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THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, from the birth of Christ to the 18th Century: including the very interesting account of the Waldenses and Albigenses
By William Jones

First Edition 1812
Fourth Edition 1819
Fifth Edition 1826
London: Printed for the Author by W. Myers, 7, Took’s Court, Castle Street, Holborn

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[Table of Contents for "A History of the Christian Church" by William Jones]

CHAPTER SIX -- SECTION 8

THE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES CONCLUDED.

The writer of the Apocalypse informs us that, while in the isle of Patmos, he had a vision of a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns--and that there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies--and it was also given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations; that all that dwell upon the earth should worship him, except those whose names were written in the slain Lamb’s book of life, from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13. That this prophetic description was designed to point out the monstrous antichristian proceedings of Papal Rome, is now scarcely doubted by any, except the members of that apostate church: and with how much propriety such an application of it is made, may be very safely left to the determination of those who shall have impartially perused the foregoing narrative. If we calmly review the conduct of the court of Rome towards the Waldenses, and mark the savage ferocity with which they had now, for several successive centuries, invariably pursued them; how, when exiled from one country, they were followed into another, and that nothing short of their total extirpation could satisfy the relentless cruelty of their adversaries, we can scarcely forbear applying to them the affecting language of the Psalmist, "For thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are, accounted as sheep for the slaughter," Psalm 44:23.

We have seen that, whether in France, or Spain, or in our own country; in Bohemia, Calabria, or Poland; throughout Germany or the Netherlands; in Italy or the Valleys of Piedmont; one common fate awaited them, and that they never failed, sooner or later, to experience, namely, "to be slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held," Revelation 6:9.

But the crisis of their affairs was now arrived;--the witnesses who had so long, and so nobly prophesied in sackcloth, before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, were about to finish their testimony; which having done, it remained for the "beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit to make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them," Revelation 11:3-7.

A glance at the manner in which this was effected will occupy the present section, and discharge my engagements to the public; so far at least as regards this undertaking.

The number of the Waldenses that fell in the massacre of Piedmont, in 1655, is estimated by contemporary writers at more than six thousand. [History of the Persecution of the Valleys of Piedmont, p. 4.] In consequence, however, of the humane interference of our own and other protestant states, the residue, as hath been already stated, availed themselves of the treaty that was signed by the Duke of Savoy, on the 9th of August, 1655, to return to their dwellings. But their enemies were by no means satisfied with the measure of calamity which they had dealt out towards them. In the year 1668, they again came forward with fire and sword, and the atrocities of 1655 were once more in preparation to be reacted. Having found by experience that to stand in an attitude of self-defense was the only way left them of saving themselves, the Waldenses were now constrained to take up arms, which they did, and defended themselves so bravely, that about the end of that year they at least kept their enemies at bay! But the Swiss cantons, ever alive to their affairs, on this occasion again sent ambassadors to the court of Turin, to mediate between the parties, and in February, 1664, a patent was granted by the Duke of Savoy, in all respects confirming that given in 1655; but though his royal highness now personally engaged to see the treaty carried into effect, it was no better executed than the former. The Waldenses, however, persevered, and though subject to innumerable contumelies and very injurious treatment, which the rancor of the council for propagating the faith was continually inflicting upon them, they bore up until the year 1672, when an event transpired that afforded them an opportunity, in a very signal manner, of evincing their loyalty, and of rendering essential services to their sovereign and their country.

In the year last mentioned, a war broke out between the Duke of Savoy and the Genoese. The army of the former was commanded by the Marquis of Pionessa, son of the nobleman of that name who nearly thirty years before had taken so active a part in the massacre of the Waldenses. Under his management the war with Genoa proved most unpropitious, inasmuch that the affairs of the Duke of Savoy were brought to the brink of ruin, and, as Bishop Burnet assures us [Burnet’s Letters from Italy - Supplement to ditto, Letter 3, p. 158. Edit. 1688], the duke was so displeased with his conduct that he never would forgive him, but a little before his death actually enjoined it upon his mother never to employ him again! It was in this critical juncture of their national affairs that the Waldenses forgetting all that was past, voluntarily came forward to enroll themselves in their sovereign’s cause, and entered into the war with such zeal and courage that they soon retrieved the fallen fortunes of their country and brought the war to a speedy and successful termination. Their loyal and disinterested behavior on this occasion, sensibly affected the mind of their prince, who testified his approbation of their conduct in a letter, of which the following is a copy:

To our most faithful subjects, the communities of the Valleys of Lucerne, Perouse, San Martin, and of the districts of Perrustin, Saint Bartholomew, and Rocheplatte. The Duke Of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, etc., etc. Most Dear and Faithful,

Forasmuch as we have been well pleased with the zeal and readiness with which you have provided men who have served us to our entire satisfaction, in the affair we had against the Genoese; we have thought fit to testify unto you by these presents our approbation thereof, and to assure you, that we shall keep it in particular remembrance, to make you sensible on all occasions of the effects of our royal protection, whereof the Count Beccaria shall give you more ample information, whom we have commanded to express to you our sentiments more at large, and also to take a list of the officers and soldiers, as well of those that are dead as of those that remain prisoners, that we may report the same unto us, to the end that we may pay due regard thereunto. In the meantime these presents shall serve you for an assured testimony of our satisfaction and good will; and we pray God to preserve you from evil. Signed C. Emanuel, Buonfiglio.

The following is a copy of the duke’s letter to Count Beccaria.

Trusty and Well-Beloved, The men whom the communities of Lucerne, etc., have provided, have served us so faithfully, that, being desirous of testifying unto them our satisfaction therewith, we have sent you a letter herein enclosed, which we have written to them, to the end that you may deliver it to them, and also express more fully the goodwill that we bear to them on that account; and that you may assure them, that whensoever anything shall happen that may tend to their advantage we will particularly remember their affection. And on this occasion you shall take a list of the officers and soldiers, as well of those that are dead as of those that are prisoners, and make a report of the same unto us, that we may pay a suitable regard to such; and referring to you for what may be said further in token of the satisfaction we have received, no less by their zeal and readiness, than by the good services which their officers and soldiers have rendered us; we pray our Lord to preserve you. Signed C. EMANUEL. Turin, November 5, 1672. To Monsieur Count Beccaria, Counselor of State.

In scrupulous conformity with the tenor of these letters the duke continued, to the time of his death, which happened in 1675, to favor the Waldenses with tokens of his kindness; and, even after his decease, the duchess, his widow, followed his example, treating them with great gentleness and goodness; and, in the year 1679, she pledged herself, in a letter to the Swiss Cantons, dated 28th January, to maintain the Waldenses in the undisturbed exercise of their religious privileges, VICTOR AMADEUS II was a minor at the time of his father’s death, though he inherited the title of Duke of Savoy. The government of Piedmont was, consequently, during this interval of ten years, vested in the hands of his mother, the widow of the late Charles Emanuel II who acted as regent until the year 1685, when Victor Amadeus arrived at maturity; and it appears to have been a season of tranquillity to the churches throughout the Valleys. It is a remarkable circumstance that both father and son were poisoned! The former, indeed, fell a sacrifice to this base and treacherous act, but the youth of the son carried him through it. [Bishop Burnet’s Supplementary Letters from Italy, p. 161.] It was the misfortune of this young prince, however, to become connected by marriage with Louis XIV, king of France, one of the most detestable and sanguinary tyrants that ever sat upon a throne; and who, as we shall presently see, compelled him, in defiance of his own inclination and judgment, to extirpate the Waldenses from his dominions. "There is nothing more visible," says Bishop Burnet, writing at the very time, "than that the Dukes of Savoy have sunk extremely in this age, from the figure which they made in the last; and how much soever they have raised their titular dignity in having the title of Royal Highness given them, they have lost as much in the figure which they made in the affairs of Europe.--The truth is, the vanity of this title and the expensive humor which their late marriages with France has spread among them, have ruined them; for instead of keeping good troops and strong places, all the revenue goes to keeping up the magnificence of the court, which is certainly very splendid" [Bishop Burnet’s Supplementary Letters from Italy, p. 162].

Of the justice and pertinency of these observations the reader will find abundant proof in the sequel. During the reign of Louis XIII the Protestants had multiplied in FRANCE to such an extent, that, at the period of his death, A.D. 1643, they were computed to exceed two millions. Their religious privileges had been guaranteed to them by the well-known edict of Nantz. Louis XIV was only five years of age when his father died, and of course, the queen mother was appointed sole regent during his minority. When the young king came of age, in 1652, the edict of Nantz was again confirmed. But his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarine, with his confessors and clergy, were continually impressing his mind with the expediency of revoking that edict: and when the management of affairs devolved upon his own hands, in 1661, he resolved to effect the destruction of the Protestants. In prosecution of this design he began by excluding the Calvinists from his household, and from all places of profit and trust. He next caused several laws to be passed in favor of the catholic religion. Then rigorous methods were adopted to compel the Calvinists to change their religion--their places of worship were shut up--and at length, October 22, 1685, he revoked the edict of Nantz, and banished them from the kingdom. The cruelties that were inflicted upon them at that time, if possible, surpass in atrocity any thing that is to be found in the persecutions of the first Christians by the Heathens. "They cast some," says Monsieur Claude, "into large fires, and took them out when they were half roasted. They hanged others with ropes under their arms, and plunged them several times into wells, till they promised to renounce their religion. They tied them like criminals on the rack, and by means of a funnel, poured wine into their mouths, till, being intoxicated, they declared, that they consented to turn Catholics. Some they cut and slashed with pen-knives, others they took up by the nose with red hot tongs, and led them up and down the rooms till they promised to turn Catholics." These cruel proceedings caused eight hundred thousand persons to quit the kingdom.

The tranquillity of the Waldenses in Piedmont was now first invaded by a proclamation issued by the governor of the Valleys, about the end of the year 1655, ordering that no stranger should come and continue in the Valleys above three days without his permission, on pain of being severely punished. This seemed mysterious, but it was soon unraveled by the intelligence which presently arrived of the dreadful proceedings against the French Protestants; for they immediately saw that it was intended to prevent them from giving an asylum to any of the unhappy exiles; yet they little apprehended the dreadful tempest that was gathering around themselves.

On the 31st of January 1686, they were amazed at the publication of an order from the Duke of Savoy, forbidding his subjects the exercise of the protestant religion upon pain of death: the confiscation of their goods; the demolition of their churches; and the banishment of their pastors. All infants born from that time, were to be baptized and brought up in the Roman Catholic religion, under the penalty of their fathers being condemned to the galleys! Their consternation was now extreme. Hitherto the treaty which secured to them the free exercise of their religion had been guaranteed by the kings of France; but they were now given to understand that the Duke of Savoy, in all these intolerant measures, was only fulfilling the wishes of that monarch; and, to crown the whole, the latter had marched an army to the confines of Piedmont to see the order of the duke properly executed. In this truly affecting condition, their first step was, by submission and entreaty, to soften the heart of their sovereign. Four different applications were addressed to him, beseeching him to revoke this cruel order: the only advantage they reaped was a suspension of the impending calamity until their enemies were better prepared to execute it with effect.

Their old and tried friends the Swiss Cantons, being informed of this state of things, convened a Diet at Baden, in the month of February, 1686, at which it was resolved to send ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy to intercede for the Waldenses; and early in the following month they arrived at Turin, where they delivered in their propositions relating to the revocation of the order of the 31st of January. They showed his highness that they were interested in the affair, not only as the brethren of the Waldenses, but also in virtue of the treaties of 1655, and 1664, which were the fruits of their mediation, and which this new order annulled. The court of Turin admitted the plea; but contented themselves with telling the ambassadors, that the engagement which the duke had recently entered into with the King of France opposed the success of their negotiation. The Swiss ambassadors gave in a memorial, and urged a variety of pleas; in all which they were supported by letters from many protestant princes in behalf of the Waldenses. They pleaded that the predecessors of his royal highness had pledged themselves to many of the potentates of Europe, and particularly to the Cantons of Switzerland, to observe the privileges which had been granted to the protestant inhabitants of the Valleys and argued that such formal and authenticated engagements ought to stand good; for that the immunities which had been secured to them by letters patent, were not to be regarded merely in the light of matters of momentary toleration, but as perpetual grants and irrevocable laws: that having been granted at the intercession of many sovereign princes, they must, according to the laws of nations, be regarded as monuments of the public faith: and that the promise of princes ought to be maintained sacred and inviolable. They also endeavored to show, by arguments deduced from maxims of state policy, that the Duke of Savoy acted against his own interest in these cruel proceedings; and that even from a regard to those he should continue the Waldenses in their ancient privileges--that the laws of justice and motives of clemency should prevent him from subjecting his country to fire and sword and desolation; for that he was about to ruin a harmless and innocent people, who had done nothing that could deservedly entitled them to the effects of this inhuman order. But neither the reasoning of the ambassadors, nor their own pressing solicitations, nor the letters of intercession which had been presented in their behalf from many other protestant princes, could avail any thing with the court of Turin.

The Marquis of Saint Thomas, to whom they delivered their memorial, and who was one of the duke’s ministers of state for foreign affairs returned an answer in a few days, stating that his royal highness was sorry that he was not in a capacity to grant what they desired in their own and in the name of their masters,--that he had far stronger reasons for enforcing this edict than they had given him to revoke it; and that he could not so much as mitigate it; that the great wheels moved and carried the little ones along with them--that having for his neighbor a prince equally powerful and jealous of his honor, he was obliged to carry himself with great circumspection, and to act according to the exigencies of the times, just as in Switzerland they were sometimes compelled by the turn of their affairs, to take certain resolutions contrary to the good intentions they might otherwise have. In short, the duke was too far engaged--the troops which he had raised, at a great expense, were already in motion--that the edict could not be revoked without wounding his royal highness’s reputation--that he was forced to see it executed for very cogent reasons, on which the ambassadors might make their own reflections. He added that the grants of 1655 and 1664, were a mere toleration, and that the Waldenses had no positive right to exercise their religious profession--that sovereigns do no injustice in refusing to allow more than one religion in a country, and that the Swiss Cantons themselves justified the conduct of his royal highness, by not enduring Roman Catholics among them. Besides, the concessions granted to the Waldenses had been legally examined, and it was agreed, that the concessions and favors which a prince grants to his subjects, he is at liberty to revoke at pleasure--that his royal highness prohibited nothing to the Waldenses but the exercise of their religious profession, but that he in no respects intended to force their consciences!

The ambassadors in reply told the Marquis of St. Thomas, that however strong his royal highness’s reasons were to consent to his edict of January last, they could not annul those that necessarily engaged him to observe the promises given before this edict. That some considerations of state ought not to dispense a prince from performing his word, especially if he entered into this engagement by the mediation of another sovereign; and that whereas the patents and concessions granted to the inhabitants of the valleys had been acquired by the intercession of several kings, princes, and states, and, in particular, of their excellencies the protestant Cantons, and confirmed by his royal highness, he could allege nothing sufficient to discharge him from the obligation of seeing them punctually observed; and the rather, because these patents have been enrolled by the parliament of Savoy; and that the enrolling of the year 1620 alone, had cost the churches of the Valleys six thousand crowns.

They urged that the concessions granted by the predecessors of his royal highness to the inhabitants of the valleys, did acquire them an incontestable right, which they could not lose but by an enormous crime, and by a rebellion against their lawful sovereign, and, that far from being guilty of any want of their duty, they could produce a letter of his royal highness’s, of the 2d of September, 1684, which is an authentic and glorious proof of the fidelity and inviolable adherence which they had always shown to their prince’s interest. That if, after the publication of the last edict, some particular persons amongst them had taken up arms, they had not done it to make use of them against their sovereign, but only to defend themselves against those that, abusing his authority, had undertaken to attack and insult them; and that in case there had been some disorders committed, those that were the authors ought to be punished; but that it ought not to be imputed to the whole body of the churches of the Valleys, that were in no respects guilty of it. They insisted that the prince was equally obliged to execute the promises he had made to his subjects, as those which regarded persons who are in no manner under his submission. That such obligations were grounded upon public faith and honor, which ought to rule in all treaties of sovereigns, without distinction; that if it were allowable to fail in what they had solemnly promised to their people, it would be impossible to terminate differences that should arise between them, or to appease the troubles that might happen in their state; and that two parties making war on one another, would never end their quarrels, but be the total ruin of one of them.

They added to this, that sovereigns had reason to employ their utmost endeavors to unite their subjects in the same religion; but that to effect it, they ought not to violate treaties which had been formerly made with them. That all that was allowed them in such a case, was, to employ instruction and exhortation, and all the winning ways of sweetness, that are calculated to make truth enter into the minds of their people, to enlighten their understandings, and to move them to embrace, with good will, the true religion; but that which deserved a particular consideration in this contest is, that the inhabitants of the Valleys did not hold, by the concessions of their princes, the liberty to exercise in public their religion; because it was established in this country above eight centuries ago; and that they enjoyed this right long before they were the subjects of his royal highness’s ancestors; inasmuch that having never been of the same religion as their prince, it could not be said that they had abandoned it, nor he oblige them to return to it.

These reasons, and many others which were adduced, were so strong, that the ambassadors hoped they would have some effect on his royal highness’s mind; and that the Marquis of St. Thomas would be pleased to make them known to him, and employ the credit which he had with him, to obtain the revoking of an edict which, without doubt, he had thought to be just, and which he would not have published, if he had been persuaded that it was contrary to what a just and equitable sovereign owes to his faithful subjects.

But they did not merely content themselves in representing the right of the Piedmontese churches, and supporting it by solid reasons; for they employed several days in soliciting all the ministers of his royal highness, and all persons they judged capable of contributing to the success of their embassy: above all they stuck close to the Marquis of St. Thomas, as one upon whom depended all the good and all the evil they could expect in this affair; and if we judge of things by appearance, the pains they took to dispose him to be favorable to them were not altogether unsuccessful. For he protested upon oath, that he had laid before his royal highness the contents of the reply which he had been charged to present to him; that he had done all he could to make him sensible of the reasons they made use of to obtain the revoking of the edict; but that the juncture of affairs was the reason why he could not persuade his royal highness to grant them their requests. "Nevertheless," added he, "whereas the prince’s troops are not yet upon the march, the inhabitants of the valleys may make a show as if they were willing to execute the edict, because that such a conduct is not contrary to the maxims of your religion, and by these means they will disarm the prince, and they may find afterwards some means to prevent the evils they are threatened with."

"Our doctrine, answered the ambassadors, does in no respect countenance the dissembling of our faith, or oblige us to profess before men the truth whereof our hearts are not persuaded. But this is not our business at present; the question is to know whether his royal highness could lawfully revoke the concessions granted to the churches of the Valleys. For as they are engagements into which he has entered by the mediation of several sovereigns, and amongst others, by that of the Swiss Cantons, our sovereign lords, it is evident that nothing can warrant him in breaking them."

In answer to all these pleas, the ministers of the prince gave the ambassadors to understand, that the council of state having examined them, judged they were not strong enough to hinder the prince from publishing his edict against his subjects of the Valleys: and that supposing the edict should really cause some inconvenience to his royal highness, he would nevertheless not desist from it, for fear a change of this nature should be injurious to his authority; and that endeavoring to preserve some of his subjects, he might run the hazard to lose them all. And though the ministers wished to be thought firm in their sentiments, and to show they were not convinced of the justice of the demands the ambassadors made, it was well known that they defended the edict against their own opinion; for one of them frankly confessed, that his royal highness’s counselors had not properly examined the concessions of the years 1655 and 1664, and that if they had made the necessary reflections on them, they would never have advised the prince to revoke them; but he assured them, that the evil was now without remedy, and that all the solicitations of the ambassadors, to oblige the prince to change his will, would be in vain; indeed, one of the ministers frankly confessed, that the prince was not master of this affair, and that they executed at Turin those orders that were given at Versailles. This honest confession convinced the ambassadors that all their solicitations would produce no effect; therefore, seeing it would be impossible for them to obtain the revocation of the edict, they thought fit, according to the chief head of their instructions, to demand that which related to the second article of the orders which they had received from their sovereigns, viz. to procure the inhabitants of the Valleys the means of retreating somewhere else, and of disposing of their goods as they should think fit.

But as their instruction was, to make no proposals to the court of Turin, on this point, except with the consent of the inhabitants of the Valleys, they told the marquis of St. Thomas that having, for several reasons, entertained no correspondence with them, they were willing to take a journey into the Valleys, to inform themselves exactly of the disposition of the people, and when acquainted with their intentions, to make some overtures of a new negotiation. But they gave him to understand, at the same time, they would by no means undertake the journey, except with his royal highness’s full consent.

The Marquis of St. Thomas, having acquainted his royal highness with the design of the ambassadors, sent them word that he approved of their intentions, and that he would give orders to the governor of Lucerne to do them all the honor, and to show them all the respect, that was due to their character.

When the ambassadors arrived in the Valleys, they acquainted all the communities with their arrival, who dispatched immediately two deputies and two ministers to them, to whom they represented, that they had employed their utmost endeavors to cause the edict of the 31st day of January to be revoked, but that all their pleading had been unsuccessful: that it had been given them to understand, that his royal highness was so much engaged with one of the most powerful monarchs in the world, that it was impossible for him to break it: and that he was resolved to use all his endeavors to unite his subjects in the same religion, as he had promised to do.

There were, therefore, no hopes left of obtaining the revocation of the orders that had been given against them. That their sovereign lords had commanded them, in case his royal highness should persist in his resolution to execute his edict, that they should demand his permission to give them leave to retreat out of his territories, and to dispose of their goods; but that they were unwilling to enter into any negotiation upon this article, without being first informed of their intentions about it. That, therefore, they should assemble to deliberate seriously about so important an affair, and acquaint them afterwards what they desired of them in the present juncture.

The deputies and ministers having conferred together about this proposition, before they resolved upon any thing, they entreated the ambassadors to assist them with their best advice and prudent counsel; but the ambassadors declined to advise them in so intricate a business, telling them they were better acquainted with their own forces; with the situation of the places where they intended to entrench themselves; with their ammunition and provisions, than they were; and that, therefore, they themselves could adopt the best measures about it.

The ministers and deputies finding that they could not agree amongst themselves, and that, besides, it was a business which could not be decided but by their Commonalties; told the ambassadors, that the case in question being of the greatest importance, they could take no resolutions about it without having first assembled all their commonalties to consult upon it, and they promised to bring to them at Turin their last resolutions, provided they could get passports for them.

The ambassadors returned to Turin, and informed the Marquis of St. Thomas of the success of their journey, who assured them that this negotiation was very agreeable to the court. They then demanded a safe conduct, that some of the inhabitants of the Valleys might have liberty to come and bring the deliberations that should be taken in this assembly: but it was refused under two pretenses; one was, that the Duke of Savoy would not permit that any Waldenses should appear at his court; the other was, that he designed to do nothing in this affair but only for the sake of the ambassadors. They were forced, therefore, to send the secretary of the embassy into the Valleys and fetch these deliberations. This secretary found the communities assembled at Angrogne, the 28th of March, very much unresolved what course to take; for, on one side, they saw the lamentable consequences of war; on the other side, the dangers and almost insurmountable difficulties in the execution of their retreat. Besides, although they might depart without danger, they could not contemplate, but with extreme regret, the hardship of being forced to abandon their goods and native country to go into a foreign land to lead a miserable, disconsolate, and wandering sort of life. At last they resolved to send a memorial to the ambassadors, stating the dangers and difficulties that obstructed their departure, and wrote a letter to them signed by nine ministers and eight laymen, in which, after having entreated them to reflect on these obstacles, they declared, that they would refer the whole to their prudence and conduct. Upon receiving this letter the ambassadors made it their business to obtain permission for the Waldenses to retire out of the estates of Piedmont, and to make sales of their goods; but the Duke of Savoy, to whom this proposition was referred, answered, that before he would return any reply thereto, he expected that the communities of the Valleys should send deputies to him with full power to make those submissions that were due to him, and to beg leave to depart out of his territories, as a peculiar favor that they should implore of their prince. The ambassadors had reason to be surprised at this preamble. They had denied them the safe conduct that they had demanded for the coming of the deputies of the Valleys to Turin. They had assured them several times, that if they should grant to the Waldenses leave to retreat, it was only upon the account and at the intercession of the ambassadors: nevertheless, they would by no means have it said, that the ambassadors desired permission for them to depart, on their own behalf; but, on the contrary, that it was the Waldenses themselves that made this request. This alteration was not without cause, and it was not for nothing that they now adopted measures altogether different from the former. The council of the propagation who managed this affair, had without doubt respect to these two several points; one was, that they would not have the ambassadors named in the permission of departure, to the end that they should have the less right to demand the execution of those things that should be promised to the Waldenses; the other, that the Waldenses themselves desiring this permission as a favor, they might be at liberty to impose on them what conditions they pleased; and lastly, that the Waldenses making those submissions that the duke required of them, must needs be in the state of supplicants, and would by consequence, be forced to lay down their arms; otherwise they could not be in the condition of petitioners. But however it were, the ambassadors, willing to take away every pretext from the enemies of the Waldenses, took a safe conduct to bring up the deputies whom they had demanded: they sent this safe conduct into the Valleys by the secretary of the embassy, who caused the communities to be assembled to nominate their deputies. But as, on the one hand, there were many who never engaged in the design of departing: and that, on the other, the new marches of their enemies appeared suspicious, the communities were not all of one mind, nor the orders they gave to their respective deputies conformable one with another. For the tenor of some was to beg leave to depart and to sell their goods: while others required the maintenance of the exercise of their religion and their other rights. These deputies being arrived at Turin, the ambassadors thought it not convenient for them to appear at court thus divided; but sent them back into the Valleys to endeavor a union between themselves, and labored in the mean time to obtain a truce for them.

Their enemies heard, with great satisfaction, that the communities were divided among themselves upon the point of departing; they were so well persuaded that this division would be an infallible means to destroy them, that they caused it to be carried on and fomented, by perfidious persons whom they had gained for that purpose. It is also to be presumed, that they never had proposed the expedient of departing, but with a prospect that it might be the occasion of the disunion of the Waldenses. To take advantage therefore, of the various dispositions of the communities, their enemies changed their minds once more. They had lately declared, that they expected, in the first place, that the Waldenses should themselves desire permission to depart, and should make their submissions thereon. The Waldenses had not made this request nor these submissions: several of the communities were not of the opinion to retire: the ambassadors did not solicit any longer a permission to depart, but a truce, as appears by a letter which they wrote to the Marquis of St. Thomas, the 8th of April, 1686. In the meantime, notwithstanding all this, to accomplish absolutely the division of the Waldenses, and consequently to ruin them with the greater ease, they published, unknown to the ambassadors, an edict, dated the 9th of the same month of April, granting to the Waldenses an amnesty, and permission to retire out of the state of Piedmont.

This edict was published in the Valleys the 11th of April, the same day on which the ambassadors wrote a letter to the same effect to some of the communities to know their resolution. In the meantime they gave in a very pressing memorial to the Marquis of St. Thomas, to obtain some assurance that the troops should not enter into the Valleys, and to gain for the Waldenses certain conditions more favorable than those of the edict: but the court of Turin assured them that there was nothing to be expected for the Waldenses, till they had laid down their arms, of which the ambassadors gave advice to the deputies of the Valleys who had been at Turin, by a letter dated the 13th, which they wrote to them on that subject. On the 14th the communities held a general assembly at Rocheplatte, when, having examined the terms and conditions of the edict, they were of opinion, that their enemies thought of nothing less than in reality to permit the departure which they pretended to grant to them, and that this edict was nothing but a snare that they had laid to entangle them, and to destroy them with more ease: they resolved therefore not to accept of it, but to follow the example of their ancestors, and to refer the event of it to Providence. In fact, this edict, which was designed altogether to divide them, wrought a quite contrary effect, and served much to unite them in the same judgment.

The principal reasons that hindered them from accepting this edict, were, first, that as it ordains the entire execution of the order of the 31st of January, which condemned all the churches to be demolished, they must of necessity demolish all their churches within eight days, because the edict declares expressly, that if everything contained in it be not executed within the space of eight days, they are deprived of and forfeit those favors that are stipulated in it. It must follow then, that for the execution of the edict, either that the Waldenses themselves should demolish their churches, or that their enemies should do it. The Waldenses could not resolve to demolish them themselves, and therefore they would have sent for troops, which, under the pretext of this demolishing, would have infallibly oppressed the Waldenses. Secondly, if they designed to permit them to retire without disturbance, why did they not defer the execution of the order of the 31st of January, till after their departure? Why should they oblige them to demolish their churches within the eight days that were given them to prepare themselves to abandon forever their native country, were it not to render their retreat impossible? Thirdly, this edict further requires, that they should lay down their arms, and that they should open their country to monks, missionaries, and Catholics. Now it is plain that if they had thrown away their arms, and opened their country before their departure, they would have been exposed to the mercy of their enemies, and to the fury of troops who would not have failed to enter into their country, to oppose the retreat of the Waldenses, and to torment them till such time as they had changed their religion, as had been practiced elsewhere: but their fear was so much the more justifiable on this occasion, in regard that they gave them no assurance that their troops should not enter into the Valleys. Fourthly, the Waldenses were also obliged to retire in three separate brigades, and to rendezvous in those places where, the troops being encamped, they must consequently surrender themselves to the discretion of the soldiers; and deliver themselves up to be butchered. Fifthly, the permission which the same edict gives to the Waldenses to sell their goods, was altogether useless to them. For besides that the sale could not be made to Catholics, till after their departure, and by the management of commissioners, they were bound, out of the price of the said goods, to indemnify the monks, the missionaries, the ancient, the modern, and the future Catholics, for whatever damages they should pretend to, which they would have enhanced above the value of their goods. Sixthly, the edict also ordered, that besides those that should go out of the Valleys of their own accord, the prince should reserve to himself a power to banish whom he should think fit for securing the repose of those that remain, which supposes not only that the conditions of the edict were so disadvantageous, that there would be many Waldenses who would not accept them, nor depart out of their station; but also that their departure ought not to be looked upon as a favor, but as a punishment that they intended to inflict on several Waldenses; since they reserved to themselves a power to banish those who should have a mind to stay. Seventhly, the ambassadors were not named in the edict, and the Waldenses had no security for the execution of those things that were therein contained. They had good reasons then very much to mistrust these proceedings, since the sad experience that they had on several occasions how ill their enemies kept their word, especially in this juncture, when they had broken the most inviolable laws, were but too just a ground for their suspicions. Lastly, since the Duke of Savoy had declared that he was not the master of this affair, because of the engagements which he had entered into with the king of France, it was not to be presumed that the latter monarch, on whom this matter depended, would take any milder measures, in respect of the Waldenses, than those he had taken with regard to his own subjects.

The Waldenses had also several other reasons grounded on the impossibility of their departure in so short a time, and upon other obstacles.

The communities sent their resolution to the ambassadors, who used all the exertions imaginable to procure for the Waldenses conditions more certain, and more advantageous than those that are contained in the edict; but neither their reasons nor their solicitations produced any effect. They were always told, that as long as the Waldenses were in arms, they could not agree to anything, nor so much as promise any thing positively. On the other hand, the Waldenses being persuaded that they would not disarm them but to destroy them without trouble and without resistance, could by no means yield to it, and persisted in their resolution to defend themselves, if they came to attack them.

A circumstance transpired at this time that served much to confirm them in this resolution. Two or three days after the publication of the edict, several inhabitants of the Valleys went to the superintendent, to declare to him, that they and their families intended to quit Piedmont conformably to the edict, and to desire of him safe conducts, which he refused them under the pretense that they ought to stay till they went out with the rest.

Moreover, because there were several that resisted his solicitations to change their religion, he caused them to be put in prison, where some of them languished and at last died, and others remained there above nine months viz. till the time when all the other prisoners were discharged. There needed no other proof to make it appear that their design was to destroy the Waldenses, who would not change their religion. However, the communities of the Valleys having received a letter from the ambassadors, called another assembly at Rocheplatte, the 19th of April: they persisted in their resolution not to comply with the edict, but to defend themselves. It was then ordered in that assembly, that all the ministers should preach, and administer the sacrament the following Sunday. The Valley of St. Martin entered into this deliberation with the rest, but put it not into execution. Some of that Valley changed their minds without acquainting the other Valleys of it. And the elders of the church of Villeseche wrote to the ambassadors, who were yet at Turin upon the point of their departing, a letter dated the 20th of April, wherein they declared to them, that they would execute the edict, and entreated them, for that reason to procure for them a safe conduct, and time to provide for their retreat. One of the ambassadors took the pains to go to the camp to demand a safe conduct; but they denied it, under pretense that they had not desired it in time. It was always too soon or too late, and the time was never convenient to grant safe conducts. In the meantime the Duke of Savoy arrived at the camp some days after the publication of the edict, hoping probably he might strike terror into the Waldenses by his presence, and force them to accept of the conditions that he had imposed on them. He had made a review of his troops, and of those of France that were encamped on the plain at the foot of the Alps; his own army was composed of his family, all the cavalry and infantry, and the militia of Mondovi, of Barjes, of Bagnols, with a great number of foreigners. And the army of France consisted of several regiments of horse and dragoons, of seven or eight battalions of foot that had passed the, mountains, and a part of the garrisons of Pignerol and Casal. The duke had also made the necessary preparations for attacking the Waldenses, as soon as the truce that was granted them should expire, having appointed his own army to storm the Valley of Lucerne and the community of Angrogne; and the army of France to attack the Valleys of St. Martin and Perouse. The Waldenses, on the other hand, had taken some pains to defend themselves. They possessed only a part of the Valley of Lucerne; for the tower that gave name to this Valley, and many other considerable places, were in the enemy’s hand. The community of Angrogne, from which some call the valley by the same name, by reason of its large extent, was not wholly occupied by the Waldenses. In the Valley of Perouse they took up only certain posts in the places that depend on the state of Piedmont; for this valley is divided by the river Cluson between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy; but they were in possession of all the Valley of St. Martin, being the strongest of all by its situation. They had fortified themselves in every one of those Valleys with several entrenchments of earth and dry stones. They were about two thousand five hundred men bearing arms; they appointed captains and officers of the chiefest among themselves, for they had no foreigners, and they waited the approach of the enemy with great resolution. But as on the one hand they had neither regular troops, nor captains, nor experienced officers; and that, on the other, there were several Waldenses who had been corrupted, or that had relented during the negotiation; it is not to be wondered at if they took not all the necessary precautions that were in their power. One of the greatest faults they committed was, their striving to maintain all their posts: for if they had abandoned the most advanced, and had retired within the entrenchments they had made in the mountains, it is not likely they would have been beaten out of them.

On the 22d of April, being the day appointed for the attack, the French army commanded by Catinat, governor of Casal, marched two hours before day, by torch-light, against the Valleys of Perouse and St. Martin, having for sometime followed the river Cluson on the king’s territories. Catinat sent out a detachment of infantry, commanded by Vellevieille, lieutenant-colonel in Limosin, who having passed the river over a bridge, entered into the Valley of Perouse on the side of Piedmont. He seized on St. Germain, a village that the Waldenses had abandoned, and proceeded to attack an entrenchment that they had made hard by, in which there were two hundred men. The Waldenses quitted this post after some resistance, and took possession of another more advantageous. In the meantime a new detachment of horse and of yellow dragoons having again passed the river, came to relieve the foot who had begun the engagement. They used their utmost efforts to gain the entrenchments of the Waldenses, of which they thought easily to become masters, since they were six to one; but they found so stout a resistance, that after having lost many of their soldiers, they were forced to entrench themselves at a pistol shot distance; continual firings were kept up on both sides for more than ten hours together; but at length the Waldenses went out of their entrenchments with their swords in their hands, surprised the French, who little expected so bold an action, and drove them even into the plain on the other side of the Cluson, where opportunely they found a bridge that kept them from being drowned. There were, on this occasion, more than five hundred Frenchmen killed and wounded, and among the rest several officers of note, though the Waldenses had but two men killed and some few wounded.

While things passed thus in Perouse, the body of the king’s army repassed the Cluson to the fort of Perouse on the side of France, where Catinat formed a detachment of horse commanded by Melac, who having passed the river by two bridges, fetched a compass about to gain the high grounds that separate the Valley of St. Martin from Dauphiny. The rest of the army having likewise passed the river, went to encamp with Catinat at Bolards part of the night, and the next day attacked the Valley of St. Martin at a village called Rioclaret. But as those who had the command in that valley did not think that they would molest them, after they had shown their inclination to accept of the amnesty, especially as the day appointed for their departure out of that valley was not fixed; the Waldenses were not in a condition to defend themselves nor to make any resistance, but consented to lay down their arms, and implore the pity and compassion of the conqueror. But the French being enraged with what had passed before St. Germain, were not content merely to burn, ravish, and pillage, but they massacred without distinction of age or sex, with unparalleled fury all that could not escape their barbarous cruelty. Catinat having ravaged all the country of Rioclaret after a most horrid manner, left some troops in the Valley of St. Martin, traversed with the body of his army the mountains that separate this valley from that of Perouse, and encamped without any opposition, in the community of Pramol in the Valley of Perouse; the soldiers notwithstanding put to the edge of the sword all that fell into their hands, without respect to women or children, to the aged or the sick. In the meantime the detachment that Melac commanded, having encamped one night on the eminences of the Valley of St. Martin, entered through divers passages into that valley, unknown to any but the inhabitants of the country. Wherever he passed he left the marks of an unheard of cruelty, and joined the main body of the army that was encamped at Pramol. I shall not here give an account of the atrocities that were exercised on these and many other occasions: it will be sufficient to relate, in the sequel, some instances whereby one may judge of the rest. It is necessary to interrupt the relation of the actions of the French in the Valley of Perouse, because there happened things in the Valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne that ought to be previously known.

The army of the duke of Savoy having rendezvoused at the plain of St. John the 22d of April, was, the next day, divided into several bodies, to attack different entrenchments that the Waldenses had made in the Valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne. The Waldenses not being able to resist the enemy’s cannon in the posts that were too open, where the horse might also draw up, were forced, after some resistance, to abandon a part of these entrenchments, and to withdraw into a fort that was more advantageous above Angrogne, where they found themselves to be nearly five hundred men. The enemy having burnt all the houses that they found in their way, came to storm this fort of the Waldenses, who received them so warmly with their muskets and stones, and defended themselves so vigorously against this great body, that they kept their post all that day without the loss of more than five men; the enemy lost above three hundred, though they were covered with an entrenchment beyond pistol shot. The Waldenses fearing that they should not be able to keep this fort any longer, by reason that the troops increased, passed into another an hundred paces beyond it, in a more convenient place, where they waited with great resolution the army that advanced to attack them; when the next day, being the 24th of April, they were informed that the Valley of St. Martin had surrendered, and that the French were coming on their rear; for from that valley there is an easy passage to those of Lucerne and Angrogne. This news obliged the Waldenses to treat with Don Gabriel of Savoy, uncle to, and general of the armies of, the Duke of Savoy, and with the rest of the general officers, who having understood the mind of his royal highness, promised positively on his part and on their own, that the Waldenses should be absolutely pardoned, and that they should be admitted to the terms of the order of the 9th of April, provided they would deliver themselves up to his clemency: but the Waldenses making some difficulty to confide in this promise, Don Gabriel, who had notice of it, sent them a note written and signed with his own hand in the name of his royal highness, to this effect, "Lay down your arms immediately, and submit yourselves to his royal highness’s clemency; in so doing, assure yourselves that he will pardon you, and that your persons and those of your wives and children shall not be touched." An assurance of this nature might give full satisfaction to the Waldenses for the security of their lives and liberties. For, besides that this promise was made in the name and on the part of the duke; on the other hand, though it had been made only by Don Gabriel and the general officers, it ought not to be less inviolable. The Waldenses, therefore, laid down their arms, relying on his promise, and the greatest part of them went and surrendered themselves to their enemies believing that they should be quickly released. But all those that yielded themselves into their hands, were made prisoners, and carried to the city of Lucerne, under pretense of leading them to his royal highness to make their submissions, Their enemies also seized all the posts that the Waldenses possessed in the community of Angrogne; they were not content to plunder, to pillage, and to burn the houses of these poor people, but they also caused a great number of the Waldenses of every age and sex to be put to the sword; they ravished abundance of women and virgins, and, in fine, committed actions so barbarous and brutal, that they are enough to strike horror into the minds of all that have any shame or sense of humanity left. There were, nevertheless, many Waldenses, who after this compromise dispersed themselves up and down, not being willing to deliver themselves into the hands of their enemies, till they had heard what became of the first that did so. But seeing, on the one hand, that the army exercised all manner of outrage wherever it came, and, on the other, that all those that had surrendered themselves were detained, they hid themselves in the woods, and sent a petition to Don Gabriel, to entreat the release of their brethren whom they kept in hold contrary to their word and to cause a cessation of hostilities which the armies executed after so barbarous a manner. Don Gabriel returned no answer to this request; but certain officers replied, that they carried the Waldenses to Lucerne, for no other cause but to ask forgiveness of his royal highness, and that afterwards they should be released. In the meantime Don Gabriel caused the highest places of the Valley of Angrogne to be gained by part of his army, who finding no more opposition, came as far as the tower, being the most considerable fort of the Waldenses, in which they had the greatest part of their cattle. The Marquis de Parella, who commanded this body of the army, gave the Waldenses to understand, that a peace being concluded by the capitulation of Angrogne, he offered to them the enjoyment of the fruits of the said peace. He assured them to this effect, on the word and honor of a gentleman, that if they would deliver themselves into his hands, their persons, and those of their wives and children, should be preserved harmless; that they might carry away with them whatever they chose, without fear of having any thing taken away from them; that they had nothing to do but to come to Lucerne to make their submissions to his royal highness; and that, upon this condition, those that were willing to turn Catholics, might return with all safety to their houses and goods, and those that would go out of the estates of Piedmont, should have liberty to depart conformably to the order of the 9th of April. The Waldenses that were in the field and in the tower surrendered themselves upon the credit of these promises, but they were no better performed than the other: for their enemies were no sooner entered within the bounds of the tower, than not only all that belonged to the Waldenses was given up to the plunder of the soldiers and of the banditti of Mondovi, their mortal enemies, who enriched themselves with their spoils; but those poor people, the greatest part of whom consisted of old men, sick persons, and of women and children, were made prisoners, with some ministers who were among them, and all hurried along so violently, that those who, through age or infirmity, could not march as fast as the soldiers would have them, had their throats cut, or were flung headlong down precipices.

In the Valley of Perouse, the French committed almost the same outrages that the duke’s troops had done at Angrogne and at the tower in the Valley of Lucerne. They were encamped in a quarter of the community of Pramol, called La Rua, distant about half an hour’s march from another quarter, called Peumian, where a party of the communities of Pramol, St. Germain, Perustin, and Rocheplatte were retreated, to the number of fifteen hundred persons, men, women, and children. The French might easily make a descent from their quarters to St. Germain, and carry away the two hundred Waldenses who had so valiantly defended themselves before, and were retreated within their entrenchments: but they being informed of the loss of the Valley of St. Martin, and of the enemy’s march, quitted this entrenchment, fearing lest they should be surprised in it, and went into Peumian with their brethren. Here they were consulting how they might defend themselves against the French who prepared to attack them, when certain inhabitants of the Valleys, who had revolted to the enemy, came and assured them that the Valleys of Angrogne and Lucerne had already submitted to their prince’s discretion, who had pardoned them, and referred them to the terms of the order of the 9th of April. They told them also, that he only wanted them to put an end to a war, the weight whereof they were not able to sustain alone, and to procure for themselves an advantageous peace. This news having in part broke the measures of the Waldenses, they sent deputies and a drummer to treat with the general of the French army, who desired nothing more than a proposition of peace. He told them that his royal highness’s intention was to pardon them, and promised them positively on the part of the prince and on his own behalf, the lives and liberties of the Waldenses, with a permission to return with all security to their houses and goods, provided they would readily lay down their arms: and whereas the deputies represented to him that they feared lest the French, being exasperated with what had passed at St. Germain, should revenge themselves on the Waldenses when they were disarmed; he made great protestations to them, and confirmed them with oaths, that although the whole army should pass by their houses, yet they should not kill so much as a chicken. This proposition being made, Catinat detained with him one of the deputies, and sent back the others to give notice to the Waldenses, and to oblige all them that were dispersed to meet together the next day, being the 25th of April, at Peumian, to the end that every one might return to his house after they were informed of the peace. While the Waldenses were gathering together their scattered families at Peumian, Catinat gave an account of this capitulation to Don Gabriel, who sent a courier to him in the evening, and he passing through Peumian assured the Waldenses that he brought peace; and the next day, on his return, told them that the peace was concluded. They were so well persuaded of it, that they had laid down their arms the day before, observing the conditions of the treaty, and confiding wholly in Catinat’s promises. In these circumstances they were expecting the news at Peumian, when there arrived one of the king’s officers from the garrison of the fort of Perouse, with several dragoons with him. This officer, who was very well known to the Waldenses, repeated to them the assurances of peace, and caused the men to be put in one quarter, and the women and children in another. The French troops being arrived at the same time, told the men that they had orders to lead them to their own houses, and caused them to march four by four. These poor people being forced to leave their wives and their daughters exposed to the discretion of the soldiers, were conducted, not to their houses, as they had been told, but to Don Gabriel, who was encamped on the mountain of Vachiere, and he gave orders for them to be conveyed to Lucerne as prisoners of war! In the meantime the females were subjected to all the abominable treatment that the rage and lust of brutish soldiers could invent. Not satisfied with plundering them of their property, these barbarians violated the persons of both married women and maidens, in a manner that modesty forbids our relating; and several were put to death merely for resisting in defense of their honor. Mons. Catinat was not present when these atrocities were perpetrated at Peumian. He left the management of this affair to certain of his officers, no doubt that he might be out of the way of hearing the complaints which the Waldenses would have made to him, and not choosing to be a spectator of these barbarous proceedings. It is certain, however, that besides those that were put to death, and others that escaped by flying to the woods and mountains, from the persecution of these monsters, numbers were dragged to prison after a most inhuman manner.

The Valley of Perouse being now reduced like the rest by the capitulation of Peumian, a detachment of the French army quitted it and proceeded to join Don Gabriel at laVachiere. And now, having completed their work, the conquered Waldenses were collected from all parts of Piedmont, and lodged in the different prisons or castles under pretense of leading them to his royal highness to ask his pardon and obtain their liberation. But this furnished their unfeeling adversaries with a fresh opportunity of displaying their inhumanity. The utmost precaution was taken to separate the different branches of the same family! The husband was carefully parted from his wife, and the parent from his child--thus depriving them of those means of succor and consolation which the ties of consanguinity naturally inspire. By this piece of refined cruelty they no doubt hoped to find the victims of their perfidy and malice the less able to withstand temptation, or endure the evils they had in store for them. Those that could ill bear the wretchedness of a close confinement, were to be consumed with the corroding anxiety and regret which must result from being separated from their dearest earthly connections. There were, indeed, a great number of children, whom they did not send to prison, but dispersed them throughout Piedmont in private houses: but this was a piece of Jesuitical craftiness, for they hoped by that means to get them the more readily instructed in the principles of the Catholic religion.

But I must not prosecute this melancholy narrative more in detail, though what has now been laid before the reader can only be considered as a sample of the harvest. Dreadful as were the proceedings which took place in the massacre in 1655, as detailed in a former section of this work, they do not appear by any means to have surpassed in enormity the cruelties inflicted upon the Waldenses in 1686. [A pretty circumstantial relation of these things is to be found in several publications which appeared at the time, and particularly in two tracts now before me, from which the materials of this section are drawn. The first is entitled, "The History of the Persecution of the Valleys of Piedmont, containing, an account of what passed in the dispersion of the churches, in the year 1686." Printed in 4to. London, 1688. (See pp. 31-35.) The other is entitled, "The State of Savoy, in which a full and distant account is given of the Persecution of the Protestants, by means of the French counsels." 4to. London, 1691. To this last mentioned work I am indebted for the valuable documents which the reader will find in the Appendix. Both the publications are so rare that I have not been able to meet with a second copy of either of them.]

Those who deny the existence of the devil and his agency in prompting the human race to destroy one another, if they would account for the infernal cruelties that are related to have been now inflicted by the Catholics on the poor Waldenses, simply on the principle of human depravity, must necessarily entertain a much worse opinion of human nature than the writer of these pages has yet been able to bring himself to adopt. He can, indeed, admit much that militates against the dignity of human nature in its lapsed state; but he can only account for the monstrous cruelties that were perpetrated on a class of his fellow-creatures, the most harmless and inoffensive that ever inhabited the earth, on the principle of the active agency of "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience"--he who was "a murderer from the beginning"--that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan"--the grand adversary of God and man. The present was his hour and the power of darkness; but to return from this digression. The armies of France and Savoy, having inhumanely butchered a multitude of the Waldenses, committed more than twelve thousand of them to prison, and dispersed two thousand of their children among the Catholics; concluding that their work was accomplished, they caused all their property to be confiscated. And thus were the Valleys of Piedmont depopulated of their ancient inhabitants, and the light of the glorious gospel extinguished in a country where, for many preceding centuries, it had shone with resplendent luster.

In the month of September, 1686, the Swiss Cantons convened a general assembly at Aran, to deliberate on the condition of those who were either imprisoned or in a state of exile in Piedmont; and they came to the resolution of sending deputies to demand from the duke the release of all that were confined, and the privilege of quitting the country. The latter, probably by this time, glutted with human carnage, signed a treaty, in consequence of which the prisons were set open, and leave given to such as had survived, to depart peaceably through that part of Savoy which borders upon Berne and the territory of Geneva. But a bare recital of the miseries which the prisoners had suffered during their confinement, is sufficient to sicken the heart. More than ten thousand persons were distributed among fourteen prisons or castles in Piedmont. They were fed for months upon bread and water--the former, in which were often found lime, glass, and filth of various kinds, was so bad as scarcely to deserve the name; while the latter, in many instances brought from stagnant pools, was scarcely fit for the use of cattle. Their lodging was upon bricks or filthy straw. The prisons were so thronged that, during the heat of the summer months, they became intolerable, and deaths were dally taking place. Want of cleanliness necessarily engendered diseases among them--they became annoyed with vermin, which prevented their sleep either by night or day. Many women in child-bearing were lost for want of the care and comforts necessary to such a situation, and their infants shared the same fate.

Such was the state of these afflicted and persecuted creatures, when the Duke of Savoy’s proclamation was issued for releasing them. It was now the month of October; the ground was covered with snow and ice; the victims of cruelty were almost universally emaciated through poverty and disease, and very unfit for the projected journey. The proclamation was made at the castle of Mondovi, for example: and at five o’clock the same evening they were to begin a march of four or five leagues! Before the morning more than a hundred and fifty of them sunk under the burden of their maladies and fatigues, and died. The same thing happened to the prisoners at Fossan. A company of them halted one night at the foot of Mount Cenis; when they were about to march the next morning, they pointed the officer who conducted them to a terrible tempest upon the top of the mountain, beseeching him to allow them to stay till it had passed away. The inhuman officer, deaf to the voice of pity, insisted on their marching; the consequence of which was, that eighty-six of their number died, and were buried in that horrible tempest of snow. Some merchants that afterwards crossed the mountains, saw the bodies of these miserable people extended on the snow, the mothers clasping their children in their arms!

It is but an act of justice, however, to add that, in some few instances, the officers who conducted the different troops of Waldenses out of the country, treated them with more humanity. Their own historians admit the fact, and it ought to be recorded, that some took a particular care of them: and certainly the picture that is drawn of their deplorable condition, is such as was well calculated to melt the most unfeeling heart to tenderness. The greater part of them were almost naked and without shoes; and they all bore such striking marks of suffering and wretchedness that the very sight of them was enough to pierce the heart. Those who survived the journey, arrived at Geneva about the middle of December, but in such an exhausted state, that several expired between the two gates of the city, "finding the end of their lives in the beginning of their liberty." Others were so benumbed with cold that they had not power to speak; many staggered from faintness and disease, while others having lost the use of their limbs were unable to lift up their hands to receive the assistance that was tendered them.

At Geneva they experienced that kind and hospitable reception which was due to them as their fellow-creatures, and more especially as their persecuted Christian brethren. They clothed the naked, fed the hungry, succored the afflicted, and healed the sick. But what pen can describe the affecting scene which now took place, while they halted at Geneva for rest and refreshment, before they proceeded forward into Switzerland! Those who arrived first, naturally went out to meet those that came after, anxiously inquiring for their relations and friends, of whom they had heard nothing since the fatal catastrophe in the Valleys of Piedmont. The father inquired after his child, and the child after its parent--the husband sought his wife, and the latter her partner in life. Every one endeavored to gain some intelligence of his friend or neighbor; but as three-fourths of them had died in prison or on the road, it exhibited a melancholy spectacle to see so many dissolved in tears at the distressing accounts they received. Their principal earthly comfort now arose from the hospitable kindness of the people of Geneva, who flocked around them and evinced such solicitude to conduct them to their own homes, that the magistrates of the city were obliged, in order to prevent confusion and disorder, to issue an injunction, prohibiting any from going out of the city. There was a noble emulation who should entertain the most sick, or those that were most afflicted. They received them not merely as strangers in distress, but as Christian brethren, who brought peace and spiritual blessings into their families. All that needed clothing, were either supplied by those that lodged them, or by the Italian Bank, the directors of which, from first to last, evinced all the marks of tender compassion, and of disinterested kindness.

But it was not only at Geneva that the Waldenses met with this kind and hospitable treatment. The Cantons of Switzerland opened to them their country, and not their country only, but their hearts and affections also. The conduct of the Swiss, indeed, was so noble and disinterested throughout the whole of this distressing period, that it would be unjust to their memory to pass it over with a slight mention.

[It would seem that the Valleys of Piedmont were not the only spot in which the disciples of Christ were, at this period, the subject of persecution. The following passage in Dr. Burnet’s Second Letter, written from Switzerland, in 1685, lately struck my attention in glancing over that entertaining performance. "In April, 1685, about five hundred persons, of different sexes and ages, passed through Coire (a town in Switzerland) who gave this account of themselves. They were inhabitants of a valley in TIROL, belonging mostly to the archbishopric of Saltzburgh--a remnant of the old Waldenses. They worshipped neither images nor saints; and they believed the sacrament (of the Lord’s supper) was only a commemoration of the death of Christ; and in many other points they had their opinions different from those of the church of Rome. They knew nothing of either Lutherans or Calvinists; and the Grisons, though their neighbors, had never heard of this nearness of theirs to the Protestant religion. The Archbishop of Saltzburgh hearing of them, sent some persons into the country to examine them, and to exhort them to return to mass, and to threaten them with all possible severity if they continued obstinate. Perceiving a terrible storm ready to break upon them, they resolved to abandon their houses and all that they had, rather than sin against their consciences: and the whole inhabitants of the Valley, old and young, to the number of two thousand, divided themselves into several bodies; some intended to go to Brandenburgh, others to the Palatinate, and about five hundred took the road to Coire, intending to disperse themselves in Switzerland. The Swiss ministers told me they were much edified by their simplicity and modesty; for, a collection being made for them, they desired only a little bread to carry them on their way." Burnet’s Letters, p. 87-89 Amst. 1686.]

Perhaps the best way of evincing my own impartiality will be to lay before the reader the testimony of Dr. Barnet, who in his Letters from Italy, written, as it were, at the very moment, and from the very scene of action, thus proceeds:

"There is one thing for which the Swiss, and those of the Canton of Berne in particular, cannot be sufficiently commended. Ever since the persecution commenced in France (alluding to the revocation of the edict of Nantz) they have opened a sanctuary to such as retired thither in so generous and Christian a manner, that it merits all the honorable remembrance that can be made of it. The ministers and others that had been condemned, not only found here a kind reception, but all the support that could be expected, and, indeed, much more than could reasonably have been expected. They assigned to the French ministers a salary of five crowns per month, if single, and increased it to such as have wives and families, so that some have been allowed more than ten crowns a month.--And in this last total and deplorable dispersion of the churches, the whole country has been animated with such a spirit of love and compassion, that every man’s house and purse has been opened to the refugees, who have passed thither in such numbers that sometimes there have been more than two thousand in Lausanne alone, and of these there were, at one time, nearly two hundred ministers; and they all met with a kindness and frankness of heart that looked more like the primitive age revived, than the degenerate age in which we live" [Dr. Burnet’s Letters from Italy, Letter 1, p. 57-58].

Here, however, I think I may pause and draw this narrative towards a conclusion, which I shall do by offering a few obvious reflections on the whole of this interesting history. And the first thing that suggests itself is, that, however we may be inclined to blame the conduct of the Duke of Savoy, that of Louis XIV who compelled him to these sanguinary proceedings, is entitled to our chief condemnation. Referring to this final extirpation of the Waldenses from Piedmont, our countryman, Dr. Burnet, who was then making the tour of the Continent, has the following remarks, in a letter, which he dates from Turin, to a friend in this country: "I will not engage," says he, "in a relation of this last affair of the Valleys of Piedmont; for I could not find particulars enough to give you that so distinctly as you might probably desire it. It was all over long before I came to Turin; but this I found, that all the court were ashamed of the matter; and they took pains with strangers, not without some affectation, to convince them that the duke was, with great difficulty, forced into it--that he was long pressed to it, by repeated entreaties, from the court of France--that he excused himself from complying therewith, representing to the court of France the constant fidelity of the Waldenses ever since the last edict of pacification, and their great industry, so that they were the most profitable subjects that the duke had, and that the body of men which they had given his father in the last war with Genoa, had done great service, for it had saved the whole army. But all these excuses were unavailable; for, the court of France having broken its own faith which had been pledged to heretics, and therein manifested how true a respect it paid to the council of Constance, now wished to engage other princes to follow this new pattern of fidelity which it had set the world. So the duke was not only pressed to extirpate the heretics of those Valleys, but he was also threatened that if he would not do it, the king would send his own troops to extirpate heresy, for he would not only not suffer it in his own kingdom, but he would even drive it out of his neighborhood. He who told me all this, knowing of what country I was, added, that probably the French monarch might very soon send similar messages to some others of his neighbors. [Dr. Burnet’s Letters from Italy - Supplementary Letters, p. 162; written in 1687, and printed the following year.]

If Louis XIV had any such favors in contemplation for our own country, as those that are hinted at in the conclusion of the foregoing paragraph, Britons have reason to be thankful to God, whose overruling providence frustrated such sanguinary projects:--and had the race of the Stuarts continued to fill the British throne, it is more than probable that the horrible scenes of Piedmont had, indeed, been reacted among our forefathers in this happy land. But the glorious revolution which gave us a protestant monarch, took place in 1688, the very year after Dr. Burnet wrote his Supplementary Letters, from which the foregoing extract is taken; and happily saved us from all danger of the tyrant’s rage. And here, with a few reflections, I close the history of the Waldenses. Enough I presume, and more than enough, has appeared in the preceding pages to satisfy any unprejudiced reader, that the extermination of the churches of the Waldenses in Piedmont was the act of the King of France; or, if the shadow of a doubt should exist upon that subject, it must for ever be removed by a careful perusal of the Duke of Savoy’s letter to the Duke of Orleans, which will be found in the Appendix to this volume. In fact, the whole of the correspondence between the court of Turin and that of France, which I have there given, affords such incontestable proof of the overwhelming despotism of Louis XIV towards the Duke of Savoy, that the indignation which at first sight one is tempted to indulge against the latter, is converted into pity and compassion for him; and horrible as were the transactions committed under his reign, every liberal mind will regard him as a sovereign "more sinned against than sinning." But let a reflecting mind contemplate these events as instigated by the counsels of France and perpetrated by the power of her arms; let them be connected in idea with the cruelties inflicted upon the Protestants in France, in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantz, which took place only a few years before; and if he believe "there is a God who judgeth in the earth" he will find little difficulty in tracing the hand of distributive justice in the series of calamities which have now, for nearly thirty years, afflicted that unhappy country. These are topics that Christians are but too apt to overlook, but they are of serious import and deserve consideration.

But what shall we say of the court of Rome, the great moving spring in all this machinery of complicated villainy: that "holy mother church," which kept the conscience of Louis XIV and of the other crowned heads who, from time to time, obsequiously lent their aid to massacre the Waldenses? I trust I may be permitted, without arrogance, on this occasion, to adopt the language of an unknown writer, who reviewed the first edition of this history. "The narrative which we have been perusing," said this liberal and enlightened critic, "leaves on the mind impressions of the utmost detestation for the spiritual tyranny exercised by the court of Rome. Providence never made use of so terrible a scourge to chastise mankind. No power ever outraged the interests of society, the principles of justice, and the claims of humanity, to the same extent. Never did the world behold such blasphemy, profligacy, and wantonness, as in the proceedings of this spiritual domination. It held the human mind in chains, visited with exemplary punishment every inroad on the domains of ignorance, and sunk nations into a state of stupidity and imbecility. Its prescriptions, massacres, and murders, and all the various forms which its cruelties assumed; the miseries which it heaped on the objects of its vengeance; its merciless treatment of them, and the grasp of its iron sway, seemed at one time to leave no room to hope for the liberation of the human race; and surely nothing can appear more hideous than this power in its true colors: it leaves the mind full of horror, at its cruelties" [Monthly Review, June, 1814, p. 204]. In all this I have the happiness to agree; and though I have rarely ventured to express myself in terms so forcible as this writer has done, I have no hesitation of saying in the words of an apostle--"THIS WITNESS IS TRUE."

But I desist: and now take leave of the subject with presenting to the reader one extract more from the learned Dr. Allix.

"Never," says this excellent writer, "did the church of Rome give a more incontestable evidence of her own antichristian spirit, than by her insatiable thirst after the blood of those Christians, who, six hundred years ago, renounced her communion: and to allay which she has made the blood of these poor innocent creatures every where to run down like rivers; exterminating by fire and sword, those who were not terrified by her anathemas. During this long interval the Waldenses have ever been in the condition of sheep led to the slaughter, by their continual and uninterrupted martyrdoms maintaining and adorning the religion of Christ our Savior, which the church of Rome having forsaken, now sought to accommodate to her corrupt and worldly interests; and to the design she had formed of making it a stalking horse to the pomp, lordliness, and tyranny of her pope and clergy.

"Whatever reflections the members of the church of Rome may indulge relative to the circumstance of God’s having apparently relinquished these poor churches to the fury of their cannibal adversaries, I am fully persuaded that those who have made the conduct of divine Providence towards the primitive church their study, will not be stumbled at this apparent desertion of the Waldenses, and their being abandoned to the outrageous cruelty of their persecutors, nor regard the ostensible triumphs of that apostate church as any indication of the weakness of the truth professed by the Waldenses. For notwithstanding the extreme rigor of their persecutions, we find that God hath tenderly preserved them till the Reformation; and though he has often exposed them to the rage and barbarous usage of their persecutors, yet has he, from time to time, afforded them such deliverances as have enabled them to continue until this day. Their persecutions, like those of the apostolic churches, have only served to procure martyrs to the truth of the glorious gospel, and to disperse throughout every land the knowledge and savor of that which the Romish party, treading in the steps of the ancient synagogue, so cruelly persecuted.

"Let the Bishop of Meaux then, if he please, insultingly tell the Protestants to go and look for their ancestors among the Waldenses, and hunt for them in the caverns of the Alps. His declamation shall never make us forego one jot of that tender veneration and respect which we have so justly conceived for this nursery and seed-plot of the martyrs, and for those valiant troops who have so generously lavished their blood in defense of the truth against all the efforts, all the machinations, and all the violence of the Roman Catholic party. The judgment that St. Hilarius expresses in his writings against Auxentius, ought to be sufficient to arm us against all the cavils of those who would insinuate that it is impossible the church should lose its purity, or that this purity should be preserved by churches reduced to caverns and mountains.

"‘Of one thing I must carefully warn you,’ says he, ‘beware of Antichrist! It is ill done of you to fall in love with walls. It is ill done of you to reverence the church of God in buildings and stately edifices; it is wrong to rest in these things. Can you doubt that it is on these Antichrist will fix his throne? Give me mountains, forests, pits, and prisons, as being far safer places; for it was in these that the prophets prophesied BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD’" [Dr. Allix’s History of the Churches of Piedmont, p. 293-296]. [DWC]