Star.
London, England, 1816-01-31 00:00:00

• •
jdst Watipled.ast of standing WI *kb th-b
seignintfamily ; and surely be was not man to
ewe all the ins Beet credit which had been el
for him on the neldeet of the persecution. But there
-was anothelfactrof importance.. This M. Mason vres
in Landes de lice as November last ; and though he
did not come for the purpose, yet he took occasion in
every company to excite the compassion of chi; coun-
try for the offering French Protestants, and to stir
ns up to exenion in their behalf. This, indeed, is
Very unlike the strain of his But then, let its
be remembered, that' after he returned to Paris, he
was sidled before the Police, questioned and tutored,
or influenced In such a way, that be wrote the letter
which has been so triumphantly produced. True,
he sent,soth a letter to the Secretary of the London
Society, but true it is also, that he sent it id these sus,'
picious circumstances ; and he had no sooner sent
it, than he wrote another letter to another correspon-
dent in
.London,decliring that he had acted under
tandnt controul. But granting that all this statement
were incorrect, Mr: Thomson would go to the letter
itself, and 'hew, id **few words, that it really made a
great deal m ire Meal; than for our opponents. Here
he *ould press upon the Meeting an important dis-
tinction. M. Mahon': letter goes to vindicate the
French Government from the charge Of persecution.
Now, that may aptly to those irho had advanced'
such a charge. but it.clid hot apply to us, by whom
no such charge was advanced. The resolutions to be •
submitted to the Meeting, and which, bi trusted,
would be adopted, did not contain the roost distant
insinuation against the French Government, but
'rather acknowledged their exertions in repressing the
persecutions. Oa this point, therefore, all that Mat-
ron says in his letter is quite inapplicable to our pro-
ceedings. But then he doesa great deal more than
we opponents could have wished him to do en
another point : he confesses the fact of the persecu-
tion ; he says expressly-- The sufferings at Nismes
are great, doubtless"—that is, the sufferings about
which the correspondence bad taken place—the suf-
ferings inflicted by the Catholics oa the Protestants.
Here, then, the persecntion.is :acknowledged by M.
Mason to be great, undoubted, and, as appears from
the conclusion of the sentence, to-have been otiOng
a duration." Macon adds—" but they are local :"
there is nothing wonderful in this, for almost every
persecution has been local ; and in the present in-
startee, there is an important and alarming reason for
the locality. Ni,mes is the head-quarters of Protes.
tantiun—it is very heart of the system in the
South o: France ; destroy the system there, end its
destruction will soon and easily follow in all other
parts. M. Mason goes on to say, that is local causes
may have contributed to provoke and to prolong the
duration" ni the Protestant sufferings. Here, said
Mr. Thomson, it was important to observe, that Ma. I
ron's statement is extremely hypothetical; be does
not assert, but only supposes--and this proves nothing;
:old Viet: his supposition is the most harmless pos.
sibl,—lor he only supposes that local i. e. political
'causes, :tray have remelt:ord to the sufferings of the
Protestants. He does not venture to allege they ion-
dowithem,-eithcr wholly or in any great degree, but
only that they 44 contributed to provoke them, and
to prolong their duration." Mr. Thomson could not
leave 'hi% precious document without noticing bow
easily its kevvrend Author seems to take die suffer-
ings of his brother, and what a very trifling recom-
pense he is disposed to be contented with. He is
quite satisfied and delighted with what be calls a
very nattering distinction that had been conferred by
the Royal favour On the Protestant Pastor of the Ce-
vennes—and what is that distinction-64 the decora
tion of the Legion of Honour." Thus far for the
letter of M. Karon, of which so much had been said,
and to which so much importance had been attached.
Mr. ThoMson next considered the alleged fact by
which it had been attempted to support add explain
the political theory of this case, and spewed that they
were either false or irrelevant. He dwelt particu-
larly on the resentment and jealousy said to have
been excited by the Protestants having purchased the
church lands. He maintained that, granting this
fact in its utmost extent, it just rendered our inter-
ference the more neceisary, and our alarm the more
reasonable. How came it to pass that these lands
had been purchased by Profeitants More than by Ca-
tholics ? It was in consequence of the superior ex-
cellence of the Protestant faith. It was there uit
was in every other place, accompanied with more in.
telligence—more industry—more prosperity, and
more wealth ; and as it was in consequence of the
opetation.of Protestant principles that the Protestants
had acquired more wealth and purchased more land,
then the vengeance directed against them by the Ca,
tbolics on this account was directed against them as
Protestants ; and consequently-it was a religious per-
secution of the most dangerous kind, and called
kindly for our interposition. After adverting to the
pretext that the Catholics were only resenting what
they 'had
.suffered from the Protestants in the year
1790—an allegation which he deemed not to have
any good foundation, and the argument resulting
from which destroyed. itself.' inasaucit As the Prow"
tants might have said, in 1790, this is only avenging
the massacres of St. Bartholomew.itc.—and also ad-
' vetting to the. tion that the Protestants bad
been not only attached to Bonaparte, but cruel to the
adherents of the *Due d'Angouleme, and *hewing
that Catholics were as guilty as they and that on
one occasion they even protected and befriended
them whom they are accused of maltreating. Mr.
Thomson stated some particular circumstances which
Operated directly against the political theory. Not
one Catholic holder of the church lands, or Catholic
adherent of Bonaparte had suffered.- The PrOtattaids
were attacked indiscriminately, whether they were
holders of church lands or not—whether they were
Bourbonists or Bonapartist. The Protestant chards
were attacked, and public worship, prevented--an
assault and hued-option of a purely religious kind:
And finally, what was mostalanning of all, ay the
comproinise into which the Protestants had been
obliged, for peace sake, to enter; their new places
of worship are to be built without the walls of the
town, and thushad affixed td their faith and theircause;
a stigma of the most degrading atid*peruicious kind.
—Mr. Thomson apologized to the Meeting for having
detained them so long.. Bat he could not sit•down
without expressing his hip satisfaction at the appear.
ante of the present Meeting and his ardeht hope that
theiiefforts would be attended with the happiest ef-
fect. -He had 'heard, from. good authority, of a a‘,
rims purpose fora comic& meeting. But lie had' no