them.* According to the historians of those times, more than six thousand of them had fallen in the massacre of 1655, but that sacrifice was insufficient to exempt the survivors from the insults of their enemies. The council "for propagating the faith," were continually violating the treaty in its most essential points, and persecuting the Waldenses by a variety of the most unjust and violent methods. But as the latter had nothing to oppose to these persecutions but verbal complaints, their enemies construed their patience into cowardice, and concluded that they might multiply oppression upon oppression, without incurring the danger of resistance. The consequence was, that they at length proceeded to the use of fire and sword, and in the year 1663, the atrocities and outrages of 1655 were about to be renewed amongst them. The Waldenses, finding by experience that to act upon the principle of self-defence was the only means of saving themselves from the fury of their adversaries, were constrained to take up arms and to defend themselves, in which posture we find them about the end of the year 1663. At this juncture the Swiss Cantons again interposed, and sent their ambassadors to the court of Turin, to negotiate a peace between the parties, and, being joined by the French minister who was then resident with the Duke of Savoy, on the 14th of February 1664, a solemn treaty, perpetual and irrevocable, was ratified between the parties, establishing the Waldenses in the possession of their property, and in the free exercise of their religion in all the places where it had been established by the treaty of Pignerol in the year 1655.*

But unhappily this new treaty was no better observed than the former, though the Duke had, by a letter addressed to the Cantons of Swisserland, dated Feb. 28, 1664, pledged himself to execute it with punctuality. It is no easy matter to describe all the tricks and manœuvres to which "the council for propagating the faith," had recourse, to counteract the operation of the treaty. And with respect to the Waldenses,

* For the materials of the subsequent pages of this history, I am indebted to a small volume, 124 pages 12mo, published at Rotterdam, in the year 1688, intituled, "Histoire de la Persecution des Valeés de Piedmont, contenant ce que s'est passé dans la disspiation des Eglises et des habitans de ces Valeés arrivée on l'an, 1686."

it is enough to say, that it had been impossible for them to defend themselves against the craft and subtlety of their adversaries, if God, who holds the hearts of kings and princes in his hands, had not changed the mind of the duke, and made him more favourably disposed towards them. He was now arrived at years of maturity, was competent to exercise his own understanding, and having narrowly inspected what had been the conduct of this class of his subjects for a course of time, he began to suspect that it was not upon any good grounds that they had been represented to him in a light so odious. He called to mind the eminent services they had rendered the state upon several trying emergencies, particularly in the years 1638 and 1640, when the greatest part of his subjects having revolted, under the Cardinal of Savoy and his uncle Prince Thomas, had seized upon the city of Turin, and got possession of nearly the whole of Piedmont, and he resolved, henceforth to treat them in a manner that was worthy of subjects who merited his love and protection.

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In the year 1672, a war broke out between the Duke of Savoy and the Genoese, and the zeal, the courage, and the fidelity, which the Waldenses displayed towards their Prince upon that occasion, fortified him strongly in the favourable sentiments which he had entertained towards them. On the 5th of November of that year, the war being over, he returned his thanks to them publicly, in a letter, addressed "to our very dear and faithful, the men of the vallies of Lucerne, Perouse, St. Martin," &c. &c. expressive of the highest approbation of their conduct, and assuring them of his favor and protection. And even to his death, which happened about the end of the year 1678, they continued to experience the most sensible marks of his esteem and good-will. His widow, Madame Royale, also continued towards them the same gracious deportment, and in a letter, dated January 28, 1679, addressed to the Swiss Cantons, pledged herself to maintain the Waldenses in the free exercise of their religion, and in all their other privileges and immunities. Such was the state of tranquillity which they continued, under her regency, to enjoy until the year 1685, when she was succeeded in the administration of affairs by her son, Victor Amadeus II.

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

The tranquillity of the Waldenses in Piedmont was first invaded by a proclamation issued by the governor of the vallies, about the end of the year 1685, ordering that no stranger

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should come and continue in the vallies above three days, without his permission, on pain of being severely punished. This seemed mysterious, but it was soon unravelled by the intelligence which presently arrived of the dreadful proceedings against the French Protestants; for they immediately saw that it was intended to prevent them from giving an asylum to any of the unhappy exiles, yet they little apprehended the dreadful tempest that was gathering around themselves.

On the 31st of January 1686, they were amazed at the publication of an order from the Duke of Savoy, forbidding his subjects the exercise of the protestant religion upon pain of death, the confiscation of their goods, the demolition of their churches, and the banishment of their pastors. All infants born from that time were to be baptized and brought up in the Roman catholic religion, under the penalty of their fathers being condemned to the gallies!! Their consternation was now extreme. Hitherto the treaty which secured to them the free exercise of their religion had been guaranteed by the kings of France, but they were now given to understand that the Duke of Savoy, in all these intolerant measures, was only fulfilling the wishes of that monarch, and to crown the whole, who had marched an army to the confines of Piedmont, to see the order of the Duke properly executed.

Their old and tried friends, the Swiss Cantons, being informed of this state of things, convened an assembly at Baden, in the month of February, 1686, at which it was resolved to send ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy to intercede for the Waldenses; and early in the following month they arrived at Turin, where they delivered in their propositions relating to the revocation of the order of the 31st of January. They shewed his highness that they were interested in the affair, not only as the brethren of the Waldenses, but also in virtue of the treaties of 1655 and 1664, which were the fruits of their mediation, and which this new order annulled. The court of Turin admitted the plea, but contented themselves with telling the ambassadors that the engagements which the duke had recently entered into with the King of France opposed the success of their negotiation. The Swiss ambassadors gave in a memorial, and urged a variety of pleas, in all which they were supported by letters from many protestant princes in behalf of

the Waldenses, but without effect. The ambassadors were now convinced that the duke had entered into a league with the French monarch to extirpate the protestant profession in the vallies, as had lately been done in France, and that the same means would be resorted to for the sake of accomplishing that diabolical purpose.

On the 22nd of March, the ambassadors returned from Turin into the vallies, and the following day called a meeting of the deputies of the several communities, to whom they gave an account of what they had done, telling them, at the same time, that considering the state they were placed in, and that there remained no hopes of relief, the wisest plan they could adopt, was to try if they could obtain the liberty of disposing of their goods and lands, and quit the country. Their surprise was extreme, on finding their case was so utterly hopeless, but before they came to any resolution in a matter of such magnitude, they resolved to convene a general assembly.

On the 28th of March the communities assembled at Angrone, when their situation was fully discussed, and all its difficulties stated and weighed, but without coming to any other resolution than that of submitting to be governed by the prudence of their Swiss friends. The latter immediately made a vigorous application to the duke for leave to be granted the Waldenses to quit his dominions, with the privilege of disposing of their goods. But the duke answered, that before he would give a categorical answer to their proposal, he expected them to send their deputies to ask it as a favor from him, and to make the necessary submissions that were due to him. The ambassadors considered this to be a very strange answer, and began to see that they were played upon, while the Waldenses were only mocked. In the mean time, the latter became exceedingly divided among themselves about quitting the vallies at all. Their enemies heard of this, and laboured to avail themselves of it, by sending persons among them to fomeat their divisions, foreseeing that this would end in their destruction. On the 9th of April an edict was issued, permitting them to dispose of their goods under certain conditions, and to quit the vallies. There were stipulations, however, attached to this edict which convinced the Waldenses it was only a snare laid for their destruction. The edict was published on