The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER XIII. (Book 13)

Of the Rejoycings in Pearn upon the Imaginary Success they had in Con∣versions.

My Lord,

IN my last to your Lordship, I remem∣ber I was somewhat tedious in my Narration of the Sufferings of the Poor Protestants in the Principality of Bearn. It were endless for me to recite the far∣ther Particulars that have come to my knowledg since; and therefore I shall wave it, and acquaint your Lordship, for want of a better Subject, how much the Clergy have Triumphed in the Suc∣cess they have imagined, those Violences they have been guilty of towards those

People, had to bring them over to their Communion. They have not fail'd to Testify as much Joy at it, as if there had been some Battle got, or some City tak∣en from the Enemy: But what was very Cruel and Terrible, was, That the poor Reformed were forc'd to take part in these Rejoycings, of which their own Ruin was the Subject. It would be too tedious to recount to your Lordship, the many Cruelties exercised in this Country, and particularly at Pau, as a Preludium to this Force; But after the Reduction of the foresaid place, they made a general Procession, whereunto they dragged the New Converts, and withal Celebrated High Mass, whereat the Parliament as∣sisted in a Body: And then when that was over, Te Deum was sung, the Guns Fired, and the Citizens who were com∣manded to stand to their Arms, made several Discharges and Vollies of Shot; Then followed Illuminations and Bonfires, and Fireworks were prepared at the Charge of the Publick for the same occa∣sion: But how much soever this was a mock-shew, yet great care has been ta∣ken to transmit such Relations to the Court, of all the particulars relating to their Proceedings and Success, as are drest with all the Art Imaginable, with a de∣sign to perswade them, who are but two

ready to believe it, that all the People every where, have Re-united themselves to the Church, with all the freedom and good will Imaginable; and because they were resolv'd to make sure work of it, they have accompanied the same Relati∣ons with Certificates, which they caused to be signed by the same means, as they have procured their Conversions, as they are pleased to call them; and wherein those who had suffered a thousand out∣rages and Violences, that cannot be nam∣ed without detestation and horror, were constrain'd to declare that the King's Soldiers, who of themselves are well known to be as profligate wretches as any in the World, had lived and demeaned themselves among them with all Mode∣sty, and had kept strictly within the bounds of their Orders, which yet, my Lord, is a base Equivocation, for who knows what their Orders were; but what is more pleasant yet then the rest is, that besides the forementioned Narrations and Certificates; they have Transmitted hither also a Speech made to the Intendant by Monsieur De V—a Member of the Parliament of Pau, who was one of the chief Instruments to induce the Church of that City to come to a compliance, and who taking upon him to speak in the Name of the

Rest, came to give him assurances of their entire Submission: But I hear, My Lord, he is like to have but little thanks for his pains, for the Council here are no ways pleased that he should attribute the Con∣version of that same Church, to the King's Puissance, and thereby make too clear a Discovery of what they have no mind should be known by any means, viz. That any of the Soldiery have been imployed in this Expedition, these were his words, which I take to be genuine, That there was need of the same Force that had Subjugated both Seas, and also made the Spaniards humble, to cause the Reformed to Re-unite to the Church. Which Words being not to be Explicated any other way, than by Force of Arms; and concerning which, the Spaniards willingly acknowledge, That the Power was much more Formidable than the Justice of them; the Council have Stomacked it, and the more it seems, because the same Lawyer has fool∣ishly and impertinently Attributed the best part of that Conquest to the Intendant; Which Procedure did not concur, and fall in right with the Court Maxims, who are wont to attribute to the King alone, all the Glory that Redounds from all Events. I shall not Transgress, my Lord, by any further Enlargment upon this Subject, hoping your kind Interpretation

of what I have here troubled your Hon∣our withal, and that you would be pleas∣ed to retain a Favourable Opinion of my Sincerity in all the Parts of my Cor∣respondence, and give me leave, still to Subscribe my self, as I really am, and ever will be,

My Lord,

Your Lordship's To Command.

Paris, Sept. 30. 1685. N. S.