From this moment, not another word was said of flight. With one voice,
the assembly cried to the speaker, "Be our chief! It is the will of
the Eternal!" "The Eternal be the witness of your promises," replied
Laporte; "I consent to be your chief!" He assumed forthwith the title
of "Colonel of the Children of God," and named his camp "The camp of
the Eternal!"

Laporte belonged to an old Huguenot family of the village of
Massoubeyran, near Anduze. They were respectable peasants, some of
whom lived by farming and others by trade. Old John Laporte had four
sons, of whom the eldest succeeded his father as a small farmer and
cattle-breeder, occupying the family dwelling at Massoubeyran, still
known there as the house of "Laporte-Roland." It contains a secret
retreat, opening from a corner of the floor, called the "Cachette de
Roland," in which the celebrated chief of this name, son of the
owner, was accustomed to take refuge; and in this cottage, the old
Bible of Roland's father, as well as the halbert of Roland himself,
continue to be religiously preserved.

Two of Laporte's brothers were Protestant ministers. One of them was
the last pastor of Collet-de-Deze in the Cevennes. Banished because of
his faith, he fled from France at the Revocation, joined the army of
the Prince of Orange in Holland, and came over with him to England as
chaplain of one of the French regiments which landed at Torbay in
1688. Another brother, also a pastor, remained in the Cevennes,
preaching to the people in the Desert, though at the daily risk of his
life, and after about ten years' labour in this vocation, he was
apprehended, taken prisoner to Montpellier, and strangled on the
Peyrou in the year 1696.

The fourth brother was the Laporte whom we have just described in
undertaking the leadership of the hunted insurgents remaining in the
Upper Cevennes. He had served as a soldier in the King's armies, and
at the peace of Ryswick returned to his native village, the year after
his elder brother had suffered martyrdom at Montpellier. He settled
for a time at Collet-de-Deze, from which his other brother had been
expelled, and there he carried on the trade of an ironworker and
blacksmith. He was a great, brown, brawny man, of vehement piety, a
constant frequenter of the meetings in the Desert, and a mighty
psalm-singer--one of those strong, massive, ardent-natured men who so
powerfully draw others after them, and in times of revolution exercise
a sort of popular royalty amongst the masses. The oppression which had
raged so furiously in the district excited his utmost indignation,
and when he sought out the despairing insurgents in the mountains,
and found that they were contemplating flight, he at once gave
utterance to the few burning words we have cited, and fixed their
determination to strike at least another blow for the liberty of their
country and their religion.

The same evening on which Laporte assumed the leadership (about the
beginning of August, 1702) he made a descent on three Roman Catholic
villages in the neighbourhood of the meeting-place, and obtained
possession of a small stock of powder and balls. When it became known
that the insurgents were again drawing together, others joined them.
Amongst these were Castonet, a forest-ranger of the Aigoal mountain
district in the west, who brought with him some twelve recruits from
the country near Vebron. Shortly after, there arrived from Vauvert the
soldier Catinet, bringing with him twenty more. Next came young
Cavalier, from Ribaute, with another band, armed with muskets which
they had seized from the prior of St. Martin, with whom they had been
deposited.

Meanwhile Laporte's nephew, young Roland, was running from village to
village in the Vaunage, holding assemblies and rousing the people to
come to the help of their distressed brethren in the mountains. Roland
was a young man of bright intelligence, gifted with much of the
preaching power of his family. His eloquence was of a martial sort,
for he had been bred a soldier, and though young, had already fought
in many battles. He was everywhere received with open arms in the
Vaunage.

"My brethren," said he, "the cause of God and the deliverance of
Israel is at stake. Follow us to the mountains. No country is better
suited for war--we have the hill-tops for camps, gorges for
ambuscades, woods to rally in, caves to hide in, and, in case of
flight, secret tracts trodden only by the mountain goat. All the
people there are your brethren, who will throw open their cabins to
you, and share their bread and milk and the flesh of their sheep with
you, while the forests will supply you with chestnuts. And then, what
is there to fear? Did not God nourish his chosen people with manna in
the desert? And does He not renew his miracles day by day? Will not
his Spirit descend upon his afflicted children? He consoles us, He
strengthens us, He calls us to arms, He will cause his angels to march
before us! As for me, I am an old soldier, and will do my duty!"[39]

         [Footnote 39: Brueys, "Histoire de Fanatisme;" Peyrat,
         "Histoire des Pasteurs du Désert."]

These stirring words evoked an enthusiastic response. Numbers of the
people thus addressed by Roland declared themselves ready to follow
him at once. But instead of taking with him all who were willing to
join the standard of the insurgents, he directed them to enrol and
organize themselves, and await his speedy return; selecting for the
present only such as were in his opinion likely to make efficient
soldiers, and with these he rejoined his uncle in the mountains.

The number of the insurgents was thus raised to about a hundred and
fifty--a very small body of men, contemptible in point of numbers
compared with the overwhelming forces by which they were opposed, but
all animated by a determined spirit, and commanded by fearless and
indomitable leaders. The band was divided into three brigades of fifty
each; Laporte taking the command of the companions of Seguier; the
new-comers being divided into two bodies of like number, who elected
Roland and Castanet as their respective chiefs.

Laporte occupied the last days of August in drilling his troops, and
familiarising them with the mountain district which was to be the
scene of their operations. While thus engaged, he received an urgent
message from the Protestant herdsmen of the hill-country of Vebron,
whose cattle, sheep, and goats a band of royalist militia, under
Colonel Miral, had captured, and were driving northward towards
Florac. Laporte immediately ran to their help, and posted himself to
intercept them at the bridge of Tarnon, which they must cross. On the
militia coming up, the Camisards fell upon them furiously, on which
they took to flight, and the cattle were driven back in triumph to the
villages.

Laporte then led his victorious troops towards Collet, the village in
which his brother had been pastor. The temple in which he ministered
was still standing--the only one in the Cevennes that had not been
demolished, the Seigneur of the place intending to convert it into a
hospital. Collet was at present occupied by a company of fusiliers,
commanded by Captain Cabrières. On nearing the place, Laporte wrote to
this officer, under an assumed name, intimating that a religious
assembly was to be held that night in a certain wood in the
neighbourhood. The captain at once marched thither with his men, on
which Laporte entered the village, and reopened the temple, which had
continued unoccupied since the day on which his brother had gone into
exile. All that night Laporte sang psalms, preached, and prayed by
turns, solemnly invoking the help of the God of battles in this holy
war in which he was engaged for the liberation of his country. Shortly
before daybreak, Laporte and his companions retired from the temple,
and after setting fire to the Roman Catholic church, and the houses of
the consul, the captain, and the curé, he left the village, and
proceeded in a northerly direction.

That same morning, Captain Poul arrived at the neighbouring valley of
St. Germain, for the purpose of superintending the demolition of
certain Protestant dwellings, and then he heard of Laporte's midnight
expedition. He immediately hastened to Collet, assembled all the
troops he could muster, and put himself on the track of the Camisards.
After a hot march of about two hours in the direction of Coudouloux,
Poul discerned Laporte and his band encamped on a lofty height, from
the scarped foot of which a sloping grove of chestnuts descended into
the wide grassy plain, known as the "Champ Domergue."

The chestnut grove had in ancient times been one of the sacred places
of the Druids, who celebrated their mysterious rites in its recesses,
while the adjoining mountains were said to have been the honoured
haunts of certain of the divinities of ancient Gaul. It was therefore
regarded as a sort of sacred place, and this circumstance was probably
not without its influence in rendering it one of the most frequent
resorts of the hunted Protestants in their midnight assemblies, as
well as because it occupied a central position between the villages of
St. Frézal, St. Andéol, Dèze, and Violas. Laporte had now come hither
with his companions to pray, and they were so engaged when the scouts
on the look-out announced the approach of the enemy.

Poul halted his men to take breath, while Laporte held a little
council of war. What was to be done? Laporte himself was in favour of
accepting battle on the spot, while several of his lieutenants advised
immediate flight into the mountains. On the other hand, the young and
impetuous Cavalier, who was there, supported the opinion of his chief,
and urged an immediate attack; and an attack was determined on
accordingly.

The little band descended from their vantage-ground on the hill, and
came down into the chestnut wood, singing the sixty-eighth Psalm--"Let
God arise, let his enemies be scattered." The following is the song
itself, in the words of Marot. When the Huguenots sang it, each
soldier became a lion in courage.

  "Que Dieu se montre seulement
   Et l'on verra dans un moment
     Abandonner la place;
   Le camp des ennemies épars,
   Épouvanté de toutes parts,
     Fuira devant sa face.

   On verra tout ce camp s'enfuir,
   Comme l'on voit s'évanouir;
     Une épaisse fumée;
   Comme la cire fond au feu,
   Ainsi des méchants devant
     Dieu, La force est consumée.

   L'Éternel est notre recours;
   Nous obtenons par son secours,
     Plus d'une déliverance.
   C'est Lui qui fut notre support,
   Et qui tient les clefs de la mort,
     Lui seul en sa puissance.

   A nous défendre toujours prompt,
   Il frappe le superbe front
     De la troupe ennemie;
   On verra tomber sous ses coups
   Ceux qui provoquent son courroux
     Par leur méchante vie."

This was the "Marseillaise" of the Camisards, their war-song in many
battles, sung by them as a _pas de charge_ to the music of Goudimal.
Poul, seeing them approach from under cover of the wood, charged them
at once, shouting to his men, "Charge, kill, kill the Barbets!"[40]
But "the Barbets," though they were only as one to three of their
assailants, bravely held their ground. Those who had muskets kept up a
fusillade, whilst a body of scythemen in the centre repulsed Poul, who
attacked them with the bayonet. Several of these terrible scythemen
were, however, slain, and three were taken prisoners.

         [Footnote 40: The "Barbets" (or "Water-dogs") was the
         nickname by which the Vaudois were called, against whom Poul
         had formerly been employed in the Italian valleys.]

Laporte, finding that he could not drive Poul back, retreated slowly
into the wood, keeping up a running fire, and reascended the hill,
whither Poul durst not follow him. The Royalist leader was satisfied
with remaining master of the hard-fought field, on which many of his
soldiers lay dead, together with a captain of militia.

The Camisard chiefs then separated, Laporte and his band taking a
westerly direction. The Royalists, having received considerable
reinforcements, hastened from different directions to intercept him, but
he slipped through their fingers, and descended to Pont-de-Montvert,
from whence he threw himself upon the villages situated near the sources
of the western Gardon. At the same time, to distract the attention of
the Royalists, the other Camisard leaders descended, the one towards the
south, and the other towards the east, disarming the Roman Catholics,
carrying off their arms, and spreading consternation wherever they went.

Meanwhile, Count Broglie, Captain Poul, Colonel Miral, and the
commanders of the soldiers and militia all over the Cevennes, were
hunting the Protestants and their families wherever found, pillaging
their houses, driving away their cattle, and burning their huts; and
it was evident that the war on both sides was fast drifting into one
of reprisal and revenge. Brigands, belonging to neither side,
organized themselves in bodies, and robbed Protestants and Catholics
with equal impartiality.

One effect of this state of things was rapidly to increase the numbers
of the disaffected. The dwellings of many of the Protestants having
been destroyed, such of the homeless fugitives as could bear arms fled
into the mountains to join the Camisards, whose numbers were thus
augmented, notwithstanding the measures taken for their extermination.

Laporte was at last tracked by his indefatigable enemy, Captain Poul,
who burned to wipe out the disgrace which he conceived himself to have
suffered at Champ-Domergue. Information was conveyed to him that
Laporte and his band were in the neighbourhood of Molezon on the
western Gardon, and that they intended to hold a field-meeting there
on Sunday, the 22nd of October.

Poul made his dispositions accordingly. Dividing his force into two
bodies, he fell upon the insurgents impetuously from two sides, taking
them completely by surprise. They hastily put themselves in order of
battle, but their muskets, wet with rain, would not fire, and Laporte
hastened with his men to seek the shelter of a cliff near at hand.
While in the act of springing from one rock to another, he was seen to
stagger and fall. He had been shot dead by a musket bullet, and his
career was thus brought to a sudden close. His followers at once fled
in all directions.

Poul cut off Laporte's head, as well as the heads of the other
Camisards who had been killed, and sent them in two baskets to Count
Broglie. Next day the heads were exposed on the bridge of Anduze; the
day after on the castle wall of St. Hypolite; after which these
ghastly trophies of Poul's victory were sent to Montpellier to be
permanently exposed on the Peyrou.

Such was the end of Laporte, the second leader of the Camisards.
Seguier, the first, had been chief for only six days; Laporte, the
second, for only about two months. Again Baville supposed the
pacification of the Cevennes to be complete. He imagined that Poul, in
cutting off Laporte's head, had decapitated the insurrection. But the
Camisard ranks had never been so full as now, swelled as they were by
the persecutions of the Royalists, who, by demolishing the homes of
the peasantry, had in a measure forced them into the arms of the
insurgents. Nor were they ever better supplied with leaders, even
though Laporte had fallen. No sooner did his death become known, than
the "Children of God" held a solemn assembly in the mountains, at
which Roland, Castanet, Salomon, Abraham, and young Cavalier were
present; and after lamenting the death of their chief, they with one
accord elected Laporte's nephew, Roland, as his successor.

       *       *       *       *       *

A few words as to the associates of Roland, whose family and origin
have already been described. André Castanet of Massavaque, in the
Upper Cevennes, had been a goatherd in his youth, after which he
worked at his father's trade of a wool-carder. An avowed Huguenot, he
was, shortly after the peace of Ryswick, hunted out of the country
because of his attending the meetings in the Desert; but in 1700 he
returned to preach and to prophesy, acting also as a forest-ranger in
the Aigoal Mountains. Of all the chiefs he was the greatest
controversialist, and in his capacity of preacher he distinguished
himself from his companions by wearing a wig. There must have been
something comical in his appearance, for Brueys describes him as a
little, squat, bandy-legged man, presenting "the figure of a little
bear." But it was an enemy who drew the picture.

Next there was Salomon Conderc, also a wool-carder, a native of the
hamlet of Mazelrode, south of the mountain of Bougès. For twenty years
the Condercs, father and son, had been zealous worshippers in the
Desert--Salomon having acted by turns as Bible-reader, precentor,
preacher, and prophet. We have already referred to the gift of
prophesying. All the leaders of the Camisards were prophets. Elie
Marion, in his "Théâtre Sacré de Cevennes," thus describes the
influence of the prophets on the Camisard War:--

"We were without strength and without counsel," says he; "but our
inspirations were our succour and our support. They elected our
leaders, and conducted them; they were our military discipline. It was
they who raised us, even weakness itself, to put a strong bridle upon
an army of more than twenty thousand picked soldiers. It was they who
banished sorrow from our hearts in the midst of the greatest peril, as
well as in the deserts and the mountain fastnesses, when cold and
famine oppressed us. Our heaviest crosses were but lightsome burdens,
for this intimate communion that God allowed us to have with Him bore
up and consoled us; it was our safety and our happiness."

Many of the Condercs had suffered for their faith. The archpriest
Chayla had persecuted them grievously. One of their sisters was seized
by the soldiery and carried off to be immured in a convent at Mende,
but was rescued on the way by Salomon and his brother Jacques. Of the
two, Salomon, though deformed, had the greatest gift in prophesying,
and hence the choice of him as a leader.

Abraham Mazel belonged to the same hamlet as Conderc. They were both
of the same age--about twenty-five--of the same trade, and they were
as inseparable as brothers. They had both been engaged with Seguier's
band in the midnight attack on Pont-de-Montvert, and were alike
committed to the desperate enterprise they had taken in hand. The
tribe of Mazel abounds in the Cevennes, and they had already given
many martyrs to the cause. Some emigrated to America, some were sent
to the galleys; Oliver Mazel, the preacher, was hanged at Montpellier
in 1690, Jacques Mazel was a refugee in London in 1701, and in all the
combats of the Cevennes there were Mazels leading as well as
following.

Nicholas Joany, of Genouillac, was an old soldier, who had seen much
service, having been for some time quartermaster of the regiment of
Orleans. Among other veterans who served with the Camisards, were
Espérandieu and Rastelet, two old sub-officers, and Catinat and
Ravenel, two thorough soldiers. Of these Catinat achieved the greatest
notoriety. His proper name was Mauriel--Abdias Mauriel; but having
served as a dragoon under Marshal Catinat in Italy, he conceived such
an admiration for that general, and was so constantly eulogizing him,
that his comrades gave him the nickname of Catinat, which he continued
to bear all through the Camisard war.

But the most distinguished of all the Camisard chiefs, next to Roland,
was the youthful John Cavalier, peasant boy, baker's apprentice, and
eventually insurgent leader, who, after baffling and repeatedly
defeating the armies of Louis XIV., ended his remarkable career as
governor of Jersey and major-general in the British service.

Cavalier was a native of Ribaute, a village on the Gardon, a little
below Anduze. His parents were persons in humble circumstances, as may
be inferred from the fact that when John was of sufficient age he was
sent into the mountains to herd cattle, and when a little older he was
placed apprentice to a baker at Anduze.

His father, though a Protestant at heart, to avoid persecution,
pretended to be converted to Romanism, and attended Mass. But his
mother, a fervent Calvinist, refused to conform, and diligently
trained her sons in her own views. She was a regular attender of
meetings in the Desert, to which she also took her children.

Cavalier relates that on one occasion, when a very little fellow, he
went with her to an assembly which was conducted by Claude Brousson;
and when he afterwards heard that many of the people had been
apprehended for attending it, of whom some were hanged and others sent
to the galleys, the account so shocked him that he felt he would then
have avenged them if he had possessed the power.

As the boy grew up, and witnessed the increasing cruelty with which
conformity was enforced, he determined to quit the country; and,
accompanied by twelve other young men, he succeeded in reaching Geneva
after a toilsome journey of eight days. He had not been at Geneva more
than two months, when--heart-sore, solitary, his eyes constantly
turned towards his dear Cevennes--he accidentally heard that his
father and mother had been thrown into prison because of his
flight--his father at Carcassone, and his mother in the dreadful tower
of Constance, near Aiguesmortes, one of the most notorious prisons of
the Huguenots.

He at once determined to return, in the hope of being able to get them
set at liberty. On his reaching Ribaute, to his surprise he found them
already released, on condition of attending Mass. As his presence in
his father's house might only serve to bring fresh trouble upon
them--he himself having no intention of conforming--he went up for
refuge into the mountains of the Cevennes.

The young Cavalier was present at the midnight meeting on the Bougès,
at which it was determined to slay the archpriest Chayla. He implored
leave to accompany the band; but he was declared to be too young for
such an enterprise, being a boy of only sixteen, so he was left behind
with his friends.

Being virtually an outlaw, Cavalier afterwards joined the band of
Laporte, under whom he served as lieutenant during his short career.
At his death the insurrection assumed larger proportions, and recruits
flocked apace to the standard of Roland, Laporte's successor.
Harvest-work over, the youths of the Lower Cevennes hastened to join
him, armed only with bills and hatchets. The people of the Vaunage
more than fulfilled their promise to Roland, and sent him five hundred
men. Cavalier also brought with him from Ribaute a further number of
recruits, and by the end of autumn the Camisards under arms, such as
they were, amounted to over a thousand men.

Roland, unable to provide quarters or commissariat for so large a
number, divided them into five bodies, and sent them into their
respective cantonments (so to speak) for the winter. Roland himself
occupied the district known as the Lower Cevennes, comprising the
Gardonnenque and the mountain district situated between the rivers
Vidourle and the western Gardon. That part of the Upper Cevennes,
which extends between the Anduze branch of the Gardon and the river
Tarn, was in like manner occupied by a force commanded by Abraham
Hazel and Solomon Conderc, while Andrew Castanet led the people of the
western Cevennes, comprising the mountain region of the Aigoal and the
Esperou, near the sources of the Gardon d'Anduze and the Tarnon. The
rugged mountain district of the Lozère, in which the Tarn, the Ceze,
and the Alais branch of the Gardon have their origin, was placed under
the command of Joany. And, finally, the more open country towards the
south, extending from Anduze to the sea-coast, including the districts
around Alais, Uzes, Nismes, as well as the populous valley of the
Vaunage, was placed under the direction of young Cavalier, though he
had scarcely yet completed his seventeenth year.

These chiefs were all elected by their followers, who chose them, not
because of any military ability they might possess, but entirely
because of their "gifts" as preachers and "prophets." Though Roland
and Joany had been soldiers, they were also preachers, as were
Castanet, Abraham, and Salomon; and young Cavalier had already given
remarkable indications of the prophetic gift. Hence, when it became
the duty of the band to which he belonged to select a chief, they
passed over the old soldiers, Espérandieu, Raslet, Catinat, and
Ravenel, and pitched upon the young baker lad of Ribaute, not because
he could fight, but because he could preach; and the old soldiers
cheerfully submitted themselves to his leadership.

The portrait of this remarkable Camisard chief represents him as a
little handsome youth, fair and ruddy complexioned, with lively and
prominent blue eyes, and a large head, from whence his long fair hair
hung floating over his shoulders. His companions recognised in him a
supposed striking resemblance to the scriptural portrait of David, the
famous shepherd of Israel.

The Camisard legions, spread as they now were over the entire Cevennes,
and embracing Lower Languedoc as far as the sea, were for the most part
occupied during the winter of 1702-3 in organizing themselves, obtaining
arms, and increasing their forces. The respective districts which they
occupied were so many recruiting-grounds, and by the end of the season
they had enrolled nearly three thousand men. They were still, however,
very badly armed. Their weapons included fowling-pieces, old matchlocks,
muskets taken from the militia, pistols, sabres, scythes, hatchets,
billhooks, and even ploughshares. They were very short of powder, and
what they had was mostly bought surreptitiously from the King's
soldiers, or by messengers sent for the purpose to Nismes and Avignon.
But Roland, finding that such sources of supply could not be depended
upon, resolved to manufacture his own powder.

A commissariat was also established, and the most spacious caves in
the most sequestered places were sought out and converted into
magazines, hospitals, granaries, cellars, arsenals, and powder
factories. Thus Mialet, with its extensive caves, was the
head-quarters of Roland; Bouquet and the caves at Euzet, of Cavalier;
Cassagnacs and the caves at Magistavols, of Salomon; and so on with
the others. Each chief had his respective canton, his granary, his
magazine, and his arsenal. To each retreat was attached a special body
of tradesmen--millers, bakers, shoemakers, tailors, armourers, and
other mechanics; and each had its special guards and sentinels.

We have already referred to the peculiar geological features of the
Cevennes, and to the limestone strata which embraces the whole
granitic platform of the southern border almost like a frame. As is
almost invariably the case in such formations, large caves, occasioned
by the constant dripping of water, are of frequent occurrence; and
those of the Cevennes, which are in many places of great extent,
constituted a peculiar feature in the Camisard insurrection. There is
one of such caves in the neighbourhood of the Protestant town of
Ganges, on the river Herault, which often served as a refuge for the
Huguenots, though it is now scarcely penetrable because of the heavy
falls of stone from the roof. This cavern has two entrances, one from
the river Herault, the other from the Mendesse, and it extends under
the entire mountain, which separates the two rivers. It is still known
as the "Camisards' Grotto." There are numerous others of a like
character all over the district; but as those of Mialet were of
special importance--Mialet, "the Metropolis of the Insurrection,"
being the head-quarters of Roland--it will be sufficient if we briefly
describe a visit paid to them in the month of June, 1870.

       *       *       *       *       *

The town of Anduze is the little capital of the Gardonnenque, a
district which has always been exclusively Protestant. Even at the
present day, of the 5,200 inhabitants of Anduze, 4,600 belong to that
faith; and these include the principal proprietors, cultivators, and
manufacturers of the town and neighbourhood. During the wars of
religion, Anduze was one of the Huguenot strongholds. After the death
of Henry IV. the district continued to be held by the Duc de Rohan,
the ruins of whose castle are still to be seen on the summit of a
pyramidal hill on the north of the town. Anduze is jammed in between
the precipitous mountain of St. Julien, which rises behind it, and the
river Gardon, along which a modern quay-wall extends, forming a
pleasant promenade as well as a barrier against the furious torrents
which rush down from the mountains in winter.

A little above the town, the river passes through a rocky gorge formed
by the rugged grey cliffs of Peyremale on the one bank and St. Julien
on the other. The bare precipitous rocks rise up on either side like
two cyclopean towers, flanking the gateway of the Cevennes. The gorge
is so narrow at bottom that there is room only for the river running
in its rocky bed below, and a roadway along either bank--that on the
eastern side having been partly formed by blasting out the cliff which
overhangs it.

After crossing the five-arched bridge which spans the Gardon, the road
proceeds along the eastern bank, up the valley towards Mialet. It
being market-day at Anduze, well-clad peasants were flocking into the
town, some in their little pony-carts, others with their baskets or
bundles of produce, and each had his "Bon jour, messieurs!" for us as
we passed. So long as the road held along the bottom of the valley,
passing through the scattered hamlets and villages north of the town,
our little springless cart got along cleverly enough. But after we had
entered the narrower valley higher up, and the cultivated ground
became confined to a little strip along either bank, then the mountain
barriers seemed to rise in front of us and on all sides, and the road
became winding, steep, and difficult.

A few miles up the valley, the little hamlet of Massoubeyran,
consisting of a group of peasant cottages--one of which was the
birthplace of Roland, the Camisard chief--was seen on a hill-side to
the right; and about two miles further on, at a bend of the road, we
came in sight of the village of Mialet, with its whitewashed,
flat-roofed cottages--forming a little group of peasants' houses lying
in the hollow of the hills. The principal building in it is the
Protestant temple, which continues to be frequented by the
inhabitants; the _Annuaire Protestant_ for 1868-70, stating the
Protestant population of the district to be 1,325. Strange to say, the
present pastor, M. Seguier, bears the name of the first leader of the
Camisard insurrection; and one of the leading members of the
consistory, M. Laporte, is a lineal descendant of the second and third
leaders.

From its secluded and secure position among the hills, as well as
because of its proximity to the great Temelac road constructed by
Baville, which passed from Anduze by St. Jean-de-Gard into the Upper
Cevennes, Mialet was well situated as the head-quarters of the
Camisard chief. But it was principally because of the numerous
limestone caves abounding in the locality, which afforded a ready
hiding-place for the inhabitants in the event of the enemies'
approach, as well as because they were capable of being adapted for
the purpose of magazines, stores, and hospitals, that Mialet became of
so much importance as the citadel of the insurgents. One of such
caverns or grottoes is still to be seen about a mile below Mialet, of
extraordinary magnitude. It extends under the hill which rises up on
the right-hand side of the road, and is entered from behind, nearly
at the summit. The entrance is narrow and difficult, but the interior
is large and spacious, widening out in some places into dome-shaped
chambers, with stalactites hanging from the roof. The whole extent of
this cavern cannot be much less than a quarter of a mile, judging from
the time it took to explore it and to return from the furthest point
in the interior to the entrance. The existence of this place had been
forgotten until a few years ago, when it was rediscovered by a man of
Anduze, who succeeded in entering it, but, being unable to find his
way out, he remained there for three days without food, until the
alarm was given and his friends came to his rescue and delivered him.

Immediately behind the village of Mialet, under the side of the hill,
is another large cavern, with other grottoes branching out of it,
capable, on an emergency, of accommodating the whole population. This
was used by Roland as his principal magazine. But perhaps the most
interesting of these caves is the one used as a hospital for the sick
and wounded. It is situated about a mile above Mialet, in a limestone
cliff almost overhanging the river. The approach to it is steep and
difficult, up a footpath cut in the face of the rock. At length a
little platform is reached, about a hundred feet above the level of
the river, behind which is a low wall extending across the entrance to
the cavern. This wall is pierced with two openings, intended for two
culverins, one of which commanded the road leading down the pass, and
the other the road up the valley from the direction of the village.
The outer vault is large and roomy, and extends back into a lofty
dome-shaped cavern about forty feet high, behind which a long tortuous
vault extends for several hundred feet. The place is quite dry, and
sufficiently spacious to accommodate a large number of persons; and
there can be no doubt as to the uses to which it was applied during
the wars of the Cevennes.

The person who guided us to the cave was an ordinary working man of
the village--apparently a blacksmith--a well-informed, intelligent
person--who left his smithy, opposite the Protestant temple at which
our pony-cart drew up, to show us over the place; and he took pride in
relating the traditions which continue to be handed down from father
to son relating to the great Camisard war of the Cevennes.




CHAPTER VII.

EXPLOITS OF CAVALIER.


The country round Nismes, which was the scene of so many contests
between the Royalists and the Camisard insurgents at the beginning of
last century, presents nearly the same aspect as it did then,
excepting that it is traversed by railways in several directions. The
railway to Montpellier on the west, crosses the fertile valley of the
Vaunage, "the little Canaan," still rich in vineyards as of old. That
to Alais on the north, proceeds for the most part along the valley of
the Gardon, the names of the successive stations reminding the passing
traveller of the embittered contests of which they were the scenes in
former times: Nozières, Boucoiran, Ners, Vezenobres, and Alais itself,
now a considerable manufacturing town, and the centre of an important
coal-mining district.

The country in the neighbourhood of Nismes is by no means picturesque.
Though undulating, it is barren, arid, and stony. The view from the
Tour Magne, which is very extensive, is over an apparently skeleton
landscape, the bare rocks rising on all sides without any covering of
verdure. In summer the grass is parched and brown. There are few trees
visible; and these mostly mulberry, which, when, cropped, have a
blasted look. Yet, wherever soil exists, in the bottoms, the land is
very productive, yielding olives, grapes, and chestnuts in great
abundance.

As we ascend the valley of the Gardon, the country becomes more
undulating and better wooded. The villages and farmhouses have all an
old-fashioned look; not a modern villa is to be seen. We alight from
the train at the Ners station--Ners, where Cavalier drove Montrevel's
army across the river, and near which, at the village of Martinargues,
he completely defeated the Royalists under Lajonquière. We went to see
the scene of the battle, some three miles to the south-east, passing
through a well-tilled country, with the peasants busily at work in the
fields. From the high ground behind Ners a fine view is obtained of
the valley of the Gardon, overlooking the junction of its two branches
descending by Alais and Anduze, the mountains of the Cevennes rising
up in the distance. To the left is the fertile valley of Beaurivage,
celebrated in the Pastorals of Florian, who was a native of the
district.

Descending the hill towards Ners, we were overtaken by an aged peasant
of the village, with a scythe over his shoulder, returning from his
morning's work. There was the usual polite greeting and exchange of
salutations--for the French peasant is by nature polite--and a ready
opening was afforded for conversation. It turned out that the old man
had been a soldier of the first empire, and fought under Soult in the
desperate battle of Toulouse in 1814. He was now nearly eighty, but
was still able to do a fair day's work in the fields. Inviting us to
enter his dwelling and partake of his hospitality, he went down to his
cellar and fetched therefrom a jug of light sparkling wine, of which
we partook. In answer to an inquiry whether there were any Protestants
in the neighbourhood, the old man replied that Ners was "all
Protestant." His grandson, however, who was present, qualified this
sweeping statement by the remark, _sotto voce_, that many of them were
"nothing."

The conversation then turned upon the subject of Cavalier and his
exploits, when our entertainer launched out into a description of the
battle of Martinargues, in which the Royalists had been "toutes
abattus." Like most of the Protestant peasantry of the Cevennes, he
displayed a very familiar acquaintance with the events of the civil
war, and spoke with enthusiasm and honest pride of the achievements of
the Camisards.

       *       *       *       *       *

We have in previous chapters described the outbreak of the
insurrection and its spread throughout the Upper Cevennes; and we have
now rapidly to note its growth and progress to its culmination and
fall.

While the Camisards were secretly organizing their forces under cover
of the woods and caves of the mountain districts, the governor of
Languedoc was indulging in the hope that the insurrection had expired
with the death of Laporte and the dispersion of his band. But, to his
immense surprise, the whole country was suddenly covered with
insurgents, who seemed as if to spring from the earth in all quarters
simultaneously. Messengers brought him intelligence at the same time
of risings in the mountains of the Lozère and the Aigoal, in the
neighbourhoods of Anduze and Alais, and even in the open country about
Nismes and Calvisson, down almost to the sea-coast.

Wherever the churches had been used as garrisons and depositories of
arms, they were attacked, stormed, and burnt. Cavalier says he never
meddled with any church which had not been thus converted into a "den
of thieves;" but the other leaders were less scrupulous. Salomon and
Abraham destroyed all the establishments and insignia of their enemies
on which they could lay hands--crosses, churches, and presbyteries.
The curé of Saint-Germain said of Castanet in the Aigoal that he was
"like a raging torrent." Roland and Joany ran from village to village
ransacking dwellings, châteaux, churches, and collecting arms. Knowing
every foot of the country, they rapidly passed by mountain tracks from
one village to another; suddenly appearing in the least-expected
quarters, while the troops in pursuit of them had passed in other
directions.

Cavalier had even the hardihood to descend upon the low country, and
to ransack the Catholic villages in the neighbourhood of Nismes. By
turns he fought, preached, and sacked churches. About the middle of
November, 1702, he preached at Aiguevives, a village not far from
Calvisson, in the Vaunage. Count Broglie, commander of the royal
troops, hastened from Nismes to intercept him. But pursuing Cavalier
was like pursuing a shadow; he had already made his escape into the
mountains. Broglie assembled the inhabitants of the village in the
church, and demanded to be informed who had been present with the
Camisard preacher. "All!" was the reply: "we are all guilty." He
seized the principal persons of the place and sent them to Baville.
Four were hanged, twelve were sent to the galleys, many more were
flogged, and a heavy fine was levied on the entire village.

Meanwhile, Cavalier had joined Roland near Mialet, and again descended
upon the low country, marching through the villages along the valley
of the Vidourle, carrying off arms and devastating churches. Broglie
sent two strong bodies of troops to intercept them; but the
light-footed insurgents had already crossed the Gardon.

A few days later (December 5th), they were lying concealed in the
forest of Vaquières, in the neighbourhood of Cavalier's head-quarters
at Euzet. Their retreat having been discovered, a strong force of
soldiers and militia was directed upon them, under the command of the
Chevalier Montarnaud (who, being a new convert, wished to show his
zeal), and Captain Bimard of the Nismes militia.

They took with them a herdsman of the neighbourhood for their guide,
not knowing that he was a confederate of the Camisards. Leading the
Royalists into the wood, he guided them along a narrow ravine, and
hearing no sound of the insurgents, it was supposed that they were
lying asleep in their camp.

Suddenly three sentinels on the outlook fired off their pieces. At
this signal Ravenel posted himself at the outlet of the defile, and
Cavalier and Catinat along its two sides. Raising their war-song, the
sixty-eighth psalm the Camisards furiously charged the enemy. Captain
Bimard fell at the first fire. Montarnaud turned and fled with such of
the soldiers and militia as could follow him; and not many of them
succeeded in making their escape from the wood.

"After which complete victory," says Cavalier, "we returned to the
field of battle to give our hearty thanks to Almighty God for his
extraordinary assistance, and afterwards stripped the corpses of the
enemy, and secured their arms. We found a purse of one hundred
pistoles in Captain Bimard's pocket, which was very acceptable, for we
stood in great need thereof, and expended part of it in buying hats,
shoes, and stockings for those who wanted them, and with the
remainder bought six great mule loads of brandy, for our winter's
supply, from a merchant who was sending it to be sold at Anduze
market."[41]

         [Footnote 41: "Memoirs of the Wars of the Cevennes," p. 74.]

On the Sunday following, Cavalier held an assembly for public worship
near Monteze on the Gardon, at which about five hundred persons were
present. The governor of Alais, being informed of the meeting,
resolved to put it down with a strong hand; and he set out for the
purpose at the head of a force of about six hundred horse and foot. A
mule accompanied him, laden with ropes with which to bind or hang the
rebels. Cavalier had timely information, from scouts posted on the
adjoining hills, of the approach of the governor's force, and though
the number of fighting men in the Camisard assembly was comparatively
small, they resolved to defend themselves.

Sending away the women and others not bearing arms, Cavalier posted
his little band behind an old entrenchment on the road along which the
governor was approaching, and awaited his attack. The horsemen came on
at the charge; but the Camisards, firing over the top of the
entrenchment, emptied more than a dozen saddles, and then leaping
forward, saluted them with a general discharge. At this, the horsemen
turned and fled, galloping through the foot coming up behind them, and
throwing them into complete disorder. The Camisards pulled off their
coats, in order the better to pursue the fugitives.

The Royalists were in full flight, when they were met by a
reinforcement of two hundred men of Marsilly's regiment of foot. But
these, too, were suddenly seized by the panic, and turned and fled
with the rest, the Camisards pursuing them for nearly an hour, in the
course of which they slew more than a hundred of the enemy. Besides
the soldiers' clothes, of which they stripped the dead, the Camisards
made prize of two loads of ammunition and a large quantity of arms,
which they were very much in need of, and also of the ropes with which
the governor had intended to hang them.

Emboldened by these successes, Cavalier determined on making an attack
on the strong castle of Servas, occupying a steep height on the east
of the forest of Bouquet. Cavalier detested the governor and garrison
of this place because they too closely watched his movements, and
overlooked his head-quarters, which were in the adjoining forest; and
they had, besides, distinguished themselves by the ferocity with which
they attacked and dispersed recent assemblies in the Desert.

Cavalier was, however, without the means of directly assaulting the
place, and he waited for an opportunity of entering it, if possible,
by stratagem. While passing along the road between Alais and Lussan
one day, he met a detachment of about forty men of the royal army,
whom he at once attacked, killing a number of them, and putting the
rest to flight. Among the slain was the commanding officer of the
party, in whose pockets was found an order signed by Count Broglie
directing all town-majors and consuls to lodge him and his men along
their line of march. Cavalier at once determined on making use of this
order as a key to open the gates of the castle of Servas.

He had twelve of his men dressed up in the clothes of the soldiers who
had fallen, and six others in their ordinary Camisard dress bound with
ropes as prisoners of war. Cavalier himself donned the uniform of the
fallen officer; and thus disguised and well armed, the party moved up
the steep ascent to the castle. On reaching the outer gate Cavalier
presented the order of Count Broglie, and requested admittance for the
purpose of keeping his pretended Camisard prisoners in safe custody
for the night. He was at once admitted with his party. The governor
showed him round the ramparts, pointing out the strength of the place,
and boasting of the punishments he had inflicted on the rebels.

At supper Cavalier's soldiers took care to drop into the room, one by
one, apparently for orders, and suddenly, on a signal being given, the
governor and his attendants were seized and bound. At the same time
the guard outside was attacked and overpowered. The outer gates were
opened, the Camisards rushed in, the castle was taken, and the
garrison put to the sword.

Cavalier and his band carried off with them to their magazine at
Bouquet all the arms, ammunition, and provisions they could find, and
before leaving they set fire to the castle. There must have been a
large store of gunpowder in the vaults of the place besides what the
Camisards carried away, for they had scarcely proceeded a mile on
their return journey when a tremendous explosion took place, shaking
the ground like an earthquake, and turning back, they saw the
battlements of the detested Château Servas hurled into the air.

Shortly after, Roland repeated at Sauvé, a little fortified town hung
along the side of a rocky hill a few miles to the south of Anduze, the
stratagem which Cavalier had employed at Servas, and with like
success. He disarmed the inhabitants, and carried off the arms and
provisions in the place: and though he released the commandant and
the soldiers whom he had taken prisoners, he shot a persecuting priest
and a Capuchin monk, and destroyed all the insignia of Popery in
Sauvé.

These terrible measures caused a new stampede of the clergy all over
the Cevennes. The nobles and gentry also left their châteaux, the
merchants their shops and warehouses, and took refuge in the fortified
towns. Even the bishops of Mende, Uzes, and Alais barricaded and
fortified their episcopal palaces, and organized a system of defence
as if the hordes of Attila had been at their gates.

With each fresh success the Camisards increased in daring, and every
day the insurrection became more threatening and formidable. It
already embraced the whole mountain district of the Cevennes, as well
as a considerable extent of the low country between Nismes and
Montpellier. The Camisard troops, headed by their chiefs, marched
through the villages with drums beating in open day, and were
quartered by billet on the inhabitants in like manner as the royal
regiments. Roland levied imposts and even tithes throughout his
district, and compelled the farmers, at the peril of their lives, to
bring their stores of victual to the "Camp of the Eternal." In the
midst of all, they held their meetings in the Desert, at which the
chiefs preached, baptized, and administered the sacrament to their
flocks.

The constituted authorities seemed paralyzed by the extent of the
insurrection, and the suddenness with which it spread. The governor of
the province had so repeatedly reported to his royal master the
pacification of Languedoc, that when this last and worst outbreak
occurred he was ashamed to announce it. The peace at Ryswick had set at
liberty a large force of soldiers, who had now no other occupation than
to "convert" the Protestants and force them to attend Mass. About five
hundred thousand men were now under arms for this purpose--occupied as a
sort of police force, very much to their own degradation as soldiers.

A large body of this otherwise unoccupied army had been placed under
the direction of Baville for the purpose of suppressing the
rebellion--an army of veteran horse and foot, whose valour had been
tried in many hard-fought battles. Surely it was not to be said that
this immense force could be baffled and defied by a few thousand
peasants, cowherds, and wool-carders, fighting for what they
ridiculously called their "rights of conscience!" Baville could not
believe it; and he accordingly determined again to apply himself more
vigorously than ever to the suppression of the insurrection, by means
of the ample forces placed at his disposal.