Curiosities of Literature Volume Iii Part 24

According to Father Paul, fifty thousand persons had perished in the Netherlands, by different tortures, for religion. But a change in the religion of the state, Castelnau considered, would occasion one in the government: he wondered how it happened, that the more they punished with death, it only increased the number of the victims: martyrs produced proselytes. As a statesman, he looked round the great field of human actions in the history of the past; there he discovered that the Romans were more enlightened in their actions than ourselves; that Trajan commanded Pliny the younger not to molest the Christians for their _religion_, but should their conduct endanger the state, to put down _illegal a.s.semblies_; that Julian the Apostate expressly forbad the _execution_ of the Christians, who then imagined that they were securing their salvation by martyrdom; but he ordered all their goods to be _confiscated_--a severe punishment--by which Julian prevented more than he could have done by persecutions. "All this," he adds, "we read in ecclesiastical history."[169] Such were the sentiments of Castelnau, in 1560. Amidst perplexities of state necessity, and of our common humanity, the notion of _toleration_ had not entered into the views of the statesman. It was also at this time that De Sainctes, a great controversial writer, declared, that had the fires lighted for the destruction of Calvinism not been extinguished, the sect had not spread!

About half a century subsequent to this period, Thua.n.u.s was, perhaps, the first great mind who appears to have insinuated to the French monarch and his nation, that they might live at peace with heretics; by which avowal he called down on himself the haughty indignation of Rome, and a declaration that the man who spoke in favour of heretics must necessarily be one of the first cla.s.s. Hear the afflicted historian: "Have men no compa.s.sion, after forty years pa.s.sed full of continual miseries? Have they no fear after the loss of the Netherlands, occasioned by the frantic obstinacy which marked the times? I grieve that such sentiments should have occasioned my book to have been examined with a rigour that amounts to calumny." Such was the language of Thua.n.u.s, in a letter written in 1606;[170] which indicates an approximation to _toleration_, but which term was not probably yet found in any dictionary. We may consider, as so many attempts at toleration, the great national synod of Dort, whose history is amply written by Brandt; and the mitigating protestantism of Laud, to approximate to the ceremonies of the Roman church; but the synod, after holding about two hundred sessions, closed, dividing men into universalists and semi-universalists, supralapsarians and sublapsarians! The _reformed_ themselves produced the _remonstrants_; and Laud's ceremonies ended in placing the altar eastward, and in raising the scaffold for the monarchy and the hierarchy. Error is circuitous when it will do what it has not yet learnt. They were pressing for conformity to do that which, a century afterwards, they found could only be done by _toleration_.

The _secret history of toleration_ among certain parties has been disclosed to us by a curious doc.u.ment, from that religious Machiavel, the fierce ascetic republican John Knox, a calvinistical Pope. "While the posterity of Abraham," says that mighty and artful reformer, "were _few in number_, and while they sojourned in _different countries_, they were merely required to avoid all partic.i.p.ation in the idolatrous rites of the heathen; but _as soon as they prospered into a kingdom_, and had obtained _possession of Canaan_, they were strictly charged to suppress idolatry, and to destroy all the monuments and incentives. The same duty was _now_ inc.u.mbent on the professors of the true religion in Scotland.

Formerly, when not more than _ten persons in a county_ were enlightened, it would have been _foolishness_ to have demanded of the n.o.bility the suppression of idolatry. But _now_, when knowledge had been increased,"

&c.[171] Such are the men who cry out for toleration during their state of political weakness, but who cancel the bond by which they hold their tenure whenever they "obtain possession of Canaan." The only commentary on this piece of the secret history of _toleration_ is the acute remark of Swift:--"We are fully convinced that we shall always tolerate them, but not that they will tolerate us."

The truth is that TOLERATION was allowed by none of the parties! and I will now show the dilemmas into which each party thrust itself.

When the kings of England would forcibly have established episcopacy in Scotland, the presbyters pa.s.sed an act _against the toleration of dissenters from presbyterian doctrines and discipline_; and thus, as Guthrie observes, they were committing the same violence on the consciences of their brethren which they opposed in the king. The presbyterians contrived their famous _covenant_ to dispossess the royalists of their livings; and the independents, who a.s.sumed the principle of toleration in their very name, shortly after enforced what they called the _engagement_, to eject the presbyterians! In England, where the dissenters were ejected, their great advocate Calamy complains that the dissenters were only making use of the same arguments which the most eminent reformers had done in their n.o.ble defence of the reformation against the papists; while the arguments of the established church against the dissenters were the same which were urged by the papists against the protestant reformation![172] When the presbyterians were our masters, and preached up the doctrine of pa.s.sive obedience in spiritual matters to the civil power, it was unquestionably pa.s.sing a self-condemnation on their own recent opposition and detraction of the former episcopacy. Whenever men act from a secret motive entirely contrary to their ostensible one, such monstrous results will happen; and as extremes will join, however opposite they appear in their beginnings, John Knox and Father Petre, in office, would have equally served James the Second as confessor and prime minister!

A fact relating to the famous Justus Lipsius proves the difficulty of forming a clear notion of TOLERATION. This learned man, after having been ruined by the religious wars of the Netherlands, found an honourable retreat in a professor's chair at Leyden, and without difficulty abjured papacy. He published some political works: and adopted as his great principle, that only _one religion_ should be allowed to a people, and that no clemency should be granted to non-conformists, who, he declares, should be pursued by sword and fire: in this manner a single member would be cut off to preserve the body sound. _Ure, seca_--are his words. Strange notions these in a protestant republic; and, in fact, in Holland it was approving of all the horrors of their oppressors, the Duke d'Alva and Philip the Second, from which they had hardly recovered.[173] It was a principle by which we must inevitably infer, says Bayle, that in Holland no other mode of religious belief but one sect should be permitted; and that those Pagans who had hanged the missionaries of the gospel had done what they ought. Lipsius found himself sadly embarra.s.sed when refuted by Theodore Cornhert,[174]

the firm advocate of political and religious freedom, and at length Lipsius, that protestant with a catholic heart, was forced to eat his words, like Pistol his onion, declaring that the two objectionable words, _ure_, _seca_, were borrowed from medicine, meaning not literally _fire_ and _sword_, but a strong efficacious remedy, one of those powerful medicines to expel poison. Jean de Serres, a warm Huguenot, carried the principle of TOLERATION so far in his "Inventaire generale de l'Histoire de France," as to blame Charles Martel for compelling the Frisans, whom he had conquered, to adopt Christianity! "A pardonable zeal," he observes, "in a warrior; but in fact the minds of men cannot be gained over by arms, nor that religion forced upon them, which must be introduced into the hearts of men by reason." It is curious to see a protestant, in his zeal for toleration, blaming a king for forcing idolaters to become Christians; and to have found an opportunity to express his opinions in the dark history of the eighth century, is an instance how historians incorporate their pa.s.sions in their works, and view ancient facts with modern eyes.

The protestant cannot grant toleration to the catholic, unless the catholic ceases to be a papist; and the Arminian church, which opened its wide bosom to receive every denomination of Christians, nevertheless were forced to exclude the papists, for their pa.s.sive obedience to the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. The catholic has curiously told us, on this word _toleration_, that _Ce mot devient fort en usage a mesure que le nombre des tolerans augmente_.[175] It was a word which seemed of recent introduction, though the book is modern! The protestants have disputed much how far they might tolerate, or whether they should tolerate at all; "a difficulty," triumphantly exclaims the catholic, "which they are not likely ever to settle, while they maintain their principles of pretended reformation; the consequences which naturally follow excite horror to the Christian. It is the weak who raise such outcries for toleration; the strong find authority legitimate."

A religion which admits not of _toleration_ cannot be safely tolerated, if there is any chance of its obtaining a political ascendancy.

When Priscillian and six of his followers were condemned to torture and execution for a.s.serting that the three persons of the Trinity were to be considered as three different _acceptions_ of the same being, Saint Ambrose and Saint Martin a.s.serted the cause of offended humanity, and refused to communicate with the bishops who had called out for the blood of the Priscillianists; but Cardinal Baronius, the annalist of the church, was greatly embarra.s.sed to explain how men of real purity could abstain from _applauding_ the ardent zeal of the _persecution_: he preferred to give up the saints rather than to allow of toleration--for he acknowledges that the toleration which these saints would have allowed was not exempt from sin.[176]

In the preceding article, "Political Religionism," we have shown how to provide against the possible evil of the _tolerated_ becoming the _tolerators_! Toleration has been suspected of indifference to religion itself; but with sound minds, it is only an indifference to the logomachies of theology--things "not of G.o.d, but of man," that have perished, and that are peris.h.i.+ng around us!

FOOTNOTES:

[161] Bishop Barlow's "Several Miscellaneous and Weighty Cases of Conscience Resolved," 1692. His "Case of a Toleration in Matters of Religion," addressed to Robert Boyle, p. 39. This volume was not intended to have been given to the world, a circ.u.mstance which does not make it the less curious.

[162] In the article _Sancterius_. Note F.

[163] Recent writers among our sectarists a.s.sert that Dr. Owen was the _first_ who wrote in favour of toleration, in 1648! Another claims the honour for John Goodwin, the chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, who published one of his obscure polemical tracts in 1644, among a number of other persons who, at that crisis, did not venture to prefix their names to pleas in favour of toleration, so delicate and so obscure did this subject then appear! In 1651, they translated the liberal treatise of Grotius, _De Imperio Summarum Potestatum circa Sacra_, under the t.i.tle of "The Authority of the Highest Powers about Sacred Things." London, 8vo, 1651. To the honour of Grotius, the first of philosophical reformers, be it recorded, that he displeased both parties!

[164] J. P. Rabaut, "sur la Revolution Francaise," p. 27.

[165] "Life of James the Second, from his own Papers," ii 114.

[166] This was a Baron Wallop. From Dr. H. Sampson's Ma.n.u.script Diary.

[167] It is curious to observe that the catholics were afterwards ashamed of these indiscretions; they were unwilling to own that there were any medals which commemorate ma.s.sacres. Thua.n.u.s, in his 53rd book, has minutely described them. The medals, however, have become excessively scarce; but copies inferior to the originals have been sold. They had also pictures on similar subjects, accompanied by insulting inscriptions, which latter they have effaced, sometimes very imperfectly. See Hollis's "Memoirs," p. 312-14. This enthusiast advertised in the papers to request travellers to procure them.

[168] The _Sala Regia_ of the Vatican has still upon its walls a painting by Vasari of this ma.s.sacre, among the other important events in the history of the Popes similarly commemorated.

[169] "Memoires de Michel de Castelnau," liv. i. c. 4.

[170] "Life of Thua.n.u.s, by the Rev. J. Collinson," p. 115.

[171] Dr. M'Crie's "Life of John Knox," ii. 122.

[172] I quote from an unpublished letter, written so late as in 1749, addressed to the author of "The Free and Candid Disquisition," by the Rev. Thomas Allen, rector of Kettering, Northamptons.h.i.+re.

However extravagant his doctrine appears to us, I suspect that it exhibits the concealed sentiments of even some protestant churchmen!

This rector of Kettering attributes the growth of schism to the _negligence_ of the clergy, and seems to have persecuted both the archbishops, "to his detriment," as he tells us, with singular plans of reform borrowed from monastic inst.i.tutions. He wished to revive the practice inculcated by a canon of the counsel of Laodicea of having prayers _ad horam nonam et ad vesperam_--prayers twice a day in the churches. But his grand project take in his own words:--

"I let the archbishop know that I had composed an _irenicon_, wherein I prove the necessity of an ecclesiastical _power over consciences_ in matters of religion, which utterly silences their arguments who _plead so hard for toleration_. I took my scheme from 'A Discourse of Ecclesiastical Polity,' wherein the authority of the civil magistrate over the consciences of subjects in matters of external religion is a.s.serted; _the mischiefs and inconveniences of toleration_ are represented, and all pretences pleaded in behalf of _liberty of conscience_ are fully answered. If this book were reprinted and considered, the king would know his power and the people their duty."

The rector of Kettering seems not to have known that the author of this "Discourse on Ecclesiastical Polity" was the notorious Parker, immortalised by the satire of Marvell. This political apostate, from a republican and presbyterian, became a furious advocate for _arbitrary government_ in church and state! He easily won the favour of James the Second, who made him Bishop of Oxford! His principles were so violent that Father Petre, the confessor of James, made sure of him! This letter of the rector of Kettering, in adopting the system of such a _catholic_ bishop, confirms my suspicion that _toleration_ is condemned as an evil among some protestants!

[173] The cruelties practised by the Protestant against the Catholic party are pictured and described in Arnoudt Van Geluwe's book, "Over de Ontledinghe van dry verscheyden Niew-Ghereformeerde Martelaers Boecken," published at Antwerp in 1656.

[174] Cornhert was one of the fathers of Dutch literature, and even of their arts. He was the composer of the great national air of William of Orange; he was too a famous engraver, the master of Goltzius. On his death-bed he was still writing against the _persecution of heretics_.

[175] "Dictionnaire de Trevoux," _ad vocem_ Tolerance. Printed in 1771.

[176] Sismondi, "Hist. des Francais," i. 41. The character of the _first person_ who introduced _civil_ persecution into the Christian church has been described by Sulpicius Severus. See Dr. Maclaine's note in his translation of Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History," vol.

i. 428.

APOLOGY FOR THE PARISIAN Ma.s.sACRE.

An original doc.u.ment now lying before me, the autograph letter of Charles the Ninth, will prove, that the unparalleled ma.s.sacre, called by the world _religious_, was, in the French cabinet, considered merely as _political_; one of those revolting state expedients which a pretended instant necessity has too often inflicted on that part of a nation which, like the undercurrent, subterraneously works its way, and runs counter to the great stream, till the critical moment arrives when one or the other must cease.

The ma.s.sacre began on St. Bartholomew day, in August, 1572, lasted in France during seven days: that awful event interrupted the correspondence of our court with that of France. A long silence ensued; the one did not dare to tell the tale which the other could not listen to. But sovereigns know how to convert a mere domestic event into a political expedient. Charles the Ninth, on the birth of a daughter, sent over an amba.s.sador extraordinary to request Elizabeth to stand as sponsor: by this the French monarch obtained a double purpose; it served to renew his interrupted intercourse with the silent queen, and alarmed the French protestants by abating their hopes, which long rested on the aid of the English queen.

The following letter, dated 8th February, 1573, is addressed by the king to La Motte Fenelon, his resident amba.s.sador at London. The king in this letter minutely details a confidential intercourse with his mother, Catharine of Medicis, who, perhaps, may have dictated this letter to the secretary, although signed by the king with his own hand.[177] Such minute particulars could only have been known to herself. The Earl of _Wolchester_ (Worcester) was now taking his departure, having come to Paris on the baptism of the princess; and accompanied by Walsingham, our resident amba.s.sador, after taking leave of Charles, had the following interview with Catharine de Medicis. An interview with the young monarch was usually concluded by a separate audience with his mother, who probably was still the directress of his councils.

The French court now renewed their favourite project of marrying the Duke d'Alencon with Elizabeth. They had long wished to settle this turbulent spirit, and the negotiation with Elizabeth had been broken off in consequence of the ma.s.sacre at Paris. They were somewhat uneasy lest he should share the fate of his brother, the Duke of Anjou, who had not long before been expedited on the same fruitless errand; and Elizabeth had already objected to the disparity of their ages, the Duke of Alencon, being only seventeen, and the maiden queen six-and-thirty; but Catharine observed that Alencon was only one year younger than his brother, against whom this objection had not occurred to Elizabeth, for he had been sent back upon another pretext--some difficulty which the queen had contrived about his performing ma.s.s in his own house.

After Catharine de Medicis had a.s.sured the Earl of Worcester of her great affection for the Queen of England, and her and the king's strict intention to preserve it, and that they were therefore desirous of this proposed marriage taking place, she took this opportunity of inquiring of the Earl of Worcester the cause of the queen his mistress's marked _coolness toward them_. The narrative becomes now dramatic.

"On this Walsingham, who kept always close by the side of the count, here took on himself to answer, acknowledging that the said count had indeed been charged to speak on this head; and he then addressed some words in English to Worcester. And afterwards the count gave to my lady and mother to understand, that the queen his mistress had been waiting for an answer on two articles; the one concerning religion, and the other for an interview. My lady and mother instantly replied, that she had never heard any articles mentioned, on which she would not have immediately satisfied the Sieur Walsingham, who then took up the word; first observing that the count was not accustomed to business of this nature, but that he himself knew for certain that the cause of this negotiation for marriage not being more advanced, was really these two unsettled points: that his mistress still wished that the point of religion should be cleared up; for that they concluded in England that this business was designed only to amuse and never to be completed (as happened in that of my brother the Duke of Anjou); and the other point concerned the interview between my brother the Duke of Alencon; because some letters which may have been written between the parties[178] in such sort of matters, could not have the same force which the sight and presence of both the persons would undoubtedly have. But, he added, _another thing, which had also greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded this business, was what had happened lately in this kingdom_; and during such troubles, proceeding from religion, it could not have been well timed to have spoken with them concerning the said marriage; and that himself and those of his nation had been in great fear in this kingdom, thinking that we intended to extirpate all those of the said religion. On this, my lady and mother answered him instantly and in order: That she was certain that the queen his mistress could never like nor value a prince who had not his religion at heart; and whoever would desire to have this otherwise, would be depriving him of what we hold dearest in this world; That he might recollect that my brother had always insisted on the freedom of religion, and that it was from the difficulty of its public exercise, which he always insisted on, which had broken off this negotiation: the Duke d'Alencon will be satisfied when this point is agreed on, and will hasten over to the queen, persuaded that she will not occasion him the pain and the shame of pa.s.sing over the seas without happily terminating this affair. In regard to _what has occurred these latter days_, that he must have seen how it happened by the fault of the chiefs of those who remained here; for when the late admiral was treacherously wounded at Notre Dame, he knew the affliction it threw us into (fearful that it might have occasioned great troubles in this kingdom), and the diligence we used to verify judicially whence it proceeded; and the verification was nearly finished, when they were so forgetful, as to raise a conspiracy, to attempt the lives of myself, my lady and mother, and my brothers, and endanger the whole state; which was the cause, that to avoid this, I was compelled, to my very great regret, to permit what had happened in this city; but as he had witnessed, I gave orders to stop, as soon as possible, this fury of the people, and place every one in repose. On this, the Sieur Walsingham replied to my lady and mother, that the exercise of the said religion had been interdicted in this kingdom. To which she also answered, that this had not been done but for a good and holy purpose; namely, that the fury of the catholic people might the sooner be allayed, who else had been reminded of the past calamities, and would again have been let loose against those of the said religion, had they continued to preach in this kingdom. Also should these once more fix on any chiefs, which I will prevent as much as possible, giving him clearly and pointedly to understand, that what is done here is much the same as what has been done, and is now practised by the queen his mistress in her kingdom. For she permits the exercise but of one religion, although there are many of her people who are of another; and having also, during her reign, punished those of her subjects whom she found seditious and rebellious.

It is true this has been done by the laws, but I indeed could not act in the same manner; for finding myself in such imminent peril, and the conspiracy raised against me and mine, and my kingdom, ready to be executed, I had no time to arraign and try in open justice as much as I wished, but was constrained, to my very great regret, to strike the blow (lascher le main) in what has been done in this city."

This letter of Charles the Ninth, however, does not here conclude. "My lady and mother" plainly acquaints the Earl of Worcester and Sir Francis Walsingham, that her son had never interfered between their mistress and her subjects, and in return expects the same favour; although, by accounts they had received from England, many s.h.i.+ps were arming to a.s.sist their rebels at Roch.e.l.le. "My lady and mother" advances another step, and declares that Elizabeth by treaty is bound to a.s.sist her son against his rebellious subjects; and they expect, at least, that Elizabeth will not only stop these armaments in all her ports, but exemplarily punish the offenders. I resume the letter.

"And on hearing this, the said Walsingham changed colour, and appeared somewhat astonished, as my lady and mother well perceived by his face; and on this he requested the Count of Worcester to mention the order which he knew the queen his mistress had issued to prevent these people from a.s.sisting those of La Roch.e.l.le; but that in England, so numerous were the seamen and others who gained their livelihood by maritime affairs, and who would starve without the entire freedom of the seas, that it was impossible to interdict them."

Charles the Ninth encloses the copy of a letter he had received from London, in part agreeing with an account the amba.s.sador had sent to the king, of an English expedition nearly ready to sail for La Roch.e.l.le, to a.s.sist his rebellious subjects. He is still further alarmed, that Elizabeth foments the _wartegeux_, and a.s.sists underhand the discontented. He urges the amba.s.sador to hasten to the queen, to impart these complaints in the most friendly way, as he knows the amba.s.sador can well do, and as, no doubt, Walsingham will have already prepared her to receive. Charles entreats Elizabeth to prove her good faith by deeds and not by words; to act openly on a point which admits of no dissimulation. The best proof of her friends.h.i.+p will be the marriage; and the amba.s.sador, after opening this business to her chief ministers, who the king thinks are desirous of this projected marriage, is then "to acquaint the queen with what has pa.s.sed between her amba.s.sadors and myself."

Such is the first letter on English affairs which Charles the Ninth despatched to his amba.s.sador, after an awful silence of six months, during which time La Motte Fenelon was not admitted into the presence of Elizabeth. The apology for the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew comes from the king himself, and contains several remarkable expressions, which are at least divested of that style of bigotry and exultation we might have expected: on the contrary, this sanguinary and inconsiderate young monarch, as he is represented, writes in a subdued and sorrowing tone, lamenting his hard necessity, regretting he could not have recourse to the laws, and appealing to others for his efforts to check the fury of the people, which he himself had let loose. Catharine de Medicis, who had governed him from the tender age of eleven years, when he ascended the throne, might unquestionably have persuaded him that a conspiracy was on the point of explosion. Charles the Ninth died young, and his character is unfavourably viewed by the historians. In the voluminous correspondence which I have examined, could we judge by state letters of the character of him who subscribes them, we must form a very different notion; they are so prolix, and so earnest, that one might conceive they were dictated by the young monarch himself!

FOOTNOTES:

[177] All the numerous letters which I have seen of Charles the Ninth, now in the possession of Mr. Murray, are carefully signed by himself, and I have also observed _postscripts_ written with his own hand: they are always countersigned by his secretary. I mention this circ.u.mstance, because, in the _Dictionnaire Historique_, it is said that Charles, who died young, was so given up to the amus.e.m.e.nts of his age, that he would not even sign his despatches, and introduced the custom of secretaries subscribing for the king. This voluminous correspondence shows the falsity of this statement. History is too often composed of popular tales of this stamp.

[178] These _love-letters_ of Alencon to our Elizabeth are noticed by Camden, who observes, that the queen became wearied by receiving so many; and to put an end to this trouble, she consented that the young duke should come over, conditionally, that he should not be offended if her suitor should return home suitless.