History of the French Protestant refugees / История французских гугенотов-эмигрантов

626 Pages·32.754 MB·English

by  Wheiss Charles.

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PROFESSOR S.WILL
J.
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HISTORY
OF TUK
FRENCH PROTESTANT REFUGEES
FBOM
THE KEVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES
TO THE PRESENT TIME
BY
CHARLES WEISS
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT THE LTCEE BUOHAPABTE
TRANSLATED, WITH TH£ ASSISTANCE OF THE AUTHOR
BY FREDEEICK HAEDMAN
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLIV
'^^9473
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
In writing the History of the Protestant Kefugees of
France, we have no intention of incidentally discussing
the religious question that has been for three centuries
open between the Church of Eome and the Eeformed
religion, and of reviving the irritating debate which
still divides the most intellio-ent minds.
Neither do we seek to stir up old resentment against
the monarch who was, notAvithstanding the fatal error
of his reign, one of our greatest kings. Admitting, as
an established fact, that Louis XIV. committed an ii-re-
parable faultwhen he signed the revocation of the edict
promulgated by his grandfather, and by no means seek-
ing the difficult gloryof convincing those who maintain
a contrary opinion, we have had in view but a purely
historical aim : that of studying the destinies of the
three hundred thousand voluntary exiles, who hesitated
not to renounce their country for the sake oftheirGod,
and whose energetic resolution cannot but inspire a
lively s}Tiipathy in those who hold the same doctrines,
a profound respect in those who profess a different reli-
'j gion, and a painful regret in the breasts of all men who
VI PEEFACE.
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sincerely love tlieir native land. law, voted by tlie
Constituent Assembly in 1790, restored the title of
French citizens to the descendants of the Eefugees, dis-
persed over the whole world, upon the sole condition
of their return to France, and fulfilment of the ci\dc
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duties imposed upon all Frenchmen. believe that,
in tracing the history of these fugitive bands, we fill in
some sort a blank space in our national history, to
which we add a new a little-known
chapter, episode,
full of dramatic interest and of the most serious in-
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struction, blind panegyric of the conduct of all the
emigrants is not to be sought in these pages. It is
impossible not to deplore the injury many of them did
to France, by bearing arms against her, and rejoicing
in her reverses. But is the fault entirely that of men
reduced to despair by an odious persecution, and must
it not rather be imputed to the advisers of the iniquit-
ous measure which drove them to seek an asylum in
countries where their misfortune was commiserated 1
Do we not also know that exiles of allages and all coun-
tries have never hesitated to cut out by force of arms
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a road back to their native land 1 cruel extremity,
which national feeling reproves and human justice con-
demns, but which man's conscience has never stigma-
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tised as a vulgar crime-! have not sought to dis-
guise this painful aspect of their history. But, that
much blame admitted, it has seemed to us that none
have the rioht to treat as aliens the descendants of those
victims of past intolerance, and that all will read with