re taken prisoners.

[Footnote 68: The King granted 480 livres of reward to the
spy who detected Benezet and procured his apprehension by the
soldiers.]

The Huguenot pastors repeatedly addressed Louis XV. and his ministers,
appealing to them for protection as loyal subjects. In 1750 they
addressed the King in a new memorial, respectfully representing that
their meetings for public worship, sacraments, baptisms, and
marriages, were matters of conscience. They added: "Your troops pursue
us in the deserts as if we were wild beasts; our property is
confiscated; our children are torn from us; we are condemned to the
galleys; and although our ministers continually exhort us to discharge
our duty as good citizens and faithful subjects, a price is set upon
their heads, and when they are taken, they are cruelly executed." But
Louis XV. and his ministers gave no greater heed to this petition than
they had done to those which had preceded it.

After occasional relays the Catholic persecutions again broke out. In
1752 there was a considerable emigration in consequence of a new
intendant having been appointed to Languedoc. The Catholics called
upon him to put in force the powers of the law. New brooms sweep
clean. The Intendant proceeded to carry out the law with such ferocity
as to excite great terror throughout the province. Meetings were
surrounded; prisoners taken and sent to the galleys; and all the gaols
and convents were filled with women and children.

The emigration began again. Many hundred persons went to Holland; and
a still larger number went to settle with their compatriots as silk
and poplin weavers in Dublin. The Intendant of Languedoc tried to stop
their flight. The roads were again watched as before. All the outlets
from the kingdom were closed by the royalist troops. Many of the
intending emigrants were made prisoners. They were spoiled of
everything, robbed of their money, and thrown into gaol. Nevertheless,
another large troop started, passed through Switzerland, and reached
Ireland at the end of the year.

At the same time, emigration was going on from Normandy and Poitou,
where persecution was compelling the people to fly from their own
shores and take refuge in England. This religious emigration of 1752
was, however, almost the last which took place from France. Though the
persecutions were drawing to an end, they had not yet come to a close.

In 1754, the young pastor Tessi