56] 
ment, - But it was necessary to find 
a pretext for beginning, Emissaries 
were therefore dispatched into all 
the quarters of Paris, to persuade the 
curious and the idle, that, asthe pri- 
sonswere fullof aristocrats and sus- 
pected persons, and that the majority 
ofthe inhabitants were underthie ne- 
esssity of marching against the com- 
mon enemy, it would be dangerous 
toleave their wives and children to 
be massacred by thearistocrats, who 
had a design to escape from prison 
and deliver up the town to pillage, 
and all the horrors of which aristo- 
crats are supposed capable. Diffe- 
rent bands of assassins, though none 
of them very numerous, but all of 
them headed by some of the Mar- 
seillois, were sent to the different 
risons, Several carriages leaving 
Paris withsome of the exiled priests, 
were stopped at the barriers, and 
carried back to the abbey-prison, 
and the convent of the Carmelites, 
also employed as a prison. While 
the last of these unfortunate men 
were descending from a carriage, 
one of the assassins, pretending that 
he saw them making signs to the 
other prisoners, and that a general 
mutiny was _ intended, — imme- 
diately all of them, to the number 
of about twenty, were massacred. 
Until an example of murder be set, 
the multitude, however depraved 
and sanguinary, are backward to 
imbrue their hands in human blood. 
It was in order to overcome this 
Natural reluctance that the chiefs 
of conspiracy andassassination inall 
the stages of the revolution, as par-' 
ticularly on the 10th of August, 
carried about the heads of murdered 
persons upon pikes. Those heads 
acting like an electric shock, con- 
* In allusion to the words of our Saviour, John ch. xviii. ver. 4, 5. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1792. 
veyed a strong impression of the 
act of blood, and inspired a mo- 
mentary sympathy, and imitation 
of the murderers. The massacre 
of the priests, of whom bloody tro- 
phies were handed about through- 
out all Paris, served as a signal for 
beginning the work of carnage. In 
the convent of the Carmelites there 
were above'300 clergymen, unac- 
cused of any crime besides that of a 
regard to the oath they had taken 
to be faithful te the church and 
the monarchy, and many of them 
distinguished for learning, piety, 
and virtue. The Archbishop. of 
Arles, the Bishop of Beauvais, and 
the Bishop of Saintes, were the 
first who felt the stroke of assassina- 
tion. The scene of massacre was 
the garden of the convent, adjoin- 
ing to which was the chapel. A 
number of the ecclesiastics crowd- 
ed around the Bishop of Arles, 
anxious to preserve his life at the 
risk of their own; the furious as- 
sassins in the mean time calling out 
to know which was the Bishop, 
whom they considered as a leader 
and encourager of his order, in 
disobedience to government. The 
Bishop, unwilling to court a mo- 
mentary safety at the expence of 
his brethren, stepped forth from 
the throng, a willing victim to 
duty and honour*, and said, “I 
am he whom ye seek.”? The as- 
sassins seemed at first to be some- 
what struck with such serenity of 
character and dignity of conduct; 
but, to overcome this impression, 
one of them went behind him and 
struck of his hood. Having suf; 
fered other indignities and revil- 
ings, he was cut to pieces with 
sabres. The number of priests 
mas- 
