Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/342

HUGUENOTS. the Duke of Rolian and the Prince of Soubise. Their cause, however, was feebly maintained; almost all the Protestant towns fell into the hands of the King, force, strategem, and bribery being equally employed. By the Treaty of Montpellier, October 19, 1622, the Huguenots lost a number of their strongholds and the right of assembly without permission of the King. The Court, however, paid little attention to the stipulations of the treaty, and when the government was involved in difficulties in Italy, the Protestants took the opportunity again to rise in arms (1625). Soubise, with a fleet furnished by the town of La Koehelle, more than once defeated the weak royal navy. Cardinal Richelieu, who had assumed control of the affairs of State in 1624, was a believer in absolutism. He sought to overthrow the Huguenots as a political force, and fmrsued this end relentlessly. He took charge iim,self of the siege of La Rochelle, the Huguenot stronghold, which was taken after an heroic re- sistance, October 28. Iti28. The fall of 1-a Uo- chelle was speedily followed by that of Ximes, Montauban, and all the other Protestant strong- holds. The Peace of Alais, June 27, 1G2!>, put an end once for all to the Huguenots as a politi- cal party, Richelieu w.is a great statesman and Huguenots was broken, he eiuleavored by con- ciliation to attach to the State these people, of whom some were the best and most useful in France. This policy was not changed under Mazarin, and Colbert during his years of ])ower restrained Louis Xl'. fnmi persecution. After Colbert's death, the King entered upon a rigor- ous policy of repression, under the influence of religious conviction. Political motives, however, may have sers-ed to detennine the policy of Louis XIV,: for the presence of a powerful ele- ment in the country differing in belief and to some extent in political theory from the generally accepted doctrines, must have clashed with the Orand Monarch's ideal of a nation dwelling in peaceful uniformity under the wing of a benevo- lent autocracy. The Huguenot.s were deprived of civil rights, and in the southern provinces, where Protestantism was strong, recourse was had to severer measures. To force them into the bosom of the Church, the people were handed over to the mercies of a licentious soldiery. Detachments of troops were quartered on the inhabitants, while bodies of cavalry patrolled the cotuitry, demol- ishing the places of worship, and in some cases putting the Huguenot preachers to death, (See DRAGON. E, ) Hundreds of thousands of Prot- estants lied to Switzerland, the Xetherlands, Eng- land, Germany, and the West Indies, as well as to South Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, and other Xorth American Colonies, The climax of this persecution was the revocation, October 22. lliS."). of the Edict of X^antcs, which deprived Ihe Hudienots of their last defense, and gave a new impulse to the emigration which took the best blood of France to strengthen her rivals. Thousands betook themselves to the mountains of the CC'Vennes, and continued the exercise of their religion in secret. Among these and the mountaineers of the CC-vennes, a remarkable fanatical enthusiasm displayed itself, and imdcr the name of Camisards (q.v.) they maintained for a number of years a wonderfully suceessfnl opposition to the forces of the gn>at monarchy. The War of the Cevenncs, or Camisard War, be- gan in 1702 and was not terminated initil 1705, sporadic outbursts contiiniing until 170!) or 1710. The suppression of the local relwllion was at- tended with circumstances of great cruelty, France, after the reversecutions, about one million Protestants remained. The partial repose which the Protestant.s en- joyed for more than ten yi-ars was attenileil by a revival of their worship. es|)ecinlly in Provence and Dauphine. In 1724. therefore, Louis XV,, inlhienced by political motives, issued a severe edict against them. The spirit of the age, how- ever, now began to be opposed to persecution. An edict in 17.52 declared marriages and baptisms by Huguenot ministers to be null, and re(|uirc(| the repetition of them by the Roman Catholic clergy. Hut when, upon this, many began again to lice from their coiuitry, the disgust of the Roman Catholics themselves was so nuich excited that the Court recalled the edict, Montesquieu and Voltaire successfully advocated the cause of toleration. FRfrxcii Prote.st.xxtism ix the Xixetee.nti! Centirv. The first movement toward toleration of Protestantism after the revm-ation of the Eilict of X'antes was the edict of Louis XVI.. in 17S7, legalizing Protestant marriages. Hy the con- cordat concluded between Napoleon and Pope Pius VIL. in 1801, Protestantism (Calvinist and Lutheran) and .Juiiaisni became, with Ca- tholicism, established religions, with equal pro- tection and a proportional measure of State sup- port, but subject at the same time to the strictest Government control. ]{y the concordat religion became a part of government, and religious li)>- erty was lost, Xo Church was permitted to make converts from any other, though this law soon became a dead letter with regard to the Roman Catholic Church, The Protestant General Synod was ptit down : particular synods could be con- vened only by Government: undue ecclesiastical power was given to consistories (elected presby- terial conunittees), tending to the disintegration of the Church and opening the way for later divisions. The parishes were few in number, most of them very extensive, and more than half of them ( 100 out of 171 ) without pastors. Under these circumstances religion lieeame a mere form, or simply the expression of .a political idea. The confirmation of the young, irrespective of reli- gious experience, was a measure of self-preserva- tion. Brilliant exponents of Protestantism at this time were Madame dc Stael and Renjamin Constant, A revival of French Protestantism from its depleted condition after the Revolutionary period and the subsequent political turmoil, during which it suffered greatlv, took place )inder the Scottish Haldanes (see HAi,n.NE, .Tame.s Ar.EX- axdeb, and RonERT) and the English Methodist Cook (see Cook, Charle.s) in the early twenties. To the revival the formation of the Rihie Society in 1810 contributed. During this period Samuel Vincent introduced German Protestant theology into France, and created a liberal movement against the narrow orthodoxj' of the revival. Ag- gressive working being forbidden by law, there
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