David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ In 1685 the dragoons bore down with tenfold violence upon the Protestants of France, stupefied by the tale or the memory of the former brutalities of the troopers, and deluded into a life of unguarded and unvigilant security by the lying promise of toleration, embodied in the Edict of Revocation. Every Huguenot, who desired to continue peaceably at his trade or worldly calling, was forced to declare himself a proselyte to the Romish religion, or an inquirer with a view to such conversion. ”

“ The loss of lives cannot be computed. How many thousands of men, how many thousands of children and women perished in the attempt to escape, who can tell? Every wise government was eager to offer a refuge to the upright men who would carry to other countries the arts, the skill in manufactures, and the wealth of France. ”

“ Leur conscience souffre une violence mortelle; ils ne peuvent plus ni parler, ni agir, ni servir Dieu selon leur Confession de Foi et selon les preceptes de l’Evangile. Les droits les plus sacres et les plus inviolables leur sont ravis . . . Tous les jours on traine leurs Ministres dans les prisons, on les tourmente, on les mine, on les proscrit. On demolit leurs temples, on interdit leurs exercices, sous les pretextes les plus vains et les plus frivoles. On les a depouillés de leurs Dignités, de leurs Charges, de leurs Emplois, et de tous les autres moyens de gagner leur vie. ”

“ THE PERSECUTION IN FRANCE FROM 1680 TO 1685.
The kingdom of France was not devoted to the Pope; and the liberties, which its Government maintained in opposition to Papal ambition, might have made the king and his ministers sympathise with the Huguenots in their love of toleration. Unfortunately, however, the very fact that French royalty could not please the Pope in some things, made it all the more willing to please him in other things. And the persecution of the Protestants was the one thing which the Pope clamorously asked and promptly received as an atonement for all insubordination. ”

“ The Gallican Church, no doubt, looked upon it as a signal triumph, when she prevailed on Louis the Fourteenth to repeal the edict of Nantes, and to suppress the protestant religion. But what was the consequence? Where shall we look, after this period, for her Fenelons and her Pascals, where for the distinguished monuments of piety and learning which were the glory of her better days? As for piety, she perceived she had no occasion for it, when there was no lustre of christian holiness surrounding her ”

“ Cotton was very much affected by the judicious, affectionate piety of a very young man, who proved to be a candidate for the ministry. Overtaking several poor Protestants, who were mourning and lamenting their hard fate, this excellent youth addressed himself to them, condoled with and comforted them, with so much seriousness, prudence, and affection, as to occasion at once the greatest satisfaction and surprise. ”

“ One of the refugees in Holland, named Migault, [8] spoke of forced abjurations thus:—
“Undoubtedly a considerable number of Protestants [in France] have abjured their religion, but is it possible our oppressors can hope that they have sincerely entered into their communion? The only boast in respect of these miserable apostates can be, that they have been driven out of every religion.” ”

“ It is true that the French clergy were the leading instigators of persecution. Their Assemblée Generale, in the summer of 1680, had demanded from the king the complete suppression of Protestant liberties, and may be regarded as having set in motion the squadrons of dragoons of 1681. Encouraged by the achievements of the dragonnades and by very numerous recantations, the prelates and priests hoped to bring over the remainder of the French Protestants by an appearance of argumentative expostulation. ”

“ A day was appointed for the conversion of a certain district, and the dragoons made their appearance accordingly. They took possession of the Protestants’ houses; destroyed all that they could not consume or carry away; turned the parlours into stables for their horses; treated the owners of the houses with every species of cruelty, depriving them of food, beating them, burning some alive, half-roasting others and then letting them go; tying mothers securely to posts, and leaving their sucking infants to perish at their feet ”

“ Le roi recevoit de tous côtés des nouvelles et des details de ces horribles persécutions et conversions; c’étoit par milliers qu’on comptoit ceux qui avoient abjuré et communié, 2000 dans un lieu, 6000 dans un autre, tout à la fois et dans un instant. Le roi s’applaudissoit de sa puissance et de sa piété; il se croyoit au temps de la prédication des Apôtres et s’en attribuoit l’honneur. Les évêques lui écrivoient des panegyriques, les jesuites surtout faisoient retentir les chaires et les missions. Toute la France étoit remplie de confusion et d’horreur ”

“ Le peuple est reduit à mourir de faim; les chefs de famille voient perir de misère leurs femmes et leurs enfans; la plûpart sont constrains d’abandonner leur Patrie, leurs biens, et leurs maisons, pour éviter des calamités et des tourmens qui sont moins supportables que la mort même. ... Ils n’ont pourtant garde, sire, d’attribuer leurs maux à leur Auguste Monarque ”

“ Many things were extremely affecting to him in the faith, courage, and devotion of the sufferers, particularly of some of little note from whom not much was expected, who stood firmly and suffered the loss of all; whilst others, reckoned eminent for religion, lost their courage and integrity, and fell in the day of trial. ”

“ She lost a people whose simple frugal manners and whose conscientious piety were well adapted to stem the growing corruption of the times, while the zeal and piety of their pastors were a continual stimulus to awaken the exertions of her national clergy. ”

“ The most dreadful outrages were committed; the graves of Protestants were opened and the bodies treated with indignity. Mr Cotton and his companions appealed to the governor, who would give no redress, but, on the contrary, issued an order to all strangers to assist the Papists in their violent proceedings. The English in particular were made obnoxious to this order, being told that they must all shortly turn Roman Catholics, as King Charles II. was at the point of death, and his successor was known to be of that communion. ”

“ Their great and glorious Monarch being now possessed with this maxime, That he will hare but one religion in his dominions, every one looks on the reducing of many of those they call Hereticks as a sure way to obtain his favour, and so to attain to great dignities in the Church. ”

“ Such as endeavoured to make their escape, and were seized (for guards and secret agents were spread along the whole roads and frontier of France) , were, if men, condemned to the galleys; and, if women, to monasteries. To complete this cruelty, orders were given that such of the new converts as did not at their death receive the sacrament, should be denied burial, and that their bodies should be left where other dead carcases were cast out, to be devoured by wolves or dogs. ”

“ That Resolution was to meet for public worship in the open air, and on the ruins of their demolished temples, in order that the king, who had been deceived into the belief that the dragoons and other proselytisers had annihilated the Protestant population, might be undeceived. The very titles of the three pamphlets furnish a historical summary, thus:—
Première Partie. Etat des Reformés en France — ou l’on fait voir que les Edits de Pacification sont irrevocables — que neaumoins on les renverse entièrement, et que par la on a ôté aux Reformés tous les moyens de vivre et de subsister. ”

“ Hence we occasionally meet with ludicrous paragraphs, such as the following, which might be introduced into an Examination Paper, to be corrected by studious youth:— “The Huguenots were long a persecuted body in France. ‘When they were many and strong, they strove to regain their rights by the sword ”

“ See Claude’s Complaints. ↑ Competent scholars have averred that many clever essayists and writers of smart political articles are ignorant of history; their friends must furnish them with facts, and their undertaking is to clothe the facts in words. ”