what was going on, and we were told that twelve thousand troops from
Nimes had marched on Beaucaire and laid it waste with fire and sword. I
insinuated that twelve thousand men was rather a large number for one
town to furnish, but was told that that included troops from the
Gardonninque and the Cevennes. Nimes still clung to the tricolour, but
Beaucaire had hoisted the white flag, and it was for the purpose of
pulling it down and scattering the Royalists who were assembling in
numbers at Beaucaire that Nimes had sent forth her troops on this
expedition. Seeing that Tarascon and Beaucaire are only separated by the
Rhone, it struck me as peculiar that such quiet should prevail on one
bank, while such fierce conflict was raging on the other. I did not
doubt that something had happened, but not an event of such gravity as
was reported. We therefore decided to push on to Beaucaire, and when we
got there we found the town in the most perfect order. The expedition of
twelve thousand men was reduced to one of two hundred, which had been
easily repulsed, with the result that of the assailants one had been
wounded and one made prisoner. Proud of this success, the people of
Beaucaire entrusted us with a thousand objurgations to deliver to their
inveterate enemies the citizens of Nimes.

"If any journey could give a correct idea of the preparations for civil
war and the confusion which already prevailed in the South, I should
think that without contradiction it would be that which we took that day.
Along the four leagues which lie between Beaucaire and Nimes were posted
at frequent intervals detachments of troops displaying alternately the
white and the tricoloured cockade. Every village upon our route except
those just outside of Nimes had definitely joined either one party or the
other, and the soldiers, who were stationed at equal distances along the
road, were now Royalist and now Bonapartist. Before leaving Beaucaire we
had all provided ourselves, taking example by the men we had seen at