of Conde in the Civil Wars during the minority of Lewis XIV I am confident the Papists would cry out against it as a great and foul Injustice done to their Church And yet why do they continually use the Protestants thus unreasonably I presume this may serve for a full Justification in reference to the Spirit of Rebellion imputed upon the account of what passed in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis XIII They cannot wrong them more than to make their Religion answerable for the weakness of some of them who were disapproved by the wisest among them who have more reason to be considered than a few who acted contrary to the Principles of the Protestant Religion as they are contained in their Confession of Faith established by their most eminent Divines as I shewed you at our third Conference So that I suppose Sir it will be needlâ—ss to run through all the several troubles which followed the first down to the year 1629. This may answer the whole Yet methinks said I you should not have done before you have said something particularly of Rochel It s Rebellion and Siege have made too great a noise in the World and perchance that which happened about this Town is what has raised the greatest cry against the French Protestants as Commonwealthsmen and Traytors Therefore I shall no more question their Loyalty and you will enable me to defend them sufficiently under the Reign of Lewis XIII as well as under those that went before if you can set me right in the excuse of Rochel It will be no hard matter for me says our Friend to satisfie you in this Point And we English are particularly obligâ—d to make out the innocence of the Protestants in this affair If any be to blame we are For it was we that engaged them in this last War But God be thanked they can charge us with nothing To make it the clearer to you we must take the Business a little higher Rochel did belong to the Kings of England being a part of their Dominion by the Marriage of Eleanor Countess of Poitou in the year 1152. with Henry II. when he was yet but Duke of Normandy But the King of France Lewis VIII assaulted and took it by force in the year 2224. It fell again into the hands of our Kings who were the rightful Lords of it in the year 1359. by the Peace of Bretegny as part of the Ransome for Iohn King of France who was taken Prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by Edward Prince of Wales But in the year 1372. the Rochellers were so unhappy as to withdraw their Allgiance from their natural Lord our King Edward III. And to compleat their Revolt they put themselves under the powâ—r of the French King This occurrence ought to be observed though I shall say nothing of it but in Mezeray's own words This Town says he having shaken off the English Yoke desired to come under the French upon condition of preseâ—ving that liberty it had acquired by its own means And therefore it delivered it self up to the King it made so good a Bargain for it self which was agreed by Letters under the Broad Seal and the Seals of his Peers that the Castle should be demolished and that there never should be any within or near the Town c. The same Historian touches upon this in another place In consideration says he that Rochel came voluntarily into France the King Charles V. seeing that the Townsmen having of themselves quitted the Power they were under to the great hazard of their Lives could either continue free or give themselves up to whom they pleased granted them all the Priviledges they could dâ—â—â—re as That they might Coin Florins Mony of a mixt Metal 〈◊〉 the Castle should be demolished and that no other should be built in their Town And by other Letters he promises them that their Walls and Forts should stand and that he would raise none upon them He goes on with the other great Immunities that were granted to Rochel by this King and by his Successors not sticking to declare ingenuously that Henry II. and Francis I. by sometimes placing their Governors and Garisons had infringed their Priviledges He adds ' That the Rochellers looked upon this as a violation and always waited for a more favourable occasion to restore themselves to their original Right By this you see that Rochel did not deliver it self up to France but upon Conditions and so were to continue their Obedience no longer than the Articles stipulated by the Rochellers and accepted by the King of France were observed It appears that one of these Articles says expresly That they were never to build Castle or Fort either in or about the Town Notwithstanding contrary to this Agreement they raise a Fort before Rochel in time of the War which was in the Years 1621 1622. And though they promised by the Articles of Peace which were afterwards agreed upon that this Fort should be slighted yet it always continued which was the cause of those troubles that followed in the Years 1625 1626. the Rochellers being no longer obliged to keep touch with the King of France because he had broke the Treaty by vertue of which alone they became his Subjects The Affairs of Europe disposing the late King our Soveraign Lord Charles I. to interpose for a Pacification The Rochellers and such other Protestants of France as had engaged in their Quarrel agreed to refer all their Concerns to him And he obtained it for them a second time that this Fort which was so great an eye-sore to Rochel should be demolished for which he was Guarantee by an Authentick Declaration that his Embassadors gave in Writing I will read it to you We Henry Rich Baron of Kensington â—arl of Holland Captain of the Guards to the King of Great Britain Knight of the Order of the Garter and Counsellor of State and Dudley Carleton Knight Counsellor of State and Vicechamberlain of His Majesties Houshold Embassadors Extraordinary from His said Majesty to the Most Christian King To all present and to come Greeting It so falling out that Montmartin and Manial Deputies-General of the Reformed Churches of France and other particular Deputies of the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise with those of several Towns and Provinces who were engaged with them have made their Peace with the Most Christiaâ— King By our advice and interposition it is agreed and consented to 〈◊〉 the said King their Soveraign And the Deputies have released many things which they esteemed very important for their security and all conformable to their â—dicts and Declarations which they had express order to insist upon at the Treaty of Peace and which they had resolutely persisted in saving the obedience they owe and desire to pay their King and Soveraign and saving the respect and deference they would shew to the so express Summons and Demands of the most Serene King of Great Britain our Master in
whose Name we have exhorted and advised them to condescend to the Conditions offered and given in upon the abovenamed Peace in kindness and for the good of this Kingdom and the satisfaction and aid of Christendom in general For these Reasons we declare and certifie that by the words they had before agreed upon with us for the finishing of the said Treaty and which were produced in the presence and by the command of his most Christian Majesty by the Lord Chancellor in order to the acceptance of the Peace importing That by long Services and a continued Obedience they had reason to expect the Kings favour which they never could procure by any Treaty even of matters esteemed of greatest importance for which in due time they might receive humble addresses with all humility and respect there was a clearer explication on his Majesties part and his Ministers reported to us by the Commissioners for the Peace Persons of great Quality appointed and put in with directions and power from his Majesty and his Ministers the sense and meaning of which is That they mean the Fort Loâ—is before Rochel and thereby to give assurance of the demolishing of it in convenient time and in the mean while for the â—aking off those other matters which rest by the aforesaid Treaty of Peace to the prejudice of the Liberty of the Town of Rochel without which assurance of demolishing and taking off the Garisons the aforesaid Deputies have protested to us that they had never consented to the continuation of the said Fort being directed and resolved to hold the Right of its demolition as they do by the present Declaration in confidence that the King of Great Britain will endeavour by his Mediations together with their most humble intreaties for shortning the time of the said demolition for which we have given them all the words and promises of a King they could wish for after we had laid before them that they ought and might rest satisfied therein In confirmation of which and what else we have above said we have Signed and Sealed this Present with our Names and Coats of Arms and made the same he Countersigned by one of Our Secretaries Given at Paris the Eleventh of February 1626. Signed thus HOLLAND D. CARLETON With the Seals under each of their Names And below By Command of my Lords AVGIER Our King pressed the performance of so Solemn a Promise for demolishing the Fort Louis to little purpose when they neither took notice of his sollicitations nor the obligation to which his Embassadors had tyed him up to see this Treaty of Peace executed You may perceive it by the Duke of Buckingham's Manifesto who at last landed upon the Isle of Rè with an Army to discharge the Royal Word of our Soveraign This is the Manifestò What share the Kings of Great Britain have always taken in the Concerns of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and with how much zeal and care they have laboured for their good is notorious to all Men the experiences of which have been as frequent as the occasions The present King my most honoured Lord and Master comes nothing short of his Predecessors in this Point had not the good and laudable purposes for their good been perverted to their ruine by those that were most concerned in their true accomplishment What advantages has he let slip What course has he not taken by his Alliance with France to enable himself to procure more eâ—fectually and powerfully the restitution of the Churches to their ancient Liberty and Splendor And what could be expected less from so strict an Alliance and so many repeated promises from the Mouth of a great Prince but Effects truly Noble and suitable to his high Quality But so far has his Majesty been after so many Promises and such strict ties of Amity from being able to obtain freedom and security for the Churches and restore France to Peace by reconciling those that breath nothing but entire obedience to their King under the liberty of the Edicts that on the contrary they have made use of the Interest he had in those of the Religion to deceive them thereby not only to disingage him from them but likewise to render him if not hated at least suspected in diverting the means he had appointed for their good to a quite contrary end Witness the English Ships intended not for the extirpation of those of the Religion but on the contrary an absolute Promise made not to employ them against that Party whiâ—h were nevertheless brought before Rochel and employed in the last Sea-fight against them What then could be hoped for from so powerful a Prince as the King my Master so grosly disappointed but a resentment equal in proportion to the injuries received But he forbore beyond all Patience Whilst he had hopes by other means to advantage the Churches he sought not to do it by force of Arms till he had been made the Instrument and Mediator of the last Peace upon very hard terms and such as never had been accepted of without His Majesties Intercession who interposed his Credit and Mediation towards the Churches to accept of it even with threats that he might save the honor of the Most Christian King upon assurance on his side not only of making good but likewise of bettering the terms for which he became Surety on behalf of the Churches But what was the event of all this but an abuse of his Goodness And which His Majesty looked upon as the chief remedy of all their Miseries has it not almost given the last blow to the ruine of the Churches It missed very narrowly by keeping up the Fort before Roâ—â—el the slighting of which was promised by the outrages of the Soldiers and Garisons and of the said Fort and Islands as well upon the Inhabitants of the said Town as upon Strangers who instead of being wholly withdrawn were daily increased and other Forts built and by the stay of the Commissioners in the said Town beyond the time agreed to make Cabals there and by means of the divisions they stirred up among the Inhabitants to set open the Gates to the neighbouring Troops and by other contraventions and breaches of the Peace it missed I say very narrowly that the said Town and with it all the Churches had given up the Ghost And for all this His Majesty yet contained himself and used no other Weapons against so many Affronts and Breaches of Faith but complaints and Intercessions till he had certain advice confirmed by Letters that were intercepted of the great preparations the Most Christian King had made to set down before Rochel And now what could His Majesty have done less than vindicate his Honor by immediately arming Himself against those that had made him Party to their false dealing and given proof of His Integrity and the zeal he has always had for reestabâ—ishing the Churches a Work which will be ever valued by him above all other things
her Priviledges to avoid the admitting those Men who came for no other end but to destroy her Monsieur Maimbourg is scandalized at it under pretence that the Cardinal of Lorrain who did all at Court had invested them with Regal Authority who came to take away their Religion Liberty and Lives But a scandal very absurdly taken There is no man but sees it plainly and what I shall tell you hereafter will make it more plain I will not enter into the Particulars of this unhappy War where the Prince of Condè was killed in cold Blood after the Battle of Iarnac and which concluded witâ— a Peace yet more unfortunate They allowed in this Peace several very great Advantages to the Protestants but it was only to have an opportunity to cut their Throats in the most Treacherous and Inhumane manner that was ever heard of To say the truth says Monsieur Maimbourg as the Queen made this Treaty it is very likely that such a Peace as this was never really meant on her side who concealed her Intentions and did not grant so many things to the Huguenots otherwise than to make them lay down their Arms that she might fall upon such as she had a mind to be revenged of the Admiral especially upon the first favorable occasion that should offer it self which she thought she had met with at last when she had prevailed with the King to take that horrid Resolution which was executed upon that Bloody and Accursed Day of St. Bartholomew Under pretence of Marrying the Prince of Navar to the Lady Margaret Sister to Charles the Ninth all the Protestants that were of any Quality were drawn to Paris The Queen of Navar was taken away in five days by a hot Fever occasioned as many believed by the art of the Perfumer Messer René a Florentine suspected for a skillful man at poysoning as Monsieur Maimbourg himself acknowledges At last to make the Feast more solemn they had the Admiral murdered by an old retainer to the House of Guise called Louviers Monrevel who shot him with a Carabine and they concluded it with this cruel Butchery which Monsieur de Perefixe Archbishop of Paris sums up in these words in his History of Henry the Great All the Huguenots that came to the Feast had their throats cut amongst others the Admiral Twenty other Lords of note Twelve hundred Gentlemen Three or four thousand Soldiers and Citizens and then through all the Towns of the Kingdom after the pattern at Paris near a Hundred thousand men A detestable action such as never was before nor never will be by the help of God the like But all the Popish World was of the Archbishop of Paris his mind witness what Mezeray says The holy Father and all his Court expressed a mighty joy at it and went in a solemn Procession to the Church of St. Lewis to give God thanks for so happy a riddance where the Cardinal of Lorrain who found not himself in such a transport of joy had placed over the door a Latin Inscription after the ancient manner giving the reason of this Ceremony They were not less rejoyced in Spain than at Rome where they preached up this Action before King Philip under the Title of The Triumph of the Church militant It is true that Monsieur Maimbourg Papist as he is could not bring himself to second this Joy of his High Priest and one of his Hero's the Cardinal of Lorrain But on the contrary he has highly condemned so shameful a Fact neither could he forbear to Declame in more than one place against those barbarous people that did it My Reader says he ought not to expect from me an account of all that was done upon this unhappy day which I wish with all my heart had been buryed in the shâ—des of eternal Oblivion So soon as it rung the Warning Bell at the Palace there were more than Fifty thousand men Armed running up and down the Streets like so many Furies let loose breaking open doors crowding into the Houses that were marked out or that they themselves had observed making the Air sound with the hideous Cries that were heard from the groans of Men and Women that were assassinated and the Oaths and Blasphemies of those that murdered them Dispatch kill stab knock them down fling them out of the windows made Paris all that day which was upon a Sunday and a Feast a bloody Theater of Cruelty or rather an abominable Butchery by the slaughter of above Six thousand persons whose Blood ran down the kennels and their Bodies all gored with Wounds dragged into the River This was what we might reasonably expect from the brutish and blind rage of a Rabble when they are let loose to do what they please with impunity But that which we find in this altogether mis-becoming the French generosity which ought to be the proper character of the Nobility of the Kingdom especially those of the Highest Rank was that the Marshal de Tavannes the chief contriver of this Massacre and the Duke de Montpensier too warm a Catholick went up and down the Streets encouraging the People who were already but too much transported of themselves and setting them on upon every body sparing none The King himself who saw out of his Chamber-window the mangled Bodies floating upon the Water was so far from being troubled at the sight that he shot with a long Gun though to no pâ—rpose cross the River at those who they had told him were got into the Faubourg St. Germain to save themselves from the Massacre and cryed out as loud as he could stretch his voice that they should pursue and kill them However he was afterwards extreamly trouble at it and to excuse himself from the imputation of so cruel an Act he caused Letters to be writ the same day to all the Governors of the Provinces that all which was done at Paris upon St. Bartholomew's day was the effect of an old Quarrel that was bâ—tween the Duke of Guise and the Admiral which drew on such deadly Consequences it being impossible to hinder them during that rage the Parisians were then stirred up to by running into Arms for the Guises against the Huguenots However this excuse passed but for a little while They made the King sensible that besides it would not be credited it would expose his Majesty to the contempt of his Subjects when they should see by this that he had not authority enough over the Guises to be obeyed by them nor power and resolution to punish so great a fault Wherefore wholly changing his mind he appointed the Tuesday following to appear himself in Parliament where he declared the same which he likewise caused to be writ to all the Governors that this Massacre was committed by his Order though to his great grief for prevention of a Hellish Conspiracy which the Admiral with the Huguenots had entred into against his Person
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