130 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



nothing of the twenty-oue vessels which brought in 

 splendid profits under his skillful management. Eng- 

 lish had made his way to Salem from the Island of Jersey, 

 and he was instrumental in bringing over a number of 

 his compatriots who had taken refuge there. There is no 

 complete record of their names, but we know that among 

 those who came to Salem were John Touzell, John 

 Browne (Jean Le Brun), Nicholas Chevalier, Peter 

 Morall, Edward Feveryear, John Voudin, Rachel Delia- 

 close, the Valpy family, the Lefavors and the Cabots. 



IV 



Revocation But it was uot Until the Revocation of the Edict of 



1685 



Nantes crushed all hope of religious toleration in France 



* and rendered the lives of Protestants unsafe, that the 

 Huguenots began to flock to New England in any consid- 

 erable numbers. In the very month of the Revocation 

 their eyes were turned longingly towards the new world 

 that promised them an asylum from their persecutions 

 and an opportunity to enjoy that liberty of conscience for 

 which they had so manfully struggled during a period of 

 over a century and a half. On October 1, 1685, a letter 

 was sent from La Rochelle to some unknown correspond- 

 ent in Boston ; it expressed the condition of the Rochel- 

 lese and the faith they had in New England as a place of 

 refuge, as the following extract will show : 



Letter from Qod grant that I and my family were with you, we should not have 



Rochelle *, ,„. ,„, ,,-, 



been exposed to the f urie of our enemies, who rob us of the goods which 



God hath given us to the subsistence of our soule and body. I shall 

 not assume to write all the miseries that we suffer, which cannot be 

 comprehended in a letter, but in many books. I shall tell you briefly, 

 that our temple is condemned, and razed, our ministers banished for- 

 ever, all their goods confiscated, and moreover they are condemned to 

 the fine of a thousand crowns. All t'other temples are also razed, ex- 

 cepted the temple of R6, and two or three others. By act of Parlia- 

 ment we are hindered to be masters in any trade or skill. We expect 

 every days the lord governour or Guieue, whom shall put soldiers in 



