PAGE 36

In 1598 Henry of Navarre, King of France, published a decree by which he granted to Protestants the free exercise of their religion and many civil privileges. Under the reign of Henry's successor, Louis XIII the Protestants were exposed to much hardship, but in the year 1685 in the reign of Louis XIV the Decree of Nantes was revoked and the protection of the Protestants went with it.

"What less than blood", writes a French historian, "are exile, proscription, vexations and tortures? Can anyone reflect, without shuddering, on the cruelties of the dragoons; the disunion of families; the sight of numerous flourishing people, now wandering, naked fugitives; aged persons, men famous for knowledge and virtue, accustomed to the life of ease, now thrown into a dungeon, chained to the oar, perishing under the lash of the galley officers - and only for the sake of religion! .... The revocation of the edict of Nantes, was dictated by priests equally fanatic and crafty. The edict, the fruit of the wisdom of Henry IV, which even the sanguinary Richelieu had respected, was repealed by one most atrocious. The Protestants emigrated by thousands. Holland, England and Germany received them with open arms."