The Poet of the Revolution

IN

Chapter First

N relation to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, much has been written by authors holding very different sentiments.

With some, we should deem the Huguenots an inoffensive and deeply wronged people, persecuted solely on account of their religious convictions; according to others, we should look upon Louis Quatorze as a forbearing monarch,-one who, being in imminent danger of having his kingdom wrested from him and its religion subverted, was compelled to act upon the defensive.

Some represent the Huguenots as bearing injuries inflicted upon them with fortitude, and suffering persecutions even to martyrdom for their religion; others depict the king as pursuing his rigorous course through the purest of motives, and to such an extent only as to repress the continual revolts of his rebellious subjects; they would cause us to hear him say to his intendants," Je vous recommande surtout de menager avec douceur les esprits de ceux de la dite religion;' and to listen to his censure of one governor for pursuing a different course; and to learn of the recall of another for the same offence.

In the year of our Lord 1685, that which saw the Edict of Nantes revoked, France was divided into two parties; the dominant one being that of the Crown, headed by Louis Quatorze, -a prince as scrupulous and inflexible in matters regarding the faith he pro

fessed as he was unscrupulous and lax in the morals he practised. Intolerant of any opinion not his own, he condemned freedom of conscience in his subjects as tantamount to rebellion against his kingly authority. In religion, as in other matters, he would be absolute. The minor party, that of the Huguenots, or Calvinists, still retained the characteristics sternly impressed upon it by its founder; which caused its adherents to live a life as totally at variance with that of their countrymen as was their belief. The severe and inflexible decrees of Almighty God, and the impotence of man's will in influencing his own destiny, being the basis of the Huguenot's creed, it produced in him a rigid severity of morals which, repressing all the natural instincts and emotions, caused a corresponding austerity of manner in his private life; while his natural independence of character, joined to the conviction of the hopelessness of his cause, gave him an air of defiance in his public demeanor and intercourse with the outer world. The former party, powerful and allimportant, were as arrogant as such characteristics usually cause their possessors to become; while the other, no longer of political importance and consequently possessed of no influence at court, bowed to the inevitable, and, although subdued, were not conquered.

Cardinal de Richelieu, upon his elevation to the prime ministry, set himself to the accomplishment of three things; and having already effected two of them, namely, the humiliation of Austria and the extinction of feudalism, turned his attention to the one that lay nearest home, the subjugation and conversion of the Huguenots.

Their subjugation he had effected in the year 1628 by the siege and possession of La Rochelle, which had been followed by the reduction of Montauban, the last stronghold of the Huguenots in France.

The terms of capitulation at La Rochelle had been

liberal in the extreme, far more so than the besieged had dared to hope; and since the treaty signed at Alais in 1629 difference in religion had never prevented the cardinal from rendering the conquered all sorts of good offices, nor had it caused him to make any distinction between Frenchmen in the fulfilment of the duties of his office. Notwithstanding the late revolt of the Rochellese, he had continued to protect the religious as well as the civil rights guaranteed to them by Henri Quatre in 1598, in what is known as the "Edict of Nantes."

But in regard to their conversion, even the sagacious Richelieu was mistaken, perhaps for the first time in his political career. The peaceful submission of the Huguenots was only the result of necessity. Their ambitious hopes crushed, their numbers depleted by the many wars they had undertaken, as well as the abandonment of their cause by the greater number of their nobility, had combined to oblige them to relinquish all hopes for the future, and set themselves to the work of repairing the sad effects of the last war; consequently those districts of France inhabited by them soon began to present their former appearance of fertility and thriftiness.

Excluded from higher pursuits, those of the Huguenots whose means permitted them to do so, lived in retirement; devoting themselves to the management of their estates, or else engaging in commerce, which they soon controlled to a considerable extent. Others

turned their energies toward the development of the different manufactures in which, by their close application and enterprise, they soon excelled to such a degree as to cause some of its branches to become almost a monopoly with them.

With returning prosperity and a steady increase of population, the Huguenots began to raise their heads

1 Ozaneau.

2 Richelieu's own testimony.

again; and, as their religious as well as civil rights were secured to them, their academies soon became national synods; and they have been charged with infractions of several of the articles of the Edict.

Deprived, by death, of the counsels of the sagacious Richelieu and the prudent Mazarin, and likewise of the politic advice of the displaced Colbert, Louis, encouraged by the fanatical, war-loving Louvois, determined upon taking more effective measures to hasten the conversion of the Huguenots which he was so desirous of bringing about.

By degrees many of the privileges guaranteed to them were curtailed; and they, fearing lest in time they might see the Edict rendered null, began to hold their assemblies as in days gone by; and, as in those times, force was now likewise used to prevent them, sometimes indeed to such a degree as to cause bloodshed. Symptoms of insurrection in the southern and western portions of France caused Louis to realize that the spirit of Calvin yet lived; and that the Huguenots were still a political body which might give cause for alarm. "It is necessary to recognize this fact," says Poole, "in order to render the attitude of Louis towards them intelligible. This has been denied persistently by them and their descendants, and its assertion is stigmatized as an attempt to vindicate conduct which, judged by its results, is in a supreme degree indefensible. But the truth is that, from this point of view of the national disaster, the recall of the Edict, setting the whole world in an attitude hostile to Louis, stands at so indefinite a height among the follies of statesmen that no exaggeration of fact can aggravate it; for this very reason we should grasp at anything which, while it cannot palliate it, may serve to explain its stupendous mistake.'

At the king's council held October 2, 1685, the Act of Revocation was passed by a unanimous vote,

and Louis signed the declaration to be sent to the different intendants of the provinces, to be read by them in public.

In concert with his minister, Louvois, he now set about the prosecution of the work with all the vigor of which he was capable. The dragonade was established, and cruelty succeeded cruelty. Threats, imprisonment, and death followed each other, the latter by single murders and public massacres, until it seemed that the heresy would be extinguished in blood.

The only alternative for the proud-spirited Huguenots was to abjure their faith or suffer the penalty. Escape was prohibited under pain of the galleys if they were caught in the act. Many of the Huguenots that lived in the shadow of the court abjured their religion; others, along with gentlemen living in the provinces, men of commerce and manufacturers, determined to leave their native land, however hazardous the attempt might be.

The depopulation of his kingdom had no part in the king's intention; therefore he ordered the ports to be closed and the frontiers to be closely guarded, thinking thus to prevent the threatened exodus; but determined men are not easily thwarted in their designs, and many ways were devised to elude the vigilance of the officials.

In many cases gold proved the "open sesame" of closed ports and guarded frontiers; disguises also and second-hand passports served to pass many across the boundaries, and frequently bales of merchandise came to life when safely stowed away in the holds of friendly ships.

As the Protestant countries offered hospitality to the refugees, some sought homes in Holland and others in Switzerland. They were obliged to make their way thither during the darkness of the night,