Star.
London, England, 1815-12-25 00:00:00

- __l___ - -' ----

much cruelty towards the Royal Volunteers, and re-
organize it in concert with the Municipal Council.
The Revolutioniste
in
this propesition.—
Eight days were spent s deceitful negotiations, and
vexations continued to be committed on the Royalists
at Nismes. •
In the night between the 16th and 17th of July,
three hundred volunteers marched from Beancaire to
Nimes. without permission, and without arms. The
p-nple j •ined them, and the Urban Guard was dis.
armed. They demanded that they should be appoin-
ted to guard the artillery, fearing that it might be ,
delivered up to General Gilly, who had returned
with his cavalry, and taken a position about two
leagues from Nismes. This demand appeared to be
conceded ; but when the Volunteers approached the
Barracks, in order to receiv:: the cannon, they were
fired at.
The tocsin was immediately sounded in the town
and the neighbouring Communes, and notwithstand-
ing the vigorous resistance of the troops and the Fe-
tl:rates, the Barracks were forced. •
A courier was then sent from the Mayoralty to
Beaucaire for assistance. He arrived at midnight,
and the succour was forwarded next morning, but
that was too late to prevent the disorder. Ten thou- I
sand peasants had arrived at Nismes during
,the
night. The mass of the people had armed against
the Bonapartists. They were exasperated by all they
had suffered, and by the movements in the Protestant
counties, which, encouraged by the practice of Ge. 4
neral Gilly, threatened to attack Nimes.
The disorder was of long duration. Houses were
destroyed both in the town and the country, and in
the course of six weeks thirty persons perished, but
they were solely the victims of their imprudent con-
duct, their seditious cries, or the private vengeance i
of those they had recently maltreated. The num-
ber was composed of thirteen Catholics and seventeen
Protestants, all of the lowest order, and noted for re-
vulutionary violence.
From this picture, equally faithful and afflicting,
of the misfortunes and crimes of which the Depart-
ment of Gard has been the victim since the commence-
ment of the Revolution, it will be seen thzt the
Royalists have always been cruelly oppressed since
that epoch ; that the excesses to which they were ex-
posed after the disbanding of La Palod were the
more criminal as no provocation had been given on
their part ; that they were thus cruelly treated be-
cause they had risked their lives and fortunes, anti
abandoned their wives and children, in order to de-
fend the royal cause ; that the persecution fell more
directly on the numerous class of the lower order.
who could not escape from it by espstriating them-
selves ; that these unfortunate people never obtained
justice for the assassinations committed upon them ;
and that it was the desire of justice uncibtained which
producing exasperation and ferocity, instigated them
to reprisals extremely culpable, though trifling iti pro-
portion with the persecutions they had endured. ft
ought also to be recollected, that the Protestants con-
tinned in a state of hostility up to the 25th of Au-
gust ; that even on that day they fought against the
royal troops united with the Austrians; and that
every popularcominotion or movement of the volun-
teers was occasioned by hostilities, provocazions, or
seditious cries en the part of the Bonapartists.
On the Bth of this month the Royalist National
Guild passing the town of Calvissun, in older to
hum part of the troops which were to he drao n up
to receive the Prince, cried taut Vive le !
bas Bonaparte !" "L'hLy were replied to by the cries
of 66 A has les Brigands !" and 66 we will r-nrcrnber
you in the evening." On their return they were at-
, tacked by the populace. The tocsin was rung, and
J the alarm repeated by the bells of the adjoining corm-
' try. One Royalist was killed and several were wow'.
ded ; but nu authority declatel the town of Cavis.
son guilty of this disorder, or made the inhabitants
resfunsible for it. This affair, however, produced
the greatest fermentation at Nismes, where the at:-
rival of the news, joined to the provocation of some
women wearing sprigs of laurel, in celebration of
this victory of Calvisson, led to the event of the 12th.
It is not pretended to palliate that disorder. The
violent interruption of the Protestant worship was A
serious offence, and though only committed by an as-
semblage of women and children, deserves not the
less an exemplary punishment.
The assassination of Count Lagarde was the work
of a ruffian to whom the multitude furnished the
opportunity of perpetrating a crime which he doubt.
less had basely premeditated. It spread consterna-
tion through the whole town. The virtues and dis-
tinguished qualities of Gen. Lagarde had gained hint
the love and esteem of all who knew him, and the
general respect of the public. When General Ra-
mel perished at Toulouse, he was the victim of a
popular commotion, but a single individual raised
his hand against General Lagarde. No one aided
the assassin ; no one protected him : he was the only
man on the spot where he cbmmitted the crime; and
the women who surrounded him would doubtless have
arrested him, had it not been for the rapidity of his
flight, and the terror with which they were impressed
by an event so alarming and unexpected.
An Ordinance of the King, dated the 21st of No-
vember, directs, that proceedings shall without delay
be instituted agaiust the authors of the assassination
committed en General Lagarde, and the promoters
and abettors of the riot which took place at Nismes.
Dispositions were also made for the quartering a suf-
ficient number of troops on the inhabitailti of Nismes,
to live at their expence until the assassin and his ac-
complices should be brought to trial. A Repo: tof
the names of such of the inhabitants as wished to
avoid forming part of the National Guard was also
required.
Au exact knowledge of the situation and disposi-
tionwmlaioy
looeicoltfuah
stet
the
t aeni nnsl,saioalgpb,
riictiansindcci
eaodnitei
sflpuir ovsrne.aett guide
conflagration
Kntithethroughout
euapplica-
tioncgothieodtlsre atrspark
th,
sources of every kind, which its perfect devotedness j
ll
ined,
fhtc, 1
sae,
moved
obeetedti
every
avetemnereneytrat
character
manage
nieafs
sacrifice
entirely
gsrbehiagyiimidemc§neheaoei
yFsaurf
(011:h:1r:diens sibsitidr:taeearKcatiidentntierendimngtimpassioned,ni
ds
trheea
dsybp
Spa-
nish tot.
would afford him in the present circumstances. The j
hi
is
ow
o
n
mhfnrielfmeiltsliesihaarairmbyt
is lneility, aofnowidrs
his King. Let the representatives of the Prince go-
, vern bins by his feelings, and he will accomplish more
than wtriuthcteictuobAgary
thirty years of the cruelty
LS
•