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<DATE>2011-03-03</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch Z200904.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>The Humble PETITION OF THE Prote&s;tants of France, Lately pre&s;ented to His Mo&s;t Chri&s;tian Maje&s;ty, By the Mare&s;chal <HI>Schomberg,</HI> and the Marquis of
<HI>Ruvigny.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub"><HI>A</HI> true Copy in <HI>Engli&s;h.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WE your Subjects of that Religion (which we call the Reform|ed) do, with mo&s;t profound Reverence, ca&s;t our &s;elves at the feet of your Maje&s;ty, that &s;o we may repre&s;ent the many aggrievances which have been <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">ped
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">pon us, one after another, and may mo&s;t humbly beg &s;ome effectual re&s;entments of the &s;ame, from your ju&s;tice and goodne&s;s.</P>
<P>The Edicts of the Kings your Predece&s;&s;ors, and particularly tho&s;e of <HI>Henry</HI> the Great, and <HI>Lewis</HI> the Ju&s;t, which your Maje&s;ty mo&s;t au|thentically confirmed at your happy Inauguration, and &s;ince by divers and &s;undry Declarations have always had regard to tho&s;e of the &s;aid Re|ligion, which con&s;i&s;ts of a con&s;iderable part of tho&s;e people which God hath committed to your charge: And as &s;uch, they have not only been permitted to exerci&s;e their Employment <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">d Arts, and Trades, where|by they gain their Livelihood, but al&s;o have been promoted to Places of Tru&s;t and Honour, as effects of their Merit and Vertue; They have al&s;o enjoyed a Liberty of Con&s;cience, by a free exerci&s;e of their Religi|on and Di&s;cipline in all places priviledged by the afore&s;aid Edicts, and Commi&s;&s;ioners al&s;o have been appointed to take care, that there &s;hould be no infringements or violations thereof.</P>
<P>There have been al&s;o Courts of Ju&s;tice con&s;i&s;ting of men of both Re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">|gion, that at all times the Prote&s;tants might be a&s;&s;ured of impartial ju|&s;tice both as to their Per&s;ons, and E&s;tates. And the Gentlemen particular|ly had right, to place in their Fee-Farms tho&s;e of one or the other Re|ligion, without any difference: In &s;hort, your Petitioners enjoyed almo&s;t the &s;ame freedom and advantages, as the other Subjects of your Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P><PB N="2" REF="2">It is true, Sir, that the&s;e were the Conce&s;&s;ions of the Kings your Pre|dece&s;&s;ors, and of your pre&s;ent Maje&s;ty, and have been e&s;tabli&s;hed with &s;uch circum&s;tances, as the Edicts them&s;elves call a perpetual and an irre|vocable Law, de&s;igned purpo&s;ely to keep your Subjects both of one and the other Religion in perfect amity. And your Petitioners can confident|ly averr, that they have &s;o demeaned them&s;elves under this Law, and Priviledges, as never to have rendred them&s;elves unworthy thereof. But on the contrary have gained this advantage, that your Maje&s;ty hath made many &s;olemn and gracious Declarations, te&s;tifying the entire &s;atisfaction your Maje&s;ty hath conceived of the Zeal and Loyalty of your Petitio|ners, in times of mo&s;t hazard and difficulty. And now, SIR, we need not &s;earch the Hi&s;tories of many years, to demon&s;trate the difference of our pre&s;ent condition, from tho&s;e times; for it is now but a few years &s;ince your Petitioners have not only been made uncapable of being ad|mitted into publick Offices, but di&s;charged of tho&s;e in which they were inve&s;ted, and in which they had always &s;erved with honour and fidelity.</P>
<P>For contrary to the true intent and words of this Edict, they have taken from your Petitioners the priviledge of equally entring with others into the Commis&s;ion of Con&s;ulats, and the Municipal Offices of Towns, even in tho&s;e very Corporations, wherein your Petitioners are the great|e&s;t in the admini&s;tration of the Civil Government, and management of that Money which is levied upon them.</P>
<P>They have not now in many places any admittance to the meane&s;t Of|fice in the Publick, nor are they licen&s;ed to exerci&s;e tho&s;e Arts and Trades whereby they gain their &s;ole livelihood and &s;ub&s;i&s;tance.</P>
<P>They can reckon up at lea&s;t 300 Prote&s;tant Churches, which in the &s;pace of ten years have been demoli&s;hed, notwith&s;tanding that &s;ome of them have been expre&s;ly named in the Edict of
<HI>Nantes,</HI> and others comprehended within the limites and &s;en&s;e thereof.</P>
<P>The Commis&s;ioners which are always ready to receive Proce&s;s again&s;t your Petitioners, yet &s;top their ears to their complaints; and if they do take notice of them, it is with a corrupt and partial &s;entence, and often times the Catholick Commis&s;ioners pronounce Judgement again&s;t your Petitioners, without the intervention and as&s;ent of tho&s;e of their Religion.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e who have changed from the Prote&s;tant to the Catholick Reli|gion, not finding that quietne&s;s of con&s;cience which they expected there|in, &s;o that they have returned again to their fir&s;t per&s;wa&s;ion, have been expo&s;ed to mo&s;t rigorous penances, under the term of Relap&s;e, and the Mini&s;ters and Con&s;i&s;tories have been liable to be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>If any of the Catholick Religion become Prote&s;tants, they pre&s;ently per&s;ecute tho&s;e to whom they applied them&s;elves for clearing their doubts or declaring their belief, pretending that thereby they come within the compa&s;s of that crime, which is called Subornation.</P>
<P>The Chambers of this Edict are not only incorporated with the Par|liaments; again&s;t the expre&s;s &s;en&s;e of the Edict, but are extingui&s;hed wholly, and &s;uppre&s;sed.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<P>The Children of your Petitioners, though born in their Religion, ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> often taken from them, before they have attained to that age which the Edicts allow them, before they are obliged to declare the Religion which they re&s;olve to profe&s;s: And if hereupon they addre&s;s them&s;elves to your Commis&s;ioners, advi&s;ing them to put in execution the Edict, they either refu&s;e to take cognizance thereof, or el&s;e elude it in that man|ner, that for &s;everal years together they take not the lea&s;t notice of their complaints, nor have the ordinary Judges any regard thereunto.</P>
<P>They will not &s;uffer the Prote&s;tants to entertain more then one School-ma&s;ter in the Town where they live; and though the Children amount to 2 or 3000 in number, yet they will not allow more then one Ma&s;ter for them all.</P>
<P>Your Petitioners have been much &s;urprized by a Declaration i&s;sued out for changing the form and tenure of their Synods, by placing certain Catholick Commis&s;ioners for As&s;i&s;tants therein; which being entirely con|trary to the meaning and &s;ub&s;tance of tho&s;e Edicts, and Declaration of <HI>Lewis</HI> the 13th. &s;et out in the year 1623. and to the cu&s;tom always ob&s;erv|ed, hath no other foundation then tho&s;e pretences which reflect on the honour of your Petitioners, and that fidelity which they have ever profe&s;sed towards the &s;ervice of your Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>The Bi&s;hops under colour of their Vi&s;itations, and by vertue of an Order of Arre&s;t from your Privy Councel, have pretended to &s;u&s;pend the exerci&s;e of the Religion of your Petitioners for &s;everal weeks.</P>
<P>The Clergy which have entred the Prote&s;tant Churches, to hear the Sermons which are there preached, do object unto the Mini&s;ters matters which they never uttered, or take advantage of certain terms which can|not be avoided in Controver&s;ie, to form a criminal Proce&s;s again&s;t them before a Judge, who is pre-po&s;se&s;sed with a prejudice again&s;t them; and in the mean time the Clergy do not cea&s;e to ju&s;tifie them&s;elves again&s;t the Petitioners, by &s;uch cour&s;es as are expre&s;sly forbidden by the afore&s;aid Edicts.</P>
<P>The Chief Ju&s;tices of &s;everal places, to whom matters relating to the Edicts did never appertain, do now undertake by unknown me|thods of procedure, to interdict or &s;upend the Mini&s;ters of whole Pro|vinces.</P>
<P>In fine, &s;o far are they proceeded, as to make a Declaration, forbid|ding Prote&s;tant women to make u&s;e of other Chirurgions, or Midwives then tho&s;e which are Catholicks, that &s;o their Children may be dipped in water by them in ca&s;e of neces&s;ity: which as it is directly oppo&s;ite to the &s;en&s;e of the Edicts, &s;o it is al&s;o to the Principles of that Religion which your Petitioners profe&s;s; for their con&s;ciences will never allow them to con&s;ent hereunto, becau&s;e that as on one &s;ide, they cannot be|lieve that Bapti&s;m is of an ab&s;olute and indi&s;pen&s;able neces&s;ity, where death prevents the due care and cautions we u&s;e to obtain it; &s;o on the other &s;ide, your Petitioners have that ju&s;t reverence to &s;o great a Sacra|ment, as not to commit the &s;ame to the admini&s;tration of Lay-per&s;ons, nor believe that &s;uch dipping or &s;prinkling with water, can ever &s;upply the place of Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P><PB N="4" REF="3" MS="y"> The&s;e proceedings, SIR, and many more of them very con&s;iderable, are more ea&s;ily mentioned in general, then to be trouble&s;om to your Ma|je&s;ty in a recital of the particulars, which are either notoriou&s;ly known to the World, or to be ju&s;tified and made good by Atte&s;tations which your Petitioners have in their hands, together with Judgments, Arre&s;ts and Declarations. All the World, which ob&s;erves the low condition unto which your Petitioners are reduced, begin to con&s;ider them, as per&s;ons expo&s;ed to the malice and per&s;ecution of tho&s;e who de&s;ire their total de&s;truction.</P>
<P>Nothing more can be added to the general con&s;ternation of tho&s;e, who profe&s;s the Prote&s;tant Religion in all parts of your Kingdom; &s;o that many for fear, or for nece&s;&s;ity, have been forced to abandon their dwell|ings, and &s;eek their repo&s;e in the Dominions of Strangers: &s;uch as re|main here, are detained by the love they bear to their Native Country, or by &s;ome difficulty they find in the di&s;po&s;al of their E&s;tates; though the greate&s;t number are obliged with an affection to your Maje&s;ty and your Government. In all the&s;e aggrievances, SIR, your Petitioners have no other defence and protection, under God, then the ju&s;tice and clemen|cy of your Maje&s;ty, by which they have formerly had acce&s;s to your Sa|cred per&s;on, which hath ever lent a gentle ear to the ju&s;t complaints of your Petitioners, having nominated Commi&s;&s;ioners of your Councel par|ticularly to examine their Cau&s;e, and make report thereof to your Ma|je&s;ty: but the great Wars which your Maje&s;ty hath lately maintained, have diverted this care to greater thoughts, whereby the evils and oppre&s;|&s;ions of your Petitioners have been multiplied and increa&s;ed.</P>
<P>And now, SIR, &s;ince your Maje&s;ty enjoys the triumph of tho&s;e glori|ous &s;ucce&s;&s;es with which God hath favoured your de&s;igns, and that your People expect likewi&s;e to &s;hare &s;ome part of the fruit of their labours: your Petitioners hope, through the ju&s;tice and gracious goodne&s;s of your Maje&s;ty, that no di&s;tinction &s;hall be made between your Petitioners and your other Subjects, left whil&s;t &s;ome are in joy, and at re&s;t, the others &s;hould mourn, and groan under oppres&s;ions.</P>
<P>For which Rea&s;ons, SIR, and becau&s;e your Petitioners have ever en|tertained the &s;ame Zeal and Fidelity to your Service; may it plea&s;e your Maje&s;ty to make known unto the Lords of your Councel, Pre&s;idents, and Attorney-Generals of Parliaments, to Super-intendents, and Com|mis&s;ioners executing the Law, that your Royal Will and Plea&s;ure is, that the Edicts be ob&s;erved and executed; and particularly to encharge &s;uch Commis&s;ioners as are already named by your Maje&s;ty, or &s;hall be here|after named, that they examine the Memorials and Papers of Ju&s;tificati|on, which your Petitioners &s;hall produce, and to inform your Maje&s;ty thereof; and e&s;pecially to the Secretaries of State, that a due report may be made thereof, and of tho&s;e aggrievances and burdens which are mo&s;t oppres&s;ing, that &s;o your Maje&s;ty being truly made &s;en&s;ible thereof, may act therein according to your gracious plea&s;ure. And your Petitioners &s;hall continue their vows, and prayers for the glory of your Maje&s;ty, and for the pro&s;perity of your Sacred Per&s;on and Kingdom.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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