Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1884-04-24
A BOY FALLS FROM A ROOF
BREAKING SEVERAL RIBS AND
BUTH SHOULDER BLADES.

|
BREAKING SEVERAL RIBS AND
BUIH SHOULDER BLADES.
An Interesting Address Before the
Unity Club by III. Il. Wilson Upon
the Undercurrents OF History, or
the HuguenOfs In France.
At the Unitarian Church last night weet
Il. r. Wilson, the pastor, delivered a
lecture upon The underourrents of history
as illustrated by the Huguenots Of France.
To the miscellaneous reader, or the
babitual frsquenter OF lecture rooms, this
subject is always sure attraction to
the student of history, however, 1t is
subject OF the most intense interest. The
lecturer opened by stating that the hand
OF God, the great Ruler of the world, can
be perceived throughout all the sue.
cessive stages of history. The mistakes,
eruelties, despotisms, sacrileges and in
trigues which checker It's pages,
throughout all time are mere eddies In
the current Of its tremendous tide. Last
autumn we remember that the whole
Protestant world was holding services in
ccmmemoration of a great worldwide
reformer. The greatest orators, the
noblest poets, were enlisted In the work
The subject has some bearing upon what
Luther did. Perhaps the greatest event
ip the record of this world Of ours ia the
invention of printing. 1t has lifted
humanity with the mightiest impetus.
Its discovery In the fifteenth century by
Faust, Sohaefer and Gutenberg, emanci-
| pated the world. The shackles were cast
from the slave. 1t was the greatest
engine Of human progress. These
| pioneers determined to print the Bible.
A.Bible at that time would cost between
$500 and $400. 1t gave the people an
opportunity of reading that upon which
the great Roman Catholic church built its
faith. The first Bible, copies of which
may be seen at the British Museum,
were very crude examples ct Typography
After disposing of most of what they
had printed Faust brought the remainder
to Paris and sold them very oheaply at
$50 apiece. The oopyists of that city,
not understanding the wonderful art,
and peroeiviug that they were all exactly
alike, cried ont that Faust was |
magician. They raised such oommotion
that the College Of the Sorbonne, the |
great church tribunal of France, had him |
arrested and in personal fear Faust dis |
closed bis invention. The result OF the |
distribution OF thess books throughout |
France WAS the birth OF the reformed |
religion or "the" religion as 1t was called |
in that country and simultaneously of |
the Huguenots. The etymJlORy of the |
word IL from an old French term "hugu- |
ons" meaning those who mset at night, |
because these new religionists out OF |
fear of the temporal and ecclesiastical |
authorities had recourse to night |
meetiDgs, much as did the early |
Christians in the Roman catsoom bs. |
The Hususnots gradually spread through |
the whole of France. The higher classes
also became converts and the early |
Hug suenot records show that great favor |
was shown them by the biaiop OF Meux, |
cardinal writing to the Pope in the |
year 1884 stated that half of the people |
were Husuenots and il care wers
not taken the other half would quickly |
follow. The theological College of the |
sorbonne nov redOublsd its precautions,
Issuing edicts against Professionalism.
Ia that year 20 persona were burned at the
stake. The great men who had joiue6 the
Hugusn0t3 now advised them To resis.
ihsse prosecutions. About 1856 the Duke
of aai5s, the most deteru,ined opponent
OF Protesiautism, gathered body of
troopa at q spot where l 200 Huguenots
were assembled at worship. Suddenly
bursting upon them, he killed 60, leh
200 wounded, while the rest scrambled
through windows and made their escape
se best they eGuld. AT the news France
was lit up in flame. The peop q loft the
country in hoIdes, fad to Germany, Hol
land, Belgium and England The silk
weavers, glass workers, iron workers, car
yers, established their business in what
ever country they settled. The best ar
tisars left France, they enriched the
country OF their adoption, leaving their
own poor.
In 1860, Charles lX. came to the throne.
Hs WAS entirely under the dominance of
his msther, the notorious Catharine de
Mediui, who hated the new religionists.
She WAS sharp, shrewd, but cruel
woman. Il fixed policy was to try to
win the Huguen0ts over. Soma of the
highest mobiles of the land were among
the Huguenots: the Prince COnde, Mont
morency, Admiral Coligpy, and others,
had Joined them. In 1862, an act OF
tolerance was passed which gave them
liberty of worship. Urged on by the
Pope, another attack was made upon the
Huguanots. In August. 1872, the
massacre of st. Bartholomew, the
toulest blot upon the esoutoheon
of France, was perpetrated. The
Queen mother formed the plot. The
Prince Conde, the chief OF the Hugueno.s,
had fallen. Henry of Navarro, near
heir to the throne, and also Hug uenot,
was the princes successor to the leader.
ship. CathariDe de Medioi arranged a
marriage between her daughter, the sister
OF CHARLES, and Henry of Navarro. BY
this means, at the marriage festival, she
proposed to gather together in Paris all
the.great leaders of the Huguenots as in q
trap. The ruse succeeded completely.
From the south and west they came on
the aIpointed day, Coligny among them.
Henry was married to Margaret de Medici.
The festivities continued for two days.
The story of the 24h Of August, 1872, is
we'll known. The day before, Coligpy
had been wounded and lay sick in his
palace. The hypooriticsl king had sent
his private physician Ambroisi Pare to
attend lis wounds. AT 2 a. M, the
palace bell tolled the signal. The soldiers
OF the Duke of Guise rushed to Coligny's
bedside and slew him, and threw the
body into the street where the duke then
kicked and spurned it. On that night
100000 died. The Huguenots were
hunted down and their property pillaged
and plundered A period OF slaughter
existed throughout France. This
was the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
when the King of France stood at his
palace window, gun in hand and shot the
poor fugitives down like dogs in their
frantic efforts to escape from the soldiery.
The people fled by thousands abroad.
Whole cities were deserted and provinces
depopulated. War began in earnest,
The Huguenots were worsted in almost
every engagement. Only one great battle
was won by them, Ivry, under Henry
Navarro against the French party or the
League, the Holy League "a society formed
by the Jesuits, the members of which
sgore they would eradicate heresy). The
lecturer here reoited Maoaulsy's account
of Ivry with admirable effect.
Charles IX. died Of slow poison admin
istered by his mother. He was succeeded
by his brother Henry H., who soon fell
by assassination. Henry OF Navarro WAS
the next heir. Before he came to the
throne he was required to abjure the new
religion. He did not, however, forsake
the Huguenots. One of the first deeds of
his reign was the famous ediot Of Nantes
by which all religions had equal rights to
worship God according to the dictates of
f mi