But, even when the French government was resolved to bring the factions of the department of the Gard, under the laws, the same men continued to exercise the public functions. The society, called _Royale_, and its secret committee, maintained a power superior to the laws. It was impossible to procure the condemnation of an assassin though the evidence against him was incontestible, and for whom, in other times, there would have been no hope. The Truphemys, and others of his stamp, appeared in public, wearing immense mustachios, and white cockades embroidered with green. Like the brigands of Calabria, they had two pistols and a poignard at their waists. Their appearance diffused an air of melancholy mixed with indignation. Even amidst the bustle of the day there was the silence of fear, and the night was disturbed by atrocious songs, or vociferations like the sudden cry of ferocious wild beasts.
_Ultimate resolution of the Protestants at Nismes._
With respect to the conduct of the protestants, these highly outraged citizens, pushed to extremities by their persecutors, felt at length that they had only to choose the manner in which they were to perish. They unanimously determined that they would die fighting in their own defence. This firm attitude apprised their butchers that they could no longer murder with impunity. Every thing was immediately changed. Those, who for four years had filled others with terror, now felt it in their turn. They trembled at the force which men, so long resigned, found in despair, and their alarm was heightened when they heard that the inhabitants of the Cavennes, persuaded of the danger of their brethren, were marching to their assistance. But, without waiting for these reinforcements, the protestants appeared at night in the same order and armed in the same manner as their enemies. The others paraded the Boulevards, with their usual noise and fury, but the protestants remained silent and firm in the posts they had chosen. Three days these dangerous and ominous meetings continued; but the effusion of blood was prevented by the efforts of some worthy citizens distinguished by their rank and fortune. By sharing the dangers of the protestant population, they obtained the pardon of an enemy who now trembled while he menaced.
But though the protestants were modest in their demands, only asking present safety, and security for the future, they did not obtain above half of their requests. The dissolution of the National Guard at Nismes was owing to the prudence and firmness of M. Laine. The re-organization of the _Cour Royale_ was effected by M. Pasquier, then Keeper of the Seals; and these measures certainly ensured them a present safety but no more. M. Madier de Montgau, the generous champion of the protestants at Nismes, was officially summoned before the Court of Cassation at Paris, over which M. de Serre, Keeper of the Seals, presided, to answer for an alleged impropriety of conduct as a magistrate, in making those public appeals to the Chamber which saved the protestants, and increased the difficulties of renewing those persecutions of which he complained. The French attorney general demanded the erasure of his name from the list of magistrates, but this the court refused. Unfortunately since the law of elections in France has been changed, two of the bitterest enemies of the protestants had been chosen Deputies at Nismes. The future, therefore, is not without its dangers, and the condition of the persecuted may fluctuate with the slightest political alteration; but which, it is to be hoped, may be prevented from any acts that may again disgrace the catholic religion, by the powerful expression of the public mind, actuated with better principles, or by the interference of the protestant influence in this or other countries. Happily, since the year 1820, no fresh complaints have issued from the south of France on the score of religion.