HUGUENOTS. 



the royal family, and totally ruin the 

 Protestant reformation ; while the Hugue- 

 nots, inspired with the spirit of loyalty, 

 and a noble religious enthusiasm, fought 

 in defence of their faith and their sove- 

 reigns with various success. The deeds 

 of horror, which these commotions pro- 

 duced, are scarcely exceeded by any 

 thing we find recorded in the annals of 

 murder and persecution. The civil war 

 to which we are here alluding raged 

 nearly sixty years, during which there 

 were destroyed, according to Puffendorf, 

 a million of people : one hundred and fifty 

 millions of money were spent : nine cities, 

 four hundred villages, twenty thousand 

 churches, two thousand monasteries, and 

 ten thousand houses, were burnt, or laid 

 level with the ground. These terrible 

 devastations were at length stopped by 

 the hand of Providence, which placed 

 Henry IV. on the throne of France. 

 This prince, who, though he had so many 

 outrages to avenge, so many crimes to 

 punish, thought only of burying all ani- 

 mosity in oblivion, and of healing all 

 wounds. Then absolute power was em- 

 ployed only in promoting prosperity in 

 the state, and the felicity of every in- 

 dividual. The Roman Catholic religion 

 remained dominant; but the famous edict 

 of Nantes effaced intolerance, and sooth- 

 ed the irritation of the conqured party, 

 to whom liberty of conscience and a poli- 

 tical existence were secured. 



The edict of Nantes confirmed to the 

 Protestants all the favours that had ever 

 been granted to them by Henry III. To 

 these privileges others were also added ; 

 such as a free admission to all employ- 

 ments of trust, honour and profit. These 

 wise and politic regulations were per- 

 fectly satisfactory to good sense and equi- 

 ty : they were, however, not enough for 

 fanaticism : it made several attempts on 

 the saviour of France, and at length suc- 

 ceeded in assassinating him. From this 

 melancholy day (May 14, 1610) the trou- 

 bles of the jHuguenots began to be re- 

 newed. Alarmed at the intrigues that 

 were perpetually working against their 

 rights and .liberties, they again took up 

 arms, but were successfully opposed by 

 Richelieu. The government succeeded 

 in rendering its authority absolute; and 

 factions and discontents agitated and dis- 

 turbed the two parties in no small degree. 

 These discontents continued to increase 

 until the reign of Louis XIV. This ambi- 

 tious, weak, and credulous prince was 

 persuaded wholly to revoke tbe edict of 

 Nantes, which had been loner openly vid- 

 VOI.. VI. 



lated. This was a deplorable epocha for 

 the Huguenots. They were not only ex- 

 pelled the parliament, and deprived of all 

 their civil and religious liberties, but 

 multitudes of the most industrious fami- 

 lies in France were reduced to beggary. 

 They were harrased in all manner of 

 ways. Eight hundred thousand persons 

 (Voltaire says five- hundred thousand) 

 left th kingdom, and fled into other 

 countries, where their descendants are 

 still to be met with, and where they have 

 carried prosperity, to the prejudice of 

 their own unjust country. Such ot'these 

 unfortunate people as remained in France 

 lost all civil existence, were pursued 

 without remission, without pity, and like 

 wild beasts; their blood frequently stream- 

 ed under the steel of the executioner or 

 of the soldiery. This last explosion, how- 

 ever, at length ceased. The unfortunate 

 Louis the XVI. whatever were his weak- 

 nesses and failings in other respects, had 

 not been rendered inhuman by a large 

 share of Catholicism ; but laboured to 

 heal all their wounds, when the storm 

 arose, of which he was one of the first 

 and the most illustrious of the victims. 

 It ought ever to be remembered, to the 

 honour of this unhappy monarch, that he 

 paid no attention to the intolerant and dis- 

 ' graceful " Memoire de 1* Assembled ge- 

 nerale du clerge"," in 1780, against the 

 reformed. During his reign a law was 

 past, which gave to his non-Roman Ca- 

 tholic subjects,asthey were denominated, 

 all the civil advantages and privileges of 

 their Roman Catholic brethren. From 

 that period the situation of the French 

 Protestants (for the obnoxious term Hu- 

 guenots seems to have been almost laid 

 aside) has. been tolerably happy. But 

 what seems to have given a stability and 

 respectability to the French Protestants, 

 are the decrees which have been passed 

 in their favour by the present Emperor 

 of France. On Sunday the 9th of August, 

 1807, the consistory of the Protestant 

 church being admitted to an audience, 

 their president, M. Marron, addressed 

 the Emperor in a speech of considerable 

 eloquence, in which he gratefully ac- 

 knowledged his protection and care of 

 them as a religious body ; and declared 

 that the roofs of their temples shall ever 

 resound with praises for such signal fa- 

 vours as they enjoy under his auspices. 

 His speech was answered in the most 

 gracious and cordial manner. The fol- 

 lowing expressions in it are remarkable : 

 "I accept the blessing and the congratu- 

 lation of the consistory. You owe me no 

 Bb 



