The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-02-27

the putting OF heretics to death was /
settled policy of the popes. He cam
not be ignorant OF the fact that the /
holy. pope at Rome sent TO the Duke of /
Alva q consecrate3 hat and sword as
q token of his approval of the frighs- |
fnl bntcherIes OF the Protestants in the
Netherlands. 1t was this same Pope I
Plus v, who, when despatching q
force 10 aid the French Catholics, |
told their leaders. I axe no Hugue
nots prisoners: kill every one OF them
th at falls into your hands. He Ger
tainlY knows that the Albigensian
crusade. one of the bloodiest episodes
in history, was not only sanctioned by
/ the holy. pope at Rome, but was led by
the highest dignitaries of the church
after a crusade had bean preached
AGAINST the people of Languedoc.
Here indeed was no cons piracy ag alnst
the KING. for Philip, a good Catholic,
was also a humane king and refused
IN soiI his hands with the atrocious
| work which was done in the name OF
God in the province of France. 1t was
a bb 1t Citaux, and not a soldier, at
! the. seiee of Beziers, who, when asked
| hn4v the soldiers were to distinguish
the faithful from the unfaibhful, sa1ds
aS1av them all, for the Lord will
know ali th at are his.H No historian
| denies that the orders of the abbot
were executed to the letter-old and
Young, rich and poor, man, woman
and child were all swept away IN one
| indiscriminate murder, and over tn at
| terrible crime there was not only the
exhortation Of the papal court IN
! advance urging that it be done, but
there wera the blessings and rewards
and the grateful Te Deums after the
| fanatics had devastated and depopu,
| lated th at fair province OF France.
stSociety OF the Holy Spirit says
/ that Mr.. W atson was not present at
| the Nj ass acre Of ST. Bartholomew,
aud, therefore, cannot, himself, say
what took place. That is true, but II
Society of the Holy Spirit wishes
the evidence of one who was an eye
witness, and who himself passed
! through the streets while the mass acre
was ia progress, let him turn to Vol.
T, page 81, OF the Memoirs of Sully.n
/ AS every body knows, the Duke OF
/ SuIly was prime minister to Henry OF
Navarro. otherwise known in history
as Henry ". The Duke of Sully is
one of the great figures IN the history
/ of Europe; and what he says that he
saw with his own eyes on the night OF
/ the Massaere of St. Barthol omew may,
/ Z think, be taken as evidence OF the
/ highest and best kind. Here is the
dukes story IN his own words:
Intending on that day to walt upon
| the king my master, went to bed
/ early on the preceding evening; about
/ three In the morning [ was awakened
by the cries of the people, and the
alarm bells, which were every where
ringing. Nj. de Saint Julian, my tn
4 tor, and my valet, who had also been
reused by the noise, ran out OF my
/ apartments to learn the cause OF it,
but never returned, nor did | ever
after hear what became OF him. Be-
| ing thus left alone In my room, my
| landlord, who was Protestant, urged
me to accompany him to mass II Or.
1 der to save his life, and his house
from being pillaged; but determined
to endeayor to escape to the College
de Bourgogne, and to effect this / put
en- my scholars gown, and, taking a
book under my arm, set out. In the
streets [ met three parties OF the Lie
/ Guards; the first of these, after hand
| ling me very roughly, seized my book,
4 and, most fortunately for me, seeing
4 il was a Roman Catholic prayer book,
II
me as a passport with the two other
i parties. AS vent along saw the houses
| broken open and plundered, and men,
: | women and children butchered. while
| a constant cry was kept up OF, Kill
Kill @ you Huguenotsl Oyou Hugue.
i notsl This made me very impatient to
i gain the college, where, through God q
assistance, 4 at length arrived, with
ont suffering any other injury than a
most dreadful fright. =
i Brantome, the Catholic historian,
was q contemporary with Coligny.
Speaking Of the death OF the admiral
he says:
unfortunate death call it for all
France, seeing the evils which came Of
# and yet will come; for what could
| the king wish for more than to get rid
| Of powerful enemy, though he showed
/ him a good faceY Coligny was going
out of the kingdom with 10000 OF his
/ own rartisans, and, God knows, the
best. He was going to conquer g
i country as large as kingdom, and
appropriate it for his king. For him
1 ports of that kind are false. He no
more wished to be king OF France than
do. But he did wish 10 hold a great
charge under the king--to have the
same rank as he had held under the
great King Henry-to be his lieutenant
general.
/ Surely this witness should be sufiei-
ent TO clear the Protestants of the
trumped up, after thought accusation
that they provoked their own mas
sacre by eonspfrfng against the king.
Let it be borne in mind that at this
time the Catholics OF France numbered
nearly nineteen millions, and thai the
Professionals numbered only one aid
one-haf millions, but In Paris itself,
where the conspiracy is alleged to have
had its existence, the preponder ance
of Catholics against the Professionals
was absolutely overwhelming.
As to the voting of appropriations
by congress to support Catholic
schools in New Mexico and Arizona,
where the English language is not al
lowed to be taught, the fact is known
to all who have taken the trouble TO
read the Congressional Record.
Very truly yours,
IH0S E. WATSON.