The Virginia Gazette

PARIS, July 24. The 21st Instant the Chambers of the Parliament being assembled, a Warrant was issued for apprehending the Sieur Boucot, Curate of Denainvilliers in the Diocese of Amiens, for several Refusals of the Sacraments, and of the Communion in particular, in his Church, since the Year 1749, for injurious Reflections in his Sermons on divers Persons, and for having refused to begin a Procession in Rogation Week, till one of those Persons had turned out of the Church. One of the Members then assured the Assembly, that since a Writ of Arrest had been issued against the Curate of Chamorey in the Diocese of Sens, no Divine Service had been celebrated in that Parish; upon which a Charge was given to the Attorney-General and Advocate-General to enquire into this Matter, and to make Report thereof to the Parliament within a Fortnight. We don't yet hear what Answer the King made to the Attorney and Advocate General, whom the Parliament sent to Compiègne about a Week ago, to make Representations about the Publication of the Bishop of Amiens's Letter to his Majesty: Nevertheless it is said that they have made a very favourable Report to the Parliament; which we are apt to believe must be true, because we see them continue to prosecute those Priests who refuse to administer the Sacraments to Persons suspected of Jansenism. Several Pieces have lately been published in Defence of the Cause of the Prelates, and amongst them we see the following Letter to the King, signed by three Archbishops and sixteen Bishops.

We cannot express to your Majesty how much the truly Faithful have been and still are alarm'd, nor can we describe the Grief of the Bishops, the Exultation of the Enemies of the Church, and the Astonishment of the whole Kingdom, at the Resolution of your Parliament of the Fifth of May. That Tribunal has not feared to tell the World in the said Resolution, that the Archbishop of Paris dares to declare openly for a Schism: Magistrates, who cannot authentically learn but from us, what it is that constitutes Schism, and what are the Steps that unhappily lead to it, have dared to bring so odious an Accusation against their Father in Jesus Christ, against the Archbishop of the Capital, against your own Archbishop. And what plainly shews how far they are blinded by Prejudice, is, that they stigmatize this Prelate as a Schismatic, at the Same Time that by their Vote or Resolution they forbid the branding of the least of your Subjects with this injurious Epithet.

If this Pastor, the Disciple of him who laid down his Life for his Sheep, more grieved than irritated to see Part of his Flock go astray, opposes nothing to this Outrage but his Patience, his Silence, and his Charity; we, Sire, who foresee what Religion is likely to suffer from such an Insult on the Character and Person of one of its most respectable Members, can we dispense with ourselves from representing to your Majesty the Consequences of so atrocious an Imputation, which is propagated all over the Kingdom, and stands upon Record in the Parliament's Registers?

What will the People think, and what will they respect hereafter, if those who are appointed to keep them in Subordination, give them an Example of Indocility; if they set up for Censors and Masters of him whose Disciples they ought to be in the Order of Religion; and if they proceed so far as to attack the Sacred Chair, which Jesus Christ has immediately subjected them to; if they attempt to condemn and stigmatize their Pastor, whom they ought to honour and respect; and if they precipitate themselves into the Peril of Schism, in accusing him of being the Author thereof?

Besides, what a Triumph is here afforded to Libertines and Free-Thinkers, who being ever ready to shake off the Yoke of Religion, eagerly seize and improve the most trifling Occasions to cry down and revile the Authority of its Ministers!

Frighted, as we ought to be, at the Danger to which one of the most noble Portions of the Kingdom of Christ is exposed, we recur, Sire, with Confidence to your Majesty. We are persuaded, that your Wisdom and Prudence will point out a speedy Remedy for so grievous an Event. You may do it with a single Word, in suppressing and annulling that mischievous Resolution of the Parliament, and effacing, by your Sovereign Authority, the very Remembrance, if possible, of so injurious a Character.

This is what all the Archbishops, and Bishops, that are at hand to present their most humble Supplications on this Subject have the Honour to request of you, Sire, with the greatest Earnestness: 'Tis what is demanded of you by the whole Church of France, jointly attacked in the Person of a Prelate, whose Zeal for the sound Doctrine, his immense Charity, and his Regularity in all his Duties, have infinitely endeared him to them.

We are, with the most profound Respect and most perfect Submission, Your Majesty's, &c.

Signed by the Archbishops of Cambray, Aix and Tholouse, the ancient Bishop of Orange, the Bishops of Langres, Nitrie, Bayeux, Carcassone, Metz, Meaux, Bethleem, Cahors, Troyes, Dijon, Perpignan, Avranches, Chartres and Apt. Trequier, Poitiers.