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selves and in the spot where the persecution raged he might ascertain the true state of affairs . With great labour and at . no small risk , he vig&ed Nismes and the neighbourhood i ynd his report , on his return , shewed
that but a small part of the outrages committed upon the Protestants was known to the European public . To obtain further particulars at a later period , and also to superintend the distribution of the fund raised for the
persecuted , Mr . Wilks likewise made a journey to the South of France , under sanction of the ^ committee of Dissenting Ministers . His information corroborated Mr . Perrot ' s report , and the interval between tlieir visits had
allowed the suffering Protestants to make a more ample and correct estimate of their losses and bereavements . It was at first intended to present to the public , Mr . Perrot ' s report with
Mr . Wilks ' s corrections and additions , arxj the work was carried some way through the press - y but the difficulty of blending two reports into an uniform narration , led the Committee to
abandon the design , and to commit the manuscripts and papers to Mr . Wilks ' hands , with a re quest that he would , in his own nam e and on his own responsibility , lay before the public a connected history of the persecution .
This was the origin of the work , the title of which stands at the head of this article ; and it is but just to the author to say , that he has executed his laborious task with much ability , and we doubt not also with entire
faithfulness . His preciseness as to names , dates and places , numbers of persons and sums of money , vouches for his accuracy , since it furnishes opponents with the ready means of detecting mistakes and exposing misrepresentations . He might have made
the work more interesting , if he had not adhered to that dryness of detail which is the best pledge of its authenticity . He purposely keeps down his own political opinions , though it is impossible that he should have hidden from the reader his views with
regard to the secret influence which in spite of royal proclamations and official assurances continued for so long a time . to fan the fire of persecution ; all Europe in the mean while crying shame . upon the country in which
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such wickedness was suffered to rage almost unobstructed . The narrative of the principal facts is precise though animated , and there are passages glo wing with the strong feeling on behalf of injured freedom and humanity that is so natural to an Englishman , and especially an English Protestant Dis
senter . Mr . Wilks ' s avowed design is to relate and establish the fact of the persecution , and to prove that it was religious and not , as has been
pretended , a political persecution . In both these points he has succeeded : but we must refer the reader to the work itself for satisfaction , not being able to lay before him more than a few striking particulars and some
interesting extracts . The " History" commences with a view of the condition of the Protestants of France from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the Revolution . This is a dark and melancholy picture . The reader inquires whether he be
really perusing the story of Europe in the 18 th century , when he surveys the account ( pp . 4—6 *) of " twenty-four innocent females , who , seized in their youth , had passed , some of them , twenty years between the walls of the Tour de Constance" ! Persecution
produced its usual effect upon the objects of it ; and we fear that the period in question must be reckoned the brightest in the annals of our French Protestant brethren . In vain shall we now look amongst them for that firmness of pr inciple and that
unconquerable spirit which they displayed when they were one day occupied in concealing themselves from the king ' s dragoons , and the nejit employed in finding out their brethren in some desert or cave , for the sake of enjoying the consolations of Christian worship .
It was not till the Revolution beg * an to dawn , that the Protestants had a legal existence in France . The way had been prepared for their emancipation by the efforts of Turgot , Male-¦ but
sherbes , Rulhiferes , and Bretueil $ to the Marquis de la Fayette , yet living in a venerable age to enjoy the honours due to half a century of generous labours in the cause of liberty * We do . not . distinguish the volumes , as the paging runs through both .
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670 Review . —JVilhs * s Persecution * of the Protestants of France .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1821, page 670, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2506/page/38/
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