Star.
London, England, 1815-12-22 00:00:00

'FRENCH PROTESTANTS. •

O 1 the subject of the French Protestants, the pub-
lic ai e threatened with as authentic account of the events
that have tact:place at Winner. It is proper that the
British Public should be informed that the true state-
ment of the Protestants was suppressed ; and that a
pamphlet, with a title similar to the above, was pub.
lished by the Ft each Government, for the purpose of
vilifying the Protestants. We yet may find it neces-
sary to allude more particulArly to the work in our
eye. In the mein time we give the following para.
graphs lion* ibis authentic account, to expose its object :

46 Nismes has for 25 years been the theatre of two
panics, the one Illways supporting royalty and the
other unceas:ngly hostile to it. Tile Catholics, who
form mole than tw9-thirds of the population, com;
prise almost entirely the former party, sshilst the
other consists almost wholly of Protestants."
46 If the Protestants hive principally suffered it is
because they were almost all Bonapartists, and that
'Tom amongst them have proceeded the greater part of
those men who have committed so many atr
In the mean time, it is with no ordinary degree of
pleasure that we record the energy and the success of
the exertions of the Comnt. ittee of Dissenting Minis-,
tees, in INfialfof ibe..peroqoted and too long neg.
leeted Protestants in France. .The expression of public
feeling which they have called forth, has already
quickened the steps of the authorities in France ; and,
the conttibutions whici are liberally and cheerfully
presented, will most essentially risist those who have
suffered the loss of all things, on account of their re-
ligious profession.
Two circular Letters have been addressed by the
Committee to their brethren throughout the United
Kingdom. The first ,containing an account of their
Proceedings, and- requesting collections from all the
friends of religi,:n' and humanity. The second, con-
taining the melancholy proofs of the massacres, spo-
Nations, and outrages which hare been for months the
order of the day against the professors of the Re-
formed Religion.
It is impossible to peruse this short but luminous
and connected lii:aory of the horrid efforts of fanati.
cism, without full conviction of their existence, and
without an :it-aloes desire to check their progress and
alleviate their effects. We are are happy to learn,
that the contents of this letter, with additional infor-
mation, will be published by the Committee in a
cheap foe m, and the profits of the sale be appro-
priated to the general fund. We now lay before our
readers extracts from letters of recent date, received
by the Committee from France; some of them in
answer to enquiries, others written since they have
been informed of the exertions of the Committee in
favour of their afflicted brethren t
" I hasten to commun•cate what news I can collect from the
fugitives, whom dire necessity compels to seek for refuge from
their blood-thirsty neighbours. I long to hear what effect the in.
telligence of our miseries has produced on our Protestant bre-
thren in your country. You must be conscious that thousands
are now looking with u imploring eye to a nation so renowned
for the exercise of ChriAiar. charities and Christian graces. I am
sorry to say that the unhappy situailoa of Mimes is scarcely to
be paralleled in the present tranquil state of Europe.
" For many weeks the horrid system of pillage, expatriation,
and murder, has been pursued with unabated ardour. Smut
trifling cffarts for protection bare been shewn by sonic in autho-
rity ; but nothing of consequence tiU lately. 'flie eyes of Eng-
I shown will sotto be opened calve that, notwithstanding the base
cslansnies of our enemies. the object of our indefatigable foes has
been not pohtecal, but be Protestant faitk awl the Protestant
wor,hp. To aunihilate the former and destroy the latter has
been their aim by night aid by day.
" .1 he night of the ltiticol October last seemed destined by the
infernal demon that suggested the a:leisure of St. Bartholomew's
day u the period when a finish ehoulttbe given to the prOceedings
in Musses by the ekterminapin of every Protestant, and the
murder• of every family of the iefonned faith. *Troops of i,sas.
sins had artuaily formed the bloody project Of pitting to death
.11 the abhorred remnant that remained lit that Ofqrtturate city.
ss The stuoins of our brethren have too lt:;tgbeen suffered to
.ptoceed with impuoil, bat may wa riot atm lope thai, by the

Ijeattee of the Ithrtoho4l Mischa" Wise itaiie staashiered. so
I many itsnoctet vinitis—laid wane and burnt so many houses in
the town; and each a number of chateaus and estates, the pro-1
perry of .obr ream:4.4Mo Protestants In the country—shall we
nut indu'ge the hope, that they will at length meet the reward' of
their crimes, and others be deterred from pursuing Ili with fire
and massacre, because, without molesting them, we humbly
venture to worship Gob, according to the dictates of our con-
sciences. You will rot be sus ptized to hear that the Proi,stairs
still live in constant dread All those who have property have
quitted, and have soueit an asylum in Lyons, Honr,!cauk, and
Paris; !tad to these more tranquil places the merchants and
tradesmen are daily taking Right. The manufactories and otinr
monuments of Protestant iudustry, are all abandoned; our
wretched mechinies ate either murdered or pi:rishing in the fo-
rests, or wandering In other towns, bereaved of their dearest
connections, forced from their means of subsistence, and seeking
daily bread.—Lamen. v. I, 9. 3.
" Out of five Ministers, tour have been obliged to fly; and
the Churches, shut for months, have no prospect of being re-
opened, as no Protesmiits due Assemble fur divine wors‘ip, for
tear of their persecutors. Write me with as much circumspec-
tion as possible, and say if your esteemed brethren commiserat:
the calamities of the persecuted Protestants."

Another,

" Since the publication of the Memoir, intended for the de-
fence of the Protestants in the South, tranquillity is by no means
restored in that country. The fanatics continue to persecute and
mas.acre those who prof:is a religion different from their own
In the month of Srptenther lac; on the ere of the section if the
Ch..nrier of Deputies, fortry-taro persons were imtehered.—that thn
elcctors. Whig terrified, might not east. any of the Protestants
In the night of the 16th or 17th of October, they had formed
the plan of a general massacre; and they had begun to carry it
into execution."

The writer then proceeds to give a long and most
'distressing account of the horrid scenes of the Bth of
November, when an unsuccessful attempt was made
by the Protestants to re-open one of their places of
worship ; which object they have since found it ne-
cessary, for the present, entirely to abandon and
concludes by saying—gi Things are at present • more
tranquil ; but all th)se who have pecuniary means,
desert this unhappy city, and the others are in a state
the most deplorable. Next to GOD, all our hope is in
the Kum, and in the benevolence of our brethren of
all countries."
Another—

44 I hope for better times—persecutions and fears keeping the
Protestant Churches and their Ministers in a state of inactivity.
rejoice to bear that there has been a General Meeting of our
Dissenting Brethren in London. I hope that Meeting will pro-
duce good effects, and that it mar send some pecuniary assistance
to those poor families who have been deprived of all the means
of subsistence by the dreadful persecutions which they have en-
dured, and which are not yet finished. 0 send to them some
pious and zealous English Ministers, to distribute to them corn-
forts and assistance !"
Another

" I received your later two days ago, It was health to my
hares. The time is Pt length arrived when the English churches
take an interest Litho, eof France. I thank yon, in the name of
570 Churches and nearly two mil:ions of Frenchmen—; verily ye
have ye:ir reward.'
" lniepentlemli of the irk gomi that will re.uh frrm
collecting in year c:r:tirry, aiure will create a mere lasting
interest in the !ate 01 the chori—es on the Con.inent ; and this 1
trust will prelim: the most ini;.ortazir consequences;—yes, rouse,
support, and animate the churches of France, and they may con•
duct the tclec.ric fluid to the evremities of the Cuntineut.'