History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

101

‘Sa vue dominante fut l'abaissement de la maison d'Autriche.’ Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie Française, vol. iii. p. 81. And, on the early formation of this scheme, see Mém. de la Rochefoucauld, vol. i. p. 350. De Retz says, that before Richelieu, no one had even thought of such a step: ‘Celui d'attaquer la formidable maison d'Autriche n'avoit été imaginé de personne.’ Mém. de Retz, vol. i. p. 45. This is rather too strongly expressed; but the whole paragraph is curious, as written by a man who possessed great ability, which De Retz undoubtedly did, and who, though hating Richelieu, could not refrain from bearing testimony to his immense services.

102

‘Obwohl Cardinal der römischen Kirche, trug Richelieu kein Bedenken, mit den Protestanten selbst unverhohlen in Bund zu treten,’ Ranke, die Päpste, vol. ii. p. 510. Compare, in Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, the reproach which the nuncio Spada addressed to Richelieu for treating with the Protestants, ‘de la paix qui se traitoit avec les huguenots.’ See also Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. v. pp. 236, 354–356, 567; and a good passage in Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 90, – an able little work, and perhaps the best small history ever published of a great country.

103

De Retz mentions a curious illustration of the feelings of the ecclesiastical party respecting this treaty. He says, that the Bishop of Beauvais, who, the year after the death of Richelieu, was for a moment at the head of affairs, began his administration by giving to the Dutch their choice, either to abandon their religion, or else forfeit their alliance with France: ‘Et il demanda dès le premier jour aux Hollandois qu'ils se convertissent à la religion catholique, s'ils vouloient demeurer dans l'alliance de France.’ Mém. du Cardinal de Retz, vol. i. p. 39. This, I suppose, is the original authority for the statement in the Biog. Univ. vol. xiv. p. 440; though, as is too often the case in that otherwise valuable work, the writer has omitted to indicate the source of his information.

104

In 1626, he attempted to form a league ‘en faveur du Palatin,’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 576. Sismondi seems not quite certain as to the sincerity of his proposal; but as to this there can, I think, be little doubt; for it appears from his own memoirs, that even in 1624 he had in view the recovery of the Palatinate. Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 405; and again in 1625, p. 468.

105

Sismondi, vol. xxiii. p. 173; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 415; Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. vi. pp. 12, 600; and at p. 489: ‘Le roi de Suède qui comptoit uniquement sur le cardinal.’

106

Compare Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. pp. 74, 75, vol. ii. pp. 92, 93, with Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. ii. p. 198; and Howell's Letters, p. 247. The different views which occurred to his fertile mind in consequence of the death of Gustavus, are strikingly summed up in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. vii. pp. 272–277. On his subsequent pecuniary advances, see vol. ix. p. 395.

107

In 1633, ‘les ambassadeurs de France, d'Angleterre et de Hollande mirent à profit le repos de l'hiver pour resserrer la confédération protestante,’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiii. p. 221. Compare, in Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy, vol. i. p. 275, the remark made twenty years later by Christina, daughter of Gustavus, on the union with ‘papists.’

108

This change may be illustrated by comparing the work of Grotius with that of Vattel. These two eminent men are still respected as the most authoritative expounders of international law; but there is this important difference between them, that Vattel wrote more than a century after Grotius, and when the secular principles enforced by Richelieu had penetrated the minds even of common politicians. Therefore, Vattel says (Le Droit des Gens, vol. i. pp. 379, 380): ‘On demande s'il est permis de faire alliance avec une nation qui ne professe pas la même religion? Si les traités faits avec les ennemis de la foi sont valides? Grotius a traité la question assez au long. Cette discussion pouvait être nécessaire dans un temps où la fureur des partis obscurcissait encore des principes qu'elle avait long-temps fait oublier, osons croire qu'elle serait superflue dans notre siècle. La loi naturelle seule régit les traités des nations; la différence de religion y est absolument étrangère.’ See also p. 318, and vol. ii. p. 151. On the other hand, Grotius opposes alliances between nations of different religion, and says, that nothing can justify them except ‘une extrême nécessité… Car il faut chercher premièrement le règne céleste, c'est à dire penser avant toutes choses à la propagation de l'évangile.’ And he further recommends that princes should follow the advice given on this subject by Foulques, Archbishop of Rheims! Grotius, le Droit de la Guerre et de la Paix, livre ii. chap xv. sec. xi. vol. i. pp. 485, 486, edit. Barbeyrac, Amsterdam, 1724, 4to; a passage the more instructive, because Grotius was a man of great genius and great humanity. On religious wars, as naturally recognized in barbarous times, see the curious and important work, Institutes of Timour, pp. 141, 333, 335.

109

‘Le Congrès de Westphalie s'ouvrit le 10 avril 1643.’ Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 156. Its two great divisions at Munster and Osnabruck were formed in March 1644. Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie, vol. iii. p. 110. Richelieu died in December, 1642. Biog. Univ. vol. xxxviii. p. 28.

110

‘Les règnes de Charles-Quint et de Henri IV font époque pour certaines parties du droit international; mais le point de départ le plus saillant, c'est la paix de Westphalie.’ Eschbach, Introduc. à l'Etude du Droit, Paris, 1846, p. 92. Compare the remarks on Mably, in Biog. Univ. vol. xxvi. p. 7, and Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxiv. p. 179: ‘base au droit public de l'Europe.’

111

Compare the indignation of the pope at this treaty (Vattel, le Droit des Gens, vol. ii. p. 28), with Ranke's Päpste, vol. ii. p. 576: ‘Das religiöse Element ist zurückgetreten; die politischen Rücksichten beherrschen die Welt:’ a summary of the general state of affairs.

112

‘La France obtint par ce traité, en indemnité, la souveraineté des trois évêchés, Metz, Toul et Verdun, ainsi que celle d'Alsace. La satisfaction ou indemnité des autres parties intéressées fut convenue, en grande partie, aux dépens de l'église, et moyennant la sécularisation de plusieurs évêchés et bénéfices ecclésiastiques.’ Koch, Tableau des Révolutions, vol. i. p. 328.

113

Dr. Vaughan (Protectorate of Cromwell, vol. i. p. civ.) says: ‘It is a leading fact, also, in the history of modern Europe, that, from the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, religion, as the great object of negotiation, began everywhere to give place to questions relating to colonies and commerce.’ Charles Butler observed, that this treaty ‘considerably lessened the influence of religion on politics.’ Butler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 181.

114

The fact of the Thirty Years' War being a religious contest, formed the basis of one of the charges which the church party brought against Richelieu: and an author, who wrote in 1634, ‘montroit bien au long que l'alliance du roy de France avec les protestantes étoit contraire aux intérêts de la religion catholique; parce que la guerre des Provinces Unies, et celle d'Allemagne étoient des guerres de religion.’ Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 536.

115

According to a contemporary, he received this appointment without having asked for it: ‘sans être à la cour ni l'avoir demandé.’ Mém. 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, Œconomies Royales, vol. viii. p. 496; Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. p. 204.

119

Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 57; Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. pp. 66, 69; Mém. de Bassompierre, vol. iii. pp. 324, 348; Mém. 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.

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 Ambassadeurs 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 nämlichen 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.’

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.’ Capefigue'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 Œuvres 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.

126

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 (Hist. 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; Mém. 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.

131

Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. i. pp. 121, 298, vol. ii. pp. 5, 180, 267, 341; Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 267; Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 206. Sully advised Henry IV., on mere political considerations, to become a Catholic; and there were strong, but I believe unfounded rumours, that he himself intended taking the same course. See Sully, Œconomies Royales, vol. ii. p. 81, vol. vii. pp. 362, 363.

132

‘There were, among all the leaders, but the Duke de Rohan and his brother the Duke de Soubise, who showed themselves disposed to throw their whole fortunes into the new wars of religion.’ Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 241. For this, M. Felice, as usual, quotes no authority; but Rohan himself says: ‘C'est ce qui s'est passé en cette seconde guerre (1626), où Rohan et Soubise ont eu pour contraires tous les grands de la religion de France.’ Mém. de Rohan, vol. i. p. 278. Rohan claims great merit for his religious sincerity; though, from a passage in Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 418, and another in Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. p. 173, one may be allowed to doubt if he were so single-minded as is commonly supposed.

133

Sismondi notices this remarkable change; though he places it a few years earlier than the contemporary writers do: ‘Depuis que les grands seigneurs s'étoient éloignés deg églises, c'étoient les ministres qui étoient devenus les chefs, les représentans et les démagogues des huguenots; et ils apportoient dans leurs délibérations cette âpreté et cette inflexibilité théologiques qui semblent caractériser les prêtres de toutes les religions, et qui donnent à leurs haines une amertume plus offensante.’ Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxii. p. 87. Compare p. 478. In 1621, ‘Rohan lui–même voyait continuellement ses opérations contrariées par le conseil–général des églises.’ Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 88. In the same year, M. Capefigue (Richelieu, vol. i. p. 271) says, ‘Le parti modéré cessa d'avoir action sur le prêche; la direction des forces huguenotes, était passée dans les mains des ardents, conduits par les ministres.’

134

The church of Rome has always seen this, and on that account has been, and still is, very pliant in regard to morals, and very inflexible in regard to dogmas; a striking proof of the great sagacity with which her affairs are administered. In Blanco White's Evidence against Catholicism, p. 48, and in Parr's Works, vol. vii. pp. 454, 455, there is an unfavourable and, indeed, an unjust notice of this peculiarity, which, though strongly marked in the Romish church, is by no means confined to it, but is found in every religious sect which is regularly organized. Locke, in his Letters on Toleration, observes, that the clergy are naturally more eager against error than against vice (Works, vol. v. pp. 6, 7, 241); and their preference of dogmas to moral truths is also mentioned by M. C. Comte, Traité de Législat. vol. i. p. 245; and is alluded to by Kant in his comparison of ‘ein moralischer Katechismus’ with a ‘Religionskatechismus.’ Die Metaphysik der Sitten (Ethische Methodenlehre), in Kant's Werke, vol. v. p. 321. Compare Temple's Observations upon the United Provinces, in Works of Sir W. Temple, vol. i. p. 154, with the strict adhesion to formularies noticed in Ward's Ideal Church, p. 358; and analogous cases in Mill's Hist. of India, vol. i. pp. 399, 400, and in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 87; also Combe's Notes on the United States, vol. iii. pp. 256, 257.

135

Blanco White (Evidence against Catholicism, p. vi.) harshly says, ‘sincere Roman Catholics cannot conscientiously be tolerant.’ But he is certainly mistaken; for the question is one, not of sincerity, but of consistency. A sincere Roman Catholic may be, and often is, conscientiously tolerant; a consistent Roman Catholic, never.

136

We also see this very clearly in England, where the dissenting clergy have much more influence among their hearers than the clergy of the Establishment have among theirs. This has often been noticed by impartial observers, and we are now possessed of statistical proof that ‘the great body of Protestant dissenters are more assiduous’ in attending religious worship than churchmen are. See a valuable essay by Mr. Mann On the Statistical Position of Religious Bodies in England and Wales, in Journal of Statist. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 152.

137

Respecting the working of this in England, there are some shrewd remarks made by Le Blanc in his Lettres d'un François, vol. i. pp. 267, 268; which may be compared with Lord Holland's Mem. of the Whig Party, vol. ii. p. 253, where it is suggested, that in the case of complete emancipation of the Catholics, ‘eligibility to worldly honours and profits would somewhat abate the fever of religious zeal.’ On this, there are observations worth attending to in Lord Cloncurry's Recollections, Dublin, 1849, pp. 342, 343.

138

‘Les processions catholiques seraient interdites dans toutes les places, villes et châteaux occupés par ceux de la religion.’ Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 39.

139

Of these facts we have the most unequivocal proof; for they were not only stated by the Catholics in 1623, but they are recorded, without being denied, by the Protestant historian Benoist: ‘On y accusoit les Réformez d'injurier les prêtres, quand ils les voyoient passer; d'empêcher les processions des Catholiques; l'administration des sacremens aux malades; l'enterrement des morts avec les cérémonies accoutumées; … que les Réformez s'étoient emparez des cloches en quelques lieux, et en d'autres se serroient de celles des Catholiques pour avertir de l'heure du prêche; qu'ils affectoient de faire du bruit autour des églises pendant le service; qu'ils tournoient en dérision les cérémonies de l'église romaine.’ Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 433, 434; see also pp. 149, 150.

140

‘On pouvait dire que La Rochelle était la capitale, le saint temple du calvinisme; car on ne voyait là aucune église, aucune cérémonie papiste.’ Capefigue's Richelieu, vol. i. p. 342.

141

Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. p. 100. For other and similar evidence, see Duplessis Mornay, Mémoires, vol. xi. p. 244; Sully, Œconomies Royales, vol. vii. p. 164; Benoist, Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes, vol. ii. pp. 70, 233, 279.

142

Quick's Synodicon in Gallia, vol. ii. p. 196.

143

For a striking instance of the actual enforcement of this intolerant regulation, see Quick's Synodicon in Gallia, vol. ii. p. 344.

144

Bazin, Hist. de Louis XIII, vol. ii. p. 124; Mém. de Richelieu, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110; Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 238.

145

In 1625, Howell writes that the Protestants had put up an inscription on the gates of Montauban, ‘Roy sans foy, ville sans peur.’ Howell's Letters, p. 178.

146

Sometimes they were called dogs returning to the vomit of popery; sometimes they were swine wallowing in the mire of idolatry. Quick's Synodicon in Gallia, vol. i. pp. 385, 398.

147

It is observable, that on the first occasion (Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. p. 362) nothing is said of Ferrier's immorality; and on the next occasion (p. 449) the synod complains, among other things, that ‘he hath most licentiously inveighed against, and satirically lampooned, the ecclesiastical assemblies.’

148

See this frightful and impious document, in Quick's Synodicon, vol. i. pp. 448, 450.

149

The notion of theologians respecting excommunication may be seen in Mr. Palmer's entertaining book, Treatise on the Church, vol. i. pp. 64, 67, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300; but the opinions of this engaging writer should be contrasted with the indignant language of Vattel, Le Droit des Gens, vol. i. pp. 177, 178. In England, the terrors of excommunication fell into contempt towards the end of the seventeenth century. See Life of Archbishop Sharpe, edited by Newcome, vol. i. p. 216: compare p. 363; and see the mournful remarks of Dr. Mosheim, in his Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 79; and Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 175, 176.

150

On the treatment of Ferrier, which excited great attention as indicating the extreme lengths to which the Protestants were prepared to go, see Mém. de Richelieu, vol. i. p. 177; Mém. de Pontchartrain, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 12, 29, 32; Mém. de Duplessis Mornay, vol. xii. pp. 317, 333, 341, 350, 389, 399, 430; Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France, p. 235; Biog. Univ. vol. xiv. p. 440; Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. v. pp. 48-54. Mr. Smedley, who refers to none of these authorities, except two passages in Duplessis, has given a garbled account of this riot. See his History of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. iii. pp. 119, 120.