a
merchant, and then, spreading over the country, pillage and slay
among the country houses.--In vain has the commandant of the place, M.
Dumerbion, entreated the municipality to proclaim martial law. Not only
does it refuse, but it enjoins him to order one-half of his troops
back to their barracks. By way of an offset, it sets free a number
of soldiers condemned to the galleys, and all that are confined for
insubordination.--Henceforth every shadow of discipline vanishes,
and, in the following month, murders multiply. M. de Possel, a navy
administrator, is taken from his dwelling, and a rope is passed around
his neck; he is saved just in time by a bombardier, the secretary of
the club. M. Senis, caught in his country-house, is hung on the Place du
Vieux Palais. Desidery, a captain in the navy, the cure of La Valette,
and M. de Sacqui des Thourets, are beheaded in the suburbs, and their
beads are brought into town on the ends of three poles. M. de Flotte
d'Argenson, vice-admiral, a man of Herculean stature, of such a grave
aspect, and so austere that he is nicknamed the "Pere Eternel" is
treacherously enticed to the entrance of the Arsenal, where he sees the
lantern already dropping; he seizes a gun, defends himself; yields
to numbers, and after having been slashed with sabers, is hung. M. de
Rochemaure, a major-general of marines, is likewise sabred and hung in
the same manner; a main artery in the neck, severed by the blow of the
saber, spouts blood from the corpse and forms a pool on the pavement;
Barry, one of the executioners, washes his hands in it and sprinkles
the by-standers as if bestowing a blessing on them.--Barry, Lemaille,
Jassaud, Sylvestre, and other leading assassins, the new kings of
Toulon, sufficiently resemble those of Paris. Add to these a certain
Figon, who gives audience in his garret, straightens out social
inequalities, forces the daughters of large farmers to marry poor
republicans, and rich young men to marry prostitutes,[32105] and, taking
the lists furnished by the club or neighboring municipalities, ransoming
all the well-to-do and opulent persons inscribed on them. In order that
the portraiture of the band may be complete, it must be noted that,
on the 23rd of August, it attempted to set free the 1800 convicts; the
latter, not comprehending that they were wanted for political allies,
did not dare sally forth, or, at least, the reliable portion of the
National Guard arrived in time to put t