Then followed a fearful scene. The English would not quit Toulon without
destroying the French ships and arsenals that had fallen into their
possession; nor could they refuse to carry with them the Antijacobin
inhabitants, who knew that their lives would be instantly sacrificed if
they should fall into the hands of the victorious Republicans, and who
now flocked to the beach to the number of 14,000, praying for the means
of escape. The burning of ships, the explosion of magazines, the roar of
artillery, and the cries of these fugitives, filled up many hours. At
last the men-of-war were followed by a flotilla bearing those miserable
exiles; the walls were abandoned; and Dugommier took possession of the
place.

The Republicans found that all persons of condition, who had taken part
against them, had escaped; and their rage was to be contented with
meaner victims. A day or two having been suffered to pass in quiet, a
proclamation, apparently friendly, exhorted the workmen, who had been
employed on the batteries of the besieged town, to muster at
headquarters. One hundred and fifty poor men, who expected to be
employed again in repairing the same fortifications obeyed this
summons--were instantly marched into a field--and shot in cold blood;
not less than a thousand persons were massacred under circumstances
equally atrocious. Buonaparte himself repelled with indignation the
charge of having had a hand in this butchery. Even if he had, he was not
the chief in command, and durst not have disobeyed orders but at the
sacrifice of his own life. It is on all sides admitted that a family of
royalists, being shipwrecked on the coast near Toulon a few days after,
were rescued from the hands of the ferocious Republicans, solely by his
interference and address. Putting himself at the head of some of his
gunners, he obtained possession of the unhappy prisoners; quieted the
mob by assuring them that they should all be publicly executed the next