76 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



ment to seud them to England. The English chaplain 

 took them on board a vessel, and a large crowd heaped 

 blessings upon them as they sailed away to exile and to 

 freedom." 



II 



In 1724 Louis XV thought he would outdo his prede- 

 cessor, and accordingly issued an edict, some of the pro- 

 visions of which were as follows : Every minister to be 

 put to death, and any one helping them in any way to be 

 rewarded by penal servitude for life. Life imprisonment 

 was to be meted out to any one attending a Protestant 

 service. All children were to be baptized by the priests 

 within twenty-four hours of birth. No marriage to be 

 held legal unless performed under Roman Catholic aus- 

 pices. Every one who knew when a meeting was to be 

 held and did not betray the fact to the authorities was to 

 lose his property and go to the gallows. Whenever a 

 Protestant pastor was arrested every Huguenot in the dis- 

 trict was to be fined $25, 000 — amounting, in nearly every 

 instance to confiscation of entire property. The absolute 

 fiendishness of these provisions needs no comment ; they 

 represent the high mark of Roman Catholic craft and 

 cruelty. 



But the Reformed Church of France was not blotted 

 out. The meetings in the forests were continued, the 

 galleys were recruited from the ever faithful Protestant 

 ranks, and though minister after minister was made to 

 ascend the gallows, there were plenty of brave hearts 

 ready and eager to take his place in the pastorate. These 

 pastors were hunted like wolves through the country, 

 bounties being placed on their heads whether taken dead 

 or alive. Like criminals they were forced to resort to 

 aliases. They travelled by night through the woods and 

 fields. Journeying thus, Antoine Court once covered three 

 hundred miles within the space of two months, speaking 

 to three thousand of his people at thirty-two meetings. 

 One pastor had a hut of stones hidden away in a ravine ; 



