State Parties and Religious Dissensions. 181 king, influenced also by the charms and persuasions of his wife, was easily induced to place such a share of his authority as the policy of the queenmother dictated, in the hands of Mary's relatives: so that to her uncle, the duke of Guise, the military government was intrusted; civil matters to the cardinal of Lorrain, his brother; and to the queen-mother herself, the superintendence of all. The rival candidates for power now found themselves excluded not only from any share of the administration, but also upon various pretences from the court itself. Such circumstances gave occasion to various secret conferences of the Bourbons and their adherents; amongst whom, after the failure of more moderate expedients, violent measures were resolved on. At one of those conferences, where such a disposition prevailed, Gaspar de Coligny, admiral of France, (otherwise called the admiral de Chastillon,) is said to have reminded the assembled malecontents of the strong feelings of dissatisfaction, which prevailed at this period amongst the protestants, or followers of Calvin in France: who were generally of opinion that the persecutions they now experienced, were instigated and kept in activity chiefly by the faction of the Guises. He observed, says Davila, "that the "whole kingdom abounded with the multitudes "of those who had embraced the religious opin ❝ions and faith, recently introduced by Calvin ; "that by reason of the severity of the inquisitions "and rigorous punishments, exercised against them, "they were inclined, and in a manner through despair compelled, to encounter any hazard or 66 66 danger to free themselves from the hardship of "their present condition: that all of them attri"buted the severe measures of the government to "the advice and influence of the duke of Guise, " and yet more, of the cardinal of Lorrain; who "not only in the parliament and at the council "table, zealously recommended their extermina❝tion, but in all other public and private inter"course opposed their doctrine, and made them "the objects of incessant persecution. He added, "that the resolution and spirit of these people "had hitherto been restrained by the want of a “head to guide, and an adviser to animate them; "but with the least show of assistance they would 66 66 fearlessly brave all difficulties and dangers, in "the hope of warding off the calamities by which they were threatened. It would therefore be a • wise policy to avail themselves of such instru"ments, secretly to give courage and order to a "multitude so prepared; and when an opportunity should occur, to make use of them for the "destruction of the house of Lorrain. Thus the princes of the blood and their party might se 66 66 66 cure themselves from danger, increase their 66 State Parties and Religious Dissensions. 183 strength by numerous adherents, and acquire "also the aid of the protestant German princes, "and of Elizabeth the queen of England, as the "avowed favourers and protectors of that be"lief." Davila, Lib. I. The same historian, who has asserted that this advice of the admiral de Coligny was powerfully instrumental in giving to the civil wars of France which ensued, their religious character and complexion, has also marked the comparative violence or relaxation, with which the persecution of the reformed was exercised, in the reign of Francis I. and those of his successors. Concerning Francis I. his remarks confirm what we have formerly observed; that though he at some times adopted severe measures against these religious innovators, yet as he frequently found his attention withdrawn by foreign wars from such domestic questions, his severities were interrupted by occasional relaxation. But Henry II. he observes, being himself a rigid advocate for the catholic faith, exerted his zealous endeavours to extirpate the obnoxious heresy from his dominions; and had with inflexible resolution, determined that its partisans and advocates should be exterminated. And though many of the court, and even some of the parliament, either favouring the same sentiments, or adverse to persecution in matters of conscience, sought to preserve all they were able, from the effects of it; yet such was the king's rigid determination, rendered still more persevering by the constant exhortations of the cardinal of Lorrain, that it seems probable, if his life had not been prematurely terminated, he would at length, though not without much bloodshed, have succeeded in expelling this pest, as he considered it, from the bowels of his kingdom. The Calvinists therefore, did not hesitate to represent the sudden and violent death of so determined an enemy of their religious faith, as miraculous, and the result of the manifest judgment of God. The consequence of that event was, that severities so incompatible with reason and humanity, were for a season much relaxed: and even the most rigid among the magistrates were in some measure overawed, by the number, and by the quality, of many of those who had embraced the reformed doctrines. Others, from considerations of mere policy, were inclined to lenient proceedings; and the historian Davila acknowledges, that so successful had been the preaching of Beza in particular, in bringing over to the reformed doctrines not only innumerable converts of the lower orders, but many also eminently distinguished by their rank and station, that their religious meetings were no longer held in mean and obscure places, as under the reign of Henry, but in the halls and apartments of the nobles and principal gentry of the kingdom a. Such an interval could not reasonably be considered as furnishing the Huguenots with the most specious pretext for breaking out into open warfare. But as these interruptions of persecution were merely temporary, the catholics being actuated by the most irreconcileable antipathy against the abettors of the new opinions, and the reformed also stimulated by a zeal which they thought obligatory upon their consciences, to at a "Non più" (says Davila,) "nelle stalle, o nelle cantine, come sotto il regno di Arrigo, ma nelle sale dei gen"tiluomini e nelle camere di' signori si celebravano le con 66 gregazioni, e le ceremonie di questa predicazione.” (Guerre civile, libro primo, sub ann. 1559.) Forasmuch as "similia agunt similia," this reminds me of a passage in a poem subjoined to Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, which by its spirit and interest will well repay the labour of perusal : NUMBERS, who deem'd themselves to preach compell'd In conscience-till by violence withheld, Dispens'd the Word, wherever they could meet Their flocks: or in the barn's obscure retreat, Or vale sequester'd, or embowering grove, Or where the rock hung threatening from above: To these, to like retirements, oft they came, To raise new trophies to Immanuel's name, And strengthen those who had through grace believ'd, The long rough journey, and the howling waste, The damp dull midnight, and the freezing blast, |