|
"All this time those of the opposite party were coming nearer,
and those
with whom I was continued to yell at me to go on. I went on until I
met
them. I besought them to retire, even throwing myself at their feet.
But
all persuasion was in vain; they swept me along with them, making
me
enter by the Carmelite Gate, where they took the flag from me
and
allowed me to enter the house of a woman whose name I have never
known.
I was spitting such a quantity of blood that she took pity on me
and
brought me everything she could think of as likely to do me good, and
as
soon as I was a little revived I asked to be shown the way to
M.
Ponthier’s."
While Abbe de Belmont was carrying the red flag the
militia forced the
Town Councillors to proclaim martial law. This had just
been done when
word was brought that the first red flag had been carried off,
so M.
Ferrand de Missol got out another, and, followed by a
considerable
escort, took the same road as his colleague, Abbe de Belmont.
When he
arrived at the Calquieres, the red-tufts, who still adorned the
ramparts
and towers, began to fire upon the procession, and one of the
militia
was disabled; the escort retreated, but M. Ferrand advanced alone to
the
Carmelite Gate, like M. de Belmont, and like him, he too, was
taken
prisoner.
He was brought to the tower, where he found Froment in
a fury, declaring
that the Council had not kept its promise, having sent no
relief, and
having delayed to give up the citadel to him.
The escort,
however, had only retreated in order to seek help; they
rushed tumultuously
to the barracks, and finding the regiment of Guienne
drawn up in marching
order in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Bonne, they
asked him to follow them,
but he refused without a written order from a
Town Councillor. Upon this an
old corporal shouted, "Brave soldiers of
Guienne! the country is in danger,
let us not delay to do our duty."
"Yes, yes," cried the soldiers; "let us
march" The lieutenant colonel no
longer daring to resist, gave the word of
command, and they set off for
the Esplanade.
As they came near the
rampart with drums beating, the firing ceased, but
as night was coming on the
new-comers did not dare to risk attacking,
and moreover the silence of the
guns led them to think that the rebels
had given up their enterprise. Having
remained an hour in the square,
the troops returned to their quarters, and
the patriots went to pass the
night in an inclosure on the Montpellier
road.
It almost seemed as if the Catholics were beginning to recognise
the
futility of their plot; for although they had appealed to
fanaticism,
forced the Town Council to do their will, scattered gold lavishly
and
made wine flow, out of eighteen companies only three had joined
them.
"Fifteen companies," said M. Alquier in his report to the
National
Assembly, "although they had adopted the red tuft, took no part in
the
struggle, and did not add to the number of crimes committed either
on
that day or during the days that followed. But although the
Catholics
gained few partisans among their fellow-citizens, they felt certain
that
people from the country would rally to their aid; but about ten
o’clock
in the evening the rebel ringleaders, seeing that no help arrived
from
that quarter either, resolved to apply a stimulus to those
without.
Consequently, Froment wrote the following letter to M. de
Bonzols,
under-commandant of the province of Languedoc, who was living at
Lunel:
"SIR, Up to the present all my demands, that the Catholic
companies
should be put under arms, have been of no avail. In spite of the
order
that you gave at my request, the officials of the municipality were
of
opinion that it would be more prudent to delay the distribution of
the
muskets until after the meeting of the Electoral Assembly. This day
the
Protestant dragoons have attacked and killed several of our
unarmed
Catholics, and you may imagine the confusion and alarm that prevail
in
the town. As a good citizen and a true patriot, I entreat you to send
an
order to the regiment of royal dragoons to repair at once to Nimes
to
restore tranquillity and put down all who break the peace. The
Town
Council does not meet, none of them dares to leave his house; and if
you
receive no requisition from them just now, it is because they go
in
terror of their lives and fear to appear openly. Two red flags have
been
carried about the streets, and municipal officers without guards
have
been obliged to take refuge in patriotic houses. Although I am only
a
private citizen, I take the liberty of asking for aid from you,
knowing
that the Protestants have sent to La Vannage and La Gardonninque to
ask
you for reinforcements, and the arrival of fanatics from these
districts
would expose all good patriots to slaughter. Knowing as I do of
your
kindness and justice, I have full trust that my prayer will receive
your
favourable attention.
"FROMENT, Captain of Company No.
39
"June 13, 1790, 11 o’c. p.m."
Unfortunately for the Catholic
party, Dupre and Lieutaud, to whom this
letter was entrusted for delivery,
and for whom passports were made out
as being employed on business connected
with the king and the State,
were arrested at Vehaud, and their despatches
laid before the Electoral
Assembly. Many other letters of the same kind were
also intercepted, and
the red-tufts went about the town saying that the
Catholics of Nimes
were being massacred.
The priest of Courbessac,
among others, was shown a letter saying that a
Capuchin monk had been
murdered, and that the Catholics were in need of
help. The agents who brought
this letter to him wanted him to put his
name to it that they might show it
everywhere, but were met by a
positive refusal.
At Bouillargues and
Manduel the tocsin was sounded: the two villages
joined forces, and with
weapons in their hands marched along the road
from Beaucaire to Nimes. At the
bridge of Quart the villagers of
Redressan and Marguerite joined them. Thus
reinforced, they were able to
bar the way to all who passed and subject them
to examination; if a man
could show he was a Catholic, he was allowed to
proceed, but the
Protestants were murdered then and there. We may remind our
readers that
the "Cadets de la Croix" pursued the same method in
1704.
Meantime Descombiez, Froment, and Folacher remained masters of
the
ramparts and the tower, and when very early one morning their
forces
were augmented by the insurgents from the villages (about two
hundred
men), they took advantage of their strength to force a way into
the
house of a certain Therond, from which it was easy to effect an
entrance
to the Jacobin monastery, and from there to the tower adjoining, so
that
their line now extended from the gate at the bridge of Calquieres
to
that at the end of College Street. From daylight to dusk all
the
patriots who came within range were fired at whether they were armed
or
not.
On the 14th June, at four o’clock in the morning, that part of
the
legion which was against the Catholics gathered together in the
square
of the Esplanade, where they were joined by the patriots from
the
adjacent towns and villages, who came in in small parties till
they
formed quite an army. At five A.M. M. de St. Pons, knowing that
the
windows of the Capuchin monastery commanded the position taken up by
the
patriots, went there with a company and searched the house
thoroughly,
and also the Amphitheatre, but found nothing suspicious in
either.
Immediately after, news was heard of the massacres that had taken
place
during the night.
The country-house belonging to M. and Mme.
Noguies had been broken into,
the furniture destroyed, the owners killed in
their beds, and an old man
of seventy who lived with them cut to pieces with
a scythe.
A young fellow of fifteen, named Payre, in passing near the
guard placed
at the Pont des files, had been asked by a red-tuft if he were
Catholic
or Protestant. On his replying he was Protestant, he was shot dead
on
the spot. "That was like killing a lamb," said a comrade to
the
murderer. "Pooh!" said he, "I have taken a vow to kill four
Protestants,
and he may pass for one."
M. Maigre, an old man of
eighty-two, head of one of the most respected
families in the
neighbourhood, tried to escape from his house along
with his son, his
daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and two
servants; but the carriage
was stopped, and while the rebels were
murdering him and his son, the
mother and her two children
succeeded in escaping to an inn, whither the
assassins pursued
them, Fortunately, however, the two fugitives having a
start,
reached the inn a few minutes before their pursuers, and
the
innkeeper had enough presence of mind to conceal them and open
the
garden gate by which he said they had escaped. The
Catholics,
believing him, scattered over the country to look for them,
and
during their absence the mother and children were rescued by
the
mounted patrol.
The exasperation of the Protestants rose
higher and higher as reports of
these murders came in one by one, till at
last the desire for vengeance
could no longer be repressed, and they were
clamorously insisting on
being led against the ramparts and the towers, when
without warning a
heavy fusillade began from the windows and the clock tower
of the
Capuchin monastery. M. Massin, a municipal officer, was killed on
the
spot, a sapper fatally wounded, and twenty-five of the National
Guard
wounded more or less severely. The Protestants immediately
rushed
towards the monastery in a disorderly mass; but the superior, instead
of
ordering the gates to be opened, appeared at a window above
the
entrance, and addressing the assailants as the vilest of the vile,
asked
them what they wanted at the monastery. "We want to destroy it, we
want
to pull it down till not one stone rests upon another," they
replied.
Upon this, the reverend father ordered the alarm bells to be rung,
and
from the mouths of bronze issued the call for help; but before it
could
arrive, the door was burst in with hatchets, and five Capuchins
and
several of the militia who wore the red tuft were killed, while all
the
other occupants of the monastery ran away, taking refuge in the house
of
a Protestant called Paulhan. During this attack the church
was
respected; a man from Sornmieres, however, stole a pyx which he found
in
the sacristy, but as soon as his comrades perceived this he was
arrested
and sent to prison.
In the monastery itself, however, the
doors were broken in, the
furniture smashed, the library and the dispensary
wrecked. The sacristy
itself was not spared, its presses being broken into,
its chests
destroyed, and two monstrances broken; but nothing further was
touched.
The storehouses and the small cloth-factory connected with the
monastery
remained intact, like the church.
But still the towers held
out, and it was round them that the real
fighting took place, the resistance
offered from within being all the
more obstinate that the besieged expected
relief from moment to moment,
not knowing that their letters had been
intercepted by the enemy. On
every side the rattling of shot was heard, from
the Esplanade, from the
windows, from the roofs; but very little effect was
produced by the
Protestants, for Descombiez had told his men to put their
caps with the
red tufts on the top of the wall, to attract the bullets, while
they
fired from the side. Meantime the conspirators, in order to get a
better
command of the besiegers, reopened a passage which had been long
walled
up between the tower Du Poids and the tower of the
Dominicans.
Descombiez, accompanied by thirty men, came to the door of the
monastery
nearest the fortifications and demanded the key of another door
which
led to that part of the ramparts which was opposite the place
des
Carmes, where the National Guards were stationed. In spite of
the
remonstrances of the monks, who saw that it would expose them to
great
danger, the doors were opened, and Froment hastened to occupy every
post
of vantage, and the battle began in that quarter, too, becoming
fiercer
as the conspirators remarked that every minute brought the
Protestants
reinforcements from Gardonninque and La Vaunage. The firing began
at ten
o’clock in the morning, and at four o’clock in the afternoon it
was
going on with unabated fury.
At four o’clock, however, a servant
carrying a flag of truce appeared;
he brought a letter from Descombiez,
Fremont, and Folacher, who styled
themselves "Captains commanding the towers
of the Castle." It was
couched in the following words:—
"To the
Commandant of the troops of the line, with the request that the
contents be
communicated to the militia stationed in the Esplanade.
"SIR,—We have
just been informed that you are anxious for peace. We also
desire it, and
have never done anything to break it. If those who have
caused the frightful
confusion which at present prevails in the city are
willing to bring it to an
end, we offer to forget the past and to live
with them as
brothers.
"We remain, with all the frankness and loyalty of patriots
and
Frenchmen, your humble servants,
"The Captains of the Legion of
Nimes, in command of the towers of the
Castle,
"FROMENT, DESCOMBIEZ,
FOLACHER NIMES, the 14th June 1790, 4.00 P.M."
On the receipt of this
letter, the city herald was sent to the towers to
offer the rebels terms of
capitulation. The three "captains in command"
came out to discuss the terms
with the commissioners of the electoral
body; they were armed and followed by
a great number of adherents.
However, as the negotiators desired peace before
all things, they
proposed that the three chiefs should surrender and place
themselves in
the hands of the Electoral Assembly. This offer being refused,
the
electoral commissioners withdrew, and the rebels retired behind
their
fortifications. About five o’clock in the evening, just as
the
negotiations were broken off, M. Aubry, an artillery captain who
had
been sent with two hundred men to the depot of field artillery in
the
country, returned with six pieces of ordnance, determined to make
a
breach in the tower occupied by the conspirators, and from which
they
were firing in safety at the soldiers, who had no cover. At six
o’clock,
the guns being mounted, their thunder began, first drowning the
noise of
the musketry and then silencing it altogether; for the cannon balls
did
their work quickly, and before long the tower threatened to
fall.
Thereupon the electoral commissioners ordered the firing to cease for
a
moment, in the hope that now the danger had become so imminent
the
leaders would accept the conditions which they had refused one
hour
before; and not desiring to drive them to desperation, the
commissioners
advanced again down College Street, preceded by a bugler, and
the
captains were once more summoned to a parley. Froment and
Descombiez
came out to meet them, and seeing the condition of the tower,
they
agreed to lay down their arms and send them for the palace, while
they
themselves would proceed to the Electoral Assembly and place
themselves
under its protection. These proposals being accepted, the
commissioners
waved their hats as a sign that the treaty was
concluded.
At that instant three shots were fired from the ramparts, and
cries of
"Treachery! treachery!" were heard on every side. The Catholic
chiefs
returned to the tower, while the Protestants, believing that
the
commissioners were being assassinated, reopened the cannonade;
but
finding that it took too long to complete the breach, ladders
were
brought, the walls scaled, and the towers carried by assault. Some
of
the Catholics were killed, the others gained Froment’s house,
where,
encouraged by him, they tried to organise a resistance; but
the
assailants, despite the oncoming darkness, attacked the place with
such
fury that doors and windows were shattered in an instant. Froment
and
his brother Pierre tried to escape by a narrow staircase which led
to
the roof, but before they reached it Pierre was wounded in the hip
and
fell; but Froment reached the roof, and sprang upon an
adjacent
housetop, and climbing from roof to roof, reached the college,
and
getting into it by a garret window, took refuge in a large room
which
was always unoccupied at night, being used during the day as a
study.
Froment remained hidden there until eleven o’clock. It being
then
completely dark, he got out of the window, crossed the city, gained
the
open country, and walking all night, concealed himself during the day
in
the house of a Catholic. The next night he set off again, and
reached
the coast, where he embarked on board a vessel for Italy, in order
to
report to those who had sent him the disastrous result of
his
enterprise.
For three whole days the carnage lasted. The
Protestants losing all
control over themselves, carried on the work of death
not only without
pity but with refined cruelty. More than five hundred
Catholics lost
their lives before the 17th, when peace was
restored.
For a long time recriminations went on between Catholics
and
Protestants, each party trying to fix on the other the
responsibility
for those dreadful three days; but at last Franqois Froment
put an end
to all doubt on the subject, by publishing a work from which are
set
forth many of the details just laid before our readers, as well as
the
reward he met with when he reached Turin. At a meeting of the
French
nobles in exile, a resolution was passed in favour of M. Pierre
Froment
and his children, inhabitants of Nimes.
We give a literal
reproduction of this historic document:
"We the undersigned, French
nobles, being convinced that our Order was
instituted that it might become
the prize of valour and the
encouragement of virtue, do declare that the
Chevalier de Guer having
given us proof of the devotion to their king and the
love of their
country which have been displayed by M. Pierre Froment,
receiver of the
clergy, and his three sons, Mathieu Froment citizen, Jacques
Froment
canon, Francois Froment advocate, inhabitants of Nimes, we
shall
henceforward regard them and their descendants as nobles and worthy
to
enjoy all the distinctions which belong to the true nobility.
Brave
citizens, who perform such distinguished actions as fighting for
the
restoration of the monarchy, ought to be considered as the equals
of
those French chevaliers whose ancestors helped to found it.
Furthermore,
we do declare that as soon as circumstances permit we shall
join
together to petition His Majesty to grant to this family, so
illustrious
through its virtue, all the honours and prerogatives which belong
to
those born noble.
"We depute the Marquis de Meran, Comte
d’Espinchal, the Marquis
d’Escars, Vicomte de Pons, Chevalier de Guer, and
the Marquis de la
Feronniere to go to Mgr. le Comte d’Artois, Mgr. le Duc
d’Angouleme,
Mgr. le Duc de Berry, Mgr. le Prince de Conde, Mgr. le Due de
Bourbon,
and Mgr. le Duc d’Enghien, to beg them to put themselves at our
head
when we request His Majesty to grant to MM. Froment all the
distinctions
and advantages reserved for the true nobility.
"At TURIN,
12th September 1790."
The nobility of Languedoc learned of the honours
conferred on their
countryman, M. Froment, and addressed the following letter
to him:
"LORCH, July 7, 1792
"MONSIEUR, The nobles of Languedoc
hasten to confirm the resolution
adopted in your favour by the nobles
assembled at Turin. They appreciate
the zeal and the courage which have
distinguished your conduct and that
of your family; they have therefore
instructed us to assure you of the
pleasure with which they will welcome you
among those nobles who are
under the orders of Marshal de Castries, and that
you are at liberty to
repair to Lorch to assume your proper rank in one of
the companies.
"We have the honour to be, monsieur, your humble and
obedient servants,
"COMTE DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
"MARQUIS DE LA
JONQUIERE "ETC."
CHAPTER VII
The Protestants, as
we have said, hailed the golden dawn of the
revolution with delight; then
came the Terror, which struck at all
without distinction of creed. A hundred
and thirty-eight heads fell on
the scaffold, condemned by the revolutionary
tribunal of the Gard.
Ninety-one of those executed were Catholic, and
forty-seven Protestants,
so that it looked as if the executioners in their
desire for
impartiality had taken a census of the population.
Then
came the Consulate: the Protestants being mostly tradesmen and
manufacturers,
were therefore richer than the Catholics, and had more to
lose; they seemed
to see more chance of stability in this form of
government than in those
preceding it, and it was evident that it had a
more powerful genius at its
head, so they rallied round it with
confidence and sincerity. The Empire
followed, with its inclination to
absolutism, its Continental system, and its
increased taxation; and the
Protestants drew back somewhat, for it was
towards them who had hoped so
much from him that Napoleon in not keeping the
promises of Bonaparte was
most perjured.
The first Restoration,
therefore, was greeted at Nimes with a universal
shout of joy; and a
superficial-observer might have thought that all
trace of the old religious
leaven had disappeared. In fact, for
seventeen years the two faiths had lived
side by side in perfect peace
and mutual good-will; for seventeen years men
met either for business or
for social purposes without inquiring about each
other’s religion, so
that Nimes on the surface might have been held up as an
example of union
and fraternity.
When Monsieur arrived at Nimes, his
guard of honour was drawn from the
city guard, which still retained its
organisation of 1812, being
composed of citizens without distinction of
creed. Six decorations were
conferred on it—three on Catholics, and three on
Protestants. At the
same time, M. Daunant, M. Olivier Desmonts, and M. de
Seine, the first
the mayor, the second the president of the Consistory, and
the third a
member of the Prefecture, all three belonging to the Reformed
religion,
received the same favour.
Such impartiality on the part of
Monsieur almost betrayed a preference,
and this offended the Catholics. They
muttered to one another that in
the past there had been a time when the
fathers of those who had just
been decorated by the hand of the prince had
fought against his faithful
adherents. Hardly had Monsieur left the town,
therefore, than it became
apparent that perfect harmony no longer
existed.
The Catholics had a favorite cafe, which during the whole time
the
Empire lasted was also frequented by Protestants without a
single
dispute caused by the difference of religion ever arising. But from
this
time forth the Catholics began to hold themselves aloof from
the
Protestants; the latter perceiving this, gave up the cafe by degrees
to
the Catholics, being determined to keep the peace whatever it
might
cost, and went to a cafe which had been just opened under the sign
of
the "Isle of Elba." The name was enough to cause them to be regarded
as
Bonapartists, and as to Bonapartists the cry "Long live the king!"
was
supposed to be offensive, they were saluted at every turn with
these
words, pronounced in a tone which became every day more menacing.
At
first they gave back the same cry, "Long live the king!" but then
they
were called cowards who expressed with their lips a sentiment which
did
not come from their hearts. Feeling that this accusation had some
truth
in it, they were silent, but then they were accused of hating the
royal
family, till at length the cry which at first had issued from
full
hearts in a universal chorus grew to be nothing but an expression
of
party hatred, so that on the 21st February, 1815, M. Daunant the
mayor,
by a decree, prohibited the public from using it, as it had become
a
means of exciting sedition. Party feeling had reached this height
at
Nimes when, on the 4th March, the news of the landing of
Napoleon
arrived.
Deep as was the impression produced, the city
remained calm, but
somewhat sullen; in any case, the report wanted
confirmation. Napoleon,
who knew of the sympathy that the mountaineers felt
for him, went at
once into the Alps, and his eagle did not as yet take so
high a flight
that it could be seen hovering above Mount Geneve.
On
the 12th, the Duc d’Angouleme arrived: two proclamations calling the
citizens
to arms signalised his presence. The citizens answered the call
with true
Southern ardour: an army was formed; but although Protestants
and Catholics
presented themselves for enrolment with equal alacrity,
the Protestants were
excluded, the Catholics denying the right of
defending their legitimate
sovereign to any but themselves.
This species of selection apparently
went on without the knowledge of
the Duc d’Angouleme. During his stay in
Nimes he received Protestants
and Catholics with equal cordiality, and they
set at his table side by
side. It happened once, on a Friday, at dinner, that
a Protestant
general took fish and a Catholic general helped himself to fowl.
The
duke being amused, drew attention to this anomaly, whereupon
the
Catholic general replied, "Better more chicken and less treason."
This
attack was so direct, that although the Protestant general felt that
as
far as he was concerned it had no point, he rose from table and left
the
room. It was the brave General Gilly who was treated in this
cruel
manner.
Meanwhile the news became more disastrous every day:
Napoleon was moving
about with the rapidity of his eagles. On the 24th March
it was reported
in Nimes that Louis XVIII had left Paris on the 19th and that
Napoleon
had entered on the 20th. This report was traced to its source, and
it
was found that it had been spread abroad by M. Vincent de
Saint-Laurent,
a councillor of the Prefecture and one of the most respected
men in
Nimes. He was summoned at once before the authorities and asked
whence
he had this information; he replied, "From a letter received from
M.
Bragueres," producing the letter. But convincing as was this proof,
it
availed him nothing: he was escorted from brigade to brigade till
he
reached the Chateau d’If. The Protestants sided with M. Vincent
de
Saint-Laurent, the Catholics took the part of the authorities who
were
persecuting him, and thus the two factions which had been so
long
quiescent found themselves once more face to face, and their
dormant
hatred awoke to new life. For the moment, however, there was
no
explosion, although the city was at fever heat, and everyone felt that
a
crisis was at hand.
On the 22nd March two battalions of Catholic
volunteers had already been
enlisted at Nimes, and had formed part of the
eighteen hundred men who
were sent to Saint-Esprit. Just before their
departure fleurs-de-lys had
been distributed amongst them, made of red cloth;
this change in the
colour of the monarchical emblem was a threat which the
Protestants well
understood.
The prince left Nimes in due course,
taking with him the rest of the
royal volunteers, and leaving the Protestants
practically masters of
Nimes during the absence of so many Catholics. The
city, however,
continued calm, and when provocations began, strange to say
they came
from the weaker party.
On the 27th March six men met in a
barn; dined together, and then agreed
to make the circuit of the town. These
men were Jacques Dupont, who
later acquired such terrible celebrity under the
name of Trestaillons,
Truphemy the butcher, Morenet the dog shearer, Hours,
Servant, and
Gilles. They got opposite the cafe "Isle of Elba," the name of
which
indicated the opinion of those who frequented it. This cafe was faced
by
a guard-house which was occupied by soldiers of the 67th Regiment.
The
six made a halt, and in the most insulting tones raised the cry of
"Long
live the king!" The disturbance that ensued was so slight that we
only
mention it in order to give an idea of the tolerance of the
Protestants,
and to bring upon the stage the men mentioned above, who were
three
months later to play such a terrible part.
On April 1st the
mayor summoned to a meeting at his official residence
the municipal council,
the members of all the variously constituted
administrative bodies in Nimes,
the officers of the city guards, the
priests, the Protestant pastors, and the
chief citizens. At this
meeting, M. Trinquelague, advocate of the Royal
Courts, read a powerful
address, expressing the love, of the citizens for
their king and
country, and exhorting them to union and peace. This address
was
unanimously adopted and signed by all present, and amongst
the
signatures were those of the principal Protestants of Nimes. But
this
was not all: the next day it was printed and published, and copies
sent
to all the communes in the department over which the white flag
still
floated. And all this happened, as we have said, on April and,
eleven
days after Napoleon’s return to Paris.
The same day word
arrived that the Imperial Government had been
proclaimed at
Montpellier.
The next day, April 3rd, all the officers on half-pay
assembled at the
fountain to be reviewed by a general and a sub-inspector,
and as these
officers were late, the order of the, day issued by General
Ambert,
recognising the Imperial Government, was produced and passed along
the
ranks, causing such excitement that one of the officers drew his
sword
and cried, "Long live the emperor!" These magic words were
re-echoed
from every side, and they all hastened to the barracks of the
63rd
Regiment, which at once joined the officers. At this juncture
Marshal
Pelissier arrived, and did not appear to welcome the turn things
had
taken; he made an effort to restrain the enthusiasm of the crowd,
but
was immediately arrested by his own soldiers. The officers repaired in
a
body to the headquarters of General Briche, commandant of the
garrison,
and asked for the official copy of the order of the day. He replied
that
he had received none, and when questioned as to which side he was on
he
refused to answer. The officers upon this took him prisoner. Just
as
they had consigned him to the barracks for confinement, a
post-office
official arrived bringing a despatch from General Ambert.
Learning that
General Briche was a prisoner, the messenger carried his packet
to the
colonel of the 63rd Regiment, who was the next in seniority after
the
general. In opening it, it was found to contain the order of the
day.
Instantly the colonel ordered the ’gineyale’ to sound: the town
guards
assumed arms, the troops left the barracks and formed in line,
the
National Guards in the rear of the regular troops, and when they
were
all thus drawn up; the order of the day was read; it was then
snatched
out of the colonel’s hands, printed on large placards, and in less
time
than seemed possible it was posted up in every street and at
every
street corner; the tricolour replaced the white cockade, everyone
being
obliged to wear the national emblem or none at all, the city
was
proclaimed in a state of seige, and the military officers formed
a
vigilance committee and a police force.
While the Duc d’Angouleme
had been staying at Nimes, General Gilly had
applied for a command in that
prince’s army, but in spite of all his
efforts obtained nothing; so
immediately after the dinner at which he
was insulted he had withdrawn to
Avernede, his place in the country. He
was awoke in the night of the 5th-6th
April by a courier from General
Ambert, who sent to offer him the command of
the 2nd Subdivision. On the
6th, General Gilly went to Nimes, and sent in his
acceptance, whereby
the departments of the Gard, the Lozere, and Ardeche
passed under his
authority.
Next day General Gilly received further
despatches from General Ambert,
from which he learned that it was the
general’s intention, in order to
avoid the danger of a civil war, to separate
the Duc d’Angouleme’s army
from the departments which sympathised with the
royal cause; he had
therefore decided to make Pont-Saint-Esprit a military
post, and had
ordered the 10th Regiment of mounted chasseurs, the 13th
artillery, and
a battalion of infantry to move towards this point by forced
marches.
These troops were commanded by Colonel Saint-Laurent, but General
Ambert
was anxious that if it could be done without danger, General
Gilly
should leave Nimes, taking with him part of the 63rd Regiment,
and
joining the other forces under the command of Colonel
Saint-Laurent,
should assume the chief command. As the city was quite
tranquil, General
Gilly did not hesitate to obey this order: he set out from
Nimes on the
7th, passed the night at Uzes, and finding that town abandoned
by the
magistrates, declared it in a state of siege, lest disturbances
should
arise in the absence of authority. Having placed M. de Bresson
in
command, a retired chief of battalion who was born in Uzes, and
who
usually lived there, he continued his march on the morning of the
8th.
Beyond the village of Conans, General Gilly met an orderly sent to
him
by Colonel Saint-Laurent to inform him that he, the colonel,
had
occupied Pont Saint-Esprit, and that the Duc d’Angouleme,
finding
himself thus caught between two fires, had just sent General
d’Aultanne,
chief of staff in the royal army, to him, to enter into
negotiations for
a surrender. Upon this, General Gilly quickened his advance,
and on
reaching Pont-Saint-Esprit found General d’Aultanne and
Colonel
Saint-Laurent conferring together at the Hotel de la Poste.
As
Colonel Saint-Laurent had received his instructions directly from
the
commander-in-chief, several points relating to the capitulation
had
already been agreed upon; of these General Gilly slightly altered
some,
and approved of the others, and the same day the following
convention
was signed:
"Convention concluded between General Gilly and
Baron de Damas
"S.A.R. Mgr. le Duc d’Angouleme, Commander-in-Chief of the
royal army in
the South, and Baron de Gilly, General of Division
and
Commander-in-Chief of the first corps of the Imperial Army, being
most
anxiously desirous to prevent any further effusion of French blood,
have
given plenary powers to arrange the terms of a convention to S.A.R.
M.
le Baron de Damas, Field-Marshal and Under-Chief of Staff, and
General
de Gilly and Adjutant Lefevre, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour,
and
Chief of the Staff of the first Army Corps; who, having shown each
other
their respective credentials, have agreed on the following
terms:—
"Art. 1. The royal army is to be disbanded; and the National
Guards
which are enrolled in it, under whatever name they may have been
levied,
will return to their homes, after laying down their arms. Safe
conducts
will be provided, and the general of division
commanding-in-chief
guarantees that they shall never be molested for anything
they may have
said or done in connection with the events preceding the
present
convention.
"The officers will retain their swords; the troops
of the line who form
part of this army will repair to such garrisons as may
be assigned to
them.
"Art. 2. The general officers, superior staff
officers and others of all
branches of the service, and the chiefs and
subordinates of the
administrative departments, of whose names a list will be
furnished to
the general-in-chief, will retire to their homes and there await
the
orders of His Majesty the Emperor.
"Art. 3. Officers of every rank
who wish to resign their commissions are
competent to do so. They will
receive passports for their homes.
"Art. 4. The funds of the army and the
lists of the paymaster-general
will be handed over at once to commissioners
appointed for that purpose
by the commander-in-chief.
"Art. 5. The
above articles apply to the corps commanded by Mgr. le Duc
d’Angouleme in
person, and also to those who act separately but under
his orders, and as
forming part of the royal army of the South.
"Art. 6. H.R.H. will post to
Cette, where the vessels necessary for him
and his suite will be waiting to
take him wherever he may desire.
Detachments of the Imperial Army will be
placed at all the relays on the
road to protect His Royal Highness during the
journey, and the honours
due to his rank will be everywhere paid him, if he
so desire.
"Art. 7. All the officers and other persons of His Royal
Highness’ suite
who desire to follow him will be permitted to do so, and they
may either
embark with him at once or later, should their private affairs
need time
for arrangement.
"Art. 8. The present treaty will be kept
secret until His Royal Highness
have quitted the limits of the
empire.
"Executed in duplicate and agreed upon between the
above-mentioned
plenipotentiaries the 8th day of April in the year 1815, with
the
approval of the general commanding-in-chief, and signed,
"At the
headquarters at Pont-Saint-Esprit on the day and year
above
written.
"(Signed) LEFEVRE Adjutant and Chief of Staff of the
First Corps of the
Imperial Army of the South
"(Signed) BARON DE DAMAS
Field-Marshal and Under-Chief of Staff
"The present convention is
approved of by the General of Division
Commanding-in-Chief the Imperial Army
of the South.
"(Signed) GILLY"
After some discussion between
General Gilly and General Grouchy, the
capitulation was carried into effect.
On the 16th April, at eight
o’clock in the morning, the Duc d’Angouleme
arrived at Cette, and went
on board the Swedish vessel Scandinavia, which,
taking advantage of a
favourable wind, set sail the same day.
Early in
the morning of the 9th an officer of high rank had been sent to
La Palud to
issue safe-conducts to the troops, who according to Article
I of the
capitulation were to return home "after laying down their
arms." But during
the preceding day and night some of the royal
volunteers had evaded this
article by withdrawing with their arms and
baggage. As this infraction of the
terms led to serious consequences, we
propose, in order to establish the
fact, to cite the depositions of
three royal volunteers who afterwards gave
evidence.
"On leaving the army of the Duc d’Angouleme after the
capitulation,"
says Jean Saunier, "I went with my officers and my corps
to
Saint-Jean-des-Anels. From there we marched towards Uzes. In the
middle
of a forest, near a village, the name of which I have forgotten,
our
General M. de Vogue told us that we were all to return to our own
homes.
We asked him where we should deposit the flag. Just then
Commandant
Magne detached it from the staff and put it in his pocket. We then
asked
the general where we should deposit our arms; he replied, that we
had
better keep them, as we should probably find use for them before
long,
and also to take our ammunition with us, to ensure our safety on
the
road.
"From that time on we all did what we thought best:
sixty-four of us
remained together, and took a guide to enable us to avoid
Uzes."
Nicholas Marie, labourer, deposed as follows:
"On leaving
the army of the Duc d’Angouleme after the capitulation, I
went with my
officers and my corps to Saint-Jean-des-Anels. We marched
towards Uzes, but
when we were in the middle of a forest, near a village
the name of which I
have forgotten, our general, M. de Vogue, told us
that we were to go to our
own homes as soon as we liked. We saw
Commandant Magne loose the flag from
its staff, roll it up and put it in
his pocket. We asked the general what we
were to do with our arms; he
replied that we were to keep both them and our
ammunition, as we should
find them of use. Upon this, our chiefs left us, and
we all got away as
best we could."
"After the capitulation of the Duc
d’Angouleme I found myself," deposes
Paul Lambert, lace-maker of Nimes, "in
one of several detachments under
the orders of Commandant Magne and General
Vogue. In the middle of a
forest near a village, the name of which I do not
know, M. de Vogue and
the other officer, told us we might go home. The flag
was folded up, and
M. Magne put it in his pocket. We asked our chiefs what we
were to do
with our arms. M. de Vogue told us that we had better keep them,
as we
should need them before very long; and in any case it would be well
to
have them with us on the road, lest anything should happen to
us."
The three depositions are too much alike to leave room for any
doubt.
The royal volunteers contravened Article I of the
convention.
Being thus abandoned by their chiefs, without general and
without flag,
M. de Vogue’s soldiers asked no further counsel of anyone
but
themselves, and, as one of them has already told us, sixty-four of
them
joined together to hire a guide who was to show them how to get by
Uzes
without going through it, for they were afraid of meeting with
insult
there. The guide brought them as far as Montarem without anyone
opposing
their passage or taking notice of their arms.
Suddenly a
coachman named Bertrand, a confidential servant of Abbe
Rafin, former
Grand-Vicar of Alais, and of Baroness Arnaud-Wurmeser (for
the abbe
administered the estate of Aureillac in his own name and that
of the
baroness), galloped into the village of Arpaillargues, which was
almost
entirely Protestant and consequently Napoleonist, announcing that
the
miquelets (for after one hundred and ten years the old name given to
the
royal troops was revived) were on the way from Montarem, pillaging
houses,
murdering magistrates, outraging women, and then throwing them
out of the
windows. It is easy to understand the effect of such a story.
The people
gathered together in groups; the mayor and his assistant
being absent,
Bertrand was taken before a certain Boucarut, who on
receiving his report
ordered the generale to be beaten and the tocsin to
be rung. Then the
consternation became general: the men seized their
muskets, the women and
children stones and pitchforks, and everyone made
ready to face a danger
which only existed in the imagination of
Bertrand, for there was not a shadow
of foundation for the story he had
told.
While the village was in this
state of feverish excitement the royal
volunteers came in sight. Hardly were
they seen than the cry, "There
they are! There they are!" arose on all sides,
the streets were
barricaded with carts, the tocsin rang out with redoubled
frenzy, and
everyone capable of carrying arms rushed to the entrance of the
village.
The volunteers, hearing the uproar and seeing the hostile
preparations,
halted, and to show that their intentions were peaceful, put
their
shakos on their musket stocks and waved them above their heads,
shouting
that no one need fear, for they would do no harm to anyone. But
alarmed
as they were by the terrible stories told by Bertrand, the
villagers
shouted back that they could not trust to such assurances, and that
if
they wanted to pass through the village they must first give up
their
weapons. It may easily be imagined that men who had broken
the
convention in order to keep their weapons were not likely to give
them
up to these villagers—in fact, they obstinately refused to let them
out
of their hands, and by doing so increased the suspicions of the
people.
A parley of a very excited character took place between M. Fournier
for
the royal guards and M. Boucarut, who was chosen spokesman by
the
villagers. From words they came to deeds: the miquelets tried to
force
their way through, some shots were fired, and two miquelets, Calvet
and
Fournier, fell. The others scattered, followed by a lively
discharge,
and two more miquelets were slightly wounded. Thereupon they all
took to
flight through the fields on either side of the road, pursued for
a
short distance by the villagers, but soon returned to examine the
two
wounded men, and a report was drawn up by Antoine Robin, advocate
and
magistrate of the canton of Uzes, of the events just related.
This
accident was almost the only one of its kind which happened during
the
Hundred Days: the two parties remained face to face, threatening
but
self-controlled. But let there be no mistake: there was no peace;
they
were simply awaiting a declaration of war. When the calm was broken,
it
was from Marseilles that the provocation came. We shall efface
ourselves
for a time and let an eye-witness speak, who being a Catholic
cannot be
suspected of partiality for the Protestants.
"I was living
in Marseilles at the time of Napoleon’s landing, and I was
a witness of the
impression which the news produced upon everyone. There
was one great cry;
the enthusiasm was universal; the National Guard
wanted to join him to the
last man, but Marshal Massena did not give his
consent until it was too late,
for Napoleon had already reached the
mountains, and was moving with such
swiftness that it would have been
impossible to overtake him. Next we heard
of his triumphal entry into
Lyons, and of his arrival in Paris during the
night. Marseilles
submitted like the rest of France; Prince d’Essling was
recalled to the
capital, and Marshal Brune, who commanded the 6th corps of
observation,
fixed his headquarters at Marseilles.
"With quite
incomprehensible fickleness, Marseilles, whose name during
the Terror had
been, as one may say, the symbol of the most advanced
opinions, had become
almost entirely Royalist in 1815. Nevertheless, its
inhabitants saw without a
murmur the tricolour flag after a year’s
absence floating once more above the
walls. No arbitrary interference on
the part of the authorities, no threats,
and no brawling between the
citizens and the soldiers, troubled the peace of
old Phocea; no
revolution ever took place with such quietness and
facility.
"It must, however, be said, that Marshal Brune was just the man
to
accomplish such a transformation without friction; in him the
frankness
and loyalty of an old soldier were combined with other qualities
more
solid than brilliant. Tacitus in hand, he looked on at
modern
revolutions as they passed, and only interfered when the, voice of
his
country called him to her defence. The conqueror of Harlem and
Bakkun
had been for four years forgotten in retirement, or rather in
exile,
when the same voice which sent him away recalled him, and at the
summons
Cincinnatus left his plough and grasped his weapons. Physically he
was
at this period a man of about fifty-five, with a frank and open
face
framed by large whiskers; his head was bald except for a little
grizzled
hair at the temples; he was tall and active, and had a
remarkably
soldierly bearing.
"I had been brought into contact with
him by a report which one of my
friends and I had drawn up on the opinions of
the people of the South,
and of which he had asked to have a copy. In a long
conversation with
us, he discussed the subject with the impartiality of a man
who brings
an open mind to a debate, and he invited us to come often to see
him. We
enjoyed ourselves so much in his society that we got into the habit
of
going to his house nearly every evening.
"On his arrival in the
South an old calumny which had formerly pursued
him again made its
appearance, quite rejuvenated by its long sleep. A
writer whose name I have
forgotten, in describing the Massacres of the
Second of September and the
death of the unfortunate Princesse de
Lamballe, had said, ’Some people
thought they recognised in the man who
carried her head impaled on a pike,
General Brune in disguise,’ and this
accusation; which had been caught up
with eagerness under the Consulate,
still followed him so relentlessly in
1815, that hardly a day passed
without his receiving an anonymous letter,
threatening him with the same
fate which had overtaken the princess. One
evening while we were with
him such a letter arrived, and having read it he
passed it on to us. It
was as follows:
"’Wretch,—We are acquainted
with all your crimes, for which you will
soon receive the chastisement you
well deserve. It was you who during
the revolution brought about the death of
the Princesse de Lamballe; it
was you who carried her head on a pike, but
your head will be impaled on
something longer. If you are so rash as to be
present at the review of
the Allies it is all up with you, and your head will
be stuck on the
steeple of the Accoules. Farewell, SCOUNDREL!’
"We
advised him to trace this calumny to its source, and then to take
signal
vengeance on the authors. He paused an instant to reflect, and
then lit the
letter at a candle, and looking at it thoughtfully as it
turned to ashes in
his hand, said,—Vengeance! Yes, perhaps by seeking
that I could silence the
authors of these slanders and preserve the
public tranquillity which they
constantly imperil. But I prefer
persuasion to severity. My principle is,
that it is better to bring
men’s heads back to a right way of thinking than
to cut them off, and to
be regarded as a weak man rather than as a
bloodthirsty one.’
"The essence of Marshal Brune’s character was
contained in these words.
"Public tranquillity was indeed twice
endangered at Marseilles during
the Hundred Days, and both times in the same
manner. The garrison
officers used to gather at a coffee-house in the place
Necker, and sing
songs suggested by passing events. This caused an attack by
the
townspeople, who broke the windows by throwing stones, some of
which
struck the officers. These rushed out, crying, ’To arms!’
The
townspeople were not slow to respond, but the commandant ordered
the
’geneydle’ to beat, sent out numerous patrols, and succeeded in
calming
the excitement and restoring quietness without any
casualties.
"The day of the Champ du Mai orders for a general
illumination were
given, and that the tricolour flag should be displayed from
the windows.
The greater number of the inhabitants paid no attention to the
desires
of the authorities, and the officers being annoyed at this
neglect,
indulged in reprehensible excesses, which, however, resulted in
nothing
mare serious than some broken windows belonging to houses which had
not
illuminated, and in some of the householders being forced to illuminate
according to order. |
|
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기