The Arrival Of King Louis Xviii At Paris
This was known at Nismes on the 13th of April, 1814. In a quarter of an
hour, the white cockade was seen in every direction, the white flag
floated on the public buildings, on the splendid monuments of antiquity,
and even on the tower of Mange, beyond the city walls. The protestants,
whose commerce had suffered materially during the war, were among the
first to unite in the general joy, and to send in their adhesion to the
/>
senate, and the legislative body; and several of the protestant
departments sent addresses to the throne, but unfortunately, M. Froment
was again at Nismes at the moment when many bigots being ready to join
him, the blindness and fury of the sixteenth century rapidly succeeded
the intelligence and philanthropy of the nineteenth. A line of
distinction was instantly traced between men of different religious
opinions; the spirit of the old catholic church was again to regulate
each person's share of esteem and safety. The difference of religion was
now to govern every thing else; and even catholic domestics who had
served protestants with zeal and affection, began to neglect their
duties, or to perform them ungraciously, and with reluctance. At the
fetes and spectacles that were given at the public expense, the absence
of the protestants was charged on them as a proof of their disloyalty;
and in the midst of the cries of "Vive le Roi," the discordant sounds
of "A bas le Maire," down with the mayor, were heard. M. Castletan was
a protestant; he appeared in public with the prefect M. Ruland, a
catholic, when potatoes were thrown at him, and the people declared that
he ought to resign his office. The bigots of Nismes even succeeded in
procuring an address to be presented to the king, stating that there
ought to be in France but one God, one king, and one faith. In this they
were imitated by the catholics of several towns.