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pretended Reformed Religion, who in one fortnight after the publishing this present Edict, do not effectually embrace the Catholic Religion, shall retreat out of our territories after the said term be past, under pain of death, and confiscation of their goods; with express command, and under the same punishment, not to make, within the said time, or before their departure, any sermon, exhortation, or any other act of the said religion. And furthermore, we forbid, under the said punishment, and the forfeiture of our favour, all those that make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion, to keep for the future any public or private school; it being our intention, that from this very time their children shall be instructed by Catholic schoolmasters. And concerning the ministers who within the said time shall embrace the Catholic Religion, our will and pleasure is, that during their lives, and after they are dead, their widows, as long as they shall live unmarried, shall enjoy the said exemptions and immunities which they enjoyed heretofore, during the exercise of their charge. And our will is over and above, that to the said ecclesiastics who shall be made converts in the said manner, there shall be paid during their life a pension one third part larger than the salary was which they enjoyed in quality of being ministers of the said religion; and that after their death their widows enjoy one half of the said pension as long as they shall continue unmarried. And concerning the children that shall be born by father and mother of the said pretended Reformed Religion, our intention is, that after the publishing this present Edict, they shall be baptized by the priests of the parish that are already, or that shall be established for the future in the said vallies to this purpose, we command their fathers and mothers to send or bring them to the churches, under pain of being sent five years to the galleys for their fathers, and whipping for their mothers; and moreover, the said children shall be brought up in the said Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion. And we command expressly all judges, bailiffs, gaolers, and other officers, to see these presents duly executed. And we do confirm also the Edict we have published the 4th of November past, concerning the subjects of His Most Christian Majesty that make

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profession of the pretended Reformed Religion, and that are to be found in our territories, and that have left their merchandises, money, or other effects behind them; and concerning the other foreigners of the said religion, who, to the prejudice of some of our predecessors' Edicts, have established themselves in the vallies, without their consent in writing, comprehending therein their offspring that are born there: we command, that in case, within one fortnight after the publishing this present Edict, they do not declare to be willing to embrace the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion, they shall be obliged, if the said term be past, to retreat out of our territories, under pain of death, and confiscation of their goods. And though lawfully, by virtue of the said Edicts, the goods which the said foreigners have acquired in our territories ought to be confiscated for our royal treasury; nevertheless we are willing in this case to shew our accustomed clemency, and to give them leave to sell their said goods (if they please) within the said term, and to dispose of the same as they think convenient; yet upon these conditions, that the selling the immoveable goods shall only be made in favour of the Catholics; but in case they shall find no buyer, they shall be looked upon as sold, and united to our dominions under a reasonable price. Finally, we command all the magistrates established by us, ministers of state, officers, judges, and all others whom it concerns, to see this present Edict inviolably observed; and so to order the same, that the council of Piedmont may enroll it, and give their full approbation of what is contained therein. Moreover, our will is, that the publishing made hereof in the accustomed places, and in the ordinary manner, shall have the same virtue as if it had been made known to every particular person; and that there be the same observance paid to the copy hereof, printed by Sinibal our printer, as to this my original itself; FOR Given at Turin, Jan. 31, 1686.

THIS IS OUR WILL.

By his Royal Highness's

Command.

VICTOR AMADEUS.

DEST. THOMAS.

No. 2.

MEMORIAL against the foregoing Edict, presented to the Court of Savoy, by CASPAR DE MURATT, and BERNARD DE MURATT, Counsellors of State, the first of Zurich, and the other of Berne, in Switzerland.

WHEREAS the Right Honourable the Ministers of State of his Royal Highness, have given us to understand, upon a private information of our reasons, that his present engagement, and into which he did not enter but by the necessity of the present juncture of the times, was a great obstacle to the success of our negociation; we find ourselves obliged to represent to your Royal Highness, that the churches of the vallies in Piedmont, did not separate themselves from the religion of their prince; because they live in that they received from their predecessors about eight centuries ago, and which they did profess before they were under the dominion of your Royal Highness's ancestors, who having found them in the possession of their religion, have maintained them therein by several Declarations, and principally by those of the year 1561, 1602, and 1603, which having been enrolled by the parliament of Chambery, in the year 1620, for the sum of six thousand French ducats, which these churches paid them, as the very act of enrolling mentions; their right passed into a form of transaction, and into a perpetual and irrevocable law, which has been observed during the life of his Royal Highness Victor Amadeus, and during the regency of Madam Royal, who confirmed them by her Declaration in the year 1638. These churches have, in following times, obtained several other favourable Declarations of his Royal Highness, Charles Emanuel, of glorious memory, your Royal Highness's father, in particular, in the year 1649 and 1653. But, whereas, to the prejudice of a right so well established by a possession immemorial, and by so many Declarations, the Sieur Gastaldo did nevertheless, in the month of February, 1655, publish a Declaration, that produced some terrible and fatal consequences to

these poor churches; all the Protestant Kings, Princes, and States of Europe, and particularly our Sovereign Lords, did concern themselves in their misfortune, and having interceded in their favour with his Royal Highness, Charles Emanuel, they obtained a confirmation of their privileges and of their concessions, by two solemn, perpetual, and inviolable patents, of the year 1655 and 1664, enrolled in a good form, and confirmed by the letters he did write to our Sovereign Lords, the 28th of February, 1664, by which he promised them to see these patents faithfully executed; to which the Royal Madam, your Royal Highness's mother, did engage herself also, by her letters dated January the 28th, 1679. Therefore, because your Royal Highness's ancestors had several times solemnly engaged their royal word, principally in those patents that were granted in the presence of the ambassadors our Sovereigns had sent for that purpose, it would not be just to break so many formal and authentic eugagements, not only because these privileges and patents, being granted in the sight of all Europe, and by the mediation and intercession of several kings, princes, and states, they are pledges and perpetual monuments of the public faith; but also, because the words and promises of Sovereigns ought to be sacred and inviolable. If engagements of this nature might be annulled under pretence of a necessity, to which the juncture of affairs might reduce a prince, or of some convenience and advantage to the estate, then there would be nothing secure in the world, and nothing would be seen there, but war and confusion. This maxim being once established amongst Sovereigns, the Protestant princes might as lawfully destroy the Catholics that are under their dominions, as the Catholics would have a right to extirpate their Protestant subjects. Therefore it is evident, that whether we examine the thing, as relating to the glory and reputation of the prince; or if we consider it according to the principles of true and just policy, that has no other end than the security of sovereign nations and states, we shall find that the words of princes ought always to be inviolable. It is for this reason that we are persuaded, that no necessity of the present juncture,, nor any interest will oblige so just, so gracious, and so wise a prince, as your Royal Highness,

to follow a new engagement, that does not only destroy all your predecessors have done in the eyes of the whole universe, but that exposes also your own state and subjects to the flames, butchery, calamities, devastation, and to the most cruel and inhuman rage and tyranny.

It is agreed, that it is natural for a pious prince to wish there was but one religion in his country; and that being persuaded that his own is the true one, it did belong to his duty and charity to do all he can to persuade his subjects to it. But it ought to be allowed also, that religion enters into our hearts by means of persuasion, and not by force; and that to convince one of the Divine Truth, there ought to be employed nothing but instruction, sweetness, and exhortation, according to the practice of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles.

That kings and princes, though they are masters of their subjects, yet they have no empire over their consciences, which are subject alone to God; insomuch that we have reason to hope, that your Royal Highness, far from forcing your subjects to do things against their consciences, you will be pleased, on the contrary, to restore them their peace, which we implore for them, to confirm their privileges, and to let them enjoy the liberty to give God that which is due to him, whilst at the same time they pay your Royal Highness that respect and homage which they bwe you, as your faithful subjects.

My Lords, the ministers of state, have told us also, that the inhabitants of the vallies had rendered themselves unworthy of their prince's favour. But besides that all the world agrees, that before the publishing of the first Edict, they had given your Royal Highness no reason of complaint; and that, consequently, it is not their ill-conduct has drawn upon them so rigorous an order; and that if there were some amongst them that had committed a fault, (which we are yet ignorant of) we ought not to be surprised, if some miserable wretches, that are brought to despair, should do some imprudent actions. Besides all this, we say, your Royal Highness is too gracious and too good not to pardon faults of this nature; and too just and equitable to punish

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