Under such circumstances the guns go off of their own accord. - On
a sudden alarm at Uz?s[2] the Catholics, two thousand in number,
take possession of the bishop's palace and the H?tel-de-Ville; while
the Protestants, numbering four hundred, assemble outside the walls
on the esplanade, and pass the night under arms, each troop
persuaded that the other is going to massacre it, one party
summoning the Catholics of Jal?s to its aid, and the other the
Protestants of Gardonnenque. - There is but one way of avoiding
civil war between parties in such an attitude, and that is the
ascendancy of an energetic third party, impartial and on the spot.
A plan to this effect, which promises well, is proposed by the
military commandant of Languedoc.[3] According to him the two
firebrands are, on the one hand, the bishops of Lower Languedoc, and
on the other, MM. Rabaut-Saint-Etienne, father and two sons, all
three being pastors. Let them be responsible "with their heads" for
any mob, insurrection, or attempt to debauch the army; let a
tribunal of twelve judges be selected from the municipal bodies of
twelve towns, and all delinquents be brought before it; let this be
the court of final appeal, and its sentence immediately executed.
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