Their religious principles did not permit them to be married
by a Roman Catholic priest, in the manner prescribed by the law of the
state, and that law did not recognize the legal validity of a marriage,
celebrated in any other form. The consequence was, that in the eye of
the law, the marriage of Protestants was a mere concubinage, and the
offspring of it illegitimate. To his immortal honour, _Lewis the XVIth_,
by his edict of the 17th of November, 1787, accorded to all his
Non-catholic subjects the full and complete enjoyment of all the rights
of his Roman-catholic subjects. On a division in the Parliament, this
edict was registered by a majority of 96 votes against 16.
The persecution of the Hugonots in consequence of the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, was condemned by the greatest men in France. M.
d'Aguesseau, the father of the celebrated chancellor, resigned his
office of Intendant of Languedoc rather than remain a witness of it: his
son repeatedly mentions it with abhorrence.
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