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fHe penal code , quoted as authority , aid -riot apply to the case , and that nothing metre was needed than that the owner of the houses , in which it was proposed to assemble for divine worship , should ask permission of the municipal
authority . Though the consistory did nbt think this formality to be demanded by the charter , the intimation was complied with in all the communes where their pastors were to officiate .
In granting his license , conformably to this suggestion , the mayor of St . Consorce inserted , among other restrictions , the following conditions , viz . that the meeting should be composed exclusively of the Protestants -of that commune ; and that no stranger should be allowed to be present without
intimation being previously given to the mayor . Against these restrictions the consistory transmitted a remonstrance to the prefect , complaining of them as extrajudicial , and at variance with the liberty of worship granted by the charter . After a long delay the prefect sent them ah answer which expited their astonishment . He informed them that
remonstrances had been forwarded to him against acceding to their request ; that it was then dangerous to interineddle in religious matters ; and concluding by requesting thein to ' postpone the visits of their pastors to the communes . When they vvere about to reply to thifc letter ah event occurred which engaged the whole of tiieir attention .
After leave had been granted by the mayor of St . Coiisorce , religious worship had been regularly conducted in that commune . M . Claparede was en * gaged to officiate there on Sunday , the 3 rd of September , but was obliged to postpone his visit to the 10 th . On the 3 rd , however , a body of menj about thirty in number , wholly unknown to
the inhabitants , arrived in the Comjnutie , made several inquiries about the Protestant worship , and seemed much disappointed that the service had been put off . On the 10 th the same men again appeared in the commune , and assembled near the place 6 f worship , into whid * four or five of them entered . In the midst of the service one of these
persons interrupted the minister b y the following speech : " HaVint bfeeri educated in tiie Catholic religion I have le ^ Viii ty iat Out of iliat teKfeibh no man cM : be 8 &ve' 4 ; why then 6 \ fou come to ^ itWtM thfe peotfe frbni the Catholic faith , and ' # ' coilduct tHfeih' to damnation ? " As ne ' coiild Viort tie Silked a petfee officer removed him from the
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house and plated him in proper custody . The mildness and the firmness manifested by the Protestants on this occasion , induced his associates to withdraw , arid the service was peaceably concluded . Oh the return of M . Claparfede to Lyons , he apprized the king ' s procurator of these facts , and lodged a complaint against the unknown disturber of the meeting , and gave in the names of
two of his companions . The Protestants now expected a more effective protection , instead of which , on the 16 th of September , the prefect transmitted to the consistory an order of the mayor of the eommune , which he had countersigned , suspending the permission which had been given them , to meet for worr ship , on the pretended plea of the disturbance which had taken place on the 10 th , until the decision of the minister of the interior could be obtained .
Against this order the consistory remonstrated , first , because the facts were greatly exaggerated , and the interruption of an individual Construed into a serious disturbance and contest $ and , secondly , because it was a manifest incrbachment on the freedom of worship secured by the charterfbr it it in the of
: put power any petty officer , upon a false pretence , to prevent their public religious services . The consistory now wrote to the minister of the interior acquainting him with these circumstances , inclosing copies of the complaint lodged with the king's procurator , and of the
remonstrance sent to the prefect . On the 5 th of October they received all answer , intimating , that as the affair had been put into the hands of the king ' s procurator , the administration could take no farther cognizance of it . The consistory after thjs addressed another letter to the same minister iti explanation of their former communication ; and here the matter rested When this pamphlet was printed . We have since learned that the
minister of the interior has thought it proper to reconsider his answer , and to grant the consistory the protection for which they sought , and to which they were legally entitled . He has , for the present , interposed his authority to restrain the bigotry of the mayor of the ooirtninhe of St . Cotifebrce and his
Catholic ftbetWr * . We ho ^ e the publicity that lias been given to the case In France y irUl prevent the repetition of such intolerant ajntt arbitrary proceedings . If Such vexatious measures are in the lfeast couiftehtfhced by the king's goverriiilent , theire is an end of the boasted
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ft ) 2 CMtoti Notice * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1827, page 602, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1799/page/50/
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