should be re-established in France seeing most part of them would not so much as tolerate the Publick Exercise of the Catholick Religion nay said they in some of the said Protestant States it was Death for one to turn Roman Catholick To this they prudently reply'd That they kept the Laws of the Kingdoms and States made either in the first Settlement or Reformation of the same but that on the contrary the Most Christian King by expelling the Reformed had broke all the Laws of his Kingdom Laws I say Fundamental Laws stiled Perpetual and Irrevocable Laws ratified in all the Supreme Courts of France received and approved by all the Orders of the State Laws renewed by all the Predecessors and Ancestors of the Prince who now sits upon the Throne and in short Laws Confirmed by his Majesty himself This Article of the Allies Demand suggests another Answer which is this The Subjects of the Most Christian King professing the Reformed Religion have all along behaved themselves as good and faithful
but 't is not true that they have declared and let the Court know that they had a mind to come back again into that Kingdom in order to profess the Romish Religion on the contrary they look on this Calumny as the most Barbarous Persecution they can inflict on them in the Countreys wherein they enjoy a perfect Security This is to make them to be esteemed in the Eyes of the World as Vile Wretches without Religion Conscience and Honour who are willing to sacrifice all the Truths they profess and betray their own Consciences for the sake of a little Interest I say a little Interest for they do not promise them so much as the Restitution of their Goods and Estates which were forfeited and adjudged to their Relations To what end then should they return into France To starve there and not enjoy so much as what is necessary to lay their Consciences asleep after they have given them such Mortal Wounds We know all those who have desired the Embassadors Passes to return home but the number of them is inconsiderable and there was not any among them dignified and distinguish'd by any Title or Merit they are for the most part young People of Loose and Scandalous Lives We were lately told of a younger Brother of a good Family near Lorrain who is gone thither but this Example is so extraordinary that I do not know whether they can find out the like and were it followed with many more as the Declaration supposes they would not have taken so much notice of it All these Declarations were but the Preliminaries and Skirmishes to the greatest Assault that ever Persecution stormed us with 'T is true they did not intermit their Hostilities but committed them in the most bloody manner even during the Treaty of Peace Witness those who were Hang'd at Poitiers and St. Maixant though accused of no other Crime but of Praying to God against the Commands of the Court But they were all along willing to flatter themselves and believe these were the last Acts of the Tragedy and now they see that these Punishments had no other end but to undeceive us of our vain hopes as they termed them The Peace was not yet made with the German Princes the greatest part of which are Protestants when they began afresh and in good earnest the fatal War against the Reformed Religion From whence it appears that the French Court hath no regard to the Protestant Princes of Germany and stands in fear of no body else but of England and Holland she hath kept a kind of Truce with the Reformed till the Ratification of Peace with these two Powers but no sooner was she secured on that side but she took no further notice of the Sollicitations Demands Memoirs and Discontents of all the Germans upon the Point of Religion Witness the Articles concerning the re-establishment of Religion in the restored Countreys which she would not in the least consent unto The Treaty with the Empire was not yet Signed much less Ratified but Orders were sent into all Dioceses to make a new Visit to all the New Converts and especially to those who did not as they term it do their Duty Accordingly they went from House to House in order to have them declare what they intended to do for the future The most of them did Courageously profess they were resolved never to go to Mass any more The Persecutors were extreamly enraged at that Answer and resolved to trie the Patience of the Reformed to the uttermost and in order thereto they sent them to Prisons renewed the Prohibitions formerly made against going out of the Kingdom and gave publick notice in all the Seaports that if any Master of a Ship should presume to receive any Fugitive of ours he should be punished with the loss of his Ship Goods Liberty and Life of what Nation soever English Dutch Dane Swedes Dantzickers and be dealt with without Mercy They sent reiterated and strict Orders to all the Governors of the Frontiers to keep the Passes with the utmost diligence under severe Penalties to be inflicted on those Officers who should neglect their Duty herein A Decree was published in Montpellier enjoining all Persons whatsoever immediately to give in the Names of the Reformed who either were already or should hereafter come from Foreign Countreys in order to have them seized and constrained to abjure their Religion If we add to this what we have before-mentioned concerning the Declarations published and precautions used to hinder the Reformed of Languedoc from going to Orange on purpose to receive any Comfort and Instruction there we must confess that Measures were never better taken in the Council of Hell nor Prudence more overstretched and push'd on to damn People infallibly than these are You shall go to Mass you shall Adore a piece of Bread you say you believe it to be an Idol 't is no matter you must for all that Adore but I shall be damn'd in so doing 't is no matter that is it we desire and to the end you shall be so you shall find no Gate left open to make your escape You shall be stript of all you have and dispatched out of the way by all kinds of Misery 't is true your Death will be more lingering but then 't will be attended with despair and this is what we wish for because you will thereby be more certainly Damned It is to be feared that those who find such sure ways of Damning Men may also find as sure a way to go to Hell themselves In this case 't is not one blind Man leading another but a Blind Man dragging one that is clear sighted into the same Pit If either of them escapes surely it will not be he that forceth but he who suffers force Having thus shut all the Gates upon these Wretches they have drawn the Sword let loose the Hounds upon them and set up the Standard of Persecution against them It is impossible for us to relate all particulars as being too numerous The publick News inform us of some of them and those Eye-witnesses who come every day to us confirm them and the rest are to be seen in private Letters which are no Mystery to any Body and whereof they give Faithful Copies and Communicate them to the Supreme Powers that they may see what regard is given to their Intercession The Provinces of Poitou Guienna and Languedoc as the most populous are assaulted with greatest Violence A Decree was publish'd in those Provinces enjoining Fathers and Mothers to have their Children Baptiz'd at Mass within 24 hours upon pain of forfeiting Five hundred Livres Formerly they were contented to take away Children one after another but now they sweep them away as it were with a Net 20 or 30 at once and shut them up into Monasteries as they have at Bourdeaux The Bishop of Lusson in Poitou ordereth not only Boys but all the Girls and Women from five to forty years of Age
Intendants and to so many Eye-Witnesses as we have upon the respective Places We cannot insist any longer on such sad and doleful Particulars and therefore we have but just touched upon them but this short glance is enough for our purpose to stir up the Compassion of all Protestants Now the Compassion we desire is not such as consists in Words and Complaints much less in Expressions as evaporate only in Reproaches and have no real Effect 'T is properly Assistance and Relief we beg for the Afflicted Church and that not for the French Church only but also for all the Protestant Churches of Europe which are now more fiercely attack'd than ever they have been since the Reformation No sooner were they born but there was a Conspiracy to stiffle them in the Cradle and in order thereto the Antichristian Rome became every where a Boutefeu increased the Cruelties of the Inquisition set up Gibbets kindled Fires in Spain Germany England and France many Rivers of Blood and many horrid Massacres in France and in the Netherlands under the Reigns of Francis I. Hâ—nry II. Charles IX and Henry III. all French Kings and of Philip II. King of Spain In the beginning of this Age the Protestant Church sound some protection and enjoyed some ease whereby she recovered strength but we must also confess that she degenerated very much during the time of her tranquility God Almighty therefore being justly provoked by our Iniquities and Contempt of his Truth hath about the middle of this last Age raised up three Princes great Persecutors of his Church viz. Leopold Emperor of Germany and King of Hungaria Lewis the XIV and James the II. There is no question to be made but that the destruction of the Protestant Church was resolved upon by these three Princes The natural and we may say irreconcilable Enmity between the two Families of France and Austria is no hindrance to such an Agreement because Popery hath contrived a way for its own preservation which no other Religion can have and the Protestants are wholly deprived of that is the Bishop of Rome the Center of a Temporal Union The several and distinct parts united to that Center need not hold any Correspondence to adjust their Designs they are joined to a common Head and have nothing else to do but to follow its Motions even at that very time when they are the most divided by their Temporal Interests The Emperor began the Persecution He put the Churches of Hungaria and Silesia to incredible Sufferings The Publick hath seen the History of that Persecution and chiefly the Relation of the Calamities of those Glorious Confessors who were sent to the Galleys of Naples and released by the means of the Dutch Lewis the XIV immediately after the Pyrenâ—an Treaty formed the Design of rooting the Protestant Religion out of his Dominions This Undertaking he durst not attempt during the Life of Cromwell who was indeed an Usurper and a Parricide too if you will but who for all that perfectly understood that the true Interest of England and of the Rulers of it consisted in becoming the Head and Protectors of all the Protestants in Europe This was his Masterpiece of Policy whereby be kept all Europe in awe After his Death Charles the II. was re-established on the Throne of his Ancestors This Prince being Educated by a Popish Mother in Popish Courts was in his youth prepossessed against the Protestant Relâ—gion and many Heresies increased in his Reign James the II. succeeded him and it was chiefly between this Prince and the French King that the Measures for the ruine of the Protestant Religion were concerted No sooner did the French Court see him on the Throne but she resolved to give the fatal Blow K. Charles died in February and K. James was at the same time proclaimed King His Advancement to the Crown was more firmly Establish'd by the Death of the Duke of Monmouth in England and that of the Earl of Argyle in Scotland The Edict of Nantes was recall'd in October the same year and every body knows what hath been done since King James though he was influenced by the same Jesuitical Spirit which swayed in both Courts could not however go on so fast as Lewis the XIV and yet nevertheless he had in three years time promoted his Religion more than Lewis had in thirty five when unexpectedly it pleased God Almighty by a Revolution which surprised all Europe to advance William the III. to the Throne of England and by that means to make the greatest part of the Designs of that Antichristian League to prove abortive These short and cursory Observations have no other Aim but to make the Protestant Princes sensible that there is a Plot on foot for their ruine The last Treaty of Peace with the Emperor confirms this truth for by a mutual Agreement with the Emperor's Plenipotentiaries they have inserted an Article whereby the Protestant Princes of Germany are deprived of the Authority of regulating Ecclesiastical Affairs in their own Dominions which had been formerly granted them by the Peace of Passaw and the Treaty of Osnabruck Nay they are constrained to tolerate the Publick Service of the Romish Religion in all the Countreys lately conquered and now restored by France True it is that these Protestant Princes have opposed it but their Oppositions are but bare Protestations which will always prove insignificant if not supported by other Means more effectual The Popish League will every day get strength and the Protestant Party decline now in one place now in another and shall we stand still unconcerned and see to the reproach of our Profession the ruine of the only pure Christianity which hath cost us the best of our Blood If they do not awake and exert themselves in the present Circumstances the Wrath of God will not fail to awake against so heinous a Neglect We will not presume to prescribe the Means proper to prevent the Consequence of the League since they are obvious to every body It will be enough for us to say that it is high time to think on 't and that e're it be long the Disease will be past Remedy The great Revolution in Europe which now seems near at hand by the Death of a King leaving no Issue to succeed him in his vast Dominions will give a fair opportunity to take the fittest Measures for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion For whilst these two great Adversaries of ours shall be obliged to employ themselves in deciding the greatest Controversy they have had for these two hundred years they may be prevailed upon to let fall their Persecution and then the Reformation if powerfully assisted may be able to gain ground upon the Common Enemy In this general Design of protecting and promoting the Reformation upon which Popery hath in this Age so much incroach'd the Princes and People concerned ought in our Opinion to take a special care to preserve the Reformed Religion in France
Subjects and consequently have not deserved to forfeit these Priviledges which Henry the Fourth and Lewis the Fourteenth himself had granted them as a Reward not only of their Fidelity but of their great Services too Whereas the Popish Subjects in the Reformed Dominions are as so many fierce Lions kept in Chains who get loose at every turn and Plot against their Sovereigns and the Government as occasion serves In fine we must observe that in these Memoirs the Allies demand all not in hope of getting all but in prospect at least of obtaining something for they did not question but the French would wrangle and maintain their ground with a great deal of Erroneous Zeal but they thought that by yielding by degrees something would be granted These Memoirs being finished and the Plenipotentiaries agreed thereupon the Question was only how to deliver them into the hands of the French Embassadors but they could not agree about the time some were of Opinion not to have them delivered till after the Peace was signed and their Reasons for it were such different Motives as need not be related here and yet we cannot deny but that the fear of delaying and stopping a Peace so much wish'd for by all was the chief spring of this Motion This Opinion had carried it and the Memoirs had been put off till the Signature Ratification of the Peace had it been made the last of August 1697 as the Allies and chiefly the Spaniards required it But the new Memoirs of the French Embassadors whereby they declared in the Name of their Master that he would take off Strasbourg out of his first Offers and keep that Place in lieu of Barcelona which he had lately taken This Proposal I say the Germans were frighted at and that was the Cause why the Conclusion of the Treaty was put off to the 20th of September This little respite we lookt on as particularly designed by God's Providence to put us upon doing his Cause further Service once more and therefore we waited on the Protestant Plenipotentiaries again and represented unto them that a Memoir in our behalf delivered after the Peace was signed would signifie nothing but make the Persecutors of France believe they were not sollicitous for our Concerns and that the French Court would think so too we went through great oppositions upon that Point but the steadiness of that Noble Lord who was the chief of the English Embassy and of the first Minister in Ordinary of that State carried it They were also very much supported by the Embassadors of the Confession of Ausgburg The Memoirs were then delivered into the Hands of the Mediator two days before the Peace was signed The French Embassadors did absolutely reject it at first saying they were strictly forbidden by the King their Master either to receive or give Ear to any such thing The Chief of that Embassy acted very Honourably but as one that is willing withall to follow exactly his Masters Orders The others did not conceal their hatred against the Protestants and let us see that by obeying their Master they did the same time gratifie their own Inclinations The chief of the Embassy did not think fit to refuse obstinately the Protestant Allies this small Courtesy which could do no hurt to his own Religion so that at last he promised to send the Memoirs to his Master accordingly it was sent to the French Court with all the Articles of Peace signed by England Holland and Spain and they were in great expectation of an Answer to the Memoirs together with the Ratification of the Peace When the Express was come they discovered that the French King had sent Orders to his Embassadors to pretend the Memoirs had not been sent and had through forgetfulness been left in the Chief Embassador's Pocket This was their Excuse to the Mediator when at the Messengers arrival he required an Answer to them However no body gave any credit to it but look't rather on it as a sham for they knew very well that all the Ministers of Princes are so exact as to omit nothing upon such Occasions and that there is no Writing though never so little nor even of the least importance but they will take care to transmit it to their Masters and if the French Embassadors had so neglected their Duty they would undoubtedly have lost their King's Favour but the Council of France had some Reasons for not irritating the Protestant Allies by a down right denial at a time when nothing was as yet ratified and they stood in need of every body For all this the Mediator would not so give over but urged that the Memoirs should be sent if they had not done it already and that they should require an Answer to it which came at last but a great while after when all was done and the Chief of the French Embassy departed The two others pleased themselves with Answering in their Masters Name That his Majesties Conscience could not consent to re-establish a Religion of which he had a very bad Opinion That he was so far from restoring the said Religion that he would not so much as see in his Dominions any of those Refugees who had fled out of it That if they had a mind to come back again he was willing to forgive them upon condition they should discharge all the Duties of good Catholicks That as to their Estates he could not restore them not even to those who should have a mind to return because he had already given them to others from whom he did not intend to take them away No body did wonder at such an Answer nevertheless it struck a great many who could never have believed but they would at least deal as favourably with the new Subjects of England Holland and Brandenburg as with the old ones and as it was Lawful for those to go into and come out of France about their own Affairs they thought the same liberty would have been granted to those who 12 or 15 years since had sheltered themselves in Foreign Countreys The second and sixth Articles of the Treaty with Holland are so plain in this Cause that several Inhabitants of Rouen and other Places had sent word to their Friends that by virtue of the Treaty they had liberty to come back and manage their Affairs in France without any fear of molestation The second Article includes a general Pardon without restriction in behalf of all the Subjects of the Most Christian King now in Service of the United-Provinces for it is there provided by this Article That the said Persons of what Quality and Rank soever may and shall re-enter upon and be fully restored to the Possession and peaceable Enjoyment of all their Estates and Honours c. without any Clause excluding Religion And in the sixth Article Religion is expresly named Those whose Goods and Estates have been sersed upon and escheated upon the account of the said War their Heirs or Assigns of what