It had
previously been promised[a] that they should be peaceably received; but
the inhabitants had already retired to the mountains with their cattle and
provisions; and the soldiers found no other accommodation than the bare
walls. Quarrels soon followed between the parties; one act of offence was
retaliated with another; and the desire of vengeance provoked a war of
extermination. But the military were in general successful; and the
natives found themselves compelled to flee to the summits of the loftiest
mountains, or to seek refuge in the valleys of Dauphine, among a people of
similar habits and religion.[1]
[Footnote 1: Siri, xv. 827-833. It would be a difficult task to determine
by whom, after the reduction of La Torre, the first blood was wantonly
drawn, or to which party the blame of superior cruelty really belongs. The
authorities on each side are interested, and therefore suspicious; the
provocations alleged by the one are as warmly denied by the other; and
to the ravages of the military in Angrogna and Lucerna, are opposed the
massacres of the Catholics in Perousa and San Martino. In favour of the
Vaudois may be consulted Leger, Histoire Generale des Eglises Evangeliques,
&c. (he was a principal instigator of these troubles); Stouppe, Collection
of the several papers sent to his highness, &c.
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