Louis's relif/ions and ecclesiastical polic?/ is exhibited in connection with his treatment of the national ('hurch, and its central head, the papacy; his action with refer- ence to a division of sentiment among different portions of this national Church ; and, last of all, in his treat- ment of his Protestant subjects. As to the national Church, it may be said that he found the machinery of ecclesiastical despotism made to his hands, in the con- cordat of Leo X and Francis I. already mentioned. His peculiarity consisted in the skill with which such ma- chinery was worked, the thoroughness and extent of its operation. The " liberties of the Gallican Church," which usually meant the libertv' of the monarch to con-
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trol all temporalities, and to fleece all classes of the ben- eticed clergy without dividing the wool with the pope, was energetically asserted during the reign of Louis. His effort was to free the national Church from the con- trol of the papacy ; through his appointments, to make it subservient to his general jiolicy. His treatment of the pope, especially in connection with the question of the privilege of the French ambassador at Rome, was harsh and overbearing; and although compelled, in 1691, to yield in certain assertions of prerogative, it but slight- ly affected the exercise of his ecclesiastical supremacy. His bishops were, many of them, learned, able, and elo- quent. There was a higher standard, both of literary taste and of ecclesiastical propriety, than in reigns pre- ceding. Their Avritings constitute this period, in some respects, one of the most brilliant in the history of the Church of France. But these writings contain no vig- orous protest against the vices and cruelties of their royal master, and many of them are implicated in the support of his most flagrant cruelties and acts of oppres- sion. It was perfectly understood that no other course would be tolerated. His own account to Massillon of the effect produced upon him by his court preachers will enable us to mulerstand the character of their preaching. " I have heard a great many speakers in my chapel, and I have been very well pleased with tltem ; when I hear you, I am displeased with mt/self." But the unfavorable testimony of this one faithful wit- ness, and of at least one other not less faithful, Fene- lon, could not counteract the flattery of so many others. The ditficulty with the Jansenists constitutes, perhaps, one of the most striking illustrations of this despotic polic}' in ecclesiastical and religious matters. In this contest between Jesuitism and a purer form of Roman- ism, the pope, and, through the pope and the Jesuits, Louis, became a party. See Jansenius.
It is, however, in the course pursued towards his Protestant subjects that the policy of Louis may be rec- ognised ; that the ecclesiastical and religious liistory of his reign has an interest altogether unique and peculiar, namely, the position of the Huguenots and Dissenters, holding, under the law, certain legal privileges — among others, the exercise of freedom, not only of religious opinion, but of Avorship. The old-fashioned orthodox practice of extermination by fire and sword had been already tried, more than once, without success. At the close of every such unsuccessful effort, terms had been made insuring them conditions of existence. Prior to the Edict of Nantes, such terms constituted rather, a truce than a peace; and when the contesting parties had rested a little, the truce ended and the conflict was renewed. This, however, was not the case with the Edict of Nantes, which really constituted a peace, and was more favorable to the Huguenots than any preced- ing arrangement; and, although containing in it some objectionable features, became to the Protestants the charter of their existence. They and the Catholics, under different ecclesiastical laws, were alike imder the law of I he land — enjoyed its sanctions, lived under its protection. Louis, whose great doctrine was uniform- ity and submission in all things, therefore proposed for himself the task, not of violating this great compact with his Protestant subjects, but of doing away with the necessity of its existence by bringing them all within the national Church. Urged forward in this attempt by his mistress, Madame de Maintenon, wholly under the control of the Jesuits, and by the latter themselves, on the plea that by such a course he -would merit the forgiveness of heaven for the many sins of his youth, especially his illicit connection with Madame de Mon- tespan, two great agencies were immediately set in operation to the attainment of this result — those of bribery and intimidation. Conversions were sought by purchase, or by appeals to the interests or ambition of the parties concerned. Special provision was made for the purchase of such conversions by a fund collected of one third of the profits of all ecclesiastical benefices, and
placed in the hands of a Huguenot renegade, to be used for this purpose. The matter went so far that there was a regular scale of prices for converts of different grades, and large successes were published as the result of this mode of operation. To cut off the temptation of relapse, so as to insure the price of a second conver- sion, an edict was issued condemning all relapsed per- sons to banishment for life and confiscation of their property. With these efforts, moreover, which only reached the weak and worthless, was combined the other element of harassment and intimidation. Com- missions of Komish clergy were instituted, sometimes upon their own motion, sometimes upon popular com- plaint, and with the well-understood approval of court oflicials, to investigate the legal titles of churches of the Huguenots, which for the purpose had been called in question. One infelicity in the position of the Prot- estants, even under the Edict of Nantes, was that which was connected with what may be called the Church ter- ritorial system. They were territorially in the dioceses of Romish bishops, in the parish limits of Romish priests, in some indefinite manner regarded as in their pastoral charge, and these annoying questions of Church jirop- erty could thus be easily started. The result, in many cases where these titles were called in question, was a long, vexatious litigation, ending in the decision that it was imperfect, and that the church building should be shut up and demolished. The decisions of the sover- eign were well known, and loyalty, ambition, and inter- est alike found their expression and exercise through these agencies in the rank of proselytism.