CONTAINING PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS NO. EDICT OF THE DUKE OF SAVOY, FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF THE WALDENSES, JANUARY 31, 1686. VICTOR AMADEUS, by the grace of God, Duke of Savoy and of Piedmont, and King of Cyprus. POLITICAL as well as Christian prudence, advises us very often to neglect, in some manner, the ulcers that are not yet in a condition to be healed, and that might be made worse by a precipitate cure. This conduct has been observed as well in other monarchies, as by our most serene predecessors, who in truth had never any other design, than to rescue their subjects professing the pretended Reformed Religion, out of the darkness of heresy, which by an unhappy vicissitude, and a fatal corruption of these times, had passed from the very center of the Valleys of Lucerne, into the very heart of Piedmont. Nevertheless, by reason of the succors which the zealots of that religion received from foreign countries, this holy work could not be brought to the end we so much desired; inasmuch that not having been able to purge our country of this poison, we did reduce them to, and shut them up in the Valleys of Lucerne, of Angrogne, of St. Martin, of Cernse, of St. Bartholomew, of Roccapiata, and of Parustin; and by way of toleration, we did suffer them to exercise there their false religion, in the limits before prescribed them, according to the juncture of times, till it should please God Almighty to give us a favorable opportunity of bringing back those misled souls into the bosom of the holy and only catholic, apostolic, and Romish religion. Yet time has discovered how much it was necessary to cut off the numerous heads of this hydra, since the said heretics, instead of answering this favor with a deep submission, and with a sincere acknowledgment of this kind toleration, have very often made bold to be disobedient, to a scandal, and to rise against their own Sovereign.

And because at present the principal cause of this said toleration is now removed by the zeal and piety of the glorious monarch of France, who has brought back to the true faith his neighboring heretics; we think the particular graces we have received from his divine majesty, and which we enjoy still, would accuse us of the greatest ingratitude, if by our negligence we should let slip the opportunity of executing this work, according to the intention of our glorious predecessors. It is for this, and several urgent reasons, that by virtue of this present Edict, with our full knowledge, and by our absolute power, as also by the advice of our Council, we have declared and ordered, and do declare and order by these presents, to our subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion, to desist for the future from all the exercise of the said religion. And we do prohibit them further, after the publishing of this Edict, from holding any assemblies or conventicles, in any place or particular house, to exercise the said religion, under what title, pretext, or occasion whatsoever, under pain of their lives, and confiscation of their goods. And we ordain also, that the past pretended toleration be of no effect, under what color or pretense whatsoever. Our will is also, that all the churches, granges, and houses, in which at present the said religion is exercised, shall be razed to the ground; and also all other places in which for the future such assemblies shall be held, to the prejudice of what the precedent articles contain; and this is to be executed, though the owners of such places are ignorant thereof. And we command accordingly all ecclesiastics, ministers, and schoolmasters, of the said pretended Reformed Religion, who in one fortnight after the publishing this present Edict, do not effectually embrace the Catholic Religion, shall retreat out of our territories after the said term be past, under pain of death, and confiscation of their goods; with express command, and under the same punishment, not to make, within the said time, or before their departure, any sermon, exhortation, or any other act of the said religion. And furthermore, we forbid, under the said punishment, and the forfeiture of our favor, all those that make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion, to keep for the future any public or private school; it being our intention, that from this very time their children shall be instructed by Catholic schoolmasters. And concerning the ministers who within the said time shall embrace the Catholic Religion, our will and pleasure is, that during their lives, and after they are dead, their widows, as long as they shall live unmarried, shall enjoy the said exemptions and immunities which they enjoyed heretofore, during the exercise of their charge. And our will is over and above, that to the said ecclesiastics who shall be made converts in the said manner, there shall be paid during their life a pension one-third part larger than the salary was which they enjoyed in quality of being ministers of the said religion; and that after their death their widows enjoy one half of the said pension as long as they shall continue unmarried. And concerning the children that shall be born by father and mother of the said pretended Reformed Religion, our intention is, that after the publishing this present Edict, they shall be baptized by the priests of the parish that are already, or that shall be established for the future in the said valleys: to this purpose, we command their fathers and mothers to send or bring them to the churches, under pain of being sent five years to the galleys for their fathers, and whipping for their mothers; and moreover the said children shall be brought up in the said Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion. And we command expressly all judges, bailiff’s, gaolers, and other officers, to see these presents duly executed. And we do confirm also the Edict we have published the 4th of November past, concerning the subjects of His Most Christian Majesty that make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion, and that are to be found in our territories, and that have left their merchandises, money, or other effects behind them; and concerning the other foreigners of the said religion, who, to the prejudice of some of our predecessors’ Edicts, have established themselves in the valleys, without their consent in writing, comprehending therein their offspring that are born there: we command, that in case, within one fortnight after the publishing this present Edict, they do not declare to be willing to embrace the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion, they shall be obliged, if the said term be past, to retreat out of our Territories, under pain of death, and confiscation of their goods. And though, lawfully, by virtue of the said Edicts, the goods which the said foreigners have acquired in our territories ought to be confiscated for our royal treasury; nevertheless we are willing in this case to show our accustomed clemency, and to give them leave to sell their said goods (if they please) within the said term, and to dispose of the same as they think convenient; yet upon these conditions, that the selling the immovable goods shall only be made in favor of the Catholics; but in case they shall find no buyer, they shall be looked upon as sold, and united to our dominions under a reasonable price.

Finally, we command all the magistrates established by us, ministers of state, officers, judges, and all others whom it concerns, to see this present Edict inviolably observed; and so to order the same, that the council of Piedmont may enroll it, and give their full approbation of what is contained therein. Moreover, our will is, that the publishing made hereof in the accustomed places, and in the ordinary manner, shall have the same virtue as if it had been made known to every particular person; and that there be the same observance paid to the copy hereof, printed by Sinibal our printer, as to this my original itself;FOR THIS IS OUR WILL. Given at Turin, January 31, 1686. VICTOR AMADEUS, By his Royal Highness’s Command. DEST.THOMAS.

NO. MEMORIAL against the foregoing Edict, presented to the Court of Savoy, by CASPAR DE MURATT, and BERNARD DE MURATT, Counselors of State, the first of Zurich, and the other of Berne, in Switzerland.

WHEREAS the Right Honorable the Ministers of State of his Royal Highness, have given us to understand, upon a private information of our reasons, that his present engagement, and into which he did not enter but by the necessity of the present juncture of the times, was a great obstacle to the success of our negotiation: we find ourselves obliged to represent to your Royal Highness, that the churches of the valleys in Piedmont, did not separate themselves from the religion of their Prince; because they live in that they received from their predecessors about eight centuries ago, and which they did profess before they were under the dominion of your Royal Highness’s ancestors, who, having found them in the possession of their religion, have maintained them therein by several Declarations, and principally by those of the year 1561, 1602, and 1603, which having been enrolled by the Parliament of Chambery, in the year 1620, for the sum of six thousand French ducats, which these churches paid them, as the very act of enrolling mentions; their right passed into a form of transaction, and into a perpetual and irrevocable law, which has been observed during the life of his Royal Highness Victor Amadeus, and during the regency of Madam Royal, who confirmed them by her Declaration in the year 1638. These churches have, in following times, obtained several other favorable Declarations of his Royal Highness Charles Emanuel, of glorious memory, your Royal Highness’s father, in particular in the year 1649 and 1653. But, whereas to the prejudice of a right so well established by a possession immemorial, and by so many Declarations, the Sieur Gastaldo did nevertheless, in the month of February, 1655, publish a Declaration, that produced some terrible and fatal consequences to these poor churches; all the Protestant Kings, Princes, and States of Europe, and particularly our Sovereign Lords, did concern themselves in their misfortune, and having interceded in their favor with his Royal Highness, Charles Emanuel, they obtained a confirmation of their privileges and of their concessions, by two solemn, perpetual, and inviolable patents, of the year 1655 and 1664, enrolled in a good form, and confirmed by the letters he did write to our Sovereign Lords, the 28th of February, 1664, by which he promised them to see these patents faithfully executed; to which the Royal Madam, your Royal Highness’s mother did engage herself also, by her letters dated January the 28th, 1679. Therefore, because your Royal Highness’s ancestors had several times solemnly engaged their royal word, principally in those patents that were granted in the presence of the ambassadors our Sovereigns had sent for that purpose, it would not be just to break so many formal and authentic engagements, not only because these privileges and patents being granted in the sight of all Europe, and by the mediation and intercession of several kings, princes, and states, they are pledges and perpetual monuments of the public faith; but also, because the words and promises of Sovereigns ought to be sacred and inviolable. If engagements of this nature might be annulled under pretense of a necessity, to which the juncture of affairs might reduce a prince, or of some convenience and advantage to the estate, then there would be nothing secure in the world, and nothing would be seen there, but war and confusion. This maxim being once established amongst Sovereigns, the Protestant princes might as lawfully destroy the Catholics that are under their dominions, as the Catholics would have a right to extirpate their Protestant subjects. Therefore it is evident, that whether we examine the thing, as relating to the glory and reputation of the prince; or if we consider it according to the principles of true and just policy, that has no other end than the security of sovereign nations and states, we shall and that the words of princes ought always to be inviolable. It is for this reason that we are persuaded, that no necessity of the present juncture, nor any interest will oblige so just, so gracious, and so wise a prince, as your Royal Highness, to follow a new engagement, that does not only destroy all your predecessors have done in the eyes of the whole universe, but that exposes also your own state and subjects to the flames, butchery, calamities, devastation, and to the most cruel and inhuman rage and tyranny.

It is agreed, that it is natural for a pious prince to wish there was but one religion in his country; and that being persuaded that his own is the true one, it did belong to his duty and charity to do all he can to persuade his subjects to it. But it ought to be allowed also, that religion enters into our hearts by means of persuasion, and not by force: and that to convince one of the Divine Truth, there ought to be employed nothing but instruction, sweetness, and exhortation, according to the practice of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles.

That kings and princes, though they are masters of their subjects, yet they have no empire over their consciences, which are subject alone to God; inasmuch that we have reason to hope, that your Royal Highness, far from forcing your subjects to do things against their consciences, you will be pleased, on the contrary, to restore them their peace, which we implore for them, to confirm their privileges, and to let them enjoy the liberty to give God that which is due to him, whilst at the same time they pay your Royal Highness that respect and homage which they owe you, as your faithful subjects.

My Lords, the ministers of state, have told us also, that the inhabitants of the valleys had rendered themselves unworthy of their prince’s favor. But besides that all the world agrees, that before the publishing of the first Edict, they had given your Royal Highness no reason of complaint; and that, consequently it is not their ill-conduct that has drawn upon them so rigorous an order; and that if there were some amongst them that had committed a fault, (which we are yet ignorant of) we ought not to be surprised, if some miserable wretches, that are brought to despair, should do some imprudent actions. Besides all this we say, your Royal Highness is too gracious and too good not to pardon faults of this nature; and too just and equitable to punish the public for an excess that may have been committed by some particular persons.

In fine, they would make us believe, that those patents his Royal Highness Charles Emanuel granted in the years 1655 and 1664, did not concern religion, but gave them leave only to inhabit some certain places in the valleys; and that, consequently, our Sovereign Lords, and the other princes that were mediators in this affair, had no interest in it. But we beg your Royal Highness to consider, first, that religion was then so much the subject of the question, that properly no other things did belong to it; for besides that the order of the Sieur Gastaldo, that produced so many dismal consequences, did destroy these concessions that were granted to the inhabitants of the valleys about religion, it was pretended at that time to force them to do things against their conscience, because they were threatened with death, and confiscation of their goods, that would not embrace the Catholic Religion within twenty days after they were ordered to do it.

Secondly, all the mediation and intercession of the Protestant princes and states, were only grounded on things concerning religion and conscience. They have only acted according to this principle, and the ambassadors were for no other reason received and heard, but by reason of the interest they took in a business concerning religion: and it is for this reason, that your Royal Highness’s predecessors have given several assurances, by letters to their Excellencies the Evangelical Cantons, that the patents granted upon their request should be punctually and faithfully executed.

And because to the prejudice of all that has been granted them, your Royal Highness has published an Edict that forbids them the exercise of their religion in all the valleys, under pain of death; that commands the demolishing all the churches, that banishes the ministers and schoolmasters, that commands that the children should be baptized, and brought up in the Romish Religion, and that deprives by these means those people of their liberty of conscience: our Sovereign Lords, that are united to the churches of the valleys by the same faith, are obliged to continue to intercede for them: and it is this we do now in their name, in hopes that your Royal Highness will be touched by some consideration of our Sovereign Lords, and by some compassion for your subjects.

The following Letters, No. 3,4,5,6,7, and 8, relate to the negotiations of the Swiss commissioners, between the churches of the valleys and the court of Savoy, and tend to throw considerable light upon the unhappy and distracted state of affairs at this eventful period.

NO. From the Swiss Commissioners to the Waldenses. WE do not doubt but that your deputies have faithfully acquainted you with our sentiments, which are not grounded according to our opinion, but upon the public good of your commonalties; and whereas, since our arrival at Turin, we have been informed there of several things that confirm us that our apprehension for you is just; that our advice is good and profitable; we hope that you will follow the counsel we have given to your deputies, being persuaded that God by his divine providence will find out for you a retreat, where you will find all the necessary supports of life and liberty, to serve him in his fear, and according to your consciences; and since you know, that the present state of your affairs requires a prompt remedy, and that there is not a moment to be lost to obtain it from your prince; we found it very necessary to dispatch immediately our Secretary to acquaint you, that his Royal Highness did not find it convenient to grant passports for your deputies; therefore we desire you to send us immediately your resolution in writing, for fear, if you should protract it, our services would be no more respected at court, and that you would render them unsuccessful to procure you a free and advantageous retreat, for which, (if you desire it) we will address ourselves to his Royal Highness with all possible care and affection, etc.

NO. From the Waldenses to the Swiss Commissioners.

My Lords, WE have received the letters which your Excellencies have done us the honor to send us by the Secretary of your embassy, and have been made sensible by him of the extraordinary care your Excellencies have taken to represent to his Royal Highness, our Sovereign, and his ministers of state, all the reasons that were most capable to maintain us in our right, as also the answers made upon the reproaches of our conduct, as well in general of all the valleys, as of some particular persons, for which we cannot but render to your Excellencies all the most humble thanks of which the most grateful persons can be capable. In the mean time we have exercised all possible reflection on the subject of your letter; and on what side soever we turn our eyes, we find very great and almost insurmountable difficulties, which we have made bold to set down in the enclosed Memorial, which we humbly desire your Excellencies to take into your wise consideration. We are entirely persuaded that your Excellencies have no other end but to find some solid expedient for these poor churches. They cannot but make their humble entreaty, that in case it be impossible to revoke the published Edict, or to find some equitable moderation of it, you would have the kindness to follow those other expedients which you will judge most proper for the conservation of those that rely altogether upon your conduct, after having surveyed the difficulties which the said Memorial mentions. This is, my Lords, the general sentiment of those churches, who will never desist to pray the divine Majesty for the prosperity of the sacred persons of your Excellencies, and the happy success of your holy employment.

These are the prayers of, My Lords, Your most humble, most obedient, and most obliged, Servants, the Ministers and Deputies of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont.

SIDERAC BASTIE, Moderator, DAVID LEGER, Adjoint.

JEAN CHAUVIE, Secretary.

MINISTERS JEAN LAURENS JEAN JAHIER G.MANELOT P.LEYDET P.JAHIER GIRAUD BERTRAND DEPUTIES JEAN MANELOT JACQUES PEYROT. JEAN BAPTISTE ROBERTO ETIENNE GAUTIER. PAUL BEAX JEAN PIERRE GAUNTAN. DANIEL ALBERAN.

Angrogne, March 28, 1686.

NO. From the Swiss Commissioners, to the Waldenses.

Gentlemen, ACCORDING to your intention which you acquainted us with in your letter of the 28th of March, and the enclosed Memorial, we have desired of his Royal Highness, that he would be pleased to grant you leave to retreat out of his territories, and to dispose of all your goods; and to that purpose to give us some commissioners, with power to regulate the manner of your retreat: whereof his Royal Highness has given us to understand by one of his ministers, that being your Sovereign, he could not, without making a breach into his honor and authority, enter into a treaty with you; but that it is requisite you should send him five or six persons, with full power to make him that submission which you owe him; and to ask by a petition, what favor you desire should be granted to you: and that afterwards he will let you see the considerations he has for our sovereignty. It is true, that we expected a more favorable answer than this; but nevertheless, to take away all pretenses his Royal Highness could take hold on, to make such deliberations that might be fatal to you, we think you will do well to send your Deputies hither as soon as is possible, promising you that we will assist them with our counsels in the delivering their petition. Our Secretary is to deliver you this letter, with the enclosed passports, which will acquaint you more at length with the particulars of our negotiation, and with the disposition of the Court in your regard, etc.

NO. From the Waldenses, to the Commissioners.

Most High, Mighty, and Sovereign Lords, IN consequence of the letter your Excellencies have been pleased to write to these valleys some few days ago, our churches of St. Jean, Angrogne, and Boby, throw themselves at your feet, to assure you of their humble respect, and of their due acknowledgments of the favors your Excellencies have endeavored to obtain for them, from his Royal Highness, our Sovereign, concerning the continuation of the exercise of our religion in those places. And concerning the proposals that are now on foot, having been incapable of persuading our people to come to the same sentiments which the other churches have, in order to comply with your Excellencies’ demands, we have charged our deputy, Mr. Daniel Blanchis, Syndicus of the commonalty of St. Jean, to acquaint you by word of mouth, of our true sentiments. And we humbly beseech you, that you would be pleased to continue the effects of your inexpressible and paternal kindness, and principally in regard to your powerful intercession with his Royal Highness, about the above-mentioned subject; beseeching the Lord to bless your negotiation, and to be your abundant rewarder for all the cares, pains, and troubles your Excellencies have the goodness to take for our poor flocks, in the name of which we make it always our glory to carry with all respect and submission imaginable, the title of your Excellencies’ most humble, most obedient, and much obliged Servants, the deputies of the following churches, MICHAEL PURISE, JEAN MUSTON, Of the Church of St. Jean. JEAN PUTTA, for Angrogne .

MARQUE DE DANIEL, NEGRIN N. Syndicus , FRANC.DANE, Counselor, STEPHEN PERTIN, Deputy, Of the Church of Boby.

Angrogne, April, 4, 1686.

Monsieur de la Bastie, minister at Angrogne, touched by the divisions of these poor churches, wrote to the Commissioners in the following terms:

NO. My Lords, ITAKE the liberty to tender your Excellencies my most humble respects, by the Deputies that go to Turin, to make their submission to his Royal Highness, and to present him such a petition as your Excellencies will think fit. I and my brethren are in the greatest consternation and affliction in the world, to see our people so much divided about a retreat, apprehending their divisions will defeat your Excellencies’ charitable negotiation with his Royal Highness in our behalf, and render your cares and troubles unsuccessful. We have employed our utmost endeavors to make them sensible, that, considering the present juncture of affairs, it was the best resolution they could take; but we have not been happy enough to have like success with all. If we were not satisfied of your Excellencies’ incomparable kindness, we should have reason to fear that this indiscreet conduct would much change your goodness and zeal for our interest. We most humbly beseech your Excellencies to make use on this occasion of your goodness and clemency, and to continue in your indefatigable cares for these poor churches. I most humbly beg your Excellencies’ pardon for my boldness, and beseech you to give me leave to tender you my most humble respects, and to assure you, that I am with all the respect and submission imaginable My Lords, Your Excellencies’ most humble, most obedient, and most obliged Servant, SIDRAC BASTIE, Minister.

Angrogne, April 4, 1686.

The following admirable letter was drawn up by the Swiss Commissioners, in consequence of the difference of opinion that existed among the Waldenses about quitting the valleys. It certainly reflects great honor upon their memories, and shows them to have been men of a right spirit. It was sent back into the valleys by the hands of the deputy of the church of Bobio.

NO. Gentlemen, IT is true that one’s native soil has great charms, and that most men have a natural desire to live and die there; yet the children of God ought not to set their hearts thereupon, because they are foreigners upon earth, and heaven is their true native country; therefore you will be guilty of mistrusting God’s providence, if you fancy you cannot find any other country where you may live comfortably, and worship your heavenly Father. In what part of the world soever we ourselves be transported, we ought to think ourselves happy, provided we there have freedom to serve God according to our consciences. You ought to propose to yourselves the examples of the patriarchs, who have drawn upon them God’s blessing by trusting to his promises, and by abandoning their houses and fields, to go and inhabit some remote country. A confidence of this nature cannot but be very acceptable to the Lord; and it is without doubt more agreeable to the spirit of the Gospel, than to take up arms against your Sovereign; it is to suffering that Christians are called, and not to a resistance; and we do not find that either the apostles or the primitive church made use of any other weapons against their persecutors than prayer and patience. These are the considerations that have obliged our Sovereign Lords, the evangelical cantons, to give us orders to procure for you from his Royal Highness, your lawful prince, a free retreat, with permission to dispose of your goods, in case he would no longer grant you the exercise of your religion; and though you look upon this retreat as an insupportable unhappiness, yet they do, nevertheless, consider it as a favor, reflecting, according to their great wisdom, upon the miserable condition to which you are reduced; and indeed they did think it would be very hard to obtain it from his Royal Highness, and that in case he did grant it upon their request, you ought not only to accept it with submission, but to show your great acknowledgment of it; you cannot, therefore, doubt that we have been surprised to hear that you have any difficulty in resolving yourselves to it, and that you have a design to resist two powerful princes that are resolved to extirpate you, in case you make the least opposition; for by this behavior you do not only act against your duty, against Christian prudence, and against your true interest, but you give us also just reason to complain of you, that having engaged us in a negotiation with your prince, you will not accept of those advantages we are in a condition to procure you.

Open, therefore, your eyes, and consider the misfortunes you draw upon yourselves, and the fatal consequences of your design, that must needs turn to the entire destruction of your churches and families. Consider, that what is offered you, is so advantageous, considering the present state of your affairs, that several persons of the greatest quality, would have accepted of it as the greatest happiness, in the late persecutions of France, and that they would have been exceedingly joyful to get stark naked out of their country without hindrance. If you properly reflect upon all these things, we hope that the example of those that are of a better opinion, will touch and persuade you to follow the same conduct; but if you refuse to imitate it and if you persist in your obstinacy, you will be guilty before God, not only of having thrown away your lives, which you might have saved, and of having exposed your wives and your children to the massacre, but also of having caused the ruin of these noble remains of the Waldensian churches, which you might have transported into some other country. And do not flatter yourselves with being able to prevent these evils by the means of some succors that some persons have promised you; for we do assure you, that those that entertain you with these vain imaginations only abuse you, and that you cannot be assisted from any side; you ought to consider, that you will be left by all men, and by some of the very inhabitants of your country; and that therefore you will soon be destroyed, either by the sword or by famine, and that those that may escape the fury of their enemies, will finish their lives either by being burnt at the stake, upon the rack, or the gallows. We conjure you, that you would be prevailed with by such powerful considerations, and to agree with the sentiments of the commonalty, that are resolved to desire of their prince a permission to retreat out of his territories, being persuaded that the Divine providence will conduct you to some places where you will perhaps find more advantageous establishments than those you leave behind you; and where those that are poor will not be in want of charitable persons that will provide them with all necessaries. In expectation that God will inspire you with good resolutions, and that you will give to your Deputy such a procuration as those of the other commonalties have given, we recommend you to his mercy and his divine protection, resting, Gentlemen, your very affectionate to render you service. Turin, 5th of April.

NO. SECOND EDICT FROM THE DUKE OF SAVOY.

DATED APRIL, 9, 1686.

DIVINE Providence having established Sovereigns over the people, has given to the first the distribution of favors and punishments, that the hopes of the one might make the good mindful of their duty; and that the sense of the other might prevent the bad from abandoning themselves to evil. This latter ought to fall from our avenging hands upon our subjects of the valleys of Lucerne, who make profession of the pretended reformed religion; because it is notorious that they have not only gainsayed with great obstinacy our Order of the 31st of January last, but that they have also hardened themselves in their crime, and are fallen into an enormous and consummate rebellion; nevertheless, our natural clemency surpassing their crime, and not contenting ourselves with our fatherly kindness, with which we have so long time unsuccessfully waited for their repentance, we have still been willing to leave to their will, (which has ever followed bad counsels) the choice of a happy or miserable condition, and to open to them at the last trial the gates of our favor, that so they may be able to take hold of it in the following manner, and that in case they should not answer it by a ready obedience, they might not be able to impute to any thing but their own rashness, their deserved punishments, which we shall inflict upon them without delay.

Therefore, confirming in the first place our Order of the 31st of January last, as far as it shall not be found contrary to this, we have by virtue of this present Edict with our certain knowledge, full power, and absolute authority, and with advice of our privy council, commanded all our subjects of the valleys of Lucerne, making profession of the pretended reformed religion, to lay down their arms, and to retire into their houses within the term hereafter prescribed.

We command them also to form no more any associations, nor to hold any conventicles; that so according to our intention, the judges of the place may have free access, and that the missionaries and other religious persons may return to the churches which they have been forced to leave, and that the Catholics, and those which have embraced the Catholic religion, may return to their houses which they have abandoned.

And whereas it is not reasonable that the religious missionaries, the Catholics, and those which have embraced the Catholic religion, should be at any loss by occasion of several damages which they have received from those of the pretended reformed religion, we desire, command, and ordain, that all the necessary sums to indemnify them be generally and without distinction levied upon the goods of those of the pretended reformed religion, so as that it shall be summarily enforced before the Chevalier Monzonx, intendant of justice of the valleys, declaring, nevertheless, that in case those of the said religion prove that the damages have been caused by some particular persons, they may have their recourse and warrant against them.

And to show our said subjects how great our clemency is towards them, we grant leave to those that shall think of a retreat out of our territories, to do it within the term, and upon the conditions hereafter prescribed; but because their ill-will has showed itself but too much by their past conduct, and that several could hide their evil designs under a false pretense of obedience, we reserve to ourselves, besides those who shall retreat out of our territories upon their own motion, to ordain it also to such as we shall think fit, and as we shall find it most expedient to secure the peace of those that shall stay behind, whence we do intend to prescribe the rules which they shall observe for the future.

And as an augmentation of our favors, we grant leave as well to those that shall voluntarily retreat, as to those who retreat by our orders, to take along with them their goods and effects at their pleasure, and to sell those they shall leave behind them, provided they do it in such a manner as is hereafter prescribed.

The same is to be understood concerning strangers, and those that are born of strangers, who are to conform themselves to all but the last article of our Order of the 31st of January last, here above mentioned.

The said selling of goods shall be made to Catholics, or to persons that have embraced the Catholic Religion; but because there may perhaps not be found buyers within the term here-before prescribed, and that we are not willing that the zealots of that religion, who shall retreat out of our territories, should be deprived of the benefits of our present concession, they may agree about or fix upon persons into whose hands they shall put their procurations, who shall have leave to stay during three months in Lucerne, with full liberty to treat and negotiate with whom they think fit to sell the goods of those who shall have retreated, and who shall have leave to prescribe in their procurations the conditions of their selling their goods for their better security, to receive the price thereof in what place soever they desire it should be sent them, without fraud and deceit of the constituted procurators, which the Chevalier and intendant Monzonx shall take care of.

Those that shall be willing to retreat, shall be obliged to meet at the day and place hereafter specified, to be ready to depart without fire-arms by the way that shall be named them, either through Savoy, or the valley of Aste: to this purpose, we will provide them with passports, that they may receive no ill usage, or hindrance in our territories; but that on the contrary, they may find all possible assistance; and because that being in great number they may be exposed to some inconveniences upon the way, and in the places through which they are to go overcharged, they shall divide themselves into three bodies as is herein before-mentioned. The first shall be composed of those of the valleys of Lucerne, and shall meet at Tour this month of April; the second, composed of those of the valleys of Angrogne, St. Bartholomew, Rocheplatte, and Perustin, shall meet at St. Second, and shall depart the day following, viz. the twenty-second of this month; the third and last made up of those of the valleys of St. Martin and Perouse, shall meet at Micadole, and part from thence the third day, viz. the twenty-third of this month.

The term wherein our said subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion, that inhabit the valleys of Lucerne, shall be obliged to lay down their arms, in the manner prescribed in the first article of this present Order, is within eight days after the publication hereof in Lucerne, during which they ought to have obeyed the contents of the said Order, to enjoy the fruits of our clemency, but which as well as our fatherly affection towards our said subjects, we leave to its nature and course, notwithstanding the enormity of their crimes.

And by means of a punctual observation of all herein contained, we grant our favor, pardon, remission, absolution, and a full amnesty to our said subjects of all their excesses, misdemeanors, crimes, and other things which they may have committed since the publication of our Order of the thirty-first of January last, as well in general as particular, so that they may not be called to an account for it under any pretense whatsoever, prohibiting all judges, fiscals, and others to whom it belongs, to inquire into it. But because in case they should render themselves unworthy of such favors, by not observing all that is here above mentioned, within the prescribed term, it would be too pernicious an example to delay any longer their deserved punishments, after having been prodigal to them of our favors, and after having waited so long time for their repentance, we intend to make use of those means which God has put into our hands to bring the obstinate to their duty, and to make them feel the punishment of their great presumption. Given at Turin, the 9th of April, 1686.

Enrolled the 10th.

NO. 10 AND Letters from the Deputies of the churches of Boby, St. John, and Angrogne, to the Swiss Ambassadors.

My Lords, WE did not fail immediately after the arrival of our deputy, to make some copies of the letter which your Excellencies have been pleased to write to our churches, and they have been read every where after sermon. There can nothing be said that is either more true, or more moving and comforting: and your Excellencies may be fully persuaded, that there is nobody but that finds, and does acknowledge, that it is the effect of your holy and Christian charity towards our churches; yet notwithstanding it has been till now absolutely impossible to dispose our people to a retreat out of this country; some out of fear it might cause the loss of several persons that shall venture to stay behind; others by a principle of conscience; and others from several other considerations, which our deputy will explain to your Excellencies by word of mouth. We are in the greatest consternation about it, and scarcely dare to appear before your Excellencies with so much irresolution. Our people adhere the more to their opinion, because they have been informed that several other churches, at least a great part of those that composed them, did not know that the business was about such a retreat, when they gave their procuration to their deputies, or if they had understood them, they had changed their minds, which gives us just reason to fear, that in case your Excellencies should be farther engaged for this people, you would be extremely displeased with their refusal to retreat; and it was by reason of this fear which we had here the last Sunday, when we desired your Excellencies to give us leave to inform ourselves of the minds of our people about this proposition, foreseeing at the same time that it would be very hard to persuade them to it: they were for the most part resolved to be their Fathers’ children, and hope that the Lord will be their deliverer, that would make use of feeble things to confound the strong, and that heaven would find out some hindrance to those designs which are formed against us. We do not question but this extremely afflicts your Excellencies; and we are touched with it to our very souls: but it is not in our power to change their hearts, and to dispose of other men’s wills; nevertheless we conjure your Excellencies, in all possible humility, that you would be pleased not to abate your kindness to these churches, neither to deprive us of your powerful and comfortable support, which, under God, has made us subsist till now. For God’s sake do always pity us; what way soever our affairs shall go, we lay our souls before God, to supplicate him with all ardency, that he would be pleased to direct all things to the glory of his holy name, and the preservation of our people: and that he would grant by his Divine providence, by the means of your Excellencies, that we may still get the prolongation of some days, that we may once more inform ourselves of the sentiments of our people by the collecting every man’s voice in particular, if it be possible, to know their final resolutions; so that we may not be blamed, neither of one side or another. The Lord be the abundant rewarder of your Excellencies’ kindness, and we are, with all manner of respect, My Lords, Your Excellencies’ most humble, most obedient, and most obliged Servants, THE DEPUTIES OF BOBY,ST.JOHN, AND ANGROGNE.

JOHN AGHITTO, DANIEL GRAFFE, ESTIENNOR DANNO, Deputies of Boby. MICHAEL PARISSA, JOHN MUSCHON, Deputies of St. John. JOHN DUFFA, PIEZZE DUFFA, LEWIS ODIN, Deputies of Angrogne.

Angrogne, April 9, 1686.

Most High, Mighty, and Sovereign Lords, We throw ourselves in all humility at your Excellencies’ feet, to show you our most sensible and inexpressible concern, that a great part of our people are not able to appreciate with Christian prudence the favor your Excellencies endeavor to procure them, by a free retreat out of this country, with person and goods and to embrace it with holy joy, as a present from heaven, and a favor which they have sighed for at other times. This makes our hearts bleed, and so much the more, that your Excellencies’ letter, which you have been pleased to write to them, ought to have immediately disposed them to an affair of this nature; yet we dare still most humbly beseech your Excellencies to have the goodness to exercise love on all these considerations, as knowing very well that we have to do with persons whom it is very hard to compass, and to make them all sensible of the reason and the state of things, but by experience, and principally when it is about abandoning their old and dear native soil: there are, nevertheless, a great many, and the principal of them, who resign themselves entirely to your Excellencies’ counsel, charity, and prudence, and that will never oppose what you shall find most expedient for the glory of God, and their welfare and preservation. The ministers also are all of the same opinion, and we are all willing punctually to observe the counsel your Excellencies shall be pleased to give us. And we most humbly beseech you to pity us and our families, to extricate us out of an unhappy state which to all appearance is unavoidable; this is the favor we hope from your Excellencies, and pray the Lord to bless your Lordships with all manner of prosperity; and we are with all possible respect and submission, most high, mighty and sovereign Lords, Your Excellencies’ most humble, and most obedient Servants, SIDRAC BASTIE, GUILLAUME MALLANOT.

Angrogne, April 9, 1686. 1. We have been informed for certain, by a credible person that his Royal Highness will not grant us a retreat with our goods, but that he pretends to detain them for the charges he has been at already. 2. That he absolutely insists that the ministers and foreigners should be delivered into his hands. 3. That we should lay down our arms, and that we should deliver them up to the governor. 4. That the troops are to enter into the valleys to demolish the churches, and to obstruct all divine exercises. 5. In fine, we have been informed, that the council would by no means suffer that the French troops should march against us.

NO. Memorial of the Swiss Ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy. YOUR Royal Highness is humbly requested to consider, that he that will retreat out of the valleys by virtue of your published Order, is obliged to prepare himself for his departure, for the transportation of his wife, his children, and his goods which will be necessary to him; that he will be obliged to dispose in several places what he cannot carry along with him; that he must provide for the sale of his corn, of his provisions, of his wine, of his cattle, which he would not be forced to leave at random; and that he cannot entrust with his procurator at Lucerne, and who consequently, by reason of the distance of the place, will be incapable to take care of it; that within the term of eight days he will not be able to settle accounts either with his creditors or his debtors, because those he has to do with do not live in the valleys, or because there may be some accounts that cannot be regulated but by arbitration; that in consideration of goods immovable, there is to be made an exact description of the vineyards, meadows, fields, and woods, whose boundaries and limits are to be marked out and described, as also of the rights thereunto belonging, and the sums for which they are mortgaged, and that there ought to be granted some particular procurations to that purpose. Therefore your Royal Highness having been pleased by an instinct of your justice and clemency, to grant to your subjects of the valleys leave to retreat wherever they please, and to sell their goods which they shall leave behind them, you would not wish that this favor should be unprofitable to them, by obstructing the favor of this concession by the shortness of time, to take away from them with one hand what you had given them with the other. Your Royal Highness is also requested to consider that six trustees are not enough for the sale of goods belonging to several hundreds of families that shall be willing to retreat; that this commission cannot be given but to people of the country, and consequently to persons without learning and without capacity, and taken up with their own affairs; that besides, these trustees will be obliged to run to several places to find out buyers, to let them have a view of the property which they are to buy, that settlements must be made in several places before several notaries, that they are to watch at the selling of a great number of moveables that are dispersed in several houses, to count money, to change it, and to send it to them into foreign countries, to find out some conveniences for that purpose, to write to their correspondents for the clearing of several doubts that may be raised, to remove the obstructions they shall meet with, to defend themselves against some unjust demands; to receive letters from those they shall write to from the places of their retreat, to acquaint them with the state of their affairs, and in a word, to be charged with a thousand other occupations that we cannot now foresee: Therefore, because your Royal Highness does not intend to enrich yourself with the goods of your poor subjects, nor to augment your revenues by their losses, you will be pleased to grant them leave to nominate twelve persons, that within the time prescribed by your Royal Highness, shall proceed to the sale of the goods of those that shall have retreated. But because it will undoubtedly happen, that within the term of three months with what diligence soever the trustees may proceed to the sale of the goods of the poor refugees, there will be found few chapmen, and that every body will expect the end of the term to take advantage of the necessity to which the trustees will be driven to dispose of their goods, and to have them from those wretched people at an under price, by reason of their fear to lose all, we hope your Royal Highness will have the goodness to prevent this inconvenience, and according to the agreements made in the year 1663, with his late Royal Highness of glorious memory, you will buy at a reasonable price the moveable and immovable goods that within the space of three months shall not be sold.

And forasmuch as your Royal Highness distinguishes yourself by your goodness and clemency, you are not willing, without doubt, to oblige any body to impossibilities, and therefore must be aware that females newly brought to bed, or such as are in the last month of their time, and old and sick men, are incapable of traveling, you will make no difficulty to dispense in their favor with the law you have prescribed to others about their retreat, and exempt them from quartering soldiers, who, how well soever disciplined, always cause some disorder, and carry distress into all places where they enter, as also to grant them leave to live and die in their houses without fear of being ill used, and of being spoiled of their goods and provisions.

In fine, we beseech your Royal Highness that you would be pleased instantly to use your clemency towards those of the valleys that are detained in your prisons, and towards those that have been taken up on that account, and that you will be pleased mercifully to set them at liberty.

NO. From the Swiss Ambassadors, to the Churches of the valleys.

Gentlemen, AT the secret audience which we had of his Royal Highness, your prince, we have earnestly desired him, that he would be pleased to grant you a retreat out of his territories upon more gracious conditions than those that are expressed by the last Edict; and we have represented to him as well by word of mouth as by our memorial, all the reasons that might be capable of moving and to prevail with him to mitigate the Orders he has already published against you. We solicited him to grant you a longer term to dispose yourselves for so troublesome a retreat, and to sell your goods, and that he would be pleased to augment the number of the trustees charged to sell them; to give leave that the aged, sick, and infirm persons, and women newly brought to bed, or that were big with child, might stay behind in the country without being exposed to any ill usage; and without being obliged to quarter soldiers; and, in fine, to give orders that his procurators might sell the goods that should not be rended within the time prescribed by his Edict. But we have not been able to obtain the least thing from his Royal Highness, because he has been informed that you are up in arms to obstruct the execution of his orders. We have also endeavored to persuade the Marquis of St. Thomas that he would he pleased to employ his credit with his Royal Highness, to dispose him to grant us what we desired in your favor; but he has given us to understand, that as long as you shall keep in arms, there are no hopes for you. His Royal Highness departs this day for Precairas, and we have had our audience of Conge, with a design to return immediately into our country, except God’s providence give us some more favorable occasion to serve you; and since, without taking notice of some wise men’s counsels, you resign the event of your affairs to God’s providence, we beseech him that he would be pleased to assist you in your calamity, and direct all to his glory and your temporal and spiritual welfare. Resting, after we have recommended you to God Almighty’s favor, etc.

Turin, etc.

NO. Letter from several of the Pastors of Churches in Piedmont, addressed to the Cantons of Switzerland.

Most High, Mighty, and Sovereign Lords, OUR churches have for a long time experienced, and principally in these unhappy troubles that have happened to them, the incomparable charity and fatherly affection of your Excellencies towards them, and still very lately, by sending our Lords the ambassadors to his Royal Highness, upon occasion of the Order of the 31st of January last, published against us, as we have been informed of, by the letter which you have been pleased to direct to us. We are not able enough to acknowledge the care, trouble, and pains which our Lords the Ambassadors have taken in our favor and preservation, towards our Sovereign; and had they met with hearts disposed to our welfare and quietness, their intercessions would not have failed of being successful; but it ought to be confessed, that our condition is very bad from that quarter; we, nevertheless, render to your Excellencies, with all the sentiments of acknowledgments we are capable of, our most humble and hearty thanks for so many favors we have received from their holy and christian charity. We are very sensible, and confess it, though with great confusion, that our Lords the Ambassadors have not had from our people all that satisfaction that might have been wished for, concerning their resignation into your hands; but we most humbly beseech you to employ their charity and support towards a people that make to themselves a point of conscience and honor to preserve their religion in their native country, where it has been a long time miraculously preserved. We are very sensible that as to the world, our ruin is unavoidable; but we are in hopes that God will revenge his quarrel, and that good and charitable people will not abandon us; and principally we put our trust under God in your Excellencies, and throw ourselves into their fatherly arms, beseeching you for the compassion of God, and in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, our common Father and Savior, not to deprive us of your charity and affection, and to throw the eyes of your clemency and tenderness upon so many poor families, little children, and other weak miserable persons, as to the world, to let them feel the favorable effects of your Christian goodness. We beseech the Lord that he would be pleased to be the perpetual preserver of your Excellencies, and the abundant rewarder of all your holy and christian charities; and are, with all the veneration imaginable, Most High, Mighty, and Sovereign Lords, your Excellencies’ most humble, most obedient, and most obliged Servants, The Ministers, Elders, and other Directors of the Churches of the Valleys in Piedmont, and for all, S.BASTIE, Moderator. GR.MATANT, Minister.

NO. Letters from the Pastors of the Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont to the Swiss Ambassadors.

My Lords, WE do intend to communicate immediately to our commonalties your Excellencies’ letters: we could have wished that they had been more mindful of those wise counsels your Excellencies have given them, to prevent such danger and desolation as in all human probability is now unavoidable: we pray to God that he would be pleased to crown their resolution, though against all appearance, with success, and to strengthen their infirmity and feebleness. I do believe that all the ministers do design to live and to die amongst them, because your Excellencies do not disapprove it: and, indeed, it would neither be honest nor excusable to abandon them in such a juncture of time; and we should certainly have reason to think ourselves guilty in part of their loss, because a good shepherd is bound to lay down his life for his flock. We continue to give your Excellencies our most humble thanks for the trouble and indefatigable, care you have taken for our welfare and subsistence; and we conjure you by the compassion of God, and by the charity of Jesus Christ, not to forgot us, but whether it be during your stay at Turin, or after your return to the most high and mighty Protestant Cantons, to favor us with your affection and Christian charity upon all occasions. We pray our great God and Savior that he would be pleased to reward the pains and charity of your Excellencies towards these churches, with his most precious blessings in heaven and earth, and to cover your sacred persons with his inviolable protection: these are the sincere and fervent wishes of those that are, with profound respect, My Lords, your Excellencies’ most humble and obedient servants, The Ministers of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Lucerne, Angrogne, Perouse, St. Martin, etc. in Piedmont, and in the name of all, S.BASTIE, Minister. Angrogne, April 17, 1686.

NO. Letter from his Royal Highness the Duke of Savoy, to the French King’s Brother, the Duke of Orleans. AMONGST the many and great troubles, under which I am at present, seeing none but you capable of giving some ease to my afflicted spirits, I hope you will give me leave to do what unfortunate men have only left to do; that is to say, to justify their conduct, and to demonstrate their reasons to those that are not yet so far from all equity, as to refuse to pity them.

What have I ever done else to the king, than to serve him in the most substantial things he desired of me? Have I not sacrificed to his satisfaction the valleys of Lucerne, to my own prejudice, and against all the principles of true politics? Did I not consent to give him three of my regiments, at the same instant his ambassador made the first mention of it? Is it not evident that to please the king, I have abandoned my interest, my country, and my person by such compliances, as have drawn upon me great aversion from all the Protestant powers, 1 of the Emperor, of the King of Spain, and of all the Confederate Princes? Wherein have I ever displeased the King?

His ambassadors have sometimes made their complaints about some little insignificant things, a thousand of which would not be able to balance the least part of those substantial services which I have mentioned, nor the continual marks I have given of a strict adherence to the king’s interests. A gentleman of Nice raises, without my leave and without my desiring it, some soldiers, in the said place, against several declarations of my predecessors, at the same time that I am there actually present: this is not enough, he enlists some of those that belong to my regiment of guards: I have the goodness not to suffer him to be tried at the sessions, nor his goods to be seized according to custom; and I content myself to send him to prison, only to prevent the ill example he had given by his behavior; and yet, after all, they pretend to make a great business of this, as if I was obliged tamely to suffer this insolence and affront of one of my own subjects, in my very presence, instead of which they should have taken notice of my moderation.

I have given the king three regiments, partly composed out of the principal nobility of this country; there is a considerable number of gentlemen and others of my subjects in those troops; I am willing, for my greater recommendation, to give the king, with my own hands, such as he may desire to have above the said number: but I do not intend to give my subjects full license to act against the law, and to deviate from that loyalty they naturally owe to their sovereign. Nevertheless, those that do it are not punished for it, their goods are not seized, and I do expressly prohibit not to indict them for some impertinent and seditious words; neither do I trouble their parents for it; yet, after all, if I do not applaud their exorbitance, my past services are forgotten, and I have no good intentions for those of his Majesty!

There is a reciprocal agreement made about the restoring of the deserters of the garrison of Pignerol, Perouse, and Cassal, and of those of my troops.

This is not at all executed on the side of the said garrisons; for if they restore one, they retain fifty: and yet they make a great noise, as if the agreement was not observed on my side. Of those troops which for the King’s service I entertained in the valleys of Lucerne, a great many deserted to Pignerol; but the governor pretended, either, that he had no authority over those deserters, because they had listed themselves amongst some recruits which were made for other regiments; or that they were to be exchanged with those troops of his Majesty that were out of the place; or they refused them sometimes downright, pretending that there was an amnesty of the king in favor of the deserters; as if an amnesty of the king, that only regards those that desert in his own kingdom, could be made use of by those that deserted out of my troops, far from coming back, as it is expressly required in the amnesties of such nature. It has been declared at Cassal, that they would neither render nor retake any deserter. This is a thing I do not complain of, for there seems to be a reciprocal equity in not asking, and in not giving back: but then the garrison of Cassal has no reason to complain neither.

Give me leave about this subject to inform you of a thing that has made so great a noise. Some officers of Pignerol having made their complaints, that some of their deserters were to be found in the valleys of Lucerne, I gave orders that they should be restored; and, withal, leave that they might go themselves to discover them. They took along with them a sergeant that had deserted out of a regiment belonging to the said valleys: the officers of the said regiment seized him as soon as they saw him: I was told of it in a letter: I gave them, according to my custom in such matters, a general answer; that is to say, to do what they found just, having no mind to condemn the deserters myself. The sergeant did himself confess that he had deserted; he was tried and condemned according to law. Ought a deserter not to have been seized, that had the impudence to come before his officers, to encourage (by his so fine example) the rest of the regiment to desert as well as he? Does the agreement made to restore the deserters, mention not to take them ourselves when they are to be found in our own territories, from whence they deserted, only because some officers had the impudence to take them along with them? Ought we to think that it is the King’s pleasure that we leave off being sovereigns in foreign countries, when a criminal is at the suit of a French officer, and that there be no justice for them there? Ought we to think that he would have us take there more care, than in his own kingdom? And yet this is the very thing that has been so much exaggerated, to prove that I have no good intentions for the King’s service.

They have continued secretly to raise soldiers in my territories for the King’s service: they are exhausted of men; I cannot find enough to complete my own regiments. I endeavor to retain my own subjects by some slight demonstrations without troubling those any more that do not observe it, setting at liberty those that have been imprisoned, as soon as they have it. Such great moderation is not at all taken notice of; as if a sovereign ought to contribute himself to the exhausting his country of men, and that he ought to leave off making use of his own subjects, only to be employed in the King’s service, without seeming to take notice of it, without being asked or thanked for it.

Some years ago, the King desiring to make some recruits in Savoy, for his regiments of Rousillon and St. Laurent, did consent that I might make some recruits for my service in the provinces of Dauphiny, Lionnois, and Provence: and though those recruits are very expensive, and come to nothing at all, by reason of the great number of those that desert, either on the way, or as soon as they have arrived in this country; yet I never failed to give orders in Savoy, as often as the officers of the said regiment arrived there with a letter of Mons. de Louvois, to let them make their recruits. It has been represented some few months ago, to two or three officers that were come for the same purposes that Savoy was exhausted of men; that it had very much suffered the last year, endeavoring to hinder the incursions of those of Lucerne, and some French Protestants; and. that to continue to contribute to the King’s satisfaction, there would, according to all appearance, be no less difficulty this year to furnish men enough to the same end; desiring the said officers to put off their recruits till some more convenient time. The Count de Rebenae having spoken something of it here, the same reasons were made known to him; withal telling him, that it was no refusal, but only a putting it off for a better time, to make the said recruits with so much the more conveniency; and though he seemed to be satisfied with these just reasons, yet endeavors have been made to draw an ill consequence out of it, to the prejudice of my good intentions for the King’s service; as if the various troubles of this poor country, which it has been forced to undergo, were not evident to all the world, and which is only with a design to contribute to his Majesty’s satisfaction.

I run over and examine all my actions, and I find nothing else that in the least can be taken hold of by those that please themselves with censuring my actions before the King, except my journey to Venice, which the Marquis of Arcy has so often talked of before and after it. I confess, that I was very glad to have an opportunity to know the Duke of Bavaria, and to see at the same time the so much renowned city of Venice. I protest, that I did not think nor resolve on it, till at a time when I could not make it known to the King, and receive his advice, without losing the opportunity of executing my design. I beseech you seriously to consider of what ill consequence it could be, and what reason the King has to complain of it, since I did not do it, when my father of blessed memory went to Padua for the same reason, and that I did not know the King meddled with the travels that other princes undertake. Sure it is that what has followed, has made it evident that there was nothing in this journey but what is good and honest, and what nobody can disapprove of.

Give me leave also to answer some other complaints which the ambassador of his Majesty, and Monsieur Catinat, have mingled in their discourse, and which partly you yourself have made to the Marquis of Dogliani, my ambassador, namely, that I was treating with his Imperial Majesty, with the King of Spain, with England and Holland. To convince his Majesty that this was a false supposition, I have written you several times that it was not true: if you do but know me well, you will easily be convinced that this is more than a sufficient proof; for I had rather lose all than tell you a lie. In the mean time I informed the Pope, by my resident, I have written to him, and his nuncio that had showed the letter to Mens. Catinat, that it was not true, and that nothing had passed, neither was there any thing on foot against his Majesty’s interest: that, on the contrary, I had done several things against common civility, and directly against my own interest, out of fear of displeasing him; having had no ministers at the Emperor’s, and the Catholic King’s court, to behave myself in this point according to the Marquis of Arcy’s direction, who could not allow so much as some gentlemen, my subjects, going into Hungary to improve themselves in the art of war. As for England, the same reason has hindered me that I have sent no answer to an obliging letter from thence; and concerning the States-General, they have written to me a letter, not long ago, in favor of the Waldenses; I desired to be excused from doing what they requested, and this is the only correspondence I have had with them.

There has been something mentioned of intelligence I kept with certain men in Dauphiny; this is an invention of the same stamp with the rest, but with this difference, that I have reason to hope that by the falsity of this lie it will be judged that the rest is of no better foundation. In fine, I am willing to submit myself to the judgment of his holiness, or the commonwealth of Venice, or any other power that I have not just reason to suspect; but the king himself, by making some just reflections, according to his great understanding, may easily see the falsity of all these accusations. And to be plain with you; after the hard usage I just now receive, it ought to be less strange, that those who have surprised his Majesty’s equity, so as to persuade him to such extremes with me, have endeavored to give some few, though false, colors to their pretenses.

I beseech you, Sir, to make a parallel of what substantial things I have actually done for the King’s service, with the aforesaid pretenses, and to judge if those solid marks I have given of my zeal for the King’s interest, do not altogether destroy them; and if it be not against common sense, to put them into a parallel? Cast your eyes upon what follows. Monsieur de Rebenae, the King’s ambassador, arrives in this country; he takes pains to assure me of the King’s goodness in regard to my person. I answer it with those earnest protestations so often repeated by me and my ministers, of my great acknowledgment and zeal for the King’s service, that ought fully to persuade him of it. He desires me to drive the rest of my subjects out of the Valleys; I do consent to it; he does nothing but entertain me about that business, and the King’s favorable opinion he has of me. Monsieur Catinat arrives at Pignerol, he comes to see me in this city; the project against the Vauaois seems to be his only design; he speaks to me about it as the only cause of his coming. I do easily believe it, I let him see a list of all my troops, and that they are not enough to furnish garrisons for my fortresses, and to send them to such places where my service requires their presence; and nevertheless I resolve to furnish him with a considerable detachment.

He seems to be satisfied; he desires to have at Pignerol a conference with my officers; I send them to him. All his thoughts seem to be employed about this design; he makes all seeming preparations for it; he says that his commission regards more those parts that are of this, than the other side of Pignerol; that it was necessary to use all haste to make an end of the business with the Vaudois, and he seems to concern himself with nothing else. In the mean time there happened an insurrection in Mondovi; to appease that, I sent thither some of my troops, and some few of those that are at Lucerne. Monsieur Catinat lets me know, that seeing I was engaged about the business of Mondovi, if I could not assist him with the same number of troops I had promised, I should let him have at least a part of it.

I gave orders to send him a detachment of 400 men; he seems to be satisfied. It snows very much in the Valleys, so there is no action there.

Some few days after, having made an end of the business of Mondovi, and coming back to Turin, I understand that the King’s troops, which we thought were designed for Burgundy, Catalogne, and against the Protestants in the Valleys did advance towards the borders of my territories. This report is confirmed by the discourse of his Majesty’s principal officers, who make it public, that they intended to put the dutchy of my land under contribution, and accordingly they dispersed there some papers that intimated the same. Nobody speaks to me about the passage; I judge that the King has a mind either to take it by force, or that he desires I should offer it. I do it with all the security of going and coming back, and all the conveniency of provisions in my territories, with all possible protestations of my zeal to serve him. But this signifies nothing; Monsieur Catinat desires some commissaries to explain himself about the King’s intention. I send him two persons to Pignerol. He tells them in general terms, that the King is not satisfied with my behavior; that he had received orders to enter his troops into my territories, that he would give them bread, but that I was to furnish them with forage, and with a pound of flesh each soldier; and gives a hint that he would write to me something more particular. Those villages through which he enters into my territories, give him what he desires; after he is entered there, he desires of me in a letter, to send him somebody to whom he might explain himself.

I send to him the Marquis of Ferrero, whom you formerly knew as my ambassador. Monsieur Catinat begins with general complaints; and ends with telling him, that the King expects I should send into France, over the bridge of Beauvoisin, 2000 foot, and two regiments of dragoons of my troops, and that I was to resolve upon it in 48 hours, in case I had no other proposals to make. The Marquis Ferrero did all he could, to let him see a second time the little grounds of his complaint, the great occasion I had for my own troops, and in fine, offers him a league defensive. But Monsieur Catinat persisting in his demands, he assures him, that I would send those troops over the bridge Beauvoisin into his Majesty’s service. Monsieur Catinat seems to be very glad of it, and told the Marquis of Ferrero, that henceforth we should look upon his Majesty’s troops as our friends, and in assurance of it, countermands the march to Grugliasch, near Turin, because the said Marquis had made some mention about it. I wrote to the Count Provane, whom I thought to be at Paris, to represent to the king what the Marquis Ferrero had told Monsieur Catinat without any success, and to add some proposals to satisfy the king about the troops, with the advantages of his Majesty’s service, and the least prejudice of my own.

What will you say, when you hear, that neither Monsieur Catinat’s, nor my express could at all return; that he leaves briskly Veillane, and comes to Orbassan, from whence he sends a commissary to let me know, that the troops were not enough to satisfy the king, that he desires some other assurance of my good intentions for the king’s service; that he did not positively know what it was, but believed it might regard some place. That Monsieur Catinat expects an answer in twenty-four hours; that it was then about eight or nine, and that about the same time tomorrow he expected some proposals, for wants of which he should begin to commit hostilities.

I send him the Abbot of Verrue: Monsieur Catinat repeats his complaints, and desires some assurance of my good intentions. He is entreated to tell, if he had any power from the king to treat. He answers, that he has none, but that he may accept some places in the king’s name. We request to know what place he expects; he makes some difficulty to tell it, and desires we should guess it; at last he says, that the communication of Pignerol, and the citadel of Cassal must be secured; but says at the same time, they made no reflection upon the new city of Ast.

The pope’s nuncio goes to him, in order to accommodate matters betwixt us; he shows him my letter, wherein I assure him, that I was no ways a treating against the King, no, not so much as in my thoughts; but all this without effect. The Marquis of Ferrero, and the Abbot of Verrue return thither; they hear nothing but the same things repeated. The Marquis Ferrero returns thither once more alone, with a letter from the Marquis de St. Thomas, wherein he shows my readiness to satisfy the King, with an assurance of my good intentions. He is extremely surprised to hear out of Monsieur Catinat’s own mouth, that he had not spoken of an assurance in the singular, but in the plural number; that he had given it sufficiently to understand to the Abbot of Verrue, yet it seemed to be the same thing to that abbot, and to the commissary, to speak in the plural, instead of the singular number, as they have both done. But Monsieur Catinat, who aimed at his ends, persisted in this opinion, and declared afterwards, that there was nothing but the citadels of Turin and Verrue that could satisfy the King; that in case they were not in twenty-four hours put into his hands, he could no longer defer to commit hostilities; as if the entering with an army into a country, and to make them subsist at the expenses of the people, were great marks of friendship. And yet he would by no means, nay, he had no power to treat about the conditions, which is in plain terms, to live at discretion.

In this great extremity, seeing my people at the mercy of a foreign army, I thought fit to give myself the honor to send to the King a letter, the copy of which I have joined to this, and sent it to Monsieur Catinat by the Count of Marcenaese. He agreed to suspend all actions of hostilities, and dispatched immediately his nephew to carry the letter to the King with all possible speed. And, indeed, his speed was so great, that he was but few hours above a seven-night in going and coming. Monsieur Catinat gave me notice of his arrival by sending me his Majesty’s answer, the copy of which I have also joined to this. I confess I was mightily troubled to see a letter writ with so much reserve, and that did not give me the least sign of the king’s reconciliation to me, which I did expect; and far from giving me the least hopes about the restoring of nay places, he gives me sufficiently to understand, that he required long proofs of my affection before he could be persuaded of it; inasmuch, that if these things, altogether false and suppositious, and some other slight ones, could so easily persuade him to the depriving me of the said places, would he ever want some pretenses to retain them? I sent, nevertheless, the Marquis Ferrero and the Marquis of St. Thomas to Monsieur Catinat, with full power to treat. They endeavored to acquaint themselves with his power and his sentiments: the first was in very good form, but the other little answered my expectation.

In fine, Sir, after all the ill usage I received from the King, I am sure, if he would give himself the trouble to hear the reading of this letter, he would not desire to be judge of this affair; and if he did desire it, I seriously believe he could not hinder himself from pronouncing in my favor.

My chancellor has written a letter to Monsieur Catinat, of which I send you a copy, as also another of his answer. After which having demanded contributions in my territories, and I hearing of nothing but threatenings, was forced to accept the succors which those that always looked upon me as a Frenchman had the generosity to offer me, in this great extremity to which I am reduced! which I aid not consent to, till after I had left no stone unturned to keep me from that necessity. This is so very great, that I do not think to flatter myself so much, as to believe that all Europe will pity me, without excepting the most generous and just men in France. Good God! how was it possible it should be for the king’s interest to oppress a prince, who has the honor to be so nearly related to him, who has given him such substantial marks of his zeal and affection, whose countries are surrounded by those of his Majesty’s, and who by the rest of the world is taken to be a Frenchman? What will those princes say, which France would fain separate from the contrary party? Is it not as much as to let them know, that they have nothing to hope and every thing to fear, considering the usage I receive? Is the world not enough informed of the vast designs of France, without discovering them so much in desiring to drive me out of the citadel of my ordinary residence, and another very considerable place? Will the princes of Italy believe that it is in order to defend them from their enemies, of which they have none? or to open the way to some greater conquests, making the beginning with him, who far from fearing any enterprises from him had all the reason in the world to rely on his protection? Pardon, Sir, the prolixity of this letter, and do not ascribe it to any thing but to justify to you my behavior, after having made use of all human prudence could furnish me with. I hope that God Almighty will not abandon the justice of my cause; that he will fortify my weakness; and that the consolation of a prince, whom they endeavor to drive out of a part of what he has inherited from his ancestors, will be the darling work of Divine Providence. Pity me in my misfortunes, but assure yourself, that having nothing to reproach myself with, I look upon it with courage; and in case I should happen to be a prince without a country, (which, by God’s assistance, I hope I shall not) I will nevertheless maintain those sentiments, and that greatness of soul, which is answerable to my birth, and worthy of a son, that intends to honor you as a father all his lifetime, and that ever will be entirely yours.

Since the writing of this letter, I have received one from Monsieur Catinat, which I send you a copy of, as also of the answer I sent him, and how he replied to it. Methinks that after what has passed, I am not in the wrong to desire to treat in writing, and that all the world will easily agree, that it is a mark of the uprightness of my proceedings, and the sincerity of my intentions, assuring you again, that what Monsieur Catinat mentions about a precedent engagement, is nothing but a mere pretense, and that I have had none, either with the Emperor or the Catholic King, till the third of this month, when Monsieur Catinat cut off all manner of treaties, and intimated contributions to several of my territories.

NO. Letter from his Royal Highness the Duke of Savoy, to the French King, May the 20th, 1690.

Monsiegneur, IAM infinitely troubled to see that those false colors with which I have been blackened in the eyes of your Majesty, have had so much power over your mind, as to deprive me of the honor of your favor, which I have always valued more than my life. The only consolation I have left me in this extremity is, that I have not drawn this misfortune upon me by the least want of zeal for your royal service, of which I will make a glory to continue to give some real marks on all occasions. When Monsieur Catinat told me, you desired part of my troops, of which I have not very many, I assured him that your Majesty was master of them, and that they were to pass the mountains immediately to go to serve your Majesty. He has since given me to understand, that your will and pleasure was, to have some places in Piedmont in assurance of my good intentions; and although your Majesty stands in no need of any other assurance than that of my heart, which is entirely yours, yet having desired Monsieur Catinat to speak somewhat plainer, and he having at last told me that the citadels of Turin and Verrue were aimed at, I am ready to give your Majesty so substantial a proof of my submission, as the delivery of those two places into your hands will be, humbly entreating you, that you would be pleased to do it upon such terms, as a prince that has the honor to be so nearly related to you, may reasonably expect from the goodness and generosity of so great a king; but if your Majesty would be pleased to make choice of some other place in Piedmont instead of the citadel of Turin, that I might continue to live there with the dignity of a Sovereign, your Majesty would infinitely oblige me. I humbly implore your Majesty’s generosity for it, as also that you would be pleased to hear the Count of Provane, my ambassador, who will sufficiently satisfy your Majesty about the ill-grounded suspicions your Majesty has been inspired with concerning my behavior, and who will renew to your Majesty all the sincere protestations of my zeal and respect, assuring you that I intend to be all my lifetime, etc.

NO. The French King’s answer to his Royal Highness the Duke of Savoy’s Letter, dated May the 24th, 1690.

Dear Brother, I UNDERSTAND with great satisfaction, by your letter which Monsieur Catinat has sent me, the resolution you have taken to put into my hands the citadels of Turin and of Verrue: and seeing that the Count of Provane is not here, and that if I should stay for his arrival, to hear what he has to say to me on your part, there would be wasted a considerable time, in which the march of my troops towards the dutchy of Milan would be put off; I thought fit to send to the Sieur Catinat, full powers to receive those places in my name; and, in the mean time, I am willing to assure you, by this letter, that I have been very much troubled to find myself obliged to give orders for my troops to enter your territories; and that as soon as I shall have no cause to doubt of your zeal for my interest, and of that constant affection for my crown, of which most of your ancestors have given many substantial proofs, I will render you any friendship with pleasure, and do that for you which your near relationship gives you reason to hope for.

I am, etc.

NO. Letter from his Royal Highness’s Chancellor to Mens. Catinat, June the 3d, 1690.

Sir, HIS Royal Highness has been extremely troubled to understand, by what I have told him of your invincible resistance to accept the proposals I have made you in his name, the misfortune he has not to be able to satisfy his Majesty, and to see that so many extraordinary endeavors of his to please him, have been altogether unsuccessful. It is without doubt the effect of my little capacity to make them agreeable, which I am also heartily sorry for. But thinking that his Royal Highness’s proposals concerning the places and troops, were so very liberal and just, that they wanted no art of rhetoric, I received with pleasure his orders to make them known to you. I wish with all my heart that you would be pleased to assist me with your great experience of the affairs of the world, to find out some other more successful expedient. I will do all that lies in my power to make them acceptable to his Royal Highness, as also to let you see, by my care, the honor I have to be really yours, etc.

NO. Monsieur Catinat’s Answer to the Chancellor’s Letter, dated June the 3d, 1690.

Sir, I have received the letter you have done me the honor to write to me, which I find to be written with the same spirit as all his Royal Highness’s ministers have discovered to me in our conversations. I have found nothing that has been positive in all the treaties I have had the honor to have about a business of so great consequence except the promises that have been made to the King by his Royal Highness, in a letter which he has had the honor to write to him with his own hand.

I am, etc, NO. Monsieur Catinat’s Letter to his Royal Highness, June the 16th, 1690.

Monseigneur, I HAVE to day received an express from his Majesty, with such orders as may furnish some means to your Royal Highness to help yourself out of those extremities which you yourself have drawn upon you. For this reason I beseech your Royal Highness to send to me two or three of your ministers, in whom you have most confidence, that I may make it known to them; for the going and coming of which I take the liberty to send you passports. I humbly beseech your Royal Highness to do me the honor to believe that I am, with deep respect, etc.

NO. His Royal Highness’s Answer to Monsieur Catinat’s Letter, dated June the 17th, 1690. YOU have as many witnesses as you have soldiers, of what I have suffered, to show my respect for, and readiness to serve, the King your master. You know I consented to your demand, about some of my troops going into France; that you showed a great satisfaction about it to the Marquis Ferrero, as if it had been your only design in my regard, and that you told me we should henceforth look upon the king’s troops as friends. Nevertheless, some few days after, you wanted some of my strong places; afterwards you desired that, contrary to your first proposals, my troops were not to go into France, but to join your army, in order to act against the dutchy of Milan. After which you see that I have reason to wish, that in case you have anything to propose to me, you would do it in writing, and I will do the same. This is all that I can say at present, in answer to your letter, and that I will always preserve those sentiments of esteem for you, with which I am, etc.

NO. Monsieur Catinat’s Reply to his Royal Highness’s Answer, June the 17th, 1690.