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1816 ; at that epoch , though the government was employed in bringing the department under the empire of the laws , the same men continued in the public functions , and M . d ? Arbaud Jouques remained prefect . The society called Royal ,
and its secret committee , maintained a power superior to the laws . It was not possible to procure the condemnation of an assassin , of whose crime the evidence was incontestible , and for whom , in other times , there would have been no hope of escape . The invisible power by which
Nismes was oppressed , was revealed to me in all its horror . The Truphemys , &c . &c , appeared in public , wearing immense moustaches , and their cockades embroidered with green , which they have not yet abandoned ( IB 18 ) . Like the brigands of Calabria , they had at their waist
a poniard and two pistols . Their appearance diffused an air of melancholy mixed with indignation . Even amidst the bustle of the day , there was the silence of fear , and the night was disturbed by atrocious songs , or African vociferations , Uike the sudden cries of ferocious beasts . A house near that in of
which I resided was ^ the a club , dependant on that central society , which , without powers , governed Nismes . Over the door was inscribed Societe Royale , and the motto in the style of the committee of public safety , was , * The Bourbons or Death I * It was . rare for
Protestants to appear in public . I have seen them driven from the promenades by a brutal and arrogant populace . Even at that period , the Protestants dared not exercise their calling . Heterodox
workmen were not permitted to gain their bread . I have seen pious porters pursue their Protestant comrades with stones , drive them from the street , and not suffer respectable bales to be touched by polluted hands .
< c c The faithful , remembering the plagues of Egypt , had marked their houses with the sign of the cross . Those without this sign were designated to Trestaiilon and his familiers . Their zeal had not neglected to purge also the sanctuary of justice . The faction , every
where dominant , put in requisition the judges . There was no security for them ; and so far was there from being tranquillity in the court , which ought to have been iuviolable , that two different times , while defending the Protestants , 1 was
insulted , openly menaced , and even forced to abandon my clients . Deprived of all support from the administration , it was necessary thus to concede , to save the prisoners from the certain dangers which would have followed the proof of their innocence .
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" 'On the 10 th July , 1816 , 1 defended a man whom . it was impossible to reproach . I established his innocence by certain and unanswerable testimony ; but the persecutors were the more determined on his condemnation , as he belonged to
Nismes ; and as they wanted a judicial act to accredit a lie , for ever repeated * that the Protestants of Nismes had ill treated the royal volunteers . ' I proved that , on the contrary , to several of these volunteers he had rendered particul ar services . It was necessary to oppose my
evidence ; my voice was drowned : I was abused , threatened , and clenched fists announced the decision of the populace . A witness thus brought against me was a simple labourer ; but that day he wore a sword , and menaced me with it in full assembly . All was suspended :
the President exposed to me the danger of a contest . The audience was composed almost entirely of the faithful horde ; and I remarked among them the famous Truphemy . Thus fell the accused ; but his
innocence was so formal and indisputable , that the procureur-geniral afterwards obtained the reversion of his sentence , or rather his full pardon . I have mentioned this circumstance to prove what must have been the terror in 1815 , if so much
remained at the expiration of a year . — Pp . 556—559 . Two questions will here be put by the reader : What has become of the wretches whose hands were so deeply stained with blood ? And , What is the present condition of the Protestants in the South of France ?
To the first of these , Mr . Wilks shall answer : " Ten Protestants have suffered death for a pretended crime at this place ( Arpaillargues ) ; while not one of the butchers or assassins of Nismes or Uz&s , not
even Treataillon , or Quatretaillon , have received the slighest punishment . Trestaillon 1 saw walking on the esplanade of Nismes , perfectly comfortable and confident , and Quatretaillon , when 1 was at Uz £ s , was garde champ £ rre to a loyal gentleman in that neighbourhood . "—P .
153 . But he adds , in a note to this passage , written at a later date , " Since this was written , two of the most notorious murderers of Nismes ,
have been tried . Servant was fpund . guilty , and guillotined . Truph ^ my was equally found guilty , but the court of Cassation annulled the sentence , on a point of form . Truphe * my was again tried—the ladies of Nismes made a col-
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6 ? 8 Review . —Wilhtfs Persecutions of the Protestants , of France .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1821, page 678, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2506/page/46/
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