tween the French court and the allied
sovereigns, prohibited the advance of the foreign troops beyond the line
of territory already occupied, and traced by the course of the Loire,
and by the Rhone, below the Ardeche. In violation of this treaty, 4000
Austrians entered Nismes on the 24th of August; under pretence of making
room for them, French troops, bearing the _feudal_ title of Royal
Chasseurs, followed by the murdering bands of the Trestaillons and
Quatretaillons, who continued their march to Alais, where a fair was to
be held, and carried disorder and alarm into all the communes on that
route. Nothing now was heard but denunciations of fusillading, burning,
razing, and annihilating; and while the catholics were feasting and
murdering at Nismes, the flames of the country houses of the
protestants, rising one hundred feet in the air, rendered the spectacle
still more awful and alarming. Unfortunately, some of the peasants,
falsely charged with the murder of two protestants, were brought to
Nismes while the prefect was celebrating the fete of St. Louis. At a
splendid dinner given to the Austrian commanders, and even without
quitting the table, it appears, that the French prefect placed the fate
and fortune of these unfortunate prisoners at the disposal of Count
Stahremberg, who, of course, believing the representations made to him
ordered the accused to be immediately shot. To mortify and exhaust the
protestant communes, the Austrians were directed to occupy them, where
they completely disarmed the inhabitants without the least opposition.
In fact, these foreigners were soon undeceived. They expected to meet
the most perfidious and brutal enemies in arms, and in open rebellion
against their king; but, on the contrary, they found them all in peace,
and experienced the most kind and respectful treatment; and though their
duty was a most vexatious and oppressive one, they performed it in
general with moderation. On this account they could not refrain from
expressing their astonishment at the reports made to them by the
authorities at Nismes, declaring, "They had found a population suffering
great misfortunes, but no rebels; and that compassion was the only
feeling that prevailed in their minds." The commander himself was so
convinced of the good disposition of the people of the Cevennes, that he
visited those districts without an escort, desiring, he said, to travel
in that country as he would in his own. Such confidence