t with drums beating, the firing ceased, but
as night was coming on the new-comers did not dare to risk attacking, and
moreover the silence of the guns led them to think that the rebels had
given up their enterprise. Having remained an hour in the square, the
troops returned to their quarters, and the patriots went to pass the
night in an inclosure on the Montpellier road.

It almost seemed as if the Catholics were beginning to recognise the
futility of their plot; for although they had appealed to fanaticism,
forced the Town Council to do their will, scattered gold lavishly and
made wine flow, out of eighteen companies only three had joined them.
"Fifteen companies," said M. Alquier in his report to the National
Assembly, "although they had adopted the red tuft, took no part in the
struggle, and did not add to the number of crimes committed either on
that day or during the days that followed. But although the Catholics
gained few partisans among their fellow-citizens, they felt certain that
people from the country would rally to their aid; but about ten o'clock
in the evening the rebel ringleaders, seeing that no help arrived from
that quarter either, resolved to apply a stimulus to those without.
Consequently, Froment wrote the following letter to M. de Bonzols,
under-commandant of the province of Languedoc, who was living at Lunel:

"SIR, Up to the present all my demands, that the Catholic companies
should be put under arms, have been of no avail. In spite of the order
that you gave at my request, the officials of the municipality were of
opinion that it would be more prudent to delay the distribution of the
muskets until after the meeting of the Electoral Assembly. This day the
Protestant dragoons have attacked and killed several of our unarmed
Catholics, and you may imagine the confusion and alarm that prevail in
the town. As a good citizen and a true patriot, I entreat you to send an
order to the regiment of royal dragoons to repair at once to Nimes to
restore tranquillity and put down all who break the peace. The Town
Council does not meet, none of them dares to leave his house; and if you
receive no requisition from them just now, it is because they go in
terror of their lives and fear to appear openly. Two red flags have been
carried about the streets, and municipal officers without guards have
been obliged to take refuge in patriotic houses. Although I am only a
private citizen, I take the liberty of a