scene of the greatest military
catastrophe which has occurred in modern history.

The Prime Minister of France, M. Jules Simon, not long ago recorded
the fateful effects of Louis XIV.'s religious intolerance. In
discussing the perpetual ecclesiastical questions which still disturb
France, he recalled the fact that not less than eighty of the German
staff in the late war were representatives of Protestant families,
driven from France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

The first of the appended memoirs is that of Samuel de Pechels, a
noble of Languedoc, who, after enduring great privations, reached
England through Jamaica, and served as a lieutenant in Ireland under
William III. Many of his descendants have been distinguished soldiers
in the service of England. The second is Captain Rapin, who served
faithfully in Ireland, and was called away to be tutor to the young
Duke of Portland. He afterwards spent his time at Wesel on the Rhine,
where he wrote his "History of England." The third is Captain Riou,
"the gallant and the good," who was killed at the battle of
Copenhagen. These memoirs might be multiplied to any extent; but those
given are enough to show the good work which the Huguenots and their
descendants have done in the service of England.

INTRODUCTION.

Six years since, I published a book entitled _The Huguenots: their
Settlements, Churches, and Industries, in England and Ireland_. Its
object was to give an account of the causes which led to the large
migrations of foreign Protestants from Flanders and France into
England, and to describe their effects upon English industry as well
as English history.

It was necessary to give a brief _resume_ of the history of the
Reformation in France down to the dispersion of the Huguenots, and the
suppression of the Protestant religion by Louis XIV. under the terms
of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Under that Act, the profession of Protestantism was proclaimed to be
illegal, and subject to the severest penalties. Hence, many of the
French Protestants who refused to be "converted," and had the means of
emigrating, were under the necessity of leaving France and
endeavouring to find personal freedom and religious liberty elsewhere.

The refugees found protection in various countries. The principal
portion of the emigrants from Languedoc and the south-eastern
provinces of France crossed the frontier into Switzerland, and settled
there, or afterwa