CHAPTEE III 

 THE FEENCH EXILES IN EUEOPE 



Europe's Gain 

 Through 

 France's Folly 



Protestant 

 Superiority in 

 Skilled In- 

 dustry 



WHAT France lost and what the other countries 

 of Europe gained at her expense by giving 

 refuge to the Huguenot exiles is shown in de- 

 tail by Weiss in his History of the French Protestant Ref- 

 ugees, and by Poole, an English writer, in his Huguenots 

 of the Dispersion, a valuable essay. England was doubt- 

 less the largest gainer in the arts and manufactures, yet 

 nearly all the countries of Northern Europe received 

 valuable accessions in artisans and agriculturists, some 

 reaching even into Eussia. Skilled trades were thus car- 

 ried into sections where they had previously been un- 

 known. 



In almost every branch of industry the French Prot- 

 estants greatly surpassed the Eoman Catholics. Why, is 

 an interesting question for discussion. Poole attributes 

 it to the free spirit, fostered in the consistories and syn- 

 ods of the Protestants and in their schools of learning, 

 which found an apt expression in the zest and success 

 with which they devoted themselves to the improvement 

 of manufacture and the extension of commerce. They 

 were mentally quickened by a religion which exercised 

 thought and reason, and their training in the administra- 

 tion of the church fitted them for business transactions. 

 Whatever the reason, the fact is indisputable as to the 

 immense vigour with which the Huguenots applied 

 themselves to trade, and the excellence which, thanks to 

 their tone of mind and the superior length of their work- 

 ing year, they attained in it. For holidays, for example, 

 the Huguenots allowed only the Sundays and the two re- 



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