The fermentation is frightful. Four thousand of the
Protestants of Montauban take flight; armed cities are about to
contend with each other, as formerly in Italy. It is necessary that
a commissioner of the National Assembly and of the King, Mathieu
Dumas, should be dispatched to harangue the people of Montauban,
obtain the release of the prisoners, and re-establish order.
One month after this a more bloody affray takes place at N?mes[5]
against the Catholics. The Protestants, in fact, are but twelve
thousand out of fifty-four thousand inhabitants, but the principal
trade of the place is in their hands; they hold the manufactories
and support thirty thousand workmen; in the elections of 1789 they
furnished five out of the eight deputies. The sympathies of that
time were in their favor; nobody then imagined that the dominant
Church was exposed to any risk. It is to be attacked in its turn,
and the two parties are seen confronting each other. - The
Catholics sign a petition,[6] hunt up recruits among the market-
gardeners of the suburbs, retain the white cockade, and, when this
is prohibited, replace it with a red rosette, another sign of
recognition.
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