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I.

VALLEY OF LUZERN.

THE EVENTFUL HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES, FROM THE NINTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow A hundred fold, who, having learn'd thy way, Early may fly the Babylonian woe.-MILTON.

AMONG the denominations into which the Christian world is divided, few perhaps are more remarkable than the WALDENSES, whether we regard the smallness of their numbers, the district which they inhabit, their relation to surrounding countries, the persecutions which they have undergone, the sympathy which has been shewn to them by England, or the amiability of their character. Hemmed in on the one side by the French, and on the other by Italians, they maintain a character and a form of religion distinct from both; and what is more remarkable, they appear to have done so more or less for the long period of nine hundred years. We shall endeavour on the present occasion to present a rapid sketch of their history, from the ninth century to the present time; and in another Supplement we shall describe the beautiful valleys which they inhabit, and the manners and customs of the people.

In order that the reader may clearly understand the historical details, it will be necessary to explain the accepVOL. XXII.

tation now given to the term "Waldensian Valleys." If we inspect a map of Northern Italy, we find that a branch of the Alps separates Italy from France, including the mountains of Cenis, Genèvra, and Viso. From Mount Cenis to Mount Viso is a distance, in a straight line, of, probably, forty miles; and on the banks of the streams which have their source in these mountains, and flow eastward, dwell the Waldenses. The district is divided into valleys, such as the "Valley of Perouse," the "Valley of Pragelas," the "Valley of St. Martin," each being named according to the stream which flows through it. All the Waldensian towns are within fifteen or twenty miles of the mountain summits. The whole district lies but a short distance south-westward of Turin, the capital of the King of Sardinia's dominions, and forms part of the Piedmontese territory of that monarch. Our frontispiece, representing the Valley of Luzern, with the Alps in the distance, will serve to convey an idea of the general characteristics of the district.

The origin and meaning of the word Waldenses have been for centuries the subject of dispute. Some have thought that the term was first Vaudenses, from the neighbouring canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. Others trace the name to one Valdo, who advocated Protestant principles in Italy in the ninth century. A third party derive the name from Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, who gave a great impulse to religious freedom in the eleventh century. The opinion, however, which gains most support, is that the name is derived from the Latin name for a valley, viz., vallis; from which are derived the French vallée, the Spanish valle, the Italian valdesi, the low Dutch valleye, the Provençal raux, vaudois; all of which imply either "valleys" or inhabitants of valleys. Evidence has been furnished that the small protestant sects which have at different times inhabited the mountain valleys. both of the Pyrenees and of the Alps, have been 695

called by a name analogous to Waldenses. Supposing this, however, to be correct, it is still not a little remarkable that a Waldo should have been closely connected with the Waldenses, unless one name was derived from the other. We may commence our narrative by stating that the inhabitants of the Piedmontese valleys early distinguished themselves by disapproving of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. Mountaineers are always slow to fall into the corruptions which disfigure great towns and cities; and it has been supposed that the inhabitants of these valleys retained, throughout the period emphatically known as the "dark ages," much of the simplicity and purity of primitive Christianity. The bishops of the North-Italian provinces frequently dissented from the doctrines and practice of the Bishops of Rome, both before and after the latter had assumed the designation of Pope. It was, however, in the ninth century that the events occurred which fixed the origin of the Waldenses, as a people. Claude, bishop of Turin, who had been called the "first reformer," was promoted to that bishopric in the year 817, by Louis the Meek, king of France and Italy, with a view of elevating the Italians above the gross superstitions into which they had fallen. Claude was a pious and a good man. He wrote three Commentaries on the Book of Genesis, another on Exodus, another on Leviticus, and another on the Gospel of St. Matthew. He preached against images, relics, and pilgrimages, and endeavoured to make the people understand the Bible doctrines. This, as may be supposed from the general analogy of history, drew towards him the opposition of the priesthood; lengthened controversies ensued, but the state of Italy at the time was unfavourable to open persecution. He descended peaceably to his grave, but the effects of his ministry did not die with him; for there are scattered notices which shew, that though the history of the Waldenses, or mountain villagers, cannot clearly be traced, they still retained the principles which Claude had awakened, and kept aloof from the corruptions of the Italian cities.

SECTION 1,

FIRST PERSECUTION AND DISPERSION OF THE

WALDENSES.

The Waldenses were, however, not allowed to remain at peace in their valleys. When they had increased in number and prosperity, it became rumoured in the neighbouring ecclesiastical states, that a numerous people occupied the southern valleys of the Alps, whose faith and practice differed from those of the Romish church; who paid no tithes, offered no mass, worshipped no saints, nor performed the other rites of their neighbours. The Archbishops of Turin, Milan, and other cities, heard this report with anxiety; and finding it to be correct, and that the Waldenses would not yield to the court of Rome, they demanded the aid of the civil power; but the princes who at that time governed the valleys, and who had beheld with pleasure the simple manners of the Waldenses, their uprightness and integrity, and their fidelity in the discharge of all the duties of civil and social life, at first refused to disturb them. clamour and fierceness of the agents of persecution, however, eventually worked their object; and the Waldenses, on giving a positive refusal to conform to the Church of Rome, were for the most part driven from their home and country; seeking for refuge in France, in Switzerland, in Germany, and even in England.

The

Traces are here and there to be found of the poor wanderers or their descendants in different countries. About the year 1140 a letter was written by Evervinus, of Stainfield, in the diocese of Cologne in Germany, to the celebrated St. Bernard, concerning certain heretics in his neighbourhood. He describes them as professing doctrines wholly at variance with the creed of Rome; and indeed they bear a very close resemblance to those of Luther, which were promulgated three or four centuries afterwards. These men were called Cathari (synonymous with the modern term Puritans); but they are supposed to have been a remnant of the expatriated Waldenses.

A few years after this, some of them found their way into England. Henry, in his History of Great Britain, gives the following account of them. "A company, consisting of about thirty men and women, who spoke the German language, appeared in England in 1159, and soon attracted the attention of government by the singularity of their religious practices and opinions; it is indeed very difficult to discover with certainty what their opinions

were, because they are recorded only by our monkish historians, who speak of them with much asperity. They were apprehended, and brought before a council of the clergy at Oxford. Being interrogated about their religion, their teacher, named Gerard, a man of learning, answered in their name that they were Christians, and believed the doctrines of the Apostles. Upon a more particular inquiry, it was found that they denied several of the received doctrines of the church, such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints; and refusing to abandon these heresies, as they were called, they were delivered to the secular powers to be punished. The king, Henry II., commanded them to be branded with a red-hot iron in the forehead, to be whipped through the streets of Oxford, and, stripped half naked, to be turned into the open fields; all persons being forbidden to afford them any shelter. This cruel sentence was executed in its utmost rigour; and, it being the depth of winter, all these unhappy persons perished with cold and hunger."

In France, too, many persons attracted considerable notice, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, by their opposition to the corruptions and abuses which had crept into the Church of Rome; and these appear to have been more or less connected with the Waldenses. But the Waldenses, properly so called, continued to exist, and even to increase in number and influence, throughout the eleventh and two following centuries, notwithstanding the persecutions to which they were subjected. The dissenting tenets spread to the cities of Northern Italy, and the dissenters or protestants themselves were often known in Italy by the name of Paterines. In Milan there was a street called Pataria, where it is supposed they met for divine worship. At Modena they assembled at some water-mills. They had houses at Ferrara, Brescia, Viterbo, Verona, Vicenza, Rimini, Romandiola, and other places. In 1259 the protestant church at Alba numbered five hundred members; that at Concorezzo fifteen hundred; and that at Baguolo two hundred. The houses where they met seem to have been hired by the people, and tenanted by one of them. There were several in each city, and each was distinguished by a mark known to themselves. They had bishops or elders, pastors and teachers, deacons, and messengers; the latter or whom were men employed in travelling to administer to the relief and comfort of the poor and persecuted. In times of persecution they met only in small companies of twenty or thirty, for fear of attracting too much attention. From a comparison of the statements of various historians, it seems pretty certain that these Waldenses, Paterines, or Protestants, were decent in their deportment, modest in their dress and discourse, and, for the age, of high moral character. They applied themselves rather to labour than to commerce; and indeed their elders and other officers were, like themselves, artisans, and laboured for their daily bread.

In Northern Italy the protestants were numerous in the towns as well as in the Piedmontese valleys; but the time gradually approached when they were driven from all their homes, except in the mountain valleys, where we find them to this day. The circumstance which seems to have brought ecclesiastical persecution more directly on them, appears to have been the extraordinary success which attended the preaching of Peter Waldo, who, whether we call him one or the Albigenses, or of the Waldenses, or simply a religious reformer, exerted great influence on the fate of these bodies generally.

SECTION 2.

THE PREACHING OF WALDO AND ITS EFFECTS ON

THE WALDENSES.

Peter Waldo was an opulent citizen of Lyons, in which city he lived and flourished in the latter half of the twelfth century. Lyons had been distinguished more than once for the support which its inhabitants had given to religious reformers; but at the time when Waldo lived, the grossest superstition for the most part prevailed. It is said that one evening after supper, whilst Waldo was conversing with a party of his friends, one of the company fell down dead on the floor, to the consternation of all that were present. Such a lesson on the uncertainty of human life, appears to have forcibly arrested the attention of Waldo. His thoughts had probably already been directed to the depravity of the times in which he lived; and this incident was calculated to affect him powerfully. A total change was wrought in his habits and mode of life. He abandoned his mercantile pursuits, distributed his wealth to the poor as occasion required; and laboured to engage their attention to the truths of

Scripture. This latter object he could not attain so long as the Bible remained sealed up in a language unknown to the common people; and he therefore either translated, or employed others to translate, the four Gospels into French, and taught the contents to the Lyonnese. Waldo then entered upon a path which was certain to bring down persecution upon him. He drew comparisons between the Scripture precepts, and the doctrines and practices of the Romish church, and fearlessly and openly attacked the latter. The Archbishop of Lyons became indignant at these proceedings; and after vainly endeavouring to win Waldo from his opinions, ordered him to be apprehended. But the number and affection of Waldo's friends; the respectability and influence of his connexions, many of whom were men of rank; the universal regard in which he was held for probity; and the conviction that his presence was highly necessary among the people whom he had by this time gathered into a community or church-all operated so strongly in his favour, that he lived concealed at Lyons during the space of three years. But when the Pope heard of these proceedings, he ordered the Archbishop to proceed against Waldo with the utmost severity; this was done, and he was driven from Lyons to Dauphiny, from thence to Picardy, and thence to Germany. Wherever he went he continued to preach and to make converts; these converts underwent various troubles; some of them concealing their opinions, others taking refuge with the Waldenses of Piedmont, to whom they carried the French translation of the four Gospels. Waldo himself died in Bohemia in 1179; but his efforts seem to have drawn the attention of the papal authorities more forcibly towards the reforming spirit which pervaded Northern Italy and Southern France. The French Waldenses, who were more generally spoken of as Albigenses, from the district of France (Albigeois) which they chiefly inhabited, underwent, in the following century, a persecution, at the details of which the heart sickens; they were all but exterminated; for the sovereign of France entered fully into the plans of the Pope respecting these unfortunates*.

The Piedmontese Waldenses, however, were more fortunate in their political relations. The valleys, after changing hands several times, had become part of the dominions of the Dukes of Savoy, who were mild and tolerant governors. Continually receiving the most favourable reports of the Waldenses, as a people simple in their manners, free from deceit and malice, upright in their dealings, loyal to their governors, and ever ready to yield them a cheerful obedience in everything but the concerns of religion, the Dukes turned a deaf ear to the repeated solicitations of the priesthood, and for a very long period peremptorily refused to disturb them. An attempt was made about the middle of the twelfth century to introduce the Inquisition into Piedmont, and other parts of Italy; but everywhere the people met the proposal with such determined resistance, and the princes of Northern Italy entered so coldly into the project, that it failed of being carried into execution. In effect, from the middle of the twelfth to the end of the fourteenth centuries, the Waldenses of Piedmont were able to maintain their ground against all attacks from the Romish party; although in France, in Spain, in Germany, and in the Netherlands, much persecution was experienced.

SECTION 3.

VIOLENT ATTACK OF THE ROMISH PARTY ON THE
PIEDMONTESE WALDENSES.

The year 1400 opens a period when the Waldenses of the Alpine valleys, those who had formed a kind of centre for religious reformers, began to suffer in sad earnest for their firm adherence to their opinions. In that year, a violent outrage was committed upon the Waldenses who inhabited the valley of Pragelas, by the Romish party resident in that neighbourhood. The attack, which was of the most furious kind, was made towards the end of the month of December, when the mountains were covered with snow, and thereby rendered difficult of access. The peaceable inhabitants of the valleys were wholly unapprised that such an attempt was meditated until their persecutors were in the immediate vicinity of their dwellings. In this pitiable plight they had recourse to the only alternative which remained for saving their lives; they fled to one of the highest mountains of the Alps, with their

The reader will find several historical notices of the Albigenses and their persecutions in the Saturday Magazine, Vols, X., XI., and XII

wives and children, the unhappy mothers carrying the cradle in one hand, and with the other leading such of their offspring as were able to walk. Their inhuman invaders pursued them until night came on, and slew great numbers before they could reach the mountains; and those that escaped were reserved for a worse fate. Overtaken by night, they wandered about the mountains covered with snow, destitute of the means of shelter, or of supporting themselves under it; benumbed with cold, they became a prey to the severity of the climate; and when the night had passed away, there were found in the cradles or lying upon the snow, more than eighty infants, deprived of life; many of the mothers also lying dead by their sides, and others just on the point of expiring. During the night, their enemies were busily employed in plundering the houses of everything that was valuable.

This seems to have been the first general attack that was made by the Roman Catholics on the Piedmontese Waldenses; for though the former had repeatedly availed themselves of the edicts of Emperors, the bulls of the Popes, and the promptitude of the Inquisition, to disturb the Waldenses during the past three centuries, yet such had been the protection afforded to them by the Dukes of Savoy, that the rage of their adversaries was happily restricted to the occasional apprehension of a few solitary persons. But this attack was so unforeseen and so terrible, that it made a lasting impression on the minds of the Waldenses. For more than a century afterwards, they were wont to speak of it as of a dreadful scene which was still present to their view. A period of about eighty years seems to have elapsed, during which, the Waldenses were permitted to exercise their religious duties in peace; but meanwhile their brethren in the south of France endured a terrible persecution, by order of the Pope, and at length the storm reached the peaceful valleys of Piedmont. The Pope, Innocent the Eighth, issued an edict appointing Albert de Capitaneis his commissioner, or nuncio, in the Duke of Savoy's dominions, for the purpose either of converting, or exterminating, by the aid of inquisitors, magistrates, and troops, the Waldenses. In the year 1488, Albert advanced with eighteen thousand men against the valleys of Piedmont. The invading army was also joined by many of the Piedmontese Catholics, who hastened to it from all parts, allured by the specious promise of obtaining the remission of their sins, and the hope of sharing in the plunder.

The Waldenses, roused by these events, armed themselves with wooden targets and cross-bows, and availing themselves of the advantages of their situation, everywhere defended the passes of their mountains. They sent a deputation to wait upon their sovereign, the Duke of Savoy, to explain to him that this was not a resistance to his lawful authority, but to an attack emanating unlawfully from another quarter. The Duke received them kindly, and declared his determination to protect them in the undisturbed possession of those privileges which had been allowed to their ancestors for so many ages. But he appears to have wanted the necessary power to carry his wishes into execution to the full extent; for the Waldenses were repeatedly harassed by the inquisitors and other Romish agents for many years; but the formidable attack meditated by Albert was frustrated, partly by the expressed opinion of the Duke, and partly, by the resolute demeanour of the mountaineers themselves.

The effects of these occurrences was shewn in the change made in the mode of performing public worship. Fearful of attracting the attention of inquisitors, they, for many bled for worship, wholly in private. In the year 1532, years, abandoned their public church-meetings, and assemhowever, they appear to have been sensibly struck with this departure from their ancient usages: for, upon reviewing determination no longer to conceal their meetings for worthe existing state of matters amongst them, they came to a ship, but resolved that their elders should preach the Gospel openly and boldly, unawed by the apprehension of danger from their adversaries. The Duke of Savoy then reigning was less friendly to the Waldenses than his predecessors!; he was instigated by the Archbishop and Inquisitor of Turin, to resent this re-assumption of public worship among his Waldensian subjects. He despatched one of his officers at the head of five hundred men, horse and foot, who, before the inhabitants were apprised of their intention, entered the valleys, pillaging, plundering, and laying waste whatever came in their way. The unsuspecting people were, at the time the army approached, employed in the cultivation of their lands; but recovering from the panic into which they

had been thrown by this unexpected attack, they took courage, and every man quitting his plough and agricultural pursuits, flew to the passes of the mountains, which they secured; and then arming themselves with slings and stones, encountered their invaders so manfully as to compel them to flee, leaving their booty behind, and many of their men dead upon the field.

The Duke was now convinced that an attempt to interfere with them by military means was not likely to increase his strength or influence; and he declined to send any more troops against them; but allowed the inquisitors to entrap them a few at a time, as they could.

SECTION 4.

RIGOROUS TREATMENT OF THE WALDENSES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

During the first half of the sixteenth century, when the doctrines of Luther and Calvin gave constant uneasiness to the papal court, the Waldenses who were settled in France, and in the southern parts of Italy, suffered repeated and terrible persecutions, partly at the hands of the monarchs in whose territories they resided, but principally through the machinations of the Inquisition. Confining our attention, however, to the Waldenses of the Piedmontese valleys, we may remark that Francis the First, king of France, about the middle of the sixteenth century, obtained possession of the whole country of Piedmont by conquest, and regulated its affairs by means of a parliament at Turin. The pontifical chair was then filled by Paul the Third, who urged the parliament so sedulously to proceed against the Waldenses, that it yielded, and commenced a series of persecutions, exceeding in severity anything that the Piedmontese Waldenses had yet experienced. They presented an address to the king, humbly supplicating that they might be indulged with the same privileges under his government, that they and their forefathers had so long enjoyed under the House of Savoy. But Francis disregarded their prayer, and commanded that they should be regulated in the concerns of religion by the laws of the Romish church, or be punished as heretics. The parliament then commanded them to dismiss their pastors on pain of death; and to receive in their stead priests belonging to the Romish church, who were to conduct their worship and perform masses. Waldenses replied, in the same spirit which had for centuries actuated them, "that so far as regarded their religious worship, they could obey no commands which interfered with the laws of God, to whom they rather chose to be obedient, in everything that concerned his service, than to follow the fancies and inclinations of men."

The

The state of politics at that period prevented the persecuted band from experiencing any great troubles for a few years; and in 1559, Piedmont again reverted to the House of Savoy. Then ensued a repetition of what had so often occurred before; viz. solicitations on the part of the priests that the Duke would subdue his heretical subjects; and petitions on the part of these latter that they might be permitted to enjoy the privileges which they had so long, through difficulty and danger, retained. They made a bold avowal of their principles, as these respected the Christian faith, their readiness to yield obedience to their civil rulers, in everything that did not infringe upon the rights of conscience; they expressed their anxious wish to live peaceably with their neighbours, affirming that though often provoked to it, they had done violence to no man; they implored his Highness to consider that their religious profession was not a thing of yesterday, but had existed for centuries; they reminded him of the grievous persecutions that for many ages past had been carried on against their brethren, and which had been so far from destroying the sect, that their numbers were increasing daily-a proof, as they adduced, that their faith was founded on a rock which was not to be removed by violence.

The petition of the Waldenses was seconded by the Duchess of Savoy, a mild and kindly-disposed lady; and the Duke granted his protection, with some hard conditions. Circumstances, however, afterwards occurred, which led to an army being sent against the Waldenses, who now assumed a more warlike attitude than they had ever yet done. For three or four years there was much skirmishing, burning of houses, sacking of villages, &c.; but not such terrible scenes as after years witnessed. At one time an utter proscription was pronounced against them by the Romish party; but the remonstrances of some of the Pro

testant princes of Germany were so urgent, as to cause a cessation of the persecution for some years. At the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew too, in 1572, and again in 1574, attempts were made to instigate the Duke against his Protestant subjects; but happily without effect. We may close the details of this century, by stating that a Duke of Savoy, who succeeded to the dominions in 1580, made this remarkably favourable reply to an address from his Waldensian subjects, in which they assured his Highness of their loyalty and fidelity to his government, and supplicated a continuance of his favour and protection. Only be faithful to me, and I shall not fail to be a good prince, nay a father to you. And as to your liberty of conscience, and the free exercise of your religion, I shall be so far from introducing any innovations into those liberties which you have enjoyed to the present time, that if any offer to molest you, have your recourse to myself, and I shall effectually relieve and protect you."

The seventeenth century was a memorable one for the Waldenses, both in respect of the harassing persecutions which they endured, and the sympathy showed towards them by England and other Protestant countries. In the very first year of the century, more than five hundred families were driven from the Valley of Saluzzo, which had been recently added to the Duke's Piedmontese don.inions, at the instigation of the papal court. Some of these crossed the Alps into Dauphiny; others went to Geneva and its neighbourhood; while many sought refuge among their friends in the neighbouring valleys. The exiles signed a declaration respecting this calamity, from which the following extract will show the spirit whereby they were actuated. "To the end that all men may know that it is not for any crime or misdemeanour, perpetrated against the person of our prince, or for rebellion, or opposition to his edicts, or for murder, or theft, that we are thus persecuted and spoiled of our goods; WE PROTEST AND DECLARE, that the doctrine maintained by the reformed churches of France, Switzerland, Germany, Geneva, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and other kingdoms, is the only Christian doctrine approved of God, and which brings salvation to men. We are, therefore, determined to adhere to it to the end of our lives, and at the risk of everything that is dear to us. If any presume to think us in an error, we desire to be shown wherein, promising to abjure and turn from it, and to follow the better way that shall be shown us; for we have nothing more at heart than, with a good conscience, to worship God agreeably to his own will, and attain the salvation of our souls. But as attempts have been made by mere force to compel us to forsake the way of salvation, and to follow after the erroneous doctrines and superstitions invented by men, we choose to lose our houses and properties, nay, and our very lives also, rather than comply."

We shall pass over the minor events of the first half of this century, and proceed to that terrible infliction which excited the attention of all Protestant Europe to the valleys of Piedmont. The miseries of war and violence were never perhaps experienced by a people more fully than by the Waldenses in the year 1655. On the 25th of January in that year a manifesto was issued by Andrew Gastaldo, who had been appointed by the then reigning Duke of Savoy his agent for exterminating the Waldensian heresy. This manifesto commanded every head of a family among the Waldenses, together with his wife and children, to abandon their homes within three days after the date of the order, on pain of death and confiscation of houses and goods; unless they immediately embraced the Romish faith; and the places to which they were to transport themselves were to be under the Catholic authorities, who were to be permitted to proselytize them.

The consternation with which such an order was received, at a time when the surrounding country was buried in the snows of winter, may be faintly conceived. The poor villagers petitioned the Governor, representing to him the unreasonableness and cruelty of this command; they stated the absolute impossibility of so many souls finding subsistence in the places to which they were ordered to transport themselves, the countries scarcely affording adequate supply for their present inhabitants; to which they added, that this command was expressly contrary to all their rights as the peaceable subjects of his Highness, and the concession which had been uniformly granted them, of maintaining without molestation their religious profession.

The Governor refused to listen to them, and also refused to allow them to address a petition to the Duke; and as

they were resolved not to abandon their faith, they accepted the dreadful alternative of abandoning their homes. At this inclement season they quitted their peaceful dwellings in the valleys, with their wives and children, aged parents, and helpless infants, to seek a home in a strange land. No sooner were the houses abandoned, than they were plundered by the soldiers to whom the execution of the order had been entrusted; they not only razed the habitations to the ground, but even cut down the trees, and rendered the district a desolate wilderness. In some of the valleys the troops came upon the inhabitants so suddenly that the latter had not time to accept even the alternative offered by the Governor's order, and scenes of unutterable atrocity ensued. It appears that the soldiers were left to follow their own unshackled licence, and that the commander was in some degree ashamed of the sickening barbarities perpetrated; for he thought it necessary to draw up a declaration, stating that it was not by his wish that measures were carried to such extreme lengths.

SECTION 5.

SYMPATHY OF ENGLAND WITH THE SUFFERING
WALDENSES.

Whether or not the persecutions were fully sanctioned by the officer, the Governor, or the Duke, it is certain that the Protestant countries of Europe viewed with horror and amazement the scene which had occurred, as accounts gradually extended from one country to another. Oliver Cromwell was "Protector" of England at the time of these occurrences; and whatever may be the general current of opinion respecting his private character, or the means whereby he attained to supreme power, there can be no doubt that he exerted this power in the right direction as respects the Waldenses. As soon as the news of the Waldensian massacre reached England, he instantly took measures to rouse the attention of the Protestant States of Europe to the subject. The great Milton was his secretary at the time, and wrote the noble sonnet, which stands at the head of the present article. But Milton was able to effect much more. It devolved upon him, as foreign secretary to Cromwell, to write to the various Protestant States of Europe; and his letters on the occasion have been deemed models of the expression of earnest feeling. One of these was written to Louis the Fourteenth, who, though a Roman Catholic, was supposed to be unlikely to support the measures of the Duke of Savoy; another was written to the Duke himself; a third to the King of Sweden; a fourth to the King of Denmark; a fifth to the States-General of Holland; a sixth to the Swiss Cantons; a seventh to the Prince of Transylvania; and an eighth to the Republic of Geneva. Mr. Jones, in his History of the Waldonses, has given the whole of these letters at full; but our space will not allow us to do more than give a portion of the one addressed to the Duke.

"We have received letters from several places near your dominions, informing us, that the subjects of your royal Highness, professing the reformed religion, have of late by your express order and command been required, under pain of death and confiscation of their effects, to abandon their houses, possessions, and dwellings, within three days after the publication of that order, unless they would pledge themselves to relinquish their religious profession, and become Catholics within twenty days. And that when, with all becoming humility, they addressed themselves to your royal Highness, petitioning for a revocation of that order, and a reception to former favour, with a continuance of such liberties as were granted them by your most serene predecessor, a part of your army fell upon them, most cruelly massacred many, imprisoned others, banishing the rest into desert places and mountains covered with snow, where some hundreds of families are reduced to such extremity, that it is to be feared they will all miserably perish in a short time with hunger and cold. When intelligence was first brought to us, that a calamity so awful had befallen those most miserable people, it was impossible for us not to feel the deepest sorrow and compassion. For, as we are, not only by the ties of humanity, but also by religious fellowship, and fraternal relation, united to them, we conceived we could neither satisfy our own minds nor discharge our duty towards God, nor the obligations of brotherly kindness and charity, as professors of the same faith, if, while deeply sympathizing with our afflicted brethren, we should fail to use every endeavour that was within our reach, to succour them under so many unexpected miseries." The tenor of all the letters was to induce the Courts of

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Europe to interfere for the relief of the suffering Waldenses, by using what power and influence they might possess with the Duke of Savoy. But this was not all. Cromwell, on the very day that he heard of the disasters of Piedmont, subscribed the sum of 2000l. as the commencement of a fund for the sufferers. He ordered that collections should be made in all the churches and chapels of England; and a committee, consisting of about forty of the first of the nobility, gentry, and clergy, was formed for conducting the subscription, Sir Thomas Viner, and Sir Christopher Pack, aldermen of London, being appointed treasurers. In a short time no less a sum than 38,000l. was collected. This was placed in the hands of Sir Samuel Morland, who was ordered to proceed to Geneva, there to take up his residence for a time, and distribute the fund, in the manner likely to be most serviceable to those for whom it was intended. The Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the Elector of Brandenburgh, the Duke of Wirtemburgh, and almost every Protestant prince in Europe, followed the example so far as to write earnest letters to the Duke of Savoy, entreating him to restore the remnant of the Waldenses to their native valleys, and to shelter them from any further persecution. By the instrumentality of the Swiss Cantons a kind of treaty was drawn up, called the Treaty of Piguerol, by which the Duke of Savoy bound himself, ostensibly at least, to concede certain points to the Waldenses. But it appeared in the sequel that his court, instigated by the papal agents, contrived to render this treaty of no effect. During the latter half of the century, repeated instances occurred to show that the sovereigns of Piedmont no longer held the same kindly feelings as formerly towards their Waldensian subjects. The agents of the Inquisition acquired a power which pressed more and more heavily on the Protestants; and from 1655 to 1658, although the Waldenses were allowed to return to their native valleys, they were incessantly harassed and unjustly treated. Sir Samuel Morland remained in their neighbourhood during these three years; and in his narrative he says, "It is my misfortune that I am compelled to leave these people where I found them, among the potsherds, with sackcloth and ashes spread under them, and lifting up their voice with weeping, in the words of Job-Have pity on us, have pity on us, O ye our friends, for the hand of God hath touched us.' To this very day they labour under most heavy burdens, which are laid upon them by their rigid task-masters of the Church of Rome, forbidding them all kind of traffic for their subsistence, robbing them of their goods and estates, banishing the pastors of their flocks, murdering the most innocent as they peaceably pass along the highways, by cruel mockings and revilings, by continual threats of another massacre, sevenfold more bloody, if possible, than the former."

The Waldenses found, that whatever might be the real feeling of the Dukes of Savoy towards them, they could not be effectually protected from outrage unless they manfully defended themselves. Accordingly at various periods, from 1658 to 1672, they heroically repelled many attacks made on them by the soldiers under the influence of the Inquisition. At the last mentioned period, however, a circumstance occurred which displayed the affection of the Waldenses for their ancient sovereigns, notwithstanding all that had occurred. A war breaking out between Savoy and Genoa, the army of the former power was entrusted to the command of a Marquis of Pionessa, who behaved so ill that he had nearly ruined the cause of the Duke of Savoy. It was at this critical juncture that the Waldenses, forgetting their past grievances, voluntarily came forward to enrol themselves in the Duke's cause, and entered into the war with such zeal and courage, that they soon retrieved the fallen fortunes of their country, and brought the war to a speedy and successful termination. This proof of their good feeling and loyalty made such an impression on the mind of the Duke, that the Waldenses felt the favourable effects of it for the next twelve or fifteen years, and might have remained in the tranquil enjoyment of their religious tenets yet longer, had it not unfortunately happened that the Duke of Savoy, who succeeded the one just alluded to, was an adherent of Louis the Fourteenth of France.

The French protestants, under the protective "Edict of Nantes," had increased to the number of two millions by the year (1643) when Louis the Fourteenth ascended the throne as a child. When he attained manhood, he was persuaded by Cardinal Mazarine and others, to revoke this edict; and there ensued a scene of persecution for a period of twenty years, which drove eight hundred thousand

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