Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-03-22
Concerning the Huguenot is.

gentleman who has the distinction of
living on social terms with Madame
Julia Phelps and family at the histor-
ical old mansion that lies several miles
back from the Black river, and by
whose kindness | was taken and intro<
duced to those illustrious descendants
of Count LaRay. a French Huguenot
nobleman, who fled, with others, from
France TO escape the infliction of death
or torture at the hands of those who
sought their destruction in the name
of religion.
Before proceeding to describe this
really famous chateau, n thing which
in its way, recalls to mind the horrors
of barbaric past, ! will give for the
benefit of those not familiar with Hug.
uenot history. brief sketch Of chat
part Of French history which relates to
HugueuUU affairs and the leaving tireir
native country to seek refuge in Europe
and America Following in the wake
of Martin Luther the Huguenots ap-
peared to undertake the reformation of
France. And the Court of France.
under Francis the First, looked not un-
kinkly upon the movement, and its
success might have been accomplished
only for the too inconoclastic tenden-
cies of the reformers themselves. The
Huguenots were not merely simple
minded body of religious folk, for real.
ly they assumed such proportions as
to have as followers many families
amongst the French nobility, and made
strong pretentions to governmental
power, principally through the instru-
mentality of Henry of Navarro. And
although the bloodiest of all known
massacres, that of st Bartholomew,
xryhi nct
1872, when SO many thousands of men,
women and children of the Protestant
faith were slaughtered in cold blood,
yet in 1898 the Huguenots extorted
from Henry the Fourth the famous
Edict of Nantes, which granted to
these people the simple rights of relig-
ious liberty, under which they lived
and prospered until the year 1885, when
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
took place. This brutal and unwise
act again subjected the Huguenots to
the same religious bigotry and fury
they had suffered in earlier wears.
And to save themselves from extinc-
ton they deserted their native coun-
try to the extent of many hundreds of
thousands, going to England, Germany
and Holland Some crossed the At
lantic and found refuge in America.
After the revocation, and when the
barbaric acts were about to be
again enacted, both parties alike asked
aid from foreign countries in the strug.
gle that was to come. italy and Spain
obeyed the summons of the pontiff at
Rome. while Germans and Enplish en-
rolled for the assistance of the Hugue.
nots. Few greater calamities could
have befallen France at that time, for
the Huguenots in their exodus carried
with them the arts and tastes which
until then were the special Gifts of
France alone. 40 thai in the arts of
peace and of war the Huguenots were
at once arraved against the countrv
which had so wantonly and cruellv op.
possed them. The loss. great as it was
to France. was a blessing in eoual pro
portion to the countries which gladly
offered them an asvlum. RELIGIONS in.
tolerance had not only passed the
death sentence on all Hupuenots in
France. but had DESTROYED and crushed
more than half the commercial and
manufacturing industries of the conn
try. The nations beat interests and
best people were sacrificed on the altar
of religions madness. Christians liv.
ing now. whether Catholic or Protes
tant. are not answerable for the bar.
baris and fiendish acts which either
sect practiced upon the other in cen
turies past. Civilization has fought its
battles and has subdued the brutal in.
stincts i'm man that once held swav
Had the Huguenots succeeded in
France to the extent of bringing abont
the eouilibrium of religious forces how
different would the histories of tba
relipious world read today. France
would have become a great nation nj
an earlier neriod and. its better influ.
ence wouid have been felt over ali
christendom If wonld have been saw.
ed the odium of IT'S horrible massacre
of ST. Bartholomew and ali the fiend-
ish DISGRACE that followed in its train.
and with the retention at home of that
snlendid eIemert il persecuted and
drove awav from its shores its success
in ali the arts of manufactnre and com