MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 77, 17 October 1874, Page 14

MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY.

™w & «P!« P ! f P i? W J m ° re com ?»«». »«<3 y«t nothing can be more If. A^ «dv»ntag« ofthe Massacre of St. Bartholomew', day, to inveigh against the Catliolio community and the Catholic principles as if theawful deed had proceeded from their influence ir rdau oee0 ccd Ü bvJh oaUthentiC0 aUthentiC *l d r tempJrai * document - collected and rfrt. lJ 7i7 i f peP f Onß who have made a dee P and io>P»rtial study «Jw t6t 6 - tran J sao Q tl °n (*• «•• Oaveirao, Disttrt, nr la St. Bal lllTl~^ fl' d i ft Not ,? .. T-»-»«"i«l,T -»-»«"i«l, BUt de France, ad Inn. cLkiS oo.iL 'J: 6 " 810 " h t d noth »gtodowithit;exeeptto vtt;ma«fT " mUOb M P° B »iWe, and to weep oyer the demoted victims of the Massacre ; that the whole affair was merely the effect Vt a poht.cal resentment and of a sudden ebullition of anger • in fine thll 1 *- ° f PeWOn9 Pe " Bhed onth/^Sou^i. i™ S* Berie9 and close connexfon of the events immediately precedanfmSvnfT^ aPe » ufficient *<> '*<>« that it originated Vtha S?h \ ?£ fth . e I F «ncH court against the Protestant party, and wasCbarLlX* W^^T^ TV' Themind oftheyJungkingt freauents?t^ \V fr*" l^ haraMed and exasperated by the rS ffu ° f the Hu SuenotßS uenotB "gaiast h« authority, and by the %£&& *"& « u ° lfciea . w Wch they had committed throughout S nS£ 8 T TogT 0g th f} Mt ciTil wara ' Notwithstanding these lause*. i -SSkZ T'i 6 W ° U d DOt have ad °P ted the dreadful measure, had lo« tw? i? POS I UTO assertion of h « mother and chief counsel. S;inoLr°*? dn . 0 long i r eBCa P e the P lot ° of that party, without [""'f'" dea * or ™ confinement its chief leaders, and that, were he to wait till next morning, his most faithful officers, his family, perhaps hmself, would be sacrificed to their vengeance. The king then ga?e ftiS^* * I P'°J ec t ed . m^acre; the time was appointed, and ft.^!ss?Uttjfia a 5 ?r iderabie papt ° f the m °™* Thus the odious deed was not the result of a long premeditated and general plot, but the effect of a sudden fit of anger and revenge ; it was, moreover, projected against the leaders only of the Huguenot party, and intended to have taken place only in Paris. If the exampleot the capital was followed in many other cities, v. g., Lyons, Rouen, Toulouse, Bordeaux, &c, this was owing chiefly to the violent excite' ment winch the conduct and cruelties of the Calvinists, during thepreceding insurrections, had produced in- the minds of the Catholics. ty lrom sending oilers to the provinces against Proteßtauts, Charles A A., on the c. rary, both in writing and by word of mouth, frequently expressed his intention that the bloody scene should not be repeated, nor extent!,, , Beyond the limits of Paris. And indeed, the great ennerencp cf the epochs at which the massacres were committed in thecities jiwt mentioned, akv shows that they ought to be attributed rather to sudden ebullitions of popular vengeance, than to any previously concerted and general plan. Every one may see the defatted proofs of these assertions in the first two authors above mentioned. Of the number of victims in all those towns, including the capital* it is impossible to speak with certainty. Among the Huguenot writers, some reckon seventy thousand; others thirty, or twenty, or fifteen thousand: but all these amounts to be exaggerated. "The reformed martyrologist adopted a measure of ascertaing the real number, which |may enable us to form a probable conjecture. He procured from the ministers in the different districts where the massacres had taken place, lists of the names of the persons who had suffered, or were supposed to have suffered. He published the result in 1582; and the reader will be surprised to learn that in all France he could discover the names of no more than seven hundred and eighty-six persons. Perhaps, if we double that number, we shall not be far from the real amount."— (Lingard in loco cit.) Above all, it is certain that religion had nothing to do with the massacre, whether as a motive or an encouragement. In the contriving of the wretched scheme, the passions of the Frenoh court, jealousy, animosity, revenge, were the real and only cause j and the pretence was a supposed conspiracy of the Protestant leaders against the king, his servants and his family. No clergymen were consulted about the adoption of the awful measure; and, when they heard of it after hisexecution, far from obtaining their approbation, it rather excited in their bosoms feelings of horror for the d«»ed, and ot commiseration for its victims. The only share which bishops, priests, and monks took in it, was to save as many as they could of the Protestants, who, in many towns, v. g., Lisieux, Toulouse, Lyons, Bordeaux, had taken refuge in their hospitable dwellings. It is objected that Pope Gregory XIII. publicly returned thanksto trod on that occasion ;— but what was the real object of this rejoicing ? Charles IX , in order to palliate the shame of his murderous edict against the Parisian Huguenots, wrote to every court in Europe* that, having just detected their horrid plots against his authority and person, he nad been fortunate enough to escape from the imminent danger, by putting the conspirators to death without delay. The I'ope then, under that impression, rejoiced, not for the death of the supposed traitors, whose rigorous punishment he on the contrary deplored, but for the preservation of the French monarch and of his kingdom from utter ruin : exactly, as in case of war, and of a signal victory agamat invaders, public rejoicings would take place, and every sensible person would willingly share in them, not, indeed, at theblood shed in battle, but at the advantages gained over an unjust enemy ; and who could dare to find a fault in such conduct ?— Fredet'sModern History.

The population of the Hungarian kingdom consists of 15,860,123 of whom 5,009,678 are engaged in the cultivation of the soil or in the forest ; and 780,546 in industrial and commercial pursuits. In two years 261 out of the 400 of the 60th Regiment quartered at Limerick have got married. " Let some poet tell us at once what Limerick ladies are like. Not another town in Great Britain has donethe same.