Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Intelligence.-Debate in the House of Commons on the French Protestants. 357

House; but, considering the impression which had been made throughout the whole country, it appeared to him that it would be extremely to be lamented if the session were to pass over without any notice having been taken of the subject. Reports had reached this country of dreadful arts of riot, violence and oppression in the southern departments of France; they had made a deep impression upon the public; public meetings were called, resolutions were formed, subscriptions were opened with that liberality which had always characterized the British nation; and the House would recol

of their pastors, the loss of their temples, or the fear of their enemies, are destitute of the public supports and consolations of their religion; and especially encouraged and stimulated by the voice of the General Body, lately expressed at their Annual Meeting, this Committee will not relax in its vigilance or activity, but will endea vour to direct public attention to the situation of the French Protestants to enlighten public opinion on the true character and extent of their sufferings to excite public sympathy and benevolence for the alleviation of their calamities, and public indignation against the authors of their distress:lect the progress that was making in and although they will seize with eagerness the first opportunity to announce any improvement in the situation of their brethren, or their full restoration to their former state of bappiness as professors of religion, they will not remit their humble efforts, nor abandon the sacred cause to any delusive promises or violent opposition, but will persevere, till to the gratitude of their fellow Protestants, shall be added, their congratulations and re pose.

V. That, grateful for the numerous and liberal contributions which have been already received, not only as they display the generous emotions of Christian benevolence, and provide relief and comfort for the miserable, but as they afford also a strong expres sion of attachment to the unalterable principles of truth and, freedom; this Committee renew their solicitations to those who have not to this period remitted to the Secretary the amount of their subscriptions or collections, and assure all their friends, that a punctual and faithful attention will be paid to the distribution of the funds which may be entrusted to their care. Signed by order of the Committee, THOMAS MORGAN, SECRETARY.

[blocks in formation]

the public feelings, when a sudden turn took place, and the face of affairs was changed. Although these meetings had not taken place without a previous communication being had on the subject with his Majesty's ministers, yet those meetings were discouraged, and he was most sorry to have seen that a very successful turn was given to that meritorious course of proceeding. In a letter written by the Duke of Wellington to one of these meetings, his Grace had said, that he felt satisfied that every thing possible had been done on the part of the French government to prevent these disturbances; that the King of France had extended his protection to his subjects of all persuasions, and had secured them in the exercise of their religions rights. The effect of that letter was very strong upon the minds of the people. The Common Council of the City of London had considered this subject, and had voted an address to the Prince Regent: much delay occurred in its presentation, and although his Royal Highness had said that it could be received by him on any occasion on his arrival in London, that occasion had never arrived, and the address had never been presented. He was not bringing this question forward to criminate his Majesty's ministers; and he most sincerely assured the House, that he had not such an opinion of them as to believe, that if they had been acquainted with) what had really taken place, or had' seriously considered what the interposition of the French government amounted to, and had known in what manner it had been demonstrated, they would have acted as they had done. He never could think that

358 Intelligence.-Debate in the House of Commons on the French Protestants.

the

it could have been in human nature to have conducted themselves in such a manner, if they had known the real facts of the case. All that he imputed to his Majesty's ministers was, that they had too credulously believed, and too lightly judged upon, all the stories they had received. He could also assure the House, if indeed it were necessary, that in introducing this matter to its consideration he was actuated by no party or personal feelings, but by motives of justice and humanity to an injured and disheartened people; and after having received information from various quarters, after having had the means of conversing with many persons that had been on the spot, he did think it would have been a dereliction of the duty he owed to oppressed and injured individuals, had he not drawn the attention of the House to the subject.-The letter of the Duke of Wellington had been published at Nismes, and was scattered about the town with the greatest joy and exultation by the Catholics; but it filled the Protestants with the utmost consternation; it took from oppressors the only restraint im posed upon them, and from the oppressed their last hope. So completely were they oppressed, that they were looked upon as mere slaves, under the controul, and subject to the passions, of an enraged master-without hope, without comfort and without relief. In considering, then, this important subject, there were three principal questions to be discussed: 1st. whether any and what punishment had been inflicted on these murderers and assassins; 2dly, whether these offences had been committed against law and nature from political or religious motives; and 3dly, whether the French government had afforded any protection to the injured. Unless these three questions were considered, it would be impossible to give a distinct idea of the disgraceful transactions which had taken place in the depart ment of the Gard, to which the distressing scenes were almost wholly confined. There could be no doubt that there had been a most unjust persecution of the Protestants in the South of France, and that Nismes was the principal scene of horror and of bloodshed; but in order that the subject might be fully comprehended by the House, it would be necessary for him

to put it in possession of the situation in which the Protestants were placed previous to the restoration of his present Majesty, Louis XVIII. on the throne of France. The department of the Gard was the first part of France, and, he believed, of Europe, where the doctrines of the reformed religion were promulgated; and it was in the mountains of the Cevennes that, in the twelfth century, heresy, as it was then termed, first took its root, distinguished by the piety of the doctrines of those who professed it. In this situation they remained unmolested to the time of the Reformation; but by the unhappy communication between the leaders of the two parties at the latter end of the reign of Francis I. a dreadful destruction of the Protestants took place at Aix. This was the first appearance of that bitter animosity which afterwards spread devastation throughout the whole of France, and the commencement of those dreadful wars between the Hugonots and Catholics, so disgraceful to human nature. At last religious peace was restored under the reign of Henry IV. when the Protestants enjoyed the most perfect liberty. Nismes was then the city to which the Protestants resorted. So matters rested until the revocation of the edict of Nantes, when those bloody orders were issued, the object of which was to convert the whole province of the Gard by a regiment of dragoons. The face of things was immediately changed; all France became a Catho lic country, and not a Protestant was to be seen in it. In the time of Louis XIV. and XV. the Protestants again began to rear up their heads; and of se novel a description were they, that the term of "les noveax convertis," was applied to them. Proceeding in his statement of the grievances under which the Protestants laboured, the Hon. Gentleman mentioned that it had been stated as an instance of comparative lenity by one writer, that from the year 1745 to 1770 only eight of their ministers were hanged. In all this period their marriages were de clared null, their children of fourteen years old, who professed the Catholic religion, were taken from the care of their parents: instances might be mentioned of husbands being sent to the galleys for marrying according to the Protestant forms, and their wives to

Intelligence.-Debate in the House of Commons on the French Protestants. 359

a receptacle of prostitutes. Such by law was the condition of the Protestants in France - ameliorated, no doubt, by the increasing toleration of the age. Louis XVI. had the distinguished merit of remedying many of those grievances from the earliest years of his reign. There were extant memorials presented to him by the lamented M. Malesherbe and others, on this subject; and their remaining grievances would, doubtless, have been removed by that unfortunate sovereign, had not his throne been overthrown by the torrent of the revolution, amidst his wishes to establish a constitutional liberty. One of the first acts of the revolution was to restore the Protestants to a perfect equality of privileges. They were declared admissible to all civil offices without distinction; and one of their ministers, Rabaut St. Etienne, was president of the national assembly. The Protes tants, with the feelings natural to men, could not but applaud and admire a work, by which they were raised, from being outcasts of society, and from a state of degradation and infamy, to that of citizens with equal rights. This, however, had been objected to them by some persons as matter of reproach; but he trusted he should be able to show, to the satisfaction of the House, that all that had been said of their being revolutionists and Buonapartists in a peculiar degree was perverted and misrepresented. He would, assert, that in those scenes of horror which soon disgraced the progress of the revolution, not one Protestant was found to be an actor. Of course he must here be supposed to speak generally, as far as his information extended. He acknowledged, indeed, that some of them who were members, of the convention voted for the death of the king, but all of them with the addition of the appeal to the people, which, if not displaying due firmness, at least discovered their wish to save the monarch. There was not one Protestant a member of the revolutionary tribunal of the department of the Gard; and of the 130 persons who were guillotined by its orders at Nismes, more than 100 were Protes tants, though the Protestants formed only about one third of the populafion. He might say, that amidst the horrors of the revolution they were always found on the side of modera

tion and justice. He did not speak this invidiously, but, as was usual in a sect which formed the minority, many of whom were opulent, greater regularity of conduct and correctness of morals were generally found to prevail. The Protestants being thus restored to the rank of citizens, all religious animosities seemed to subside in the South of France. In 1802, Buonaparte, being then First Consul, procured the enactment of a law which placed their religion precisely on the same footing with the Catholic faith in point of establishment and privi lege. Could it be matter of reproach to them that they were grateful for this favour?-it was not possible but that they must have felt attachment to him for it. Hence, however, it was deem, ed proper by soine that they should be stigmatized as Buonapartists. There was no foundation for the assertion that any partiality was shown to them by Buonaparte. There was not one Protestant prefect or commandant of department appointed by him; none of them filled the tribunal of justice; and probably one reason of this might be, that before the revolution they were not allowed to follow the profession of the law. It was not improbable, however, that the circumstance of the Protestants being thus placed on a level with their former masters, might excite a rankling jealousy in the latter, which would break out on the first convenient opportunity. state of things continued until Louis XVIII. was restored to his kingdom in April 1814. At this period Buo-, naparte had become odious to the Protestants at Nismes, both from the weight of taxation with which they were loaded, and from the incessant demands of the conscription. The taxes fell with peculiar hardship on the Protestants, as, generally speaking, there was more property in their hands; and leading, as they generally did, retired, domestic lives, the conscription, which tore from them their children, was peculiarly felt by them as a hardship of the greatest severity. He believed that the Protestants were, under these circumstances, unanimous in the joy which they expressed on the restoration of Louis XVIII. Unfortunately, however, during the course of the succeeding ten months, a considerable change of opinion took place. Persons who had been long absent

This

360 Intelligence.-Debate in the House of Commons on the French Protestants.

returned with their old prejudices, and the lower orders of the people began to threaten the Protestants, who conceived on their part that there was a strong tendency to go back to the old regime. They were not much alarmed by the circumstance of the charter issued by Louis, declaring the Catholic the established religion of France, because the other guards which it afforded appeared sufficient to protect their rights: they could not forget also that the king had just returned from a residence in a land of Protestants, where he must have witnessed the effects of religious toleration; and they looked forward to a season of tranquillity and enjoyment. But circumstances soon compelled them to change their ideas. They were insulted by the populace on the ground of their religion; songs were sung publicly in the streets of Nismes, in which they were threatened with the renewal of the horrors of St. Bartholomew; gibbets were drawn on their doors. In this situation of things, Buonaparte suddenly made his appearance in France, in the month of March 1815. It was a trying occurrence for the Protestants at Nismes: but uniting with the established authorities, they declared their determination to support the government. He had in his possession the original declaration to this effect made at Nismes on the 13th of March last year, and which was signed by the principal Protestants, the five Catholic clergy, and three Protestant ministers of the town. The list of Protestants who signed it was greater in proportion to their respective numbers than that of the Catholics. It contained an expression of the warmest attachment to the government of the king, and called upon the people of the depart ment for their support. Soon after this the Duke d'Angouleme fixed his head-quarters at Nismes, and here it was alleged that the Protestants did not join the Duke with much alacrity. They were in truth deterred from so acting by the previous alarm which had been excited among them, and perhaps it was not surprising that they did not zealously join the Duke's army. Some of them, however, of fered their sons to join him. On the 3d of April the authority of Buonaparte was declared in the town of Nismes: the few soldiers in the garrison there were called out, and shouted

Vive l'Empereur. It had been represented, that during the second reign of Buonaparte, acts of the greatest violence were committed by the Protestants; and that when Nismes again became a royal town on the 17th of July, the atrocities which ensued were merely retaliative. The fact was, however, that no acts of violence were committed during this interval-no persons were insultedno houses attacked-none were killed, at least in the town of Nismes, though it was said that some stragglers of the Duke d'Angouleme's army were murdered by the peasants. Upon the 15th July many of the royal volunteers, as they were called, returned to Nismes; numbers of armed men flocked in from the country, and required the garrison which held it in Buonaparte's name to surrender. This garrison, consisting of about 200 men, consented to lay down their arms; but they were all of them, with the exception of a few who contrived to make their escape, massacred as they came out of their barracks. For some successive days the whole of the Protestants of Nismes were exposed to outrages of every kind; their houses were plundered or pulled down, the rich were laid under contributions, the looms of the poor manufacturers were destroyed, women were stripped and scourged in the streets; no less than 30 females were subjected to this atrocity, one of whom was far advanced in preg. nancy. He would repeat what he had stated on a former occasion, that 200 persons were murdered in cold blood, besides 2,000 individuals who were persécuted in their persons and property. One man, a Mr. Lafond, far advanced in life, these wretches threw from the balustrades of his own staircase, and, on still discovering some signs of life, they cut him to pieces with their sabres. The seven sons of a Mr. Leblanc, and the five sons of a Mr. Chivar, were murdered. A wretch of the name of Trestaillon was the chief leader in these atrocities. This man, hearing that Chivar, the father, was confined to his bed, came to his house, and asked the wife to let him see her husband, affecting to feel for him; but immediately on being introduced, he shot the old man dead with a pistol. This monster in human shape had been taken twice into custody, but he had never yet been

Intelligence.-Debate in the House of Commons on the French Protestants. 361

punished by the French government. [Hear!] He had boasted of the murders he had committed. One of the first acts after the 17th of July, the period when Nismes reverted under the royal government, was to disarm the urban guard, which it was declared should exclusively consist of Catholics and he should have to state an order of the new authorities, that all persons should be disarmed who could not belong to the national guard, which was equivalent to declaring that their intended victims should be disarmed, in order to their execution. In one place these infuriated persons dug up the body of a young man, and burnt it, together with the house of his father. In short, every kind of atrocity was committed. He was speaking now of persons who were murdered in cold blood, and not taken with arms in their hands. It was proper here to inquire what steps were taken by the French government to prevent these excesses. The king had appointed the Marquis d'Arbaud Joucques prefect of the department of the Gard. He arrived on the 30th of July, and issued a proclamation for the purpose of protect ing the Protestants from the fury of their persecutors. In consequence of this he was ill-treated on his appear ance at the theatre. They insisted that Trestaillon should be released, which was accordingly done. This prefect was still continued; and under such circumstances could any man say, in the language of the Duke of Wellington, that the French government had done every thing to protect its Protestant subjects? The disturbances at Nismes still continued. The 21st of August was the important day fixed for the election of deputies to the legislature. He read from the official journal of the Gard, the proclamation of Devallon, the mayor of Nismes, on the eve of the feast of St. Louis, recommending to the people to abstain from the employment of squibs and crackers, and reminding them that the least disturbance would throw great responsibility on the magistrates. What was the amount of force which this mayor, then, had at his disposal? It was twenty-four companies of national guards and three of cavalry. There was another proclamation issued on the 30th of August, in which he states, that many murders

had been committed, the perpetrators of which concealed themselves in darkness. These, he said, had profoundly wounded his heart; but he ascribed them all to unknown agitators, who in this way abused their love for their king. What were we to think of a government which ascribed these murders to misguided demonstrations of loyalty? They are then reminded that such crimes could not be justified, because crimes of the same kind had been committed during an usurpation blasted by heaven, and detested by man. But what was the fact? The national guard which was at the disposal of the mayor, had never exerted themselves during all these days to prevent the perpetration of the murders. It might be worth mentioning, that M. Trinquelaque, a lawyer, who was chosen one of the depu ties to the legislature, and lately appointed secretary general to the minister of justice, was the person who, after the first restoration, proposed that a silver image should be dedicated to the Virgin, in the event of the preg nancy of the Duchess d'Angouleme. It was also worthy of remark, that on the 24th of August, another military force entered Nismes, exclusive of the national guard, when tranquillity was restored, and continued as long as they remained. The national guard was marched into the mountains of the Cevennes, where the people had remained in perfect tranquillity, though they were now treated by the national guard as in a state of rebellion. The Austrian troops that were soon after sent into the Cevennes, in order to disarm the inhabitants, declared, on the contrary, they had never seen a people more peaceably disposed. They quitted the country on the 25th of October, and the same system of murder was recommenced. Besides the infamous Trestaillon, there was another notorious murderer, of the name of Quatretaillon. Trestaillon had been sent away from that part of the country, but punished he had never been." In fact, not one of the persons concerned in these numerous atrocities had been brought to punishment; they still roamed about at large, though well known to most of the inhabitants of Nismes. He had to notice another proclamation of the prefect, in which he spoke of an indignation, too natural not to be

« AnteriorContinua »