viewed that in the present case, one, of two things, must be chosen, either to put all the adherents of the new religion to the sword; or to banish them entirely, allowing them to dispose of their effects; that the first point could not be executed, since that party was too strong both in leaders and partizans ; and tho' it could be done, yet as it was staining the king's youth with the blood of so many of his subjects, perhaps when he came to age, he would demand it at the hands of his governors; with regard to the second point, it was as little feasible, and could it be effected, it would be raising as many desperate enemies as exiles: that to enforce conformity against conscience, as matters stood now, was to lead the people to atheism. The edict at last was passed, but the house registered it with this clause, in consideration of the present juncture of the times: but not approving of the new religion in any manner, and till the king shall otherwise appoint. So hard sat toleration on the minds of papists! Jan. 1562. A minority was a period favorable to the views of the Guises, and this edict was a happy occasion of a pretence for commencing hostilities. The Duke, instigated by his mother, went to Vassi, a town adjacent to one of his lordships, and, some of his retinue picking a quarrel with some protestants, who were hearing a sermon in a barn, he interested himself in it, wounded two hundred, and left sixty dead on the spot. This was the first protestant blood, that was shed in civ il war. Mar. 1. 1562. The news of this affair flew like lightning, and, while the Duke was marching to Paris with a thou, sand horse, the city, and the provinces rose in arms. The chancellor was extremely afflicted to see both sides preparing for war, and endeavored to dissuade them from it. The constable told him, it did not belong to men of the long robe, to give their judgment with relation to war. To which he answered, that though he did not bear arms, he knew when they ought to be used. After this, they excluded him from the councils of war. Aug. 1562. The queen-regent, alarmed at the Duke's approach to Paris, threw herself into the hands of the Protestants, and ordered Conde to take up arms. War began, and barbarities and cruelties were practised on both sides. The Duke of Guise was assassinated, the king of Navarre was killed at a siege, fifty thousand protestants were slain, and, after a year had been spent in these confusions, a peace was concluded. All that the protestants obtained, was an edict which excluded the exercise of their religion from cities, and restrained it to their own families. 1563. Peace did not continue long, for the protestants, having received intelligence, that the Pope, the house of Austria, and the house of Guise, had conspired their ruin, and fearing that the king, and the court, were inclined to crush them, as their rights were every day infringed by new edicts, took up arms again in their own defence. The 1567. city of Rochelle declared for them, and it served them for an asylum for sixty years. They were assisted by Queen Elizabeth of England, and by the German princes, and they obtained, at the conclusion of this second war, the revoca 1568. tion of all penal edicts, the exercise of their religion in their families, and the grant of six cities for their security. June, 1568. The pope, the king of Spain, and the Guises, finding that they could not prevail while the wise chancellor retained his influence, formed a, cabal against him, and got him removed. He resigned very readily, and retired to a country seat, where he spent the remainder of his days. A strange confusion followed in the direc tion of affairs, one edict allowed liberty, another forbad it, and it was plain to the protestants that their situation was very delicate and dangerous. The articles of the last peace had never been performed, and the papists every where insulted their liberties, so that, in three months time, two thousand Hugonots were murdered, and the murderers went unpunished. War broke out again. Queen Elizabeth assisted the protestants with money, the Count Palatine helped them with men, the Queen of Navarre parted with her rings and jewels to support them, and, the Prince of Conde being slain, she declared her son, prince Henry, the head, and protector of the protestant cause, and caused medals to be struck with these words, a safe peace, a complete victory, a glorious death. Her majesty did every thing in her power for the advancement of religious liberty, and she used to say, that liberty of conscience ought to be preferred before honors, 1568. ily, after the Geneva manner. This, which was consummated near the court, emboldened the ministers, and they preached at the countess de Senignan's, guarded by the marshal's provosts. The nobility thought that the common people had as good a right to hear the gospel as themselves, and caused the reformed clergy to preach without the walls of Paris. Their auditors were thirty, or forty thousand people, divided into three companies, the women in the middle, surrounded by men on foot, and the latter by men on horseback; and during the sermon, the governor of Paris placed soldiers to guard the avenues, and to prevent disturbances. The morality of this worship cannot be disputed, for if God be worshipped in spirit and in truth, the place is indifferent. The expediency of it may be doubted: but, in a persecution of forty years, the French protestants had learnt that their political masters did not consider how rational, but how formidable they were. The Guises, and their associates, being quite dispirited, retired to their estates, and the queen regent, by the chancellor's advice, granted an edict to enable the protestants to preach in all parts of the kingdom, except in Paris, and in other walled cities. The parliaments of France had then the power of refusing to register royal edicts, and the chancellor had occasion for all his address, to prevail over the scruples and ill humor of the parliament to procure the registering of this. He begged leave to say, that the question before them was one of those which had its difficulties, on whatever side it was viewed: that in the present case, one, of two things, must be chosen, either to put all the adherents of the new religion to the sword; or to banish them entirely, allowing them to dispose of their effects; that the first point could not be executed, since that party was too strong both in leaders and partizans; and tho' it could be done, yet as it was staining the king's youth with the blood of so many of his subjects, perhaps when he came to age, he would demand it at the hands of his governors; with regard to the second point, it was as little feasible, and could it be effected, it would be raising as many desperate enemies as exiles: that to enforce conformity against conscience, as matters stood now, was to lead the people to atheism. The edict at last was passed, but the house registered it with this clause, in consideration of the present juncture of the times: but not approv ing of the new religion in any manner, and till the king shall otherwise appoint. So hard sat toleration on the minds of papists! Jan. 1562. A minority was a period favorable to the views of the Guises, and this edict was a happy occasion of a pretence for commencing hostilities. The Duke, instigated by his mother, went to Vassi, a town adjacent to one of his lordships, and, some of his retinue picking a quarrel with some protestants, who were hearing a sermon in a barn, he interested himself in it, wounded two hundred, and left sixty dead on the spot. This was the first protestant blood, that was shed in civ il war. Mar. 1. 1562. |