Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	bring_v	good_a	tiding_n	2,863	5	11.4428	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25408	An Account of the late persecution of the Protestants in the vallys of Piemont, by the Duke of Savoy and the French King, in the year 1686		1688 (1688)	Wing A315; ESTC R1014	40,374	74

Highness was to pardon them and positively promised them from his part and his own their lives and liberties with leave to return with all security to their houses provided they layd down their Arms immediatly And the Deputys telling him they fear'd lest the French enrag'd at what had past at St. Germain would take vengeance on the Vaudoises when they had nothing to defend themselvs he made them great protestations and oaths that supposing their whole Army should pass by their doors they would not offer the least violence This composition being made Catinat retained one of the Deputys with him and sent the others to give advice to the Vaudoises to oblige all those who had disperst themselvs to repair the next morning being the 25 of April at Pieumian that every man might return to his house on notice of the peace Whilst the Vaudoises assembled at Pieumian the scattered familys Catinat gave an account of this Capitulation to Don Gabriel who sent him over night a messenger who passing by Pieumian assured the Vaudoises he brought good tidings of peace and the next morning in his return he told them it was concluded They were so well perswaded of the truth of it that the day before they had layd down their Arms according to the conditions of the treaty entirely confiding in Catinat's promise They waited in this condition for news from Pieumian when there arriv'd one named St. Peter one of the French King's Captains of the Garrison in the Fort of Peirouse follow'd with several Dragoons Which Captain was well known by the Vaudoises and immediatly reiterated to them the assurances of the peace but presently caus'd the men to go together apart in a certain place and the women and children in another The French Troops being at the same time arriv'd told the men they had order to conduct them to their houses and made them pass along through them four in a rank These poor people having bin constrain'd to leave their Wives and Daughters exposed to the Soldiers discretion were led not to their houses as they had bin told but to Don Gabriel who was encampt on the Mountain of La Vacherie and who caus'd them to be carry'd prisoners to Lucerna In the mean time the women suffer'd whatever the fury and brutish inhumanity of the Soldiers could devise against them For these Barbarians contented not themselvs with taking from them their money but violated their Chastity with such Circumstances as are a shame to nature and kil'd many of them in their resistance of their filthy attempts Catinat was not present at what past at Pieumian He left the ordering of this affair to some Officers to keep out of hearing the just reproaches and complaints of the Vaudoises or else that he might not be the Spectator of so many Villanous actions But however it is certain that excepting some women who were kil'd and such as fled away from the persecution of these Monsters and saved themselvs in the neighboring Woods in danger of the Guns that were shot at them to stop them all the rest were dragg'd into divers prisons with great cruelty It will be needless to use here many arguments to shew that the Enemys of the Vaudoises have violated in these rencounters the most Sacred and inviolable obligations The relation of what is past suffices to clear this truth seeing it clearly justifys That the Vaudoises have bin the victims of their Enemys perfidiousness And it 's in vain to think to excuse this breach of promise under pretence the Vaudoises were rebellious Subjects who had taken arms against their lawful Prince for it will be easy to shew that they cannot be accused of rebellion seeing they only made use of a natural defence against the unjust oppressions of the Congregation of propagation and their other Enemys But the present question is not whether the Vaudoises could justly do what they did but touching the performance of the promises which have bin made them notwithstanding this their pretended rebellion seeing their surrender of themselvs was grounded on the faith of these promises So that it 's certain the violation of an obligation of this nature can have no other colour than the authority of this maxim That faith is not to be kept with Hereticks It 's also certain That Kings and Princes are especially oblig'd to condemn this vile maxim in that they be the representatives of a being who never fail'd of being faithful to his promises and who has ever punisht perfidiousness either in the person of those who have bin guilty of it or in their descendants It 's also in vain to alledge that when the Vaudoises surrendred themselvs they had only promise of life for it 's plain they were promis'd likewise their liberty But had the promise extended no farther than life can it be affirm'd they kept their word when they made them all perish under the weight of an intollerable misery and the hardest captivity as ever was The Vally of Peirouse being reduced as the rest by the Capitulation of Pieumian one part of the French Army left this Vally and went and joyn'd Don Gabriel at the Vacherie Then it was that on all sides they hunted and caught these poor Vaudoises who were dragg'd to several Prisons under pretence of being led before his Royal Highness to entreat his pardon But that which seems most deplorable was their refusal to hear the complaints and tears of familys who implored the favor of suffering together For they separated the Fathers from their Children and the Husband from the Wife to deprive them of the means of comforting and strengthning one another They violated the ties of nature and consanguinity that they might be less able to bear the temptations and other miserys they provided for them They designed that those who could resist the sufferings and miserys of a rigorous prison should be overcome by the restless longings to be with their relations There were several young people of both Sexes who were disperst and placed in several particular houses in Piemont but this was not from a motive of equity but to make them change their Religion and to keep them from coming near their Parents Yet there were then a great number of Vaudoises who had not delivered up themselvs nor were as yet taken For those of Villars Boby and some other places in the Vally of Lucerna would not consent to the composition as did the rest that they might keep themselvs free Many of those of Angrogne had joyned themselvs to these having observ'd how the Enemys kept their word And several of the Vaudoises of the vale of St. Martin had searcht for shelter and hiding places in Woods and Rocks to escape the barbarity of the French fury who gave no quarter The enemys resolv'd to be masters of these Vaudoises by force or fraud as they had bin of the rest For this effect whilst part of the Duke of Savoy's Army was employ'd against those who were

of the weather and whom their friends were forced to leave as a prey to the wild Beasts This Officer not suffering them to pay them any charitable Office. The following Companys and several Merchants who past soon after over this Mountain saw the bodys of these poor creatures stretcht out on the Snow the mothers having still their children in their arms The Evangelic Cantons having bin inform'd of the taking away of the children from their parents and other bad usages of the Vaudoises in their way thought themselvs still oblig'd in charity to endeavor their relief They sent Deputys for this end to the Court of Turin as well to favour the journy of the several Companys who were not then arriv'd at Geneva as to demand the restitution of the children taken up in the way and other young people of both Sexes who were disperst in Piemont at the surrender of the Vallys And receiving at the same time a Letter from the Count de Govon by which they were inform'd that his Master had referred for some time the deliverance of the Ministers and would not release some prisoners who had bin taken with their Arms in their hands and were condemn'd to work all their lives on his Royal Highness's fortifications The Evangelic Cantons therefore commanded their Deputys to demand the liberty of the Ministers and all other prisoners according to the treaty made with the Count de Govon But before we speak of the success of this Negotiation we must see in what condition the Vaudoises were when they arriv'd at Geneva They came thither at several times and in several Companys which in all made not above 2500 persons but they were all in so bad and deplorable a condition that it is not possible to express it There were several of these poor people who dropt down dead at the Town gates and who met with the end of their lives in the beginning of their liberty Others were so dispirited with sickness and grief that they were expected every moment to expire in the arms of those who had the charity to sustain them Others were so frozen with cold that they had not the power to speak some stagger'd under the weight of their distempers and wearyness others were deprived of the use of their limbs and could not hold out their hands to receive the assistance which was offered them The greatest part of them were naked and without shoes in fine both one and the other carry'd such marks of an excessive suffering and extream misery that the hardest heart must needs be grieved at it The Companys staying some time at Geneva to rest and refresh themselvs before they parted for Switzerland those who were first arriv'd went out to meet those who came next to inform themselvs touching the condition of their relations of whom they had not heard since the troubles in the Vallys A Father demanded news of his child a child what was become of his Father an husband of his wife a wife enquired after her husband and every one endeavor'd to learn what was become of his friend but this being commonly in vain seeing most part of them were dead in prison this occasion'd such a sad and lamentable Spectacle that all the beholders melted into tears whilst these poor people opprest and overwhelm'd with excess of their grief were not able to weep and bemoan themselvs But if it be difficult fully to represent the misery of these poor Peoples condition it 's no less hard a task to express the abundant Charity those of Geneva shewed in these occasions The Inhabitants strove so fast to meet these piteous objects to bring them into their houses that the Magistrat was obliged to forbid the peoples going out of the Town to avoid the inconveniencys which this hurry caused Every one strove who shou'd have the most of these sick and distressed Persons to have the more occasion for the exercise of their charity They were tended not only with the same care as their own Children but moreover as Persons which brought peace and a blessing into their familys There has been an extraordinary care taken of the sick of which several have dyed at Geneva and some of which do still carry the marks which the worms have made in their bodys All the Vaudoises who needed cloaths have been furnisht either by those who lodged them or out of the Italian stock the mannagers of which have shew'd from the beginning to the end the marks of a tender compassion and ardent charity But it was not only in Geneva where the Vaudoises were so kindly entertain'd they met with the same compassion in Switzerland where the Evangelic Cantons receiv'd them in the most generous and Christian manner imaginable And 't is not only in respect of the Vaudoises but also of the other Protestants that one may say that the Country of Switzerland is an assured port of divine appointment for the reception of those who are exposed on the waves of Persecution The Deputys then of the Evangelic Cantons being arriv'd at Turin demanded the liberty of the Ministers and other Prisoners and the restitution of the Children as well of those who were taken away from their Parents in their Journy as of those who were dispersed in Piemont at the time of the surrender of the Vallys They shew'd that in respect of the Ministers there cou'd be no lawful pretence to detain them not only because they were comprehended in the treaty made with the Count de Govon but moreover because they were the principal objects of the Switzers intercession besides that it 's very just to remit the pastors to their flocks to comfort and encourage them under their sufferings As to the Prisoners condemn'd for all their life time to work on the fortifications they likewise shew'd they were not to be distinguisht from the rest under pretence they are more faulty For 1st the treaty makes no exception to their prejudice and says that all the Prisoners in general shall be released 2dly The Count de Govon has himself declared in a letter which he has wrote on this subject on the part of the Duke his Master that they pretended not to retain any Prisoners 3dly That seeing his Royal Highness was willing to grant safe conducts to those who were actually armed on greater reason liberty shou'd be granted to the Prisoners in question to depart who have been always considered as far less criminal And as to the little Children they shew'd that as well those ought to be released who had been taken away in their passage as them who had been dispersed in Piemont because both one and the other were retained contrary to the engagements of the treaty But neither the sollicitations nor arguments of these Deputys produced any effect they only serv'd to procure the restitution of some of the Children which were carry'd away in the passage For the surplus are still in the states of Piemont It 's true that the Court