The New Hampshire Gazette

The VIRGINIA CENTINEL. NO. XVII

"How far is gallant Milchief overcome,
The Old must yield to new and modern Rome
Mix Ills past, present, future, in one Act
One high one brave: one great; one glorious Fate
Which Hell and I may envy-n: OLDHAM"

COUNTRYMEN and Fellow Protestants! I have, in a former Alarm, given you some Specimens of the bloody Genius of Popery,-of even Frenchified Popery; which, notwithstanding the pretended Humanity and Politeness of that Nation, is still found to be a bloody savage Harpy.

As I have now some new authentic Materials for another Alarm; and as nothing can make you more Sensible or tenacious of your invaluable Privileges as a free People under a British Government, or more Zealous against the Incroachments of French Tyranny, which has been advancing toward you for some Time with such formidable gigantic Strides, than to view the Oppressions, Persecutions, Tortures and Death, under which the thin Remains of your Fellow Protestants in France now groan; I shall give you a Sketch of their tragical History, founded upon very good Authorities.*

I shall trace this Persecution no farther back than the Year 1724, when Lewis XV. the present King of France, published the following sanguinary Edict, at once expressive of the Spirit of the Tyrant and his Ministers, and the Genius of his Religion.

"With the Advice of our Council, and of our own special Grace, full Power and royal Authority, we have required and commanded, and by these Presents signed with our own Hand, do require and command, and our Will and Pleasure is,

I. "That the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Religion alone be exercised in our Realms, Dominions and Countries; and we forbid all our Subjects, of what State, Quality and Condition soever, to practice any except the said Catholic Religion, or to assemble for that End in any Place, and on any Pretence whatsoever, under Pain of being condemned to the Gallies for Life, if they are Men; and if Women, of being shorn, and confined for ever in such Places as our Judges shall think expedient; with Confiscation of Goods in either Case, and under Pain of Death, to those who shall assemble in Arms.

II. "Being informed, that there have sprung up, and still are springing up daily, in our Realm, a great Number of Preachers, whose sole Business it is to stir up the People to Rebellion, and to dissuade them from the Practice of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Religion, we do command that all Preachers, who shall call Assemblies, preach in them, or discharge any other Function, BE PUT TO DEATH; the Punishment appointed by the Declaration of July 1685, for Ministers of the pretended reformed Religion; which we would not, for the future, have any one esteem a mere Threatening, which will not be put in Execution.

We do likewise forbid our Subjects to receive the said Ministers or Preachers, to conceal, aid, or assist them, or have directly or indirectly any Intercourse or Correspondence with them: We farther enjoin all those, who shall know any of the said Preachers, to inform against them to the Officers of the respective Places; the whole under Pain, in Case of Trespass, of being condemned to the Gallies for Life, if Men; and if Women, of being shorn, and shut up the Remainder of their Days, in such Places as our Judges shall think expedient; and whether Men or Women, under Pain of Confiscation.

Given at Versailles, the 14th of May, 1724."

This is the cruel Edict, which has been carrying into Execution in France above 30 Years, and is now in full Force. If any of my Readers should need an Explanation of any of the Species of Punishments denounced in it, I congratulate them upon their happy Ignorance. Had they lived under a French Government, they might have been instructed in these Arts of Torture, by the painful Lessons of Experience. To excite their Compassion for their suffering Brethren, and enflame their Patriot-Resentments, I shall only initiate them into the Mystery of Confinement to the Gallies. A Galley is a low decked Vessel, generally from 120 to 132 Feet long, about 48 broad, and 6 deep. They are navigated with Oars, and much used in the Mediterranean Sea. The Galley Slaves are chained to these Oars, their Shirts being stripped down to the Waist, and exposed to all Weathers. The Chains sometimes corrode and wear away the Flesh to the very Bone, and occasion Gangrenes. To this Kind of Confinement are the unhappy Protestants condemned during Life, in Company with the most notorious Malefactors, who, having escaped the Sentence of Death, are condemned to the same Punishment, though some of the latter have more Favor shown them, and are confined only for a Time, and then dismissed.

The following Extracts from the Letters of some of the Sufferers, or Persons of good Intelligence and Veracity, will show with what unrelenting Rigor the above Edict is still executed.

A Protestant Minister of Lower Languedoc writes thus: July 26, 1754. "About July 27th, a religious Assembly returning Home, the Garrison fell upon them, fired, put them to flight, and seized three Men and five Women. Another Assembly having broke up, were attacked by a Party of Dragoons, who fired among them, wounded one Man, and ended his Life with their Bayonets. Forty-five were taken Prisoners.----Other Accounts of the Assembly inform us, that five or six were killed on the Spot, and 14 or 15 wounded.-- Towards the latter End of the same Month, an Assembly was Surprised by a Party of Dragoons, who fired upon them, and seized several of both Sexes, who remain in Prison.--The 17th Instant, an Officer and five Gentlemen were taken up, for what Reason we cannot yet certainly know, Some say it is for holding religious Assemblies, and others, for performing Baptisms and Marriages.": Another Protestant Minister writes thus: Aug. 8, 1754 - "I am well acquainted with the Affairs of our Churches, and the several unjust and cruel Methods which are daily used to destroy them. Never before have they been so artfully attacked; they are beset on every Side, and ravaged from every Quarter: and it will be impossible to bear up under this heavy Calamity, unless sustained and upheld by God himself - The Provinces of this Part of the Kingdom, where the Protestant Religion has most flourished, are crowded with Troops, as I imagine, to extirpate all the Protestants, if possible; for they are to quarter here some Time. -On the 4th Instant they made a general Sally. They plundered not only the Houses in the Country, but even those in the City did not escape their Fury. A Minister, who had taken that Office upon him no more than two Years, had the House surrounded where he was; and attempting to escape, was shot by a Fuzee, and was arrested, as was all the Family where he was. He was carried Prisoner to Montpellier, where he must suffer, as most of his Predecessors have done before him. Myself must have shared the same Fate, had it not been for the kind Protection of a Catholic Friend: For I had no sooner left my House, than it was surrounded, with a numerous Detachment, which made the most exact Search for me. Since this fatal Time, my Day is turned into Night; and my People, seeing it impossible for me to elude their diligent Search, advise me to retire for some Time into Switzerland, there to wait for more quiet and peaceable Days.--We have great Reason to fear our enemies will exert all their Power to molest them (the Ministers and others that baptize, &c. in desert Places) since the Bishop of Alais has sent a Letter for that Purpose to all the Curates of his Diocese."

The following is an Account of Mr. P --e, drawn up by himself.-- "On the Parish Curate's taking my Child by Force, and baptizing it according to the Rites of the Church of Rome during my Absence, on my Return Home, I expressed my Resentment, and reproved the Curate, who thereupon complained of me to the Deputy, and a Warrant was granted against me. I was accused, and though innocent, condemned to Death, as accessory to the Murder of a Woman found dead in Prison. I appealed to the Parliament of Toulouse, and thereby was acquitted, and discharged from Imprisonment; but after some Time was again ordered to be arrested; but a Friend gave me private Intelligence. I immediately embraced the favourable Opportunity, left my Family the very same Day, and fled for Refuge to this happy Isle [of Great Britain] where, by the kind Providence of God, I am safely arrived."

I find I must reserve some additional Articles of Intelligence for my next, for Want of Room.--These may serve as a Specimen of the savage Genius of Popery and a French Government. Can a Protestant, can a Briton or Virginian, read such Accounts as these without Indignation? Can we behold the Incroachments of such a Government, with a quantum sufficit of Indian Barbarity, without Horror? And must not Our Resentment fire us into Soldiers, to repel this dire Apollyon from our Borders?

L.

*For these I must refer the Reader to two Discourses on this Subject by the Reverend Mr. Gibbons, a dissenting Minister in London; Edit. 1755.

To preach the Gospel peaceably, to expose the Nonsense and Idolatry of Popery, and inculcate the Principles of religious Liberty and true Free thinking, is, in the Style of the French King, "to stir up the People to Rebellion."

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