XIII. CHAP. served to redouble their activity, and guide their shot, which were directed with such unerring aim, that, after the flames had been two-and-forty times extinguished, it was burned to the ground. 1793. 90. Dreadful sufferings of the inhabitants. The ravages of the bombardment, however, increased the sufferings of the inhabitants, without diminishing their means of defence. The whole people without exception were engaged in the contest. Old men and children, women, and infirm, alike contributed to the support of the cause. Heroism became almost a habit. No sooner was a bomb seen traversing the air, than numbers hastened to the quarter where it was likely to fall, to extinguish the fuse before the explosion took place; and if they were fortunate enough to do so, the projectile was put into one of their own mortars, and sent back upon the enemy. If a conflagration broke out, a chain of hands was speedily formed, which conveyed water to the menaced spot. The whole male population was divided into two sections, of which one combated on the ramparts, and the other watched the fires which broke out, and bore provisions and ammunition to the batteries. The whole women were engaged in the arduous duties of tending the hospitals, and preparing bandages for the wounded. But, notwithstanding these heroic efforts, the immense numbers of the enemy enabled them to make alarming progress. The incessant assaults of the Republicans made them masters of the heights of St Croix, which commanded the city from a nearer position; and about the same time the reinforcements which arrived from the southern departments, now thoroughly roused by the efforts of the Convention, enabled the besiegers to cut off all communication between the inhabitants and the country, on which they had hitherto depended for provisions. Before the end of September fifty thousand men were assembled before the walls; and, notwithstanding the most rigid economy in the distribution of food, the pangs of want began to be severely felt. Shortly XIII. 1793. after, the garrison of Valenciennes arrived, and, by their CHAP. skill in the management of artillery, gave a fatal preponderance to the besieging force, while Couthon came up with twenty-five thousand rude mountaineers from the quarter of Auvergne. The hopes of the inhabitants had been chiefly rested on a diversion from the side of Savoy, where the Piedmontese troops were slowly assembling for offensive operations. But these expectations were cruelly disappointed. After a feeble irruption into the valley of St Jean de Maurienne, and some ephemeral success, the Sardinian army, as already noticed, was driven back in Sept. 30. disgrace to the foot of Mont Cenis. This disaster, coupled with the pressure of famine, now severely weakened the spirits of the besieged. Yet, though deserted by all the world, and assailed by a force which at length amounted to above sixty thousand men, the inhabitants nobly and resolutely maintained their defence. In vain the bombardment was continued with unexampled severity, and twenty-seven thousand bombs, five thousand shells, and eleven thousand red-hot shot, thrown into the city. Regardless of the iron storm, onehalf of the citizens manned the works, while the other half watched the flight of the burning projectiles, and carried water to the quarters where the conflagration broke forth.1 1 Lac. xi. iv.76. Jom. 107. Toul. iv. 191. Th. v. 513. 91. defence. But these efforts, however glorious, could not finally avert the stroke of fate. The Convention, irritated at Their heroic the slow progress of the siege, deprived Kellermann of the command, and ordered him to the bar of the Convention to give an account of his conduct, although his talent and energy in repelling the Piedmontese invasion had been the salvation of the Republic. The command of the besieging army was given to General Doppet, who received orders instantly to reduce Lyons by fire and sword. To quicken his operations, the savage Couthon, as commissioner of the Convention, was invested with a despotic authority over the generals, and he instantly 1793. 29th Sept. CHAP. resolved to carry Lyons by main force, and employ in the XIII. storm the whole sixty thousand men who were engaged in the siege. On the 29th September, a general attack was made by the new commander on the intrenchments of the besieged, the object of which was to force the fortified posts at the point of Perrache, near the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone. After an obstinate resistance, the batteries of St Foix, which commanded that important point, were carried by the Republicans; and the bridge of la Malatierre, which connected it with the opposite bank, was forced. No further intrenchments remained between the assailants and the city; the last moment of Lyons seemed at hand. But Précy hastened to the scene of danger at the head of a chosen band of citizens, and a conflict of the most violent kind ensued. In vain the Republican batteries enfiladed on three sides the column of the assailants; nothing could withstand their heroic valour. Torn on either flank by grape-shot, discharged at fifty yards' distance, the Royalists, headed by Précy, rushed forward, regained the intrenchments which had been lost, and drove back the Republicans from them into the plain of Perrache, as far as the bridge of la Malatierre, with the loss of two thousand men. But notwithstanding all his efforts, he could not prevent them from maintaining their ground on the bridge and heights of St Foix. A more fatal enemy, however, was steadily assailing them within the walls. Famine was consuming the strength of the besieged. approaches to the city were vigilantly guarded, means of subsistence were all but exhausted. For long 110. Ann. the women had renounced the use of bread, in order 410. Jom to reserve it for the combatants, but they were soon iv. 192. Th reduced to half a pound a-day of this humble fare. The Toul. iv. 79. remainder of the inhabitants lived on a scanty supply of Lam. Hist. oats, which was daily served out with the most rigid 155. economy from the public magazine. But even these 1 Lac. xi. 104, 108, Reg. xxxiii. v. 314, 315. Bot. i. 247. des Gir. vii. All the and the resources were at length exhausted; in the beginning of XIII. October, provisions of every kind had failed; and the CHAP. thirty Sections of Lyons, subdued by stern necessity, were compelled to nominate deputies to proceed to the hostile camp. 1793. his way lines. The brave Précy, however, even in this extremity, 92. disdained to submit. With generous devotion, he re- Précy forces solved to force his way, at the head of a chosen band, through the through the enemy's lines, and seek in foreign climes that besiegers freedom of which France had become unworthy. On the night of the 9th October, the heroic column, consisting of two thousand men, the flower of Lyons, set forth with their wives and children, and what little property they could save from the ruin of their fortunes. They began in two columns their perilous march, guided by the light of their burning habitations, amid the tears and blessings of those friends who remained behind. Scarcely had they set out, however, when a bomb fell into an ammunition-waggon, by the explosion of which great numbers were killed. Notwithstanding this disaster, the head of the column broke the division opposed to it, and forced its way through the lines of the besiegers. But an overwhelming force soon assailed the centre and rear. As they proceeded, they found themselves enveloped on every side; all the heights were lined with cannon, and the houses filled with soldiers; an indiscriminate massacre took place, in which men, women, and infants, alike perished; and of the whole who left Lyons, scarcely fifty forced their way with Précy into the Swiss territories. Précy himself remained in exile till 1814, when he re-entered France with Louis XVIII. He received no recompense or mark of distinction from the Bourbons for his glorious deeds, and not 1 Ann. Reg. even a stone marks his humble sepulchre in the country xxxiii. 410. which his heroism had adorned.1 In this, as in other par- Th. v. 315. ticulars, that ill-fated family too closely resembled their Lam. Hist. predecessors in misfortune, the Stuarts, of whom it was said 166. with equal truth and justice, that their "restoration was Lac. xi. 113. Jom.iv.194. des Gir. vii. 154 XIII. CHAP. truly accompanied by an act of oblivion and indemnity; but the oblivion was of their friends, the indemnity to their enemies." 1793. 93. tulates, and the Conven tion. Oct. 10. On the following day the Republicans took possession Town capi- of Lyons. The troops observed strict discipline; they sanguinary were lodged in barracks, or bivouacked on the Place measures of Bellecour and the Terreaux: the inhabitants indulged a fleeting hope, that a feeling of humanity had at length touched the bosoms of their conquerors. They little knew the bitterness of Republican hatred. Lyons was not spared; it was only reserved for cold-blooded vengeance. No sooner was the town subdued, than Couthon entered at the head of the authorities of the Convention. He instantly reinstated the Jacobin municipality in full sovereignty, and commissioned them to seek out and denounce the guilty. He wrote to Paris, that the inhabitants consisted of three classes-1. The guilty rich. 2. The selfish rich. 3. The ignorant workmen, incapable of any wickedness. "The first," he said, "should be guillotined, and their houses destroyed; the fortunes of the second confiscated; and the third removed elsewhere, and their place supplied by a Republican 1 Jom. iv. colony." "On the ruins of this infamous city," said Barère, in the name of the Committee of Public Salvation, when he announced that Lyons was subdued, "shall be raised a monument to the eternal glory of the Convention; and on it shall be engraved the inscription : 194. Oct. 12. 66 Lyons made war on freedom: Lyons is no more." The name of the unfortunate city was suppressed by a decree of the Convention; it was ordered to be termed the "Commune Affranchie."* All the inhabitants were *The following is the tenor of this decree : "I.-Tous les habitans de Lyon seront désarmés; leurs armes seront distribuées sur-le-champ aux défenseurs de la République-une partie sera remise aux patriotes de Lyon, qui ont été opprimés par les riches et les contre-révolutionnaires. “II.—La ville de Lyon sera détruite. Tout ce qui fut habité par le riche sera démoli. Il ne restera que la maison du pauvre, les habitations des pat |