which was verified in all the Parliaments The Constable 't is known was the Favourite of Henry the second who lov'd him to that degree that after his misfortune and imprisonment unfortunate as he was yet at his return to Court the King made him lie in his own bed But his Absence was fatal to him and his Family The Duke of Guise render'd himself necessary to the King and as Mezeray says the misfortune of France was the happiness of the Duke of Guise and the fall of the Constable was his Exaltation The Duke of Guise had in all his Enterprizes the success every one knows He recovered Calais from the English he took Thionville he married his Niece the Queen of Scots to the Dauphin who was afterwards Francis the second Fortune abandon'd the Constable and sided with the Duke of Guise Read the words of Mezeray from that very time the jealously between these two Houses tended to the forming two contrary Parties in the Kingdom as will appear This is the first Seed of the Civil War wherein Religion had not any part Thence forward the House of Guise us'd all its power to destroy Montmorency's Party The Duke met with the pretence of Religion luckily by the way Admiral Chatillon and Dandelot his Brother the Constables Nephews were suspected the Spaniards increas'd the Suspition by saying that at the taking of St. Quintin they found Heretical Books amongst Dandelots Baggage Henry the second being a violent Persecuter caused him to be arrested and committed him Prisoner to Blaise de Montluc a Creature of the Duke of Guise this was a matter agreed on by the Guises and the Spaniards with design to weaken the Constable by the loss of his Nephews But they miss'd their aim the Constables favour brought Dandelot clear off and gain'd him his Liberty And the Authority of Henry the second kept the two Parties in an appearance of Peace during the rest of his life which was not long but in the beginning of the Reign of Francis the second the Discord broke out Mezeray will tell you in the beginning of this Reign the cause of the Civil War A Multitude of Princes says he and of puissant Lords is an infallible cause of Civil War when there wants Authority powerful enough to keep them within the bounds of their duty This was the misfortune of France after the death of Henry the second From the time of his death the Factions form'd during his Reign began to appear and to fortify them the more unhappily met with different Parties in Religion a great number of Male-Contents who long'd for change and which is more many Soldiers and Officers of War who having been disbanded were desirous of Employment at any rate Methinks that by this Relation Religion is not the cause of the Troubles but the cause of them were the Factions of Princes and great Lords who meeting with Parties differing in Religion made use of them to serve their designs In the same place that Author makes it appear the two Parties fought not for Religion but for Empire On the one side were the Princes of the Bloud and the Constable On the other the Princes of the House of Guise and between both the Regent who by turns made use of one to beat down and destroy the other that she might Reign The Princes of Guise having got into their hands the Person of Francis the second a weak Prince governed under his Authority in a tyrannical manner The Princes of the Bloud Antony and Lewis de Bourbon who ought to have had the management of Affairs during the Kings Minority could not endure that Strangers should enjoy an Authority and Honour belonging of right and properly to them These Princes were ill us'd Antony of Bourbon King of Navar came to Court but was slighted they did not so much as give him a Lodging and he might have lain on the Pavement had not the Marshal of St Andrew receiv'd him The Princes began with the Pen and caused several Writings to be publish'd to make it appear that the Laws of the State admit neither Women nor Strangers to the Government that during the Minority of the Kings this honour belongs to the Princes of the Bloud That the Guises were not natural French that it was dangerous to commit to them the Government of the State because of their Pretensions on the Kingdom in saying they were descended from Charlemaign At last Lewis of Bounbon Prince of Conde resolv'd upon a dangerous attempt to gain Possession of his Rights which the weakness of his Brother the King of Navarr abandon'd and gave up to the Princes of Guise He design'd to seize the Person of King Francis the second and remove the Guises from Court The Admiral and Dandelot were of the Party and the Prince of Conde was the Head But because the success of the Enterprize was doubtful they would not appear in it La Renaudie was intrusted with the management of this great design which goes under the name of the Conspiracy of Amboise which our Church-man whose Book you have in your hand makes such a noise about there cannot be a greater injustice then to charge our Hugonots with this Affair 'T is certain there were ingag'd in that business as many Roman Catholicks as Hugonots or if the number of Hugonots were greater it was because there were more Male-Contents of their Party the Chancellor de l' Hospital was one I have read in good Authors that La Renaudie was a Roman Catholick yet I will not undertake to justifie it 'T is agreed on all hands that all the Officers who had receiv'd Indignities at Court and been unjustly expell'd thence engag'd themselves in the Enterprise to be reveng'd of the Princes of Guise There was at Court says Mezeray a great number of Persons out of all the Provinces particularly Soldiers and Officers of War demanding Pay or Reward The Cardinal of Lorrain who had the management of the Finances was much troubled with them and apprehended a Conspiracy in their multitude This made him publish an Edict commanding that all those who followed the Court to demand any thing should retire on pain of being hang'd on a Gibbet which was publickly set up for that purpose A great part of those who had serv'd in the Armies disgusted with this Indignity turn'd against the Cardinal Thus you have an account of what persons that Party was compos'd which would have destroyed the Princes of Guise where there appears so sensible and so clear a cause of Revolt 't is not worth our pains to go in search of a hidden one On the one side the Rights of the Princes of the Bloud which they were resolv'd to maintain on the other side the design to be reveng'd of the grossest affront that ever was put on Persons of Quality by setting up a Gibbet to hang them on for no other cause but that they desir'd to be paid for the bloud they had lost are so visibly the
causes of this Conspiracy that 't is ridiculous to make Religion the only ground of it The chief of all the Male-Contents was Lewis of Bourbon Prince of Conde And though he appear'd not in the Enterprize and several of the Conspirators deny'd to the Death his being privy to it yet 't is certain he was Mezeray tells us That the Prince of Conde going to Court met at Orlians the Lord Cipierr who told him the Plot was discovered And that nevertheless the Prince continued his Journey By this it appears the Prince knew of the Plot. A little before the same Author tells us the Conspirators had chosen him for their Head but not to bear any part in the action which was to be carryed on by La Renaude under his Authority The Princes of Guise were fully convin'd of it for they no sooner got the Prince of Conde in their power but they caused him to be proceeded against and Senten'd to be Beheaded Par. We will suppose Sir that you can prove the Conspiracy of Amboise was a Conspiracy of all the Male-Contents that a Prince of the Bloud was the Head of them and that your Hugonots were not more deeply concern'd in it than others what 's that to the purpose Is a Criminal less guilty for having Accomplices Is it allowable on any pretence whatever to enter into so Criminal a Conspiracy against your King Hug. Law Against our King Ah Sir you will never be able to prove that All our Historians bear these pretended Conspirators Witness they had no design against the King or the Regent but only against the Princes of Guise Read if you please what Mezeray says They resolv'd to present their Petition to the King and to seize the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain and exhibit Articles against them This was their design But who adds Mezeray could have secur'd the Princes of Guise from being kill'd upon the spot or that the Male-Contents would not have made themselves Masters of the Persons of the Queen Mother and the King 'T is certain it was laid to their Charge they would have attempted both It was laid indeed to their Charge but not prov'd of twelve hundred Persons who perish'd on this occasion there was not one they could get to confess this though use was made of most violent Tortures to force them to it Monsieur de Thou gives them this Testimony Thuan. Hist Lib. 24. Not one of the Conspirators was convicted of any attempt against the King or the Queen but only against Strangers who govern'd all at Court in a tyrannical manner that is the Princes of the House of Guise Can you think it Sir so great a Crime for the Princes of the Bloud and the Chief Officers of the Crown to endeavour to gain their natural places and lawful Authority by taking forceably an Infant King and weak when Major out of the hands of Tyrants who were going to hang up his Majesties good Servants to establish the Inquisition in France and to burn the true hearted French at the Stake The Prince of Conde and the Admiral were in my opinion Names that carryed Grandeur and Authority enough in them to oppose very lawfully the Tyrants of France Your Church-man in his Book tacks the Enterprize of Meaux to that of Amboise as if they were both of one nature We are not now says he in the time of the Enterprizes of Amboise and Meaux The man hath forgot both the Author and the end of the Enterprize of Meaux The Head of it was the same Prince of Conde the end was to remove from about the King the same Tyrants who under the name of Councellors made Charles the ninth commit Violences which exceeded those in former Reigns and to violate Edicts and Treaties he had by solemn Oaths obliged himself to observe and made use of the seeming Peace granted to the Party of the Princes for hatching the most horrible and blackest Treasons that ever have been heard of After the first Civil War the Peace was made by the Edict of the 18th of March 1563. this Peace serv'd only as a Cloak for a Cruel War made with more safety against the Reformed after they had been disarm'd The Reformed made their Complaints to the Prince of Conde and the Admiral But these two great great Men answer'd Mezeray 1567. says Mezeray That they must endure any thing rather than take up Arms again That second troubles would render them the horrour of all France and make them the Object of the Kings hatred This was their Resolution but when a Principal Person at Court had given them express advice it was resolv'd the Prince and the Admiral should be taken the former to be kept perpetual petual Prisoner the other to lose his head on a Scaffold by the advice of Dandelot the boldest of the three they resolv'd not only to defend themselves but to attack their Enemies with open force And in order thereto to remove the Cardinal from the Kings Person This Sir was the design of the Enterprize of Meaux and I have told you the Motives of it I would advise those who for this Enterprize would charge the Prince of Conde with Rebellion that they would think well of it The Hero who at this day bears the same name whose veins are fill'd with that Illustrious Bloud is an Evidence sufficient to convince the World we may retain our Love to our Countrey and Fidelity to our King without loving those who abuse the Infancy of our Kings by making them Arm against the Liberty and Lives of the Princes of their Bloud If the Prince of Conde opened this second War by the Enterprize of Meaux it was because he had not any other way to save his Liberty and his Life Par. The Enterprize of Meaux hath made you pass from the Conspiracy of Amboise to the second Civil War without touching on the first which is the principal and you promis'd to justify Hug. Law Well Sir I will if you please return to my Task The first War was not a War of the Hugonots alone but it was a War of Antony and Lewis of Bourbon The two Brothers Antony and Lewis of Bourbon says Mezeray came not to the Assembly of Melun for two months before Antony retir'd into Gascoign and his Brother went thither to him Being then in more safety they provided for their Affairs and projected means to make themselves able to dislodge the Guises The Design took wind they were drawn to Court and their Persons secur'd a strong Guard was plac'd on the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde imprison'd his Process was made and by a terrible Arrest fram'd by the Guises he was Condemn'd to lose his Head Was there ever so strange and unworthy a proceeding that Strangers should Condemn to Death the second Prince of the Bloud And can it be thought strange that a generous Prince should seek means to be reveng'd for so horrible an affront He
escap'd miraculously by the death of Francis the second whose Authority the Princes of Guise had abus'd The King of Navarr redeem'd himself by yielding the Regency to the Queen The Constable Montmorency fell off from the Princes because they would have call'd him to account for the vast Guifts made him by Henry the second Then was form'd the famous Triumvirat between the Constable the Marshal de St. Andre and the Duke of Guise whose principal design was to efface the Name and Memory of the Family of Bourbon But if the Constable was against the Princes the Marshal Montmorency his Son and Governour of Paris was for them though a Catholick by which it appears that Religion was not the cause of those Troubles The Queen Mother ambitious to Reign absolutely and alone was weary of the Tyranny of the Princes of Guise And to ruine their Party she openly favour'd the Party of the Prince of Conde The Queen Mother says Mezeray to reward the Services the Admiral had done her granted or pretended to grant him assistance on several occasions She caus'd an Edict very favourable to the Hugonots to be publish'd in 1562. She proceeded yet further and caused the Prince of Conde to Arm. In this very Page Sir our Historian reports that the Duke of Guise being come to Paris with Twelve Hundred Horse entred the Town at the Gate of St. Denis through which the Kings make their solemn Entry The Queen perceiving his design to take the Government from her writ to the Prince of Conde then retired to his House recommending very affectionately to him her Son the Kingdom and her self If you look upon the following Page you will see she sent for the Prince who having got all his Friends together took his Journey to go to the Queen and pass'd the Seine at St. Clou. This Sir was the first taking up Arms and the beginning of the first War which was kindled by the Divisions of the great ones and the unhappy policy of Catherin de Medicis The Prince of Conde sent to the Princes of Germany the Original Letters of the Queen Mother wherein she pray'd him to deliver her and the King out of Captivity The Regent who put Arms into the Prince of Conde's hands reap'd not the benefit she expected from them but was retained in slavery with the young King by the Tyranny of the Guises and carried to Paris against her will Can you wonder that a Prince of the Bloud of great Courage and in Arms at the Request of the Queen should pursue his point and endeavour to be reveng'd of the Guises who had almost brought his Head to the Scaffold Can you think it strange The Protestants immediately made themselves of the Party of a Prince of the Bloud who had so justly taken up Arms to defend himself from the horrible Violences and Outrages of his Enemies for then was the time Sir when the Massacres of Vassy Seus Auxeure Cahoy Tours and a hundred other places were perpetrated Then it was that the Parliament of Paris pass'd an Arrest whereby they gave order the Hugonots should be kill'd whereever they were found It was not Henry the second commanded these Cruelties but the Tyrants who abused the Authority of an Infant King Christian Morality doth not Condemn a lawful defence against those who unjustly attack us Par. Your Party kept not within the bounds of meer defence They made violent Attacks they proceeded to Extremities in their fury beat down and profan'd Churches broke down Images kill'd and tormented Priests You are not ignorant what horrible Cruelties were exercis'd by your Baron of Adrets Hug. Law I pray remember Sir I am not obliged to justify any more then the first taking up of Arms. I will not justify any thing was afterwards done when men have once taken Arms in hand they become deaf to Piety and Reason The Prince of Conde did all he could to hinder these Disorders There is not one among us but Condems the Conduct of that time full of Exorbitance and Fury But I will undertake Sir to justify the Outrages committed by our Hugonots on your Churches Images and Priests when you shall have justified the Barbarous Inhumanities of your Catholicks against our Hugonots Can you approve of that action of the Provincial who finding at Briguoles a Sister of his that refused to go to Mass caused her to be Ravish'd by the Cordelier who carried the Cross and by all those who would take that Brutal Pleasure and afterwards caused her to be Burnt with flaming Lard which he procured to be dropt upon her Can you approve of what was done at Tours where three hundred Persons were flaid and then beaten to death young Women stript naked Ravish'd in the Face of the Sun then kill'd Men cut up alive under pretence of finding Money swallow'd into their Bellies Can you approve of what was done at Orange Where some were kill'd with many gentle blows of Ponyards that they might be the longer a dying others were Impall'd some Burnt others Saw'd Women were hang'd at the Windows and the Infants out of their Bosoms dash'd against the walls the old Men being drawn up in rank to see this horrible Spectacle before they were Massacred This is not the thousandth part of Actions I could relate like these The Answer of the Baron of Adrets to those of our Party who reproached him for his Cruelty was 'T is not Cruelty to be Cruel to them who have first been cruel to us the first is called Cruelty the second Justice And to clear himself of the Imputation he reckon'd up many thousands who had been kill'd in cold bloud and put to Tortures never heard of before When you have justify'd all this I will undertake the justification of our Breakers of Images and Profaners of Churches I have something more to say to you Be so kind to justify the Conduct of the Spaniards who are so Catholick and so devoted to the Holy See make us a little Apology for what they did at Rome when taken by Charles de Bourbon under the Command of Charles the fifth Let 's look into Fa. Maimbourgs History of Lutheranism which I see on your Table He will tell you Sir these good Catholicks were Cruel and Prophane beyond Example in History 'T is impossible says he to express all the Outrages committed in that lamentable Pillage It infinitly exceeds in all sort of Crimes what the Goths and Vandals heretofore did when they sack'd Rome nothing was spar'd but Deformity and Poverty All things else became the prey of a Conqueror the most brutish that ever was If you please to read on you will find that the Spaniards and Italians by the relation of their own Historians were more cruel and covetous then the German Lutherans To conclude if you will undertake to defend all that hath been done by your Catholicks in Wars for Religion I will intreat you to justify the horrible Enormities committed in the East by those