The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-03-13
LETTERS FROM THE Peep q.
The Chief is rot responsible for the
views expressed by correspondents.
Mr.. Watson Again.

of accusations against the Catholic
church, occupying Tor that purpose
nearly three columns. His theme still
is the responsibility Of the church for
the Mass acre of Saint Bartholomew;
her awful cruelty IN general, and her
perverslty. He remains persistent in
his attempt to hold the then reigning
pope responsible for the massacre re
fered to, and to show him as approving
and rejoicing over what had been done.
And he adds to this great number OF
additional false indictments.
We are not called upon to discuss
each and every one of Mr.. W atson's
numerous accusations; to do SO eff
fectively would require several COM
munications. It Is sufficient to deal
with one, and then to rely for the
others upon the maxim 'sfalse in one,
false In ALL
We have, heretofore, as against Mr..
Arceneaux, cited abundant and reli-
able authority going to show that the
outbreak of Aug. q, 1872, was sud-
den one and entirely spontaneous on
the part of Charles TX and his queen
| mother, and that the pope was not
implicated in it. Your readers will
remember these quotations of author,
titles already submitted, and we are
not called upon now to repeat them
for this newcomer into the discussion,
Mr.. Watson.
| The gentleman just named asserts
that there are other historical author
tiles, besides Voltaire, the inventor OF
the story, who state that Catholic
priests and monks, on that ST. Bar
tholomew's day, ragged through the
streets of Paris, staying and encour-
aging others to do the same. He
| does not, however, name or place such
additional authorities. On the con-
1 trary, Mr.. Watson himself furnishes
adverse proof against this slanderous
aspersion, for he cites Macmillan de
Bethuno SulIy, the Count de Rosny
and Duke de Sully, leading Hugue-
not and partisan Of Henry of
Navarro, who describes his personal
experiences, while making his own es-
cape through the Paris streets, on the
night in question. sully describes
graphically what he saw; but not q
word concerning murderous priests
u
| and monks. Huguenot as he was, he
| had no disposition to shield the Cath
Ole clergy. And he is silent also
as to any ringing of church BELLS"
though, even il church bells did ring,
it would be fair to suppose that such
ringing was by detacnments from The
mobs.
As to the connection with this mas
saere of Pope Gregory, we will now
quote what a well.known historian
Lingard, has to say. Note N, Vol. s,
cd. Baudry
ssHere, in the first edition, intro
duced q note which led to an interest
ing controversy, whether the massacre
was an accidental occurrence or the
result Of premed itated plot.
That controversy, as it appears to me,
has been now set at rest by the publi-
cation lin the 3rd. vol. of NJ ackintosh}
of the secret dispatches OF Salyiati,
/ the nuncio at Paris, to the cardinal
Secretary at Rome, for; the informa-
ton of the pontif. On the 24th OF
! August he wrote an account Of the oc-
currence in ordinary characters levi
IDENTIFY under the notion that in such
circumstances his dispatch would be
probably intercepted and opened on
the road J, but to this he added an
other statement of the case in cipher;
that the queen regent, in consequence
of the ascendeney which Coligny had
acquired over the roy al mind,
consulted with the duchess of Nemonrs,
and resolved TO rid herself OF his con.
troll by the assassination OF the ad-
mira1. The Duke of Guise provided
4 the assassin, and the Duke Of Anioa,
but not the king, was priyy to the at,
tempt. The queen, however, when she
saw that the admiral did not die OF
his wound, and considered the great
/ danger to which she was now exposed,
alarmed also by her own conscious
ness, and by the threatening speeches
/ of the whole body of Haguenots,
had recourse to the king and ex.
/ horted him to adopt the plan Of the
general massacre which followed
** y It appears that the cardinal
secretary, in his answer to this dis
patch-prohably on account OF the
different reports current in Rome-pui
to the nuncio several questions re-
specting the cause, the authors, ant
the circumstance OF the massacre
Sa1viatt in reply wrote two notes or
the 22nd OF September. In the first ht
saws, with regard to the three points
**# E know that I have already
i sent you an account, and IN that &C
/ count 7 have not fallen into the Ieas
error. If I have omitted TO mention
some other particulars the chief rea
| son is the difficulty of coming at tht
truth ID this country Thi:
| passage was written in ordinary char
aeters: but he wrote the same day il
cipher the following repetition of hi
former statement: time will show
whether there be any truth in all tht
other accounts which you may hav'