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
of Navar that made France happy with Henry the Great was the first that experienced how little sacred that protection was held which had been so solemnly promised to the Protestants Some great Men to curry-favor with Philip King of Spain by some signal service entred into a Conspiracy with him to seize the Queen Iane d' Albret and her Children in the Town of Pau in Bearn and carry them to the Inquisition in Spain An attempt says Mezeray which escaped punishment for the Qualities sake of those persons which were engaged in it Afterwards they put it into the Kings head to take a Progress through France and in this unhappy Progress it was that the ruine of the Protestants was agreed upon and sworn to contrary to so solemn an Edict The Queen was perpetually importuned by the Pope by all the Catholick Princes and especially by her two Sons-in-law Philip the Second King of Spain and Charles the Third Duke of Lorrain to perswade the King to take up a generous resolution to prohibit the Huguenots the exercise of their Calvinism c. That is to break his Royal word and to demonstrate by so pregnant a proof that the Church of Rome does not think her self obliged to keep Faith with Hereticks and consequently that they whom she holds Hereticks ought never to take her word no not when she expresses her self by the mouths of the greatest Princes of the World and by the most Authentick Records Monsieur Maimbourg without the least scruple or ceremony calls these Breaches of Publick Faith a generous resolution And as ill luck would have it his Predecessors knew but too well how to perswade Catharine de Medicis and Charles the Ninth that so it was The Queen and the King says he who were at least staggered by these Remonstrances being under such a disposition it was no wonder if the Huguenots were not very kindly used during this Progress though nothing was done directly against the Pacification They built another Citadel at Lyons in opposition to the Huguenot party who were yet the strongest in that place and they ordered the slighting of those new Fortifications in the places they held during the War They forbid the exercise of their pretended Religion ten Leagues round such places as the Court should pass though it was allowed by the Edict in certain Towns within that compass which they interpreted to be when the King was not there or within ten Leagues They made a new Edict at Rouseillon the Counte de Tournons house by which they were forbidden upon pain of death to hold any meeting but in the presence of Officers appointed by His Majesty to attend there And the Magisâ—rates had order to force the apostate Fryars and Priests who were turned Huguenots that they might marry to quit their wives upon pain of the Gallies for the men and perpetual Imprisonment for the women Whenever the Catholicks made any complaint against the Huguenots or the Huguenots against the Catholicks these had always more favour shewed them than the other who were generally found in the fault right or wrong The conference the Queen had as she passed by Avignon with the Vice-Legat which gave him wonderful satisfaction pleased them not so well so that they chose rather to be directed by that she had at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva They did believe that a League was made between the two Crowns to drive the Calvinists out of the Dominions of both the Kings and the rather because they knew that the Queen was then contriving an interview between the Pope and the Catholick Princes According to Monsieur Maimbourg it is no ways to act directly against the Edict of Peace to hinder the Exercise of the Protestant Religion in several Towns where it was permitted by the Edict to impose conditions upon Protestant Congregations enough to disturb that peace and repose the Edict had promised them to deprive many of them of that freedom of Conscience the same Edict allowed them Nor to offer all those other Injuries to the Huguenots which Monsieur Maimbourg himself tells us they did though the Edict had given assurance of quite the contrary Mezeray deals more sincerely He ingenuously confesses That they daily retrenched that Liberty which had been allowed them by the Edict in so much that it was in a manner reduced to nothing and that they undermined the Liberty of Conscience they had promised them by several Expositions they put upon the Edict He gives many Instances but one amongst the rest which I am resolved to set down It is this The Count de Candale had contrived a League with his Brother Christopher Bishop of Aire Montluc Gabriel de Chaumont Laytun Descars Mervilles his younger Brother and Gaston Marquess of Trans of the same house of Foix who was the Author of this Advice The Contents of which being published he afterwards made open War against the Huguenots By this means he became guilty of High Treason neither could they excuse the action from being an attempt against the Kings Authority and the Faith of the Edicts But his zeal was not displeasing to the Catholicks besides that regard was to be had to his Quality and to so many Great Men that were engaged in this Affair Which is the reason why the King to stop the Huguenots mouths owns by a Declaration all that this Count and his Complices had done as having had his Order for it This is that which Monsieur Maimbourg calls To do nothing directly against the Edict of Peace It is fit you should know what the same Mezeray relates concerning the Conferences of the Queen at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva one of the greatest Enemies the True Religion ever had She had discourse every night with the Duke d'Alva And the event has shewed since That all these Conferences drove at a secret Alliance between the two Kings utterly to root out the Protestants The Huguenots believed the Duke d'Alva had advised the Queen to invite them to some great Assembly and so to rid herself of them without mercy that he had let fall these words That a Ioal of Salmon was better worth then all the Frogs of a Marsh that from the time of the Assembly of Moulins the Queen had executed this Design had things happened as she expected St. Bartholomews day does not a little confirm this mistrust of the Huguenots But you shall hear what it was made the Prince of Condè take those Resolutions Monsieur Maimbourg so exclaims against The intention of destroying the Huguenots was evident because they daily retrenched them of that liberty which was given them by the Edicts so that they had in a manner brought it to nothing The people fell upon them in those places where they were the weaker party where they were able to maintain their Ground the Governor made use of the Kings Authority to oppress them they dismantled those Towns that had shewed them
directed by the Laws and Customs of the Country Had the business succeeded it had been easie for the Prince and his Friends to have excused to the King this indecent Violence and justified by the event of the sincerity of their Intentions in the same manner as by the event it proved that when Charles the Seventh whil'st he was Dauphin took up Arms it was neither against the King his Father nor against the Kingdom which was the Example that was brought to resolve the scruples of some of the Prince's Friends who were afraid of the odious Reflections which might be made upon the attempt at Meaux how necessary or innocent soever it might be in it self And Monsieur de Thou who gives us an account of this particular tells us likewise that the design the Prince and his Friends had in arming themselves was to drive from the Helm the Enemies of the publick Peace to undeceive the young King and to settle all things quiet in his Kingdom But I ought to read you the whole Passage since it is in my hand Objiciebatur Cardinalem semper Regi ejusdem c. It was objected that the Cardinal always beset the King and that the Swisses were continually about him whom if they should attack in these Circumstances they would not seem to assault the Cardinal and the Swisses but the King himself This must no doubt draw the utmost envy of all men upon them but the King whose favour they should seek would never forgive them To this d' Andelot who was almost always for the warmest Counsel answered That the intention of the Protestants would be judged by the event as formerly Charles the Seventh when he was yet but Dauphin made it appear to all the World by the conclusion of the War that he fought neither against his Father nor his King Nor indeed could any one imagine that a Body made up of French should conspire their Kings ruine For though we have an account of the Conspiracies of some single persons an universal revolt was never yet heard of But if fortune should favour their first attempts there would be an end of a fatal War which being crush'd at the beginning the enemies of our common repose might be removed from the Government and the King of whom being better informed of things a confirmation of the Edicts might be obtained and a firm peace setled in the Kingdom Here is enough to convince all the World of the Insolence and Malice of Monsieur Maimbourg in treating the renowned Grandfather of the present Prince of Condè so rudely in an attempt which as it had nothing in it contrary either to the Principles of Christian Religion or good Politicks was doubtless every way glorious and deserves the highest commendations The Prince appeared in this a true Hero He comes to the succor of his King and Country and all the honest part of the Kingdom and with five or six hundred men he attempts to cut off the six thousand Swisses who were to be the Tools and Bulwork of a Forain Tyranny He had not failed of success had not the contrivances of the Queen who then favored the enemies of the State disappointed him of the Conquest But God was not yet pleased to give repose to France The King retreats from Meaux to Paris against the advice of the wisest of his Councel And the Prince to hinder the utter ruine of a Party that was the only check to the wicked designs of the House of Lorrain found himself obliged to raise a small Army to give Battle at St. Dennis to besiege and to take several Towns But the deep respect he had for his King made him and all his party lay down their Arms at a time when he was just ready to take the Town of Chartres and to have reduced all the enemies of the State So soon as ever they proposed any safety for his Person and for the security of his faithful Protestants who were the only true Supports of the Crown against the ambition of the Guises he immediately quitted all his Advantages and accepted of the Peace which was offered him This was the substance of the Articles says Mezeray That they should fully and peaceably enjoy the Edict of Ianuary without any Qualification or Restriction whatever That they should be put and maintained under the Kings protection as to their Estates Honor and Priviledges That the King would esteem the Prince for his good Kinsman and his loyal Subject and Servant and all those that followed him for good and loyal Subjects You see now what this business of Meaux was with the Consequences of it that Monsieur Maimbourg has made such ado about so as to make it pass with the affair of Amboise for horrible Conspiracies which the Huguenots have contrived against the Kings of France To hinder the Princes of the House of Guise from usurping the Crown of the French Kings and taking it from Lewis the Fourteenth in the person of his Predecessors and destroying the whole Race of the Bourbons must pass according to this man for contriving horrible Conspiracies against the Kings of France Thus It is that he courts his Hero and complements the present Prince of Condè But what does he mean said I to our Friend when he says moreover Not to speak of their cruel Rebellions that have cost France so much blood and the mischievous intelligences they have held with the enemy to rid themselves of the Monarchy and with open face set up a Commonwealth as they have done more than once Our Friend answered me That since he distinguishes this from the pretended Conspiracies of Amboise and Meaux he must by the Rebellions and Plots he Imputes to these Protestants needs mean the other Troubles that happened after these two first to the Reign of Henry the Great and those that were revived in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis the 13th Indeed he accuses them upon this account that contrary to the Treaty they had made the Protestants refused to surrender to the King Sancerre Montauban Milhaud Cahors Albi and Castres but especially Rochel the Rebellion of which Town says he openly maintained by the Heads of the Huguenot party who were resolved to make it their chief place of strength was the true ground of the breach because it would not admit the Garrison which the King would have put in there but received several of the chief Leaders of the Huguenots went on with the Fortifications and gave the Court reason to believe that the Prince and the Admiral were preparing for a War Upon which it was resolved to surprise them and carry them away The Marshal de Tavannes a great Friend to the House of Guise and Confident of Queen Catharine undertook to do the thing whil'st the Prince was at his house called Noyers in Bourgoyne But the matter being discovered just as it was to be executed the Prince made his escape to
Rochel with his Famiâ—y and the Admiral His Friends upon this news came in to his aid from all parts whil'st the King repealed all the Edicts made in favor of the Protestants and drew all his Forces together This is in short the account Monsieur Maimbourg gives who according to his custom fails not to charge the Huguenots with all the Villanies that were committed in this third War by profligate fellows on both sides But the Towns he complains of knew very well at that time what Mezeray has since published to all Europe That the Councel which is to say the Cardinal of Lorrain and his Creatures had no other end in making this Peace but to remove the imminent danger the Parisians would have been in upon the taking of Chartres and to disperse the great Force the Huguenots had got together that they might oppress them when scattered The same Historian tells us That some of the Court sent them word that if they took not good caution they would be cheated and the Admiral made it appear to them what the inconvencies would be Being a person of an excellent judgment he plainly discovered that treaty to be nothing else but a trick to amuse and so surprise them This ought at least to have perswaded these poor people to have gone warily to work in surrendring their Garrisons till they had seen how the Guise party that governed all would observe the Articles of this Peace which as Mezeray expresses it exposed them to the mercy of their enemies without other security than the word of an Italian Woman It was not long before the Huguenots found by experience that the intelligence they had received from Court was but too true and that the Admirals opinion was â—ut too well grounded Immediately the Parliament of Toulouse Beheaded Rapin a worthy Gentleman whom the King had sent thither to solicit the Ratification of the Edict of Peace Monsieur de Thou gives an account of it Whatever complaint the Prince could make of so outragious a breach of the Peace the Court where the Guises were predominant made him not the least satisfaction I leave you to judge then whether the Protestants had reason to believe they had dealt fairly with them when they saw they had murdered a Man without being questioned for it who was sent by his Soveraign to solicit the verification of the Edict of Peace They found themselves constrained therefore for the safety of their own lives and the lives of the Princes of the Blood to shut up the Gates of their strong Places against those Emissaries that came from their deadly Enemies who at the bottom had no other design in destroying the Huguenots party than thereby to make the way more easie for the destruction of the Princes of Capet's Line and open themselves a passage to the Throne or Tyranny rather Doubtless they ought to have stood more carefully upon their Guard forasmuch as they could not but know what Mezeray after Monsieur de Thou assures us was acted so publickly to wit that the Popish Preachers stirred up the people incessantly by their vehement Declamations saying That if there was a necessity to make the Peace it was a sin to keep it that there could be no alliance betwixt Christ and Belial that there is no Obligation to hold Faith with Hereticks but that all Christians ought to fall upon them as Monsters and common Pests that it was an acceptable Sacrifice to God to wash their hands in the Blood of these unclean Beasts And for this they quoted in their own sense a Decree of the Councel of Constance impâ—â—â—ing That no Faith was to be kept with them adding Examples out of holy Scripture of those that were slain by the Levites upon Moses his order of those that had worshipped the golden Calf and of Iehu that slew all the Priests of Bâ—al when he had got them together upon promise of safe conduct Monsieur de Thou observes that those Preachers were Jâ—suits So that all the Protestant Princes and their loyal Subjects may well think from the account these two Popist Historians give what hazzard they run when either they receive or suâ—â—â—r in their Dominions these bloody Spirits enemies to publick Faith and by consequence to Mankind But I must needs give you all that Mezeray says upon this Subject in his Chronological Abridgement which will wholly suppress the impudence of the Jesuit Maimbourg in charging the Protestants with the breach of this Peace These are his words They â—ailed not to cheat the Huâ—uenots both of their Peace and liberty of Conscience They were then in greater danger than during the War In thâ—â—e 〈◊〉 time there were more than Two thousand killed in several parts either by their particular Enemies as Renè Lord of Sipiere son to Claud of Savoy Count of Tende and thirty persons of his Train which Gaspar de Villeneuve Marquess d'Ars murdered in Fraius or else by popular Insurrections as at Amiens near a hundred at Auxerre a hundred and fifty several at Blois Bourges Issoudun Troyes and twenty other places The Prince was at Noyers in Burgundy There they caught a Soldier measuring the Graft and the Wall in order to scale the place When the project failed the Queen sent some Troops into Burgundy to take him by force whom they could not catch by craft He sent Teligny and afterwards Iaquelin de Rohan his Wives Mother to Court to beseech the Queen Mother to observe the Peace the Edicts But it was not a thing longer to be hoped for when he found that whoever was of that Opinion he was called Libertine and Politician and that the Chancellor of the Hospital who advised to Peace was dismissed from Court and sent to his House of Vignan as suspected for a Huguenot The Prince's Mother-in-law was scarce gone from Court when he understood that the Troops had private Orders to block up Noyers and that if he continued there three or four days longer he would not be able to get away Coligny perceiving plainly the Trains that were laid for them was come to Tanlay Castle whence going to the Prince they both wen ftrom Noyers with a Party only of a hundred and fifty Horse under whose Guard were a sad sight their Wives and Children most of them in their Nurses arms or not out of their Hanging-sleeves The Pâ—ince having escaped all danger by his Expedition got to Rochel the 18th of September Soon after the Queen of Navar came thither likewise with the Prince her Son and afteâ—â—er all the Huguenot Officers with the greatest part of their Forces Now let all the World judge whether it was the Protestants of France that were Authors of this third War or not rather the Guises who thirsted after the Blood of this Innocent People to clear the way to that of the Royal Family I will prove hereafter that Rochel in particular was not so much in the wrong for pleading
says As to the Fact our Jesuite Jesuite as he is notwithstanding condemns it Neither has he the Heart to charge the Huguenots with these new troubles The King raised several Armies to extirpate those that had escaped the Massacre They layed the two so much talked of Sieges of Rochel and Sanvane which were raised at the arrival of the Polish Embassadors come to seek for the Duke of Anjou elected King of that Kingdom whither he went Charles the Ninth falls very ill The Prince of Condé flies into Germany and returns again to the Protestant Communion The King dies after a thousand remorses of Conscience upon the account of St. Bartholomew's Massacre For we are told That oftentimes he fancied that he saw a Sea of Blood flowing before his Eyes and that they should hear him from time to time cry out Ah! my poor Subjects what have ye done to me They forced me to it Then though too late he acknowledg'd that it was not the Protestants as the Jesuite Maimbourg so maliciously reports but the Montmorency's and the Guises who had been the real Authors of all the Troubles He had owned says Mezeray That the Houses of Montmorency and Guise were the true causes of the Civil Wars The King of Poland who was afterwards called Henry the Third returns into France and succeeds Charles the Ninth The Protestants apply to him for Peace and at the same time That Atheism and Blasphemy may be exemplarily punished and that the Ordinances against enormous and lewd Whoring which drew down the Wrath of God upon France might be execuâ—â—â— â—ut says Mezeray this untoward reproof made the Huguenots mere haâ—ed at Court than did all their Insurrections and Heresies They had no fruit 〈◊〉 their demands they would not be hearkned to The War was kept up every where The Duke of Alanzon presumptive Heir to the Crown retired from Court and headed the Protestants The King of Navarre likewise withdrew four Months after Their conjunction with the Prince of Condè who had raised a considerable Army obliges the Court at last to agree to Peace which they had so long desired The Edict was prepared and verified the 15th of May 1576. It allowed the Protestants the free exercise of their Religion which from that time forwards was to be called The Pretendded Reformed Religion It allowed them Church-yards and made them capable of all Offices both in the Colledges Hospitals c. forbid farther enquiry after Priests and Fryars that were married declared their Children Legitimate and capable of Succâ—ssion c. expressed a deep resentment of the Slaughters upon St. Bartholomew's day exempted the Children of those that had been killed from the Duty of the Militia if they were Gentlemen and from Taxes if Yeomen repealed all the Acts which had condemned the Admiral Briquemaud Cavagnes Montgommery Montbrun and others of the Religion owned the Prince and D' Amville for his good Subjects Casimir for his Allie and Neighbor and owned all they had done as done for his Service gave to those of the Religion for their better security of Justice the Chambres my parties in each Parliament or Court of Justice c. But all this was only for a new decoy to catch the Huguenots Mezeray observes that so soon as they had got the Duke of Alanzon from them they began afresh to contrive their ruine And then it was that terrible League broke out which under pretence of extirpating the Protestants set the whole Kingdom in a flame All the Historians agree that it was the pernicious cause of all the Wars that were made against the Huguenots during the Reign of Henry the Third and that had like to have laid France waste Wherefore to justifie the innocence of the Protestants during all these troubles we need only observe the measures and designs of the League which was the cause of them I will keep to what Monsieur Maimbourg says He is thus far ingenuous This League says he had like to have overthrown both Church and State The most of those that went into it or rather run headlong and blindfold with so much heat and passion and especially the common people the Clergy and the Fryars were but stales to those that composed the Cabal where Ambition Malice and Self-Interest had more share than Religion which in all probability was brought in for no other end but to châ—at the World These were the King of Spain Queen Catharine and the Duke of Guise who cast up their Accounts together though upon very different reasons yet such as agreed all against the State the Duke to make himself head of a Party which after the expiration of the Valois might advance him to yet a higher pitch the Queen that she might have a pretence to bring in her Grandchild Henry Son to Charles Duke of Lorrain instead of the lawful Successor to the Crown the King of Navarre her Son-in-Law whom she cared not for and the Spaniard to take advantage of the division the League would cause among the French to make them ruine one another and afterwards become their Master This League divided the Catholicks who took Arms one against anther the one to sâ—cure Religion as they said the other to defend the Royal Authority and the Fundamental Law of the Land which they designed to overthrow It obliged the King for prevention of the dangerous Conspiraciâ—s of the Leaguers to come to a difficult extreme and to join his Forces with those of the Huguenot Party to reduce the Catholick Rebels to their Duty It stirred up terrible Commotions all over the Kingdom This cursed League was made in opposition to the Royal Authority under the fair pretence of Religion It had a fowl beginning though contrary to the common apprehension of those who know not how to fift into the bottom of it It s procedure was abominable being neither more nor less but almost a continued attempt against the Government of a King who was at least as good a Catholick as they that headed the League In conclusion that the rise and design of the League extended to the Subversion of the Royal Family I shall not need to give an exact account here of all the steps the Contrivers of this violent Conspiracy took since the holding of the Estates at Blois in the year 1576. Where as the Bishop of Rhodes says The King Henry the Third was forced to declare himself Head of the League whereby from a Soveraign he became head of a Faction and Enemy to a part of his Subjects down to the year 1589. when they caused this unfortunate Prince to be stabbed by Iaques Clement the Fryar It is enough to understand that by the confession of Monsieur Maimbourg himsâ—lf the Duke of Guise and his Complices did not put Henry the Third upon persecuting the Protestants with that heat and violence for any other end but by the
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
to charge them with Rebellion upon this account Are men Rebells when they defend themselves against the invasions of a Prince that is not their King This is so evident said I here to our friend that you need say no more I must confess the French Protestants are set right in my opinion They are not guilty of the Wars which infested France from the Reign of Francis the Second to that of Henry the Fourth They lived in perfect good understanding with their Countrymen during the Reign of this great Prince The Wars under Lewis the Thirteenth cannot justly be imputed to them because the greater and sounder part of them were not engaged because the real promoters of difference were Protestanâ—s only in name because if any true Protestants did go in it was upon motives and mistakes which in the opinion even of their King made their fault pardonable and because the standing out of Rochel must by no means pass for a Rebellion So that indisputably it is the effect of a dark and devilish malice in Monsieur Maimbourg and his Brethren to cry them down at such a rate as incendiaries and seditious by which they would render them suspected to the Magistrates and people where they go to be out of the reach of that cruel persecution that wasâ—s them I cannot recover my sâ—lf out of the astonishment that so wise a Prince as theirs is should desire to lose such subjects by driving them into despair All Europe sayes our friend is of the same mind They say plainly that the King of France cuts off the hand which saved his Crown and of which he or his son may stand in need some time or other to defend themselves against the Ligues of the Roman Clergy It is more then fifty years that they whom they persecute have given the highest testimony of their loyalty and zeal for the service of their Kings But what is yet more surprizing they make use of their loyalty for an occasion of persecuting them more severely For I know it from the first hand in the Memorial which was Presented to their King by a certain Abbot some years since to invite him to root them out and to open to him the way they lay down plainly their loyalty which sayes this Memorial they make an Article of faith and a point of conscience to satisfie him that there was no danger from them whatever injury or rigour they used towards them I have seen this Memorial of which there was means found to get a copy the Abbot who was the bearer having forgot the Rule and charge that he was under to be secret But I can assure you the French Court were not a little pleased with this motion since it doth only follow the Memorial step by step in all the tricks and outrages that have been practiced upon the Protestants against the security of the Edicts To be short that which will compleat your amazement is that this Great Lewis the Fourteenth whom the whole World has in admiration was disposed quite another way as appears not only by his Letter to the Elector of Brandenburg which I have already communicated to you and is but a private transaction but by a solemne Declaration which I must needs read to you before we part The King's Declaration by which he confirms the Edicts of Pacification LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navar to all that shall see these present Letters Greeting The late King our most honoured Lord and Father whom God rest being convinced that one of the most necessary things to preserve the Peace of the Kingdom was to maintain his subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion in the full and entire enjoyment of the Edicâ—â— made in their favour and to have the free exercise of their Religion took special care by all prudent means to hinder that they should not be molested in the fruition of the Liberties Prerogatives and Privileges granted to them by the said Edicts having to this end immediately upon his coming to the Crown by Letters Patents of the 22. of May 1610. and after he came of Age by his Declaration of the 20. of November 1615. declared it to be his will that the Edicts should be observed thereby to incourage his subjects so much the more to keep within their Duty And after the pattern of so great a Prince and in imitation of his bounty we intend to do the like having upon the same grounds and considerations by our Declaration of the Eight of July 1643. willed and ordained that our said subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion enjoy all the Concessions Priviledges and Advantages especially the free and full exercise of their said Religion in pursuance of the Edicts Declarations and Ordinances made in their favour upon this account And for as much as our said subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion have given us certain proofs of their affection and loyalty particularly in the present Affairs of which we are abundantly satisfied Be it known that We for these reasons and at the most humble request which has been made us from our said Subjects professing the said pretended Reformed Religion and after having it debated in our presence at Council We by the advice of the same and upon our certain knowledge and Royal Authority have said declared and ordained say declare and ordain will and it is our pleasure That our said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion be maintained and protected as indeed we do maintain and protect them in the full and entire enjoymâ—nt of the Edict of Nantes other Edicts Declarations Acts Ordinances Articles and Briefs set out in their favour Registred in Parliament and Edict Chambers especially in the free and publick exercise of the said Religion in all places where these Orders have allowed it all Letters and Acts as well of our Council as of Soverain Courts or other Iudicatories to the contrary notwithstanding Willing that the transgressors of our said Edicts be punished and chastised as disturbers of our publicke peace So we give in command to our well beloved and faithfull the persons holding our Courts of Parliament Edict Chambers Bayliffs Seneschalls their Deputies and other our Officers whom it shall concern in their respective places that they cause these Presents to be Registred read and Published where it shall be requisite and keep observe and retain according to their forme and Tenure And forasmuch as there may be need of these Presents in divers places We will that the same credit shall be given to Copies duly collated by one of our well beloved and faithfull Counsellors and Secretaries as to the present Original For such is our pleasure In witness whereof we have caused our Seal to be set to these Presents Given at St Germains en Laye 20. of May in the year of Grace 1652. and of our Reign the Tenth Signed LOUIS and a little below by the King PHELIPEAUX And Sealed with the Broad Seal Can we
Concordat bore in express terms that the Duke of Guise should have in charge to deface intirely the name of the Family and Race of the Bourbons Henry the Third said he to me could he be suspected of Heresie or an â—ider of Hereticks Never was any man more linked to the Catholick Church than he Yet the House of Guise had sworn his ruin They would have shaved him which they highly threatned him with and they one day writ upon the Chappel of the Battes to the Augustins of Paris these four French Verses The Bones of those who here lye dead Like Cross of Burgundy to thee are shown And make appear thy days are fled And that thou surely lose thy Crown They are of the same sense with those two Latin Verses which were found set upon the Palace Dyal Qui dedit ante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris nunc facienda manu He that gave two has taken one the other Shakes but the Barber still shall give another The Faction of the House of Guise caused this to be done And this poor Prince after a thousand delays and troubles resolved at length to make that execution so famous in our History it is that of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise who were executed at the States of Blois That Prince must needs have seen his ruin approaching and inevitable to come to that since that he well foresaw that this blow would raise him so many storms and give him so much trouble Who knows not that the Faction of Rome and of Spain had a Design of raising the House of Lorrain to the Throne of France for the excluding the House of Bourbon In the year 1587. the Pope sent to the Duke of Guise a Sword engraven with flames telling him by the Duke of Parma that amongst all the Princes of Europe it only belonged to Henry of Lorrain to bear the arms of the Church and to be the Chief thereof Almost all the Kingdom was engaged in that Spirit of revolt The King found no oâ—her support than the King of Navar and of his Hugonotes It was Chastillon the Son of the Admiral de Coligny who saved the King from the hands of the Duke of Mayenne at Tours This Chief of the League cryed to him retire ye white Scarfs retire you Chastillon it is not you we aim at it is the Murderer of your Father And in truth Henry the Third then Duke of Anjou was President in the Council when the Resolution was taken of making the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in which the Admiral Coligny perished But his Son forgetting that injury to save his King answered those Rebels You are Traytors to your Country and when the Service of the Prince and State is concerned I know how to lay aside all revenge and particular interest he added that after the Assassinate committed by the League in the person of Henry the Third Henry the Fourth was ready to see himself abandoned by his most faithful Servants because of the Protestant Religion which he made profession of which appears by a Declaration that this Prince made in the form of an Harangue to the Lords of his Army on the 8 th day of August 1589 in which he says that he had been informed that his Catholick Nobility set a report on foot they could not serve him unless he made profession of the Roman Religion and that they were going to quit his Army Nothing but the firmness and fidelity of the Hugonots upheld this wavering Party He must be said my Gentleman the falsest of men who dissembles the Ardour and Zeal with which those of our Religion maintained that just Cause of the House of Bourbon against the attempts of the League And to prove said he that their interest was not the only cause of their fidelity we must see what they did when Henry the Fourth turned Roman Catholick It cannot be said but that they then strove to have a King of their Religion However there was not one who bated any thing of his Zeal and Fidelity the King was peaceable possessour of the Crown the League was beaten down he was Master in Paris he was reconciled to the Court of Rome when the Edict of Nantes was granted and published Our Hugonots were no longer armed nor in a condition of obtaining any thing by force of arms Since that the Change of Religion had reduced all the Roman Catholicks to him he would have been in a State of resisting their violence It was the sole acknowledgment of the King and of good Frenchmen that obliged all France to give Peace to a Party that had shed their Blood with so much Zeal and Profession for the preserving the Crown and the restoring it to its legitimate Heirs I acknowledge that we did our Duty but are not those to be thanked who do what they ought How is it possible that these things are at present worn out of the memory of men I am certain that if the King was made to read the History of his Grand-father he would preserve some inclinâ—tion for the Children of those who sacrific'd themselves for the glory of his House No man can be ignorant of the necessary dependance that must be between the Roman Catholick Clergy and the Court of Rome This Court is the Head the Clergy is the Body the Ecclesiasticks and Monks are the Members and all these Members move by the Orders of the Head Again I have no Design to chocque the Gentlemen of the Clergy whose persons I respect I do not doubt but that they have good French Hearts But in fine they have their Maxims of Conscience they are of a Religion and they must follow its Principles Now the Principles of their Religion binds them to the Holy see and its preservation preferably to all things moreover Interest deceives the Hearts and Minds of men Their Interest obliges them to take the Popes part who is their Preserver and Protectour and what they do out of interest they perswade themselves that they do it out of Conscience First it may be said of the Monks that all the Houses they have in France are so many Citadels that the Court of Rome has in the Kingdom Those great Societies have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Bishops they depend immediately on the Holy See they have all their Generals of Orders at Rome and those Generals who are Italians and Spaniards are the Soul of the Society they are obliged to follow their Opinions and their Orders the Italian Divinity is the Divinity of the Cloisters Thus the King may reckon that all the Monks look upon him as the Pope's Subject as being lyable to be Excommunicated his Kingdom put under an Ecclesiastical Censure his Subjects dispensed and released from the Oath of Allegiance and his States given by the Pope to another Prince And every time that this happens they will believe themselves obliged out of Conscience to obey the Pope If in