"the new-fangled fashions of the world:" they are to have no tassels to their dress: their gloves must be without silk and ribbons: they are to abstain from fardingales: they are to beware of wide sleeves.188

Those readers who have not studied the history of ecclesiastical legislation, will perhaps be surprised to find, that men of gravity, men who had reached the years of discretion, and were assembled together in solemn council, should evince such a prying and puerile spirit; that they should display such miserable and childish imbecility. But, whoever will take a wider survey of human affairs, will be inclined to blame, not so much the legislators, as the system of which the legislators formed a part. For as to the men themselves, they merely acted after their kind. They only followed the traditions in which they were bred. By virtue of their profession, they had been accustomed to hold certain views, and, when they rose to power, it was natural that they should carry those views into effect; thus transplanting into the law-book the maxims they had already preached in the pulpit. Whenever, therefore, we read of meddling, inquisitive, and vexatious regulations imposed by ecclesiastical authority, we should remember, that they are but the legitimate result of the ecclesiastical spirit; and that the way to remedy such grievances, or to prevent their occurrence, is not by vainly labouring to change the tendencies of that class from whence they proceed, but rather by confining the class within its proper limits, by jealously guarding against its earliest encroachments, by taking every opportunity of lessening its influence, and finally, when the progress of society will justify so great a step, by depriving it of that political and legislative power which, though gradually falling from its hands, it is, even in the most civilized countries, still allowed in some degree to retain.

188 Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. p. 165, vol. ii. pp. 7, 174, 574, 583. In the same way, the Spanish clergy, early in the present century, attempted to regulate the dress of women. See Doblado's Letters from Spain, pp. 202-205: a good illustration of the identity of the ecclesiastical spirit, whether it be Catholic or Protestant.

But, setting aside these general considerations, it will, at all events, be admitted, that I have collected sufficient evidence to indicate what would have happened to France, if the Protestants had obtained the upper hand. After the facts which I have brought forward, no one can possibly doubt, that if such a misfortune had occurred, the liberal and, considering the age, the enlightened policy of Henry IV. and Louis XIII. would have been destroyed, in order to make way for that gloomy and austere system which, in every age and in every country, has been found to be the natural fruit of ecclesiastical power. To put, therefore, the question in its proper form, instead of saying that there was a war between hostile creeds, we should rather say that there was a war between rival classes. It was a contest, not so much between the Catholic religion and the Protestant religion, as between Catholic laymen and Protestant clergy. It was a struggle between temporal interests and theological interests,-between the spirit of the present and the spirit of the past. And the point now at issue was, whether France should be governed by the civil power or by the spiritual power,— whether she should be ruled according to the large views of secular statesmen, or according to the narrow notions of a factious and intolerant priesthood.

The Protestants having the great advantage of being the aggressive party, and being, moreover, inflamed by a religious zeal unknown to their opponents, might, under ordinary circumstances, have succeeded in their hazardous attempt; or, at all events, they might have protracted the struggle for an indefinite period. But, fortunately for France, in 1624, only three years after the war began, Richelieu assumed the direction of the government. He had for some years been the secret adviser of the queen-mother, into whose mind he had always inculcated the necessity of complete toleration.189 When placed at the head of

189 On his influence over her in and after 1616, see Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 508; Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. p. 240; Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 23; and compare, in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. pp. 198200, the curious arguments which he put in her mouth respecting the impolicy of making war on the Protestants.

affairs, he pursued the same policy, and attempted in every way to conciliate the Protestants. The clergy of his own party were constantly urging him to exterminate the heretics, whose presence they thought polluted France. 190 But Richelieu, having only secular objects, refused to embitter the contest by turning it into a religious war. He was determined to chastize the rebellion, but he would not punish the heresy. Even while the war was raging, he would not revoke those edicts of toleration, by which the full liberty of religious worship was granted to the Protestants. And when they, in 1626, showed signs of compunction, or at all events of fear, he publicly confirmed the Edict of Nantes, 191 and he granted them peace; although, as he says, he knew that by doing so, he should fall under the suspicion of those "who so greatly affected the name of zealous Catholics."192 A few months afterwards, war again broke out; and then it was that Richelieu determined on that celebrated siege of Rochelle, which, if brought to a successful issue, was sure to be a decisive blow against the French Protestants. That he was moved to this hazardous undertaking solely by secular considerations, is evident, not only from the general spirit of his preceding policy, but also from his subsequent conduct. With the details of this famous siege, history is not concerned, as such matters have no value, except to military readers. It is enough to say that, in 1628, Rochelle was taken; and the Protestants, who had been induced by their clergy 193 to continue to resist long after relief was hopeless,

190 In 1625, the Archbishop of Lyons wrote to Richelieu, urging him "assiéger la Rochelle, et châtier ou, pour mieux dire, exterminer les huguenots, toute autre affaire cessante." Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 276. See also, on the anxiety of the clergy in the reign of Louis XIII. to destroy the Protestants, Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 155, 166, 232, 245, 338, 378, 379, 427; Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 485.

19 He confirmed it in March 1626; Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie Française, vol. ii. p. 399; and also in the preceding January. See Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. appendix, pp. 77, 81.

192 Ceux qui affectent autant le nom de zélés catholiques." Mém. de Richelieu, vol. iii. p. 16; and at p. 2, he, in the same year (1626), says, that he was opposed by those who had "un trop ardent et précipité désir de ruiner les huguenots."

193 Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 66.

and who, in consequence, had suffered the most dreadful hardships, were obliged to surrender at discretion. 194 The privileges of the town were revoked, and its magistrates removed; but the great minister, by whom these things were effected, still abstained from that religious persecution to which he was urged.195 He granted to the Protestants the toleration which he had offered at an earlier period, and he formally conceded the free exercise of their public worship.196 But, such was their infatuation, that because he likewise restored the exercise of the Catholic religion, and thus gave to the conquerors the same liberty that he had granted to the conquered, the Protestants murmured at the indulgence; they could not bear the idea that their eyes should be offended by the performance of Popish rites.197 And their indignation waxed so high, that the next year they, in another part of France, again rose in arms. As, however, they were now stripped of their principal resources, they were easily defeated; and, their existence as a political faction being destroyed, they were, in reference to their religion, treated by Richelieu in the same manner as before. 198 To the Protestants generally, he confirmed the privilege of preaching and of performing the other ceremonies of their creed.199 To

194 On the sufferings of the inhabitants, see extract from the Dupuis Mss., in Capefique's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 351. Fontenay Mareuil, who was an eyewitness, says, that the besieged, in some instances, ate their own children; and that the burial-grounds were guarded, to prevent the corpses from being dug up and turned into food. Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 119.

195 And in which he would most assuredly have been supported by Louis XIII.; of whom an intelligent writer says: "Il étoit plein de piété et de zèle pour le service de Dieu et pour la grandeur de l'église; et sa plus sensible joie, en prenant La Rochelle et les autres places qu'il prit, fut de penser qu'il chasseroit de son royaume les hérétiques, et qu'il le purgeroit par cette voie des différentes religions qui gâtent et infectent l'église de Dieu." Mém. de Motteville, vol. i. p. 425, edit. Petitot, 1824.

196 Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 423; Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 77; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 357 ; Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 122.

197 Les huguenots murmuraient de voir le rétablissement de l'église romaine au sein de leur ville." Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 359.

198

"Dès qu'il ne s'agit plus d'un parti politique, il concéda, comme à la Rochelle, la liberté de conscience et la faculté de prêche." Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 381. Compare Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. p. 201, with Mémoires de Richelieu, vol. iv. p. 484.

199 The Edict of Nismes, in 1629, an important document, will be found

their leader, Rohan, he granted an amnesty, and, a few years afterwards, employed him in important public services. After this, the hopes of the party were destroyed; they never again rose in arms, nor do we find any mention of them until a much later period, when they were barbarously persecuted by Louis XIV.200 But from all such intolerance Richelieu sedulously abstained; and having now cleared the land from rebellion, he embarked in that vast scheme of foreign policy, of which I have already given some account, and in which he clearly showed that his proceedings against the Protestants had not been caused by hatred of their religious tenets. For, the same party which he attacked at home, he supported abroad. He put down the French Protestants, because they were a turbulent faction that troubled the state, and wished to suppress the exercise of all opinions unfavourable to themselves. But, so far from carrying on a crusade against their religion, he, as I have already observed, encouraged it in other countries; and, though a bishop of the Catholic church, he did not hesitate, by treaties, by money, and by force of arms, to support the Protestants against the House of Austria, maintain the Lutherans against the Emperor of Germany, and uphold the Calvinists against the King of Spain.

I have thus endeavoured to draw a slight, though, I trust, a clear outline, of the events which took place in France during the reign of Louis XIII., and particularly during that part of it which included the administration of Richelieu. But such occurrences, important as they are, only formed a single phase of that larger development which was now displaying itself in nearly every branch of the national intellect. They were the mere political ex

in Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. pp. xcvi.-ciii., and in Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. appendix, pp. 92-98; and a commentary on it in Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. iii. pp. 36-38. M. Bazin, unfortunately for the reputation of this otherwise valuable work, never quotes his authorities.

200 In 1633, their own historian says: "les Réformez ne faisoient plus de party." Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 532. Compare Sir Thomas Hanmer's account of France in 1648, in Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer, p. 309, Lond. 1838.