THE CAMISARDS LONDON : WEST, NEWMAN AND CO., PRINTERS, HATTON GARDEN, E.C. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/camisardssequeltOOtylo A SEQUEL TO BY CHAELES TYLOE, JOINT AUTHOR OF BACKHOUSE AND TTLOE'S ' EAKLY CHURCH HISTORY,' AKD WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.' LONDON: SIMPKIN, MAESHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Paternosteb Row. EDWARD HICKS, Jdx., 14, BisHOPSGATE Street Without, E.G. 1893. PREFACE. The phases through which a Church passes in the course of a long history afford abundant food for profitable thought. This is rendered more stimula- tive when, as in the case of the Huguenots, the Church has been brought through the crisis of a persecution as hot as any which has ever befallen the Lord's people. " Minished and brought low, made to sit in the shadow of death and bound in affliction and iron," she yet came forth in safety out of the depth of her tribulation. Such an experience was necessarily prolific of character and incident, and the personal narratives in this volume, as in the former, will be found to be deeply interesting. When the outward tribulation was over, the Church encountered other enemies still more deadly, — lukewarmness, un- sound teaching, and the benumbing influence of the world, — enemies which well-nigh accomplished what the dragoon, the galley, and the scaffold had failed to effect. But God, who we may surely say has yet a mission for the Protestant Church in France, again had pity upon her, and has once more raised her out of the dust. She is advancing, as we cannot but believe, although it may be by slow degrees, towards that position which she ought to have taken up long ago. vi Preface. From the beginning of the century the charities which bespeak a living church have been steadily multiplying ; — the diffusion of the Bible and of re- ligious books, education, the care of the poor, home and foreign missions, and efforts for Christian union. In 1808 the French Eeformed Church could not count 150 pastors, and had hardly a single work of its own, either for instruction, evangelization, or any other branch of charity; in 1885 there were 700 pastors, be- sides Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, and of the Eglise Libre, which numbered about 160 more. In harmony with this external progress there has been, as is referred to in the concluding chapter of this work, an internal development, manifesting itself in a deeper spiritual experience and a wider Christian sympathy. The desire to be free from State support is now not confined to the Eglise Libre, which has always strenuously protested against such aid, or to the Methodists and Baptists, but has many warm advocates in the Eeformed Church itself ; and it is to be hoped the day is not far distant when French Protestantism under every name will have shaken off all dependence on the government. But there are other hindrances to progress : the eccle- siastical spirit on the one hand and the rationalistic on the other are still serious impediments. Church order and discipline are invaluable, but they are too dearly bought at the expense of spiritual life and of the free exercise of spiritual gifts. So also liberty of thought, when it casts off the authority of Scripture, and refuses to submit itself to the obedience of Christ, fails in its object, and must end in spiritual bondage. The Reformed preachers in their discourses, like the Preface. vii Itomish clergy, have always aimed at logical argument, learning and eloquence, and some are still disposed to give an undue place to these accessories. Happily, Tiowever, there are many, both in the Reformed Church and the smaller bodies, who believe that to be effectual the gospel must be preached in the power of the living Word, by which alone the sinner is convicted, the stony heart broken in pieces, and the contrite spirit bound up. One of the greatest hindrances to the spread of the gospel is that men work for the aggrandisement of their own church, instead of to bring souls to Christ. Many preachers and congregations amongst the French Protestants keep, we believe, the higher object steadily in view ; and just in proportion as this heavenly spirit pervades the whole body, will be the power and success with which the Church will contend against the world and unbelief on the one hand, and against superstition and priestcraft, whether in the Chm-ch of Kome or elsewhere, on the other, and the day be hastened when all divisions and self-seeking emulation shall vanish, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. A large portion of the history embodied in this volume appears in English now for the first time. In like manner, the materials on which ' The Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century ' was founded, were largely drawn ffom works which have not been translated. The author wishes to repeat, in relation to the present volume, the same grateful acknowledgment of help which he made with regard to the former. AUTHORITIES. Histoire du Fanatisme de notre Temps. Par Bkdeys. 4 vols. 16mo> Montpellier, 1709—1713. Le Fanatisme Kenouvele. Par Lodveeleuil. 3rd edition. 3 vols. Avignon, 1868. The 1st edition was published in 1706. Belation Historique de la E6volte des Fanatiques ou des Camisards. Par De la Badme. 2nd edition. Nimes, 1874. The author died 1715. These three works of contemporary writers are the chief authority for the history of the period on the Eoman Catholic side. Le Theatre Sacre des Cevennes. Londres, 1707. Eepublished by A. Bost, in 1847, under the title of Les Proph^tes Protestants. Printed at Melun : no date. Histoire des Troubles des Cevennes ou de la Guerre des Camisards. Par Antoine Court. 2nd edition. 3 vols. Alais, 1819. Court was only six years old when the Camisard War broke out, but he spared no pains in collecting materials for his history; he was thoroughly acquainted with the theatre of the events, and had intercourse with many of the actors and eye-witnesses. His work, which was not published till after his death in 1760, is the storehouse of facts on the Protestant side, from the outbreak of the war to the year 1711. Belation des Tourments qu'on fait souffrir aux Protestants qui sont sur les galeres de France. Par Jean Bion. Londres, 1708. Keprinted, with a preface by O. Douen. Paris, 1881. Memoires d'un Protestant condamn6 aux galores de France pour cause de Eeligion. D'apr^s le Journal de Jean Marteilhe. Published at Eotterdam in 1757. Eeprinted. Paris, 1881. Histoire des Eglises du Desert. Depuis la fin du regne de Louis XIV jusqu'a la E6volution fran^aise. Par Chaeles Coqueeel. 2 vols.. Paris, 1841. X Authorities. Histoire des Pasteurs du D6sert depuis la Eevocation de I'Edit de Nantes jusqu'a la Revolution franpaise. Par Nap. Peyrat. 2 vols. Paris, 1842. Les Formats pour la Foi. Par Athanase Coqderel, Fils. Paris, 18CG. Histoire de la Eestauration du Protestantisme en France au 18th slide. Par Edmond Hhgues. 2 vols. 4th edition. Paris, 1875. Benjamin du Plan. Par D. Bonnefon. Paris, 1876. La Tour de Constance et ses PrisonniSres. Par Chables Sagnier. Paris, 1880. Un Martyr du D6sert, Jacques Eoger. Par Daniel Benoit. 2ud edition. Toulouse, 1881. Une Victime de I'intolerance au 18th siicle, Desubas. Par Daniel Benoit. 2nd edition. Toulouse, 1883. Marie Durand, Prisonniire a la Tour de Constance. Par Daniel Benoit. 2nd edition. Toulouse, 1885. L'Eglise sous la Croix : Etudes historiques. Par Daniel Benoit. Toulouse, 1882. Memoires de Bonbonnoux, Chef Camisard et Pasteur du Desert. Par Le Pasteur Vielles. En Cevennes [Anduze] , 1883. Paul Eabaut, ses lettres a Antoine Court. Par A. Pichebal-Dakuieb. Et une Preface par Charles Dardier. 2 vols. Paris, 1884. Paul Eabaut, ses lettres a Divers. Par Charles Dahdier. 2 vols. Paris, 1892. These two works are most carefully edited. Album du D6sert. Folio. Paris, 1888. The Seal of the Desert Church which is stamped on the cover of this volume is taken from the ' Album,' as was the plaintive device on the cover of the ' Huguenots in the XVIIth Century.' We are also indebted to the ' Album ' for the plate of a Desert Meeting in 1775. The other picture of a Desert Meeting has often been re-engraved. Although it belongs locally to page 31)1, the assembly it represents was held in the year 1780, twenty-four years later than the event there described. The scene was drawn from life by Boze, afterwards painter to the king : it was engraved in 1785. Other French works have been consulted. CONTENTS. |art I. THE GALLEY. PAGE I. The Galley and its Equipment .... '6 II. The Forcats— The Turks— The good Chaplain . 8 III. Jean Marteilhe : his Attempt to Escape . . 14 IV. Jean Marteilhe : Imprisonment at Tournay and Lille 18 V. Jean Marteilhe : The Galleys at Dunkerque . 23 VI. Jean MarteUhe : a Naval Battle .... 30 VII. Jean Marteilhe : Honourable Ecclesiastics ; the English in Dunkerque o4 VIII. Jean Marteilhe : Havre 37 IX. Jean Marteilhe : The Dimgeon at Eouen . . 41 X. Jean Marteilhe : Paris — La Tournelle ... 44 XI. Jean Marteilhe : March of the Chain to Marseilles 48 XII. Jean Marteilhe : Marseilles — The Galleys . . 51 XIII. Jean Marteilhe : Deliverance .... 55 IVart II. THE CAMISAKD WAR. I. The State of the Church in the year 1700 . . 63 II. The Prophets 66 III. The Clouds Gather 72 IV. The Abbe du Chaila 75 V. Pont-de-Montvert 78 xii Contents. PAoir VI. Murder of Du Chaila 81 VII. Deeds of the Conspirators and Death of Seguier. 88 VIII. The Camisard Chiefs 91 IX. The Camp 97 X. Incidents of the War, from the Death of Seguier to February, 1703 101 1. The Combat of Champ-Domergues, 101 2. Death of Laporte, 101 3. A Catholic Insurrection, 102 4. Cavalier surprises the Chateau of Servas, 103 5. Defeat of the Eoyalists at Val-de-Bane, 106 6. Slaughter of the Garrison at St. Felix, and De- struction of the Chateau, 106 XI. The Writing on the Wall 109 XII. Incidents of the War, from February to Decem- ber, 1703 117' 1. Marshal Montrevel, 117 2. The Woes of Genolhac, 118 3. The Slaughter at Fraissinet-de-Fourques, 119 4. The Massacre on Palm Sunday at Nimes, 120 5. The Story of the Baron de Saigas, 121 6. Catholic Marauders, 125 7. The Pope's Bull, 125 8. Foreign Aid, 126 9. The Aflray at Lussan — Jacques Bonbonnoux, 126 10. The Desolation of the Cevennes, 130 XIII. Camp Life 133 XIV. Havoc 140 XV. The Defeat of Cavalier at Nages . . .144 XVI. Further Disasters — The Caves of Euzet — Euin of the Camisard Cause 149 XVII. Marshal Villars : Negotiations . . . .155 XVIII. Conference between Lalande and Cavalier . 158 XIX. Interview of Cavalier with Marshal Villars . ICl XX. The Jubilee at Calvisson 166 XXI, The Illusion dissolved : Eupture between Cava- lier and Koland 169 XXII. Death of Eoland 175 XXIII. Surrender of the Chiefs— Departure of ViUars . 180 XXIV. Adventures of Bonbonnoux .... 182 XXV. A new Conspiracy 190 XXVI. Capture and Execution of Eavanel, Catinat, and Boeton 19-3- Contents. xiii PAGE XXVII. The Tour de Constance — Escape of Abraham Mazel '200 XXVIII. The end of the Insurrection — Fate of the remaining Chiefs 203 XXIX. Eeflections on the War 211 XXX. Death of Louis XIV 215 |art III. THE CHUKCH KESTOKED. I. The Regency 221 II. Antoine Court — Corteiz ..... 22i3 III. Antome Court forms a plan for the Restoration of the Church — Jacques Roger . . . 230 IV. The first Synod — Benj amin du Plan . . 233 V. Court silences the Prophetesses — Extrava- gancies of the " Inspired " — Hue and Vesson 237 VI. Etienne Arnaud — Duplicity of the Government 245 VII. Within the Fold ...... 249 VIII. Poitou : Martj-rdom of Jean Martin — Dau- phine 254 IX. Prosperity of the Church 260 X. The Declaration of 1724 — A Calm before the Storm . .264 XI. The Declaration put in Force . . . . 270 XII. The Seminary at Lausanne — The Moravians — State of the Churches . . . ... 277 XIII. Martyrdom of Pierre Dm-and .... 283 XIV. The Tour de Constance ; a Prison for Women . 297 XV. Marie Diirand 303 XVI. Confessors — Paul Eabaut — The Persecution Relaxes 317 XVII. The Boyer Schism— Du Plan— Calm Weather 326 XVIII. The year 1745 ; a Hurricane .... 334 XIX. Martyrdom of Louis Ranc and Jacques Roger 338 XX. Desubas 349 XXI. A Romish Triumph 368 XXII. State of the Church, 1746—1750 . . . 373 xiv Contents. PAGE XXIII. The Last Storm ; 1750—1755 . . .377 XXIV. Rest at Last 384 XXV. Jean Fabre 391 XXVI. Francois Eochette and the Glass-blowers . 398 XXVII. The Galas Tragedy— Voltaire .... 405 XXVIII. Paul Sirven— Pastor Chaumont . . .411 XXIX. 1761—1789 414 XXX. Conclusion : The Past and the Future . . 418 Appendix. The Quakers of Congenies .... 431 EEEATA. Page 82, note, line 2, for "old" read "lofty." Page 94, line 5, for " Camargues" read " Gamargue." Page 142, hue 3 from bottom, for " Satterargues " read " Satur- argues." Cuntcnts. XV PLATES. Tour de Constance : Women Prisoners on the Terrace Frontispiece To face page Mialet 133 Massoiibeyran : Roland's Birthplace and Head-quarters . . 135 Roland's Kitchen, showing the cupboard under which was the Cachette 137 Cavalier's house at Calvisson 166 Tour de Constance, Aigues-Mortes 200 Portrait of M. Bard 353 A Desert Meeting, 1775 389 A Desert Meeting in 1780, in the Quarry of L^que, near Ximes. 391 Paul Eabaut 417 The Friends' Meeting-house, Congenies 431 The Cellar at Fontan^s 436 The Majolier House, Congenies 456 The Fountain, Congenies 457 La Kibiere : the Paradon House before the alterations . . 458 MAPS. Part of the Cevennes and of the Plain of Languedoc . , 67 Part of Le Vivarais and Dauphine ... . . 223 ^artl THE GALLEY THE CAMISAEDS. CHAPTER L THE GALLEY AND ITS EQUIPMENT. Two engines for coercing conscience were peculiar to the Huguenot persecution, the Dragonnade and the Galley. In the previous volume "we have spoken of the former ; of the latter we had a passing view in the narratives of Louis de MaroUes and his fellow- sufferers. The galley was a vessel of war, rowed by convicts and slaves, and made use of by the Italians, French and other nations bordering on the Mediterranean. It was no doubt a descendant of the Eoman trireme. It was shallow, a great barge in fact, 150 feet long by 40 wide, with one deck, on which were many benches of rowers. It carried two masts, but sails were seldom used. The oars, which were of enormous length, were usually worked each by five forf;ats, or galley-slaves, besides the Turk who as stronger than the rest was stationed at the handle. The galley had 300 rowers ; and the officers, soldiers, and crew numbered 150. On the poop, above the bridge, was a cabin for the captain and superior officers. The benches were a foot and a half wide ; and the rowers were secured to them by a chain a yard long riveted to one leg : here they rowed, ate, slept, lived, and sometimes died. Li calm weather an awning 4 The Camisards. was put up, of grass in winter, and cotton, blue or white, in summer. At night, from the incessant labour, close contact, and want of a change in linen, the poor fellows were devoured by vermin ; but those who lay near to a sub-officer durst not stir lest the noise should awaken him, and get them a beating. The dress of the forcat consisted of a shirt of coarse hempen cloth, and a vest of red serge open at the sides and with wide short sleeves, a cape of coarse twine, and a red cap. Theii- head, eyebrows, and beard were shaved as a mark of infamy. In rowing the men rose and then fell back, half turning over on the bench. The sweat poured down their bodies, bathing their bruised limbs ; and by constant rowing the palms of their hands became as hard as wood. A narrow gangway, called the Coursier, ran down the middle of the galley from stem to stern, on which three Comites (special officers over the for9ats) were stationed to watch the rowers. Each was armed with a long flexible stick, and whenever he observed that one of the rowers did not keep up with the rest, he reached out and struck him, making no enquiry as to the cause of his slackness, and regardless if, as often happened, the blow fell on the wrong man. As the men rowed naked from the waist upwards, the blows they received might be counted by the number of bruises, sometimes turning to wounds. Every blow was accom- panied by execrations and blasphemies. When the galley put into port, and rapid and punctual manoeuvres were necessary, it might be said to rain blows, for the Comite put all his faith in the use of the stick. The daily ration of the for9ats was biscuit in sufficient quantity, a basin of soup made with peas and beans, tolerably good, but sometimes mouldy, and a little oil. When the galley was at sea, two-thirds of a pint of wine was dealt out to each man. When they were in port, by feeing the sub-officer, the Turk and the halberdier, the The Galley and its Equipment. 5 for9ats -wexe able to go into the town and buy provisions. By the same means they could get the cook to let them use the ship's kitchen, and the Argousin (galley-sergeant) to loosen the chain at night so that they could lie at full length. When the galley was in port, those who were master of a trade worked at it ; the rest made coarse stockings with a needle. They were furnished with the wool ; and half the value of their labour was paid to them in tickets on the galley-stores. The officers' table was served in a very different style from that of the prisoners. Sometimes great people came on board, and were sumptuously entertained. It was, however, a sorry place for a regale, surrounded by such misery, and with the effluvia which rose from the whole vessel. The visit of a great man was announced by the Comite's whistle to call attention, and when he blew a second time, every for9at yelled with all his strength : this was called the salute. For the sick there was a place set apart at the bottom of the hold under the bridge, called the prow-room. It was dark, being lighted only by the entrance, two feet square. At the further end were two platforms one above the other, on which the sick were laid on the bare boards, often so close as to rest one upon another; and when the plat- forms were too crowded, they were laid on the ropes. The consequence was that, however ill a for9at might be, he would have preferred to remain at his chain and die at his oar rather than be taken to the prow-room. The hospital allowance was a pound of bread, a pound of meat, and two ounces of rice per day. But in this, as in every other department of the service, the prisoners suffered from the avarice of the officers, who enriched themselves at their expense. The galleys belonged to the ports of Toulon, Marseilles, Duukerque, Brest, St. Malo, and Bordeaux. 6 The Cainisards. The service at sea was far more severe than in port, most of all in time of actual war. In 1688, De Seignelay, Minister of Marine, wrote: — "As nothing can so much contribute to bring to reason the forcats who are still Huguenots, and unwilling to be instructed, than the fatigue of a campaign, do not fail to put them on the galleys which go to Algiers." And Louis XIV. laid it down as a rule that forcats condemned for a term of years on account of their religion should never be released until they were converted. At the same time it was understood, although not always acted upon, that a forcat could any day obtain his liberty by declaring himself a CathoUc. From this it is evident that the condemnation of Pro- testants to the galleys was not so much a punishment, as a perpetual rack of body and soul on account of their religion. Like the dragonnades, it was a material means of conversion. In the narrative of the sufferings of Louis de MaroUes and his companions, contained in the former work, we read of frequent beatings, or, as one of the stewards termed it, " painting Calvin's back with cudgels." This treatment was cruel ; but it was succeeded by something far worse, namely, the systematic use of the bastinade, which was introduced after the Peace of Ryswick. The missionary priests then undertook during the celebration of the mass to make Protestants uncover their heads and go down upon their knees like the Roman CathoUcs. The infliction was horrible.* After a certain number of blows, the officer * Eye-witnesses thus describe the torture : — " On le livre entre les mains de quatre Mores ou Turcs, qui le depouillent, le niettent nud et sans chemise, et I'^tendent sur le canon de chasse. lis lui tiennent les bras et les jambes, sans qu'il puisse remiier. A la vue de ce spectacle on voit rdgner dans toute la galere, un silence morne. Les plus scelerats detournent les yeux. La victime etant ainsi preparee, un Turc, arm6 d'une corde pleine de nceuds, ou d'un baton pliant, I'assomme." Another writer speaks of the instrument as "une corde The Galley and its Equipment. 7 interrupted with the question, " Dog, wilt thou now obey the King's orders?" and if the answer was in the negative, the blows were continued, sometimes to the number of one hundred, but in this case the victim seldom survived.* The confessors bore this treatment with holy patience, praising God in the midst of their torment. The refugee ministers and other friends of the oppressed, whose hearts were lacerated with the report of these savage doings, represented the case to the ambassadors of the Protestant powers at the French courts. The ambassadors presented a memorial to the King showing how unjust it was that men who were suffering the penalty of the galley for refusing to conform to the Eomish Church should be assailed by new tortures to bring them into it. Louis confessed the injustice of the treatment, declared it was without his order, and sent to Marseilles to put a stop to it. From that time the Eeformed were allowed to lie on their benches whilst mass was being performed. goudronnee et trempde dans I'eau de mer," and adds, "le corps bondissait sous la violence des coups." Another says : — " Derriere le Turc est le eomite qui le frappe avec une corde pour I'animer a frapper de toutes ses forces. Rarement ceux qui sont condamnes ;\ souffrir un pareil supplice, en peuvent-ils supporter dix a douze coups sans perdre la parole et le mouvement. Vingt ou trente coups n'est que pour les peccadilles, mais j'ai vu qu'on en donnait cinquante ou quatre- vingts, et meme cent ; mais ceux-la n'en reviennent gu^re. Apres done que ce pauvi'e patient a re(,'U les coups ordonnes, le barbier ou f rater de la galore vient lui frotter le dos tout dechire, avec du fort vinaigre ct du sel, pour lui faire reprendre la sensibilite, et pour empeeher que la gangrene ne s'y mette." * Some officers were more humane or more indifferent, telling the sufferers that they did not desire to meddle with their religion. One of these used to say, " Take off thy cap, look towards the stern, and then pray to God or Calvin, or whomsoever thou wilt." ( 8 ) CHAPTEE 11. THE FORCATS— THE TUEKS— THE GOOD CHAPLAIN. On the galley bench the Christian confessor sat side by- side with hardened criminals, offenders against military and fiscal regulations, and Turkish (or Moorish) slaves. The offenders against the salt tax were mostly poor peasants who had gone to buy salt into the provinces where it was cheap. A pound of salt in most parts of France was worth ten and a half sous (5Jd.) ; and famihes would sometimes go a week without tasting soup because they could not afford to buy salt. In the provinces where salt was produced the price was only one-fourth of the above ; and a father, distressed to see his wife and children languish, would sometimes venture over the forbidden line that he might bring back a few pounds of the coveted article. For this offence the galley was the penalty, nominally for a term of years only, but, when once at the oar, nothing was more difficult than to obtain a release, especially if the condemned had the misfortune to be a man of brawn and muscle. The deserters from the army were of various classes ; some of them of noble families, who had fallen into licentious habits or were impatient of the discipline of the camp. Formerly offenders of this kind had their ears and noses cut off ; at the time we are writing of they were only lightly slit. Of the criminal convicts, the worst were those who The Formats— The Turk, 9 accommodated themselves most easily to the galley life. They recounted to one another the robberies and murders- they had perpetrated, and he who had done the blackest deeds was a hero amongst them. When they were beaten they vomited curses and blasphemies, not against the Comites, of whom they stood in terror, but against God, — "enough," says a chaplain who often heard them, "to make one's hair stand on end." " Their conversation and conduct," he adds, "were filthy in the extreme, as who should know better than he who at the hour of death was the depositary of their abominable secrets?" Not the least cruel part of the torment inflicted on the Christian confessor, whose heart was filled with reverence and love to God and his Saviour, must have been the company he was compelled to endure. The Turks and Moors were slaves from the Barbary States or from Turkey, bought for the purpose of helping at the oar, and were generally tall, well-formed, robust men. They were much better ofi' than the for9ats ; they wore no chain, only a ring on one ankle, received soldier's rations, and were allowed to trade when the galley was in port. They saved money, which they sent to their re- lations ; and in their punctual observance of the religion they professed, and their charity towards one another, they were an example to Christians. " I had for my valet," says the writer to whom we owe these particulars, "one named Tripoli, who was a most religious observer of his law. During the Kamadan, the first moon of the year, he neither ate nor drank from sunrise to sunset, so that although he became so exhausted that I could scarcely recognise him, I could never get him to taste a drop of wine." The honesty of these Turks was proverbial; all the officers' valets were Turks, and nothing that was con- fided to them was ever missing. Nor was their charity towards each other less remarkable. If one got into 10 The Camisards. trouble, all the others entreated their masters to inter- cede for him with the captain. When one was sick, his comrades waited upon him. They clubbed together to make their soup and to buy little indulgences. " You would say," observes the same writer, " that the Turks are Turks in name only, but Christians in fact, and that the Christians are the real infidels. So that when the Turks are spoken to regarding Christianity, they reply, ' We would rather be transformed into dogs than embrace a religion whicli practises so many cruelties and abomi- nations.'" "There was," he says, "a Turk who spoke French, and to whom I had rendered some service. One day I found him on the ropes in the prow-chamber in a %ing state. Seeing me console some men in the same condition who were lying near him, he called to bid me adieu, saying he felt he had not four hours to live. I ventured, contrary to my practice, to speak to him of God and of Jesus Christ, telling him I was grieved to think that after having suffered so much on earth he was going to everlasting fire. He seemed to be affected by the truths I set before him ; I embraced him and told him I would answer for his salvation if he would renounce Mahomet, who was only an impostor, and would believe on Jesus Christ our Eedeemer, of whose wonders he had so often heard me speak to the forcats. He consented. I then said it was necessary he should be baptized, for that without baptism there was no hope of salvation. I left him to procure some water, and to confide to the captain what I was about to do, but whilst I was absent, another Turk, who also understood French and who had been attentively watching us, took my place and spoke a few words to my proselyte in their own language. The consequence was that when I returned I could get nothing from him ; his comrade threw himself upon him, and in spite of the ■threats of the Comite, who told him that if he did not The Good Chaplain. 11 ■withdraw he should be beaten, exhorted him to stand firm and be faithful to Mahomet. He gained the day ; the sick man died in my presence, without uttering another word. If I had then known my religion as I now know it, I should have continued to speak to him of the Divine mercy and of Jesus Christ our Redeemer ; I should have exhorted him to repentance, without troubling him with the absolute necessity of baptism." The writer of the above was Jean Francois Bion, a cure of Burgundy, who became chaplain on ' La Superbe ' in the port of Marseilles in 1703. He thus describes his first experience : — " Many Protestants from the Ceveunes and Languedoc were brought on board with orders that they should be watched. On Sunday morning I was much astonished, on coming to the poop to perform mass, to hear the Comite say that he was going to give the bastinade to the Huguenots because they would not raise their caps or kneel at the elevation of the host. The word bastinade terrified me, and I begged the Comite to withhold the punishment until the next Sunday. In the interval I did all in my power by kind words and warnings, and presents of food, to bring the prisoners to reason, telling them that it was by the King s orders, and that St. Paul says, ' he who resists the power resists God himself.' They answered me with the firmness of the Maccabees, that the King was indeed master of their bodies, but he should never be master of their consciences. The next Suncfay all except two remained firm, neither bending their knees, nor un- covering their head. Their disobedience was reported to the captain, and they were bastinaded." Deeply affected at what he saw, Bion did all in his power to comfort the sufferers and ameliorate their con- dition. Their patience under suffering and the Christian temper which they exhibited soon began to raise doubts in his mind whether their religion was not at least as good as 12 llie Camisards. his, since it bore better fruit. After the recurrence on several occasions of these scenes, he thus describes his feelings : — " Under pretext of visiting the sick, I used to follow the sufferers when they were carried from their punishment into the prow-room, and when I gazed on their lacerated bodies my eyes flowed with tears. They perceived my emotion, and, although scarcely able to speak, thanked me for my sympathy. I went to impart consolation to them, but I had more need for comfort than they, for God was their support, and fortified them with a constancy and patience truly Christian. Amidst the cries and groans, which they could not suppress, no word of impatience or malice ever escaped their lips. I visited them every day, and every day my heart reproached me for remaining in a religion in which I saw so many errors, and especially a cruelty irreconcilable with the precepts of Christ. Their wounds were so many mouths which preached to me the Reformed Eeligion, and their blood was for me the seed of the new birth." " When," he continues, "in my office as confessor, or consoler of the sick, I went into the hole, I was covered with vermin. As I went in my dressing-gown, unlike the poor wretches whom I visited, I could free myself from this tormenting company. Every time I went down I seemed to be in the chamber of death, and as the space between the platforms was only three feet, I was obliged to lie down close to the sick men to hear their confessions in private ; so that sometimes, whilst confessing one on my right, I found another on my left dying on my breast. Besides the vermin, the place was foul with stench and corruption." In 1704, Bion, having occasion to go to Versailles, acquainted the Minister of Marine, Pontchartrain, with the abuses of the galley service, and suggested a remedy. His complaints agreed with some hints the Minister had already received, and the King ordered a present to be The Good Chaplain. 13 made to him. It does not appear, however, that his good ofiBces produced any result, and he returned to his post on board ' La Superbe ' with a mind ill at ease. At length, unable longer to bear the strain, and resolved to renounce the Roman Catholic religion, he fled, in 1707, to Geneva, where he arrived in a state of complete desti- tution. Some charitable persons supplied him with clothes and with money for his passage to England. In Loudon he opened a school, but, receiving episcopal ordination, he gave up teaching to become minister to the French Church in Chelsea. Here he published his Relation des Tourmmtn qu'on fait souffrir aiix Protestants qui sont sur les Galeres de France, which he dedicated to Queen Anne. In 1709 Bion removed into Holland, where he served as chaplain to an English Church. A better illustration of life on board the gaUey cannot be found than in the following biography of Jean Marteilhe, as related by himself. We must first see, however, by what mishap the nan*ator came to lose his liberty. ( 14 ) CHAPTER III. JEAN MARTEILHE : HIS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. In the year 1699 the Duke de la Force, whose ancestors were Protestants, went down from Paris to Perigord, to convert the Huguenots on his estate in that province. By means the most barbarous he forced a large number of them to abjure their faith, and swear inviolable attachment to the Romish religion. Elated with his success, he held a festival at his castle, and made a bonfire of the Protestant library which his ancestors had collected. Returning to the court to give an account of his achievements, he received authority to undertake the same work in the royal towns of the province, and accordingly the next year he came again into Perigord, attended by four Jesuits, and by a regiment of dragoons, whom he quartered upon the iiuofifending people. In the month of October these bloodhounds were let loose on the town of Bergerac, twenty-two of them being quartered in the house of a tradesman named Marteilhe. The husband was taken to prison, two sons and a daughter were removed to convents, and one son escaped, leaving the mother to contend alone with two-and-twenty ruffians. After consuming and destroying everything in the house, the soldiers dragged the weeping woman before the Duke, who compelled her to put her hand to a paper of abjuration, full of imprecations against the Reformed Faith. She had the courage and wit to add to her name, " La Force me le fait faire." Jean Marteilhe : his attempt to escape. 15 The son who escaped, and who was named Jean, was sixteen years of age. Accompanied by another young man named Daniel Le Gras, he set out to walk to Paris, where they arrived on the 10th of November, 1700. The brethren of Paris had prepared route-maps and directions for clan- destine journeys to the frontier, after the manner of the " underground railway." These instructions warned the fugitives to use the greatest precaution when entering the frontier town of Mezieres, where strangers were stopped at the gates, and if unprovided with passports, sent to prison. "We ai-rived at this place," says Jean Marteilhe in his autobiography, "one afternoon about four o'clock, and halted at the top of a little hill whence we could see the whole town and the gate by which we should have to enter. Our feelings may be imagined as we contemplated the danger which lay before us. Sitting down to consult together, we observed that the approach to the town was by a long bridge, on which a number of citizens were walking ; and we thought that by mixing with them, and walking up and down, we should be able to pass through the gate with the crowd, without being challenged by the sentinel. Accordingly we emptied our knapsacks of some shirts that we had, putting them all on, and the knapsacks into our pockets. Then we cleaned our shoes, combed our hair, and made ourselves look as little like wayfarers as possible. Thus smartened up, we descended the hill to the bridge, where we walked up and down with the citizens, until the drum beat for the closing of the gates. At this signal all the people hastened to return into the town, and we with them, the sentinel not perceiving that we were strangers." But although the fugitives had escaped this peril, they were not yet safe. The landlord of the inn at which they put up insisted on their going before the governor. They contrived to put him off for that night, and early the next 16 The Camisards. morning, by means of another subterfuge, and without paying their reckoning, got away from the house un- perceived, and left the town by the opposite gate to that by which they had entered. In crossing the frontier they had a narrow escape ; the rain fell so heavily that the sentinels had retreated into the guard-house, and so they passed by without being observed. But a new danger awaited them. Marteilhe continues : — "We arrived at Couve, in Luxembourg, wet to the skin, and entered an inn to dry ourselves and get something to eat. At table, beer was brought us in a two-handled pot, but without glasses, and when we asked for these the host saw at once that we were Frenchmen, and told us the custom of his country was to drink out of the pot. This incident, which seems so trivial, was the cause, humanly speaking, of our misfortune. In the same room were two men, a citizen of the town, and a gamekeeper of the Prince of Liege. The latter began to eye us attentively, and pre- sently accosting us, said he would wager we did not carry rosaries in our pockets. My companion, who was taking a pinch of snuff, showed him his snuff-box, and said very imprudently, ' This is my rosary.' This answer confirmed the gamekeeper in his suspicion that we were Protestants, and that we were fleeing from the country ; and as in- formers were rewarded with the spoil of captured fugitives, he conceived the design of getting us arrested if we should pass through the town of Mariembourg." So long as they were in Luxembourg the travellers were safe, but the French possessed within the Duchy the town of Mariembourg, which lay in their direct route. It was part of their plan, therefore, to avoid this town ; and accordingly, on leaving Couve, they struck off to the left. Unfortunately the sight of a mounted ofScer alarmed them ; they turned back, and imprudently took the road which led to the fatal place. It being almost night when they arrived before Mariem- Jean Marteillie : his attempt to escape. 17 bourg, they decided to go no further, but to lodge at an inn which they saw opposite the gate. They little knew that the treacherous gamekeeper was on their track. As soon as he saw them safe in the net he gave information, and they were presently in the hands of a sergeant of the city guard, followed by eight soldiers with fixed bayonets. Carried before the governor, they confessed that they were of the Keformed Eeligion, but pretended they were hair- dressers' apprentices making the circuit of France. " On the question of religion," says Marteilhe, " our consciences would not suffer us to prevaricate. Alas ! that we did not tell the simple truth in reply to the other questions which the governor put to us, for Christian morality requires that one should never tell a lie." c ( 18 ) CHAPTER IV. JEAN MAETEILHE : IMPRISONMENT AT TOURNAY AND LILLE. Mabteilhe and Le Gras were placed in a dungeon in the prison of the parliament, but the major of the fortress, who was their fellow-countryman, procured their removal to a room in the jailer's house ; and the governor, who also sympathised with them, made out the charge against them as favourably as he durst. After some time they were taken in chains to Tournay, guarded by four archers (soldiers). The journey, which was made on foot, with only bread and water, and lodging in miserable dungeons, was very painful ; and when they arrived at Tournay, they were thrust into the prison of the parliament and almost starved. " We became," con- tinues Marteilhe, " so emaciated that we could not stand, and were obliged to lie down, with nothing to rest upon but a little damp straw swarming with vermin. We were forced to lie close to the door, for our bread was thrown to us as if we were dogs, and if we had moved away we should not have had strength to crawl to it. In this extremity we sold our doublets and waistcoats to the turnkey, as well as a few spare shirts we had, keeping only the one we wore, which soon fell to rags. We saw no one but the cure, who came rather to mock us than to show us any compassion. He asked if we were not weary of suffering, and told us we were not to be pitied, since we might regain our liberty by renouncing the errors of Calvin. Jean Marteilhe : Imprisonment at Tour nay. 19 At length his discourse became so insipid that we ceased to answer him." At the end of about six weeks two other prisoners were brought and thrust into the same cell. They were young and richly dressed, and Marteilhe and his companion recognised them as fellow-townsmen and schoolmates. They had money, and were very willing to reheve the misery of Marteilhe and his companion. " Receiving from them a louis d'or," says Marteilhe, " I knocked with all my strength at the prison-door. The jailer came and asked what we wanted. 'Something to eat,' I said, 'for this money.' ' Very well, gentlemen,' he replied; 'what will you have — soup and bouilli ? ' ' Yes, yes,' I answered ; * good thick soup, and a ten-pound loaf, and some beer.' * You shall have it in an hour,' said he. ' In an hour ! ' I ■exclaimed; ' what a long time ! ' The two gentlemen could not help smiling at my impatience. At last the much desired moment came : the gentlemen ate very little, but my companion and I fell ravenously upon the soup, and my digestion being impaired by long fasting, I was taken ill, and an apothecary had to be sent for." The bishop of Tournay sent one of his chaplains to the prison to instruct the Huguenots. He was a good old priest whose honesty was better than his theology. He said he was come to convert them to the Christian religion. They assured him that they were already Christians, and to prove it Marteilhe repeated the Apostle's Creed. " What! " he cried, " do you beheve in that ? I think the bishop must have been making an April fool of me " — (it was the first of April). So saying, he went quickly away, quite discomfited. The next day the bishop sent his grand vicar, an acute dialectician, and eager to proselytize, but at the same time humane and charitable. The grand vicar came frequently to dispute with them, but, as he argued from tradition, whilst they appealed only to Holy Scripture, the 20 The Carnisards. disputants never came any nearer to an agreement. Seeing- their destitute condition, be secretly sent them some linen; he also gave them four louis d'or, which he would not suffer them to refuse. Some time afterwards, they were examined before the parliament. Unhappily they did not adhere to Marteilhe's excellent maxim that " it is never allowable to a Christian to depart from the truth," but set up an illusory defence, which did them no service. The parliament indeed was, or pretended to be, satisfied; but the court at Versailles could not be so deceived, and in reply to the favourable report sent up the Secretary of State returned the laconic mandate: — " Gentlemen, " Jean Marteilhe and Daniel le Gras having been found upon the frontiers without passports. His Majesty decides that they shall be condemned to the galleys. " De la Vkilliere." Three days afterwards the prisoners were taken to Lille,, and conducted to the tower of St. Pierre, chosen for the thickness of its walls. Here they were placed in a large upper room with about thirty villains who were expiating, various crimes. It was so dark that the prisoners could not see one another, nor the rats and mice which ate their bread. The first compliment of the old occupants to the new comers was to demand their " footing," under penalty of being tossed in a counterpane. They paid the demand,, but a poor wretch who joined them two days afterwards, having no money, was cruelly treated, being let fall many times on the stones until he was half-dead. Every evening the jailer with four turnkeys and the prison-guard searched the room to detect and prevent any attempt at escape. One evening Marteilhe said something about the candle which oifended one of the turnkeys, who reported him to the jailer. " The next morning," says our hero, "when all my comrades were singing their litanies, — without Jean Marteilhe : Imprisonment at Lille. 21 ■which the Jesuits would have given them no ahus, — and I was sleeping on my handful of straw, I was awakened by several blows with the flat of a sword. I jumped up and saw before me the jailer, sword in hand, the four turnkeys and all the soldiers of the guard armed to the teeth. I asked why they thus ill-treated me. The jailer answered only by redoubling his blows, and the turnkey dealt me so teiTible a box on the ear that I fell to the ground. When I rose again the jailer made me follow him, but seeing that -this was only to do me more injury, I refused. Hereupon they gave me more blows, and I again fell down. Then the four turnkeys took me, two by the legs and two by the ai-ms, and carrying me out of the prison, dragged me hke a dead dog down the steps into the court, whence a door led still further down by another stone staircase to a sub- terranean dungeon. This hole, which was guarded by an iron door, was called the witches' dungeon. They thrust me in, and closed the door upon me. It was pitch dark, and I could see nothing, and when I groped a few steps to seek for some straw, I sank up to my knees in water as <5old as ice. I turned back, and placed myself against the door, where the ground was higher and less damp. By groping I found a little straw, on which I sat, but in a minute or two I felt the water coming through the straw. I firmly believed they had buried me alive, and that if I remained there twenty-four hours this frightful hole would be my tomb. Half-an-hour afterwards the turnkey brought me some bread and water, which he passed through the grating. I refused his victuals, saying, ' Go tell thy hangman of a master that I will neither drink nor eat till I have spoken to the Grand Provost.' " This courageous reply of Marteilhe's procured his release. "In less than an hour," to continue his relation, "the jailer himself came, armed only with a candle and a bunch of keys, and opening the door, told me in a kind voice to 22 The Camisards. follow him. He took me into his kitchen. I was dirty and covered with blood, which had flowed from my nose, and from a bruise on my head, received by being bumped down the stone steps. He washed off the blood, put a plaister on my bruise, and gave me a glass of Canary wine, which revived me a little. He reprimanded me slightly for my indiscretion about the turnkey's candle, and after making me take breakfast with him, he led me to a cell in the courtyard which was dry and light. ' But let me have my comrade with me,' I said to him. 'Patience,' he answered ; ' it will all come in time.' I remamed four or five days in this cell, during which time the jailer every day sent nie my dinner from his table." Marteilhe was then taken back to the dark room in the tower, where Le Gras, who thought he was lost, was delighted to fed him again, for they could not see one another. One morning the jailer opened the door and bade them follow him. The Grand Provost of French Flanders had sent for them ; he had received a letter on their behalf from his brother, who lived near Bergerac, and he was in consequence disposed to show them favour. " For any other crime," he said, " I should have had influence sufiicient to obtain your pardon, but nobody dares to exert himself for any of the Eeformed Religion. All that I can do is to make you comfortable in the prison, and to keep you here as long as I can, which, however, cannot be long, for the chain is about to start for the galleys." Accordingly he ordered the jailer to place them in the alms-room, the largest and most airy chamber in the prison, and to make Marteilhe provost of the room. The Grand Provost's fears were soon realised. The chain set forth almost immediately afterwards, taking Marteilhe and his companion, and on the third day arrived at Dunkerque. ( 23 ) CHAPTER V. JEAN MAETEILHE: THE GALLEYS AT DUNKERQUE, As soon as the prisoners arrived at Dunkerque tbey were placed on the galley ' L'Heureuse,' each on a different bench. " The very day of our arrival," says our author, " I was horrified to see an unhappy for9at undergo the bastiuade ; it was done on the spot without any form of trial. The next day I myself narrowly escaped the same punishment. A villainous for9at, named Poulet, came to the bench where I was chained, and in an insulting manner demanded money to drink my welcome. I repUed that I gave wel- come money to those only who did not ask for it. (I had already paid for five or sis bottles of wine for my bench - mates). The wretch went off and told the sub-comite that I had blasphemed the Vu-gin and all the Saints in Heaven. The sub-comite, who was aJbrutal savage, as they all are, believed the man's story, and coming to my bench ordered me to strip to receive the bastinade. I asked my comrades why I was to be so treated ; if it was a seasoning all new-comers had to undergo. They answered that they did not understand it. Meanwhile the sub-comite had gone towards the quay to report me to the major, in whose pre- sence the punishment is always inflicted. As he was crossing the plank, however, he met the chief comite, to whom he told what he was about to do. That officer enquired if he, the sub-comite, had himself heard me 24 The Camisards. blaspheme. The man answered, 'No; he had it from Poulet.' ' A fine witness truly ! ' replied the chief comite. This chief comite was a tolerably good man and serious for one of his profession. He came to my bench and asked me why I had blasphemed the Roman Catholic religion. I answered that I had never done so, and that my religion forbade it. Upon which he sent for Poulet and asked him what I had said. The rascal had the impudence to repeat what he had told the sub-comite. The comite then interrogated the //nleriens of my bench, and afterwards those of the benches above and below, all of whom, some eighteen or twenty persons, concurred in saying that I had never uttered any such words, but that Poulet had grossly insulted me, and all that I had said was that I did not give welcome money to those who asked for it. Thereupon the chief comite gave Poulet a severe beating, and had him double-chained and put on the criminal bench, and at the same time sharply rated the sub-comite for listening to the tales of such a rogue. Thus I got oft' with only the terror of the infliction. " Alongside of the galley where I was," continues Marteilhe, " was another, the comite of which was a very demon. He had his galley cleaned out every day, instead of every Saturday like the others, and during this operation, which lasted two or three hours, his blows fell on the galeriens like hail. The forcats of my bench were always saying to me : ' Pray God that in the allotment of the last comers amongst the six galleys, which will soon take place, your lot may not fall to the galley ' La Palme ' (that of the wicked comite).' When the time for the allotment came, we were led to the park of the arsenal, where we were stripped and examined, just as would be done with fat oxen at the market, and arranged in six classes, from the strongest to the weakest. From these were made up six lots, as equal as possible, which the comites drew. I found Jean Marteilhe : the Galleys at Dankerqiie. 25 myself in class number one, and at the head of my lot. The comite to whom I fell bade us follow him to his galley. Eager to know my fate, and not suspecting that my guide was a comite, I asked him to tell me to which galley I was allotted. ' To La Palme,' he answered. I uttered an exclamation of horror. ' You seem,' said he, ' to think yourself worse off than the rest, why is this?' ' Because, sir, I have fallen to a hell of a galley, the comite of which is worse than a devil.' It was the comite himself. He knit his brows as he fixed his eyes upon me and said sternly, ' If I knew who told you that and had him in my power I would make him repent of it.' " But here, as in the Tower prison of Lille, Marteilhe' s honest boldness made way for him. " The comite," he continues, "seemed desirous to prove that he was not such a demon as he was represented, for when the argousin began by fastening on my leg an unusually heavy iron ring and chain, he threatened if he did not take off tliat ponderous iron, he would complain of him to the captain, for he would not have the best oar of the lot spoiled in that manner. Accordingly the argousin put on instead one of the lightest chains he had, chosen by the comite himself. Then the comite ordered the argousin to take me and chain me to bis, the comite's, own bench." It should here be observed that the benches of the comite and sub-comite were coveted, not only because the forcats attached to them were fed with the remnants of their meals, but chiefly because they never came in for blows of the stick whilst they were rowing or performing other manoeuvres. Marteilhe through his independent behaviour soon lost his new position ; but although he was removed to another bench, the comite had conceived so great a respect for him, that he not only never struck him, but ■would not suffer his sub-comites to do so ; he even extended his favour to the other four Huguenots on board his galley. 26 21ie Camisards. There was at Dunkerque a wealthy banker named Piecourt, a New Convert,* but at heart as much a Protes- tant as he had ever been. He was a generous man, always ready with his purse ; and he lived on the best terms with the Catholic nobility, who often came under obligation to him. One of his intimate friends was the Chevalier de Langeron, captain of Marteilhe's galley. As soon as they heard that he was in a galley at Dunkerque, Marteilhe's friends wrote to Piecourt, recommending him to his kind attention ; and through his influence with De Langeron various indulgences were granted to the confessor. One day Piecourt begged the captain to let Marteilhe call upon him. The captain complied, and the argousin was sent to conduct the prisoner, without his chain, to the banker's house. Piecourt told Marteilhe that he had devised a scheme for his release, which would certainly succeed if only he would leave the matter entirely in his hands. Marteilhe thanked him and said he would do all that he wished provided that it was not against his con- science. "Conscience," replied Piecourt, "may have something to do with it, but so little that you will not feel it ; and what you find to be wrong you can make amends for when you get to Holland. Listen to me, I am a Pro- testant like yourself ; but I find it necessary for my fortune's sake to play the hypocrite before the world, and I do not believe that there is any very great harm in this,, if one does not apostatise inwardly." Then he propounded his plan, which was for Marteilhe to sign a declaration that when ho should be set at liberty, in whatever country he might be, he would live and die a Roman Catholic^ " M. de Pontchartrain, the minister of marine," continued the banker, " is a friend of mine, and will refuse me * The New Converts, or New Catholics, were those who had abjured during the persecution. Jean Marteilhe: the Galleys at Dunkerque. 27 nothing. What do you think of the plan?" " I think, sir," answered Marteilhe, "that I was deceived in supposing you to be a good Protestant. You may be a Protestant, but one must drop the word (jood. I pray you to pardon me if I take the liberty to tell you, that although you think yourself a Protestant, you are nothing at all. How 1 do you suppose that God is deaf or bhnd, and that the pro- mise which you propose I should make, although unknown to men, would not be in the highest degi-ee offensive to Him, as much so and even more than if I had made it to a cure ? For I have only to do the same thing before the chaplain of my galley and he would at once procure me my release. Do not deceive yoiurself, the Ught you possess condemns you ; for you know as well as I do, and much better, that if the confession we make to God in our hearts is not confirmed by our lips, instead of being a virtue it becomes a great sin." Piecourt was not offended by Marteilhe's frankness. For some time he tried to move him by argument, but the truth was too strong, and he ended by embracing the galerien with tears in his eyes, praying that God would grant him grace to persevere in sentiments so worthy of a confessor of the truth. " I love you," he added, " not so much on account of the recom- mendations I have received on your behalf, as from respect for your excellent sentiments, and you may be sure I shall watch for opportunities to render you service." The pitiable condition of the galeriens was ever present with their refugee brethren abroad, especially in Holland, who took care to keep them supplied with money, without which some might have died of hunger. The money was remitted by a banker in Amsterdam to his correspondent in Dunkerque or Marseilles, where one of the galeriens was appointed to receive and distribute it. It was a difiScult and very perilous office ; if once discovered the agent could count on no punishment short of being bastinaded to death, 28 llie CciDiisards. unless he disclosed the name of the banker, and in that ■case the banker -would be ruined. Marteilhe was chosen to fill this office in Dunkerque. The Romish missionaries were well aware that such help was received, but were unable to trace the channel through which it flowed ; and even although at their instance the court instituted a system of the strictest vigilance, the secret was never discovered. This was mainly owing to the fidelity of the Turkish slaves. By the rules of the galley, ordinary malefactors had permission to go ashore, on paying a sou to the argousin, and another to the guard who went with them; but through the influence of the missionary chaplains the Huguenots were denied this privilege, and this important link had to be supplied by another agency. Once or twice M. Piecourt sent Marteilhe the money by his clerk ; but the measures taken by the court so terrified the clerk that he durst not again expose himself. In this extremity, Marteilhe confided his difficulty to the Turk on his bench, asking him if when he went into the town he could call at the banker's for the money. The poor man, whose name was Ysouf, joyfully undertook the service, and placing his hand on his turban gave thanks to God for being chosen to perform a work of charity, although it was at the peril of his life. Ysouf served Marteilhe in this way for several years with perfect fidelity, always refusing the smallest remuneration, saying that if he were to receive anything his good deed would be cancelled, and God would j)unish him. De Langeron, although desirous to oblige M. Piecourt, hated the Protestants in his lieart, and when they were rowing, stripped as usual, would call the comite to him, and say, " Go and refresh the backs of these Huguenots with a salad of blows." The blows fell indeed, but the comite took care that they should fall on other backs than those of the confessors. After a while, however, De Lan- Jean Martcilhc : the Galleys at Dunkerquc. 29 geron's feelings towards the Protestants underwent a change, and he began to use his influence to protect, instead of oppressing them. This change was produced by the fidelity of an aged galerien named Bancilhon, whom, at the recommendation of the comite, the captain had made his cabin-boy or steward. It was with no little reluctance that he consented to take a Huguenot into his personal service, but the comite assuring him that strict honesty was not to be found except in the proscribed religion, he consented. Bancilhon's fidelity, prudence, and conscientious discharge of his duties so won on the captain's heart that he trusted him with his purse, would have no one else about him, and for his sake showed kind- ness to the rest of the galeriens. ( 30 ) CHAPTER VI. JEAN MARTEILHE: A NAVAL BATTLE. France was at this time at war with England and Holland, and Marteilhe describes several engagements in which he was present.* One of these was with the English frigate ' Nightingale.' " The frigate having grappled us we were exposed to the fire of the artillery ; and our bench, on which were five •forgats and the Turkish slave Ysouf, was opposite to a gun which I saw to be loaded. Our broadsides touched each other, and the gun was so near to us that by raising myself a little I could have put my hand on it. This ugly neigh- bour made us all tremble. My comrades lay down quite fiat, thinking thus to escape its fire ; but on examining the gun more narrowly, I perceived it to be pointed so low that its discharge would come full against the bench, and that by lying down we must receive it in our bodies. ■ Having made this observation, I resolved to stand straight up on the bench. I saw the gunner with his lighted match begin to touch the gun at the bows of the frigate, and then go from gun to gun till he came to the one opposite our bench. I lifted up my heart to God, and offered a short but fervent prayer, like a man who is expecting the stroke of death. I had the firmness to watch him put the match to the gun, still standing straight up, commending my soul * When an attack began the galley-slaves raised the Chaniadc, an unearthly yell from the whole 300 at once, who at the same time stood erect and violently rattled their chains. Jean Marteilhe : a Naval Battle. 31 to the Lord. The gun went off. I was stunned and thrown down, not on the bench, but into the gangA\-ay which runs down the middle of the galley, and as far off as my chain would allow. Here I lay, I do not know how long, stretched across the body of the lieutenant, who had been killed. When I came to my senses, I raised myself from the dead body, and returned to my bench. I felt no pain, and did not know that I was wounded ; and supposing my comrades were still lying down for fear of the cannon I called to them, ' Get up, lads ; the danger is over.' But I received no answer. Ysouf , who had been a janissary and who had often boasted that he did not know what fear was, remaining prostrate like the others, I cried out jokingly, * What, Ysouf, this is the first time thou hast been afraid ! Come, get up ' ; and at the same time I took him by the arm to help him. But, 0 horror, it makes me shudder when I think of it, his arm came away from his body and remained in my hand ! I let it faU, and soon perceived that he as well as the four others were hacked to pieces like mincemeat, for the whole charge of the gun had fallen on them." Marteilhe soon found that he himself had received several dangerous wounds, one through his left shoulder, another below the left knee, and a long gaping wound in his stomach. Of the eighteen men who rowed on his and the two adjoining benches, he alone had escaped with his life. The gun had been loaded with canister, — long tin boxes filled with musket-balls and pieces of old iron. When the fight was over the argousins went round the galleys, throwing the dead into the sea, and carrying the wounded down into the hold. But as the night was dark, and they were afraid to show Lights, and the time too was short, this examination was very perfunctory. If the prostrate men did not cry out or give some sign of life, they were at once thrown overboard. Before the argousins 32 The Cainisards. came to Marteilhe's bench, the poor fellow had fallen down in a swoon, and lay amongst the dead men, bathed in his own blood and theirs. Supposing him also to be dead, the argousins unchained his leg, and Avere dragging him up, when one of them putting his hand upon his wound, the smart roused him, and he uttered a loud cry ; and hearing the argousin say, " This man is not dead," he exclaimed, '•No, no, I am not dead." They took him down into the hold and threw him on a cable. The place was full of sailors, soldiers, officers, and forcats, lying pell-mell on the hard boards. The wounded were so numerous that the surgeons CQuld not attend to all. Marteilhe lay three days in this horrible place with no dressing for his wounds but some camphored brandy to stop the bleeding. " The poor fellows," he says, " died like flies in this charnel-house, where the stifimg heat and horrible stench caused our wounds to mortify. In this deplorable state we arrived in the roads of Dunkerque three days after the battle. The wounded were at once landed and carried to the naval hospital : I and many others were hauled up out of the hold like cattle with ropes and pulleys. The forcats were separated from the free men, and placed in two large wards of forty beds each, being chained to the bed foot." Marteilhe's generous friend the banker, hearing that he was amongst the wounded, went to the head surgeon of the hospital, with whom he was acquainted, and engaged him to take the patient under his especial care. This saved Marteilhe's life ; for three-fourths of the patients died, most of them not so dangerously wounded as he was. So well indeed was he cared for, that at the ebd of three months, he says, "I was as sleek and fat as a monk." When he was sent back to his galley, the head surgeon gave him a certificate of incapacity for rowing or any other hard work, and in a short time he was promoted to be the captain's secretary. He bought himself a neat coat, some Jean Marteilhe : a Naval Battle. 33 fine linen, and a scarlet cap, and bad permission to let bis bair grow. He bad tbe best of food, a good bed, and no cbain, only a ring round bis ankle. He performed bis duties in a most conscientious manner, sometimes spending wbole nigbts in writing. In tbe delicate matter of tbe remittances from Holland, Marteilbe bad no difficulty in getting Ysoufs place supplied. Ten or twelve of tbe otber Turks wbo knew of tbe secret service tbeir deceased countrpnan bad rendered, came one after auotber, begging to be made use of, and calling tbe Huguenots tbeir brotbers in God. Marteilbe selected one named Aly, wbo leaped for joy on being cbosen. Aly per- formed bis office during four years witb tbe same fidelity as Ysouf bad done ; and like bim, altbougb be was poor, would never accept so mucb as a crown for bis services, saying tbe money would burn bis bands ; and wben once Marteilbe tbreatened to employ anotber if be did not take it, tbe poor fellow was in despair, beseecbing bim witb clasped bands not to sbut bim out from tbe road to Heaven, D ( 34 ) CHAPTEE VIL JEAN MARTEILHE: HONOURABLE ECCLESI- ASTICS: THE ENGLISH IN DUNKERQUE. The galleys were supplied with chaplains from the secular priests of the order of St. Lazarus, or the Mission. This society was founded by St. Vincent de Paul with the object of giving rehgious instruction to peasants and work- people, and its agents being diligent and useful, it was entrusted with the nomination of the village cures, and of the military, naval, and galley chaplains. In time, how- ever, the Lazarists lost the disinterested zeal of their founder, and although they still affected the externals of humility and poverty, they amassed great wealth and acquired immense worldly influence. So powerful were they at this time, that when any of the royal oflQcers displeased them, they had only to complain to Versailles, and the oflEicer was at once removed. The chaplains appointed by them were amongst the most cruel persecutors of the Reformed Religion. It happened that the chaplain in Marteilhe's galley died, and De Langeron, on account of the distance from Mar- seilles, could not wait for the nomination of the missionaries, but took a Dominican monk in his place. At first the new chaplain was as tyrannical as the former, but he gradually came round to the captain's mind, and showed the galeriens, and especially Marteilhe, many kindnesses. He even borrowed Protestant books of him, which he read and punctually returned. This unusual behaviour excited the Jean Marteilhe : the English in Dunkerque. 35 ill-will of the Jesuits and of the chaplains in the other galleys. They addressed a memorial to the Bishop of Ypres, in which they accused the chaplain of being a heretic, of loving and favouring the Pretended Eeformed, and of leaving them in quiet, instead of bringing them within the pale of the Eoman Church. The bishop cited the chaplain to appear before him, and told him that he was accused of favouring the Eeformed in his galley, and of not using means to convert them ; " My lord," answered the worthy Dominican, " if your lordship requires me to exhort them and to urge them to conform to the truths of the Eomish Church, that is what I do every day : but if you enjoin upon me to imitate the other chaplains who torment these poor wretches, I shall set out to-morrow for my convent." The bishop replied that he was satisfied with his conduct, and encouraged him to continue in it, and at the same time he reproved the other chaplains foj. the methods they made use of to convert the heretics. It was an article of the Peace of Utrecht, 1712,* that the English should occupy Dunkerque. The soldiers had no sooner taken possession of the port than they ran in crowds to the galleys to satisfy their curiosity with a sight of these famous vessels, which most of them had never seen before. Several of the officers, who were French Protestant refugees, hearing that there were amongst the galley- slaves twenty-two Protestants condemned on account of their religion, also hastened down to testify their sympathy. They embraced the half-naked manacled prisoners on their benches, groaned and wept with them, and gave free utterance to their indignation and pity at their chains and the miseries of their cruel slavery. They remained with them a great part of the day, seated very uncomfortably, and regardless of the vermin and the stench, glorying in making the officers of the galleys witnesses of the honour • The Treaty was not actually signed until April, 1713. The Caviisards. and sympathy with which they regarded their despised brethren. Their example attracted a large number of dis- tinguished English officers, who also did the prisoners many acts of kindness; whilst the soldiers, after their manner, swore that if the galeriens were not released by good- will, they themselves would free them by their swords. The chaplains were sorely scandalised at such conduct, and begged De Langeron to give orders that no one should be admitted on the galleys. This was tried ; but the English soldiers, laying their hands on their swords, said that being masters of the town and harbour, they were masters also of the galleys, and that if not admitted willingly, they would uiaku their way by force. Lord Hill, the English commander, also expressed his sympathy with the galeriens, and offered them his purse • but unhappily, supposing it to be his duty to help the French authorities out of their dilemma, he concerted with De Langeron for the secret removal of the Huguenot prisoners ; and on the 1st of October, 1712, Marteilhe and his twenty-one companions were smuggled off to Calais. ( 37 ) CHAPTEE YIII. JEAN MAKTEILHE: HAYEE. On their arrival at Calais, the Huguenots were chained together, two and two, and driven along the road towards Ha\-re-de-Grace. But most of them were old or sick, or worn down with hard usage, and they had not gone a •quarter of a league when three or four fell to the ground, unable to go a step further. Finding it impossible to pro- ceed on foot, the captain of the chain requisitioned waggons from the peasants, in which he carried them to Havre. Havre was full of New Converts, some of whom were the richest merchants in the town, and notwithstanding their change in name they were still bound in heart to their old religion. They were in good odour with the governor, and when on hearing that a chain of confessors was on its way to the city, they begged him to treat them with indulgence, he had the prisoners comfortably lodged and fed, and removed the great shackle which bound them all together. On entering the apartment prepared for them, they found the governor and many of the New Con- verts ready to receive them. The latter embraced them ■with tears ; and when the custom-house officers, coming to search them, found a small box of books, and one of them exclaimed, " Here is Calvin's library ! to the flames, to the flames!" the governor sharply rebuked him. Their friends were permitted to visit them from nine in the morning till eight in the evening, so that the prison became a chapel, where they read sermons and sang psalms, 38 The Camisards. the tears and sobs of the kind people, men and women, who came to condole with them, mingling with their hymns. "Seeing," says Marteiihe, "the chains with which we were loaded, and the resignation with which we bore them, they reproached themselves for their weakness, and lamented that they had not endured to death the ills which they had been made to suffer, or withstood the seductions which had been used to make them renounce the true religion." The consequence was that from the day when Marteiihe and his companions arrived at Havre, the churches were emptied of the New Converts. When, however, the parish cure complained to the governor, the only answer he received was that men's consciences are not to be forced, and that an open heretic is worth more than a concealed hypocrite, and moreover that this occurrence had done good service, for that henceforth one would be able to dis- tinguish the good Catholics of Havre from those who were not so. And when the cure came to see the prisoners, and found the room full of his new proselytes, they pointed to Marteiihe and his companions, saying, " Here, M. Cure, are honest people and good Christians indeed, who have had more firmness than we." If the intention of the government in sending the gale- riens to Havre had been to ship them to America, it was soon changed; and, no doubt, on account of their influence over the New Converts, it was resolved iustead to hurry them off to Marseilles. To continue Marteilhe's personal narrative. " On the fifteenth day of our residence at Havre, about nine o'clock in the evening, just as we were beginning supper, and our guards were doing the same, I felt myself tapped on the shoulder. Turning round to see who it was, I recognized a young lady, the daughter of one of the first bankers in the town, to whom I had lent a volume of sermons a few Jean Marteilhe : Havre. 39 days before. She was wrapped in a shawl which she drew aside, and in a hurried manner, and with tears, said to me, ' Here, my dear brother, is your book which I return to you ; God be with you in all your trials ; they are going to carry you off to-night at twelve o'clock. Four -waggons are engaged for the purpose, and the White Gate will remain open for your departure.' I thanked her for the trouble she had taken in coming herself at such an hour to give me this information, and asked her how she had been able to gain admission into our room. ' That,' she answered, ' does not aflect you ; it is more to the purpose to tell you, dear confessors, that you are to be taken to Paris, to the frightful prison of La Tournelle, and there to be joined to the great chain which leaves that city every year for Mar- seilles.' Having said this she vanished as mysteriously as she had entered, without any of our guards perceiving her. We quietly finished our supper, and then instead of spreading our mattresses as usual, we began to pack up our little luggage. Whilst we were thus employed, our captain according to his custom came in to chat with us whilst he smoked his pipe, and seeing us putting up our clothes instead of preparing our beds, he asked us what we were doing. 'We are getting ready to start at midnight, sir,' said I, ' and you had better do the same.' ' You are mad,' he answered ; ' what has happened to you ? ' 'I tell you,' I replied, ' that precisely at midnight, four waggons will arrive to take us out by the White Gate which will be kept open on purpose, and you will have to take us to Paris, and deliver us at La Tournelle to join the great chain for Mar- seilles.' ' I tell you,' answered the captain, ' that you are mad, and that there is not a word of truth in all you have just said. I took the governor's orders as usual, at eight o'clock, and he told me there was nothing fresh.' ' Very well, sir,' said I, 'you will see.' At this moment the governor's servant came in to tell the captain his master 40 The Camisards. wished to speak with him immediately. It was not long before he came back, clasping his hands and making great exclamations." (It should be here observed that the poor man had been already mystified by a discovery Marteilhe had made at Calais of the intention to convey them to Havre, and now he cried out) : "In God's name tell me if you are sorcerers or prophets. I believe, for my part, that you receive your knowledge from God, for you are too pious and too honest to ask the help of the devil." Marteilhe replied that they were neither the one nor the other, and that there was nothing but what was quite natural in that which astonished him. " I cannot understand it," answered the captain, " for I have learnt from the governor himself that no one else in the town knows anything of your depar- ture, and whatever you may say you will never take from me the belief that God is with you." " I hope He is," said Marteilhe. How the young lady became acquainted with the secret is easily explained. She was betrothed to the governor's secretary, who, as soon as the order was received from the court, ran to tell her the sad news. This Marteilhe learnt in the prison at Rouen, whither her father came to bring him and his companions a collection which had been m^de for them in Havre. "At midnight," continues Marteilhe, "the four waggons came to take us. We laughed in our sleeve at the mysteri- ous secrecy which was observed. The tires were taken off the wheels, and the shoes from the horses' feet, so that we might not be heard passing through the street ; and each waggon was covered up as if it contained bales of mer- chandise. In this manner, without lanterns or torches, we made our way out of the town." ( 41 ) CHAPTEK IX. JEAN MARTEILHE : THE DUNGEON AT ROUEN. " On arriving at Rouen," continues Marteilhe, " we were conducted to the town ball to receive the magistrate's order for our lodging, which as usual was in a prison. We were much surprised, however, at being refused admittance to the prison to which we were taken. In vain the master-at- arms insisted on the order. The jailer persistently refused, saying he had rather lose his office than admit us. We wei'e taken on to another prison, where the same thing happened ; finally they carried us to a tower set apart for the worst malefactors. The jailer here, who, like the others was very reluctant to receive us, threw us into a horrid dungeon, where with the help of five or six turnkeys with drawn swords, he made our feet fast to huge beams, so that we could not move. Here he left us in darkness and with- out food. For more than two hours we cried after him, for we were pinched with hunger and parched with thirst. At last some persons came to the wicket, and we heard them say : ' These people speak good French,' which made us think there was some mystery about their behaviour towards us; and we continued to cry out for food, promising to pay for it beforehand. " After a while the jailer opened the door, and came in "with his six turnkeys. He examined us one after another, asking if we were Frenchmen. We answered, ' Yes.' ' But how is it then that you are not Christians,' said he, ' but 42 The Camisards, worship the devil, who makes you more wicked than him- self ? ' We replied that he seemed disposed to joke with us, but that we should he better pleased if he would give us something to eat and drink ; at the same time I put a louis-d'or into his hand, begging him to let us have for it what we stood in need of, and saying if it was not enough I would give him another. ' Truly,' he replied, ' you do not appear to be such as you have been described. Tell me honestly what you are. All the week during which you have been expected, you have been spoken of as sor- cerers from the north, too wicked to be tamed in the galleys at Dunkerque, and so were being sent to Marseilles to bring you to reason. This is why I was so unwilling to receive you into the prison.' Upon this I related our history, and as I was telling him the cause of our being sent from Dun- kerque to Marseilles, our master-at-arms arrived to give us our rations. The jailer took him aside and asked him if we were as docile as we seemed to be. ' Yes, certainly,' said the master ; ' I would undertake to conduct them alone through the whole of France ; their only crime is that they are Huguenots.' ' Is that all ? ' exclaimed the jailer ; ' the best men in Kouen are of that religion. I don't like the religion,' he added, 'but Hike those who belong to it; they are excellent people.' Then turning to us he said, ' You will stay here to-morrow ; I shall take care to inform some of your people who will not fail to come and see you, and my doors shall always be open to them.' He then ordered his turnkeys to unfetter us from the beams. The next day he brought to us several persons of the Reformed Religion, who soon made the news of our arrival public, and the whole day our dungeon was never empty. I never saw such warmhearted people as these gentlemen of Rouen ; they made us quite abashed with their excessive praise of our constancy. They exhorted us to perseverance in so pathetic a manner that we could not restrain our tears ; and Jean Marteilhe : the Dungeon at Eouen. 4B they even offered, on our departure, to accompany us a league out of the town to help carry our chains." The prisoners left Kouen in waggons. The good captain, who had to go back to Havre, when he saw the argousin examining their chains, told him he was taking needless trouble, for they would go of themselves wherever the king wished, and that if it were otherwise, not all his con- trivances, nor those of all mankind, could hold them. ( 44 ) CHAPTEK X. JEAN MAETEILHE : PAEIS— LA TOUENELLE. The procession arrived in Paris, November 17th, and the 3)risoners were set down at the Chateau de la Tournelle, formerly a royal residence, but then used as a depot for •convicts condemned to the galleys. The cellar of this palace had been converted into one of the worst dungeons in France. Marteiihe thus continues his narrative. " They made us •enter a vast gloomy dungeon. Accustomed as I was to prisons and chains, I was seized with trembling at the sight. Imagine a spacious cellar, on the floor of which are arranged, three feet apart, massive oak timbers more than two and a half feet thick, to which are attached heavy iron chains, a foot and a half long, with an iron collar at the end. When the wretched galley slaves arrive in this dungeon they are made to lie half down, so that their heads may rest on the beam ; then the collar is fixed round their necks, closed and riveted on an anvil with heavy blows of £L hammer. As these chains are two feet apart, and the beams are forty feet long, about twenty men are chained in .a row to each beam. The cellar is circular, and so large that in this way as many as 500 can be fastened down. Nothing can be more frightful than the posture of these wretches; they cannot lie at full length, the beam to which the head is fixed being too high, nor sit, nor stand upright, for the beam is too low ; they are thus held in a painful Jean Marteilhe : Paris — La Tournelle. 45 position, half lying, half sitting, part of the body on the brick floor, the other on the beam. " We were taken to our place and chained down in the same manner as the rest. Inured as we were to suffering, the three days and nights which we passed in this cruel position so racked our bodies and all our limbs, that we could not have borne it longer, especially the old men amongst us, who cried out every moment that they were dying. I may be asked how all these poor wretches, brought from the four corners of France, and sometimes obliged to wait three or four or even six months before the great chain starts for Marseilles, endure such torment for so long a time. I answer that a large proportion succumb to their misery, and that those who through strength of constitution survive, suffer torture of which it is impos- sible to give any just idea. Even the natural relief of groans and cries is suppressed ; every night six brutes of turnkeys fall without mercy on those who complain or even speak, and belabour them with blows." " The food," he continues, " is j)retty good. Nuns called Grey Sisters bring every day at noon, soup, meat and good bread in sufficient quantity. The Mother Superior was very kind to me ; she always stayed a quarter of an hour with me, and gave me more to eat than I required, so that the other galeriens used to rally me and call me her favourite. One day, after giving me my portion, she said, ' What a pity it is that you are not Christians.' 'Who has told you so, my good mother ? ' I asked ; ' by God's grace we are Christians.' 'How,' she answered, 'Christians!; but you believe in Moses.' ' And do not you,' I asked, ' beUeve that Moses was a great prophet ? ' ' J .' ' she replied ; ' / believe in that impostor ! that false prophet who deceived as many Jews as Mahomet did Turks ! No, no ; thank God, no such heresy can be laid to my charge ! ' I shrugged my shoulders and begged her to tell her confessor 46 The Cainisards. what slie had just said, and then she would learn (if indeed he was better instructed than she was) that what she had said about Moses was a great sin. Yet these Grey Sisters not only attend upon prisoners and the sick, but are also employed in instructing the young ! " It must here be said that all the prisoners were not cribbed down in the same cruel way. There was a favoured class who were chained only by the foot, and who were placed nfearest to the grated windows which looked upon the street. It required a silver key to open the way to this indulgence. When Marteilhe and the other Huguenots had been three days and nights chained to the beams, a Protestant named Girardot, a wealthy merchant, having heard of their arrival at La Tournelle, went to the governor to ask permission to visit them. The governor, though he was his friend, could not grant this request. The good man could get no nearer than the courtyard of the chateau, from whence he was barely able to see them through the double grating of iron, and could only identify them by their red jackets. Taking notice that some of the prisoners who were near the windows were chained only by the leg, he asked the governor if he could not give his friends a place amongst these. " Those persons," answered the governor, " whom you saw by the window, pay a certain price per month for the privilege." " If, sir," repHed Girardot, "you will give these poor fellows the same liberty, I will pay for them, if they cannot pay for themselves." The governor said he would see if there was any room near the grating. The next morning, on Marteilhe paying from the common purse fifty crowns for so long as the chain remained at La Tournelle, they were loosened from the terrible beams, and placed as near as possible to the grating. The exchange was an unspeakable relief; their new position was almost an enjoyment. Girardot came often to speak with them through the grating. This state of things con- Jean Marteilhe : Paris— La Tournclle. 47 tinued for a month, when the chain was made up, Decem- ber the 17th, 1712. The Jesuits had the spiritual direction of La Tournelle ; and a week before the departure of the chain one of their no^^ces came every day to prepare the for9ats for receiving the Sacrament. He always took the same text. Come unto Me, &c. (Matthew xi. 28), and tried to prove from the Fathers, that the way to the Saviour was only through auricular confession. Then the priests brought the conse- crated bread, which they distributed to the malefactors, without loosening them from their miserable position. These Jesuits did not interfere with the Huguenot prisoners ; they were left to Father Garcin, the Superior of the Mis- sionaries of Marseilles, who happened to be in Paris at the time. He came to the dungeon and tempted them by promises, and by a representation of the hardships that awaited them. "You may," he said, "have your liberty in forty-eight hours if you will only change your religion. You do not know what you are exposing yourselves to. At this inclement season there is every probability that three- fourths of you will perish on the way, and when those who survive arrive at Marseilles, they will do as all the other Protestants in the galleys have done, make their abjuration vmder my hands." The prisoners replied that the conduct of others was no ride for them ; every man must take care for his own salvation. ( 48 ) CHAPTER XL JEAN MARTEILHE: MAKCH OF THE CHAIN TO MARSEILLES. On the 17th of December, all the convicts were taken out of their dungeons and brought into the great courtyard of the chateau. They were joined together by the neck in couples, by a thick chain three feet long, in the middle of which was a ring ; and being ranged in file, couple behind couple, a long thick chain was passed through all the rings, thus binding together the whole procession. There were about four hundred ; the twenty-two Huguenots with their red jackets being at the end of the chain. M. Girardot came into the courtyard to take leave of them ; and as the chain passed through the streets many of the brethren, regardless of the cufis and blows of the archers, pressed forward to embrace them, crying : " Courage, dear confessors of the truth ; suffer with constancy for so good a cause. We will not cease to pray God to sustain you by His grace." Four gentlemen of Paris accompanied them to Charenton, where by the captain's permission they prepared them a supper at the inn. But instead of par- taking of their supper, the confessors, with the rest of the convicts, were to be entertained in a very different manner, and such as they had never before dreamed of. "We arrived at Charenton," writes Marteilhe, "about six o'clock in the evening : the moon shone and there was a frost. The difiSculty we had in walking, and the excessive weight of our chains, had heated us after the great cold we Jean Marteilhe : March of the Chain. 49 had endured in the court of La Tournelle, so that on arriving at Charenton we were as though we had been plunged in water. We were taken to the stable of our inn, where the chain was nailed up to the rack in such a way that we could not lie down, and hardly sit on the heaps of dung ; for as the captain conducts the chain at his own expense, receiving twenty crowns a head from Paris to Marseilles, he spared even straw, and we had none the whole way." To this succeeded a scene the details of which the reader will be glad to be spared. The convicts were stripped to the skin by the soldiers, their clothes searched, and their money and every article of any value taken away, whilst they themselves were used in so barbarous a manner that eighteen died by the next morning, The Huguenots, through Girardot's inter- cession, and by the payment of one hundred crowns to the captain of the chain, were spared the blows, and were otherwise favoured by the archers. " The four gentle- men from Paris," continues Marteilhe, " who had prepared a supper for us, instead of having our company, beheld from their window in the inn the hideous spectacle. They cried out, and with clasped hands entreated the captain to spare us, but he did not heed them ; and all they could do was to call to us and commend us to God, as is done to victims who are about to undergo the last penalty. We saw those good friends no more ; for the chain was again nailed up to the rack in the stable, where the dung-heaps on which we half lay down helped to restore warmth to our bodies, and so to save our lives." The next morning the chain started from Charenton, accompanied by some waggons in which the prisoners who could not walk were thrown like dead cattle, their naked legs hanging out, so that they soon became frozen. Those who complained or lamented were beaten. It may be asked why the captain did not take more care of the lives 50 The Camisards. of his prisoners, seeing he was to receive so much a head for all whom he delivered up at Marseilles, and no payment for those who died on the road. The reason is clear ; the captain had to provide the waggons at his own expense, and the hire of these came to more than the twenty crowns a head. In this manner, at the rate of eight to ten miles a day, did the melancholy procession drag its way across the country as far as Lyons, where the convicts were embarked on the Rhone in large flat-bottomed boats, and so, partly by river, partly by land, arrived at Marseilles on the 17th of January, 1713. Many died on the way, and many in the hospital in Marseilles ; but notwithstanding the hardships which they suffered, Marteilhe and his twenty-one fellow-confessors reached the end of their journey in a fair state of health. ( 51 ) CHAPTEE XII. JEAN MAETEILHE: MAKSEILLES— THE GALLEYS. The Protestants were taken on board a galley, where they were welcomed by their brethren with tears of mingled joy and sorrow. Father Garcin, who had visited them in Paris, had arrived before them, and coming on board their galley called them into his presence. He counted them, and finding the same number he had seen in Paris, exclaimed, "It is wonderful how you have all survived! Are you not weary of suffering ? " Marteilhe answered for the others, " You are greatly mistaken, Sir, if you think sufferings weaken our faith ; on the contrary, we experience what the Psalmist says, that the more ills we suffer the more we remember God." "Nonsense," replied Garcin. " Not so much nonsense," rejoined Mar- teilhe, " as that which you told us in Paris, that all our brethren at Marseilles had abjured under your hands. Not one of them has done so ; and if I were in your place I should be ashamed all my life for having made a state- ment which proved me an impostor." " You are a reasoner," replied the Superior, and departed. During the Congress which preceded the Treaty of Utrecht the galeriens had been buoyed up with hope that the Protestant powers would do something for their relief; but Louis XIV. would not hear a word on their behalf, and peace was concluded without their being even named in the treaty. Nevertheless Queen Anne's ministers con- tinued to intercede with the court of Versailles, and it was 52 llie Camisards. understopd that some coucession would be made. The prisoners themselves kuew notliing of these negociations, but the missionaries, who had the earliest information of everything that took place, were well aware of them, and were determined if possible to render them abortive. The means they employed were to make the King believe that the heretics in the galleys were about to return to the Eomish Church, and that therefore Anne's interference was unnecessary. For this purpose they produced two Catholic malefactors, whom they pretended to have been leading men among the Protestants, recently converted to the true Cliurch, and whose conversion they proclaimed throughout the fleet, together with a letter from the King granting them freedom and his royal favour. When the missionaries came on this errand to the Huguenot, galley, they had the whole company unchained and brought to them in the stern-cabin. After haranguing them and reading the royal letter. Father Garcin dilated on the goodness and gentleness of the Romish Church, which, following the example of the Saviour of the world, draws men by persuasion only. " Do not allege," he exclaimed, " that we persecute you to make you return into the pale of the Church : far from us be that doctrine of persecution which you so often cast in our teeth. We declare to you that we detest it, and we grant that according to the precepts of tlie Gospel it is not right for any man to persecute another for his religion." With these words he dismissed them. But the barefaced assertion to which they had just listened Wiis too monstrous for Marteilhe to swallow ; and while the rest were being chained to their benches, he proposed to three of his bretliren that they should go back with him to the stern-cabin, and without passion or in- vective answer the missionaries. Father Garcin and his companions, seeing four of the men return, and supposing Jean Martcilhe: Marseilles — The GaU>;i/s. 53 they had beeu wrought upon by his arguments and had come to make their submission, were dehghted, and asked them to be seated. Marteilhe, who was spokesman, at first affected the tone of one who really desires instruction, a trick, however, of which he seems to have been somewhat ashamed. He told the Fathers that the persecution he had suffered for the sake of his religion had greatly strengthened him in the profession of it, and that if M. Garcin could prove that what he had suffered was not really persecution, he would gain a great advantage over him. " Do you know," asked Garcin, " what persecution is?" "Alas, Sir," said Marteilhe, "my condition and that of my brethren has made us only too well acquainted with it." "Pshaw," said he; "there is your mistake; you take chastisement for persecution. For what were you sent to the galleys?" Marteilhe replied that he had attempted to leave the kingdom in order to worship God freely, and that, being arrested on the frontier, he had been condemned to the galleys. " Do you not see," exclaimed Father Garcin, " that it is as I have just told you? Persecution consists in being ill-treated to oblige you to renounce your religion. Now in your case religion has had nothing to do with it. The King forbids all his subjects to leave the kingdom without his permission ; you attempt to do this, and you are chastised for disobeying the King's orders. All this belongs to the secular law, and religion has nothing to do with it." Then turning to another, he asked why he was in the galleys. "For having attended a religious meeting." " Another act of dis- obedience to the King's orders," said the Father. " The King has forbidden his subjects to meet for worship, except in the churches. You have disobeyed him, and you are punished." Another told him that, being ill, the cure had come to his bedside to receive his declaration whether he would live and die in the Reformed Eeligion or 54 The Camisards. the Eoman Catholic ; that he had rephed in the Reformed, and that having recovered from his sickness, he had been arrested and condemned to the galleys. " Again, another act of disobedience to the King," replied Garcin ; " His Majesty wishes that all his subjects should live and die in the Roman Catholic religion ; you have declared that you ■would not do so. Thus, gentlemen," he continued, " all of you have disobeyed the King's commands ; the Church has had no share in the matter ; she did not preside at your trial, and has taken no part in your condemnation ; all has happened independent of her, and without her knowledge." Pretending to be satisfied with this luminous piece of reasoning, Marteilhe proceeded to ask if, supposing his remaining doubts could be cleared up, he might expect to be released before making his abjuration. "Certainly not," was the reply ; " you will never leave the galleys until you have abjured in proper form." "And if," pur- sued Marteilhe, " I make my abjuration, may I hope for a speedy release ? " "In a fortnight," replied the Father, " on the faith of a priest." Upon this, Marteilhe resuming his natural tone, thus addressed Garcin: — "You have striven. Sir, by your sophistical arguments to prove that we are not persecuted on account of our religion ; and without either philosophy or rhetoric, by the two plain questions I have just now put, I have proved that it is our religion and nothing else which keeps my brethren and myself in the galleys ; for you declare that if we were to make a formal abjuration we shall at once be set free, but that, on the contrary, if we do not abjure, there will never be liberty for us." " I should have pursued my animad- versions further," adds Marteilhe, "but the Father saw himself so completely caught in his own words that passion overcame him. He hastily broke off the conversation, called us wicked and obstinate fellows, and cried to the argousin, 'Take them away; chain them to their benches; and do not allow them the smallest indulgence.' " ( 55 ) CHAPTEE XIII. JEAN MAKTEILHE: DELIVERANCE. The hoped-for deliverance was, however, not far off. The Marquis de Rochegude, a French refugee, who had been sent to Utrecht by the Swiss Cantons to plead before the Powers the cause of the galeriens, having been un- successful at the Congress, obtained letters to Queen Anne from Charles XII. of Sweden and other Protestant Princes. Coming to London, he obtained an audience of the Queen, who received him graciously, and told him she would examine the letters and give him an answer. A fortnight passed without his hearing any more of the matter, at the end of which time, finding the Queen was going to walk in St. James's Park, he went thither. She perceived him, had him called to her, and said, " Monsieur de Rochegude, I beg you to let those poor people in the French galleys know that they will be released immediately." The Marquis sent the good news to the confessors by way of Geneva, and soon afterwards an order came from the French court to the Governor at Marseilles to send up a list of all the Protestant confessors in the galleys. This was followed by another order to release, not all, but 136 by name out of upwards of 300. Of the rest, forty-four were set at liberty the next year, seventy-one the year after and thirty in 1717; the remaining twenty not till ten years later.* * Confessors continued for many years afterwards to be sent to the galleys. 56 The Camisards. When the missionaries heard of this order, they declared that the execution of it would be an eternal blot on the Eomish Church, and they taxed their ingenuity and used all their influence to get it reversed, and, when they found themselves unable to do this, to saddle it with cruel and impracticable conditions. All the wiles of the priests, however, were in vain; the 136 confessors were at length set free, and permitted to leave the port in three coasting vessels, Marteilhe. being one of thirty-six who were dis- patched in the first, June 20th, 1713. After a stormy passage they anchored *at Villa Franca {now Villefranche), in the county of Nice (restored by France to the Duke of Savoy at the Treaty of Utrecht), where their captain, a humane man, permitted them to land on their parole, taking four of them with him to Nice. "Here," says Marteilhe, "we walked through a long street. It being Sunday, all the shops and houses were shut, so that we saw scarcely anyone. A little man came towards us, who saluted us very civilly, and begged us not to take it amiss if he asked whence we came. We replied, 'From Marseilles'; at which he showed some emotion, but still did not dare to ask if we came from the galleys, for it is a great affront to a man, except he is a confessor, to speak to him of having been in the galleys. • But I beg 'you, gentlemen,' he continued, ' to tell me, did you leave Marseilles by the King's order ? ' ' Yes, Sir,' we replied ; 'we come from the galleys.' 'Alas, Gracious God!' he exclaimed ; ' are you then some of those who were set at liberty a few days ago ? ' ' The very same,' we answered. Transported with joy, he begged us to follow him. We did so without hesitation, accompanied by our captain who would not leave us, for he did not trust the Italians. The man led us to his house, which looked like a palace. Having entered and closed the door, he fell on our necks, kissed us with tears of joy, and calhng his wife and Jean Marteilhe : Deliverance. 57 children, said, ' Come and embrace these dear brethren, who are come out of the great tribulation of the galleys of France.' His wife, two sons and two daughters, all embraced us, praising God for our deliverance ; after which, M. Bonijoli (for that was his name) invited us to join with him in prayer. We all fell on our knees, the captain as well as the rest, and our host offered thanks- giving for our deliverance in the most pathetic language I have ever heard. We were all melted to tears, the captain included, who assured us afterwards that he thought he was in Paradise. After the prayer, breakfast was served, which was followed by pious conversation on the grace of God by which we had triumphed over our enemies." M. Bouijnli informed the confessors that he was a native of Nimes, and had lied the country at the Eevocation ; and that he and his family were the only Protestants in Nice. He had been advised of their release the very day on which it took place. "I am sure," he said, "it was Divine Providence which arranged our happy meetmg, causing me to go out of my house, a thing I never do on Sundays." The good merchant followed up his kindness by hiring mules to carry the whole party to Turin. At Turin they were warmly received by the French Protestants and the pastors of Piedmont, who lodged them and paid their expenses to Geneva. Before they set out, the King of Sardinia, Victor Amadeus, admitted six of their number to an audience. When he had heard their story, he turned to the Dutch and English Ambassadors, who were present, saying, " This is indeed barbarous." He granted them a passport, in which he directed all his subjects to succour them during the rest of their journey. When the party arrived within sight of Geneva, Mar- teilhe compares the feelings with which they beheld that famous city of refuge to the joy of the Israelites at the 58 The Caviisards. sight of the land of Canaan. It was Sunday, and finding that the gates of the Puritan metropolis would not be open until after Divine Service (about four o'clock in the after- noon), they were obliged to remain at a village a league distant, where they feasted their hungry eyes upon the prospect. The news of their journey had preceded them, and had aroused the enthusiasm of the whole city ; and as at the appointed hour they began to move forward, they saw a vast concourse of people flocking out through the gate to meet them. The crowd was preceded by three carriages attended by halberdiers, from each of which there alighted a magistrate and a minister, who embraced the confessors with tears and congratulations. Then the people came round them, and many who were exiles or emigrants having relations in the galleys, the eager inquiries and happy recognitions produced a most moving spectacle. The whole city, however, claimed fraternity with the honourable confessors who had fought the good fight and kept the faith, and all the people, pressing forward, threw themselves on their necks and praised the name of the Lord. Leaving the rest of their companions with their relatives at Geneva, Marteilhe and six others proceeded to Frankfort, halting four days at Berne, where they were entertained by the authorities with as much magnificence as if they had been princes, and as lovingly as if they had been of their own kin. The same welcome awaited them at Frankfort, where the magistrates, dropping the old jealousy between Lutheran and Ciilvinist, congratulated them on their deliverance, calling them the salt of the earth. "This word," says Marteilhe, "humiliated us under a sense of our own infirmities, and of the immense distance between us and the holy disciples of the Lord Jesus." France was at that time at war with the allies. A boat was chartered to take the confessors down the Ehine; they kept as near as Jean Marteiihe : Deliverance. 59 possible to the right bank, where the Emperor's army lay, the French being encamped on the other side, occupied with the siege of Landau. They arrived safely in Holland, and were received with open arms by the Dutch and French Churches, and by the people wherever they came. It being resolved to send a deputation to Queen Anne to thank her for the deliverance of the 136 galeriens, Mar- teiihe was chosen of the number, and with his companions had an audience of the Queen, who gave them a gracious reception. As has been said, a considerable time passed over before the remainder, about two hundred in number, were set at liberty. The French ambassador, the Due d'Aumont, was favourable to their release, but he was fettered by ecclesiastical influence, and the French Coiu't found the pill it had to swallow exceedingly bitter. On the return of the deputies to Holland, the government granted them a pension. |)art II THE CAMISARD WAR ( 63 ) CHAPTEE I. THE STATE OF THE CHUKCH IN THE YEAR 1700. The history of Jean Marteilhe has carried us some years into the century, even beyond the Camisard War. To that new and eventful chapter in our history we will now turn, prefacing it with a review of the state of the Huguenot Church in the year 1700. We saw in the former volume how persecution had failed to extinguish the Protestant Church in France. Medals had been struck representing heresy prostrate and the Roman Church triumphant, and pro- claiming that Louis had brought back to the true faith two millions of heretics. In the eye of the law there were now no longer any Calvinists in France : their preachers had been driven away, their temples levelled with the ground, their synods suppressed, their schools and colleges shut up ; they were baptized and married (or supposed to be so) only by the parish priest ; their children were sent to the Cathohc schools. Notwithstanding all this, the Church was still full of life. At the period of Claude Brousson's martyrdom, 1698, she had recovered not a little of the ground which had been lost at the first terrible shock of the Revocation ; and if she had been wise enough to continue in the same course of patient endurance and diligent prosecution of her Desert ministry, her future might have shone forth with sin- gular brightness. Even the government was compelled to acknowledge that the supposed triumph of coercive 64 The Camisards. measures was an illusion ; and insensibly the old relations between the Court and the Huguenots as an existent Church were resumed, the designation of New Converts or New Catholics being substituted for that of E. P. E. (Eeligion Pretendue Eeformee). The vitality of the persecuted Church at the end of the seventeenth century is attested by the Eomau Catholics themselves. Baville, the pitiless and astute Intendant of Languedoc, wrote in 1698 : — " There are districts in this province, consisting of twenty or thirty parishes, where the cure is the most unhappy and the most useless of mortals, and where, with all the pains which have been taken, it has not been possible to make a single Catholic." And in 1702, Julien, one of the royal generals in the same province, wrote to the Secretary of State, Chamillard : — " There are not forty New Catholics who are really con- verted. Those who were infants in the cradle, or mere children at the time of the general conversion [1685-6] ^ are now more Huguenot than their fathers, although they have never heard an ordained minister. The truth is, their parents have brought them up in the Eeformed doctrine wliilst they themselves were going to mass." What was true of Languedoc was true also of several other provinces. We have seen in the former volume how, in the year 1700, in the diocese of Saintes alone (Saintonge and the borders), there remained more than 60,000 heretics; and we have heard what Malzac and Gardien Givry had to say of the revival in Paris, Lyons, and Picardy.* It was the same in Normandy. From 1688 to 1690, three returned ministers, Cottin, Masson, and La Gacherie, laboured in that province, and one of them wrote to Basnagc, the celebrated exiled pastor in Holland, that God had blessed their mission beyond their expectation, and that at Eouen in particular all the New Converts had * See ' The Huguenots in the XVII. Century," pp. 139, 270, 275. llie state of the Church in the year 1700. 65 returned and given abundant proof of repentance and zeal. Israel Lecourt, two or three years later, speaking of the same pro^•ince, says : — " I found myself preacliing to assemblies of more than 2000 persons, surrounded some- times by forty or fifty armed men, who waited till we had finished in order to apprehend all those on whom they could lay their hands." After labouring two jears in Upper, he went into Lower, Normandy, where he preached nearly three years. At first he found the people in the practice of going to mass, and afraid to attend his meetings ; but by degrees they gained heart, and before he left, the number had increased to eight or nine hundred. Amongst them were many persons of distinction, who gave him their promise to go no more to mass. Unhappily, the Huguenot patience, especially in the mountains, now began to give way. The restless spirit of Vivens, who, as we have seen, in 1689 made the fatal mistake of an appeal to arms,* survived in many of his countrymen. At the same time, instead of that relaxation of severity which had been hoped for in 1698 under the mild administration of the Cardinal de Noailles, a new edict was issued in the year 1700, by which the former penalties for refusal to receive the Eomish sacraments, attempts to escape the country, and the like, were re- enacted. The third ingredient required to complete the explosive composition was supplied by the claim to pro- phetical inspiration which now returned witli redoubled force. • ' Huguenots,' pp. 250—252, 280. F ( 66 ) CHAPTER II. THE PKOPHETb. The reader of the ' Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century' may remember that in 1688 a large number of persons in Dauphine and Languedoc were seized with ex- traordinary sensations."^ They were violently agitated, and fell to the ground, where they lay insensible to external influences, and when the paroxysm was past they poured forth a stream of exhortation, rebuke, and prophecy. This phenomenon suddenly reappeared in the autumn of 1700. As in the former visitation, many fell down as if dead; and nearly all were affected with sobs, sighs, groahs, and tears. Eyewitnesses say that they presented the appearance of persons moved by a power outside or above themselves. Like the aerial psalmody of 1685, and the inspiration of 1688, this state of unnatural excitement was the result of protracted and relentless persecution, mental and bodily suffering, the reproaches of conscience, and the deprivation of those religious exercises which the people so dearly loved. The name of Prophet, however, came in course of time to be applied to many who were not affected by the paroxysms, but preached Christ with understanding and sobriety, and were examples of a good conversation, godli- ness, and charity. This second accession of the endemic is said to have com- menced with an aged woman of the Vivarais, an itinerant • P. 255. The Prophets. 67 tailoress who worked in the hamlets on both sides of the Rhone. Going into the mountains she communicated her enthusiasm wherever she came ; and by the end of the winter the contagion had spread from the summit of Mont Lozere to the shore of the Mediterranean. Although it had commenced with age, the inspiration rarely descended upon old people, and never upon the rich or learned ; it visited youth and poverty, misfortune, simple hearts, shep- herds, labourers, young women and children. " The youngest whom I have seen," says Durand Fage, " was a little girl of five, but I heard of a large number of children still younger." One of the first to exercise the new gift was a young labourer of Vagnas, near Barjac, named Daniel Raoul, who left his plough to gather the people. One day he thus addressed his audience : " Formerly God sent amongst you His well-instructed ministers, who, at the peril of their lives, exhorted you to repentance. You would not hear them ; nevertheless, touched with compassion. He has not utterly forsaken you, but now sends you new messengers. It is true these are ignorant persons who have no other know- ledge than that which He bestows upon them. You see before you one of these, one who cannot even read ; but I am one of the stones spoken of in the Scriptures who cry out when those which would otherwise have aroused you from your slumber have been removed : my commission is earnestly to exhort you to repentance." As he proceeded to enlarge upon the Divine mercy, all his auditors with one voice cried out : " Grant, 0 Lord, grace and pardon to us miserable sinners." When they had recovered their com- posure he showed them that without sincere and lasting repentance, groans and tears would be of no avail. A Catholic historian says that " to Raoul was imputed the profanation of the church at Valleraugue, where a troop of his disciples and emissaries in broad day broke in pieces 68 The Camisards. tlie tabernacle, and took away the sacred vessels." What •we know, however, of the preacher from other sources for- bids the supposition that he was privy to the outrage. Another of the prophets was Etienne Gout. He was scarce twenty years of age ; his impetuosity caused him tO' be compared to a young courser whom nothing can tame, bounding over the meadows. He drew after him the youth of the hamlets round the sources of the Anduze Gardon. Another was Jean Cavalier, a cousin of the famous Cami- sard chief of the same name. " After nine months of sobs and mental agitation," he says, "one Sunday morning, as I was prayiijg in my father's house, I fell into an ecstacy,. and God opened my mouth. For three days and nights I was continually under the influence of the spirit, and neither ate, drank, nor slept." The number of the prophets increased so rapidly that there was not room for them all to exercise their gifts at the prayer meetings, which were held by night or in secret. Several would often rise at once, when one would check the others in a voice of authority, " lu God's name hold your peace," and they would all refrain till he had finished. The people ran to these meetings with the utmost eagerness. Sometimes, in the midst of his sermon, the preacher would send out some of his audience to raise a sonorous hymn, which was echoed from the woods and rocks, and served as a guide to such as were still seeking their way to the meeting. " As soon as we heard this divine psalmody," says Fage, " we flew to- the spot ; woi'ds cannot express the ardour which burned within us ; we thought not of weariness, we became as light of foot as young deer." The inspiration of the children was a great enigma, and caused much perplexity. "I went," says a narrator, "with a priest of Le Vigan to see a little girl of six or seven years who was said to have received the divine gift. She was seized in our presence. When she returned to herself, the The Prophets. 69 priest severely catechised her, threatening and promising by turns. She persisted in her assertion that the motion •did not proceed from herself, and that she had no wish to speak ; * there was,' she said, ' some power within her stronger than her own will.' The priest, utterly puzzled, concluded that it was a trick of Satan to revive the heresy of Calvin." In these phenomena Biiville saw only the spirit of sedition. He redoubled his rigour, made parents respon- sible for the ecstatic fits of their children, and threatened the inspired with death. The consequence was that the fear of punishment took away the joy of the spiritual visi- tation, so that those who had lately desired it in their children as a comforter, now prayed that it might be removed, and their families spared. A man named Dumas of Monoblet, in the Lower Cevennes, had a daughter of eleven years who was subject to the ecstatic trance. He put her in prison, but she escaped, and took shelter at a village at the mouth of the Vidourle, where she preached from family to family. At one of the nightly meetings at which Dnrand Fage was present, she addrossed herself to him, saying, " Thou wilt receive a gift from God." " God's name be blest," he answered, and some days afterwards he too received the spirit. A peasant of St.-Paul la-Coste Lad a son of twelve years who became inspired. Under fear of being made to suffer for his child, the father went to the cure and said: "My son prophesies; I give you notice of it ; do not pretend to ruin me on his account." The cure advised him to starve the boy ; and then, as this means failed, to beat him ; but all to no purpose ; the visits of the spirit only became the more frequent. Concluding the child to be possessed, the cure prescribed a charm, but the child manfully resisted, and so sharply rebuked both his father and the priest, that the former was broken down. 70 The Caviisards. and a few days afterwards himself received the gift, and became a powerful preacher. Sometimes the spirit descended on Catholic as well as Protestant children. At first the priests contended that in these cases it was certainly a divine spirit ; but unhappily the Catholic children exclaimed against the mass, and called the Romish church Babylon. To destroy the germ of the contagion, Baville seized all the children within his reach, shut up the boys in the for- tresses, and sent the girls to the nunneries. Three hundred were immured in the town of Uzes. Doubting by this time whether the phenomenon might not be the effect of physical infirmity, the Intendant sent the faculty of medi- cine of Montpellier to Uzes to examine the children. As soon as the doctors entered the prisons, the little prophets began to preach and exhort them to repentance. The physicians could not discover that there was either trickery or madness ; nor could they venture to affirm that they spoke either by the Spirit of God or by the Spirit of the Evil One, or that the natural mind in them was able by its own power to attain such transports, or such a knowledge of heavenly things. They reported to the Intendant that the phenomenon was to be attributed to fanaticism. Baville released the greater number, but retained the oldest and strongest of the boys, whom he sent, some to the army, others to the galleys. Two hundred were marched out in chains from the single village of Le Pompidou, all of them disciples of Etienne Gout. Soon afterwards Etienne him- self fell into Baville's hands. He was apprehended by the Florae militia, and taken to Montpellier, December, 1701, where he was shut up in prison. As time went on some of the prophets laid claim to other supernatural gifts, exorcising demons, healing tbe sick, passing unharmed through the fire, and practising clair- -voyance. The most noted of these performers was Claris, The Prophets. 71 a veritable thaumaturge. In some instances there is a strong suspicion of collusion or of legerdemain, but the greater number must be regarded as genuine. Unintelli- gent testimony, however, in times of unnatural excitement, is of little value, and it would be a waste of time to dwell on these strange stories. ( 72 ) CHAPTEK III. THE CLOUDS GATHEE. The eighteenth century opened gloomy and threatening. The new edict of the year 1700 was enforced in the most rigorous manner. In the early months of 1701 many arrests, confiscations and executions took place, and many meetings were broken up at the point of the bayonet, and the olTenders sent to the galleys. " These outrages," says Court, "were perpetrated chiefly at the instance of the ecclesiastics, who were sorely chagrined, and almost in de- spair to see their churches deserted, and all their labour to bring back the Protestants to Eome entirely futile." "The clergy," says the Roman Catholic historian, De Brueys, " at first contented themselves with thundering from the pulpit against the meetings which the Huguenots persisted in holding ; but soon, finding their words unheeded, they had recourse to the magistrates to put a stop to these disorders." The Eomish clergy were not contented with invoking the secular power ; they took upon themselves to apprehend and chastise those whom by persuasion or threats they were unable to influence.* " We cannot," says a Eoman Catholic councillor, " dissimulate the fact that many eccle- siastics abused their authority, and treated the Protestants with so little charity, and even with so much severity, as * Their supervision of the New Converts was offensive ; they sent the soldiers to examine their saucepans to see if they kept the fast- days. The Clouds Gather. 73 to furnisli them with one of their pretexts for revolt." That," says De Brueys, " which served at first as a pre- text for revolt was afterwards the cause of the hatred of the fanatics towards the cures and the churches. Thence proceeded the massacre of so many priests, the burning .and pillage of so many churches, and the profanatiou of so many altars." The violence of the priests naturally provoked like violence on the part of the Huguenots. The prior of Valleraugue coming upon a young shepherd who was kneeling in prayer dragged him to his house by the hair of his head, and then went to the son of a notary named Bouton, to procure the stamped paper necessary for drawing up a proces-verbal against him. The young man, who was a Protestant, not only refused to let the cure have the paper, but called him a false prophet. The dispute between them grew warm ; and Bouton, in a fit of passion, ran to the church, overturned the " tabernacle," threw the sacred vessels into a well, and then boasted of what he had done, making no attempt to conceal himself. He was arrested in his own house, together with a neighbour named Olimpe, who, however, had had nothing to do with the matter. Bilville had Bouton broken on the wheel, after first cutting off his hand, and caused Olimpe to be hanged. Similar atrocities continued into the next year, 1702. In January a prophetess, and soon afterwards four men and four women, were hanged at Pont-de-Montvert. At the same time, in the plain, the Baron of St. Come dispersed several night meetings, and put the people to the sword, or hanged them on the trees. The strain became daily more and more intense. In February, Duraud Fage was attending a nightly meeting wearing a sword, when a prophetess addressed him with the words, " My brother, thy sword shall serve to destroy the enemies of the truth." At the same meeting Abraham Mazel, with 74 The Camisards. two of his companions, declared they had received a divine command to drive away the priests, and make war on the king. He had scarcely spoken when Etienne Gont, who, it may be remembered, had been shut up by Baville at Mont- pellier, suddenly appeared in the midst of the company^ crying : ' ' The angel of the Lord has delivered me ; He has brought me like Peter through the guards and the iron gates." How Gout escaped no one knew; it had even been supposed he was dead. He further announced that God was about to raise up forty thousand prophets, and that a powerful monarch would come and place himself at their head. He ordered a collection to be made for the purchase of arms, and he himself began to lay in a store of powder and ball. It is evident that a spark only was wanted to fire the inflammable mass. To learn whence this spark was to come we must turn to the history of the Abbe Da Chaila. ( 75 ) CHAPTEE IV. THE ABBE DU CHAILA. Conspicuous above the other ecclesiastics, both for his- zeal and for the unscrupulous means which he made use of, was Du Chaila. Fifteen years before, ri::., in 1687, Baville had appointed this man, then an arch-priest of Mende, * to be Inspector of Missions in the Cevennes. He had been a missionary in Siam, whence be had brought home with him a young Mandarin named Hin, whom he caused to be educated in the Seminary of Toulouse. Ordained a priest, the Siamese was appointed to a parish in Languedoc. " Singular des- tiny," remarks Peyrat, " to come from further Asia to convert the Languedocians to the Roman Pontiff." Du Chaila removed from Mende to St.-Germain-de-Calberte, where he kept his mimic court. He had eight young priests living with him, and his house was the resort of the Cevenol cures and missionaries. He kept also a small band of soldiers and other attendants. From St. Germain he made another remove to Pont-de-Montvert, where Baville gave him a house, then the best in the village, the former residence of a Protestant burgess who was put to death in the dragonnade of 1685. Accompanied by his priests and missionaries, Du Chaila made circuits amongst the surrounding parishes, preaching, inspecting, interro- gating, and treating the unhappy Protestants like brute * There were four arch -priests in the diocese of Mende; the title has long been extinct. 76 llie Camisards. <5attle. He converted bis cellars into dungeons, in which he confined those who resisted his will. He paid daily visits to his victims, inflicting upon them divers tortures, the most noted of which was that of the ccps, a wooden frame in which the feet and hands were drawn together, and the body curved in a painful attitude, so that the sufferer could not look up. For awhile the arch-priest met with little open resistance to his will. About the end of 1701, however, he perceived ■& change in the behaviour of the people he had undertaken to shepherd. In January, 1702, on revisiting the more ■contumacious of his parishes, to his surprise, his exhort- ations were received with yells and hootings. He handed over the leading men among the offenders to the Intendant, and summoned more priests to his side, but all to no pur- pose. At Easter the attendance of New Converts at high mass was less by one-half than it had been the year before. Other signs of an impending irruption were not wanting. The Prior of Melouze, going to his church one Sunday morning, saw hanging on the cross in the cemetery a dead