Quick's Synodicon in Gallia, vol. i. pp. 385, 398.
147
It is observable, that on the first occasion (Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. p. 362) nothing is said of Ferrier's immorality; and on the next occasion (p. 449) the synod complains, among other things, that ‘he hath most licentiously inveighed against, and satirically lampooned, the ecclesiastical assemblies.’
148
See this frightful and impious document, in Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. pp. 448, 450.
149
The notion of theologians respecting excommunication may be seen in Mr. Palmer's entertaining book, Treatise on the Church, vol. i. pp. 64, 67, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300; but the opinions of this engaging writer should be contrasted with the indignant language of Vattel, Le Droit des Gens, vol. i. pp. 177, 178. In England, the terrors of excommunication fell into contempt towards the end of the seventeenth century. See Life of Archbishop Sharpe, edited by Newcome, vol. i. p. 216: compare p. 363; and see the mournful remarks of Dr. Mosheim, in his Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 79; and Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 175, 176.
150
On the treatment of Ferrier, which excited great attention as indicating the extreme lengths to which the Protestants were prepared to go, see Mém. de Richelieu, vol. i. p. 177; Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 12, 29, 32; Mém. de Duplessis Mornay, vol. xii. pp. 317, 333, 341, 350, 389, 399, 430; Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 235; Biog. Univ. vol. xiv. p. 440; Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. v. pp. 48-54. Mr. Smedley, who refers to none of these authorities, except two passages in Duplessis, has given a garbled account of this riot. See his History of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. pp. 119, 120.
151
Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 123.
152
Capefigue, vol. i. p. 123; Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. i. p. 364; Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 183; Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. p. 130.
153
Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 124; Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. p. 100; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. pp. 333, 334. The consequence was, that the king was obliged to send a powerful escort to protect his bride against his Protestant subjects. Mém. de Richelieu, vol. i. p. 274.
154
Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 38; Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, 63.
155
Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 450; Mém. de Bassompierre, vol. ii. p. 161. See a similar instance, in the case of Berger, in Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 136, whom the Protestants sought to deprive because ‘il avoit quitté leur religion.’
156
Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. i. p. 381. Sismondi (Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 349) says that they had no good reason for this; and it is certain that their privileges, so far from being diminished since the Edict of Nantes, had been confirmed and extended.
157
M. Felice (Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 237) says of Lower Navarre and Béarn, in 1617: ‘Three-fourths of the population, some say nine-tenths, belonged to the reformed communion.’ This is perhaps overestimated; but we know, from De Thou, that they formed a majority in Béarn in 1566: ‘Les Protestans y fussent en plus grand nombre que les Catholiques.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. v. p. 187.
158
‘Les ministres fanatiques déclaroient qu'ils ne pouvaient sans crime souffrir dans ce pays régénéré l'idolâtrie de la messe.’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 415.
159
Notice sur les Mémoires de Rohan, vol. i. p. 26. Compare the account given by Pontchartrain, who was one of the ministers of Louis XIII. Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. pp. 248, 264; and see Mém. de Richelieu, vol. i. p. 443.
160
Bazin, Hist. de France sous Louis XIII, vol. ii. pp. 62–64. The pith of the question was, that ‘l'édit de Nantes ayant donné pouvoir, tant aux catholiques qu'aux huguenots, de rentrer partout dans leurs biens, les ecclésiastiques de Béarn démanderent aussytôt les leurs.’ Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 392.
161
‘L'affaire de Béarn, source de tous nos maux.’ Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. p. 156; see also p. 183. And the Protestant Le Vassor says (Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. iii. p. 634): ‘L'affaire du Béarn et l'assemblée qui se convoqua ensuite à la Rochelle, sont la source véritable des malheurs des églises réformées de France sous le règne dont j'écris l'histoire.’
162
On the connexion between the proceedings of Béarn and those of Rochelle, compare Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 33, with Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 113, and Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. p. 446.
163
Their first church was established in 1556 (Ranke's Civil Wars in France, vol. i. p. 360); but, by the reign of Charles IX. the majority of the inhabitants were Protestants. See De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. iv. p. 263, vol. v. p. 379, ad. ann. 1562 and 1567.
164
Or, as M. Capefigue courteously puts it, ‘les Rochelois ne respectaient pas toujours les pavillons amis.’ Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 332. A delicate circumlocution, unknown to Mezeray who says (Hist. de France, vol. iii. p. 426) in 1587: ‘et les Rochelois, qui par le moyen du commerce et de la piraterie,’ &c.
165
‘Ceste place, que les huguenots tenoient quasy pour imprenable.’ Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 512. ‘Cette orgueilleuse cité, qui se croyoit imprenable.’ Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 45. Howell, who visited Rochelle in 1620 and 1622, was greatly struck by its strength. Howell's Letters, pp. 46, 47, 108. At p. 204, he calls it, in his barbarous style, ‘the chiefest propugnacle of the Protestants there.’ For a description of the defences of Rochelle, see De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. vi. pp. 615–617; and some details worth consulting in Mezeray, Hist. de France, vol. ii. pp. 977–980.
166
Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 139; Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. pp. 480, 481. Rohan himself says (Mém. vol. i. p. 446): ‘je m'efforçai de la séparer.’ In a remarkable letter, which Mornay wrote ten years before this, he shows his apprehensions of the evil that would result from the increasing violence of his party; and he advises, ‘que nostre zèle soit tempéré de prudence.’ Mém. et Correspond. vol. xi. p. 122; and as to the divisions this caused among the Protestants, see pp. 154, 510, vol. xii. pp. 82, 255; and Sully, Œconomies Royales, vol. ix. pp. 350, 435.
167
‘Les seigneurs du parti, et surtout le sage Duplessis Mornay, firent ce qu'ils purent pour engager les réformés à ne pas provoquer l'autorité royale pour des causes qui ne pouvoient justifier une guerre civile; mais le pouvoir dans le parti avoit passé presque absolument aux bourgeois des villes et aux ministres qui se livroient aveuglement à leur fanatisme, et à leur orgueil, et qui étoient d'autant plus applaudis qu'ils montroient plus de violence.’ Sismondi,
