ments, this great statesman, aided by that progress of knowledge for which his age was remarkable, was able to struggle with prejudices from which men, slowly, and with infinite difficulty, were attempting to emerge.

The treatment of the French Protestants by Richelieu, is, undoubtedly, one of the most honourable parts of his system; and in it, as in other liberal measures, he was assisted by the course of preceding events. His administration, taken in connexion with that of Henry IV. and the queen-regent, presents the noble spectacle of a toleration far more complete than any which had then been seen in Catholic Europe. While in other Christian countries, men were being incessantly persecuted, simply because they held opinions different from those professed by the established clergy, France refused to follow the general example, and protected those heretics whom the church was eager to punish. Indeed, not only were they protected, but, when they possessed abilities, they were openly rewarded. In addition to their appointments to civil offices, many of them were advanced to high military posts; and Europe beheld, with astonishment, the armies of the king of France led by heretical generals. Rohan, Lesdiguières, Chatillon, La Force, Bernard de Weimar, were among the most celebrated of the military leaders employed by Louis XIII.; and all of them were Protestants, as also were some younger, but distinguished, officers, such as Gassion, Rantzau, Schomberg, and Turenne. For now, nothing was beyond the reach of men who, half a century earlier, would, on account of their heresies, have been persecuted to the death. Shortly before the accession of Louis XIII., Lesdiguières, the ablest general among the French Protestants, was made marshal of France, 115 Fourteen years later the same high dignity was conferred upon two other Protestants, Chatillon and La Force; the former of whom is said to have been the most influential of the schismatics.116 Both these appointments were in 1622;117 and, in 1634, still greater scandal was caused by the elevation of Sully, who, notwithstanding his notorious heresy, also received the staff of marshal of France. This was the work of Richelieu, and it gave serious offence to the

116 According to a contemporary, he received this appointment without having asked for it: "sans être à la cour ni l'avoir demandé." Mem. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 70. In 1622, even the lieutenants of Lesdiguières were Protestants: "ses lieutenants, qui estant tous huguenots." Ibid. vol. i. p. 538. These memoirs are very valuable in regard to political and military matters, their author having played a conspicuous part in the transactions which he describes.

116 Il n'y avoit personne dans le parti huguenot si considérable que lui." Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. v. p. 204.

117 Biog. Univ. vol. xv. p. 247; Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 400. 118 Additions to Sully, Economies Royales, vol. viii. p. 496; Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. p. 204.

friends of the church; but the great statesman paid so little attention to their clamour, that, after the civil war was concluded, he took another step equally obnoxious. The Duke de Rohan was the most active of all the enemies of the established church, and was looked up to by the Protestants as the main support of their party. He had taken up arms in their favour, and, declining to abandon his religion, had, by the fate of war, been driven from France. But Richelieu, who was acquainted with his ability, cared little about his opinions. He, therefore, recalled him from exile, employed him in a negotiation with Switzerland, and sent him on foreign service, as commander of one of the armies of the king of France. 119

Such were the tendencies which characterized this new state of things. It is hardly necessary to observe how beneficial this great change must have been; since, by it, men were encouraged to look to their country as the first consideration, and, discarding their old disputes, Catholic soldiers were taught to obey heretical generals, and follow their standards to victory. In addition to this, the mere social amalgamation, arising from the professors of different creeds mixing in the same camp, and fighting under the same banner, must have still further aided to disarm the mind, partly by merging theological feuds in a common, and yet a temporal, object, and partly by showing to each sect, that their religious opponents were not entirely bereft of human virtue; that they still retained some of the qualities of men; and that it was even possible to combine the errors of heresy with all the capabilities of a good and competent citi

zen, 120

But, while the hateful animosities by which France had long been distracted, were, under the policy of Richelieu, gradually subsiding, it is singular to observe that, though the prejudices of the Catholics obviously diminished, those of the Protestants seemed, for a time, to retain all their activity. It is, indeed, a striking proof of the perversity and pertinacity of such feelings, that it was precisely in the country, and at the period, when the Protestants were best treated, that they displayed most turbulence. And, in this, as in all such cases, the cause principally

119 Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 57; Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. pp. 66, 69; Mém. de Bassompierre, vol. iii. pp. 324, 348; Mem. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 86; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. vii. p. 157, vol. viii. p. 284. This great rise in the fortunes of Rohan took place at different times between 1632 and 1635.

120 Late in the sixteenth century, Duplessis Mornay had to state, what was then considered by the majority of men an incredible paradox, "que ce n'estoit pas chose incompatible d'estre bon huguenot et bon Françoys tout ensemble." Duplessis, Mém. et Correspond. vol. i. p. 146. Compare p. 213, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46, 77, 677, vol. vii. p. 294, vol. xi. pp. 31, 68; interesting passages for the history of opinions in France.

at work was the influence of that class to which circumstances, I will now explain, had secured a temporary ascendency.

For, the diminution of the theological spirit had effected in the Protestants a remarkable but a very natural result. The increasing toleration of the French government had laid open to their leaders prizes which before they could never have obtained. As long as all offices were refused to the Protestant nobles, it was natural that they should cling with the greater zeal to their own party, by whom alone their virtues were acknowledged. But, when the principle was once recognized, that the state would reward men for their abilities, without regard to their religion, there was introduced into every sect a new element of discord. The leaders of the Reformers could not fail to feel some gratitude, or, at all events, some interest for the government which employed them; and the influence of temporal considerations being thus strengthened, the influence of religious ties must have been weakened. It is impossible that opposite feelings should be paramount, at the same moment, in the same mind. The further men extend their view, the less they care for each of the details of which the view is composed. Patriotism is a corrective of superstition; and the more we feel for our country, the less we feel for our sect. Thus it is, that in the progress of civilization, the scope of the intellect is widened; its horizon is enlarged; its sympathies are multiplied; and, the range of its excursions is increased, the tenacity of its grasp is slackened, until, at length, it begins to perceive that the infinite variety of circumstances necessarily causes an infinite variety of opinions; that a creed, which is good and natural for one man, may be bad and unnatural for another; and that, so far from interfering with the march of religious convictions, we should be content to look into ourselves, search our own hearts, purge our own souls, soften the evil of our own passions, and extirpate that insolent and intolerant spirit, which is at once the cause and the effect of all theological controversy.

as

It was in this direction, that a prodigious step was taken by the French, in the first half of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, however, the advantages which arose were accompanied by serious drawbacks. From the introduction of temporal considerations among the Protestant leaders, there occurred two results of considerable importance. The first result was, that many of the Protestants changed their religion. Before the edict of Nantes, they had been constantly persecuted, and had, as constantly, increased.121 But, under the tolerant policy of

121 See Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. i. pp. 10, 14, 18; De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. iii. pp. 181, 242, 357, 358, 543, 558, vol. iv. p. 155; Relat. des Ambassa

Henry IV. and Louis XIII., they continued to diminish.122 Indeed, this was the natural consequence of the growth of that secular spirit which, in every country, has assuaged religious animosities. For, by the action of that spirit, the influence of social and political views began to outweigh those theological views to which the minds of men had long been confined. As these temporal ties increased in strength, there was, of course, generated among the rival factions an increased tendency to assimilate; while, as the Catholics were not only much more numerous, but, in every respect, more influential, than their opponents, they reaped the benefit of this movement, and gradually drew over to their side many of their former enemies. That this absorption of the smaller sect into the larger, is due to the cause I have mentioned, is rendered still more evident by the interesting fact, that the change began among the heads of the party; and that it was not the inferior Protestants who first abandoned their leaders, but it was rather the leaders who deserted their followers. This was because the leaders, being more educated than the great body of the people, were more susceptible to the sceptical movement, and therefore set the example of an indifference to disputes which still engrossed the popular mind. As soon as this indifference had reached a certain point, the attractions offered by the conciliating policy of Louis XIII. became irresistible; and the Protestant nobles, in particular, being most exposed to political temptations, began to alienate themselves from their own party, in order to form an alliance with a court which showed itself ready to reward their merits.

It is, of course, impossible to fix the exact period at which this important change took place. 123 But we may say with certainty, that very early in the reign of Louis XIII. many of the Protestant nobles cared nothing for their religion, while the re

deurs Vénitiens, vol. i. pp. 412, 536, vol. ii. pp. 66, 74; Ranke's Civil Wars in France, vol. i. pp. 279, 280, vol. ii. p. 94.

122 Compare Hallam's Const. Hist. vol. i. p. 173, with Ranke, die Römischen Päpste, vol. ii. pp. 477-479. In spite of the increase of population, the Protestants diminished absolutely, as well as relatively to the Catholics. In 1598 they had 760 churches; in 1619 only 700. Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. pp. 46, 145. De Thou, in the preface to his History (vol. i. p. 320), observes, that the Protestants had increased during the wars carried on against them, but "diminuoient en nombre et en crédit pendant la paix."

123 M. Ranke has noticed how the French Protestant nobles fell off from their party; but he does not seem aware of the remote causes of what he deems a sudden apostasy: "In dem nemlichen Momente trat nun auch die grosse Wendung der Dinge in Frankreich ein. Fragen wir, woher im Jahr 1621 die Verluste des Protestantismus hauptsächlich kamen, so war es die Entzweiung derselben, der Abfall des Adels." Ranke, die Päpste, vol. ii. p. 476. Compare a curious passage in Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 33, from which it appears that in 1611 the French Protestants were breaking into three parties, one of which consisted of "les seigneurs d'éminente qualité."

mainder of them ceased to feel that interest in it which they had formerly expressed. Indeed, some of the most eminent of them openly abandoned their creed, and joined that very church which they had been taught to abhor as the man of sin, and the whore of Babylon. The Duke de Lesdiguières, the greatest of all the Protestant generals, 124 became a Catholic, and, as a reward for his conversion, was made constable of France. 125 The Duke de la Tremouille adopted the same course; 126 as also did the Duke de la Meilleraye,127 the Duke de Bouillon,12 and a few years later the Marquis de Montausier. 129 These illustrious nobles were among the most powerful of the members of the Reformed communion; but they quitted it without compunction, sacrificing their old associations in favour of the opinions professed by the state. Among the other men of high rank, who still remained nominally connected with the French Protestants, we find a similar spirit. We find them lukewarm respecting matters, for which, if they had been born fifty years earlier, they would have laid down their lives. The Maréchal de Bouillon, who professed himself to be a Protestant, was unwilling to change his religion; but he so comported himself as to show that he considered its interests as subordinate to political considerations.130 A similar remark has been made by the French historians concerning the

124 "Le plus illustre guerrier du parti protestant." Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 505. In the contemporary despatches of the Spanish ambassador, he is called "l'un des huguenots les plus marquans, homme d'un grand poids, et d'un grand crédit." Capefique's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 60. His principal influence was in Dauphiné. Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. i. p. 236.

125 Biog. Univ. vol. xxiv. p. 293; and a dry remark on his "conversion" in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 215, which may be compared with Euvres de Voltaire, vol. xviii. p. 132, and Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. pp. 195-197. Rohan (Mém. vol. i. p. 228) plainly says, "le duc de Lesdiguières, ayant hardé sa religion pour la charge de connétable de France. See also p. 91, and Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 37.

120 Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 67; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. v. pp. 809, 810, 865.

127 Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. iii. p. 43. La Meilleraye was also a duke; and what is far more in his favour, he was a friend of Descartes. Biog. Univ. vol. xxviii, pp. 152, 153.

128 Sismondi (Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 27) says, "il abjura en 1637 ;" but according to Benoist (His. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 550) it was in 1635. 129 Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. iii. p. 245. Des Réaux, who saw these changes constantly happening, simply observes, "notre marquis, voyant que sa religion étoit un obstacle à son dessein, en change."

130"Mettoit la politique avant la religion." Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 264. This was Henry Bouillon, whom some writers have confused with Frederick Bouillon. Both of them were dukes; but Henry, who was the father, and who did not actually change his religion, was the marshal. The following notices of him will more than confirm the remark made by Sismondi: Mém. de Bassompierre, vol. i. p. 455; Smedley's Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. p. 99; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 107; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. pp. 420, 467, 664, vol. iv. p. 519; Mem. de Richelieu, vol. i. p. 104, vol. ii. p. 259; Mém. de Duplessis Mornay, vol. xi. p. 450, vol. xii. pp. 79, 182, 263, 287, 345, 361, 412, 505.