5^2 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



tached to the reformed interests, appears to have afforded (in 1572,) an 

 asylum for the survivors of the bloody masssacre of St. Bartholomew. 

 It was here they issued their famous declaration stating the affair to be 

 one of unheard of cruelty, and bidding defiance to their enemies the 

 house of Guise. " And it was here they armed and fortified themselves, 

 trusting in a just cause and to the favor of Heaven. For nine months 

 they fought most gallantly in defence of La Rochelle, killing 40,000 of 

 their enemies, who besieged them with the strongest and mightiest army 

 of France without success. It was however in 1627, that this city made 

 its last and ever memorable stand for the cause of the Huguenots. 



" And it may safely be said, that this mighty city would never have 

 fallen (such was the undaunted heroism of the Rochellese themselves) 

 had it not been for the powerful minded genius of Cardinal Richelieu, 

 who planned and executed such a mighty work against it, that in gigantic 

 extent it has been compared by historians to the similiar one executed 

 by Alexander the Great, for Tyre. The powerful mind of Richelieu saw 

 at a glance that it was useless to carry on the longest siege against the 

 city of La Rochelle, whilst a free communication remained open to 

 the sea, on which the town was situated. He therefore closed the mouth 

 of their channel by the erection of a prodigious mole, 4482 feet across 

 the harbor, with a central opening. The frame work of this mole con- 

 sisted of huge piles which was filled up with stones, and sixty hulks sunk 

 with the same material, for the purpose of buttresses. One arm of this 

 immense dyke overlapped the other, so that the entrance instead of 

 being in front was lateral. A stockade of piles, interlaced with chains 

 effectually stopped the passage. This work he completed and defended 

 by 45,000 men, while forty pieces of cannon on the one shore, and 

 twenty-five on the other, flanked the approaches ; and the narrow pas- 

 sage in its centre (of one hundred and fifty feet) guarded by a flotilla of 

 vessels."" 



" The brave Rochellese manfully defended themselves amidst warfare 

 and stravation. They were reduced from over 27,000 to 5000, and out 

 of a company of nearly 600 English allies, only 62 survived. 'Assure 

 the Rochellese that I will not abandon them,' was the message of 

 Charles of England to the closely besieged city; and just as Buckingham 

 was taking command of the desired expedition, he was assassinated. 

 This event created further delay, and the expedition arrived too late to 

 relieve the place. The citizens bore their trials most manfully, and with 

 perseverance seldom equalled. The bearer of a letter was arrested, and 

 compelled by torture to confess that he had swallowed it concealed in a 

 a SiTicdley's History of Reform. Religion ia France, vol,iii.,p. 774, Harper's edition. 



