The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-11-09

pie were known as the most law-abiding,
Industrious, and loyal Of the population
Its noble adherents had mostly fallen off,
seduced by the court. But when Louis
XIV had seated himself firmly on the
throne, he began to strip the Reformed
steadily of their privileges. Then came
the frightful prosecutions of the "dragon-
nades;;" and in 1856 the Edict of Nantes
was revoked, under the pretext that all
the Reformed were converted; and the
principle of liberation was utterly re-
pudiated. All the ministers were ban
ished, and forbidden to set foot in French
territory, on pain of death. Every church
in France, of the Presbyterian worship,
was RACED. To relapse from the enforced
conformity to Romanism was punished
by sentence to the galleys for life. Be-
tween six and eight hundred thousand
souls left France forever; as many more
feigned compliance with the state-reli-
gion. A small part kept up Protestant
worship for ninety years more, at the risk
of massacre and the gibbet; until the ap-
proach of the French Revolution"
brought them some relief.
We have seen that the irreconcilable
hostility of the French Papists to Pro-
testantism and to liberation, caused
Henry ~ to fortify the rights of the
Reformed with their cautionary towns,
and garrisons, and courts of law. We
have seen how the Reformed managed
these through representative assemblies.
Thus, the republican feature was intro
duced into the midst of the French mon
archy. 1t was this which seemed So in
tolerable to the despotic craftsmanship of
Richelieu, the great consolidator of the
kings prerogative. Hence his deter
mined efforts to reduce all their fortresses
Had the Reformed retained them and
managed them by their system, this would
have furnished source and type for con-
stitutional, parliamentary institutions, for
the whole country.
The loss which human rights in France
incurred by the destruction of the Re-
formed, appears again thus. The insti-
tutions of western Europe in the middle
ages were feudal. Under these, the king
and his great vassals were perpetual
rivals; but between their struggles the
commonalty were ground like the corn
between the upper and neither millstones.
The towns, which had acquired chartered,
communal rights, however, gradually
made good some privileges against the
feudal mobiles. The burghers of these
municipalities thus acquired at once tt e
sturdy sentiments of liberty, and tie
habitude of governing by republican
methods. 1t was these which furnished
the points of support for popular rights,
and basis for parliamentary representa-
ton of the commonalty. Now the Re-
formed religion fourished chiefly in the
towns of France, and among their intelli-
gent burghers. Hence, every blow struck
at this religion was a blow against the
rights and the influence of the third
estate in the kingdom. The persecution
and the emigration nearly ruined many
towns: the jealousies and murderous fac
ton Of the Papists against the Reformed
IN many other cities, DISSOLVED all the ele-
mentS Of rising order into helpless anarchy,
and made the rights of the burghers a
prey to the usurpations of the king. This
explains, in large part, the different re-
suits of the developments from feudalism
in England, and in France. In the one,
there grew up gradually, and through
many commissions, stable, free govern
ment; in which the powers of the state
were equitably distributed between king,
lords, and commons. But in France, the
decay of feudal rights was the growth of
pure, centralized despotism. The project
to which Richelieu devoted all his ener-
gies, and which Louis XIV completed,
was to engross all the rights, both Of the
great vassals, and the third estate. The
process became SO complete that Louis
was able to utter with truth the famous
saying, L'6tat, C est moi. Had the Re
formed boorgeoiSie retained its intelligent
love of its RIGHTS with its wealth and IN