King , clergy , and nobles were compelled to submit to the atrocities of an excited and maddened people . Their thirst for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of the king ; and those who had decreed his death soon followed him to the scaffold . A general slaughter of all suspected of hostility to the Revolution was determined . The prisons were crowded , at one time containing more than two hundred thousand captives . The cities of the kingdom were filled with scenes of horror . One party of revolutionists was against another party , and France became a vast field for contending masses , swayed by the fury of their passions . “ In Paris one tumult succeeded another , and the citizens were divided into a medley of factions , that seemed intent on nothing but mutual extermination .” And to add to the general misery , the nation became involved in a prolonged and devastating war with the great powers of Europe . “ The country was nearly bankrupt , the armies were clamoring for arrears of pay , the Parisians were starving , the provinces were laid waste by brigands , and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and license .”
All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty and torture which Rome had so diligently taught . A day of retribution at last had come . It was not now the disciples of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the stake . Long ago these had perished or been driven into exile . Unsparing Rome now felt the deadly power of those whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood . “ The example of persecution which the clergy of France had exhibited for so many ages , was now retorted upon them with signal vigor . The scaffolds ran red with the blood of the priests . The galleys and the prisons , once crowded with Huguenots , were now filled with their persecutors . Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar , the Roman Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics .” ( See Appendix .)
283