ds
already disposed to find new causes for the old hatred, and besides the
Catholics did not long confine themselves to resolutions and pamphlets.
Froment, who had already got himself appointed Receiver-General of the
Chapter and captain of one of the Catholic companies, insisted on being
present at the installation of the Town Council, and brought his company
with him armed with pitchforks, in spite of the express prohibition of
the colonel of the legion. These forks were terrible weapons, and had
been fabricated in a particular form for the Catholics of Nimes,
Uzes, and Alais. But Froment and his company paid no attention to
the prohibition, and this disobedience made a great impression on the
Protestants, who began to divine the hostility of their adversaries, and
it is very possible that if the new Town Council had not shut their
eyes to this act of insubordination, civil war might have burst forth in
Nimes that very day.

The next day, at roll-call, a sergeant of another company, one Allien, a
cooper by trade, taunted one of the men with having carried a pitchfork
the day before, in disobedience to orders. He replied that the mayor had
permitted him to carry it; Allien not believing this, proposed to some
of the men to go with him to the mayor's and ask if it were true. When
they saw M. Marguerite, he said that he had permitted nothing of the
kind, and sent the delinquent to prison. Half an hour later, however, he
gave orders for his release.

As soon as he was free he set off to find his comrades, and told them
what had occurred: they, considering that an insult to one was an insult
to the whole company, determined on having satisfaction at once, so
about eleven o'clock P.M. they went to the cooper's house, carrying with
them a gallows and ropes ready greased. But quietly as they approached,
Allien heard them, for his door being bolted from within had to be
forced. Looking out of the window, he saw a great crowd, and as he
suspected that his life was in danger, he got out of a back window into
the yard and so escaped. The militia being thus disappointed, wreaked
their vengeance on some passing Protestants, whose unlucky stars had led
them that way; these they knocked about, and even stabbed one of them
three times with a knife.

On the 22nd April, 1790, the royalists--that is to say, the
Catholics--assumed the white cockade, although it was no longer the
national emblem, and on the 1st May some of the militia w