(A.D. 1680 to A.D. 1685.)
Janavel, having been excepted from the amnesty which terminated the War of the Outlaws, was under the necessity of seeking an asylum in a foreign country. He retired to Geneva. There living apart, he ceased not to occupy himself with the affairs of the valleys. The heroic old man, notwithstanding so many adverse occurrences, had retained all the energy of his patriotism and of his faith. In solitary glory, proscribed but not forgotten, he devoted his last days to prayer for the country which he had so valiantly defended; and with the foresight of his great experience, he watched with anxiety the increasing indications of a new storm, which he saw preparing to burst on his beloved native land.
France was then, of all the states of Europe, that of greatest weight in the balance of their respective destinies; but in proportion to his greatness, Louis XIV had also great weaknesses. Noble and resolute before earthly powers, he submitted to the yoke of superstition, and bowed with the credulous terror of ignorance before those mysterious powers which his church showed him in the gloomy and dreadful twilight of her spiritual domain. His dissolute life, interrupted by fits of devotion, his proud spirit and selfish disposition, could have been ruled only by the accommodating and ambitious power of Papery. The latter, again, was disposed to take advantage of this influence only to crush liberty; and as the great enemy of superstition is the Bible, whoever appealed to the authority of that Divine book was pursued with all the hatred of Catholicism.
The confessors of Louis XIV, therefore, persuaded that monarch that he might promote at once his fame and his salvation by the extermination of the Protestants; the glory of his reign, by raising up again, in its imperious and majestic unity, the tottering but inflexible frame of the Romish Church; his own salvation, by offering, as a sort of expiation for his personal faults, the conversion of heretics--a holocaust before the appeased altars of that church, in which everything is bought, everything is sold, everything becomes matter of merchandise.
As it was only to procure a sort of ransom for himself he at first employed money to obtain conversions. This cause of apostasies had only the effect of purging the Protestant Church of all whose souls were venal and their consciences worthless. A current account of expenses and receipts--the former in money, the latter in conversions--was carefully prepared, and regularly submitted to the reassured conscience of the Most Christian King, for such was the title which, from the days of Louis XI, who deserved it so well--the kings of France had assumed on ascending the throne. Bands of beggars, calling themselves Protestants, might then be seen abjuring in mass in one town, from which, after having been paid, they went on to another to abjure again, to receive more wages, and to pursue this scandalous trade from one end of France to the other.
The resource of venal apostasies was therefore soon abandoned. But the royal consort of Maria Theresa could not so readily abandon also his vices. He committed a new adultery,[2] and thenceforth was always more affected with anxiety for his salvation. This the Protestant Church was soon made painfully to feel. Twenty-one places of worship were demolished in the Vivarais in 1680. Proscriptions were multiplied; and the Reformed were declared incapable of holding public offices, and even of exercising ordinary professions.[3] The persecutions to which they were subjected went on increasing, along with the criminal pleasures of the monarch.
Then came the Dragonnades. Louvois, already odious for the disasters and conflagrations with which the Palatinate had been visited under his command, wrote to Louis XIV concerning the Vivarais, "It is necessary to make such a desolation in this country that the example shall be always remembered."
Even this was not enough! To strike all Protestantism with one blow, the Edict of Nantes was revoked on the 18th of October, 1685. The effect of this revocation was sudden and terrible. A great number of French Protestants carried their intelligence and their virtues to foreign countries, as well as their fortunes acquired or to be acquired. This one act weakened France more than all the victories of Louis XIV ever strengthened her.
But, in interdicting the Reformed worship, he had not yet interdicted opinions. To this length also he now went. All Protestants were pronounced dead in law. Consequently all their acts--their very marriages--were declared null; and the children born, or to be born of these unions, were reputed illegitimate. And anyone who, having abjured or appeared to abjure Protestantism, refused on his death-bed the sacraments of the Catholic Church, was dragged through the mire, and cast on the dunghill in case of his decease, or condemned to the galleys in case of his recovery; but whether he recovered or died, his goods were escheat to the king.
The king, growing old in pride and lasciviousness, had lost even the dignity of his former glory. Puerile terrors flung him in helpless servility at the feet of his confessor. Letellier at last succeeded in getting him to sign an edict, impregnated throughout with the rancour and dishonesty of Jesuitism. By this monstrous edict all the Protestants were declared converted to Catholicism; and those of them who refused to conform to the rites of that religion were to be treated as relapsed; that is to say, to be dragged in the mire after their death, or flung into the galleys whilst alive.
Never had the history of the Dukes of Savoy been stained with such revolting crimes. Victor Amadeus himself expressed disapprobation. All generous hearts were moved with indignation. Many distinguished Catholics, as the Cardinal De Noailles, Fléchier, and Fénélon, protested against the wrong thus done to France. Vauban, the celebrated architect, who fortified so many towns for war, drew up a memorial, in which he represented this voluntary exile of 100,000 Frenchmen as a political and social calamity. He exhibited the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the subsequent measures as entailing the ruin of commerce and industry, bringing disorder into families, strengthening the fleets of hostile nations with 9000 seamen, and foreign armies with 600 officers and l2,000 of the best soldiers.
And what did the king then do? He ordained that everyone who left his country should be condemned to death and confiscation of goods. It was in effect to say to his Protestant subjects, "You shall be massacred in my kingdom, and exterminated if you attempt to leave it!" Is it possible that the title of Great shall still be attached to the name of the immoral and cruel despot who, in his factitious dignity as a potentate, manifested so total a disregard for the dignity of human nature!
I have thought it necessary to make brief mention of these tyrannic measures, because they all applied to the valleys of Pérouse and Pragela, which then belonged to France; and also because of the effects which they occasioned to the other Vaudois valleys, for the news of this proceeding so operated in Piedmont, as to bring upon the Israel of the Alps the most terrible storm that ever threatened its existence. Janavel perceived it with a sad but courageous foresight, living as he did in exile, but full of patriotic solicitude. Aware of the relations which subsisted betwixt Louis XIV and Victor Amadeus, be saw too clearly that the Duke of Savoy could only be the vassal of the King of France.
Accordingly, on the 12th of October, 1685, the King of France wrote to the Marquis D'Arcy, his ambassador at Turin--"I have given orders to the Sieur D'Harleville,[4] to attempt the conversion of the valleys[5] which are within my dominions, by quartering my troops in them;[6] and as these valleys are adjacent to those of Piedmont, which are subject to the Duke of Savoy, and in which his predecessors have always shown how unwillingly they suffered the exercise of the Protestant religion, I desire that you communicate to that prince what I write to you, and exhort him in my name to employ the same measures in his dominions, not doubting that they will have the same success."[7]
Fifteen days after, the Marquis D'Arcy replied to his sovereign, "I have discharged the duty which your majesty was pleased to impose upon me, by your despatch of the 12th of this month. I have taken occasion to exhort the Duke of Savoy to profit by the happy opportunity which the neighbourhood of your majesty's troops presents to him, for compelling the conversion of the people of the pretended Reformed religion, and for so bringing back all his people to one and the same faith--an object earnestly desired by his predecessors, without their ever enjoying so favourable an occasion for succeeding in it as the present moment affords. The Duke of Savoy assured me that he receives with all possible sentiments of respect and gratitude, the counsels of your majesty,... but that he must examine into the matter more thoroughly; for several of his predecessors have in vain attempted to do it, and have even brought great disorders into this district by such attempts. I replied that his predecessors had never enjoyed the facilities for this object which your majesty offers to him, and that it might be long before he found so favorable an opportunity again. And with this I seemed to leave him to think of it, as of a thing in which his own advantage alone was concerned. The Marquis of St. Thomas and the President Truchi are the persons who most relish the counsels of your majesty; and the latter in particular thinks, that at the present moment it would be as easy as glorious to follow them,"... &c.[8]
This despatch is dated 27th October, 1685; it was the commencement of a negotiation, which was to have the most serious consequences for the Vaudois and even for the house of Savoy. I shall continue to borrow from this correspondence the very language employed in it, in order to throw light upon the mysterious preludes to the persecution, which took place in 1686. The exact words will reveal, better than any analysis, that imperious influence of Louis XIV, of which so many events in our history bore the impress.
The King of France replied to his ambassador[9] in the terms following:--
"It seems that the Duke of Savoy has not yet adopted a firm resolution to labour efficaciously in this great business, which will never be successfully accomplished by slight efforts, such as I clearly see that he proposes;[10] but he must be given to understand that his glory is concerned in bringing back his subjects, at whatever cost, to submission to the Church." "And if the Duke of Savoy has not sufficient troops in that quarter" (added Louis XIV, in a despatch of the 16th of November), "you can assure him that he will be assisted by mine, and that I will give him all the help which may be needed for the execution of so pious a design."
In his reply of 24th November, 1685, the Marquis D'Arcy begins by saying, that he had reminded the Duke of Savoy, in a very urgent manner, of the offers of his Most Christian Majesty for the conversion of the Vaudois. "I have particularly called him to consider," says he, "what powerful assistance he would receive from the alarm which would be created amongst them by the approach of your troops. The Duke of Savoy, who is a very reserved prince, confined himself to the reiteration of his expressions of gratitude for the interest which your majesty takes in his affairs. The Marquis of St. Thomas has assured me that his master is inclined to profit by your majesty's example and assistance. He told me that a number of the Calvinistic subjects of Victor Amadeus are in a very hopeful condition; but I replied that the object would never he attained without the employment of force, as has been done by your majesty; and that it would never do for the duke to delay the employment of it until your troops were at a distance from his dominions. The President De Truchi again signified to me that it was difficult to know what were the duke's intentions in this respect, for he is of a very independent and reserved character; and it may be doubted if he will really labour for the conversion of the Vaudois as your majesty advises him, because when his ministers have ventured to speak of it to him, he has scarcely chosen to listen to what they had to say."
The original of this despatch is of much greater length. A bridgement was indispensable; but the sense and the most notable expressions have been exactly preserved. The same remark equally applies to the following reply of Louis XIV.[11]
"I see that your representations to the duke have been fruitless; and although his ministers acknowledge that nothing could be more agreeable to God, or useful for the dominions of Savoy, than the entire banishment of heresy, they think that their prince will refuse to take advantage of the present conjuncture, that he may be under obligation to no one either as to the design or the execution. You must, nevertheless, explain to him that, so long as Huguenots exist on the frontiers of my dominions, his authority will never be sufficient to prevent the desertion of my Calvinist subjects; and as he may well judge that I will not suffer this, and that the insolence of these heretics will be a cause of displeasure to me, it may likely enough come to pass that I will not any longer be able to entertain for him the same sentiments of friendship which I have expressed for him up to this time. I feel assured," he says in conclusion, "that he will reflect very seriously upon this subject."
This language announced, upon the part of Louis XIV, views too decided to yield to the hesitation of the Duke of Savoy; and when he speaks of the insolence of the poor victims of persecution, it cannot but be felt that such a designation is more fitly to be applied to his own language, which, by haughty insinuations, signified to Victor Amadeus that he must lay his account with being threatened into compliance with the wishes of his ally.
The Marquis D'Arcy replied, on the 1st of December, 1685, that he had renewed his efforts with the Duke of Savoy and his ministers. "I have represented to them," he says, "how easy it would be to compel the Vaudois to change their religion, by the aid of the troops of France; that it would be an honourable thing for the sovereign, and would much conduce to the tranquillity and profit of his dominions, and that it might even be held so meritorious by the pope as to obtain for him the investiture of the principality of Masseray,[12] which his Holiness has hitherto refused. To these offers, advices, and representations, I receive for answer, Sire, plenty of polite speeches, thanks, and acknowledgments of obligation; but I do not see any symptoms of anything effectual likely to be done." At the end of this despatch he adds: that the ministers always seem disposed to exact the conversion of the Vaudois by all means possible. In his reply, dated 14th December, Louis XIV said, "There is no time to be lost in order that success may be easy, and I shall be very glad that the Marquis of St. Thomas[13] fix the time when he is to act, and that you let me know as soon as possible.
"Sire," replied the ambassador,[14] "I sought an audience of the Duke of Savoy, the day before yesterday, to know if his ministers had faithfully communicated to him what I laid before them on the part of your majesty." His account of the interview is rather long; but it appears from it that Victor Amadeus had made a commencement, by promising to revoke the ancient edicts favourable to the Vaudois, and that he hoped to gain over their ministers to the Catholic religion, by offering them the double of what they received as pastors in their own church. "The prince added," says the ambassador, "that if he was rather long in doing it he must be excused, upon account of the desire which he had to know and do things himself, in order that he might become the more capable at a future time to serve his friends and allies."
"I observe with pleasure," replied Louis XIV,[15] "that the Duke of Savoy is disposed to employ, without further delay, all his authority, and even his forces for the conversion of his Calvinist subjects; but I fear he may content himself with imparting his projects to you without executing them. For this reason you must strongly represent to him, that all gentle treatment of such a set of people will only serve to render them more obstinate. The only course for him is, by one stroke, to take from them all favours and privileges which have been granted to them by his predecessors--to ordain the demolition of their places of worship--to prohibit them from any exercise of their religion--and at the same time to lodge his troops with the most obstinate of them;… and by this firmness of conduct he will succeed so much the more easily, that these wretches will hope for no assistance; and that even if they should be able to resist the forces of the duke, they will reflect that he will always he supported by mine in the execution of this design."
On the 25th of January Louis XIV wrote again to the Marquis D'Arcy to the same purpose;[16] but one part of his wish was already realized, for in a despatch dated on the 26th that ambassador sent him the following statement:--
"I was apprehensive that he wished to save himself by protracting time, and I insisted that he should indicate to me the precise day for carrying this matter into execution. So that a promise was given me, Sire, that on Wednesday next[17] the Duke of Savoy would make public the resolution which he had adopted, not to suffer the Huguenots of the valleys of Lucerna any longer in their religion, for it is to these valleys that they have almost all retired. The prince has not yet opened his mind distinctly to any of his ministers, following in this his usual manner of dealing with them; but I continue to proclaim so loudly here your fixed resolution not to suffer such a retreat so near your dominions--that notwithstanding all the bad grace[18] and slackness with which this enterprise is gone about, I cannot think that it will terminate otherwise than to the satisfaction of your majesty."
The Propaganda and the nuncio, on their part also, urged the execution of this design. The Duke of Savoy had, perhaps, hoped to succeed in it by means less cruel--by bribes, which would have left to apostasies the appearance of voluntary acts; and with this view he had multiplied for some years all his means of operating upon the Vaudois,[19] and all his allurements of recompense;[20] but, as his royal suzerain took for granted, who was already of long experience in persecution, the Reformed Church could not be destroyed except by force.[21] Force, therefore, must needs be employed.
Janavel, in his exile, had foreseen this catastrophe. Before it took place he intimated it to his compatriots, telling them in what way they would be attacked, and in what way they ought to defend themselves. The accuracy of his opinions, which the events justified with so melancholy an exactness, gives a high value to the letter which contains them.[22]
"These few words,"[23] says he to his brethren, "are to salute you with my whole heart, and to testify to you the love which I bear you. You will not be unwilling to be informed what are my sentiments about a number of things which concern you. If God should be pleased to put your faith to a trial, as is said and believed, I pray you to take in good part the contents of this letter. Although I doubt not your prudence and conduct, the first thing which you, have to do is to be well united. It is necessary that the pastors be required to follow their people day and night, that they may be honoured and respected by them, as the servants of God ought to be. They will not intermeddle with anything but the duties of their office--to console the dying, to provide for the safety of poor families, and to encourage the combatants by their prayers. Those who have sufficient zeal and capacity to enter the council of war may be received into it, provided that they do not dread the effusion of blood. Their first duty" (he adds) "will be to assemble all the people, great and small; and after having exhorted them from the word of God, to make them, with hand lifted up to heaven, swear to be faithful to their church and country, even unto death. And so doing you will see that the sword of the Lord will be on your side. In the event of war, the first thing which I have to say to you is, to address very humble supplications to your sovereign; but, in the meantime, already, do not omit to have two men in the level country--one to go, and the other to come, that you be not taken by surprise.
"In case they should proceed to quarter troops in the valleys," he goes on to say, "the syndics of the communes should represent to his royal highness that the people take umbrage at it; and as apprehensive lest anything unpleasant should happen to the soldiers or officers, they should pray that it may be dispensed with, offering, however, to pay their share in money. You are entreated in the name of God to admit none, upon any pretext whatever, nor for any possible show of reason assigned--otherwise it is your certain destruction. Remember the massacres of 1655, and all the perfidiousness used even at the present time--all which ought to serve you as sufficient example. If, unfortunately, you are attacked, you must defend yourselves the first day without officers, and after that, you must labour day and night to establish amongst yourselves the military arrangements requisite."
He then gives them instructions at great length on this last point. The companies are not to consist of more than eighteen or twenty men. There are to be no lieutenants, "in order not to copy the fashion of the great ones of the world." They are to have a secret council, composed of one man of each valley, faithful and fearing God, with one or two of the most resolute pastors, and a commandant-general over all the people of the valleys. "All these are to be nominated by the voice of the people, and with good order; and, if God give you time," he proceeds, "you will take care to purchase a little wheat, and to convey it to a retired place amongst the mountains, that it may serve for the relief of the most distressed, and to maintain the flying companies."
Then follow a number of details concerning the most important positions of the valleys--those which ought to be strengthened as points of defence--those which ought to be fortified as places of refuge--and concerning the intrenchments which ought to be made, and the posts which ought to be destroyed. "For Angrogna," says he, "Revengier must be strongly barricaded, because it is a place of great importance, which, if well-guarded, secures Rocheplate, St. Germain, and Pramol, as well as Rioclaret and St. Martin." He gives up the idea of defending the commune of Rora, the people of which are recommended to retire to Bobi. "You will all be men of strength and of labour." he continues; "spare neither care nor pains to make barricades wherever you think them proper, cutting up the roads and felling trees, in order to impede the passage of the enemy."
After this he points out to the Vaudois the manner of fighting to the greatest advantage, the arms which they ought to use, and the order in which it is best for them to draw themselves up. He recommends them never to be the first to beat a retreat. "Because," says he, ''this makes your own people to lose courage, and increases the courage of your enemies. When you pursue them, do it in two bands--the one by the flank, and the other pressing right on, to preserve you from ambuscades. All the captains must be warned that they do not expose their soldiers, for in preserving them they provide for the safety of the church of God. As for ammunition, give yourselves no concern about the want of it; I will tell you something on that subject on the first secure opportunity." It is probable that this great captain had placed some ammunition in reserve in some of the deep caverns which had been wont to serve him for places of refuge, magazines, and strongholds; and this, in anticipation of new calamities which the future might still be to bring upon his afflicted country.
Agreeably to his advice, the Vaudois began by sending a deputation to Turin; but it was not received.[24] The intendant, Marousse, had returned from a visit made to the valleys, in order to study their weak points, their means of resistance, and the dispositions of their inhabitants. His report was entirely in favour of the attempts of proselytism by arms, which were so urgently recommended by Louis XIV, and seconded by the Church. M. De La Roche had then been named governor of the province, and had gone to Lucerna to cause several posts in its neighbourhood to be fortified; amongst others, La Tour and Mirabouc. All the officers of the regiment of guards had also been recalled to their colours. All those of the regiment of the White Cross--who were, without exception, Knights of Malta--had received orders to provide themselves with horses. Both these and the officers of the guards were required to hold themselves in readiness for marching; so that everywhere the precursory signs of a new persecution began to appear.
To realize it, the Propaganda made more exertion than ever. It had councils organized in Turin, Pignerol; Grenoble, and Briançon. These councils combined their efforts; and it must be admitted that the intentions and the zeal of a real charity did, in many instances, animate the persons who composed them. The sacrifices which they made for the conversion of the heretics attest their generosity, but the means employed prove their ignorance.
The first pretext employed for disturbing the repose of the Vaudois was derived from the great number of French refugees who had retired into the valleys after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Louis XIV, blinded by the pride which gave the ambitious and extravagant flatteries of the Catholic party such a bold over him that he became an instrument in their hands without a will of his own, made use of his power for the service of their low intrigues, and engaged more and more in a political course unworthy of the age to which his name has been given. Wishing at once to oppress the people in his own dominions, and to prevent them from leaving them, he had obtained from Victor Amadeus the barring of his frontiers against French fugitives. In the end the year 1685, the Duke of Savoy had, therefore, at the urgency of his formidable ally, promulgated an edict by which the Vaudois were forbidden to receive any of their refugee brethren; and the latter were ordained to leave Piedmont, or to abjure within the space of eight days, under pain of incarceration.[25]
In the meantime, the Propagandists proceeded with a perseverance and a fertility of invention as to means, which were worthy of a better cause, in the application of all the old measures of repression applicable to the Protestant religion. These measures affected the valleys of Lucerna and St. Martin, which belonged to Piedmont, whilst the royal council of Pignerol and the Parliament of Grenoble prosecuted the same work in the valleys of the Cluson and the Doire, which belonged to France. Such were the circumstances in which the year 1686 began; and the ambassador of France was able to write to his master on the 26th of January: "The Duke of Savoy has promised me that he will make known, on Wednesday next, the measures which he is about to adopt in order to enter into the views of your majesty."
We are now come to a decisive epoch in the history of the Vaudois; the catastrophe is imminent; the conflict will be terrible; but the most extraordinary wonders in the history of the Israel of the Alps were destined to arise out of the most disastrous calamities.
Notes: