ii'fl i '""III ■ I i iiiiii Ilii iiii' nr ii^!i I r I FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D, BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY HISTORY OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. VOL. II. HISTORY /v'; { , MAR 24 193; OF THE N^ gGICAL SE^'^ FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES, THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES TO OUR OWN DAYS. By M. CHARLES WEISS, PEOFE880B OF HISTORY IN THE LYCEE BONAPARTE. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY V HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT. WITH AN AMERICAN APPENDIX, BY A DESCENDANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW-YORK : STRINGER & TOWNSEND, 222 BROADWAY. 1854. * Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1854, By STRINGER & TOWISISEND, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern district of New- York. JOHN F. TROW, PBINTEK AND 6TEKE0TTPEB, 49 Ann Street. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. BOOK V. THE EEFUGEES IN HOLT. AND. CHAPTET. I, OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TKE KEFCGEES IN HOLLAKD. The Walloon colonies — Arrival of tlio first French Eefngees in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries — Celebrated Refugees — Mission of Amonet and Scion — Declaration of the magistracy of Am: iordam, 16S1— Declaration of the States of Holland — General collection in favor uf the Eefugees, 1682 — The fugitives of Sedan, 1685 — Discourse of Fagel to the States of Holland — Reprisals against the Catholics of Zealand— Letters of Louis XIV. to the Count d'Avaux— Appointment of a general fast — Political measures — Eesolution of the Magistrate of Middleburgh — Resolution of the States oi Groningen, 1686 — Eesolution of the Province of Friseland. The Exiled Ministers— Measures adopted in their behalf— Military Eefugees— Female Eefugees — Houses of Eefuge for women — Arrival of rich Eefugees— Satins ex- ported into Holland— Dispatches of the Count d'Avaux— Eeply of Louis XIV. — Mission of Bonrepaus— Spies of the Count d'Avaux— Increase of money in Hol- land—Different classes of Eefugees— Their number— French Colony in Amsterdam —Colonies at Rotterdam and the Hague— Colonies at Leyden and Harlaem— Dis- persion of the Eefugees through the Seven Provinces— The 62 French Churches in CONTENTS. 16S8— Emigrations, posterior to the year of the Eevocation— Efforts of the Eefugees to procure their recall to France— Concession of the right of citizenship in Holland and West Friseland, 1709— Declaration of the States General, 1715, . , 9 CHAPTER II. OF THE POLITICAL IXFLTJENCE OF TBCE KEFUGEES IN HOLLAND. The Eepublican and Orangeist parties— Politics of the Count d'Avaux— Effect of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes on the minds of men— Diminished influence of the Count d'Avaus- Increasing influence of the Prince of Orange— Part taken by the Eefugees in the Coalition of 16S9—Brousson— Moral support lent by the Eefugees to the Prince's expedition against England — Jurieu— Pecu- niary support— Military support— Oath taken by the Military Eefugees— Services of Eefugee oflBcers in the Dutch Armies— General Belcastel— Other distingiushed officers— Oflacers of Marine— Services rendered to the Dutch Navy— The sons of Admiral Duquesne— Political writings of the Eefugees— Jacques Basnage— His relations with the Duke of Orleans, 36 CHAPTER III. OF THE EELIGIOUS AND LITEEAET INFLTJENCE OF THE EEFUGEES IN HOLLAND. Renewal of the old 'Walloon colonies— Influence of the French preachers— Charles Saurin— Claude— Jurieu— Du Bosc—Superville— Propagation of the French lan- guage in Holland— Progress of instruction in the middle classes— The French Eefugees— Progress of letters and sciences— Influence of the Eefugees on civil and criminal law — Advancement of the exact sciences — Pierre Lyonnet — Lite- rary emigration— Bayle — Progress of historic science— James Basnage— Benoit— Janigon- Periodical literature— French journals— Letters on matters of the day — Historical and political Mercury— Leyden Gazette— Literary Journalism— New republic of letters, 57 CHAPTER IV. OF THE INFLTJENCE OF THE EEFUGEES ON THE PEOGEESS OP A6EI0TJLTUEE, MANTT- FACTITEES AND COMMEECE. French cultivators in the Barony of Breda, and the province of Friseland— Influ- ence on Manufactures— Reports of the Count d'Avaux— Measures taken by tJie City of Amsterdam— Peter Bailie— Measures of the other towns— New manufac- tures created at Amsterdam— Manufactures founded at Eotterdam— Progress of CONTENTS. 3 Industry at Leyden and Harlaem— Manufactures established in other to-wns— Improvement iu mechanical arts — French paper manufacture — Progress of printing a:id the book trade — Huguetan — Diminution of French exports into Holland — Inflaence of the Kefugees on the progress of Commerce, . . 114 CHAPTEE V. OF THE COLONIES OF THE REFUGEES AT THE CAPE AND AT SUEINAM. Colony of the Cape— Yalley of the French— French Hoek— Cultivation of "Wheat- Improvement of the Vine — Constantia "Wine — Extinction of the French Tongue in the Cape Colony— Actual State of that Colony — Colony of Surinam— Aersens of Sommelsdik— -Families of Distinction in the Colony of Surinam, . . 134 CHAPTER VI. THE ACTUAL CONDITION OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE EEFUGEES IN HOLLAND. Services rendered by the descendants of the Eefugees in the army and in diploma- cy—Louis Gaspard Luzac— Decline of manufactures in the eighteentli century — Actual state of manufactures at Leyden — Increasing prosperity of commerce — Popularity of the French language and litei-ature — Translation of French names — Progressive decrease of the number of French churches — Actual con- dition of the churches, founded at the epoch of the emigration, . . . 141 BOOK VI. THE EEFUGEES IN SWITZEELAND. CHAPTEE I. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EEFUGEES IN SWITZEELAND, The Eefugees of the sixteenth century— Foundation of a French Church at Bale — The Count de la Saxe at Berne — Growth of Geneva — D'Aubign6 — The Duke de Eohan. Division of Switzerland into two camps — Eelations of the Protestant Cantons with England and Holland in the seventeenth century— Attempts at intervention in favor of the French Protestants— Diet of Aran in 1684. 4 CONTENTS. The fugitives from Gex and Bresse, 1685— Grema— Journal of Jacques Flournoy— Registers of the Council of Geneva— Emigrations of 1687 and 16SS— The Refugees at Zurich and Berne— The Refugees in the Pays de Yaud— Mission of Bernard and of the Marquis do Miremont- Measures taken in their favor by the Senate of jjerne— Aid granted to the poor by the Protestant Cantons— Intervention ofHer- wart and Wallienaer. Polity of Louis XI v.— The French resident at Geneva— Reprisals of the Sieur de Passy— Threatening Letters of Louis XIV.— Order to the Refugees to quit Geneva —Measures of safety taken by the republic of Geneva— The Baron de Yvoi— Alli- ance of Geneva with Beme and Zurich, in 1686— Secret protection of the Refu- gees—Intrigues of Louis XIV. against Berne and Zurich— Irritation of those two towns against France. Number of Emigrants in Switzerland— The Emigrants in the Canton of Berne— Or- ganization of the four colonies of Lausanne, Nyon, Vevay, and Berne— Colony of Zurich— Number of Refugees at Bale, Schaff hausen, and St. Gall— Number of Refugees at Geneva— Right of citizenship and domicile— The fugitives of Orange in 1703, 151 CHAPTER II. INFLTTENCE OF THE REFUGEES ON AGKICULTIJEB, MANTJFACTXTRES, AND COMMEECE. New Modes of Cultivation in the Pays de Yaud— Model gardens— Culture of the Mulberry in the Canton of Berne- Manufactures at Lausanne— End of the trade of peddling in the Pays de Yaud— Silk Manufactures at Berne— Manufactures at Zurich— Commerce of Neufchatel— Progress of mechanical arts in Geneva— Watcli- making— Contraband trade, 185 CHAPTER III. OF THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF THE REFUGEES. Double character of that influence— Services rendered by Henri Duquesne, to the canton of Berne— Participation of the Refugees in the expedition of Colonel Ar- naud, 1689— Project of the Marquis de Miremont— Conduct of the Refugees during the war of the Spanish succession— Cavalier— Colonel de Portes — Com- plaints of the Marquis de Puisieux — The Banneret Blanchet de Entry — Com- plaints of the French Resident at Geneva — Relations of the Refugees with the Camisards— Letters of Baville- Flottard — Conduct of the Refugees in the ques- tion of the succession of Neufchatel, 1707 — Services rendered to the evangelical cantons in the war of Toggenbnrg, 1712— Battle of Villmergen— New services rendered to Berne during the eighteenth century, 191 CONTENTS. J5 CHAPTEE IV. ON THE INFLUKXCE OF THE REFUGEES ON LITERATD-KE AND THE AKTS. Purification of the French Language in Eomanish Switzerland— Progress of urba- nity in manners-Propagation of the doctrine of free examination in Lausanne — Barbcyrac— The painter Jean Petiiot— Antoine Arlaud— Trouillon, the phy- . sician-The two Le Sages-Abauzit-Literary and religious influence of tlie Eefugee ministers-Their relations with the Protestants of the South.— Martyrdom of Brousson-Peyrol- Antoine Court-Eeorganization of the French Churches- Eelations of the Court with tlie Eegent-His retreat to Lausanne (1729)-Ori2in of the Seminary of Lausanne-Silent Protection of Berne— Court of Gebelin— Paul Rabaut— Eabaut Saint-Eticnne, 204 CHAPTEE V. OP THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE DESCEND.-iJfTS OF THE REFITGEIS IN SWITZER- LAND. Progress of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce— Watchmaking in Geneva— Eefugees who became celebrated in politics— The Family of Odier— Benjamin Constant— Eefugees who gained distinction in Literature, Science, and the Arts- James Pradier— Spirit of proselytism— Severity of morals— Spirit of charity- Pious legacies— Assistance sent to Eeligionists in the galleys— Cal an drin— Let- ter of Pontchartrain-Closing of the Seminary of Lausanne-Confiscation of the treasury at Geneva-Embodiment of the colony of Beme in the civil corpora- tion of La Neuveville, .... ooq BOOK VII. OF THE E8TABLISBCMENT OF THE EEFUGEES IN DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND EIJSSIA. CHAPTER r. THE REFUGEES IN DENMARK. Memoir of the Bishop of Zealand against the Eefugees— Edict of Christian V., in 1681- The Queen Charlotte Amelia— Second Edict of 1685— Colony of Copen- hagen—Colony of Altona— Colonies of Fredericia and Gluckstadt. Military Eefugees— Ordinance of Louis XIV.— The Count of Eoye— Eefugee sailors— Progress of agricultm-e in Denmark— Introduction of tobacco culture- Rural economy of the planters of Fredericia— Progress of navigation and com- merce—New manufactures— Literary influence of the Eefugees— La Placette— Mallet— Morality of the Refugees— Examples of charity— Actual condition of CONTENTS. the colony of Fredericia— Actual condition of the colonies of Copenhagen and Altona, 243 CHAP TEE II. THE EEFTGEES IN SWEDEN. Intervention of Charles XI. in favor of the Alsatian Lutherans — Protection grant- ed to the Eefugees at Stockholm — Lutheran Intolerance — J^ew Refugees under Charles XII 265 CHAPTER III. THE EEBTJGEES IN EUSSIA. Letter of Frederic William to the Grand Dukes of Moscow— Colony of Eefugees at Moscow— Letter of Frederic III.— Ukase of 16SS in favor of the Eefugees— Lefort's Ecgiment— Colony of Eefugees at St Petersburg— Its relations with Geneva, 26T CONCLUSION. General appreciation of the influence of the Eefugees abroad — Consequences of the Edict of Eevocation on France — Weakening of the Kingdom — Duration of the reformed party — Progress of the skeptical party — Condillac and Mabby — Eeti-ibutive measures— Edict of 1787— Laws of August 21 and 23, 17S9— Law of December 15, 1790 2T1 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Earliest attempts of the Huguenots to colonize America, 1655 — Philip II. and Chai-les IX.— Pope Pius v.— Battle of Jarnac— Medals to commemorate the defeat of the Huguenots— Dragoonades — Eevocationof the Edict of Nantes, 16S5 — Louis XIV.— General emigration— Emigration to America before the Eevocation, 1625— Hu- guenots of Ulster— Settlement at Kingston— Its massacre by the Indians— Le Fevers, their early history— New • Paltz— Ancient Church— Venerable Bible, 1643 — Walloons — Associations of French and Dutch — Huguenots in New Eng- land 'and Virginia— Curious relict— Fontaine family in Ireland and America— Church in Charleston, early and present, &c., 2S4 CONTENTS. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS REFEKEED TO IN JUSTIFICATION OF THE TEXT. 1. Edict of Nantes with its warrant and secret articles, 335 2. Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, 378 3. Passages from the Reports sent to the government by the Intendants of Dis- tricts in 169S, 382 4. Annoyance from Passports, 389 5. Edict of Potsdam, 390 6. Concessions and privileges granted by Charles I., Landgrave of Hesse, etc., . 394 7. An Address to James 11. on his accession to .the throne, by the deputies of the French and Dutch churches of London, 398 8. Unpublished correspondence of Bonrepaus with Seignelay, .... 399 9. Extracts from Reports made to Count d'Avaux touching the projected flight of rehgionists by the Sieur de Tilliers, 406 10. Abb6 Dubois on the alliance between France and Holland, .... 409 11. Letter addressed by the Minister Scion to the magistracy of Amsterdam, in the name of the Protestant French Refugees in that city, .... 409 12. Reports of Missionaries sent to Africa, 415 HISTORY OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES, BOOK V. THE KEFUGEES IN HOLLAND. CHAPTER I. OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EEFUGEES IN HOLLAND. The "Walloon colonies — Arrival of the first French Eefugees in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries — Celebrated Refugees — Mission of Anionet and Scion — Declaration of the magistracy of Amsterdam, 16S1 — Declaration of the States of Holland — General collection in favor of the Eefugees, 1GS2— Tiie fugitives of Sedan, 16S5— Discourse of Fagel to the States of Holland — Reprisals against the Catholics of Zealand — Letters of Louis XIV. to the Count d'Avaux — Appointment of a general fast — Political measures — Resolution of the Magistrate of Middleburgh — Resolution of the States of Groningen, 16S6 — Resolution of the Province of Friscland. The Exiled Ministers — Measures adopted in their behalf— Military Refugees — Female Refugees— Houses of Refuge for women — Arrival of rich Refugees— Satins ex- ported into Holland — Dispatches of the Count d'Avaux — Reply of Louis XIV. — Mission of Bonrepaus — Spies of the Count d'Avaux — Increase of money in Hol- land— Different classes of Refugees— Their number— French Colony in Amsterdam —Colonies at Rotterdam and the Hague— Colonies at Ley den and Harlaem — Dis- persion of the Refugees through the Seven Provinces — The 62 French Churches in 1688— Emigrations, posterior to the year of the Revocation — Efforts of the Refugees to procure their recall to France — Concession of the right of citizenship in Holland and West Friseland, 1709 -Declaration of the States General, 1715. Holland, even from the beginning of the middle ages, has been an asylum for all the outlaws, who fled for refuge from all parts of Europe, to seek a home on her hospitable soil. VOL. rr — 1* 10 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES, But it is especially the religious troubles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which peopled them with crowds of exiles. During the reign of Mary Tudor, above thirty thousand English, who had embraced the Reform, found there a shelter. The Thirty Years' War attracted thither a host of Germans, flying before the armies of Wallenstein and Tilly, who obtained, on the banks of the Amstel, the Yssel and the Rhine, that religious liberty which they had claimed in vain in their own country. But the most important emi- gration was that of the Walloons, the Brabancons, and the Flemmings, who were compelled to escape from the tyranny of the Duke of Albi}, Recjuesens, and the Count of Parma. For a long time, the reformed religion had found adherents in the provinces of the Low Countries. The first churches, which were under the cross^ or, as they likewise termed it, in the secret^ concealed themselves from the persecution by hiding their faith under mystic names, the sense of which was revealed to believers only. That of Oudenarde called itself "The Fleur de Lis;" that of Tournay, "The Palm- tree ; " that of Antwerp, " The Vine ; " that of Mons, " The Olive." The church of Lille had for its symbol, " The Rose ; " that of Douay, " The Wheat-sheaf," and that of Arras, " The Hearts'-ease." * In 1551, they published their confession of faith, in French. In 1563, their deputies of the reformed communities of Flanders, Brabant, Artois and Hainault, united themselves in a single body, and held the first synod, the acts of which have come down to us. In- numerable partisans of the new faith there, were to be found in the Low Countries, and that country would probably have become the most Protestant of all Europe, but for the tor- rents of blood poured out by the Duke of Alba, for the maintenance of the faith of Rome. The general insurrection which followed the elevation of William I., the union of Utrecht, the pacification of Ghent, and the memorable act by * Memoir of Teissedre I'Ange, p. 11. Amsterdam, 184S. WALLOON REFUGEES. H which the King of Spain was declared to be disseized of the sovereignty of the northern provinces of the Low Countries, caused thousands of fugitives to flock thither. Eagerly re- ceived by the States Greneral, they formed, in succession, the Walloon Colonies, at Amsterdam in 1578; at Harlaem in 1579 ; at Leyden in 1584; at Delft in 1586 ; at Middleburgh in 1579; at Utrecht in 1580; and at Dordrecht in 1589. When the Prince of Parma, as much by his able policy as by his victories, had reconquered to the Spanish dominion the southern provinces, he left to the dissenting inhabitants the choice between exile and a return to the creed of their ancestors. Most sold their goods and retired to Holland. Thus were extinguished the last relics of Protestantism in the cities of Tournay, Oudenarde, Mechlin, Antwerp, and Ghent. But if the new religion disappeared from the Spanish provinces of the Low Countries, it bloomed anew with fresh lustre in those of the north, which saw the rise of new churches at Rotterdam in 1605, at Nimeguen in 1621, and at Tholen in 1658. It was natural, therefore, that the French Protestants should often seek asylum in a country which had shown so much sympathy for the Walloon refugees, whom they regard- ed as their brothers. When in 1685, an edict of Henry IIL commanded them to be converted to the Romish faith, or to quit the kingdom within the space of six months, many of them repaired to Holland and joined the Walloon communi- ties, whose language they spoke, and whose creed was their own. This emigration recommenced after the fall of La Ro- chelle. It was doubled under Louis XIV., when that prince promulgated his first edicts against his Protestant subjects. In 1688, the Count d'Estrades, on his return from his em- bassy at the Hague, informed Ruvigny that more than eight hundred families had fled to Holland, in order to escape the persecution.* From that period, our western proviaces * Life of du Bosc, by Legendro, p. '71. Rotterdam, 1694. 12 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ceased not, during a, century, from depopulating themselves, to the benefit of the Batavian republic. A large number of learned men and preachers, at different periods revisited the Academy of Leyden, and the churches founded by Walloon refugees, while endeavoring to escape the perils, of every kind, to which they were incessantly exposed. The most dis- tinguished of these were Pierre du Moulin, who occupied during several years an extraordinary chair at Leyden, and at the same time did parochial duty in the Walloon church. Charles Drelincourt, son of a Parisian pastor, surgeon of the armies of Turenne in Flanders, and physician in ordinary to Louis XIV., who retired to Leyden, in 1688, was nomi- nated professor of the University in that city ; and became, at a later period, the physician of the Prince of Orange, Moise Charas, the distinguished chemist, whose teachings in the royal botanical gardens of Paris had diffused such bril- liancy around, and whose Pharmacopoeia, had been translated into every European language,* — Jean Polyandre, a native of Metz, who long discharged the pastoral functions of the church of Dordrecht, which esteemed him one of its most el- oquent preachers^ — Etienne Le Moine of Caen, Frederic Span- heim of Geneva, Andre Rivet, and a crowd of others follow- ed on the traces of the first refugees. As precursors of the refugees who quitted France in 1685, they made clear the way for Basnage, Claude, Jurieu, Superville, Huet, Martin, Benoit, Chaufepie, and to him, who was to efface them all by the superiority of his genius, Saurin, who was the patriarch of " the Refuge," and who contributed more than all the rest to prevail on the Protestants of France to leave " that Baby- lon, drunk with the blood of the faithful." Taking the last twenty years of the seventeenth century as a starting point, the French emigration into Holland rose * Charas subsequently returned to Paris, was received into the Academy of Sciences, and died a Papist, in 1698. — Memoirs of Erman and Reclam, vol. iv. p. 116. AMONET AND SCION. 13 rapidly to tlie dignity of a political event. The first " dra- goonings" gave the signal. When, in 1681, the armed mis- sionaries of Louvois were poured into Poitou, an inexpressi- ble terror possessed all minds, and thousands of fugitives departed for that sacred land of religious liberty, which, for above a century, had given asylum to so many persecuted spirits. The Sieur Amonet repaired from Paris to the Hague, in order to facilitate their establishment in their future country. He first addresssed himself to Scion, a Protestant minister, who received a pension in recompense of services rendered the state. These two men, animated by the same ardent zeal, combined their efforts in favor of their unhappy countrymen. In a memorial, which they drew up in com- mon, and addressed to the magistrates of the cities, they produced most valid reasons, which could not but determine the republic to give a kind reception to the refugees, to sup- port them for the first few years, to grant them some privile- ges ; above all, to aid them in establishing those manufactures which should contribute, one day, to the riches of the coun- try. These considerations made a lively impression on the first Burgomaster of Amsterdam, Van Beuningen, and the Echevins, Hudde, Korver and Oppmeer. They perceived all the advantages which they might derive from the fatal policy of Louis XIV. Ere long a public declaration announced to the refugees, that the city of Amsterdam would grant to all, who should request it, the right of citizenship, and freeman's privilege of trade ; that is to say, the liberty of freely exer- cising their trades, and the exemption of taxes and the other ordinary town charges, during a space of three years, however considerable the properties might be of which they should chance to be possessed. Beyond this, advances were prom- ised for the purchase of tools necessary to the exercise of their trades ; and engagements were even entered into with them for the purchase of the products of their manufactures until such time as they should no longer require public as- 14 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sistance.* The States of Holland soon followed the exam« pie of Amsterdam, By a declaration issued Sept., 25, 1681, they discharged all refugees, who should settle in that prov- ince, of all taxes for a period of twelve years, f In the public acts in favor of the oppressed Protestants, the magistracy of Amsterdam and of the States of Holland, had forborne all mention of the name of France. The re- ^llection of the invasion of 1 672, for which the insolence of a few journalists had served as a pretext, was present to every mind, and the republic carefully avoided all that might wound the suspicious irritability of Louis XIY. The ob- ject, however, was nevertheless fully gained, for in less than eight days after the promulgation of the last decree, all the Protestants of France were informed thereof. On the arrival of the first fugitives, and the tale which they related of their sufi'erings, a cry of indignation went up, through the whole of Holland. The name of Marillac, who directed the dra- goonings in Poitou, was never pronounced but with horror. The recent Edict, which permitted the children of the re- formed, at the age of seven years, to embrace the Romish religion, added a fresh impulse to public indignation. " The fury is extreme in all the towns, and especially in Amster- dam," wrote the Count d'Avaux, to his government. if The Edict of Louis XIY. was translated into Dutch, and circu- lated throughout the provinces. Lamentations were sung through the streets, by night, in order to stir up the sympa- thies of the people. The exasperation became so great, that * Enumeration of all the French Protestant Refugees in Amster- dam from the year 1681, presented to the Burgomasters, March, 24, 1684, by the minister Scion. Archives of the Town Hall, Amsterdam. f Resolutie van Hollande, van 25 September, 1681. Quoted af- ter M, Koenen, History of the Establishment, and of the influence of the French Refugees in the Low Countries. In Dutch, p. 77. Am- sterdam, 1846. X Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. i. p. 154. Paris, 1752. THE PRINCE OF ORANGE. 15 the Prince of Orange, who had vainly opposed the conclusion of the Peace of Nimegiien, believed that the moment had arrived for acting aboveboard, and for gratifying the impla- cable hatred he had sworn against the Great King. At his instigation, the Grand Pensionary Fagel proposed to the States of Holland, to order a general collection in favor of the French Protestants who had taken refuge in that prov- ince. That proposition, uttered on the third of December, 1 682, was adopted on the same day, and put into execution without delay. Those of " the reformed," who still tarried in France, were informed that a portion of the sums arising from these collections, would be reserved to allay the suffer- ings of those who should thereafter come to claim an asylum from the republic* The rigorous winter of that year ena- bled many of the new refugees to escape more easily from the hands of their oppressors, by taking advantage of the ice in order to reach Amsterdam. Among them was the son of Claude, who had returned from a pastoral circuit in Hol- land, and now permanently established himself in Holland. The sight of these unhappy persons raised public opinion, and rekindled religious animosities to such a degree, that it was even in contemplation to banish the Catholic priests; and but for the remonstrances of Fagel, a cruel persecution would have been avenged by reprisals neither less odious nor unjust, t The province of Friseland, long renowned for its love of liberty, had not awaited the example set by Holland in 1681. So early as May 7th of that memorable year, it had offered asylum to the refugees, and promised them the enjoyment of all the rights of natives. On October 16, next ensuing, it exempted them from all taxation for the space of twelve years. These two decrees preceded the arrival of the fugi- tives. Thanks to the generous reception which they met, * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. i. pp. 258, 259. f Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. i. p. 267. 16 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. their numbers rapidly increased; and when, on August 4. 1683, a considerable body again presented themselves, the magistracy granted them many privileges, and distributed lands to all those who would engage to cultivate them.* The refugees who established themselves in Friseland were almost all rich landowners or agriculturists. The manufac- turers and mechanics, for the most part, preferred large towns, and the merchants sea-ports as their residence. The progress of the persecutions in Franee soon gave a new impulse to emigration. By degrees, as the ordinances of Louis XIV. became more rigorous, and as the revocation of the Edict of Nantes became more imminent, " the reformed " departed in greater numbers from their country, which was now so cruel to them. When, in the month of July, 1685, the exercise of their religion was interdicted at Sedan, a crowd of fugitive families repaired to Maestricht, and there united themselves to the Walloon community founded in that city in 1632, dispersed in 1672, during the French occupation, and re-established after the Peace of Nimeguen. About a month before the revocation, on September 20, 1685, the Grand Pensionary Fagel addressed an energetical discourse to the States General of Holland, in which he recalled to their memory all that their own ancestors had undergone in defence of their religion, the succor which they had themselves rendered to the" reformed," and concluded by a touching portraiture of the persecutions of the French Protestants. His eloquent words awoke a responsive echo in every heart. "' I may not dissemble from your Majesty," wrote the Count d'Avaux," that all the deputies from the towns have been greatly moved by his discourse in favor of their co-religionists, especially when he stated that the Dutch domi- ciled in France, could neither leave the country, nor withdraw *• Sehwartzenbergh. Groot Plakaat en Charterboek ran Fries- land, vol. V. fol. 1193, quoted from M. Koenen, p. 78. ROMANISM SUPPRESSED IN ZEALAND. 17 their possessions, although not naturalized Frenchmen." * A commission was nominated, to draught a report to the assembly, of the measures it was judged good to adopt. Remonstrances were addressed to the representative of Louis XIV., and instructions were sent to the Dutch ambas- sador at Paris, that he should complain to the King of the iniquitous proceedings of his government. These complaints were not without effect. The French monarch declared to the Count de Staremberg, that he did not pretend to detain the subjects of the States General contrary to their will, and that passports would be granted to all who desired to with- draw and sell their effects, f The bitter indignation pro- duced by the discourse of Fagel was nevertheless aggravated by the news from France, which announced the progress of the persecutions. It was felt so violently in Zealand, that the states of that province closed the Romish Churches, banished the priests, forbidding them to reappear under pain of death, and gave orders to a great number of families to sell their goods and leave the country. | For a moment it was apprehended that the provinces of Gruelderland, Friseland, and G-roningen, would follow the example of Zealand. Fortunately it was not so ; and not only did that barbarous act find no imitators, but the banished Papists were kindly received in Rotterdam, notwithstanding the well- known zeal of that city in behalf of Protestant principles. The magistrates of Amsterdam showed themselves in no less a degree faithful to the grand principles of religious liberty by displaying equal generosity toward these victims of the intolerance of their co-religionists ; but, at the same^time, they exhibited a still growing sympathy for the fugitives of their * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. pp. 144, 145. f Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Oct. 4, 1685. Office of French Foreign Affairs. X Dispatch of St. Didier, dated the Hague, Nov. 8, 1685. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 18 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. own creed. To the three French preachers whom they had hitherto supported, they added five others, in 1685; thus preparing, in anticipation, consolers for the future exiles, whom the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was about to pour out into their city walls.* The Count d'Avaux long pretended ignorance of the cruel measui'es of his government. He denied the persecu- tions entirely, or charged the accounts of the fugitives with exaggeration. But ere long dissimulation became impossible, and all concealments were rendered useless, when Louis XIV. wrote to his ambassador himself, at the Hague, on Oct. 18, 1685, announcing to him his revocation of the Edict of his grandfather. " I am very happy to inform you," thus he addressed him, " that, Grod having granted full success to the means I have long adopted for bringing back my sub- jects into the bosom of the Church, and the advices which I daily receive of an infinite number of conversions, leaving me no room to doubt that the most obstinate will now follow the example of the rest ; I have interdicted all exercise of the falsely termed reformed religion within my kingdom, by an Edict, of which I send you a copy for your private informa- tion, which will be immediately passed in all my parlia- ments, and will meet the less difficulty in its execution, in that there are few persons left so obstinate as to prefer . persisting in error, f '''^ This decisive act every where awoke public sympathy in favor of the French Protestants. In all the provinces and towns collections were taken up for the benefit of the poor refugees ; every where steps were taken to render tolerable the voluntary exile which they had so courageously encoun- tered. The representatives of the Seven Provinces united in national assembly, prescribed a general fast for Wednesday, November 21, 1685. All Protestants were invited to thank * Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Oct. 19, 1685. f Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 18Y. POLITICAL RELIEF. 19 Grod for the grace lie gave them to be able to worship him in liberty, and, at the same time, to entreat him to touch the heart of the King, who inflicted persecutions so cruel on the true believers. All business affairs were suspended on that solemn day ; three sermons were delivered in each church, and care was taken to choose almost every where refugee ministers, in order that, being keenly moved themselves, they might draw from their own emotions the most pathetic inspirations wherewith to impress the people, and stimulate it to the utmost.* Political measures followed these dem- onstrations of religious sympathy. October 24, 1685, the magistrates of Middleburgh, in Zealand, announced, through the journals, that all refugees, who should come and estab- lish themselves within their walls, would be exempted from all taxation for a space of ten years, f On the 16th of No- vember, the burgomasters of the city of Utrecht caused it to be inserted in all the public papers, that all who demanded an asylum should receive the right of citizenship, and should be free from all taxation for a period of twelve years. J A similar resolution was adopted on the 5th of February, 1786, by the states of Groningen and Ommelandes of Gron- ingen. The province of Friseland signalized itself above all the rest, by the numerous and important privileges which it granted them. It farther ordered a general collection, the proceeds of which should be divided among the poorest refu- gees.'^ The towns of Holland rivalled each other in gene- rosity, and so truly liberal and Christian was the spirit of that country, that not only the reformed communities, but * Dispatch of St. Didier, N"ov. 15, 1685. f The "Walloon communities of Zealand before and after the re- vocation of the edict of If antes, by Dresselhuis, p. 46. Berg, op Zoom. 1848. In Dutch. X Van de Water, Utrechtsch Plakaatboek, vol. iiL fol. 2*74. Quoted by Koenen, p. 85. § Schwartzenberg, Grost Plakaatboek van Friesland, vol. v. fol. 1248. Quoted by Koenen, p. 85. 20 FRENCH PK.OTESTANT REFUGEES. Lutherans, Anabaptists, and even Catholics, contributed to the relief of the refugees. The French preachers, who were the first to arrive, were the principal objects of public solicitude. In the single year of the revocation, more than two hundred and fifty sought an asylum on the free soil of the United Provinces,* Every where measures were taken for their support. From the 21st of December, 1685, the states of Holland allowed them an annual sum of 12,000 florins, which, one month later, was raised to 25,000. Pensions were assigned to seventy of their number, who were distributed among the difi"erent towns of the province. The married ministers received for their entertainment four hundred florins ; those who lived in celibacy, two hundred. Four new pastors were attached to the Walloon community of Amsterdam.! The states of Zealand voted four thousand florins for those who should establish themselves in their island. They settled the an- nual charge for the entertainment of married preachers at four hundred florins, and that of those who had no families, at three hundred. They allowed, moreover, an indemnity of two hundred florins to each city which would add a refu- gee minister to the number of its pastors. J The Prince of Orange attached to his person two preach- ers of the church of Paris. He added six hundred florins to the pension of fourteen hundred florins, which the states allowed to Claude, as historiographer of Holland. Menard, who was first appointed minister at the Hague, subsequently became chaplain to the future King of England. § But it was, more especially, to gentlemen and soldiers, that this prince granted his puissant protection. Perceiving all the advantage that he might derive from the multitude of dis- ciplined officers, who were constantly issuing from France, * Memoirs of Erman and Reclam, vol. i. p. 192, f Koenen, p. 85. ;{: Dresselhuis, p, 48. § Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Jan. 15, 1686. REFUGEES IN WILLIAM's ARMY. 21 burning to be avenged on their persecutors, he proposed to raise two new regiments, while waiting to commence his ex- pedition against James II. But the States, which were as yet fearful of his warlike projects, would not consent to this increase of the standing army.* They received no less coldly a proposal which he made to establish a sum for the pay of the French officers. Solely engaged by the care of light- ening the burthen of those taxes, which weighed so heavily on the country, they were opposed to every measure which would have led to new expenses. Irritated by these delays, and fearing the departure of this select band for England, or for Brandenburg, the prince caused it to be publicly an- nounced that he would himself undertake the pay of all the military refugees. This step put an end to the hesitation of the States. They found sums sufficient to furnish pensions to a large number of gentlemen, while awaiting the succes- sive vacancies which should permit their incorporation into the armies of the republic. Nevertheless, with a last rem- nant of deference for Louis XI Y., this money was drawn from the sums destined to the ambassadors for secret service money. t Thus the prince succeeded in retaining the French officers in Holland. Little by little, he distributed them among his regiments, with promise of rapid promotion. The colonels received an allowance of 1,800 livres; lieutenant- colonels, of 1,300; majors, of 1,100; captains, of 900 ; lieu- tenants, of 500; ensigns and cadets, of 400. { Very shortly he obtained the power of creating companies of cadets ; the first of these, composed of fifty young gentlemen, was placed in garrison at Utrecht.^ At length, yielding to his reiter- * Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Dec. 6, 1685. f Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Dec. 27, 1685. ^ The proportion of French money to that of Holland is as six to five ; that is to say, six livres French are but five Dutch, Dispatch of Dec. 27, 1685. § Dispatch of March 7, 1685. 22 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ated instances, the States assigned a particular fund, which was successively augmented, and raised to 180,000 florins annually, for the French refugee officers, or, as the Count d'Avaux expressed it, for the French officers who had deserted.* The women found a generous protectress in the Princess of Orange. She selected several, whom she attached to her person as ladies of honor, and herself made provision fol' the education of the young. Houses of refuge, for their recep- tion, had been founded by the rich families belonging to the emigration, and these the Princess took under her protection. Thanks to her generous support, more than a hundred ladies of noble birth, after losing all that they possessed in France, and having seen their fathers or husbands thrown into dun- geons, found an asylum in these establishments, prepared for them at Harlaem, Delft, the Hague, and Harderwick, by the pious providence of those who had preceded them to this land of exile. Madame de Danjeau exercised this mode of hospitality in the houses, which she directed at the Hague and at Schiedam; Madame de Soustelle did likewise at Rot- terdam, and Marie du Moulin at Harlaem. The house at Harlaem, founded by the Marquis de Yenours, was exclusive- ly reserved for young ladies of noble birth, each of whom was to contribute foui* thousand florins to the common ex- penses. The burgomasters exempted it, for three years, from all taxation, and the States of Holland completed this act of national munificence by an annual gift of 2,000 florins. At Amsterdam, the magistracy assigned to the Marquis de Yen- ours a vast property, which received a similar destination, and served at the same time as a place of retreat for the widows of exiled preachers, f At the Hague, an ancient convent of preaching monks was changed into an establishment for * Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, June VI, 1687. f Archives of the Town Hall at Amsterdam. Muniment Register, Ko. 4, fol. 237. MARY OF ORANGE. 23 women. A boarding-house, instituted .at Nort, for young ladies of quality, received an annual succor of two thousand florins from the Princess of Orange. All these pious asy- lums, created or protected by that illustrious Princess, were placed by her under the high protection of Marie Du Moulin. She forgot them not after the parliament of England had decreed her the crown, and Mademoiselle de la Moussaye was frequently the dispenser of her charities. * The state, in this manner, succored those of the refugees who were poor; but a great number had no occasion for public assistance, and it was with a palpably infamous intent that the Gomte d'Avaux's spies circulated a report,^ that the greater part of the emigrants were reduced to such straits as to gather shell-snails in the woods, and cook them, for want of other food, f Many of them might, indeed, be enumerated who had succeeded in saving some relics of tjieir fortunes. Those who were most closely pressed, had sold their properties in haste and at a sacrifice ; but those who had better facilities awaited some years, in order to dispose of them on better terms. A wine-merchant of Paris, Mariet by name, thus saved a fortune of 600,000 livres, and retired to Holland with a forged passport, which served in succession for fifteen of his friends. J A bookseller of Lyons, named G-aylen, established himself in Amsterdam, with above a million. His brother, who lived in Paris, had preceded him with 100,000 livres. ^ However, the emigration of the prin- cipal merchants did not occur until 1687 and 1688. The greater part of these, natives of Normandy, Brittany, Poitou and la Guienne, embarked on ships, their own property, which * Berg. The Refugees in the Low Countries, after the Revocation of the Edict of ISTantes, vol. i. pp. -iO, 41. Amsterdam, 1845. In Dutch. f Letter of the SieurTillieres, joined to the Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, March 15, 1686. X Letter of TiUieres, April 15, 1686. § Ibidem. 24 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sometimes disembarked in Holland with more than 300,000 crowns in ingots or in coined money. One of the first mer- chants of Rouen, Cossard by name, came thus to establish himself at the Hague, after having realized the whole of his fortune. More than two hundred and forty merchants of the same town followed him into Holland, or passed over into England, carrying their wealth along with them. " It seems," wrote the Count d'Avaux, " that those, who are the richest, are now beginning to leave the kingdom."* Already, in 1685, more than twenty millions had been with- drawn from. France, and the Count d'Avaux had informed Louis of the fact.f Perhaps he entertained hopes, that the disastrous course on which the French government had entered, would by this news be brought to a conclusion. In 1687 he was so much alarmed, that he ventured on making representations to the King. " I should consider. Sire," he wrote, " that I were wanting to my duty, did I not inform you of what has come to my knowledge, and which concerns the good of your service. It is certain that the most of those persons who have emigrated of late, have done so only on account of different imprisonments, which have occurred in the provinces ; as for example, the detention of some per- sons in Alencon led the Sieur Cossart, although a resident of Lyons, where all is tranquil, to apprehend something of the same nature. And I venture, yet farther, to take the liberty of saying to your Majesty, that if the new converts were treated throughout France as they are at Paris, in Rouen, and under the eyes of your Majesty, not one half of those who have quitted France would have done so." J To which remonstrance the monarch sent only this fantastical reply. " The desertion of my subjects lately converted, is the effect only of a disordered imagination, and the remedy * Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, October 23, IGST. f Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 181. :|: Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, October 23, 168Y. FRENCH SPIES OF D AVAUX. 25 applied to it would be worse than the evil itself. There is, therefore, nothing but to wait until Divine goodness shall terminate this disorder, which, perchance, it has permitted only in order to purge my kingdom of disorderly and dis- obedient servants."* Attempts were made to cause a certain number of refugees to return to France. The Marquis de Bonrepaus took on himself this difficult task, which had no better success in Holland than in England. The Count d'Avaux endeavored, on his part, to lessen the exportation of money from the kingdom, by the payment of able agents, whose duty it should be to insinuate themselves into the con- fidence of the fugitives, to surprise them out of their secrets, and to inform themselves of the secret dispositions of the Pro- testant families, who were preparing themselves for emigra- tion. A certain person, named Tillieres, whom he designates, in his dispatches, "the giver of information," gave all the poor Protestants so generous a reception, that they regarded him ®,s their father. To some he distributed money, to others he procured establishments suitable to their condition. He had founded a little colony at Voorberg, in a pleasant and fertile country between Delft, Leyden and the Hague ; he had built a church there, and thus acquired the confidence and esteem of all the refugees. The Count d'Avaux also em- ployed a certain Sieur Blanquet at Brussels, one Jean Noel, to whom he gave expectations of the release of a friend in France ; one Sieur Vallemont at Amsterdam, Le Boutelier, Foran, Danois, and several others, who played the part of spies for him ; and, thanks to their venal information, hun- dreds of unhappy men, arrested on the frontiers of Flanders, or on the point of embarking, were dragged to the galleys. But the Prince of Orange caused the house of the ambassa- dor, whose tricks he suspected, to be closely watched. Til- lieres, surrounded in his house one day, defended himself with the courage of a bandit against the soldiers sent to ar- * Dispatch of Louis XIY., October 30, IBSY. VOL. n. — 2 26 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. rest him, and died sword in hand. Foran and Danois, being recognized on the Exchange at Amsterdam, were informed of their danger in season, by a refugee, who generously saved their lives by favoring their escape to the Hague, where they found inviolable sanctuary in the hotel of the French em- bassy. To prevent the informations of their accomplices, the journalists were forbidden to publish in future any news con- cerning the refugees, and especially the methods which they had employed in order to escape their persecutors. This prohibition was obeyed implicitly, and partially explains the paucity of established facts, which have reached us in rela- tion to the numbers, and exact date of arrival, of the families which found refuge in Holland. The Count d'Avaux could, therefore, no longer oppose but slight resistance to the tide of emigration. It contin- ued for a long time, and with it continued the export of spe- cie. The following facts may enable persons to judge of the extraordinary abundance of money, which was spread in this manner through the United Provinces. In 1670, the city of Amsterdam had reduced the interest paid to public creditors, to 4 and 3^ per cent. In 1684, she again reduced it to 05 and 3 per cent., offering to repay the capital to all those who would not accept this forced reduc- tion.* The rich refugees, however, none the less for that, continued to prefer that investment to any other ; so much so, that, in 1686, the city passed to their account life an- nuities to the amount of 150,000 florins. In 1687, it be- came difficult to make money in Amsterdam produce above two per cent, interest.! At Rotterdam, from the year 1685, the: treasury was authorized to receive any sums which the refugees might think good to intrust to the city, and to pay them eo[uitable interest so long as they should reside within * Berg, p. 218. f Dispatch of the Count d'Avanx, Oct. 22, IBST. WEALTH WITHDRAWN FROM FRANCE. 27 the walls.* In Friseland, Lenoir de Monfreton, and some of his comrades in exile, offered the states of the province a capital of a million, for which they asked only the ordinary interest.! The wealth of the refugees, therefore, sufficed to raise the public credit, and thus compensated in some degree for the temporary sacrifices which Holland imposed on her- self, in order to comfort those who were in distress. In 1709, the children of Paul Bennelle, a French refugee at Amsterdam, drew up a memoir, by which they established the fact, that the subjects of Louis XIV. had already re- ceived above 1,400,000 florins, arising from the properties of their parents, who had died in the Low Countries. On Oc- tober 23d of that year, the States General decreed, that in future the subjects of the King should not inherit from parents deceased on Dutch territory. This decision was founded on this ; that the right of reciprocity guaranteed by the treaty of Nimeguen, as regards this head, had not been observed by France. :]: During several years the republic itself was sole heir of the possessions, often in themselves very considerable, of the refugees. The Peace of Utrecht brought these very unjust reprisals to a conclusion, and the natural order of successions was re-established between the two countries. § Of what elements, again, was the Dutch emigration to Holland composed ? What were the men whom France re- jected from her bosom, and who ere long exerted so vast an influence over the destiny of the nations which received them ? In the first rank, figured not less than two hundred and fifty pastors, learned no less than zealous. Among them * See the Register of the Burgomasters of Rotterdam. Resolu- tions of Xov. 19, 1685. f Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, March 18, 1686. . X Memoirs of Erman and Reclam, vol. vii. p. 829. § Kcenen, p. 3. 28 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. several bore names bj no means without distinction. Let us be content with citing a Menard, who soon became court preacher to William III. ; a Claude, esteemed worthy to be weighed against Bossuet ; a Jurieu, whose burning letters cast remorse into the souls of those Protestants, who re- mained in France, and announced in prophetic terms the ap- proaching fall of the Romish Church ; a Basnage, illustrious under so many divers titles, to whom the misfortune of his exiled co-religionists inspired that noble book, in which he de- scribes the condition of the people of God, while wandering over the earth ; a Martin, who translated into language at once elegant and correct, the Bible, sole jewel of so many exiles ; a Superville, to whom public education in Holland owes a catechism, which is not yet out of date ; a Benoit, who com- posed the history of the Revocation ; a Du Bosc, who so touchingly described the marks by which the children of Heaven may be recognized, likening the miseries of the refu- gees to those of the first Christians.* They were, indeed, true exiles, very outlaws ; driven from France by order of the King, they could not re-enter the land, except on pain of death. They had striven to separate the shepherds from the flocks, but they had been reassembled in the land of exile. To the preachers must be added a large body of gentle- men, natives of the southern provinces ; brave officers, who condemned themselves for an apostasy forced on them by military discipline ; rich and able merchants of Amiens, Rouen, Bordeaux, and most of all from the city of Nantes, the scene of the barbarous dragoonings ; artisans of Brittany and Normandy ; agriculturists of Provence, of the shores of Languedoc, of Roussillon, and La Guienne ; mechanics, in a word, from every part of France, mostly Protestants, a few Catholics, so much attached to their masters as even to fol- low them to a foreign land. Thus, there were collected on * See the Treatise on the Character of the Children of God, by Du Bosc NUMBER OP REFUGEES. 29 the hospitable banks of the Amstel, a Pierre Bailly, the richest manufacturer of Clermont-Lodeve, a Pineau, of Nimes, a Dinant Laures, of Nantes, celebrated artificers, who were about to transport into Holland their trades, brought to the utmost perfection ; a Goulon, rival of Vauban's glory ; gentlemen of noble birth, simple mechanics, ministers of high renown. Of all the lands, which gave asylum to the refugees, none received such swarms as the republic of Holland ; where- fore, it is called by Bayle, "the grand arch of the refu gees." * There no longer exists any documents, by which their number can be exactly computed. The Abbe Cavei- rac, who is not suspected of exaggeration, esteemed it at 55,000. t An agent of the Count d'Avaux, admitted to the confidence of Claude and the principal chiefs of "the refuge," wrote, in 1686, that the lists of the voluntary French exiles amounted to nearly 75,000 souls. J But the emigration con- tinued yet several years, and the number of fugitives aug- mented in such manner, until toward the end of the seven- teenth century, that, 1698, the States General supplicated the King of Sweden, Charles XII., to take charge, for the future, of the newly-arrived emigrants, and to allot to them lands in his German territories. " The United Provinces," thus they wrote to that Prince, " are so crowded with them that they have no longer the means of supporting the new arrivals." ^ The towns, which contained the greatest num- ber of them, are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague. At Amsterdam, in the month of March, 1684, a year * Bayle. Historical and Critical Dictionary. Art. Kuehlin. f Political and Critical Memoir, p. 88. Quoted after the Library of Arts and Sciences, vol. xiv. p. 163. The Hague. 1760. X Letter of Tillieres to the Count d'Avaux. May 24, 1685. § Nostra quidem terra, quae tarn angustis circumscribitur limiti- bus, tot repleta est ex Gallia religionis causa profugis, ut plures alere nequeat. See Koenen, p. 96. Note. 30 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. and a half after the Revocation, there were already to be enumerated more than two thousand, and many more had departed for the colony of Surinam. These were men be- longing to all classes of society — men of letters and of arms, laymen and preachers, traders and mechanics, manufacturers and sailors.* Above all, there were among them able work- men, whose trades were previously unknown in Holland. f This first colony increased rapidly. Already, in 1685, the Count de Saint Didier wrote to Louis XIV., that there were 5000 refugees in Rotterdam, and a much larger number in x\msterdam. J From that epoch, the French deanery of that city constantly supported 2000 paupers, who were con- tinually maintained up to that number by the arrival of new emigrants, who were admitted in the room of those who were henceforth found able to provide for themselves, after receiving succor on their first arrival. § Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the colony amounted to 14 or 15,000 men, established for the most part in the quarter which they called the Garden, and which, to this day, bears the name of Jordan. They peopled the streets, cross-streets, and quays with roses, carnations, sweet-briers, and flowers of all kinds. || Others established themselves in the quarter of the New Plantation, and in that of the Nordsche Bosch, which now contains the quay des Reguliers and des Mortiers, the streets du Nord, Traversiere du Nord, and des Tanneurs.^ It is not possible to state, with more precision, the number of the refugees who came to Rotterdam and the Hague. Every thing, however, leads to the belief that it did not fall much * See the letter of Scion, quoted above. f Ibidem. X Dispatcli of M. St. Didier, Nov. 15, 1685. § Archives of the Town Hall at Amsterdam. Document relative to the French Refugees. Box 5-55. I We credit these facts to M. Mourier, Pastor of Amsterdam, him- self descended from the refugees. Tf Berg, p. S3. SETTLEMENTS OF REFUGEES. 31 short of that of Amsterdam. At Leyclen and Harlaem, which became two centres of their industry, they formed col- onies, which continued to increase during the last fifteen years of the seventeenth century. In the first of these towns the quarter of Hoogewoerd was enlarged for their accommo- dation. In the second, they almost entirely peopled the suburb of Nieuwstadt, begun in 1672 ; and the population of the place, theretofore inconsiderable, rose in 1722 to nearly forty thousand souls.* Others established themselves at Delft, Grouda, Schoonhoven, Schiedam, Briel, and Dordrecht. The relative importance of these several groups of refu- gees may be easily judged bythe number of pastors assign- ed to each. In 1686, the States of Holland, on the propo- sition of the Walloon Synod, decided that they would allot sixteen to Amsterdam, seven to Dordrecht, seven to Har- laem, six to Delft, eight to Ley den, and five to Grouda.f The towns of Schiedam, of Schoonhoven, and of Briel, each re- ceived two. In Zealand, the refugees distributed them- selves among the towns of Middleburgh, Flushing, Thoelen, Groes, Yeere, and Zirick-zee. Middleburgh saw its popula- tion increased, in the interval between 1685 and 1693, by five hundred and sixty-two French admitted to the right of burghership. Less numerous colonies were formed at Sluys, at Walcheren, at Groede, at Ardemburgh, and at Cadsand.J Cattle-breeding and boat-building, whether for navigation or fisheries, which afi'orded the means of subsistence for most of the inhabitants of those provinces, were scarcely suited to the refugees. In eastern Friseland, they dispersed them- selves among the towns of Leeuwarden, of Franeker, of Harlingen, of Bolswerd, of Sneck, where they united them- selves to the old Walloon bodies corporate, and in the great village of Balk, in which they formed a special com- munity. ^ The states of Groningen granted twelve preachers * Koenen, p. 271. f Berg. p. 46. X Dress elhuis, p. 86, 87. § Koenen, p. 9Y. 32 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. to those who established themselves iu their province. The town of Groningen itself saw a flourishing colony formed within its very walls, the first origin of which was, however, anterior to the revocation. The northern provinces, Holland, Zealand, Friseland and Groningen, were principally peopled by fugitives who came to them from over sea. Those who preferred the land route generally established themselves iu the southern districts, such as Guelders, whither the cities lof Arnheim, Nimeguen, and Zutphen, attracted large crowds, and Over- Yssel, where many settled in the towns of ZwoUe and Deventer. iVt Utrecht, they founded a colowy directed by two ministers. Those of Maestricht were composed, in 16S7, of five hundred and fifty heads of families, all, or almost all, natives of Sedan.* In northern Brabant, French communities were formed at Bois-le-Duc, and some villages of the ancient Duchy of Breda. This little territory, which belonged to the House of Orange, served as an asylum for many Protest- ants from the town of Orange, whom the Prince treated with distinguished favor.f In 16S8, so many as sixty-two churches were counted in the United Provinces, founded, or considerably augmented, by the refugees ; J thus an entirely new class of citizens was added to the natives, whom it greatly modified, and over whom it exercised an influence no less fruitful than durable. The establishment of French Protestants in the United Provinces dates back so far as to the first persecutions, which terminated in the revocation, and came to a conclusion near- ly iu the year 1715, when the States General granted to all the new citizens letters of naturalization. During that in- terval, three partial emigrations were added to the great emigration of 1 685. First, the devastation of the Palatinate, * Letters of Tilli^res to the Count d'Avaux, of February 12th, 1687 : Archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs, f Koeuen, p. 98. .» ;}: Ibidem. SUCCESSIVE EMIGRATIONS. 33 in 1689, compelled a vast number of families, established in that province within three years, to seek a second and safer asylum in Holland. Then, when in 1703 Louis XIV. took possession of the principality of Orange, and banished thence the reformed worship, many of the faithful abandon- ed their enslaved land, and retired into the Low Countries. At length, when the Peace of Utrecht had replaced Lille and its territories under French domination, numerous Protestant families, which had freely exercised their wor- ship under the protection of the armies of the coalition, expatriated themselves, and following those armies, reunited themselves with the French communities of the United Pro- vinces. For a long time the refugees continued to hope for their recall into France, and for the re-establishment of the Edict of Henry IV. They reckoned on the interference of Pro- testant powers, and at the period of the Conference of Rys- wick, the French preachers of London entered into corre- spondence with Jurieu to work in concert toward that great end. But the imperative necessities of politics caured this attempt to restore so many exiles to their native land to un- dergo a total shipwreck. In spite of the earnest eiforts of the pastor of Rotterdam, the new King of England, and the States General of Holland, insisted but weakly with Louis XIV., who rejected their interference with the internal affairs of his monarchy, and refused so much as to discuss a proposition, which he esteemed injurious to his royal prerog- ative. The humble supplication of the London refugees, to which was united that of those of the United Provinces, met no better reception from the persecuting King. A memoir presented to the ministers plenipotentiary of France, on the eve of the signature of the treaty, by the representatives of the Protestant principles of Germany, was not received more favorably. The reverses of Louis XIV., during the wars for the Spanish succession, gave a last glimmer of hope to VOL. II. — 2* 34 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the eyes of the refugees. When, in 1709, the Marquis of Torcy brought propositions of peace to the Hague, they again supplicated the States General to interpose in their favor. A memorial, drafted by the Marquis of Hochegude, was placed in the hands of a commission charged to deliver a report thereof to the National Assembly. But the neces- sities of the allies caused the failure of the negotiations opened at the Hague and Gertrudenbergh. The refugees renewed their protestations, which received less and less at- tention, during the conferences which preceded the Treaty of Utrecht, but they were rejected with the same firmness as at the Peace of Ryswick, and they then lost every hope of return. But if Popish France showed that she had no bowels for her exiled children, they found in Holland a new country, which in the end solemnly adopted, and amalgamated them with her own citizens. The right of citizenship was granted in three different manners, and was divided into three de- grees. Sometimes, strangers admitted to this right were only entitled to the free practice of their trades, without be- ing received into the corporations. Sometimes they obtained the right of secondary burghership, which permitted them to engage in commerce. Lastly, those who were most highly favored, were raised to the full right of citizenship, with the privilege, after a residence of a certain number of years, of filling all public ofiices. The Jews, who had arrive.d from foreign parts, were placed in the first scale of this hierarchy of unequal privileges ; the French refugees occupied the se- cond ; and, when the distinction between first and second citizenship was suppressed in some towns, the latter found themselves placed on terms of perfect equality with the na- tives. In 1625 a Frenchman, expatriated for religion's sake, had been, the first of his compatriots, naturalized a Hol- lander. In 1687 a Rocheller, Peter Brevet by name, received the same favor. In 1709, the same year when Queen Anne GENERAL NATURALIZATION. 35 granted letters of naturalization to all the foreigners in Eng- land, the states of Holland and Friselan*d adopted a similar measure, and granted the title of citizen to all those who were already settled in the two provinces. The motives which prompted them to this great duty deserve to be cited in this work. " Considering," said they, " that the prosperity of a state rests on the number of its citizens, and that these provinces, especially, have seen their wealth augmented by the arrival of the French, driven from their own country, for their attachment to a faith which is common to us and to them ; considering, also, that they have caused our commerce and manufactures to flourish, and that, moreover, they have long merited by their conduct the most favorable treatment, and that, consequently, it is just that they should be assimi- lated in all respects to other citizens, we hereby declare them naturalized Hollanders." * The representative assembly of Gruelders adopted, in the same year, a resolution similar to that of West Friseland and Holland. f Their example was followed by Zealand in 1710. J And to conclude, in 1715, the States General, resting their ground on the decree of 1709, extended the benefits thereof to all the provinces of the republic. § Thus all distinction 'was, henceforth, effaced between the new and native citizens. The former even yet preserved some rights which had been granted to them in the first years of the emigration. These were successively abol- ished in the interval between 1690 and 1720, leaving however, with the Burgomasters of Amsterdam, the power of grant- ing similar favors to such new fugitives as might come, from time to time, to ask an asylum in the United Provinces. * Groot Plakaatbook, vol. v. fol. 74. Quoted after Koenen, p. 109, f Koenen, p. 109. :j: Dresselhuis, p. 84, 85. § Kcenen, p. 110. CHAPTER II. OF THE POLITICAL rNTLUENCE OF THE EEFIJGEES IN HOLLAISTD^ The KepuWican and Orangeist parties— Politics of ilie Count d' A vaux— Effect of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes on the minds of men — Diminished influence of the Count d'Avaux— Increasing influence of the Prince of Orange — Part taken by the Eefugees in the Coalition of 16S9 — Brousson — Moral support lent by the Eefugees to the Prince's expedition against England— Jurieu— Pecu- niar}^ support — Military support — Oath taken by the Military llefagees — Services of Eefugee officers in the Dutch Armies — General Belcastel — Other distinguished officers — Oflacers of Marine— Services rendered to the Dutch Navy — The sons of Admiral Duquesne — Political writings of the Eefugees — Jacques Basnage — His relations with the Duke of Orleans, In Holland, as in England and Germany, the refugees exercised a powerful influence in relation to politics and war, literature and religion, and industry and commerce. We will endeavor to estimate them under these three dis- tinct points of view. Contrary to every expectation, the Hollandish republic had survived the formidable invasion of 1672. The Prince of Orange, stronger than John de Witt, and more able than Van Benningen, had checked the good fortune of Louis XIV. That general of twenty-two years of age, who had undertaken to make head against the greatest king on earth, as his debut, concealed an energetic mind and an indomita- ble will in a feeble and debilitated body. The cool obsti- nacy of his grandfather the " Taciturn," the adversary of Philip II., and the founder of the liberty of the United Provinces, could be discovered in him. He hated France, as his ancestor had hated Spain. We are assured, that at POLICY OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 37 the peace of Nimeguen, when he endeavored to surprise the Marshal de Luxembourg at Mons, he had been already in- formed of the conclusion of the treaty ; but he wished at all hazards to break it, and rekindle the war between France and Europe in coalition against her. For the first time had Louis XIY. encountered an adversary worthy of him. The intimate union which existed between the republic and the Stadtholder, had created a barrier sufficiently strong to place a limit to his conquests. All the efforts of the French government, therefore, were directed towards breaking that good understanding. This was the great task which was imposed upon the Count d'Avaux, when he was sent as ambassador to the Hague in 1679. Two parties then dis- puted the direction of affairs in Holland : the republican party, which consisted of the ruins of the partisans of the brothers De Witt, and all those who had been dispossessed of power in 1672, and the Stadtholder party, which was de- voted to the House of Orange. The power which was the least numerous, but sustained by the richest merchants of Amsterdam, desired the maintenance of the peace with Louis XIV., and the re-establishment of the ancient tra- ditional understanding between France and the Netherlands. The Prince of Orange, on the contrary, sought to unite the Dutch republic with England, freed from the yoke of the Stuarts, in a common alliance, and thus to lay the foundation of a new European coalition against the great khig. While endeavoring to cause this bold policy to prevail, he strove to gain over to his views the most eminent members of the States General, by proving to them that a guarantee was given to the treaty of Nimeguen by the reconciliation be- tween the two countries. He, however, carefully concealed from them his ulterior designs ; and, above all. enveloped his projects upon the throne of England in impenetrable mystery. While he agitated with that view, the Count d'Avaux strove with rare skill to create a French party in 38 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the assembly which presided over the destinies of Holland. Experimenting upon the political tendencies of the repub- licans to the profit of Louis XIV., he spared neither pro- mises, nor money, and succeeded in gaining many of the most influential deputies. He oifered as much as two millions of florins to the pensionary councillor Fagel, the most devoted friend of the Prince of Orange, to persuade him to enter into the interests of his master;* but Fagel was immovable in his fidelity. The powerful and respected magistrate of Amsterdam had a marked preponderance in the States of Holland, whose example was almost always followed by the other provinces. The Count d'Avaux neg- lected nothing in order to attach him to himself. To suc- ceed the better in his design, he worked only in the dark, and disguised skilfully every thing which was odious in his plan.f A serious opposition was soon formed in the States General, and more than once the Prince saw them reject propositions which were in conformity with the European policy which he endeavored to make them accept, and in conformity also with the true interest of Holland, but which exacted from that little country, and in particular from the mercantile town of Amsterdam, sacrifices which all were not prepared to make to their country. The egotism natural to the proprietary classes, and the sectional spirit which is inhe- rent in federal states, served as a lever to the French am- bassador ; and, although he did not draw from it all possible advantage, nevertheless, in proportion as the policy of the Prince took a bolder and more personal character, he gained ground. He believed himself already sure of the victory, and, in fact, he had perhaps arrived at the end of his per- severing efforts, when an unexpected event broke the woof of his long intrigues ; and that event was the work of Louis XIV. himself, who had so powerful an interest in seconding * Koenen, p. 125. \ Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. i. p. 7. OBSTINACY OF LOUIS XIV. 39 his representative, but whose habitually clear mind was then obscured by the pursuit of the chimera of religious unity in his kingdom. The correspondence of the Count d'Avaux proves, with the greatest clearness the profound vexation with which that able diplomatist saw all the fruit of his negotiations and secret practices perish, through the impression which the news of the persecutions in France produced, and by the arrival of living witnesses to the intolerance of Louis XIV. He had already written on the 24th of July, 1681, with regard to the edict relative to the children of the Re- formed : " This edict has caused alteration enough, and especially in the minds of the gentlemen from Friseland, so that M. de Haren, who had always been a friend to France, and was openly opposed to the Prince of Orange, has said in the assembly of the States Greneral, that since it was the design of France entirely to ruin their religion, there was no longer room for accommodation. . . . He has showed in particular to the deputies from Friseland and Grroningen that, although it might be contrary to their interest to become subject to England, and to submit to the Prince of Orange, nevertheless, since it was the desire of France to destroy their religion, it would be necessary in the end to ally themselves with Charles II., and that he was sure of being able to persuade the province of Friseland in three weeks to adopt these views. . . I was advised of these discourses, and of M. de Haren's change of opinion, by two deputies of Friseland and Grroningen. This obliged me to go to his house. I put myself on the ground of the religion, and what was doing in France with respect to it. But all that I could say to make him know that your Majesty was doing nothing contrary to the Edict of Nantes, and although I twisted it in every way to make him speak, I could draw nothing from him except that the King was the master to do as he pleas- ed in his own kingdom." * * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. i. pp. 152, 153. 40 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. On the 9tli of March, 1685, he wrote to Louis XIV. : " I have discovered to-day, that they are working to reconcile the Priuce of Orange and the Prince of Nassau. The minister Vandervaye, who has been so much opposed to this reconciliation, has been for the last two days very secretly occupied at the Hague. The reasons, which have caused that man to act, are produced by what is passing in France on the subject of the pretended reformed religion." * He added, on the •22d of the following March : " The affairs of the French religionists have caused chagrin to some persons of Amsterdam ; but they have not as yet made sufficient im- pression upon the general minds of those who are concerned in the government of that city, to make them change their line of conduct. I am nevertheless obliged to inform your Majesty, that the preaching ministers, and the reports which are sent from France, have embittered them so much, that I know not what may arrive in consequence." f The magistrates of the city of Leyden were opposed to the Prince of Orange. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes made them change their ojDinion.l The burgomas- ters of Amsterdam, after long hesitation, followed the ex- ample of those of Leyden. " They caused it to be under- stood," wrote the Count d'Avaux, "that it was the affairs of the French Huguenots, which had impelled them to recon- cile themselves with the Prince of Orange. It is true that that reason had animated some among them, who were the most zealous for the religion. It is certain that it also serv- ed as a pretext for the weakness of some others, who were not sorry to become reconciled, and to profit by that occa- sion, seeing that the public, which was excited by the decla- mations of the French ministers, and by the false reports of those refugees, showed great animosity." § * Negotiations of the Count d'Avcaux, vol. iv. pp. 294,295. f Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 319, 320- X ^^^^- ^^^- ^- V- 3 8*7. § Ibid. vol. V. p. 191, EFFECT OF THE PERSECUTIONS IN HOLLAND. 41 The report spread by the Prince of Orange, that Louis XIV. demanded the extradition of all the Huguenots, who had withdrawn into the Seven Provinces, influenced even the elections, which a few months afterward renewed the magis- tracy of that city. " Among the four burgomasters of Am- sterdam," the Count d'Avaux wrote upon that subject, " the two new ones, who are perhaps the two best that could have been chosen, have the fault of being very zealous for their religion, so much so, that one of them said, three weeks be- fore, to one of his friends, that he had always been of opinion that the republic could not exist without a strict alliance with France ; but since, at that hour, he saw how it treated those of his religion, he would be the first to take any other measures.* Finally, on the 10th of June, 1688, at the very moment when Louis XIV. was preparing to advance his armies to the Rhine, in the hope of thus preventing the Prince of Orange from leaving Holland, and going Jo dethrone his father-in-law, the Count d'Avaux sent him this significant dispatch : " I am obliged to inform your Majesty, that it is greatly to be apprehended, that the Prince of Orange will obtain succors from the States General, which he could not formerly have done. But he has made so good a use of the pretext of religion, and all the French fugitives have so great- ly inflamed the Calvinists of that country, that one dare not promise that the States will adhere to their true interests as they would formerly have done."t It then remains proved, that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the dragoonings which preceded and follow- ed that fatal measure;, disconcerted the astute calculations of the French ambassador at the Hague. The disunion which he had fomented, disappeared before the imminence * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. pp. 231, 232. f Dispatch of June 10th, 1688. Archives of the Ministry of French Foreii^n Affairs. 42 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. of the peril which the " reform " ran in France, England, and Holland, at the same time, and the happy accord of all classes of the nation was re-established by the prince, who was considered the representative and defender pf the Pro- testant Church, and the irreconcilable antagonist of the persecuting monarch. Being tranquil upon that head, William of Orange could thenceforth pursue a more elevated aim. It does not enter into the plan of this work to explain the methods, by the aid of which the prince, with that pa- tient confidence which true genius inspires, prepared, during ten years, his accession to the throne of England. We will content ourselves with exhibiting the part which the refu- gees took on that occasion. William of Orano-e was the true author of the Leao-ue of o o Augsburgh, which paved the way to the European coalition of 1689. But the first thought of that league belongs to a refugee, one Brousson, who was established at Lausanne, and was deputy from his companions in exile to the Pro- testant powers of the North of Europe. He entered succes- sively into relation with the pensionary Fagel, the Prince of Orange, and the elector Frederic AYilliam. It was at Berlin that he communicated to the two princes the plan of a Pro- testant confederation against Louis XIV. , and from that project sprang the League of Augsburgh, which united in a common resistance the Reformed and Bomish states, which were equally alarmed at the ambition of the King of France, and indignant at the conquests he had just made in a time of perfect peace, by virtue of the decrees of his chambers of reunion. When the whole of Europe found itself agreed to op- pose a dam against that invading tide, and when the Pope had become the ally of Holland, Austrian Denmark, that part of Sweden which belongs to Savoy, Bavarian Saxony, and Spanish Brandenburgh, William of Orange no longer hesitated to set sail, in order to overthrow James the Second, and to deliver England from a detested government. THE BOOK OF CLAUDE. 43 It was in the month of April, 1688, that the Count d'Avaux obtained the first intelligence of the relations of the prince with the chiefs of the French emigration in England.* According to all appearance, Jurieu was the principal medium he employed. That ardent preacher, who was at the same time a man of resolution and action, had passed part of his youth in that kingdom. His violent writings against Charles II. and the Duke of York, had drawn upon him the atten- tion of that prince, from whom the impetuous minister awaited the enfranchisement of Britain. Being excited by him, the refugees in London paved the way, by their discourse, for the success of the projects of William. The recital of their suf- ferings, passing from mouth to mouth, inspired the English with the most lively apprehensions, and an unspeakable horror of the designs which were attributed to James the Second. In vain did that prince affect to disapprove of the intolerant policy of Louis XIV. ; in vain did he appear dis- posed to aid those fugitives, who were in need of public as- sistance. No one was deceived by these apparent marks of sympathy, which were so contrary to his real sentiments, so opposite, above all, to the rigorous measures he had de- creed against the Scotch Presbyterians. Beside, he himself' j ; threw off the mask, by causing the relation, at once so mode- ; I rate and touching of the persecutions of the Protestants in I France, which the minister Claude had printed in Hol-^ ; land, to be publicly burnt by the hand of the executioner. The refugees, who were established in that country, mani- fested the same antipathy to James II. They spread abroad sincere or affected doubts as to the legitimacy of the birth of the Prince of Wales, and thus aided the Prince of Orange in the adroit falsehood, which was one of the pretexts of his expedition. The refugees afterward facilitated his enter- prise, by the large sums which they circulated in the country. " The states of Holland," wrote the Count d'Avaux, in 1688, * ISTegotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. vi. p. 135. 44 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. " consent, upon the remonstrances of the Prince of Orange, to furnish four millions to be employed upon the fortifications of Amsterdam. The burgomasters, who wished that money to be well employed, and that the Prince of Orange should make no bad use of it, took with that intention all possible precautions. They caused a resolution to be passed, that these four millions should only be levied in four years ; that each year, before levying the million, the use it was to be put to should be resolved upon, and the places to be fortified should be designated. But the Prince of Orange and the Grand Pensionary Fagel well knew how to elude all those precautions. As money was very abundant in Holland, and as the French refugees had brought in a great quantity, it consequently happened, that the receiver-general of the States General, who ought to have received but one million, ac- cording to the resolution of the States, did not close his ofl&ce until after having received four millions ; and he de- clared to the States General that the affluence had been so great, that he had not had the time to reflect. The Prince of Orange and Fagel prevented any part of that affair from being attributed to him. He was only ordered to take care of the money ; and these were the four millions which the Prince employed to defray part of the expenses of his expe- dition to England.* The French ambassador added, in one of his subsequent dispatches, that beside those four millions, about five hundred thousand crowns had been furnished by the refugees alone, f It was again the emigrants of France, who formed the elite of the little army with which the Prince disembarked in the road of Torbay. A crowd of officers of the Fusileer regiment in garrison at Strasburgh, of the regiment of Bur- gundy in garrison in the same city,^ of that of Auvergne, * IS'egotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. vi. pp. 132-134. f Dispatch of August 12th, 1688. X Letter from Tillieres, of November 2'7th, 1686. Archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affaii-s. FRENCH OFFICERS OF WILLIAM. 45 which was divided between Metz and Verdun,* and officers and even private soldiers, who flocked from Lille, Quesnoy, and from the generality of the frontier towns, had sought an asylum in Holland ; and the States General, upon the de- mand of the Stadtholder, had distributed them among the principal places of arms. Companies which were almost en- tirely French existed at Breda, under the Captains La Ber- liere, Pralon, d'Auteuil, Desparon, Loupie, and La Pes- rine ; at Maestricht, under the Colonel of cavalry De Bon- court, and Captains De Boncourt the younger. Da Bac, Mar- silly and Falantin ; at Bergen-op-Zoom, under Captain Saint Germain ; at Bois-le-Duc, under the Captains Cormon, Fugni, Rieutor, and La Merie ; at Ziitphen, under the Cap- tains Dortoux, Eonset, Malboix, and Blanchefort ; at Nime- guen, under the Captains Belcastel, D'Avejan, De Maricourt, D'Entragues, and De Saint-Sauveur ; at Arnheim, under the Captains De Montant, Monpas, Chalais, and La Rambilliere ; at Grave, under Captain Cabrole ; at Utrecht, under the Captains Gastine, De Flsle. Ville, Traversy, De Chavernay, and Bapin ; and at the Hague, under the Captains Petit, Monbrun, de Jaucourt, and De Fabrice.f All these officers had consented to enter into the service of Holland. Many of them had, at first, stipulated that they should not fight against their former country. Although they were reputed fugitives and deserters in accordance with military law, they did not consider themselves entirely released from the oath of fidelity they had taken to Louis XIV. On that account frequent duels took place between those who, preferring their religion to their country, blamed the persecuting King in bitter terms, and those who maintained that a French officer * Letter of the same, of December 4th, 1686. f See, in tlie Archives of the Ministry of French Foreign Affairs, the list of the French officers to whom the States General gave pen- sions. Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, March fourteenth, one thou- sand six hundred and eighty-six. 46 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. should in no circumstances, and under no pretext, fail in the respect whicli was due to his legitimate sovereign.* The Prince of Orange openly took under his patronage those whose views agreed with his policy, and prevented the effect of the proceedings, which were instituted against them by the Dutch tribunals. But feeling the necessity of stifling these growing dissensions in the germ, and giving a new direction to the sentiment of honor and fidelity, which ani- mated these loyal exiles, he imposed upon them an oath, by which they engaged to serve the republic against all its ene- mies, f That oath, which was intended to denaturalize them, by breaking the last tie which bound them to France, was conceived in these terms : " I promise and swear to be loyal and faithful to my lords, the States General of the United Provinces ; to obey the orders and commands of the said States ; of his High- ness and the Council of State, as also of all chiefs and offi- cers, who are already established in charge by the States General, or whom it may please them so to establish for the future, against all powers generally, without excepting any whatsoever, according as the exigence of the affairs and the need of the said provinces may require, as well within, as without, the said provinces, by land and sea ; to respect and execute their commands, and in general to conduct myself according to the articles and ordinances already made and decreed, or hereafter to be made and decreed — So help me God ! " t We have related elsewhere that three French regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and seven hundred and thirty-six officers of the reformed religion, incorporated into all the battalions, embarked with the Prince of Orange, and powerfully contributed to the triumph of his cause in Eng- * Dispatch of May 24tli, 16S6. f D'Avaux, voL v. p. 234. X Groot Plakaatboek, vol, iv. fol. 166. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 47 land, Scotland, and Ireland.* When the revolution was ac- complished in those three kingdoms, William III. returned to the continent, to continue the war against Louis XIV. The refugees followed him thither, and continued to serve him with the same fidelity and valor. A regiment, which was commanded by the Marquis de Ruvigny, fought under his orders at Steinkerque and Neerwinden. A division con- fided to Charles de Schomberg, was sent to the relief of the Duke of Savoy, against the army of Catinat. The Dutch troops themselves became more and more filled with French officers, who covered themselves with glory in that bloody war, which determined the treaty of Ryswick. Upon the re- establishment of peace, the French regiments were dis- banded, but they were hastily reformed in 1703, when the war of the Spanish succession again set Europe in a blaze. Two regiments of infantry, entirely composed of refugees, fought in Piedmont, under the command of La Porte and Cava- lier ; and three others in Holland, under the command of Belcastel, who was afterward replaced by Monteze, de Lisle - maretz, and de Vigouse.f They contributed to the victory of the allies, on the murderous day of Oudenarde, and on that of Malplaquet, which reduced Louis XIV. to sue for peace, and to consent to the Ijumiliating conditions of the preliminaries of the Hague, which the coalized powers had the folly to refuse. AVhile Prince Eugene was making him- self master of Lille, and the road to Paris was open to the enemy, a Dutch company, under the command of refugee officers, had the boldness to penetrate from Courtrai so far as to the very gates of Versailles, and to carry off", on the bridge of Sevres, the first equerry of the King. When the allied powers at last decided upon succoring the Camisards, it was upon Belcastel that they fixed their choice to direct the ex- pedition. Appointed a major-general, at a conference which * See our chapter on the estabhshment of the refugees in England. f Library of Science and Fine Arts, v. xiv. p. 166. 48 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. was held at the Hague, on the 28th of April, 1 704, at the house of General Marlborough, he received orders to levy a body of five thousand men, with whom to penetrate into the Cevennes. The submission of Cavalier rendered that pro- ject abortive. The arrest of one of his officers named Villas, the son of a doctor of St. Hippolyte, who had served as cornet in the regiment of Galloway, made him renounce every temptation to organize an insurrection in Languedoc. But he continued to serve under the flag of the republic, and, in 1710, he received the command of the Dutch troops in Spain. He distinguished himself at the battle of Sara- gossa, which cost Philip V. five thousand lives, four thou- sand prisoners, and sixteen pieces of cannon. It was partly upon his entreaties that Charles III. took the resolution of marching on Madrid, which the grandson of Louis XIV. abandoned for the second time, on the 9th of September, but which the allies were forced to evacuate in their turn, on the 18th of the following November. Some days afterward, the celebrated battle of Villavieiosa was fought and gained by Vendome, in which Belcastel was slain. Among the officers who remained in the service of Hol- land, after having fought under the flag of William III., one of the most illustrious was Goulon, the distinguished pupil of Vauban, who had been so useful to the Mareschal de Schomberg during the Irish war. Having become a general of artillery, and commandant of the regiment of Hoorn, he knew how to maintain the high reputation he had acquired. The other refugees who most signalized themselves in the armies of the republic, are — the Baron d'lvoi, quartermaster- general and first engineer to the Prince of Orange, who ap- pointed him governor of Fort Schenk ; * Jacques de I'Etang, a celebrated architect and engineer, who afterward took up his abode at Amsterdam ; f Collot d'Escury, an artillery offi- * Manuscript collected by Jacques Floui-noy, year 1686. f See the letter of Scion, already quoted. FRENCH ENGINEERS. 49 eer of great merit ; Mauregnault, who likewise distinguished himself in that particular arm ; Paul Auguste de Roehe- brune, son-iu-law of Barbejrac, who was captain and afterward lieutenant-colonel ; and Paul du Ily. an old officer 'of engi- neers, who had repaired the fortifications of Maestricht. The military refugees contributed powerfully to perfect the art of war among the Dutch and their allies. The French engineers, above all, who issued from the schools recently instituted by Louvois, surpassed, at that time, those of all other people ; and the knowledge which those who emigrated diffused throughout the Protestant states, was not without infiuence upon some of the victories which the allied powers gui^ied over the armies of Louis XIV. A great number of soldiers and officers of the marine, after having been compelled to make external professions of Papistry, abandoned the French service for that of Holland. In the month of January, 1686, alone, three French vessels, manned by newly converted sailors, were, upon their arrival in the porta of the Republic, entirely abandoned by their crews, who declared that they would not return to a country where their religion was proscribed.* All the Dutch writers recognize the considerable part which our seamen took in perfecting the naval art in their new country. f Admiral Duquesne was one of the most able seamen of the age. He had seconded, more than any one beside, the efforts of Colbert, in creating those formidable fleets which vanquished Ruyter in the latitudes of Sicily, chastised the corsairs of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, bombarded Genoa, and gave the empire of the sea for thirty years to Louis XIV. After the revocation, he saw with gloomy despair the vessels of the King deserted by a part of the best of their crews, who went to provide for the great need of Holland, which was richer * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 229. f See De Jonge. History of the l^etherlands' Marine (in Dutch), vol. iv. pp. 164, 155. Kcenen, p. 138. VOL. II. — 3 50 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. in merchantmen than in ships of war. In 1686, more than eight hundred experienced seamen had already sought an asylum in the Seven Provinces, and their number was aug- mented without cessation, because they preferred to serve in the fleets of that country, than in those of England, which was governed by the Stuarts.* Often, even after having found a temporary shelter in Plymouth, they re-embarked for some port in Holland. f When the Prince of Orange made his preparations against James II., a hundred and fifty French sailors were enrolled in the single island of Zealand, who were comprised in the grand levy of nine thousand seamen which was ordered by the States General. Being considered choice men, they were placed on board of the two vessels of the Admiral and Vice-Admiral of Zealand. Most of them were natives of the seaboard of La Saintonge, and had been brought to that country by the minister Orillar ; and they announced that more than five hundred seamen of the same province were preparing to follow them.:{: The shores of Normandy, Brittany, Guienne, also largely contributed to that regretted emigration, for it was one of the causes of the rapid decline of our naval power. Many of these fugitives were engaged as officers or marine volunteers, and Holland had more than once occasion to felicitate herself upon the services of a Colin de Plessy, a Crequin La Roche, a Fran- cois Leguat, an Antoine Valleau,a Chobases, a Guillot, and a Desherbiers. But the most illustrious seamen whom per- secution conducted to that country, were the two sons of the admiral, to whom Louis XIV., derogating from the severity of his Edicts, had granted the favor of being allowed to finish bis days in France, without being disquieted , * Dispatch of Bonrepaiis to the Marquis de Seignelay. Amster- dam, May 20, 1686. Archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. f Letter ofTillieres, June 21, 1686. X Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, September 16, 1688. Trench marines in Holland. 51 upon the subject of religion. Henri, Marquis Duquesne, who had been associated with the councils and last great mari- time victories of his father, was accompanied bj his brother Abraham, and an excellent officer of marine, named Charles de Sailly. By a regular treaty, signed in 1689, with the States General, he was authorized to equip ten vessels to conduct a colony of refugees to the Mascarenhas Islands. The sove- reignty of the colony was to belong to himself, and after him to his legitimate heirs, on condition that each new possessor should recognize himself as a vassal of the republic, and should never conclude any treaty or alliance, which might be prejudicial to his sovereign. Great preparations soon announced to all the refugees dispersed throughout Holland, England, Switzerland, and Germany, the approaching depar- ture of an expedition directed against a distant country, which was vaguely designated by the name of Eden. There actually came together a certain number of refugees deter- mined to run the risks of that enterprise. A captain, in a French regiment in the service of Holland, was authorized to accompany the expedition in the quality of engineer, to fortify the island, and remain there six years, preserving in the mean time his rank in the army.* But when the brothers Duquesne learned that the expedition was really directed against the Isle of Bourbon, and that ships of war were leaving France with the same destination, they renounced their project, so as not to break their oath of never to make war against the French flag. They separated themselves from their companions, and retired into the Pays de Vaud, while most of the seamen who had flocked together to serve under their command, went to fight on board the Dutch fleets against the naval armaments of Louis XIY. The refugees likewise served the republic by their politi- cal writings, and by the diplomatic talent of one of the most * Archives of the Hague. Secret Resolutions of their High Mischtinesses. 52 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. illustrious among them. Whilst the great Arnaud publish- ed his writings against the Prince of Orange, perhaps to facilitate his return to France, whence the influence of the Jesuits had banished him, the rights of the Prince were skilfully defended by some of the fugitives, who exposed, at the same time, the intrigues of that powerful order, which had exercised so fatal an influence over Louis XIV. and James II. When Bayle accused all France of having taken part in the persecution of the Reformed, when, addressing himself to the soldiers, conquerors of their fellow-citizens in their fields in the interior, he exclaimed with his Southern fervor — " It is said that you take so much delight in plunder- ing the houses of the heretics, that you already ask one another ; ' Can we not induce the King to send us with his victorious armies to convert all the Protestant States ? Shall we not go to aid the King of England to do, in his kingdom, what has been done in this ?' " * Did it not serve the cause of Holland, and that of William of Orange ? Did it not revive all the hatred against Louis XIY,, and give a new force to those who were preparing to fight against him ? Claude's celebrated paper, which was composed, if we can believe the Count d'Avaux, by the express order of the Prince of Orange, was it not a rude blow to the King of England, who took on it so puerile a vengeance ? Did not " The sighs of enslaved France," which was attributed to Ju- rieu, add to the moral influence of the philosophic party in France, which was opposed to the measures of persecution — a party which was not as yet numerous, but which counted in its ranks many deep thinkers, a Duke de Beauvilliers, a Saint Simon, a Duke de Chevreuse, a Fenelon, a Vauban and a Catinat ? Had not the political and religious reaction which broke out on the death of Louis XIV., and the new system, which was followed by the Regent, been in part prepared by * Romish France, under the reign of Louis the Great. See Bayle, "Divers Works," vol. i. p. 338. The Hague, 1121. JACQUES BASNAGE. 53 tbat ardent paper, which was circulated throughout the whole of France, in spite of the jealous supervision of the police, and which was afterward reprinted, as the work of a patriot, in the first years of the French Revolution ? But, among all the refugees, the brother-in-law of Jurieu, Jacques Basnage, was he who shone in the first rank as a diplomatist, and acquired a European reputation, not only by his writings and discourses, but also by the negotiations which he conducted with as much skill as good fortune. At first, appointed a preacher at Rotterdam, he was soon called to the Hague by the grand pensionary, Heinsius, who appre- ciated his political genius, and desired to attach him as near as possible to his person. Voltaire has said of Basnage, that he was more fit to be the minister of a state, than of a parish.* Heinsius and Van Haren, who ruled in the councils of the republic after the death of William of Orange, intrusted to him many impor- tant missions, and the result always answered their expecta- tion. Once only, in 1709, at the conferences of Gertruyden- berg, he failed in his eflPorts to bring about the peace, which was not sincerely desired by the allies, who were intoxicated by their victories ; and saw, wi.th grief, the request which he addressed to the ministers plenipotentiary of Louis XIV. to restore the liberty of worship to the Protestants who had not quitted the kingdom, denied. At the conferences of Utrecht, he was intrr.sted with a secret negotiation with the Marshal d'Uxelles, a.id acquitted himself with the most bril- liant success. The praises of the Marshal, those of the Marquis de Torcy, and the high opinion which the Cardinal de Bouillon conceived of him, who intrusted to him during his sojourn at the Hague all the affairs which he negotiated with the States, attracted toward him the attention of the Ptegent, who soon gave him a singular mark of his consid- eration and esteem. When, in 1716, he sent the Abbe * Voltaire, Si^cle de Louis XIV. Catalogue of French Writers. 54 FRENCH PPcOTESTANT REFUGEES. Dubois, who was afterward cardinal and prime minister, to the Hague, in the quality of ambassador, to negotiate a treaty of defensive alliance between France, England, and Holland, he ordered him to address himself to Basnage, and to govern himself, in every thing, according to his advice. The love of country was not chilled in the heart of the exile. He zealously employed himself in seconding the French ne- gotiator, and the alliance was concluded in 1717. The discernment which he had shown, and the disinterested sen- timent which had presided over his conduct, determined the Regent spontaneously to raise the sequestration which had been laid upon his property during thirty-two years. When Dubois asked him, in the name of his master, what recom- pense he desired for the service he had rendered : " None for myself," he replied ; "but I should consider it a great favor, if the property which he possessed in Normandy were restored to my brother, Samuel Basnage, of Flottemanville, a preacher of the French church of Zutphen." * Lemontey insinuates, in his History of the Regency, that Basnage al- lowed himself to be gained over by Dubois, and that he worked in the hope of a suitable remuneration. Such a sup. position, however, cannot be admitted. Refuted in advance by the known integrity of the noble exile, it is also formally contradicted by the irreproachable testimony of Dubois him- self, f It is more probable that the Regent used every effort to attach him by the bonds of gratitude, to preserve * Born at Bayeux in 1638, Samuel Basnage, of Flottemanyille, serv- ed the church of that town until 1685 : he accompanied to Holland, his father, Antoine Basnage, of Flottemanville, the brother of Henry Basnage, of Franquenay, the father of Jacques Basnage, and died when pastor at Zutphen, in 1721. He was then the cousin, and not the brother, of Jacques Basnage. The denomination brotlier, put in the mouth of the latter, must be taken entirely in a Christian sense. f See the Letter from Dubois to Basnage, inserted in the preface of the second volume of the "Annals of the United Provinces." The Hague, 1*726. JACQUES BASNAGE. 55 the right of making a new appeal to his patriotism, if events should give occasion for it. He might, in fact, fear that the intrigues of Alberoni, who aspired to play the part of Riche- lieu, ar.d restore Spain to its former power, would shortly incite the Protestants of the Cevennes again to take up arms, and rekindle the terrible war of the Camisards. In his dis- quiet, he sent a gentleman to the Hague, and directed him to Basnage, whose assistance he asked for the maintenance of peace in France. He put the French government in rela- tion with Antoine Court, a pastor of the Desert, w^ho, by his active correspondence, the authority attached to his words, and his frequent journeys, undertaken at the peril of his life, in the Southern provinces, exercised an unlimited influ- ence over the Protestant population, and could at his will recommend them to submit, or excite them to revolt. Im- bued with the doctrines of passive obedience preached by Calvin, Basnage had severely condemned the rising of the mountaineers of the Cevennes, while Jurieu justified the in- surrection on the principles of natural right, A new civil war, fomented by the agents of the minister of Philip V., could only aggravate still more the lot of the inhabitants of the Cevennes. Basnage knew this, and joining his efforts to those of Antoine Court, at the request of the Count de Mor-- ville, the French ambassador at Holland, and in accordance with the express prayer of the Regent, he addressed to his co-religionists in France a pastoral letter, which was printed at Paris by the order of the Duke of Orleans, and dissemi- nated through all the provinces of the kingdom, and espe- cially those of the South. That letter, which was written with tact and circumspection, powerfully seconded the concil- iatory overtures commenced by Antoine Court. The Protes- tant population of Languedoc and the Cevennes renounced an unequal struggle, which could only be of service to the foreign enemy ; and the French government, in its turn, put 56 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. a salutary check upon the pitiless animosity of the succes- sors of Montrevel and Baville.* *See the article Basn age, in Cliaufepie's Dictionary. — La France Pz-otestante, by M. M. Haag, vol. ii. pp. 8, 9. Coequerel, Histoiy of the Churches of the Desert, vol. i. pp. 91^92. Count de Gebelin, Primitive World, vol. i. pp. 5, 6, T. CHAPTER III. OF THE EELIGIOUS AND LITEEARY INTLIJEXOE OF THE EEFTTGEE9 DJ HOLLAND. Renewal of the old Walloon colonies— Influence of the French preachers— Charles Saurin— Claude— Jurieu — Du Bosc— Superville — Propagation of the French lan- guage in Holland — Progress of instruction in the middle classes — The French Refugees — Progress of letters and sciences— Influence of the Refugees on civil and criminal law — Advancement of the exact sciences — Pierre Lyonnet — Lite- rary emigration — Bayle — Progress of historic science — James Basnage — Benoit — Jauigon— Periodical literature— French journals— Letters on matters of the day- Historical and political Mercury— Leyden Gazette— Literary Journalism— New republic of letters. From the period of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Calvinist France, deprived of her academies, had no longer to enumerate, within her own bosom, any great writers, and no longer possessed the means of forming new ones. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, whole provinces lacked temples and pastors ; others possessed uneducated ministers only, irregularly nominated at meetings held in desert places, who were recommended less by their oratorical talents, than by the indomitable zeal which prompted them to affront martyrdom. But a colony of preachers and literary men had withdrawn to Holland. There it found repose and liberty, consideration and honor ; and, from that time, it labored without relaxation to maintain the faith, and spread light through the unhappy country, which it had been forced 58 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. to abandon. From the " dragoonings " to the reign of Louis XVI., Holland was the most brilliant focus of French Pro- testantism. It beamed thence throughout France, England, Germany ; but it is principally over the United Provinces themselves that it exercised the strongest influence. It re- kindled the Walloon church in that country, it propagated, or at least accelerated, therein the growth of the French language, and communicated to letters and sciences a salu- tary impulse, which that country feels to this day. The Walloon communities, created in the second half of the sixteenth century, which were tending more and more to the loss of their proper character, and to a fusion among the Netherlandish population, were reinvigorated, and, if one may so express himself, restored to youth by the arrival of the Refugees. The colonies of Rotterdam, of Nimeguen, and Tholen, were ready to disappear ; they owed their pre- servation to the emigrants. That of Amsterdam would have been sufficiently numerous, and sufficiently strong, to defend its nationality against the invading tide of the Dutch tongue ; but it, nevertheless, received a great increase, and a new ele- ment of duration, from the admission of so many thousands of new fugitives. After the revocation, the Walloon communities were in need of pastors. The government of Louis XIV. provided amply for that necessity. The single colony of Amsterdam was strengthened by the arrival of sixteen banished preachers, and other ministers banished from France. More than two hundred more spread themselves through all the towns of the United Provinces. These were the picked men of the Protestant clergy of the realm ; for, it must be said, a cer- tain number of pastors had yielded to allurements and trick- eries, and embraced the Romish religion, in order to avoid quitting their country. Those who resigned themselves to exile were firm and courageous men, who had power enough to resist both promises and threats, and who carried as much FRENCH PREACHERS IN HOLLAND. 59 authority by the weight of their example, as by that of their preaching. Sprung for the most part from the nobility, or the upper class of citizens, they were equally used to inter- course with people of high and low quality. Equal with these by birth, they knew well how to approach to the level of these by an easy and natural familiarity, and they pre- sided over their pastoral cures with a conscientious duty to which the old Walloon communities were unaccustomed. During the whole of the eighteenth century, in all the towns in which one met the refugees, or the descendants of the French refugees, the names of these first ministers were never pronounced but with respect and veneration. The influence which they exerted on the reform of preaching was their first title to honor. To appreciate the full bearing of this, it will become necessary to compare their discourses with those of the Walloon or Netherlandish pastors. The difference is immense. Pulpit eloquence had arrived at the highest degree of perfection in each of the two churches, which disputed one with the other the empire of consciences ; and several of the exiled ministers were hardly inferior to Bossuet, and certainly superior to Massillon, Bourdaloue, and Flechier. The Walloon communities had no orators comparable to them ; as to the preaching of the Netherland school, it was learned, but monotonous and lifeless. So that the French churches were frequented, not only by the re- fugees, but by all the descendants of the Walloon families, and by all those of the Dutch who had studied the French tongue, and to whom education had communicated a juster taste, and higher literary aspirations. In many towns, the magistrates were almost regular in their attendance at the preachings. A considerable number of Hollanders even united themselves to the French communities, and thus com- pensated the losses which the new colonies experienced, by the loss of such members as attached themselves to the national churches. 60 FRE-\CH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. This superiority of the French preaching lasted a consi clerable time, perhaps, in consequence of a particular usage of the United Provinces. In these, the pastoral functions were transmitted hereditarily from father to son, and thus became gradually hereditary in certain families. Thus were formed, as among the ancient Hebrews, actual hereditary ra- ses of priesthood, such as the Chaufepies, originally natives Df Poitou, the Mouniers of Perigord, the Delprats of Mon- fcauban, and the Saurins of Nimes. A crowd of pastors, descended from these illustrious ancestors, filled the pulpits of Amsterdam, the Hague, Kotterdam, Leyden, and Harlaem, and contributed to preserve to those churches the renown, svhich had been acquired by the talent of their first founders. Nevertheless, the compulsory separation in which they lived from their own country, and the impossibility of imita- ting the great models of the French Roman Catholic Church, rendered them greatly inferior to their predecessors. But this slow deterioration was preceded by a real revolution in Dutch preaching and Walloon preaching, which were now re- modelled entirely on the French style, and have ever since maintained an elevated rank. The most brilliant orator of the Refuge, James Saurin, belongs to the second period of the emigration. Born at Nimes in 1677, he soon followed his father to Geneva, he having been compelled to fly for religion's sake, and com- menced serious studies in that city, which was, however, shortly interrupted by the desire of distinguishing himself in arms. Pie was scarcely fifteen years of age, when he en- tered the regiment embodied by the Marquis de Ruvigny, and levied for the service of the Duke of Savoy, who was at that period engaged in the European coalition against Louis XIV. After the defection of that prince, he returned to Geneva, and there completed his religious education. From that time forth, the oratorical exercises of the young student attracted uumecous auditories, and one day it was even found JAMES SAURIN. 61 necessary to open the cathedral for the reception of the crowd which flocked to hear him. Scarcely was he consecra- ted to the ministry, when he was appointed minister to the French church in London, where the celebrated English preacher Tillotson, whom he took for his model, added the last finish to his admirable talent. It was at this period, perhaps, that Abbadie, hearing him for the first time, ex- claimed, " Is this a man or an angel, who is speaking to us ? " Invited to the Hague in 1705, with the title of minister ex- traordinary of the French community of the nobles, he preach- ed there with astonishing success. By the extent of his information, the elevation of his thoughts, the brilliancy of his imagination, the luminous method of his exposition, the purity of his style, and the neatness and vigor of his expres- sions, he produced the liveliest impression on the multitudes of refugees, who thronged into the precincts of the temple,- far too limited to contain them. The flower of the Dutch population of that city, Heinsius, Van Haren, the statesmen who then held in their hands the destinies of Europe, has- tened together to hear him, and to unite their testimony and approbation to that of the French. All, even to the seren- ity of his noble countenance, the clearness of his resonant and melodious voice, to the blending in his style of Genevese zeal with southern ardor, contributed to charm the numerous auditors who thronged to hear his sermons. Saurin excelled especially in those solemn prayers, with which he loved to close his discourses. He displayed, in these, a strain of supplication which had, up to this time, been ob- served in no other preacher. Some judgment may be formed of these from a celebrated passage of his discourse, on fugi- tive devotions, pronounced in the religious solemnities of the first day of the year 1710. When he came to the peroration, he addressed himself, in his prayers, to the faithful of every class, who were collected in the temple — to the magistrates of the Republic, to the ambassadors of allied powers, to the 62 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ministers of the church, to fathers and mothers of families to military men, to the young, to the old, to the body of the refugees, and to the monarch, who was the author of their calamities. This passage, in our opinion, deserves to be ranked among the finest masterpieces of sacred eloquence. " After giving ear to my exhortations, receive now my prayers — and, first I turn me to the walls of that palace, wherein those laws of equity and justice take their form, which constitute the happiness and glory of these provinces. Fosterers of our church, our masters and our sovereigns, may God confirm to you that power, which you support with so much glory — may God maintain in your hands the reins of this republic, which you guide with such wisdom, and moderation ! . . . . " To you, also, I turn me, illustrious personages, who represent, in these provinces, the first heads of the Christian world, and who, in some sort, give it to us to see, in the bosom of this assembly, princes, electors, kings, repub- lics. May God unlock all his treasures, in favor of those con- secrated personages, who are as Gods on earth, of whose august characters you are the vicegerents ; and, the better to enable them worthily to support the burthen of supreme power, may God be pleased to preserve to them ministers such as you, who know alike to cause the sovereign authority to be the object of respect and love. " I bless you, also, sacred Levites of the Lord, ambassa- dors of the King of kings, ministers of the new alliance, who bear inscribed on your foreheads, ' Holiness to the Lord,' and ' in the breastplate of judgment upon your hearts the names of the children of Israel.' * And you, conduc- tors of the flock, who are, as it were, associated with us in the work of the ministry, may God inspire you with the zeal of his house. * Exodus, chap, xxviii. 29 — 35. saurin's eloquence. 63 " Receive our prayers, fathers and mothers of families ; t happy to see yourselves reproduced in your second selves, happier yet to introduce those, whom you bring into this vale of misery, to the assembly of the first born, God grant that you may make of your houses sanctuaries to his glory, and of your children offerings to him, who is ' the Father of spirits,' * and ' the God of the spirits of all flesh.' f " Receive our prayers, men of war ; you, who after so many wars, you who after so many combats, are yet called upon to combat anew ; you who, after having escaped so many perils, behold yet a new career of perils opening before you ! May you ever have the God of Battles fighting on your side, may you see victory constantly following in your foot- steps ! May you, when you tread down the foe, realize to yourselves this maxim of the wise one, better is ' he that ruleth his own spirit, than he that taketh a city.'J " Receive Qur prayers, young people ; may you be for ever preserved from the contagion of this world, into which you have so recently entered, may you devote to your salvation the precious time, which you enjoy, may you remember ' your Creator in the days of your youth. ' ^ " Receive our prayers, ye that are aged, ye who have already one foot in the tomb, or, let me rather say, who have your hearts in heaven, where your treasure is also ; || may you behold ' your outer man perish, but your inner man renewed day by day ;' 1" may you behold the weakness of your bodies repaired by the strength of your souls, and the eternal tabernacles opening to receive you, when the man- sions of dust shall melt away from their foundations. " Receive our prayers, ye desolated countries, who have been for so many years the bloody theatre of the bloodiest war, that has ever yet been known. May the sword of * Hebrews xii. 9. f Numbers xvi. 22. X Proverbs xvi. 32. § Ecclesiastes xii. 1. II Matthew vi. 21. 1 2 Cor. iv. 16. 64 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the Eternal, imbrued in so much blood, 'put up itself into its scabbard, rest and be still.'* May the exterminat- ing angel, who has laid waste your fields, cease from his bloody executions May the dew of heaven succeed to the gory rain, which has fallen upon you for so many years. "Are our prayers all exhausted? Alas! In this clay of joy, shall we forget our sorrows ? Happy inhabitants of these provinces, who have been so often troubled by the re- cital of our miseries, we rejoice over your prosperity, and will you refuse us your compassion in our trouble ? And ye, • firebrands plucked from the burning' f sad and venerable remnants of our unhappy churches, beloved brethren, whom the calamities of the times have cast upon these shores, shall we forget the miserable relics of ourselves ? Groans and lamentations of captives, weeping sacrificers, mourning vir- gins, solemn feasts interrupted, roads of Zion spread with mourning, backsliders, martyrs, spectacles of blood, doleful sounds of wailing, be ye the movers of this auditory. ' If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cun- ning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem to any other joy. I Peace be within thy walls and prosperity in thy palaces. For my brethren's and my companion's sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.' ^ May God be touched, if not by the ardor of our prayers, at least by the depth of our miseries ; if not by the misadventures of our fortunes, at least by the desolations of his sanctuaries ; if not by these bodies which we painfully drag over the face of the earth, at least by these souls, of which they would fain deprive us." This allusion to the persecution of the French Protes- tants seemed to recall his thoughts to the persecuting king. The silence and attention of the audience increased tenfold. Every one expected an outbreak of indignation, but in lieu * Jer. xlvli 6. _ f Amos iv. 11. X Ps. cxxxvii. 5, 6. § Ps- cxxii. 1, 8. NEW year's sermon OF 1710. 65 thereof, religion stopped sliort the malediction already trembling on his lips, and caused him to utter words of par- don, accompanied by the following sublime prayer : " And thou, mighty Prince, whom once I honored as my king, whom I still respect as the scourge of the Most High, thou also shalt have a portion in my prayer. These provinces, which thou threatenest with thy wrath, but which the arm of the Eternal still upholds against thee; these climates, which thou peoplest with fugitives, but with fugi- tives who are imbued with charity ; these walls, which inclose thousands of martyrs of thy making, but whom faith makes triumphant, may all yet one day ring with blessings in thy favor. God grant that the fatal bondage, which shuts out the truth from thy sight, may fall from before thine ej'-es. May God forget the rivers of blood, with which thou hast deluged the land, and which thy reign has seen increase abroad. May God be pleased to efface from his book the evils, which thou hast done to us, while recompensing those who have endured them. God grant that, having been the minister of his judgments against us and against our church, thou mayest be yet the dispenser of his graces, and the minister of his mercies. " I return to you, my brethren; I include you all in my prayers. May God send down his Spirit upon this assem- bly ! May God grant that this year be to us a year of his benevolence, a preparation for eternity. . . . But it suffices not, that I should wish for you these blessings — perseverance must be had to obtain them for you — they must be drawn from the Source on high. It suffices not that a mortal man should send up prayers in your behalf; the ratification of them must be sought from him, 'who is the blessed and only true Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,' * We must make our way to the throne of God Himself; we must wrestle with the mighty God ; we must compel him, * 1 Timothy vi. 15. 66 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. by our tears and supplications, and suffer him not to go until he have blessed us.* Magistrates, people, soldiers, citizens, pastors, and flocks, come, bend your knees before the Monarch of the world ; and you, devouring griefs and cares of this world, begone, begone as a flight of vain birds, and trouble us not in our holy sacrifice."! Nevertheless, the refugees often gave themselves up to discouragement and despair. They disti-usted Providence, and complained of the miseries which seemed to dog their footsteps. Saurin, in his sermon, pronounced on the occasion of the fast, on the opening of the campaign of 1706, which was so fatal to the arms of Louis XIV., attempted, with a boldness, of which Christian preaching presents but few ex- amples, to convince them of their wrong, and to justify to them the ways of Grod. The exordium of this sermon is grand and majestical. " I conjure you, by the walls of this temple which are yet standing, but which the enemy is determined to beat down ; by the love you bear your wives and children, whose fate is already decided ; by the love you bear the state and your religion ; by the name of our sovereigns, of our generals, of our soldiers, whose prudence and valor most surely never can succeed, but with the aid of the Most High, I conjure you to bring to these exercises of devotion, attentive minds and willing hearts. "J After these exhortations to the congregations, he dis- played to the eyes of the faithful who filled the temple, an extraordinary spectacle. As in the days of the prophet Micah, the Eternal has a cause to try between himself and his people, and desiring to reply to the accusations of his people, and to bring it over to knowledgment of its faults, and to repentance, he opens the solemn debate by putting to * Falsely quoted from Exodus xxxii. 26, which contains no such or similar passage. f Sermons of James Saurin, vol. xi. p. 144-146. Paris, 1829. i Sermons of James Saurin, vol. viii. p. 112. SERMON ON THE GENERAL FAST. 67 them this question : '' My people, what have I done to ye ?" " Ah ! Lord, what things hast thou not done unto us ! The roads of Zion, filled with mourning ; the gates of Jerusalem, desolate ; the sacrificers in tears ; the virgins in affliction ; the sanctuaries, beaten down ; the wilderness, peopled with fugi- tives;* the children, torn from their parents; the prisons filled, with believers ; the galleys, crowded with martyrs ; the blood of our countrymen, poured abroad like water ; the venerable corpses of the dead, since all these may serve as witnesses for religion's sake, now cast into the kennels as food for the birds of the air and beasts of the field ; the walls of our temples, now heaps of dust and ashes; the mournful relics of houses consecrated to our God ; the flames, the wheels, the gibbets, the tortures, unheard of until our century, let them appear to answer, and make reply against the Eternal."! And then the Protestant preacher justifies the Lord, after the example of the ancient prophets, maintaining that it is his object only to punish the sins of his people, and that, even among his severest punishments, he has shown the clemency of a merciful father. The strange dialogue continues. The Lord in his turn utters his complaints, and when his just reproaches have been heard, Saurin ex- claims, " Such is the cause which the Lord brings against you. Justify yourselves, plead, speak, reply, ' My people, what have I done unto you ? What have you to say, in your favor ? How will you justify your ingratitude?" and when he saw his audience confused and in consternation, he re- plied, in their behalf, as Israel responded to Micah, "With what shall I prevent the Eternal ? with what shall I pros- trate myself before the Lord ? " J * Several of these expressions occur again in his discourse of New Year's Day, 1710. These repetitions, common enough in Saurin's writings, are one of his greatest faults as a preacher. f Sermons of James Saurin, vol. viii. p. 112. ;{: Isaiah Hi. 10. 68 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. In another sermon on the text, '' les inofondeurs divines^ he consoles and raises up the refugees, showing them Louis XIV., so long happy in all his enterprises, fallen from his fortunes, and bowed in his turn beneath the hand of an avenging God. It is impossible to read, without a feeling of painful bitterness, this eloquent invective of a Frenchman, alienated from his native land, and rejoicing ^ at our disasters of Ramilies and Hochstadt. But it must i not be forgotten, in his behalf, that to him, as to most of the refugees exasperated by their misery, the subjects of LouiS; XIV. were but enemies, and that the enemies of France hadi become their fellow-citizens. " I see him at first equalling, what do I say, excelling rather, the proudest potentates, elevated to a height which astonished the whole world, happy in his family, victorious in his arms, increased in his domains. I see places con- quered, battles gained, all blows aimed at his throne serving ^ Qnly to strengthen it. I see an idolatrous court exalting I itself above men, above heroes, and equalling itself to God I himself. I see all parts of the world, inundated by his armies, our frontiers threatened, religion tottering, and the Protestant world on the very verge of ruin. At the sight of these storms, I expect, no longer, any thing beyond the last blow, and I exclaim aloud, ' barque, dismantled by the storm, must you too be swallowed in the waves ?' " Lo ! the Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations,* he conieth forth from the bosom of chaos, he confounds us by the miracles of his love, after having confounded us by the darkness of his providence. Lo ! in the space of two short campaigns,! more than a hundred thousand of the enemy, buried in the waves, or cut down by the swords of our soldiery, trampled beneath the feet of our horses, or languishing under the burthen of our chains. Lo ! mighty provinces reduced to our sway. Lo ! * Isaiah lii. 10. f The Campaigns of Hochstadt and Ramilies. REPROACHES TO BACKSLIDERS. by our noble warriors crowned with the greenest bays, that have met our view. Lo ! the fatal power, which would mount the skies, tottering, falling into ruin. My brethren, let these events make you wise. Let us not presume to measure the doings of God by our standard, but let us learn to respect the depths of his providence." * But if he lavished words of the richest consolation on his companions in exile, if he exalted and glorified the men, who, to adopt his expression, gained for all their spoils their lives only,! he is pitiless towards those, whom he accuses of trafficking with truth, and whom he brands with the name of temporisers, smiting with one common anathema all the Protestants who continued in France, and who were desig- nated officially under the title of new converts, and loads them with merciless reproaches. " Where is the family of our exiles, which may not apply to itself these words of a prophet : ' The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea.'t Ah, scandal of the reforma- tion ! ah, memory, worthy to open an eternal source of tears ! Thou, Rome, who insultest and bravest us, hope not to overwhelm us by showing us the galleys, which thou fillest with our convicts, whose sufferings thou dost aggravate by the cruel lash, by the chains, with which thou dost oppress them, by the vinegar, which thou dost pour into their wounds ! Hope not to overpower us by the sight of thy black dungeons, unvisited by the light of day, the horrors of which thou dost enhance by blending the bodies of the living with the bodies of the dead — places which, despite all their horrors, are changed into places of delight by the influences of that grace, which God instils into the heart of his prisoners, and by the songs of joy ■* Saurin's Sermons, vol. i. pp. 163, 164. f Sermon on the Consecration of the Temple of Voorberg. :}: Jeremiah li. 35. 70 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. which they continnaUy chant to his glory. Hope not to overpower us, by showing us our houses ruined, our families dispersed, and our congregations wandering over the face of the world. These matters are our glory, and thou dost but celebrate our praises, in insulting us with them. Wouldst thou overwhelm us with confusion ? Show, show the souls, which thou hast won from us ; make it a reproach to us, not that thou hast extirpated heresy, but that thou hast driven us to deny our religion ; not that thou hast made us martyrs, but that thou hast made us renegadoes from the truth." * In his ordinary sermons, he has often bursts of eloquence that recall to our minds the elevated and audacious flight of the eagle of Meaux. Erecting himself against the pusilla- nimous beings, who were sending in their conversions day by day, without thinking of the death, which must needs one day overtake them, *'Ah!" he exclaimed, "would to God that our voice, rendered stunning as the thunder, and the light of our discourses, rendered brilliant as that which overwhelmed St. Paul on his way to Damascus, might cast you down, like that apostle, at the feet of the Lord. Would to Grod that the idea of despair and the awful idea of the torments of the other world might fill you with salutary terror, and force you to repentance P'f In his fine sermon on the equality of men, he has conceived a picture, of appal- ling energy, of that death which awaits us all. " Whither goest thou, rich man, who boastest thyself that thy fields have yielded their harvests ; and who sayest to thy soul, ' Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry ? ' Thou goest to the grave. And whither goest thou, poor man, who wearest out a weary life, begging thy bread from door to door, who livest in perpetual anxiety, how thou mayest procure thee the food to support, the garments to cover thee, * Sermons of Saurin, vol. i. p. 121. f Extract from the second sermon on the Repoi'ts of Conversions. CLAUDE. 71 subject to the charity of these, to the contempt of those ? Thou goest to the grave. Whither goest thou, nobly born, who dost bedeck thyself with borrowed glories ; who reckonest thy virtues by the titles of thine ancestors ; who dreamest that thou art formed of clay more precious than the rest of humanity ? Thou goest to the grave. Whither goest thou, plebeian, who mockest at the folly of the noble, yet boastest thyself only after another fashion ? Thou goest to the grave. Whither goest thou, merchant, whose breath of life is in the increase of thy capital and revenues ? Thou goest to the grave. Whither go we all, my beloved auditors ? We go to the grave. Is death a respecter of per- sons, of titles, of dignity, of wealth ? Where is Alexander ? Where is Caesar ? Where are those conquerors, whose mere names made the whole world tremble ? They were, but are no longer."* The discourses of Saurin on charity, and on divine com- passion, abound in passages in which his soul displays itself in a tender and more touching form. His fine soul seems to breathe forth its every feeling in this simple yet pathetic cry : " You love me, and I die." It is not hard to judge of the effects produced by that noble voice, which resounded during five-and-twenty years under the vaulted aisles of the temple of the Hague ! Nothing, however, can convey a clearer idea of his influence, if it be not the deep veneration and pious affection with which the memory of the great orator, perpetually kept alive by the assiduity with which his works are read, is still regarded in Holland. Not far removed from Saurin, though of inferior rank, other orators of " the Refuge" contributed, in but a little inferior degree, to furnish models of Christian eloquence to the Walloon and Netherlandish preachers. Born in 1619, at Le Sauvetat, near Villefranche, in Rouerque, of a father himself a minister, Claude was admitted to the ministry at * Extract from sermon on the equality of men. 72 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the age of twenty-six. He was at first attached to a church held in fief, and afterward preached successively at Sainte- Affrique, Nimes, and Montauban. Having opposed the efforts of some of his people, who were desirous of reuniting the Protestants to the Romish Church, the exercise of his pastoral functions was forbidden to him by the court in Languedoc and Quercy. But his reputation soon brought about his call to Paris, and he was minister at Charenton» from 1666 until 1685. After the revocation, he was com- pelled to retire into Holland, where the Prince of Orange received him with deference and respect. The refugees con- sidered him as the oracle of their party, and as the theolo- gian most capable of combating Amand and Bossuet. His exterior, it is true, had nothing imposing ; his voice was even disagreeable, and his style was equally lacking in brilliancy and color. But these failings were compensated by a manly and vigorous eloquence, and by a close and pressing method of reasoning, which carried conviction to the soul. He had, above all, a special fitness for the treatment of controversial questions, and his method of instruction was so clear and so happily appropriated to the customs of the pulpit, that his disciples derived from his discourses the same benefits, which the most celebrated masters received from the old Protestant academies. Thence arose the great concourse of students who crowded about him. Thence the influence which he exerted, by their intervention yet more than of himself, on Walloon and Dutch preaching. All that is left of him is a small number of unprinted sermons. The most remarkable is that which he delivered at the Hague, on the twenty-first of November, 1685, that is to say, one month only after his departure from France. The old man banished, and all but dying, thanked therein the magistrates of the United Prov- inces for the noble use they made of their riches in aiding the poor refugees, whom the practice of their common creed had driven from their countries and their homes. Who 73 would not have been deeply moved in listening to tliese words at once so simple and so touching : " May God himself deign to be your remunerator, and restore to you a thousand-fold the good which he has put it into your hearts to do us. Suffer us, however, in order to bring ourselves more nearly to your affections, to say to you as Ruth said once to Naomi, we come here to make but one body with you, and, inasmuch as your God is our God, your laws shall be our laws, and your interests ours also. Where you live, we will live ; where you die, we will die also, and we will be buried in your tombs. Love us, then, as 5"0ur brothers and your countrymen, and compassionate our weak- nesses. We are born under a sky, which gives us not that sage, discreet, and self- constrained temperament, which you possess by birth. Support us, therefore, for it is just that we should form ourselves, so far as it is in our power to do, according to the rules of your prudence ; and we hope also of your equity, that it will not reckon against us all our infirmities. " For you, my brethren, who are here as the miserable relics of a great disaster, it is you especially to whom I should address these words : ' And for the day of adversity take ye heed.' It is you who are addressed therein. I con- fess that one of our first duties, on entering this state, is to thank God for having delivered us from so rude and violent a tempest, and for having brought us happily to this port ; and, in this light more especially, may we call this the day of our welfare. But, although this welfare be an inestimable gift, it is nevertheless mingled with so many mournful recol- lections, and mixed up with so much bitterness, that it would require the greatest insensibility not to regard it as the day of the greatest adversity that could have befallen us. I propose not to enter upon a long consideration of our mis- fortunes, nor to dwell upon the secondary causes which have brought them to pass. Our misfortunes are known to you, 74 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. and how should they not be so ? They are known to the whole of Europe ; and as for the secondary causes, as they are hut impure canals, and inferior sources, which the ma- lignity of the age has poisoned, it is well that we should cover them with a \e'A, for fear of awakening against our- selves sentiments, which we do not desire to awaken. Let us leave them, therefore, to the judgment of the Lord, or rather, let us beseech the Lord to change them, and not to impute unto us their rancor."* Beyond these sermons, there remain to us of Claude only a few controversies, on religious subjects, and a celebrated treatise, which appeared in Holland, in 1686, under this title, " The Complaints of the Protestants in France." The two following passages, which we borrow from the last publica- tion, are, perhaps, sterile of eloquence, but the force and weight of the expression every where respond to that of the thought, and the deep conviction of the writer communicates itself irresistibly to the reader. " After this breach of promise and reversal, what would there have been, thenceforth, firm or inviolable in France ? I say not only for the fortunes of individuals or the honor of great houses, but still more for general establishments, for other laws, for sovereign corporations, for the regulation of justice and police, in a word, for all that tends to the foundation and support of society, even to the inalienable rights of the crown and the forms of society. There are, in this kingdom, very many enlightened persons ; I speak not of those versifiers, who for the value of a dozen madrigals or of some panegyric of royalty, receive as their pay benefices and pensions, nor of those book-makers, on the right or on the left, who know every thing except that which it would be good for them to know — namely, that they are persons of the * This passage is to be found in a collection of sermons on divers texts of Holy Writ, delivered by Jean Claude, p. 486. Genev.i. Samuel de Journes. 1693. PROTEST AGAINST LOUIS XIV. 75 smallest consideration ; but I do speak of those wise, solid, and clear-sighted spirits, which see from afar the conse- quences of facts, and know whereby to judge of them. It is not easy to conjecture, how they should have failed to per- ceive, what is but too perceptible, that ' the state is stabbed through and through by the same thrust which stabbed the Protestants,' and that the revocation of the Edict, done so insultingly, leaves nothing sacred or immutable. It is far from true, that the detestation of our religion is general to the sentiments of the Romanists, since it is certain that, set- ting aside the devotees, and those who are called the propa- gandists of the faith, neither the people nor the nobles have displayed the slightest animosity against us, but that, on the contrary, thay have pitied our misfortunes." * A little farther, solemnly protesting, in the name of all the refugees, against the injustice of Louis XIV. — " We desire," he exclaimed, " that this writing which con- tains our just complaints, may serve us, before Heaven and earth, as a protest against the wrongs done us in the realm of Trance ; particularly we protest against the Edict of the month of October, 1685, as against a manifest surprise, per- petrated on His Majesty's justice, and as a visible abuse of the royal authority and power, the Edict of Nantes being by its very nature irrevocable and inviolable, beyond the reach of any human power, and made, in order to be a per- petual treaty between the Komanists and us ; an act of public faith, and a fundamental law of the state, which can be infringed by no authority whatsoever. We protest against all the consequences of this revocation ; against the extinc- tion of the exercise of our religion in the whole kingdom of France ; against the infamies and cruelties practised upon our corpses, in refusing them burial, in casting them fn un- consecrated places, whither they were disgracefully dragged * Complaints of the French Protestants, pp. 88, 89. Edition of Cologne, 1713. 76 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. on hurdles ; against the abstraction of children, for the pur- pose of instructing them in the Popish religion. We pro- test, above all, against that impious and detestable practice, to which France still holds fast, of making religion depend on the will of a mortal and corruptible prince, and of treating perseverance in faith as an act of rebellion and a state offence, which is, in fact, to make of man a Grod."* Pierre Jurieu, like Claude, worked greater influence on the morals of men, by his controversial writings, than by his sermons. Born at Mer, near Orleans, in 1637, he studied at the Academy of Saumur, afterward visited the universities of Holland and England, and was recalled, after the bril- liant success of his " Treatise on Devotion," to fill the chair of Hebrew and theology at Sedan. The suppression of that academy determined him to withdraw to Rotterdam, where he was nominated pastor of the Walloon church and profes- sor of theology. It was at the period, when Bossuet, having combated the pretensions of the Ultramontane party, and laid the foundations of the liberties of the Gallic Church, was bringing to bear afresh his formidable polemics on " the Reformed," and was pursuing the refugees to the last asylums they had found against the vengeance of Louis XIV. A masterpiece of dogmatism, " The Explanation of the Doc- trines of the Church," had already sprung from this burning strife. He resumed it, in 1688, by a masterpiece of history, " The History of Changes." The exiled preachers were strangely embarrassed. They could not refute the Bishop of Meaux, unless by meeting him at his starting post, except in denying that change is a sign of error. Orthodox Pro- testantism was weakly defended by the organ of Basnage, who endeavored to oppose to the picture of changes, traced by the champion of the Romish Church, another picture of the changes of that very church, and the unchanged unity of * Complaints of the Protestants of France, pp. 88, 89. Edition of Cologne. 1*743. HISTORY OF CHANGES. 77 all the fundamental dogmas in all the reformed communities. Rational Protestantism answered more boldly. Jurieu, who at that period represented it with a certain degree of bril- liancy, sought not to deny the variations ; he confessed them without evasion ; but, at the same time, he labored to demon- strate that they had been frequent throughout the annals of Christianity ; that religion itself had been composed, so to speak, piece by piece, and that the truth of God had been deciphered by fragments. He dared to maintain, in his " Treatise on the Power of the Church," that the great Christian society is composed of all the several societies, which recognize the law of Christ, and have held to the foun- dations of the faith. Bossuet replied victoriously, charging it against his adversary, that he was breaking down all the divisions of sects for the aggrandizement of his own church, to such a degree, that he would find it impossible to exclude either the Arians or the Socinians. Perhaps Jurieu might have found a stronger argument in defence of his doctrine, had he taken one step farther in advance, and proclaimed the absolute independence of individual conscience. It must be admitted that, in this case, an iirperceptible line of demar- cation only would have separati- J him, and that barely, from philosophy ; but Jurieu corld never consent to overstep that limit. On another capital point, he was the only person / who dared encounter Bossuet with resolution scarcely free ■ from the charge of rashness. " The History of Chiuiges " charged the Protestants with having authorized revolt for religion's sake, in defiance of the evangelical precept, which commands obedience to constituted authorities. Contrary to the Calvinistic tradition preserved by Basnage, Jurieu decidedly upheld the right of resistance to tyranny, and for- mally proclaimed the sovereignty of the people; thus re- animating the great but dangerous principle which had been abandoned in France, since the close of the religious wars. 78 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Doctrines so audacious could not but compromise and ruin him in the opinion of many of his comrades in exile. The calamities, which accompanied the emigration of so many fugitives, and the new persecutions which were brought on by the war of the Cevennes, ceased not to embitter his hot and zealous temper. He attacked the Romish religion with violence unworthy of a clergyman, and hesitated not pro- phetically to announce its speedy downfall. His friends en- deavored in vain to moderate the excesses of his fiery zeal. Their remostrances served only to irritate him yet farther ; and he assailed them also with ferocious libels. Bayle, Bas- nage, Sauriu, were treated with no more respect than Bos- suet, Fenelon, Arnaud, or Nicole. These continued strug- gles speedily wore him out. He died in Rotterdam in 1713, having lost consideration in his latter days for his political prophecies, proved false by the event, but leaving behind him a multitude of works, which left a vast influence on the spirits of men. Perhaps the only one, which has not suffered by time, and which is not disfigured by an aggressive char- acter, is his " Critical History of Dogmas," in which he established, with no less sagacity than erudition, the succes- sion of religious systems among the peoples of antiquity. Another minister of Rotterdam, Pierre Du Bosc, played a more modest, but far more useful part, than Jurieu. Son of an advocate in the parliament of Rouen, he was born at Bayeux in 1632, was appointed pastor in Caen, while as yet very young, and acquired so great a reputation for eloquence, that the church of Paris was anxious to attach him thereto. He refused this honor, not choosing to leave his native land. Banished for some time to Chalons, under the pretext that he had made direct attacks on the Romish religion, he con- tracted close relations of amity with. Conrart, and with Ab- lancourt, who died in his arms. When the rumor went abroad, in 1668, that Louis XIV. was about to suppress the Chambers of the Edict at Paris and Rouen, he was unani- BANISHMENT OF MINISTERS. 79 mously designated by the deputies of the churches to bear their remonstrances to the feet of the monarch. After the audience, going into the apartments of the Queen, where all the court awaited him, the King hesitated not to declare, " Madame, I have just listened to the man, who speaks the best of all my kingdom." And turning to the courtiers, he added, " It is certain, at least, that I never heard one speak so well." * Seventeen years afterward, when the decree of banishment had gone into effect against the ministers, Den- mark, Holland, and England disputed the honor of giving shelter to the illustrious exile. Holland enabled him to re- main nearer to Normandy. He embarked, therefore, for Rotterdam, where he was appointed pastor, and where he was successively rejoined by his best friends, the Marquises of Tors, of Langeay, of the Isle du Guat, of La Musse, of Verdelle, and of Yrigny ; Messieurs De Saint Martin, De la Bazoche, De la Pierre, De Yillazel, De Beringhen, counsellors in the sovereign courts ; the ladies De Tors, De Saint Martin, Le Coq, De Chuis ; the demoiselles De Villarnoul Le Dan- jeau, De Coursillon, De Langeay, De la Moussage.f The suc- cess, which he obtained as a preacher, was immense. He was considered as a perfect orator. His fine, sonorous voice added yet farther to the impression produced by his dis- courses. One particular point, which distinguished him from all the other ministers of " the Refuge," was his attach- ment to the doctrines of Saint Augustine. Thence he was called " the preacher of grace." But his career was brief as it was brilliant and productive. He died at Rotterdam in less than four years after his departure from Normandy. Daniel de Superville, the colleague of Du Bosc in the Walloon church at Rotterdam, was born in 1657, at Sau- mur, where he commenced his studies, which he completed at Geneva under the ablest masters. So early as 1683, the * Life of Pierre du Bosc, by Legendre, p. 63. Rotterdam, 1694. f Life of Pierre du Bosc, p. 151. 80 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. booted missions, of which Poitou was the theatre, had de- termined him to retire into England, when the church of Loiidun sent him a call, which retarded his departure for that kingdom by the space of two years only. A difficult trial preceded his exile. Cited to report himself at Paris, in order to give explanations concerning a sermon, notes of which had been taken, and which was treated as seditious, he* found himself surrounded by converters, who imagined that a young man of such polish, and of manners so elegant, would speed- il}^ be brought over. But it was in vain that they led him about in the train of the court, from Paris to Versailles, and from Versailles to Fontainebleau ; he persisted in his creed, and went his way. Arrested, and separated from his wife and child, he succeeded in recovering his liberty, and arrived at Maestricht, whither Madame de Superville was sent to meet him. He selected Rotterdam among all the posts which were offered to him, and very shortly acquired there the reputation of a deep and ingenious preacher. He often said that the Christian orator ought to have religion in his heart, yet more than in his spirit, and it may be said that, in this respect, he followed up the precept which he gave to others. This uncommon gentleness, clearness and purity of his speech, the natural style of his delivery, his gentlemanly and almost courtly manners made him, in fact, a sort of Pro- testant Fenelon. In 1691, he had the honor to be invited to the Hague, to preach in the presence of the new King of England, who had manifested a desire to hear him. On the day following the Peace of Ryswick, he ascended the pulpit, and took that happy intelligence for the subject of his dis- course. On the 10th of September, 1704, he pronounced the sermon of thanksgiving for the victory of Hochstet, won by the allies, under the leading of Marlborough and Eugene. " The noble leaders, on either side, were able, intrepid, veteran ; the troops, good and chosen soldiers. But the enemy had the advantage of ground; he had the advantage BATTLE OF HOCHSTET. 81 even of numbers, and he was so well posted, that he could only be attacked at a mighty risk. But the Eternal, who has resolved to reply to us ' by terrible things, done in jus- tice,' has taught us to overcome all obstacles. ' March ! march ! ' he said with the still secret voice, he said in the re- solution with which he inspired our generals, in the fire, the courage which he breathed into the hearts of our soldiers. ' Here lies the valley of Decision. Fear nothing, for I have delivered your enemies into your hands. Then was it that they fell into our power, those insolent adversaries who scoffed at our enterprise, and already reckoned upon vic- tory as certain." Resentment and despair, as can plainly be seen, had effaced from the heart of Superville every sentiment of nationality. France was no more his coun- try ; the abasement of Louis XIV., the humiliation of the armies of France, were to him a subject of rejoicing, a consolation, a hope for the persecuted churches. It is not, however, in these casual sermons that he shows himself to the greatest advantage. He excels more manifestly, and dis- plays higher powers and qualities as a Christian orator, in his didactic preaching. A better judgment may be formed of his eloquence from the following passage borrowed by his fine discourse on forbidden vengeance : " Vengeance is the daughter of passion and of hatred. It is a restless and devouring passion, which consumes the bosom in which it was conceived. Oh ! how many fires has not that fury enkindled within, or e'er she carried them abroad ! How many blazing torches hath she not ! how many envenomed serpents to torture, day and night, the vindictive soul ! Imagine to yourselves those struggles, those palpitations, those contractions of the heart, those sleepless nights, those restless impulses, those movements of fury, which men experience while agitating in their heads some fatal dreams of vengeance. Is it not most miserable to torment ourselves, because some other have offended us ? VOL. n — 4* 82 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. By pondering on an injury, one drives it but the deeper into his heart. One makes the stab but deeper, and renders it more difficult to heal We often make unto ourselves more evil than our bitterest enemy has ever hoped to make us, and we but serve his enmity completely, whereas, by wiping away all memory of the injury we have received from him, we cheat him of the malice, which he thought to gratify upon us." His superiority was as conspicuous in doctrinal preach- ing, from which he had especial care, by a method until then unpractised, to exclude all the parade of learning, and the useless questions which other ministers delighted to raise, applying himself rather to impress on the souls of his hearers the principal truths of the Grospel, and to persuade their hearts through their affections. " The belief in the existence of a God is never difficult to the good man ; and, in the greatest atheist that lives, the heart has always something far removed from the irreligion of the intellect. " The fear of Grod is, at all times, a better counsellor than the Portico or the Lyceum, than all the philosophy, all the policy, of the world. Follow, therefore, always, and broadly, the part of piety. It is the greatest shrewdness, it is the greatest wisdom of life. " It disturbs us, at times, to observe, in the conduct of Providence, its delays, if I so dare speak, its long tarryings. It marches only as great armies march, heavily, halting often, slowly as we deem it. It resembles those rivers which make so many turns and returns, as they wind deviously, and which roll along their deep and mighty waters with a flow so tranquil that we may scarce perceive their current."* SemioDS on Divers Texts of Holy Writ, by Daniel de Super. ville, Minister of .the Walloon Church at Rotterdam, 1726. V. Say- ons. History of French Literature in Foreign Lands, vol. ii. pp. 99-105. WILLIAM THE TACITURN. 83 Among the other ministers, who brought Dutch and Walloon preaching to perfection, David Martin, and Phili- ponneau de Hautecourt, may be cited. The former, ap- pointed preacher at Utrecht, published a translation of the Bible, which was universally adopted by the French churches of Holland, Switzerland, and England. Considered as a classical work, it has remained in use in these three coun- tries ; and the French Bibles, spread through the whole world by the London Bible Society, are, to this day, no more than repeated editions of the work of this pastor. The se- cond, ex-preacher and professor of Saumur, received in the university of Friseland a chair, which he occupied for many years, and formed numerous disciples, who propagated in the United Provinces the method peculiar to the ministers of the "Refuge." It is proved that Walloon preaching received a new life from the ministers banished by the government of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, one would err in attributing to them exclusively the rapid propagation of the French tongue in the Low Countries. Doubtless, they aided to spread it, and to render o-eneral the knowledge of the most polished idiom at that time spoken in all Europe ; but it is neither they, nor the other refugees, who enforced on Holland the neces- sity of this novel study. It might, perhaps, have been within the power of William of Orange to substitute the English tongue for that of the court of Louis XIV., and to have given rank to the masterpieces of Shakspeare and Milton above those of Racine and Moliere. But that great Prince admired, with all the rest of Europe, the classic literature of that great age, which is certainly the noblest title of glory owned by the human intellect. There existed, moreover, in his own family, a traditional respect for that perfect tongue, which tended at that time to substitute itself for Latin, as the universal language. His grandfather, William the Taci- turn, had married Louise de Chatillon, the daughter of Co- 84 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ligny. Frencli prevailed in bis court, and when the illus- trious founder of Dutch liberty fell beneath the knife of the assassin, and cried in the death struggle, " Mj God, have pity on me and on my poor people ! " these, the last words which he uttered, were in the French language ; and the French was the tongue of his son and his grandson. French literature, therefore, found no obstacle in acclimating itself on the soil of Holland, and, with it, the usage of couversincr in that idiom was quickly adopted in all good families. Nev- ertheless, it must be admitted that the refugees rendered its use popular by their preaching, by their works, and by their instruction. The numerous schools, which they founded in almost all their towns, the most celebrated of which owed its origin to one of the brothers of Luzac, the houses of educa- tion which they established for young persons, and girls, still farther hastened this result. Ere long, no other lan- guage than the French was used at all in diplomacy with other powers, and from that time forth there was no member of the magistracy of Amsterdam, the Hague, Leyden, or Rotterdam, who did not pride himself on speaking correctly, on writing, and teaching his children the French tongue. French insinuated itself even into the Dutch tongue, and in- troduced into it new idioms and new expressions. The refu- gees introduced it first conversationally, and after that into the written tongue. From the end of the seventeenth cen- tury Dutch writers hesitated no longer to adopt the, words * officier and ingenicur. They substituted the word resolu- tien, for that of staatsbesluiten. The French fashions, which gradually prevailed in Holland, and the use of which was extended by the refugees, also compelled the Hollanders to * Various French words adopted as Dutch. Anglice, officer, en- gineer, resolution, doublet, lace collar with tassels, shirt, baldric, b leeches— though it appears rather strange that the Dutch sliould have had no vernacular name for the last article and last but one named. BAYLE. 85 adopt tho words " pourpoint, rahat des deriteUes a srlands^ chemise^ baudrier, gregues, and many others, for which the national language had no equivalents. The increasing popularity of the French language pro- duced a marked influence on the progress of education in the middle classes of society. Before the emigration, litera- ture and sciences were taught in Latin, insomuch that all the graver studies were unappreciable to all those who were not persons of learning. Women were utterly excluded from these by their ignorance of the classic tongues, which were scarcely remedied by careless and incorrect translations. So that, without disputing the utility of the Latin language, during the middle ages, it may be well affirmed that the wider spread of the French language powerfully contributed to the diffusion of knowledge in Holland. For the first time, instruction was brought down to the lower classes of society, previously condemned to a fatal deprivation of all intel- lectual culture. From the closet of the rich man science de- scended into the huts of the poor, into the workshop of the artificer. It was no longer in Latin, as Grotius did of old, but in French, that Basnage wrote his " Annals of the Uni- ted Provinces," and the study of national history was thus rendered easy to the lowest citizen. It was in the same lan- guage that he compiled his " History of the Jews in Modern Times," and that he tried to explain the dark mysteries of the Cabala. When Saurin published his " Discourses on the Old and New Testaments," he did not adopt the special language of theology, as Yoetius and Cocceius had formerly done ; and thus the truths contained in Holy Writ were brought within the reach of every one. The popular writings of Bayle caused philosophy to be tasted even by the most unlettered readers. The work of instruction thus rose grad- ually in all the provinces of the republic, and civilization, which had, as it were, lain dead under the empire of a dead language, gained a new and magnificent impulse. 86 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Nevertheless, tliis powerful instrument of progress failed not to degenerate in the hands of the refugees. Their sojourn in the United Provinces had gradually altered the points of the language which they had propagated, and given birth to that style, which was known as refugee French. Yoltaire attributes the comparative inferiority of the lan- guage of the emigrants to their tendency to study the incor- rect phraseology of the Genevese reformers, who, according to him, had themselves adopted the dialect of the Italian* Swiss. But it is clear enough to us, that the Protestant authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries wrote as pure and polished a dialect as the Komish writers, and that the prose of France received from Calvin, Theodore de Beza, and their successors, a vigor and purity of expression which hastened the epoch of Balzac and Pascal. Yoltaire is deceived the less in imputing the fault to that circumstance, since most of the exiled preachers of 1685, being natives of Languedoc and Dauphiny, had studied in the town of Saumur. Hence they naturally preserved, in a foreign country, the par- ticular modes of speech, and even of accentuation, used in the countries wherein they were brought up, or in the small towns and retired cantons of the provinces in which they had lived. Perhaps abo the psalms of Clement Marot, and the Bible used in the reformed churches of the kingdom, read from father to son in the exiled families, firmly fixed in their minds the spirit of the antique French tongue. The real causes of this deterioration were the daily relations arising between the exiled families and the widely difiierent people in the midst of whom they were living, and the im- possibility of improving a language itself expatriated, which had become stationary, and, as it were, petrified, since it partook no longer of the modifications introduced into it by the great prose writers of the eighteenth century. Refugee French resembled a branch torn from the parent stem and * Yoltaire. The Age of Louis XIY. Article Saurin. DEGENERATE FRENCH. 87 arrested in its growth, which retains for a time a factitious life, but dries up by degrees and withers away on a stock which receives no aliment. This deterioration was exceedingly rapid. Already, in 1691, Racine wrote to his son, who had recently made a voyage into Holland, and whose modes -of expression had caught some odor from a sojourn of several years at the Hague ; " My dear son, you give me much pleasure' in send- ing me the news ; but beware of taking it from the Dutch Grazettes ; for besides that we have them as well as you, you might acquire from them certain terms, which are nothing worth, such as that of ' recruter^^ which you use, instead of saying -faire des recrues? " * In 1698, he renewed his critical observations: "Your account of the voyage you have made to Amsterdam gave me great pleasure. I could not help reading it to Messieurs de .Valincourt and Despreaux. I took care, however, in read- ing it to them to omit the strange word " tentatif^'' which you must have learned from some Dutchman, and which would greatly have astonished them."t In another letter, he said to him, " You desire that I should make a little criticism on one point of your letter. ' 11 en a agi avec politesse' — he acted with politeness — you should have written, ' 11 en a use? We do not say ' 11 a bien agi,'' and it is a false form of speech.":]: The fault which Racine found with his son, France had rea- son to find with the works of the refugees. From the first years succeeding the emigration, the works which they published in Holland, and, in particular, " the politico Historical Mercury," bear the impress of this unfortunate influence on the French language. Not only antiquated modes of diction, but also awkward and sometimes ungrammatical constructions are to * Letters of Eaciue to his Son. Edition of the Works of Racine, by Petitot, vol. v. p. 203. Paris, 1829. f Ibidem, vol. v. p. 24Y. % Ibidem, vol. v. p. 273. 88 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. be found in them, far more conformable to the genius of the Dutch, than of the French language. Voltaire protested against this appearance of corruption in all the preachers ; and even in the fine sermons of Saurin, the value of which he scarce appreciates. The single author, to whom he does not impute similar defects of language, is Bayle, who ofiends, he says, " only by a familiarity which approaches sometimes to vulgarity."* JSIevertheless, be admits that, at this early period of '' the French Refuge," the French tongue in Hol- land was not corrupted to that degree as in his time. Moreover, Saurin himself admits this superiority. "It is difficult," says he, " for those, who have sacrificed their country to their religion, to speak their language, with absolute purity." As the refugees began gradually to trans- form themselves into Hollanders, and accustomed themselves to converse in the idioms of their new country, this degene- racy became more striking. The phrases which they thus borrowed from the Dutch, and the antiquated terms which they afiected, continued more and more to give their style that peculiar modification, which constituted its distinctive character in the eighteenth century. There were but few families, which preserved unmixed the true French which had descended to them from their ancestors ; whether it was that these lived more secluded lives in Holland, or that they continually renewed their memory of the noble tongue which was falling into corruption every where around them, by assiduous study, or by constant visits to France. The cele- brated Leyden Gazette, founded by Stephen Luzac, was published in a style as elegant and correct as the best periodicals which appeared in France at that epoch. All the branches of human learning were advanced in Holland by the refugees. That country offered a soil won- derfully promising for the propagation of new ideas. There no fetters on genius, no censorship, no persecution existed. * Age of Louis XIV. Article Saurin. BARBEYRAC. 89 The boldest democratic theories, the most daring philosophic systems, were freely published. The refugees advanced this spirit of investigation, directing it, now to the study of law, now to the exact sciences, now to philosophy, history, or literary and political criticism The prohibition to practise law in France, led many dis- tinguished jurisconsults to Holland. Some, like D'Hotman, were imbued with republican ideas, entirely incompatible with the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV. Most of them, hostile to written law, and believing in the possibility of a legislative scheme founded on reason and equity, had applied themselves to the study of natural law. Among those juris- consults who, by the tendency of their ideas, seemed to be- long to the great generation of the close of the eighteenth century, the most distinguished was Barbeyrac. Born at Beziers, in 1674, he was compelled by the perse- cution to retire to Lausanne. Thence he was called to Grron- ingen, where he occupied, for a long time, with high distinc- tion, the chairs of history and law. There, he rendered pop- ular the science of justice, by his writings no less than by his lectures. He translated, into French, Puffendorf and G-ro- tius, with commentaries on their works. In his preface to Puffendorf, which received praise from Voltaire, he feared not to place himself out of the range of Christianity, prefer- ring the morality of modern philosophy to that of the fathers of the church. Voltaire awards equal praise to other works of this free-thinker. " It seems," says he, " that these ' treatises on the rights of nations, on war and on peace,' which have never contributed to any treaty of peace, to any declaration of war, and which have never secured the rights of any individual, may be some consolation to nations for the injuries done them by policy or force. They give, at least, an idea of justice, like those portraits of great men whom we have no opportunity of seeing." * Elias Luzac shared the * Age of Louis XIV. Article Barbeyrac. 90 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. principles of Barbeyrac. His translation of Wolff's work on " Natural Law" was an important service rendered to a science, which was, as yet, only at its commencement. His ingenious commentaries on Montesquieu's " Spirit of Laws," and his own writings on the liberty of the press, equally at- test a liberal mind, and one friendly to progress. Barbeyrac, Luzac, and the other legal refugees to Hol- land, exercised, there, a most salutary influence on civil and criminal law. They propagated the writings of Pothier, and of D'Aguesseau, which were so highly appreciated in France by all eminent thinkers, and the maxims of which, being too advanced for their own age, did not pass into the form of written law, until within the period of this later century. The Hollanders owed to these men, who formed a school, the application of a more philosophical method to the civil law of the Romans, juridical proceedings more rational and more in conformity to the genius of the great legists of Roman antiquity, and an almost absolute abandonment of the superannuated forms of German jurisprudence, which had been preserved up to this date. They equally modi- fied criminal jurisprudence, giving it a far more liberal interpretation. While justice was still dishonored, even in France, by the frequent application of torture, it was little used in Holland, in the course of the eighteenth century, save in exceptional cases ; and then only as an additional mode of information, by means of which to obtain definitive proofs of guilt, already partially established by direct evi- dence. The judges never authorized its use except in capital cases, where the tribunal, fettered by an antiquated but re- spected law, could only pronounce judgment after having ex- torted from the accused an unconditional confession.* The * It is remarkable that the exceptional case, for which Mr. Weiss apologizes, if he do not justify the principle, is the very worst imagin- able. Innocent persons naturally would, and often did confess, in order to obtain a simple death, rather than one by torture.— Traws- •itor. JACQUES BERNARD. 91 principles of law rendered popular by the refugees, in like manner, moderated the cruelty of punishments. The death by breaking on the wheel had disappeared in Holland above I j forty years before it was abolished in France ; while in the • province of Groningen, where French jurisconsults did not possess so marked an influence, it was still inflicted on crim- inals condemned to death, within sixty 3'ears. It is princi- pally to the admission of the refugees into the regencies of towns, that the republic owes this improvement. These re- gencies were habitually composed of a grand bailiff", or grand officer, a burgomaster, and echevins charged with the execu- tion of justice. These persons owed their offices to election, and in general, the people chose only men of the highest distinction. Such, however, was the extraordinary favor which attached to the refugees, that, so early as the end of the seventeenth century, the Le Plas, the Chatelaines, the Cans, were admitted to the regency of Leyden, and that Daniel de Dieu was bailiff of Amsterdam. These elevated positions early permitted them to exercise on the decisions of justice, and even indirectly on legislation itself, a salutary influence, which they always exerted on the side of humanity. Natural history, medicine, physical and exact science, so generally cultivated in France since the days of Pascal and Descartes, partly owed to the refugees the impulse which they received in Holland. A famous mathematician, Jacques Bernard, born at Lyons, in Dauphiny, in 1658, who retired first to Geneva, then to Lausanne, came to seek a final asy- lum in the United Provinces, wh^re he was received by Jean Leclerc, the publicist, his relation, and companion in study. Appointed, in the first instance, preacher at Leyden, he was speedily called by the university of that town to the chair of philosophy and mathematics, which he occupied with great distinction until his death, in 1718. The exact sciences had really advanced in Holland, through the instructions of that 92 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. eminent man, wliose suj)erior merits and powerful influence are fully recognized by the historian of the University of Leyden.* Pierre Lyonnet, no less celebrated as a naturalist than as an anatomist and engraver, carried the palm over Jacques Bernard, by the extent and precision of his acquirements. Born at Maestricht in 1707, of a family originally from Lorraine, which had quitted that country at the epoch of the religious persecutions, he was first destined by his father, the minister of the French church at Heusden, to pastoral duties. A singular aptitude in acquiring languages, render- ed him familiar, in a very few years, with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and English. At the same time, he applied himself to the exact sciences, to drawing and to sculpture, with extraordinary success. Having arrived at the age necessary for choosing a profes- sion, he preferred the study of law to that of theology, and after having taken his degrees at Utrecht, he obtained from the States General the employment of deciphering secretary, and sworn translator. From that time forth, he occupied the leisure which remained to him from his other occupa- tions, in drawing various natural objects, but insects more especially. He even formed a collection of colored draw- ings, which represent all those to be found in the neighbor- hood of the Hague. His relations with Boerhaave, Leeu-' wenhoek, and Swammerdam, celebrated naturalists of that day, and the close friendship which bound him to Trembley, the Genevese, who resided at the Hague, and had recently published his discoveries concerning Polypuses, determined him to devote himself to that especial branch of study. His first publication, which was composed of researches into entomology, with which he enriched his French translation of the work of Lesser, appeared to Reaumur worthy of be- * Siejenbeek. Hiatoiy of the Universit}' of Leyden, vol. ii. pp. 171, 172. In Dutch. Quoted from Koenen, p. 272. PIERRE LYONNET. 93 ing reproduced at Paris. Having become the assistant of Trembley, he engraved the last eight plates of the memoir which was published by the latter, in \ 77 i, on Fresh Water Polypuses. Cuvier speaks of these plates, as " specimens of engraving, remarkable for their delicacy and exactitude." * Ere long, applying his talent, of which he had just made trial, to the perpetuation of his own discoveries, he gave the public his fine work on the Anatomy of the Caterpillar, a patient and ingenious work of observation, of which as yet natural history had no example. f " The book in which he describes it," says Cuvier, " the engravings in which he re- presents it, were placed, at the very moment of their appear- ance, among the most astonishing masterpieces of human industry. The author in them explains all the parts of that most minute animal with more detail and exactitude, it might be said, than those of man had been explained to us. The number of its muscles alone, all described and represented, is 4,041 ; that of the branches of the nerveS, and ramifica- tions of the trachea, is yet more considerable. All the vis- cera are there depicted, with all their details ; and all this is represented by artifices of engraving so fine, by cuttings so clear and delicate, and so perfectly adapted to the quality of the tissues sought to be represented, that the eye seizes the whole as readily as though it were examining the object itself by means of a microscope." | To the names of Bernard, and Lyonnet, one may add those of the celebrated physician Desaguiliers, who tra- velled some time in Holland, and popularized the great discoveries of Newton, by giving public lectures at Rotterdam and the Hague, which were immensely suc- cessful ; those of William Lore, a mathematician of the * Article of Cuvier on Lyonnet, in his Universal Biography, vol. XXV. f Anatomical Treatise on the Caterpillar, which feeds on the wil- low. The Hague and Amsterdam. 1706. X Article quoted from Cuvier, above. 94 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. first order, who enriched the collection of the Academy of Sciences at Paris by his works; of Pierre Latane, professor of medicine, and physician in chief at the Court of Orange ; to conclude, one of the finest geniuses of modern times, Huygens, the Dutchman, whom foreign intolerance re- stored to his native land. The last named, invited to Paris by Colbert, who, at that time, was creating the Acade- my of Sciences, published there his " Oscillating Watch," which he dedicated to Louis XIV. — a present worthy of the monarch ; for if Newton's Principia be excepted, that work is, perhaps, the finest scientific production of the seventeenth century. But, in 1681, the progress of the persecutions de- termined him to leave France, to such a degree that no pro- mises could shake his resolution.* The great geometrician brought home to his native land his magnificent discovery of the application of the pendulum to his watches, his analy- sis of the undulations of light, and his great improvements in the barometer and the pneumatic machine. Letters, in the strict sense of the word, were yet more largely indebted to the refugees, than jurisprudence, or the exact sciences. At the head of the literary emigration, stands a skeptical and railing spirit, in which doubt and paradox seem to be in- carnate, a spirit foreign to the passionate convictions of the martyrs of Calvinism, and akin rather to the school of Mon- taigne and Voltaire. Pierre Bayle was born in 1647. He was the son of a Protestant minister of the district of Foix. From his childhood he displayed a wonderful eagerness to learn, and to reason on what he learned. Erudition and dialectics thus became, at a very early age, the two puissant motive forces of his versatile intellect, which united to the vivacity and suppleness of the southern mind that instinct for investigation, which received so strong an impulse from * Dissertation of M. Coquerel, in his History of the Churches of the Desert, vol. i. p. 84, note. PIERRE BAYLE. 95 the reform. At twenty-two, struck by the arguments of the Papists on the traditions, and the authority of the Church, he abjured the Protestant religion at Toulouse, in 1669, desir- ing, as he said, to be reunited to the body of the tree, of which the reformed communions are the dissevered branches. The Jesuits congratulated themselves aloud on this conver- sion of the son of a minister, on which they founded the most brilliant expectations. But it was not long, before- their convert escaped them. Shocked at the worship of saints and images, and judging the doctrine of transubstan tiation incompatible with the principles of Descartes, he was reconverted to Protestantism, and fled to Geneva, to avoid the severe penalties, which the law pronounced against relapsed converts. On his return to France, under a ficti- tious name, he was placed by Basnage, with a merchant of Rouen ; then, on the recommendation of Ruvigny, he was admitted as tutor in the family of Beringhen ; again, after the death of the learned Pithois, he was nominated professor of Philosophy in the University of Sedan, where he had Jurieu, at that time his friend, but afterward his irreconcil- able adversary, for his colleague. In 1681, after the total overthrow of Protestantism, he was invited with the latter into Holland, and continued his lessons in the noble school, which Rotterdam had founded, to serve them as a retreat. Before leaving France, Bayle had already entered on his true career, by publishing an original work, his " Letter on Comets." The form, which he gave to his attacks on the superstitious terror inspired by the apparition of the comet of 1680, led him to support such a thesis as naturally led to a popular excitement of opinions. After a comparison between Atheists, Idolaters, and Christians, he arrived at the conclusion, that religious creeds have but little influence on the minds of the. generality of men, who govern them- selves chiefly according to their temper, and the impulses i>f the moment — that an Atheist might be a good man and 96 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. that a society of Atheists might exist, and be preferable to a society of Idolaters. Strange assertions, and unworthy even of repetition ; although one may distinguish through them a serious idea, perhaps worthy of examination, that, namely, of an innate morality of the human conscience, apart from all positive religion. This treatise, however, did not really express the true thoughts of Bayle. It was the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which led him to disclose the depths of his doctrine. To him the public misery was coincident with a frightful private misfortune. His brother, who had embraced the profession of a pastor, died of languor and misery in the hideous dungeons of the Chateau Trompette. Some Protestant converts had pub- lished a panegyric of Louis XIV., under this title — " Romish France, under the reign of Louis the Great." Thereat out- burst the indignation of Bayle, in three letters, in which he related the horrors of the persecution, and depicted in striking, but lugubrious terms, what was, in truth, " France, wholly Romish, in the reign of Louis the Great." * Many vehement protestations were sent out at that mo- ment from Protestant pens ; but the work of Bayle hit, the most accurately, the character, and the aim of Louis XIYth's edict. In spite of his passions, he entertained superior ideas both in politics and morals. He was, above all, happily inspired, when, after reproaching all Romish France with its active or secret complicity, its contempt for the opinions of other nations, and lastly, its audacity in quali- fying acts of prudence and moderation, as violence and devastation, he maintained that, far from gaining the victory for Romanism, they had only paved the way for that of Deism. " Deceive not yourselves," he continued, addressing the persecutors, " your triumphs are those of Deism, not of the true faith. Would that you could hear the opinion of those, who have no other religion than that of natural equity ! * Amsterdam, 1685. ROMISH FRANCE, 97 They regard your conduct as an argument beyond refu- tation ; and when they look farther, and consider the ravages and sanguinary violences, committed during six or seven hundred years by your Romish religion, throughout all the world, they cannot avoid admitting that God is essen- tially too good to be the author of any thing so evil as posi- tive religions ; that he has revealed to man only natural right; but that spirits, enemies of our rest, have come by night to sow tares in the field of our natural religion, by the establishment of particular churches, which they well knew would be but the perpetual sowing of wars, massacres, ini- quities. These blasphemies horror-strike the conscience ; but your church must answer for them to God, since it is its spirit, its maxims, and its conduct, which extort them from the minds of mankind." In conclusion, he adds — " Although, humanly speaking, you deserve not to be pitied, I cannot avoid pitying you, whom I see going so furi- ously astray from the spirit of Christianity. But I pity yet more true Christianity, which you have rendered so corrupt, to use the words of the Gospel, before all other religions. Nothing is more true, than that the very name of Christian- ity is hateful to infidels, since you have let them know what you are worth. For many centuries, you have been the most conspicuous part of Christianity, and it is by you that men judge the whole. And how can they judge of Christianity, reckoning by your conduct ? Must not they judge it as a religion loving blood and carnage, tormenting both body and soul — a religion which, to establish its tyranny over con- sciences, and to manufacture knaves and hypocrites, in case of its lacking sophistries to persuade what it would, puts in force any means — falsehoods, perjuries, dragoons, man- sworn judges, tricksters, dishonest pleaders, false witnesses, executioners, inquisitions ; and all this too — either affecting that it is permissible and lawful, because it is necessary to the propagation of the faith, or really believing it to VOL. II. — 5 98 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. •be SO — two conditions equally dishonorable to tlie name of Christian." After having branded the executioners, in language which might satisfy the keenest resentments, and which inspired some regrets even to the Protestants, who were but too well avenged by his powerful but indiscreet pen, Bayle took a step yet in advance, and preached absolute toleration. His *' Philosophic Commentary on these words of the Lord Jesus, ' Compel them to enter in,' " * is a victorious refutation of all the theologians, who had recommended the principle of compulsion as a lawful method of proselytism. The ar- guments which he employs are of two kinds. He repels in- tolerance in a religious point of view, by proving that the literal sense of the passage, in question, is contrary to the soundest notions of reason, no less than to to the general spirit of the Gospel, ''for nothing," says he, with infinite reason, ''can be more entirely opposed, to that spirit, than dungeons, exile, pillage, the galleys, the insolence of soldiers, executions, and tortures. "J He then combats it, on the ground of policy, by delineating the picture of an ideal so- ciety, in which power, instead of " abandoning the secular arm to the fierce and tumultuous desires of a populace of monks and priests,"! should extend an equal protection to all creeds. This great principle of religious toleration, established by the revolution of 1789, and of which M. Guizot has given the true formula, on the day in which he uttered from the rostrum the just and truthful phrase, " The state is of no religion," was thus proclaimed aloud, in Holland, by a French refugee. But Bayle yet more clearly displays his inmost thoughts, in a third kind of argument, less developed, but far more radical, to wit — that the ques- tions debated by theologians are uncertain, and lack demon- stration, that all systems are equally obscure, and that, in * Amsterdam, 1688. f First part, chap. iii. '^ Second part, chap. vi. JURIEU AGAINST BAYLE. 99 consequence, every one sliould "be content to pray for those, whom he cannot convince, and should not seek to oppress them. If Bayle really desired to establish universal peace, and to found toleration on the demonstration of the vanity of all creeds, and the uncertainty of all dogmas, his design, wrapped in ambiguities, was not approved during his life, by the most eminent companions of his exile. They naturally sought, on the contrary, the most vigorous efforts of the intellect to sustain the doctrines for which they had suffered so much, and which had found, in one of the men, who had a special mission to defend them, only a pitiless and sneering railer. Old Calvinism, no less exclusive than the Romish religion, was not deceived. It felt itself assailed, by the same blow just dealt against Papistry. Saurin charged himself with vengeance. Placing all the weight of his convictions, all the authority of his name in the opposite scale to that assumed by Bayle, he opposed his rigid dogmatism to the exaggerated rationalism of the philosopher of Rotterdam ; constituted himself in some sort its personal champion ; and set himself to fortify that Christian faith, which Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and all the school of encyclopedists had gone so far to attack.* This was to render signal service to the cause of orthodox Protestantism, to which he furnished arms against its future adversaries. After Saurin's example, Jurieu refuted the skepticism of Bayle, and opened, with his usual violence, against the impiety of his former friend. Loudly accused himself, by Bossuet, of favoring the Socinians, he took this occasion to deny an imputation so dangerous to his credit. Treating the commentary as the perfidious manifesto of a sect of false reformers, which aimed at establishing indiffer- ence to all religion, under the mask of universal toleration, he maintained that Bayle's doctrine led directly to Deism ; that the rights, which he claimed for individual conscience, were excessive ; and that not only were princes called to re- * For this controversy, see " the History of the Churches of the Desert." by Charles Coquerel, vol. i. pp. 241, 242. 100 FE^ENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. gard religious matters, but that they had a special duty, to maintain the purity of faith, by using their authority to rejoress dissenting sects. Irritated by the violence of these attacks, Bayle gave way to bitter reproaches. The " Advice to Refugees on their early return to France," which appeared in 1690, and which his enemies attributed to him, although he never admitted the authorship, was a cutting pamphlet, directed against the emigrants in Holland, and especially against Jurieu, who had prophetically announced that the Protestant cause would triumph, in 1689. The anonymous author ironically congratulated the exiles on the favorable dispositions of Louis XIV., and on their speedy return to their country, to which numbers of Papists would welcome them with joy. But he warned them not to set foot within that country, until they had first gone through a little preamble of quarantine, in order to cleanse themselves of two diseases, the contagion of which they had taken abroad, to wit : " The spirit of satire, and a certain republican spirit, which goes so far as to introduce anarchy into the world, which is the greatest curse to civilized society." The second reply was entirely aimed at the expression of Jurieu, " that kings werel Imade for peoples, not peoples for kings." The reply was ' not long waited for, and to the great scandal of the refugees in Holland, a violent discussion arose between the two pro- fessors of the illustrious school. Bayle strove for three years, but several advances made by him to Louis XI Y., in the famous pamphlet, and the violence of his attacks on the English revolution, were brought up against him. In 1693, the magistrates of Rotterdam, concealing their political mo- tives behind the complaints of the French consistory, with- drew his pension, and forbade him farther to give lessons, whether public or private. If, as Basnage gives it to be understood, the " Advice to Refugees " be truly his work, it was, on his part, a mere caprice. He was never reconciled JACQUES BASNAGE. 101 to the Papists ; but disgusted for ever with " the squabbles of professors," he set himself unremittingly to work at his " Historical and Critical Dictionary," that gigantic monu- ment of rich and varied erudition, in which all the science of the seventeenth century found place ; that absolute chaos, in which all the truths and all the errors, which have ap- peared among men, are intermingled, but which, in spite of the minute details, and the ease with which the author handles his great wisdom, leaves only uncertainty and con- fusion in the mind.* After philosophy, history is the style of writing, which offered the greatest temptation to the refugee writers ; for therein they could express that spirit of resistance and liberty, which they had been so long compelled to suppress in France. Jacques Basnage is the most celebrated historian, of their number. Familiarized, from his youth upward, with the best authors of classic antiquity, he was no less versed in profane texts, than in those of Holy Writ. Charged by the States Greneral with the duties of historiographer, with the special commission to write the annals of the republic from the peace of Munster, he undertook the office, on con- dition that all the archives should be open to him, and that he should have full power to express his opinions with per- fect freedom. His first volume, published in 1719, contains a remarkable exposition of the forms of government which, ruled the Seven Pr-)vinces, at the period of the treaty of Westphalia ; a difficult subject, which had not as yet been treated. He closed it with the peace of Breda, in 1667. The second contains the negotiations of the triple alliance, which arrested Louis XIV. in the midst of his conquests ; the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; the in- vasion of the French in 1672 ; the revolution which over- threw the brothers De Witt, and re-established the Stadt- •"" See, for the dispute between Bayle and Jurieu, M. Sajon's interesting chapter in vol. i., of his " History of French Literature abroad." 102 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. holderate to the benefit of the House of Orange ; and the European war which followed, and which was, in the end, concluded by the treaty of Nimeguen. Basnage had brought his work down to 1684, and collected materials to carry it on to the year 1720, when he was arrested by death. He is blamed for underrating the patriotism of John de Witt, by representing him as too keen a partisan of France against Spain, and as the implacable enemy of England. Perhaps, in truth, his work has a trifling odor of the revolutionary ideas of 1672, which brought on the bloody catastrophe of the Hague. But the best judges, nevertheless, recognized in this historical monument, which he consecrated to his adopted country, all the other characteristics of truth. They especially praise the clearness of his exposition, the depth of his views, and the sagacity, with which he pursues the march and unravels the consequence of events, through the complicated and tortuous negotiations of diplomacy. The " History of the Religion of the Reformed Churches," which appeared at Rotterdam, in 1690, is an essay intended to refute the " History of Changes." Basnage endeavors to oppose the continuity of the Protestant faith, which he traces back to apostolic times, to the continuity of the Romish faith, the fluctuations of which he exposes; as regards the doctrines of the authority and infallibility of the Holy See ; on the doc- trines of justification by works or by faith; and on the sacra- ments. Less logical than Jurieu, he maintains the thesis, in- admissible as it seems to us, of a primitive Christian Church, founded solely on the Divine Word, successively altered in the course of centuries by human additions, and restored by the reformers to its original purity. He does not see that these changes and fluctuations of doctrine, so much con- demned by Bossuet, on the contrary, constitute the very essence of Protestantism, the issue of free examination which can only lose by attempting to deny the consequences of this immortal conquest of the human mind. ELIAS BENOIT. 103 " The History of the Jews," in which the chapters on the Caraites, Massoretes, and the Samaritans are most re- marked, is equally a work of great merit and immense erudi- tion. It was translated into almost all the tongues of Europe. Basnage was in correspondence not only with the princes and statesmen of both religions, but also with the most celebrated men of letters in France, Italy, Germany, and England. This epistolary correspondence ran as much on literature as on politics. The illustrious exile found as much confidence in Papists as in Protestants. This confi- dence was so perfect, that an archbishop of France, uncertain which part he should take on the bull of TJnigenitus^ did not hesitate to address him, in order to ask his advice. Basnage replied to him, with perfect modesty, that it was not for him to pronounce on such a question ; that, if the archbishop recognized the authority of the Pope, he was bound to submit, and adhere to the bull ; that, in the con- trary case, he might reject it, but that he should take heed, lest from step to step he might be led farther than he de- sired to go.* Beside Basnage, stands a sacred historian, and also a profane writer, Elias Benoit, and Francois Michel Janigon. The first, son of the steward of the hotel de la Tremouille, born at Paris, in 1640, pastor of Alenpon for twenty years, then minister of the Walloon church at Delft, successively published his " History of the Reformed Churches of France," destined to serve as a supplement to that of Theo- dore Beza. and his '' History of the Edict of Nantes," which he composed at the request of the Walloon church of Am- sterdam. This latter work is an act of accusation, full of vehemence, against the Eomish clergy, and, at the same time, an unreserved apology for the whole conduct of the French " reformed/' from the reign of Henry TV. to the revocation. In spite of his passionate resentments, Benoit cannot be sus- * See the article Basnage, in Chaufepie's Dictionary. 104 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. pected of bad faith ; but he may reasonably be charged with want of moderation, and with offending against good taste, by his invariably bitter, and his continually aggressive com- plaints. Janicon, nephew of a minister of Blois, who, since that time, was a j^reacher at Utrecht, at first edited a French jour- nal at Amsterdam ; but having fallen into disgrace with the government, he accepted the duties of ambassador of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel at the Hague. It is in that city, that he began the great work which he had not the time to finish, and which appeared in 1729, under this title, '' Pre- sent State of the Republic of the United Provinces." The mainsprings of the Dutch government are described, therein, with singular penetration. " Attached," says he, " by reli- gious principles to a state, which has become the asylum of an innumerable multitude of reformers, I had done all that depended on me to learn the economy, which, in so short a time, raised this republic to the degree of glory, in which we find it. I observed, therein, a great number of republics, which, governed each one by peculiar laws, accommodated to the genius, manners, wants, and commerce of their inhabit- ants, yet possess general laws, which, interconnecting them, complete a uniform whole out of very distinct parts." Jani- f on's history, inspired by that of Basnage, served in its turn as the starting point for the historian Wagenaar, one of the best Dutch writers. The, last service, which the refugees rendered to historic science in that country, is the zeal with which they popular- ized the works of Rollin, and especially his " Treatise on Studies," so judiciously^ appreciated by M. Villemain, who calls it a monument of reason and taste, and one of the best written books in our language after books of genius.* The refugees contented themselves not with publishing books, which spread through Holland the study of equity, of * Villemain. Literature of the eighteenth century. FRENCH JOURNALISTS. 105 the exact sciences, of pliilosophy, and history ; they provided another source of influence in the leaves of the periodicals, which they rendered popular, and by which they acted not on the Seven Provinces only, but on the whole of Europe. It is not possible to ascertain perfectly whether the French journals, which were watched so jealously in Amster- dam, between the treaty of Nimeguen and the year of the revocation, were edited by French refugees. But it may be affirmed that the complaints of the Count d'Avaux, and the severities of the government, commanded by state reasons, could not be put in force against the authors of these publi- cations. By degrees, the growing indignation, produced by the increasing severity of the treatment of the French Pro- testants, caused the journalists to forget the laws framed to restrain their excesses. They again commenced their at- tacks on Louis XIV., no one caring, thenceforth, to put any check on their violent invectives. The.Grazette of Harlaem was filled with recitals of the " dragoonings," which the Count d'Avaux vainly endeavored to deny. Nothing irritated the minds of men more than the following letter, in which Jacob de Bye, the Dutch consul at Nantes, bu{ a naturalized Frenchman, for his own misfortune, relates the tortures he had undergone : "It is eight days since I acquainted you with my grievous affliction. It seems to me that you will hear of the rest with grief, if any charity be left to you. Six devils of dra- goons were billetted on me, and then fifteen others, who, having shut me up in a room, compelled me to eat and drink with them, sending for all sorts of delicacies from the inns, deluging the floors with the best wines, burning, in a very short time, above a hundred pounds of candles, and as soon as night came on, breaking to pieces and burning all my fur- niture. When this was done, they placed me in a chair, saying, ' Now, damned Huguenot dog, thou knowest that the King commands us to put thee to all the tortures thy cursed VOL. II — 5* 106 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. body can endure. If thou wouldst be spared, give to each of us two'louis d'or.' I endeavored to appease them with one piece of money, but it was in vain. At last, I agreed to give them one louis a head, which I paid them immediately, on their promising me better treatment. At the end of an hour, one of the worst of them rose, saying, ' Cursed Hu- guenot, I prefer returning you your money, and tormenting you. The King wills that you be converted,' and threw the money at my head. Then they set me in my chair before a great fire, took off my shoes and stockings, and roasted my feet, letting candle-grease drip upon them. Afterward, when the agony made me tear myself from them, they tied me to the foot of the bed, where these more than fiendish men rushed at me more than ten times, with their heads against my stomach, so that, when I fell, I was again carried to the fire, where they stripped the skin from my legs. When day broke, they gave me a little respite, still threatening, however, to throw me out of the window. I prayed them a hundred times to kill me ; but they replied, ' We have no orders to kill thee, only to torment thee till thou art converted. Thou wert better to do so at once. Thou wilt do it, when thou art flayed to the bones.' I was carried to the mayor, or burgomaster of the village, who told me that, if I would not be converted, the Duke had ordered that my wife should be placed in a convent, and my children in an hospital ; that I should be separated from them for ever, and that there were yet fourteen more dragoons, who should be let loose upon me. You see that there was no death even to be hoped for, if it be not a death perpetually protracted, without dying, in a life-long prison. I have been compelled to yield." * We desire neither to confirm nor to contest the hideous facts, which were published in all the Dutch gazettes. Louis * This letter, dated ISTantes, Dec. 11, 1685, forms a part of the correspondence of the Count d'Avaux, who was in the ministry of foreign affairs. OCCURRENCES OF THE TIMES. 107 XIV. wrote himself to the Count d' Avaux to deny them, but he promised in future to procure more correct information concernino; them ; * and doubtless the advices which he re- ceived were such as to make him consider it wisdom to hold silence concerning the exploits of the booted missionaries. One would naturally suppose that the journals founded by the refugees would bear the impress of the religious ran- cors of that period of persecutions. There is, however, nothing of the kind. On the contrary, one is amazed at the extreme moderation, which these display. The notices of " the occurrences of the times " are wonderfully free from pas- sion. It would seem that the author, in speaking on his own account, relates matters long passed, and to which he is indi- vidually a stranger, so calmly and impartially does he dis- cuss them. Is is easy to judge of this by the following pas- sage, in which, after relating his own discharge, he endeavors to arrive at the possible motives of that measure of unex- pected clemency. " I doubt not that you will be surprised, on receiving this letter, as much as I was myself, on learning that I was set at liberty. In fact, who could believe that, after being con- fined so long in a prison, and for a cause which has had con- sequences so fatal, I should see myself suddenly delivered in a manner so unexpected, and without knowing how or why ? It must be confessed that if there had been no other object but that of surprising me agreeably, they could have found no better method. " These, Monsieur, are doubtless strokes of Providence ; for, in view of human policy, they are totally incomprehensi- ble. There is, at this moment, neither general severity, for I am released with several other persons ; nor general re- laxation, since many persons yet groan under oppression and constraint. There is, therefore an intention of doing two things, at the same time, which are directly opposite, which * Dispatch of Louis XIV. to the Count d'Avaux, of Dec. 27, 1686. 108 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. it is almost impossible to reduce to the rules of uniform con- duct. Thus, whateyer jDart may have been taken by the Court, reason as well as respect must lead us to attribute the principal causes of proceedings so variable to ecclesiastical counsels, "which have been the source of all our evils. We know too well, that those who have given them, have neither had in view true maxims of state, nor the rule of the Gos- pel. It was attempted to compel people, in spite of them- selves, to change their religion, as they change their coats. This is the true way to make involuntary rebels, or hypo- crites, at the expense of the good of the state, and the honor of religion. Time has but proved this too clearly ; but the same counsels still exist, although combatted by true interests fortified by the event. It is this, apparently, which causes so many variations. It seems to be their object to cause the forced conversions to become voluntary ones, or at least, to make the liberty conceded to one party justify the restraint imposed upon the other.* It would be difficult, we believe, to express more judi- cious thoughts in a more moderate tone. The same polite- ness in form, and justice in appreciation, prevail in the following passage, on the variations of the French govern- ment in its conduct with regard to the new converts. " We learn by our letters from France, that the affair of the new converts is not as yet likely to be speedily conclud- ed, and that it still occupies the councils of his Majesty how to prevent the occasions for these meetings, which continue to occur in so many places, for the offering of prayers to God. They hinder them as much as possible. They im- prison, they hang, they pardon ; but these remedies are im- potent against the causes of the trouble, which consist of a repugnance of the heart, which is an extraordinary lever in * Letters on Oceurrences of the Times. Amsteruam. Pierre Sa- vouret, 1688. Extract of letters. We found a copy of this publica- tion, which is now very rare, in the library at Leyden. JOURNALS OF THE DAY. 109 all matters of religion. If, instead of proposing to persons to change their faith, they had at the same time proposed some alteration which it was possible to execute, such as to quit the country, taking property away also, within a limit- ed time ; or even to quit the country without property, as was the practice during the past century, the King would have been voluntarily obeyed, in either case ; because the understanding, finding it has a choice of alternatives, cannot reproach itself, or make to itself any excuse for having act- ed on compulsion. But to propose a change of creed, with- out admitting thereto the consent of the heart, and at the same time to close all manners of escape, so as to force the mind to will that which it does not will, is to attempt a thing as im- possible as it would be to smother the smoke of a coi^flagra- tion, without extinguishing the fire ; and the wretches who are punished on such occasions, are punished less for their own faults than for those of others ; I mean those who strive to make them act on compulsion,"* The author of " Letters on the Occurrences of the Times," afiixed no signature to the articles of subtle rail- lery, which flowed from his pen. The editors of " the His- torical and Political Mercury," which was founded at the time of the Eefuge, and appeared monthly at the Hague, equally kept their names a secret from their contemporaries. Others did not imitate their reserve, as Michel Janicon, who for some time conducted a French journal at Amsterdam, and one afterward at Utrecht. The periodical sheet, enti- tled " Extraordinary News from divers places," was created by Etienne Luzac, born at Leyden, in 1706, of a family, natives of Bergerac, It changed title afterward, and became the celebrated " Gazette of Leyden," a precious compilation of the history of the second half of the eighteenth century, a model of style, and at the same time of accuracy, of vera- * Letters on Occurrences of the Times, Amsterdam, Pierre Savouret, -1688, Extract from Letter vi. 110 FRENCH PROTESTAN.T REFUGEES. city, and of boldness, which insured to it an immense circu- lation throughout Europe. Etienne Luzac also took charge of another gazette, which appeared under the name of An- thony La Font, and of which he became the proprietor, in 1738. His elder brother, Jean Luzac, printer to the libra- ry of Leyden, seconded him in the publication of the gazette of that city, which was afterward continued by celebrated journalists chosen from among the refugees, and above all, from members of the family of the first founder. The most famous of these was John Luzac, the nephew of Etienne, and the son of John, who combined the profession of advocate with that of co-editor of the gazette, the direction of which was exclusively given up to him, in 1775. In correspond- ence with the Emperor Leopold, of whose liberal views he highly approved, with Stanislaus Poniatowsky, King of Po- land, with the statesmen, Hertzberg and Dohm, with the founders of the Independence of the United States of Ame- ica, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, he found it easy to give an encyclopedic interest to that sheet, which he ed- ited, until 1718, and which was suppressed at last by Na- poleon. Such were the destinies of the political journalism of Holland, under the management of the refugees. They created, also, literary journalism, which owed to them its ut- most brilliancy. The " Journal des Savants," founded at Paris, in 1685, by an ecclesiastic counsellor of the parliament, Denis du Sallo, was the first scientific publication which appeared in Europe. Imitated, almost immediately, in Italy, in Ger- many, and in England, it gave birth to a multitude of re- views, all of which it has survived. The noble idea of giv- ing competent judges to literary productions, at first realized in France under the auspices of Colbert, was propagated by refugees on the free soil of Holland. It was Bayle, who open- ed this new and productive vein. The desire of repressing THE JOURNAL DES SAVANTS. HI the audacious insolence of Nicholas de Blegny and his " Scientific Mercury," and the urgency of Jurieu, who at that time hoped to find in him a zealous apologist for his own ideas, decided him to publish his " News of the Repub- lic of Letters," which appeared in 1684. His intellectual activity, which was prodigious, his vast information, the original turn, which he had the art of giving to all his works, and his extensive correspondence, insured the success of this enterprise. Some refugees conceived a hope that he would transform his journal into a weapon of war, to be aim- ed against their enemies. He would not concede to their wishes. He desired that the whole republic of letters should profit by the great liberty of the press possessed by Holland. But he was determined only to use that liberty with mode- ration, to treat authors, whether Protestant or Papist, with equal impartiality, and to speak of their writings only with the discretion of a judge, inaccessible to fear or favor. The philosophic spirit, suppressed by the precautions of a suspi- cious police, and yet more by the slowness and negligence of the censors charged with the examination of new books, had difficulty in finding in France wherewithal to satisfy its desire of discussion. Thus, minds eager for independence, but compelled to be prudent, thought themselves happy to find in Bayle's Journal an organ convenient to their timid- ity ; and more than one article was sent to him secretly trom Paris. One came to him from Fontenelle, through the hands of Basnage, which caused some excitement among the learned public. It was a fictitious letter from Batavia, in which were related events, supposed to have occurred in the island of Borneo, on the occasion of the rivalry of two pre- tenders to the throne, Wlreo and Enegue, transparent ana- grams of Rome and Geneva. This bold allegory compro- mised Fontenelle, whom the bold refugee had named, with- out thinking of the consequences ; and, if Voltaire may be believed, the French Academician only avoided the Bastile 112 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. by winning pardon for his opinion, by means of some verses rejoicing over the downfall of heresy. When, in 1687, fatigue and ill health compelled Bayle to renounce the " News of the Republic of Letters," three journals divided among them its succession, and supported themselves after its decease with different merits and success. The first was " The Universal Library " of John Bayle, which appeared, from 1696 to 1703; and was followed by "The Select Library," from 1703 to 1713; and later yet, "The Ancient and Modern Library," from 1713 to 1721. Although that writer, who was born at Geneva, ought not to be regarded as a refugee, he nevertheless attached himself strongly to the numerous families which fled from France in order to escape from persecution ; for his grandfather. Nicholas Leclerc, a native of Beauvais in Picardy, had been carried off while quite a child, from his father's house, by his mother, who was a zealous Protestant, and who fled with him first into Dauphiny, and thence to the city of Calvin. The second was edited, with a remarkable force of criticism and analysis, by Henry Basuage, of Beauval, a friend of Bayle, and brother of James Basnage, who actually continued " The News" under the title of " History of the Works of Scien- tific Men," a monthly review, which he edited, from 1687 to 1709. The third, protected by the title, which had been rendered illustrious by the talents of Bayle, was directed by a refugee minister, named Bernard, who began its publication in 1699. The most purely literary of these three collections was that of Basnage ; the most scientific, that of Leclerc ; the third, void of all originality, forms the transition to the journals of the same character, which abounded in Holland, during the eighteenth century. The only writer, who sprang from the " Refuge," and continued the literary career of Bayle and his immediate successors, was Elias Luzac, whose articles, inserted in the " Impartial Library," and in the VAN EFFEN. 113 " Library of Sciences," are written with incontestable talent. In 1766, he even had the honor of determining, by an eloquent memorial, the rejection of a project of censorship of the press, which was entertained in the assembly of the States of Holland. The Hollanders, in thei*' turn, entered upon the career opened by the refugee writers. Van Effen issued the " Lit- erary Journal," the " Political and Grallant Courier," the " New French Spectator ;" and then, addressing himself directly to his countrymen, he published in their own tongue, from 1710 to 1748, the " Republic of Scientific Men," fol- lowed by many other periodical works, uttered in the same language, with the same end in view. If it be considered, that, in its first origin, the French Academy was almost purely a monarchical institution, that its acts are often blotted by flattery, and that the Court of Louis XIY. was in truth the centre of the literature of that great century — if it be considered, how the French writers were bowed down under the law of a dominant church, before which the most sublime geniuses fell prostrate ; the truly civilizing influence which the refugees exercised in Holland, cannot fail to be appreciated ; and the high bearing of the services which they rendered to that country, and to all Europe, in creating public instruments, independent of a suspicious power, in popularizing, by their own method, the liberal principles which they professed, both in politics and in religion, and in thus realizing the noble and happy thought of a sort of literary republic, must ever be remembered to their honor. CHAPTER IV. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFUGEES ON THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. French cultivators in the Barony of Breda, and the province of Friseland— Influ- ence on Manufactures— Reports of the Count d'Avaux — Measures taken by the City of Amsterdam —Peter Bailie — Measures of the other towns — New manufac- tures created at Amsterdam— Manufactures founded at Rotterdam — Progress of Industry at Leyden and Harlacm — Manufactures established In other towns — Improvement in mechanical arts — French paper manufacture — Progress of printing and the book trade— Huguetan— Diminution of French exports into Holland — Influence of the Refugees on the progress of Commerce. Protestant France furnished only a small number of poor cultivators to the United Provinces, almost all natives of the southern provinces, who established themselves partly in the ancient barony of Breda, and partly in Friseland. The former received lands, which were generously distrib- uted to them by the Prince of Orange. The magistracy of Friseland gave them to others, who put them under cultivation, and thus contributed to the public prosperity. The richest cultivators were dispersed through the Seven Provinces, and did not form distinct agricultural colonies. Their descendants are, at this day, confounded with the pop- ulation of the country, while in Friseland the families who came from France may still be recognized, not only by their names, but by their modes of culture, and above all by their FRENCH MANUFACTURES IN HOLLAND. 115 traditional custom of surrounding their property with canals to mark their limits. The commerce and manufactures of the Netherlands owed a great increase to the refugees, in a far greater degree than did agriculture. The principal fabricators, merchants and workmen had retired through choice into England and Holland, whither it was easier for them to transport the pro- perty which they had saved, so as to derive advantage from their industry or capital. Most of those who fixed them- selves in the United Provinces were natives of Normandy, Brittany, Poitou, and Gruienne. They endowed their adopt- ed country with many new manufactures, aided in the re-es- tablishment of those which had fallen into decay, and com- municated to the national commerce the most lively impulse. The numerous reports of the Count d'Avaux sufficiently show to what extent the French government was engrossed by the disappearance of so many manufacturers and merchants, whose departure impoverished the kingdom and enriched the foreigner. He wrote on the 11th of September, 1685; "I am informed that more than sixty French Protestants have embarked at Nances on board of a Dutch vessel, after having sold their property and carried with them as much money as they could."* He had already previously informed Louvois of the escape of many fabricators, and the establishment at Amsterdam of a manufactory of flowered silk, which, said he, has succeeded very well.f At several times, he insisted upon the disastrous consequences of the flight of so large a number of workmen. On the 9th of May, 1686, he wrote to Seignelay, that he could not conceal the pain he experienced in seeing the French manufactures becoming established in Holland. " That of bolting cloths, of which so great a sale was made to all the world, and which was unknown in Hol- land, is thriving at this hour in Rotterdam ; there is also es- * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 140. f Id. vol. iv. p. 278. 116 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tablished there among the other hatters, one of the most famous of that trade from Rouen, who has brought twelve out of nineteen boys, whom he had in that town, to Rotter- dam ; and although he has been there but three months, I know that his hats have been already imported to La Ro- chelle." * This desertion appeared so sad to the French ambas- sador, that he composed a memoir to instruct the King of the remedy, which he judged necessary to apply to that evil, t There was, in fact, no graver loss to fear for the kingdom after that of silk and woollen fabrics, than that of " candebecs "| and beaver hats. Before the revocation, they were sent from Normandy to England, Holland, and Ger- many. That exportation ceased, little by little, after the year 1685, when manufactories of hats had been established in the three countries, where those of France had, until then, found a certain sale. The republic treated these industrious exiles with marked favor. The town of Amsterdam admitted them to the cor- porations of the trades, without subjecting them to the severe proofs to which she submitted the national workmen. She eagerly received the request which was addressed to her, in 1682, by a certain number of manufacturers and workmen. " We propose, gentlemen," said they, " to put in the house which you have the goodness to offer us, in the hands of a person chosen by you, eight thousand florins worth of good merchandise, such as silks, to be estimated by you, and well worth the eight thousand florins, to serve as security for the ad- vance of money you will make to us, that we may have a hun- dred silk looms, which may be put in that house, and which * Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 267. f Id. vol. V. p. 288. X Candebecs were hats made of lamb's wool, ostrich down, or camel's hair. See, Savary's Dictionary. AID OF THE STATES TO MANUFACTURERS. 117 cost about six tliousand florins."* The magistracy encour- aged them even in the smallest particular. It bought a vast edifice, which was situated near the gate of Wetteringen, and offered it, with the title of " merchant and director-general of manufactures," to Pierre Bailie, who placed therein a hun- dred and ten looms for fabricating silk, wool, and hats, on the pattern of those which he had directed at Clermont-Lo- deve in Languedoc.f Some refugees of Nimes having found- ed, in 1684, a manufactory of serges, which was commencing to prosper, the city made them an advance of money equiv- alent to half of the goods which they had in store. That same year a like favor was granted to a certain Pereneau, on condition that he should establish fifty looms capable of providing the manufactured products, which had until then been bought from strangers. In 1685, Jean Cabrier, a re- nowned fabricator of glazed taffety, received all the utensils which were necessary to found a manufactory similar to that which he had known how to render so flourishing at Lyons ; and, when he had proved his capacity by a successful com- mencement, all that had been furnished to him, was given him, and he was gratified beside with a reward of five hun- dred florins, and a pension of two hundred and fifty, on con- dition that he should initiate the Dutch workmen who were designated to him, in his art, to the exclusion of those of other countries. :j: Jacques Chamoix, Jean Pineau, and Jacques and Dinant Laures, were likewise aided in founding manufactures, which soon contributed to the wealth of the country.^ Rotterdam, Leyden, Harlaem, and all the other towns in the province of Holland imitated the example of Amsterdam. * Archives of the Town Hall of Amsterdam. Muniment Registry, No. 42, folio 233. f See the Letter of Pierre Bailie to the Magistracy of Amsterdam. Archives of the Town Hall. Muniment Registry, No. 4, folio, 233. X Koenen, pp. 26Y, 268. § Berg, p. 166. 118 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. The magistrates every wliere endeavored to attract the French manufacturers and workmen, by declaring that they should be subjected to no new apprenticeship to the trade which they had exercised in their own country, by enfranchising them from all dependence upon the corporations; by exempting them for a certain number of years from all imposts ; and by granting, in a word, temporary relief to all those whose talent inspired confidence, and permitted the city to count upon their approaching remuneration of these advances. In 1685, the burgomasters of Utrecht promised divers immunities to the French artisans who were established within their walls. Grdningen and the Ommelandes of Groningen published, in 1686, an edict, enfranchising them, during fourteen years, from almost all public charges. These two provinces also engaged themselves to furnish money and raw materials to all those, who wished to establish cloth manufactories, and even assured them that the cavalry and infantry should be exclusively clothed in their fabrics. The regency of Bois-le- Duc distributed among them money and houses, exempted them from the billeting of soldiers, excused them from mil- itary service, to which the peasantry was subjected, and en- franchised them from every tax, for twelve years. So many privileges stimulated the industry of the refu- gees. The city of Amsterdam, which had been until that time entirely given up to maritime commerce, became peo- pled with manufacturers and skilful artisans. She saw a multitude of embroiderers in silk and thread, designers of point lace and flowered stuffs, makers of serges and druggets, Lyonese* gold and silver spinners, and linen manufacturers from Aix, in Provence, whose migration the Dutch magis- trates had promoted by promising them rich benefits.! A great number of articles, which had been formerly bought in * See the letter of Scion. Amsterdam. Archives of the Town Hall. f Berg, p. 170. GROWTH OF AMSTERDAM. 119 France, were thenceforth manufactured there by the refugees. Serges of the King's and Dauphiness' pattern, buntings, sin- gle and double taffeties of every color, crapes of wool and silk, fans, candebecs, embroideries in gold and silver, in silk and in thread, laces, " equipures," * point lace a la reine, a manufactory of which had been founded in the House of Or- phans, brocades, ribbons, flowered and plain gauzes, and bea- ver hats. When the city received its last aggrandizement, by the construction of the quarter comprised between that of the Jews and the rampart, from the Arnstel to the quay of Rapenburgh, the new houses became peopled in a great part by French workmen, and chiefly by hatters. The name of the street of the hatters f has remained ever since that of the street situated near the gate of Utrecht, and not far from the gate of Weesper stands one of the finest manu- factories of candebecs with which the refugees enriched Hol- land. | " All these branches of industry," wrote Scion to the magistracy of Amsterdam, "have been established in two years of time and without expense, while on the other hand, all your predecessors could never accomplish it with all their appli- cations, and the greatest ministers of the most Christian king vainly spent many millions for that end. They filled the city more and more with inhabitants, increased its public revenues, strengthened its walls and suburbs, multiplied the arts and manufactures, established new fashions, made money circu- late, raised new buildings, caused commerce to flourish more and more, 'fortified the Protestant religion, caused a greater abundance of every thing, and even went abroad to attract profit from every quarter, — Germany, the kingdoms of the North, Spain, the Baltic Sea, the West Indies and American Islands, and even England. They, in a word, contributed to render Amsterdam one of the most famous cities in the * A species of French merchandise for which no English name can be found, — Translator' s tiote. f Hoedenmakerspad X Berg, p. 169. 120 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. world, and like the ancient city of Tyre, which the prophet named the ' perfection of beauty,' and of which he said, that ' she trafficked with all islands and all nations ; that her paths were in the heart of the sea ; that all ihe ships and sailors of the ocean came to her port ; that she abounded in all kinds of merchandise, and that all her merchants were princes.' "* The manufactures, established by the refugees, increased the prosperity of Amsterdam, with a rapidity which struck Europe with astonishment. One can judge of it by the re- port which was, in 1686, addressed to the Elector of Branden- burgh, by his ambassador in Holland. The prodigious suc- cess of the French manufactures, the fine manufacture of glazed taffeties, which was considered impossible, except at Tours and Lyons, the fall in the price of silk stuffs which were formerly sold at fifty sous, but had fallen to thirty-six, that of beaver hats, for which ten crowns were formerly paid, but which now cost no more than six ; such were the benefits which that city owed to its generous hospitality, and which the envoy of Frederic William described to his master. f Kotterdam, above all, became enriched by the introduction of French hatmaking. Many of the best hat manufacturers of Rouen, — Pierre Varin, Louis Thiolet, and David Mallet, who had formerly sent every year thousands of candebecs to Holland, had established themselves within its walls, and did not delay to make important exportations from the ter- titory of the republic into the neighboring countries. Se- conded by Jacques Du Long, Pierre Bourdon, and many other manufacturers who had settled at Amsterdam, they solicited the suppression of the duties which the state im- posed upon the export of hats, and the increase of those which it collected from their import. Notwithstanding its repugnance to the protective system, the Dutch government * Letter of Scion to the magistracy of Amsterdam. f Memoirs of Erman and Reclam, vol. v. p. 118. THE HAT TE.ADE. 121 acceded to that request, in order to favor an increasing branch of industry, and one which was singularly profitable to the country. The export duties, which were four sous the pound, gross, were abolished, and those of import were as much increased.* From that time, the French hatters found it no longer advantageous to sell their productions in the Seven Provinces; and to stimulate still more that new branch of industry, which was thenceforth nationalized to the Dutch soil, the old regulations were abolished, which re- stricted the hatters from employing more than eight work- men, and the refugees were permitted to take as many into their service as they might deem necessary. f But the French manufactures nowhere received a more remarkable development than at Leyden and Harlaem. It is true, that those two cities, which were formerly the most considerable in the province of Holland, already possessed many manu- factures similar to those which the refugees w'ent thither to establish. The fabrics of cloths and woollens had been flourishing there during many centuries, and they were still more increased and strengthened at Leyden, when the vic- tories of the Prince of Parma had caused so great a number of Walloons, by which name its inhabitants were sometimes designated, to flock into that city. But they did not arrive at their highest degree of perfection until after the arrival of the French Protestants. After that period, they produced the finest cloths, the handsomest camlets, and most esteemed serges of Holland. They acqiiired an European reputation, and the increase of salaries attracted even the Catholic soldiers of Louis XIV., who deserted, and came to Leyden to establish themselves as workmen, t Harlaem, which * They were raised from 6 to 10 sous the pound, gross. The pound gross was worth 6 florins, or about 12 francs. Berg, p, 171. f Ibid. p. 1Y2. \ See the letter of Louvois to the Count d'Avaux, of Jan. 20, 1686. Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. v. p. 231. VOL. II. — 6 122 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. had likewise received, into the number of its citizens, a crowd of artisans originally from Flanders, also owed the increase and perfection of its fabrics to the French refugees, whom the beauty of the situation, and the salubrity of the climate, had attracted thither, rather than elsewhere. They introduced manufactures of plush, principally flowered plush, known in commerce under the name of " caffas." These were a kind of velvets, which were much sought after in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, where the Dutch merchants sold them ten to fifteen per cent, less than those of France.* The designs of Tours and Lyons were imitated at Harlaem ; for the workmen formed by the refugees could never ascend to the exquisite art, which every year embellished the velvets of those two cities, and chiefly of Lyons, with extreme variety, and all the graces of taste and novelty. The prodigious ex- tent of the trade of Holland with all parts of the world gave nevertheless to the plushes, flowered silk stuffs, which were called the " belles triomphantes," and silk stuffs mixed with wool, a reputation, which every where assured their sale. These productions of the industry of the refugees acquired so great renown, that flowered velvets fabricated at Milan were sent to Holland, and then returned and sold at Milan as Dutch, t The silk stuffs of Holland long sustained even the competition of those of Lyons, above all at Paris, notwith- standing the recognized superiority of the latter. They were sought for throughout the whole of the north of France, on account of their solidity, and because they did not change in pattern every year ; for such was the capriciousness of the fashion with regard to that article, which was made to con- sist in the permanent uniformity of the stuff, whilst from the Lyonese fabrics new designs without cessation were im- periously exacted.^ * Berg. p. 203. f Commerce of Holland, vol. i. p. 294. Amsterdam, 1161. X Ibid. p. 295. HAARLAEM LINENS. 123 Among the manufactures of silk, with which the refugees enriched the city of Harlaem, those of gauzes and threadwork deserve special mention on account of their importance. Their use was singularly diffused at that period. From the higher classes of society it had descended to the inferior ranks. Those light stuffs, composed of silk, or gold and silver threads, which were designated by the name of gauzes, were extremely liked. They were employed as objects of ornament, as well as of dress. They were made use of to cover valuable furniture. That single article, joined with ordinary silk stuffs, employed 3000 looms, and maintained in ease about 15,000 workmen.* The introduction of druggets, stockings, caps, and, above all, French linens, contributed equally to the prosperity of Harlaem. That city had as many as twenty linen manu- factories, which were founded by the refugees. Its in- habitants learned from them to counterfeit those of France, to fold them in the same way as the latter, and to imitate them with such perfection, that they could sell their mer- chandise as French in the ports of Peru and Mexico. f The provinces of Grroningen, Friseland, and Over-Yssel, partly owed their wealth to that new branch of industry. But the linens of Harlaem, above all others, became renowned for their whiteness and fineness. The fabricators of that cit}'- knew how to give them so fine a gloss, that they were in the habit of buying the unbleached linens of Westphalia, the county of Juliers, Flanders and Brabant, to bleach them and afterward sell them in trade as Holland linens. | At one period, this manufacture exceeded that of France to such a degree that the manufacturers of Beauvais, Compeigne and Courtrai, endeavored to imitate it, and pass off their produc- * jSTote communicated by M. Yerpvorten of Harlaem. Compare Koenen, p, 211. f Berg, p. 204. X Commerce of Holland, vol. i. p. 302. 124 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tions as Hollandisli, under the names of" demi-Hollande and triiffeites demi-Hollande^'' Beside these linens which were of fine quality, Harlaem borrowed from the industry of the refugees the hempen cloths of Brittany, which served for the manufacture of sails; and those new fabrics soon sufficed for the consumption of the Dutch marine, and even permitted considerable importations to England. f The workmen of Utrecht and Amersfoort reeled a part of the silk, which was destined for the manufactories of Harlaem, and which came from Italy. But those two cities themselves drew equal advantage from that magnificent branch of in- dustry. It is at Utrecht that was founded, in 1681, the celebrated manufactory of " Zidjebalen," which had not its equal in the Seven Provinces. The watered silks, which it produced, were of a superior quality, and furnished subsist- ence to five hundred workmen, chiefly French, who aided the Hollander, Jacques von Mollen, to create that magnificent establishment. That'town saw beside important manufactures of velvets established within its walls. Commenced, or shortly afterward directed by the refugees, they gave a brilliancy and solidity to their productions which the manufacturers of Amsterdam could not attain. The French manufacturers, and chiefly those of Amiens, who applied themselves to imitate them, could find no quicker way to dispose of theirs than by selling them under the name of Utrecht velvets. Again, in 1766, when the Dutch manufactories were in rapid decay, the velvet and silk manufactures generally of Utrecht, provided work for ten thousand operatives. { In conclusion, the old cloth manufactures of that city, and principally those of black cloths, were improved by the refugees. They passed for the most part into their hands, and owed to them a long course of prosperity. At Amersfoort the refugees fabricated the celebrated French stuffs, which are known under the name of Marseilles *Berg, p. 205. f Ibid p. 186. % Berg, p. 208. WHALE FISHERIES. 125 of Amersfoort. At Naerden, they created manufactories of velvet, whichj in the middle of the eighteenth century, still employed as many as 300 looms, each one of which sufficed for the maintenance of a family. Zaandam saw raised within its walls, in the interval between 1680 and 1690, mills for grinding colors, snuff-mills, and manufactories of white lead and blue starch. At Dordrecht, which served as an asylum to a multitude of workmen, sugar refineries, brew- houses, manufactories of gold and silver thread, and those of cloths and carpets, became more flourishing than they had ever been before. The whale fishery, which its inhabitants pursued upon the coast of Greenland, received a greater impulse. While in 1679, it employed only 126 vessels, in 1680, that number was raised to 148; in 1681, to 172; in 1682, to 186; in 1683, to 242; and, in 1684, to 246. After the year of the revocation, it increased still more rapidly, thanks to the arrival of a crowd of refugees belonging either to the merchant or military marine, who completed the crews of the Netherlandish vessels, and many of whom even occu- pied, in the course of time, the post of directors of the Green- land fishery at Dordrecht.* Thus nearly all the towns of the United Provinces received from the refugees an increase of wealth; thanks to the branches of industry they intro- duced, or which they succeeded in improving. They did not only create new manufactures, and restore those which they found established, but did more still; they knew how, by their intelligent workmanship, to improve the mechanical arts, even the humblest trades. The art of fashioning gold, silver, jewels, and, above all, diamond cutting, that is to say, the different operations known as grinding, cleaving, and polishing, were considerably advanced by that innate taste, which they had brought with them from France. They taught the Dutch processes, superior to those which that people had known before that time, of refining sugars, salts, * Berg, p. 209-211. 126 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sulphur, rosin ; bleaching wax ; making soap, particularly black soap, dyeing scarlet, and preparing hides and morocco, and chamois leather. The manufacture and repairing of clocks, and the trades of the armorer and blacksmith, owed to them indisputable improvement. At Amsterdam, as at Berlin, French locks were soon considered the best and safest. The French shoemakers, tailors, hairdressers, and even the simple lace-workers, were almost considered artists. Thus, by the finish of their work, the refugee manufacturers and mechanics acquired a reputation, which retained in the country considerable sums by which France, and particular- ly Paris, ceased to profit ; they insured public esteem to the mechanical arts, which had been till then despised, and thus elevated the condition of the middle classes, who grew at once into well-being and consideration.* To the many advantages, which Holland derived from their arrival, we must add the fine manufactories of paper which they established there, and the immense impulse which they gave to printing, the book trade, and the branches of industry in general which are nourished by that manufac- ture. The oldest paper mills in the Netherlands were founded in the province of Gueldres, in the environs of Beckbergen and Apeldoorn, by the Frenchman, Martin Orges, who estab- lished himself in that country, in 1616. Nevertheless, not- withstanding the whiteness and solidity of the paper, which emanated from his manufactories, the Dutch printers made use by preference of that of France, which they imported from Ambert and Angouleme. It was no longer thus in the years which followed the revocation. One of the first manufactories of the Angoumois, which maintained no less than five hundred workmen, was directed by the two brothers Yincent, one of whom lived at Amsterdam, and the other at AngoulSme. The latter, through the mediation of * Koenen, p. 272. PAPER FACTORIES. 127 the Count d' Avaux, obtained a passport for Holland, whither he had been preceded by most of his operatives.* Other man- ufacture! s followed that example, and the French ambassa- dor soon informed his court, that their paper mills succeeded perfectly well.f The number of the manufactories, which were newly established in the first years of the Refuge, was so considerable, and the emigration from all parts of France was so great, that it became necessary to send the surplus workmen, who applied every day to the deaconries of the Walloon churches, to England, where most of them found employment at London in a great manufactory, which was directed by Paul Dupin.J After that time, and notwith- standing the acknowledged superiority of the paper which bore the stamp of the French mills, that of Holland was sought for through almost all Europe. The merchants of the Netherlands long supplied with it the Austrian Netherlands, a part of England, France, and Spain, and almost the whole of Portugal. It was used exclusively for interior consumption. " I know," wrote the Count d'Avaux, in 1688, "that some famous printers of this country, who have commenced great works with French paper, and who did not think it possible to finish them without it, have caused it even to be made in Holland, where new paper mills have been established. When this shall have taken its course, they will no longer return to France to seek paper, although the best intelligence might exist between the two countries." ^ That foresight was realized but too soon. The printers of Amsterdam not only used French paper no longer, for works printed in the Dutch language, but they printed beside, * Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, Nov. 29, 1685. f Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. vi. p. 258. X See the Acts of the Synods of the Walloon Churches of the Netherlands. Synod of the Hague, Sept. 15, 1688. § Negotiations of the Count d'Avaux, vol. vi. p. 332. 128 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. for the account of Frencli, English, and German authors, a multitude of books, of which often not a single copy was sold in the country. Such was the cheapness, and at the same time the good quality of the Dutch paper, that the authors and printers found it to their advantage to use it ; and that branch of industry, by maintaining a crowd of workmen, truly added to the public prosperity. The manufactories established upon the banks of the Zaan, rivalled the best of France, and were, long, one of the most important branches of the national industry. During almost the whole of the eighteenth century, they sustained the competition of those of Germany, which had been founded by other refugees, under the patronage of the Grand Elector. Although in that country, the price of labor was not so high as in Hol- land, nevertheless paper was sold dearer in Leipsic than in Amsterdam, where the richest merchants could content themselves with less profits, and assign longer times to facilitate payments. After the birth of the republic of the United Provinces, printing and the book trade flourished in the country of Lau- rent Coster, under the protection of liberty and the laws. Two cities, above all, Leyden and Amsterdam, the one proud of its academy, the most renowned in the country, and the other rich through its immense commerce, have counted among the number of their citizens celebrated printers and booksellers. The Elzevirs and the Blaeuws have long held an elevated rank in the book trade, and printing owes to them the high degree of perfection, which it has attained in Hol- land. But at the close of the seventeenth century it was in decay, and appeared to be threatened with approaching ruin, when it was built up again by the refugees. It was they, who gave to the Dutch book-trade that powerful impulse, which assured to it the European influence which it had in the following century. It commenced by editing a multitude of Protestant works, which the severe prohibitory laws had BOOK TRADE IN FRANCE. 129 not allowed to be published in France. Eminent writers, who had been condemned to silence in their former country, found themselves for the first time at liberty to propagate their ideas. The books, the periodical compilations, and the gazettes, which they caused to appear, were every where read with avidity. They circulated, even in France, although their introduction into that kingdom was rigorously inter- dicted. In order to deceive the French police, the names of the printers, and those of the towns where they printed those works, were changed. It was thus, that the books edited at Rotterdam by Renier Leers, were published under the ficti- tious name of Pierre Marteau, at Cologne ; and those of Abra- ham Wolfgang, at Amsterdam, under that of Pierre Leblanc, at Villefranche. The same ruse was evidently employed by the editors, who took the borrowed names of Jean du Pays, Jacques le Curieux, and Jacques Plein de Courage, and who passed for booksellers of Liege and Cologne.* Thanks to that stratagem, the States General in vain jDromulgated rigorous edicts against the writers who endeavored to degrade the character of Louis XIV. ; those who were culpable were assured of impunity. The French authors, themselves, often had recourse to the Dutch printers, whether because the lib- erty of the press which reigned in that country assured a greater value to their works in the opinion of the readers, and a more extended publicity ; or that the character of their writings imperiously commanded them to seek for editors upon an independent soil. It was thus that La Fontaine brought out his " Contes et Nouvelles" at Amsterdam, in 1685. The " Histoire Naturelle de I'ame " of Lamettrie, was published at the Hague, in 1745; his "Politique du Medecin de Machiavel," at Amsterdam, in 1746; his " Homme-machine," at Leyden, in 1748. Being prosecuted for the latter work, his editor, Etienne Lusac, defended him- self in his " Essai sur la liberte de produire ses sentiments," * Berg, p. 179. Note. VOL. n. — 6* 130 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. which appeared in a free country^ with 'privilege to all true 2^liilo8opliers. The principal works of Rousseau, the " Contrat Social," and the " Nouvelle Heloise," emanated from the presses of Michel Rey, a bookseller of Amsterdam. Jean Neaulme published, in the same city, the first edition of "I'Emile," in 1762. A great number of important libraries were founded by the refugees or their descendants. Chalmot, Neaulme, Des- bordes, Changuion, the brothers Luzac, Rey and Marchand, were long at the head of the book trade at the Hague, Ley- den and Amsterdam. The first example of a true European library was given by the family of Huguetan, originally from Lyons. The chief of that house established himself at Am- sterdam, with his three sons, and there created perhaps the most extensive traffic in books, which has ever existed. There was not in the whole of Europe, and particularly in Spain, Italy, France, Holland, England and Grermany, a city in which he had not offices, clerks, and factors. He had storehouses in Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo.* Many thousands of persons took part in the profits of that immense business, which owed its greatest development to the inde- fatigable activity and rare sagacity of the youngest of the three brothers, Pierre Huguetan, of Montserrat. Most of the works, which were put in circulation by that house, issued from the presses of Bernard Picart, a distinguished printer, and no less celebrated as a designer and engraver. Born at Paris, in 1672, he had quitted France after the rev- ocation, in company with his father, Etienne Picart, a zeal- ous Protestant, who had sacrificed all that he possessed to his religious convictions. Being at first employed to orna- ment the new books with prints, he acquired a name by his exquisite designs, which were often marked with the stamp of genius ; and thus added to the reputation of the Dutch book-trade, although afterwards he abused his talent, and * Kuenen, p. 276. LOSSES IN REVENUE TO FRANCE. 131 by too hasty workmanship sometimes injured the quality of his productions.* The impulse which was given to printing, and the Dutch book-trade, multiplied the relations of the republic with the learned classes of France, England, and Germany. It open- ed new paths for its commerce. In the interior, it contri- buted to diffuse instruction among the inferior ranks of society, who had, until then, lived in ignorance. Knowledge, having become more general, raised the level of public morality. The material prosperity of the nation, in a word, was affected by the progress of that fine branch of industry. A crowd of men of letters not only owed to it ease or wealth, but it provided beside for the support of a multitude of workmen, such as correctors, binders, engravers, designers, type-founders, and manufacturers of leather and parchment. Silk, linen, woollen, and hat manufactories, paper-mills, and the book-trade — such were some of the principal branches of industry, with which the refugees enriched Holland, and the loss or diminution of which France had to deplore. According to Macpherson, the total revenue of that king- dom was diminished by more than seventy-five millions of pounds sterling, during the fifty years between 1682 and 1733. The calamitous wars of the second half of the reign of Louis XIV. were doubtless the most active cause of the decay of that monarchy, which Richelieu and Mazarin had rendered so powerful, and Colbert so rich and prosperous. But the manufactures, which the refugees transported to a foreign soil, equally contributed to that fatal decline. It is the result of the calculations of Macpherson tl;iat the annual importation into Holland of silk stuffs, velvets, woollens, and linens, of French production, suffered a reduction of 600,000 pounds sterling; that of hats, 217,000; that of glasses, clocks, watches, and household articles, 160,000; that of lace, gloves, and paper, 260,000 ; that of sail-cloth, * Koenen, p. 277. 132 FEENCH TROTESTANT REFUGEES. flax-cloth, and canvas, 165,000 ; and that of soap, saffron, woad, honey, and spun woollens, 300,000. The total dimi- nution of the importations from France into Holland was, 1,702,000 pounds sterling ; that of the merchandise imported into England was, according to the same writer, 1,880,000 pounds sterling. Thus the annual loss, which the refugees who were established in those two countries, made France endure, was no less than 3,582,000 pounds sterling, or about 90 millions of francs.* The prosperity of the manufactures, which were estab- lished by the refugees in Holland, naturally influenced that of business. The persecutions, which were directed against the French Protestants, had struck a rude blow at the com- mercial relations of the Dutch with that country. A great number of the French merchants had retired from the sea- ports, to fix themselves at Paris, or in the environs of that city, where they had found, in a certain measure, an asylum against intolerance. Others saw their houses sacked by the dragoons, their merchandise destroyed or confiscated, and the Dutch, whose debtors they were, had been compro- mised, and, as it were, enveloped in their misfortune. The consternation was so great upon 'Change at Amsterdam, when the news of the revocation was received, that funds were refused to the most solvent houses, who entertained business relations with the French merchants. One of the first effects of the edict of Louis XIV. was, to assure to Holland the money, the credit, the commercial skill, and the acquired knowledge of as many of the refugees as transferred th^ir abode thither. She profited, above all, by the strict relations which they knew how to maintain with their kinsmen, their friends, and their co-religionists in general, who were dispersed in Germany, in England, and in America. The severe austerity of their morals, their * Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. ii. p. 610, Loudon edition. 1805. INFLUENCE OF THE REFUGEES. 133 habits of labor, the spirit of order, which presided over their lives, and the high confidence which their religious character inspired, aided them to create, by little and little, some of those great fortunes which were one day to contribute to the prosperity of the state, and which were formed under the influence of the same causes, to which the ancient Hollanders, the offspring of a population of poor fishermen, had owed their immense wealth. The manufactories, which were estab- lished by the expatriated families, assured advantageous in- vestments to great numbers of unemployed capitals. The exportation of the products of their industry nourished in its turn the national commerce with foreign countries. The re- fugees thus stimulated the traffic of the people who had re- ceived them on their escape from the kingdom, and in- demnified thenij far beyond any momentary injury which they had suffered from the barbarous measures of the French government. CHAPTER V. OF THE COLONIES OF THE EEFUGEES AT THE CAPE AND AT SUEINAM. Colony of the Cape— Yalley of the French— French Hoek— Cultivation of Wheat- Improvement of the Vine— Constantia Wine— Extinction of the French Tongue in the Cape Colony— Actual State of that Colony— Colony of Surinam— Aersena of Sommelsdik— Families of Distinction in the Colony of Surinam. The Dutch colonies likewise received some thousands of the refugees. In 1684, the assembly of seventeen, which represented the Netherlands East India Company, declared itself ready to transport gratuitously to the Cape of Good Hope all of the "reformed" who had escaped from France, who were willing to give themselves up to agriculture or the exercise of some trade. It also promised to grant to each colonist as much land as he could cultivate, with the first seeds and necessary implements of husbandry, on condition of being reimbursed for its advances, at the ex- piration of a fixed time. About eighty families accepted these offers and embarked under the direction of a nephew of the admiral Duquesiie. Yan der Stel, the governor of the Cape, established them in the district of Drachenstein, ■whither they were soon followed by new French emigrants. Toward the close of the seventeenth century, they formed an aggregate of about three thousand men established in the interior of the country, about twelve leagues to the north of the Cape, in the midst of a fertile valley, which is still called the Valley of the French. That distant asylum, which is FRENCH VILLAGES. 135 separated from the sea by a vast extent of sand and heather, is situated at the foot of a mountain which serves as its southern boundary, and which, likewise, still bears the name of French Mountain. On the north, it is bounded by a chain of more elevated mountains, which form part of the Hottentot country. In that valley, which extends about fourteen leagues in length and three in breadth, can be still easily recognized many villages, which were formerly constructed by the refugees. The most ancient is that of Drachenstein, where was built the first and for a long time the only French church used by the exiles, who were obliged to repair thither from considerable distances. The first pastor, Simon, appears to have exercised a happy in- fluence over that growing colony, for his memory is vene- rated there, and they still show the traveller a mountain, not far distant from the humble hamlet of which he was long the minister and father, which bears his name. Another village is called French Hoek. or the French Corner. A third, that of Charron, has received the name of its founder, and almost all the inhabitants are descended from his family. The members of that French clan have always had for their chief, an old man chosen from among the elders of the com- munity, without whose advice they attempted no important enterprise. That patriarchal government, so greatly in con- formity with the democratic ideas of the first Calvinists, has been favorable to industry, which has developed itself more in that village than in the others, and has rendered it one of the most opulent and beautiful in the whole country. It has been no less useful in maintaining purity of morals, simplicity of customs, and faith and piety, which are pre- served intact among the descendants of those expatriated families. There exists a fourth village,, the most con- siderable of all, that of the Pearl, the inhabitants of which, being exclusively given up to agricultural pursuits, are the 136 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. richest of that ancient Dutch possession, which now belongs to the English. The emigrants applied themselves chiefly to the cultiva- tion of wheat. It was among them that the best bread in the whole colony was eaten, not in the least because their wheat was of a superior quality, but because the French method, which had been brought by their ancestors, v/as handed down without alteration from father to son.* The fields, which they cleared, were soon covered with fruit-trees, which were, until then, unknown to the inhabitants of South Africa. From the commencement of the refuge, the plan- tations of the French burgomasters of Drachenstein, Louis Le Grand and Abraham A^illiers, were quoted among the most flourishing in the country. f The colony of the Cape owes to them besides, if not the introduction, at least the im- provement of the vine. The wines of Burgund}^, champagne and Frontignan, which were the first they transplanted into their new country, soon acquired great celebrity. It is the Desmarets family that endowed the country with the famous wine of Constantia. t Two other families, the Cha- ronnes and Fontaines, likewise contributed to the agri- cultural prosperity of that long barbarous region, to which beside they rendered another service by the eminent functionaries, whom they furnished to it, in the interval between 1714 and 1726.^ The entire population of the Valley of the French is to-day about ten thousand men, four thousand of whom are de- scended from the refugees, and six thousand, formerly slaves, to whom liberty has been given by a decree of the British parliament. Neither one nor the other any longer speak the French language. In 1729, the Dutch government, being inspired by narrow views, unjustly prohibited the exercise of their religious worship in that language, which had until that * Levaillant's Voyage to Africa, vol. i. p. 42. Paris edition, 1790. f Berg, p. 53. X Ibid- ' § Kocnen, p. 378. HABITS OF THE FRENCH. 137 time been preserved with extreme purity. After that period, the refugees were obliged to learn the Dutch language, and to see, to their great regret, the national idiom become gradually extinct among them. When Levaillant, the tra- veller, visited the Cape in 1780, he found but one old man who understood French ; but many families, the Malherbes, the Dutoits, the Eetifs, and the Cochers, called to mind by their names the country of their ancestors. The colonists could be easily distinguished from the Dutch race, who were fair for the most part, by their brown hair and the tawny color of their skins.* But, if they no longer comprehend- ed the language of their forefathers, they still remained faithful to their rigid principles and fervent piety. The traveller, who enters beneath their hospitable roof infallibly finds placed upon a table one of those large folio Bibles which the French " reformed " handed down from father to son, as a sacred patrimony and an estimable treasure. The date of the birth, and the names of all the members of the family, are invariably inscribed within it. Sometimes also, pious books are found in their habitations, such as the psalms, in verse, by Clement Marot. A touching custom is still pre- served among these simple and austere men. Every even- ing and morning they unite together to worship in common. No formal rules nor pompous ceremonies are found there. They content themselves with praying from the exuberance of their hearts, and reading some chapter from the Bible. With the exception of the chapel of missions of the " Pearl," and the little church of Charron, they have but a single temple for the whole population of the valley. But every Sunday, at the rising of the sun, the farmers set out in their rustic carriages, covered with hides or coarse cloths, to as- sist at divine service, and in the evening they return peace- ably to their homes. This is their sole relaxation from labor. Play is unknown among them, and they are untinc- * Levaillant, vol. i. p. 42. 138 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tured with the refinements of European civilization. Being entirely isolated from the rest of the world, and rarely even frequenting Capetown, they are ignorant even of the great revolutions, which have overthrown modern society. In 1 828, they did not yet know that religious liberty existed in France, and when the evangelical missionaries informed them of that great benefit, which seemed to them a thing unheard of, the old men shed tears, and long refused to believe that their brethren could be so favorably treated in a land, where their ancestors had suffered so cruelly. Strangers to the literary movement of their ancient country, they loved and cultivated the useful arts and practical instruction alone. They sought to disseminate them among their former slaves, whom they had always treated mildly, and voluntarily consecrated their efforts to the propagation of the Gospel among the idolatrous population which surrounded them.* A second colony of refugees, less numerous, however, than that of the Cape, was founded at Surinam, a few years before the revocation.! The first establishments of the Dutch in Guiana, formed by hardy adventurers from Zea- land, had been ceded by the States of that province to the East India Company, who, to attract colonists thither, as- signed a third of them to the town of Amsterdam, and a second third to Aersens, Lord of Sommelsdik. One of the ancestors of the latter, Francois Van Aersens, had long been the ambassador of the republic, near the courts of Henri IV. and Louis XIII., and the connections which he had formed with many Protestant families of illustrious birth had been re- ligiously maintained by his family. The Lord of Sommelsdik himself had espoused a French woman of noble birth. Hav- * See on tlie Cape Colony, Bancroft, History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 180. Compare the Report of the Protestant Missionaries, inserted in the Journal of the Evangelical Missions, Fifth year, pp. 105, 110. f See the Epistle of Scion, already quoted. THE PROPHET SAMUEL. 139 ing become the proprietor of a part of Guiana, which was still almost entirely uncultivated, he brought thither many hun- dreds of refugees, who embarked under the direction of a com- missioner of the burgomasters of Amsterdam, named Saurin. Among them were found numerous mechanics, such as car- penters, masons, coopers, blacksmiths, farriers, and a certain number of cultivators, to whom he distributed lands.* Soon a French church raised itself in the little town of Parima- ribOjt and the refugee minister, Dalbus, was chosen to direct that growing community. In 1686, the Dutch ship "the Prophet Samuel " brought over new emigrants, and some years after, the French colony received a new increase by the arri- val of many families, the most distinguished of whom were the Kaynevals, the Vernesobres, and the De la Sablonnieres. Two governors of Surinam, Nepveu, and Lucas Coudrie, were afterward chosen from among those voluntary exiles, many of whom acquired large fortunes. | Commerce, manu- factures, and above all, agriculture, received from them a vigorous impulae. In 1683, there as yet existed in Dutch Guiana but about fifty sugar plantations. In 1686, as many as a hundred and thirty could be counted. The country, which was cleared by the refugees, still bears the name of Providence, which those sincerely believing men gave to it.^ The propagation of Christianity among the savage tribes of that country was in a great measure the work of Dalbers, Fauvarque, and the other French pastors of Surinam. Pierre Saurin, in 1697, left his peaceable retreat of Bois-le-Duc to devote himself entirely to the conversion of the Indians. He sojourned a long time in the countries which were depend- encies of the East India Company, learned the language of the aborigines, taught them the Gospel, and saw his efforts * Kcenen, p. 99. f Jani^on, Present State of the Kepublic of the United Provinces, voL i. p. 42Y. The Hague, 11B9. X Koenen, p. 376. § Ibid. p. S11. 140 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. crowned with the most brilliant success. The synod of the Walloon churches of the Netherlands assigned, in 1700, a special fund to second the labors of those missionaries of civilization in the forests of Guiana. By a strange caprice of fortune, the refugees thus contributed to disseminate the Christian religion in that part of America, and, by a natu- ral consequence, to strengthen there the dominion of the Dutch.* * See the acts of the synod of the Walloon churches of the IS'eth- erlands : The synod of Bergen- op-Zoon, held in the month of May, 1697, that of Zutphen, held in the month of April, 1700, and that of Gouda, held in the month of April, 1708. CHAPTER VI. THE ACTUAL OONDITIOX OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE EEFUQEES IN HOLLAND. Services rendered by the descendants of the Eefugees in the army and in diploma- cy — Lonis Gaspard Luzac— Decline of manufactures in the eighteenth century — Actual state of manufactures at Leyden— Increasing prosperity of commerce- Popularity of the French language and literature — Translation of French names — Progressive decrease of the number of French churches — Actual con- dition of the churches, founded at the epoch of the emigration. The influence that the refugees exercised in Holland, was not confined to the first years of the emigration. It con- tinued through the whole of the eighteenth century, and the trace of it can be easily followed. The descendants of the brave officers who had so ener- getically sustained the cause of William of Orange, and shed their blood upon so many battle-fields in Ireland, Flan- ders, France and Spain, considered it an honor to follow the career of their ancestors. Faithful to the glorious tradition of the French nobility, from which most of them were sprung, those who fixed themselves in the Seven Provinces continued to defend with their swords the republic which adopted them. The families of Mauregnault and Collot d'Escury have given a great number of its best officers to the Dutch artillery. That of the Baron d'Yvoi has furnished engi- neers, heirs of both the talent and name of their celebrated forefather. The Dompierre de Jonquieres have almost all served with distinction in the Dutch armies. The De La- 142 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES.. neys, connections of the Jonquieres, have remained, like them, faithful in their attachment to the flag. One of the last scions of that family was adjutant to King William I. That of Guillot has produced able naval officers. In our times, the kingdom of Holland has found resolute and de- voted defenders among those of its citizens, whose French names sufficiently attest their origin; General Guicherit, Paul Delprat, lieutenant- colonel of engineers and command- ant of the Military Academy at Breda ; Huet, who perished while still young, in the struggle provoked, in 1830, by the insurrection of Belgium ; Munier, who signalized his courage at the siege of Antwerp, where he served as captain of engi- neers ; and the General Baron Chasse, who defended the citadel of that town against Marshal Gerard. Others of them served the state as ministers and diplo- matists. Lestevenon was ambassador to the Court of Louis XV. Censier was employed at several times as a negotia- tor. Delprat, the father of Paul Delprat, was secretary- general to the minister of foreign affairs, under King Louis, the brother of Napoleon. At the restoration of the House of Orange, in 1814, William I. conferred upon him the title and office of private secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, and elevated him to the rank of commander in the order of the lion of the Netherlands, and the Prince of Orange intrusted him beside with the religious education of his three sons, the princes William, Henry, and Alex- ander.* At a more recent epoch, Blusse, Collot d'Escury, and Louis Gaspard Luzac, have been members of the States General. The two former exercised only a rather limited influence. The third, however, who was nominated a deputy, in 1827, was for a long time the chief of the liberal opposi- tion. A loyal and sincere tribune, he combatted the en- * Delprat died in 1841. "VTe owe the details relative to his family to the kindness of his son, M. Delprat, formerly pastor at Rot- terdam. DECLINE OF MANUFACTURES. 143 croacliments of royalty, stood up with all his might against the project of wishing to reconquer Belgium, which was at- tributed to the reigning "dynasty, and constantly refused the honors and dignities which were offered to him. Carried into power by the revolution of 1848, which brought to Hol- land the momentary triumph of his party, he was one of the authors of the constitution, which to-day rules that king- dom.* But the progressive feebleness of his health, and perhaps, also, the impossibility of putting in practice the principles which he had professed in the opposition, after- ward forced him to renounce politics.! With regard to manufactures, the influence exercised by the refugees was less durable than their brilliant com- mencement had led to hope. The manufactures of silk, linens, hats, and paper, which they had created, began to languish, from the first half of the eighteenth century, and disappeared by little and little from the soil of the republic. Those, on the contrary, which they had not been the first to establish, but which they had simply improved, such as woollens and Leyden cloths, tanneries and sugar refineries, have been able to sustain foreign competition, and still pre- serve to our days the traces of the ameliorations which they received at that epoch. The new manufactures could not sustain themselves, except on condition of being protected by high tariffs ; for the increasing dearness of manual labor, necessarily compelled the manufacturers in time to sell their productions at higher prices than those of France and Grer- many. But the nature of Dutch commerce was imperiously opposed to every attempt at a prohibitory system. The government could not adopt the same regulations, which protected the growing manufactures of France. It could not, after the example of the British Parliament, forbid the introduction of French taffety, nor load with exorbitant * These lines were written in 1852. f M. Luzac at present lives in retirement at Leyden, 144 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. duties that of the other silk goods, which issued from that kingdom. The abundance of specie, with which the banking business and India trade had overloaded the interior circu- lation, and the taxes upon the most necessary articles of life, did not allow it to desire the preservation of any other manufactures, besides those which the support of the marine force demanded, or which were sustained by the consumption of the Dutch people. Moreover, although it invited the French manufacturers, and granted them some privileges, it did not fail to withdraw these at the end of a few years, in order to do no wrong to its own citizens. A single exception was made in favor of the hatters. Still this was not long suffi- cient. As to the free importation of raw silks, hemp, linen cambric, which was bleached at Harlaem, wools, and all the raw materials in general, which served for the manufacture of cloths, it had been granted long before the period of the Refuge, and the manufactures, established by the French exiles, received from it no special encouragement. Aban- doned thus to themselves, they could not fail, little by little, to fall into decay. The manufacture even of silk goods was not actually flourishing, until the close of the war of the Spanish succession. After the re-establishment of peace, the French silks, less costly and fashionable, with more ele- gance, soon regained their old superiority over the markets of Holland. The fine velvets of Utrecht ended in being made at Amiens. While France made a war of tariffs upon the Seven Provinces which injured their manufactures, the Dutch merchants persisted in exacting the maintenance of free exchange, and opposed themselves energetically to a system of reprisals, which would have been advantageous to the new manufactures. They bought indifferently all for- eign products, whatever might be their origin, provided that they could realize a profit by selling them to advantage. So Holland ceased, near the second half of the eighteenth cen- tury, to be a manufacturing country. The manufactures of FRENCH BANKERS. 145 Lejden, themselves, are almost entirely decayed ; and that town, formerly so industrious, possesses now no more than two, which have preserved a certain importance ; one of woollens, directed by Paul Durieu, and the other of stuffs composed of goats' hair, and known by the name of "pole- mites," in which the Dutch make a great trade in the re- cently opened ports of the Chinese Empire.* But if the branches of industry, introduced by the refu- gees, did not fulfil their expectations, thoy enjoyed a large share in the immense extent of the Dutch commerce, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centaries. The Boissevains, the Bienfaits, the Chemets, and the Feyssets, are ranked to- day among the most renowned merchants and financiers in that country. The house of Cromelin, founded at Amster- dam in the commencement of the emigration, has maintained during a hundred and fifty years its ancient reputation, and its books, which are still kept in the French language, testify with what respect the descendants of the French exiles have remained faithful to the traditions of their families. The great commercial and banking houses of Labouchere and Van Oversee at Rotterdam,! and those of Couderc and Yereul at Amsterdam,! likewise date from the beginning of the "■ refuge," and, since then, count many generations among the most considerable in Europe. The French language and literature preserved, during the eighteenth century, the marked preponderance which they had obtained in Holland at the period of the Refuge. The young flocked to the sermons of the preachers of the Walloon churches. The French tongue extended itself even among the inferior classes, rude and coarse as yet, but eager for in- * They were called " polemites," from Le Pole, the manufacturer's name. \ Van Overzee is the translation of the French name, Outre-mer. I The family of Couderc has been for some years extinct. That old house is to-day directed by M. Pierre Labouchere. VOL. II. — 7 146 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. struction and improvement. It was studied in the schools ; it was learned by domestic usage ; it was spoken in the bo- som of many families ; it was habitually made use of in epistolary correspondence, and many people would have found it very embarrassing to write a letter in their mother tongue. At the present day, ladies of a certain age consent with diffi- culty to write in the national idiom. While, in Branden- burgh, the re&igees made corporations and formed themselves into colonies, separate from the rest of the people, in the Netherlands they were scattered in all directions. Their de- scendants are found as well in the large cities as in the hum- blest villages. They li^ed confounded with the nation which received their ancestors, and that happy mixture con- tributed to render their language popular, and to disseminate the taste for their literature. English, Spanish and Italian, which they cultivated in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, were sacrificed to French. The Dutch itself was neg- lected to the degree, that Bayle omitted in his dictionary the most eminent writers of the country, for having composed their works in a language which was reputed almost barba- rous. In the eighteenth century the native poets were either entirely silent, or contented themselves with translating the master pieces of the French theatre. Racine, above all, for whom the refugees professed the liveliest admiration, became the object of popular enthusiasm. Nomsz, the most renown- ed among the Dutch poets of that time, translated " Atha- lie^ Phedre, Iphigenie^ and the best pieces of Corneille and Voltaire. They were represented with immense success in all the towns, and they were afterward continually played in the principal theatres. In our times the pieces of Jouy, Ducis, Casimir Delavigne and Scribe, translated into Dutch, have likewise attained an enduring reputation, and it was not until after the appearance of dramas of the romantic school, that the influence of the French stage declined in the Netherlands. Neither Victor Hugo, nor Alexander Dumas, FUSION OF THE RACES. 147 have as yet obtained the honors which were granted to their predecessors. A particular circumstance powerfully contributed to this long rule of the French language and literature. Until the close of the eighteenth century, the descendants of the refu- gees at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leyden and the Hague, continued united among themselves by those bonds of mu- tual sympathy which had naturally formed themselves among their ancestors in the land of exile. The relations be- tween them were frequent and intimate. They habitually married among themselves, and, although Dutch had long been familiar to them, French was the language of conver- sation and written correspondence. But, in time, a fusion, more and more complete, between the refugees and the na- tives, was inevitable. Saurin already foresaw it when he said in his fine discourse on the love of country, addressing him- self to the chiefs of the state, who were assembled around his pulpit in the French temple of the Hague : " One of the greatest consolations of these fugitive multitudes is, that you do not disdain to confound them with those who have had the good fortune to be born under your government — is, that you do not exact that there shall be two separate people in the midst of you — is, that you have the condescension to con- sider us as if we owed our birth to you, in the same manner as some among us owe you their maintenance, and all their repose and liberty." Long prepared, the definitive union of the two races was in fact accomplished at the close of the eighteenth and com- mencement of the nineteenth centuries. Then, for the first time, the descendants of the French families were seen to publish works in Dutch. It is in that tongue, that Elic Luzac wrote his treatise upon the wealth of Holland, which appeared at Leyden in 1780. In our times Collot d'Escury published in the same idiom his book entitled, " The glory of Holland in the arts and sciences," which was published at 148 FRENCH PP^OTESTANT REFUGEES. the Hague, in 1824. The extinction of some of the princi- pal families of the " refuge," the unions which others con- tracted with families of the country, and, above all, their daily relations, hastened that final result. If the French language is still maintained, among some thousands of the descendants of the refugees, it is for the most part but as an instrument of study, the necessity of which is acknowledged by all cultivated minds. Two facts correspond with that successive transforma- tion, and visibly mark the progress of it. In Holland, as in Germany and England, a great number of the refugees, abjuring their nationality, changed their French names into Dutch ones, which were translations of those their ancestors had transmitted to them. The Leblancs called themselves J)e Witt ; the Dujardins, Tuyn or Van den Bogaard : the Deschamps, Van de Velde ; the Dubois, Van den Bosch ; the Lacroix, Van der Cruijse, or Kruijs ; the Chevaliers, Buy- ter ; the Dupres, Van der Weyden ; the Sauvages, De Wilde; the Delcours or Delacours, Van den Hove ; the Corneilles, Kraaij ; the Duchatels, Van der Kasteele, or Van der Burg ; the Lesages, Wijs ; the Legrands, De Gi-root; the Dumou- lins. Van der Meulen or Vermeulen; the Dumonts, Van den Berg, and the Duponts, Verbrugge. To the change of names was soon joined the progressive disappearance of the churches, which had been founded at the epoch of the " Be- fuge." Of sixty-two French churches, which could be counted in the Seven Provinces, in 1688, about twelve were suppressed in the fii'st half of the eighteenth century. In 1773, they were reduced to forty-nine;* in 1793, to thirty- two, still served by forty-eight pastors. f Under the rule of King Louis, many were abolished, by the order of that * Berg, p. 75. Xote. f Teissddre I'Ange. Some considerations on the actual utility of tlie "Walloon churches in the Jv'etherlands, and the means necessary for maintaining them, p. 34. Amsterdam. 1 843. NATIONALITY OF THE REFUGEES. 149 prince, '' Seeing their future uselessness, and the prejudice which they cause to the use of the national language." The department of the interior which managed the administration of the churches, during the union of Holland with the empire, did not show itself more favorable to the cause of the French churches ; and that tendency reappeared under the govern- ment of the constitutional monarchy, which was established in 1815, to the profit of the House of Orange. King AVil- liam I. suppressed many of them, in 1816, or, according to the official expression, declared them united to the Flemish churches. The decree of 1817 allowed only twenty-one to exist ; those of Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, Leyden, Utrecht, Harlaem, Middelburgh, Glroningen, Dordrecht, Leeuwarde, Delft, Nimeguen, Arnheim, Bois-le-duc, Breda, Zieriksee, Flessinguen, Zwolle, Schiedam, Deventer, and Zutphen, to which was afterward added a new church, found- ed at Maestricht.* Five disappeared during the ten follow- ing years; that of Zutphen in 1821 ; that of Deventer in 1 822 ; that of Flessinguen in 1 823 ; and those of Schiedam and Zieriksee in 1827.t In conclusion, an ordinance issued in 1843, decreed the gradual abolliion of eleven out of the seventeen churches, which still existed, and guaranteed no longer the assistance of the State, except to those of Am- sterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen.J But the duration of these churches, which are to-day the last ruins of the French emigration in Hol- land, is far better as&ured, and, perhaps, even for a long time still to come, by the vivacious sentiment of nationality which is preserved among a certain number of families, whom study, * General and particular regulations for the use of the Walloon churches of the Netherlands, p. 240. The Hague. 184Y. f General and particular regulations for the use of the "Walloon churches of the Netherlands, p. 240. Note. X General and particular regulations for the use of the "Walloon churches of the Netherlands, p. 245. Note. 150 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. and sometimes long years passed in France^ render familiar with the language of their forefathers, and who consider themselves honored by their origin, as by a title of no- bility, while, at the same time, avowing themselves Dutch in heart, and united by affection to their second country. BOOK VI. THE EEFITGEES IN SWITZERLAND. CHAPTER I. HE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EEFUGEES IN SWITZEELAND. The Refugees of the sixteenth century— Foundation of a French Church at Bale— The Count de la Saxe at Berne— Growth of Geneva— D'Aubigne— The Duke de Rohan. Division of Switzerland into two camps— Relations of the Protestant Cantons with England and Holland in the seventeenth century— Attempts at intervention in favor of the French Protestants— Diet of Aran in 1684. The fugitives from Gex and Bresse, 1685— Grema— Journal of Jacques Flournoy— Registers of the Council of Geneva— Emigrations of 168T andl6S8— The Refugees at Zurich and Berne— The Refugees in the Pays de Vaud— Mission of Bernard and of the Marquis de Miremont— Measures taken in their favor by the Senate of Berne— Aid granted to the poor by the Protestant Cantons— Intervention of Her- wart and Walkenaer. Polity of Louis XIV.— The French resident at Geneva— Reprisals of the Sieur de Passy— Threatening Letters of Louis XIV.— Order to the Refugees to quit Geneva —Measures of safety taken by the republic of Geneva— The Baron de Yvoi— Alli- ance of Geneva with Beme and Zurich, in 1686— Secret protection of the Refu- gees—Intrigues of Louis XIV. against Berne and Zurich— Irritation of those two towns against France. Number of Emigrants in Switzerland— The Emigrants in the Canton of Berne— Or- ganization of the four colonies of Lausanne, Nyon, Vevay, and Berne— Colony of Zurich— Number of Refugees at Bale, Schaffhausen, and St. Gall— Number of Refugees at Geneva— Right of citizenship and domicile— The fugitives of Orange in 1703. While Luther gave the signal of religious reform in Ger- many, other theologians, such as Zwingle at Zurich, (Eco- lampade at Bale, and Farrel, Theodore de Beza, and Calvin, 152 FREXCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. at Geneva, were inciting a part of Switzerland against the authority of the Hoi}' See. After a hloody war, the new doctrines preponderated definitively in the cantons of Berne, Zurich, Bale, Schaffhausen, and in the little republic of Geneva, which had proclaimed its independence in 1535. The primitive cantons, Schwitz, Uri, and Unterwald, and their allies, Zug and Lucerne, resisted the enthusiasm of the age, and preserved their Catholic faith intact. But the strength of the two parties was not equal. By the conquest of the Pays de Yaud from the Dukes of Savoy, Berne soon became the richest and most powerful state in the confede- ration. It was to the prudent and circumspect conduct of the government of that city, as well as of Zurich, that Swit- zerland owed the maintenance of a neutrality favorable to its prosperity, amid the troubles which agitated the country on the frontier. These two states, in fact, never ceased to maintain a purely defensive system as the leading principle of the federal policy; and their influence preponderated over the exterior affairs of the Helvetian league, in spite of the jealousy of the other cantons. They also frequently served as a place of refuge to the persecuted Protestants of France, Germany, and Ital}', who found there a no less sure asylum than in England and Holland. The town of Bale, which a community of religion strictly united to Berne and Zurich, saw a French church raise itself with- in its walls, which was founded by the reformed fugi- tives after the massacre of Saint Bartholomew.* That church, the most ancient of those which the French Re-^ formed formed in Switzerland, owed its origin to the pres- ence and solicitation of two noble exiles, Francois de Cha- tillon and Charles d'Andelot, the sons of the Admiral Co- ^ig^Jj who fled their native country at the news of the Parisian massacres. The French portion of the canton of Berne likewise received a multitude of families, who abandoned * El-man and Keelam, vol. iv. p. 301, note. CALVIN. 153 their country under the reigns of Charles IX. and Henry III., and during the troubles which agitated that of Louis XIII. One of the most illustrious, that of Augustin-Con- stant de Rebecque, a nobleman of Artois, who had saved the life of Henry of Navarre on the day of Coutras, retired into Lausanne. A celebrated engineer, the Count de la Suze, who was recommended to the magistrates of Berne by Agrip- pa d'Aubigne, established himself in that city, the ramparts of which he built, and he founded there a French church, which he provided with its first pastor in 1623.* But no- where flowed a greater number of refugees than into Gene- va. It was natural, in fact, that the " French reformed," who fled from a country where they found neither religious liberty nor personal safety, should seek of preference a new domicile in a neighboring city, where their language was spoken, and in which their most illustrious doctor, the oracle and chief of their party, held sway. Calvin, through the in- flexible rigor of his doctrines, his indefatigable activity, his vivid and enthusiastic eloquence, and the authority which his austere life gave him, exercised over it an irresistible influence. That vigorous intellect, supported by an indomi- table will, had created a Protestant Rome, a citadel of the reform, and an assured refuge against persecution. Exposed without cessation to the plots hatched against her by her former bishops, and to the snares which were laid for her by the Dukes of Savoy, Geneva blended Protestantism with liberty. She felt the necessity of attaching herself strongly to the new religion, as the only guarantee of her political independence. She was Protestant with exaggeration ; she had solemnly adopted the reformed religion as the sole base of the public and private life of the city, from which she had excluded all practice of the Roman religion. She also * This fact was communicated to us by M. Renard, a pastor of Berne, and former president of the management of the French Colony in that city. 154 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. eagerly received, and willingly admitted to the right of burghership, the numerous Frenchmen who were forced to expatriate themselves in the sixteenth century. These suc- cessive adoptions, moreover, assured the victory of the Cal- vinists over the freethinkers ; they gave the city a new ele- ment of force against its formidable neighbor ; they added, above all, to the repute of the young republic, which was proud to reckon among the number of its citizens a Germain Colladon, who afterward compiled its civil edicts ; a Nor- mandie, a Bude, a Candolle, a Trembley, and a Sarrasin.* Many of these noble exiles obtained from the beginning a le- gitimate influence in the city which adopted them, and imme- diately made a figure in its councils. The brave and satirical D'Aubigue rejoined them there after the death of Henry TV. The power having fallen into the hands of a queen, who was accused by public rumor of having been an accomplice with the murderer of her husband, the adoption of a policy which was injurious to the memory of the late king, and the troubles which were every where being reviv- ed, determined the old nobleman to renounce his country for ever. He passed the last ten years of his life at the Chateau de Crest, the acquisition of which he made upon the Genevese territory, and he died there in 1630. Such was at that period the bond of union which attached that republic to the Protestant party of France, that a report being spread in 1610 that a new attack was projected by the Duke of Savoy, she received aid not only in money for her fortifications, but many nobles of the most illustrious fami- lies thronged thither in person to defend her with their swords, and among them the young Duke de Soubise, the younger brother of the Duke de Rohan, the young De Be- thune and Desmarets, nephews of Sully, and the Sieur de Ven- dome, engineer to the Duke de Bouillon, who was sent by * Of the Recruiting of the Population in the little democratic State?, by Edward Mallet, p. 91. Geneva, 1851. THE PEACE OF ALAIS. 155 that prince to repair her threatened ramparts. '' Your at fairs," wrote Henry de Rohan to the Syndics, " are not so private to yourselves, that the greater part of France does not share them, and that all well-balanced minds do not make general cause with the peculiar interest of your single church," * After the taking of La Rochelle and the Peace of Alais, while Soubise had repaired to England, and died there in obscurity in 1640, his elder brother demanded an asylum at first from the Venetians, and afterward from the G-enevese, who, being bound by the treaty of 1579, did not dare in the first instance to permit an enemy of the crown of France to reside amongst them and purchase the sovereignty of the land of Coligny. For an instant Louis XIII. appeared to restore him his favor. The Grrisons, who were allies of France, being disturbed in the possession of the Yalteline, by the vicinage of some Spanish troops, who endeavored to foment there an insurrection, he intrusted their defence to the tried valor and skill of the former chief of the Huguenot party. The three leagues elected him their general ; the King confirmed him in this dignity by letters patent, and conferred upon him beside the office of ambassador extraor- dinary to the Helvetic confederation. In 1635, he did more ; he charged him with the conquest of Valteline, and confided to him an army of fifteen thousand men, with which the general, so lately disgraced, fought the Imperialists in the valley of Luvino, at the foot of Mount Casanna, repulsed the Span- iards, and succeeded in breaking off all communication between Lombardy and Austria. Being recalled to Paris, in 1637, he mistrusted the intentions of the Court, and using his health as a pretext, he returned to Greneva in company with Prioleau, La Baume, Drusis, La Blacquiere, and many other noblemen who were attached to his fortunes. Being * This letter, written from Fontainebleau, bears date April 18tli, 1611. 156 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. this time received with the honors due to his birth and rank, he prolonged his stay during a year, and compiled his memoirs upon the war of the Valteline. He caused the works which had been counselled by Vandame to be ex- ecuted, completed the plan of defence which had been traced by that skilful engineer, and thus sheltered Geneva from a coup-de-main. A monument of his pastime in that city still exists, viz. , the alley of the Mall at Plainpalais, the trees of which he caused to be planted, after having established there the game the name of which it has preserved. But the jea- lous government of Louis XIII., always fearful that the reformed might again take up arms, surveyed with dis- trust their last chief established so near the frontier. In 1633, the Duke received orders direct from the King to re- turn to France. He preferred to choose the battle field as an asylum, and following the instinct of his whole life, he wrote to the son of Henry IV., soliciting permission to go and fight under the flag of the Duke of Weimar, who was at that time gloriously sustaining the combined interests of France and the Grerman Protestant princes, against the Emperor. Without waiting his reply, he left Geneva, went to meet the enemy in the Brisgau, and was mortally wounded at the battle of Kheinfeldt. The circumstances of that heroic end deserve to be recalled in this history. A writer of the seventeenth century, Fauvelet Dutocq, relates them in these terms in his " History of the Duke de Eohan," which was published in 1667 : " The Duke de Weimar was besieging Kheinfeldt ; Rohan represented to him that he had not enough troops to remain in the intrenchments, where he would be attacked at the same time by the besieged, and by the Imperial army ; and that he ought to go and meet the enemy. This counsel was followed on the 28th of Feb- ruary, 1638. Rohan placed himself at the head of the regi- ment of Nassau, which was the most advanced. He there showed extraordinary jDrowess, and broke the wing which BATTLE OF RHEINFELDT. 157 was opposed to him, in spite of a vigorous resistance. As he was recognized for a person of distinction, their principal efforts were directed against him ; his equerry fell dead at his side ; the officers who surrounded him were almost all killed or left hors de combat. He himself engaged so briskly in the melee, that his buff coat was scorched, his cuirass pierced in several places, and he was wounded by two musket shots, one in the foot, and the other in the shoulder. His horse having fallen while he was pursuing the enemy, those whom he had concjuered made him prisoner, and throwing him across another horse, took him with them in their flight. But the major of the regiment of Nassau overtook them, and delivered the Duke from their hands." Rohan survived nearly six weeks the effect of his wounds, which did not at first appear to put his life in danger. The council of Geneva having sent to felicitate him upon his brilliant feat of arms, received from him this fine reply : '■' I consider myself very happy to have found myself at a place where the arms of the King, my master, have acquired so much glory. And, although I was there without a com- mand, I do not esteem the occasion less honorable. When one cannot be at the helm, it is one's duty to attend to the rigging, and it is of no importance in vvhat capacity one serves, when it is for a good cause. As to my v/ounds, they are of no account, and the medicament you offer is greater than the hurts demand." These lines, dated from Lauffen- burgh, were the last proof of friendship which Geneva re- ceived from the hand of this hero. Having been removed to the Abbey of Koenigsfeldt, in Argovia, he died there, after the extraction of one of the balls which had pierced him. Louis XIII. did not consider himself bound to honor the memory of the brave man who had not waited for his orders to die in fighting for France. But his religion had given him a second country, vrhich fulfilled in his behalf that last duty. From the abbey where he had given up 158 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES the ghost, his body was carried with great pomp to Geneva, and there it was interred in the church of Saint Peter, after having received the respect of all the people whose territory- it traversed in its slow and solemn march. Thus was accomplished the last desire of the Duke de Kohan ; for he had expressed the wish that his mortal re- mains should be for ever kept in that town which he had always loved. A mausoleum can be still to this day seen in the old church of Saint Peter, which represents a warrior of the sixteenth century in an attitude of command, and seated under a dome of black marble, with an epitaph which recalls his exploits. The rigid city of Calvin, which never granted a monument to the dead, which did not even erect one to its reformer, raised that tomb to him in its most majestic temple. The number of refugees for religion's sake, diminished as well at Geneva as at Bale, Schaffhausen, Berne, and Zurich, when the position of the Protestants had been regu- lated in France by the Edict of Nantes, and definitely fixed in Germany by the Treaty of Westphalia. But Switzerland remained divided into two confederations, always ready to have recourse to arms, and so much greater enemies that, having no longer any thing to fear from a foreign war, they had not a single interest in common, which could make them forget their dissensions. When, in 1655, a French army joined itself to that of the Duke of Savoy, to aid that prince in exterminating the unhappy Waldenses, even in the most in- accessible fastnesses of their mountains, their co-religionists of Switzerland became touched with compassion, and, sus- tained by Holland and England, they interceded in their favor. Cromwell exacted, and obtained, from Mazarin the recall of the French troops, and Lord Morland, his ambassa- dor, imperiously intimated to Charles Emanuel that he must spare his Protestant subjects, and restore to them the free exercise of their religious worship. The intervention of the THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CANTONS. 159 Protector saved Geneva, and preserved to the Bernese the Pays de Yaud ; for France, which wished to open for her- self a passage into Italy, demanded from the Duke of Savoy, the cession of the valleys of Piedmont, in exchange for Geneva and the Pays de Vaud, which she engaged herself to conquer for him.* The Catholic cantons, seeing their confederates contracting alliances with England and Hol- land, drew still closer the bands which united them to the Prince-Bishop of Bale, the House of Savoy and France, from which they received a grant of 350,000 livres, and the re- newal of the pensions which had been until that time paid to their principal families.! When Holland, being menaced by Louis XIV. in 1672, asked aid from its co-religionists of the Helvetic republic, the Bernese, fearing the wrath of the great king, repulsed in appearance the pressing importunities of the ambassador of the Prince of Orange, but they per- mitted him in secret to levy a regiment of two thousand four hundred men, while they threw obstacles in the way of the en- listments for France. The unjust aggression of the French monarch rendered the cause of Holland popular throughout the whole of Protestant Switzerland, and the ministers de- nounced from their pulpits those who served the persecuting prince. I Schafifhausen and Zurich, in like manner, refused levies of troops for France, alleging that the war against Holland was directed against the Protestants. The renewal of the persecutions, which announced the ap- proaching revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the increas- ing number of new refugees who came to seek an asylum upon the Helvetic soil, filled all hearts with compassion for the victims, and with indignation toward the executioners. In 1672, the conference of the deputies from the Protestant cantons at Baden, prescribed public prayers for both the Protestants of France and those of Holland. In 1681, the * Yerdei], History of the Canton du Yaud, vol. ii. p 262. f Ibid. vol. ii. p. 263. X I^''<1- P- 285. 160 FREXCH PROTESTAXT REFUGEES. government of Berne again ordered all the ministers to pray to God in favor of their oppressed brethren. In 1682, and 1683, the magistrates deliberated many times npon the fitness of addressing expostulations to Louis XIV., but they feared to irritate his pride, and contented themselves with sending a pastor to France to render them a faithful account of the actual state of the Protestants in that kingdom. In 1 684, the diet of Aran, at which the representatives of Zurich, Bale, Berne and Schaff hausen assisted, received the touching complaints of the preachers who had fled from their native land after the demolition of a multitude of temples in all the provinces. Those victims of fanaticism came to supplicate the Protestant cantons to intercede for them with the King, as if the remonstrances of so feeble a neighbor could have modified the will of the most powerful and most absolute prince who reigned in Europe.* They resolved, at least, in spite of the formidable illusion which enveloped the name of Louis XI Y., to receive the fugitives, and to unite themselves to William of Orange, by a treaty offensive and defensive, rather than ever to refuse to protect their exiled brethren. The inhabitants of Gex and Bresse, almost all of whom had belonged to the reformed religion during more than a centurv, were the first who retired to the Genevese territory, at the period of the great emigration. Having been successively despoiled of almost all their rights, in contempt of the stipu- lations of the treaty which united them to France, seeing the public exercise of their religion forbidden throughout the whole extent of their country, and fearing that they would soon experience treatment still more cruel, they suddenly took fright at the approach of the dragoons, commanded to prepare them to become converted, abandoned their homes and arrived in a mass at Geneva, on the 21st day of Sep- tember, 1685, with their furniture and other most valuable * Protestant Recess of the four cantons of Berne, Zurich, Schaff- hausen and Bale. Archives of Berne, vear 1G84. GREMA, 161 effects whicli they had carried away on wagons.* Some days afterward two young men secretly returned to the village of Feigeres, and set fire to their house, which with three others was consumed. But a troop of horse was soon stationed in the bailiwick to guard the houses of those whom they styled criminal deserters. f Among those fugitives was Grema, a man of great capacity and surprising activity, who allied himself to one of the first families of Geneva by his marriage with Francoise Fatio. But having no hope of being able in that city to re-establish his fortune, which he had sacrificed to his religion, he departed for Branden- burgh, was appointed councillor of the court and ambassador, and sent back to Switzerland with the mission to persuade the reformed who had retired thither upon their flight from France, and who found themselves too numerous to abide there definitively, to pass over into the states of the Elector. In fact, at the end of a few weeks, the emigrants flocked in not only from Gex and Bresse, but from Dauphiny and Languedoc, and afterward from all the provinces in the king- dom successively. Contemporary testimony informs us that as early as 1685 they arrived every day by hundreds. We read under the date of that year in the manuscript compiled by Jacques Flournoy ; " Every day there continue to arrive a great many of these poor people, and their number already exceeds many thousands. Among others, numerous French ministers have passed through, and although they remain but a few days in the city, more than fifty of them may be seen at a time. The French fund is drained. On the 9th of November, two hundred and twenty-eight, from the Pays de * Manuscript History of Geneva, by M. Gantier, vol. xi. p. 238. Manuscripts of the Library of Geneva. — Erman and Reclam, vol. iii. p. 58-61. — Burnet's History of his own time, vol. iii. p. 127. Oxford edition, 1833. f Manuscript compiled by Jacques Flournoy, year 1685, jN'ovember 28th and December 6th. 162 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. G-ex alone were relieved. By the 15tli of November, a thousand from that single country had already received assistance." The French fund, instituted in 1545, by David de Busan- ton, who bequeathed one half of his fortune to the general hospital, and the other to the French Protestant refugees and their descendants, had not ceased enriching itself during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, through the generosity of a crowd of donors, eager thus to show their gratitude for the benefits they had received. Geneva was then able to aid the fugitive religionists, whose number increased without cessation, but most of whom only passed through t'he city to distribute themselves in the cantons of Switzerland, or to direct their steps toward Holland, Brandenburgh, and Eng- land. It was, above all, in 1687, that the tide of emigration flowed toward the city of Calvin. We may judge of its amount by this passage from Flournoy, under the date of May 25th of that year : " Every day a surprising number of Frenchmen arrive, who have fled from the kingdom for religion's sake. It has been remarked that hardly a week passes, that as many as three hundred do not come, and this has continued since the end of the winter. Some days as many as a hundred and twenty reach here in numerous bands. Most of them are young tradesmen ; but there are also some people of quality." And farther on, he adds : " During all this time pass through the city a surprising number of poor French refugees, who enter by the New Gate, and leave by the lake. Most of them are from Dauphiny. As many as three hundred and fifty arrive every day; on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of Au- gust, eight hundred in all entered the city. The French fund is entirely exhausted. Its capital, two years ago, was more than eight thousand crowns, but it has no longer any thing, notwithstanding the very considerable charities it has received. On the 1 5th of August, fifteen hundred francs were FRENCH FUND. 163 distributed. During all this year, it has distributed five hundred crowns monthly. Half a crown was given to each refugee, of whatever age or sex. The council gave five hun- dred crowns to the fund, the churches of the country as much more, and the hospital the same, beside taking charge of all the sick. The revenue of all the Thursday charity boxes was granted them throughout that year. The Italian fund also gave five hundred crowns. The public, in their turn, furnished the boat for transporting the refugees to Switzerland, which amounted to about a thousand crowns for the year. On such a day there arrived from seven to eight hundred refugees. It is said, that in the five weeks which ended on the 1st of September, nearly eight thousand of them entered the city ; so that, although they left every day by the lake, there were ordinarily about three thousand of them in Geneva. . ." The official registers of the council confirm and complete the testimony of Flournoy. Here are the most significant passages which relate to that year : " 4th of March, 1687. Crowds of these foreigners are seen in the public places. M., the Resident, has testified surprise at it. " 24th of May. The almoner of the Resident says that in the few past days, from twelve to thirteen hundred persons have arrived in this city from the Pays de G-ex. "31st of August. The list of the Recorder of Neufve of the refugees who arrived yesterday, amounts to about eight hundred persons. ... It has been deliberated in what manner we must proceed to forward them on their way. The hospital has been ordered to prepare sheds to shelter those who arrive, and accommodate them in the best way possible. " 26th of September. During the past week eleven hun- dred and fifty refugees arrived, and about one hundred and fifty returned to Switzerland. 164 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. " 3 1st of October. The Syndic of La Garde has reported that the number of about eight hundred and fifty refugees arrived here during the past week." On the 24th of November, a solemn fast was celebrated, and, to hinder embarrassment and confusion in the temples, the council ordered that they should preach at the Auditory for the refugees alone. All the garrison was this day under arms for the guard and safety of the city, and soldiers were placed at the doors of the Auditory, to allow no one to enter but the exiled Frenchmen. The vast hall could not contain them, and, in the mean while, all the other temples were ex- traordinarily filled.* The crowd, at that moment, was so great, that, in the populous quarter of Saint-Gervais, more refugee than Genevese families could be counted, although more than twenty-eight thousand persons had already passed through the city to seek elsewhere for new asylums. When the French prisons were thrown open in the months of March and April, 1688, and a crowd of captives were set at liberty, many of them arrived at Geneva, having been escorted as far as the frontier by archers or yeomen, who, upon leaving them, read them their sentence of eternal banishment from the kingdom. Numerous Protestants of illustrious birth thus emerged from the dungeons of Grenoble, Lyons, Dijon, Chalons, Valence, and Castres. The expenses of their jour- ney being paid, and themselves conducted as far as the boundary of the Geuevese territory, they received a few pistoles — feeble indemnity for their confiscated property, f From time to time, also, voluntary refugees still fled the country. On the 18th of April, 1688, the people crowded, with the most lively marks of sympathy, around a captain, accompanied by a lieutenant and forty-two soldiers. Almost all of them natives of Puy-Laurens, they had come as far as * Flournoy, year 168Y, passim. Register of the Council of Ge- neva, November 22, 1687. f Flournoy, year 1688. THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. 165 Lyons on allowance, and from thence had succeeded in gain- ing the Genevese soil. * The tide of emigration was no less considerable at Bale, Schaif hausen, Zurich, Berne, and Lausanne. " The fugitive religionists continue to arrive in crowds at Zurich," wrote the French ambassador two months after the revocation. " I have found many of them on the road from Bale to Soleure."t He added, to please Louis XIY., " A short time will cause a change in the zeal of these charitable hosts, on account of the expense, which is increased in proportion to the eagerness with which they give an asylum to those who ask it from them." J " They are only the canaille," said he, in continua- tion, " all the people of consideration only pass through here on their route to G-ermany.^ The following month, he informed the Court that the treasury clerk, who brought the funds destined for the em- bassy from Neufchatel to Soleure, had found the roads filled with French subjects, who were directing their steps toward Berne and Zurich. || A third dispatch informed Louis XIV. that wagons entirely filled with fugitives were seen every day passing through the streets of Bale.T A great number of these exiles took their way through preference toward the Pays du Vaud, a French province as far as the language and neighborhood of France was con- cerned, whether to definitively fix their abode there, or in order not to be too far distant from their former country, from which they still did not believe themselves to be for ever separated. In a single day more than two thousand of them were counted in the single city of Lausanne.* * Every * Flournoy, year 1688. f Dispatch of Tambonneau, Soleure, 15tli Dee. 1685. Archives of the ]\Iinister of Foreign Affairs. X Ibid. § Ibid. [] Dispatch of Jan. 5, 1686. Tf Dispatch of February 2, 1686. * * Verdeil. History of the Canton du Vaud, vol. ii. p. 311. 166 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. one was emulous to aid them. Councillors, burghers, and foreigners, all received them eagerly, and threw open their houses to them.* But every day new fugitives arrived, often sick and with no resources. The funds allowed by the council of the city, and increased by the charity of the citizens, were soon exhausted. To succor these unfortu- nate wretches, an appeal was made to the religious zeal of the Waldenses. The pastors preached in their favor ; they organized collections; the former bishop's palace was transformed into a hospital for all those who could not find shelter in the houses of the citizens ; two hundred pounds of bread and firewood were distributed to them daily ; boxes were placed every Friday at the doors of the churches of Saint Francis and of the city, to receive the sums which the compassion of the faithful designed for them. A general assembly of the refugees was convoked at Lausanne, to con- sider upon the means of relieving the increasing wants of so many thousand exiles. It adopted the suggestion of the pastor Barbeyrac, and sent a deputation into Germany and Holland to ask for aid. Bernard, the former pastor of Manosque in Provence, and the Marquis de Miremont, a nobleman of Languedoc, were intrusted with this mission, in 1688. They succeeded fully. The money they brought back was distributed among the poorest, the most of whom repaired to Prussia and the other Protestant states in the north of Germany, where uncultivated lands were given them, which they cleared, and houses in which they exer- cised lucrative professions. Those who remained were placed under the protection of the Canton of Berne, of which the Pays du Vaud was a dependency.! The German subjects of that canton, even those of the capital, did not always exercise in behalf of the refugees that generous hospitality of which the Waldense population had * Verdeil. History of the Canton du Vaud, vol.ii. p. 311. t Verdeil, vol. ii. pp. 812-315. SWISS CHARITIES. 167 given the touching example. The government was obliged to publish a proclamation recommending them to public benefi- cence. " The gentlemen of Berne," wrote Tambonneau, " have issued a command, which is not exactly an express order, but a very pressing exhortation, to all the bailiwicks in their state, to oblige all their peasantry not only to contribute by alms to the subsistence of the refugees, but even to take them to their houses, to nourish them, and to give them all the aid of which they are capable."* The members of the two councils received a special invitation to succor the most needy, in order to give an impulse of charity to the public. In most of the G-erman communities the people continued to exhibit no less coldness toward them. Even at Berne, where the magistrates gave them billets upon their arrival, the guards of the gates were obliged to accompany them, halberd in hand, to compel them to open the doors of the houses which were for the moment assigned them for abodes. But the government watched with noble solicitude over the maintenance of the poorest. It distributed two batzf a day to the men over the age of fifteen years, six kreutzers to the women and children, and one batz to those who had not attained the age of five years. They sent them food besides, and paid their expenses in all the inns, with the exception of the two best. The Protestant cantons formed a fund to facilitate the departure of those whom Switzerland could not support. In the interval between the month of November, 1683, and the month of February, 1688, fifteen thousand five hundred and ninety- one persons, entirely desti- tute of resources, were thus sent from Schafi"hausen into Germany, at the expense of the Protestant league. In the mean time the refugees continued to flock into Berne, not only on the western frontier but also on the northern. Those who * Dispatch of Tambonneau, Soleure, January 5th, 1686. I In the Canton of Berne a batz is equal to two sous, and there are four kreutzers in one batz. — Translator's note. 168 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. had been so lately transported into the German States, returned to Switzerland on the approach of the armies of Louis XIV., when the war was rekindled between France and Europe in coalition against her. The Bernese govern- ment was obliged to apply to the Austrian ambassador, who consented to furnish passports, in order to facilitate the passage of these unfortunate wretches across the provinces of that empire, to the frontiers of Brandenburgh and Holland. In 1689 it had recourse to a cruel measure to disembarrass the canton of a burden which had become too onerous. It ordered all those who were without resources to leave the country, declaring that it would protect none but the aged and infirm.* But that order was not executed. D'Her- wart and Walkenaer, the ambassadors of France and England, interceded in their favor, declaring that their governments would charge themselves with all the necessitous refugees who might exceed the number of four thousand men. The five cantons engaged to assist in the maintenance of the others. They only sent away a small number of them ; still they paid the expenses of their journey, and Berne excused herself to the Protestant powers, so as not to be taxed with indifi"erence to a cause in which the religion was interested.! In 1698, the new French ambassador, Puisieulx, and the ambassador of the Emperor, delivered the canton from the poorer portion of the emigration. They furnished passports to many hundreds of the fugitives, and particularly to those whom the Duke of Savoy had driven from Piedmont at the epoch of the Treaty of Ryswick, when he wished to seal his reconciliation with Louis XIY. by an act of intolerance. These victims of a double persecution embarked upon the Rhine, and descended that river to the hospitable shores of Hesse and the Palatinate, the sovereigns of which were eager * History of the Republic of Berne, by Antoine de Tillier, vol. iv. pp. 298-301. Berne, 1839. t Ibid. pp. 336 337. SIEUR DE PASSY. 169 to receive them. The state of Berne thus found itself lightened of its burden at the close of the seventeenth century ; for, with the exception of a few aged persons who were supported by alms, it had only retained men capable of making themselves useful to their new country.* The French government, which condemned its Protestant subjects to the galleys when they endeavored to escape from their executioners, always- viewed with uneasiness and disquiet the reception which the fugitives received upon the Helvetic soil. From Greneva and Lausanne they could corre- spond with facility with the new converts of the provinces of Burgundy, Dauphiny and Languedoc; they could excite them to fly from the kingdom, and facilitate to them the means of escape. Louis XIV., also, did not allow them to enjoy in tranquillity the hospitality which was extended to them. The inflexible severity of the monarch followed them, prin- cipally into the Genevese territory, where they excited such ardent sympathy. That French and reformed corner of the earth, whose independence was but slightly guaranteed by treaties, had been compelled, in 1679, to receive a French Resident, M. de Chauvigny, who was charged to watch the little republic, and impose upon it the haughty will of the great King. When, in 1685, the inhabitants of Gex flocked thither in crowds to escape the troops who were ordered to convert them, the Sieur de Passy, governor of that bailiwick, complained to the first syndic that an asylum was given to rebels. Without even referring it to his government, he took upon himself to have recourse to reprisals by inter- dicting the exportation of wheat, and other commodities which Geneva derived from that part of the French territory. He included in that prohibition even the products of the lands which belonged to Genevese proprietors. All represen- tations which were addressed to him were of no avail. A * History of the Republic of Berne, by Antoine de Tillier, vol. iv. p. 365. Berne, 1839. VOL. II — 8 170 * FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. deputation which was sent to Dijon to solicit the intervention of Harlay, the Intendant of Burgundy, met with no better success. The Intendant contented himself with declaring that he would inform the Court of the complaints of the Grenevese, and would wait its orders. It was the new Resi- dent of France, Dupre, who made known to the magistrates of that city the reply of Louis XIV. It was arrogant and threatening : " Being adyised that there are many of my subjects of the pretended reformed religion, who, contrary to the gen eral prohibition I have made against leaving my states with- out my permission, retire to Geneva, and are there received by the magistrates ; I write you this letter, to inform you that it is my wish that you should make pressing commands on my part to those who govern in the said city, that they instantly oblige all of my said subjects who have retired thither within a year, to depart, and return to their homes. And you will declare to the said magistrates, that I cannot permit them to continue giving an asylum to any of my sub- jects who still wish to leave my kingdom without my per- mission. You will not fail to let me know the resolution they may have taken upon your demands, in order that I may regulate my own according to their compliance with that which I desire from them." Such a declaration did not permit the magistrates of Geneva to hesitate upon the line of conduct they had to pursue with regard to the refugees. In spite of their com- passion for those unfortunate wretches, they published by the sound of the trumpet, not only in the city, but also in the lands of the sovereignty, a formal order to all the French- men who had expatriated themselves within a year, to de- part immediately from Geneva and the Genevese territory. This compliance pleased the French Resident ; but he soon perceived that they evaded the execution of the order they had given. The King, little satisfied with the measures COLBERT DE CROISSY. 171 which had been taken by the government of the republic, wrote a still more haughty letter : " My will," he wrote to his envoy, " is, that you proclaim a second time to the magistrates, that if they do not oblige all those of my subjects of the pretended reformed religion, who have retired since the commencement of that year into their city, to instantly return to the places where they lived before. ... I will soon take resolutions which will make them repent having displeased me, and given me such just cause for discontent with their conduct." * The monarch added that he approved of the prohibition of the Sieur de Passy, with regard to allowing the wheat, and other commodities which belonged to the G-enevese, to go out of the Pays du Gex. This language, and the coercive measures which accompanied it, would doubtless have fright- ened a more powerful state than the city of Calvin. The little republic was dismayed. It reiterated its orders to the refugees to depart from the city and territory, and particu- larly from the circuit of Peney, which had served as an asylum for most of those from Gex. It enjoined the inhabit- ants, on pain of corporal chastisement, to send away on the instant all the King's subjects whom they had concealed in their dwellings. It caused the boats, in which many of the emigrants had escaped from the kingdom, to be removed from the Rhone. The ministers who were accused of keep- ing up seditious intelligences with the subjects of Louis XIV. were expelled, f Then only the Resident received advices from Colbert de Croissy that the King had ordered * These two letters of Louis XIY., countersigned by Colbert de Croissy, are found in substance in the register of the council, and in copy, No. 37*7 6, of the historical documents in the archives of Geneva. The first is dated the I7th, and the second, the 23d of October, 1685. f Manuscript History of Geneva, by Gautier, vol. xi. pp. 238-288. Manuscripts of the Library of Geneva. 172 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Passy to take off the interdict from commerce, and to re- sume amicable relations with the republic. * In the mean time, the magistrates of Genera, wounded in their dearest affections, advised those of Berne and Zurich of the humiliations they had undergone. They sent for workmen from German Switzerland to work at the fortifica- tions, and particularly to construct the curtain walls which were to join the four new bastions, the plan of which had been traced by the Baron d'Yvoi. They wrote to the Prince of Orange, begging him to lend them that skilful engineer, who had just entered the service of Holland. Being informed of the dangers which menaced the cradle of the French reform, Yvoi had already, of his own accord, sent a message offering his advice. He did more ; he came himself, in 1686, accompanied by his young son, Captain Mallet, Lieutenant Cassin, and a fugitive captain of Orange. It was a great subject of joy for all the Genevese, when they saw him slowly traversing the streets in a carriage drawn by six horses, and when the magistrates came solemnly to meet him, at the risk of the displeasure of the Resident, whose presence should have re- pressed the impulse of their hearts, f After his departure, they again wrote to the Stadtholder, asking him for Goulon. But, at that time, William was not willing to separate him- self from a man whose experience was so necessary to the success of his approaching expedition. '' The Prince of Orange," the celebrated engineer wrote to them, " does not think proper to grant me leave of absence in a conjuncture like this, when every thing appears to tend toward some great movement. "J But, while he was not able to come in * Manuscript History of Geneva, by Gautier, vol. xi. p. 240. Manuscripts of the Librarj^ of Geneva. f riournoy, year 1686. X This letter, dated from the Hague, may be found in the Archives of Geneva. Historical Documents, No. 8833. DESIGNS OF LOUIS XIV, 173 person, he caused a plan of Geneva, and tlie mountains which command that place, to be drawn up, promising to send it back to them with his observations. At the same time, recourse was had to loans, to increased taxation, which the people submitted to without a murmur, and to voluntary subscriptions, which amounted to ninety thousand crowns. * All the citizens were armed with muskets of the same calibre, and invited to join in the defence of their native city.f The companies of the garrison were each increased by ten men drafted from the burgher companies, who mounted guard with the others day and night. |« At the approach of the French troops, charged to aid the Duke of Savoy against his subjects of the valleys of Lucerne, the alarm spread to the Protestant cantons themselves. There was no talk but of the designs attributed to the King of France of wishing to reinstate by force the Bishops of Bale, Geneva, and Lausanne. ^ It was supposed that he would commence with Geneva, and that he would there re-establish the Roman Catholic religion by violence. Berne and Zurich testified the greatest disquiet, and agitated the question of sending a garrison into the threatened city. The King wrote upon this subject to his ambassador in Switzerland. " The inhabitants of Geneva will have no need of the as- sistance of their neighbors, so long as they conduct them- selves as wisely as they have done, since I declared to them that I would not f^iiffer them to give an asylum to my subjects. "II These haughty words reassured nobody. In 1686, the deputies of the cantons of Berne, Zurich, Bale and Schaff- hausen, met in conference at Zurich, declared to the envoys * Gautier, p. 254. f Register of the council, December 18, 1685. X Gautier, p. 241. § Dispatch of Tambonneau, Feb. 2d, 1686. I This letter is dated Versailles, December 21st, 1685. 174 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. from Geneva, Pictet and La Rive, that they were disposed to risk all for all in the sacred interest of the "religion." They engaged to aid the city, in case of attack, with an army of thirty thousand men, capable of holding head against the thirty thousand men, which the French government had con- centrated in Dauphiny, In the mean time they proposed to send an auxiliary body of five hundred men who should come, with drums beating and colors flying, to take possession of the posts which might be assigned them. This premature offer was not accepted, but a treaty of alliance was concluded, and Geneva, placed under the protection of Protestant Switzerland, could thenceforth follow the inspirations of Christian Charity, and relieve her persecuted brethren. The magistrates, however, neglected none of the precautions which were necessary for her defence. They agreed, with the Bailiff of Nyon, upon signals, which were established to let the people of Berne know that they must immediately send the promised relief in case of alarm.* From that period the Genevese government pursued a line of conduct toward the refugees, which testified at the same time its profound sympathy for them, and its fear of provok- ing too openly the resentment of Louis XIV. While renew- ing its former prohibitions to the subjects of the great king with regard to their remaining in the city, and while some- times sending the tithing men from house to house to compel them to withdraw, it always showed extreme indulgence to those citizens who transgressed its orders and persisted in retaining their exiled brethren.! In vain did the French Resident express his surprise at the multitudes of these foreigners in the public places, in spite of the publications which were printed and posted up in the streets, by the care of the authorities.^ In vain did Colbert de Croissy transmit * Gautier, p. 254. f Flournoy, year 168Y. X Register of the Council, March 4th, 1681. 175 tim the order to inform the magistrates that they would in- cur all the anger of the king, by persisting in retaining his subjects of the pays de Gex, under the pretext that they were in their service. The magistrates replied by evasive answers, one day promising to conform to the will of Louis XIV., as soon as possible, and excusing themselves on the morrow, by maintaining that, from all time, the bailiwick of Gex had furnished their city with men and maid servants, and that it would be dijficult to procure others from Savoy, where the curates prohibited the inhabitants from going to live in the city of Calvin.* Indignant at such bad faith, the monarch impatiently exclaimed one day — " It becomes necessary for me to take a last resolution with regard to the inhabitants of Geneva."t But he never executed his menaces. The European war, which was imminent, made it his imperi- ous duty to spare Switzerland, whose neutrality protected the frontiers of an important part of his states. When he received information that the Elector of Brandenburgh had sent an agent named Du Boy, to Geneva, with the mission to promote the escape of the religionists, and to distribute money among them for the purpose of persuading them to repair to the north of Germany, he contented himself with exacting his expulsion. I When, afterward, the Prince of Orange notified the republic of his accession to the throne of England, the magistrates did not fear to offer him public felicitations.^ They refused, however, to receive D'Herwart Desmarets, who was appointed by the new king to fulfil the duties of British resident in their city, in order not to break entirely with their formidable neighbor. || The relatively powerful cantons of Berne and Zurich had * Flournoy, year 1687. f Gautier, p. 27 2-27 3. jj. Archives of Geneva, Historical documents, No. 2,116. § Gautier, p. 876. I Register of the Council, Sept. 10th and Nov. 6th, 1689, and Jan. 10th, 1681. 176 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. not to submit to those imperative injunctions, on the part of France, which had terrified Geneva. Not a menacing word was addressed to them on the subject of the refugees, not- withstanding their proud and almost hostile attitude. When a poor soldier from the canton of Zurich, who had been mutilated in the French service, was driven from the " In- valides" because he did not belong to the dominant religion, all his fellow-citizens resented his affront, and declared upon the spot that they would give an as3dum to three thousand Huguenots.* The insult offered to the regiment of Erlach, which was obliged to assist at mass and in all the other cere- monials of the Roman Catholic religion, no less irritated the Eernese government. In 1686, five officers of Huningen, having ventured to violate the neutral territory of Switzer- land, by pursuing twelve of their soldiers whom they called deserters, the Avoyer of Erlach caused them to be arrested in the streets of Berne, and sent them disarmed to the town, where they were in garrison. He restored their arms to the French ambassador, advising him, that in case of repetition they would make short work with them. The people of Berne were upon the point of massacring them.f Louis XIV. exacted no reparation for that offence. The Bernese Gazetteers gave loose to bitter invectives against the perse- cuting king, and Tambonneau became irritated at their increasing insolence. It was expressly recommended to him to despise these attacks, and not to make remonstrances, which could have no result.J Some thousands of the refugees having presented themselves in the bailiwicks, which were common to both religions, and which were designated by the name of the free provinces ; and the Pope's nuncio having claimed the intervention of the French ambassador to forbid an establishment so contrary to the Catholic inte- * Dispatch of Tambonneau, Xov. 10th, 1685. f Dispatch of same, Jan. 9, 1686. X Dispatch of Tambonneau, Dec. 22d, 1685. BERNE AND ZURICH. 177 rests, the king replied to his representative that he did not desire him to make useless declarations.* When the cantons of Schwitz, Uri, Unterwald, Zug and Lucerne, terrified at seeing so many Protestants fix themselves in their neighbor- hood, took the resolution of not suflering them to remain in places where they had any jurisdiction, he contented liimself with writing to Tambonneau to give this politic line of con- duct his entire approbation.! At many times his ambassador protested to the magistrates of Berne and Zurich his pacific intentions toward the Glenevese. He did not complain of the alliance of those two cantons with them. When the Stadtholder of Holland, now become King of England, sent the Chevalier Coxe to Switzerland, to propose to the Prot- estant cantons to enter into the European league, against France, his threats hindered Bale from acceding to the treaty ; but Berne and Zurich, and with them Schaffhausen and Saint Gall, signed it without fear, and permitted levies of troops for the coalition, while preserving their diplomatic relations, and some appearance of amity with Louis XIV. The canton of Berne alone furnished two thousand soldiers to the allies. I During more than a hundred and fifty years had that state vainly negotiated to obtain the incorporation of the Pays du Vaud into the Helvetic confederation, and thus to place its own private conquest under the common protection. It succeeded finally, in 1690, and the numerous refugees who were established in that province, assured thenceforth of the armed protection of the whole of Switzer- land, found themselves definitively sheltered from the ven- geance of their former sovereign.*^ It is scarcely possible to determine the number of the emigrants, who only crossed Switzerland to go and establish themselves in the other countries of refuge. As to those, * The King's reply to Tambonneau's Dispatch, Nov. 3d, 1685. f Dispatch of Louis XIV. dated Versailles, Nov. 29th, 1685. X Verdfcil, vol. ii. p. 289. § Tillier, vol. iv. p. 329. VOL. II — 8"^- 178 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. who fixed themselves for ever at Geneva, Berne, Zurich, Neufchatel, Bale, Schaffhausen, and Saint-G-all, they formed an aggregate of about twenty thousand men. We lack exact data with regard to Neufchatel, Bale, Schaffhausen, and Saint-Gall, where they arrived singly, did not form themselves into colonies, and soon became merged into the indigenous population. But documents exist, which allow us to state, with sufficient precision, what was the amount of the emigra- tion to Geneva, Zurich, Lausanne, Berne, and the other towns, dependencies of that canton. The State of Berne, the most extensive and the richest of all Switzerland, received also most of the fugitives. It results from a census, ordered in 1696, that they were defin- itively fixed at the number of 6,104 men, 4,000 of whom were domiciled in the pays du Vaud. At Berne, were counted 1,117; 1,505 at Lausanne, 775 at Nyon, 696 at Vevay, 214 at Yverduu, 231 at Aigle, 716 at Morges, and 275 at Mou- don. The others were distributed among the towns of Morat, d'Avenche, Payerne, Eschalens, Grandson, Romain- Mottier, and Aran.* About 4,000 gained their own subsist- ence, and were no charge to the community. The 2,000 others lived either upon public or private charity. The for- mer were merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, laborers, and men and women-servants ; the latter were ministers, a few gentlemen, old men, widows, children, the sick, and men in- capable of exercising their trades. f Some months afterward, the arrival of the French, who were driven from Piedmont, many hundreds of whom joined themselves to the Bernese colonies, while the others went to establish themselves in * Archives of Berne. Summary of the census of the refugees in the canton, made by order of their Excellencies, in the months of February and March, 1696. Supplementary document to the Protes- tant recess of JN'ovember, 1696. t Archives of Berne. " Eeflections upon the present state of the re- fugees who are in the Canton of Berne," by Hollard, tlie minister of the French Church of that city. August 3d, 1696. REFUGEE CHAMBER. 179 Germany, raised the total number of those who remained in that canton to 6,454.* At the commencement, the refugees who were settled in the Bernese country, sent every year two members of their body to the diets, where sat the deputies of Berne, Zurich, Bale, and Schaffhausen. Those assemblies voted the sums, which were divided among them. But when the first tide of emigration had passed, and a great number of the French had left the canton, to direct their steps toward Germany and the Netherlands, the state definitively organized this surplus population. The maintenance of the poor was at first provided for by the institution of a " refugee chamber," which was composed of six members, and a senator to preside over them.t The whole body of the refugees was divided into four corporations or, exchange companies, which stood them in lieu of the privilege of burghership : that of Lau- sanne, that of Nyon, which was afterward united to the for- mer, that of Vevay, which was afterward merged in the burghership of that community, and that of Berne, which ex- clusively comprised the fugitives who were domiciliated in that capital. J These corporations, which formed as many small private societies, were charged, as were all the other Bernese communities, with the maintenance of their poor. They disposed of, to that efi"ect, funds provided by legacies, pious donations, collections, which the state authorized in the churches, and an annual subsidy which was granted by the " refugee chamber." They exercised a tutelary guard- ianship over those under their jurisdiction, through the me- dium of committees, which were freely elected in the gen- eral assemblies, and which bore the title of " directions," or * The supplementary document quoted. f It was called in the German language, die exulanten kammer. ± Archives of Berne. Memoirs remitted to the administrative chamber. February 11, 1801. 180 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. councils of the burghersliip.* The corporation of Lausanne first nominated a " direction," which was charged to watch over all its interests. Having met in general assemblage at the end of September. 1687, the exiles, who were established in that hospitable city, designated a committee by the plu- rality of votes, which was at first called " the company de- puted for the aff'airs of the French refugees for the cause of the holy Gospel." The pastors Barbeyrac, de Mejane, and Julien, and the laymen de Saint-Hilaire, de Vignelles and Clary, were elected members of the company, who received it as their mission " to visit and console the sick, to overlook morals, reprove the scandalous, and to decide difi"erences." The corporation of Berne was not organized, until two years after that of Lausanne. On the 21st of February, 1689, the chiefs of families met together in general assem- bly, in the French temple, and chose as inspectors and supervisors of the colony by the plurality of votes, Jean Modeux, of Marsillargues, in Languedoc ; Isaac Bermont, of Vernoux, in Vivarais ; and Jean Thiers, of Orpierre, in Dauphiny; and among the laity, Jean ScipioD Peyrol and Laurent Domerc, lawyers, of Montpellier ; Pierre Mesmyn, of Paris ; Barthelemy Moutillon, of Anuonay, in A^ivarais ; and Pierre du Simitiere, of Montpellier. This choice was approved of by the chamber of refugees, who designated to preside over the " direction," Moise Holland, a minister of the French church of Berne, and one of the most distinguish- ed members of the body of pastors, f The attributes of this committee were the same as those of the " direction " of * List of the members of the French colony of Berne printed in that city, in 1845, in German. f Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Refugees in the city of Berne. This book, and all the documents generally, which concern the Colony of Berne, and which liave emanated frmn the "Direction," have been recenth" transferred to La ]SeiiveYi!le, where we have consulted them. GENEVESE POPULATION. 181 Lausanne. The members were charged " to assemble to watch over the conduct of the refugees, to remedy the irreg- ularities and irreverences which one or the other of them might be guilty of, and to apply the necessary censures and exhortations." But all the provinces, which had furnished emigrants, not being represented, and complaints to that effect having been made to the magistrates, the chamber of refugees decided in 1695, that the "direction" should still remain composed of eight members, but that two should be chosen from among the Protestant natives of Lauguedoc, two from among those of Dauphiny, two from those of Bresse and Burgundy, one from Paris, and one from the Yivarais. The state of Zurich had already received three thousand fugitives, in less than one month after the revocation.* But in the years which followed it, and above all in 1687, new emigrants presented themselves in crowds, and joined with those who had preceded them. When, in 1693, the five Protestant cantons divided the maintenance of 4,560 refugee paupers between them, Zurich received 998, Berne 2,000, Bale 640, Schaffhausen 589, and Saint-dall 333. f The French " reformed," who established themselves at Zurich, formed there a corporation directed by a consistory, of which the pastor Reboulet, the former minister of Tournon, was one of the most eminent members. | The Genevese population comprised three distinct classes ; the citizens, the inhabitants and the foreigners. The small extent of the city and country, and yet more the fear of offending Louis XIV. did not allow the magistrates to concede the right of the city to many of the refugees. That favor, which was so prodigally bestowed in the preced- * See Tambonneau's Dispatch, already quoted, Nov. 10, 1685. f Archives of Berne. Recess of the Protestant Cantons. Year 169 3. ■\. Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Refugees in the city of Berne, Dec. 11, 1693 ; Dec. 10, 1694 ; Oct. 2, & April 1, 1695. 182 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ing century, was only granted, after the revocation, to men whose fortune or personal celebrity promised an increase of power or brilliancy to the republic ; to Jacques Eynard, of La Baume, a scion of a noble family of Dauphiny, one branch of which had retired to PJngland, and who was appointed a member of the council of two hundred, in 1704 • to Claude Claparede, of Montpellier, second consul of Nimes, from the year 1672, who escaped from France in 1685, bringing with him eighty thousand livres in money, and bills of exchange ; to Lacomte, a rich merchant of Elboeuf ; to Naville and to Boissier d'Anduze ; to the Counts of Sellon, who were natives of Nimes ; to Vasserot, of the valley of Queyras ; to Audeoud, of Saint Bonnet, in Dauphiny ; to Henri, Marquis Duquesne, the son of the Admiral, and to his two sons, in consideration — say the registers of the council — of his great qualities, and chiefly on account of his piety and probity ; to Joussaud, a gentle- man of Castres ; to Abauzit of Uzes ; to Frangois Samuel Say, a minister of London, a native of Nimes ; to Galissard de Marignac, of Alais ; to Fuzier Cayla, of the Bouergue ; to Perdrian, of La Bochelle ; to Sacirene, a skilful silk manufacturer of Uzes ; and to Antoine Aubert, a cloth mer- chant, of Cret, in Dauphiny.* They even feared to admit the refugees to the domicile, which gave to those who ob- tained it, and to their descendants, a right of permanent sojourn, and the privilege of being relieved by the fund, although they were made to promise in the act of reception, never to make use of it. The " inhabitants " formed an intermediate category between the citizen burghers and the foreigners, properly so called, and in some degree a body of candidates for citizenship, that point of all ambition in the Genevese society. The magistrates not only refused that right to the refugees, which they coveted so ardently, but they even shunned giving them billets for quarters, for * GalifFe. Genealogical Notices of Genevese Families. LATTER EMIGRATIONS. 183 fear, says the register of August 1st, 1688, " that our tole- rance and facility in receiving the refugees may openly appear." They generally contented themselves with in- scribing their names upon the memoranda of the councillors. The receptions to the right of domicile, during the last fifteen years of the seventeenth century, did not exceed the number of 754.* About half of the new inhabitants were natives of Dauphiny, a little more than a quarter were from Languedoc, and almost all the rest were from the Pays du Gex. But one would be greatly deceived by taking that number as the basis of the refugee element of the Genevese population ; for, at no period of time, did that city receive so many of the reformed, who had escaped from France, as when it showed itself most sparing of favors toward them. It results, in fact, from a second census, which was taken in 1693, that, of a city population of 16,111 individuals, 3,330 were refugees.! The general or partial persecutions, which were renewed in France in the course of the eighteenth century, and which did not entirely cease until under the reign of Louis XVI., brought new fugitives to Geneva and the Protestant cantons. Most of them united themselves to the old colonies, which were formed after the revocation. It is not possible to form an exact valuation of their number, although at certain pe- riods the bands of fugitives were sufficiently numerous to attract attention. When, in 1703, the Count de Grignan occupied with his troops the principality of Orange, over which the King al- leged the rights of the Prince of Conti, the Protestant min- isters received passports to withdraw to Geneva, and all the inhabitants, who refused to embrace the Catholic religion, * See in the Archives of the Genevese Exchange, the Domicilia- tion Book, or the register of those who satisfied the French Ex- change Company. t Register of the Council of the 25th of July, 1693. 184 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. were authorized to quit their native country. Berne, Zurich , and Bale divided the maintenance of a thousand of these emigrants among them ; tlie others found an asylum in Bran- denburgh.* As to the Waldense refugees of the valleys of Lucerne, who had flocked into Switzerland, in 1686, to the number of five thousand, the diet of Arau had distributed them amono- o the five Protestant cantons. Of each hundred Berne had received forty-four, Zurich thirty, Bale twelve, Schaflfhausen nine, and Saint- Gall five. Glaris and Appenzell were like- wise charged with the maintenance of a small number of the most needy.! But those emigrants were only transient guests of Switzerland. The greater part of them returned with arms in their hands to their own country in 1689, under the conduct of the celebrated Arnaud, whom they called their colonel and pastor at the same time, or established themselves in the States of the great Elector. * Erman and Re clam, vol. viii. book xxxviii. f Dispatch of Tambonneau, Souleure, January 4th, 1687. CHAPTER II. INFLUENCE OF THE EEFUGEES ON AGEICULTUEE, MANUFACTUEES, AND COMMEEOE. New Modes of Cultivation ia the Pays de Yaud— Model gardens— Culture of the Mulberry in the Canton of Berne— Manufactures at Lausanne— End of the trade of peddling in the Pays de Vaud— Silk Manufactures at Berne— Manufactures at Zurich— Commerce of Neufchatel— Progress of mechanical arts in Geneva— Watcli- making— Coutraband trade. The activity which the refugees, for whom an entirely new existence was commencing, displayed, excited the most lively emulation among the Swiss, and produced the most happy and surprising results. Agriculture, in the first place, owed its remarkable progress to those peasants of Dauphiny and Languedoc, who had left their cottages to seek religious liberty upon a foreign soil. They improved, above all, in the Pays de Yaud, the culture of the vine and mulberry. Before their arrival, most of the vegetables which are culti- vated in the south of France were unknown in that province. Kitchen gardens could be nowhere seen. The daily food of the inhabitants was uniform and coarse. The refugees en- tirely transformed the fields, which were distributed to them. A great number of noted gardeners, and among them the Combernous, the Dumas, and the Moulins, established them- selves in the fertile district of Cour, not far from Lausanne. They introduced thither the culture of a multitude of new vegetables and fruits. They created also model gardens, which the Waldenses soon imitated. The managers of the charity schools derived advantage from the neighborhood of 186 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. these skilful agriculturists. They apprenticed many of their pupils to them. The culture of nurseries and kitchen gar- dens propagated itself little by little on the borders of Lake Leman, and these first establishments furnished with vegeta- bles and fruit-trees, not only the environs of Lausanne, but the whole Pays de Vaud, and even the neighboring cantons of German Switzerland. In 1761, the use of gardens was still almost unknown to the villages, which were distant from the capital of that smiling country. At the present day, however, it presents a fairy aspect, which strikes the travel- ler with astonishment and admiration.* Berne and Zurich likewise received a certain number of laboring families, who taught the native cultivators the supe- rior modes of agriculture, which were in use in their native country.! The culture of the mulberry, above all, was prop- agated round about Berne by Brutel de la Riviere, a native of Montpellier, to whom the magistrates assigned a vast and fertile estate, in which he established a magnificent plantation of mulberry-trees, which he had brought from Languedoc. The presence of the refugees also served, at the end of a few years, to develope manufactures and commerce in almost all the cities in which they settled. At Lausanne they es- tablished hat-manufactories, printing-presses, potteries, tan- neries, and manufactures of chintz, cotton, and stockings. Until that time, the internal traffic of the Pays de Yaud was carried on solely by means of peddlers, and the most neces- sary articles of domestic consumption came from Bale, Zurich, and G-eneva. The refugees not only exercised new branches of industry, which spread prosperity abroad through- out Lausanne, but they were the first to open stores and shops, and thus substituted regular commerce for the occa- sional traffic which alone, up to that period, had been in use in that country. J * Verdeil, vol. ii. p. 316 ; vol. iii. pp. 246, 247. f Dispatches of Tambonneau, passim. t VerdeiL vol. ii. pp. 315, 316. MANUFACTURES IN BERNE. 187 At Berne they created manufactories of silk, woollens, cloths, and spotted and colored stockings.* The most ele- gant silk goods soon issued from the establishments of Dautun and Junquieres.f Two families of workmen, who had worked at Gobelins, introduced into Berne the art of embroidering tapestry.f A rich piece of tapestry is still preserved in the Town Hall which ornaments the council table, and for which a thousand crowns were paid to two sis- ters who embroidered it with the most exquisite art. Time has to the present day respected the magnificent designs, and even the freshness of the coloring, of this masterpiece of refugee industry. The government soon comprehended what immense advantages the country might derive from the new manufactures. It favored them, therefore, by every means in its power. In 1686, it lent a considerable sum of money to the emigrants of Valence, to assist them to found a cloth manufactory. The same year, a vast building, situ- ated near the French church, was granted by the magistrates to those who would undertake diverse manufactures, and all those who exercised any useful trade, likewise, received en- courao-ement. At Zurich, as at Berne, the manufactories founded by the refugees were protected in every way by the government.^ The richest private individuals advanced funds to the fabricators, and the state itself guaranteed their solvency. \\ At Neufchatel, where the emigrants arrived in fewer numbers, they through choice gave themselves up to com- merce. There established himself Jacepes Pourtalez, of Vigan, who enriched himself by trade, and whose descend- * Book of the deliberations of the refugee inspectors in the city of Berne, 24tli of September, 1694. f Ibid., 22d of April, 1695. X Dispatch of Tambonneau of May 81st, USi. § Book of the deliberations of the refugee inspectors in the city of Berne, December 11th, 1693. I Dispatch of Tambonneau, Nov. 10th, 1685. 188 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ants, at the present day, possess one of the largest fortunes in Europe. It was at Geneva, above all, that the mechanical arts re- ceived a remarkable impulse at the close of the seventeenth century. In the years which closely preceded or followed the revocation, the council had to promulgate regulations for the silk-reelers and mill-men, chamois and morocco leather dressers, lace-makers, and weavers of taffeties.* So early as the year 1685, eighty masters and two hundred journey- men goldsmiths and jewellers could be counted in Genoa. The book trade, likewise, occupied a great number of work- men. The silk manufacture, which dated from the reign of Henry IV., was in the course of prosperity and progress. In 1688, a rich inhabitant of Nimes, Jacques Felix, re-estab- lished in that city a large manufactory of silk and woollen stockings, which he had directed in France. He had suc- ceeded in transporting thither eight looms, with which he recommenced his labors. His brother Louis was author- ized to found a manufactory of taffeties and ribbons. f Lace- making alone employed two thousand workmen. j; A refu- gee named Thelusson took most of them into his service, and introduced, into Geneva, a new mode of manufacturing lace with many shuttles.^ The workmen generally of the north of France, and above all, of Paris, Dijon, and Ma- con, were goldsmiths, jewellers, and refiners; those of the south, were almost all velvet makers, cloth weavers, and silk workers. All those who had peculiar skill, and who were judged capable of exercising some trade, or working at some manufacture, were retained at any price. || Among the divers mechanics who flocked into Geneva, a considerable * Picot. History of Geneva, vol. iii. p. 1*76. f Register of the Council of Geneva, August 8th, 1688. X Picot, vol. iii. p. 116. § Register of the Council of Geneva, IS'^ov. 24th, 1686. II Ibid., Sept. 9th, 1687. GENEVESE WATCHMAKING. 189 number of watchmakers were remarked, above all, whose in- dustry was not slow to prosper in that city and all the coun- try which surrounded it. In 1685, could be counted as yet but a hundred master watchmakers, and three hundred jour- neymen, who supplied to commerce five thousand watches yearly. A hundred years afterward, that same branch of industry employed, in the city alone, six thousand workmen, who manufactured every year more than fifty thousand watches, and since that time it has increased still more.* During the whole of the eighteenth century, Geneva export- ed her articles of clock work to the neighboring countries. If the Parisian watchmakers preserve their reputation for the excellence of their productions, the Genevese excel them in cheapness. The contraband trade established by the refugees, con- stituted a new loss for France. They caused to be sent by correspondents, whom they had at Lyons and in the princi- pal towns of Dauphiny, articles of daily consumption, which they sold in Switzerland and the bordering countries. The Genevese were the mediums of this traffic. Profiting by their knowledge of the country, they transported the mer- chandise by paths which wound through the Jura mountains, and thus eluded the custom-house of Valence. In the space of two years, the three brothers Jean, Jacques, and Louis Mallet, thus succeeded in drawing from the kingdom manu- factured articles of the value of more than a million livres, which the refugees found means to resell to advantage at the free fairs of Soleure and the other cantons. " Every day," wrote Tambonneau, " they say to m_y wife, when they have not linens, cloths, silk-stuffs, lace and other things which are wanted, that she has but to let them know what she desires, and they will order it from their correspondents."! As they contented themselves with smaller profits than the peddlers of * Picot. vol. iii. p. 176. f Tarabonneau's Dispatch of May 31st, 1687. 190 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the country, they did not fail to excite their jealousy. The French government also had a great interest in preventing the continuation of a clandestine trade which diminished the public revenues. " You have done well," wrote Louis XIV to his ambassador, " in informing me of the frauds which the French refugees, in Switzerland, succeed in accomplishing, through the facilities which the inhabitants of Geneva aflford them, and I will consider the means which can be used to prevent its continuance." * * Letter of Louis XIY. to Tambonneau, June 12th. 1687. CHAPTEK III. OF THE POLITICAL INFLTJENOE OF THE REFUGEES. Double character of that influence — Services rendered by Henri Duquesne, to the canton of Berne — Participation of the Eefugees in the expedition of Colonel Ar- naud, 1689— Project of the Marquis de Miremont— Conduct of the Eefugees during the war of the Spanish succession— Cavalier— Colonel de Portes— Com- plaints of the Marquis de Puisieux — The Banneret Blanchet de Lutry— Com- plaints of the French Eesident at Geneva— Eelations of the Eefugees with the Camisards — Letters of Baville — Flottard — Conduct of the Eefugees in the ques- tion of the succession of Neufchatel, 1707 — Services rendered to the evangelical cantons in the war of Toggenburg, 1712— Battle of Villmergen— New services rendered to Berne during the eighteenth century. The political part of the refugees in Switzerland was double. On the one hand, they rendered veritable services to the states, which received them, by fighting valiantly under their banner. On the other, through their hatred against Louis XIV., and the efforts of many of them to rekindle civil war in France, they more than once became the source of grave complications, which nearly hurried the Protestant cantons into open war against the great king. At the head of the political emigrants was Henri, Mar- quis Duquesne, son of the celebrated admiral who had van- quished Ruyter, and for an instant raised the French marine above that of the Dutch and English. In the first place, having taken refuge in Holland, after he had renounced his project of colonizing one of the Mascarenhas islands, he re- tired into the Pays de Vaud, and became Baron d'Aubonne. When, in 1689, differences broke out between the canton of 192 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Berne and the Duke of Savoy, he accepted a commission to organize a naval force upon lake Leman, He also caused the port of Morges to be deepened, to serve as a point of shelter and reunion to the flotilla destined to cover the shores of the Pays de Yaud against the attacks of the Savoy- ards. A number of gun-boats were equipped under his directions. Each was 70 feet long, and had 12 oars, 24 rowers, 3 cannon of divers calibres, and 6 double arquebusses in battery along the sides. Each had a crew, armed with muskets, axes, and boarding-pikes, and was able to transport 400 infantry. It was necessary to complete this little squadron by light vessels. Duquesne caused all the barks, brigantines, and fishing-boats to be registered. The boat- men and fishermen were withdrawn from the ranks of the militia, and their names were inscribed as sailors upon the muster rolls of the flotilla.* This fugitive, who thus contributed to the defence of his new country, had secretly brought from Paris the heart of his father, whose memory Louis XIV. refused to honor by a j^ublic monument. The body even of that great man had been refused to his son, who had prepared for it a sepulchre in a foreign land. He caused the following words to be en- graved on the mausoleum which he raised to him in the church of d'Aubonne : " This tomb awaits the remains of Duquesne. Traveller, interrogate the court, the army, the church, and even Asia, Africa, and the two oceans ; ask them why a superb mausoleum has been erected to the brave Ruyter, and none to Duquesne, his conqueror ? . . . I see that, through respect for the great king, thou darest not break silence." When, in 1689, Colonel Arnaud crossed the snows of Mount Cenis to bring back the exiled Waldenses to the val- leys where their ancestors had dwelt, the French refugees desired to join in his enterprise, and fight against a prince * Verdeil, vol. ii. p, 816, 317. RETURN OF THE WALDENSES. 193 allied with Louis XIV. A distinguished officer named Bourgeois, who resided at Yverdun, took command of a corps of volunteers, who were to follow the main body and support it against an army of twenty thousand men which Catinat commanded. He divided his soldiers into nineteen companies, thirteen of which were composed of refugees, who were almost all natives of Languedoc and Dauphiny, and chose for his lieutenant a French officer named Couteau.* The bad success of that expedition, which was repulsed by the Counts de Bernex and de Montbrison, while Arnaud was victorious at Sallabertran, the condemnation to death of Bourgeois by the Bernese government, who wished to shun a rupture with France, and the flight of Couteau to Eng- land, did not discourage the exiles. They did not only con- tinue to favor the Waldenses against the Dulr^ of Savoy, but they persisted in their entreaties to En^iand and Holland, and solicited the support of these tw^ powers for an enter- prise destined to raise the Protestn^its of Languedoc and the Cevennes. The Marquis de Miremont, who was to com- mand the expedition, addres^^ed himself to Marshal Sehom- berg, and submitted to him a plan of the campaign. He counted upon the discontent of the Protestants of the south, and supposed that they would take up arms, so soon as they had hopes of ibeing succored. The distance of the troops who were employed upon all the frontiers, whilst the pro- vinces, full of religionists, were entirely disgarnished, ap- peared to him a favorable opportunity. Two thousand men, cliosen and commanded by picked officers, were to penetrate into Dauphiny by the way of G-eneva, Nyon and Coppet, and present themselves in the midst of the secret meetings of their brethren, who were to be informed beforehand and assembled in arms, under the pretext of defending their min- isters. They would carefully forbear to irritate the Catho- lics ; they would even endeavor to persuade them to join * Verdeil, vol. ii. p. 322 and 32*7. VOL. II. — 9 194 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. with the Protestants, by alleging the common grievances of both parties ; the splendor of the nobility tarnished, the au- thority of the parliaments overthrown, and the States General suppressed. The insurrectional column would every where proclaim, upon its march, the abolition of marked paper,* taxes and soldiers' billets, and would endeavor to provoke the population of the country to tear down and burn the custom-houses, in order to compromise them, and retain them under the standard of revolt, through the fear of chastise- ment.! The entry of the Duke of Savoy into alliance with the nations leagued against Louis XIV., and the events of the general \Tar, modified this plan of attack, and the expedition of the refugees into the south of France was adjourned. Many among t^^^m enrolled themselves in the Swiss regi- ments, which fougkt in Piedmont and Holland, and asso- ciated themselves without scruple, in the struggle of Europe, in coalition, against their former country. Others secretly re-entered the most agitated parts of Languedoc, in order there to foment the insurrectioa. During the war of the Spanish succession, a young in- habitant of the Gevennes, who had followed many of the voluntarily exiled Protestants, and, for some time, gained his livelihood by working at Geneva and Lausanne as a journey- man baker, all at once experienced that imperious necessity ^ of revisiting his country, which is so natural to mountain- eers. He quitted the country, which had given him an asy- j lum., and, following secret paths across the Jura, he arrived! in Upper Languedoc at the very moment when the cruelties of Baville, and the excess of zeal of the Abb6 Du C hay la, caused the revolt of the Camisards to break out. He im- mediately joined with his brethren, astonished them by his * Stamped paper was so called. f Lamberty. Memoirs of the History of the eighteenth century, vol. iii. p. 288. The Hap:ne, 1126. JOHN CAVALIER. 195 courage and audacity, became one of their chiefs, and carried on the campaign in the plains, whilst Roland commanded in the mountains. That general of twenty-one years of age was Cavalier. Seduced by the promises of Marshal Villars, he laid down his arms ; but, being scorned by Louis XIV., who saw him for an instant at Versailles, he escaped from France, and returned to Switzerland, where his principal lieutenants, and a great number of his brethren in arms re- joined him.* Having arrived at Lausanne, he endeavored to organize a regiment of volunteers, destined to enter the service of the Duke of Savoy, to penetrate into Languedoc and protect the disembarkation of a division from the Dutch fleet. At the same time, the Count de Briancon, the envoy of the Duke of Savoy, pressed England and Hol- land to contribute, by their subsidies, to a levy of fifteen thousand men, which another refugee, the Marquis de Mire- mont, proposed to make in Romanish Switzerland, where there are, said he, '' a number of foreigners, out of work, en- tirely without money, and consequently ready to become soldiers, n -jrely for bread." f The marquis announced nothing less than the project of reanimating the revolt of the inhabitants of the Cevennes, and carrying his arms into the very bowels of France. Colonel de Fortes in conclusion, re- cruited in the Pays de Vaud, a regiment which was paid by William III., when the French ambassador, the Marquis de Puisieux, who was informed of all his secret practices, com- plained to the council of Berne, and sent a notification to the diet assembled at Baden. But the expressions contained in it were singularly mild, and did not at all resemble the imperious exactions of the representatives of Louis XIV. in * See, for the sojom*n of Cavalier at Paris, and liis departure from France, our chapter on England, f Lamberty, vol. iii. p. 23Y. M. Verdeil, vol. ii. p. 339, deceives himself in attributing this project to a Marquis de Mirecourt, no trace of whom we have found in the history of the refugees. 196 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the first part of his reign, for so long a time glorious. The vic- tories of Marlborough and Eugene had destroyed almost all the illusion of the great king's name. The diet, however, took no decision on the matter, and contented itself with transmitting the notification of the ambassador to the can- tons. The council of Berne feigned to eject the principal chiefs of the refugees, mo^t of whom, however, remained concealed in the Pays de Yaud. Cavalier repaired to Hol- land with his best ofiicers, and took service in the Anglo- Dutch army which fought in Spain.* The other inhabit- ants of the Cevennes enrolled themselves in the regiment of De Portes, which covered itself with glory under Prince Eugene, in Piedmont, Lombardy, Dauphiny, and Provence, when, following the example of their co-religionists who had been long established in Eomanish Switzerland, they fixed themselves in that country, and provided for their existence by devoting themselves like them to manufactures, commerce, and agriculture. The sojourn of so great a number of refugees, however, and the presence of the recruiting officers for Savoy, Holland, and England, continued to foment a fierce excitement among the inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud. While the war of the Spanish succession lasted, free companies, chiefly composed of peojDle of the Cevennes, made rapid incursions into the Pays de Gex, whence they returned loaded with booty. Bands of adventurers, under the pretext of taking part in the struggle, more than once seized the convoys of silver, which the banking-houses of Geneva sent every month, by the way of Mount St. Bernard, to the army of the Duke of Yendome in Italy. The Banneret Blanchet de Lutrj^, under the pre- text of recovering the confiscated fortune of his wife, a Frenchwoman of illustrious birth, whom he had saved from the dragoonings, believed himself authorized to carry off a * See, with regard to the part which Cavalier took in the battle of Almanza, and the last years of his life, our chapter on England. INVASION OF SAVOY. 197 sum of 352,000 livres, destined for the French troops in Piedmont. Although he was arrested upon the demand of the French ambassador, and condemned to lose his head upon the scaffold, hardy partisans ceased not to infest the routes, and harass the isolated detachments of the armies of Louis XIV. In 1 705, a band, composed of men of the Pays de Vaud and refugees, carried off a second convoy of 21,000 louis d'or, between Yersoix and Coppet, on the French territory.* The population of Geneva and the Pays de Vaud partook of all the resentments of the exiles, and rejoiced with them at the defeats of the great king. When the army, com- manded by the Marshal de Tesse, and, after him, by Lafeu- illade, invaded Savoy, they invited numerous desertions from its ranks. The French Resident at Geneva, De la Clo- sure, complained bitterly to the magistrates of that city, who promised to deliver up the deserters ; but the indignant citi- zens opposed the execution of that measure. They concealed the French soldiers in their houses, bought their arms, and passed them over to the Camisards. After the battle of Hochstett, when the armies of Louis XIV. entirely evacuated Germany, and the allies prepared to cross over the frontiers of that kingdom. La Closure was more than once obliged to hear the clamorous demonstrations of the mob, which came beneath the windows of his house, to testify its joy by ironi- cal serenades. Hostilities had not as yet broken out, when he received certain proofs of the understanding between the refugees, who were established in that city, and the insur- gents of the Cevennes. They were furnished him by the ter- rible intondant of Languedoc, Damoignon de Baville. " I have not found a Genevese merchant in my road, till within a few days," wrote the latter to the French resident, who was charged with the communication of his letter to the council. " I have discovered that one named Maille, rather a rich bur- gher of Anduze, had given money to the Camisards, of which * Verdei], vol ii. p. 380. 198 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. I have convicted him. He finally confessed every thino-, and said that the money came from Regis, a refugee at Greneva, who had remitted it to his father, Regis of Anduze, whom I have had arrested. This Regis has also confessed every thing, and I shall sentence him to-morrow along with Maille. I beg you to inform me if his son does a large business. He is a very unhappy man to cause his father to perish in this manner." Two days afterward, he again wrote : — " Maille and Regis were yesterday tried, condemned to be hung, and excecuted. Maille, after having hesitated a long time, declared that it was Regis, who remitted the mo- ney to him, which consisted of two hundred livres. I have followed up this affair, and have found that Regis had drawn bills of exchange on Galdi, at Lyons. The father of Regis was an old man 68 years of age, and greatly esteemed in the Cevennes, as a man possessed of a good head, and capable of leading others His unhappy son must much regret having caused him to perish Would it not be just that the gentlemen of Greneva should deliver him to the jus- tice of the King, or at least drive him from their city ? . . He is the cause of the death of two hundred persons, who have been either burned to death, broken on the wheel, or hung. I have not told you that this knave wrote a letter to Villas, which has been read by all the chiefs of the party, in which he told them that it was necessary to begin by assas- sinating me, or carrying me off, and doing as much, if possi- ble, to M. Le Due de Berwick. This has been declared by all the culprits, under the torture, and on the scaffold." "^^ The executioner of the Protestants of the South,who thus cast upon another the odious responsibility of his own crimes, demanded, besides, the extradition of another refugee, who was dangerous * These two letters were placed under the eyes of the Council by the Resident De la Closure. They are dated from Montpellier, the 15tt and 17 th of May, l^Oo. Archives of Geneva, No. 4097. QUESTION OF NEUFCHATEL. 199 to the King's person, Flottard of Languedoc, a bold and enterprising man, who, after having abandoned his country for religion's sake, entered as an officer into the English army, at the same time with his fellow-adventurer, Cavalier. Beiiig sent to Switzerland to make levies in favor of the coa- lition, he was suspected by Baville of holding the clue to all the intrigues, which had been woven for the purpose of maintaining the war in the Cevennes. The council, upon the pressing demands of La Closure, in fact, ordered his arrest ; but it left him time to escape, and withdraw to Lausanne, where his rank as a British officer, and the mediation of Stan- ian, the English envoy, sheltered him from fresh pursuit. The question of Neufchatel caused the old resentments of the refugees to break out anew, against Louis XIV., and the solution that it received was partly their work. If William III., King of England, had been still alive at the commencement of the succession of the counties of Neufchatel and Valengin, he would have used every en- deavor to form a fourth canton of them, and incorpo- rate it into the Helvetic League, in order to assure the majority, in the general diets, to the Protestant party, and thus diminish the influence of France, and of the Catholic can- tons, which were devoted to that cause. At this price, he would have abandoned his personal pretensions to that state, for which he would have procured entire independence. His death transferred all the rights of the House of Nassau to that of Brandenburgh, which profited by them in 1707, after the decease of Marie d' Orleans, Duchess of Nemours. When the Prince de Conti, the Prince of Savoy- Carignan, and many other great families of France and Germany, raised pretensions to the same inheritance, the religious hatred of the Protestant population of Switzerland against the House of Bourbon, their sympathy for the refugees, who manifested the utmost alarm, and the energetic attitude of Berne, which immediately took Neufchatel under its special protection, 200 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES removed at once every chance from the Prince de Conti, whom Louis XIV. supported with all his influence. A regularly convoked assembly tendered the sovereignty to Frederic I., notwithstanding the threats of the French ambassador, who had hastened in person to Neufchatel. The dispute which ensued in that town was, according to the expression of Lamberty, " more noisy than thun- der."* The French envoy declared to the inhabitants of Neufchatel, that their ruin would lie at their own doors ; that the King, his master, would show his resentment for their bad conduct even toward their posterity ; and that there should not be a corner of the earth where they might find shelter from his wrath. f When Louis XIY., profoundly wounded at the preference shown to Frederic, concentrated troops at Huningen and Besancon, the Bernese jDrepared to resist with energy, and Neufchatel, in its turn, levied ten companies of a hundred and ten men each, composed of Swiss and refugee volunteers. The Protestant cantons, with the exception of Bale, which was commanded by the cannon of Huningen, and terrified by the threat of an immediate bom- bardment, armed their militia. The coalized powers prom- ised their support. The English ambassador, Stanian, wrote to the three states of Neufchatel and Yalengin : "If France dares to make such threats, at a time like this, when she dares not touch the least of your farms, for fear of adding to the enemies, which already attack her, new strength which would finish her destruction — what have you not to expect ( from her despotism, if you do not take sure measures to jn'e- serve yourselves against the attempts, which you have to fear, when she shall be disembarrassed from the present war? The violation of all your privileges, a slavery like that which all the other Frenchmen suffered, and which, to men of spirit, is harder than death itself, an overthrow of our holy religion, and a dragooning like that which was practised in * Lamberty, vol. iv. p. 523. ~f Ibid. TREATIES OF BADEN AND RASTADT. 201 France, contrary to the faith of the most solemn treaties these are the evils which France is preparing for you, if the threats of that power, and the caresses of pretended French- men, involve you among the precipices whence we are seek- ing to rescue you." * Every day an attack was expected from the French army, the soldiers of which launched forth into abuse against that population of peasants, which dared to resist the great King. The militia of Berne and Neuf- chatel, excited by their chiefs, by the refugees, and the min- isters of the religion, who represented the King of Prussia as the defender of the Grospel, and Louis XIV. as the instru- ment of the Jesuits, burned to come to blows with the enemy. " How truly I should like to see Neufchatel assailed ! " boast- fully wrote the Waldense general, De Saint-Saphorin ; " we should invade Franche Comte." At war with the whole of Eu- rope, and fearing beside to expose to attack a province as yet but slightly French, which yet regretted its ancient privileges, the King was obliged to leave unrevenged the affront which he had received, and renounce all his pretensions. He re- cognized the neutrality of Neufchatel, while he admitted, by the treaties of Baden and Rastadt, the sovereignty of the King of Prussia over that little state. That pacific resolu- tion, after the haughtiest menaces, caused Berne to grow in public opinion, and excited the greatest enthusiasm in the evangelical cantons, who believed that they had thus re- venged the refugees upon their cruel persecutors. The prin- cipality of Neufchatel was afterward ruled by governors, almost all of whom the Kings of Prussia, through an ably calculated policy, chose from the body of the emigrant nobility. The Marcjuis de Puisieux, little flattered by the part which his court had made him play, demanded and obtained his recall. The Count de Saint Luc, who succeeded him, undertook to repair the check sustained by France, by reviv- * Laraberty, vol. iv. p. 515. VOL. 11. — 9* 202 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES ing the ancient enmities between the Catholics and Protes- tants. Counting npon the support of Louis XIV., the Abbe de Saint Grall believed himself sufficiently strong to take away, from his reformed subjects of Toggenburg, the liber- ties of which they had been possessed up to that time, and which dated back to the dominion of the Counts, their an- cient sovereigns. A great excitement immediately manifest- ed itself in the evangelical Cantons. From all the pulpits of Berne, Zurich, Greneva, Neufchatel, and Lausanne, pra^'ers arose for the people of Toggenburg, thenceforth exposed to the unjust persecutions, which the Calvinists had endured in France after the revocation. When the excess of oppression caused the revolt of 1712 to break out, Berne and Zurich hastened to make common cause with the rebels, while the Catholic Cantons declared for the Abbe de Saint Gall. In that new conflict which replunged Switzerland into civil war, the refugees took up arms, and nobly paid with their blood for the hospitality they had received. They fought in the ranks of the Bernese army, with tliat cool resolution which they had so often shown upon the field of battle, and their heroic devotion contributed to the happy issue of the day of Vill- mergeu, which constrained the five Cantons to sign the Peace of Aran. Thus, that time again, they aided in the triumph of the religious principle, for which they had suf- ered. The Abbe de Saint G-all lost his rights over Toggen- burg, Berne, and Zurich, by acquiring the sovereignty of an uninterrupted line of territory, which extended from the lake of Geneva to that of Constance, insured communi- cations between the Protestant Cantons, and afterward easily held in check the Catholic Cantons, separated one from the other, and enfeebled by the losses which they had ex- periencjed. When in 1742, the Infant Don Philip, at the head of a Spanish army, penetrated from Italy into Savoy, and made himself master of Chambory ; and Switzerland, alarmed at his vicinity, ordered preparations, to make its FRENCH COMPANIES. 203 neutrality respected, the refugees unanimously offered their services, and the Infant was forced to renounce his project of traversing the territory of the Confederation. During the seditious movements which broke out in Berne, in 1749, the council immediately had recourse to the emigrants who formed the colony of that town, and made them take arms for the maintenance of public tranquillity. They were di- vided, at that juncture, into three companies of twenty-six men each. During the troubles at Neufchatel, in 1 768, they showed the same ardor in the accomplishment of their civic duties. In conclusion, to the present time their descend- ants, whether as officers or soldiers, have not ceased to show themselves worthy of the examples of disinterested patriot- ism and brilliant valor, exhibited by their ancestors. CHAPTER IV. ox THE rNTLTTEXCE OF THE REFUGEES OX LITEEATFEE AXD THE AETS. Purification of the French Language in Komanish Switzerland — Progress of m-ba- nity in manners — Propagation of the doctrine of free examination in Lausanne — ^Barbeyrac — The painter Jean Petilot — Antoine Arlaud — Trouillon, the phy- sician — The two Le Sages — Abauzit — Literary and religious influence of the refugee ministers — Their relations with the Protestants of the South. — Martyrdom of Brousson— Peyrol — Antoine Court — Eeorganization of the French Churches — Eelations of the Court with the Eegent — His retreat to Lausanne (1729)— Origin of the Seminary of Lausanne — Silent Protection of Berne — Court of Gebelin — Paul Eabaut — Eabaut Saint-Etienne. The presence of tlie refugees did not only contribute to the military defence of Protestant Switzerland, and to the progress of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, it pro- duced besides, at the end of a few years, a remarkable change in the habits, and even in the language of most of the towns of the Pays de Vaud and the Grenevese Republic, The rude and coarse French of those countries became purified by the contact of these men, who brought into their new country, along with the classic masterpieces of the literature of the great century, the improved dialect which prevailed in the kingdom of Louis XI Y. From the year 1703, the public officers of Greneva received orders to compile in good French the publications which they had, until that time, made in a style filled with expressions borrowed from the patois of the country.* At Lausanne, also, the more correct and more cultivated language which the refugees spoke, prevailed over * Picot. History of Geneva, vol. iii. p. ISl. COURTS OF LOVE. 205 the Romanish French, and all the Pays de Vaiid shared in that happy influence. The noble families who took part in the emigration every where introduced that elegance of manners and that urbanity, which distinguished the French society of the seventeenth century, and which foreigners were pleased to recognize in the following century, in the society of Geneva and Lau- sanne. At Berne, even, where the German language and habits exclusively predominated, the French exiles did not only introduce their refined language and exquisite man- ners into the highest circles, but they also resuscitated the an- cient usages of French gallantry, and even those famous courts of love of the chivalric ages which the France of Louis XIV. had herself forgotten.* The interest of party didnot then alone determine the good reception which they received in those three cities. They sought them not only as persecuted breth- ren, or skilful cultivators and renowned manufacturers, but also as men belonging to that great nation which gave the tone to the whole of Europe ; amiable and polished men, who knew how to talk, write, and even to dispute with grace and judgment. We may judge of the peculiar character of the refugees of that epoch, by the relation of a " Voyage in Switzerland," composed by two among them, Reboulet and Labrune.f It contains a series of letters, in which the na- ture of sites, and anecdotes of society, manners, and history, occupy infinitely more space than political considerations or religious polemics. The tourists set out from Geneva, and embarked upon the lake. " Our friends," say they, "procured us a boat, in which we were as comfortable as it was pos- sible to be. The day was fine, and our company was so well chosen, that nothing could have been more agreeable than the conversation we had upon an infinity of subjects. There were none but our boatmen whom the calm did not please. * Olivier. History of the Canton de Vand, vol. ii. 1181, Note. I Reboulet and Labrune. Travels in Switzerland. The Hague, 1686. 206 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. They were obliged to row. It was only, however, for four hours ; for we stopped at Nyon, whence we do not depart until the morrow." They stop at Rolle ; " a lovely village, which many towns do not equal in beauty ; its situation is enchanting." At Morges, where they disembarked to take carriage for Lausanne, they felicitate themselves upon the reception which is given them by the bailiff. " It would be impossible to see any more accomplished people, or of better regulated minds, or more agreeable manners, than that gentleman." Having arrived at Lausanne, they visit the cathedral : '• You have heard that church spoken of; noth- ing can be more magnificent — so many columns were never seen. We were tired of counting them. . . . The temple of Saint Francis is pretty." At Morat, the mementoes of the defeat of Charles the Bold, and the famous Ossuary fix their attention. At Berne, they visit all the learned men and persons of quality, and all the world in general was eager to show them every civility. The two friends thus travelled through Zurich, Baden, and Neufchatel, every where meeting with the kindest reception; responding to that hospitality in the most cordial manner ; speaking not too much of " their dear churches ; " making inquiries with regard to sermons and theology, for they were ministers ; but none the less ready on that account to join in conversation on other subjects. It is certain, then, that the exiled pastors, like the exiled laymen, furnished their part to those elegant and joyous reunions which at that time constituted good society. To the scholars of the sixteenth century, whose coarseness must be admitted, there had succeeded in France a generation no less learned, whose manners were more gen- teel, and stamped with more delicate taste. Bomanish Switzerland became impregnated, in its turn, with that new spirit which the refugees introduced, and whose tradition is perpetuated to our days. When the feeble bond which united the Protestant LIBEPwTY OF OPINION. 207 cturches among themselves was broken by the irresistible action of free examination, which overthrew the barriers erected by the first reformers against the future ; when the Christian institution of Calvin, the Confession of Augsburg, the Helvetic Confession, the proclamation of the synods, and soon even the texts of the Holy Scriptures were submitted to the control of reason, Bomanish Switzerland, through pref- erence, attached herself to the doctrhies of the ancient school of Saumur ; to Cappel, who applied the rules of historical and grammatical criticism to the Bible ; to La Place, who ex- plained the original sin by the hereditary corruption of generations ; to Amyrault, who sought among the mysterious doctrines of grace and predestination, a middle path which might at the same time satisfy faith and reason. A great num- ber of refugees showed themselves favorable to that new ten- dency, notwithstanding the accusation of free thinking and So- cinianism with which they were reproached by their adversa- ries. When the Senate of Berne, alarmed at those inevitable dissensions in the bosom of the " reform," wished to impose upon all its subjects an " oath of conformity," one of the most distinguished members of the emigration, the celebrated Barbeyrac, the former rector of the Academy of Lausanne, who had left that town to take the law professorship at Grroningen, publicly declared himself in favor of the great principle of religious liberty. He wrote, in 1718, to his friend Sinner, the former bailiff of Lausanne : " Their Excellencies should remark that every where, in England, in Holland, and in Germany, the authorities and private persons assume more and more the spirit of toleration, or rather the spirit of Christianity, which the ecclesiastics wish to stifle, in order to reign themselves over their con- sciences.. . . The minds of men have begun to gain enlighten- ment and to become softened, in Switzerland as well as else- where; and any attempt to bring back restraint would be either to run the risk of some great revolution, or, at least, 208 FRENCH PE.OTESTANT REFUGEES. to make men hypocrites and perjured. I shudder, when I think on the sad results which a sovereign decree would have, which should give success to the cause of ecclesiastical mis- chief makers. ... By wishing to establish a perfect uniformity of sentiments, they are about to multiply the number of dissenters. The best mode of reconciling as much as possible the minds of men, is to leave to each perfect liberty to follow the lights of his own conscience : it is the right as well as the general obligation of all men. I con- jure you, sir, by every thing most sacred, by the interest of your country, by your own glory, and more still by your solid and enlightened piety, to employ all your credit to maintain the rights of toleration and Christian liberty. ..." The Senate of Berne persisted in its system of Protestant orthodoxy, but the rigorous measures to which it believed it- self authorized to have recourse against its adversaries, only succeeded in destroying in the Pays de Vaud that spirit, liberal and truly in conformity with reason, which Barbeyrac and many of his companions in exile had caused to grow up there, and which they had afterward so energetically de- fended. If Bomanish Switzerland owed to the refugees superior politeness, more elegant manners, and the unappreciable benefit of a first claim to religious liberty, she had no less to felicitate herself on their happy influence upon the progress of the arts, science, and literature. The Genevese painter, Jean Petitot, had passed his youth in England. After the death of Charles I., he came to France, and was lodged in the Louvre by Louis XIV., who ordered him to paint his portrait and that of the Queen. Petitot had brought the art of painting in enamel to such a degree of perfection, that the celebrated Van D3^ke wished to be able to achieve many works of which he has left but sketches. Aided by a learned chemist, he had discovered the secret of a color of most marvellous brilliancy. After JEAN PETITOT. 209 the revocation he was imprisoned at For-l'Eveque, for having refused to abjure his faith. He was then seventj-eight years of age. When he was set at liberty, he returned to Geneva, and died at Vevay in 1691, after having brought back to his native country the treasures of experience which he had acquired in foreign lands.* Another Genevese painter, Jacques- Antoine Arlaud, born in 1688, likewise returned to his native town, after hav- ing passed part of his life in France, and acquired a merited reputation by the exquisite beauty of his coloring. The Duke of Orleans, who was afterward regent, said of the miniatures of Arlaud : " Painters in this style have made hitherto only likenesses ; Arlaud has taught them to make portraits."! The science of medicine was improved in Switzerland by the refugee Trouillon, whom Saint Simon classes among the most skilful physicians of his time. When the Prince of Conti, who had scarcely reached the age of forty-five years, felt himself near death, he obtained permission from the government to call him from his place of banishment to Paris. But the learned exile arrived too late to save him. if The refugee Le Sage, who was born in Conches, in Bur- gundy, and died at Geneva, in 1759, inspired the taste for philosophy in his numerous disciples, and published many works, which were much esteemed by his contemporaries. His son was born at Geneva, in 1 724, and who was admitted to the right of citizenship in 1770, distinguished himself by happy investigations into many branches of mathematics. He became a corresponding member of the Academy of Science at Paris, and that of Rouen decreed to him a prize for his memoir on chemical affinities. § * Erman and Reclam, vol. iv. p. 232. f Ibid. p. 233. I Memoirs of Saint Simon, chap. ccxx. vol. xii. p. 211. Edition of 1842. § Literary History of Geneva^ by Jean Senebier, vol. iii. pp. 153, and 200. 210 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Anotter emigrant, the antique type of whose character excited even the admiration of Voltaire and Rousseau, Abauzit, of Uzes, astonished his adopted country by the pro- fundity and universality of his genius. Descended, as they say, from an Arab physician of the middle ages, he was, after the revocation, torn, while still a child, from his mother, who was a Protestant, and placed in a Catholic college. She succeeded, however, in withdrawing him from it, and enabled him to escape to Geneva. The executioners of Languedoc punished her for it, by throwing her into a dun- geon ; but the sudden decay of her health having caused them to set her at liberty, she rejoined her son in the land of exile ; and, as long as she lived near him, she did not cease to give him the example of the purest life, and to repeat to him, in her discourses, that happiness did not consist in riches or pleasures, but that it was the certain fruit of the knowledge of the truth, and the practice of virtue. His studies being finished, Abauzit went to travel in Holland, in 1696. That free country which had given an asylum to so many banished Frenchmen, had for him a singular attrac- tion. He sojourned there a long time, in the society of Bayle, Basnage, and Jurieu. In London he saw Saint Ev- remond, that refugee philosopher, whose house was always open to the eminent men of the religious emigration, and Newton, who appreciated him so highly, that he sent him his " Commercium Epistolicum," with these words, " You are well worthy to decide between Leibnitz and me." King William made him brilliant offers, in order to retain him in England, but his mother recalled him to Geneva, and he did not delay to return thither. M. Villemain has characterized with exquisite tact, that rather eccentric thinker, whom Rousseau compared to Soc- rates, but who was wrong in only communicating his science and wisdom to a few persons, who were admitted to his in- timate confidence. " Those first fruits of persecution," says ABAUZIT. 211 he, " should have inspired in the young man the spirit of toleration and liberty, at the same time that the great varie- ty of his studies inclined him towards free-thinking." But he remained no less religious. He took part in the French translation of the Gospel, which was published at Geneva ; and, during the course of his long life, he never ceased to occupy himself with theology and sacred criticism. Nothing in his works, bears the character of skepticism. Charity prevails in them more than dogmatism, and his language, though often strong in defence of his persuasion, was far re- moved from any thing approaching to anti-christian polem- ics. Voltaire has named him somewhere the " chief of the Arians of Geneva ; " and he appears in fact, to incline to the opinions of the Unitarians : but with what reserve, and what religious gravity ! His two writings, " On the Knowledge of Christ," and, " On the Honor which is due to Him," have inspired the fine pages, which in the profession of faith of the " Savoyard Vicar," so greatly shocked Voltaire, as incon- clusive, and a disavowal of incredulity. " Admirable," he adds, " in the modesty and simplicity of his manners, and possessing his soul in peace until the age of eighty-eight years, Abauzit was, at Geneva, the true and silent model of that philosophic Christianity of which Rousseau became for the moment the incomparable ora- tor." * It is above all, in the letters of Abauzit to Mairan, that the rare penetration of his mind can be appreciated. It will be sufficient for us, in order to mark its profundity, to recall to mind that he occupied himself with Saint Gravesend in the solution of divers problems in mathematics and natural philosophy ; that he detected a mistake which had escaped Newton in his' book on " Mathematical Principles," when, perhaps, there were not thirty persons in Europe capable of * M. Villemahi. Literature of the Eighteenth Century, vol. ii. pp. 106, 107. Edition of 1846. 212 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. comprehending them, and that Newton corrected his error in the second edition of his work ; that he was one of the first to adopt the new ideas, and ]3roclaim the marvellous discoveries of that bold innovator, because he was a sufii- ciently great geometrician to seize upon their truth, and divine their ultimate bearings. The extraordinary impression that he produced upon his fellow-citizens seems to be fully represented by the following appreciatory notice of his contemporary Senebier : " Great wrong would be done to Abauzit," says he, " in judging him solely by the writings which have been published in his post- humous works. He did not desire that any of them should see the light of day. He thought so little of them that he never asked them back when he had lent them, and did not fear to burn them, when he had them under his hand. Those alone can form a just idea of the great merit of Abauzit, who knew him personally. They alone can note the precision and justice of his ideas, the extent of his views, and the solidity of his judgments. Abauzit knew many languages perfectly ; he had searched into ancient and modern history ; he was one of the most scrupulous geographers ; he corrected all the charts in his atlas, and the celebrated Pocock believed that Abauzit like himself had travelled in Egypt, from the exact description which he gave him of that distant country. He had equally prosecuted the study of geometry, and even the most profound portions of mathematics. He joined to this the most intimate acquaintance with natural philosophy. In conclusion, he was extremely well versed in the knowledge of medals and manuscripts. All these different sciences were so disposed in his mind, that in one instant, he could assem- ble every thing most interesting in any one of them. Be- hold a remarkable example of this : Jlousseau was working at his dictionary of music ; he had occupied himself in par- ticular with the music of the ancients, and he had just fin- ished making very laborious researches upon that subject, CLASSES OF REFUGEES. 213 which he believed to he complete. He spoke on the subject to Abauzit, who gave him a faithful and luminous account of all which he himself had learned through long and hard study, and discovered many things to him of which he was before ignorant. Rousseau believed that Abauzit was at that time occupying himself with the study of ancient music ; but that man, who knew so many things, and who had never forgotten any thing, artlessly told him that it was thirty years since he had studied that matter. " One could not know Abauzit without being profoundly penetrated with respect for his universal and modest science, and it is without doubt the great impression which he made upon Rousseau, which persuaded the latter to address to him the only eulogy which he ever made upon a living man, but at the same time the finest and best merited of eulogies." * It remains for us to prove the influence at once literary and religious, which the numerous ministers exercised who had established themselves at Greneva, at Lausanne, and in the other towns of French Switzerland. The action of those martyrs of the faith more than once crossed the narrow lim- its of the country which served as an asylum to them. It often extended itself over the neighboring provinces of France, and even over all the Protestant society in the south of that kingdom ; so that that little corner of the earth be- came a real obstacle to the definitive establishment of the odious administration inaugurated by the act of the revoca- tion. Three classes of refugees succeeded each other during a hundred and fifty years in the Pays de Vaud and the neigh- boring Cantons, — the religious refugees of the time of Louis XIV., the literary refugees of that of Louis XV., and the po- litical refugees of the contemporaneous epoch. Each strove in its turn to react, by their writings and actions, upon the country which had rejected them from its bosom. The part * Jean Senebier, Literary History of Geneva, vol. iii. p 63. sq. Geneva, 1786. 214 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. of tlie first is the only one which enters into the scope of the history we are endeavoring to sketch. At the close of the year 1685, more than two hundred pastors had retired to Switzerland. About eighty of them could be counted in the town of Lausanne alone.* But from the depth of their exile they did not cease to correspond with their former flocks. They often returned secretly to France to confirm them in their attachment to the reform. They preached to the assemblages in the desert, gave the sacraments, and blessed marriages, at the risk of encounter- ing death in the midst of those faithful people to whom they brought the word of life. The minister, Claude Brousson, having thus furtively re-entered Nimes, in 1698, was taken, judged in conformity with the edicts, and hung. His col- league, Peyrol, was preaching at Geneva when the fatal news was announced to him. He informed his audience of it, and accused himself before it of weakness, in having abandoned a post, while guarding which Brousson had found a Chris- tian's death. His emotion was so lively, and his grief so profound, that after descending from the pulpit, he took to his bed and never rose from it again. f But little by little, the Protestants who were dispersed throughout Languedoc and the neighboring provinces, were visited more rarely by their former pastors. They continued however to meet in the midst of forests and mountains, and in immense caverns, far from inhabited places, and oftenest under cover of the night. That silence, that mystery, those torches, whose flickering light lengthened the shadows of the faithful, those lugubrious and plaintive chants, solely inter- rupted by the solemn reading of the Bible, or by the cries of the sentinels at the approach of the soldiers, filled every heart with a religious terror. Soon the over-excited imagi- * Erman and Reclam, vol. i. p. 192. f Historical notice of the Reformed Church of Nimes, by Borrel, p. 26. Tsimes, 1837. ANTOINE COURT. 215 nations of those ardent people transformed itself into exalta- tion and delirium. Visionaries, who believed themselves inspired of God, and endowed with the faculty of foresee- ing the future, and doubtless also impostors who played the part of enthusiasts, appeared in those nocturnal assemblies, preaching and prophesying turn by turn, and sometimes mak- ing heard their sinister appeals to revolt. The armies of Louis XIV. had repressed the insurrection of the Camisards, but a sombre fanaticism had seized upon their minds, and the purity of the Protestant doctrine in the Cevennes would have been perhaps destroyed, when a young man, walking in the footsteps of the Apostles, measured with a firm and sure glance, the extent of the peril, and resolved to consecrate bis entire life to contend against and destroy it. He under- took that glorious task alone ; he accomplished it with the assistance of the pastors who had retired to Geneva and Lausanne. Antoine Court was born at Villeneuve in the Vivarais, in 1696. He had been admirably gifted by nature. A right mind, a remarkable facility of elocution, an indomitable cou- rage joined to a rare spirit of command, an extraordinary vigor for supporting the rudest fatigues of soul and body, an extreme amenity in his intimate relations with men, and an unbounded devotion to the religion of his fathers. Such were the qualities which, taking the place in him of study, and all the other resources of study of which he had been deprived, showed him in a position to act upon the lost popu- lation of the South, and to merit the title of the restorer of Protestantism in France. He directed his first efforts against the sect of the " in- spired" who dishonored the reformed religion, and who would have entirely destroyed it in time, if they had not been en- ergetically repressed. From the age of seventeen years, he travelled through the Vivarais where these fanatics counted most adepts, and had the reproach of making war against 216 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. God ; he struggled coiirageousl}^ against tlieir dangerous doc- trines. But the efforts of a single man would have been in- sufficient to reorganize the churches. At the age of twenty- seven years, he secretly convoked an assembly of men, chosen from among the most enlightened and resolute of the party. On the 21st of August, 1715, they found themselves met together, to the number of nine, in a desert place. Upon the invitation of Court, they elected, after the example of the ancient consistories, a moderator, who should fill at once the duties of president and secretary. That title was confer- red upon him by the plurality of suffrages. The synods had been suppressed during thirty years. That assembly revived them. It prescribed, in fact, the confession of faith of the reformed churches of France as the rule of belief, put in full vigor the ecclesiastic discipline, organized consistories in the Protestant villages, and interdicted preaching to the inspired. Thus at the very moment when Louis XIV. was at the point of death in the midst of the splendors of Versailles, Protes- tantism, which he believed to be entirely overthrown, was ele- vating itself from its ruins, in the mountains of the Vivarais, by means of the cares of a nameless youth and a few illiter- ate and obscure men. There was in France at that time but a single minister who was regularly consecrated. His name was Roger, and he had been ordained at Wirtemberg. Court and his fellow laborers at Nimes, Corteis and Maroger, were only students, and could in consequence neither administer the sacraments, nor perform marriages. To renew the interrupted traditions of the faith, the oldest among them, Pierre Corteis, repaired to Zurich, and there received the imposition of the hands which was prescribed by the ecclesiastical laws, and, upon his return to France, he consecrated in his turn Antoine Court at a synod which was held in 1718. After that day, the young pastor devoted himself without reserve to his high mission. But he had need of assistants, and it was not easy CARDINAL ALBERONI. 217 to find tliem for a career, the close of which would be either the wheel or the gibbet. Court did not hesitate to seek them himself He travelled through the provinces of the South, took from the workshops or the plough, young men in whom he saw sufiicient aptitude to learn, and sufficient courage to encounter death, constituted himself their instructor, and filled them with the ardent conviction which he himself had em- braced. The assemblies in the desert became soon more fre- quent and more regular. The Gospel was read, psalms were sung, sacraments were distributed, and they mutually exhort- ed each other to martyrdom. Obliged to conceal himself in the most impenetrable forests of the Cevennes, and often to sleep in caves among the rocks, Court was often exposed to the danger of falling into the hands of the soldiers sent in pur- suit of him. One day he escaped from the town of Alais, only by a sort of miracle. The commandant, informed of his arrival, had ordered the garrison under arms, guarded the gates, and commanded searches to be made in every house. His loss seemed sure. He remained an entire day, and the ensuing night, concealed in a dunghill, where no one thought of seeking him. Compelled at last by hunger to issue from his retreat, he put on an air so tranquil and assured, that he had the good fortune to pass through the sentinels without being recognized. By a strange coincidence, at the very mo- ment when the authorities pursued him as a criminal, he was rendering them an invaluable service by preventing a revolt, which might have gravely compromised the tranquillity of the kingdom. Cardinal Alberoni sought to create a party in favor of Philip V. Counting upon the Protestants, whose misfor- tunes he knew, he sent them emissaries to promise his assist- ance, if they would take up arms. The regent, informed of these intrigues, had recourse to Basnage, with whom he was in correspondence, and, in accordance with the advice of that illustrious exile, he dispatched a gentleman to Court, to beg VOL. II. — 10 218 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. of him to employ his credit to retain the Protestants in sub- mission. He soon learned with the lively satisfaction which follows fear, that the pastor of the Desert had anticipated his desires ; that one party of the Spanish agents had been already rejected, that every effort was making to frustrate the solicitations of the others, and that Court would not cease, at the peril of his life, to try to inspire pacific sentiments in the minds of that small number of fanatic persons, whom thirty years of ignorance, and the prolonged 'application of a barba- rous legislation, might have led astray. Touched by these dispositions, so different from those he expected, the Prince offered the young man a considerable pension, with permis- sion to sell his property and leave the kingdom. Court re- fused to consent voluntarily to the species of exile to which those favors would have condemned him.* That which he did not believe it his duty to do at that time, upon those advantageous conditions, he was obliged to do ten years afterward, when the penal laws, revived at the majority of Louis XY., weighed with equal force upon him and his family, which he could no longer render happy in the bosom of his country. He proposed, beside, to seek upon a foreign soil new and powerful assistance for his oppressed brethren. In 1729, he retired to Lausanne, whither his wife had preceded him, and where he was received with the most flattering distinction. That hospitable town granted him a pension, with the rights of citizenship, and in that country filled with refugees, he tasted for the first time a re- pose which he had not known since his infancy. But, from the depth of his retreat, he did not cease to turn his atten- tion toward his oppressed brethren, and kept up with them an active correspondence, directing them by his counsels, and exhorting them to patience and resignation. Religious * For the negotiations of the regent with Antoine Court, see the curious details given by Courts of Gobelin, in his " Primitive World," vol. i. pp. 5, 6 and 7. REFORMED MINISTERS. 219 dissensions having broken out in Languedoc, he returned thither suddenly, in 1744, and appeared alone in the midst of the divided churches, to bring them peace. At the sound of his venerated voice, animosities ceased, and the calm which had been disturbed for eleven years was re-established in one day. When, before his return to Lausanne, he con- voked an assembly of the faithful in a solitary place near Nimes, nearly ten thousand men flocked thither. He spoke to them with an energetic eloquence which he had never be- fore displayed to the same degree in any of his discourses ; he recalled to their minds the duties which they had to ful- fil as Christians, as brothers, and as subjects ; then addres- sing to them his last farewell, he left them for ever amidst the general emotion. The principal object of the long sojourn of Court at Lausanne, was the foundation of an establishment to provide the French churches with pastors. He strove to interest the charity and religious zeal of the Protestants of Switzer- land, Holland, England, and Germany, in that work. He composed memoirs, undertook journeys, and associated him- self in a great part of his measures with Duplan, a gentleman of x\lais,who went to collect throughout all Europe aid for the " faithful under the cross." The same hands, which opened upon a foreign soil asylums for the indigent refugees, and caused their pious alms to reach the Protestants who were condemned to the galleys, also extended their benefits to the object of the solicitations of those two voluntary exiles. William Wake, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Walloon churches of Holland, those of Brandenburgh, the government of Berne, and the " reformed " of the south of France, or- ganized subscriptions to defray the expenses of the young Frenchmen who were about to study in Switzerland, to de- vote themselves to the holy ministry, and afterward to return to their native country, where martyrdom almost always awaited them. It was, in 1729, that the seminary of Lausanne 220 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. was opened, and immediately placed under the direction of Court, who had been secretly invested with the title of deputy general of the churches, which was renewed in his favor, after having been last borne by the Marquis de Ruvigny. The government of Berne, through the fear of wounding the King of France by openly favoring an establishment which might displease him, only took it under its protection tacitly. The mystery, however, with which it was surrounded, was not so impenetrable that it could escape the knowledge of the French ambassador. But the Court of Versailles, doubt- less thenceforth convinced of the impossibility of extirpat- ing Protestantism in the kingdom, saw without too much uneasiness that those ministers were educated in a country exempt from fanaticism, French by its language and politi- cal sympathies, and in which they could not imbibe senti- ments of hatred against their country. During the remain- der of his laborious and truly apostolic life, which was pro- longed more than thirty years from that period. Court did not cease to consecrate all his cares to that great religious institution which, in the space of eighty years, has furnished more than seven hundred preachers to France. Professor George Poller, of Bottens, seconded him powerfully, and aided him in definitively organizing that " School of the Pastors of the Desert," the internal regulations and condi- tions of duration of which were never completely known to the French government. In 1787, at the moment when the Abbe Bonnaud composed his discourse to Louis XVI. to dis- suade him from the project of granting to the Protestants freedom of the state, the Bishop of Lausanne and Fribourg wrote to the ministers of the King, who had demanded from him precise information : " That seminary is distinct in every point from the Swiss Academy. Twenty to twenty-four French Protestants are found there, who are to have the churches of their country. They remain there three years, go through the course of ethics, philosophy, theology, and PASTORS OF THE DESERT. 221 the Holy Scriptures, under professors distinct from those of the Academy, without bearing the title. The former are consecrated by those masters in private chambers; the lat- ter, after having been examined, and after having obtained a certificate of capacity, return to their homes, and are conse- crated by the synod of their province. A committee of seven or eight persons, laymen and ecclesiastics, the most distinguished of the town of Lausanne, keep them upon divers pensions, and give them about forty French livres a month. They do not say whence they draw those funds, and keep it a profound secret.* The Bishop of Fribourg, as well as all the world, was still ignorant that the will of the donors had left the manage- ment of the funds to a particular committee, which sat at Geneva, and which, to deceive the supervision of the French resident, veiled the true object of its financial administration, and employed precautions so minute, that if its papers had been seized, they would have taught nothing to the French Government. He did not know that, completely to assure the mystery, which was observed with a sort of terror, the committee even caused those papers to be regularly destroy- ed at the end of a certain number of years, thus eluding the possibility of one day compromising the French Protestants, who maintained with it a correspondence which was forbidden by the laws of the kingdom ; and the Genevese ministers, who were in a state of disobedience toward their magistrates, by the relations which they preserved with the pastors of the desert. It is thus that that nursery of young ministers, which re- placed the destroyed schools of Saumur and Sedan, had its birth, and maintained itself. Created to guarantee religious instruction to the Protestant population of the South, it sub- * Discourse read to tlie Council, in presence of the King, by a Patriot Minister, pp. 137, 139. This discourse was reprinted in 1827. Compare Verdeil, vol. iii. p. 325. 222 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sisted until the day when the creation of the Faculty of The- ology of Montauban put a natural end to its mission, by per- mitting it to abdicate in favor of the establishments which were founded in France, by the sovereign authority.* Among the pupils of the Seminary of Lausanne, Court de Gebelin, Paul Rabaut, and Rabaut Saint-Eteinne, all three celebrated under different titles, but whose efforts al- ways converged toward the same end, the enfranchisement of the French Protestants, merit special mention in this work. The first was the son of Antoine Court. Born at Lausanne, he pursued his studies in that town in the midst of the descendants of the refugees, and was consecrated while still young to the holy ministry. After his father's death, in 1760, he left the Pays de Yaud, and went to France, to visit the churches of the desert. To avoid being recognized and arrested, he called himself Grebelin, an ima- ginative name, formerly adopted by his father, and which had been employed on the addresses of the letters which he received from the interior of the kingdom, in order to con- ceal the secret from the police. He saw, at Uzes, the coun- try of his mother ; the fields and humble house which, in her precipitate flight, she had been compelled to abandon, and which had passed into the hands of strangers. But he saw * We have consulted two unpublished letters on Antoine Court and the Seminary of Lausanne, by M. de Vegobre, the younger, whose father had been the intimate confidant of the "restorer of the churches." They were communicated to us by M. Coquerel, the younger, to whom they belonged. M. Munier Romilly, and M. Cel- lerier, of Geneva, have likewise furnished us with precious informa- tion. Among printed works, we have had recourse to the " History of the Churches in the Desert," by M. Charles Coquerel, vol. i., passim ; to the " Historical Notice of the Reformed Church of Nimes," by Borrel, pp. 29-33 (Nimes, IBS'?); to numerous dissertations on the "Primitive "World," by Court, of Gebelin; and principally to that entitled " Our First Studies," in the first volume. THE BROTHERS GRENIER. 223 them without envy ; and, when the means of obtaining their restitution vrere pointed out to him, he refused to have re- course to them, not being able to resolve to dispossess the proprietors, who had enjoyed them so many years. He made his debut, by the publication of two important works, the materials of which his father had prepared. " The Patriotic and Impartial Frenchman," and the " History of the War of the Camisards." He afterward came to Paris, and after ten years of the most laborious and persevering studies, he brought out his treatise on the " Primitive World," which produced for him two prizes from the French Academy, and the post of censor-royal, from which his Protestantism would seem to have excluded him. From that time he employed the high consideration, with which he was surrounded, in pleading the cause of his oppressed brethren before the great. One day he dared to present to the Duke of La Yrilliere a memorial in favor of some prisoners for religion's sake. " Do you know," said the minister to him with a menacing tone, " that I can cause you to be hanged ? " "I know, my lord," he replied, without trembling, " that you can do it ; but I also know, that you are too just, and I hope that you will condescend to listen to me." The astonished minister received the memorial, and afterward always showed him- self a partisan of toleration. He had already previously, in his " Toulousaines," published the process of Galas ; and perhaps the first called the attention of Voltaire to that tragic event. At the same time, he had denounced to public in- dignation the punishment of the pastor Rochette, an ancient pupil of the Seminary of Lausanne, and that of three other martyrs of the Protestant faith, the brothers Grenier, gentle- men glassmakers, who were condemned to death for having gone out armed on a day of public commotion. Appointed agent and deputy of the churches at Paris,, and representa- tive of the committee which directed the Seminary of Lau- sanne, he became in some sort the director of a ministry of 224 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the reformed religion. But he had not the good fortune to see his efforts crowned with complete success. He died in 1784, three years before the celebrated ordinance of Louis XVI., which restored their civil rights to the Protestants, and the promulgation of which he more than any one else had prepared, by the popularity of his writings, and by the esteem which he knew how to inspire in the most eminent men of Parisian society. Paul Kabaut^ and his son Rabaut Saint-Etienne were educated, like Court de Gebelin, in exile, amidst the sons and grandsons of the expatriated Protestants of 1685 ; but, happier than he, they lived long enough to see at length better days shine upon their country. In 1736, Antoine Court, in one of his journeys in France, alighted at the house of a cloth merchant at Bedarieux. He remarked in the son of his host an extraordinary disposition toward the study of the sciences, and at the same time a re- ligious conviction full of ardor and exaltation. Animated by an eager hope, be proposed to him to embrace the ecclesiastical career, and to follow him to Lausanne. The young man joy- fully consented, and was consecrated minister in 1739, This was Paul Rabaut. Upon his return to France, he was at- tached to the church of Nimes, and such was the influence of his eloquent and pious words and his conciliating character, that both Protestants and Catholics encircled him with the same respect. Becdelievre, the Bishop of Nimes, who had not the oratorical talent of Flechier, but who had inherited the Episcopal virtues, the love of toleration, and charity of his illustrious predecessor, conceived for Rabaut sincere esteem, and for the first time in France, were seen a bishop and a minister concerting between themselves, and working to bring about a reconciliation between the inhabitants of the same city profoundly divided by religious dissensions. Like the Count de Gebelin, Rabaut proposed to pursue by every legal method the emancipation of his brethren. He wrote a PRAYER IN THE WILDERNESS. 225 memorial in their favor, and determined to bring it under the eyes of Louis XV. The enterprise was difficult and perilous. Accompanied by a devoted friend, he went to Uchaud, to await there the passage of the Marquis du Paulini, who was going to Montpellier. Upon his arrival, he approached his carriage alone, with a modest but firm expression of counte- nance ; he declared his name, his quality, and the object of his errand, and presented the writing. Touched by this act of heroic confidence, the general, whose power was almost un- limited, and who, by a single gesture, could have caused him to be hanged upon the spot without the slightest formality of justice, uncovered his head, received the memorial, and promised to put it in the hands of the King. He kept his word, and from that day the pursuits against the religionists in Languedoc lost their severity. But in contributing to alleviate the lot of his brethren, Rabaut rendered his own most rigorous. The Governor of the province, irritated at his proceedings, set a price upon his head. Hemmed in on every side, the courageous minister retired at night into the grottos of the mountains, or the isolated sheep-folds, which are found in great numbers on the uncultivated heaths round about Nimes. At last, in 1762, he obtained from the Prince of Beauveau a sort of tacit toleration. The Protes- tants of Nimes then chose for their winter assemblies a vast amphitheatre situated on the road to Alais, on the banks of the torrent of Cadereau, and which was called the hermitage. There, upon seats constructed of piles of stones, from six to eight thousand persons placed themselves every Sunday, eager to hear the inspired words of their pastor. In the summer they removed their assemblages to an ancient quarry, named Lecque, which was surrounded on every side by im- mense rocks, and could be approached only by two narrow paths. The burning rays of the sun could not penetrate thither, and the faithful there found themselves sheltered from the heat of the day and the rains of the storm. It was VOL. II.— 10* 226 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. in that sombre cave that the piercing voice of Eabant re- echoed for more than twenty years, and maintained faith and hope in the hearts of men. Three ministers animated by the same zeal and ready to brave the same dangers, seconded him in that difficult mission — Paul Vincent, Puget, Encontre, and afterward his own son, Rabaut Saint-Etienne. Jean Paul Rabaut, called Saint-Etienne, born in the re- ligious proscription in 1742, and a victim of the terrorist proscription in 1793, prosecuted his studies at Lausanne, under the direction of Court de Gebelin, who had not yet left that peaceable retreat to go and receive upon a vaster theatre the glory which was due to his immense knowledge. The community of faith and misfortune, formed from that time so strict a friendship between master and pupil, that it was never afterward altered. His studies being finished, Saint-Etienne embraced the perilous profession of his father, and returned among his brethren to partake their lot, and encounter the religious persecution, which slackened some- times, but was always renewed. He had scarcely re-entered France, when he learned the execution of Kochette, who was condemned to death by the parliament of Toulouse for hav- ing preached in the assemblies of the Desert, and far from being intimidated, he went to exercise within the jurisdiction of the same court of justice, the duties of his dangerous ministry. Toleration, submission to the laws, love towards the King, resignation, and forgetfulness of injuries, such were the subjects which his vigorous eloquence delighted to develope before his auditory. After the example of his father, he applied himself to calm the hatreds, and maintain peace in those countries which had been so often rendered bloody by religious wars. He not only preached toleration, but he defended it in a celebrated work entitled the " Vieux Cevenol." Combining in, as it were, an historic frame, all the laws promulgated since the time of Louis XIV. against the Protestants, he composed a kind of romance, in which RABAUT ST. ETIENNE 227 the evils suffered by his brethren under the empire of that barbarous legislation, were ingeniously described in the pic- ture of the life of Ambroise Borely, an imaginary exile, whom the author represented as dying at London, at the age of a hundred and three years. A stranger to the exclusive ideas of a fraction of his party, when the diocese of Nimes lost its bishop, Becdelievre, he constituted himself the interpreter of the public grief, by composing the funeral elegy of that vener- able man. The Count Boissy d' Anglas, who then dwelt in that town, caused his writings to reach La Harpe, with whom he was connected. The celebrated critic replied to him : " You have sent me an excellent work ; behold true eloquence, that of the soul and sentiment. It can be easily seen that every thing which emanates from the pen of the author is inspired by the virtues which he celebrates. I beg of you to thank your worthy friend." A great project had long occupied the generous soul of the pastor of Nimes, that of begging from the government the concession of a civil constitution for the Protestants. Encouraged by La Fayette, who, passing through Langue- doc, after his glorious campaign in America, had promised him his powerful mediation, he came to Paris, and, sustained by him who was then called the citizen of the two worlds, and who was surrounded by all the illusion of his growing popu- larity, and warmly aided by Malsherbes and the Marquis of Breteuil, he obtained from the King the celebrated edict of 1787, which was the first reparation of the great mistake of Louis XIV. Paul Rabaut still lived, without having a sure place where to rest his head. The old pastor of the - Desert could at length return to Nimes, and there build a house in a street which was called, and which is still called, !' the street of M. Paul. When Louis XVI. convoked the States G-eneral in 1789, Rabaut Saint-Etienne was appointed the first of the eight deputies of the third estate to elect the seneschalty of Tou- 228 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. louse. On the 15th of March, 1790, he was proclaimed Pre- sident of the National Assembly. In announcing that news to his father, he terminated his letter with these words : " The President of the National Assembly is at your feet." He, one of the first, begged for the establishment of the jury, the regular liberty of the press, and that of worship and con- science, the immediate consequence of the edict which the Protestants owed to the happy initiative of the monarch. After the revolution of the 10th of August, he was soon involved in the ruin of the G-irondins, and sent to the scaf- fold on the 5th of December, 1793. Paul Kabaut was him- self incarcerated in the citadel of Nimes, whence he did not emerge till after the 9th Thermidor. The constitution of the year III. having definitively consecrated religious liberty, he celebrated the inauguration of it by a solemn discourse, in which he evoked the old and sad memories of past times, and moved, even to tears, the immense audience, which had assembled to hear him. But that was the last time that the noble old man appeared in the pulpit. He died a few days after, at the age of eighty years.* * Historical JN'otice of the Reformed Chiircli of Ximes, by Borrel, pp. 33-52. Nimes, 1837. "]S"oticeonRabautSaint-Etienne,"by Count Boissy d'Anglas. This notice can be found prefacing the " Vieux Cevenol," which was reprinted in Paris in 1821. CHAPTER V OF THE PEESENT OONDITIOX OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE EEFU- GEES IN SWITZERLAND. Progress of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce— "Watchmaking in Geneva— Eefugees who became celebrated in politics— The Family of Odier— Benjamin Constant— Refugees who gained distinction in Literature, Science, and the Arts — James Pradier — Spirit of p roselytism — Severity of morals — Spirit of charity — Pious legacies — Assistance sent to Eeligionists in the galleys — Calandrin — Let- ter of Pontchartrain— Closing of the Seminary of Lausanne— Confiscation of the treasury at Geneva— Embodiment of the colony of Berne in the civil corpora- tion of La Neuveville. Thus, in relation to religion and literature, as in that of poli- tics, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, the refugees exercised a happy influence over the destinies of Protestant Switzerland, and reacted even, in a certain measure, upon those of their former country. The salutary action of those chosen men, and their descendants, continued during the whole of the eighteenth century, and has not yet ceased in our days. The progress of agriculture in the Pays de Vaud is in a great part their work. The flourishing condition of the fields in the vicinity of Lausanne sufficiently proves the superiority of the methods of culture which they intro- duced into that country so favored by nature. The manufac- tures, which they brought with them, became a source of wealth to French Switzerland and the canton of Berne, which is not since exhausted. The fine silk manufactures, with which they endowed their new country, have not ceased im- 230 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. proving under their hands, and furnishing work to multitudes of native and French workmen. Among the laboring class of Berne, can be still easily recognized the families originally from Languedoc and Dauphiny, who have gained their sub- sistence in the manufactories established after the revoca- tion. The principal manufacture, for whicb Geneva is in- debted to them, even received a new increase in the first days of the revolution of 1789. When the ancient corporation of watchmakers of Paris had been stricken to the heart by the precipitate suppression of the severe, but useful statutes of communities, many of the first fabricators left their native soil, carrying with them, together with their capital, the knowledge of the special trades they had acquired, and went to unite themselves with the descendants of the refugees for religion's sake. From that moment, Geneva became the centre of the most vast manufactories of clock-work which exist in Europe. She no longer contented herself with com- peting with us in foreign markets ; we became her tributa- ries, for the greatest part of the watches which were sold in France were brought to us by Genevese watchmakers. That inferiority is maintained even to our times, for it is always French Switzerland, and particularly the city of Geneva, which furnishes us with watches of every kind. The French watch- makers, and especially those of Paris, annually manufacture but a very limited relative number. Swiss commerce, like- wise, was affected by the impulse which it received from the intelligent activity of the refugees. The Pourtales, the Coulons, and the Terris, have founded at Neufchatel com- mercial houses, which rival the first in Europe. At Geneva, the celebrated banker, Jean-Gabriel Eynard, who is descend- ed from a family of Dauphiny, was twice enabled to conse- crate a part of his immense fortune to render himself the benefactor of Greece, which ow^es to him almost its existence. The contemporaneous period has seen many descendants of the refugees pursue with brilliancy the career of politics BENJAMIN CONSTANT. 231 and that of arms. Philippe Marthe Claparede, whose father died at Geneva in 1737, after having been for some time councillor to the first King of Prussia, was captain in the French service, and received, as a re- ward for his bravery, the decoration of the Military Order of Merit,* G-eneral Rath, a scion of a Genevese family originally from Nimes, fought under the standard of the Emperor of Russia, distinguished himself in the campaign of 1812, and was appointed commandant of the fortified town of Zamosk. Gouzy, an old artillery captain of Berne, is to- day first secretary of the section of the French Chancery. f James Fazy, who maintained himself during many years at the head of the government of Geneva, is descended from a manufacturer of chintz, who received the rights of citizen- ship in 1735, and whose father, Antoine Fazy, was a refugee from the valley of Queyras, in the Briangonnois. The family of Antoine Odier, which fled from Pont en-Royans, in Dau- phiny, to escape persecution, and established itself at Geneva in 1717, has furnished to the country of its forefathers two men, who have not been without influence upon its new des- tinies. The grandson of Antoine, who returned to France at the close of the eighteenth century, was deputy of Paris under the restoration, and peer of the realm under Louis Philippe. Another scion of the same family, Roman Odier, was deputy of the Yonne. Both took part in the liberal op- position under Charles X., and signed the address of the 221. To conclude, one of our first political writers, and most bril- liant parliamentary orators, Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, born at Lausanne in 1767, was also descended from an emi- grant family. His father, who was in correspondence with Voltaire, was the colonel of a Swiss regiment in the Dutch service. Having returned to France in 1795, the young Benjamin Constant united himself with the moderate repub- lican party, and became the friend of Chenier, Louvet, and * GalifFe. " Grenealogical Notices on the Genevese Families." + In 1851. 232 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Daunon. A few polemical writings, some articles in the jour- nals of the day, and a suit brought before the bar of the council of five hundred, in favor of the descendants of the refugees, added to his growing reputation. Appointed a member of the Tribunate, he took part in that generous but untimely opposition, which the wearied country did not com- prehend, and by which a power strong enough to dare every thing became greatly irritated. Included in the elimination which struck the elite of that body, and constrained imme- diately to leave France, he retired to Weimar, returned to France upon the fall of the emj^ire, and placed himself among the chiefs of that liberal party, which wished, while supporting the throne of the Bourbons, and repudiating the crimes of the Reign of Terror, to assure to the country the immortal conquests of the revolution. Elected deputy by the depart- ment of La Sarthe, he ceased not, as an orator, as a writer, and as a journalist, to plead the cause of liberty, and strug- gle against the retrograde tendencies, which impelled the restoration towards its ruin. Re-elected at Paris, in 1 824, and at Strasburg, in 1827, in spite of the electoral frauds, to which recourse was had against him, he stood up against the Spanish war, against the law of tendency, those of sacrilege and primogeniture, and those of "justice and love." When the ordinances of July appeared, he was at his country-house, sick, and having just suffered a painful operation. It was in that state that he received a note from Lafayette : " A terrible game is being played here, our heads are the stake ; lend us yours ! " Forgetting his ruined health, he imme- diately hastened to take part in the peril and the victory. The revolution accomplished, he was one of the majority, who decreed the crown to the lieutenant-general of the king- dom, and was himself invested with the presidency of the council of state. But he survived the triumph of his ideas but a few days. He died in the month of December of that memorable year, which at that time seemed to have for ever MADAME DE STAEL. 233 terminated the era of revolutions, by tlie happy alliance of order and liberty. Literature, science, and arts, likewise owe some acknowl- edgment to the descendants of the French Protestants, who took refuge in Switzerland after the revocation. Benjamin Constant was not only a political man of a high and noble bearing, he was also a distinguished writer. His work on " Religion, considered in its source, its forms, and its de- velopments," is remarkable for its sagacity, erudition, and clearness, which recalls that of Voltaire. Benjamin Con- stant did not shine by the novelty of his ideas, but nobody ever made a more judicious choice of those of other men, and rendered science more accessible to common minds. If the representative government has been so long popular in France, he is certainly one of those to whom the honor is due of having taught it to his fellow-citizens. The daughter of Necker, the illustrious Madame de Stael, who protected the debuts of Benjamin Constant, and shared his exile at Weimar, was descended, on her mother's side, from an emi- grant French woman who had married a pastor of the Pays de Vaud. The G-enevese scholar, Mallet, who passed part of his life in Denmark, and afterward returned to his native city, where he was appointed professor of history, and where he died at the commencement of the present century, be- longed, through his mother, whose maiden name was Masson, to a family of Champagne, domiciliated in Geneva during two generations. In the same city, Pierre Odier, great- grandson of the refugee Antoine, is to-day considered among the most eminent lawyers. Two men, whose merit in sci- entific studies is acknowledged, the naturalist Jean de Char- pentier, and a chemist, as yet young, but already celebrated, are descended, like Mallet and Odier, from emigrant fami- lies. The former, whose ancestors were established in Germany, but who fixed himself in the Canton de Yaud, is the author of a remarkable memoir " on the Forma- 234 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tion of the Glaciers," and an " Essay on the Geographical Constitution of the Pyrenees," which were crowned by the Institute. The latter, the grandson of Gallissard de Marignac, a refugee from Alais, was attached in quality of chemist to the manufactory of Sevres, and afterward ap- pointed professor of chemistry in the academy of the town of Geneva, where his family has, during more than a century, possessed the right of citizenship. The arts have like- wise received a certain lustre from the descendants of the fugitives. The historical painter, Lugardon, belongs to the colony of Berne. The painter Lafon is also the offspring of a French exile who established himself in that town. The illustrious sculptor, James Pradier, born at Geneva, in 1792, who died in Paris, in 1852, was descended from a family which glorified itself on account of the same origin ; for his grandfather was one of those victims of fanaticism who were obliged to take refuge in Switzerland after the revocation. Pradier, who, since 1827, has been a member of the Insti- tute, is the author of the charming group of the three Graces, which can be admired in one of the saloons of Versailles, of the Phidias and Prometheus which figure in the garden of the Tuileries, of the bas-reliefs in the former deputy-chamber, of the four admirable " Fames "of the triumphal arch of PEtoile, a work of genius which would suffice for the repu- tation of a great artist, of the two Muses of the fountain Moliere, and a multitude of other works, as glorious for France, where his talent was formed, as for the country where he, was born, and where his ancestors were so gene- rously received. In conclusion, let us mention the fine mu- seum of Geneva, which owes its existence to the liberality of General Rath, and to which public gratitude has given the name of its founder. An ardent system of religious proselytism did not cease to animate the greatest part of the refugees and their de- scendants. When, in 1707, the Genevese, Guillaume Fran- SUMPTUARY LAWS, 235 conis, furnished the first funds for the establishment of a '' chamber of proselytes," with the view of opposing a barrier to Romanist propagandism, and sustaining the Catholics who wished to embrace the " reform," the company of pas- tors delegated for the election of the members of committee immediately chose two French exiles, the Marquis of Du- quesne, and the Marquis d'Arzilliers. * A second chamber of proselytes was founded at Berne by the enterprise of the emigrants who were settled in that canton. Those profound convictions, still more fortified by the sufferings of exile, contributed to preserve among them the pure and austere morals which distinguished their ancestors, while they still lived in their ancient country. Union reigned in the in- terior of families. The pastors reprimanded with severity the slightest action, the slightest word contrary to the most rigid laws of propriety. In 1689, the directory of the colony of Berne cited to appear before it the heads of the manufactories, to exhort them to prevent their workmen from swearing and singing indecent songs, f Luxury was rigorously proscribed. Their costume was of a simplicity which strongly contrasted with the magnificence that the wealthy then displayed so profusely in their garments. The directory of Berne one day gravely deliberated upon the too worldly attire of the women. They were forbidden to wear the head-dresses called " fontanges," and other head-dresses " of many stories," to repair, as was said, the bad example they had given. Public opinion had openly blamed the pastors themselves, for having gone in their robes to the in- terment of the Marquis Duquesne, without the previous authority of the council. J The inspectors of the colonies * Register of the Council, sitting of Jan. 9, 1*708. Archives of Geneva. f Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Refugees at Berne, Sept. 30, 1689. X Register of the Council, September, 1122. 236 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. desired that the exiles, by the most irreproachable conduct, should form a select society which should serve as a model to the rest of the nation. In 1689, those of Berne ordered the persons under their jurisdiction not to go out after supper.* This was to recommend to them a regular and pious life, in conformity with that of the first Christians. All labor was suspended on Sunday. In 1695, the directory of Berne, by a resolution at which we cannot help smiling, prohibited the French barbers and hair-dressers from shaving on the days consecrated to rest and prayer, f Those men whose lives had been a long devotion to their religious belief, transmitted to their children sentiments of sympathy towards their persecuted brethren, and of charity toward the poor, which never changed, and of which history offers many touching examples. At Lausanne, the remem- brance of an old pastor of Saintes, named Merlat, has been preserved, who never gave a repast to his friends, without keep- ing an exact account of that extraordinary expense, and con- secrating an equal sum to the poor of his quarter. It was only after his death that the reading of his papers revealed these benevolent actions. J At Berne, Jacques Mourgues, the secretary of the directory of the French colony, whose name deserves to escape oblivion, consecrated his entire life to the relief of the misfortunes of his companions in exile, and died a victim to his zeal, at the age of thirty-nine years. Sent to Aran, in 1699, to fulfil a mission of high importance near the diet of the evangelical Cantons, with a devotion which bordered on heroism, he did not hesitate to undertake the journey in the heart of winter, and soon after his return succumbed to the effects of cold and fatigue. Besombes, Cabrid and Couderc, his colleagues, the Marquis d'Arzilliers, * Book of tlie Deliberations of the Inspectors of Berne, Decem- ber 30, 1689. t Ibid. May 27, 1695. X Olivier. History of the Canton de Vaud, vol. ii. p. 1183, note. ETIENNE RONJAT. 237 the Marquis Duquesne. Peyrol, Parlier, and the Sieur de Saligne, uever wearied, during the last fifteen years of the seventeenth century, of going from town to town, from prov- ince to province, neglecting their own interests for those of their brethren, organizing collections in their behalf, and pleading their cause near the cantonial authorities and evan- gelical diets. A great number of the refugees who had at- tained to ease or fortune, ^fter having themselves been some- times succored in their distress, enriched in their turn the treasury of Geneva, the French hospital of Berne, and the directories of the colonies, by their gifts. Among those pious benefactors can be quoted, Etienne Ronjat, who bequeathed in 1740, to the treasury of Geneva, the sum of 150,000 florins, that is to say, about 70,000 francs of our money ; the Nimois Antoine d'Posseu, who deposited during his own lifetime the sum of 30,000 livres, in the hands of the Protestant cantons, on condition that three quarters of the interest should be divided among the refugees and their descendants, particularly those originally from Nimes ; David Perrin, who died at London, in 1748, and who, leaving half his fortune to the French churches of that city, dis- posed of the remainder in favor of the exiles who lived in Berne, Coire and Zurich, " most humbly supplicating," said he, in his testament, " the venerable magistrates of the said three cities, to receive this small mark of my gratitude and just restitution, for the numerous charitable favors which my family and myself received from them, after our great misfortunes in France, toward the close of the passed cen- tury;" the merchant Rouvier, who bequeathed 10,000 louis d'or to the directory of the Bernese colony ; de Wat- tenwyl, the son of the " high commandant " of Berne, and a French mother, whose maiden name was Morlot, who di- vided the greater part of his fortune among the three hundred refugees whom the directory of that city might judge most worthy of being aided; * Negret, who left 3,000 livres to * Journal of the disposal of the funds destined for the mainte- 238 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the indigent Frenchmen of the same canton ; * and Lord Gal- loway, who long maintained, at his own expense, more than forty refugees, at Vevay.f The French colonists more than once extended their benefits to the Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont. They aided them after the Peace of Ryswick, to rebuild their temples.f The treasury of Greneva did not content itself with distributing relief to its poor. It often sent considerable sums to the needy Frenchmen of the colo- nies of Erlangen, Cassel and Cologne. § Part of its funds were consecrated to the relief of the French Protestants who had been condemned to the galleys for religion's sake. The refugees of Berne, Zurich, Lausanne. Bale and Schaffhausen, deprived themselves of necessaries to succor those martyrs to the faith. We read, in the Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Colony of Berne, under the date of March 4th, 1695 — " 1,000 livres tournois will be sent to the galley slaves in France. A collection will be made among the refugees of Berne. Letters will be sent to every place where there are French refugees, to inform them of the suf- ferings of those ' happy convicts,' and to exhort them to en- large their donations in their behalf." Under the date of April 1st, following — " Reboulet, a minister of Zurich, sends a hundred white crowns for our brethren, the religionists, in the galleys. He announces a collection in the town." Un- der the date of May 13th — " The churches of Morges, Lau- sanne, Vevay and Nyon, send money for the galley slaves." The churches of Hameln, Hanover, Zell, Magdeburgh. nance of the poor French refugees in the Canton of Berne, April 12th, 169Y. Archives of the Corporation of Berne. * Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Refugees, in the town of Berne, October 2d, 1696. f Journal of the disposal of the funds destined for the mainte- dance of the poor refugees in the Canton of Berne, August 26th, 1696. X Archives of Geneva. Historical Documents, Xo, 4009. § Ibid., No3. 3915, 8962 and 4012. THE MINISTEP^ PONTCHARTRAIN. 239 and Bremen, * and those of England and Holland, were in correspondence with the French colonies in Switzerland, and maintained by their mediation, those victims of fanaticism, whom they called in touching terms, '• their poor brethren in the galleys." Those funds, centralized in the hands of the directory of Berne, were habitually remitted to Grenevese ministers, who had intelligence with the provinces of the south, and even with the interior of the prisons of the gal- leys. During many long years, a certain Calandrin thus passed considerable sums to the galley slaves of Marseilles. But a seizure, which was made on some Genevese merchants, put the French government on the track of those relations, the secret of which it had until that time vainly endeavored to discover. Bitter complaints were immediately addressed to the republic. The minister, Pontchartrain, wrote himself to the French resident, on the 10th of September, 1704 : " It has been discovered, by the depositions of many of the religionist convicts, that the Sieur Calandrin, a minister of Geneva, is in continual relation with them, and that he writes to them very often, to exhort them to perse- vere in their disobedience, to prevent those among them, whom they call feeble, from returning to their duty, and to offer to some who have abjured pensions sufficiently large to persuade them to retract. He sends them succors in money, which are distributed every day, according to the class in which each is marked ; and he promises them more consid- erable sums. The King has commanded me to make you acquainted with this, and to write you his will, that you should make complaints to the Senate of these proceedings, which tend to maintain his subjects in disobedience and dis- order ; and to demand that it shall give such precise orders to that minister, and all others, that none of them shall per- * Book of the Deliberations of the Inspectors of the Refugees, in the town of Berne, June 10, 1696. 240 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sist in this odious commerce. You will take the trouble to inform me of the success of your demands." * This time, again, the feeble Genevese government was obliged to -obey the injuctions of the great King. But his prohibitions could not cool the ardent sympathies of. the refugees for their suffering brethren, who were too often ex- posed to severities, which would have been spared to true criminals. • Their relations with them, for a moment inter- rupted, were soon renewed, and a benevolent fund secretly established at Marseilles, caused the relief which was sent from abroad, to reach those unfortunate wretches. After- ward, alone, when the persecution began to slacken, a part of the funds, which were destined for them, was conse- crated to the Seminary of Lausanne. When the proclama- tion of the liberty of religious worship, and the regular or- ganization of the reformed churches in France had caused that religious institution to disappear, the divers endowments which had assured its existence, ceased to have a precise object. From the year 1795, also, England sent no more money to the Genevese committee, which directed its admin- istration. The treasury itself no longer exists at the present day. By virtue of a resolution of the revolutionary govern- ment, instituted in 1846, it has been joined to the hospital, and its funds, which still amounted to about a million, have since been employed for the relief, indiscriminately, of all the citizens of the Canton ; those of Genevese as well as of French origin ; those of the Roman Catholic as well as the " reformed " faith. By a strange consequence, the radical revolution, which has taken place in this little state, has effaced even the last vestiges of the benefits which the refu- gees had received from the ancient republic, and which had constituted an envied privilege in favor of their descendants. At Lausanne, as at Geneva, the two classes of the popu- lation, brought together by the every- day relations of life, ^ Archives of Geneva, Historical Documents, No. 40*76. THE FRENCH EXCHANGE. 241 by numerous marriages, and above all, by the community of language and religion, have long been entirely amalgamated. The ancient corporation, however, which is generally desig- nated^under the name of the French Exchange,. still pos- sesses rich revenues, which belong to the descendants of the families, which escaped from France after the revocation. In German Switzerland, in Berne, Bale, and Zurich, the emigrants have, little by little, adopted, in the course of the eighteenth century, the language and customs of the people among whom they live dispersed. A pretty large number of them have gone successively to join their brethren, establish- ed in the Pays de Vaud, which offered them a most faithful image of their ancient country. The colony of Berne, how- ever, was maintained distinct until our times, but since 1850 it is joined to the civil corporation of Neuveville. The con- tract of embodiment, the original draft of which is deposited in the Archives of State of the Canton, sets forth that the civil community of Neuveville receives ir.to its corporation all persons belonging to the commune of the French colony of Berne; that this reception extends not only to persons actually living, but to all their descendants ; and that, in re- turn, the French colony cedes as the price of such embodi- ment, to the civil corporation of Neuveville, all the fortune which it possesses, namely, 94,683 Swiss francs. This act, ratified by the grand council of Berne in 1851, thenceforth has the force of a law, and regulates for ever the civil and political rights of the descendants of the Bernese colony, although stripped, in other respects, of the importance it formerly possessed. In fact, the last census, taken in 1845, proved the existence of no more than fourteen families, com- prising eighty-six persons. These are the sole remains of more than two hundred families, of which the colony was composed, in the first twenty-five years of its establishment. The rest are either extinct, — ^united to the communities of Romanish Switzerland, or entirely confounded with the Ber- VOL, II- — 11 242 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. nese people. These fourteen families are those of Courant, Leyris, Ferrier, George, Gouzy, GuirodoQ. Lugardon, Noga- ret, Olivier, Pag^s, Pecholier, Rieux, Vieux, andVolpilliere.* Almost all of them still reside in the town, where their an- cestors established themselves, the language of whom they religiously preserved, as a distinctive sign of their origin. Some of them have recently returned to France, and live in Paris, preserving, however, their rights as members of the civil corporation of Neuveville. * List of the Members of the French Colony of Berne. Berne, 1845. In German. BOOK VII. OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REFUGEES IN DENMARK, SWE- DEN, AND RUSSIA. CHAPTER I. THE EEFUGEES IN DENMAEK. Memoir of the Bishop of Zealand against the Refugees— Edict of Christian V., in 1681— The Queen Charlotte Amelia— Second Edict of 1GS5— Colony of Copen- hagen — Colony of Altona — Colonies of Fredericia and Gluckstadt. Military Refugees— Ordinance of Louis XIV.— The Count of Roye— Refugee sailors — Progress of agriculture in Denmark — Introduction of tobacco culture — Rural economy of the planters of Fredericia — Progi-ess of navigation and com- merce—New manufactures— Literary influence of the Refugees— La Plaeette — Mallet— Morality of the Refugees — Examples of charity — Actual condition of the colony of Fredericia— Actual condition of the colonies of Copenhagen and Altona. Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, were countries too distant and too poor to attract a great number of refugees. The difference in their religious worship, besides, contributed to divert the attention of the French Calvinists toward countries, where they were assured of finding the greatest advantages and the kindest reception. The Confession of Augsburg, adopted in Denmark in 1530, ruled there ex- clusively at the close of the seventeenth century, and the revolution of 1660, by concentrating all power in the hands of the monarch, had imposed upon him the obligation to change nothing in the religion of the State. The Lutheran 244 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. orthodoxy, at that period, repulsed the doctrine of Calvin as a dangerous heresy. When the emigrants disseminated them- selves through Brandenburgh, and the question of attracting them to Denmark, for the encouragement of manufactures, was agitated. Bagger, the Bishop of Zealand, addressed a memorial to King Christian V., to terrify him on account of the dangers to which he would expose himself, by granting free entrance into his kingdom to those foreigners.* " When God shall judge proper," said he to that prince, " to raise up again this poor realm, and to straighten its columns, I am per- suaded that he will inspire your Majesty with other measures^ than mixing together the two religions, f The court preacher was likewise animated by the same hateful and narrow sen- timents. He maintained in his discourses, that the power of kings is of divine origin, and recognizes no other superior than God, in the spiritual as well as the temporal order ; that in consequence, it is their interest to sustain the Lu- theran faith, which easily accommodates itself to absolute government, and to opposo .themselves to the introduction of Calvinism, which is founded upon an opposite principle. ;|; The treaty of alliance signed between France and Denmark, in 1682, and the monthly subsidy of fifty thousand crowns^ which Louis XIV. payed to Christian V., added to the cold- ness against the refugees with which it was his object to inspire this prince.^ Nevertheless, after the year 1681, upon the news of the first dragoonings, and carrying off of the children, the Danish monarch was moved to compassion, and published a declaration, by which he engaged himself to * Allen. Manual of th.e History of the Country, pp. 490, 491. In Danish. f Catteau, " Picture of the Danish States, vol. iii. p. 28. Paris, 1802. X Allen, p. 491. § Dispatch of Cheverney, ambassador from France to Denmark, Nov. 2d, 1688. Archives of the Mhiistr^' of Foreign Affairs. Mallet, " History of Denraai'k," vol. ix. pp. 274, 275. Geneva, 1788. CHRISTIAN V. OF DENMARK. 245 protect the refugees who might seek an asylum in his States, and to permit them to build temples, with the assurance that they should be never molested in the exercise of their re- ligion. He promised, beside, to exempt the mechanics from the payment of entry duties upon their household furnitvire, and the implements of their several trades, and to enfran- chise them from the payment of all taxes for eight years, provided that they took the oath of fidelity, and consented to educate their children in the Lutheran religion.* They were -not delivered from that last obligation until in 1685, thanks to the intercession of Charlotte Amelia, the wife of Christian V.f That Queen, who was distinguished by the greatest virtues, and whose memory is still held in venera- tion in Denmark, was the daughter of William VL, Land- grave of Hesse, who belonged to the sect of Calvin, and niece' to the Princess of Tarentum, who had herself suffered in France for the Protestant faith. She preserved strict re- lations with the Grand Elector, her uncle, who, full of zeal for the refugees, communicated the strong sympathy he felt for them to all the princes who partook of his belief. Thus, in spite of 'the opposition of the Lutheran clergy, and the hostility of part of the people, the exiles were, in general, favorably received. In 1685, the King, upon the reiterated requests of the Queen, and the pressing prayers of the Elec- tor, promulgated a new edict in their favor. He bound himself to receive all who should come to establish them- selves in his States. . He promised to grant to the persons of quality and nobles, the same distinctions which were their right in France ; to confer upon the soldiers the same rank which they had possessed in the French army ; to appoint the young gentlemen to posts in his guards ; and to give houses and advance money to those who desired to create manufactories, * Erman and Reclam, vol. iv. pp. 301, 302. "Ecclesiastical Statistics," by Staeudlin, vol. i. p. 224. In German. Tubingue, 1804. \ StaeudHn, vol. i. p. 224. 246 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. with certain privileges and immunities.* That edict com- municated a new impulse to the immigration into Denmark. Many of the most distinguished among the refugees had al- ready repaired thither before the revocation ; and one of them, the Count de Roye, had become marshal of the Dan- ish troops. A crowd of others soon followed them. The commercial relations which that kingdom entertained with France, would have doubtless disposed many houses of Bor- deaux, La Kochelle, and Nantes, to remove to Copenhagen, if the spirit of intolerance had not, by intentional delays, thwarted the wise measures of the Court. Those families, enriched by business, whom they ought gladly to have welcomed, carried to England and Holland the elements of prosperity, one instant, promised to Denmark. The number of the refugees, nevertheless, was still sufficient- ly considerable for them to form a church at Copenhagen, the first pastor of which was Menard, the son of the former preacher of Charenton, who had established him- self at the Hague, and whom the Prince of Orange had attached to his person. The States General of Holland granted them a subsidy of a thousand florins, to aid them in building a temple. f The Queen herself laid the first stone of it in 1 688 ; and she created beside a fund, the revenue of which she destined for the maintenance of the pas- tors. To give more eclat to that first French colony, she under- took to attract thither one of the most celebrated orators of the Calvinistic church, Du Bosc, the former pastor of Caen. The Count de Koye and the Marquis de Laforest oflTered him, in the name of the Queen, great advantages for himself and his family, if he would consent to establish himself at Copenhagen. He preferred rather, however, to accept the pulpit of the French church at Rotterdam, whither a great part of his flock had retired. The Queen obtained, by means of Frederic William, that Laplacette, of Pontac, in * Manuscripts of Antoine Court, in the Library of Geneva. \ Dispatch of the Count d'Avaux, of February Hth, leSt. FRENCH COLONY AT ALTONA. 247 Beam, who had at first settled in Berlin, and who had been received with a distinction in conformity with his merit, was sent to the capital of Denmark, and she appointed him the minister of the church of which she was the founder. In 1699, she called thither Theodore Blanc, who had during six years exercised the duties of pastor in one of the French churches of London. But she was not always suffi- ciently powerful to defend that feeble community against the persistive enmity of the Bishop of Zealand and the court preacher. An edict, which was published in 1690, at the request of those two zealots, ordered that children born of mixed marriages, should be educated in the religion of the State, and expressly forbade the bells to be rung to call the " reformed " to divine service.* A second French colony was founded at Altona. In 1582, that town had already served as a place of retreat to a crowd of Walloons whom the cruelties of the Duke of Alba had driven from the Netherlands. At the commencement of the seventeenth century. Count Ernest de Schaumberg, sovereign of a part of the Duchy of Holstein, permitted them to build a temple, which was finished in 1603, and in which they were authorized to exercise freely the forms of Calvinist worship. That community, which was composed of Hol- landers, Germans, and French- Walloons, was served at the commencement by three pastors, who preached alternately in those three languages. But the French group having been reinforced, in 1686, by the arrival of some emigrants from France, a separation resulted from it, and two reformed com- munities were formed, one of which was French and the other German Dutch. The first comprehended not only the French who were domiciliated at Altona, but also those who, for commercial reasons, had settled at Hamburgh, and who, not being able to obtain either from the magistrate or the clergy the liberty of public worship, joined with the church of that * Allen, p. 491. 248 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. neighboring town. Among the pastors who directed that double community, the most celebrated was Isaac de Beau- sobre, who afterward established himself at Berlin.* Those of Copenhagen and Altona were not the only colonies, which were formed under the protection of the Court of Denmark. Two others established themselves but a little later at Fredericia and Gluckstadt. The town of Fredericia, situated on the borders of the little Belt in Jutland, owed its foundation to King Frederic III., who caused it to be built in 1650, upon the site which was afterwards called the " Field of the Reformed." Ruined, in 1657, by the Swedish G-eneral Wrangel, it was rebuilt by the same prince on a new plan at some distance from its for- mer situation. He destined it to become a stronghold to cover Jutland and Finland, and at the same time a commer- cial town, which might serve as a storehouse for the merchan- dise of the Baltic Sea. In 1 720, Frederic IV. called thither about forty French families who had taken refuge in Bran- denburgh, and distributed among them half of the lands which the inhabitants had left untilled for want of hands to cultivate them.f Twenty of them dispersed themselves in Zealand. The rest remained in Fredericia, and received in partition the so-called " Field of the Reformed," which was still covered with the ruins of the houses burned by the Swedes, a more elevated field called the " Seeberg," and some pieces of land designated under the name of " Kampen." The King permitted them to form a community separate from the rest of the inhabitants, with the promise of paying their pastor for ten years. He authorized them to elect a judge to determine their differences, and exempted them from all imposts for twenty years. He finally recommended * Erman and Reclam, vol. i. p. 206. Dispatch of M. Cintrat, French consul at Hamburgh, of May 12th, 1852. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. f Erman and Reclam, vol, vi. p. 268. FRENCH SOLDIERS IN DENMARK. 249 them to the special protection of the military commandant, and magistrates of the city.* The French emigration, into Denmark, was chiefly mili- tary and agricultural. A certain number of Huguenot offi- cers took service in the Danish troops. On the 12th of May, 1689, Louis XIV. ordered that those of his subjects who had left France after the revocation, and who had entered the army of the King of Denmark, should enjoy for the fu- ture the revenue of half the property, which they had left in the kingdom, on condition that they remitted every six months a formal certificate from the French ambassador at Copenhagen, attesting that they were enrolled under the Danish standard. The object of that ordinance, published on the frontiers of the North, was to cause those refugees to leave England and Holland, who had taken refuge in those two countries before the expedition of the Prince of Orange. The King supposed that they would feel a repugnance to bear arms against their ancient country, and endeavored to throw open to them a new asylum, by placing them in the pay of a monarch who would at least observe neutrality.! That tardy measure failed in its effect. Very few of the refugees allowed themselves to be tempted to quit the active service of William III. for that of a pacific prince who could offer them neither glory nor wealth. Neverthe- less, either after, or before that ordinance, the Danish army received into its ranks many French ofiicers of distinction. The most illustrious, Frederic Charles de La Rochefoucault, Count de Roye and De Rouci, formerly lieutenant-general in 'the armies of Louis XIV., was appointed grand marshal and commander-in-chief of all the Danish forces. Having left France before the revocation, with the special authority * Historical and Statistical Picture of the establishment of the Re- formed at Fredericia, by Jean Marc Dalgas, minister of the Holy Gospel, pp. 11, 12. Copenhagen, 179*7. f Manuscripts of Antoine Court, in the Library of Geneva. VOL. II. 11* 250 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. of the King, he was rejoined in Denmark by the Countess de Roye, whom the Court of France did not dare to retain ; but she could only bring with her her two eldest daughters, one of whom afterward espoused in England the Earl of Straiford. The two youngest, and two sons of tender age, were taken away from her, to be sent to the Count de Duras, their uncle, and their conversion was the infallible effect of the education given to the children of Protestants, who were brought up far from the eyes of their families.* The Mar- quis de Laforest, formerly colonel, was appointed captain of a company of the lifeguard;! and powerfully aided by his new sovereign, he obtained the entire restitution of his pro- perty in France. As he was connected in ties of friendship with Marshal Schaumberg, Christian V. thought one instant of sending him to serve in the army of William III., whose triumph he foresaw. But he recoiled before the fear of losing the pension, which he owed to the far-seeing policy of Louis XIV. " Your Majesty," wrote the French ambassa- dor, " can judge by the intrigues of this Court, and ought to be fully persuaded that she will always take sides with the strongest."! Jean-Louis de Jaucourt, Lord of Bussieres, after having at first fought under the flag of Orange, and been covered with glory at the siege of Neerwinden, engaged in the service of the King of Denmark, and died a colonel at Copenhagen. § Pierre de Montargues passed from the ranks of the Prussian army into those of the Danish, and died a major-general, at Oldenburgh, in 1768.|| " There are many poor French officers here," wrote the French ambassador at Copenhagen, in 1687, "who could perhaps be brought over, * Memoirs of Saint Simon, vol. iii. pp. 1 — 9. Paris edition, 1842. Erman and Reclam, vol. i. p. 206. f Dispatch of Chevei-ny, December 11th, 1685. X Dispatch of Cheverny, of November 2d, 1688. § Erman and Reclam, vol. iii. p. 103. II Ibid. vol. vii. p. 255. FRENCH SAILORS IN DENMARK. 251 if they were assisted to pay their debts, and furnished with the wherewithal to return to France." * These were the brothers of La Basse, who had accompanied the Count de Roye, and who were nephews of Madame de Regnier, lady of honor to the Queen of Denmark, who had left France be- fore the revocation, by a particular favor, due to the inter- cession of the Marquis de Ruvigny ; Susannet, nephew of the academician Dangeau, formerly captain of dragoons in the regiment of Tesse, and afterward captain in Christian Vth's regiment of guards ; La Sarrie, who was appointed captain of cavalry, De Cheusses, Le Baux, and many others. Notwithstanding the temptations of the representative of Louis XIV., they were sufficiently numerous in 1692 to ob- tain that a French chaplain should be attached to the Danish army, and the synod of the Netherlands, which was sitting at Breda, to which they addressed themselves, sent them Daniel Brunier.f To the Protestant officers, who retired to Denmark, we must add a certain number of sailors, who took refuge first in Holland, and whom the Count de Koye, through the me- diation of a secret agent at Harlaem, persuaded to enroll themselves in the Danish fleet. These were for the most part able seamen, formed by long experience, and from whom im- portant services were expected, for they endeavored to attract them by the allurement of the most brilliant rewards. J The refugees powerfully contributed to the progress of agricul- ture in the Danish monarchy. Some of them established themselves in Iceland, and brought thither the culture of flax and hemp.^ Others settled in the Danish peninsula, in the * Dispatch of Cheverny, of April 1st, USi. f Acts of the Synod of the Netherlands, Synod of Breda, Septem- ber, 1692. :j: Instructions sent to the Count d'Avaux, during his embassy to the Hague in 1685. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. § " History of the Pastors of the Desert," by Peyrat, vol. i. p. 93. 252 FE e:\ch ikotestant refugees. islands of the Baltic, and in Holstein, propagated there the superior modes of French agriculture, and introduced many new cultures, the most important of which was that of to- bacco, which they had already acclimated in Braudenburgh, and the use of which was becoming more and more general in the north of Europe. Grreat quantities were exported every year, from the Prussian states, to Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Silesia, Bohemia, and even to Holland, where in 1720, King Frederic IV. succeeded by his promises in attracting to his kingdom a certain number of those skilful planters, and in establishing a colony of them at Fredericia. By a special privilege, he enfranchised their tobacco for twenty years, from all the taxes to which the other merchandises were subjected upon their entry into the towns of Denmark and Norwa3^ Although it was exposed to all the variations of such a com- merce, fettered in the sale of its produce by the jealousy of the Danish population, attacked sometimes even in its pos- sessions by stratagem and intrigue, the little colony of Fred- ericia, did not deceive the expectations of its ro3^al founder. In spite of obstacles, it did not cease to prosper and multi- ply to the degree that, at the close of the eighteenth century, it formed a society of more than a hundred families, composed of from five to six hundred persons, who had gained the es- teem of the public by their laborious and active spirit.* The town of Fredericia owed to them the flourishing state to which it soon raised itself. It was easy to be convinced of this in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was suffi- cient to compare the magnificent spectacle of its fields, with that of those situated around the other Danish towns, which equally owed their existence to agriculture. The difi"erence was striking. To the refugees alone belongs the glory of having produced that happy change ; for before their arrival, * Dalgas, p. 14. According to Catteaa, there were at the com- mencemeut of the nineteenth century, in Fredericia and its environs, nearly 700 "reformed." Vol. iii. p. 37. FREDERICIA. 253 no part of the kingdom presented an aspect so smiling, and after their establishment, nowhere beside did the earth pro- duce finer and more abundant harvests than at Fredericia.* The rural economy of the French planters, which was af- terward imitated in many provinces of the Danish monarchy, consisted in keeping the lands always clear, in thus preparing them to receive the different seeds, in varying the crops from year to year, in order not to exhaust the land and to draw greater advantage from them, and in restoring to them finally, every five or six years, the richness they had lost. This me- thod presented precious advantages. The culture of tobacco, afterward combined with that of potatoes, cleared the lands and rendered them suitable, the first above all, to produce magnificent harvests of wheat. Thus purified, the soil pro- duced a purer grain, and one of superior quality. The me- thod of the colonists was not only advantageous but indis- pensable. Great labor was necessary to make the argillace- ous lands of this part of Jutland valuable. Thus more than one cultivator, who tried to abandon that system, saw himself constrained after the expiration of a few years to return to it.f The refugees, not possessing enough land to occupy them the whole year, found a new resource in farming planta- tions on shares. The landed proprietors of the town put into their hands every year a certain portion of their fields to cultivate, and above all, to plant tobacco. The French colonists furnished the plants and the manual labor, and> upon the sale of the tobacco, the two parties divided the pro- duct in equal proportion. This agreement was profitable to both of them. The cultivation of tobacco ameliorated the lands, J prepared them for that of wheat, and procured beside for the proprietor an immediate profit. The planter in his turn was remunerated in proportion to his labor. The French * Dalgas, p. 11. t Ib^d., p. 19. Note. X So in the text ; but the experience of Virginia and Maryland, shows tobacco to be the most exhausting of crops. — Translator's note. 254 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. colony thus farmed from two to three hundred " tonnes "* of land in the country of Fredericia, and by its system of alternate cultivation, transformed them into an immense garden. t It also furnished to the great proprietors in the neighborhood, laborers, mowers, reapers and gardeners, com- mendable by their skill as well as their fidelity, and so much the more useful and necessary, that after the partition of the public lands among the villagers, that class of workmen had become scarcer and more sought after. To the tobacco and potatoes, which the refugees intro- duced into Fredericia, and to the wheat, the culture of which they improved, we must add cabbages, radishes, turnips, and many other vegetables, which were, until then, unknown in Denmark, and the exportation of which soon brought them considerable sums. J These divers productions formed every year the cargo of many shij3S. Danish navigation received new activity from them; for the merchants of Fredericia found themselves in possession of a branch of commerce, which was an inexhaustible source of wealth to them. They sold the wheat harvested by the colonists for a third more than that of the other provinces. Tobacco alone annually yielded from 15 to 20,000 rixthalers, and during the Ameri- can war, that branch of business brought them from 30 to 35,000. They bought, in exchange, the various objects of which the inhabitants had need for their own consumption. Thanks to the refugees, Fredericia, which was, at the com- mencement of the eighteenth century, no more than a poor hamlet, was considered, less than a hundred years afterward, among the most opulent towns of Jutland. The agricultural colony of Fredericia, then, contributed to the progress of the Danish commerce. The national industry also owed to it a * The only word analogous to this to be found, is " tonne," which in Holland means the sum of a hundred thousand florins. — Transla- tor's note. f Dalgas., p. 33. % Dalgas, p. 20. Xote. THE NICHOLAS OF THE PROTESTANTS. 255 happy impulse. The refugees furnished to the country far- riers, coopers, weavers, glass manufacturers, and, above all, workmen for the manufactories of cloths and those of tobacco.* The persecution had caused Jean Henri de Moor, one of the most skilful manufacturers of mirrors, to leave France ; he was doubtless descended from one of those Dutch families, which Colbert had attracted to the kingdom, to cause those kinds of manufactures to flourish there. He established himself at Copenhagen, and brought thither his workmen, thus first bringing into Denmark a branch of industry, which was until that time unknown in that country. f When, in 1686, the Marquis of Bonrepaus succeeded in sending back to France the workmen of a refugee, who had founded a man- ufactory of bleached linens at Ipswich, the manufacturer quitted England for Denmark, and likewise transported thither his looms. J The literary influence of the refugees in Denmark was naturally much restricted. Placed in a small number amidst a people, whose dispositions difi"ered profoundly from their own, they could not exercise over it that civilizing ascend- ency, in which they had elsewhere taken the fruitful initia- tive. They gave to it, however, two writers. La Placette and Mallet, who were not without some influence over their minds. The former, who has been surnamed the Nicholas of the Protestants, was one of the most renowned pastors of Beam, when he was forced to quit the kingdom, in 1685. Having at first retired to Berlin, he was invited by the Queen to Copenhagen, and passed twenty-five years in the midst of the French colony which was established in that city. Then, seeking a place of repose for his old age, he r-epaired to Hol- land, and terminated his life in the society of the refugees settled at Utrecht, in 1718, aged eighty years. * Dalgas, p. 32. f Erman and Reclam, vol. v. p. 202. :j: Dispatch of Bonrepaus to Seignelay, of March 28ih, 1686. 256 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. The numerous works of La Placette were all composed during his exile. A Christian moralist like Nicholas, he un- dertoolj for his co-religionists what the writer of Port Rojal had done for his in his " Essays. " No one professed a more sincere admiration for that able controvertist, the most for- midable, perhaps, after Arnauld, of the hardy combatants, whom Jansenism launched against the reform. He essayed nevertheless to recommence the work, which had been ac- complished with such success by him who he proposed to himself as a model. The motives which he alleged in justi- fication of his attempt, sufficiently make known the nature of his mind. " I admit," said he, speaking of the essays of Nicholas, " that it is an excellent work, and that much profit may be derived from reading it. But I do not think that it ought to prevent us from working on our side on the subject of Christian morality. In the first place, that morality is of so vast an extent, that neither the work of which I speak, nor many other similar works, can possibly exhaust it. It is a source of instruction, which can never dry up. Besides, the teachings of that author, rambling ordinarily through the hypotheses of the religion he professes, are often useless, and always suspected by the Protestants, who fear, in reading them, to take dangerous errors for salutary truths. Besides this, the author usually flies so high, that there are many readers who have difficulty in following him. He even utters some extravagant maxims, which cause the truth, of those which are most solid, to be doubted. Thus, that book, however perfect it may appear, does not forbid us from making ano- ther, if not finer or better written, which would be difficult, more useful at least for Protestants, more in conformity with their hypotheses, more proportionate to the understanding of all classes of readers, and more proper, in a word, to make known the obligations of Christianity and their true extent." * * Preface of the Essays on Morality. LA PLACETTE. 257 But apart from the analogy of their object, the two mor- alist writers resembled one another little, and the superiority of Nicholasis immense. Distant from France, which was then almost the sole centre of all literary movements, and placed in the midst of a little society of refugees strongly attached to their belief, but preoccupied with creating for themselves a new existence, La Placette should have confined himself to being useful, and to convince and edify his flock. He succeeded, in fact, in presenting just ideas with a re- markable degree of clearness, and it has been said, not un- reasonably, that in his books Christian morality is the most admirably classified of sciences.* But neither poetry, nor eloquence, nor vivid zeal, can be found in them. It is true, that they are equally exempt from coldness and dryness, and that the presence of a calm, serene, and profoundly Christian soul is every where felt in them. La Placette preserved a keen taste for the beauties of style and thought. But, in that respect, he confined himself to the memories of his youth. He quotes in his works Godeau, Brebeuf, and La Bruyere ; but he says nothing of Boileau, nor Bacine, who were so familiar to most of the refugees established in Hol- land. That which he praises in the writings that please him, are the features which, in fact, deserve praises ; witness these fine lines of Brebeuf, which are in imitation of Lucan, and relate to the invention of writing : " C'est de lui que nous vint cet art ingenieux De peindre la parole et de parler aux yeux, Et, par les traits divers de figures tracees, Donner de la couleur et du corps aux pensees," He also greatly admired this quartrain by Godeau, and he gives us his reason for it : " La vie est proclie de la niort, Loi'squ'on Ten croit plus e'loignee : * History of Foreign French Literature, by M. Sayous, vol. ii. p. 216. Paris, 1863. 258 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. C'est line toile dViraignee Que se file avec peine et se rompt sans effort." " I was charmed," says he, " with these four lines the first time that I read them, and I am so still whenever they recur to ni}^ mind. But what is it, in which the beauty of this thought consists ? Its expression is fine, noble, and natural ; but in this respect even it contains nothing extraordinary. What is it, then, which is most pleasing in them ? It is, in my apprehension, the sweetness which is remarkable therein, it is the exactness of its truth, it is the justness of its im- agery, it is its utility which renders it so worthy to be medi- tated ; it is, in conclusion, that it possesses something touch- ing, which makes itself felt, and is felt even with pleasure, so that one cannot avoid giving it his attention." These are, indeed, judicious words ; but nothing could encourage the exiled writer to give to his own style that poetic adorn- ment which he appreciated with so much taste in others. By the side of La Placette must be placed a man of more ele- vated genius, but whose life, divided between Greneva and Copenhagen, casts no less brilliancy over his native town than his adopted countr}^ The Genevese Mallet, who be- longed, on his mother's side, to a refugee family of Cham- pagne, was called in 1752 to the capital of Denmark, to fill the chair of professor-royal of French belles-lettres, founded two years before in favor of La Baumelle, and which had become vacant by the return of the latter to France. The charms of his conversation, and the gayety of his disposition made him to be sought by the most eminent men. lie en joyed the favor of the court and the ministers. The latter even, who, by their rank, considered themselves his superiors rendered homage to the distinction of his manners, the no bility of his thoughts and discourses, and the dignity and elevation of his character. He was at Copenhagen the true representative of that French urbanity which the refugees propagated wherever they were received. But there was MALLET. 259 but a small number of the Danes, who understood French well enough to follow with advantage the lectures on poetry and eloquence which were delivered in a foreign tongue, and the professor often found himself without pupils ; when he resolved to turn his leisure time to profit by composing the history of Denmark. The history of that country, which was at that epoch almost unknown in France, had, until then, been written in an incomplete and careless manner. Learn- ed Danes had labored to get together materials and collect traditions. Applying themselves, above all, to rescue from oblivion the poetry of the Icelanders, and their marvellous legends, they had compiled many precious documents, from which no one had as yet really gained advantage. German literature had then scarcely begun to arise, and French was regarded as the only polite language, the only one which was generally spread abroad, the only one, in a word, which it was supposed would one day become the common idiom of the most polished people. The oratorical talent of Mal- let, the exquisite purity of his diction, the art with which he knew how to relate, and, lastly, the taste which he testified for the study of Scandinavian antiquities, determined the Count of Bernstorf, his first protector, and the Count de Moltke, the grand marshal of the palace, to propose to him to write the history of the country, in which he had estab- lished himself, and to encourage him in that enterprise, by promising him the concurrence of the government in all the researches, which would be necessary for the execution of such a work. He first clearly showed the part of the Scandinavian element in the civilization of the French, the English, the Spanish, the Italians, and all the people gen- erally, who are formed from the mixture of the degenerate descendants of the Romans, with the vigorous children of the North. " All those people," says Sismondi, in his fine Notice on the Life and Writings of Mallet, " have united the two heri- 2G0 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tages of the North and the South ; but, in order to separate what belongs to each, the study of the people of the North in their original state, the study of their manners and laws, their religion, and the liberty of Scandinavia, becomes of the greatest importance, not only to the Scandinavians, but to all Europeans. The introduction to the history of Den- mark was written in a manner worthy of so elevated an aim The arrival of Odin in Scandinavia, the conqueror and legis lator of the North, the sombre and severe, but highly poetic religion which he gave to the people he governed, the hero ism of a new nature with which he inspired his warriors that impetuous passion which he knew how to give them, not for liberty, not for power or wealth, not for luxury, but for the dangers by means of which they acquired or defended those things ; that passion for the means, rather than the end, a character which is found in modern prowess, and which, perhaps, we owe to the Scandinavians ; the liberty of the North, the poetry of the North ; the hazardous enter- prises, the maritime expeditions, the conquests and discover- ies of unknown shores, which were the exploits of those same men, — such it is, which composed the first part of the introduction to the history of Denmark." "A second part of that work, no less important and no less celebrated, was the translation, accompanied by a com- mentary, of the poetical pieces which painted in the best manner the religion and morals of the Northern people. The most renowned of these poems is the Edda. ... It had already appeared, in 1665. . . . But that book, which gives the key to the whole Northern Mythology, was scarcely known to the rest of Europe before the translation of Mallet. Since that time, awakened curiosity has been directed with more activity toward the same study; the religion of the Scandinavians has been developed and explained more clear- ly ; and it has become, up to a certain point, familiar to men of letters. It is nevertheless to Mallet that we must attri- HUGUETAN. 26 1 bute even tlie progress which was made after him. It is he, who, by increasing the interest of a subject, until then arid, has given an impulse to the research of those who have fol- lowed him." We have considered it our duty to quote entire this in- genious passage of Sismondi, which presents to us the singu- lar spectacle of a descendant of a French Protestant family transported to Denmark, and teaching Europe the mythology, poetry, and history of the people of the North, whose influ- ence it had felt for more than a thousand years, without giv- ing them credit for that, so powerful element of its civiliza- tion. The other worSs of Mallet, his '' History of the Swiss," his " History of the Houses of Brunswick and Hesse," his " Study on the Hanseatic League," and his " Travels in Norway," added still more to his reputation. Upon his return to Geneva, after a sojourn of eight years in Copenhagen, he was appointed corresponding member of the Academy of Inscriptions. He passed the rest of his life in his native town, where he died in 1807, surrounded by the respect of his fellow-citizens, and the esteem of scientific Europe. The French refugees in Denmark gave, during the whole of the eighteenth century, and up to our days, the example of the severest manners, the most irreproachable morality, and the most touching charity. Huguetan, Count of Gruld- ensteen, who died at Copenhagen in 1749, in the eighty- sixth year of his age, was all his life the benefactor of the poor. He sustained, by his donations, the first colonists of Fredericia, contributed to the construction of the temple, which was inaugurated in 1736, and left a rich fund for the maintenance of the pastors. His son, who was privy coun- cillor to King Christian VII., Frangois Bretonville, Moise HoUard, Suzanne Latour, and Suzanne Mariot, also disposed of a part of their fortunes in behalf of their brethren in the land of exile. All the emigrants made themselves remark- 262 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. able by their love of labor, and the frugality of their lives. Vegetables, milk, and bread often composed the repast of a whole family. Nothing less than those habits of order and that rigid economy would have sustained them in the begin- ning, and aided them in raising themselves little by little to that degree of ease, which recompensed their efforts. Of the four colonies, which they founded, that of Frede- ricia, which was the most recent, is also the one which is in the best state of preservation in our days. Many causes have contributed to this result. At first, the colonists inter- married among themselves ; not that a narrow party spirit deterred them from allying themselves to the Danish families, but because they preferred to unite themselves to persons, whose circumstances and conditions gave them more certain guarantees of happiness.. The attachment they felt for their own body, and the fear lest the difi"erence of religion, small as it was, might become a source of divisions in the commu- nity, dictated that line of conduct. Another and still more strong reason induced them never to deviate from it : this was that of interest. By the terms of the privileges con- ceded by Frederic IV., the lands had been granted, not to indivictuals^ but to the " reformed ''''families^ and those pri- vileges only applied to families the two heads of which be- longed to the religion of Calvin. It is necessary to add that the colony of Fredericia always endeavored to retain its young men near the domestic hearth. While elsewhere they were seen to quit the roof of their parents, to improve themselves in their professions on a foreign soil, and often brought back nothing to their native country but depraved morals and bodies worn out by debauchery ; at Fredericia they lived under the eyes of their kinsmen, far from every example of corruption, and their simple and austere habits assured the fecundity of their marriages, with which inclina- tion had infinitely more to do than calculation. The young girls, on their side, were more disposed to conduct themselves FRENCH COLONIES. 263 well, througli the hope of being soon established in life, and they more rarely swerved from their duty, so as not to be exposed to remain without husbands in the colony. Strangers to libertinism, which vitiates at once both the body and mind ; exempt from luxury, which creates new wants, and often prevents the man from thinking on the choice of a wife, the colonists married young, and were thus assured of a healthy and numerous posterity. And lastly, through an unalterable confidence in divine Providence, they considered a great number of children a source of wealth. Swarms of children followed their parents to work in the morning, loaded with the implements of labor. Assured of their sub- sistence, and never distrustful of the future, the more arms they had to aid them the more work they undertook, which contributed to their well-being, and permitted them to hold a rank in society proportionate to their modest desires. It is to these causes, that the colony of Fredericia has owed both its long prosperity and the preservation of its primitive character. It has remained a French society in the midst of a foreign people, and religious worship is to-day still cele- brated there in the language which its first founders spoke. A French church likewise exists in Copenhagen, but it has only been able to sustain itself to our days, thanks to the so- journ of French Protestant families, whom divers interests have led from all time to the capital of Denmark. Mixed marriages have hastened the sufficiently rapid decay of that colony. The children born of French fathers and Danish mothers were almost always educated in the Lutheran faith, in conformity with the law of the kingdom. Thus the re- formed temple soon remained almost deserted, and the com- munity became necessarily reduced to a more and more re- stricted number of families. That of Altona was divided into two, in 1761, by the retreat of the" reformed " French of Hamburgh, who were at last authorized to celebrate their religious worship at the chapel, and under the protection of 264 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the Consul of Holland. The refugee colony of that city, al- though considerably reduced by that defection, existed until 1831. Its remains were then joined to the German Dutch community, which took the name of the Evangelical Reformed Church. French, nevertheless, is still preached once a month in Altona ; but it is with difficulty that some old man can be found among the slender auditory, who is able to com- prehend the words of the preacher.* * Dispatch of M. Ciutrat, Consul at Hamburgh, of May, 12t]i, 1852. CHAPTER II. THE EEFTJGEES IN SWEDEN. Intervention of Charles XL in favor of the Alsatian Lutherans — Protection grant- ed to the Refugees at Stockholm— Lutheran Intolerance— New Eefugees under Charles XIL Sweden received but a very small number of tbe fugi- tives. Upon the news of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Swedish monarch, Charles XL, contented him- self with interposing, near the Cabinet of Versailles, in favor of the Lutherans of Alsatia, to whom the ministers of Louis XIV. were preparing to send dragoons. His ambassador in France, the Count de Lilieroot, invoked the Treaty of Westphalia, of which the King of Sweden was one of the sureties, and which assured to the Alsatian Protestants the free exercise of their religion.* This reclamation, founded upon the conditions stipulated in 1648, and which then formed the basis of European public law, and, perhaps, also the imminence of the war, which broke out in 1688, deterred the great king from the project of forcibly converting a pro- vince recently acquired, and which it was his interest to spare. It was not until under the reign of Louis XV. that it was, in its turn, subjected to the rule of the booted missions, from which, throughout the whole of France, the city of Strasburg alone was preserved. * Dispatch of Trumbull to the Duke of Sunderland, of January 20, 1686. State Papers, France, 1686. VOL. II — 12 266 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Some refugees, natives of Paris, saved a portion of their fortunes, by intrusting it to the Swedish embassy, and above all others, to the Sieur Palmeguiste, the secretary of the Count de Lilieroot, who restored to them upon their arrival in Holland, the sums which they had left with him on de- posit.* King Charles XI. permitted a collection to be organized in Stockholm, for the benefit of the poor among the refugees. He granted privileges, and even distributed money among the merchants and manufacturers, who came to establish themselves in his States. He authorized them to exercise their religious worship freely, in two churches, in his capital. But the order to have their children baptized by Lutheran ministers, gave rise to discouragement among them, and prevented many new fugitives from seeking an asylum in a country, which showed so little toleration. Nevertheless, in 1698, under the reign of Charles XIL, some hundreds of French exiles, who had not been able to find their subsistence in Holland, went to settle in the Grer- man provinces of the Swedish monarchy, where lands were distributed among them, upon the praj-er of the States Gen- eral of Holland. * Dispatch of Saint-Didier. The Hague, November 15, 1685. Ar- chives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CHAPTER III THE EEFUGEES IN EUSSIA. Letter of Frederic William to the Grand Dukes of Moscow — Colony of Eefugees at Moscow— Letter of Frederic III.— Ukase of 16S8 in favor of ttie Eefugees — Lefort's Eegiment— Colony of Refugees at St. Petersburg— Its relations with Geneva, Russia showed herself more hospitable than Sweden toward the refugees. The Elector Frederic William had written in their favor to the young Peter, and to his brother Ivan V., and had communicated to them the ardent zeal and lively compassion, which he felt himself for those unfortunate peo- ple. The following letter, which he received from his am- bassador at Stockholm, shows us what a generous reception he had prepared for them in that country, which the genius of one great man was soon about to drag from the barbarism in which it was plunged, to elevate it to the preponderating rank of power in the North. " M. le comte Gustavo de La Gardie has received letters from Moscow, by which he is informed that there is a pro- digious number of the French 'reformed' established there; that the Czars have received them perfectly well ; that they have granted them the public exercise of their religion, to- gether with many privileges and immunities. Strange metamorphosis, my lord, that France, which was formerly so 268 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. polite and so full of humanity, should become barbarous to that degree, that the most faithful subjects of the King of France should be obliged to seek an asylum in Muscovy ; and that they should find there that repose and safety which they cannot find in their own country.* After the death of Frederic William, his son, Frederic III., sent Jean R.eyer Chapliez to Moscow, to notify the Court of Russia of his accession to the throne, and to solicit at the same time a free entry into all parts of the empire, in favor of those French colonists, whom circumstances might lead thither in search of shelter. He thus showed himself the worthy successor of his father, and proved, like him, that policy was not the only motive for his conduct toward the refugees. His demand was granted on the spot, f An im- perial ukase, published in 1688, and invested with the sig- natures of Peter and Ivan, opened all the Russian provinces to the Protestant fugitives ; guaranteed to the soldiers em- ployment in the national army, with treatment proportionate to their rank, and left them the power of freely leaving the service, if they should one day desire to return to their former country. J Perhaps Lefort, the Genevese, who was at that time seeking to initiate Peter into the secrets of the sciences and civilization of Europe, was not a stranger to that humane as well as able measure. According to Voltaire, the third of the regiment which he formed, and which con- sisted of twelve thousand soldiers, was composed of French emigrants.^ Exaggerated as this fact, attested by the his- * Erman and Reelam, vol. i. pp. 145, 146. -j- Erman and Keclam, vol. iii. pp. 39, 40. X Charles Ancillon relates literally the privilege or passport which the Elector Frederic 11. obtained from the Grand Dukes of Muscovy, in favor of the refugees. See his " History of the Estab- lishment of the French Refugees in Brandenburgh," pp. 382-388. Berlin, 1690. § Voltaire, "Life of Peter the Great," chap. vi. It is after a manu- script of Lefort that Voltaire affirms, that a third of that regiment was composed of refugees. FRENCH TROOPS IN RUSSIA. , 269 torian of Peter the Great, may appear to us, it proves, never- theless, that a very great number of the fugitives settled in Kussia ; and that they were not without influence upon the creation of that disciplined and obedient army, which per- mitted the Czar to accomplish his projects of reform. The new capital of the empire, constructed by Peter the Great, saw a French community form itself within its walls, which long entertained strict relations with Geneva. In 1720, the pastors and elders addressed themselves to the council of that city, to pray them to authorize a collection for the construction of a temple. " The zeal and charity," they wrote, " which your Excellencies have shown on all oc- casions in relieving the members of the prostrate churches, sustaining the tottering, and in founding new ones in places where the Gospel had not yet been announced, leads us to hope that this rising church, of which we have the honor to be the pastors and elders, will equally receive from your liberal goodness the aid which it needs in its rude and diffi- cult commencement ; and in order to give your Excellencies a just idea of our situation and wants, we have the honor to tell you, that our assembly is composed of English, Dutch, French refugees, Swiss, and Genevese, of whom there are a number who have a rank, and who have held honorable employ- ments in this court."* The temple, in fact, was built; and Geneva habitually designated the ministers who came to preach the Gospel to the refugees settled in St. Petersburgh. In a new letter, also, which was sent to the council, in 1725, and which bears the signatures of Dupre, Coulon, Lefort, and Pelloutier, that French colony established on the banks of the Neva, expressed the wish to be regarded as a daugh- ter of the Genevese Republic.f A certain number of refugees penetrated deeper into the * This letter, dated from St. Petersburg!!, April 25th, 1720, can be found in the archives of Geneva, No. 4324. f Ai'chives of Geneva, No. 4511. 270 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. interior of Russia, and created a small colony, at once agri- cultural and mercantile, on the banks of the Volga. Their descendants continue to form, according to the testimony of a modern traveller, a distinct community, the members of which come every year from the village which they inhabit near the great river, to the fair of Makarieff, in order to traffic with the Hindoos. According to that writer, they have preserved, in the depths of the Russian Empire, the com- plete costume of Louis XIV., without even excepting the coat with skirts, and the voluminous wig, and they still ex- press themselves in the classic language of the contemporaries of Corneille and Racine.* * " Trave]s through various parts of Europe," by the Count La- garde, p. 34Y. London, 1825. The author of this work lived some time in Moscow, in 1812. CONCLUSION. General appreciation of the influence of the Eefugees abroaci— Consequences of the Edict of Eevocation on France — Weal^ening of the Kingdom — Duration of the reformed party — Progress of the skeptical party — Condillac and Mabby — Eetributive measures— Edict of 1787— Laws of August 21 and 23, 17S9— Law of December 15, 1790. Of the great religious emigration of France, there remains no more, to-day, than a small number of churches scattered far and wide, which still speak the language of their founders. The greater part of the exiled families have long since dis- appeared. Those who still exist, ended by amalgamating themselves in their turn with the foreign races which sur- rounded them, the incessant actjon of whom insensibly altered their national idiom, and changed even their names, as if to efface their last regrets with that last sign of their origin. Doubtless, before the close of the present century, they will not preserve a single remembrance of that country, which was so much bewailed by their ancestors. While seeing their scattered communities thus dissolving, one cannot help deploring that a chief did not at first present himself, of a sufficiently illustrious family, and endowed with authority great enough to rally all the exiles under the same standard. Realizing the idea of Coligny, he might have led them to America, and there founded a vast colony. He would have found ready to his hand all the elements of a society, nume- rous, energetic, and full of hope for the future ; generals, sol- diers, sailors, preachers, scholars, manufacturers, mechanics, merchants, laborers, and even the capital necessary to facili- 272 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tate their first establishment. Would more have been ne- cessary to cause a Protestant France to flourish in the New World, and to lay there the foundations of a powerful em- pire 1 Providence, however, decided otherwise. The fugitives, dispersed throughout the whole world, were fated, uncon- sciously, to become the agents of its mysterious will. They were destined, above all, in x\merica, to temper the fanati- cism of the Puritans, and to fecundate the germs, and favor the triumph, of that spirit of independence regulated by the law, of which the United States to-day offers us the magnifi- cent results ; and, in Europe, to develope in Prussia, and increase in Holland and England, the elements of power and prosperity, which those three countries contained, and the present grandeur of which is in some respects their work. Have they not concurred, under the most decisive circumstan- ces, in defending them by arms, and in aiding them to repulse foreign invasion ? Have they not contributed, in a certain degree, to maintain them in that political line of conduct which has placed them so long since beyond the reach of despotism, preserved them from the dangers of anarchy, and, by preventing them from being troubled by the revolutions, which succeed one another at intervals, insured them the in- appreciable benefit of institutions at once stable and liberal ? Have they not enriched them by improving their manufac- tures, by endowing them with new branches of industry, by stimulating their commercial activity, and by introducing into them the superior modes of French agriculture ? Have they not, by propagating the language and literature of France among them, elevated the standard of intellectual culture, and, consequently, that of public morality ? Have they not, by their own writings, disseminated the taste for letters, science, and art ? Have they not, in a word, set the example of urbanity in the social relations, politeness in language, severity in morals, and the most inexhaustible THE TREATY OF RYSWICK. 273 cbaritj, in their intercourse with the suffering classes ? What foreign countries gained, France lost. That kingdom, which Henrj IV., Richelieu, and Mazarin, had left to Louis XIV., covered with glory, powerful in arms, influential with- out, tranquil and satisfied within, he transmitted to his suc- cessor, humiliated, enfeebled, discontented, about to suffer the reaction of the regency and the whole of the eighteenth century, and thus placed upon the declivity which fatally led to the revolution of 1789. Protestantism had opposed — by the union of England and Holland under one chief, who led united Europe against isolated France — an insur- mountable barrier to the formidable encroachments of a prince, who was ruled, in the latter part of his reign, by narrow and exclusive religious views, and political principles dynastic rather than national. The signal for coalitions, which have been so often since renewed, was given for the first time in 1689, and, for the first time, also, France was vanquished ; for the Treaty of Ryswick was in truth a defeat. The King not only recognized William III., but his intend- ants ofiicially proved the diminution of the population, and the impoverishment of the kingdom, the inevitable conse- quence of the emigration, and the decay of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce which followed it. At the commencement of the eighteenth century, the military de- fence of the country found itself compromised. From the first years of the struggle, which followed the acceptance of the testament of Charles II., it became necessary to recall Marshal Villars from Germany, to oppose him to the in- habitants of the Cevennes, and that skilful general had no sooner left the army, than the allies gained the victory of Hochstedt, which was the first of our disasters in the war of the Spanish succession. During the reign of Louis XV., whenever the powers which had coalesced menaced our fron- tiers, the government was compelled to assure itself of the fidelity of the Protestants in the frontier provinces, by giv- VOL. II — 12* 274 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. ing them promises, which were always renewed, and from which nothing resulted. But was the religious object at- tained, which was pursued at the price of so many sacrifices ? At the epoch of the revocation, amongst a population of about twenty millions of souls, could be counted one million of Protestants. x\t the present time, from fifteen to eigh- teen hundred thousand Protestants live disseminated in the midst of thirty-five million Roman Catholics. The propor- tion between the partisans of the two religions has remained the same. The cruel laws of Louis XIV., in force during a hundred years, and still more aggravated by the ordinance of 1724, have remained without any effect upon those re- ligious convictions which they ought to have annihilated. The hopes of the promoters of the edict of revocation have, therefore, been deceived. One of the most deplorable results of the fault of the great King, was the awakening of fanaticism in the South. The religious passions, which had been almost entirely assuaged since the Peace of Alais, were animated through- out all France, and chiefly in Languedoc. Funeral piles were lighted for the Camisards, and, after the example of Innocent III., Pope Clement XI. did not recoil from taking a terrible measure ; he caused a crusade to be preached against the heretics of the Cevennes, who, in blind igno- rance, and with passionate zeal, he said, were descended from the execrable race of the ancient Albigenses. In a bull, promulgated at Ptome, on the 1st of May, 1703, which was sent to all the bishops of Languedoc, who pub- lished it, with an order addressed to the curates of their dioceses, he promised the general remission and absolution of their sins, to all who would enlist under the holy banner of the church, and would contribute to the extirpation of the rebels. These excitements, which call to mind an in- famous epoch in the annals of the South, produced no imme- diate effect. Almost all the able-bodied population of the REACTION OF EXCESSES. 275 province was enrolled, either in the royal armies, or in the bands of the insurgents ; the measure of calamity was filled, and it depended on no one to add to it. But long after the pacification of that fratricidal struggle, the religious hatreds were hereditarily transmitted in these families, and the massacres, of which Nimes has often been the theatre in the contemporaneous period, prove that they are not to this day extinct. It is a well-known law in history, that every excess in one direction, sooner or later provokes a reaction in an opposite one. The extreme men of the Catholic party had recourse to the temporal arm to vanquish their ene- mies. They had struck at free judgment, in the persons of the Calvinists. They had triumphed at the apparent re- turn of thousands of men, whom they called new converts. Dragged down that fatal descent, they had destroyed Port Royal, and condemned to silence perhaps the only men, whose elevated principles might have one day reconciled the two worships and re-established religious unity. It was not the Romish Church which profited by that double victory, but infidelity. As Bayle had predicted, the skeptical and free- ^'"^thinking party received all the benefit from it. The eight- eenth century saw a generation spring up, which rejected Christianity through hatred of intolerance, and recognized no other authority than reason. The religionists, whom the dragoons had dragged to the altars, thus avenged them- selves, perhaps, for their forced submission. Strange cir^ cumstance ! the two brothers, Condillac and Mabby, who contributed so powerfully to shake a despotic church and monarchy, were the grandsons of a noble of Dauphiny, who had been converted by the soldiers of Saint-Ruth. Renew- ing the philosophical and socialistic theories, which the seventeenth century had thrown into the shade, and placing, in the first place, intelligence of matter, and in the second, the sovereignty of the people, they sapped at once religion / 276 FPwENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. and royalty. These princij^les, which were rendered popular by Diderot and Rousseau, triumphed, on a day which was marked by Divine wrath. The throne was overturned, the altar broken, and all the old society disappeared in a fright- ful tempest. Who can say, whether the revolution, of ] 789, might not have followed another course, and remained puri- fied from most of the crimes and excesses which sullied it, if France had possessed the numerous descendants of that race, somewhat austere, it is true, but religious, moral, intelli- gent, full of energy and loyalty, which one of her kings had so imprudently driven from her bosom ? Is it not infinitely l^robable, that those men, devoted to the civil law, as they were to the law of the Gospel, would have resolutely seconded the middle classes against the abettors of anarchy, and formed with them an invincible rampart, against which would have been broken the passions of a mob. led by hatred, blinded by ignorance, eager for a chimerical equality, and intoxicated by a liberty so soon to be sacrificed to a fleeting glory ? Perhaps, thanks to their concurrence, our country would have found, at that epoch, the definitive form of its government and political institutions as far removed from an extravagant democracy as from an unbridled despotism. While the kingdom of Louis XV. presented the sad spectacle of an absolute power borne down by the weight of its own faults and of an established church, whose hold over the minds of men diminished from day to day, but whose false veil concealed from many eyes the superstitious devotion of some, and the doubt and indifi'erence of others — the true spirit of Christianity, which is never imprisoned in any of the human forms of that divine religion, animated some chosen men, who prepared a better future for French society. It manifested itself, chiefly, by a marked tendency to repair the faults, which were committed in proclaiming toleration and fraternity. In the year 1754, Turgot placed in the mouth of the Prince these flue words : " Although you RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. 277 are in error, I will treat you no less as my children. Submit to the laws, and continue to be useful to the State, and you will have from me the same protection with my other subjects.'' The Baron de Breteuil, a minister of Louis XVI., caused the " Historical Elucidation of the Causes of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes," and presented, in his own name, a memorial to the King on the necessity of restoring to the Protestants their civil rights. Greneral La Fayette pleaded their cause, and the noble and venerable Lamoignon de Malesherbes, who was descended from the ferocious Lamoig- non de Baville, composed two works in their favor. " It is necessary," said he, " that I should render them some good offices, since my ancestor injured them so deeply. The Edict of toleration was finally signed, in 1827. " After the example of our predecessors," said the King, in the preamble to this merciful ordinance, " we shall always favor, with all our power, the means of instruction and persuasion, which may tend to bind our subjects in the common profession of the ancient faith of our kingdom ; and we shall proscribe, with the utmost severity, all those violent means which are as contrary to the principles of reason and humanity as to the true spirit of Christianity. But while we wait until Di- vine Providence shall bless our efforts, and bring about this happy revolution, our justice and the interest of our king- dom permit* us no longer to exclude from civil rights those of our subjects and of strangers, domiciled in our empire, who do not profess the Roman Catholic religion. A sufficient- ly long experience has demonstrated that rigorous pro- ceedings are insufficient to convert them. We must, there- fore, no longer permit our laws to punish them for the mis- fortune of their birth, by depriving them of rights, which nature must incessantly demand in their behalf." The Edict, of 1787, did not, assuredly, answer all the wants or all the demands of the Protestants. One remnant of servitude still pressed upon them. They could attain to 278 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. no judicial office. The profession of instruction was closed against them. They were no longer recognized as a distinct community, and all right of collective petition was denied to them. In a word, they obtained only the right of resi- dence in France without interference as to the exercise of their religion, the permission of legal marriage before the officers of justice, authority to prove their births before the local judges, and a regulation in regard to their sepulture. But these concessions, trifling as they are in appearance, ne- cessarily carried with them much practical advantage. Prot- estant France was not deceived in this. It joyfully and gratefully accepted the Edict of Louis XVI. It re-estab- lished its religious assemblies. The " reformed " of Nimes crowded to the royal judges, in order to register their mar- riages and legitimatize their children. They firmly believed in their early and perfect emancipation. Wonderful to re- late, this population, excluded during a whole century from all public employments, checked in all professions, hunted through forests and over mountains, without schools, without family rights legally recognized, without security of heredi- tary rights, had lost nothing of its ancient energy. It de- served by its intelligence, its morality, its civil virtues, the great retribution, which the revolution had in store for it. On the 21st of August, 1789, the constituent Assembly overthrew the barriers which, up to that time, had denied the Protestants admission to all State offices. It solemnly ■declared that — / " All citizens being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally admissible to all public dignities, places and employ- ment according to their abilities, and with no other distinc- tions than those of their virtues and their talents." Two days afterward, in the session of August 23, it proclaimed the grand principle of the absolute freedom of all religions, by passing a decree to the efi'ect that — " No person ought to be troubled on account of his opinions, even though they be RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP. S79 religious, provided that their manifestation do not disturb the public order as instituted by law." The tardy justice of the sovereign people avenged the de- scendants of the refugees themselves, of the persecutions endured by their ancestors. According to the laws, which remained in force unto the close of the reign of Louis XIV., and which were but slightly modified by the Edict of 1787, the fugitive religionists lost their quality of Frenchmen. They incurred civil death, their goods were confiscated, and they were rendered actually foreigners. This legislation, which was not conformable to the spirit of the century, was abrogated by the law of December 15. 1790, the second ar- ticle of which runs thus — " All persons born abroad, being descended, it matters not in what degree, from a Frenchman or Frenchwoman, expatriated for religion's sake, are declared natural Frenchmen, and shall enjoy all rights, attributable to that quality, on returning to France, establishing therein their domicile, and taking the oath of citizenship." In the view of the National Assembly, the refugees had never abdicated their nationality, because they had been com- pelled to expatriate themselves, and were not liable to be legitimately deprived of their rights by edicts contrary alike to humanity and justice. The public reporter thus addres- sed the assembled deputies of France — '' When tyrannical laws disallowed the first rights of men, the liberty of opinion, and the right of emigration — when an absolute Prince caused his frontiers to be guarded by troops, as though they were the gates of a prison, or compelled men who held to a creed different from his own to toil in the galleys, as though they were felons, then, certes, the law of nature resumes its empire over the law of policy. Citizens, scattered over a foreign land, cease not for one instant, in the eyes of the law, to belong to the country which they have quitted. This maxim of equity did honor to the Roman law, and ought to immortalize our own." In giving the 280 FE,ENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. sanction of positive law to the law of nature, the Assembly forbid the discussion not only of the domicile, but even of the deeds of the refugees, during their long exile. It ex- tended even to descendants in the female line, this great privilege, which ought to seal the reconciliation between France, when free, and the victims of a despotism fortunate- ly overthrown. Finding nothing wherewith to reproach men, it chose not to bring against women, as a reproach, the marriages which they might have contracted abroad ; and, in this particular instance, it decided that they had preserved their nationality, and, through them, their descendants also. It thus entirely assimilated all the scions of the fugitive families to citizens born on French soil, of ancestors who had not quitted France, since the year 1685, on the single condition that they should perform in future all the obliga- tions to which Frenchmen are liable. Regenerated France had a last duty, which to fulfil to- ward its outlawed children. Iniquitous decrees had declared the property of the refugees confiscated. A portion of that property had been sold or assigned, another portion had been put under sequestration, liable to the orders of the intendants, and managed for the benefit of the state. Those, who maintain the theory of absolute royalty sustained, in principle, that society, when it deprived the general community of all the properties and wealth existing throughout its territories, distributed them only among the members of that communi- ty, on condition of their remaining citizens. It preserved to itself the right of eminent domain, so that a fugitive should not carry away with him, or retain in his absence, his indi- vidual fortune ; just as the vassal loses his fief, when, by his forfeiture, he is no longer capable of performing the duties by right of which he holds. The constituent assembly did not accept the force of these maxims, worthy of the Egyp- tian Pharaohs, as absolute. It ruled that the right of pos- session could not be regarded as a mere concession on the THE ACT OF REPARATION. 281 part of society, and it re-established the foundations, which had been disturbed by a power which knew no restraint, at the same moment in which it performed an act of high justice to- wards the descendants of the expatriated religionists. The law of the 15th of December, 1790, it is true, rejected the deeds irrecoverably done, by declaring in its twelfth article, that properties hond fide sold, could not be reclaimed by the heirs of the original proprietors ; but it ordered, that all those yet remaining under sequestration should be restored to such families as could establish their claims. The grants and concessions of the properties of religionists, gratuitously made to others than relatives of the refugees, were annulled, without permitting the holders by concession or gift to avail themselves of any advantage of prescription. But it allowed the heirs of those to oppose prescription to the heirs at law, when they were able to prove uninterrupted possession for a period of thirty years. This was to reduce ancient vested rights, and newly acquired rights, to a just scale, and to grant to the refugees all the reparation possible without a complete disorganization of society. Within the last sixty years, the gates of France have been re-opened to the descendants of the Protestant exiles. Many have returned to their old country, to which they were attracted by a secret and irresistible attraction, which they had painfully crushed down into the depths of their hearts during the long term of their persecution. The Odi- ers, the La Boucheres, the Pradiers, the Constants, the Del- prats, the Bitaubes, the Pourtales, have restored to the land of their ancestors distinguished members of their respective families. The majority of the descendants of the refugees still dwell abroad, but they recall to mind with justifiable exultation, the act of reparation, which recognizes in them the imperishable right to the title of French citizens. As for ourselves, in writing the history of these martyrs to their faith, we believe that we have filled a gap in our 282 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Dational history, while at the same time performing a pious duty. The annals of France should not be closed against the mention of the fortunes, often glorious, always honorable, of the scattered members of " the Refuge." We have studied the vicissitudes of their various fortunes, collected the me- morials of their sufferings and their triumphs, shown the benefits arising from their influence to countries the most diverse, and if it be not granted to us to raise an imperish- able monument to their honor, at least we shall have contri- buted to rescue from oblivion some great and noble recollec- tions, which deserve to live in the memories of men, and to which France herself may justly turn her thoughts with exultation. AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. PREFATORY REMARKS. But little comparatively has been known of the Hngnenots who first emigrated to America ; and scattered portions of their history only have been gathered and preserved by American authors. The writer of the following Appendix has endeavored to bring some more light into this portion of our national history. Indeed, until lately, there was not much authentic information of the French Huguenots themselves. Their history, during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, embraces a series of most affecting incidents, which have produced important political results in the world. French historians have kept an almost general silence upon these subjects and periods ; and, before the revolution of 1'789, a succinct history of the Huguenots would have been considered as libellous in France. I believe that Guizot, himself the descendant of a Huguenot, in his lectures, has taken but little notice of the terrible religious strug- gles, and their effects, which preceded the accession of Henry lY. At the suggestion of this eminent historian. Professor Weiss appears to have written his admirable " History of the French Protestant Refugees," which will supply a marked deficiency in the general annals of France and Europe. The Huguenots of America is a volume which still remains fully and correctly to be written. There are, doubtless, in our various record offices, and among Huguenot families, some treasures on the subject, which have not yet reached the public eye. Our govern- ment has no State Paper Office, similar to some in Europe, for the illustration of national history, and we wish it had. To prepare the Appendisi the writer has consulted the best sources of information 284 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. within his reach ; and, for much written about the jSTew-York Hugue- nots, he is indebted to documentary papers at Albany. He has more willingly contributed his mite to the general stock, as Professor Weiss himself solicits such contribution, and made, at a time too, when increased attention i'^ directed to historical investigations. New-York, February, 1854. Earliest attempts of the Iluguenots to colonize America, 1655— Philip II. and Charles IX.— Pope Pius v.— Battle of Jarnac— Medals to commemorate the defeat of the Huguenots— Dragoonades—Kevocation of the Edict of Nantes, 16S5— Louis XIY.— General emigration— Emigration to America before the Revocation, 1625— Hu- guenots of Ulster — Settlement at Kingston — Its massacre by the Indians — Le Fevers, their early history— New Paltz— Ancient Church— Venerable Bible, 1643— Walloons — Associations of French and Dutch— Huguenots in New Eng- land and Virginia— Curious relict— Fontaine family in Ireland and America- Church in Charleston, early and present, »fec. The earliest attempts of the French Huguenots to settle in America, as stated by Mr. Weiss, were made, in 1555, at Brazil, and, a few years afterwards, in Florida. Both set- tlements failed, and their inhabitants were massacred by the Portuguese and Spaniards. That proud and bigoted Romanist, Philip II., was on the throne of Spain, and could not brook the heresy of Cal- vinism to be planted in the vicinity of his American pro- vinces. Charles IX., an apt son of the crafty, intriguing, and wicked Catharine de Medicis, had now attained his majority, and assumed the French sceptre. With his mother, he entertained the most bitter enmity toward the Huguenots. She was the actual mistress and ruler of the kingdom, an Italian, not more in lineage, than in her sub- tlety and cunning. These three celebrated and royal personages were among the most devoted and firm friends of Pope Pius Y., who had then been elevated to the Pontificate, and France be- came the theatre of his most sanguinary persecutions. No pontiff, unless, perhaps, we except Innocent III., his prede- BATTLE OF JARNAC. 285 cesser, ever caused the Protestant world so mucli sorrow as Pope Pius V. The Inquisition was literally liis nursery and school, and his exertions were unbounded and unwearied against Christianity, which he esteemed heresy. In 1569 the Huguenots lost the hard fought battle of Jarnac, in which their forces, six or seven thousand men, contended with a Romish army four times as strong. During the fight the Prince of Conde was killed, a distinguished, brave, and skilful leader of the reformers. His body was borne by an ass through the Catholic army, as an object of derision to many who had before trembled at the very mention of his name. Pius V. exulted greatly upon this defeat, and has left seven letters, written on the occasion, which remain terri- ble monuments of Jiis unholy zeal, to Catharine, the queen mother. He says, that '' the anger of God can only be appeased by just vengeance for the insults offered to him," and recommends that his enemies should be "massacred,"* and '• totally exterminated."! No note or comment is here necessary. The Holy Father went still further on this joyful occasion. To commemorate it, a medal was struck, repre- senting him uncovered, and kneeling, returning thanks to Heaven for the triumph. Hap23y for the Christian world, this master pontiff of Rome, who would have extirpated the Protestants from every land, died in 1572. He excited the diabolical spirit which shortly after his death caused the St. Bartholomews, — a butcliery never to be forgotten by human memory, nor ever remembered, except with one common sentiment of horror. That massacre may be pronounced the foulest and bloodiest of ancient or modern times, and we dwell a moment upon its history, as some Romish writers assert that their church had nothing to do with the butchery. Charles the King, by a public edict, proclaimed himself * Ad interneeionem. f Delitis omnibus. 286 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. r the author of it. High mass was performed bj the people; |Vsalvos of artillery thundered from the ramparts of St. Angelo ; a Te Deum was sung to celebrate the atrocious event, and a medal struck for the same purpose. i\ If every Protestant account of this terrible transaction I ) jmust encounter suspicion, we ourselves will be satisfied with ' ' 'the testimony of this medal alone of Gregory XIII., who was Pope at that time. The medal has, as usual, on the obverse, a head of the Pope Gregorius XIII. Pont. Max. An. I. The reverse exhibits a destroying angel, with a cross in one hand and a sword in the other, pursuing and slaying a flying prostrate band of heretics. The legend is, Ugonottovum Strages, 1572. Strange work for an angel ! This medal is evidence that scatters to the winds of heaven all the excuses and attempted apoloTgies for those who perpetrated the St. Bartholomew massacre. It is a valuable historical medal — rare^ and tell- ing its own bloody tale — carrying its own comment. We have placed a copy of it upon the first leaves of these volumes. No Pope ever exerted himself more to destroy the Huguenots and our common Christianity, than Pius Y. Here is his picture, and here the evidence of the unholy joy which filled Rome, when so many thousands were butchered on St. Bar- tholomew's Eve. The religious wars which succeeded the butchery in France, continued with but little intermission for the following century, when the celebrated Edict of Nantes was formally revoked, Oct. 18, 1685. At this period Pro- , fessor Weiss commences his valuable account of the " Pro- testant Refugees from France." History does not afford an example of a more malignant or ^ desolating war than that which raged in France during the I seventeenth century. Louis XIV., the easy dupe of Jesuits, \ confessors, and the designing Madame de Maintenon, and I urged also by the Cardinal Mazarine, determined to convert I his Huguenot subjects to the Roman faith. The scenes are DRAGOONADES. 287 admirably described by Professor Weiss ; still, for our purposes, we must glance at them. The King professed to convert, not to expel the reformers, and forbade emigration under penalty of the galleys, and death to any aiding their escape. Their ministers were now tormented on the wheel, their schools shut up, and their charitable funds confiscated. No less than seven hundred churches were destroyed, even before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. " Dragoon- ing," as it was styled, was the last cruelty adopted. Instead of Popish missionaries, soldiers were quartered in the Calvinistic districts and families, to force them to conversion. Each dragoon became a judge and executioner, while the only escape from this new invention of religious t^a-anny, was the well-known remedy, " Come to mass, and you shall; be exempted from dragoons." ! In some instances, the appearance of the dragoons would force an entire village to profess the Romish faith. Plunder always accompanied the system. The notorious Bassviile, Intendant of Pictou, found on his reaching that province in 1682, thirty-four thousand conversions and abjurations had taken place. Within three years he had the gratification to announce twelve thousand more, resulting from what an apologist styles " measures replete with mildness." Many ab- ^ jured for gaining time to escape; and certainly the sincerity of such conversions may well be questioned. The persecutions became general. " His Majesty wishes the most severe rigors to be inflicted on those who will not follow his religion : they who desire the stupid glory of being the last "^convert, must be pressed to extremities," — were the words of the royal mandate. Spies were even engaged to discover whether any French subjects were present at divine service in the chapels of the Danish, Swedish, and Dutch ambassa- dors. The Duke de Navilles commanded in Languedoc, and in his missionary report, after relating the forced conversions of Names, Uzes, and other towns, he adds, " I am preparing 288 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. to go through the Cevennes, and hope that by the end of this month not a Huguenot will remain." Wearied with increasing opposition, the Huguenots began to emigrate, and many of them left France for foreign and peaceful climes, before the revocation, and some reached Uls- ter county. New York, where they thus early settled. The Edict of Nantes was finally and formally revoked, Oct. 18th, 1685, at Fontainebleau, without the least pretext or necessity, and this act gave the finishing stroke to the persecutions. Why the act should be termed the revocation, I know not ; for all its provisions had long been repealed by several ordi- nances, by which the exercise of the reformed religion was for- bidden, under severe penalties — ^the clergy ordered to expatri- ate themselves, and if caught at public worship to be executed. Those who rejected the sacraments were thrown away after death, to be devoured by wolves and dogs. One historian asserts, that ten thousand died at the stake, or on the gibbet and the wheel. In the pulpits the pious zeal of Louis XIV.- was eulogized, and the press of France abounded with pub-\ lications, boldly denying the naked truth to justify what had ' passed. Notwithstanding the praises of the clergy, and the flattery of courtiers to the King, the revocation of this edict j ,! will ever be considered a cruel and ignominious act of tyran- / nical authority and treachery. Hear the judgment of the Duke de Saint Simon, whose opinion is most valuable, from his knowledge of the causes that might justify the measure at that period. He was a priest himself, and writes : '' The revocation of the Edict of Nantes was without the least pretext or necessity ; and the various proscriptions which fol- lowed it, were the fruits of this dreadful plot, which depop- ulated one fourth of the kingdom ; ruined trade in all its branches ; placed it so long under the avowed pillage of the dragoons, and authorized torments and executions, in which thousands of innocent persons of both sexes perished ; "— r and such, he adds, " was the general abomination of flattery WORSHIP OF THE DESEP>,T. 289 and cruelty," These are historical facts which Mr. Weiss now proves beyond the possibility of a successful contradic- tion. Never was oj^pression more cruel than that endured by the unfortunate Huguenots at this moment — tormented and hunted down, if they remained in France, punished as malefactors whenever they attempted to escape. Still, the efforts of tyranny were powerless, and the true faith was preserved in the ashes of the reformed churches, and the bones of their martyred ministers. The worship in the de- sert became general, and hundreds of thousands of faithful men still assembled to sing their psalms, and arose up, as with one heart, for the irresistible rights of conscience and freedom of mind. Severe enactments were also made to deter any preachers who might desire to return to France — death was the penalty, and five thousand five hundred livres the reward for the in- formation that might arrest them. Many, notwithstanding, defied the haughty monarch's sword, and came back clandes- tinely to their former flocks. Travelling in the garb of pil- grims, soldiers, or dealers in images, they often escaped the vigilance of the government, and joyfully preached to their brethren assembled in caverns and secret places. Frequent- ly the Roman sacraments were forced upon the dying, and spurned by them, which caused an edict that the bodies of such should be drawn upon hurdles, after death, and thus degraded, presented to the gaze and derision of a barbarous populace. Such was the state of things in France about the period when the Huguenots emigrated, in the largest numbers, to America. Every day confirmed the universal apprehension that a crisis was at hand in their afi'airs ; the only permanent safety was now in flight; and, in spite of armies by land, and ships of war along the coast, for their retention, fifty thousand families, it is estimated, escaped to other countries. France lost more than five hundred thousand of her most in- VOL. II. — 13 290 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. dustrious, useful, and religious subjects ; and the name of Louis XIV. became execrated over a great part of Europe. Mr. Weiss calculates the loss at one million of people. Our author has admirably traced the dispersion of the Huguenots, over the nations of Europe, with a few chapters on their emigration to America. We now come to some additional events in their American history. Many French Protestants left France for foreign and peaceful climes, even before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and among the number were the Huguenots of Uls- ter county, New- York. It is probable that they emigrated at different periods. As early as 1625, some of their fami- lies arrived at the spot where New-York now stands, then a Dutch colony, and here found a safe home. The first birth in New Amsterdam was a daughter of Greorge Eapaeligo I (Rapelje), in 1625. This was a branch of the Huguenot family which fied to Holland, after the St. Bartholomew's massacre, and thence sailed to America. Most of the refu- gees who settled in Ulster, at first sought refuge in Germany, and thence sailed for America. Ascending the Hudson, the emigrants landed at Wilt- wyck, r^ow Kingston, and were welcomed by the Dutch set- tlers, who had prepared the way in the then wilderness for the enjoyment of civil and religious privileges. Kingston was one of the oldest settlements in the States, and here a Protestant Reformed Dutch Church had been formed since 1658. The venerable stone building used for divine worship nearly two centuries, was taken down in 1822-3, when the present brick edifice was erected. Hernames Blom was its first minister, and preached there in 1660. (Peter Vas suc- ceeded him in 1721, and then Mr. Mansius.) He was com- missioned by the classical meeting in Amsterdam to preach there, " both on water and on the land, and in all the neigh- borhood, but principally in Esopusy The region selected by the Huguerots for their future MASSACRE OF KINGSTON. 291 abode, was like their own delightful France, marked with great natural beauties. Of course, it wanted the culture and improvements of the former, but the picturesque and the sublime in nature appeared on every side — running streams, verdant lawns, hills and woods. Towards the east and west, the charming prospect was bounded and perfect by the waters of the noble and ever rolling Hudson ; and the Shawangunk Mountains, the loftiest range of the Fishkill, looked like pillars upon which the arch of heaven there rested. No river can please the eye more. The Rosendale be- gins its course far in the interior, towards Pennsylvania, and, uniting with the Walkill, then rapidly passes on, fall after fall, until it mingles with the Hudson. So with Eso- pus Creek. Its source lies amidst the lofty mountains of Delaware, whence, like the foaming war steed, it rushes furi- ously onwards, until suddenly reaching the lowlands of Mar- bletown, it turns towards the north, and slowly moves up the North River. This romantic stream at last reaches Sau- gerties, and, as if just fresh from the mountain side, dashes from one rapid bound to another, down into the bosom of the Hudson. The Dutch and the French Huguenots followed these noble streams towards the South, and made their earliest settlements ; and their remains repose on those retired, quiet banks. Their descendants now enjoy the rich and glorious patrimony, secured by the industry, frugality, and piety of tueir worthy ancestors. Hallowed be their exalted memories ! Who more worthy of imitation ! In the year 1663, the Indians attacked Kingston, and massacred a part of its inhabitants. Dominie Blom left a de- scription of the tragical event.* They slew 24, and took 45 prisoners. The Dominie escaped, with most of the inhabit- ants, and thus describes the bloody scene : " There lay the burnt and slaughtered bodies, together with those wounded * Vanderkemp's Albany, Rec. viii. 292 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. by bullets and axes. The last agonies, and the moans and lamentations of many, were dreadful to hear. . . . The burnt bodies were most frightful to behold. A woman lay burnt with her child at her side. Other women lay burnt also in their houses. The houses were converted into heaps of stones, so that I might say with Micah : ' We are made de- solate ;' and with Jeremiah, ' A piteous wail may go forth in his distress.' With Paul, I say, ' Brothers, pray for us.' I have also every evening, during a whole month, offered up prayers with the congregation, on the four points of our fort, under the blue sky. But the Lord strengthened me in all this. Many heathen have been slain, and full 22 of our people have been delivered out of their hands by our arms. The Lord our Grod will again bless our arms, and grant that the foxes who have endeavored to lay waste the vineyard of the Lord shall be destroyed." Among the prisoners carried into captivity by the In- dians on this attack, were Catharine Le Fever, the wife of Louis Dubois, with three of their children. These were Huguenot families; and, after a considerable absence, a friendly Indian gave information where they could be found. He directed the pursuers to follow the Ron^out next the Walkill, and then a third stream, where, if expeditious, they would meet with them. A small but bold, desperate band, with their dogs, knap- sacks, and rifles, undertook the perilous journey. They found the described spot toward evening, and Dubois, in ad- vance of the others, discovered an Indian party within a few feet of him, and partly concealed behind a tree. The savage was in the act of drawing his bow, but from fear or surprise, missed its string, when Dubois springing forward killed him with his sword, and without any alarm. The party then resolved to delay any other attack, until the dusk of the evening. When this hour arrived, the savages were pre- paring for the slaughter of one of their captives, which DUSINE OR PATENTEES. 293 was none other than the wife of Dubois himself. She had been selected to be burned, and was already placed upon the funeral pile, and was singing a psalm of praise at the trying, solemn moment. Delighted with the sacred strains, the savages, by signs, urged her to continue them. This she did, fortunately, until the approach of her deliverers. " White man's dogs, white man's dogs ! " was the first cry which alarmed the cruel foe. The faithful animals had en- tered their encampment, when the Indians fled, and their prisoners with them. Dubois discovering his wife also fly- ing, called her by name, and she was soon gladly and safely restored to her anxious friends, with the other captives. At the moment of their delivery, the prisoners were pre- paring themselves for a bloody sacrifice of Indian cruelty, and just then were singing the beautiful psalm of the " Baby- lonish Captives." Heaven heard the strains, and their de- liverance came at the very moment to save them. During this fearful expedition, the Huguenots of Ulster first dis- covered the lowlands of Paltz. The county of Ulster is considerably broken by those lofty, magnificent monarchs of the Hudson, the Catskill Mountains. Still there are numerous little streams and creeks which enrich this beautiful region, and form also very extensive jiats^ as they are called, or tracts of rich alluvial soil. This was the section which the Huguenots selected for a home, distant some 85 miles from New-York, lying along the west shore of the Hudson, and running from six to ten miles in the interior. It was called New Paltz, and a patent obtained for the lands from Gov. Andros. The emigrants religiously selected twelve of their brethren as the patentees, who are known by the appellation of the " Du- sine^'' or " the twelve patentees^'' and these were regarded as Patriarchs in this little Christian community. A list of the original purchasers has been preserved, and are as fol- lows : Louis Dubois ; Christian Dian, since written Deyo ; 294 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Abraham Hasbroucq, now spelt Hasbrouck; Andros Le Fever, often Lefevre, Le Febre, and Le Febvre; John Brook, and said to have been changed into Hasbrouck ; Peter Dian, or Deyo; Louis Bevier, Anthony Crispell, Abraham Du Bois, Hugo Freir, Isaac Dubois, Simon Le Fever. A copy of the agreement with the Indians still exists, and the antiquarian may find it among the records at Albany. This curious document contains the signatures of both par- ties, the names of the patentees written in the antique French character, with the hieroglyphic marks of the Indians. The purchasers paid the following articles for the land : 40 ket- tles, 10 large and 20 small; 40 axes, 40 adzes, 40 shirts, 400 strings of white beads, 300 strings of black beads, 50 pair of stockings, 100 bars of lead, 1 keg of powder, 100 knives, 4 quarter casks of wine, 40 jars, 60 splitting or cleaving-knives, 60 blankets, lOO needles, 100 awls, and 1 clean pipe. This was the insignificant value given for lands a century and three quarters ago, which are now worth mil- lions of dollars. This treaty was mutually executed, according to the records from which we quote, on the 26th of May, 1677. The patentees forthwith proceeded to take possession of their newly acquired property ; their first conveyances be- ing three wagons, which would be objects of great curiosity in our day ; the wheels were very low, shaped like the old- fashioned spinning wheels, with short spokes, wide rim, and without any iron. They were three days on their journey from Kingston to New Paltz, a distance of only sixteen miles. The place where they first encamped is still known by the name of '' Tri Cor,^'' or three cars, in honor of those first conveyances. Soon, however, they selected a more ele- vated site upon the banks of the beautiful "Walkill, where the village now stands. Log houses were erected, not far apart, for mutual defence, and afterward stone edifices, with port-holes, some of which remain to this day. BEVEIRS I^UBOIS. 295 It is said tliat their lands were so arranged in small lots, and within sight of each other, as to prevent surjDrise from the Indians, whilst cultivating them. They never left their dwellings without carrying their guns along with them, for the savages, above all things, delighted in obtaining the rifle of a Frenchman. Louis Beveir, one of the honored patentees, was the an- cestor of that numerous and respectable family in Ulster. When he was about to leave France, his own father became so exasperated, that he refused to extend to him the most common civilities. Nor would he condescend to return the kindly salutations of his brother in the public streets, which were affectionately offered by the pious emigrant, and for the last time. Another of the patentees, Deyo, went to France, to claim his confiscated property, but failed of success. Kings- ton was at that period the only trading village for the French Protestants, and sixteen miles distant from their set- tlement, although Paltz in a straight line was not more than eight miles from the Hudson Kiver. M. Deyo undertook alone to explore this route, which then lay through the woods, but never returned. About thirty years afterward, a truss and buckle which he owned, and wore, were found at the side of a large hollow tree. It was thought that he died suddenly, or was devoured by the wild beasts. His life seems to have been full of toils and danger, as he endured severe sufferings before he reached Holland from France. For days he concealed himself in hiding-places without food from his persecutors, and escaped on board of a fishing-boat, dur- ing a terrific storm, and was the only passenger. The descendants of the Dubois are numerous in our day'; but there is a tradition, that the name of this family was at one time in danger of becoming extinct, among the Huguenots of Ulster. For a long while after the settlement of Paltz, it was the practice for parents to visit Kingston to 296 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. have their children baptized. A Mr. and Mrs. Dubois were returning from such a religious jonrnej during the winter, and, crossing the Rondout on the ice, it gave way, plunging the sleigh, horses and party, in the rapid stream. With great presence of mind, the mother threw her infant, an only son, upon a cake of floating ice, which, like the ark of Moses, floated him safely down the stream, until he was providen tially rescued. For some time this child was the only male Dubois among the Paltz Huguenots, and had he perished on that perilous occasion, the family name would have also per- ished with him. Still there were seven females of the name called the " seve7i zuisters^'' or seven sisters, all of whom married in the most respectable Huguenot families. To no stock do more descendants trace their origin in Ulster county than that of Dubois. Some antiquarians deny this tradition of the Dubois seven sisters, and contend that they were Lefevers. The whole tale, whether true or not, has strong resem- blance to an incident well known to have taken place at a later date. In the year 1744, Johannis Decker, of Shawan- gunk, in Ulster county, was baptized, when an infant, in the church at Kingston. On their way, his father, together with his team, and a colored man coming to his assistance, were drowned, in attempting to cross Rosendale Creek on the ice. The mother was rescued, however, and the child saved by being thrown upon a cake of ice. There were two Le Fevers among the patentees, and no name is more common or respectable in Ulster county. Their progenitors, it is imagined, were among those early Protes- tants of France, who distinguished themselves for intellec- tual powers, prominence in the reformed church, and endur- ing patience under the severest trials and death. Le Fever, a doctor of theology, adorned the French metropolis when Paris caught the first beams of salvation in the fifteenth cen- tury. He preached Christ within its walls, and this early MARGARET OF VALOIS. 297 teacher declared, after his conversion from the errors of Ro« manisin : '' Our religion has only one foundation^ one object^ one head^ Jesus Christy blessed for ever. Let us then not take the name of Paul ^ of Apollos^ or of Peter. The cross of Christ alone opeyis Heaven^ and shuts the gates of Hell.'''' ^ We cannot but dwell a moment upon the memory of this distinguished and pious reformer. He was truly a burning light amidst the darkness and superstition of a wicked age. In 1524, Le Fever published a translation of the New Tes- tament, and the next year a version of the Psalms. Many received the Holy Scriptures from his hands, and read them in their families, and thus the Word of God here, as in the countries beyond the Rhine, produced the happiest effects. Margaret, the celebrated Princess of Valois, had embraced experimental Christianity, and the Reformation had thus a witness in the King's court. She was sister to Francis the First, the reigning monarch, and lived a pure., religious, and blameless life amidst the dissolute household of her royal brother. By the hands of this excellent lady, the Bishop of Meuse sent to the King a translation of St. Paul's Epistles, richly illuminated, adding in this quaint and beautiful lan- guage, " They will make a truly royal dish, of fatness that never corrupts, and having a power to restore from all man- ner of sickness. The more we taste them the more we hun- ger after them, with desires that are ever fed, and never cloyed." Soon after this the fires of persecution began to rage against this new sect. The scaffold, the rack, and the stake were erected, and began their bloody work. The Bishop was the first elevated person, who was accused and convicted, when monks, priests and doctors entreated him to recant, in the name of religion, courts, friends — nay, even of the Reformation itself — consent. These sophisms unfortu- nately prevailed, and rather than suffer a glorious martyr- dom, he darkened his former fidelity by a recantation ; and thus he fell from the truth. VOL. II. — 13* 298 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Le Fever was next arrested, but escaped to Strasburgh, where he found a safe asylum, with other refugees from his own country, among the German reformers. Another Le Fever, a distinguished gentleman, was im- prisoned fifteen years, in a noisome and solitary dungeon, where he died. "Nothing," he says, "can exceed the cruelty of the treatment I receive. The weaker I become, the more they endeavor to aggravate the miseries of the pri- son. For several weeks no one has been allowed to enter my dungeon. The place is very dark and damp. I have never seen a fire here, except the flame of a candle. You will feel for me in this misery ; but think of the eternal if weight of glory that will follow. Death is nothing. Christ I has vanquished the foe for me." Such were the hopes, re- I signation, and triumph of this Christian hero. Abraham Hasbroucq, which is the original orthography of the name, among the patentees, was a native of Calais, and the first emigrant of that family to this country in 1 675. With a party of friends, they resided for a while upon the banks of the Rhine, among the Palatinates, and were kindly re- ceived by the government. To commemorate this kindness, when they reached our shores, their settlement was called " De Paltz, " now "New Paltz," as the Palatinate was al- ways styled by the German and Low Dutch. Hence, also, the beautiful stream flowing through New Paltz was honored by the term Walkill, after the river Wael, a branch of the Rhine flowing through Holland. A tradition exists among the Paltz Huguenots, that some of the patentees resided two or three years in Holland, among their Protestant brethren, and with whom they formed a lasting friendship. Doubtless they passed through that country ; but the continuance of their stay cannot be easily ascertained. Dubois is supposed to have reached here as - early as 1660. The first birth on the family record of the Beviers in America, is dated a.d. 1664. SETTLEMENT OF NEW PALTZ. 299 The twelve patcDtees, or Duzine, managed the affairs of the infant settlement as long as they lived ; and after their decease it was a custom, until almost our days, to elect a civil officer from the descendants of each, at the annual town meetings. For a long period, they kept in one chest all the important papers of their patent and land titles. The min- ister, or the oldest man, had charge of its key, and applica- tion was made to this depository for the settlement of all difficulties about boundaries. Hence they were free from all legal suits about their lands : and to this judicious plan may be traced the well-known harmony of their numerous de- scendants in that region, the fidelity of their landmarks, and the absence of litigation. We know of no region in our country where property has remained so long in the same families as it has in New Paltz. There has been a constant succession of intermarriages among the descendants of the French Protestants, since the place was first settled, and very many continue to reside upon the old homesteads of their early and honored forefathers. Devoted as the Huguenots ever had been to a pure faith, and the simple worship of the Almighty, one of their first objects at New Paltz was the erection of a church. It was built of logs, and afterwards gave place to a substantial stone building, finished with brick brought from Holland, and the place answered the double purpose of a church and fort. Its form was square, each of the three sides having a large win- dow, and the fourth a large door, inclosed by a portico. The roof running to a point, in its centre was a little steeple, from which a horn was sounded for religious services. Within the last fifty years, several churches of this form could be seen in Ulster county. Their third house of wor- ship was an excellent stone building, which served the Hu- guenots for 80 years, when it was demolished in 1839, and the present splendid edifice occupied the venerable spot, and was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God, Dec. 20, 1839. 300 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. It is related that sometimes a minister would visit New Paltz during the summer. There was one clergyman, eccen- tric in dress and manners, who occasionally made such a jour- ney, and for the purpose of meditation, he would cross the Walkill in a canoe, to some large elms growing upon a bank opposite to the church. On one occasion the stream was low, and whilst pushing the canoe with a pole, it broke, when the Dominie, losing his balance, pitched overboard. He succeed- ed, however, in reaching the shore, and proceeded to the nearest house, for the purpose of drying his clothes. This partly accomplished, he entered the pulpit, w^hen he informed his congregation that he had intended to have given them a sermon on baptism. But eyeing his garments, he said cii'cum- stmices lyrevented^ as he could now sympathize with Peter, and take the text, " Lord, save, or I perish." To serve G-od, according to the dictates of their own con- science, had ever been a supreme duty with the Huguenots, and paramount to every thing else. For this they endured the severest persecutions in France, and had sacrificed houses, lands, kindred, and their native country. They had crossed a trackless ocean, and penetrated the howling wilder- ness inhabited by savage tribes, and for what ? — To serve their Maker, and the rights of conscience. They had been the salt of France, and brought over with them their Gospel principles, and their Bibles, the most precious things. Popery and infidelity they left in deluded, bigoted France. Some of these precious volumes are still to be found among the descendants of American Huguenot families. We have often seen and examined one of the most venerable copies. This is Diodati's French Folio Bible ; but I will copy its title : LA SAINTE BIBLE, INTERPETEE PAR JEAN DIODATI, MDCXLIir. IMPRIMEE A GENEVE. OLD FRENCH BIBLE, 301 While we write, the sacred volume is 210 years old, in good condition, and well covered with white, dressed deer- skin, its ties of the same material. It was brought to Ame- rica by Louis Beveir, a French Protestant, and has been preserved in his family through six generations. Well may they esteem it a precious family relic. It was, carried from France to Holland, and thence brought to New Paltz. Blessed book ! the hands of holy martyrs may have once unfolded thy sacred leaves, and their eyes perused thy holy cheering truths ! There is also a family record, written in the volume, faintly legible, of the immediate descendants of Louis Beveir and his wife, Maria Lablau, from the year 1674 to 1684. For some time after the Huguenots had settled in the Paltz, they used the French language, until a consultation was held to determine whether this, or the English, or Dutch should be adopted in their families. As the latter was generally spoken in the neighboring places — Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh, and also at schools and churches, it was de- cided to speak Dutch to their children and domestics only. Many, for a while, however, continued the use of their native tongue. It is a remarkable fact, that many descendants of the Huguenots in the Paltz continue to write their names as their French ancestors wrote them more than two centuries ago. Hasbroque, Deyeau, Le Fevre, Du Bois, Be Vier, are instances. Petronella was once an admired name among the Hugue- not ladies, and became almost extinct in Ulster. The last at the time, was said to have been Petronella Hasbroque, a lady distinguished for remarkable traits of character. Judge Hasbrouck, of Kingston, the father of the former president of Rutgers College, was very anxious that his son would give this name to one of his daughters. In case of compli- ance, a handsome marriage portion was also promised ; but the parents declined the offer, whether from a dislike to the 302 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. name, or a belief that the property, at any rate, would be forthcoming some day, is not known. A grand-daughter, however, of a second generation, named her first-born Petro- nella, and thus gratified the laudable desire of her near kins- man, secured a handsome marriage portion for the heir, and preserved the much-admired name from oblivion — three im- 1 portant results certainly. It is also a well-known and distinguishing trait of the Huguenots at New Paltz, that but few intermarriages have taken place, except among their own families (Walloon). In this respect they differed from all other French Protestants who emigrated to America, and, by matrimonial alliances, mingled with the other population. In Kingston, Pough- keepsie, and these neighborhoods, there is an unusual num- ber of Dutch names — the Van Deusens, Van Benschotens, Van Kleeks, Van G-asbeeks, Van de Bogerts, Van Beurens, &c., &c., ad infinitum. But, for miles around the populous and wealthy town of old Paltz, scarcely a family can be found with such appellations. We should remark, that not- withstanding the French Protestants of the Paltz, somewhat like the Jews, kept themselves a distinct and separate peo- ple, still the custom did not arise from any dislike to the Dutch. On the contrary, they were particularly attached to that people, who had been their best friends in Holland and America. In the decided, persevering, bold, and pious traits of this race, can be plainly traced their noble, glorious, Pro- testant origin. The more fearful, and faint-hearted remained in France ; whilst the determined, the adventurous, and the brave, deserted all for religious liberty, and came to this land, where they continue to enjoy all the blessings of a quiet, peaceful, and happy life. The blood of holy martyrs runs in their veins. Well may all Huguenots look back withli pride to their forefathers, for they were such men as Calvin, ( Benoit, Beza, Rapin, Claude, and Saurin, with the brave, GOV. STUYVESANT. 303 wise, and incorruptible Sullj — names worthy of enduring remembrance in our world's history. The associations of the French with the Dutch were ever of a friendly, generous character, both in Europe and Amer- ica, and have proved genial and happy. After a while, the Huguenots of Ulster county adopted not only the language of their Dutch friends, but their habits and customs. Both have retained these striking peculiarities with a well-known and peculiar tenacity ; and less inUvVations have been made upon the established rules of former generations. When the Protestant churches of Rochelle were destroyed in 1685, the Calvinists of that city were gladly admitted into the colony of New- York. They came in such numbers, that the public documents were sometimes printed, not only in English and Dutch, but French also. Records of Albany state that crowds of orphans were shipped for the New World, and a free passage offered to mechanics. Gov. Stuyvesant was among the earliest to encourage the emigration of the Huguenots, whose descendants for genera- tions have been among our most respectable and intelligent citizens. On the 24th of Jan., 1664, N. Van Beck, a merchant in New Amsterdam, received letters from Rochelle, stating the wish of some French Protestants to settle in New Netherland, as their religious rights had been invaded, and churches burned. The Governor and Council resolved to receive them kindly, and to grant them land gratuitously. Many came over after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and established the town of New Eochelle, which they named after their own brave native city in France. Well may we style it brave, for its citizens bore their trials most manfully, and with a religious perseverance seldom equalled. The little Christian Republic had defied the Crown of France for seventy years, before it perished. Rochelle was the stronghold of the Calvinists or reformers. Its citizens were 304 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. reduced from over 27,000 to 5,000 ; but was forced to capi- tulate after a siege of nearly fifteen months, having manfully defended themselves amidst warfare and starvation. Every one of sufficient age was a soldier. Richelieu, that ambitious Cardinal, and at the time the prime minister of France, jDpr- sonally commanded the siege. The walls were prostrated — a cross erected commemorating the surrender — nor were any Protestants allowed to reside in this " City of Kefuge,'- without the royal permission. On the festival of All Saints, the proud Cardinal celebrated mass with great pomp, to honor the event. Well might its exiles remember and love their gallant, Christian city. New Rochelle is situated near the shore of Long Island Sound, and the emigrants purchased of John Pell 6,000 acres of land. One venerable Huguenot, it is related, would go daily to the shore, when, directing his eyes towards the direc- tion where he supposed France was situated, would sing one of Marot's hymns, and send to heaven his early morning de- votions. Others joined him in these praises of their God, and remembrances of their beloved native clime, from which they had been banished by the merciless fires of persecution. The Huguenots first occupied a small wooden church. The second was built of stone; and so anxious were all to contribute something towards its completion, that even females carried mortar in their aprons to complete the sacred undertaking. Queen Anne gave them the plate for this church. The Kev. Daniel Bondet was their first minister ; and fortunately for our purposes, we have a letter written at that period, 1702, by this earliest Huguenot minister in Westchester county. It is a curious, authentic and interest- ing document, translated from the French : — To His Excellency Milord Cornbury, Governor & Commander in Chief. My Lord, I most humbly pray your Exeell : to be pleased to take cogni- zance of the petitionei-'s condition. ANCIENT LETTER. 305 I am a frencli Refugee Minister, incorporated into the body of tlie Ministry of the Anglican Church ; I removed about fifteen years ago into New England with a company of poor refugees to whom Lands were granted for their settlement, and to provide for my sub- sistance I was allowed one hundred and five pieces per annum from the funds of the corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Savages. I performed that duty during nine years with a suc- cess approved and attested by those who presided over the affairs of that Province. The murders which the Indians committed in those Countries caused the dispersion of our company some of whom fell by the hands of the Barbarians. I remained, after that, two years in that province expecting a favorable season for the re-establishment of affairs, but after waiting two years, seeing no appearance, and being invited to remove to this Province of New-York by Colonel Heath- cote who always evinces an affection for the public good and distin- guishes himself by a special application for the advancement of reli- gion and good order, by the Establishment of Churches and Schools, the fittest means to strengthen and encourage the people, I complied with his request and that of the Company of New Rochelle in this province, where I passed five years on a small allowance promised me by New Rochelle of one hundred pieces and lodging, with that of one hundred and five pieces which the Corporation continued to me imtil the arrival of milord belamont who, after indicating his willing- ness to take charge of me and my Canton ordered me Thirty pieces in the Council of York, and did me the favor to promise me that at his journey to Boston he would procure me the continuation of that stipend that I had in times past. But having learned at Boston, through M' Nanfan, his Lieutenant, that I annexed my signature to an ecclesiastical certificate which the Churches and Pastors of this Province had given to Sieur Delius, Minister of Albany, who had not the good fortune to please his late Lordship, his defunct Excellency cut off his thirty pieces which he had ordered me in his Council at York, deprived me of the Boston pension of 25 pieces, writing to Lon- don to have that deduction approved, and left me, during three years last past in an extreme destitution of the means of subsistence. I believed, my Lord, that in so important a service as that in which I am employed I ought not to discourage myself, and that the Providence of God which does not abandon those who have recourse to his aid by well-doing, would provide in its time for my relief. Your Excellency's equity ; the affection you have evinced to us 306 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. for the encouragement of those who employ themselves constantly & faithfully in God's service induce me to hope that I shall have a share in the dispensation of your justice to relieve me from my suffer- ing so that I may be aided and encouraged to Continue my service in which by duty and gratitude I shall continue with m}' flock to pray God for the jjreservation of your person, of your illustrious family and the prosperity of your government ; remaining Your Excellency's most humble & respectful Servant, Daniel Bondet. This petition of the minister was referred to Col. Heath- cote for examination, who reported favorably upon it. His field of Christian labors amoDg the Indians was at a place called New Oxford, near Boston, with a salary of £25 per annum. During this mission. Gov. Haughton, Increase Mather, with others, certified " that he with great faithful- ness, care and industry, discharged his duty both in reference to Christians and Indians, and was of an unblemished life and conversation." In consideration of his past services, the £25 was continued by the " Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Savages," after he removed to New Rochelle. When Lord Belmont became Governor of the Province, he withdrew this sum from Mr. Bondet, with £50 which the government had also settled upon him. All that remained to support himself and familj^ was the small sum of £20 a year, allowed by his congregation. This little Huguenot flock must have been poor indeed, as we gather from the following curious old petition, pre- sented to Gov. Fletcher, for relief. PETITION FROM N. ROCHELLE. To His Excellency Col, Benjamin Fletcher, Governor in Chief and Capt. Gen'al of y' Province of New- York and Dependencies, &c. The humble petition of y' inhabitants of New Rochelle. Hmnbhj Sheweth,—T\i2it your petitioners having been forced by the late persecutions in France to forsake their MR. BONDET. 307 coimtr}^ and estates, and flye to y' Protestant Princes, tlieir Majestyes by their proclamation of y' 25th of April, 1689, did grant them an asile in all their dominions, with their Royall protection ; wherefore they were invited to come and buy lands in this province, to the end that they might by their labour help the necessityes of their familyes, and Did spend therein all their small store, with the help of their friends, whereof they did borrow great sums of money. They are above twenty * * * (MS. torn) poor and needy, not able * * * * ties and clothing much * * * * they did hitherto leave above their * * * * thereby reduced to a lamentable condition, as having been compelled to sell, for that purpose, the things which were most necessary for their use. Wherefore your petitioners humbly pra}^ That your Excellency may be pleased to take their case in serious consideration, and out of charity and pity to grant them for some years what help and privileges your Excellency shall think convenient. And your petitioners, in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c, Thauet. Elei Cothouneau. Besides his poverty, Mr. Bondet appears to have had, like all faithful ministers, his peculiar religious trials. One of his flock, a Mr. Villeponteux, complained to the Lieut. Governor, that his pastor refused " to come to baptize a childe of his newly born, and in danger of dying." The child recovering, the Christian rite was performed by a Mr. Peter Peyret, styled in the account, Minister of y*' French Congregation. Some days after, the complainant, who seems to have been an elder, was deposed by Mr. Bondet and the other elders, from his office. Of this he complains, and asks for the Presbytery of the French Congregation in New- York to examine into the proceeding. The early Huguenot preacher lived to see better times. 308 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Col. Heathcote, in 1705, recommended him to the friendly notice of the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel." He styles him " a good man, and preaches very intelligibly in English, which he does every third Sunday in his French Congregation, when he uses the Liturgy of the Church. He has done a great deal of service, since his first coming into this country, and is well in the thoughts of the society. He has thirty pounds a year settled on him out of the Public Revenue here, as the French Minister in York hath ; but that is paid with so much uncertainty, that he starves under the prospect of it." The Rev. Mr. Bartow was then pastor of the Established Church in New Rochelle, and Col. Heathcote suggests that the "poor gentleman" might be permitted to help him and Mr. Muirson " in taking care of the scattering towns of their parishes ; especially Mr. Bartow's, where it is impossible for any one to manage it." He also requests some French Common Prayer Books and Catechisms, for the use of the "Westchester Huguenots. These requests were not in vain. In the year 1709, Mr. Bondet was commissioned a minister of the Church of England at New Rochelle, and his congregation became con- formed to its services. The next year. Gov. Hunter gave license for the congregation to erect a new Church of England, as by law established. This faithful Huguenot preacher died in 1 772, having served the parish over 20 years, and be- queathed his library of 400 volumes to the church. We have seen a copy of a letter written by D. Bonrepos in 1690, to Lieut. Gov. Leisler, from New Rochelle. The Governor had ordered the nomination of some person for Justice of the Peace, and the writer informs him they could make no election, as the proper persons had no knowledge of the English tongue. He signs this communication as pastor of this " French colony." Before the erection of the Huguenot church at New ' EARLIEST CHURCH IN NEW-YORK. 309 Rochelle, as stated by Mr. Weiss, men frequently walked to New-York, a distance of twenty-three miles, to attend the Sabbath services of the Huguenots. On Marketfield- street, near the Battery, they early erected a humble chapel, and hither on every Lord's day, assembling from the city, and Staten Island, and by wagons, in which they lodged all night, from Long Island, New Rochelle, might they be seen worshipping God, without the fear of royal, bloody, per- secuting edicts. In 1704 was founded a more commodious place of worship, L'Eglise du St. Esprit, and cemetery, which occupied a spot directly opposite the Custom House on Pine- street. It was built of stone, plain, neat, and nearly square. Its bell was the gift of Sir Henry Ashurst, of London, and on the front of the edifice was inscribed — yEDES SACRA. GALLOR PROT. REFORM FONDA. 1^04. PENITUS REPAR. 1141. In our day its walls have been taken down, the dead re- moved, and the place is now devoted to mammon. The suc- cessors (Episcopalians), of L'Eglise du St. Esprit, then erected the splendid marble edifice in Leonard-street, where the doctrines of the ever blessed Reformation still continue to be preached in the same tongue by which they were so eloquently declared by Claude and Saurin nearly two cen- turies ago. Strange as it may appear, the French Protestants were watched by their old enemies, even after they had reached this continent. Every reader of history remembers the blood-thirsty Pedro Melendez, and his horrid butchery of the infant Huguenot colony, established 1564, in Florida. Upon landing, he exclaimed : " I am Melendez of Spain. The Frenchman, who is a Catholic, I will spare : every heretic shall die." Two hundred persons were butchered on the 310 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. sjDOt, and 900 more, who escaped, were afterwards murdered near St. Augustine, not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans. Such was the bloody zeal of that proud and bigoted Romanist, Philip II., towards the poor Protestants seeking a safe asy- lum near his distant American provinces, more than a cen- tury before the period of which we are writing. The Jesuits, have ever been the enemies of civil and religious liberty. Henry the Great rather favored his subjects in this respect, •*'' and in 1610, felt the fatal knife of Ravillac. For more than two centuries, the suspicion has weighed heavily against the Jesuits, of their having instigated secretly this regicide to his , dark and murderous deed. That royal archfiend against the 1 j 1 French Protestants, Louis XIV., was a complete slave to the Jesuits ; La Chaise was his confessor. During his reign, a number of this religious order went on missions, to convert the Indians of Canada, some of whom appear conspicuously in the political movements of that pe- riod. Gov. Dougan, in 1687, publicly remonstrated against the Jesuits interfering with the Five Nations, and requests that Mons. De Lamberville, one of their well-known mission- aries, would meddle only with the affairs belonging to his function, and not with the Indians under the British author- ity, or as he calls them, " our Indians." At this period, 1687, the Marquis De Denonville made a military expedition against the Iroquois Indians of the Gen- esee country and Niagara, according to the instructions of the French monarch. It was estimated that they then pos- sessed five villages, and could bring upon the field of battle two thousand warriors. The marquis says to his royal mas- ter, " We must not go after them to chastise them by halves, but to annihilate them, if possible." The Marquis of Seig- nelay. Governor of Montreal, also presented his views on this subject to the King, and uses the following remarkable lan- guage : " It is likewise necessary for the establishment of reli- gion, which will never spread itself there, except by the de- SUBJUGATION OF THE IROQUOIS. 311 struction of the Iroquois ; so that upon the success of the war which the Governor General of Canada proposes to commence against the Iroquois on the 15th of May next, depends either the ruin of the country and of religion, if he be not assisted, or the establishment of religion, commerce, and the King's power over all North America, if he be granted the aid he demands." Sentiments worthy of Poj)e Pius V, ! and the marquis strengthens his argument, because the expense was never better employed, since, " independent of the salva- tion of the quantity of souls in that vast country, to which His Majesty will contribute by establishing the faith there, he will secure to himself an empire of more than a thousand leagues in extent, from the mouth of the River St. Lawrence to that of the River Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico." The King fully indorsed these views, and replied to them from Versailles, 30th March, 1687, that "he expects to learn, at the close of this year, the entire destruction of the greatest part of those savages ; and as a number of prisoners may be made, and His Majesty thinks he can make use of them in his galleys, he desires him to manage so as to retain them until he have vessels for France." In this conflict the savages were overpowered, and their country devastated by the French troops in July following. A fort was erected at Niagara, a missionary of the Society of Jesus left there, and a large wooden cross, eighteen feet high, erected and blessed by him on Good Friday. It does not appear from the account before us, whether His Majesty obtained any Indian galley slaves ; but De Denonville writes how they treated some of the enemies : " We witnessed the painful sight of the usual cruelties of the savages, who cut the dead into quarters, as in slaughter- houses, in order to put them into the pot. The greater number were opened, while still warm, that their blood might be drank." * * For these accounts, vide Paris Doc. iii. 312 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. The French then had a line of forts through the western wilderness, from Quebec to New Orleans, but now wanted to cut a path to the Atlantic Ocean. Two years after, the French Grovernor of Canada.planned a project to reduce New England and New-York. Andros was the Governor of these provinces, and the Canadian thus refers *o him, in an official communication : — The Chevalier Andros is a Protestant, as well as the whole English colony, and there is no reason to hope that he will remain faithful to the King of England, James II. This is, in plain English, that he would not become a Roman Catholic like his sove- reign. According to his plan, Albany was first to be surprised and captured, and then Manhattan reduced. The advan- tages of such a conquest the Frenchman tells his royal mas- ter, will be to establish firmly the Christian religion, as well among the Iroquois as the other savages, to whom we " shall be able to speak as masters, when they are encircled on the side of Canada as well as New- York." He believes also this will be the only means of " firmly establishing religion throughout all North America." Louis of course approved the contemplated expedition, issuing his royal authority and instructions for its undertaking. All faithful Catholics were to remain unmolested in the attacks, whilst the '• French re- fugees, particularly those of the pretended reformed reli- gion," must he sent back to France. What a remorseless spirit ! The candid reader would imagine, that the horrid scenes which this monarch had perpetrated and beheld in the painful history of his Protestant subjects at home, would be quite sufficient, without renewing the sanguinary tragedy on a far distant wilderness shore. The reader will not fail to notice that these instructions were given to Frontenac, about four years after the memora- ble revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1686, Denonville, referring to some Huguenots who had BURNING OF SCHENECTADY. 313 reached New-York from the Islands of St. Christopher and Martinique, calls them " Banditti," and a " people to oper- ate" as such. To the thoughtful, these movements, although at a dis- tance, were serious, and became more alarming to the Pro- testant colonists of New-York, both Dutch and French, when news arrived of the burning and massacre of Schenectady. During a heavy snow storm, February 9, 1689, the town was entered at midnight, by the French and their Indians, and sacked and fired. 60 of the inhabitants were killed or burn- ed, and 27 taken prisoners to Canada. Truly a sad and frightful massacre ! The French lost but 21 men in this expedition, four of whom were Indians, and these were miss- ed on the road. But two were killed during the attack. A Popish plot was so much feared, that the inhabitants became very sensitive on the subject. Some of the Staten Islanders fled to the woods, whilst other Protestant families lodged in their boats, from a threat said to have been made that the Papists would cut the inhabitants' throats, A committee of safety was appointed in the city, of which Abraham Grouver- neur was chairman. Some of the soldiers in the fort were Bomanists, and this helped to increase the public anxiety. Colonel Douganwas suspected, and eighteen men sent to his mill on Staten Island, who found " four great guns hidden under a blanket, and covered with bags." One man was taken from his bed at night, on the island, and made a pri- soner of war in the fort for eight days. He had uttered dangerous and revolutionizing expressions, and excused him- self because he was intoxicated, and in a passion at the mo- ment. The patrol on Staten Island were then ordered to disarm all the Papists, but it was supposed they concealed their arms. We have gathered these facts from an old letter written at Fort William, and dated June 19, 1689, to the Grovernor of Boston. The writer says of himself: " I being intrusted by the committee to keep and defend the fort for VOL. II — 14 314 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. their Majesties King William and Queen Mary,'' and thus concludes his epistle, " In the mean time, after myne re- spects, I recommend your Hon : to Almighty God, and re- main," &c. Lieutenant Governor Nicholson and Colonel Dougan were both suspected of favoring the Roman Catholics, and fearing the gathering storm, left New- York. Nicholson had threat- ened to fire the city. Dougan, it is well known, had erected a Jesuit college, and a few students entered ; but, in the lan- guage of an old chronicle, '•' no boddy imitating them, the college vanished." Whether the Roman Catholics really planned a revolt against the Protestants of New- York, is a question which cannot at this day be decided. We shall present the histori- cal facts in the case, as far as we have been able to collect them. A committee of safety was appointed, and Jacob Xeisler was commissioned by them to be captain of the fort, and afterward commander-in-chief of the province. There is on record, a public declaration of the soldiers, in which they state such a step necessary ; and among the reasons they name for the measure, is that of preserving the " life of every Protestant that might have perished, and every house burned or destroyed." Leisler entered the fort where the Battery now stands, in New- York, on the 2d day of June, 1689, and says that " 5 captains and 400 men seem all to be unanimously agreed to the preservation of the Protestant reli- gion and the fort," The Protestants of Connecticut congra- tulated their brethren in New- York on the defensive stand they had taken, and appointed Major Nathan Gold and Cap- tain James Fitch to bear the intelligence. Upon their arrival, they also advised " that no Papist be suffered to come into y® fort, as it had been fired in three places, under which roufe lay y® ammunition, so wicked and cruell a Papistical design to have destroyed you and us, and y^ fort andjtowne, it made our flesh to tremble." STATEN ISLAND HUGUENOTS. 315 " High praise unto the Almighty God, that you and we, fort and city, were preserved." From the " Paris Documents" for 1689-1690, we gain much valuable information concerning the transactions of the French officials in Canada at that period. Frontenac was appointed Governor of that country in June, 1689, and here we have found his public as well as private instructions in reference to the proposed conquest of New-York. It is not to be wondered at, that the Protestants of that settlement were sensitive upon the subject of religious rights, and especially the French Protestants. At this very period, the brethren in France were suffering the most cruel acts of vengeance. Bassville, the intendant of Languedoc, was the most eminent for his bitter opposition to the Huguenots. One author (Boulainvilliers) declares : " One hundred thou- sand persons were sacrificed to justify the conduct of M. de Bassville, and of that number the tenth part perished in the flames, by the gibbet, or on the wheel." Well might those who had escaped to this land rejoice, and fear at the same time their old and bitter enemy. Staten Island, that enchanting spot in the beautiful Bay of New-York, became a favorite asylum for the French Pro- testants. It should be called the Huguenot Island. As far as we can ascertain, they reached this region in considerable numbers, about the year 1675, with a pastor, and erected a church near Richmond village. We have often visited the spot, and the only remains that mark the venerable place, are one or two dilapidated broken grave-stones. Some of these settlers were French Yaudois, or Waldenses ; and Dominie Drisius, a minister of the Reformed church in London, had been called to New Amsterdam. Well ac- quainted with the French language, he occasionally visited the island, and preached to these people. His colleague was the Rev. John Megapolensis ; and the Rev. Dr De Witt, of New- York, now has in his possession an original letter 316 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. written by these clergymen during the year 1657. It is the "State of the Churches in New Netherland, Anno 1657," and addressed to the "Keverend, Pious, Learned Sirs, Fa- thers and Brothers in Chr'to lesu," of Holland. At that period, there were only j&ve or six congregations in the pro- vince ; and, speaking of the natives, they remark : " Of the conversion of the heathen or Indians here, we can say but little . . . We have one Indian here with us full two years, so that he could read and write good Dutch : we instructed him in the grounds of Religion ; he also answered publicly in the church, and repeated the prayers. We likewise pre. sented him with a Bible, in order to work through him some good among the Indians. But it all resulted in nothing. He has taken to drinking of Brandy ; he pawned the bible, and became a real beast, who is doing more harm than good among the Indians." The early history of some of those Bichmond county Huguenots is almost the reality of romance. Henri de La Tourette fled from La Vendee after the revocation ; and, to avoid suspicion, gave a large entertainment ; and, whilst the guests were assembled, he suddenly left, with his wife, for the sea-coast. This was not far off, and which he reached, when he escaped on board a vessel bound for Charleston. The ship was either cast away upon the shores of Staten Island, or made a harbor in distress. A long list of repect- able and pious descendants trace their origin to this source 5 and one of them now is pastor of a Dutch Beformed church not far from Bichmond. The chateau of La Tourette is still standing in France, and a branch of the family exists there. Some years ago, one of the name visited this country far the purpose of obtaining the old family Bible, but he was unsuccessful, as the venerable and holy volume had been given long before to a refugee family in Germany. To the tolerant measures of " Good Queen Anne," many of the Huguenots obtained a peaceful abode upon the shores STATEN ISLAND. 317 of this island. In their escape from France, multitudes had been kindly received in England ; and afterwards were offer- ed, and accepted, a home in the province of New- York. Like their brethren in Ulster, the descendants of the French Protestants on Staten Island sometimes occupy the same farms, which their pious ancestors obtained more than a century and a half ago. The Disosways and Guions are well-known examples among this number. Few regions are blessed with more churches. The island is not more than 12 or 14 miles long, and about 3 wide, with a popula- tion numbering 17 or 18,000 ; still, it has nearly thirty evan- gelical congregations. It is worthy of notice, that mos* of the ofl&cial and zealous members in these Christian churches are lineal branches of the French Protestants. Channing Moore, the former excellent Bishop of Virginia, once, and for a long time, was pastor of the Episcopalian congregation here, and connected by marriage with an old Huguenot family. His son, a most faithful minister, suc- ceeded him, and is still preaching the doctrines of the ever- blessed Reformation. That eloquent divine, the late Rev. Dr. Bedell, of Philadelphia, and the father of the Rev. gen- tleman of that name in New- York, was of the same origin on the maternal side, and a Staten-Islander by birth. The Dutch and the French, as was the case at New Paltz, originally settled this island, but here generally inter- married ; and the two races united — of holy spirit and feel- ing, have ever formed the most influential population. Dur- ing the Revolutionary struggle, the husband of Mrs. Disos- way had fallen into the hands of the common enemy. She was the sister of the brave and well known Capt. Nathaniel Randolph, or Randell, as then called, who had greatly an- noyed the British. One of their officers promised to pro- cure her husband's release, if she would induce her brother to leave the American ranks. But she indignantly replied : " If I could act so dastardly a part, think you that Gen. 318 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Washington has but one Capt. Randolph in his army 1 " They were Huguenots on both sides of the families. In the earliest records of Staten Island, we find these Huguenot names : Fontaine, Reseau, La Tourette, Bedell, Rutan, Poil- lon, Mercereau, La Conte, Butten, Maney, Perrin, Larseleue, Cruse, De Pue, Corssen, Martineau, Teunise, Morgane, Se Guine, Jouerney. Their descendants are among the most respectable citi- zens, and intermarrying with the Dutch settlers of Richmond county, almost every old family claims relationship to the Huguenots. Few communities are blessed with a better population — moral, industrious, thrifty, and religious. New England generously provided lands for the French Protestants ; and contributed to the support of those who had barely escaped from France with their lives. Soon they became identified with our useful and honorable citi- zens. Faneuil Hall, in Boston, where the voice of our na- tional independence was so early heard in the struggle for liberty, was the gift of the son of a Huguenot. The honored edifice still retains his name, and its venerable walls are adorned with his full-length portrait. The Gleneral Court of Massachusetts granted a tract of land, eight miles square, to Joseph Dudley, William Hough- ton, and Maj. Robert Thompson. This region was then called by the Indians the Nipmug country, and 11,000 or 12,000 acres were set apart for the village of Oxford, in 1686, at that period literally a howling wilderness, but now near the peaceful and well known town of Worcester. Gabriel Bernon is named as undertaker for the plantation, and the Huguenots purchased portions of it at low prices. These sailed from France in 1684 or 1685 ; and so secret was the notice for their departure, that one family (Germaine) relates, Thei/ left the ]}ot boiling over the fire. Upon their arrival at Boston, they went to Fort Hill, and were kindly enter- tained until they removed to Oxford, HUGUENOT FORT, MASSACHUSETTS. 319 One of the first acts of the refugees was to settle a minis- ter, giving him forty pounds, and increased his salary after- wards. Surrounded by the savages on every side, they erected a fort, the traces of which can still be seen, over- grown with roses, currant-bushes, and other shrubbery. During a visit to this venerable spot, Mrs. Sigourney wrote the beautiful lines ; " Green Vine ! that manliest in thy fresh embrace Yon old grey reck, I hear that thou with them Didst brave the ocean surge : Say, drank thy germ The dews of Languedoc ? or slow uncoil'd An infant fibre 'mid the fruitful mould Of smiling Roussillon ? or didst thou shrink From the fierce footsteps of a warUke train. Brother with brother fighting unto death At Fair Rochelle ? Hast thou no tale for me ? " This fortification, however, did not render their abode safe from the murderous assaults of their savage enemy. A Mr. Johnson, with his three children, were massacred by the Indians. His wife was a sister of Andrew Sigourney, one^ of the earliest Huguenots who emigrated. Hearing the re- port of guns, he ran to the house, seized his sister, and escaped with ber through a back door. After this attack and murder, the French deserted their forest home, and re- paired to Boston, in the year 1696, where vestiges of their industry and agricultural taste long remained. Many of the pears retain their French names to this day, and the region is celebrated for its variety and excellence of this deli- cious fruit. Besides the Rev. Mr. Daille, a Mr. Lawrie is mentioned as one of the Protestant French pastors in Boston. It is a remarkable fact, that this very church, in after years, was used by the French Catholics, who escaped to the United 320 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. States from the horrors of the French Revolution ; and sub- sequently a Universcilist church was erected on the site. What a striking comment upon the glorious and tolerant principles of our free and happy land 1 The warmer climes of the South induced many of the Huguenots to settle in the colony of Virginia. Their neat little cottages, coTered with grape-vines and the wild honey- suckle, might be seen scattered along James River, quite down to the vicinity of Richmond. One writer of the day says : " Most of the French who lived at that town {Monacan)y on James River, removed to Trent River, in North Carolina, where the rest were expected daily to come to them, when I came away, which was in August, 1708." A curious relic of the French Protestants in Virginia has recently been found in the possession of a descendant resid- ing at Petersburg. It is entitled " A register containing the baptisms made within the church of the French refugees, in the Manakin Town, in Virginia, within the parish of King William, in the year of our Lord, 1721, the 25th of March. Done by Jacques Soblet, clerk." This manuscript contains about twenty-five pages of fools- cap paper, written in French, and remains a standing evi- dence of the fidelity of the Virginia Huguenots to their Christian duties and ordinances. As a specimen of their entries, we have copied the following literally, not even cor- recting the orthography : — "Jean Chastain fils de Jean Chastain ett de Marianne Chastain les pere et mere nee le 26 de Septembre, 1*721, est baptise le o'Oc- tobre, par M. Fountainne. lis ava pour paran and marene pierre david et anne david sa femme le quels ont de claree que cest enfun est nee le jour et an que deshus. Signee, " Jaque Soblet, Clerk," John Chastain, son of John Chastain and of Marianne Chastain, the father and mother, born the 20th of September, 1721 ; was bap- tized the 5th of October, by Mr. Fontaine. He had for god-father RECORD OF MONACAN TOWN. 321 and god-mother, Peter David aud Anne David his wife, who have de- clared that this infant was born the day and year aforesaid. Signed, Jaque Soblet, Clerk. Here is another : — "Le 17 Juliet, 1*733, est ne Jean Gueran, fils de Pierre Gueran and de Magdelaine Gueran, a eu pour parain Gideon Chambon et Antoine Trabut, pour maraine Maraine Laucadon et Marte Chastain : a ete baptize par M. Marye. Jean Chastain." July 1*7 th, 1733, was born John Guerrant son of Peter Guerrantand of Magdalen Guerrant. He had for god-fathers Gideon Chambon and Anthony Traubut, for god-mothers Marianne Loucadou and Marte Chastain. He was baptized by Mr. Marye. Jean Chastain. "Le 12 Novambre, 1726, est nee Olimpe Dupui, fillie de Jean Jaqua Dupui et de Susane Dupui, a ete baptize par M. Suift ; a eu pour parain Jean Levilian pour maraine Phileipe Dupui et Judith Dupui. Les partie ont declare qui lanfan est nee le jour et an se desus. " Jean Chastain, Clerk." November the 12th, 1729, was born 013'mpia, daughter of John James and Susan Dupuy : she was baptized b}" Mr. Smith, and had for god-father John Levilaine, for god-mothers Philippa and Judith Dupuy. The parties have certified that the infant was born the day and year aforesaid. Jean Chastain, Clerk. "Le 1 avril, 1740, est nee Marie Wottkins, fille de Stephin Wott- kins et de Judith sa fame, a eu pour parain William Hamton pour Marianne Magdelaine Chastain et Marie Farsi. Jean Chastain." April 1st, 1740, was born Mary, daughter of Stephen Watkins and Judith his wife. She had for god-father William Hampton, for god-mothers Magdalen Chastain and Mary Farsi. Jean Chastain. Two or three pages of the manuscript contain records of deaths. The following is one : "Le 29 de^'anvier; 1723-24, morut le Sieur Anthoine Trabue, agee danviron sinquaintsix a sept annees fut enterree le 30 dumeme moy. "J- SoBLETT, Clerk." "January 29th, 1723-4, died, Sir Anthony Trabue, aged about fifty-six or seven years. He was buried the 36th of the same month. J. SoBLETT, Clerk, VOT.. II. — 14* 322 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. Huguenot Names foiiiid i?i the Register of Baptism. Chastain, David, Monford, Djkar, Xeirn (minister), Dupuj, Bilbo, Dutoi, Salle, Martain, Allaigi'e, Yilain, Soblet, Chambon, Levilain, Trabu, Loucadou, Harris,* Gasper, Wooldridge,* Flournoj, Amis, Banton, Ford,* Sasain, Solaigre, Givodan, Mallet, Dabruil, Guerrant, Sabattie, Dupre, Bernard, Amonet, Porter, Rapine, Lacy, Watkins,* Cocke,* Bondurant, Goin, Pero, Pean, Deen, Robinson,* Edmond, Benin, Stanford, Forqueran, Smith,* AVilliamson,* Roberd, Brook,* Brian, Faure, Don, Bingli, Reno, Lesueur, Pinnet, Trent, Sumter, Morriset, Jordin, Gavain. ]N"ames of Negroes. — Thomberlin (Northumberland), Joan, Jaque, Janne, Anibal, Guillaume, Jean, Pierre, Olive, Robert, Jak, Julienne, Francois, Susan, Primus, Moll, Chamberlain, Dick, Pegg, Nanny, Tobie, Dorote, Agar, Agge, Pompe, Frank, Cffisar, Amy, Isham, De- bora, Tom, Harry, Cipio, Boseu (Boatswain), Sam, Tabb, Jupiter, Es- sex, Cuffy, Orange, Robin, Belin, Samson, Pope, Dina, Fillis, Matilda, Ester, Yarmouth, Judy, and Adam. The land on James River formerly was the dwelling place of the Monacans, a warlike tribe of Indians, none of whom had remained, but the place retained their name, as it does to this day. We find in Beverley's History of Vir- ginia, a very interesting account of the Manakin refugees : " The assembly was very bountiful to those who remained at this town, bestowing on them large donations, money and provisions for their support ; they likewise freed them from every public tax, for several years to come, and addressed the governor to grant them a brief, to entitle them to the charity of all well-disposed persons throughout the country, which together with the King's benevolence, supported them very comfortably, till they could sufficiently supply them- selves with necessaries, which now they do inditferently well, and begin to have stocks of cattle, which are said to give abundantly more milk, than any other in the country. I have heard that these people are upon a design of getting into the breed of buffaloes, to which end they lay in wait for Doubtless English names introduced bj- intermarriage. FAMILY OF FONTAINE. 323 their calves, that they may tame, and raise a stock of them: in which if they succeed, it will in all probability be greatly for their advantage ; for these are much larger than other cattle, and have the benefit of being natural to the climate. They now make many of their own clothes, and are resolved, as soon as they have improved that manufacture, to apply them- selves to the making of wine and brandy, which they do not doubt to bring to perfection." The Rev. John Fontaine, a Calvinistic clergyman, first preached to his refugee brethren in England and Ireland (1688). Then his sons emigrated to Virginia, and here be- came settled ministers. From this stock alone, including his son-in-law, Mr. Maury, have descended hundreds of the best citizens of that ancient and honorable commonwealth, embracing ministers, members of the bar, legislators, and public officers. The Rev. Dr. Hawks, of New-York, estimates the relations of these families in the United States at not less than 2,000. A few years ago, he found in a family under his parochial charge, a manuscript autobiography of one of its ancestors. This was James Fontaine, who endured much for the sake of his faith, and was a persecuted Huguenot. The work has been published, and is full of interest. " A Tale of the Huguenots ; or, Memoirs of a French Refugee Family, with an introduction, by F. L. Hawks, D.D." Mr. Fontaine was a noble example of a true Huguenot. In his early life, he was accustomed to the enjoyments of wealth, education, and refined society ; but for conscience sake he was stripped of them all, and forced to leave his native land. An exile in England, ignorant of its language, and unaccustomed to labor, he soon accommodated himself to his altered circumstances. He became a skilful artisan, and worked successfully at his trade. At first, he opened a little store, with a school also, to teach the French language, and he says : " We were in great hopes, that with both to- 324 ^ AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. getlier, we should be able to pay our way." Mr. Fontaine next undertook the manufactory of worsted goods, which he profitably carried on for some, but became tired of the busi- ness. He was anxious to unite with a French church, and, knowing that there were many refugees in Ireland, went to Cork, in 1695. At first he preached in the English church, after its pas- tor had finished the services of the day. Then the refugees obtained the court-room for their worship, and finally he gave up a large apartment on the lower floor of his house, which was properly arranged with pulpit and seats for reli- gious meetings. Mr. Fontaine writes at that time : " I was now at the height of my ambition ; I was beloved by my hearers, to whom I preached gratuitously. Great numbers of zealous, pious, and upright persons, had joined our com- munion. This state of things was altogether too good to last. My cup of happiness was now full to ovei'flowing, and, like all the enjoyments of this earth, it proved very transi- tory." Dissensions grew up. Mr. Fontaine was a Presby- terian, and some of his hearers required him to receive Episcopal ordination, and this circumstance produced discus- sion, until he felt it his duty to resign his charge. In an- swer to his request, his elders " gave a reluctant and sorrowful consent, thanking him most humbly for the service he has ren- dered to this church, during two years and a half, without receiving any stipend or equivalent whatsoever for his un- ceasing exertions. . . . We have been extremely edified by his preaching, which has always been in strict accordance with the pure Word of God. He has imparted consolation to the sick and afflicted, and set a bright example to the * flock of the most exemplary piety and good conduct." Our refugee next removed to Bear Haven, and entered largely into the flshing business, and now became a justice of the peace, exerting himself to break up the contraband traffic, which he found generally carried on " between the HOUSE ATTACKED BY PIRATES. 325 Irish robbers and the French privateers," then swarming the coast. From eight to ten of these desperate characters were sent to Cork for trial at every assize of Bear Haven. They swore vengeance upon the upright magistrate, and in the year 1704, a French privateer hove in sight, and soon an- chored before his house. She mounted ten guns, with a crew of eighty seamen, and " four of his Irish neighbors to act as guides." The Huguenot mustered all his men, amounting to 20, supplying the Protestants with muskets, and sending the Papists away. This reduced his force to seven men besides himself, wife and children, and four or five of these were of little use. Posting himself in a tower over the door, the rest of the j)arty occupied the different windows. The lieutenant land- ed, with 20 men, and approaching the dwelling, he took aim at Mr. Fontaine, but missed him ; the Huguenot then fired a blunderbuss, w^ith small leaden balls, one of which entered the neck of the privateersman, and another his side, when his men carried him back wounded to the ship. This unex- pected resistance from a minister made the captain furious, when he sent to the attack 20 more men, another command- er, with two small cannon. " I must acknowledge," he says, " that being unaccustomed to this sort of music, I felt some little tremors of fear when the first cannon-ball struck the house, but I instantly humbled myself before my Maker, and having committed myself, both soul and body, to his keeping, my courage revived, and I suffered no more from fear. I put my head out of the window, to see what eflfect the ball had produced on our stone wall, and when I per- ceived it had only made a slight scratch, I cried out for joy, 'Courage, my dear children, their cannon-balls have no more effect on our stone walls than if they were so many apples.' " The wife of Mr. Fontaine displayed the greatest self-pos- session and bravery on this trying occasion, carrying am- munition, acting as surgeon, and encouraging all by her words 326 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. and actions. " Courage, my children," she said, " we are in the hands of God, and it is not fear that will insure our safety ; on the contrary, Grod will bless our courage. If you cannot fire yourselves, you can load the muskets for your father and others who are older and stronger than you are ; drive away all fear, if you can, and leave the care of your persons to God." The fight continued from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon,' without intermission. Only two of the Huguenot family were wounded, a man, and one of the children slightly in his finger. The enemy finally withdrew, with three men killed and seven wounded. Dur- ing the whole action, the Huguenot minister did not per- mit any one " to taste a drop of wine or spirits, or strong beer." A second attack was feared, but soon the privateer weighed anchor and sailed away, and the family returned thanks to God for their "glorious deliverance." A full account of this bold and courageous affair was transmitted to Lord Cox, then Chancellor of Ireland, and the Duke of Ormond, who was Lord Lieutenant. M. Fon- taine recommended to them that a fort should be built there, when " it would be a great place for the settlement of French refugees, and would also prove a safeguard to the commerce of the whole kingdom." In the year 1704, he himself erect- ed a fortification at the back of his house, purchased some six-pounders, which had been obtained from a vessel lost on the Irish coast, and the government supplied him with pow- der and balls. The Council of Dublin also voted him £50, and Queen Anne, in 1705, granted him a pension of five shil- lings a day for his services, and as a French refugee. From this daring defence, the name of M. Fontaine and wife became known and famous throughout all Europe. The French corsairs especially remembered it, and threatened an- other attack. Indeed, the family constantly apprehended such a visit, and it did take place in 1704. Leaving their vessel at midnight, the enemy soon reached the dwelling, and fired ATTACK CONTINUED. 327 the outbuildings and grain stacks, which, in less than half an hour, were completely enveloped in flames. On this oc- casion the whole garrison consisted of the two parents, chil- dren, and four servants, two of whom were mere cow-boys. By two o'clock in the afternoon, the pirates had made a breach through the wall of the house ; but the children, pro- tected by a mattress in front of the opening, fired one after another at the assailants, as fast as they possibly could. The Huguenot leader, having overcharged his musket, it burst, throwing him down, and broke three of his ribs and right collar-bone. He was insensible for a short time, but re- marks, " I had already done my part, for during the course of the morning, I had fired five pounds of swan-shot from my now disabled piece." Notwithstanding this unfortunate ac- cident, an incessant fire was kept up on both sides, until a parley took place. Life and liberty were then guaranteed to the family, as the terms of capitulation, while the enemy were to have the plunder, and they swore to these conditions as Frenchmen and men of honor. When the officer and men entered the dwelling, and, looking anxiously around, saw only five youths and four cow-herds, they suspected that an ambush had been laid for them. " You need not fear any thing dishonorable from me," said the French preacher; "you see all our garrison." " Impossible ! " he replied : " these children could not possibly have kept up all the firing." The house was then completely stripped of every thing, not excepting the coats, which had been thrown off in the heat of the action, and the booty filled six boats. When they departed, M. Fontaine, with his two eldest boys and two servants, were taken away as prisoners. In vain did the good man protest that this was an infraction of the treaty. The remonstrances availed nothing. In a few days, the children and the servants were sent ashore, but he 328 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. was detained ; and then orders were given to raise the an- chor. During all these severe trials, his noble companion did not cj[uietlj sit down to lament over her misfortunes. She first went to the parish priest, who was under great obliga- tions to her husband, and entreated him to use his influence for his liberation. But he positively refused. Perceiving the privateer under sail, she resolved to follow it along the shore, as long as she could, and reaching a promontory, she made a signal with her apron on the top of a stick. A boat came near the shore, and she carried on a conver- sation with its crew through a speaking trumpet. After much bargaining, they agreed to set M. Fontaine at liberty, upon the payment of £100 sterling. Of this sum the excel- lent lady could only borrow £30, and the captain of the pri- vateer agreed to take this amount, with one of her sons as a hostage, until the remaining £70 was paid, calling her at the same time " a second Judith." Mrs. Fontaine repaired forthwith to Cork, for the pur- pose of raising the sum wanted, and could easily have ob- tained it ; but the merchants of that city objected to any payment of the kind. The privateer hovered about the Irish coast for some time, expecting the ransom money ; but when the Governor of Brest heard the circumstances, he con- demned the captain strongly for bringing a hostage away with him, directly contrary to the Law of Nations. The difficulty did not terminate here. As soon as he was able, the French preacher visited Kinsale, and made an affadavit of the outrage he had suffered. At this place were a govern- ment officer and a prison, and immediately all the French officers, who had been taken in the war then existing, were ironed. Numbers of the same description were treated in a similar manner. These retaliatory measures excited great public feeling against the captain of the privateer, and he was summoned to appear before tlie Governor of Brest, who imprisoned and even threatened to hang him. Upon his pro- DESCENDATSTTS OF FONTAINE. 329 raising to set at liberty the young hostage, and convey him to the place from whence he had been taken, the ofl&cer was liberated. Mr. Fontaine now determined to reside in Dublin, and support his family by teaching the Latin, Greek, and French languages ; and, in the mean time, the G-rand Jury of Cork awarded him £800 for his losses at Bear Haven. In his new abode, he was able to give his children excellent educa- tions ; one became an officer in the British service, and three entered college. The former was John Fontaine, and the family determined that he should visit America for informa- tion ; and after travelling through Massachusetts, New-York, New Jersey, and Mar3dand, he purchased a plantation in Vir- ginia. Peter, another brother, received ordination from the Bishop of London, and with Moses, who studied law, both embarked for Virginia in 1716. Francis, the last son, re- mained at college. There were two daughters in his family. The eldest, Mary Anne, married Matthew Maury, a Protestant refugee from Gascony, in 1716, and the next year he joined his rela- tions in this country. His son was the Rev. James Maury, of Albemarle, Virginia, a very estimable and useful clergy- man of the Church of England. James was another son of the French preacher, who made America his home, bringing with him his wife, child, mother-in-law, and thirteen servants, in 1717. Francis, in 1719, was ordained by the Bishop of London, on the particular recommendation of the Archbishop of Dublin, and then also sailed for Virginia. He became a very eloquent and popular preacher, and settled in St, Margaret's parish, King William county. In the year 1721, Mr. Fontaine lost his most faithful, exemplary, and pious companion. " A melancholy day," he records in his autobiography, " it was, that deprived me of my greatest earthly comfort and consolation. I was bowed to the very dust ; but it made me think of my own latter end, 330 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. and make preparation to join her once more." At the con- clusion of his memoirs, he uses the following remarkable lan- guage : " I feel the strongest conviction, that if you will take care of these memoirs, your descendants will read them with pleasure ; and I here declare, that I have been most particu- lar as to the truth of all that is herein recorded. " I hope God will bless the work, and that by his grace it may be a bond of union among you and your descendants, and that it may be an humble means of coniBrming you all in the fear of the Lord. I am, dear children, " Your tender father, " James Fontaine." Little did the faithful Huguenot preacher imagine that a century after he wrote thus kindly to his own children, myriads who have been born from the same noble and holy ancestry, would be animated, cheered, and profited by his useful life and example. Though dead, he yet speaketh. We have dwelt thus at length upon the heroic history of this Hugueaot minister and his family ; for where can we find an example so worthy of imitation ? He was a Hugue- not in its fullest sense, bearing himself at all times, with a noble spirit of the true man, for the work before him. Never losing trust in God, nor proper confidence in himself, he proved that, when thus true, man need never despair. His long line of descendants in the United States may well cherish and honor his memory. Mr. Weiss has given to the public, in his chapter on the Refugees in America, much new, full and authentic informa- tion of Huguenots who emigrated to South Carolina. To this region they repaired in the largest numbers (and as late as the year 1782), which were also increased by additions from the North Carolina settlements. The Huguenot church at Charleston, alone sustains its distinctive character in this country ; all similar French con- HUGUENOT CHURCH IN CHARLESTON. 331 gregations having long since mingled with their brethren of other Christian denominations. This edifice was created about 1693, a plain, neat, square, stone building. We have visited this time-honored and sacred spot, and strolled about its heaped-up graves, many of which still remain. What hallowing associations linger about such a place and such a house ! Long since have the early Huguenots to " La Caro- lina" ceased to occupy its humble, open seats ; but in the times of which we are writing, this tabernacle was filled with the prayers and melodies of faithful French Protestants. Recently the old church has been taken down, and a beau- tiful new, sacred edifice erected in its place. The Rev. Mr. Rosser, a well known, able and eloquent preacher, of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Virginia, informed the writer that he was recently invited to deliver a discourse in this new house of worship. He is himself a zealous descendant of , the French Protestants ; and when preparing to enter the pulpit from the vestry, the elders robed him in an old, worn, thread- bare clerical gown. Perceiving his surprise, they remarked that this mantle had been used by the early Huguenot pas- tor ; and when placed upon a stranger, the congregation con- sidered it as a mark of afi'ection and special honor. This church uses a liturgy in its public services, and I have been politely furnished with a copy by Daniel Ravenel, Esq., one of its compilers. It is " The Liturgy of the French Protestant Church, translated from the editions of 1737 and 1772, published at Neuchatel; with additional prayers, carefully selected, and some alterations; arranged for the use of the congregation in the city of Charleston, S. C. Charleston: printed by James S. Burgess, 1836." Joseph Manigault, William Mazyck, George W. Cross, and Daniel Ravenel, w^-re appointed a committee on the translation of this liturgy, and presented the work on Sun- day, October 23, 1836, as the result of their efforts. It was principally compiled and translated from a French quarto 332 AMERICAN HUGUENOTS. copy, formerly used in the pulpit of this church. The work contained no burial service, and this was added from the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, omitting the rubrics. Neither were there any " Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings," which were obtained, in part, from the same book, and out of a French work, printed at Amsterdam, 1765, entitled, '■^ A Liturgy for the Protestants of France ; or, Prayers for the Families oj the Faithful, de- prived of the public exercise of their religion ; with a pre- liminary discourse. ' ' Only one entire prayer was composed for the work, the original of which was found among the papers of Thomas S. Grrimke, after his lamentable death. The translation was made by Elias Hony, G-eorge W. Cross, and Mr. Grimke, the first and the last of which gentlemen did not live to see the liturgy printed, although complete before they died. "We have been thus particular in our references to this church, as it is the only standing monument in our entire land of the religious principles and worship which brought the Hu- guenots to this new world. In every other place, the refu- gees have long since united with other evangelical sects. Originally four French Protestant churches existed in South Carolina, but three of the number became connected with the Protestant EpiscojDal, and were supported by the public funds. This congregation alone sustains its original and distinctive character, praising and worshipping the Al- mighty, according to the forms sanctioned by the piety of their persecuted and pious forefathers. In their escape to this country, the Huguenots resembled the escape of the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage to the wilderness, where God might give them the rights of conscience and the tabernacle of religious freedom. We cannot certainly desire to see perpetuated among us the foreign notions of hereditary excellence ; still, as claiming HUGUENOT PRINCIPLES. 333 origin from this noble race ourselves, with their numerous decendants in our land, we may look back with pride to our Huguenot forefathers. Well may we all boast of our ever happy inheritance. The emigration of our ancestors was the most momentous event of the seventeenth century. Reli- gion, not priestcraft, emigrated with them — not the idolatry of form, but simple, sincere worship of the Almighty came as a companion with them to the forests of America. Our fathers were not only Christians, but Protestants. The Puritans of Winthrop's fleet, the adventurous companions of Smith, the Quaker outlaw, the expatriated Huguenot, all professed faith in God, and in the soul of man. They were believers in Bible Christianity, the system inculcating equal- ity among men, and exactly adapted in its practical opera- tions to the wants and happiness of civil society ; that sys- tem which has created our liberties, and brought them up to a glorious manhood. New- York, January, 1854. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS EEFERRED TO, IN JUSTIFICATION OF THE TEXT. No. 1.— Yol. I. pp. 26-28. We have given a brief analysis of the Edict of Nantes. We deem it proper to give in this place the entire text, with its warrant and secret articles, which, as a whole, have not been published in any history of France. Edict of Nantes, with its %oarrant, and secret articles. 1. Edict. — Henry, (fee. Among the infinite graces it has pleased God to bestow on us, this is the most signal and remarkable, that he has given us virtue and strength to withstand the frightful troubles, confusions and disorders which attended our accession to the throne, the country being torn into parties and factions, the least numerous of which was as it were the most legitimate ; and for having so strengthened us against this difiiculty, that we have at length sur- mounted it, and reached a harbor of safety and repose for the State. To whom alone be all the glory, and to us the honor and obligation, that he has made use of our labor to accomplish this good work, which has been visible to all, if we have performed what was not only of our duty and ability, but something more beside, which might not have been at any other time proper to the dignity we hold, which we have no fear of exposing here, seeing that we have so freely exposed our own life. And in this remarkable concurrence of so great and perilous affairs, it not being in our power to settle every thing at one and the same time, it has been necessary for us to foUaw 336 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. this order, namel}'^, to undertake first those things which could be set- tled only by force, and the rather to remit and lay aside till some other time such as could and should be settled by reason and justice: such as the diffei-ent views of our good subjects, and the particular dis- eases of the more healthy parts of the State, which we deemed easily curable, after the principal cause had been taken away, namely, the continuance of civil war. In which having (by the grace of God) well and happily succeeded, and both arms and hostilities having ceased within the entire kingdom, we hope for an equally prosperous issue in what remains to be settled, and that by this means we shall attain to the establishment of a good peace and tranquil repose, which has always been the object of our wishes and prayers, and the reward that we desire for so many sufferings and labors through which we have passed in the course of our life. Of the above-men- tioned affairs for which patience will be needed, and one of the principal has been the complaints made by divers of our provinces and Catholic cities, that the exercise of the Catholic religion was not universally re-established, as ordered by the edicts hitherto made for the pacification of troubles on account of religion. As also the sup- plications and remonstrances which have been made by our subjects of the pretended reformed religion, partly in regard to the nonfulfilment of what had been granted them by these edicts, and partly in regard to what they deemed should be added thereto, touching their above-men- tioned religion, liberty of conscience, and the safety of their persons and property: presuming themselves in possession of just cause for new and yet greater apprehensions, by reason of these late troubles and move- ments, whose principal pretext and foundation has been their ruin. In regard to which, that too great a press of matters might not be laid on us at once, and also that the rage of armies might not interfere with the establishment of the laws, such as they were, we have always postponed this matter. But now that it has pleased God to give us a beginning of quiet and repose, we esteem it the best employment in our power to apply ourselves to what concerns his holy name and service, and to bring it about that he should be worshipped and adored by all our subjects : and if it has not pleased him that there sliould be one and the same form of religion, yet there should be the same intention, and under such regulations that there should arise no tumult or disturbance on account of it among you : and that both we and this kingdom may ever merit and preserve the title of very Chris- tian, which has been acquired from so long a time, and by so many merits: and bv th^ same means to take away the cause of evil and AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 337 trouble which can befall the cause of religion, which is ever the most supple and penetrating of all. On this occasion, considering the af- fair as one of very great importance, and worthy of the very gravest consideration, after receiving the complaints of our Catholic subjects, having also permitted our subjects of the pretended reformed religion to assemble by deputies and draw up theirs, and to bring together all their remonstrances, and having conferred with them at divers times in regard to the matter, and having read over the preceding edicts, we have thought it necessary, at this time, to give to all our subjects a general law, clear, concise and absolute, by which they ma}^ govern themselves with regard to all differences which have hitherto sprung up, or may hereafter ai'ise, among them, and of which both may be a subject of contention, as the temper of the times may be. Having, on our part, entered on the deliberation only through the zeal we have for the service of God, and that it may be offered and rendered by all our subjects, and to establish among them a true and lasting peace. For which we implore and await from his di- vine goodness the same protection and favor that he has ever visibly bestowed on this kingdom from its birth, and during the entire period it has passed through, and that he may give grace to our sub- jects to well comprehend, that in the observance of this ordinance consists (next to their duty to God and their fellows) the principal foundation of their union, concord, tranquillity and repose, and of the re-establishment of this whole State in its first splendor, opulence, and strength. On our part, we engage its strict observance, suffering no infringement thereof. For these reasons, having, with the advice of the princes of our blood, other princes and officers of the crown, and other great and and notable personages of our Council of State, being near us, well and diligently weighed and considered the en- tire affair, we have, by this perpetual and irrevocable Edict, said, declared and ordered, do say, declare and order : L Firstly, that the memory of all past transactions, both on the one part and the other, since the beginning of the month of March, 1585, up to our accession to the Crown, and during the preceding troubles, and on account of them, shall remain extinct and dormant as though they had never happened. And it shall not be allowed or permitted to our Procureur Generals, or any other person what- ever, public or private, at any time, or on any occasion whatever to make mention thereof, or institute a suit or prosecution in any courts or jurisdictions whatever. VOL. II — 15 338 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. II. We foibid all our subjects, of whatever state or quality, from renewing the memory, attacking, resenting, injuring or provoking the one the other by reproaches for Avhat has passed, under any cause and pretext whatever, from disputing, contesting, quarrelling, or outraging or offending by word or deed : but to restrain themselves and to live peaceably together like brothers, friends and citizens, under pain of being punished as breakers of the peace and disturbers of public order. III. We command that the Catholic religion, Apostolic and Roman, shall be reinstated and re-established in all places and parts of this our kingdom, and within the bounds of our authority, where its exercise has been intermitted, that it may be peaceably and freely exercised without any disturbance or impediment. Expressly forbidding every person of any state, quality or condition whatever, under the above- mentioned penalties, from troubling, disturbing or molesting the eccle- siastics in the celebration of divine service, from the enjoyment and re- ceipt of the tithes, fruits and revenues of their benefices, and all other rites and duties appertaining thereto: and that all those who, during the troubles have taken possession of churches, houses, properties and revenues belonging to said ecclesiastics, and who still hold and occupy them, shall give up the entire possession and peaceful enjoyment of them, with such rights, liberties, and sureties, as they had before they were seized. Forbidding very expressly those of the said pretended reformed religion from preaching or any exercise of their religion in the churches, houses and habitations of the said ecclesiastica. IV. The said ecclesiastics may, if they choose, purchase the houses and buildings raised on profane places, upon those occupied during the commotions, or constrain the possessors of the said buildings to pur- chase the ground, all according to a valuation made by experts agreed on by the parties. And if the parties cannot agree on them, they shall be provided by local judges, provided the said possessors are not included therein. And if said ecclesiastics constrain the holders to purchase the ground, the sum agreed on shall not come into their hands : but the holders shall retain it in their hands, drawing interest at the rate of twenty per cent, till it becomes profitable to the church : which shall be deemed a year. And when the said time shall have elapsed, should the acquirer be unwilling to continue the said rent, he shall be discharged therefrom by consigning the moneys into the hands of a solvent person with the consent of the judges. And with regard to the sacred places, the views of the commissioners appointed by us for the execution of the present Edict shall be followed, as by us provided. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 339 V. Nevertheless the places aud sites occupied for repairs and fortifications of our cities aud places of our kingdom, and the materi- als used therein, shall not be taken possession of or sold by the eccle- siastics or other persons, either public or private, unless the said re- pairs and fortifications shall be demolished by our ordinances. VI. And that all occasion of troubles and differences among our subjects may be taken away, we have and do permit persons of the pretended reformed religion to live and remain in all the cities and l»laces of this our kingdom, and countries under our authority, without being questioned, vexed or molested, or constrained to do any thing with regard to religion contrary to their conscience, nor on account of it shall they be searched for in their houses and places where thoy desire to dwell, provided they comport themselves in accordance witli the provisions of our present edict. VII. We have also given permission to all seigneurs, gentlemen, and other persons, denizens or otherwise, making a profession of the pretended reformed religion, holding within our kingdom and country, under our authority, high judicial office, or a full fief of knighthood (as in Normandy) whether as property or usufruct, in whole or in part, or even a third part, to have, in such of their houses of the said high justices, or said knights, as they shall hold themselves ready to name to our bailiffs or seneschals, each in his own right, as his chief place of residence, the exercise of the said religion, as long as they reside therein: and in their absence, their wives, their family, or a part of it; and if the title of either justice or knight shall be questioned, still the worship of said religion shall be allowed, provided the above-mentioned persons have actual possession of said offices, until our Procureur General can attend to the matter. We also permit the said worship to be held in other houses belonging to those high functionaries, or knights, in the presence, and not other- wise, of their domestics, their family, and subjects. VIII. In the houses of tenants, or persons of the said religion who are not high functionaries or knights, there can be said worship for their families alone. However, this is not to be understood as al- lowing a search in cases where other persons, to the number of thirty, chance to arrive, or friends come to visit them: provided, also, that said houses are not within cities, towns, or villages belonging to high Catholic lords, other than ourselves, in which said Catholic lords have houses ; in which case, those of the said religion cannot, in said cities, towns, or villages, have religious services, unless by permission and consent of the said Catholic lords, and not otherwise. 340 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. IX. We also permit members of the said religion to do and con^ tinue the exercise of it in all villages and places under our autliority ■where it has been established by them, and publicly performed at several and divers times in the year one thousand five hundred and eighty-six, and in the year one thousand five hundred and eighty- seven, until the end of the month of August, all decrees and judg- ments to the contrary notwithstanding. X. Likewise the said worship shall be established and re-estab- lished in all villages and places where it has been introduced, or ought to be, by the Edict of Pacification, made in the year 1577, by the private articles and conferences of Nerac and Fleix, without which the said establishment might be prevented in the places and situa- tions mentioned in that edict, the articles, and conferences, as places for bailiwicks, or which had been hitherto, though they have been alienated to Catholic persons, or shall be hereafter. It is not to be understood, however, that the said worship may be re-establislied in places and situations of the said domain, which have been heretofore possessed by persons of the pretended reformed religion, in which it might have been allowed for personal considerations, or on account of feudal privileges, if the said fiefs are at present in the possession of persons of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Eoman religion. XL Besides in each of the ancient bailiwicks, seueschalships, and governments holding the place of bailiwicks, being plainly under the jurisdiction of the courts of parliament, we order that in the suburbs of a city, excepting those which have been granted b}^ the said edict to them, as also by special articles and conferences, and where there are no cities, in a burgh or village, the exercise of the pretended reform- ed religion shall be made publicly by all those who may ^vish to go there, although in the said bailiwicks, seueschalships, and govern- ments there may be several places in which the said exercise may be at present established, save and excepting for the said places of baili- wicks newly granted by the present edict, the cities in which there is an archbishop or bishop, although the members of the said pretended reformed religion have the power to ask for and name, for the said place of their worship, the boroughs and villages in the neighborhood of those cities, excepting also the places and seigneurships belonging to ecclesiastics, in the which we must not be understood as allowing the said second place of the bailiwick, these being excepted and re- sei'ved by special favor. We mean and understand by the name of ancient bailiwicks, to speak of those which in the time of the late King Henry, our very honored lord and father-in-law, were held for baili- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 341 wicks, seneschalships, and governments, being clearly under the juris diction of our courts. XII. The present edict must not be understood as doing away aught of the edicts and agreements heretofore made for the reduction of any princes, lords, gentlemen, and Catholic cities in our authority, as it respects the exercise of the sai^ religion, which edicts and agree- ments shall be held and observed as it regards this matter, as it shall be determined by the instructions of the commissioners, who shall be appointed for the execution of the present edict. XIII. All persons of the said religion are very expressly forbidden from making any exercise of it, either of ministry, regulation, disci- pline, or public instruction of children, and other matters in this our kingdom, and in countries under our authority, in what concerns re- ligion, except in those places permitted and allowed in the present edict. XIV. Also from performing any exercise of said religion in our court and suite, and also in our lands and countries which are beyond the mountains, and also in our city of Paris, or within five leagues of said city ; although the members of said religion, dwelling in said lands and countries beyond the mountains, and in our said cit}^ and within five leagues around it, shall not have their houses searched, nor be compelled to do any thing in regard to their religion contrary to their conscience, provided they comport themselves as it is com- manded in the present edict. XV. Nor shall a public exercise of said religion be allowed among the armies, except at the quarters of Tiie chiefs who make a profes- sion thereof, excepting the quarter which shall contain our person. XVI. By the twelfth article of the Conference of Nerac, permis- sion was given to those holding said religion to build places for the exercise of it in such villages and places as might be agreed on, and those shall be restored to them that they have hitherto built, or the site of them, in such sta' e as they may be in at present, even in those places where the exercide of their worship is not allowed, except they have been changed into other kinds of edifices, in which case there shall be given to them, by the possessors of said edifices, places and situations of the same value and price which they had before they were built on, or the proper value of them, to be determined by experts : provided the proprietors and possessors whom the matter concerns, are not of it. XVII. "We forbid all preachers, readers, and others who speak in public, from using any word, discourse, and terms tending to excite the people to sedition; but we have enjoined, and do enjoin, them to 342 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. a retiring and modest carriage, and to do notliing which is not calculated for the edification and instruction of their auditors, and for the mainte- nance of the repose and tranquillity by us established in this our king- dom, under pain of the penalties mentioned in preceding edicts. En- joining very expressly our prosecuting officers and their deputies to inform against those who contravene them, under pain of answering in their own persons, and by privation of their offices. XVIII. We forbid all our subjects, of whatever quality or condi tion soever, from bearing away by force or stratagem, against the consent of their parents, children of the said religion, in order to have them baptized or confirmed in the Church Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman. The members of the said pretended reformed religion are under the same j^rohibition, under pain of being severely punished. XIX. Persons belonging to the said pretended reformed religion shall be in no manner constrained, or considered bound by reason of abjurations, promises, and oaths that they have hitherto made, or sureties by them given, in regard to said religion, and shall not be molested or disturbed on account thereof, in any manner whatsoever. XX. They shall be bound to guard and observe the festivals in use in the Church Catholic, Apostolic and Roman, and shall not on such days labor, sell, or display for sale, in open shops, nor in like manner shall artisans labor without their shops, and in chambers and closed houses, on the said festival days, and other days forbidden, at any trade, the noise of which can be heard by passers-by or neighbors ; nevertheless, no search shall be made, except by the officers of justice. XXI. Books concerning the said pretended reformed religion shall be printed and sold publicly onl^^ in the cities and places where the public exercise of said religion is permitted ; and as it respects other books, which shall be printed in other cities seen and visited, whether by our officers or theologians, as it is commanded by our ordinances. We very expressly forbid the expression, publication, and sale of all books, libels, and defamatory writings, under the penalties contained in our ordinances, enjoining all our judges and officers to see to its execution. XXII. We order that there shall be no difi"erence or distinction made with regard to said religion, in receiving scholars to be in- structed in the universities, colleges and schools, as well as the sick and poor in the hospitals, lazarettos, and charitable institutions. XXIII. Those belonging to the pretended reformed religion shall be bound to respect the laws of the Catholic Church, Apostolic and Roman, received in this our kingdom, in regard to marriages con- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 343 tracted, and to be contracted, within the degrees of consanguinity and affinity. XXIV. In like manner the members of the said religion shall pay the entrance fees, as is the custom, for the employments and offices with which they are provided, without being constrained to assist at any ceremonies contrary to their religion ; and when about to be sworn, shall be bound only to raise the hand, swear, and promise to God to tell the truth ; and may also dispense with the oath by them to be taken in passing contracts and obligations. XXV. We will and order that all members of the said religion, pretendedly reformed, and others who have followed their party, of whatever state, quality, or condition they may be, shall be bound and holden by all reasonable dues ; and under the penalties contained in the edicts on these matters, to pay and discharge tithes to the curates and other ecclesiastics, and to all others to whom they may belong, according to local usage and custom. XXVI. Xo one of our subjects shall be disinherited or deprived of his propert}^, either in the past or future, by will or otherwise, made only from hatred, or on account of religion. XXVIL In fine, that we may as far as possible reunite our subjects in friendly feelings, as is our wish, and to take away all complaints in future, we declare all those who have made, or shall make, a profession of the said pi-etended reformed religion, capable of holding and exer- cising all employments, dignities, offices, and public employments of whatever kind, royal, seigneurial, in either of the cities, or of this our kingdom, countries, lands, and manors under our authority, not- withstanding all oaths to the contrary ; and our courts of parliament and other judges shall learn and inquire of the life, manners, and re- ligion and chaste conversation of those who are or shall be candidates for office, as well of one religion as the other, taking of them no oath except to well and faithfully serve the King, in the exercise of their employments, and to see that the ordinances are observed, as it has been done from all time. In regard to vacancies in these situations, employments, and offices, as it regards those who shall fill them, this shall be done indifferently, and without distinction, from capable per- sons, as a matter that regards the union of our subjects. Let it also be understood that members of the pretended reformed religion are to be admitted and received to all councils, deliberations, assemblies, and functions, which depend on the above-mentioned things, and not to be rejected on account of their religion, or prevented from enjoy- ing them. 344 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. XXA'III. We order, in regard to the interment of the dead of per- sons of the said religion, for all the cities and places of this kingdom^ that there be promptly provided in each place, by our officers and magistrates, and by the commissionei's we shall appoint for the execu- tion of the present edict, a place as commodious as possible ; and the cemeteries luthei'to held by them, and of which the}' have been de- prived by the troubles, shall be returned to them ; but if they should be found to be occupied, at the present time, by edifices and build logs of whatever sort, they shall be provided with others gratuitously in their place. XXIX. We expressly command our officers to see to it^ that at the said interments no scandal be committed; and they shall be bound, within five days after a requisition shall have been made, to provide the members of said religion a place proper for said burial, without any delays, under penalty of a fine of five hundred crowns : and the said officers, as well as all others, are forbidden to take any thing for services to these dead bodies, under penalty of being pun- ished for extortion. XXX. In fine, that justice may be rendered and administered to our subjects, without any suspicion, hatred or favor, as being one of the principal means of preserving peace and concord, we have or- dered and do order, that in our court of parliament of Paris shall be established a chamber, composed of a president and sixteen council- lors of said parliament, which shall be called and entitled the Cham- ber of the Edict, and shall have cognizance not only of causes and suits of persons of the pretended reformed religion, who shall be within the jurisdiction of said court ; but also of suits from our par- liaments of Normandy and Brittany, according to the jurisdiction which shall be given to them by this edict,^ and just as far as in each of the said parliaments, have been established a chamber to render justice in those places. We order, also,, that of the four offices of coun- cillors in our said parliament, remaining from the last erection made by us, there shall be chosen and received to this parliament four persons of this pretended reformed religion, sufficient and capable men, who shall be distributed thus : the first to the Chamber of Edict, and the other three, as they shall be selected, to three of the Cham- bers of Inquest. And beside, the two first offices of councillors of said court, which shall become vacant by death, shall be filled by two persons of the said religion ; and these shall be distributed among the other two Chambers of Inquests. XXXI. Beside the chamber heretofore established at Castres, for AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 345 the jurisdiction of om* court of parliament of Toulouse, which shall be continued in the state in which it now is, we have, from the same considerations, ordered and do order, that in each of our courts of parlia- ment of Grenoble and Bourdeaux shall be likewise established a cham- ber, composed of two presidents, the one a Catholic, and the other of the pretended reformed religion, and of twelve councillors, of which six shall be Catholic, and the other six of the said religion ; whose Catholic presidents and councillors shall be by us chosen and taken from the bodies of the said courts. And, as to those of the said re- ligion, there shall be a new creation of a president and six councillors for the parliament of Bourdeaux, and of a president and three coun- cillors for that of Grenoble, which, with the three councillors of said religion, who are at present in said parliament, shall be employed in the said Chamber of Dauphiny. And the said offices of new creation shall be entitled to the same salary, honors, authorities and pre- eminences as others of the said courts. And the said sitting of the said court of Bourdeaux shall be at the said Bourdeaux, or at Xerac ; and that of Dauphiny, at Grenoble. XXXII. The said Chamber of Dauphinj^ shall have cognizance of the suits of members of the said pretended reformed religion, within the jurisdictionof our parliament of Provence, without the necessity of tak- ing letters of appeal, nor other provisions, except in our chancery of Dauphiny. So, also, persons of that religion in Xormandy and Brit- tany shall not be compelled to take out letters of appeal, nor other provisions, except in our chancery of Paris. XXXIII. Our subjects of the same religion in the parliament of Bourgogne shall have the choice and option to plead in the cham- ber ordered at Paris, or in this of Dauphiny. And shall not be bound to take letters of appeal, nor other provisions than from the chanceries of Paris and Dauphiny, according to the choice they make. XXXIV. All of the said chambers, composed as above, shall have jurisdiction, and give final judgment by decree, privately from all others, of suits begun and to be begun, in which persons of the said pretended reformed religion shall be principal parties or securities, whether plaintiff or defendant, in all matters civil or criminal, whether the said jDrocess be by writing or verbal summons. And this, if it seem good to the said parties, and one of them shall require it before joining suit, as it regards causes j^et to be commenced : ex- cepting, however, all matters respecting benefices and the possession of tithes not in fee, ecclesiastical advowsons, and suits which concern the rights and duties of the domain of the Church, which shall all TOL. II. — 15* 346 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. • be treated and judged of in courts of parliament, so that the said Chambers of Edict shall not hare jurisdiction. So, also, we desire, as it regards the judging and deciding criminal suits arising between the said ecclesiastics and persons of the said pretended reformed re- ligion, if the ecclesiastic be the defendant, in that case the jurisdiction and judgment shall belong to our sovereign courts, in private at the said chambers; but if the ecclesiastic be plaintiff, and the defendant be of the said religion, the jurisdiction and judgment shall belong by appeal ; and, as a last resort, to the said established chambers. Re- cognizing, also, the said chambers in times of vacation, as to matters belonging to them by the edicts and ordinances of chambers estab- lished in times of vacation, each in its own sphere. XXXV. The said chamber of Grenoble shall be, as at present, united and incorporated with the body of the said court of parlia- ment, and the presidents and councillors of the said pretended re- formed religion shall be named presidents and councillors of the said court, and entitled to the same rank and number ; and, for these ends, they shall at first be distributed among the other chambers, then selected and drawn from them, to be employed and used in those that we order anew, with this understanding, however, that they shall sit with, and have a voice in, all the deliberations which the assembled chambers shall make, shall receive the same salary, authority, and pre-eminences, as the other presidents and councillors of the said court. XXXVJ. "We will and intend that the said Chambers of Castres and Bourdeaux shall be reunited and incorporated with parliaments in the same manner as the others, when it shall be necessary, and that the suits which have been instituted before its establishment shall cease, and have no place among our subjects ; to these ends, the presidents and councillors of them, of the said religion, shall be nominated for presidents and councillors of said courts. XXXVII. There shall also be created and erected anew, in the chamber ordered for the parliament of Bourdeaux, two substitutes for our procureur and advocate-general, of which the substitute for pro- cureur shall be a Catholic, and the other of the said religion, who shall be appointed to said offices at ready salaries. XXXVIII. Xor shall the said substitutes have any other duties than as substitutes ; and when the chambers ordered for the parlia- ments of Thoulouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated with the said parliaments, the said substitutes shall be appointed tc the offices of councillors in them. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 347 XXXIX. Duplicates of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be made in the presence of two councillors of this chamber, the one being a Catholic, and the other of the said pretended reformed religion, in the absence of one of the masters of inquests of our palace ; and one of the notaries and secretaries of the said court of parliament of Bourdeaux shall make his residence at the place where the said chamber shall be established, or one of the ordinary secretaries of the chancery, to sign the duplicates of the said chancery. XL. We will and order that in the said chamber of Bourdeaux, there shall be two registry clerks to the said parliament, the one for civil, and the other for ci-iminal suits, who shall exercise those offices by commissions from us, and shall be called clerks of the civil and criminal registry, and yet they shall not be deprived of office by the said registers of parliament : however, they shall be bound to render the emoluments of the said registries to the said registers, whose clerks shall be paid by the said registers, as it shall be determined and agreed on by the said chamber. Besides these, shall be appointed Catholic ushers, who shall be taken from said court, or elsewhere, ac- cording to our good pleasure, besides whom there shall be appointed, for the first time, two also of the said religion, and appointed gratui- tously ; and all the said ushers shall be regulated by the said cham- ber, as well in regard to the exercise and deportment of their office, as the emoluments they ought to derive from it. A commission shall also be expedited for paying the salaries and receiving the penalties of said chamber, to be appointed in such manner as shall please us, if the said chamber is established elsewhere than in said city; and the commission heretofore accorded for paying the salaries of the chamber of Castres, shall take full and complete effect, and shall be joined to the said commission for the receipt of penalties for the said chamber. XLI. Good and sufficient assignations shall be provided for the salaries of the officers of the chamber ordered by this edict. XLII. The presidents, councillors, and other Catholic officers of the said chamber shall continue as long as possible, and as we shall see useful for our service, and for the good of our subjects ; and if some of them are to be released, others shall be provided in their places bofore their departure, so that they shall not, during the time of their service, depart or absent themselves from the said chambers, without the permission of those who shall judge on the causes of the ordi- nance. XLIII. The said chambers shall be established within six months, 348 F ENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. during which (if such establishment remains to be made) suits beguc^ and to be begun, to which persons of the said religion are parties, within the jurisdiction of our parliaments of Paris, Rouen, Dijon, and Rennes, shall be heard in the chamber established at Paris, in virtue of the edict of ISYY, or at a grand council, at the choice and option of persons of the said religion, if thej require it ; those of the parliament of Bour- deaux in the court established at Castres, or at the grand council, at their choice, and those who shall be of Provence, at the parliament of Grenoble ; and if the said courts are not established within three months after the presentation of our edict, such of our parliaments as shall have refused so to do, shall be interdicted from having jurisdic tion and judging causes of persons of said religion. XLIV. Suits not yet decided, pending in the said courts of par- liament and grand councils, of the quality aforesaid, shall be returned in whatever state they may be to the said chambers, each in its own jurisdiction, if one of the parties of the said religion require it, within four months after the establishment of said courts; and as to those which shall be discontinued, and not in a state to be judged, the said persons of the said religion shall be bound to make a declaration at the first intimation and signification which shall be made to them of a prosecution, and the said time being passed, they shall not be re- quired to be sent back. XLV, The said chambers of Grenoble and Bourdoaux, as well as that of Castres, shall follow the forms and style of the parliaments, within whose jurisdiction they shall be established, and shall sit in equal numbers of either religion, if the parties do not consent to the contrary. XLVI. All the judges to whose address shall be sent executions of arrest, commissions of said chambers, and letters obtained in the chanceries, with all doorkeepers and sergeants, are bound to see to their execution, and the said doorkeepers and sergeants shall serve their summons in all parts of our kingdom, without petition or writ of chancery, under penalty of suspension from office, and of charges, damages, and interest of the parties where cognizance belongs to the said parties. XLVII. Xo appeal shall be allowed wliere ca^nizanee is given to said courts, except in the case of ordinances, whose return shall be made to the nearest court established by our edict, and the distribu- tions of suits of said courts shall be judged in the nearest, observing the proportion and forms of said chambers, whose suits shall be pro- ceeded in course of law, excepting the court of edict to our parlia- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 349 ment of Paris, where the suits shall be distributed in the same cham- ber by judges, who shall be named by our special letters, for that purpose, if the parties prefer to wait the reorganization of such cham- ber, and provided the same suit shall be a party in all the mixed chambers, the distribution shall be returned to the said court of Paris. XLYIII. The challenges which shall be made against the presi- dents and councillors of the mixed courts shall be limited to the number of six, to which number the parties shall be limited, other- wise no regard shall be made to these challenges. XLIX. The examination of presidents and councillors lately insti- tuted for said mixed courts, shall be made in our privy council, or by the said courts, each in its own right, when they shall amount to a sufficient number; nevertheless the usual oath shall be taken by them in the courts where the said chambers shall be established, and on their refusal, in our privy council, excepting the members of the Chamber of Languedoc, who shall take the oath from the hands of our chancellor, or in his chamber. L. We WMsh and order that the reception of our officers of the said reUgion should be judged in the said mixed courts by plurality of voices, as is usual in other judgments, so that there may be no ne- cessity that the opinions should surpass two thirds, according to the ordinance, which as it regards the matter is abrogated. LI. There shall be made at the said mixed courts propositions, de- liberations^ and resolutions, which appertain to the public quiet and the particular state and police of the cities in which the said courts shall be. LIT. The article of jurisdiction of the said courts ordered by the present edict shall be followed and observed, according to its form and term, even in what concerns the execution, or want of execution, or mfraction of our edicts, when those of the said religion shall be parties. LIII. The subaltern officers, royal or otherwise, whose admittance appertains to our courts of parliament, if they are of the said religion pretendedly reformed, shall be examined and received in such courts, viz.: Those in the jurisdiction of the parliaments of Paris, Normandy, and Brittany, in the said Chamber of Paris ; those of Dauphiny and Provence, in the Chamber of Grenoble ; those of Bur- gundy, in the said Chamber of Paris, or of Dauphiny, at their choice ; those in the jurisdiction of Toulouse, in tlie Chamber of Castres ; and those of the parliament of Bourdeaux, in the ChamV)er of Guyeime ; but the others shall not oppose their admittance and right to render 350 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. judgment, as our procureur-generals, and their deputies. However, the usual oath shall be by them taken in the courts of parliament, which shall have no cognizance of their said admittance ; and, on the refusal of the said parliaments, the said officers shall take the oath in the said chambers ; which being taken, they shall be bound to present by a bailiff or notary the act of their admittance to the registers of the said courts of parliament, and to leave a collated copy with the said registers : on whom it is enjoined to register said acts, under pain of being liable for all charges, damages and interests of the suits, and, in ease the said register shall refuse to do so, it shall suffice for said officei's to report the act of the said summation, sent by said bailiffs or notaries, and the same shall be registered in the registuy of their said jurisdictions, that recourse may be had to it, if need be, under penalty of nullifying their procedures and judgments. And, as it respects the officers whose reception is usually made in our said parliaments, in case that those to whom it belongs shall re- fuse to proceed to such examination and reception, the said officers shall withdraw from said chambers, to be provided for as it shall seem proper. LIV. The officers of the said pretended reformed religion who shall be admitted as above, to serve in the bodies of our said courts of parliaments, grand council, chambers of accounts, courts of aids, departments of the treasury, and other officers of finance, shall be received and examined in such places as is usual ; and, in case of refusal or denial of justice, shall be admitted in our private council. LA^. The reception of our officers, made in the chamber hereto- fore established at Castres, shall be deemed valid, notwithstanding all decrees and ordinances to the contrary. Also shall be valid the receptions of judges, councillors, assessors of subsidies, and other officers of the said religion, made in our private council, or by com- missions by us, ordered through the refusal of our courts of parlia- ment, courts of aids, and chamber of accounts, as if they had been made in such courts and chambers, and by the other judges to whom the reception belonged. And their salaries shall be allowed by the chamber of accounts, without question : and, if any have been erased, they shall be reinstated without other order than the present decree, and without being obliged to show any other admittance, Hotwith- standing all decrees to tlie contrary, which shall remain null, and of no effect. LVI. Until the means of meeting the expenses of justice of said AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 351 courts shall be furnished by the moneys derived from penalties, a valid and sufl&cient assignment shall be provided by us to defray the expenses, provided that penalties shall not be levied again on the property of the condemned. LVII. The president and councillors of the said religion, hereto- fore admitted to our.court of the parliament of Dauphinj^, and in the Chamber of Edict incorporated with it, shall continue, and have their sessions in the same ; that is to say, the presidents as they now do, and the councillors, according to the decrees and provisions that they have obtained in our private council. LVIII. We declare all sentences, decrees, procedures, seizures, sales, and decrees made and given against persons of the pretended reformed religion, living or dead, since the decree of the late King Henry the Second, our very honored lord and father-in-law, on ac- count of said religious tumults and disturbances since arising with the judgments and decrees, from the present time are revoked and annulled. "We order that they shall be erased and taken from the registries of the courts, whether higher or inferior ; we will, also, that all marks, vestiges and monuments of the said executions, libels and defamatory acts against their persons, memories and posterity, sliall be effaced and destroyed ; and that the places in which de- molitions and rasements have been made on such occasion, shall be returned in such state as they are to the proprietors of the same, to en- joy and dispose of them as they please : and generally, we have erased, anniilled and revoked, all procedures and informations made for whatever enterprises, pretended causes of treason, &c, ; notwith- standing which procedures, decrees and judgments concerning assem- blies, incorporation and confiscation, we will the persons of the said religion, and others who have followed their party and their heirs, shall enter into possession, real and actual, of all and each of their property. LXIX. All procedures made, judgments and decrees given, against persons of the said religion, who have borne arms, or have with- drawn from our kingdom, or within the same, in cities and countries held by them, as it respects all matters of religion and disturbances, legal as well as conventional, and customary and feudal seizures, forfeited during the said troubles, or legitimate impediments derived from them, and whose cognizance shall remain to our judges, shall be considered as though they had not been done or happened. And such we have and declare them ; and the same shall be of no valid- ity, so that no one can make use of them, but shall be remitted to the state they were in before, notwithstanding the said decrees and 352 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. their execution. The same shall also hold with regard to other?, who have followed the party of the said religion, or have been ab- sent from our kingdom in the midst of the troubles. And, as it re- gards minors, children of those of the above-named quality, who have died during the troubles, we remit the parties to the same state they were in before, without refunding the charges, or being bound to return the fines, not meaning that the judgments given by the presidial judges, or other inferior judges, against those of the said re- ligion, or who have followed their party, shall be null, if they have been given by judges in cities held by them, and which have been of free access to them. LX. The decrees given in our courts parliamentary, in matters where jurisdiction belongs to the courts instituted by the Edict of the year 1577, and the articles of Xerac and Fleix, in which courts the par- ties have not proceeded voluntarily, that is to say, have alleged and proposed official exceptions to the jurisdictions or which have been given by default or foreclosure, whether the matter be civil or criminal, notwithstanding Avhich exceptions the said parties have been com- pelled to go on, shall, in like manner, be nulland of no effect; and with regard to decrees rendered against those of the said religion, who have proceeded voluntarily, without offering exceptions, said decrees shall remain in force. However, without prejudice to the execution of the same, they can, if it seems good, institute an exami- nation by civil inquest before the chambers ordered by the present edict, except the time allowed b}^ the present edict shall have passed to their prejudice, and until the said chamber and chanceries of the same shall be established, verbal or written summons offered by per- sons of said i-eligion before the judges, registers, or commissioners, ex- ecutors of decrees and judgments, shall have like effect as if they had been released by royal letters. LXI. In all inquests which shall be made for whatever cause in civil matters, if the examiner or commissioner is a Catholic, the par- ties shall be bound to choose an adjunct, and if they cannot agree on one, one shall be furnished by the said examiner or commissioner, who shall be of the said pretended reformed ]-eligion ; and the prac- tice shall be the same when the examiner or commissioner shall be of the said leligion, an adjimct shall be chosen who shall be a Catholic. LXII. We will and order that our judges recognize the validity of wills, in v.'hieh persons of the "reformed " religion have an interest, if they require it : and the appellations of the said judgments can be released from persons of the said reli^'ion, notwithstanding all cus- toms to the contrary, even those of Brittany. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 353 LXTII. In order to obviate all differences which might arise be- tween our parliamentary courts and the chambers of said courts ordered by our present edict, there shall be made by us a good and sufficient regulation between said courts and chambers, and such, that persons of the said religion shall have the full benefit of this edict ; which regulation shall be verified in our courts of parlia- ment, and guarded and observed without regard to precedents. LXIV. We inhibit and forbid all our sovereign courts, and others of this kingdom, from taking cognizance of and judging civil or cinmi- nal suits of persons of the said religion, whose jurisdiction is given by our edict to the said chambers, unless a reference be demanded by them, as is provided for them in the 40th article above. LXV. We desire also, be it now provisionally, and until it may be otherwise ordered, that in all suits begun and to be commenced, in which persons of the said religion shall be either plaintiffs or defend- ants, principals or sureties, in civil cases in which our officers and pre- sidial courts have power to give final judgment, it shall be allowed them to demand that two members of the court, where the suit is to be tried, shall abstain from giving judgment, which without cause being given, they shall be bound to do, notwithstanding the ordinance by which the judges are not bound to comply with exceptions with- out cause given, there remaining besides, this exception of right against the rest : And in criminal cases, in which the said presidial and other judges give final judgment, those charged with crime being of the said religion, may demand that three of the said judges shall abstain from passing judgment on their case without giving them reasons therefor ; And the provosts of the marshals of France, vice- bailiffs, vice-seneschals, lieutenants of the short robe, and other officers of like quality, shall judge according to the ordinances and regula- tions heretofore given in regard to vagrants, and as to those being householders, accused of crime, to be tried in prevotal courts ; if such persons are of said religion, they can demand that three of the said judges having jurisdiction, shall abstain from giving judgment in their suit, and shall be bound to abstain, without oause given therefor, except there be in the number to judge the matter, in civil cases, two judges, and in criminal, three judges, who are members of said reli- gion, in which case exceptions shall not be taken without giving reasons therefor ; and this shall be equally allowable to Catholics in the above-mentioned cases, regarding the said exceptions to judges, where members of the said pretended "reformed" religion are in a majority. We do not intend, however, that the said presidial courts, 354 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. provosts of marshals, vice-bailiffs, vice-seneschals, and others who give final judgment, shall, in consequence of what is now said, take cogni- zance of past disturbances ; and as to crimes and excesses arising from other causes than said troubles, since the commencement of the month of March, 1585, until the end of the year 1597, in cases where they have jurisdiction, we desire that there shall be an appeal from their judgments to the chambers ordered by this edict, likewise for Catho- lic persons charged with crime, and when persons of the pretended " reformed " religion shall be parties. LXVI. We also will and order that in all instructions other than criminal process, in the seneschalships of Thoulouse, Carcassonne, Rouergue, Laraguais, Beziers, Montpellier, and Nismes, that the magis- trate or commissioner for said instruction, if he be a Catholic, shall be bound to take an adjunct who shall be of the said pretended " reformed " religion, on whom the parties shall agree, and when they cannot agree, one of the said religion shall be selected for the office by the said magistrate or commissioner. So in like manner, if the said magistrate or commissioner is of the said religion, he shall be bound in the same form above spoken of to take a Catholic adjunct. LXVII. In case criminal process is to be served by the provosts of marshals, or their lieutenants, on any one of the said religion, be- ing a householder, who shall be accused of prevotal crimes, the said provosts, or their lieutenants, if they are Catholics, shall be bound to call in to the instruction of said process, an adjunct of said religion: which adjunct shall assist in the judgment of jurisdiction, and in the final judgment of said process : said jurisdiction shall be decided at the next sitting of the presidial court, in full bench of the principal oflicers of said court, who shall be present under penalty of having their proceedings declared null, except the accused demand that .the jurisdiction be judged of in said chamber, ordained in the present edict. In which case, in regard to those being householders in the provinces of Guyenne, Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphiny, the de- puties of our procureur-generals shall make an inquest of these householders, and shall report the charges and accusations made against them, in order to decide whether the cases are prevotal or not, so that, according to the quality of the crimes, they shall be sent by said chambers for judgment to the ordinary or prevotal courts, as they shall see to be proper, by observing the contents of this edict. And the presidial judges, provosts of marshals, vice-baililFs, vice-seneschals, and others who give final sentence, shall be bound respectively to obey and fulfil the commands made by the said cham- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 355 bei-s, as they have been accustomed to do at the said parliaments, under penalty of being deprived of their offices. LXVIII. The proclamations, post-bills and sales of inheritances in consequence of judgment, shall be made at the usual places and hours, if possible, according to our ordinances, or in public markets, if pos- sible, in the places where the said inheritances are situated, and when not, they shall be made at the nearest market to the court in which the matter is to be adjudicated, and the bills shall be posted in the most public places of said market, and also in the entrance to session- house of said place, and by this means, the said proclamations shall be deemed good and valid, and not subject to arrest by the flaws which can be alleged against them. LXIX. All papers, titles, vouchers and documents which have been taken, shall be returned and restored, by both parties, to those to whom they belong ; though said papers, or the castles and houses in which they were kept, have been taken and seized, whether by special commissions of the late King last deceased, our very honored lord and brother-in-law, or our own, or by the commands of the gover- nors and lieutenant-generals of our provinces, or by the authority of the chiefs of either part}', or under any other pretext whatever. LXX. The children of those who have withdrawn from our kingdom since the death of the late King Henry the Second, our very honored lord and father-in-law, on account of religion and the troubles, though the said children have been born out of this king- dom, shall be held for true Frenchmen and citizens; and such we de- clare them, so that they shall not be under the necessity of taking out letters of naturalization, or other provisions than our present edict ; notwithstanding all ordinances to the contrary, which we have and do abrogate ; provided the said children born in foreign countries shall be bound, within ten years after the publication of the present edict, to take up their residence in this kingdom. LXXL Those of the said pretendedly reformed rehgion, and others who may have followed their party, who may have a lease pre- vious to the troubles of registry-fees or other public property, tax, foreign imposition, and other rights to us appertaining, which they have been unable to enjoy the use of on account of the troubles, shall remain discharged, as we now discharge them, from payment of all they may have received of said finances or that they have paid with- out fraud, elsewhere than at the reeeivers's office, notwithstanding all obligations by them passed. LXXII. All places, cities and provinces of our kingdom, coun- 356 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tries, lands and manors under otir authority, shall use and enjoy the same privileges, immunities, liberties and franchises, fairs, markets, jurisdictions and courts of justice, as the}'" were in possession of, pre- vious to the troubles, beginning with the month of March, one thou- sand five hundred and eighty-five, and other years preceding, not- withstanding all letters to the contrary and the transferences of said courts elsewhere : provided that they have been done solely on ac- count of the troubles : which courts shall be remitted and re-establish- ed in the cities and places where they were originally. LXXIII. If there be any prisoners who are still held by autho- rity of justice, or otherwise, even in the galleys, on account of the troubles, or of said religion, they shall be freed and set at full lib- erty. LXXIV. Persons of the said religion shall for the sequel be dis- charged from all ordinary or extraordinary charges, as well as Catho- lics, and in proportion to their possessions and facilities ; and the par- ties who wish to be discharged, can bring the matter before the judges to whom the jurisdiction belongs : and all our subjects, whether of the one religion or the other, shall be indifferently discharged from all charges, which have been imposed by the one party on the other during the troubles against their consent; with debts contracted but not paid, expenses made without their consent, without, however, suffering the moneys employed in the payment of said charges to be reclaimed. LXXA^. We do not mean, however, that those of the said religion, and others who have followed their party, nor the Catholics who re- mained in the cities and places by them occupied and detained, and who have contributed, shall be prosecuted for the payment of taxes, aids, octrois, and other impositions and subsidies, which have expired, imposed during the troubles previous, and up to our accession to the crown, whether by edicts and commands of late Kings our predeces- sors, or by the advice and deliberation of the governors and estates of the pi'ovinces, courts of parliaments, and others, from which we have and do discharge them, by forbidding the treasurers, generals of France and of our finances, general and special receivers, their com- missioners and agents, and other intendants and commissioners of our finances, from searching, molesting, or disturbing them, directly or indirectly, in any manner. LXXVI. All chiefs, lords, chevaliers, gentlemen, oflicers, corpora- tions of cities and communities, and all others, who have aided and succored them, their widows, heirs, and successors, shall be quit of AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 557 the payment of all moneys, which have been by them and their ordi- nances taken and levied, as well of royal property, whatever it may amount to, as of cities and communities, and private individuals, rents, revenues, plate, sales of furniture, ecclesiastical or otherwise, forests of full growth, whether of public property or otherwise, fines, pillage ransoms, or other kind of property, taken by them on account of the troubles begun in the month of March, 1585, and other troubles preceding until our accession to the crown, though those who have been commissioned by them for the levy of the said moneys, or who have given or furnished them, by these ordinances shall be in no m,an- ner disturbed therefor, either now or hereafter, and shall be quit, both they and their commissioners, of all the management and ad- ministration of the said moneys, by bringing in, within four months after the publication of the present edict, made in our court of par- liament of Paris, their acquittances duly expedited by the chiefs of the said religion, or by those who Imve been commissioned to audit and close the accounts. Likewise they shall be acquitted and discharged for all acts of hostility, levy and conduct of troops, the fabrication and valuation of money made according to the ordinances of said chiefs, the casting and seizure of artillery and munitions, confections of powder and saltpetre, seizures, fortifications, dismantling and demolition of cities, castles, towns and villages, attacks upon the same, burning and de- stroying of churches and houses, establishment of courts, judgments and executions of the same, whether of civil or criminal cases, police and their regulation, voyages and intelligences, negotiations, treaties, and contracts made with all princes and foreign communities, and the introduction of the said strangers into cities and other places of our kingdom, and generally for all that has been done, undertaken, and negotiated during the said troubles, since the death of the late King Henry the Second, our very honored lord and brother-in-law, by those of the said religion and others who have followed their party, though it may not be particularly expressed and specified. LXXVIl. Persons of the said religion shall also be held harmless for all general and provincial assemblies by them made and held, as well at Mantz as at other places, up to the present time, with coun- cils by them established and ordered in the provinces, deliberations, ordinances, and regulations made at the said assemblies and councils, establishment and augmentation of garrisons, assemblage of troops, levy on and taking possession of our property, whether in the hands of receivers-general or private persons, parish collectors or otherwise, 358 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. in whatever manner soever, seizures of salt, continuation or erection anew of roads, tolls, and the receipts fi'om them, even at Royan, and upon the banks of the Bharente, Garonne, the Rhone, and Dordogne, armaments and battles by sea, and all accidents and excesses happen- ing, to pay for the said journeys, tolls and other moneys, fortifica- tions of cities, castles, and places, exactions of money and labor, re- ceipts of the said monej^, destitution of our receivers and leaseholders, and other ofiicers, establishment of others in their place, and of all reviews, despatches, and negotiations made, as well within as without our kingdom, and generally of all which has been done, deliberated, written, and ordered by the said assemblies and councils ; so that those who have given their advice, signed, executed, caused to be signed and executed, the said ordinances, regulations, and delibera- tions, shall not be molested therefor, nor their widows, heirs, and suc- cessors, now or hereafter, although the full particulars are not here fully declared. And especially shall perpetual silence be imposed on our procureur-generals and their substitutes, and on all those who are interested therein in what manner soever, notwithstanding all de- crees, sentences, judgments, informations, and procedures made to the contrary. LXXVIII "We approve, besides, and render valid, and authorize the accounts, which have been heard and closed, and examined by the deputies of the said assembly; we wish that these, with the ac- quittances and papers which have been returned to those having ac- counts, should be carried to our chamber of accounts at Paris, three months after the publication of the present edict, and placed in the hands of the procureur-general, to be delivered to the guardian of books and registers of our chamber, to be consulted whenever it shall be necessary, so that the said accounts shall not be reviewed, nor those rendering them bound to any appearance, cori'cction as in case of omission, or false acquittances ; imposing silence on our said pro- cureur-general, with regard to the surplus which may be thought to be defective, and in regard to the formalities which may not have been kept. Forbidding our officers of account, as well at Paris as in the other provinces where they are established, from taking any cog- nizance thereof in any manner whatsoever. LXXIX. And as it regards the accounts which have not been re- turned, we wish the same to be heard, closed, and examined by com- missioners, who shall be appointed by us, who shall without difficulty pass and allow the accounts paid by the said persons authorized in virtue of ordinances of the said assembly, or others having power. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 359 LXXX. All collectors, receivers, farmers, and all others, shall con- tinue well and duly discharged for all sums of money that they have paid to the said commissioners of the said assembly, of whatsoever nature, even until the last day of this month. We wish the whole to be passed and allowed, at the accounts which shall be rendered at our chambers of accounts, purely and simply in virtue of the quittances which shall be brought in; and if any shall be brought in hereafter, they shall continue null, and those who accept or pass them shall be fined- for false use ; and if there should be any accounts already ren- dered, on which are found any erasures or changes, we have and do establish the said papers entirely in virtue of these presents, so that there will be no necessity for particular letters, nor any thing else, except an extract from the present article. LXXXI. Governors, captains, consuls, and persons commissioned to recover property, to pay the garrisons of places held by the party of the reformed religion, whom our receivers and parish collectors may have supplied by loan upon their notes offhand and obligations, whether through constraint, or in obedience to the commands of the treasurer-generals, with moneys required for the support of said gar- risons until their regulation by the State allowance which we caused to be granted in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-six, and the augmentation, since granted by us, shall be held acquitted and discharged of all payments made for the above purpose, although no express mention thereof is made in the said notes of hand and obligations, the same shall be returned as null. And to make the matter satisfactory, our receiver-generals in each district shall furnish by the special receivers their quittances to the said collectors. For the discharge of the said receiver-generals, there shall be sums of which they shall keep account, as is directed, indorsed on the orders levied by the royal treasurer, under the authority of the treasurer- generals extraordinary of our wars, for the payment of the said gar- risons ; and where the said charges shall not amount to so much as our said allowance granted in the 3'ear one thousand five hun- dred and ninety-six, and the said augmentation, we order, that it may be supplied, that new orders shall be granted of what may be necessary for the discharge of those who are responsible, and the res- titution of the said promises and obligations, so that there shall be no demand for the future on those who have made them; and that all writings necessary to render legal the discharge of those responsi- ble, shall be granted, in virtue of the present article. LXXXII. Also, the members shall depart and desist from all practices, negotiations and intelligence?, as well within, as without 360 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. our kingdom ; and the said assemblies and councils, established in the provinces, shall separate promptly, and all leagues and associa- tions made, and to be made, shall be broken and annulled, as we now break and annul them; forbidding, very expressly, our subjects from making without our permission hereafter any assessments and levies of monej-s, foi-tifications, enrolments of men, congregations and as- semblies, other than those permitted by our present edict, and with- out arms : which we now prohibit and forbid, under pain of being rigorously punished, as contemners and infractors of our commands and ordinances. LXXXIII. All captures made at sea during the troubles, in vir- tbe of permission and consent given, and such as have been done by land from those of the contrary party, and which have been ap- proved of by judges and commissioners of the admiralty, or by the leaders of the party of the said religion or their council, shall remain undisturbed, under the benefit of our present edict, so that there shall be no prosecution ; nor shall the captains, and others who have made the said prizes, their sureties, and the said judges, ofiicers, their widows and heii's, be disturbed or molested in any manner what- ever, notwithstanding all decrees of our privy council, and parlia- ments ; and all letters of marque, and seizures pending and not de- cided, we wish to have fully and entirely replevied. LXXXIV. Nor shall persons of the said religion be disturbed in like manner for the opposition and impediment they may have made heretofore, even previous to the troubles, to the execution of the decrees and judgments given for the re-establishment of the Catholic religion, apostolic and Roman, in divers places of this king- dom. LXXXV. And, as it regards whatever has been done or taken during the troubles beyond the regulsr course of hostilities, or by hostilities contrary to the public or private regulations of the leaders, or of communities of provinces which have power, the same may be prosecuted by the ordinary course of justice. LXXXVI. Nevertheless, if what was done by both parties con- trary to the regulations, were, without any difference, excepted and reserved from the general amnesty contained in our present edict, and were liable to (inquiry) prosecution, as every soldier could be prosecuted ; in consequence of which a renewal of disturbance could happen. On that account, we will and order that only the extreme cases shall be exempt from the said abolition : as ravishing and rapes of women and girls, burnings, murders, and robberies made by treachery AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 361 and ambuscade, out of the course of hostility, and to satisfy private vengeance, contrary to the rights of war, infractions of passports, and safeguards, with murder and pillage without order, in regard to those of the said religion and others, who have followed the party of the chiefs who had authority over them, founded on particular occa- sions, which have led them to command and order the above. LXXXVII, We also order that punishment shall be made for crimes and offences committed between persons of the same party, if said acts are not ordered by the leadei-s of either party, from the necessity, law, and order of war. And the levying and exacting of money, licenses to carry arms, and other exploits of war made by private authority, and without permission, shall be subject to the usual course of justice. LXXXVIII. In the cities dismantled during the troubles, the ruins and injuries of the same may, by our permission, be re-edified and repaired by the inhabitants, at their cost and expense, and the provisions made heretofore in regard to this matter, shall hold in this case. LXXXIX. We order, will, and it pleases us, that all lords, cheva- liers, gentlemen and others, of whatever quality and condition, of the said religion, and othei*s who have followed their party, shall enter upon, and be effectually guarded in, the enjoyment of all and each of their possessions, rights, names, consideration, and actions, notwithstanding the judgments rendered against them during the troubles, and on account of them, which decrees, seizures, and judg- ments, we finally have, and do declare null and void, and of no force and effect, XC. The acquisitions that those of the pretended reformed re- ligion, and others who have followed their party, have made, by the authority of others than the late King's, our predecessor's, from the lands or houses belonging to the Church, shall have no force and effect : but we order, wish, and it is pleasing to us, that the ecclesi- astics shall recover directly, and without delay, and be protected in, the possession and enjoyment, real and actual, of the said properties thus alienated, without being bound to return the price of said sales, and that, notwithstanding the said contracts of sale, which for that purpose we have annulled and revoked: nor shall the said pur- chasers have any claim on the chiefs, by whose authority the said sales have been made. Nevertheless, for the reimbursement of the money, by them truly and faithfully paid out, letters patent of per- mission shall be granted to persons of the said religion, to impose VOL. II — 16 362 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. and equalize on themselves the sums for which said sales have amounted to ; but the said purchasers shall bring no action for damages and interest, of which they have been deprived, but shall content themselves with the reimbursement of moneys by them fur- nished for the purchase of such acquisitions ; deducting therefrom the worth of the revenues by them received, in case the said sale shall be found to have been made at a vile and unjust price. XCI. And, in fine, that our justices, oflScers, as others our sub- jects, may clearly and with all certitude be informed of our will and intention, and, in order to take away all ambiguities and doubts which may be made by means of preceding edicts, from their diver- sity, we have and do declare all other preceding edicts, secret ar- ticles, letters, declarations, modifications, restrictions, interpretations, decrees and registers, secret deliberations, or otherwise, heretofore by us or our predecessors made in our courts of parliament or otlierwise, concerning the said religion, and the troubles arising in our kingdom, to be null and of no effect ; which, and the derogatory clauses therein contained, we have, by this our edict, derogated, and do derogate them, and, from the present time do destroy, revoke and annul them; declaring expressly, that we wish this our edict to be firm and in- violable, guarded and observed, as well by our judges, officers, as others our subjects, without its being impeded, or any regard being had to any thing to the contrary, or derogatory thereto. XCII. And for the greater assurance of its preservation and ob- servance, we will, order, and it pleases us, that all the governors and lieutenant-generals of our provinces, bailiffs, seneschals, and other or- dinary judges of cities of our kingdom, shall, directly after the recep- tion of this edict, swear to guard and observe it each in his own juris- diction, as well as the mayors, sheriffs, capitouls, consuls, and alder- men of cities, annual or perpetual. We enjoin it also on our bailiffs, seneschals, or their lieutenants, and other judges, to have it adminis- tered to the principal inhabitants of the said cities, as well of one as the other religion. Placing all the said cities under our protection and safeguard, and the one under the protection of the other, charg- ing them respectively, and by public acts, to respond by the ordinary courts to infractions which may be made to this our edict, in the 'said cities, by the inhabitants of the same, or to represent and place the matter into the hands of justice. "We command our true and liege people holding our courts of parliament, chambers of accounts, and court of aids, that directly after the reception of the present edict, they shall, all things ceasing, under pain of rendering their other acts null, take the same oath as above, and cause this our said edict to be AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 363 registered aud published in our courts, according to the form and tenor thereof, purely and simply, without using any modifications, restrictions, declarations, and secret registries, nor wait for any other order or command from us ; and we order our pi'ocureur- generals to require and forward without delay the said publication. Given at Nantes, in the month of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight ; and of our reign, the ninth. Signed Henry ; and above by the King, being in his council, Forget. And sealed with the great seal of green wax, upon a ground of red and green silk. Read, published, and registered, &,c. Signed VOYSIX. Second Part. Secret Articles. I. The sixth article of the said edict, touching liberty of conscience, and permission to all our sub- jects to dwell and live in this kingdom, and countries under our au- thority, shall have place, and be observed according to its form and tenor, even in regard to ministers and schoolmasters, and all others who are, or shall be, of the said religion, whether citizens or other- wise, whilst conforming to the provisions of said edict. II. Nor shall persons of the said religion be constrained to contri- bute to the repairs or construction of churches, chapels, or parson- ages, nor for the purchase of sacerdotal ornaments, lights, casting of bells, holy bread, rights of confraternities, the hire of houses for the residence of the priests or monks, and other like things, although they may be obliged by the foundations, donations, or other dispo- sitions made by them, or their authors and predecessors. III. Also, they shall not be constrained to tapestry and adorn the front of their houses on festival days, but only allow that it may be adorned and prepared by the officers of the places ; but those of the said religion shall contribute nothing for that purpose. IV. Nor shall members of said religion be bound to receive ex- hortation when they shall be sick or near death, whether by con- demnation of justice or otherwise, from others than of the same reli- gion, but may be visited and consoled by their ministers without being disturbed ; and as to those who shall be condemned by justice, the said ministers shall likewise visit and console them, without mak- ing public prayers, except in places where the said public exercise is allowed them b}" the said edict. V. Members of the said religion shall be allowed to have public worship at Pimpoul, and for Dieppe in the Faubourg du Pauht, and the said places of Pimpoul and Paulet shall be considered as bailiwicks. 364 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. As to Sancerre, the said worship shall be continued there as at pre^ sent, provided, in the establishment of it in the said city, the consent of the lord of the place be made apparent by the inhabitants, for whom provision shall be made by the commissioners whom His Ma- jesty shall appoint for the execution of the edict. The said worship shall also be free and publicly re-established in the city of Montagnal, in Languedoc. VI. As to the article making mention of bailiwicks, what follows is declared and agreed upon. Firstly, with regard to the establish- ment of the worship of the said religion in two places granted for that purpose in each bailiwick, seneschalshij), and government, the mem- bers of the said religion shall name two cities, in the suburbs of which the said worship shall be established by the commissioners appointed by His Majesty for the execution of the edict, and where it shall not be judged proper by them, the members of the said religion shall name two or three burghs or villages near the said cities, and from each of them one shall be chosen by the commissioners ; and if through con- tagion, hostility, or otlier legitimate impediment, the worship cannot be continued in the said places, others shall be granted them while the impediment continues. Secondly, as to the government of Picar- dy, tliei*e shall be provided but two cities, in the suburbs of which the persons of the said religion can exercise the same for all the baili- wicks, seneschalships, and governments which depend on it ; and if it shall not be deemed proper to establish it in the said cities, two burghs or villages convenient therefor shall be allowed them. Thirdl}^, on account of the great extent of seneschalship of Provence and the bailiwick of Viennois, His Majesty grants in each of the said seneschalships a third place, whose choice and nomination shall be as above, in which to establish the exercise of the said religion, besides the other places in which it is already established. VH. The privilege granted by the said article for the exercise of the said religion in bailiwicks, shall hold in the lands which be- longed to the late Queen, mother-in-law of His Majesty, and in the bailiwick of Beaiijolais. VIII. Besides the two places granted for the exercise of the said religion, by the special articles of the 3'ear 1577, in the islands of Marennes and Oleron, two other places shall be granted for the ac- commodation of the said inhabitants, to wit: one for the island of Marennes, and another for the island of Oleron. IX. Tlie provisions prepared by His Majesty for the exercise of the said religion in the cit3r of Metz shall have their full effect. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 365 X. His Majesty wishes and intends that article XXYII. of his edict, touching the admission of persons of the said religion pretendedly re- formed to offices and dignities, should be observed and followed accord- ing to its form and tenor, notwithstanding the edicts and agreements hitherto made for the reduction of any princes, lords, gentlemen, and Catholic cities to his obedience, which shall have no place to the pre- judice of persons of said religion, as it regards the exercise of the same. And the said exercise shall be regulated according to, and as it is commanded by, the articles which follow, in accordance with which shall be drawn up the instructions of the commissioners whom His Majesty shall deputize for the execution of said edict, as it is di- rected therein. XI. By the edict made by His Majesty for the reduction of the Duke of Guise, the exercise of the said religion shall be neither made nor established in the cities and suburbs of Rheims, Rocroy, St. Dizier, Guise, Joinville, Ntmes, and Moncerret, in Ardennes. XII. Xor shall the exercise thereof be allowed in other places iii the environs of said cities and places forbidden by the edict of the year 15*77. XIII. And in order to take away ambiguity, which might arise in regard to the word in the environs, His Majesty deekires that he means such places as are within the banlieu of said cities, within which places the exercise of the said religion shall not be established, imless permitted by the edict of 1577. XIV. And inasmuch as the said exercise is generally permitted in fiefs held by persons of the said reli j;ion, except within the precincts above excepted, His Majesty declares that the same permission shall be allowed even in fiefs which are situated within the precincts above spoken of, if held by persons of the said religion, as is allowed by the edict of Nantes. XV. By the edict m:iJe for the reduction of the Lord Marshal de la Chatre, in each of the bailiwicks of Orleans and Bourges there shall be allowed but one place of bailiwick for the exercise of the said religion, which, however, may be continued in places where it is permitted to continue by the Edict of Nantes. XVI. The concession to preach in fiefs shall likewise hold in the said bailiwicks, in the form allowed by the Edict of Nantes. XVII. The edict granted for the reduction of the Lord Marshal de Bois Dauphin shall likewise be observed, and the worship of the said religion shall not be allowed in the cities, suburbs, and places brought back by him to the service of His Majesty; and as to the 366 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. environs or banlieii of the same, the edict of '77 shall be observed, even in houses of fiefs, as ordez'ed by the Edict of Kantes. XVIII. There shall be no exercise of the said religion in the cities, suburbs, and castle of Marlais, according to the edict passed for tlie reduction of said city; and the edict of '77 shall be observed within the limits of the same, even of fiefs, as ordered by the Edict of Nantes. XIX. In consequence of the edict for the reduction of Quiuper- corantin, there shall be no exercise of the said religion in the entire bishoprick of Cournailo. XX. Also according to the edict made for the reduction of Beau- vais, the exercise of the said religion shall not be allowed in the said city of Beauvais, nor within three leagues around it ; however, it may be performed and allowed without the limits of the bailiwick, in places permitted by the edict of '77, even in fiefs, as ordered by the said Edict of Xantes. XXI. And inasmuch as the edict made for the reduction of the late Lord Admiral de Villiers is only provisional, and only till the King shall otherwise order, His Majesty wills and orders, that not- withstanding the same, his Edict of Xantes shall be observed within the cities and provinces returned to their obedience by the Lord Ad- miral, as in other places of our kingdom. XXII. In consequence of the edict made for the reduction of the Lord Duke de Jo^^euse, the exercise of the said religion shall not be allowed in the city of Thoulouse, the suburbs of the same, and with- in four leagues around it, nearer than the cities of Villemur, Carmain, and Isle in Jourdan. XXIII. Xor shall it be allowed in the cities of Alet, Fiac, Auriae, and Montesquieu ; provided, however, there are any persons in the said cities who shall desire a place for the exercise of the same, a place proper, and of sure access, and not further off than a league from the said cities, shall be assigned them by the commissioners whom His Majesty shall appoint for the execution of his edict. XXIV. The said worship shall be established, so and as it is or- dered by the said Edict of Xantes, within the jurisdiction of the par- liament of Thoulouse, excepting, however, the bailiwicks, seneschal- ships, and their jurisdictions, which have been brought into obedience by the said Lord Duke de Joyeuse, in which places the edict of '77 shall be in force : however, His Majesty means that the said exercise may be continued in the places of the said bailiwicks and seneschal- ships where it was allowed at the time of the said reduction, and that the allowance of the same in the houses of fiefs, shall be allowed in the said bailiwicks and seneschalships, as is commanded by said edict. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 367 XXV. The edict made for the reduction of the city of Dijon, shall be observed ; and according to it, no other exercise of religion but that of tlie Catholic Apostolic and Roman shall be allowed in the said city, and the suburbs of the same, nor within four leagues arouMi. XXVL The edict made for the reduction of the Lord Duke of Mayence, shall in like manner be observed, according to which there shall be no exercise of the said religion, pretendedly reformed, in the city of Chalons, and within two leagues of the envii'ons of Sois- sons, for the space of six years, beginning with the month of January, 1596 ; after the lapse of said time the Edict of Xantes shall be observ- ed there as in other places of this kingdom. XXVII. Persons of the said religion are allowed, of whatsoever quality they may be, to live in, go to, and return from the city of Lyons, and other cities and places under the jurisdiction of Lyons, notwithstanding all prohibitions made to the contrary by the syndics and aldermen of the said city of Lyons, and confirmed by His Majesty. XXVIII. But one bailiwick shall be allowed for the worship of said religion in the entire seneschalship of Poictiers, except those in which it is at present established ; and as to the fiefs, the Edict of Nantes shall be followed. The exercise of said religion shall be con- tinued in the city of Chauvigny : and the said exercise shall not be established again in the cities of Agen and Perigueux, except it be done by the edict of "77. XXIX. But two bailiwicks shall be allowed for the exercise of the said religion in the entire jurisdiction of Picardy, as has been said above, and the said places shall not be given within the bounds of the bailiwicks and governments reserved by the edict made for the reduction of Amiens, Perone, and Abbeville. However, the said ex- ercise of said religion is allowed in the houses of fiefs, throughout the entire government of Picardy, as ordered by the Edict of Xantes. XXX. No exercise of the said religion shall be allowed in the city and suburbs of Sens, and but one place of worship shall be al- lowed within the limits of the bailiwick, without prejudice, however, to the permission granted to houses of fiefs, which shall follow the Edict of Nantes. XXXI. Nor in like manner shall there be any exercise of said re- ligion in the city and suburbs of Nantes, and but one place for the said exercise shall be allowed within three leagues of said city, ex- cepting, however, the houses of fiefs, according to the Edict of Nantes. XXXII His Majesty wishes and intends that his said Edict of 368 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Nantes shall be observed from this time forward, in all that concerns the exercise of the said religion in places where, by edicts and agree- ments made for the reduction of any princes, lords, gentlemen, and Catholic cities, it has been prohibited provisionally only, and until otherwise ordered ; and as to such as have a limited prohibition, the limit being passed, the prohibition shall cease. XXXIII. A place for a city shall be granted to the party of the said religion, within the authority and jurisdiction of Paris, and within five leagues, at the most, from said city, in which they may make a public worship of the same. XXXIV. In all places where the public exercise of said religion is allowed, the people may assemble even by the sound of bell, and per- form all acts and functions appertaining, either to the religious exer- cises of the said religion, or to its regulation and discipline, such as holding consistories, colloquies, and provincial and national synods, by permission of His Majesty. XXXV. The ministers, elders and deacons of said religion, shall not be constrained to answer in the courts, as witnesses, for things which have been revealed in their consistories^ whenever the matter relates to censure, unless the matter relates to the person of the King or the preservation of the State. XXXVI. It shall be allowed those living in the country, to attend the worship of the same in cities and suburbs, and in other places, when it shall be publicly established. XXXVII. Persons of the said religion shall have no public schools, except in cities and places where the public exercise of their worship is allowed: and the provisions which have been heretofore granted for the erection and support of colleges, shall be verified when there is need, and shall have their full and entire effect. XXX^ III. Fathers making a profession of said religion, are allowed to give their children such education as seems best to them, and to substitute one or several by testament, codicil, or other declaration passed before notaries, or written and signed with their hands ; pro- viding the laws received in this kingdom, local ordinances and cus- toms, are not infringed in regard to the payment and provisions of tutors and curators. XXXIX. In regard to the marriages of priests and nuns, which have been heretofore contracted, his said Majesty neither wills nor in- tends, for many good reasons, that they shall be disturbed or mo- lested, and our proeureur-generals shall be silent with regard to such cases, as well as other officers. His said Majesty declares moreover, AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 369 that he intends that the children issuing from such marriages shall succeed only to the houses and lands, the joint properties acquired by their fathers and mothers, and in default of said children, the nearest relatives shall succeed : and the wills, donations, and other dispositions made or to be made by persons of the said quality of the said properties, personal, as well as the said joint acquisitions, are declared to be good and valid. However, His Majesty does not wish that the said priests and nuns shall come to any succession, di- rect or collateral ; but only to take the properties, which have been or shall be left them by will, donations, except, however, those of the said successions direct and collateral : and in regard to such who may have made a pi-ofession before the age allowed of by the ordinances of Orleans and Blois, the tenor of the said ordinances shall be fol- lowed and observed in regard to the said successions, each for the time they refer to. XL. His said Majesty does not wish that members of the said reli gion, who have heretofore contracted or shall hereafter contract mar- riages within the third or fourth degree, shall be molested, nor the validity of such marriages called in question ; nor shall the right of inheritance of children, already-, or to be, born of such marriages, be taken away or disputed : and as to marriages which have been alrea- dy contracted in the second degree, or from the second to the third, among persons of the said religion, seeking redress from his said Ma- jesty, persons who are of such quality and have contracted marriage in such degree, sliall be allowed such provisions as shall be necessary - fur them, to the end that they may not be disturbed or molested, nor the succession disputed or debated with their children. XLL In order to judge of the validity of marriages made and con- tracted by persons of the said religion, and to decide if- they are law- ful, if the defendant is of the said religion, in this case, the judge- royal shall have jurisdiction of the matter; but if he be plaintiff and the defendant a Catholic, the jurisdiction shall belong to the judge of the Bishop's Court and the ecclesiastical judge, and if both parties are of the said religion, the jurisdiction shall belong to the royal judges : His Majesty wills, that in regard to such marriages, and dif- ferences arising therefrom, the ecclesiastical and royal judges, with the courts established by this Edict, shall respectively have jurisdic- tion. XLH. The donations and legacies made and to be made, whether by last will on account of death, or by the living, for the support of ministers, doctors, scholars, and the poor of the said religion and other VOL. 11. — 16* 370 FRENCH mOTESTANT REFUGEES. charitable acts, shall be valid, and go into fall and entire effect, not •withstanding all judgments, decrees, and other things to the contrar}-, without prejudice, however, to the rights of His Majesty and of any other, in case the said gifts and donations fall into mort-main : and all actions and prosecutions necessary for the enjoyment of the said gifts, charitable provisions and other rights, as well in judgment as otherwise, may be made by attorney in the name of the bodies and communities of the said religion who may have an interest therein, and if it is ascertained that any of the said donations have been here- tofore disposed of otherwise than is allowed by the said article, no restitution shall be sought for, except it be in kind. XLIII. His Majesty permits persons of the said religion to come to- gether before the judge-royal and by his authority, to divide and levy on themselves such sums of money as shall be proper and necessary to meet the expen^-es of their synods, and for the support of those who have employment in the exercise of their said religion, a state- ment of which shall be given to the said judge to be kept b}'^ him : a copy of which shall be sent every six months by the said judge to his said Majesty or his Chancellor ; and the taxes and impositions of the said moneys shall be made, all oppositions and appellations to the con- trary, notwithstanding. XLIV. The ministers of the said religion shall be exempt from guards and patrols, and from lodging of soldiers, and from assess- ments and collections of the land-tax, from the protection, guardian- ship, and commissions for the guarding of property seized by authority of justice. XLV. As it regards interments of persons of the said religion, made hitherto in the cemeteries of the said Catholics, in what place or cit}^ soever, his said Majesty commands that there shall be no dis- turbance, innovation, or prosecution, and enjoins on his officers to see his wishes enforced. With regard to the city of Paris, besides the two cemeteries already granted to persons of the said religion, viz., that of the Trinity and that of St. Germain, a third place shall be given them, proper for said interments, in the suburbs of St. Honore or St. Denis. XLYI. The presidents and councillors, Catholics, who shall be chosen to serve in the chamber ordained for the parliament of Paris, shall be selected from the body of officers of parliament. XLYH. The councillors of the said religion claiming to be re- formed, who shall serve in said chamber, shall assist in the proceed- ings which shall be instituted by commissioners, and shall have AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 371 a deliberative voice therein ; but they shall have no part of the moneys consigned, except in case that by the order and prerogative of their reception, they have a right to assist. XL VIII. The oldest president of the mixed chambers shall preside in time of session, and in his absence the second, and a distribution of suits shall be made, conjointly or alternatively, by the month or by the week. XLIX. In case of a vacancy in the offices which belong to the party of the said religion, in the said chamber of edict, suitable persons shall be selected therefor, who shall have the attestation of the synod or conferences to which they belong, that they are of the said religion, and persons of property. L. The abolition granted to those of the said religion by the 74th article of said edict, shall include the seizures of all royal properties, whether by breaking of coffers or otherwise, even in regard to those which were carried off on the river Charente, now that they have be- come private property. LI. The 49th of the secret articles made in the year 1577, touch- ing the city and archbishopricks of Avignon and county of Venice, with the treaty made at Nimes, shall be observed according to their form and tenor ; and no letters of marque shall be given, in virtue of the said articles and treaties, except by letters patent of the King, sealed with the great seal. However, those who desire it may bring it by virtue of the present article, and without other commission, before the roj^al judges, who shall inform themselves of the contraventions, denial of justice, and iniquity of judgments proposed by those who desire to obtain said letters, and shall send them with their decision closed and sealed to His Majesty, to be disposed of as he shall deem to be proper and just. LII. His Majesty wishes and gives consent that Master Nicholas Grimoult shall be re-established and maintained in the title and pos- session of the offices of lieutenant-general in the civil and criminal courts of the bailiwicks of Alencon, notwithstanding the resig- nation by him made to Master John Marguerit, the induction to the same, and grant obtained by Master William Bernard of the office of lieutenant-general criminal and civil to the court of Exmes ; and the decrees given against the said Marguerit during the said troubles at the privy council, in the years 1586, 1587, and 1588, by which Master Nicholas Barbier was maintained in the rights and preroga- tives of lieutenant-general of the said bailiwick, and the said Bernard to the said office of lieutenant at Exmes, which His Majesty has an- 372 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. nulled, and all others to the contrary. And, further, his said Majesty for certain good considerations, has given permission and ordered that the said Grimoult shall reimburse within three months, the said Barbier for funds for the office of lieutenant-general civil and criminal of the Viscounty of Alengon,and fifty crowns for expenses, commission- ing for that purpose the bailiff du Perche, or his lieutenant at Mor- taigne ; and the reimbursement being made, or the said Barbier re- fusing or delaying to receive it, his said Majesty forbids the said Bar- bier, as also the said Bernard, after knowledge of the present article, from performing the duties of said offices, under pain of being punished for false pretences ; and the said Grimoult is put in enjoyment of said offices and the rights thereunto appertaining ; and by so doing, the suits, pending in the privy council of His Majesty, between the said Grimoult, Barbier, and Bernard, shall remain terminated aud suppressed, his said Majesty forbidding the parliaments and all others from taking cognizance thereof; and the said parties from continuing the suit. And his said Majesty commands that the said Bernard be reimbursed for a thousand crowns paid to the board of escheats for the said office, and sixty crowns for the marc d'or and expenses, hav- ing for that purpose, at the present time, ordered a good and sufficient assignment, the recovery of which shall be made with diligence, and at the expense of the said Grimoult. LIII. His said Majesty will write to his ambassadors to see to it, in respect to all his subjects, and especially of those of the said reli- gion professing to be reformed, that they shall not be molested for matters of conscience, nor subject to the inquisition, going, coming, sojourning, negotiating, and trafficking in all foreign countries, in al- liance and amity with this crown, provided they give no offence to the police of the countries where they may be. LIV. His Majesty is not willing that there should be any inquiry on account of the collecting of impositions levied at Royan, in virtue of the contract made with the Lord de Candelay, and others made in continuation Ihereof, giving validity to, and approving of, the said eon- tract for the time that it has force in all its extent, until the eighteenth da}^ of May approaching. LV. The excesses committed on the person of Armand Courtiues, in the city of Millault, in the year 1587, and of Jean Reins and Pierre Seigneuret, with the procedures made against them by the consuls of the said Millault, shall be abolished and suppressed by the benefit of the edict, so that their widows and heirs, nor the procureur-generals of His Majesty, their substitutCvS, nor any other persons whatever, shall AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 373 be allowed to make mention, inquiry, or prosecution thereof, notwitli- standing and in opposition to the decree given in the chambers of Castres, on the tenth day of March last, which shall be null and of no effect, with all informations and procedures, both on the one part and the other. LVI. All suits, procedures, sentences, judgments, and decrees granted against either the late Lord De la None, or against the Lord Odet de la Noue, his son, since their detention and imprisonment in Flanders, in the month of March, 1680, and in the month of Novem- ber, 1584, and during their continued occupation in the wars and ser- vice of His Majesty, shall be annulled, and all that has followed in consequence of them. And the said De la IS^oue shall be received into their wards, and placed in such state as they were in before the said judgments and decrees, in such manner that they shall not be bound to refund the expenses, or despositing the penalties, if they have incurred any, nor shall any nonsuiting or prescription during the said term be alleged against them. Done by the King, in his Council at Nantes, on the second day of May, 1598. Signed Henry ; and still lower. Forget; and the seals of the great seals of yellow wax. IIL Brevet. On this the third day of April, 1598, the King being at Nantes, and wishing to gratify his subjects of the said religion profes- sing to be reformed, and in order to aid them in some heavy expenses they have to support, has ordered and does order for the future, begin- ning with the first day of the present month, that there shall be placed in the hands of Monsieur de Vierse, commissioned by His Majesty for that purpose, by the royal treasurers, each in its year, rescriptions for the sum of forty-five thousand crowns, to be employed in certain secret affairs which concern them, which His Majesty does not wish to speak of or declare, which sum of forty-five thousand crowns shall be assigned on the general receipts which follow, to wit : Paris, six thousand crowns ; Rouen, six thousand crowns ; Caen, three thousand crowns; Orleans, four thousand crowns ; Tours, four thousand crowns ; Poitiers, eight thousand crowns ; Limoges, six thousand crowns ; Bordeaux, eight thousand crowns ; payable in the four quarters of the said year, in the first and most clear moneys of the general receipts, without there being any thing deducted therefrom on account of any deficiency of the tax or otherwise, of which sum of 45,000 crowns, a receipt for ready money shall be given, which shall be placed in the hands of our treasurer, to serve as an acquittance for him, in giving the said entire rescriptions for the said sum of 45,000 crowns, upon the said 374 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. communities, at the beginning of each year. And if for the conve nience of the above-mentioned places, a part of the said assignations shall be required to be paid in recettes particulai-Iy established, the treasurer-generals of France and the receiver-generals of said commu- nities are ordered to do it, by drawing the said rescriptions from the said royal treasurers, which shall be delivered by the said Lord De Yierse to those who have been named to him by those of the said religion, at the beginning of the yeai', to receive and pay out the moneys which were to be received in virtue of the same, of which they shall be bound to report to the said Sieur de Vierse, at the end of the year, a true statement, with the quittances of the parties tak- ing, that His Majesty may be informed of the use of said mone}-; but neither the said Sieur de Vierse nor those commi-'^sioned by those of the said religion shall be bound to render an account in any chamber, for which, and all that depends on it, His Majesty has ordered all let- ters and dispatches necessary to be granted, in virtue of this present brevet, that he has signed with his own hand, and countersigned by his councillor, in his council of state, and his secretary of commands. Signed Hexry, and still lower, De Neuville. IV. Secret Articles. On this the last day of April, 1598, the King being at Nantes, wishing to give all the contentment possible to his subjects of the religion preferring to be reformed, with regard to the demands and requests which have been made to him on their part, as to what they think to be necessary, as well for the liberty of their consciences, as for the safety of their persons, fortunes, and properties, and from the assurance he has of their fidelity and sincere affection to his service, with many other considerations important for the good and repose of the state ; His Majesty, in addition to what is contained in said edict that he has lately resolved on, and which will be published for the regulation of what concerns them, has granted and promised to them that all the places, cities and castles, held by them up to the month of August last in which there were garrisons, by the order which shall be drawn up and signed by His Majesty in their guard under the authority and obedience of his said Majesty for the space of eight years, reckoning from the day of the publication of said edict ; and in regard to others held by them in the which are no gar- risons, there shall be neither alteration nor innovation. His Majesty does not mean, however, that the cities and castles of Vendome and Poutorson shall be comprised in the number of the said places left in the care of those of the said religion. Neither is the city, castle and citadel of Aubenas to be comprehended in the said number, except it AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 375 be now in the hands of one of the said religion ; this makes it neces- sary that it should be bestowed on a person of the said religion, like other cities which have been given them. And as to Chauvigny, it shall be restored to the Bishop of Poitiers, lord of the said place, and the new fortifications made there shall be razed and demolished. And as to the provisioning of the garrisons which are to be kept in said cities, places and castles, his said Majesty grants a sum of nine hundred thousand crowns therefor, without including the province of Dauphinj^, which shall be provided from other sources than the said sum of nine hundred thousand crowns in each year: he promises to give orders- good and valid, upon the most certain revenues, where the said gari'isons shall be formed. And where the said sums are insufficient, and there is not in the same enough funds, the surplus shall be furnished from the nearest revenues thereto, but the moneys shall not be directed from the said revenues, until the said sum has been entirely furnished and paid out. In addition, His Majesty promises and agrees, that whenever the state of the said garrisons is to be altered, members of the said religion shall be called in, to take their advice and to hear their remonstrances, to the end that such orders shall be given as shall be the most satisfactory to them. And if during the time of the said eight years, there shall be occasion to make any change in regard to the matter whether the cliange is sought for by His Majesty, or through their requisition, the same course will be pursued as though the matter, came up for the first time. As to the garrisons of Dauphiny, His Majesty, in preparing their state, will take counsel of the Sieur de Lesdiguieres. And in case of vacancies of governors or captains of the said places, His Majesty wills and agrees that such vacancies shall be filled by persons of the said religion, properly attested by the colloquies to which they belong, as being members of the said religion and persons of standing. He will be satisfied, however, if the person who is to be the candidate by the brevet, which is to be granted, shall be bound previous to obtaining the situation, to bring tlie attestation of the colloquy to which he belongs, which the said colloquy shall be bound to give him promptly, and without any delay, or in case of refusal, shall present to his said Majesty the causes of the delay. And the said term of eight years being passed, His Majesty shall be quit of his promise in reference to said cities, and of his obligations to remit them : how- ever, he promises and agrees, that if the said cities continue, after that time, to have garrisons or a governor to command over them, that he will not dispossess the person in command, in order to give 376 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. the place to anothe?-. So, in like manner, he declares his intention, as well during the s:iid eight years as thereafter, to gratify those of the said religion, and to give them a share of the offices, governments and other honors, to be distributed, and to dispense them impartially and without exception according to the quality and merit of the persons, as well as to his other Catholic subjects; with the exception that the cities and places, which shall hereafter be placed under their charge, other than those at present in their hands, may be taken in conse- quence of being heretofore well affected to the party of the said religion. And, further, his said Majesty grants that such persons as have been selected by the party of the said religion to guard the magazines, munitions, powder and cannon of said cities, or such as shall be apj^ointed to guard them, shall be continued in such charges, by taking commissions from the Grand Master of Artillery and Com- missioner General. Which letters shall be given them gratuitousl}^, placing in their hands, signed in good and due form, a regular statement of the said magazines, munitions, powder and cannon, but they shall not on account of said commissions, claim any immunities or privileges. And inasmuch as the members of said religion have implored His Majesty to give a clear understanding of what he has been pleas- ed to ordain in regard to the exercise of said religion in the city of Metz, as it is not clearly expressed in his edict and secret articles, His Majesty declares that he has granted letters patent, in which it is ordered : That the temple hitherto built by the inhabitants of the same shall be restored to them, in order that they may carry away the materials, or otherwise dispose of them as they shall think best ; but there shall be no preaching or other religious exercise therein, yet nevertheless a proper place shall be furnished within the inclo- sure of the city, where they can have public religious services, with- out having it expressly ordered by this edict. His Majesty also agrees, that notwithstanding the prohibition of the said religion at the court and its suite, the dukes, peers of France, officers of the crown, marquises, counts, governors, and lieutenant-generals, field- marshals, and captains of the guard of his said Majesty, who shall be of his suite, shall be unmolested for what is done in their houses, pro- vided it be done in their family privately, with closed doors, and without loud singing, or the doing of any thing to make known that the exercise of the said religion is going on; and if his said Majesty shall remain more than three days in the cities and places where the AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 377 said exercise is allowed, the said exercise after the expiration of the said time shall be continued as before his arrival. His Majesty declares that in the present posture of his affairs, he is unable to comprehend his countries beyond the mountains, Brest and Barcelona, in the per- mission by him granted for the exercise of the said religion, profes- sedly reformed. His Majesty promises, however, that when the said countries are reduced to his authority, his subjects in the same as it regards religion and other points granted by his edict, shall be plac- ed upon the same footing as his other subjects, notwithstanding what is ordered by said edict, and yet they shall be maintained in the same state as at present. His Majesty allows that those persons of the said religion, professing to be reformed, who shall be chosen for the offices of presidents and councillors, created to serve in the cham- bers ordered anew by this edict, shall take the said offices without fee, for the first time, upon the statement which shall be presented to His Majesty by the deputies of the Assembly of Chattellerault, and also the substitutes of our attorney-generals, created by the same edict in the chamber of Bourdeux, and until the incorporation of the said chamber of Bourdeaux, and of that of Thoulonse with the said parliaments, the said substitutes shall fill the offices of council- lors in the same also gratuitously. His Majesty invests the honora- ble Francis Pitou with the office of substitute of the attorney-general in the court of the parliament of Paris ; and for these ends a new establishment of the office shall be made ; and on the death of the said Pitou, a successor to him shall be appointed of the said reli- gion. And in case of vacancy by death of the two officers of masters of requests of the royal palace, the first vacancies shall be filled by His Majesty from persons of the said religion, whom His Majesty shall see to be proper and capable for the good of the state, and at the expense of the Board of Escheats. Nevertheless, it shall be or- dered that in each quarter there shall be two masters of requests, whose duty it shall be to report the petitions of persons of the said relio-ion. Besides, His Majesty permits the deputies of the said reli- gion assembled in the said city of Chatellerault, to remain together to the number often in the city of Saumur, to see to the execution of his said edict, until it shall be verified in his court of parliament of Paris. Notwithstanding, they are commanded by the said edict to separate promptly ; however, they shall not in the name of the said assembly make any new demands, nor meddle by recommendation with the said execution, deputation, and introduction of the commissioners, who shall be ordered for that purpose. And for all the above, His Majesty 378 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. gives his faith and word by the present brevet, which he has signed with his own hand, and countersigned bj us, his secretaries of state, willing that this brevet should have the same value and effect as if its contents were comprised in an- edict verified in his comets of par- liament : Those of the said religion being content, for the good of his service and the state of his affairs, not to ui-ge that this ordinance be put in a form more authentic, bestowing this confidence on the word and goodness of His Majesty, that he will allow them the full enjoy- ment of the same. Having, for that purpose, given orders that all papers and dispatches necessary to the execution of the above shall be granted to them. (Signed) Henry, and lower, Forget. Vol. I., No. 2, pp. 100-101. We give below the ordinance of Louis XIV. revoking the edict of his grandfather. It is but little known as to the whole of its dispositions, and consequently merits a repro- duction in this work. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Louis, Ac. The King Henry the Great, our grandfather of gloi'i- 0U3 memory, wishing that the peace he had procured for his subjects after the great losses they had suffered by the civil and foreign wars, should not be disturbed on account of the said R. P. R. (Reli- gion Pretendedly Reformed) as had happened in the reigns of the kings his predecessors, did, by his edict given at Nantes, in the month of April, 1598, regulate the conduct to be pursued towards those of the said religion, the places where they could exercise it, established extraordinary judges to administer justice to them, and in fine, pro- vided by private articles for all which might be deemed necessary to maintain tranquillity in his kingdom, and to diminish the aversion between persons of both religions ; in fine, that he might be in a bet- ter state to work, as he had resolved to do, to reunite to the church those who had so easily withdrawn from it. And as the intention of the King our said grandfather was not effected on account of his sud- den death, and as the execution of the said edict was even interrupt- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 379 ed during the minority of the late King, our very honored lord and father of glorious memory, by new enterprises of the said R. P. R., which gave occasion to deprive them of divers advantages which had been granted them by the said edict. However, the King our said late lord and father, using his usual clemency, granted them a new edict at Nismes, in the month of July, 1629, by means of which tran- quillity being again established, and the said late King being animat- ed with the same zeal for i-eligion as the King our late grandfather, resolved to profit by this repose to attempt the execution of his pious design ; but the foreign wars happening a few years after, so that from 1635 till the truce concluded in the year 1684 with the Princes of Europe, the kingdom being scarcely a moment free from agitation, it was impossible to do any thing for the advantage of reli- gipn except to diminish the number of exercises of the R. P. R. by the interdiction of such as were found to be prejudicial to the provisions of the edicts and by the suppression of the mixed chambers, whose erection had been made only provi- sionally. God having at length permitted our people to enjoy perfect repose, and we ourselves not being occupied with the cares of protecting them against our enemies, having it in our power to take advantage of this truce to bestow our entire applica- tion in order to find the means of succeeding in the designs of the Kings our said grandfather and father, into the which we have entered from our first accession to the crown. We see now with the just gra- titude we owe to God, that our pains have the end which we pro- posed, since the better and larger portion of our .subjects of the said R. P. R. have embraced the Catholic religion : and inasmuch as the execution of the said edict, and of all that has been ordered in favor of the said R. P. R. has been useless, we have judged that we could do nothing better to efface entirely the memory of the troubles, of the confusion and the misfortunes that the progress of this false reli- gion has caused in our kingdom, and which have given room for the said edict, and to so many other edicts and declarations which have preceded or been made in consequence of it, than to revoke en- tirely the Edict of N'antes, and the special articles granted in conse- quence of it and all that has been done in favor of the said religion. I. Be it known, that we for these and other causes moving us thereto, and of our certain knowledge, full power and royal authority, have by this present edict suppressed and revoked, do suppress and revoke the edict of the King our said grandfather, given at Nantes in the month of April, 1598, in its whole extent, with the particular ar- 380 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tides decreed the 2d of May following, and the letters patent granted from them, and the edict given at Nismesin the month of July, 1629, declaring them null and void, with all the concessions made as well by them as by other edicts, declarations and decrees made to people of the said R. P. R., of what nature soever they may be, which shall remain in like manner as though they had not been : and in conse- quence, we will, and it pleases us that all the temples of those of the said R. R R., situated within our kingdom, countries, lands, and seig- neuries, under our authority, shall be immediately destroyed. II. We forbid our subjects of the R. P, R. from assembling again for the exercise of said religion in any other place or private liouse, under any pretext whatever, even if the said exercises have been al- lowed by decrees of our council. III. We forbid in like manner all lords of whatever quality from the exercise thereof in their houses and fiefs, of what quality soever the fiefs may be, under pain, against all our subjects who shall take part in the said exercise, of confiscation of body and goods. IV. We command all ministers of said R. P. R., who will not be converted to, and embrace, the R. C. A. and R. (Roman Catholic, and Apostolic, and Roman), to leave our kingdom and lands imder our authority, within fifteen days after the publication of our present edict, without making any delay, nor, during the said time of fifteen days, shall they preach, exhort, or have any other exercise thereof, under penalty of the galleys. V. We will that those said ministers, who shall be converted, shall continue to have, during their lives, and their widows after their decease, the same exemptions from taxes, and from the lodging of soldiers, which they have enjoyed whilst they were ministers, and further, we will pay to the said ministers, during their lifetime, a pension one third larger than their salaries as ministers, a moiety of which shall be allowed to their widows after their decease, as long as they remain in a state of widowhood. VI. If any of the said ministers shall desire to become lawyers, or to take the degree of Doctor of Law, we will and intend that they shall dispense with the three years of study prescribed by our de- clarations; and having passed the usual examinations, and by them shown to be capable, they shall be received as doctors by paying only a lialf of the fees usually paid for that end at each university. VII. We forbid private schools for the instruction of the children of the said R. P. R., and, generally, all things whatever, which can be considered a concession, whatever it may be, in favor of said re- ligion. UTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. :381 VIII. With regard to the children of persons of the said R. P. R., born hereafter, we order that they shall for the future be baptized by the parish pi-iest. We enjoin on fathers and mothers to send them to church for that purpose, under pain of a penalty of five hundred livres ; and the children afterwards shall be educated in the principles of the R. C. A. and R., of which we expressly order our judges to see to the execution. IX. And, as a mark of our clemency towards our subjects of the said R. P. R., who may have withdrawn from our kingdom, countries and possessions, previous to the publication of our present edict. We will and command that, in case they shall return within four months from the day of said publication, they can, and shall be allowed to enter on the possession of their property, and to enjoy the same as fully as though they had always remained here ; on the contrary, the properties of those who shall not return within the said four months, in our kingdom, or countries and lands under our authoi-ity, which they have abandoned, shall remain and be confiscated in con- sequence of our declaration of the 2<0th of August last. X. We make very express and repeated prohibitions to all our subjects of the said R. P. R. from departing, them, their wives and chil- dren fi'om our said kingdom, countries and lands under oxir authority, or from carrying away their properties and effects, under pain, for the men of the galleys, and of confiscation of body and goods for the women. XL We will and understand that the declarations made against relapses shall be execiited according to their form and tenor. With regard to the remainder of the said R. P. R., until it shaU please God to enlighten them, as he has the rest, they shall continue to dwell in the cities and places of our kingdom, countries and lands under our authority, and may continue their business, and enjoy the possession of their property without being troubled or disturbed under pretext of the said R. P. R., on condition, as has been said, of having no exercise, nor assembling under pretext of prayer, or of worship of said religion, of any nature whatever, under the above- mentioned penalties of body and goods. Given at Fontainebleau, in the month of October, 1685, and of our reign the forty-third. Signed Louis. And upon the fold the signa- ture of Le Tellier, and upon the side, By the king, Colbert. And sealed with the great seal of green wax, upon a ground of red and green silk. Enregistered, &c., signed De La Baune. 382 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. YoL L, No. 3, pp. 112-203. Some passages from the reports sent to the goyernment by the intendants of districts in 1698, may, perhaps, be in- teresting, and from which we have taken extracts to verify the whole amount of emigration in some cities, and the loss resulting therefrom to industry and commerce. Of the number of Huguenots who departed from, oi remained within, the jurisdiction of Paris. Previous to the revocation of the Edict of IS'antes, there were within the limits of Paris 1933 families of Huguenots ; 1202 of these families have since departed, and 734 remained. Below is given a detailed statement of districts of those who have remained and been converted ; some of them are so in good faith, and live as good Christians, the remaining and most numerous portion continue their manner of living, and make no apparent exercise of religion. ELECTIONS. Paris. In the district of Paris, there is a temple at Charenton, where the members of the R. P. P. of Paris and its environs are in the habit of going on Sunday. It was forbidden by order of the King, in the year 1688. There was another temple at Yilliers-le-Bel, where those persons of the said religion dwelling in the neighboring parishes attended worship ; it was interdicted two years before. Senlis. There were 32 Huguenot families in the district. Those having property went to Holland ; 48 families went away, and 14 remained, to wit : In the city of Senlis, 3 families ; at Verneuil, 3 families ; at Brenouille, *1 families ; and at Belle Eglise, 1 family. Compiigne. — ^There were 62 families in the district ; 38 families went away, 24 remained, amounting to the number of 98 persons, men, women, and children. Bcav,vais. "Within ten years this place had 48 families, making 168 persons ; 22 families went away, and 26 remained, amounting to 85 persons ; the rest v.-ent to Holland and to England. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 383 Pontoise, There were but two families of Huguenots in the dis- trict, which were two noble families, who made abjuration, and have remained, to wit: MM. d'Aiguillon, of Real, and the Lad}- de Bre- court, with the young ladies, her daughters. Mafites. At the time of the revocation of j^antes, there were in the district 80 families of Huguenots, none of them noble and of consi- deration : in the city of Mantes none ; 74 families went away ; 6 re- mained, to the number of 20 persons, who live, as before, without any exercise of their religion. They have a meeting-house in the district. Montfort. There has never been but few Huguenots in the district — ^but 12 families; 6 families have departed, and as many remained. They had a meeting-house at Houdan, where persons of that religion came from the distance of 4 or 5 leagues. Dreux. There are no Huguenots in the city of Dreux ; in the par- ishes of the district there are 104 families, amounting to 440 per- sons ; 48 families have departed, and 86 remained, numbering 360 persons. Etaynpes. None either in city or district. Melun. There was a temple at Bois-le-Roy in the district, where the Huguenots of the neighborhood went. But 6 families in the dis- trict, who have withdrawn, leaving none behind. Nemours. There were but 5 families of Huguenots in the district, all of whom have been converted, and perform well their duty as Christians, with the exception of Sieur de Francliou, his wife and his daughter, and the Dame de Chammoreau, who make no exercise of it. Meaux. There were in the district about 1500 families of Huguenots, 1000 of whom have departed, and 500 remain, numbering 2,300 per- sons, of whom the greater portion live as they did before their con- version. Rosoy. There was a temple at Morcerf, which the members of the R. P. R. of this and the neighboring districts frequented. There were but 4 families of Huguenots in the parish of Lumigny in this district, and as many in that of Morcerf, where the temple was situated. They all retired, and none remain. Coulommiers. The exercise of the R. R R. was made in the castle of Chalandos, belonging to Sieur Lhuillier. Chalandos is a hamlet be- longing to the parish of St. Simeon. This was the place of assembling for the Huguenots of the neighborhood. The Sieur Lhuillier is a gentleman of the family of Lhuillier of Coquelles, one of whom was president of the chamber of accounts of King Henry the Fourth. He appears to be perfectly converted. He performs his duties as a good 384 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Catholic. His mother and two sisters remain in the chateau, who have the reputation of being good Huguenots. He has a cousin-ger- nian, named Lhuillier du Breuil, and the sister of the said Breuil, wlio have gone to Holland. There are two fomilies also de Coulom- miers who have gone. There remains yet, to wit : In the province of Chauffin, 2 families ; in St. Simeon and Maupertuis, 5 families. Provins. There are no Huguenots in the city of Provins ; in the district there are but the Dame and two Misses de Flaix and the Miss Changuyon, their cousin, with two domestics. The Sieur de Flaix and his son have been out of the Kingdom &ve years. Nogent. None in the city or district. Montereau. None in the city or district. Sens. There were only the single family De Brannay, of whom there remains but three daughters, very old, who abjured about twelve years ago. Joigny. There are no Huguenots in the city of Joigny ; in the dis- trict there is only a single family in the parish of St. Martin d'Ordon, consisting of six persons ; the mother and two daughters have ab- jured. St. Florentin. There were but two Huguenot families in the dis- trict, who lived at Boeurs ; they are converts ; the heads of the fami- lies are dead ; the children have remained, and are good Catholics. Tonnerre. There is in the district but a single Huguenot family, named Lamas ; there are two parishes, Cuzy and Argenteuil ; they are all converts, and make no exercise of our religion. Vezelay. There were in the district 53 Huguenot families ; 8 have departed; 45 remained, amounting to 250 persons of both sexes. Those who remain have abjured. They make, for the most part, no exercise of the Catholic religion. See French Manuscripts of the Imperial Library, Mortemart Collection, No. 88. II. Extract from the Report for the Division of Rochelle. His Majesty has labored with an inconceivable zeal and ardor for the preservation of his subjects and has forgotten nothing which de- pended on his care for their instruction, and has made use of every tiling : missions, vicars, masters and mistresses of schools, convents for young girls to retire to, pensions for ministers, officers and others who have done their duty as Catholics, prisons for the obstinate and scandalous, favors for those whose example might produce good ef- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 385 fects. We see with chagrin, that those who remain in their houses find insurmountable difficulties from the cures when they desire to marry. The bishoj^s have been unable up to this time to remedy this evil, and the royal authority alone can place these persons in a state to have successors. The bishops are full of zeal for the conver- sion of those in their dioceses, but they are not supported by the other ecclesiastics and by the cures, the greater part of whom are very ignorant, very selfish, cheats, and little given to charitv * * ^ * ** /^fr It was an important work to undertake to reform the disorders in religion ; but it is not time yet to hope that it is accomplished. On the contrary, we see with grief that a great number of persons of every age and sex have abandoned their country, and gone to foreign lands, whither they have carried their best effects. Collection Mortemart, No. 96. III. Extract from the Report of the District of Caen. The ordinary commerce of the district of Caen consists of cloths and stuffs manufactured principally at Vire, Falaise, Argentan. This trade has considerably diminished since the year 1685, because the greater part of the merchants, who were Huguenots, and the richest, have gone to foreign countries, so that those who remain fire not able to re-establish that trade. There was at St. Lo about 800 Huguenots, the departure of about one half of whom has been somewhat injurious. There were but few Huguenots in the district of Avranches. The city of Pontorson and the town of Ducehave been infected by the protection given them by the Counts De Lorge, De Montgommery, and the Count de Duce of the same family. The Countess de Duce has retired to London. Madame de Fontenay, by the permission of the court, and some Huguenots in small number, have retired to Holland. There was in the district of Mortain about 300 of the reformed, more than half of whom have retired to Holland or England. ., Fonds Mortemart Collections, No. 98. IV . Extract from the Report of Baville on Languedoc. The ancient Catholic families, by the heads of families, number 4046 ; the lately converted families, by heads of families, number 440; the ancient Catholic families number 1,238,927 persons; the VOL. II — 17 386 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. recently converted, 198,483— Total, 1,441,896. Of the 440 families of gentlemen lately converted, comprised iu this table or statement, there are 109 which have no children, or which have only daughters, so that there will be that number of families extinct in a few years. There is no house here more distinguished by its birth than that of M. le Mai-quis de Malause, in the diocese of Castres. He appears very Catholic, and has espoused for his first and second wives Catholic ladies of old families, Mademoiselles de Chaumont and Montmouton. Of all these gentlemen, there are but 15 who have from 6,000 to 12,000 livres income ; the remainder have less, and the larger portion not a third of that sum. It is easy to see from this statement that there is no one among them who can make a great figure, or who could become the chief of a party. There is a large number of very wealthy merchants ; but they will never do any thing to interfere with their trade. Generally speaking, all of the new converts are in better circumstances, more laborious and industrious than the an- cient Catholics of the province. The disposition of these new con- verts was, after the general conversion in 1685, to waver some time between their property and their religion. Their attachment to their property prevailed, and they took the i-esolution of remaining in the kingdom. Some of them departed ; but after an exact search, I have found only 4,000 who took that resolution, of which number 600 have returned. Of those who remained there are but few who are good Catholics ; they preserve almost all in their hearts their first religion. They have conceived false hopes during the last war, which encour- aged them. They persuaded themselves that events were about to happen, which would compel the rebuilding of their temples. The French ministers, who have withdrawn to foreign countries, with whom they have had correspondence, have not failed to uphold them in this view, and dissuade them from all the exercises of our religion, and to hold out to them a change. They have been waiting there without coming to a determination, during the war, having secret prayers among themselves, and withdrawing by their natural inclina- tion, by the prejudices of their birth, from all that might carry them to Catholicism. They have attempted on several occasions, at Ce- vennes and at Vivarais, insurrections, by assemblies, by preachers, and by ministers sent from foreign countries. They have even as- sassinated six priests at Cevennes, and they sent some fanatics, in 1689, to Vivarais, whose excesses might have caused fear, if the fire kindled by them had not been extinguished in the beginning. But all these assemblies were crushed and destroyed as soon as formed, the AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 387 authors of these murders arrested and put to death, and all having part in that evil design punished. All these proceedings were capa- ble of causing a revolt among the mountainous pax'ts of the country, nearly all inhabited by the recent converts ; but no such consequences followed, and all of them possessed of ever so little sense have seen that it was much better to await quietly the events of the war, than to hazard their fortunes. Two principal means were made use of to take away all hope of success. The first by making more than a hun- dred roads across the Cevennes and the province of Vivarais, and that so successfully, that all kinds of carriages can go now very readily in places hitherto deemed inaccessible, and there is no point where cannon and bombs cannot be carried, if necessary. JSTothing rendered them more insolent and more disposed to revolt than the notion that their country was inaccessible. The second means has been to pre- pare and place in order the forces of the Catholics by birth, whose number in the whole of Languedoc is much larger than that of the new converts. A commencement has been made by raising eight regiments of infantry, paid by the province. The King having use for their services elsewhere, has formed 52 regiments more of militia, not to be paid, but always ready to depart at the first order. The regiments are composed of 8, or 10, or 12 companies, according to the strength of the places where they are. They have colonels, captains, lieutenants and sergeants. They all assemble every eight days for review and exercise. They are composed of all men in the parish most proper for the King's service, and have chosen for officers either gentlemen or officers retired from service, or the wealthier among the bourgeois, and the most distinguished persons in the parish. Each colonel is furnished with powder and ball sufficient for march- ing without delay, in case they are commanded. These 52 regiments are scattered through the whole province, so that at all times every order can be executed at once, and all equally watched. The com- mander of the province has a general review every year, under the eyes of the recent converts, of all those battalions, thereby impressing upon them the conviction that any movement on their part would result in their ruin, and that, too, in a moment. And though these are not the best of troops, well commanded, and but little disciplined, it is to be presumed that they will be more than a match for a popu- lace assembling tumultuously, without order, without munitions and even without a leader. 388 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Forts Built. The King caused three forts to be built in 1689, which have been of great utility, viz. : at Mmes, at St. Hippolyte and Alais, which are the principal entrances to the Cevennes. Castles have been selected in various places for posts to overawe the entire country. As it was only from fear of punishment that the new converts have changed, the Catholic religion has made no progress in their hearts : it is to be hoped that they will change their resolution after the peace ; it is impossible that they should remain without worship or any religious exercise. The heads of families die daily, and are the most obstinate ; it is also with the principal ministers who are in foreign countries by whom they are upheld. The children, who have had neither temples nor ministers, are more disposed to receive the good impres- sions given to them. All that was possible has been done to induce the children to attend the schools established in all places of any size: this is the most efficacious means, and must be continued for the future. This is not impossible to be done, provided sufficient care be taken ; the fathers do not resist the orders given them. It will be very useful to place the boys in colleges and the girls in convents whenever the parents are rich enough to afford the expense. The greatest, most solid, and I may add, the most efficacious expedient is, to form good priests to be cures and vicars in the parishes. As they were all filled with people of the religion professing to be reformed at the time of the general conversion, it is found that the places have been filled by persons very poorly qualified therefor. Means must be found to obtain those that are good and capable of preaching ; for the entire worship of people of this religion consists only in hearing the Word of God, and no success is had with the recent converts, unless possessed of a gift for preaching. It is only by good semina- ries that priests can be instructed and rendered such as they ought to be. Thus nothing better can be done than to assist the bishops by all sorts of gifts, so that they may have the means of establishing these seminaries. Since the general conversion, the King has supplied the want of priests by missions ; but though they have been very useful, they cannot do as much good as a good cure who will be deemed the true pastor, and who will work all his life for the conversion of his flock, whether in the church or by the continued visitation of private families. He will obtain the same ascendency and the same authority as the ministers had over the minds and liearts of the religionists, who were able to do all they desired. Whenever a good AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 389 priest is found in a parish, it will be seen that his continual pains cannot be resisted, and that he will at length determine the new con- verts to do their duty. It must not be thought that this can be accomplished in a day, and that immediately after the peace the new converts will be seen flocking to the churches. It will happen, on the contrary, that they will remain for some time in the same state as when one is deprived of the hope of succeeding in some cherished wish, and has no more hope of succeeding in all the visions with which one has been flattered : they will be sad, dejected, and discouraged ; some will even be tempted to withdraw from the king- dom; but few in my opinion will yield to that temptation ; and more will return than will go away ; when all these movements shall have passed, the time of harvest will have come ; then, with a little pa- tience, shall we behold good Catholics. But I have always thought that the worst course to be pursued was that of insisting too much on the use of the sacraments : the missionaries who have done so through excess of zeal, have succeeded badly, and those places where tins course has been pursued in the beginning, are those where there has been the least advance. The new converts confess and commune as often as could be expected, considering the small amount of pres- sure and menace exerted by the secular power, but this produces only sacrilege; we must attack the heart; there it is that religion resides, and can have no solid foundation without it is gained. The liberty of going to Orange, to hear preaching, \inder pretext of busi- ness, may cause great disorders ; but the King has remedied this by forbidding the new converts from entering that principality without permission of the governor, or commander, or intendant of the province. [Montmarte Collection, p. 109.] No. 4. Vol. i. pp. 127—129. The following fragment, which formerly made a part of the collection of the Louvre, and which we have found in the collec- tions of documents which served for the work of Rulhiere, proves to what point the interior commerce suffers from the rigor with which passports are required, not only of foreigners on 390 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. business when they leave the kingdom, but especially religious persons suspected of a desire to emigi-ate : The necessity to which strangers are reduced, -who come into the kingdom, of taking passports to go away, is, without doubt, a very great inconvenience ; and it is impossible to re-establish commerce, and to avoid extreme misery, and the ruin of the state, if it remains a long time as it now is, and in a sort of interdiction. The utmost efforts are made in foreign countries to get along without France, and the necessity to which they will be reduced of having no intercourse with France, will effect, without doubt, what the industry and ill- will of our enemies has failed hitherto to do. It is important for the service of the King to have a remedy applied soon, for neither time nor ability to do so will always be ours. And as to the particular matter of passports, it is certain that in the present juncture we find ourselves between two extremes equally dangerous — the ruin of com- merce on the one hand, the danger of the evasion of a very large number of the subjects of the King on the other. [Depot du Louvre, anno 1686.] No. 5. Edict of Potsdam, Yol. i. pp. 127 — 129. Frederick William, by the grace of God, Margrave of Branden- burgh, Arch-Chamberlain and Prince Elector of the Holy Empire, &c. As the persecutions and rigorous procedures put in force for some time in France against persons of the reformed religion, have obliged many families to leave the kingdom, and to strive for an establishment in foreign countries, it is our wish, touched with the just compassion we ought to feel for those who unhappily suffer for the Gospel, and for the purity of the faith we confess with them, by the present edict, signed with our own hand, to offer to the said Frenchmen a sure and free retreat in all the lands and provinces of our dominion, and to declare at the same time what rights, franchises, and advantages we intend they shall enjoy, to the end that we may alleviate and obviate in some sort the calamities with which Divine Providence has found good to strike a portion so considerable of his Church. 1. In fine, that all who shall take the resolution of coming here to live, may find as much facility as possible in getting here, we have AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 391 given orders to our Envoy Extraordinary, near Messieurs the States General of the United Provinces, the S'. Diest, and our Commissioner at the city of Amsterdam, the S^. Romswinckel, to furnish'^ at our ex- pense, to all those of the said religion who apply to them, the boats and piovisions they may stand in need of to transport themselves, properties and families, from Holland to the city of Hamburgh, where our Councillor of State and Resident in the circle of Lower Saxony, the S"". de Gerike, will furnish them with all commodities they may stand in need of, to come into said city and province of our States, that they may find it good to choose to live in. 2. Such as leave France on the side of Sedan, Champagne, Lor- raine, Bourgogne, or the Southern provinces of that kingdom, and who do not find it convenient to come by way of Holland, have only to go to Frankfort on the Main, and to apply to S"^. Merian, our Consul and Resident in that city, or to S"^. Leti, our agent, whom we also have commanded to assist with money, passports and boats, to descend the Rhine into our Duchy of Cleves. 3. Those who shall desire to establish themselves in our Provinces, shall choose such place as may suit them in the countries of Marck, Ravensbergh and Minde ; or in those of Magdeburgh, Halberstadt, Brandenburgh, Pomerania and Prussia ; and as we think that the Elec- toral Marche, the cities of Stendal, Werbe, Rathenow, Brandenburgh and Frankfort, and in the counties of Magdeburgh, the cities of Magde- burgh, Halle and Calbe, as also in Prussia the city of Koenigsburgh would be more commodious for them, whether we regard the facility of obtaining nourishment, provisions and subsistence at a low price, or with regard to business ; we have ordered that as soon as any of the said Frenchmen shall arrive, they shall be well received, and furnished with all they may need for their establishment, giving them, besides, entire liberty, and leaving it to their own disposition to determine in what city or province of our States they think most convenient for them. 4. The goods, furniture, merchandise, wares that they bring with them shall not be subject to any taxes, custom-house duties, but shall be exempt from all charges and impositions of whatever name and nature. 5. In case that in the cities, towns, and villages where the said refugees shall go to establish themselves, there should be found any houses ruined, empty, or abandoned by their possessors, and which the proprietors are unable to repair, we give and assign them to those persons in full right of property for them and their heirs ; we will endeavor to satisfy the proprietors according to the value of said houses, and to disen^-isre them of all charges with which they 392 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. may yet be bound, whether for mortgages, debts, contributions or other dues heretofore affecting them. We will also supply them with wood, lime, stone, brick, and other things they may need to repair what they find ruinous and decayed in the said houses, which shall be free and exempt for six years from all sorts of taxes, watches, lodgment of soldiers and other charges, and shall pay during the said time of franchise the fees of sale alone. 6. In the cities and other places where are found proper places for building, persons of the said religion, who have retired here, shall be authorized to take possession for themselves and heirs, as also all gardens, fields and meadows appertaining thereto, without being obliged to pay any charges with which the said places and their dependencies may be aff'ected; and to facilitate the construc- tion of the said houses, we will furnish all the materials which they may stand in need of, and grant them ten years of franchise, during which they shall be subject to uo charges except the said charges for sale. And, as our intention is to make these establish- ments here as easy for them as possible, we have commanded the magistrates and other officers of our said provinces to search in each city for houses to rent, in which they can be lodged when they ar- rive, promising to pay for them and for their families four years of rent of the said houses, provided theiy engage to build in time on the places selected for them on the above-mentioned conditions. 7. As soon as they have fixed their residences in any city or town of our States, they shall be granted the rights of citizenship, and become members of the Trade Associations, which it is proper for them to enter, and enjoy the same rights and privileges as those who were born and have lived all their lives in said cities and towns, and without paying any thing, or being liable to the escheat tax, or any other of whatever nature laid on strangers in other countries and States, but shall be treated and considered wholly and every where in the same light as our natural subjects. 8. Those who may wish to undertake any manufacture or work, whether of cloths, stuffs, hats, or of any other kind of merchandise it may please them, shall not only have all the privileges, grants and franchises they may need, but they shall be supplied with as- sistance of money, and of such provisions and furniture as they maj judge necessary for their designs. 9. To peasants and others wishing to go to the country, we will assign a certain extent of land to cultivate, and they shall receive all the assistance needed for their subsistence at the first, in like manner AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS 393 as we have done by a considerable number of Swiss families who have come to live in our States, 10. In regard to jurisdiction and manner of settling differences, arising among the said Frenchmen of the reformed religion, we give permission that in those cities where there are some of their families established, they can choose one from their number, who shall be authorized to settle their differences in an amicable manner, without any formality or process: and, if these differences arise between Germans and Frenchmen, they shall be decided conjointly by the magisti-ates and by the person chosen from among the French above mentioned ; and, also, they shall decide those eases among the French, which they are unable to settle by the amicable agreement above spoken of. 11. We will salary a minister in every city, and will assign a fit- ting plan for the exercise of the religion in French, according to the customs and with the same ceremonies hitlierto in use by them in France. 12. Such French noblemen as have placed themselves under our protection and entered our service, sliall actually enjoy the same honors, dignities, and advantages, as those of the country, and may be even advanced to the first places at court, and command of our troops. We will also grant the same favors to those of the said nobility who shall hereafter dwell in our States, giving them employment, honors, and dignities, of which they may be capable ; and if they purchase fiefs or other property, and lands of noblemen, they shall hold them with the same rights, liberties, and prerogatives, as the nobility of the country. 13. All privileges and other rights spoken of above, shall hold not only with regard to those of the French nation who may arrive after the date of the present edict, but also such as shall hereafter come here to live, provided they are exiles from France on account of the " reformed " religion ; those, however, making a profession of the Roman religion, are not entitled to them. 14. We establish commissions in each of our provinces, duchies, and principalities, to whom Frenchmen of the "reformed" religion may have recourse if there be need, not only in the beginning of their coming here but afterwards. And all our governors and regents of our provinces and states have orders, in virtue of these presents and of the particular commands we shall send them, to take the said persons under their protection, and to maintain them in all the privileges in- dicated above, and not to allow them to suffer any wrong or injustice, VOL. II — 17* 394 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. but rather all kinds of favor, aid, and assistance. Given at Potsdam, the 29th October, 1685. (Signed) FREDERICK WILLIAM. No. 6. Vol. i. p. 2. Concessions and privileges granted hy His Serene Highness, Charles I., Landgrave of Hesse, Prince of Hersfeld, Count of Catzenellenhogen, Dietz, Zingenhain, Kedda, and Schaumbourg, to such as mag desire to live in his States, to exercise or carry on manufactures not now carried on, and other arts, works and trades, useful and necessary, whatever they may he. 12th December, 1685. Akt. 1. All persons making a profession of the Protestant religion, and wishing to establish themselves in the States of His Serene High- ness, shall be assured of his protection from the moment they take the oath of fidelity, and shall be in no manner molested, provided they religiously observe the commands of His Highness, and conform to the laws of the country. Art. 2. Persons who come to establish themselves in the States of His Serene Highness, after taking the oath of fidelity, shall be free to select such cities and places as shall be proper for their business, where places shall be given them on which to build, and permission given them to take wood from the forests, and stone and sand from such places as shall be deemed proper. Art. 3. Persons desiring to establish manufactures of any kind, shall enjoy for that purpose 10 or 12 years of franchise, viz. : from land-taxes, imposts, taxes, lodging of soldiers, patrols, guards, and other charges, both themselves, their associates, workmen in their employ, and generally those who build shall enjoy for fifteen years freedom from taxation on the houses they shall build. But with re- gard to merchants, artisans, and trades-people, who neither manufac- ture nor build, and who simply follow their professions or trades in use in the States of His Highness, a reasonable time of exemption shall be granted them, during which they shall enjoy the above-men- tioned privileges, and like the others, shall not be under the jurisdic- tion of the city magistracy, but under that of the commissioners of regency of His Highness. Art. 4. Places for building shall be given them, in places absolute- AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 395 ly under our authority, said ground to become the property of their heirs and successors, provided they do not abandon it under any pre- text whatever. However, the desire of His Highness is that the larger portion should live in his residence of Cassel, Art. 5, In the cities of His Highness, places for building shall be sold them at a just value, on which to build their houses, which shall be built of brick or stone ; but to those who desire to purchase houses or lands. His Highness grants a personal franchise for the time mentioned above ; but if the said lands or houses are encumber- ed, they shall be bound thereby like other subjects. Art. 6. The privileges granted to the fathers shall pass to the children in case of decease, which they shall enjoy the remaining years of franchise granted to their fathers, and it shall be allow- able for each one to sell and traffic in the merchandise and wares in the country at a reasonable price, and to transport them to other countries, after having exposed them to sale. So each man may have business and traffic in an honest manner, like other subjects of His Highness, to whom they shall be equal in all things. Art. 1. When the time of exemption shall have elapsed, His Highness being humbly supplicated, will always show a disposition favorable to a prorogation of the term, and this for each one's good, which will depend absolutely on his will, and for the intei*est of manufacturers of importance nothing shall be done to their prejudice whilst their franchises continue, and in case he should meet with others desirous of manufacturing the same articles. His Serene High- ness will use his influence to bring about an accommodation with the first, so that both parties can labor for their mutual benefit and profit. Art. 8. Each manufacturer shall bring such associates and com- panions as he may think necessary, who shall have the same rights as their chief; merchants, artisans, and tradesmen, shall also enjoy the same rights from the moment they have taken the oath of fideli- ty, with no expense to themselves. They shall be allowed to have apprentices and journeymen, who can enjoy none of the above-men- tioned privileges, nor establish themselves as masters, until they shall show evidence of having fully served their apprenticeship. Art. 9. They shall be allowed to choose, by plurality of voices, skilful inspectors to visit the works and correct abuses. However, they must be confirmed by the regency of His Serene Highness, and make to the regency a faithful report of all matters. Art. 10. Those taking their merchandise oiit of the States of His %W 396 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Serene Highness, must pay the export duty, which is a small sum. If there be any desiring to introduce the manufacture of a new inven- tion, and are not satisfied with their privileges, His Serene Highness will hear their demands, and respond according to the importance of the matter. Art. 11. The furniture and tools of those who come to remain in the country of His Highness, whether as rough material or ready for sale, shall be free and exempt from all duty, when brought into these States, Art. 12. His Serene Highness will support in his city of Cassel, ministers from France, where they have exercised their ministry with zeal and general approbation ; also, a chanter, reader and school- master, whilst waiting the action of the Assembly. If he meets with persons of piety of the "reformed" religion, who may desire other places to build their temples, and to provide, at their expense, for per- sons for the public exercise of religion, His Serene Highness will con- sent, provided his consistory have been exactly informed thereof, and an examination been made, and all the requisite formalities observed. Art. 13. Persons of quality desiring to retire under the protection of His Serene Highness, can purchase seignorial lands, in all the rights and privileges of which they shall be preserved and protected, and enjoy the rights annexed thereto, without being troubled in any manner. Art. 14. In regard to the difi"erences which may spring up be- tween those who have recently come into the States of His Serene Highness, whether ecclesiastical, secular, or civil, the commissioners of regency, or the consistory, shall have jurisdiction, and after hav- ing exhorted to an amicable arrangement, and if they do not agree, the law of the country, or local custom, shall decide the difference. Art. 15. Such as desire to live on their income, and have no em- ployment, if their money is at interest in the States of His Serene Highness, shall have franchise and exemption from all taxes for six years, after which time they shall pay the ordinary dues, which are light. But if their revenues come from abroad, with the permission of His Serene Highness they may live in his States and pay no taxes. Art. 16. Good 3p>rkmen of whatever kind, who have not the means to set up an establishment, provided they are honest folks, shall receive reasonable advances from His Serene Highness. Finally, His Serene Highness will maintain all in the above-men- tioned privileges, and see to it that they enjoy the same in peace and tranquillity ; and will take them under his special protection and will AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 397 not suffer any wrong whatever to be done them, but rather grant them all sorts of assistance and favor. Given at Cassel the 12th December, 1685. Signed: Charles. Brief account of the Country of Hesse Cassel. His Serene Highness is of the reformed religion, and is, this year 1685, but 31 years of age. He has four Princes and one Princess for children, his brother has a daughter, also of the reformed religion. Cassel is the capital and the residence of this Prince ; it is large, strong and well-built ; the streets fine and the houses are commodious and cheap. There are some fine fountains which scatter their waters through all the streets. The river Fulda, navigable for boats, passes through the city. One can carry on business both by land and water to Hamburgh, Bremen, Brunswick, Hanover, Zell, Dresden, Berlin, Leipsic, Nuremburgh, Cologne, Lubeck, Frankford, Mar- bourgh and other cities, of Germany, in the midst of which it is placed. The country is very fine, the climate good and healthy, and the people kind and benevolent to strangers. The cultivated lands are fruitful ; the country in general is made up of such lands, mea- dows, woods, streams and rivers filled with fish ; the streams admira ble for all kinds of manufactures. The country abounds in animals. A load of wood (a cord Paris measure) costs 25 sous ; a pound of bread 6 farthings (three English farthings) ; a pound of meat, veal and mutton 2 sous ; beef 6 sous 6 farthings ; a pound of salt 2 farthings ; a pound of butter, in the summer, 4 sous, and in the winter, 6 ; a pound of candles 5 sous ; a doz. of eggs, 4 sous. A pint of Rhenish wine, Paris measure, costs 10 sous ; beer and hrinhand cost at the pot-houses 2 sous the tankard ; but those who brew it, have a better quality for half the price. Money of France is worth 10 or 12 per cent, more than in France. There are in the states of His Serene Highness, universities high in reputation, as those of Marbourgh and Rinteln, and in some cities are schools for teaching the Latin language. His Serene Highness is kind and well disposed to stran- gers. Tlie towns-people and the peasants live in peace ; — the taxes and charges are much less than in France or elsewhere. There are many places and large meadows where cattle can be sent to pasture by paying a small sum as the other inhabitants of the country do. Cassel, 12th December, 1685. 398 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. No. 7, Vol. i. p. 269. Below may be found the discourse preserved in the Acts of the French Church of London, and which was addressed to James II. on his accession to the throne, by the deputies of the French and Dutch churches of London. " The French and Dutch churches of your city of London and of some other cities of your kingdom have sent us to Your Majesty to render to him their homage, to assure him of their fidehty and of the inviolable attachment which they have for his service, to implore his royal protection and to ask of him with profound humihty the continuation of the favors which they have hitherto enjoyed in your Empire. These favors, Sire, are a benefit that they have enjoyed for more than a century by the bounty of kings, your predecessors. So, knowing that, as you are the just and legitimate heir of their crowns, so also are you of their virtues ; and that grandeur of soul which is natural to jon must inspire you with a clemency hke to that of the late King of glorious and immortal memory who has made the admiration of the whole universe, they dare to hope that they may enjoy their happiness under the shadow of your sceptre, and that this august throne to which God and your right have elevated you, will be a throne of grace from which you may throw upon them favorable regards. The setting of that great sun, of which they have been lately deprived, has thrown them into consternation and mourning. Have the goodness, Sire, to restore them the light which illuminates them, and to cast upon them some of those sweet rays which are about to make the fehcity of your kingdom and carry happiness to the hearts of all your people. By so doing, Sire, you will be conferring favors upon persons truly few in numbers, but upon persons whose heart is right toward Your Majesty. Finally, we protest we will render inviolably to him all the obedifnce that faithful subjects owe to their Sovereign Prince, and that we will not cease to pray to God that he may give you a long and happy reign, and all benedictions of heaven and of earth." His Majesty replied that he would engage that they should have the same protection as under the King his brother and his ancestors, and that he regarded them as good subjects. "We have received letters from the churches of Canterbury, Southampton and Thorney-abbey, thanking our company for what they presented to the King in their name. (Register of the Acts of the French Church of London.) AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 399 No. 8, Vol. i. pp. 289-297. We deem it useful to publish some fragments of the unpublished correspondence of Bonrepaus with Seignelay, They prove the little success of the mission with which he was charged by the French government. Dispatch of M. de Bonrepaus to Marquis de Seignelay. London, 31st December, 1685. I have explained to M. de Barillon the subject of my journey. He thinks it a difficult matter to bring about a return of the refugees to France. There are many of them in this country. I hope it will not be so difficult as M. de Barillon thinks it is to bring back the larger part of them. What has caused the greatest trouble, is, that some merchants, lately from France, and particularly from Roelielle, say that great rigor is displayed towards Protestants ; and cites cases of people whom the dragoons have trampled imder their horses' feet. Though, in truth, this has not been done, time will be needed to disabuse them, and a more kind treatment, in the future, if possible. One thing I see here clearly from the discourse even of the lasc refugees, — and that is that they have no difficulty in leaving the ports of the kingdom : some by the use of money supplied by those willing to facilitate their evasion, others by watching their opportunity and sm-prising the officers. I am not yet sufficiently well informed to say on whom suspicion should fall ; but certain it is that abuses have been com- mitted. I have met here M. Forant, who is very zealous and well- disposed, but who nevertheless has taken false steps. He has told those Frenchmen recognizing him, that he was not a Catholic, whilst every body knows the contrary, his abjuration having been published in the Gazette de France, and in all the journals of foreign countries trading with that city. He has, besides, given out, that he was arming a vessel for Holland, pretending to engage for that purpose divers sailors to embark with him and to take them afterwards to France ; but so far was this expedient from succeeding, it has cast them into great fear, lest they should be carried away by force, to such an extent, that some marine officers, ignorant of the customs of this country, have concealed themselves from fear of being arrested. I deem it very necessary to lay these rumors, and that no other means be used to bring them back but those of mildness and instruc- 400 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. tion, with the hope of good treatment in France. I have so explained myself to M. Forant. He can be made useful, provided he is over- looked. He departs from here to-day to go along the coast from here to Yarmouth with a memorandum from me of what he is to do. 31. cle Bonrepaus to M. de Seignelay. London, 3d January, 1686. His Britannic Majesty has not refrained from telling me that he regards all Protestants as republicans, and particularly those fleeing from France ; but inasmiich as the rumors spread abroad of violence to be used towards them have produced a bad effect, and given occa- sion for saying that he designed to do the same towards his own sub- jects, he hoped that the matter would be gently dealt with, to put an end to these rumors. M. de Barillon thinks the knowledge the King has of the object of my journey, with regard to the refugees, has induced him to declare yesterday sooner than he otherwise would have done, that the Bishop of London should no longer be a member of his council. He was a zealous protector of the refugees from France, and entirely in the interest of the Prince of Orange. This intelligence, made known only this morning, has made a great sensation in Lon- don. The King of England has forbidden, since my arrival, the offi- cers of his guards from receiving, hereafter, any stranger into their companies. This is intended particularly for the refugees from France, who offer themselves in crowds. The minds of these fugitives are still so inflamed, that I have no hope of inducing their return soon. But the affair of the Bishop of London, and their exclusion from the household troops of the King of England, have taken away their hopes of being protected in this country ; they will probably go to Holland, where their great number will prevent their obtaining sub- sistence, and the more easily induce them to return to France. M. de Bonrepaus to M. de Seignelay. London, 10th January, 1686. The King of England appeared resolved yesterday not to assist the fugitives from France. One of his principal ministers, with great readiness, told me that the permission hitherto granted of taking up a collection for them should be withdrawn. I am hard at work now soothing the minds of those having influence over the rest, and having the power to lead them, hoping to succeed only through persuasion. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 401 From the Same to the Same. London, 17th Jan., 1686. "With regard to the fugitives, I could induce some of the principal ones to return ; but it is much better in the present posture of af- fairs to soothe their minds, which is the object I am aiming at. When facilities to return are offered them, they go directly to the Bishop of London to inform him of it, to give him a high idea of the advantages they refuse for the sake of their religion : in fine, to draw to tliemselves thereby a greater consideration ; but in a little time they will want the means of living, particularly if a collection is not taken up, and will come of their own accord to ask the favor the King wishes to bestow on them ; and then M. Robert can execute the ordei's in regard to this matter given him by us. From the Same to the Same. London, 28th Jan., 1686. You have learned from the letters of MM. Foraut and Dauois, the bad success they have had in Holland. The same thing happened here at first. These things can succeed only through the good con- duct of those intrusted with the matter, and by a little delay. I am more and more impressed with the belief of the necessity of soothing their minds, now very bitter. M. d'Ada, envoy of the Pope at this Court, came to see me day before yesterday. In the course of the conversation, he informed me that the English Catholics are continu- ally annoyed by rumors spread abroad here of persecutions in France of the people of the R. P. R. I explained to him again what I had already spoken of above, and I gave him a Metalled statement of the manner with which the King gave his orders to exhort and in- struct the religionists, without doing them violence, and of the con- siderable sums distributed by him for the relief of the new converts, who had need of temporal succor, after having received spiritual ; . . . . that of a hundred converts, ninety had not soldiers quartered on them. I related what passed in the country of Foix, whilst I was there, when six out of seven cities filled with religionists changed de- liberately without waiting for troops, and the seventh two days after. He returned yesterday, and begged me to make the same statement to some of the principal Catholics of the Court, who desired to hear the details from me, which I was unable to withhold from my lord Castlemaine, my lord Douvres, and my lord Tyreonnel, who are the most zealous Catholics, and the most in the confidence of the King of England. 402 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. M. de Bonrepaus to M. de Seignelay. London, 11th February, 1686. Some sailoi's depart to-day on their return to France with some other fugitives ; but I see, with extreme pain, the establishment of our best manufactures. Xot only do people of the R. P. 11. come here to labor, bat also some Catholics. They have begun, at Ipswich, the manufacture of cloth, usually purchased by the English in France, for their West India trade. But at present they make sail-cloth. I have found means to draw here two Catholic workmen, under pretext of wishing to purchase their stuffs, which I was anxious to see, that I might judge of the quality. They have agreed to return to France. I have detained one until the return of the other, who has gone to Ipswich to persuade some of his comrades to return with him, by promising to give them ten pistoles each, if they return with him, whether Catholic or Protestant. These people do not know me. I spoke to them at the house of a merchant, who told them that we were partners in the manufacture of this kind of cloth in France. As no Englishman is sufficiently skilful to manufacture it, I hoped to en- tirely destroy this establishment. If I could go to the places, I should be sure of the thing, but being known as I am in this country, it would be an act of imprudence to compromise myself in a matter which the King of England and parliament regard as an excellent thing for this kingdom. The reason given by these persons for their desertion is, that their manufactures of cloth are in great confusion in !N"ormandy and in Brittany ; the persons engaged in it, instead of pro- tecting the workmen, and introducing good discipline among them, strive only to rob them, thereby placing them under the necessity of abandoning their trade, and if the}" remained in the kingdom, be reduced to the necessity of cultivating the ground, as the greater part of their comrades do. The other manufactures being established in this country are those of wool hats and the manner of preparing the skins of the chamois. This, joined to the facility of transporting gold from France, has diminished the commerce so considerably, that having assembled the French and English merchants, and made a balance of the merchandise passing from one country to the other, we have found that those of France amounted heretofore to two mil- lions of livres more than that of England, which balance was partly remitted in specie and partly by bills of exchange, and this in turn used to make payments in London, so as not to take a sou awayfi'om France. Now it is entirely the other way ; it being ascertained that 500,000 pistoles passed from France to England during the year 1685, AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 403 as may be seen from the money registers of London, by the sum funded there, and from the custom-house, of what has been sent to India. From the Same to the Same. London, ISth February, 16S6. I reply, Monseigneur, to the two letters you have done me the honor to write me. I have thought it proper to give you an exact account of all that has passed in regard to the refugees ; but we must not despair of being able to bring back the most of them ; for even as things now are, I have sent persons away every day. It is very probable that when the small sum brought with them from France shall fail them, and they shall be entirely disabused of the succor they are expecting from collections and employment, they will think more seriously of profiting by the favors the King has the goodness to offer them. I have spoken to the minister Allix, according to your order, and I made use of the turn you prescribed to me to insinuate the favor he might expect from the King, if he would return to France, and change his religion. He received with much respect and appa- rent gratitude the marks of the goodness and charity of His Majesty. He told me that M. de Menars had spoken to him a short time pre- vious to his leaving France, but that he could not make up his mind to do what was desired of him. "We had a dispute upon the authori- ty of the church, and their separation from it. He promised to see me again, and I shall employ all my skill to induce him to take the good road. The interest felt by the King of England in religious questions has given me free access to him. He was much affected by what I told him of the spirit of the Catholics in reference to the con- duct pursued by the King, as to the conversion of his heretic subjects, and of the French books I had distributed here, which might serve for the conversion of some Protestants ; we have even translated some of these books into English, which are publicly sold. In a report to Seignelay, dated 5th May, 1686, Bonrepaus an- nounces that he has sent back to France 507 fugitives. He adds : " It seems to me that there is scarcely more than 4,500 of them here ; but I have nothing to reproach myself with, either as to care or dili- gence. I should have done much better had it not been for the hopes these unhappy persons have entertained of drawing consider- able sums from collections. The Protestants have turned back many who had given me their word. They have been of great advantage to them, and very watchful of my proceedings, especially since the 404 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES, festival of Easter, because they found at the celebration of the Lord's Supper that many persons were absent, among others some mer- chants from Rochelle, whose return was extremely mortifying to them. . . There are a great number to whom I have given nothing, particularly sailors, having found means to send them away in French ships, which happened to be in England. . . The expense for the return of these people amounted to about 500 crowns. " What strikes me as most advantageous in the return of these persons, is the destruction of the manufacture of white cloth which they have introduced into England. The English, who are interested therein, are making a great outcry ; but the King of England, who regards these fugitives as his enemies, has not taken up the com- plaints made to him on the subject. When parliament meets they will cause me much embarrassment, as has often enough been told me." A memorandum of what I have remarTced in the voyage ichich ha.s been ordered by M. de Bonrepaus. Of all the cities spoken of above, Plymouth alone is permanently resided in by French fugitives ; yet the greater part are waiting until winter be passed, and a better season shall permit them to go else- where to live. To be sure, some disembark in other cities, but only to pass along, because in these places no help could be had, and they all went to London, At Bristol they told me that 30 or 40 Frenchmen hVid passed, and that four sailors had taken service on board an English vessel, which was going to the islands of America, when I was there. There were two ministers of Rochelle, to whom I spoke, and who told me that I announced news too hard to be believed, and that they did not be- lieve there would ever be any safety for those of their religion in France. At Falmouth, I was told that 20 or 30 Frenchmen had landed ; and that 25 or 30 had passed over to Ireland. When I was there, a vessel was about sailing to Dublin, having on board 7 or 8 Frenchmen. I saw four of them to whom I spoke; and who told me, that even if it should be allowed them to have preach- ing in France, it would only be in order to draw them there, and make them more trouble. And, when I insisted on telling them that all the assurances they might ask for would be given them, they re- tired, and would no longer listen to me. Plymouth is the place con- taining the most Frenchmen. There are about three hundred there. There is preaching to about five hundred in the city. I spoke to all AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 405 I could meet, and I went to find others in their houses to tell them what I had to say, though most of them received me badly. I even entered a place where I knew that some were assembled, among whom was one to whom I had already spoken, named Barbot, of Rochelle, and who, with one of his fi-iends, was very fierce against me on account of what I had just told them. This did not prevent me from sayiug to all who were there, and whom I had not yet seen, the same things I had spoken to the others. The only difference being, that being known of every body, I spoke publicly, and made no mystery. They relished as little as the others what I said to them, and they could not restrain themselves from speaking angrily to me, and with resentment, on account of what I had told them. They alleged that they had undergone extreme violence, that their mind and conscience might be in repose, and that they had abandon- ed for it all that was most dear to them in the world ; and, therefore, no reason could be given, why they should place themselves in the embarrassments from which they had with so much trouble disen- gaged themselves. They mentioned, also, the suppression of the edicts made in their favor. They added, that it was not possible to exercise their religion without preaching, and ministers, and without this re-establishment there could be no safety for them in France. Such are the discourses with which these people of the R. P. R. eluded all the assurances given them, which they were unwilling to believe ; and there were some who said that if they could return and live in France undisturbed, they would not do so, unless preaching and ministers were allowed them as before. I saw here one M. Chales, of Rochelle, a merchant who changed his religion, and all his family, and who had fled with all his family after their conver- sion ; and it was told me that there were other of the recent converts at Rochelle and other places in France who were arranging their affairs to retire. I met with but one sailor ; before making myself known to him I learnt from him that there were very few sailors there, and that there were but five who had embai-ked on board of English vessels yet But as soon as I made myself known to him. he left and fled. I inquired still further ia the city if any other French sailors had been seen, and I was told that there were about 25 sailors who had passed, with their captains, of the R. P. R., who had escaped in their own vessels, and touched at Plymouth. I was also told that some Frenchmen had gone to Carolina and Penn- sylvania. At Dartmouth, they told me that 12 or 15 had landed there, and 406 FRENCH PROTESTANT E.EFUGEES. had all gone on to London. There were still there two ministers, with their wives and children. I spoke to one of these rainistei's, not be- ing able to see the other because he was sick. He told me that if M., the embassador, had given his word, that on returning to France he could live undisturbed, they would return willingly — he and his comrade with their families. And I promised that the embassador would give his word; and upon that he told me he would send his last resolution to London. At Weymouth I found but a single Frenchman, who testified that his greatest happiness would be to return to France and live accord- ing to his religion, but that he had relatives in London, whom he should hunt up, and be guided by their example. I endeavored to have him come to a determination of himself, but it was impossible. I was informed that not more than 7 or 8 Frenchmen had landed in that city. I found no Frenchmen at Portsmouth. I was told that some had landed there, but a very small number. Done at London, January 24, 1686. Egbert. No. 9, Vol. ii. pp. 19-22. Extracts of some reports made to Count d'Avaiix touehmg the projected flight of religionists, by the Sieur de Tilliers, designated sometimes as letters of advice. Letter of advice to Count d'Avaiix. Harlaem, ITth January, 1686. There are some persons on the point of leaving Jarnac, in Angu- mois and its environs ; they meet at a place named Causes, in Saintonge, two or three leagues from Royan. From Causes they mean to goby night to a town named St. George. A vessel awaits them there. There is no harbor there, and but few vessels stop before that town. Persons from Causes will join those from Jarnac. They will make in all about 500 persons with little baggage. Masson, minister of Causes, who urges on the enterprise, is here. Jean Gale, priest of St. Denis, assists them much by giving certificates to the reformers, who ask him in order to save themselves. I have seen many such, certi- fying them to be very good Catholics, Apostolic and Roman. Finally, it seems to me that the flight of these people is winked at, so great is the number going away on all sides. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 407 Letter of M. de TiUieres of the loth April, 1686. M. Gaylen, of Lyons, a famous bookseller, and worth a million, is on the point of joining his brother, who has been in this city for three months. This brother lived in Paris, at the Croix-de-Fei*, street of St. Denis. He is supposed to be worth 100,000 fr. From the same, ZOth April, 1686. Madame de la Milliere has a power of attorney from her husband, who is a captain of cavalry among the reformed, giving her power to sell his property. She has sold a farm, in Brittany, renting for 1,000 crowns. She obtained for it 24,000 livres. One half in ready- money, and the other half on time. With the half she has received she will immediately depart. From the same, BOth April, 1686. A man of Cognac saved himself with his wife and son. He fell in with some cavaliers, as a garrison at the house of M. de la Roche- breuillet. These cavaliers, or dragoons, took this little boy and placed him before one of them on horseback, and searched the father, and found on him 800 francs, which they took. The man said to them : If you take me with you, I will sign, and you will have to restore my money to me. Give me my liberty, I leave it with you. They did so, and said to him : We are equally obliged to others ; God guide you ! The wife went by another route, and saved a good sum. Letter of Sieur de TiUieres of the 16th September, 1686, joined to a dispatch of Count d'Avaux of the I'lth September. I have seen a letter of Mad. de Passy, written from Paris, and another from the brother of M. de Formont, otherwise D'Ablancourt. Mad. de Passy writes : "My husband has been ai'rested 6 leagues from home ; I hope his design has not been discovered. He had with him two of our friends. I am using all the credit I have to obtain his liberty. Provided the whole troop keep secret, I do not doubt that all will go well. I have just learned that four have saved them- selves, after having heard of the misfortune of M. Passy." The letter of Sieur d'Ablancourt is as follows: " M. the Intendant caused us to come to his house, myself and five others, and said to us : You are watched, because we have learned that you mean to go away. Judge what reply we made to that. He said to us : Return home and neither speak nor think of what is suspected of you. Upon which we separated. But judge from what follows : Of thirty-five 408 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. of US, seven have gone, having heard of the taking of M. de Passy, which gives me great chagrin. In this letter was a billet for M. de Verasse, othei-wise de Be^'de, who saved himself with his wife and nine other relatives of these gentlemen. This M. de Verasse has conceived a great friendship for me, seeing me with his relative, the Sieur d'Ablancourt ; so much so that during a walk he read to me this billet, which was conceived in these terms: "Fear nothing, God will be for us, and none shall be against us." In fine. Monsieur, nothing is more certain than that if care is not taken, all this will go as above. Messieurs D'Ablancourt and De Verasse told me yesterday, that the rendezvous was the day after the seizure of M. Passy, and that on the night of his capture they were to assemble. I send joxi things as I find them. If they escape, as I doubt not they will, it will be no fault of mine. The nephew and nieces of M. de Passy, his mother, brothers and the child of M. de Grimpre and numbers of their relatives are already here. M. Claude said yesterday to another minis- ter who repeated it to me : " Eight or ten of our friends are to leave Paris this week. I shall send a guide to Charleroi where I know they are to pass. Is it not an admirable thing that God makes use of our greatest enemies to assist us ?" Letter from the same, 10th October. Madame de Marolles, whose husband is in the galleys, has just arrived from Paris with her sister and three children. They number in all nine persons. Six guides took them from Paris. They engage to take each person, great or small, for 20 pistoles. These same guides leaving these. persons 4 leagues from Mons, returned to Paris to seek for 12 persons among whom are the Madmoiselles de Cormon. Their general route is by way of Mons. Mad. de Marolles' eldest son is at Paris. He is a convert. His residence can readily be found. He it is, as his mother informs me, who assists all desiring to flee. He goes to their houses and furnishes them guides. In fine, he is the factotum of those either escaping or desiring to escape. He means to escape himself Mad. de Passy and three or four young ladies are in a garret opposite the house where lives the son of Madame de Marolles. They are under assumed names. A man, by the name of Auge, formerly minister at Chalons, in Champagne, and who has changed his religion, is at Paris. He is concealed and desires to escape. The son of Mad. de Marolles goes- often to see him. A man by the name of Girardin has this day shown me a letter from one of his uncles named Longchamps, a wood-merchant at Paris, whose children are already in this country. He only waits for some money to go to Holland with three of his relatives. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 409 No. 10. Vol. 2. p. 56. In concluding a letter addressed from London to Basnage, the 2d N^ovember, 1717, the Abbe Dubois thus speaks of the alliance just completed between France and Holland: " My joy will be perfect, if I join to the joy of seeing again so good a friend, that of being assured that we can affirm the intimate connection between France and Holland, to which we have contributed. I am wholly yours, and embrace you with all my heart." (See Basnage, Annals of the United Provinces, Book ii, preface, p. 5. The Hague. 1T26.) No. 11. Vol. 2, p. 136. Letter addressed by the minister Scion to the magistracy of Amsterdam, in the name of the Protestant French refugees in that city, the 24:th March, 1684 "Lords! "The founder of the ancient Jewish republic, whose polity was so admirable, the famous Moses, who has left us such fine laws, re- lates, in tlie fii'st of his books, that God, in creating the world, did not content himself with reflecting each day on his works, the one after the other, part by part, as he called them forth from nothing, and in remarking their natural and essential goodness ; God saw that it was good, says the sacred writer repeatedly six times, according to the order and degree of creation : but the last day, after finishing the heavens and earth, he considered these same works altogether in their connection with each other, and by the harmony which unites them, and conspires to the good of the universe. And, in that view, appearing to him still better and more excellent, God saw all things that he had 7nade, and they were very good, adds that holy man, in completing the history of that masterpiece. " This conduct of the Creator, in the production of the physical world, is a niodel for the conduct of sovereigns in the founding of States, the political world whose creators they are. These visible Gods of the earth (Psalm Ixxxii., 6), as the prophet calls them, must not regard only in particular and separately the new works they VOL. II. — 18 410 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. found from day to day, as things in themselves good, and in their nature ; their view extends further, and they consider them as a whole, and conjointly with their public relations, and by that chain of relations which connects them, and which makes them serve for the good of civil society, in which they find a new degree of good ness, amounting to excellence. ** It is, 3^our honors, in this double perspective that the venerable magistracy of Amsterdam has envisaged the protection with which they favor the Protestants of France, who have withdrawn under the shadow of their wings. It has been regarded both in itself, and in its nature, as a good work, according to the regulations of Chris- tian charity, that we ought to preserve towards our brothers, and of that hospitality whose exercise entertained angels unawares. And it has been regarded further in relation to the city and the republic, as a general good, and as a stroke of statesmanship of the last importance to its aggrandizement. So that if the Psalmist sung, that the heavens tell the glory of God, and its extent publishes the work of his hands : and, if tlie apostle, entering into the same thought, could add : that the eternal power, and other invisible perfections become, as it were, visible by the creation of the world, so we can say that the estab- lishment of the refugees for the Protestant religion at Amsterdam, is entirely the glory of those illustrious burgomasters ; and that the power, the wisdom, piety, zeal, and other Christian virtues of their noble lordships, will shine magnificently in the eyes of all Europe. " The wise and skilful ministers of the Gospel, who fill so worthily and with so much eloquence the sacred pulpits of their city, and who, after the example of St. Paul, have watched both day and night with solicitude over all the churches ; not only over those which are tri- umphant under shelter of their voices, and where they are firmly established, but also over those still fighting under the cross, and whom they succor by their hands raised on high, like Moses, have not failed in their excellent sermons to show to your noble lordships this work in the first of its aspects, which is its beautiful side, inas- much as it regards heaven, and promise them, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Great Rewarder of eternal crowns in paradise. And we take the liberty, may it please your honors, to bring before you this work in its last or more earthly aspect, and to assure you that, on account of the great utility it brings to the public, and which will be better known hereafter, posterity will engrave it on tables of brass, that the memory thereof may be preserved for ever, and a testimony of gratitude to your descendants. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 411 " For this purpose, we give a census ot our persons and families ; and, in detail, of our professions and emplo^mients, which we have added thereto. If your honors will deign to cast your eyes upon them, as we dare to hope from your great virtues, which make it a pleasuj-e and a duty to imitate God, you will see about 2000 persons therein, who have come to this city, without counting those who have gone with Monsieur de Sommelsdijk to Surinam, whose number is considerable; you will see that the greater part of this number, being still in infancy or youth, can be readily formed to the air and language of the country, as though they had been born here, and become gradually good and natural Hollanders ; you will see all sorts of orders and conditions, literary men and soldiers, laymen and eccle- siastics, merchants and artisans, mechanics and sailors, of whom the greater portion live on their income, or by their industry, without being aa expense to the church. You will see a large number of different trades, which have not been hitherto carried on in this city, or in the United Provinces ; embroiderers in silk and thread, designers of ruffs and flowered stuffs, serge and drugget manufactures, bleach- ers and workers of gold and silver from Lyons ; workers in ventail and ebony, manufacturers of woollen hats and mould candles, and many other things. You can see a quantity of newly-manufactured articles that could be got only hitherto by going to France, but are now made here. Eoyal serges and others ; hat-bands and bolting cloths (a kind of thin stuff) ; taffetas both single and double, and of all colors ; crapes of wool and silk ; fans and woollen hats embroidered, both of gold and silver, in thread and in silk ; laces and ornaments, and, finally, the queen's ruff, manufactured in the house of Orphans ; besides the serges and drugget of Nimes ; brocades and brocatels ; ribbons and ornaments, plain and flowered gauzes; Castor hats and other fabrics of that kind, the greater part of which have never been made in the city ; and other things are being made in much larger quantities since our coming, which has increased them. All this, your honors, has been brought about in two years' time, and without expense; and what all your predecessors have been unable to attain to with all their applications, and for which the greatest ministers of His Very Christian Majesty have spent millions of money. This fills the city more and more with inhabitants, peo- ples your fine colony of Surinam, increases the public revenues, strengthens your walls and boulevards, multiplies arts and fabrics, establishes new modes, caused silver to flow, raised new edifices, caused commerce to flourish more and more, fortified the Protestant 412 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. religion, and bi'ought more abundance of all things, and is going to bring purchasers here from Germany, the kingdoms of the Korth^ Spain, the Baltic Sea, the West Indies and islands of America, and even England. In fine, it Avill contribute to render Amsterdam one of the most famous cities of the world ; and, like ancient Tyre, which the prophet called the 'perfect in beauty, and of which he spoke that she traflacked with all isles and all nations ; that her roads were through the heart of the sea ; that all the ships and sailors of the ocean came into her port ; that she abounded in all kinds of mer- chandise, and that her merchants were all princes. From the year 1684, when the persecution commenced in France, we began to think of leaving that kingdom to go elsewhere, to have liberty of conscience and the public exercise of our religion. For that purpose, the Sieur Amonet came expressly from Paris to the Hague, to facilitate for us the means of so doing, and he addressed himself first to the Sieur Scion, minister of our nation, who was among the first to take refuge here, and was honorably treated by their N. and G P., and even with a recommendation to the first Walloon church which should be vacant in the province, in consequence of, and by, advice of, the council of that eit3^ After these two persons had conferred on the matter, they drew up a memorial, containing a project for the introduction of foreign manufactures in Holland, by the coming of persecuted Protestants, and of some privileges that the cities should grant them, in order to draw them here in preference to other countries of our reli- gion. They had the honor of presenting this memorial to the Lord President Burgomaster Van Beuningen, as to one of the most en- lightened individuals of the government, who is not less known in the great world by the sublimity of his rare genius, and the penetra- tions of his consummate policy, than by his zeal and his inviolable fidelity to the interests of the republic. This memorial having been carried in council, the same Signeui* Van Beuningen, who was then President, and the Lord Burgomasters Hudde, Corver, and Opmeer, regents with him, whose merit is not less great, and who yield to him in nothing in the glory of'govern- ment, have granted the inght of citizenship, personal freedom, ex- emption from taxes, and other ordinary city charges, general collec- tions, and some other favors, during three years, in favor of the refu- gees. And in addition, their noble lordships guaranteed in the States of Holland and West Friesland that they should be exempt from the tax of the two hundredth penny, and from all other extraordinary AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 413 taxes of the province, during twelve years, however great might be the properties they might bring here, all which has been the first foun- dation of our retreat, and establishment at Amsterdam, where we still enjoy these privileges. The news of these concessions was no sooner known in France, than some Protestant families began to arrive in this city, on which account in the following year, 1682, the Lords Burgomasters, Hudde, who is held in veneration for his exquisite prudence, and by his great modesty and mildness has gained the heart of the whole world ; Maerseveen, who is admired for his intrepidity and vigor in sustain- ing the rights of the republic; Munter, who has already grown gray in the consulship, and who has acquired general esteem and approba- tion ; and Witsen, of whom may be said what the Tecohite said of King David, that he was to us like an angel of the Lord, and upon whom tlieir noble lordships, his illustrious colleagues, have reposed in the matter of the refugees, and of foreign manufactures he has been the first great promoter, having entered the regency for that purpose, and to carry forward the project of introducing those new fabrics to perfection and their highest period. They resolved to make use of a house, unoccupied and of little consequence, near the port of "Wetering ; and they appointed, as director-general, the Sieur Pierre Bailly, who had already had charge of the royal manufactory of Cler- mont de Lodeve in Languedoc, and who had succeeded there admira- bly, in spite of all the difficulties of a great enterprise. And because the great occupations of the consulship would not permit their noble lordships to give their personal attention to this matter, they have fi'om the beginning, and from year to year, de- volved it upon the commissioners, who have all perfectly seconded their good intentions, among whom the Lord Grand BailliBoreel, and the Lord, formerly Sheriff and Senator, Sautin, have employed them- selves with so much ardor and diligence, of trouble and labor, that it is but justice to say that they are still, and have been, to the manufac- turers of Amsterdam, what was the image of Phidias in the centre of the buckler of Minerva at Athens, which sustained the whole machine, and which could not be taken away, without the statue falling to pieces. This establishment having continued happily during the last year, during the regency of the Lords Burgomasters Munter, Opmeer, Van Beuningen and Bors, who in his first consulship signalized himself, and continuing still under the regency of your noble lordships, by the care and good conduct of the same Lord Commissioner Sautin, who has responded with success to the hope that the Lord Burgomaster 414 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. Witsen had conceived of him, when he left him as a helm, on his going to fill the situation of deputy in the assembly of their high mighti- nesses our lords, of the States General, to which his great merit raised him, and of the lords, formerly sheriffs and senators. Six and De Vry, who were associated with him ; this establishment, I say, has made such a noise in Europe, as to draw hither nearly all of the workmen and artisans. Yes, my lords, it is manufactures that has brought to this city such as understand these kind of fabrics, and which has pro- duced this great number of shops, in which men are found working, in all the streets. In imitation of it, many among you, aided by your favors and the immunities of your citizenships, have established, some two, others three, and others six, twelve, and even fifteen looms, con- tinually moving in our houses, under the shadow of your protection. This it is finally that has brought here the most skilful workmen, and given them emulation, and compelled them daily to present requests to you for new establishments advantageous to the city. So it is, my lords, that in relieving the wants of the members of the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who are exiles for his name, you have labored for the general good of the States, and espe- cially of the city you govern with so much zeal and prudence. And thus it is that you have drawn to yourselves the vows and the hearts of the people, who regard you as defenders of the faith, the asylum of the pei'secuted, the pillars of justice, supports of liberty, protectors of the church, and the fathers of the country. But as God preserves and multiplies every day by his providence the works he has formed in creation, so you, noble lords, who are a living image of his power in their authority, cannot better imitate this conduct than hy affirming and augmenting the number of our families and of the fabrics already introduced b}^ them into this city, which can be readily done by means contained in a new memorial, drawn up by us on that subject, and which we dare to present with very profound respect to you, noble lords, relying upon that tender compassion shown by you, in so Christian and generous a manner, to those whom the violence of persecution and the desire of safety have induced to abandon their native land. God, who is pleased with the praises of his Israel, and who sees from his heaven that it was in order to fulfil this sacred duty, and other parts of his public worship, that we have come to Holland, will incline, without doubt, your hearts, which he holds in his hands and controls like the course of streams, to grant us the favor that we ask of you, witli all the ardor of which we are capable, as the crowning gift of all that we ha\e re- ceived at your hands. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 415 By so doing, my lords, you will open a perpetual and inexhausti- ble flow of people of the reformed religion, who, being drawn to this city by this favor, will bring hither not only, from day to day, the new modes and fabrics of France, which are constantly changing, but in addition will supply you with the wherewithal to increase your fine colony of Surinam, if you desire it. We have already a large number of workmen of all kinds: carpenters, masons, coopers, farriers, locksmiths, and people proper for agriculture, who, having taken refuge in Amsterdam, and who have gone there with the Lord Dal- bus, minister of our nation, who has encouraged them by his example, and have taken with them the properties saved from their shipwreck ; so that it has not cost those interested any thing to engage them in the undertaking, which otherwise would have cost them a large sum, as your noble lords can be informed by the Lord, formerly Alderman and Senator, Sautin, who has taken, and continues to take, upon him- self all the trouble, and to whom the refugees were sent and con- ducted by the Sieur Scion. It will be, in fine, my lords, a public and perpetual monument of your piety towards God, and of your good-will towards the church, which will render immortal the glory of your regency, and which will give a new subject for redoubling our vows and our prayers for your prospei'ity, noble lords, and for a blessing on the republic you govern, and of the whole state, for which we, as good and faithful Hollanders, anticipate a duration as long as the world, and to your illustrious houses, from father to son, the government you fill so worthily. With good heart, we have the honor to be, with a very great respect, Our Lords, Of your Noble Lordships, Tlie very humble and very obedient servants, the French Refugee Protestants at Amsterdam, and for them, Scion. A.rasterdam, March 24, 16S4. No. 12. Vol. ii. p. 139. The Protestant Society of Missions received in 1828 and 1829 the following reports, which were drawn up with regard to the Cape Colony by the missionaries sent to preach the Gospel in Africa : 416 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. " "We are at length among the descendants of the French refu- gees. Our arrival among them has been truly like the meeting of Jacob and Esau. They have received us with demonstrations of the most lively joy, considering us as envoys of the church, who have come from the country of their ancestors to reanimate their faith. We left Capetown on the 3d of JS'ovember, 1828, with Doctor Philip and some missionaries. For the first time, we travelled in a wagon in the deserts of Africa. After a journey of twelve hours, during which we saw only sand, shrubs, and occasionally some farms, mak- ing a true oasis in the midst of the desert, we arrived at Perles. . . . Doctor Philip presented us to the assembly, composed in great part of descendants of French refugees, to whom we were obliged to speak in English, a missionary serving as interpreter. The meeting was a very touching one. After reading the letters we brought with us, we made a short discourse, in which we spoke of the favors God had bestowed on our country, of the religion enjoyed by our brethren there, of the number of Protestants at present in France ; whilst lis- tening, old men shed tears, and it appeared impossible to them that their brethren should enjoy such privileges in a land where their ancestors had been so cruelly persecuted. The following days were almost wholly taken up with visits. . . . There is not a house which does not contain large folio bibles, in which the date of the birth and the name of every member is inscribed. Genealogy was always the subject which served as an introduction to our conversation. From degree to degree they ascended to their ancestors, and finally they were French. " Perle is the largest village in the French Valley. This place is situ- ated at the foot of a mountain which bears the same name. Opposite is another chain of mountains of great height, making a part of the mountains the Dutch portion of the country. In this valley, which is about 14 leagues in length and three in width, is a number of small villages built by French refugees. The first we visited is Drachen- stein, four or five leagues from Perle. This village is one of the old- est in the valley. They point out here where the first Protestant church was built by the refugees. No trace of the edifice can be seen now ; not a stone remains. For a long time there was but this single French church in the whole colony ; the refugees were obliged to come to it from considerable distances. The first pastor of Drachenstein was named Simon. He was a very pious man, and exercised great influence on the colony. His memory is held in great veneration, and at a little distance from Drachenstein, at one of the extremities of the valley, there is a mountain bearing his name. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 417 " From Drachenstein we went to Frencli-hoeck (French corner) ; it is a place full of antiquities. A house built in 1694 was shown me, and oaks of immense size, planted the same year by the refugees. We also found some French books, among others a metrical version of the Psalms by Clement Marot, the only copies hitherto seen by us. But one of the places the most interesting to us, and where we found the most ardent Christianity, is the Valley of Charron. The inhabitants are nearly all descendants of one family. They are dis- tinguished from all others by certain customs truly remarkable. From the time of their settlement in this place, one of the richest and most beautiful parts of the country, they have always had at their head an old man, without whose advice they undertook nothing of any consequence. This person is always chosen from among the elders of the church, and is held in great veneration ; knd whether in relation to traffic or marriage, the old man is consulted. This patri- archal kind of government has been very favorable to industry, for there is no place in the colony more prosperous ; but this patriarchy has also been favorable to piety; for the faith of their fathers has been preserved intact among them. We have noticed with much pleasure that they have at heart the instruction of their slaves. In visiting them, we have been surprised at the order, neat- ness, and elegance of their houses. " I shall refrain from speaking of other places visited by us. Every where we had the same reception. On quitting a village, the inhabit- ants accompanied us in large numbers to the next village. The horses and carriages which followed us formed a kind of caravan in the desert, and the cloud of dust raised by them announced afar off our coming The first time we celebrated divine service in French at Perle, the crowd was so great that one half were compelled to remain outside of the church for want of room. Many farmers of neighboring villages had come some leagues to hear a sermon in the language of their fathers. There had been no French preaching in the colony since 1739, the time when the Dutch government unjustly forbid the French refugees from celebrating their worship in their own language. They have not foi'gotten the circumstance, and the date of that year was still present in their memory. "The whole population of the Valley is about ten thousand souls, of whom four thousand are free, or the descendants of refugees, and six thousand slaves. All these villages form but a single parish. Some bishopricks in the east are not larger. The pastor lives at Perle, which is the principal place in the Valley, and the missionary, principally occupied with the instruction of the slaves, also lives 4 1 8 FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES. here. With the exception of the missionaiy chapel at Perle, and the small church in the Valley of Charron, there is but a single temple for the entire population. Every Sabbath the farmers round about start at break of day in their carriages to go to church ; at evening, they return quietly with their families. These are all of their amusements. I do not think that games of chance are at all known in the country. In general, this valley is in a state of great prosperity. Debt is unknown. It is the most flourishing part of the colony. (See Journal of Evangelical Missions, fiftieth year, pp. 105-110.) The missionary Bisseux writes from " the Perle " the 24th December, 1 829 : "There is in general much piety among the descendants of the refugees. On entering their houses, the first objects that strike the eye are the Bible, the Psalms, and some other religious books, on a table near the window. Some of them have family worship both morning and evening, and pray from the fulness of their hearts, with- out using forms. " The church of Drachenstein has had four French pastors : Simon, Daillie, Beck, and Camper. Whilst this last pastor was living, the Dutch government passed an ordinance by which they were forbid- den to use thereafter the French language in preaching the Word of God. The French have been obliged to learn Dutch since then, and to see, to their great regret, the French language extinguished in their midst. M. Delettre, French consiil at the Cape, has been so good as to send to our brother the following documents : 1st. Names of the different families of French refugees, who set- tled at the Cape of Good Hope at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. List: Barret, Bachet, Basson, Bastions, Beaumons, Beck, Beneret, Bruet, Bota. Camper, Cellier, Cordier, Corprenant, Couteau, Convert, Crognet. Daille, Debuze, Debeurieux, Decabriere, Delporte, Deporte, Deruel, Dumont, Duplessis, Dupres, Dutoit, Durant, Dubuisson, Desavoye. Entreix. Fracha, Fauche, Floret, Foury. AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 419 Gauche, Gordiol, Gounay, Grellon. Jacob, Joxibert, Jourdain, La Grange, Lanoy, Laporte, Lapretois, Leclair, Lecrivant, Lefebvre, Le Grand, Le Riche, Le Roux, Lombard, Longue. Malan, Malherbe, Maniet, Marucene, Marais, Martinet, Menard. Niel, Norman, Nortic. Passeman, Peron, Pinards, Prevot. Rassemus, Retif, Richard, Rousseau, Roux. Sabatier, Sellier, Senccal, Seuquette, Simon. Tabordeux, Taiilefer, Tenaumant, Terre-Blanche, Terrier, Terrout. Valleti, Vanas, Vattre, Vaudray, Verbal, Villious, De Villiers, Vyot, Viton, Vitroux. In all, 97 families. 2d. Regulations of the body of 17 who represent the East India Company of the Low Countries, according to which the Chambers of said Company shall have power to transport to the Cape of Good Hope persons of both sexes of the "reformed" religion, among others, the refugees from France and the valleys of Piedmont. " Whoever desires, either alone or with his family, to go to the Cape of Good Hope, shall be taken there in the vessels of the Com- pany free of expense, by only taking the oath of fidehty to the Company. " No one shall be allowed to take with him any luggage except what shall be necessary for the voyage. "Each individual shall be bound to settle at the Cape of Good Hope, and to remain there permanently to gain his livelihood and support, either as a laboring man or by some art or trade. " Every one applying for it shall receive as much land as he can cultivate, and in case of necessity, shall be supplied with all the implements necessary for tillage, and even with seed, provided that he reimburse the Company for the advances which have been made in grain, wine, or other things. "Every one going to the Cape shall be obliged to remain there five years ; but if he cannot make so long a stay in the country, he can, by presenting a petition to the committee, obtain some relaxation of the term according to the justness of his remonstrance." (See Journal of Evangelical Missions, fifth year, pp. 132-135.) THE END. ii 'I 'Hiiiiiili lilm w m ] V :! ^1