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    tfee walls , effigies , insnlts in the streets , brutal cries muter their windows a » d obscene and sanguinary song's at the doors of their temples . Every thing portended an explosion of fanatic ftuy , when Napoleon again appeared upon

    the stage . This was a critical state of things for the Protestants ^ but they acted witfh uniform and signal prudence , and if in any thing they shewed weakness , it was in their

    inffifference to public affairs . They were the last to renounce and the first to welcome again the Bourbons ; and , secure in their innocence , l&ey took the good that was before them , like the Iamb that " riot dooms to

    bleed : " €€ Pleased to the last , he crops the ilow ' ry food , And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood /*

    In the quick and disorderly changes of dynasty , some outrages were committed by the military or upon them , and these were at once charged upon the Protestants , inanv of whom

    suffered , under accusations now admitted to have been unjust . Stronger testimony to their innocence cannot be adduced than was presented to the Chamber of Deputies , in a debate on a petition relating to this affair , April

    25 , 1820 . ** On that occasion M . St . Aulaire , one of the deputies from the department of the Gard , the father-in 4 aw-of M . Decazes , and in constant and intimate relations with his Majesty Louis XV 11 I ., made the following , declaration :

    " When the crimes of 1815 were committed , a general sentiment of indignation ought to have been expressed against such atrocities ; but the party of which I speak , pretended , for a loug time , to -deny their existence , and endeavoured to have it believed , that the crimes of 1815

    were only the effect , of * the reprisals of cruelties coin nj it ted in the 100 days . This allegation is destroyed by facts . During the 100 days , not a drop of blood puts shed in the department of the Gard . I mistake ; three volunteers were massacred at Arpaillargues , but they were

    lulled with arms in their hands , and contending also against an armed force . , 1 do not pretend to say that there is a conspiracy , but there is , a sort of league , and I employ this word , because it describes , to the life , the state of the department . ' , *—P , 163 , Note . The re-establifthment of the authority

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    of the Bourbons . at Nismes was tke signal for tfee brutal persecutors to seize their prey . They began with wouading or killing two hundred unarmed soldiers , and having gone from

    house to house , taking away arms from the Protestants , they considered themselves ready for their great work . The detail of the horrors that ensued fills many pages : we caa give only a specimen or two :

    " Another party committed a dreadful murder at St . C 6 zaire , adjoining Nismes . Inibert dit La Plume , the husband of Suzou Chivas , afraid for his life , had retired to this village , where he hoped he might safely take refuge with a relation . His security was , however , of sh ^ rt

    duration . On the 17 th or 18 th of July he was met , on returning from work in the fields , by one of the bands who were spreading death and devastation . He was immediately seized , and treated with the greatest brutality . He implored mercy , and threw himself before the

    captain , entreating him to spare his life . The chief promised him protection , and assured him that he should be safely conducted to the prison of Nismes . Inibert readily consented to follow ; but it was in vain ; their ill-usage continued , and he saw that they were determined to

    kill him * He was a powerful and courageous man , and resuming his natural character , he advanced , aud exclaimed , 4 You are brigands , fire ! ' Four of them fired , and he fell ; but he was not yet dead , and while living they mutilated his

    body , and then , passing a cord round it , they drew it along , attached to a cannon , of which they had possession ; and thus , his head striking against the brass , the poor wretch endured , before he expired , the most frightful tortures . Monnet , Prad , Same , Combe , and Milan £ s of

    Bernis , were the assassins . " It was not till after eight days that his relatives were apprized of his death . His widow then went to Ce * zaire , to gam information , and reclaim the body , but she learned that a worthy proprietor of the village had kindly given it sepulture .

    " The miseries of the family of Chivas , of which Imbert was a member , have revolted all France . Five individuals of this family , aQ husbands and fathers , were massacred in the coarse of a few days ; and they furnish a specimen of the Nismes

    crimes and horrors with which Was so long visited . I saw the fiye widows of these murdered -P rotestants in their habiliments of mourning' I heard their sobs , and witnessed tflfrr tears ana anguish , as they related to me , untiUMf the minuteness and emotion of recent

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    672 RwievB . ' U - ~ fiTilkss Persecutions * £ the Protestwef&rtmce

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1821, page 672, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2506/page/40/