The History of Freedom, and Other Essays. Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron

Pagans, and Lutherans more dangerous than other Protestants.136 The Capuchin preacher, Pistoja, bore witness that men were hanged and quartered almost daily at Rome;137 and Pius declared that he would release a culprit guilty of a hundred murders rather than one obstinate heretic.138 He seriously contemplated razing the town of Faenza because it was infested with religious error, and he recommended a similar expedient to the King of France.139 He adjured him to hold no intercourse with the Huguenots, to make no terms with them, and not to observe the terms he had made. He required that they should be pursued to the death, that not one should be spared under any pretence, that all prisoners should suffer death.140 He threatened Charles with the punishment of Saul when he forebore to exterminate the Amalekites.141 He told him that it was his mission to avenge the injuries of the Lord, and that nothing is more cruel than mercy to the impious.142 When he sanctioned the murder of Elizabeth he proposed that it should be done in execution of his sentence against her.143 It became usual with those who meditated assassination or regicide on the plea of religion to look upon the representatives of Rome as their natural advisers. On the 21st of January 1591, a young Capuchin came, by permission of his superiors, to Sega, Bishop of Piacenza, then Nuncio at Paris. He said that he was inflamed with the desire of a martyr's death; and having been assured by divines that it would be meritorious to kill that heretic and tyrant, Henry of Navarre, he asked to be dispensed from the rule of his Order while he prepared his measures and watched his opportunity. The Nuncio would not do this without authority from Rome; but the prudence, courage, and humility which he discerned in the friar made him believe that the design was really inspired from above. To make this certain, and to remove all scruples, he submitted the matter to the Pope, and asked his blessing upon it, promising that whatever he decided should be executed with all discretion.144