At length Louis XIV, bowed beneath the weight of a reign of sixty years,
was summoned in his turn to appear before God, from whom, as some said,
he looked for reward, and others for pardon. But Nimes, that city with
the heart of fire, was quiet; like the wounded who have lost the best
part of their blood, she thought only, with the egotism of a
convalescent, of being left in peace to regain the strength which had
become exhausted through the terrible wounds which Montrevel and the
Duke of Berwick had dealt her. For sixty years petty ambition had taken
the place of sublime self-sacrifice, and disputes about etiquette
succeeded mortal combats. Then the philosophic era dawned, and the
sarcasms of the encyclopedists withered the monarchical intolerance of
Louis XIV and Charles IX. Thereupon the Protestants resumed their
preaching, baptized their children and buried their dead, commerce
flourished once more, and the two religions lived side by side, one
concealing under a peaceful exterior the memory of its martyrs, the
other the memory of its triumphs. Such was the mood on which the
blood-red orb of the sun of '89 rose. The Protestants greeted it with
cries of joy, and indeed the promised liberty gave them back their
country, their civil rights, and the status of French citizens.
Nevertheless, whatever were the hopes of one party or the fears of the
other, nothing had as yet occurred to disturb the prevailing
tranquillity, when, on the 19th and 20th of July, 1789, a body of troops
was formed in the capital of La Gard which was to bear the name of the
Nimes Militia: the resolution which authorised this act was passed by
the citizens of the three orders sitting in the hall of the palace.
It was as follows:--
"Article 10. The Nimes Legion shall consist of a colonel, a
lieutenant-colonel, a major, a lieutenant-major, an adjutant,
twenty-four captains, twenty-four lieutenants, seventy-two sergeants,
seventy-two corporals, and eleven hundred and fifty-two privates--in
all, thirteen hundred and forty-nine men, forming eighty companies.
"Article 11. The place of general assembly shall be, the Esplanade.
"Article 12. The eighty companies shall be attached to the four quarters
of the town mentioned below--viz., place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, place de
la Maison-Carree, place Saint-Jean, and place du Chateau.
"Article 13. The companies as they are formed by the permanent council
shall each choose its own captain, lieutenant, sergeants and corporals,
and from the date of his nomination the captain shall have a seat on the
permanent council."
The Nimes Militia was deliberately formed upon certain lines which
brought Catholics and Protestants closely together as allies, with
weapons in their hands; but they stood over a mine which was bound to
explode some day, as the slightest friction between the two parties
would produce a spark.
This state of concealed enmity lasted for nearly a year, being augmented
by political antipathies; for the Protestants almost to man were
Republicans, and the Catholics Royalists.
In the interval--that is to say, towards January, 1790--a Catholic
called Francois Froment was entrusted by the Marquis de Foucault with
the task of raising, organising, and commanding a Royalist party in the
South. This we learn from one of his own letters to the marquis, which
was printed in Paris in 1817. He describes his mode of action in the
following words:--
It is not difficult to understand that being faithful to my religion and
my king, and shocked at the seditious ideas which were disseminated on
all sides, I should try to inspire others with the same spirit with
which I myself was animated, so, during the year 1789, I published
several articles in which I exposed the dangers which threatened altar
and throne. Struck with the justice of my criticisms, my countrymen
displayed the most zealous ardor in their efforts to restore to the king
the full exercise of all his rights. Being anxious to take advantage of
this favourable state of feeling, and thinking that it would be
dangerous to hold communication with the ministers of Louis XVI, who
were watched by the conspirators, I went secretly to Turin to solicit
the approbation and support of the French princes there. At a
consultation which was held just after my arrival, I showed them that if
they would arm not only the partisans of the throne, but those of the
altar, and advance the interests of religion while advancing the
interests of royalty, it would be easy to save both.
"My plan had for sole object to bind a party together, and give it as
far as I was able breadth and stability.
"As the revolutionists placed their chief dependence on force, I felt
that they could only be met by force; for then as now I was convinced of
this great truth, that one strong passion can only be overcome by
another stronger, and that therefore republican fanaticism could only be
driven out by religious zeal.
"The princes being convinced of the correctness of my reasoning and the
efficacy of my remedies, promised me the arms and supplies necessary to
stem the tide of faction, and the Comte d'Artois gave me letters of
recommendation to the chief nobles in Upper Languedoc, that I might
concert measures with them; for the nobles in that part of the country
had assembled at Toulouse to deliberate on the best way of inducing the
other Orders to unite in restoring to the Catholic religion its useful
influence, to the laws their power, and to the king his liberty and
authority.
"On my return to Languedoc, I went from town to town in order to meet
those gentlemen to whom the Comte d'Artois had written, among whom were
many of the most influential Royalists and some members of the States of
Parliament. Having decided on a general plan, and agreed on a method of
carrying on secret correspondence with each other, I went to Nimes to
wait for the assistance which I had been promised from Turin, but which
I never received. While waiting, I devoted myself to awakening and
sustaining the zeal of the inhabitants, who at my suggestion, on the
20th April, passed a resolution, which was signed by 5,000 inhabitants."
This resolution, which was at once a religious and political manifesto,
was drafted by Viala, M. Froment's secretary, and it lay for signature
in his office. Many of the Catholics signed it without even reading it,
for there was a short paragraph prefixed to the document which contained
all the information they seemed to desire.
"GENTLEMEN,--The aspirations of a great number of our Catholic and
patriotic fellow-citizens are expressed in the resolution which we have
the honour of laying before you. They felt that under present
circumstances such a resolution was necessary, and they feel convinced
that if you give it your support, as they do not doubt you will, knowing
your patriotism, your religious zeal, and your love for our august
sovereign, it will conduce to the happiness of France, the maintenance
of the true religion, and the rightful authority of the king.
"We are, gentlemen, with respect, your very humble and obedient
servants, the President and Commissioners of the Catholic Assembly of
Nimes.
"(Signed):
"FROMENT, Commissioner
LAPIERRE, President
FOLACHER, "
LEVELUT, Commissioner
FAURE,
MELCHIOND, "
ROBIN, "
VIGNE, " "
At the same time a number of pamphlets, entitled Pierre Roman to the
Catholics of Nines, were distributed to the people in the streets,
containing among other attacks on the Protestants the following
passages:
"If the door to high positions and civil and military honours were
closed to the Protestants, and a powerful tribunal established at Nimes
to see that this rule were strictly kept, you would soon see
Protestantism disappear.
"The Protestants demand to share all the privileges which you enjoy, but
if you grant them this, their one thought will then be to dispossess you
entirely, and they will soon succeed.
"Like ungrateful vipers, who in a torpid state were harmless, they will
when warmed by your benefits turn and kill you.
"They are your born enemies: your fathers only escaped as by a miracle
from their blood-stained hands. Have you not often heard of the
cruelties practised on them? It was a slight thing when the Protestants
inflicted death alone, unaccompanied by the most horrible tortures. Such
as they were such they are."
It may easily be imagined that such attacks soon embittered minds
already disposed to find new causes for the old hatred, and besides the
Catholics did not long confine themselves to resolutions and pamphlets.
Froment, who had already got himself appointed Receiver-General of the
Chapter and captain of one of the Catholic companies, insisted on being
present at the installation of the Town Council, and brought his company
with him armed with pitchforks, in spite of the express prohibition of
the colonel of the legion. These forks were terrible weapons, and had
been fabricated in a particular form for the Catholics of Nimes, Uzes,
and Alais. But Froment and his company paid no attention to the
prohibition, and this disobedience made a great impression on the
Protestants, who began to divine the hostility of their adversaries, and
it is very possible that if the new Town Council had not shut their eyes
to this act of insubordination, civil war might have burst forth in
Nimes that very day.
The next day, at roll-call, a sergeant of another company, one Allien, a
cooper by trade, taunted one of the men with having carried a pitchfork
the day before, in disobedience to orders. He replied that the mayor had
permitted him to carry it; Allien not believing this, proposed to some
of the men to go with him to the mayor's and ask if it were true. When
they saw M. Marguerite, he said that he had permitted nothing of the
kind, and sent the delinquent to prison. Half an hour later, however, he
gave orders for his release.
As soon as he was free he set off to find his comrades, and told them
what had occurred: they, considering that an insult to one was an insult
to the whole company, determined on having satisfaction at once, so
about eleven o'clock P.M. they went to the cooper's house, carrying with
them a gallows and ropes ready greased. But quietly as they approached,
Allien heard them, for his door being bolted from within had to be
forced. Looking out of the window, he saw a great crowd, and as he
suspected that his life was in danger, he got out of a back window into
the yard and so escaped. The militia being thus disappointed, wreaked
their vengeance on some passing Protestants, whose unlucky stars had led
them that way; these they knocked about, and even stabbed one of them
three times with a knife.
On the 22nd April, 1790, the royalists--that is to say, the
Catholics--assumed the white cockade, although it was no longer the
national emblem, and on the 1st May some of the militia who had planted
a maypole at the mayor's door were invited to lunch with him. On the
2nd, the company which was on guard at the mayor's official residence
shouted several times during the day, "Long live the king! Up with the
Cross and down with the black throats!" (This was the name which they
had given to the Calvinists.) "Three cheers for the white cockade!
Before we are done, it will be red with the blood of the Protestants!"
However, on the 5th of May they ceased to wear it, replacing it by a
scarlet tuft, which in their patois they called the red pouf, which was
immediately adopted as the Catholic emblem.
Each day as it passed brought forth fresh brawls and provocations:
libels were invented by the Capuchins, and spread abroad by three of
their number. Meetings were held every day, and at last became so
numerous that the town authorities called in the aid of the
militia-dragoons to disperse them. Now these gatherings consisted
chiefly of those tillers of the soil who are called cebets, from a
Provencal word cebe, which means "onion," and they could easily be
recognised as Catholics by their red pouf, which they wore both in and
out of uniform. On the other hand, the dragoons were all Protestants.
However, these latter were so very gentle in their admonitions, that
although the two parties found themselves, so to speak, constantly face
to face and armed, for several days the meetings were dispersed without
bloodshed. But this was exactly what the cebets did not want, so they
began to insult the dragoons and turn them into ridicule. Consequently,
one morning they gathered together in great numbers, mounted on asses,
and with drawn swords began to patrol the city.
At the same time, the lower classes, who were nearly all Catholics,
joined the burlesque patrols in complaining loudly of the dragoons, some
saying that their horses had trampled on their children, and others that
they had frightened their wives.
The Protestants contradicted them, both parties grew angry, swords were
half drawn, when the municipal authorities came on the scene, and
instead of apprehending the ringleaders, forbade the dragoons to patrol
the town any more, ordering them in future to do nothing more than send
twenty men every day to mount guard at the episcopal palace and to
undertake no other duty except at the express request of the Town
Council. Although it was expected that the dragoons would revolt against
such a humiliation, they submitted, which was a great disappointment to
the cebets, who had been longing for a chance to indulge in new
outrages. For all that, the Catholics did not consider themselves
beaten; they felt sure of being able to find some other way of driving
their quarry to bay.
Sunday, the 13th of June, arrived. This day had been selected by the
Catholics for a great demonstration. Towards ten o'clock in the morning,
some companies wearing the red tuft, under pretext of going to mass,
marched through the city armed and uttering threats. The few dragoons,
on the other hand, who were on guard at the palace, had not even a
sentinel posted, and had only five muskets in the guard-house. At two
o'clock P.M. there was a meeting held in the Jacobin church, consisting
almost exclusively of militia wearing the red tuft. The mayor pronounced
a panegyric on those who wore it, and was followed by Pierre Froment,
who explained his mission in much the same words as those quoted above.
He then ordered a cask of wine to be broached and distributed among the
cebets, and told them to walk about the streets in threes, and to disarm
all the dragoons whom they might meet away from their post. About six
o'clock in the evening a red-tuft volunteer presented himself at the
gate of the palace, and ordered the porter to sweep the courtyard,
saying that the volunteers were going to get up a ball for the dragoons.
After this piece of bravado he went away, and in a few moments a note
arrived, couched in the following terms:
"The bishop's porter is warned to let no dragoon on horse or on foot
enter or leave the palace this evening, on pain of death.
"13th June 1790."
This note being brought to the lieutenant, he came out, and reminded the
volunteer that nobody but the town authorities could give orders to the
servants at the palace. The volunteer gave an insolent answer, the
lieutenant advised him to go away quietly, threatening if he did not to
put him out by force. This altercation attracted a great many of the
red-tufts from outside, while the dragoons, hearing the noise, came down
into the yard; the quarrel became more lively, stones were thrown, the
call to arms was heard, and in a few moments about forty cebets, who
were prowling around in the neighbourhood of the palace, rushed into the
yard carrying guns and swords. The lieutenant, who had only about a
dozen dragoons at his back, ordered the bugle to sound, to recall those
who had gone out; the volunteers threw themselves upon the bugler,
dragged his instrument from his hands, and broke it to pieces. Then
several shots were fired by the militia, the dragoons returned them, and
a regular battle began. The lieutenant soon saw that this was no mere
street row, but a deliberate rising planned beforehand, and realising
that very serious consequences were likely to ensue, he sent a dragoon
to the town hall by a back way to give notice to the authorities.
M de Saint-Pons, major of the Nimes legion, hearing some noise outside,
opened his window, and found the whole city in a tumult: people were
running in every direction, and shouting as they ran that the dragoons
were being killed at the palace. The major rushed out into the streets
at once, gathered together a dozen to fifteen patriotic citizens without
weapons, and hurried to the town hall: There he found two officials of
the town, and begged them to go at once to the place de l'Eveche,
escorted by the first company, which was on guard at the town hall. They
agreed, and set off. On the way several shots were fired at them, but no
one was hit. When they arrived at the square, the cebets fired a volley
at them with the same negative result. Up the three principal streets
which led to the palace numerous red-tufts were hurrying; the first
company took possession of the ends of the streets, and being fired at
returned the fire, repulsing the assailants and clearing the square,
with the loss of one of their men, while several of the retreating
cebets were wounded.
While this struggle was going on at the palace, the spirit of murder
broke loose in the town.
At the gate of the Madeleine, M. de Jalabert's house was broken into by
the red-tufts; the unfortunate old man came out to meet them and asked
what they wanted. "Your life and the lives of all the other dogs of
Protestants!" was the reply. Whereupon he was seized and dragged through
the streets, fifteen insurgents hacking at him with their swords.
At last he managed to escape from their hands, but died two days later
of his wounds.
Another old man named Astruc, who was bowed beneath the weight of
seventy-two years and whose white hair covered his shoulders, was met as
he was on his way to the gate of Carmes. Being recognised as a
Protestant, he received five wounds from some of the famous pitchforks
belonging to the company of Froment. He fell, but the assassins picked
him up, and throwing him into the moat, amused themselves by flinging
stones at him, till one of them, with more humanity than his fellows,
put a bullet through his head.
Three electors--M. Massador from near Beaucaire, M. Vialla from the
canton of Lasalle, and M. Puech of the same place-were attacked by
red-tufts on their way home, and all three seriously wounded. The
captain who had been in command of the detachment on guard at the
Electoral Assembly was returning to his quarters, accompanied by a
sergeant and three volunteers of his own company, when they were stopped
on the Petit-Cours by Froment, commonly called Damblay, who, pressing
the barrel of a pistol to the captain's breast, said, "Stand, you
rascal, and give up your arms." At the same time the red-tufts, seizing
the captain from behind by the hair, pulled him down. Froment fired his
pistol, but missed. As he fell the captain drew his sword, but it was
torn from his hands, and he received a cut from Froment's sword. Upon
this the captain made a great effort, and getting one of his arms free,
drew a pistol from his pocket, drove back his assassins, fired at
Froment, and missed him. One of the men by his side was wounded and
disarmed.
A patrol of the regiment of Guienne, attached to which was M. Boudon, a
dragoon officer, was passing the Calquieres. M. Boudon was attacked by a
band of red-tufts and his casque and his musket carried off. Several
shots were fired at him, but none of them hit him; the patrol surrounded
him to save him, but as he had received two bayonet wounds, he desired
revenge, and, breaking through his protectors, darted forward to regain
possession of his musket, and was killed in a moment. One of his fingers
was cut off to get at a diamond ring which he wore, his pockets were
rifled of his purse and watch, and his body was thrown into the moat.
Meantime the place-des-Recollets, the Cours, the place-des-Carmes, the
Grand-Rue, and rue de Notre Dame-de-l'Esplanade were filled with men
armed with guns, pitchforks, and swords. They had all come from
Froment's house, which overlooked that part of Nimes called Les
Calquieres, and the entrance to which was on the ramparts near the
Dominican Towers. The three leaders of the insurrection--Froment.
Folacher, and Descombiez--took possession of these towers, which formed
a part of the old castle; from this position the Catholics could sweep
the entire quay of Les Calquieres and the steps of the Salle de
Spectacle with their guns, and if it should turn out that the
insurrection they had excited did not attain the dimensions they
expected nor gain such enthusiastic adherents, it would be quite
feasible for them to defend themselves in such a position until relief
came.
These arrangements were either the result of long meditation or were the
inspiration of some clever strategist. The fact is that everything leads
one to believe that it was a plan which had been formed with great care,
for the rapidity with which all the approaches to the fortress were
lined with a double row of militiamen all wearing the red tuft, the care
which was taken to place the most eager next the barracks in which the
park of artillery was stationed, and lastly, the manner in which the
approach to the citadel was barred by an entire company (this being the
only place where the patriots could procure arms), combine to prove that
this plan was the result of much forethought; for, while it appeared to
be only defensive, it enabled the insurrectionists to attack without
much, danger; it caused others to believe that they had been first
attacked. It was successfully carried out before the citizens were
armed, and until then only a part of the foot guard and the twelve
dragoons at the palace had offered any resistance to the conspirators.
The red flag round which, in case of civil war, all good citizens were
expected to gather, and which was kept at the town hall, and which
should have been brought out at the first shot, was now loudly called
for. The Abbe de Belmont, a canon, vicar-general, and municipal
official, was persuaded, almost forced, to become standard-bearer, as
being the most likely on account of his ecclesiastical position to awe
rebels who had taken up arms in the name of religion. The abbe himself
gives the following account of the manner in which he fulfilled this
mandate:
"About seven o'clock in the evening I was engaged with MM. Porthier and
Ferrand in auditing accounts, when we heard a noise in the court, and
going out on the lobby, we saw several dragoons coming upstairs, amongst
whom was M. Paris. They told us that fighting was going on in the place
de-l'Eveche, because some one or other had brought a note to the porter
ordering him to admit no more dragoons to the palace on pain of death.
At this point I interrupted their story by asking why the gates had not
been closed and the bearer of the letter arrested, but they replied to
me that it had not been possible; thereupon MM. Ferrand and Ponthier put
on their scarfs and went out.
"A few instants later several dragoons, amongst whom I recognised none
but MM. Lezan du Pontet, Paris junior, and Boudon, accompanied by a
great number of the militia, entered, demanding that the red flag should
be brought out. They tried to open the door of the council hall, and
finding it locked, they called upon me for the key. I asked that one of
the attendants should be sent for, but they were all out; then I went to
the hall-porter to see if he knew where the key was. He said M. Berding
had taken it. Meanwhile, just as the volunteers were about to force an
entrance, someone ran up with the key. The door was opened, and the red
flag seized and forced into my hands. I was then dragged down into the
courtyard, and from thence to the square.
"It was all in vain to tell them that they ought first to get authority,
and to represent to them that I was no suitable standard-bearer on
account of my profession; but they would not listen to any objection,
saying that my life depended upon my obedience, and that my profession
would overawe the disturbers of the public peace. So I went on, followed
by a detachment of the Guienne regiment, part of the first company of
the legion, and several dragoons; a young man with fixed bayonet kept
always at my side. Rage was depicted on the faces of all those who
accompanied me, and they indulged in oaths and threats, to which I paid
no attention.
"In passing through the rue des Greffes they complained that I did not
carry the red flag high enough nor unfurl it fully. When we got to the
guardhouse at the Crown Gate, the guard turned out, and the officer was
commanded to follow us with his men. He replied that he could not do
that without a written order from a member of the Town Council.
Thereupon those around me told me I must write such an order, but I
asked for a pen and ink; everybody was furious because I had none with
me. So offensive were the remarks indulged in by the volunteers and some
soldiers of the Guienne regiment, and so threatening their gestures,
that I grew alarmed. I was hustled and even received several blows; but
at length M. de Boudon brought me paper and a pen, and I wrote:--'I
require the troops to assist us to maintain order by force if
necessary.' Upon this, the officer consented to accompany us. We had
hardly taken half a dozen steps when they all began to ask what had
become of the order I had just written, for it could not be found. They
surrounded me, saying that I had not written it at all, and I was on the
point of being trampled underfoot, when a militiaman found it all
crumpled up in his pocket. The threats grew louder, and once more it was
because I did not carry the flag high enough, everyone insisting that I
was quite tall enough to display it to better advantage.
"However, at this point the militiamen with the red tufts made their
appearance, a few armed with muskets but the greater number with swords;
shots were exchanged, and the soldiers of the line and the National
Guard arranged themselves in battle order, in a kind of recess, and
desired me to go forward alone, which I refused to do, because I should
have been between two fires.
"Upon this, curses, threats, and blows reached their height. I was
dragged out before the troops and struck with the butt ends of their
muskets and the flat of their swords until I advanced. One blow that I
received between the shoulders filled my mouth with blood.
"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."