The Propaganda being thus defeated, had recourse, in 1654, to a still more sanguinary plot for the destruction of the Vaudois, by means of the French army under Marshal Grancé. The court of Savoy had offered to provide this army with winter quarters in our valleys, at a much less sum than had been demanded elsewhere, in consequence, the troops appeared before Pignerol, demanding their quarters; in the mean time, the monks and other agents of the Propaganda had artfully persuaded the Vaudois, that it was contrary to the intention of the Duchess, that these troops had entered her states, and excited them to take up arms. The main body of these forces was already before the fort of La Tour, and all the inhabitants of the val de Luzerne were drawn up to oppose them, when Leger, the moderator, throwing himself at the feet of the Marshal, explained the trick played upon him, and requested he would suspend hostilities until a written order could arrive from the Duchess Regent for the cantonment of the troops. This was assented to, and on the arrival of the order, on the morrow, the army quietly took possession of their quarters. This plot was afterwards more fully proved by two officers in De Grancé's army,* and its details were lodged with the other MSS. by Leger, in the Cambridge library. * One named De Petit Bourg. A year had scarcely elapsed when another motive was added to the zealous labours of the propaganda, which was the wish of establishing in the valleys those Irish whom Cromwell had banished in consequence of the massacres they had committed among their Protestant countrymen. This eager desire to obtain possession of the valleys, and all that the Vaudois possessed in them, excited a series of intrigues, which ended in an order to Gastaldo, auditor of Luzerne, to enjoin and command the Vaudois inhabitants of Briqueiras, S. Second, Bubiana, Fenil, Campillon, Luzerne, St. Jean, and La Tour, to abandon those places within three days, or receive the mass, under pain of death and confiscation of their property. What makes this step still more cruel and unjust, if possible, is, that it took place in the winter of 1654, when Charles Emanuel II. had, by an edict of 3rd December, just confirmed all their privileges, &c.* In this, and in the one of the preceding year, they were mentioned as faithful and obedient subjects; nay more, at the very time the lawyers were employed in verifying the original charters, the last decree was about to be enrolled, and the sum of money exacted on these occasions had long been paid.