Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/169

 the crowd without hearing one musket fired. The Swiss ran up the mountains and their officers with them. M. Cavallier came the better way, and came hither. So soon as he arrived, I carried him to our camp, and his Royal Highness received him very well. He gave him a commission to be Colonel in his service, and he is now to make up a battalion as soon as he can possibly, in which I will give him all the assistance I can possibly.”

Cavallier’s quarters were in the Valley of Luzerne. “The Vaudois,” he writes, “were very glad of having me with them, being a companion in their sufferings for the same cause; for there is no difference betwixt their church and our churches oi France, Geneva, and Holland.” He had not been many days there before he bad a project to communicate to Mr. Hill; he wrote from Luzerne, ioth October 1704:—

“Sir, — I do myself the honour of writing to assure you of my most humble respects, and to beg you to continue your favours, and the honour of your protection. I have just found a man who offers to go to the country [Languedoc]. He is one whom I know, and on whom I can rely. He asks no reward, and promises to bring me an answer in a month and a half. If your Excellency thinks proper to give him anything, I beg you will send it to me by the bearer of this. I shall be forgetful of nothing in keeping an eye on matters relating to our country, and to the Divine service. 1 have heretofore penetrated into Dauphiny a little. I hope to go and make a little excursion there very soon, in order to observe the disposition of the people and the country. I hope God will bless all our enterprizes. I venture to ask of your Excellency to send me word if letters can pass for Switzerland or Geneva. I can assure you that no one can have more pleasure than I have in the honour of subscribing myself, most respectfully, and with respect, &c.”

“. “Luzerne, 10th October 1704.

“There are here, sir, many refugees who would wish to take part with me, but their officer requires an order to that effect. I beg of your Excellency to write to his Royal Highness on the subject. I shall have the honour of obeying his orders; also as to my Turin expenses [de la depense de Turin].”

“, October 12th, 1704. — Sir, — I have received the letter which you did me the honour of writing to me on the 10th, and by the bearer of that letter shall send you this reply. I applaud your zeal and your attachment to the interests of our religion and of our friends, and I pray to God to bless your anxious attentions. I very much approve of your design of sending a trusty man into Languedoc, taking it for granted that you will give him good instructions. He can assure our friends in the Cevennes that they shall never be forsaken, that great efforts will be made to go to them next spring, and that for this object the Marquis de Miremont is levying troops in England and in Holland. Their chiefs may be told that orders have already been given to several persons to put money into their hands; and if they will please to let me know the names of persons in Nismes, Anduze, or in any other town to whom money might be safely given for them, I will cause it to be put in their hands. Your man will on his return bring us their news. I have given 10 louis d’or to Mons. de la Feuterie for your man’s travelling expenses.

“I will speak to H.R.H. to let you have an order, if he thinks fit, that the refugees who are in the valleys may be able to enrol themselves in your regiment. I shall also make arrangements regarding the expenses incurred at Turin. Letters can no longer go from this either to Switzerland or Geneva by the Val d’Aosta; but if you send me your letters for those places, I will forward them, via Genoa and Venice. I am very glad that you have already thought of extending your views into Dauphiny. I hope that you will find a path through that province for the establishment of affairs in France.”

Mr. Hill’s letter to Secretary Sir Charles Hedges at this period is important as a testimony to the religious character of Cavallier and his men. I give an extract:—

“, 6th Nov. 1704. — I am glad the Queen was pleased to approve of what I did for M. Cavallier I should say nothing of him now, if I were not amazed so oft as I see him. A very little fellow, son of a peasant, bred to be a baker, at twenty years of age, with eighteen men like himself, began to make war upon the King of France. He kept the Geld for eighteen months against a Mareschal of France and an army of 10,000 men, and made an honourable capitulation at last with the mighty Monarch. It is certain that he and his followers were animated with such a spirit of zeal for their religion which is the true enthusiasm. I fear they may lose that temper of mind in the commerce of the world, though they are very devout and very regular. I therefore will do all I can to get them back into France, where one Camisard is worth 100 refugees.”

The siege of Verrue by the French, and its gallant defence by the Duke of Savoy, lasted from the 10th October 1704 to the 19th April 1705. Cavalier was with the Duke’s army about six weeks during that time. He continedcontinued [sic] to hold 