The effect produced at Neuchatel by the Letters from the Mountainwas at first very mild.I sent a copy of them to M.de Montmollin, whoreceived it favorably, and read it without ****** any objection.Hewas ill as well as myself; as soon as he recovered he came in afriendly manner to see me, and conversed on general subjects.Arumor was however begun: the book was burned I know not where.FromGeneva, Berne, and perhaps from Versailles, the effervescencequickly passed to Neuchatel, and especially to Val de Travers,where, before even the ministers had taken any apparent steps, anattempt was secretly made to stir up the people.I ought, I dareassert, to have been beloved by the people of that country in whichI have lived, giving alms in abundance, not leaving about me anindigent person without assistance, never refusing to do any servicein my power, and which was consistent with justice, ****** myselfperhaps too familiar with everybody, and avoiding, as far as it waspossible for me to do it, all distinction which might excite the leastjealousy.This, however, did not prevent the populace, secretlystirred up against me by I know not whom, from being by degreesirritated against me, even to fury, nor from publicly insulting me,not only in the country and upon the road, but in the street.Those towhom I had rendered the greatest services became most irritatedagainst me, and even people who still continued to receive mybenefactions, not daring to appear, excited others, and seemed to wishthus to be revenged of me for their humiliation, by the obligationsthey were under for the favors I had conferred upon them.Montmollinseemed to pay no attention to what was passing, and did not yet comeforward.But as the time of communion approached, he came to advise menot to present myself at the holy table, assuring me, however, hewas not my enemy, and that he would leave me undisturbed.I found thiscompliment whimsical enough; it brought to my recollection theletter from Madam de Boufflers, and I could not conceive to whom itcould be a matter of such importance whether I communicated or not.
Considering this condescension on my part as an act of cowardice,and moreover, being unwilling to give to the people a new pretenseunder which they might charge me with impiety, I refused the requestof the minister, and he went away dissatisfied, giving me tounderstand I should repent of my obstinacy.
He could not of his own authority forbid me the communion: that ofthe Consistory, by which I had been admitted to it, was necessary, andas long as there was no objection from that body I might presentmyself without the fear of being refused.Montmollin procured from theClasse (the ministers) a commission to summon me to the Consistory,there to give an account of the articles of my faith, and toexcommunicate me should I refuse to comply.This excommunication couldnot be pronounced without the aid of the Consistory also, and amajority of the voices.But the peasants, who under the appellation ofelders, composed this assembly, presided over and governed by theirminister, might naturally be expected to adopt his opinion, especiallyin matters of the clergy, which they still less understood than hedid.I was therefore summoned, and I resolved to appear.
What a happy circumstance and triumph would this have been to mecould I have spoken, and had I, if I may so speak, had my pen in mymouth! With what superiority, with what facility even, should I haveoverthrown this poor minister in the midst of his six peasants! Thethirst after power having made the Protestant clergy forget all theprinciples of the reformation, all I had to do to recall these totheir recollection and reduce them to silence, was to make commentsupon my first Letters from the Mountain, upon which they had the follyto animadvert.
My text was ready, and I had only to enlarge on it, and my adversarywas confounded.I should not have been weak enough to remain on thedefensive; it was easy to me to become an assailant without his evenperceiving it, or being able to shelter himself from my attack.Thecontemptible priests of the Classe, equally careless and ignorant, hadof themselves placed me in the most favorable situation I could desireto crush them at pleasure.But what of this? It was necessary I shouldspeak without hesitation, and find ideas, turn of expression, andwords at will, preserving a presence of mind, and keeping myselfcollected, without once suffering even a momentary confusion.For whatcould I hope, feeling, as I did, my want of aptitude to express myselfwith ease? I had been reduced to the most mortifying silence atGeneva, before an assembly which was favorable to me, and previouslyresolved to approve of everything I should say.Here, on the contrary,I had to do with a caviller who, substituting cunning to knowledge,would spread for me a hundred snares before I could perceive one ofthem, and was resolutely determined to catch me in an error let theconsequence be what it would.The more I examined the situation inwhich I stood, the greater danger I perceived myself exposed to, andfeeling the impossibility of successfully withdrawing from it, Ithought of another expedient.I meditated a discourse which I intendedto pronounce before the Consistory, to exempt myself from thenecessity of answering.The thing was easy.I wrote the discourseand began to learn it by memory, with an inconceivable ardor.