David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Brother Cavalier has fought more than thirty battles with wonderful successes. . . . His great victory near Uxes has struck terror into the enemy, who dare not march without 1500 or 1600 men as an escort. Since Marshal Villars has been here he has continually caused incursions to be made, both into Lower Languedoc and into our Cevennes without (thank God) having produced any effect, which has obliged him to send us proposals for peace, which appears to us to be suspicious. ”

“ Cavallier came hither last week just before the passages were stopped, and brought about seventy men with him, officers or soldiers, good men and true. He had an opportunity, as he come through the Val d’Aoust, to show his zeal for the service of his Royal Highness. But at the first sight of La Feuilliade’s troops, our new-raised Swiss and our militia abandoned ail their posts which had been a-fortifying these six months, and our Camisards came away in the crowd without hearing one musket fired. The Swiss ran up the mountains and their officers with them. ”

“ My Lord, The Bearer, Colonel Cavalier, [8] desired I would favour him with a letter to introduce him to your Grace. If there had been occasion to raise any new regiments, he would have been glad to have served his Majesty in this juncture in the new levies. As there has been lately a promotion of general officers, and some of his juniors have been made brigadiers, he comes over to England in hopes that it was purely his being out of the way that made him be forgotten. ”

“ Professor De Felice says of Cavalier, that he is the hero of a martial epic, skilful, adventurous, dashing, and the bravest of the brave. Both Roland and Cavalier, like Oliver Cromwell, relied on the authority lent by inspiration. If they must plead guilty to sanguinary reprisals on their persecutors, the spirit whom they consulted instructed them to release prisoners from whom they had received no harm, and punish their own men with extreme severity for wanton murder or robbery. The Camisards, as all admit, were not guilty of swearing, drunkenness, or quarrelling. ”

“ As their route is given to all men, great and small, to go to Catalonia, they are always increasing. There even are many Papists who are joining them every day. I hope that your Excellency seeing this will have the goodness to obtain leave of absence for me from His Royal Highness, to go to Switzerland. I am making efforts to find a good number of men to go thither, as the opportunity is so manifestly favourable. I would go to join the Marquis de Guiscard in Holland, as they are disagreeing very much with the Marquis de Miremont. ”

“ Turin, 6th Nov. 1704. — I am glad the Queen was pleased to approve of what I did for M. Cavallier I should say nothing of him now, if I were not amazed so oft as I see him. A very little fellow, son of a peasant, bred to be a baker, at twenty years of age, with eighteen men like himself, began to make war upon the King of France. He kept the Geld for eighteen months against a Mareschal of France and an army of 10,000 men, and made an honourable capitulation at last with the mighty Monarch. ”

“ A student, the only pastor left by persecution to the poor people (his name was Esprit) , led sixty men to rescue from the cells and from the instruments of torture in the Abbé’s stronghold, some prisoners, ladies and gentlemen, who had been seized when attempting to fly to a country of refuge. This expedition was successful, and Le Chaila was killed. The authorities burnt Esprit alive. The military general, Count Broglio, made with the rest of the assailants a treaty of peace, which he broke by hanging all that he could find at the doors of their own houses. Cavalier was not of this party ”

“ It is known that they will do nothing, and the time will still slip away without any succour being given to the poor people. As for me I have the honour to say to you that at the peril of my blood and of my life I will do all I possibly can to go and join them wherever I may be, whether here or elsewhere. ”

“ It is certain that he and his followers were animated with such a spirit of zeal for their religion which is the true enthusiasm. I fear they may lose that temper of mind in the commerce of the world, though they are very devout and very regular. I therefore will do all I can to get them back into France, where one Camisard is worth 100 refugees.”
The siege of Verrue by the French, and its gallant defence by the Duke of Savoy, lasted from the 10th October 1704 to the 19th April 1705. Cavalier was with the Duke’s army about six weeks during that time. ”

“ I venture to ask of your Excellency to send me word if letters can pass for Switzerland or Geneva. I can assure you that no one can have more pleasure than I have in the honour of subscribing myself, most respectfully, and with respect, &c.”
“Cavallier.⁠ “Luzerne, 10th October 1704.
“There are here, sir, many refugees who would wish to take part with me, but their officer requires an order to that effect. I beg of your Excellency to write to his Royal Highness on the subject. I shall have the honour of obeying his orders; also as to my Turin expenses [de la depense de Turin] .” ”

“ Lastly, A regiment of 2000 shall be raised by Cavalier for the French army in Portugal, and the remainder of the party shall lay down their arms, trusting to the royal toleration.
Cavalier took a journey to Paris, and being admitted to an interview with Louis XIV., he began by saying, “We have not taken up arms against your Majesty, but only in self-defence against those who, contrary to your royal intentions, have oppressed and persecuted us.” ”

“ On his reaching Aosta, the Marquis De Cirie sent him to join the troops at La Tuille, which the French were on the eve of assaulting. Unfortunately, the General, Baron De St. Remis, had an army of Swiss recruits and Savoyard militia, very unlike the intrepid Camisards. The entrenchments were strong, and Cavallier, at his post, was expecting a good fight, when, to his surprise, he was almost surrounded by the French, the above-mentioned army having surrendered without fighting. He had to draw off his men precipitately into a wood ”

“ Oldmixon informs us that “Colonel Cavalier gave repeated proofs of that courage by which he had before acquired great reputation in the Cevennes. He received several wounds, and having lain some time among the slain, made his escape by the favour of a horse given him by an English officer. Mr Prat, his lieutenant-colonel, five captains, six lieutenants, and five ensigns of his regiment were killed, and most of the other officers wounded or taken prisoners.” ”

“ Thirdly, All who have left the kingdom on account of religion shall have free liberty to return, and be restored to their estates and privileges, on condition they take the oath of allegiance to the king. ”

“ Stepney from Hanover, April 4th, 1706: “On the 27th past, about 120 French refugees and others, by the name of Camisards, listed to serve in Cavallier’s regiment of foot, came from Berlin to the neighbouring places in this town; and fourteen of these men, with a Swiss sergeant at the head of them, came hither, and were quartered by billets. They listed some few men, and set out on the 31st for Minden, the appointed place for their rendezvous, from whence they are to continue their march to Holland.” ”

“ We do not want zeal or mettle; but I am not willing to play off the Queen’s ships and 500 good Protestants if the game is already lost.” To Lord Godolphin he wrote, on 16-27 May:—
“What does affect and mortify me most sensibly is, the loss of our Allies in the Cevennes who have submitted to the tyrant and have laid down their arms.” May 30th. “All our advices from France continue to affirm that Cavallier had accepted the amnesty offered by the Mareschal de Villars, and made his peace with the French King ”

“ Cavallier is gone disguised over the Alps to try if he can find the way once more into the Cevennes. The enemies have few or no troops left in Languedoc, and if he can once more get at the head of an army, he may prove of great use to his friends who are now in Catalonia. ”

“ Their chiefs may be told that orders have already been given to several persons to put money into their hands; and if they will please to let me know the names of persons in Nismes, Anduze, or in any other town to whom money might be safely given for them, I will cause it to be put in their hands. Your man will on his return bring us their news. ”

“ It is impossible to express the joy that country has on this account, in hopes that now they may stir out without being in danger of being murdered. The same letters give an account that Messrs Roland and Castanet, two captains of the Cevennes, had, the very same day on which Cavallier had offered to submit, defeated the battalion of Tiurnon, killed about 200 soldiers, eight or ten officers, and the Lieut.-Colonel. ”

“ I will speak to H.R.H. to let you have an order, if he thinks fit, that the refugees who are in the valleys may be able to enrol themselves in your regiment. I shall also make arrangements regarding the expenses incurred at Turin. Letters can no longer go from this either to Switzerland or Geneva by the Val d’Aosta ”

“ Our men commonly carried but two shirts with them, the one on their back, the other in their knapsack; so that when they would pass by their friends’ houses, they would leave the dirty, and take the clean, not having time to spare to wash their own linen. ”

“ I shall leave officers here to raise recruits, in order speedily to form a regiment, if your Royal Highness thinks proper. I am, with the profoundest respect, Sec,
“Lausanne, August 31st, 1704.”
“Cavallier.”⁠ The Right Honourable Richard Hill, the British Ambassador to the Duke, and the Duke himself also, had been watching with anxiety and dismay the negotiation between Marshal Villars and Cavalier. Their plan was to foster the war in the Cevennes by sending auxiliary troops by sea, and thus to keep the French monarch so busy at home that he might send no reinforcements abroad. Mr. ”