Page:Memoirs of Baron Hyde de Neuville; outlaw, exile, ambassador; (IA memoirsofbaronhy01hyde).pdf/77

Rh and friends of the victims, the reactionaries, those who were soon to be nicknamed Companions of Jesus, confined their vengeance to a few imprisonments. These denunciations were, however, destined in the sequel to afford a pretext for a renewed persecution of myself.

Among the agents who had succeeded Fouché was one Gallois, a Commissary of the Convention at Nevers. Popular opinion accused him of having bitterly denounced the Comte de Pracomtal, and of having been the cause of his death. M. de Pracomtal was one of the victims from the Nièvre who were executed at Paris.

Gallois, in a red cap, used often to harangue the people in the public places and promenades of Nevers. No one dared to interrupt him, but often the silence of the crowd protested against his arguments. One day, I raised my voice to contradict him. He looked me all over disdainfully, which increased my wrath, In the midst of the colloquy, when he was pouring forth imprecations, and I railleries, a general laugh, following one of my answers, showed the feeling of the public. Gallois thought it prudent to go away, and was followed by hisses, at first timid, but soon becoming general.

It was not long before | returned to Paris, where I found the curious spectacle of a society struggling to arise from its ruins, and come to life again. All was not over, however, as people too quickly flattered them- selves. The ‘Mountain’ deprived of its leader, refused to die with Robespierre: it still counted at its head such men as Billaud-Varennes, Collot d’Herbois, and Barére, who had only overthrown Robespierre with the view to �