Loyal Protestants and not as is slanderously reported the fruit of any violence gained by force and granted against the hair But farther the Law of Nature and common policy might challenge such an Edict for them as well as Gratitude It is true that Soveraign Magistrates are appointed by God to preserve the publick peace and by consequence to cut off or prevent as much as in them lies whatever may disturb it It is true also that new Establishments in matters of Religion may cause great troubles in a State and that there are Religions which have Maxims so pernicious that when Magistrates are of a different opinion or but so much as tolerate such a one their Lives and their Kingdoms are never in safety But Henry the Fourth found the Protestant Religion wholly establish'd in the Kingdom when he came to the Crown Besides he who had so long profess'd it knew perfectly well that it had none of those dreadful Maxims which makes Princes and States jealous that on the contrary in it Loyalty and Obedience of Subjects to Soveraigns of what Religion and what humor soever was to them an Article of Faith and an obligation of Conscience He knew that Protestants by their Religion were peaceable men who sought but to serve God according to his Word and were always ready to spend the last drop of their blood for the service and the honor of their King But he knew also that the zeal of the Romish Clergy always animated the Popish Common People against them and that they would be sure to fall upon them unless he took them into his protection The Law of Nature then did not permit him to abandon to the rage of the multitude so many innocent persons and common policy warned him to preserve so many faithful Subjects for the State so capable of supporting it on occasion as he had so freshly experienc'd It being certain that had it not been for them the Pope and the Ligue had ruin'd the whole Kingdom But it was not possible either to defend them from the fury of the People or to preserve them for the service of the State if he had granted in favour of them any thing less than the Edict of Nantes so that this Edict in truth was to be ascribed to common Equity and Prudence no less than Gratitude But said I to my Friend do you believe that the Grandson of Henry the Fourth is bound to make good what his Grandfather did I do not doubt it at all answered he otherwise there would be nothing secure or certain in Civil Society and wo be to all Governments if there be no Foundation of publick Trust 1. For if ever Law deserv'd to be regarded by the Successors of a Prince it is this It was establish'd by a Hero who had recovered the Crown for his posterity by his Sword and this Establishment was not made but after mature and long deliberations in the calm of a profound Peace obtained and cemented by many and signal Victories That Hero hath declar'd expresly in the Preface of the Edict that he establish'd it in the nature of an irrevocable and perpetual Law willing that it should be firm and inviolable as he also saith himself in the 90th Article Accordingly he made all the Formalities to be observed in its establishment which are necessary for the passing of a fundamental Law in a State For he made the observation of it under the quality of an irrevocable Law to be sworn to by all the Governors and Lieutenant-Generals of his Provinces by the Bailiffs Mayors and other ordinary Judges and principal Inhabitants of the Cities of each Religion by the Majors Sheriffs Consuls and Jurates by the Parliaments Chambers of Accounts Court of Aids with order to have it publish'd and registred in all the said Courts This is expresly set down in the 92d and 93d Articles Was there ever any thing more authentick 2. The same Reasons which caused the Establishment remain still and plead for its continuance 1. The Family of Bourbon preserved in the Throne 2. The Law of Nature and common Policy 3. The two Successors of Henry the Fourth look'd not upon themselves as unconcern'd in this Edict Their Word and their Royal Authority are engaged for its observation no less than the Word and Royal Authority of its Illustrious Author Lewis the Thirteenth confirm'd it as soon as he came to the Crown by his Declaration of the 22d of May 1610 ordering that the Edict of Nantes should be observed in every Point and Article These are the very words Read them said he shewing me a Book in Folio called The Great Conference of the Royal Ordinances and Edicts I read there in the first Book Title 6 of the second Part of the Volume not only the Article he mention'd but also the citation of nine several Declarations publish'd at several times by the same King on the same subject Lewis the Fourteenth who now Reigns says our Friend hath likewise assured all Europe by his authentick Edicts and Declarations that he would maintain the Edict of Nantes according to the desire of his Grandfather who had made it an irrevocable Law He himself acknowledges and confirms it himself anew by his Edict of June 1680 where he forbids Papists to change their Religion There it is pray take the pains to read it Lewis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre to all persons to whom these Presents come Greeting The late Henry the Fourth our Grandfather of Glorious Memory granted by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April 1598 to all his Subjects of the Religion pretended Reformed who then lived in his Kingdom or who afterwards should come and settle in it Liberty of professing their Religion and at the same time provided whatsoever he judged necessary for affording those of the said Religion pretended Reformed means of living in our Kingdom in the Exercise of their Religion without being molested in it by our Catholick Subjects which the late King our most Honored Lord and Father and we since have authorised and confirmed on other Occasions by divers Declarations and Acts. But this Prince is not content to tell what he hath formerly done in confirmation of the Edict of Nantes read some Lines a little lower and you will see that he repeats again his former Ingagements We declare that confirming as much as is or may be needful the Edict of Nantes and other Declarations and Acts given in pursuit of it c. That is to say That by this new Edict he signs once more the Edict of Nantes and for a more authentick confirmation of that important Law he ratifies together with it and seals with his Royal Seal all the Declarations which had already confirmed it If all this is not sufficient to render His Word Sacred and Inviolable there is nothing in the World can do it all things are lawful and it is to no purpose to talk of any
THE Present State OF THE PROTESTANTS IN FRANCE In Three LETTERS Written by a Gentleman at London to his Friend in the Country The First shews the Privileges granted them by the Edict of Nantes The Second sets forth the Injustice that is done them and the Cruelties that are used to force them to renounce their Religion The Third vindicates their Innocence and their Loyalty LONDON Printed for John Holford Book-seller in the Pall-Mall over against S. Alban's-Street 1681. TO THE READER I Am under a necessity of begging Excuse for what follows because it will come short of the Title-Page which promises three Letters The Truth is the third was in a manner ready when so many fresh Instances of the Barbarity used to the poor Protestants in France came to my hands that I found my self obliged either to defer any account for some time or else to publish these two Letters by themselves But I must confess I was not long in taking my choice For I saw it so requisite to say something presently that I resolved out of hand to publish these my two first Letters The Enemy has been so industrious as to way-lay these poor people and whilst they will not suffer them to live in France they endeavour to prevent their subsisting any where else Amongst some they are represented as Enemies to the Religion establish'd however they profess the same Faith and desire to be esteemed as Brethren Amongst others they are made to appear a mix'd multitude part Protestant part Papist whereas it is as impossible for any number of Papists or indeed almost any to thrust themselves in amongst them undiscovered as it would be for a Black amongst Whites Their Ministers are such as have had their Education amongst them well known and approved before admitted to that Office strictly observed and under a careful Discipline after admission their people well acquainted and observed among themselves as is usual for such as are under a persecution or the jealous eye of their Superiors Besides greater care cannot be taken than is by the French Churches to whom the recommendation of all that come over is remitted to see that their Attestations and Testimonials are true and substantial and I hope the Printed Advertisement has already given satisfaction in this point But that nothing may be wanting to augment 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 numbers for multitudes create scarcity and that industry 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 themselves 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 or that our Kings are Garantees for the Edict of Nantes 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 them 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 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 opened After our first Salute I ask'd him what they were They are said he French Books and those Printed Sheets are the new Edicts Declarations and Acts which the King of France hath lately publish'd against the Protestants of his Kingdom I am very happy said I in lighting on you at the opening of your Papers I was extremely impatient of knowing with some certainty what it was drove so many of them from their Native Country and I perceive by the care you have taken to collect all the pieces which concern them that I could not have met any one who might better satisfie my curiosity They come hither in Troops almost every day and the greatest
much whether they could do it If they have reason to fear for the birth and for the tender years of their Children they have no less for themselves Here is a proof of it It is the Declaration of the 19th of November 1680 By which it is ordained That whenever they are sick they shall suffer themselves to be visited by the Papist Magistrates Thus having made their lives burdensome to them they take a thousand ways to torment them in their Beds as soon as any Disease hath seised them It is not henceforth permitted to them either to be sick or die in peace Under colour of this Declaration they are persecuted and all means are tryed to shake their Faith under the pretence of being ask'd what Religion they will die in First a Judge presents himself with the awe of his presence accompanied by one of the King's Sollicitors and two Papist Witnesses They begin their Work by driving all Protestants who are with the sick man out of his Chamber Father Mother Wife Husband Children none are excepted After that they do with the sick person as they list they draw up a Verbal Process or such as they like Lies with them are but pious Frauds Whatsoever the sick man answers he hath still abjur'd if these Gentlemen please to make a conversion of it and there is no possibility of disproving it The Verbal Process is drawn up in good Form If the sick man recovers and refuses to go to Mass immediately he is subject to all the penalties of a Relapse If he dies and chances to be the Father of a Family they take away all his Children to breed them up in the Popish Religion and his Estate to preserve it as they pretend for the Children of a Catholick Father Can any one who hath any care of his own salvation or any affection for his Children live expos'd to such dreadful Inconveniences if God offers any means to avoid them I am afraid I tire you with the Recital of so many Calamities Fear not that answered I I am resolv'd to know all You do not consider what you say replyed he I should need whole weeks to tell you all Imagine all the Suprises all the indirect practices all the base tricks of Insinuation and little quirks of Law are put in ure together with all manner of violence to accomplish the Work Neither do those Enemies of the Protestants always neglect the Oracles of the Scripture It says I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the Flock shall be scattered These Gentlemen then that they may the more easily scatter the Sheep smite every where the Shepherd and constrain them to fly They imprison one for having by the Word of God confirm'd some of his Flock whom the Popish Doctors would pervert another for being converted to the Protestant Religion in his youth long before any Law was made against pretended Apostates They hire forlorn Wretches to go to the Sermons of the Protestant Ministers and to depose before a Magistrate that the Ministers said that the Church of Rome was idolatrous or that the Faithful are persecuted that they spake ill of the Virgin Mary or of the King Upon this without being heard and tho it be offered to be made out by the Deposition of an infinity almost of persons of credit that the testimonies of these two or three Wretches are absolutely false Orders are issued out for the seising the Bodies of the Ministers They are clap'd in Jayl as soon as taken they are condemn'd to pay excessive Fines they force them to make the Amende Honorable they banish them the Kingdom The Intendant of Rochefort suppress'd one there upon the most extravagant Deposition that was ever taken The Deponent having been at the Sermon of that Minister said That there was nothing to be found fault with in his words but that he perceiv'd his thoughts were not innocent If there are any amongst them so happy as to confound so the false Witnesses that the Judges are asham'd to use all those rigors none of the Charges of Imprisonment or of the Suit are ever recovered against any one A Minister who may have sixty or seventy pounds a year and seven or eight in Family to maintain must be condemn'd with all his innocence to pay all these great costs I could upon this Head tell you a hundred Stories but that it would be too tedious I have met both at Paris and in other Provinces many of these persecuted Ministers who acquainted me with their Adventures Germany Holland and Switzerland are full of them and I am told there are some of them here in England Their absence from their Flocks is but too good a proof how hot the persecution is against them And so let 's go on You may remember that the Edict of Nantes judg'd it necessary for the preservation of the Estates and Credit of the protestants and for the safety of their Lives to erect Tribunals where supreme Justice might be administred by Judges of the one and of the other Religion But all these Tribunals are suppress'd namely the Chambers of the Edict of Paris and of Rouen It is some years since the Chambres Miparties were suppress'd by the Delaration of July 1679 so that here is their Fortunes their Credit their Lives all at the mercy of their sworn Enemies For you have not forgot that the King of France acknowledges in one of his Declarations that the Papists have always hated the persons of the Protestants Judge then if it be safe for them to stay longer in such a Kingdom But there is no method proper to ruine them which is not made use of that if one fails another may be sure to take Synods and Conferences are absolutely necessary for the Admission of their Ministers for the Correction of Scandals for the preservation of Peace in their Congregations for the subsistence of their Colleges and for the support and exercise of their Discipline At first they kept them with all sort of Liberty Under Lewis the Thirteenth they thought fit to forbid them to hold any Synod unless some Protestant Commissary who was to be named by the Court were present This was observed till the year 1679 when a Declaration was publish'd requiring that there should be a Papist Commissary in their Synods That is to say Sir said I interrupting our Friend they will pry into their hearts and perfectly know where their strength or their weakness lies If there were nothing but that in it replyed our Friend that Declaration would not allarm them so much as it doth For there is nothing done in their Assemblies which they are not willing all the world should know They defie their most mortal Enemies to prove the contrary Can there be a more undeniable proof of this than the practice of the Protestant Commissary who sends to the Court a Copy well attested of all the Results of the Deliberations which are made while the Synod or Conference is
of those Provinces claiming that Exercise by a better Title This is it which made the Bishop of Rodes Monsieur Perifix afterwards Archbishop of Paris in his History of the Life of Henry the Fourth to say that that Prince by his Edict of Nantes granted to the Protestants Liberty of Preaching almost every where But he granted them farther the means and full power of breeding up and teaching their Children Read as to that the thirty seventh particular Article It declares that they shall have publick Schools and Colleges in those Cities and Places where they ought to have the publick Exercise of their Religion The Edict having secured as you see the Exercise of the Protestant Religion secures also the condition of them who should profess it to the end that they might without any molestation each one according to his quality follow those Trades Employments and Offices which are the ordinary means of mens Livelyhood Indeed the thing of it self speaks this For it is plain that they do not grant in good earnest the free Exercise of a Religion who debar the persons that profess it the use of means necessary for their subsistence Nevertheless for their greater security Henry the Fourth hath declared to all Europe by his Edict that he would not that there should be any difference as to that point between his Protestant and his Papist Subjects The thirty seventh general Article as to that is express This it is We declare all them who do or shall make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion capable of holding and exercising all Conditions Offices Honours and publick Charges whatsoever Royalties Seigneuries or any Charge in the Cities of our Kingdom Countries Territories or Seigneuries under our Authority The fifty fourth Article declares that they shall be admitted Officers in the Courts of Parliaments Great Council Chamber of Accounts Court of Aids and the Offices of the general Treasurers of France and amongst the other Officers of the Revenues of the Crown The seventy fourth Article puts them in the same state with their Fellow Subjects as to all publick Exactions willing that they should be charged no higher than others Those of the said Religion pretendedly Reformed saith the Article may not hereafter be overcharged or oppressed with any Imposition ordinary or extraordinary more than the Catholicks And to the end that Justice might be done and administred impartially as the Edict explains it self the 30th 31st to the 57th Articles set up Chambers of the Edict in the Parliaments of Paris and Roan where the Protestant Counsellors ought to assist as Judges and Chambers Miparties in the Parliaments of Guienne Languedoc and Dauphine consisting each of two Presidents the one Protestant the other Papist and of twelve Counsellors an equal number of each Religion to judge without Appeal exclusive to all other Courts all Differences of any importance which the Protestants might have with their Fellow Subjects as well in Criminal as in Civil Matters In short this great Edict forgets nothing which might make the Protestants of France to live in peace and honor It hath not fail'd even to explain it self as to the Vexations which might be created them by taking away or seducing their Children For read the eighteenth general Article It forbids all Papists of what quality or condition soever they may be to take them away by force or by perswasion against the will of their Parents As if it had foreseen that this would be one of the ways which their Persecutors would use to vex and ruine them But the 38th Article goes farther yet That Wills that even after their death Fathers shall be Masters of the Education of their Children and consequently of their Religion so long as their Children shall continue under Guardians which is by the Laws of France till the 25th year of their Age It shall be lawful for Fathers who profess the said Religion to provide for them such persons for their education as they think fit and to substitute one or more by Will Codicil or other Declaration made before Publick Notaries or written and sign'd with their own hand You perceive then plainly continued our Friend that by this Edict King Henry the Fourth made the condition of the Protestants equal almost in all things to that of his other Subjects They had reason then to hope that they should be allowed to exercise their Religion to breed up and instruct their Children in it without any disturbance and that they should have as free admission to all Arts Trades Offices and Employments as any of their Fellow Subjects This is very clear said I and I am much obliged to you for explaining to me what this famous Edict of Nantes is which I had heard so much discourse of But they who have no affection for the Protestants tell us that it is a Law which was extorted by violence and consequently is not to be kept I will not stand now said our Friend to examine whether that consequence be good you cannot but perceive that it is dangerous But I dare assure you that the Principle from whence it is drawn namely that the Edict was extorted by violence is very false I would not have you take my word for it But I will produce an unexceptionable Witness It is the Archbishop of Paris he who writ the Life of Henry the Fourth That one Witness is worth a thousand for he was a declared Enemy of the Protestants According to him The general Peace was made the Ligue extinguish'd and all persons in France had laid down their Arms when this Edict was granted in favour of them It is ridiculous now to say that it was extorted by violence there being then no party in all the Kingdom in a condition to make the least attempt with impunity Moreover that Prelate could not forbear owning expresly what it was mov'd the King to grant them that Edict It was the sense of the Great Obligations he had to them See the Book it self read the Passage The Great Obligations which he had to them would not permit him to drive them into despair and therefore to preserve them a just ballance he granted them an Edict larger than any before They called it the Edict of Nantes c. Indeed the Obligations he had to them were not small They had testified an inviolable Loyalty to him in all his Troubles They had spent freely their Lives and Fortunes to defend his Rights and his Life against the Princes of Lorrain who made so many Attempts to keep him from the Throne of his Ancestors and to usurp his place Had it not been for their Valour and their Loyalty the Crown had gone into the hands of Strangers and since we must speak out had it not been for them the Blood of the Bourbons would not this day have been possessed of the Throne The Edict of Nantes then was the Effect and the Recompence of the Great Obligations which King Henry the Fourth had to his
held What do they fear then replyed I from the presence of a Papist Commissary Because they know that the end of the Court cannot be to discover their Secrets since they have none therefore it is that they justly fear that this Papist Commissary hath been set over them to create them trouble in the most innocent Affairs to hinder those Deliberations which are most necessary for the due preservation of their Flocks to silence those Ministers among them whom he shall perceive to be of greatest Ability and of Credit to dishearten one by threatnings to corrupt another by promises to sow Dissention and Division among them and to employ all means possibly to ruine them These are the just fears which have hindred them till this present from assembling any Synods with this so destructive a condition hoping continually that it may be God would touch the heart of their King But perceiving no favourable change and not being able to subsist without holding their Synods I learn'd as I came out of France that these poor people are resolv'd to run these hazards and that their Synods are upon assembling in several places May God vouchsafe to preside in the midst of them by his Grace and remove far from them all the Evils they have cause to fear It may be by their good Examples and their Religious Behaviour they may convert them who are set over them for a snare as it happened to their Fathers in the last Age also Then was contrived the placing of Papist Commissaries to spie out their liberty But these Commissaries were so taken with the Modesty the Piety the Charity the Decency of Order and the devout Prayers of the first Reformers that they gave Glory to God and embrac'd the Religion which they had persecuted The Jesuites nevertheless have thought all these Evils of which I have spoken too slack and gentle That they may not be at any more trouble they will do the business once for all They have contrived to starve all the Protestants and to effect this they have made all the means of gaining a livelyhood to be taken from them by the Acts of the Council of State of the sixth of November 1679 and the 28th of June 1681. 1. They have turn'd out of all Jurisdictions and Seignuries which are almost infinite in France all Protestants who had been admitted Officers in those Jurisdictions All Stewards Bailiffs Sollicitors Officers of the Exchequer Registers Notaries Clerks Serjeants and Ushers that were Protestants of all sorts throughout the whole Kingdom are cashiered by virtue of these Acts they have reduc'd to Beggary thousands of Families which had no other subsistence but by these Employments 2. Look upon those two Pieces which they procured also for the same intent The Title of the one is The Order of the Council Royal of the Finances or Treasury of the 11th of June 1680. The other is An Order of the Council of State of the 17th of August of the same year By the means of these two Pieces the Jesuites have made the Protestants to be kept out of all the Affairs of the Finances Customs which they call Traites Forains of Aids Gabelles Taxes of all sorts of Commissions to which the Edict of Nantes ordered that they should be admitted indifferently with the Papists This second hath taken away the Bread of a vast number of Families more 3. They every day make the Protestant Captains and Officers who have serv'd so worthily by Land and Sea to be turn'd out of their Commands Those brave Men after they have spent their Estates to advance their Masters Honor and ventured their Lives a thousand times for his Glory see themselves shamefully as so many Cowards cashiered without any exception for them who having signaliz'd and distinguish'd themselves by particular Actions had deserv'd extraordinary Pensions Because they will not be less faithful to God than they have been to their King they are resolved Disgrace and Beggary shall be the Reward of their Service By this they take away from all the Protestant Nobility the means of maintaining themselves in that Rank in which God by their Birth hath placed them 4. As to the Merchants look what the Jesuits have thought upon to ruine them They have obtain'd an Order of Council of State of the 19th of November 1680 which grants to all Protestants who change their Religion the term and forbearance of three years for the payment of the principal of their Debts with prohibition to all their Creditors to bring any Action against them during that time upon pain of Non-suit Noli prosequi and all Charges Damages Costs and Interests I perceive very well said I to our Friend that this puts those who revolt in a way to secure and withdraw their Goods and to enjoy in peace the Fruits of their turning Bankrupts But I do not see how this tends to the ruine of those Merchants in general who persevere in the Protestant Religion That is said he smiling because you have not so subtle a wit nor are so quick-sighted as the Jesuits You know very well that Merchants subsist by their Credit if their credit be low they must fall there is no more trading for them their business is done Now do you not perceive that the credit of all Protestant Merchants is ruined by this Order which puts them in a way of turning Bankrupts as they please with all indemnity and of inriching themselves with those Goods they have been trusted with Who do you think after this will be so silly as to take their word Who can tell with any certainty whether they with whom they deal are persons who will continue in the Protestant Religion Is there any thing more common than such Changes in Religion now adays It 's enough said I I was mistaken I perceive now very well that the ruine of the Protestant Merchants is unavoidable Go on to the other Professions For I see they are resolved that no Protestant shall get Bread among them You are in the right said he you have seen it in many of them I 'll shew it you now in the rest 5. All Papists who drive any Trade or exercise any Art are forbid to take any Protestant Apprentice I have seen the Order but have it not now by me By this you see that all young men of the Protestant Religion who have not means of their own are reduced to this extremity either of starving in France or turning Papists or forsaking that Kingdom For the same Order forbids any Protestant who drives or professes any Trade to have under them any Apprentice either Papist or Protestant that so they may not be able to do work enough to maintain their Families 6. The Grand Master and Grand Prêvot have given notice by Virtue of Letters under the Signet to all Protestants who had Privileges whereby they had right to keep Shops as Chyrurgions Apothecaries Watchmakers and other Tradesmen to forbear using their privileges any
longer and to shut up their Shops which hath been punctually executed 7. They have establish'd Societies of Physicians at Rochelle and in other places where as I am assured from good hands there were none ever before None but Papists will be received into those Societies By this the Jesuits have found out the way at one stroke to hinder the Practice of all the Protestant Physicians however able and experienc'd they may be In so much that the Lives of all sick Protestants are by this means put into the hands of their Enemies 8. In short there is scarce now any place in all France where they may get their livelyhood They are every where molested and hindered from exercising in quiet any Trade or Art which they have learn'd To dispatch them quite they require of them not only that they shall continue to bear all the Burdens of the Government altho they take from them the means of doing it but also that they bear double to what they did that is to say they use a rigor far greater than what was practised upon the People of God when they were commanded to deliver the same tale of bricks and yet had not straw given them as formerly In effect at the same time that they will not allow them of the Protestant Religion to get a penny they exact of them to pay the King double nay treble to what they paid before Monsieur de Marillac Intendant of Poitou hath an Order of Council which gives him alone the Power of the Imposition of the Tax in that great Province He discharges the Papists who are at ease and overcharges the poor Protestants with their proportion who before that fainted under their own proper burden and could bear no more I will tell you farther on this occasion that the Jesuits have obtain'd an Order of the King by which all Protestants who change Religion are exempted for two years from all quartering of Soldiers and all Contributions of Moneys which are levied on that Account which also tends to the utter ruine of them who continue firm in the Protestant Religion For they throw all the burden upon them of which the others are eas'd From thence in part it is that all the Houses of those poor people are filled with Soldiers who live there as in an Enemy's Country I do not know if the zeal of the Jesuits will rest here For they want yet the satisfaction of keeping S. Bartholomew's Day as they kept it in the former Age. It is true what is allowed them is not far from it For which is the better of the two to stab with one blow or to make men die by little and little of hunger and misery As to the Blow said I to our Friend I do not understand you Pray if you please explain your self what do you mean by keeping S. Bartholomew's Day Monsieur de Perifix that Archbishop of Paris who hath writ the Life of Henry the Fourth answered he shall tell you for me There 's the Book the place may be easily found Here it is Six days after which was S. Bartholomew 's Day all the Huguenots who came to the Wedding Feast had their Throats cut amongst others the Admiral twenty persons of the best quality twelve hundred Gentlemen about four thousand Soldiers and Citizens afterwards through all the Cities of the Kingdom after the Example of Paris near a hundred thousand were massacred An execrable Action Such as never was and I hope to God never will be the like You know then well continued our Friend directing his Speech to me you know well now what it is to keep S. Bartholomew's Day and I believe that what I said is no Riddle to you The Jesuits and their Friends set a great value on themselves in the world because they forbear cutting the Protestants Throats as they did then But Merciless as you are do you ere the less take away their lives You say you do not kill them but do you not make them pine to death with hunger and vexation He who gives slow poison is he less a poisoner than he who gives what is violent and quick since both of them destroy the life at last Pardon this short Transport said our Friend in good earnest I cannot restrain my indignation when I see them use the utmost of cruelty and yet would be looked on as patterns of all moderation and meekness Let me impart to you three Letters which two of our Friends who are yet in France have written to me since I came from Paris I received the two first at Calis before I got into the Pacquet Boat the last was delivered me last night after you went away from my Chamber You will there see with what Gentleness they proceed in those Countries He thereupon read to me his Letters and I have since took Copies of them send them here inclosed A Copy of the First Letter WE are just upon the point of seeing that Reformation which hath cost so much labour and pains and so much blood come to nothing in France To know the condition of the Protestants in the several Provinces of this Kingdom you need but read what the first Christians suffered under the Reigns of the Emperors Nero Domitian Trajan Maximin Dioclesian and such like There are four Troops of Horse in Poitou who live at free Quarter upon all of the Protestant Religion without any exception When they have pillaged the Houses of them who will not go to Mass they tie them to their Horse Tails and drag them thither by force The Intendant whom they have sent thither who is their most bitter Enemy hath his Witnesses ready suborned who accuse whom they please of what Crimes they please and after that cast the poor men into dark Dungeons beat them with Cudgels and then pass sentence of death to terrifie them and afterwards under-hand send others to try them by fair means to promise them that their mourning shall be turn'd into joy if they will but go to Mass Those whom God gives the grace to resist die in the Dungeon through unspeakable anguish Three Gentlemen of Quality who went about to confirm some of the poor people in their Village that began to waver were presently clapt up Flax put about their Necks then set on fire and so they were scorch'd till they said they would renounce their Religion There would be no end if I should relate all that is done This you may be assured of that the People of Israel were never so oppress'd by the Egyptians as the Protestants are by their own Country-men A Copy of the Second Letter TO make good my promise of giving you an exact Account of the continuance of the persecution which is rais'd against the Protestants in France I shall acquaint you that they of Poitiers are threat'ned with being made a Garrison this Winter I say they the Protestants For none but they must quarter any of them Monsieur de Marillac gives